Hey, as usual, these are not my characters. Thanks for your patience and your encouraging support. This next chapter is once again told from varying POVs. Enjoy!

Cal's POV

We are all a little tired. Ever since most of the team headed down to D.C. and then Miami, we've been operating on a skeleton staff. When we're at full capacity, we always have 4 teams out on patrol. Right now, we have one. Similarly, at full staffing, there are two men manning the monitors on 4-hour shifts. Now, one man is working 8 hours in front of the monitors.

Luckily we only had one new install and Zip and Zero were able to handle that without incident, even though they were two men down. Binkie has done well at postponing any new customer installations and Brett has handled any customer enquiries or complaints well enough.

I've been on call 24 hours a day for the past week, but we've been lucky. We haven't had any attempted break-ins or faults with any customers, so my sleep hasn't been interrupted with emergency calls. This is good because I'm working 18 hour days just trying to keep the day-to-day paperwork under control.

Erik was working the front desk today and he just called to tell me that there is a delivery for Stephanie Plum that requires my signature. They wanted Stephanie to sign for it, but since she's not here, they need the 'man in charge' instead. I wondered what the delivery was while I took the steps two at a time from the 5th floor.

When I reached the lobby, it was to find a very awkward looking Erik and a very angry looking flower delivery man. The man was beside himself with anger at not being allowed inside. As soon as I walked in, Erik basically handed the irate man over to me. I looked at him and said, "I can take the delivery for Miss Plum. She is not here at the moment and since this is a secure building, you go inside. Where do I sign?"

The man huffed and pulled out a pad of paper, riffling through the pages. He found the order for this arrangement and handed me a pen and pad. I signed my name, thanked the man and waited for him to leave the building before I returned upstairs with the absolutely stunning arrangement. I looked over at Erik who said, "Was it just me or did that guy seem overly interested in getting inside this building?"

I shrugged and replied, "Maybe he takes his job too seriously. Either way, check out the delivery company and the flower company. I'm going to take these up to Steph's desk and take a photo for her so she can see the arrangement. She may not even be back in time to truly enjoy them."

I waved at Erik and took the flowers up to Stephanie's cubicle. I opened the card, snapped a photo with my phone and then stood back and took a picture of the whole arrangement. I sent both photos to Stephanie and returned to my teetering pile of paperwork

Tank's POV

Shit! We're now 30 minutes late for our rendezvous with the FBI and we're still at least 5 minutes away. Hal asked whether he should call and give them our new ETA, but I figured that they already knew we were running late, so 5 more minutes wouldn't make much of a difference.

I think we've travelled less than half a mile in the last 10 minutes. This is why I hate Miami. You can't get anywhere in downtown traffic in a timely manner. In fact, I have a love-hate relationship with Miami. I love the beaches and the hectic nature of the city, but I hate the crowding and traffic.

We were meeting the FBI contact at Southeast Park near the airport. We were exiting the Airport Expressway, so we were only minutes away from the rendezvous location. I looked ahead, searching for 9th Avenue. Something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye, and when I turned my head to look at the flash I had seen, I heard Hal say, "Holy Shit, good thing that that Bomber isn't anywhere near here. That looked like a car explosion."

Stephanie's POV

Ranger woke me up when we were about 5 miles away from the airport. He said he did this so that I had a few minutes to check my hair and makeup before we had to go through security, but I also think he did this because he likes to tease me when I first wake up.

"Babe, we're going to have to hurry if you want to make our plane. I need you to have your wits about you."

I rolled my eyes and said, "I'm not sure I have enough wits to keep them about me."

Ranger laughed and said, "You have some of the best instincts I've ever seen. You just need to always listen to them and trust them."

This time it was my turn to laugh. "Do you want me to listen to my instincts when they tell me to stay as far away from you as I can?"

Ranger was still grinning when he said, "Well, maybe you can ignore that one for right now. I'm sure that we can retrain your spidey sense when it comes to me."

I smiled and made one final check on my lip gloss. Everything was as good as it was going to get, so I closed the visor mirror and sat back as Ranger followed the signs to the rental car drop-off location. As soon as we returned the car, Ranger picked up both our bags and left me with my carry-on. He walked quickly and I had to almost jog to keep up. It was good that he was carrying my suitcase, because there is no way I'd have been able to keep up otherwise.

We checked in for our flight and made it through security with only moments to spare. Our gate was close to security, so we weren't late, but we were the last people to board. The first class flight attendant took our bags and helped us to our seats. Normally, I prefer the window seat, but since this was such a short flight, I let Ranger have the window.

