Chapter Twenty-One: The Plum residence Trenton New Jersey

"Stephanie, are you sure you are alright with all of us going to your house in Malibu without you… and for Christmas no less."

"Mom, I will be fine. Just because I am too pregnant to fly doesn't mean all of you should miss out on a Christmas in the sun." I smiled at my mother. I needed to be sure my family was out of harm's way for the next couple of weeks. "Plus, you really have to celebrate Albert's new job starting with RangeMan January 1st. It will be a while till he can take another long vacation with his family."

The Core Team and I all agreed to bring Albert on as a member of our legal team and Tank had made him a very attractive offer which he immediately accepted. Albert and Val were super excited for the opportunity to better provide for their still growing family.

"And I can show you around to the best shops, where to get groceries and where the best spa is. We will have a wonderful time." Grandma Mazur was the expert since she stayed with me there when Dickie was dying last summer. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Mom, Stephanie will be spending the holiday with her husband's family. She will be fine. If we don't leave now, we will miss the flight." Valarie urged her mom out the door. Albert was the last to leave after urging all the females in his life out the door to the Airport shuttle.

"Stephanie, I can be on the next plane back if you need me. I will do good work at RangeMan…"

I just him off with a hug. "You already have, Albert. Enjoy your time off."

The satellite phone was in my purse as Lester and I headed to Newark. The Manoso family asked me to come and spend Christmas eve with them. I wasn't going to go but then Les got word that Julius, Ana and their family were going to visit Ana's family, so I caved. Lester asked Jose drive us in a RangeMan SUV so there was extra protection for me. It was a more somber celebration as Carlos was the elephant in the room that nobody wanted to discuss but no one implied the child I was carrying belonged to someone else so I guess that counts as a win. And the dinner was wonderful and the children were excited and the evening passed quickly enough.

Then the satellite phone rang.

"It is my folks." I told Mrs. Manoso and walked out the back door, hearing Les tell them I had been unable to fly due to my pregnancy and my family was at my house in California without me.

My hands shook as I answered, "Hello?"

Joe's voice was light and happy. "I have someone here who wanted to say hello to you. Merry Christmas."

Then Carlos came on the line. "Babe, I love you so much. Merry Christmas." I am not sure if Carlos understood a word I said, as I was a blubbering mess. Then Joe was back on the line.

"We need to cut this short. I will call next when we are wheels up in a couple of days."

Everyone would be back home in a few short days. Carlos was alive. He spoke to me and he was alive. I was right not to give up. I was right. I wiped my tears away after disconnecting the call and heard a noise behind me.

"Mrs. Manoso, are you okay?"

"I am fine Jose. It is just hard being so far away from family at the holidays." I rubbed my belly, "And the baby hormones make it worse."

Lester came to the back door. "Are you ready to leave, Beautiful?"

"Hot date back home, Casanova?" I smiled.

There was a flicker of recognition and then Lester shook his head. "No good answer to that one. You won't believe me if I say no and I don't want to listen to the judgement on the ride back if I say yes."

I laughed because it was the right answer to the code phrase. He knew Ranger was safe. "I am going to the restroom and will meet you by the car."

"I can get the car and bring it up front, Mrs. Manoso."

"You are so thoughtful, Jose, thank you. Walking is becoming more challenging as I get larger."

On arriving in the RangeMan garage, Stephanie asked to be let out before Jose parked the car. He was not surprised. She was famous among the men for her tiny pregnancy bladder. This meant she was not in the garage to see the ten RangeMen surround Jose when he got out of the car. Lester and Bobby held him as Tank removed Jose's guns and knives. Then he took hold of Jose while Bobby cut away all of the bastard's clothing and preformed a cavity search. Then Jose, the RangeMan mole, was taken to the basement and locked in a cell as naked as the day he had been born.

Tank's only comment before leaving him was, "You owe Stephanie Manoso for your life, Mr. Rodrigues."

Our mole, "Jose" was in fact Joaquín Rodrigues, nephew of Jesus Rodrigues. Years ago, Jesus skipped out on a $500,000 bond and according to Connie, Vinnie and Ranger, was howling dog crazy. Ranger brought him in back when I was wrapped up in the case involving Mo Bedemier, which felt like ten lifetimes ago. I had only been working for Vinnie for six months.

