A/N: To answer a question that came up Betrayal is set In-Canon (with maybe minor changes) til Book 16, so Ranger and Steph are not a couple.
Thank you all for reading and reviewing. Keep it up please.
Betrayal
Chapter 4
Stephanie´s PoV
October 14, 2011 0609 hours
Trenton, NJ
The takedown at Haywood went smoothly. No deaths no injured. 9 men were taken out with tranquillizer darts.
On my command Team Blue cut off the power for a 5 mile radius around Haywood and Team Red shut down all cell towers in and around Trenton.
Thanks to me the emergency generator won´t start, leaving Haywood completely defenseless. Normally it was set up to start within 30 seconds in case of a blackout and running Emergency protocol 1.
In that case Haywood would go in lockdown modus, leaving the inner doors accessible only with thumbprint and all outer-doors completely inaccessible until the Master code was entered on Rangers computer.
I watched the monitors as my men moved in.
Team Alfa took out Ram and Zero as they stepped out of the stairwell to guard the gate to the garage.
Teams Bravo and Charlie took out Binkie at the desk and Hal, Bones, Manny and Zip as they came down to guard the front and the back entrance.
Team India took out Junior and Slick on the roof before the helicopter even touched the ground.
The men were cuffed and my Teams moved in to secure all floors.
My heart broke little by little with every man who was taken down.
Floors 1,2,3,4, and 7 were empty as expected and Team India was already on their way to backup Team Foxtrot on the fifth floor. Team Golf secured Ella and Louis and were met with no resistance.
Thank Fuck.
I was pleased to see that Team Golf followed my orders to the dot and cuffed them loosely.
But that didn´t stopped my heart from breaking.
I watched as Foxtrot threw the stun grenades and them and India moving into the control- room.
I heard them yelling in my ear.
"FREEZE"
"FBI"
"You are under arrest. Drop your weapons. Get on your knees, hands on your head."
Fear gripped me as neither Ranger nor his men moved.
I prayed to whatever deity who was willing to listen to let them obey.
"FBI"
"Guns down. NOW"
I watched as Ranger went over a million possible outcomes in his head in a nanosecond until he finally relented.
"Do it. Full cooperation."
"Yes, sir"
A bitter laugh escaped me. I know what "full cooperation" meant.
It meant they allow us to arrest them without getting killed in the process.
Oh I have no illusions of their capabilities and ours.
Hell Ranger knows thirty ways to kill you with his pinkie finger.
His left one.
Even with all the firepower and being trained by Ranger himself my money would be on RangeMan if it comes to an open fight.
But "full cooperation" also meant we won´t get a word out of them except one: Lawyer.
I watched RangeMan being disarmed and cuffed.
And my heart broke and broke and broke.
My partner who is in charge for the secondary targets radioed in.
"All targets arrested. Locations secured."
"Status"
"Two dead targets. No injured. Nothing on our side."
"Good." Another reason to strike at daybreak: minimal damage.
"We are going to search the areas now and collect evidence."
"Tell Team Yellow to bring Lula her neon green spandex dress and her silver Via Spiga´s and her make-up."
"Copy that"
"Thanks"
"You in yet?"
"One my way"
"Steph I´m…"
"Don´t Joe. Just don´t."
"10-4"
I stopped in front of the door that leads to fifth floor. I gathered every ounce of strength I possessed, nodding to my partners Johnson and Brady, who flanked me and went in. I was met with a circle of Men in Black. A perverted parody of the people I came to love. Yes life is a bitch and then it has kids. I gave a whispered command and two of the men moved.
My Men and Woman in Black kneeled in front of me disarmed and shackled but still proud, head held high.
Beaten for now but not broken.
Until they understood who stood before them.
Who exactly was responsible for their arrest.
I saw them crumple before my eyes.
My heart shattered.
All of that and more I saw out of the corner of my eyes. My focus was solely on the man in front of me.
I willed myself to watch the surprise and disbelieve and hurt and anger and betrayal in his eyes. It´s the least I could do. I might be a traitor but I`m not a coward.
"Babe"
My heart and soul was ripped in pieces.