Thanks for all of your patience and reviews. Enjoy what I've done with the characters that belong to JE.

Carlos' POV

I sat on hold for about 15 minutes waiting for Saunders. When he finally got on the phone, he seemed annoyed that we were unable to confidently identify the person responsible for everything. I did tell him about Henry Paradis, but he assured me that he had already been cleared. There was nothing in his record or background that gave them a warning flag.

I was getting annoyed. "Why did you contract RangeMan to run these searches if you are doing your own? My two employees have turned up something about Paradis that concerns me. Paradis was off the grid for 5 years. Where was he during that time? We have no access to the databases that contain international travel. You do. Have you checked this already?"

Saunders was silent for a few minutes and then put me on hold. Ten minutes later, he came back on the phone and confirmed that "There is no record of Paradis leaving the US or entering any other country. We have no record of what he did or where he was during this time. We can look into this further if you've run into a dead end."

I confirmed that we had hit a brick wall so there was nothing we could due to further the search. Saunders agreed to take it back and I told him that we'd send our report by the end of the day tomorrow. I was just about to say goodbye when Saunders sighed and said, "Captain, I have some unfortunate news for you."

"Explain."

"Somehow, during the night, Rachel Martine went missing."

"What do you mean she's missing?"

"She was present during the bed check last night, but when they did a check this morning, she wasn't there."

"Has she had any visitors?"

"No, she's not allowed visitors. She's in an isolated wing and has no access to anything like a phone or a computer. The Warden says that there is nothing on the security footage to show her disappearance. They are currently doing a thorough search of the prison to ensure that she isn't hiding. The search is still in progress."

"How on earth can they have no surveillance footage? This doesn't make sense."

I heard a noise behind me and whipped around. I had to ask Saunders to repeat himself and waved at Steph to sit down. "I'm sorry Captain. At this time, we don't know if this was abduction, an escape, or something more sinister. I expect a full report from the prison Warden later this afternoon. I can call you with an update."

I was pissed. I was more than pissed. I think my mood was adequately passed through the phone with my next comment. "See that you contact me when you have answers from the Warden. If they can't find any, I'd like to have my men from Miami to take a look at things. They may be able to find something useful."

Saunders flinched a bit and said, "I'll call you later with an update, even if it's not good news. I should have called you as soon as I found out, but I was hoping that she was just hiding somewhere and would turn up. I'm sorry Captain. If the Warden is unable to turn up anything useful, I'll get your men access right away."

I refused to thank him for his late concern or his eventual agreement to let me know what was going on. As a result, I just said, "See that you do that," and hung up. I took a deep breath and turned to look at my Babe.

"Carlos, what's wrong?"

"Rachel seems to have gone missing. They don't know if it was voluntary or by force. They don't seem to have any information at all."

"Oh no. What do we tell Ron and the kids?"

"I don't know Babe. We have no answers, but we need to at least tell Ron that Rachel might be out there. This doesn't really make sense, but if she convinced someone to help her, she could be out there looking for her kids. Ron needs to know. He can decide whether or not to tell the kids."

"OK Carlos. I'll let you talk to Ron later tonight when we go to pick up the kids. He may decide to forgo his trip to Boston as a result. We need to give him time to process this, but still assure him that no matter what he decides, we'll keep his kids safe. Come on Carlos, you need something to eat. After lunch, we can get ready and head into town. I know you'll probably want to check everything out before the event begins."

I smiled at my Babe. "You're right Babe. I'm hungry and I'd like to look things over at Pino's before people start to trickle in. Why don't you go have your shower now and I'll be up in a bit to have my own shower and get ready to go."

My Babe smiled, gave me a quick kiss and then headed upstairs. I walked out into the kitchen to find the guys packing up stuff from lunch. I rescued a burger and some salad and sat at the table to eat. After I was finished, the kitchen was clean and everything was put away. Tank narrowed my eyes at me and asked, "What's wrong Ranger?"

I looked at Tank and said, "Rachel seems to have gone missing from inside an isolated wing in a secure prison. Nobody knows how she was moved or if it was voluntary or not. I'm going to have to tell Ron this evening and I'm not looking forward to that. If Rachel is out, she'll be looking for her kids. It could turn ugly."

Tank agreed and made a call to the guys who were currently assigned to Ron and family to keep a look out for Rachel. They were also told to say nothing about Rachel to Ron or the kids. I would talk to Ron later tonight and let him decide what he wants to do.