"Didn't he get deported after his trial?" Hal asked, so glad to be back at work in time to see this takedown that he didn't even mind working Christmas Eve.

"Yeah, and the Bolivian government was supposed to be keeping him under a magnifying glass." Manny said in a disgusted tone.

"Well, he is still in Bolivia." I said as we all went thru everything of Joaquín's in the large conference room.

Hector had already confiscated all of the electronic devices, including an encrypted satellite phone. And he had recorded enough of Joaquín's voice from all the conversations since we discovered he was the mole- every car ride and stake-outs he had done with all the team members in the room- that Hector could hold a conversation that would fool voice recognition software. Hector also sent a distress message saying Joaquín thought he would need to be off-line for a couple of days and gave a codeword to ID himself. Just in case the real Joaquín managed to make contact. Which was unlikely. Because that bastard was locked up tight until the FBI and Treasury folks arrived. And he would sweat those hours.

Jesus Rodrigues was hosting the auction for Ranger. He was behind the kidnappings. He had told his men to torture the man I love.

At the direction of Wulf and Diesel, a host of National agencies in multiple countries, with Interpol taking the lead, were planning to raid each of the bidders' locations once the bidding commenced on January 1st. The hope was that all parties involved would believe Rodrigues set them up. Andy Roche and Roy Bunchall, who went by Bunchy, from Treasury and Meri Maisonet from the FBI were working with us on the local side.

Once bidding was completed, a time and place to meet would be arranged for the winner to pick up his prize. Rodrigues would be taken into custody at the meeting place.

Ulysses had already arranged a power outage in the area surrounding the prison to explain how the prison was off line. There was no cell service in the fortress and no satellite phones were found anywhere at the facility. By now, the place was staffed with men Ramos put there.

But a lot could still go wrong.

So I wasn't totally surprised by what Andy, Wulf and Meri got out of Joaquín about Ana and Julius Manoso and how he got into RangeMan in the first place. Wulf could make anyone spill every secret they had ever known.

Wulf told the whole story and I have to say some of it broke my heart. But a lot of it made me furious.

When Julius and Ana's oldest daughter Lucía was 15, she started dealing and using drugs. Her supplier was involved with the Rodrigues cartel and when her supplier accused her of stealing drugs and money to cover his own theft, Lucía was made to participate in parties with older men… Hector found a video that made me want to vomit, even with heavy redacting.

Eventually Lucía confessed to her mother. The mother confronted the supplier and was led to the Rodrigues operative in the area. He would only release Lucía from service if Ana helped them find an in at RangeMan. The mole was put in place. Ana believed the debt was paid. Joaquín said she had never been told which of the new hires was the mole in order to insure she did not interfere once the man was inside.

Then a year ago, the Rodrigues operative once again contacted Ana. The Russians knew there was a man on the inside, but computer access was needed and the mole didn't have the seniority to have the appropriate access for what the Russians wanted stolen. Ana refused. With the government work RangeMan did, it would be treason.

Then Julius was taken. Ana was told she needed to get the access they wanted and ensure that Ranger be on the mission. Once Julius was released and had recovered, Ana confessed to all she had done and Julius went into damage control. They would work with Homeland Security to capture the mole and the Russians would be blocked in their efforts. But Homeland wanted assurances. So there was a memorial to sell Ranger as a dead man. And to reduce the likelihood that any of the staff in Trenton or Miami would discover anything linking the Russians or the mole to Ana, Julius was to buy out the other partners and shut the branches down. He sacrificed everyone and everything to save her. Even his own brother.

Then Wulf got to Miami, "Lucía was back in Rehab- her "boyfriend" was actually her sobriety coach. Ana was afraid you or more likely Ranger, would pick up on the lie and so she picked that argument with you and Carlos to put an edge on all future interactions."

And we moved to the RangeMan apartment and stayed at a distance which played right into her hands.

"Bunchy knows some folks over at Homeland that we can bring in on the operation so everyone is on the same page." Meri said as she stood to leave. "Not sure where it will leave your in-laws."

In a Stan with nothing but a pocketknife and a bottle of water, I hoped. Clearly, I have been spending too much time with Lester.