Chapter 35

Now that I knew what Ranger was up to when he was busy or incommunicado, I felt easier being on the fifth floor and was surprised that he kept his arm around me as he walked me toward my office. Up until now while I suppose everyone assumed that Ranger and I were an item, well I was living in his apartment, the way that he was touching me now felt as though he was making a statement to everyone.

"I am. I want everyone to know that you're mine"

I didn't think that I had said anything out loud but never got the chance to think any further before Ranger had pushed me up against my office door. It was just as I remembered it from how he did that in the alley, hot, passionate and panty destroying. Even then he had never held back so why hadn't I questioned him when he was forever doing it? Probably because of the qualifiers he gave me but then again, I was back and forth with Morelli.

As Ranger moved away from me, he was holding up a sheet a paper which I hoped was the message that we'd found from Sully's book. I stayed where I was as I watched him walk away from me, through the monitoring area, until he disappeared from sight. To admire the view was my excuse, come on, Ranger dressed in his Armani suit was certainly worth looking at but to be honest I needed a moment to catch my breath and get my balance back.

Sat in my chair with my feet on the desk and a coffee in one hand I read through that message very slowly. Sully had to have sourced out this hiding spot over eighteen years ago so he must have been very sure that it would still be around now. He had to have visited it before he died, well I hoped that he had, because I was really hoping that he'd included some information that was more relevant to what might be happening now or why would someone be so worried that I'd find it?

With that in mind I decided that the verses couldn't be referring to a building because it could have been renovated or even demolished by now. My gut was telling me that it was here in Trenton, somewhere that he was familiar with, though I could have been wrong. If he was referring to somewhere in New York I wasn't sure that I'd know where to start looking.

If it wasn't a building, then what the hell was Sully referring to. Was it somewhere in a public building or in a park somewhere, like a monument or a statue? I reread the verses again frowning at the last sentence because it seemed like such an odd thing to say. It precluded anywhere out in the open or on a street and suggested a building, something inside a building.

I am hidden

But in plain sight

I am old but modern

Shiny but lately tarnished

I should be useful but am unused

My secrets forgotten by some, but not by me

A life of watching, oh the shame

But I cannot speak out

So that I can protect the secrets inside

Cross the street safely to find me

Okay, so wherever Sully had hidden the information it wasn't where everyone would be able to see it but if you saw it then you wouldn't think twice when you looked at it. It must not attract attention and seem as though it belonged, so where would this object be and what was it? I leant back going through in my head what I knew about Sully. Alfred Creighton, he'd gone to see him and asked for his advice. I was pretty sure that Alfred wasn't hiding anything, that would be too obvious. When Sully felt that things were getting out of hand, he had disappeared but not before telling those who wanted to control him that he was finished and had insurance against them.

Could Vinnie be someone who Sully would trust? No, the hiding place wasn't a person it was somewhere safe.

Oh my God. I couldn't believe how obvious the answer was and very few people would ever work it out. As I read each line it only confirmed the idea that had jumped into my head. In Vinnie's office, sat in the corner, was a very old safe. It had been secured to the floor and survived through fire and the rebuild of the building because it was just too difficult to move it. I didn't think Vinnie ever used it and wouldn't be surprised if he didn't know how to open it. The reference to watching a life of shame would certainly be explained by Vinnie's penchant for porn and his sexual exploits that took place inside his office, especially when Joyce was there.

I was back to looking at the last sentence realizing that it was referring to how the dial would be turned, first left and then right. Could the verses reveal the combination? I googled information about old safes and how many digits there usually was in the combination, discovering that it could be between 8 and 10 digits. The verses had 10 sentences. I wonder?

I was so excited that I just had to find Ranger and tell him about my thoughts for the solution to the puzzle. The paper that Ranger had given to me was covered in my notes so I locked it up safely inside the filing cabinet at the back before I made my way down the corridor. I was really hoping that he'd be in his office, alone.

At his closed door I knocked lightly listening carefully for a response.

"He's in a meeting Steph"

Came from behind me as Tank walked past me to go to his office. I had to admit to being disappointed so had just turned to walk back toward my own office when I was once again turning at the sound of a voice.

"Babe?"

I turned to see Ranger stood with his door open and felt very guilty for disturbing him.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have disturbed you. I'll catch you later"

His eyebrow went up and he stepped back into his office but held the door open as though inviting me in.

"There's someone I'd like you to meet"

The door closed as I entered Ranger's office, and I was greeted by a man who stood up from the chair by the couch. He was dressed in jeans and a short leather jacket and was taller than Ranger but by the way that he held himself I'd guess that he was well built. His hair was a scruffy blonde color cut short and spiky with a face that was narrow but covered with a fashionable growth of hair. I don't know why but I took an instant like to him, maybe because his eyes held a certain amount of mischief in them.