Lester and Fiona headed back to Trenton while my Babe was upstairs having a shower. Lester needed to meet up with Vince to find out if he could stay at his house. Vince already agreed for Lester to stay there, but adding Fiona might cause a bit of an issue. If Vince wasn't agreeable, Lester was going to try and find something else short term.

Tank and Lula also headed home. They wanted to change before the recruitment event that night. I bid them farewell and then headed upstairs myself. Steph was just coming out of the bathroom when I opened our bedroom door. She was dressed in a nice flattering business suit that I guess she bought in D.C. when she and Julie went shopping.

"Wow Babe, you look great."

"Thanks. I'm all done in the bathroom. I'll be in the other rooms getting things ready for the kids."

It was getting late and we needed to get going shortly. I had a quick shower and wore some of the clothes that Stephanie bought for me in D.C. I pulled on a pair of black dress pants and black leather shoes. I looked through the shirts she bought and picked a cream one. I quickly buttoned it up and went looking for my Babe.

"Are you ready to go Carlos?"

I nodded and made sure I had everything I needed for the evening. Stephanie grabbed her handbag and we started our journey to Trenton. Once we were on the highway, Steph looked at me and asked, "What do you think happened with Rachel? Do you think she escaped or was abducted?"

"I'm not sure Babe. Part of me thinks it is odd that she is nowhere to be found. All of the other people involved so far have been eliminated and found."

Babe and I sat in silence for the rest of the journey into Trenton. I had plenty of things running through my head. I was thinking about the recruitment event. I was thinking about Rachel's disappearance. I was thinking about Julie and Emma and Diego. I was thinking about introducing my Babe to my family. In other words, my mind was going a mile a minute and I didn't know what to do about any of it.

Well, that's not true. I knew what to do about introducing Stephanie to my family. I just had to show up and make sure that they treated her with respect. I also knew what to do about recruiting consultants for RangeMan. In reality, Tank was going to do most of the work. I just had to show up and put a face on the event. I am the CEO of RangeMan and this sort of thing kind of needs my presence.

Ram's POV

I arrived at Pino's one hour before our event was due to begin. I wanted to use this time to make sure that everything we asked for was prepared and ready. I helped some of the staff rearrange the tables in the section we had reserved. I also double-checked the food and drinks order and had everything set and ready to go with 20 minutes to spare. The cook also agreed to keep the pizzas coming if we ran out quicker than expected.

I was looking around, feeling relaxed and ready for what was to come that evening. That is until I watched Ranger and Stephanie walk into the bar. Ranger looked somewhat preoccupied and Stephanie looked nervous. She kept looking around the room as if she expected to see someone.

Ranger saw me standing in our area and walked over. "Ram, is everything all set up for tonight?"

I nodded and said, "Yes. I have double-checked the food and drink orders. The tables are all arranged as Tank instructed. The leaflets are printed and scattered along the various tables." I handed him a leaflet and he looked it over. He nodded it and put it back on the table to his side and said, "It looks good in here."

He pointed to the banner that was on the front table and asked, "Did you do that?"

I nodded and said, "Vince and I had that printed up. If you don't like it, we can take it down before people arrive."

"No, don't do that. I like it and I think we should see if we could hand it from the ceiling."

I nodded and said, "I'll go talk to the staff and see if they have anything we can use to hand that up."

I walked over to one of the servers and asked her if they had any way of hanging a banner from the ceiling. She looked at me like I was going to rip her limb from limb, but then I smiled. I guess that relaxed her a little because she was able to speak and explain that there were hoops for wires hanging from the ceiling at regular intervals and they had hooks we could use. She went off to find the hooks and wires. When she returned, she looked a little less afraid of me and she even smiled at me when she handed me the container of hooks and wires.

I walked back to Ranger and we each climbed on a table and hung up the RangeMan banner over our reserved section. Stephanie helped us get it straight and we climbed down just as several RangeMan employees arrived. Tank and Lula, Lester and Fiona, Hal, Bobby, Zip, Zero, Manny and Vince all walked in wearing their typical RangeMan uniform.

Ranger's POV

I looked around at my men and smiled. "I'm glad you could all make it tonight. Please enjoy the food and drink and try to answer any questions that you are asked by any potential consultants. Most questions should be addressed in the pamphlet, but if there is something else that you can't answer, please ask one of the core team. Have fun tonight gentlemen. You've all worked your ass off recently and you deserve some R&R. Just don't go too crazy tonight. This is after all, an attempt to recruit some more men so you guys don't have to work such long hours."

