AN: Hey everyone! Here is another chapter for your enjoyment! Thanks for the reviews, you're making the review whore inside me giddy! :-)

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Chapter 24

Fury and Reassurance

Stephanie moved to go to her daughter, but Cami shrieked, "No!" and backed away from everyone. She wrapped her arms around herself unable to calm down. She turned so she wouldn't have to look at her parents who had spent two tiresome weeks searching for their daughter. Her eyes landed on the men who had brought her back.

"You!" Cami's grief switched into fury. Tears still coming down her cheeks she targeted her sister's men. "How could you do that?"

"We didn't have a choice." Randy replied.

"How can you not have a choice?" Cami's voice rose. "You should have told her no!"

"Cami," Ranger called out.

She ignored him. "How could you let her make that deal with him?"

"She's the Captain." Kyle said. "We listen to her."

Her breathing was becoming quicker as her rage continued to build. "So she says jump off the fucking bridge and you do it? You let her go with him! You could have shot him down, done something—anything to stop her!"

"If we had said no what would it have done, Cami?" Victor asked quietly. "Given your parents three children to bury instead of giving us time to get the one capable of getting away from him back?"

"There had to be a way, you're Army Rangers!" She was beginning to get light headed. "You're supposed to get out of those situations!"

"Cami," Alan came up to her, "You've got to breathe."

Cami shoved him away, "But no! You let Chris take Rick and Elise! He's going to kill them and my parents will still have to bury one of their children!"

"Cami," Ranger strode forward, "Enough!"

"No!" She backed away from her father. "You should have done something!" She yelled pointing at the men. Then she felt a prick in her arm. She looked down at it and looked up at Alan.

"Sorry." He murmured as she went down.

Ranger caught her. Alan looked at him, "Sorry, sir."

"No, you did the right thing." Ranger told him. "Everyone in the conference room. Babe, I'm taking Cami to seven. See if CJ and JJ will come watch her. They're probably in the break room." He settled Cami in his arms and carried her to the elevators. Stephanie called CJ on his phone as she followed them into the elevator. They would meet them up there.

"Carlos, I've never seen her like this." Stephanie murmured as she moved a lock of hair out of her daughter's face.

"She's in shock." Ranger said. "The events of the last couple weeks caught up with her. When we get to the conference room we'll find out what happened."

The doors opened on seven and they walked off and got their youngest settled in bed. As soon as CJ and JJ arrived to keep watch, they headed back to the conference room. While they stood on the elevator again, Stephanie looked at her husband.

"You're going to go after Elise this time aren't you?"

"Yeah, Babe." He pulled her into his arms. "Ortega fucked up when he targeted my family. I'm going to send him straight to hell for what he's put everyone through."

"We don't even know where she's at." Stephanie whispered.

"We'll find her." Ranger assured her.

They walked in the conference room and found everyone sitting sullenly around the table. They were all soaking wet still but none seemed to notice. There was a sort of shock on their faces, as though, despite what they'd told Cami, they couldn't quite believe what had gone down. Julie's eyes were red, and she was taking slow deep breaths to calm herself down. Alan held her hand and rubbed her back soothingly.

He saw his own men there, sitting, waiting to know what happened to their niece. He knew his men would go to battle with him to bring back their Munchkin. The fact that they had stayed in Miami so long to help find Cami reminded Ranger why he trusted these men with his life, and the lives of his family.

"Explain." Ranger barked.

"He surprised us." Julie answered. She took a breath and forced herself to continue. "We took out a few of the men and continued covering the grounds. Elise went inside looking for Ortega with a couple men. We couldn't find anyone on the outside and we went to check the roof. Ortega was waiting and they had us surrounded in seconds. There were too many men." Her eyes filled when she thought of what happened and she looked down and struggled to calm back down.

"It would have been a slaughter." Darren said. "Elise did the only thing she could do to make sure we got out alive. She bought us time—"

"Fuck!" Billy shouted and was out of the room.

"Georgeson!" Randy yelled.

The others hurried out of the room at the moment Billy attacked Drake Johnson. "You son of a bitch!" Billy threw him back against the wall. "She was your Captain! You betrayed your Captain!"

"You left me to die." Johnson sneered.