"Babe, this is Jonas. Jonas, Stephanie Plum"

I accepted his outstretched hand to shake, surprised at how gently his large hands were but very aware of how he seemed to be assessing me.

"Ma'am. You're certainly not what I expected, but it's a pleasure to meet you"

I pulled my hand away not sure what he meant by that and turned to Ranger for some sort of an explanation.

"Jonas knows of you through Tank, Bobby and Santos so I have no idea what preconceived notions he has"

Well, at least Ranger hadn't been talking about me to Jonas, but I was a bit worried what the others had said.

"Nothing bad, I assure you"

Came from Jonas as though he was trying to backtrack on what he'd said. As Jonas sat back down again Ranger guided me to sit down on the couch, with him sitting beside me. To be honest I was starting to feel unsure of why Ranger had invited me in here to meet Jonas so I sat and waited to see what would come next. All thoughts of my solution to Sullivan's riddle were pushed to the back of my mind because I was keen to be a part of what Ranger and Jonas were looking at.

"Jonas and I are trolling through the suits involved with that job that we did but I suggested to Jonas that perhaps you might be better at looking at the boy's family. The father was kept updated with the events as they happened and while I'm sure that the safety of his son was paramount, he may have inadvertently said something to someone else"

I was feeling pretty pleased to be asked to do that one thing for Ranger. He knew that I'd be careful, hadn't I shown him how loyal I was when he'd asked me to look into those break-ins? He'd been so worried that it was one of the men so knew that I would be discreet in looking through information on them.

"I can do that. I just need a name and some background to get started with"

I was sure that Ranger tilted his head to one side as though he already knew what my answer would be. On cue he picked up a piece of paper from the table and handed it to me, so I presumed it had the name of the father and other information written on it. I was quickly on my feet because this was important to Ranger, so it was important to me as well. No way did I like the idea that someone had made him feel so guilty for the death of that woman or feel that he'd been betrayed by someone. I'd opened the door and was about to go back to my office when Ranger jumping to his feet surprised me. His phone went back into his pocket, so I assumed that he'd just received a message.

"Jonas. I have to go. I'll catch up with you"

I was sure that I was staring at Ranger as he rushed toward me hoping he'd at least tell me what the emergency was.

"Juan has been badly injured, he's at the hospital"

I turned to follow because much as Juan had totally pissed me off, I hated the idea that he was injured. Ranger must have gotten a message to Les because there were several men with us as we hit the stairs and came out into the garage. Ranger never expressed that he didn't want me with them, so I stayed close to him and got into the SUV that he was driving.

An hour later we were all sat in the waiting room waiting to hear how Juan was. Not being relatives didn't allow us even the courtesy of knowing how badly injured he was so the mood in the room was heavy and quiet.

"Let me go see if Rita is on duty. She'll be able to find out more"

It was something that I could try and to be honest I wasn't sure that I could endure the atmosphere much longer.

"I'll go with you"

Came from Ranger as he stood up. Good idea or not, I wasn't sure, but I wasn't going to argue with him. I just wasn't too sure how talking with Rita would go down. I braced myself as I headed down to the nurse's station and almost sighed when I spotted her. Okay there was a moment when we both just stared at each other, but I needed to put our differences in the past, where they belonged. I saw her look up and over to Ranger and cast her eyes over him, which almost had my temper coming to the surface. Not this time Rita, he's mine was the thought going through my head.

I used my hand to guide her over to one side and ensure that she was not eying up Ranger before I composed my voice.

"Rita, what happened is in the past. I don't hold it against you and the one responsible isn't around now"

Her eyes opened wider before a frown came over her face and she looked down to the floor as though she was embarrassed. I almost rolled my eyes at her but thought better of it. It was obvious that she had no idea that I knew about Joe meeting up with her, but as I'd come to realize at the time, I didn't care anymore. I'd already decided to end things with Joe so him seeing her hadn't been important.

"Rita a man came in seriously hurt, Juan Mateus Hernandez. He's a good friend and I just wanted to know how he is, that's all"

Oh and keep your hands off my man or all bets are off, nearly came from my mouth, but I decided to keep that to myself.

"Err, yeah. He was badly injured. He was taken straight into theater. It might be a while, because he has a serious head injury and there was some internal bleeding and damage"

I was sure that my eyebrows went up at that news and I could almost feel the tension radiating from Ranger behind me. What the hell had happened to Juan for something like that to have happened to him? It dawned on me then that I didn't even know how he had been injured. When Rita's eyes moved away from me and was looking behind me, I turned to see what had caught her attention, blinking when I saw a man stood in front of Ranger. Yeesh, no wonder Rita was focused on him. His whole body infused power and he was hot with a capital H. He was also dressed in an expensive suit but that was where any similarity to Ranger stopped. His hair was cut in long layers and was a blonde that was almost white. His skin was lighter than Ranger's and his eyes were such a light blue they almost matched his hair.