There was a short round of applause and the guys gathered around the tables as the waiters and waitresses brought out pitchers of beer, soft drinks and glasses. I looked around and watched my men relax and start to have a good time. I wanted to join them, but I wasn't cleared to drink alcohol and I wanted to stay alert. I decided to let my men relax tonight and I'd stay alert and keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

The first group of cops to arrive didn't surprise me at all. Joe Morelli was first in, quickly followed by Eddie Gazzara, Big Dog, Carl Costanza and Robin Russell. Everyone made them feel welcome and I was just about to go and shake their hands when my phone rang. Normally, I would ignore it in a situation like this, but I saw that it was Agent Saunders so I wanted to take the call. I quickly walked to a quiet corner and answered the phone.

"Captain, I have some news about Mrs. Martine. We are not positive, but we think that she might have been killed and disposed of in the prison waste incinerator. Somebody accessed the incinerator without authorisation during the night. We have no record of who that was or what was burned. There were some human remains found in the oven and we've sent to the lab for DNA testing. The tests will take a few days, and until then, we're assuming that the victim was Mrs. Martine."

"That doesn't make sense. All other people involved in this plot have been killed and left to be found. Why would they bother burning Rachel after killing her?"

"We're assuming that there was something on Mrs. Martine's body that might lead to her killer. I am sorry Captain. We are looking at everyone who went in and out of that prison, but since the surveillance videos were bypassed, it's possible that the perpetrator has already expertly covered his or her tracks. We will contact you if we find anything out."

I heard Saunders take a deep breath and ask, "Do you want to inform Mr. Martine? Or should we send somebody out?"

"No, I'll do it. Ron deserves to hear this from a friend. Can I send some of my men from RangeMan out to help with the investigation? We have our own forensics expert as well as a surveillance expert."

Saunders agreed and I quickly called the Miami office and arranged for two men to get to the prison. I got off the phone and was a bit overwhelmed. It wasn't necessarily grief I was feeling. It was shock, anger, regret and sympathy for Ron, Julie, Emma and Diego. They would all be devastated by this news. I knew I couldn't hide in the corner all evenings so I looked around and recognised lots of cops. My eyes sought out my Babe. I found her on the far side of the room talking to her father. I walked over and shook hands with Frank. "Thanks for coming Frank. Your support means a lot to me and the rest of RangeMan."

"I'm not just here for support son. I want to help out in other ways. I realise I'm a bit rusty, but I can still do office-based things or surveillance."

"We'd be lucky to have you Frank. Just take one of the packets and fill in the forms and then we can set up the tests."

After kissing Babe on the cheek, Frank nodded and then went to join a few of his friends. "What's wrong Ranger?"

I raised my eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes. "It's a RangeMan event. I'm going to call you Ranger at work, remember?"

This time I nodded. I pulled my Babe aside and said, "I just heard from Agent Saunders. He says that the incinerator at Rachel's prison was used without authorisation during the night. They think that Rachel was killed and disposed of there. They found a few pieces of human remains and they are doing some DNA tests to confirm the identity of the body."

My Babe visibly paled. She stood there for a few minutes, just breathing in and out at regular intervals. She was trying to calm herself. After a few minutes, she said, "Oh no, those poor kids. This is going to break their hearts."

I pulled my Babe into a hug and said, "I know. We will tell Ron tonight and then he can decide when to tell the kids. He may decide that he wants to stay in town instead of going to Boston. I just wanted to give you the head's up just in case the kids don't come home with us tonight."

"Thanks for telling me. I will try not to let it affect my mood tonight. This is a RangeMan event and we need to keep alert. Let's go and mingle Ranger."

I smiled at my Babe. Of course she would help me find the motivation to keep moving forward. I needed to push Rachel's death to the back of my mind and focus on RangeMan. I mingled, I talked to men and women who had questions and I gave them answers. The answers weren't always what they wanted to hear, but it was the truth and that's what mattered.

I had to break it Granma Mazur that she could not work for RangeMan. I explained that I would not get insurance for her, but that didn't worry her. I finally had to say, "I'm sorry Edna, RangeMan work is just too dangerous and physical for you at your age. I couldn't bear to see you hurt, so I'm going to have to say no. You can't work for RangeMan."

