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Betrayal
Chapter 5
Stephanie´s PoV
October 14, 2011 0616 hours
Trenton, NJ
I closed my eye for a moment under the onslaught of feelings. The look in Rangers eyes will hunt me for years to come. Shoving Stephanie Plum Bounty Hunter resolutely away, that will be dealt with later. Stephanie Plum FBI Special Agent was in charge now, and there is a job to get done.
I squared my shoulders and addressed Johnson to my right.
"Give them the antidote."
Meeting Bobby´s eyes I explained.
"They were taken out with a new sedative called `Daze` 1. The antidote consists mainly of ephedrine and epinephrine; they should be up and about in two to three minutes with no aftereffects, not even a headache."
While we waited for them to come around, I forced myself not to quiver under the hateful stares of the people I called friends not 20 minutes ago.
Groaning Binkie, Hal, Ram, Zero, Bones, Zip, Manny, Slick and Junior woke up and were helped on their knees by my men. And once again I watch as understanding dawned in the eyes of loved ones. Turning them from confusion, to surprise, to comprehension, to denial, to realization, to hurt, to disgust and finally to hate.
I´ve earned every single look.
My focus went back to Ranger and the core team.
"Messrs. Manoso, Dupree, Santos and Brown you are under arrest for various offences against the RICO ACT.
The rest of you is arrested on suspicion of complicity and conspiracy."
I saw a short flicker of confusion in Rangers eyes before his blank face slammed down leaving nothing but black holes.
I read them their rights.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"
"Yes" every one of them responded. And I´m pretty sure that will be the last word they spoke to me.
I turned and left.
~~~~~oooo~~~~~
Ranger´s PoV
October 14, 2011 0800 hours
Somewhere between Trenton, NJ and Quantico, VA
We were sitting in a plane and I still try to warp my head around what the hell happened.
We were arrested. Under the RICO ACT no less and on top of that we were arrested by the woman I love, who apparently is a FBI Agent.
RICO ACT! Organized crime!
I feel like I stepped in the Twilight Zone.
I made a mistake in my youth yes and I have atoned for it.
I joined the Army and I became the best of the best.
I fought for my country and for freedom.
And yes I killed. I´m a soldier damnit, it is what we do to protect the innocent. And yes I killed as a civilian too, but always in either self-defense or in defense of a third party. Never did I take a life for some petty reasons. Never did I killed someone when it wasn´t sanctioned just because I thought the world would be better off without them.
I am not that arrogant.
I´m a businessman, a security expert I protect people for heaven's sake. My business is a 110 percent clean. We follow the protocol to the letter; ask my men, I´m absolutely anal about it. Not once was a case declared mistrial when RangeMan was involved. Every car, every weapon, every little piece of equipment down to a paper clip is obtained legally. As are our actions, they are always coordinated with the local police station or whichever ABC agency we might come across. Our apprehensions were always recorded on audio and video. It´s not common knowledge and I would like to keep it that way; after all we have a reputation to uphold in the shadier parts of town. Never was a complaint filed against RangeMan. Not even some province cop shop can claim such a record.
O.K sure sometimes we operate in the grayer areas of law to obtain information but always, always for what´s good and right.
Never ever have we crossed the fine line between good and bad.
And now we are arrested….I can´t warp my head around it.
But the worst is my Babe…
Here I thought I knew her. Hell I could read her like an open book. She wears her heart on her sleeve for everyone to see. She breezed into my life, hell all our lives and broke down the walls we build around us without even trying, or so I thought. She played me, she played us; like a fucking violin she played us and we were happily dancing to her tune. I trusted her not only with my life but with my heart and soul.
I sacrificed my life, my family, my daughter, my love to protect those who can´t protect themselves; and I should participate in organized crime. Did she not know me at all?
Tomorrow my government contract will expire and I wanted to give her our someday finally. I gave her my heart and she ripped it into pieces.
I had to bit my lip until blood flowed to keep the tears at bay.
After we landed they drove us to a none described brick house in an area I know well. We are in Quantico.
They escorted Tank, Bobby, Lester and I into a gray painted room with no windows not even the obligatory mirror was there. In the middle stood a table with four chairs and a camera hung above the door. Puzzled why they didn´t separate us we stood at the opposite wall facing the door and waited.
About half an hour later the door opened and Plum and her goons came in.
"Mr. Dupree, would you please follow us?" White burning rage flared in me and I wanted nothing more than to shove her polite words back down her throat.
Shoving my hate ruthless aside I nodded to Tank.
Time for revenge will come.
Soon.
An hour later a man came in carrying a tray with coffee, bottles of water and sandwiches, setting it on top of the table. He relieved us of our shackles and told us to knock if we had to use the bathroom.
We didn´t react.
We stood stoic for hours. If they think they can wear us down with this little waiting game they better think again. All of us were captured and interrogated by the enemy at one point or another and nobody broke. Contrary to their methods this is a walk in the park.
The door opened again and in came Plum with a fresh tray of coffee.
~~~~~oooo~~~~~
1) "Daze" exists solely in my imagination.