As soon as we reached cruising altitude, Ranger pulled out his laptop and did some work. I however, leaned back in my chair and tried to sleep. I drifted in and out of sleep, having short and mixed up dreams while I slept. Each time I woke up, I knew I had been dreaming but I couldn't remember the topic of the dream. It was an odd feeling, like something was on the tip of my tongue but forgotten. Whatever I was dreaming, it was set my spidey senses alight.

The last time I woke, I must have jumped and startled myself awake. Ranger looked over and put his hand on my arm. "Are you OK Babe? Did you have a bad dream?"

I shrugged and said, "I don't know. I don't remember. Something is bothering me but I don't know what."

"Good thing it's almost time to land. You've got long enough to go to the bathroom before the seatbelt sign is turned back on."

I patted his hand on my arm and then got up to squeeze myself into the tiny cubicle. I used a bit of water to tame a few strands of hair. I also pulled touched up my makeup and lip gloss. I returned to my seat and tried to relax for the remainder of the flight.

Once on the ground, we met up with four FBI agents. Two drove with us to the detention facility and I didn't notice where the other two went. We were driving through D.C. when my phone beeped to let me know that I had a message. I looked down and saw that Cal had sent me two photos. One was of a beautiful flower arrangement and the second was of the message.

I looked at the second photo and read the message a few times before looking up at Ranger. "Did you send me flowers by chance?"

"No Babe. Why?"

"Cal sent me a photo of some flowers that were delivered to the RangeMan office. The card doesn't really indicate who sent them."

Ranger looked at me and said, "I'm sure whoever it was will come forward. Do you know any Nietzsche fans? That's one of his quotes. I have to go in and talk to the General. You can watch from in here. I'll have an earpiece so you can talk to me, but try to limit it to relevant information."

I hugged Ranger briefly and watched as he was let into the room next door. He sat down at the table and looked down at his phone. He frowned when he saw it ring, but he hung up without answering, sending the caller to voice mail.

I looked down at the photo on my phone and wondered what it meant. It said,

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

My attention was dragged back to the interrogation room when the door opened and the General was brought in. I had seen photos of the man in uniform, but the man sitting in the next room was a shadow of his former self. He looked pitiful. As soon as he saw Ranger he started babbling his apologies about getting involved in this whole thing. He stopped immediately when Ranger held up his hand.

"I don't want to hear your apologies General. I want to know more about your wife. How did she meet you? How did she know I was the one who killed her husband? How did she convince you to go along with this plan? That's what I need from you."

The General looked down at his hands and started talking. "I met Gina just over three years ago. She was young, beautiful, and she really seemed to like me."

Ranger held up his hand again and asked, "When you first met, was she aware that you were in charge of black ops missions for our government?"

The General nodded and said, "She was at a party where a lot of high-level operatives and handlers were in attendance. I have no idea how she knew about the party or how she got an invitation, but she asked a lot of questions that implied she knew what we were doing. She never once slipped up and I didn't even question her right to be there. She flirted with me and then called me a few days after the party to ask me for coffee. We met a few times for coffee and drinks, and one night, she came home with me. We had a great time together and I asked her to be my wife a few weeks later.

"My daughter Patricia wasn't too pleased. Gina was actually 6 months younger than my daughter and Patricia thought that Gina was just after my money. I assured Patricia that Gina had her own money and we went ahead with a discreet ceremony shortly after our engagement.

"Gina never went overboard spending my money. She was a great hostess when we had guests and she was a very attentive wife. She never said or did anything to make me suspicious of her actions or for marrying me in the first place. I was a lonely man, ever since my poor Emma died 9 years ago. I was grateful for a second chance at happiness."

Ranger's POV

I sat and listened to the General's description of meeting and courting his current wife. I can understand how he fell under her spell, but I don't understand how she knew to target him in the first place. Maybe he said something to her and that's how she paid him special attention. I did pity the General, but I had to know one thing.

"Did your wife and you ever discuss the mission in Columbia where Enrique Escobar was killed?"

The General shook his head and said, "I never really talked about work with Gina. In fact, the only time I ever discussed missions in her presence was during that awards ceremony when we were first engaged. We didn't talk about specifics, but maybe she put two and two together."

I nodded and said, "I think you are right. She would have recognised Santos. They spent a lot of time together down in Colombia. Since she altered her appearance, he didn't recognise her. We did talk about the Colombian mission and someone even said that I ended the mission myself. We didn't come right out and say that I killed Escobar, but I suppose it was clear enough."

The General crossed his hands and said, "I'm really sorry Ranger. I had no idea who she was. When she sent me photos of my Patricia with a target on her head, I had no choice but to go along with her and West. I did everything I could. I knew George would enquire about your official charges so I made it a point to forget to file them. As soon as West found that out, he moved forward and kidnapped my daughter. I don't even know if she's OK."

