AN: Sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out! Hopefully those of you who have been following the story are still waiting to see what happens. I was struggling a little bit to figure out how to get things moving, but I think I've got it. Thanks for the reviews :-)

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Chapter 25

Cami sighed with relief when she dressed in her own clothes. She felt like she was reclaiming part of herself. All she had to do now was get Richard back and hope that Elise killed Ortega and sent him to Hell for everything he had done. Not to her, necessarily, she thought, but all the agony and hurt he had put Richard through, the murder of his mother, the loss of their sister (which she hoped he would tell her about someday) and the loss of freedom he had been dealt because of Christopher. Who knew how many other people he had hurt, she thought angrily as she ran a brush through her damp hair.

A soft knock on her door made her jump. She set her brush down and let out a small laugh. It was going to take her a little bit to get used to being home. After two weeks of being a prisoner she had developed a sense of caution. The lack of awareness being safe in her room surprised her.

"Come in."

Stephanie walked into the room and watched her. "How are you feeling, sweet heart?"

"Better now that I'm dressed in my own clothes." Cami replied. "Rick always said Chris is archaic." She sat on the bed to put her shoes on. "Mom, all I was allowed to wear was dresses. Don't get me wrong, I do like wearing them, but…"

"But you like the freedom that a good pair of shorts or jeans can give you." Stephanie nodded as she sat down. Absently she ran a hand through Cami's hair, reassuring herself that her daughter was indeed in front of her.

"Yeah." Cami sighed. Tears filled her eyes. "I was so scared. It was like walking on eggshells. He never actually tried to beat me. He slapped me once because I started yelling and swearing then Rick intervened." The tears spilled down her cheeks. "And then he dragged Rick to the basement and I could hear his cries of pain. It was awful."

Stephanie wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her close as Cami cried. She calmed down enough to continue, "Rick is stoic…he doesn't let his emotions through, Mom. I can see them in his eyes when I catch him off guard. Honestly, I think I caught him off guard completely."

Stephanie nodded. "I gathered that when I met him."

"How did he tell you where I was?" Cami asked pulling away from her. She stood up and walked to her bathroom so she could brush her hair. Stephanie followed her in and sat on the edge of the tub to talk to her.

She smiled when she thought of the dinner. It was only a few nights ago, but if felt like it had been longer. "It took him a while to figure out how to get our attention without drawing Chris's attention to him. One of the other guests sitting with us asked him if he still danced the Salsa. Rick said he would only Salsa with one woman. I'm sure you can imagine that it didn't please the young lady one bit." Stephanie chuckled softly. She looked at Cami. "He had our attention already because your father and I could tell there was some sort of discord between Chris and Rick. The woman was asking about the only person he would Salsa with. When Rick said 'Her father is Cuban and her mother is Italian-Hungarian' we knew right then he knew where you were. He described details that would tell us exactly who he was talking about."

"Did Daddy really hit him?"

"Yes." Stephanie chuckled softly. "It's the only hit he was going to get, especially when he realized the two of you were having sex."

"Oh gosh." Cami's cheeks reddened. "I'm surprised Rick came home alive then!"

"He was really unhappy when I told him that Rick reminded me of your father."

"You caught that too?" Cami turned and looked at her mom. "It's so weird, but there were moments when I would be talking to him and it was like…like I was talking to Dad. He could give me one word answers that were absolutely aggravating!"

"Your father has always done that too." Stephanie smiled and stood. "Come on, sweet heart. We'd better get to the hospital and talk to Trevor."

/\/\/\/\/\

Ranger sat in his office, elbows resting on the arms of the chair. His hands were folded in front of him. Billy had said Armageddon when he identified what TLC meant. He had not clarified what the Tastykakes reference was for. Fuck, he thought angrily, he was furious. He'd gotten one child back only to have another taken. But he would have done the same thing had there been no other way. He would have made sure he'd gotten his men out alive.

A knock on his door took him out of his thoughts. "Enter."

Darren walked in. "Sir, sorry to bother you, but I thought you should have these." He held his hand out. Ranger accepted the object and felt his heart clench painfully when he saw they were the dog tags. In twenty-two years he had never seen his daughter without them.

"I know she doesn't take them off, Sir, but Ortega told her she wouldn't need them where she was going." Darren said not meeting his eyes. "I didn't think it was right to leave something that important to her there."

"Thank you." He said quietly.

Darren nodded and left the office, leaving Ranger alone with the dog tags. He looked at them carefully. There had been some changes made to the dog tags. Between him and Mac there were a total of four tags on the necklace, but at some point Elise had had each set fashioned into a locket. He smiled softly as he opened the locket with Mac's name inscribed on it. On one side was a picture of Trevor. He was grinning at the camera, looking at peace, making Ranger realize he had probably been with Elise when it was taken. The other side held a picture of all four of the kids. It was a few years ago, but they were all laughing in the picture. CJ was stuck in the middle with his arms around Cami who stood in front of him. Julie and Elise each stood on the side of CJ. It had been a good vacation that year.

Closing that locket, he opened the one that was inscribed with his name. One side had a picture of Mac in his military uniform. Ranger was pretty sure it was the only picture she had been able to find of him. The other side held a picture of him and Stephanie. It was from their wedding day. He ran his thumb over the picture remembering that day clearly. His thumb ran over a bump beneath the picture. Frowning he looked at the outside of the locket. There was nothing indicating a bump.

