AN: Here is another chapter for everyone :-) Thanks for the wonderful reviews! Hope everyone enjoys this chapter as well! :-)

Chapter 16

Counting and Phone Calls

Ten Days.

Two hundred and forty hours.

Fourteen thousand, four hundred minutes.

Eight hundred and sixty-four thousand seconds.

Ten sunrises and ten sunsets.

Ten breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

All of which Cami was missing.

Julie sighed and closed her eyes, desperately trying to keep herself calm. When Scrog had kidnapped her she had done something similar. Counting days, hours, minutes, everything she was missing. So in an effort to calm herself now she counted everything Cami was missing. She was missing the friendship that had formed between JJ and CJ, which surprised everyone, but those two more than anything. She was missing all the moments when the four of them could sneak out and give their dad a premature heart attack by turning off their trackers.

But now tension was running high. Ranger was furious with the lack of results. She had never seen this side to her father, but she could imagine it was the same side that had come out when she had been kidnapped by Scrog. Stephanie was having a hard time keeping herself together. Julie loved her mother even more when Rachel had shown up and simply sat with Stephanie when Ranger had been at RangeMan trying to find a solution. Stephanie had arrived at RangeMan later that day, eyes red rimmed but determination glittering brightly.

It was now taking more than just JJ to keep CJ in place at the house. Ranger had stationed at least two other guards at the house to make sure CJ stayed put. CJ was just as angry as his parents, perhaps more so because he didn't like the feeling of helplessness he was forced to endure thanks to his injuries. While JJ helped him work out as much as his injuries would let him, he couldn't actively help search for Cami. It grated on him that he could do nothing other than wait patiently for a word.

Julie was doing everything she could on her end. She was being there for her father and Stephanie, panicking as a sister would for her baby sister, and struggling to maintain a sense of calm when she had to be at RangeMan. There were literally no hints or threats or anything. That was the most infuriating part. There was nothing to indicate why Cami had been kidnapped. At least when she had been kidnapped, there had been something to go on, Julie thought sourly as she drove through the streets of Miami. She was being incredibly stupid right now and knew Ranger would let her have it when she got back to work.

The rule had been established. None of the Manoso's were to be without someone to watch their backs. But to do what she needed to do, she had to be alone and had to make sure her trackers were off. Oh yeah, she thought, Ranger was going to have a conniption when she got back. She just had to see if she could find out some information first.

She drove into the more gang-filled area of the city. Yep. Not only would Ranger have a conniption if he knew where she was, he'd have her under lock and key so fast she wouldn't be able to blink. Coming to her location, she parked the SUV and got out. Leaning back against the door, she crossed her ankles and folded her arms and waited.

And waited.

"Chica, you bad for business." A muscled Hispanic man came strutting over to her. She angled her head at him, waiting until he got closer. He leaned an arm against the window of the SUV next to her head. To a casual observer, it appeared a man was trying to woo a woman. From their perspective it was their way of watching each other's backs. Julie was angled enough to see behind him, despite his height on her.

"Don't worry, Abel, you're getting paid for today." Julie said.

"Am I getting paid for physical services?"

"No."

"Pity."

Julie didn't stop the laugh that snuck out of her. "I need information."

"Always with the information." He raised an eyebrow at her. "One of these days you're going to let me show you how to be real good in a gang. Lots of fun."

"There's a man I need information on."

"Not a good idea, chica. You got one angry dude looking at you."

"What?" Julie looked over her shoulder and saw one very angry Ranger glaring at her, arms folded over his chest. Even in his early fifties, Ranger still looked intimidating as hell.

"Oh fuck." She grumbled.

"Pimp daddy?" Abel asked. She could hear the laughter in his voice.

"No. Birth daddy."

"Of fuck." He replied.

"Yep."

Ranger walked over to them. He looked Abel up and down before turning his look to Julie. "Care to explain yourself?"

"Nope." She said defiantly and turned back to Abel. He raised his eyebrows at her. "I need information on someone."

"So you said."

"Heard of Marcus Cortez?"

"Everyone's heard of him." Abel replied.

"Where we can find him?" Julie said trying to quell the feeling of hope in her chest. If she had a chance at helping one of her sisters then she would.

"No one finds him. He finds you if he wants to." Abel cocked his head and eyed her. "You don't come down here often, chica. Cortez isn't someone to play with. What's he got you want?"