When he turned to me, I saw the angular chin and cheekbones and a nose that looked as though it had been broken in the past, though that didn't distract from his good looks.

"Oh shit"

Came from next to me and I realized that it had come from Les who was now stood next to me and that it had been Les who was being looked at not me. I stepped closer to Les and tilted my head up, my eyes still on the man, while I whispered to Les.

"Who is that?"

"Trouble. I have a bad feeling about this. His name's Sinclair, Jackson Sinclair. He runs an organization out of Washington"

That didn't give me a whole lot of information about the man or why he and Ranger were fronting each other with so much animosity. Hell, the testosterone they were giving out could be bottled up and sold. I nudged Les hoping he'd give me some idea of what the hell was happening.

"He makes Rangeman look like the junior league. Very powerful, very rich and connections with, well everyone. Legal and not so legal"

I closed my mouth as I absorbed what Les had told me wondering why this man and Ranger didn't seem to like each other. That they both turned and started to walk toward an empty examination room worried me. I was about to follow them when a woman walked into the lobby and fell into step between them. I had no idea what the hell was going on, but decided that maybe my presence next to Ranger was needed. That woman was the spitting image of Storm from X men, right down to the fitted suit that showcased her phenomenal body. I felt a hand on my arm and realized that Les was stopping me from moving.

"No, Beautiful. You don't want to be in there with them"

As a warning it was effective, but it didn't stop me from being annoyed at what had happened. Who the hell was this man, Jackson Sinclair, and his side kick Storm and what were they doing here? I shook my head as any chance of interloping into that meeting ended when the door closed behind them. I watched as Les walked over to the door and took up a position outside, as if guarding the door. Probably to have Ranger's back if it was needed and also stop anyone from going in.

I saw Cal on the other side of the room and even he seemed tense so deciding that I'd had enough of the testosterone and probably feeling a bit pissed off because I had no idea what had just happened, I finger waved Cal and headed into the lady's rest room. Once I'd used the toilet, I stood in front of the mirror to wash my hands looking at my reflection in the mirror. Okay, I looked passable. No hair sticking out, eyes bright, skin clear. So why did I feel so inadequate when I'd laid my eyes on that woman Storm?

Obviously, Ranger must know her as well if he knew that Sinclair man. I ran the water into the sink and cupped my hands to wash water over my face. As my head came up and I opened my eyes I almost screeched at the sight of the woman Storm stood behind me. She had the audacity to place her finger against her lips as though to tell me to be quiet.

Me be quiet! I think not. I was just about to start giving her my opinion on what I thought of that idea when I became aware of a commotion coming from outside the door. Shouting interspersed with a few screams.

"We need to get out of here"

Was all that she said before she grabbed hold of my arm and started to push me toward a door at the far end of the room. Her grip was tight and before I had a chance to refuse, the door to the rest room slammed open and a man was stood there. I knew that man. He may not have been wearing a balaclava, but it was his eyes that I recognized. Shit, not only would he be after me for information, but he was probably annoyed that his pal had been injured. Indecision raced through me, but I knew that I definitely didn't want that man anywhere near me. Storm had the door open, so I didn't hesitate to rush through it. I had no idea what the hell was happening but being with her seemed like the better option. We came out into the area used for emergency treatment and continued through, past the beds and curtained areas, until we came to the entrance foyer. Fortunately, no one seemed to want to stop us. Any medical staff seemed to be huddled together aware of the commotion going on in the main lobby.

"We need to get through to the exit"

Yeah right. Maybe the scene in front of us wasn't as bad as it looked to her but to me the sight of guys wearing gang colors wasn't that appealing to me. Storm had let go of my arm and had started to move quickly through the gathering crowd with me close behind her. I thought that luck was with us until I spied two more suits appear at the door watching our progress. Were they good guys or bad guys? I had no idea, but I wasn't going to be going anywhere near them either. Storm was suddenly striking out at a couple of gang members who had made a beeline for her, amazing me with the fighting skills she was using to defend herself. Whilst that was happening one of those suits thought that he could grab hold of me. Not happening. Instinctively I moved into my fighting stance and used my elbows against his ribs then as he released me, I turned and used one of the kicks that Juan had taught me, my boot making contact with the side of his face with enough force to unbalance him and knock him to the ground. Where the hell was Ranger and the Merry Men when I needed them?

Turning, ready to run out of the door, was when an arm locked around my neck. I don't know what the hell happened, I mean it still felt as though I could breathe, but as those damn black dots started to dance in front of my eyes it was lights out for me.