"Fucking traitor!" Billy wasted no time delivering what he thought was just rewards for the bastard in front of him. It took Lester, Tank, Randy and Darren to pull him off Drake. Bobby, Kyle, Victor and Cal held Drake Johnson. Loyalty was something that Ranger admired and the fact that Billy was willing to mutilate Johnson for betraying that loyalty to his daughter gave him high marks.

"We went back for you!" Billy spat at him. "Captain was bleeding to death and she sent us back for you! You betrayed all of us!"

Drake looked at him but kept his mouth shut. Chris had warned him that something like this could happen if it had been discovered he was still alive. Of course he knew they left him, he hadn't been that unconscious. He did think it was perfect that Chris had taken Elise's little sister as the bargaining chip. Elise had only been willing to spread her legs for Trevor, but he had thought it the perfect opportunity to ruin her sister. Pity Richard got to her first.

"You're liars." He replied. "Ortega said you'd do something like this. Elise is nothing better than a whore, just like her mother. What'd she do, lay on her back for all of you to win her leadership?"

"Keep talking, Johnson." Randy said dangerously. "We're only keeping Billy off you so you can deal with Manoso himself."

They dragged Billy to the side so Drake had a clear view of the legendary Carlos Manoso. The cold, feral look in the man's eyes was enough to make Drake consider regretting his decision. The money had been too tempting though.

"I'm a very private man, Johnson." Ranger said walking forward quietly. "And I really do not like when people pry into the private affairs of my family."

"Hey, Mom, we can't find…" CJ's voice trailed off as he came to the scene in front of him. He stared at Drake.

"CJ?" Stephanie looked at him.

"He's the one who attacked me." CJ motioned with his head at Drake.

"Really." Stephanie's eyes narrowed as she looked over her shoulder at the prisoner. She looked back at her son. "Did you need something?"

"Oh, yeah, we can't find the med kit. We were going to doctor some of her bruises." He said.

"There's one in the break room." Bobby said. "Alan and I will be up soon to make sure everything is good to go."

CJ left and Stephanie turned slowly back to Drake Johnson. He had betrayed Elise by going with the enemy. He had attacked CJ and put him in the hospital. He had tried to rape Cami. Fury boiled in her so quickly, she was surprised when it hit. Calmly she walked up to him. Ranger recognized the look in her eyes and stepped away.

"Do you like preying on innocent girls?" She asked coldly.

"She was already fucking Ortega's brother." Drake said snidely.

"You attacked my son and tried to rape my daughter." Stephanie stated and reared back her first. Drake's head snapped back against the stone wall as her fist connected with his nose. "I hope you rot in hell."

Stephanie did an about-face and walked back into the conference room. Ranger smirked and faced Johnson. "Take him to one of the holding cells."

He went and wrapped his arms around his wife. "Proud of you, Babe."

"I'd like to let Billy finish him off." She said softly. "But that wouldn't be smart, would it?"

"Maybe after this is all over Billy can tear him apart. I get the feeling all her men want to tear him apart for that betrayal."

"Good." Stephanie smiled. "I like them. They're going to help get our girl back."

"Mrs. Manoso, that was awesome!" Billy said as he was lead back into the conference room. Those who had taken him off Drake flanked him on the chance that he might decide to rush down to the holding cell and continue what he'd started.

"Oh, uh, thanks." She blushed.

"I always wondered where the Captain got her right hook from. I met the end of it once. I learned to never piss her off, just to be a pain in her ass." Billy said. "She'll tell you when she's back. I'm better at annoying her than anything else."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure she'll tell you that Billy is better at leaving dozens of women heartbroken." Alan said.

"Naw," Randy shook his head, "She'll say that Billy is better causing things to explode. She'll give dues where they're deserved."

"Thank you," Billy took a mock bow, "I do try."

Stephanie laughed. It was reassuring to hear that these men expected Elise to come back. Which told her they had faith in whatever was going to happen and that was a reassurance she hadn't realized she needed.

As soon as everyone was settled, Kyle spoke up, "Elise gave herself up to keep from having a bloodbath. She knew Ortega would want the information she has so she used it for a bargaining chip."

"What does this tell us?" Ranger demanded.