Ranger popped the picture out of the locket and stared at micro SD card that had been hidden behind the picture. Moving quickly he left the office and hurried to the conference room where Elise's men were at. They were all discussing the possible areas of where Ortega might have taken Elise.

"Victor," Ranger barked. "Can you get the information off this?"

Victor looked at the card in Ranger's fingers. "Yes sir!"

/\/\/\/\/\

Cami strode into the room they were keeping Trevor at the hospital. She was still marveling at all the changes that had happened in the last couple weeks. Elise had a break down, CJ and JJ actually started becoming friends, next someone would tell her Julie was pregnant.

Trevor was sitting up in the bed looking extremely irritated. From what people had told her he wasn't good at showing his emotions a lot, but right now, he was really good at showing his annoyance.

"Hi, Trevor." Cami sat down in a chair next to the bed. Stephanie followed her daughter in and sat near her.

"Where's Elise?" He demanded.

Way to cut to the chase, Cami thought dryly. She took a deep breath. "Chris has her."

"What?" His voice rose. Cami forced herself to stay in her seat and not back up. She had only met him briefly on the fourth of July, but he didn't seem like he would lose his temper easily. Billy was right, she thought, telling a man the love of his life had been taken is not a good idea. But someone had to do it and the other men had pansied out.

"We were surrounded when they got to the rooftop." Julie said from the doorway. "She offered herself up in exchange for all of us leaving unharmed. It was the only way she could make sure we got out alive. He took Richard too."

"Fuck." Trevor ran a hand through his hair. He took a deep breath. Elise would do it. He wasn't surprised that she would give herself up. It would save a bloodbath. "Did she say anything?"

"Yes." Cami nodded. "She said TLC and Tastykakes."

"Shit." He muttered.

"Do you know what that means?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah." He nodded. "TLC is Think Like Captain. Billy came up with it after we created Ops TLM and TLD. He wanted us to have something to fall back if thinking like you or Ranger didn't work. He thought thinking like Elise would be the best angle."

"Any ideas what that would entail?"

He blew out a breath. "With Elise? It could be a variety of things. I think that's why the higher ups always like sending her on missions. You never knew what she would come up with. If Billy is going with TLC then that means it's probably going to be explosive. Ortega won't see it coming."

"And the Tastykakes?" Julie asked. "What does that mean?"

"That means she wants Tastykakes when it's all over." He smiled. "It means she knows she's coming back and expects to have some waiting for her."

Stephanie let out a choked laugh. "I can do that. I can have those waiting for her."

"Mrs. Manoso," Trevor looked at her. "I love your daughter, and I say this with certainty, Ortega won't come out of this alive. Elise is pissed that he targeted her family. I imagine by the time any of us find out where she's at, Ortega will be dead or near death."

"Trevor, if Elise doesn't kill him, rest assured, her father is going to." Stephanie smiled at him. "Ortega chose the wrong family to fuck with."

"He's not the worst we've dealt with. The only reason he got as far as he did was because of Johnson."

"Yeah. Nice hit by the way." Julie said to Stephanie.

"Thanks."

"What?" Trevor looked confused.

"Billy beat Johnson up when he saw him. Took a lot of guys to pull him off." Julie explained. "Then Steph broke his nose."

Trevor laughed, and then coughed. "Sorry. I'm pretty dehydrated." Cami poured him a glass of water and held it out to him. He smiled his thanks and looked down at the water. "He's a traitor. Johnson is going to have his ass handed to him."

"Good." Stephanie said. "He'll be lucky if Ranger doesn't kill him."

Julie and Cami's eyes widened as they looked at each other. Stephanie rarely called their father Ranger anymore. When she did it meant she was pissed and that Ranger the bad ass was coming out to make sure whatever had hurt her or their family was shown what was what.

/\/\/\/\/\

Ranger looked at the men in the room as they waited for Victor to get into the card he had brought in. Billy had done something unusual and was laying on top of the table staring up at the ceiling. His ankles were crossed and his arms were folded over his chest. Randy just sat there shaking his head.

"Billy. Do you really believe laying there is going to make you think like Elise?"

"Yes."

"Dude." Kyle shook his head. "I almost wish I had a camera so I could show Elise what he's doing."

"You're taking TLC to a whole new level." Darren said

"How do you know?" Billy demanded. "We've never had to do it before."

Randy opened his mouth to speak then stopped. He had a point. Finally he asked, "Well, have you come up with anything?"

"General Diggory said Elise could have all the men she wants." Billy said sitting up.

"So?"

The door to the conference room opened and Ranger's core team walked in. He nodded at them. He saw the determination in their eyes. He knew they were going with him to make sure they brought Elise back.

"Well," Billy grinned, "What do you suppose Ortega would do if he suddenly found a whole army of Rangers on his door step?"

"Shit his pants." Darren suddenly laughed. "But it's something she would do."

Tank nodded and grinned. "I got off the phone with Dillon. He and Diggory are on their way over with some MPs to arrest Johnson. We can bring it up with them when they get here."

"I've got it!" Victor called out in triumph.

Ranger looked over his shoulder at all the information that popped up. He grinned. "Good job, Munchkin."