This little old woman came and stood toe-to-toe with me and said, "You really do have balls, don't you? Most people would lie or try and talk me out of doing something they don't think I could do. You just came right out and said that I'm not capable at my age. I admire that Carlos."

I smiled at her and said, "I'm glad you understand my position. If you really want to help, we can find something that isn't so dangerous. Perhaps you can do some baking or help out in other ways."

Edna smiled up at me, patted me on the arm and said, "I'd like that. Just let me know what you need and I'll be there."

Edna went to join several other elderly people who had all been turned down as contractors. I began to think about other ways to get their help. Perhaps a senior's event or a pseudo neighbourhood watch. I know that they already keep an eye out, but if they did it in an organised fashion and knew what to look for, they could be very effective. I took a note to revisit that thought later and went to find my Babe.

When my arms were happily around my Babe, I looked around the room and called everyone's attention. As soon as things quieted down a bit I said, "Thanks for coming tonight and showing your support for RangeMan. I hope everyone has had enough food and drink."

There were several cheers at this so I went on. "One of the results of our troubles at RangeMan was an influx of requests for security systems from private home owners. RangeMan doesn't typically handle this sort of request, but we've decided to branch out and provide self installed security systems for the home. These would still be the same top-of-the-line kits that we use for our corporate customers, but since we don't install them, they would be far more affordable for the average home owner.

"Because of this, we at RangeMan have decided to trial 4 levels of security. The basic system is for a person who lives alone and doesn't want to leave their house or belongings completely unprotected. The second level is for a couple or a single person with a pet that is home during the day. The third level is for a small family and the fourth level is for a larger family with pets.

"We will put together 4 kits that we want to trial. As a result, if you fit into one of these 4 categories and want to volunteer to test the RangeMan installation kit, please let us know by filling in one of these forms. We will randomly draw one person for each of the four categories and you will receive your kit free of charge. We just ask that you thoroughly test the installation instructions, usage instructions and then provide your feedback. If you feel that none of these fits your lifestyle, tell us about your requirements on this same form. If necessary, we'll expand the levels.

"I want to wish you well tonight and thank you all for coming. Those of you who have volunteered, we'll be in touch. Those of you who are unable to volunteer because of circumstance, thanks for your support."

When I finished, there was a round of cheers and clapping. I smiled and walked around shaking hands and I ended up standing in front of Edna again. She looked up at me and said, "You know, some of my friends would like to help out. We were wondering if we could help out by keeping an eye on the streets. We are all nosey folk, but we don't' really know what information is important. We just know what's interesting. Is that something you could teach?"

I thought for a moment and said, "I think so. It would also be good for all of you seniors to know a little bit of self defence. A weighty handbag can come in very handy in some situations, but evasion tactics would be good to know as well. I'll talk to the guys and come back to you."

"Thanks Carlos. We'd like to help out but because of our age and frailty, it's hard to feel useful."

I smiled at Edna and kissed her cheek. She blushed and returned to her group of friends. I mingled for a little while longer. I interacted with a lot of people and many expressed interest in installing their own security system. I understood the desire to feel safe and I promised that once the kits were ready and adequately tested by the volunteers, they'll be on sale to anyone interested.

The evening was wearing on and the gathering was evolving into a late night party. Steph and I needed to get to Ron's before it got too late so we made our goodbyes and headed to the car. Once outside, Steph hobbled over to the car and said, "You handled Grandma Mazur very well this evening. She's been singing your praises ever since. She even told one of her friends that it was silly for people their age to even consider doing something as silly as applying to be contractors for RangeMan."

I smiled at my Babe and said, "I couldn't let her get her hopes up and I also didn't want to have her waste our time either. I did tell her that there are other ways that she can help out if she really wants."

"I'm sure she'll like that Carlos."

We climbed into the car and drove the short distance to Ron's. I kept alert for any tails and I thought about what to do when we got there. I was going to suggest something, but Stephanie spoke first. "I think you should talk to Ron alone. I'll take the kids into the other room so you and Ron can have some privacy."

I nodded and said, "I was just going to suggest the same thing. I'll tell Ron and see what he wants to do."

We arrived a few minutes later and the kids readily agreed to follow Stephanie into the living room while I went with Ron into the office. He looked at me and asked, "You have some news, don't you?"

More to follow in a few days.