"It tells us that, thanks to Johnson, Ortega was really able to do his homework on Elise. Last time she was able to infiltrate his home base and get the Intel needed without being caught. We were sent back to finish things off when the powers that be found out we'd gotten the info. Someone, I'm not mentioning names—Billy—set the place ablaze. We'd finished off most of the men, but the fire was spreading too fast. I barely got Elise out alive." Randy said.

"We'll run checks on all of Ortega's homes." Stephanie said, "I know it's not likely, but on the chance that he might have taken her there, I want to see for myself."

Ranger nodded. Before he could say anything, the conference room door opened and Cami walked in, this time looking shy. JJ and CJ stood behind her looking guilty. "Cami, what are you doing down here?"

"I, um," She fidgeted with the hem of her dress. "I came to apologize. I lost my temper and I took it out on everyone. None of you deserved it."

"It's okay, cuteness," Billy grinned at her. "Elise always does worse when she gets upset."

"Do you, um, really think that we'll get them back?" Cami looked at them hopefully.

"Yes, ma'am." Darren smiled. "Your sister is one of the best—after your dad."

"Will you be bringing Rick back too?"

"Absolutely! We don't want to keep Antony and Cleopatra separated!" Billy nodded enthusiastically.

"Antony and Cleopatra? Dude, they both died!" Randy slapped upside the head.

"Uh…Romeo and—no, that won't work they offed themselves," Billy looked thoughtful, then smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I only know the ones that died, but we'll definitely bring back Rick for you."

Cami couldn't help the small giggle that escaped. She liked Billy, he reminded her of Uncle Lester. Then she frowned, "I'm afraid of what Chris will do to him."

Randy, being closest, turned his chair and took her hands in his, "Cami, as I'm sure you saw with Chris, he's big on family loyalty. Richard risked a lot to help make sure you got home alive."

Tears filled her eyes, "He's not going to kill him, is he?"

"No," Alan spoke up from beside Julie who was watching her sister, "No, he won't kill him. We'll get him back alive, Cami, but to be honest, because Ortega knows that Richard helped us, he's going to be in for a world of hurt."

"Cami," Stephanie came up and wrapped an arm around her daughter, "The few minutes I spent with Richard and Christopher at that business dinner showed a lot. Christopher wants Richard to behave and do as he says. He's probably going to focus on making Richard learn to behave."

"I hate him." Cami said shaking her head. "I hope Elise guts him like a fish. Omigod!" She gasped, "Trevor! Did anyone find Trevor?"

"Trevor is at the hospital under guard." Julie said. "According to our men, he and Elise pulled guns on each other before realizing who the other was."

"Lucky they didn't shoot each other." Kyle muttered to Darren who nodded.

"Well, who is going to tell him what happened with Elise?" Cami asked.

"Not it." Was the resounding answer from every single one of Elise's men.

She narrowed her eyes at them. "Cowards."

"Cuteness, no one wants to tell a man that the woman he loves more than anything has just been taken by someone who is going to hurt her." Billy said. Tank, Lester, Bobby and Cal all nodded knowingly, thinking back to whenever they had to tell Ranger some crazy had gotten hold of Stephanie. It had never been pretty and they could only guess it was going to be just as ugly when Trevor found out.

"Fine." Cami said. She looked at her parents. "Can someone take me home so I can get cleaned up and put on some jeans? Then I want to go to the hospital to see Trevor." When she saw Ranger about to object she pulled out the big guns. "Please? I promise to take a tracker and some Rangemen with me. Please, daddy?"

"I'll go with you, sweet heart." Stephanie said.

"I'll go too." Julie stood.

"Boys, you're coming too." Stephanie told CJ and JJ.

After they left, Darren looked at Billy. "Billy, what did Elise tell you when she said TLC and Tasty Cakes?"

Billy grinned. "What you don't remember?"

"If we did, would we ask?" Kyle said dryly.

"TLC and Tasty Cakes." Lester looked thoughtful. "I'm thinking tender loving care and dessert that makes Ranger cringe."

"Close." Billy laughed. "It was after Ops TLD and TLM were created. I asked Captain what we were supposed to do if those never worked."

Randy started laughing. "Oh, shit. I remember now. You kept harassing Elise saying we needed something good as a fall back."

"Operation Think Like Captain." Alan smiled nodding.

"What does that entail?" Ranger asked.

"Armageddon." Was all Billy said.