Chapter 44
Ranger was standing in front of the computer with Hector at the police station, a look of frustration across his face. They had been looking through the computers for hours while Tank questioned the men from the two captures. They had a grand total of nothing to show for it and it was making all three of the men lose what was left of their minds.
He looked down at his phone waiting to see if Stephanie had texted that she had gotten home yet. It had been over 30 minutes since she had texted that they were leaving her appointment. He was nervous about what she was going to tell him. She had been holding onto it for so long, and it was making her sick. He knew that she thought he hadn't noticed that she had been so sick lately, but he noticed everything about her. He also saw how stressed and how worried it made her, which only stressed and worried him. The fact that he had tried unsuccessfully to get both Bobby and Hector to tell him what was going on did not help. Those two never kept secrets from him so what ever it was, it had to be big.
"Ranger." Tank called from behind, Ranger turned to see Tank gesturing him to come to the door. Ranger nodded before looking down to Hector, "Keep working." He murmured before walking over to Tank. "What's up?"
Tank shook his head, "Nothing, they are not talking. Joe came to me with an ideal. We are going to get Hector a few minutes alone with the computers. They are not letting him work." Tank said nodding over to the man sitting in front of the computers next to Hector.
Ranger nodded, "We could have figured this out hours ago, tell him to do it."
He watched Tank step out to gesture to Joe who was in the hallway. They watched as Joe nodded and came in to the room.
"Michelson." Joe said. He waited for the man at the computers to turn and look at him, "Captain wants you now. He wants an update."
Michelson shook his head, "I can't leave this here."
Joe raised an eyebrow at him, "So you want me to go tell the Captain, NO. After you have been in here all day with no progress. Sure, I will go tell him you said fuck off." Joe said turning around to walk out of the door.
"NO." Michaelson yelled. "I am coming." He turned to look at Hector, "Don't touch anything, I will be right back."
Hector just raised an eyebrow at him, before Michaelson even made it all the way out of the door Hector had slid his chair in front of the computers and began to type. Ranger moved in front of the door and Tank followed Joe and Michaelson down the hall.
Within minutes Hector was gesturing to Ranger to come over, pointing at the screen. Ranger looked down at the screen to see a few addresses coming up. "Take them." He said looking down at his phone that just dinged. "They are on the way back."
Hector nodded and kept searching while Ranger walked back to the door, Hector kept putting information on the thumb drive that he had slid into the computer. When he heard Ranger give one quick knock on the door he pulled out the thumb drive and slid it into his pocket.
Michelson walked in right as Hector slid back to the side and sat back. "That was a waste of my fuckin time." He mumbled as he sat back in front of the computers.
Ranger gave Hector a nod to he door, "We are done for the night." He said loudly, "Let's go."
Hector nodded and stood to walk to the door, "We will be back tomorrow." Ranger said to Michelson.
Michelson just waved his hand at them, not looking up from the computer. Ranger and Hector went out into the hall with Tank and Joe.
"Did you get anything useful?" Joe said.
Ranger just raised an eyebrow at him and Tank snorted.
"Of course, you did." Joe said shaking his head. "You should come work here, you can work circles around everyone in our IT department."
Hector grinned and said something in Spanish to Ranger, Joe looked over at Ranger who smirked.
"He said you don't pay enough…... plus, you have to follow the law… he doesn't." Ranger translated.
Joe rolled his eyes, "Don't tell me that shit." Joe muttered. "Especially inside the station."
All 4 men turned when they heard an officer run up yelling Joe's name. "There was an accident at Main and Hankook. You have been called to the scene."
Joe raised an eyebrow, "I don't do accidents."
The officer shook his head, "It wasn't an accident. Reports are saying a truck purposely ran into an SUV pushing it on coming traffic. Then it gets even weirder. Two figures went up to the SUV on its side and shot out the windshield and took a woman from the front seat at gun point."
Ranger felt his inside freeze, "What was the make, model and color of the SUV?" He said making Tank and Hector look at him.