"How can I make him find me?" She pressed ignoring his question.

"That's the million dollar question." Abel shrugged. "No one knows, chica. He just does."

"Has he contacted you?" Ranger asked moving next to his daughter.

Abel looked at Julie when she nodded he turned back to Ranger. "He tries. I ignore him."

"If he's that dangerous, why would you go to the effort to ignore him?"

"He dangerous to be tangled with." Abel replied. "I keep my men in line. They're not foolish. Most of them want to live."

"If he contacts you can you let me know?" Julie asked.

"I'll do what I can."

"Oh, speaking of living," Julie smirked at Abel. "You might want to make sure you're little brother makes his court date this time."

"Shit, chica, you're really bad for business." Abel pushed himself off the car. Ranger caught sight of Julie quickly slipping something into Abel's pocket before he got too far from her.

"Abel." She called warningly.

"Yeah, yeah," He waved over his shoulder. "He'll be there. With fucking bells on."

Ranger turned to Julie. "Julie, I gave an order. I expect them to be followed."

"I needed to come down here, Dad." Julie replied. "I didn't think you'd actually let me come down here even with someone."

"You're right." He growled yanking the driver's door open and shoving her in. Julie sat there sullenly as he got into the passenger's seat. She pulled away and backtracked out of the neighborhood. "Damn it, Julie. I shouldn't have to come stalking after you."

"Stalking after me?" Julie gripped the wheel. "Dad, I'm being useless at RangeMan right now. You've got us all under lockdown without actually hauling us to a safe house. The only person who isn't is Elise. I don't know if it's because she's got training that is similar to yours or if it's because she won't come out of that fucking conference room, but I needed to do something to help one of my sisters! I can't do a damned thing in regards to Cami, but I knew talking to Abel about Cortez would be the best shot I had. So I took it."

Julie was speeding because she was getting so angry. Quickly she pulled off the highway and got to a beach. Shutting off the car, she hunched over the wheel and said softly, "She's been gone for fourteen thousand, four hundred minutes, Dad. If I don't have something to do I count things the way I did when Scrog had me."

She could feel his hand on her back as she broke down and cried. Felt it when he unbuckled her and carted her into his lap and held her the way he'd held any of his daughters when they'd needed their dad. Julie rested her head on his shoulder as she sobbed, feeling very much like a little girl who wanted her knight in shining armor daddy.

"This is hard on all of us." Ranger murmured. "But I should have thought sooner about how hard this would be for you especially."

"It's okay." She sniffled. "With Scrog you at least had something to work with."

"That doesn't make it any easier." He said hugging her tightly. "We'll find her, Jules. The bastard who took her is going to pay dearly for it as well."

"Yeah."

They sat there for several minutes while Julie calmed down. Finally she crawled off her dad and back into the driver's seat. The drive started out in silence but after a bit, Ranger asked, "Julie, why exactly are you telling Abel to make sure his brother is at the court on time? Catching the FTAs is part of our business."

Julie snickered. "Abel's brother will make this court date. In a few weeks he'll do something to put himself in jail again. Then he won't make the court date and we'll be called. Abel loses more money to his brother like that. Chances are he'll be the one walking him into the court."

…

Billy, Randy and Vic sat in the conference room with Elise. Kyle and Darren were out trying to locate information on Cortez. Elise sighed and collapsed in a chair, slouching down. They'd had nothing but dead ends. Right now she couldn't figure out what made Diggory and Dillon believe Cortez was even in the states.

"So we have nothing." Elise stated flatly. "If we can't find him then what makes them believe he's honestly here?"

"Because he's contacting gangs." Julie said stepping in the room with Ranger behind her. Elise looked at her and she continued. "You said Cortez likes going through all walks of life so I talked to one of my contacts. The gang world is very much aware of who Cortez is. He said Cortez contacts them."

"How?"

"No one knows." Ranger said. "He just does. Julie's contact is going to is going to inform us when he tries contacting him again."

Randy looked at Elise. "That's gotta make you feel good."

"Hm." Elise looked at the table. No, she thought, it didn't. All the reports from the men she'd read said he was readily accessible when people needed him. So why couldn't anyone locate him now? Frustration built, and she closed her eyes forcing it back.

"Elise?"

She turned her gaze back to her father and sister. "Yeah, that's good. It gives us more than we've been able to find so far. It's a starting point." She turned back to her men, "What's missing from these reports?"

