AN: I'm sorry it's taken so long to update guys! I hit a bit of a lull trying to figure out what was supposed to happen next. Thanks for the awesome reviews y'all have left so far! Hopefully you enjoy this chapter also!

Chapter 7

Trouble

Silvio looked at the two men carefully. It had been a long time since he'd seen either of them. The two generals sat across from him displaying the same blank look he was holding toward them. The only one who would actually surpass their level of intimidation with a blank look was Ranger.

"Gentlemen, I'm sure you'll understand if I speak to the CEO first. Something this large would obviously need his approval." Silvio was stalling for time. He knew it and they knew it.

"I'm under the impression he is currently here in Miami with his family. Perhaps you could contact him while we're out to lunch." One of the generals, General Diggory, said frostily. "We've given you all we require if RangeMan can take this. When we return we expect an answer."

Silvio watched them leave the office. Letting out a sigh he leaned back and looked at the ceiling. This was going to be fun. Ranger wasn't going to like this one bit.

"Hey, Uncle Silvio." Julie leaned against the door. "What's with the Army showing up?"

"Nothing I can talk about, Jules, sorry." He gave an apologetic grin. "You going to be with your dad in a bit?"

"Yeah, we're all going out for lunch."

"Ask him to come up when you're done. There are some things I need to discuss with him."

"Anything I can tell him about it?"

"Just that he's not going to like it."

…

Elise was staring at the newest piece of mail in her hands. Another sketch from Trevor. This one was of her in army pants and a dark tank top. She was wearing her aviator glasses. In one hand her dog tags were twined around her fingers. She was sitting up in a tree. A mischievous smile was playing at the corner of her lips. She recognized the background from one of their last missions. They'd been in the jungle. Their mission had been complete and they'd been waiting on their ride out of there. It amazed Elise how much Trevor simply watched her. He practically put her observation skills to shame.

"Munchkin." Ranger greeted as he picked up the mail beside her to flip through it.

"Dad…" her voice drifted off briefly. "Dad I think something is wrong."

"With what?"

"With Trevor." She showed him the sketch. "He shouldn't be able to send this to me. I know where he's at and to send this to me is suicidal."

Ranger looked at the sketch. It was a damned good depiction of his daughter. "Want me to make a couple calls?"

She shook her head. "No. I have someone I'll call in a bit. Most people don't know about Trevor and me. Better to keep as few people in the know on that as possible."

"And you're sure he didn't send these before he left?"

"Yes." She picked up the envelope it came in. "It's also addressed to me as Donahue."

"You enlisted as Donahue."

"Yeah, but Trev wouldn't send me anything under Donahue. He'd send it under Manoso." Elise sighed and rubbed her face with her hands and muttered, "Dog tags are burning. Trouble's coming."

Ranger watched her for a moment. He knew her dog tags were her version of a spidey sense. He wouldn't complain since they had proven to be just that time and time again. Hopefully his contacts would have some information for him. Elise was worried which was enough for him to reach out to his contacts, whether she asked him to or not.

"Alright! Who's ready to eat?" Stephanie said with a grin as she came into view with Cami and CJ behind her.

"Food sounds great!" Elise smiled and all sense of worry had disappeared on her. Ranger grinned and kissed his wife, following his daughter's lead on not alerting the family to anything. It was just as well, he thought.

A horn outside let them know Julie was waiting for them. They left and piled into the SUV with her. "Dad, Silvio wants you to come to the office after lunch. He said he had something he had to discuss with you."

"Did he say what?"

"All he said was that you wouldn't like it."

That told Ranger more than it didn't. It was government related.

Julie kept talking. "I imagine it has to do with the generals coming out of his office before I left. One of them looked absolutely pissed off. I'm guessing Silvio said something he didn't like."

"So does that mean we're going to RangeMan after lunch?" Cami asked excitedly.

"Only if you don't try hacking through my system again." Ranger teased.

"Sheesh, you're no fun!" His youngest retorted.

CJ was already making plans to find his way down to the shooting range when they got there. Elise could use that time to call her contact. Stephanie would borrow an empty office to call some of her businesses to make sure things were continuing to run smoothly.

Lunch was animated as usual. They chose a buffet where they could all get something they liked. Ranger had a salad and looked at his kids' meals with distaste. They all grinned at each other knowingly and all took large bites taking turns moaning with delight.

"You're all real funny." Ranger glared at them.

"We try." CJ chuckled. He was half expecting Ranger to dish out some form of punishment for gluing their door and windows shut on their bedroom. He thought it was pretty clever of them to do it that way. Cami had bought industrial strength super glue and when their parents weren't around they'd snuck to the bedroom and glued the windows shut. After they'd gone to bed, they'd gotten the door.

Their day had been fun. They'd gone to the beach during the day and a Cuban club at night. They had had a lot of fun dancing and spending time with each other. Alan and Julie had done a few slow dances with each other. Cami had danced with several men as did Elise, while CJ had been busy charming ladies left and right.