The officer looked down at his book, "Ford expedition, Black." The officer said looking up at Ranger.
Ranger pulled out his phone, dialing Stephanie's phone number, "Description of the woman?" He asked the officer, his stomach churning.
Officer looked at his book again, "Tall, thin, blond/brown curly hair. She was hurt, bleeding and limping but walking on her own." The officer said.
As soon as they heard curly all four men took off down the hall at a sprint. "How long ago was this?" Joe asked the officer who was trying to keep up.
"It was called in about 10 minutes ago, accident maybe 15 or 20 minutes ago." The officer said.
"Description of the vehicle that took her?" Tank asked.
"Black SUV, no model listed. It pulled up after the accident. The two original vehicles are still on the scene. One abandoned and the driver still stuck in the one the woman was pulled from."
They made it to the front door with Ranger still trying to call Stephanie's phone, but it was still ringing with no answer.
"Is the driver ok?" Tank asked still sprinting after Ranger towards the truck.
"Unknown." The officer said as Joe split off to get into his car.
The officer stopped out of breath and watched as three men jumped into the black SUV/truck matching the same description as the one in the accident and finally put together why they were running. He looked the other way to see Joe pulling out lights and sirens blaring. He watched as the truck took to two wheels following Joe out of the parking lot and hoped whoever they were going after was ready to die based on the looks on their faces.
_/_
"Ranger, she is alive." Tank said looking over at Ranger who was clenching the steering wheel with both hands with white knuckles. "You heard the officer, she walked away."
Ranger said nothing, just pushed his foot down on the pedal harder, shooting the truck forward even faster, almost touching the back of Joes car in front of them.
Hector was in the back seat calling Rangeman to get more information and get more men at the scene. According to the office, no one had called anything in; and all of Stephanie's trackers were sitting in the middle of the intersection; Lester was getting a team ready to meet them at the site. Hector pulled out his tablet and pulled up all of Stephanie's trackers, trying to see if he could find something that the office missed, but they were all sitting in the same location, not moving.
The truck was silent as they raced through the streets, each praying and begging that both Stephanie and Bobby were ok. No one was able to look at each other, only stare ahead as their minds raced at a million possibility's. When they turned the last corner and saw the truck on its side, their hearts clenched. The truck looked like it had been ran through a crusher, the side facing the sky was pushed in and crumpled. The back pushed in and all of the windows shattered. Glass littered the entire intersection, and they saw paramedics working on someone in the driver's seat. They screeched to a halt and were racing towards the truck when they heard Bobby asking for a phone over and over again.
"I need… I need a phone." Bobby said weakly, "I need to call…." His voice trailed off.
Ranger reached him first, kneeling down to see Bobby around the paramedic, his heart lurched at the site. Bobby's face had begun to swell on one side, the cut on his head still bleeding. His eyes were closed, and he was coughing blood. But he was still mumbling about a phone. Tank came up next and gasped under his breath before clearing his throat, "What do you need a phone for?" He asked Bobby trying to sound cheerful.
"Tank?" Bobby whispered trying to open his eyes, "They took her." He mumbled. "Steph, they took her. Need to tell Ranger."
"I am right here, Bobby." Ranger said reaching out to grasp his hand, "Don't worry, we will find her." Ranger looked to the paramedic who was still working on Bobby. "You just worry about being better, so you can take care of her… ok."
Bobby nodded but clenched Rangers hand tighter, "You have to find them Ranger. They are in danger." Bobby mumbled, eyes still closed.
"They?" Ranger asked. "Who else did they take?"
"Both." Bobby mumbled.
"Both, who?" Ranger asked Bobby trying to get his attention. But Bobby was fading fast, his grip loosening on Rangers hand.
"Save them…... save." Bobby trailed off, losing consciousness.
"Bobby…. BOBBY." Ranger yelled, but the paramedic shook his head at him. He covered Bobby's face with a mask and wrapped his neck with a brace. Ranger and Tank backed up and watched as they pulled Bobby out of the wreckage and onto a gurney. Joe ran over to them to see them loading Bobby into the ambulance.