I looked at the pain in the General's eyes and said, "Patricia is fine. When the police went to check on her, Gina was there. They were able to arrest her and get your daughter to safety."

"Thank God. Nobody would let me make a phone call here. They wouldn't even check for me or let me read the newspaper. I've been completely in the dark."

I wasn't very happy with the General, but I did sympathise with him. He only did what he did because he was afraid for his daughter. I suppose I could relate. I'm not sure I'd have done everything the same way if I was put in the same position, but I do have a few more resources at my finger tips.

I decided at that moment that I would do what I could to ensure that the General wasn't punished too severely. In fact, I was going to recommend that they drop the charges altogether, but request his retirement instead. Before I shared that information with anyone, I decided to placate the General and fill him in on the developments of the case.

"General, your wife has been taken into custody, and based on her actions when she was arrested, she won't be seeing freedom for a long time. Her accomplice was Tim West. He too has been taken into custody down in Florida. Unfortunately, West and Gina thought it would be funny to include my ex-wife in this little charade. She has also been arrested for her part in this fiasco."

The guard came in to tell us that our time was up. I looked at the General and said, "I will talk to the prosecutor on your behalf. I can't promise anything, but I will explain that you were under duress."

"Thanks Ranger, but you don't have to do that."

"I know Sir, but I want to help."

The General was led out of the room and I returned to where Stephanie was waiting. As soon as I saw her, I pulled her into a hug. She looked up at me and smiled, calming me so I was able to face my next interview.

Stephanie's POV

I watched Ranger return to the interrogation room after they brought in Gina Matthews. Or should I call her Paula Escobar? I don't know. Gina just seems easier for me right now, so that's what I'll call her. She sneered at Ranger when we walked in and said something in Spanish. I didn't understand it all, but based on a few words I did recognise, she wasn't talking about the weather.

For my sake I think, Ranger directed his questions to Gina in English. Playing along, Gina replied in the same language. Ranger sat there staring at the woman across from him for a few minutes. He then asked, "How did you know to get involved with the General in order to get to me?"

Gina smiled a wicked smile and said, "You probably won't believe me, but I didn't target the General. I genuinely liked the man. He was wealthy enough that I could maintain a certain lifestyle, and he was so busy with his work that he wouldn't annoy me too much. The funny thing is that I actually grew to like him."

I watched the woman speak to Ranger and it was clear to me that up until this point, she was telling the truth. She met and married the General and it wasn't under false pretences as originally assumed. The only thing that was not genuine was her name. I had a sudden thought and conveyed my idea to Ranger.

"Mrs. Matthews, can you tell me why you had plastic surgery? I mean, you had it even before you left Colombia. Why was that?"

Gina dropped her glare momentarily and let her fear show. I watched her try to regain her composure. "I had the surgery for two reasons. The first was that I wasn't happy with my appearance. The second was because I knew that my husband would one day find himself in trouble. I wanted to look different so that I was not easily identifiable as his wife. That way, if I ever needed to start over, I wouldn't be associated with a criminal."

Ranger seemed confused, but he maintained his blank face. I doubt Gina noticed this because she didn't seem annoyed when Ranger asked his next questions. "Were you planning on leaving Enrique? Is that why you had your surgery?"

Gina smiled and said, "I was, but you interrupted my plans before I was able to get things set up. If it wasn't for your involvement, I'd have gotten away. As soon as I found out that it was you that ruined my plans, I vowed to make you pay."

Ranger stared at Gina and asked, "What difference did it make? He was dead and out of your life?"

"They took all our money. I was left with nothing. Do you know how hard that is? I was married to a man that was hated by our whole community. Nobody would help me and that's when I learned a very important lesson."

Ranger smiled and said, "That doesn't really explain why you went after me."

Gina scowled at Ranger and said, "You ruined my life. I recognised Lester at a party I went to with the General. It wasn't until that night that I knew who killed Enrique. I vowed at that time to ruin your life in the same way. I will ruin your business and make you a pauper just like you did to me."

Ranger laughed and said, "How did you plan to ruin my business? Even if I was killed, my business would go on."

Now it was Gina's turn to laugh. She looked at Ranger, grinned and said, "It's not too late Ranger. Just because I'm locked up doesn't mean that I can't wreak my own style of havoc on you and destroy your business. He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."

As soon as Gina said that phrase, my spidey senses went berserk. Ranger noted the phrase as well because he stood up and left the room. Before he even got to me, a realisation hit me and I wasted no time in dialling the phone.

The next chapter will be posted at some point over the weekend. I can't guarantee any kind of schedule at this time. Thanks for reading and leave me feedback if you want.