When they returned home they found their parents had broken out of their room. Of course a sledge hammer and Lester and RJ had been involved but that was more irrelevant as far as they were concerned. Their uncles were looking extremely amused with them, while their father was eyeing them like he was trying to figure out what exactly he could do that would really punish them.

The fact that he hadn't done anything in four days was a bit disconcerting. All four of the siblings were trying to decide if he was plotting or if Stephanie had convinced him to leave them alone. So far they were going with plotting.

By the time lunch was finished they all ended up back at RangeMan relatively fast.

Silvio looked at Ranger and almost sighed with relief when he saw him. "Ranger, Generals Diggory and Dillon have been here to see you. They want RangeMan to take a very high case."

"You could've made that decision without me." Ranger said raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, when you look over the specifics I think you'll be glad I called you."

Eyes narrowing at him, he took the folder from Silvio and opened it. He scanned all the information and felt himself freeze at the end of it. Silvio noticed the still movement and nodded. "Yeah."

"Good, you're here."

Both men looked up at General Dillon and General Diggory. Ranger recognized both of them. Dillon had always been a good man. He'd enjoyed working with him. Diggory…not so much.

"It's been a long time, gentlemen." Ranger acknowledged.

Dillon nodded and held his hand out. Diggory was looking to the side. Before anyone could comment on what had caught the other general's attention, he barked. "Donahue!"

Elise looked up from her phone. Her blank face came on as she walked calmly down the corridor toward Silvio's office. "General Diggory."

He looked her up and down. "Your memory seems to be intact."

"It's called traumatic amnesia for a reason." She replied coolly.

"Bullshit." He snapped.

"Elise. You're looking good." General Dillon looked at her and smiled. Her head inclined toward him. Her eyes warmed briefly in greeting which he knew he was going to get while Diggory was here.

"Elise, I think you need to look at this." Ranger said handing her the folder.

The room was silent as they all watched Elise look over the contents. None of them missed the visible shudder that tore through her body. She looked up at the generals.

"Elise, you're the only one who has gotten close enough to really understand Cortez." Dillon said softly. "We want to enlist RangeMan because of the military personnel that come to work here, but we need you at the forefront getting the Intel needed."

"I'm retired." She said flatly.

Diggory gave her a cold smile and handed another folder to her. "Incentive for you to do this."

She looked at the folder. When she saw what it was she dropped it on Silvio's desk. "No."

"No?" Diggory gave her an angry look. "I would've thought you'd want your boyfriend out of the service."

"Baiting me with his contract isn't going to make me work with you." Elise said, her voice going cold. She flipped through the folder holding the information on Cortex. "If I agree to this, I want my men."

"Out of the question." Diggory shook his head. "You'd have the resources you need at RangeMan."

"No deal." Elise put the folder on the desk and walked out of the office.

"Manoso, talk to your daughter."

Silvio hid the grin that was threatening to come to his face as Ranger said as coolly as his daughter, "I believe she's already told you the stipulations."

Dillon glared at Diggory. "Stop being an ass." He got up and followed Elise. "Donahue."

She paused and looked at him. "I tried calling you."

"Phone's off. What did you need?"

"I'm worried about Trevor."

Dillon looked surprised. "Why? His mission was over a week ago. He said was leaving to find you."

"But…" Her voice trailed off and they found themselves running back to Silvio's office. Dillon had his phone out and was dialing quickly.

Elise was glaring at Diggory. "My men. I want them yesterday!"

"I'm on it." Dillon assured her.

"Dillon, she can have all the other men she wants—"

"Listen well, Diggory, I'm saying this once." Elise snarled as she got in his face. "You want me to find Cortez for you then you will give me the men I had with me when I dealt with him. If you want this to go down at all my men will be the ones who help." Her heart was racing. The dog tags were searing her skin but she wasn't backing down yet. "You seem to think I can catch him, then you'll play my way or you can get your ass out of RangeMan and I'll be more than happy to help kick it out!"

Diggory glared at her for a long moment. "Fine."

Dillon was off the phone moments later. "Elise, they'll be here tonight." He stood and motioned for Diggory. "We'll stay in town if you need our help. Just keep us as apprised as you can."

Diggory wasted no time hustling out of RangeMan. Dillon looked back at her. "Elise, this is going to be harder than anything you've faced if we're both in agreement that Cortez has Trevor. Like I said before, you're the only one who has gotten close enough to Cortez before. Can you keep your focus, soldier?"

Elise raised her chin and gave him a blank look. He gave a brief laugh and walked away muttering something like, "just like her father…"

Silvio looked at Ranger and Elise before leaving them alone. Ranger looked at his daughter quietly for several minutes. "Elise. Can you do this?"

"I have to." She said softly. Her body shuddered again.

"The Cortez in the folder…is he the same one who gave you those scars?"

She nodded. "We didn't stumble into a gang war. We went up against a drug Cartel. Cortez is…fuck…" She rubbed her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you too much."

"I know. Classified."

"No." She turned and met her father's eyes. "Because I don't remember."