"Ok, according to reports. They were hit on purpose at full force. It caused them to slide into oncoming traffic. Where they bounced back and forth before stopping here. A woman walked over and shot out the glass. Then they took Stephanie at gun point. Stephanie did walk on her own, only a slight limp. She had blood on her head but looked mostly ok according to bystanders. A man was driving and both woman got in the back seat, black SUV, went north on Hankook."
Ranger nodded starting to walk back to his truck, "Did they take anyone else?" He asked.
Joe following shook his head, "According to reports it was Stephanie, why?" He asked.
"Bobby kept saying Them, they took them." Ranger said reaching into the truck for a phone. Hector went to the back and pulled out a computer, typing away.
"No, only Stephanie was accounted for." Joe said, "We are counting this as a kidnapping, we have a team going through the street cameras to see if we can follow where they went. Does she have any of her trackers on?"
Ranger nodded over to Hector who shook his head, no, not looking up form the computer screen. Ranger took a deep breath before he exploded into movement, throwing the phone against the truck and then slamming his fist into the door breaking the skin. As fast as he moved, he stopped into stillness. His hand hanging on his side, blood dripping down onto the ground. His eyes closed, chest heaving. Tank walked over and waited for him to speak, just standing there in silent support.
Finally, Ranger heaved one last breath before looking over at Tank, "We have to find her."
Tank nodded, "We will." He said simply. "Lester and the team will be here in 3 minutes." Tank turned to Hector. "Where are we going to then?"
"Uno minuto." Hector said his fingers still racing over the keys.
Tank nodded and began pulling gear out of the back of the truck, handing Ranger a vest and more weapons out of the safe in the back. "Let's get ready then."
All but Hector turned when they heard more screeching of trucks pulling around the corner. The team was there and ready to go. Now they need to know where to go, so they turned to Hector who was still typing. After what felt like an eternity Hector shook his head cursing, the entire team held their breath. It was like time stood still, waiting for a direction to go, waiting for a person to go after, waiting to know if they would be able to help and save Stephanie again.
Finally, they saw Hector smile the smile that would make a mans blood run cold. He had found what he was looking for and death as coming the people that had taken Stephanie again. In unison every man's phone pinged with an address. Men ran back to trucks, piling in, tiers screeching as they raced down the street.
Ranger was at the wheel and Hector was next to him, still typing away as they rounded a corner and followed the dot on the GPS. She had been gone for almost an hour, they were not wasting any time getting to her. Men in both trucks were checking weapons, sliding extra clips of bullets into pockets, checking comms. When they pulled dup into an abandoned warehouse yard, they did so silently.
The men slid out of their trucks, forming a semi-circle to discuss who was going in which way. But as Ranger went to get out, Hector grabbed his arm halting him. He waited until Tank was out of the back seat and they were alone.
"What?" Ranger asked, knowing that for Hector to stop him now, it was important.
Hector looked conflicted, like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure if he should.
"Hector… what?" Ranger demanded again, eyes narrowed.
"Esptania. ….. Esptania un babe." Hector whispered.
Rangers eyes widened, "That was what she was going to tell me." He whispered.
"Si." Hector said. Then he finished in English, letting Ranger know his secret, "She was so excited to tell you tonight. But I think you should know, in case something happens when we go in."
Ranger nodded and went to get out of the truck, but turned back last minute and said, "I knew you fucking spoke English." Making Hector grin.
They walked over to the group of men waiting for instructions, "We go in hard and hot. Stephanie is priority. I will go in the front with Hector Hal and Cal. I want Tank, Lester and the rest of the men to come in through the back."
The men nodded getting ready to fall out when Ranger spoke out again, "Also so you are all aware. Stephine is pregnant, so she can not be hurt in anyway."
There was silence as the men took the information in before they began grinning and nodding, "We get to be uncles." They all said, then their grins turned evil and Lester said, "and they took her…. lets go hunting boys."
Then the men stormed the castle.