Chapter Sixteen: An Andes fortress after Thanksgiving
He had woken up at the bottom of a dirt hole covered with an iron grate. He sat in six inches of putrid water and tried, with limited success, to meditate away the pain of multiple cracked ribs and a significant concussion. In the week he was in that mountain camp, he had not caught sight of two Boston RangeMen who had been with him, only the fifteen guys guarding him, five men per shift, eight hours at a time. He wondered if Julius had spent time in this hole before him. Julius had looked like shit when they finally got to him.
Ranger saw Hal, Tank and Julius loaded on the helicopter before the LZ came under fire. He and the two men with him, Justo and Marvin, were in the jungle four days before a patrol found them. The beating had been severe. And they were separated. Ranger was pistol whipped until unconscious. And woke up in the water filled pit.
The second week, they trussed him up with both his hands and feet chained to an iron pole. He wondered that they bothered. After no food and limited clean water, his strength was a shadow of what it once was. He was carried through the jungle, up and down what he thought might be a section in the Andes, but without knowing how long he had been unconscious, there was no telling where he was. They could have flown anywhere from the airstrip where they found Julius.
Then they tortured him. Ranger was whipped, beaten and burned. They never asked him a question, never spoke to him or to each other. He had no sense of who they were, who they worked for. Weeks of endless pain and starvation.
And now he was in an ancient stone fortress, in a cell with stone walls and a tiny window ten feet above ground- though it was hard to consider the opening a window as his arm would not fit through the small hole. The iron door was solid, with a slot at the bottom. A tray came through that slot at daybreak each morning, with a few mouthfuls of rice and beans. On the far wall there was a hole in the floor that served as his latrine and water dripped from the pipe high above it- his drinking water. He stood under the drip for hours at a time, trying to quench his relentless thirst.
His clothing had been taken; he was in only a pair of army surplus sand 50/50 boxers. No shoes or socks. To discourage escape. As if he could get through the iron door. Fuck- he didn't even know where to run- what direction to travel. He wasn't sure he could run. With no gear it would be difficult to find his way.
He needed a plan. He needed to get home. He needed her. He was consumed with grief that she might never know what happened to him if he died here.
He was sick now. Some of his wounds were swollen, red and draining pus. The high fever and diarrhea were worsening- he was slipping in and out of consciousness and his memories swirled in his fever ravaged brain.
Meeting Stephanie the very first time in the downtown café when she was going after Morelli as an FTA.
"So Connie says I'm supposed to make you into a badass fugitive apprehension agent. She says you need to get the crash course…"
He was so cocky: "There's me, and then there's you and you aren't ever gonna be as good as me, Sweet Thing." He offered to be her Professor Higgins and Christ Almighty, she became a true Eliza Doolittle miracle.
"Babe…there is no price…"
"Babe, we are gonna do this and it is gonna be good…" And from that night on he always craved her…
Ranger's mind raced through pictures in his mind.
Stephanie missing, and he was holding a gun on the poor clerk he dragged from her bed, searching for property owned by Stiva, his rage a result of his blinding fear…
Stephanie, sitting on the curb, looking down as Morelli yelled at her… sitting at her mother's table, being scolded because of her job… her tears glistening in her eyes when his family said all those horrific things to her when they were informed she was pregnant.
Abruzzi leaving burns on her arm… marking her… he only wished he could have killed the bastard again…
Dave, Mrs. Plum's pick, and Stephanie as Dave's next target… Rex, who she loved so much… Bob, the dog she shared and loved with her big heart…
Stephanie in his bed after his truck led her to RangeMan when she was being hunted… Benito Ramirez at her window, tying Lula there, more dead than alive. Approaching his Babe on the street when she gave up on running beside him… Ramirez dead, shot by the Alan, who was in her apartment to kill her… That spared Ranger the trouble of doing it himself…
Tumbling memories as his fever soared…
Hawaii, walking into the ocean with her, her naked skin absorbing the sun… Jimmy Alpha dead on her floor after shooting her, the small scar still there on her otherwise perfect backside… Julie, his baby girl, and Stephanie helping him save her, both of them.
The crazy Russian with his hands on her- bastard should have died in North Korea... Oswald Wednesday… The diamond he picked up from the grass and gave her to hide away…
Sugar, firebombing her apartment… covering her car in gasoline… All the cataclysmic car carnage…
The junkyard when he and Morelli helped get Stephanie back to the ground after that flame-throwing lunatic sent himself to hell…
Jumping from the bridge to save her after the knot around her foot came loose and dropped her into the river… Stephanie's message to him when he was wanted in relation to the Ramos debacle, simple and filled with love, "Are you okay?" Not asking questions about what happened. Because she knew him and trusted he was on the right side.
They saved each other.
The park in Slayerland, Junkman and his tribe scattered like so much refuse, and his heart only slowing when he realized Sally Sweet had an Uzi over his shoulder and had protected her… Saved her… Giving credit where credit is due, Sally Sweet was a surprise to him. But not to Stephanie.
Stephanie might attract stalkers from far and wide but his Babe's open heart welcomed in all those on the outskirts, and inspired a loyalty he never saw outside of his military brotherhood.
Wulf, Diesel, the Wonder Twins, Randy Briggs, Simon Diggory, Mooner and Dougie, Gabriela, Lula, Mary Lou, Connie, Carol Zabo and Marilyn Truro, even the guys at the cop shop. They will help her survive this, if these monsters finally kill him, they will hold her up. And the RangeMan crew- they were her brothers.
From here, he couldn't protect her… he loved her and couldn't keep her safe… he would die here and she would never know… their baby would grow up with no father…
The sound of the iron door opening, the feeling of being lifted, moved to a gurney, then moved to a table and strapped down. There was a stinging in his arm as a catheter was inserted, a coolness on his brow as a cold compress was applied, and a soothing voice.
"Calm yourself soldier, you aren't going anywhere. We need to give you some plasma to ease the fever. And some meds to help with the pain."
Ranger opened his sore, dry eyes and saw the face of a young man and in the same moment saw the young man was giving his own blood for a direct transfusion.
"No worries, friend, I am O negative- the universal donor. They think you have Bolivian Hemorrhagic fever and since I recovered from it, my plasma should reduce your symptoms."
"Who are you?"
"They call me Dr. Bob."
Ranger saw, as Dr. Bob walked a few steps to the sink, that the doctor's legs were shackled.
"You're a prisoner, too?"
He nodded as he made his way back to Ranger's side. "I was taken from a small rural hospital where I was working a little over two years ago. I have no idea why they wanted me… I am not even a fully trained doctor yet." He opened a small can. "Do you think you can swallow without choking? You are badly malnourished and that needs to be addressed."
When Ranger nodded, Dr. Bob very gently lifted Ranger's head and slowly allowed him a small amount of the local brand of Ensure. "We need to go slow with this," he said as he put the can to the side. "We need to avoid Refeeding syndrome." He expertly disconnected the transfusion and hooked up an IV of lactated ringer's to help hydrate his patient. He then sat beside Ranger and put his hand on top of that of his patient. "Rest. I will stay with you. No harm will come to you here. And we will clean up your wounds after you rest."
Ranger fell into a deep slumber and saw only brown curls, blue eyes and a loving smile.