A/N: This Chapter is for babe4ever52.
A big Thank You to all of you!
Love raven
Betrayal
Chapter 9
Ranger´s PoV
October 30, 2011 2100 hours
Trenton, NJ
A fortnight has gone by and I still know as much as before. Which is essentially nothing. This is driving me up the wall. Not just me, all of RangeMan. The tension is at an all-time high and the trust in each other is slowly but surely crumbling. All because of Her. She wiggled her way into our lives, earned our trust and respect and then she stabbed us in the back with a rusty knife, that has left a rift and I´m not sure will ever mend.
Santos still thinks there is more to this story than meets the eye and I agree but that doesn´t change the fact that She had betrayed us. Her name became a taboo at RangeMan and Santos had jokingly named her She-who-must-not-be-named. Fucking Jester.
Now I´m sitting in my dark apartment, nursing a glass of 125 years old Scottish whisky, thinking about the last 16 days and what else I could do.
After She told us we were free to go we practically flew out of the room. We… I didn´t want to hear her petty excuses, now I wish I had, then I would at least know why ten RangeMan never made it back.
The Feds flew us back home and seeing that I didn´t know any of the suits who accompanied us, I didn´t asked why five of my men weren´t on the plane, I don´t trust any of them. My gut told me that this thing was bigger as it seems. I was and still am willing to bet everything I own on that. So I decided to seek for answers at other places. And I will get them.
So far I wasn´t very successful.
I ran into the first wall when we landed at the McGuire Air Force Base. This wall was named Major General Joseph Hamilton my handler before he took over thepost of the Director of USACIDC. What the hell.
He debriefed me of the occurrences in Atlanta, Boston and Miami. Not only were all offices simultaneously and in the same fashion attacked; yes we see it as attack, but there were also a total of 58 secondary targets apprehended in those cities at the same time.
There were no casualties, just two minor injuries on the "good side". Only seven killed and one suicide on the secondary targets.
The SWAT Teams were primary armed with those fast acting tranquillizers, and ordered to shot with live bullets only as last resort. He didn´t say it but I know this whole operation was Her doing.
Reluctantly I have to admit that She made a fantastic job spying me out, learning from me and turning my skills against me. Maybe she even did a better one. I did a lot of black ops and regardless of how accurate the intel was and how thoroughly we planned always and I mean always there was something you couldn´t plan for; even if it was something small like a change of weather. And more often than not we had causalities. Granted most of those causalities were minor, like flesh wounds, a bystander who was sucked in by the target and some things like that. And never had I have to go against such a large number of targets especially such lethal targets without a big mess of dead bodies. I am one of the best and in twelve years of Special Forces I have only lost two men but what She did went far beyond what I thought was possible. And yet She did it.
And it turns me on.
FUUUCCCCKKKKK
I hurled the glass of scotch against the wall. And the bottle straight after. Still no satisfaction. So I grabbed the next best thing, a plate with sandwiches from Ella, and it crashed right into the flat screen. That's better.
That stupid bitch.
I want to warp my hands around her creamy throat and strangle her, right after I kissed her senseless. I can´t help myself, despite all she had done a part of me still loves her and is damn proud of what she had accomplished. I sank to my knees and a tear ran down my cheek.
After what seemed like eternity I picked myself up from the floor and began to clean up the mess I made. During this mundane task I let my mind wander back to the last days.
Hamilton informed me that additionally to the five men in Trenton, three men from Miami and two from Boston were kept in custody and the rest was already released. RangeMan Atlanta missed no one.
Then he ordered me not to inquire any further about the whereabouts of those men who didn´t came back. He told me, and I quote `These men are no longer your concern.`
Matter closed. Well if he thinks I´m content with that answer he better thinks again.
He also told me that the CID took over the day-to-day business of all offices as a personal favor and I would find everything in perfect order minus the things the Feds confiscated. And he gave me his word that all surveillance devices, Trojans and spying programs were removed.
I gave shit on his word and had all buildings searched from top to bottom, twice. Something I still have to apologize for because he stayed true to his word. Not only did we find nothing but the CID Agents did an exceptional good job. Everything was in perfect order, if I didn´t know it better I would swear that the work was done by my own man.
I ran into the next wall the next day. I had to go to the Pentagon because I was discharged from my government contract with all honors. While I was there I tried to discreetly inquire about what happened yesterday. Even the Pentagon has a grapevine and I have friends. But not only did nobody seem to know anything, I was soon ordered to the office of the Chief of Staff of the Army. General Laurie informed me that my inquiries are a waste of time and that I wouldn´t find the answers I seek here. In other word stop questioning or there will be consequences.
On my way back to Trenton my mother called and told me that my cousin Juan was arrested yesterday morning by the Newark PD and was never heard of again. When Constance, his wife, and McCormick, their lawyer, went to the station they were told that Juan was now in custody of the Homeland Security and they couldn´t help them. McCormick too ran into walls after that.
Sunday was spent consoling my family and brainstorming with my staff in Trenton, Boston, Atlanta and Miami, determining a course of action.
Contract workers were called in to cover the day-to-day business, FTA´s were brought in by a skeleton crew and the rest turned every stone. Every informant was questioned no matter the cost, every contact, friend, associates; we did everything imaginable.
Money was thrown, threats were made, secretaries were charmed, favors were asked and debts were cashed in but to no avail. Word on the streets was that some minions were busted but none of the big shots. The PD´s claimed no knowledge of the whereabouts of said minions. And the ABC agencies, DA`s and the military closed ranks and said nothing at all.
Even the Families are clueless.
The only thing we discovered were that Morelli had been requested for an undercover assignment by the FBI for an undefined length of time.
Coincident? I don´t think so.
And it seems that the attack on RangeMan wasn´t common knowledge. Not that I´m ungrateful for that but it was odd.
Lula told me she was taken into protective custody by request of Special Agent Plum and released around noon. Let me tell you, that woman goes straight into rhino mode as soon as Her name is mentioned.
Not that I'm any different. I can´t stand to even think about Her without feeling like my heart is ripped out of my chest. But I have to think about Her because it seems like she is our only option to get answers.
Problem is we can´t find her. It was the same all over again. Nobody heard from her, saw her, nobody knows anything. All of her trackers went offline on Friday at 0800 hours. She didn´t use her credit card or her phone. Not that I expected it but you never know; everyone makes mistakes. I had the phones of all her friends and family bugged, but she never called. I even spoke with her parents and grandma but they too haven´t heard from her.
Yesterday I went to Randy Briggs and hired him to hack into her FBI file (I know that´s more than just gray but I´m becoming desperate) but she has none. At least none we had access to.
The ringing of my cell interrupted my musing.
The control- room.
"Talk" I barked.
"We have her."