"Captain?" Billy asked.

"When we went in there, according to your reports, we were supposed to be getting some valuable information to help take Cortez out. What I don't see in here is what, or where, that information is."

"When I got to you, you had already gotten the information, but you and Cortez had already met and fought." Randy lifted his shoulders. "I was aware of which way he had gone but I knew we needed to get you out of there."

"You didn't see any of the fight?" She asked.

Randy shook his head. "No. When I got you over my shoulder, you were coherent enough to say if he wasn't a sadist you'd love sparing with him because of his speed. The only thing I could assume then, and now, is that he's fast enough to give you a real tough challenge. Since he was able to injury you as badly as he did, I'd have to say he got too close one too many times."

"Where is that information?" Elise asked as her hand unconsciously went to the side where the scars were.

"We don't know." Vic said. "Only you do."

"Only I know. Great." She rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling. Of course it was something only she would know. She would make sure the only person who could say anything would be her to keep others from getting tortured. Of course, with a head injury that wiped her mind clear of the entire fucking mission she had made sure no one, including herself, knew.

"Captain?" Billy called.

"What?"

"You have a safety deposit box here." He offered. "Perhaps there's something in there that might help?"

She lowered her eyes and looked at Billy. He was right. There was a strong possibility she might have put something in there. Of course if she had no memory of that mission… "It's possible, Billy, but unlikely. However, thanks to the reminder, I'll go check it out later."

Billy looked pleased with himself then said, "So, would you mind if we had a night on the town?"

She rolled her eyes. "Just try to stick around long enough to get the girl's name."

"I always stick around that long."

"He's right," Vic chuckled. "He just doesn't stick around long enough to find out how bad he was."

"Hey!"

"Dad," Elise looked at Ranger. "Are you and mom still going to that business dinner you were telling us about?"

"Why?"

"I'm thinking maybe if you go then you might pick up some information." Elise said.

Ranger nodded. "I'll talk to your mother." Elise was right, he knew. If Cortez was that versatile in his dealings then there was a strong chance he could have connections to some of the local businesses here. It would be a good idea to go. He would just have to convince Stephanie. Who knows, he thought, they could even pick up on something in regards to Cami if they were lucky.

He and Julie left leaving them alone in the room. Randy looked at Elise. "Captain, you doing okay?"

"Of course." She replied.

"Really?"

"Randy, if you guys try tasering me one more time, I'll have all of you buried before you can blink." Elise snapped out.

"Yes, ma'am." They all replied automatically.

A man knocked on the door and stuck his head in. "There's a call for you."

When he shut the door, she hit speaker on the phone that was kept in the conference room. "Yep."

"Hello, Jaguar."

Every man in the room froze. Elise's eyes moved to the phone. The familiar voice sent chills down her spine and she knew who it was without having to ask any of her men.

"Cortez."

A cool laugh met her reply. "Good. I was worried you wouldn't remember me."

"Hard to forget someone who leaves a mark on you." She said coldly.

"We have business to discuss you and I."

"I wasn't aware that we were associates."

"You have something that belongs to me."

"Do I now?"

"Do not play coy with me, Jaguar." Cortez growled. "I want what is mine back."

"You're a wanted man by two governments, Cortez." Elise said folding her arms over her chest. "You can't possibly expect me to hand over something that gets you away from them."

"It is exactly what I expect." He said. "If you want what I have that is yours."

"And what's that?"

"Your man."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"No?" There was a scuffling in the background and Trevor's voice came over the line. "Elise?"

"Trev…"

"Elise, don't give them the info." He rasped. She could hear the pain in his voice and knew he was in a lot of agony.

"Trevor!"

"I mean it," He growled out as something hit him. All of them in the room could hear it. "I mean it, Elise!"

"Now, Jaguar." Cortez was back. His voice moved like silk. "You have something that is mine. I have something that is yours. I do believe this makes us business associates. If you want to play coy, then it only means he suffers more." He chuckled. "I will leave you alone for a few days. Give you time to think."

He disconnected.

Elise reacted before she thought. She yanked the phone out of the wall.

"Hit the deck!" Billy shouted as they all dove out of the room.

The phone was still airborne when Elise pulled out her gun and unloaded all the rounds into it. For added measure she threw a knife at it, impaling it to the wall.