Chapter 37

That was when I remembered that Ranger had asked me to do some follow up work on the father of that boy who had been taken hostage. I'd slipped that paper into my pocket as news of Juan had come in.

The laptop that I had in front of me had the programs for searching, so opening it up I began to input the information that Ranger had given to me.

As the search program did its work I, was actually feeling optimistic, almost the hint of my spidey senses rumbling in the background. Huh, I wondered why that was?

Conrad Dresden had served as a circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1997 to 2021. A native of the Chicago area, Dresden had attended Harvard University for his undergraduate and legal education. After serving as a law clerk he'd practiced corporate litigation and worked as a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice, where he'd played a leading role in the investigation and prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombers. Dresden was then appointed to the D.C. Circuit and had served as its chief judge.

President Barack Obama, a Democrat, had nominated Dresden to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia. However, the Republican Senate majority refused to hold a hearing or vote on his nomination. The unprecedented refusal of a Senate majority to consider the nomination was highly controversial. Dresden's nomination lasted 293 days, the longest to date by far, and it expired, with the President appointing someone else.

That looked to be the pinnacle of his career or maybe he was just fed up with the whole debacle and felt annoyed and humiliated. His wife, who was seven years younger, had died, the year before, following a drive by shooting at where she worked at a women's shelter, leaving Dresden as a single parent of their six year old son. Whatever his reasons he took a year out of work. His latest place of work was given as working in New York City.

I went back to Dresden and found reference to a number of women that he'd employed as a nanny for his son. There was one older woman who was a constant and then several that had obviously been there to provide addition care and maybe education. Maybe they didn't enjoy the job or get on with Dresden, so I put in a search on the last one knowing that this woman had been the one who had died when she was with Ranger.

I wished that I hadn't, but I couldn't unsee the photo in front of me. She had been 29 years old when she'd died but her face showed an older and wiser person. Her brunette hair was long and wavy, and her eyes were described as blue. Did she look like me? Maybe there were some similarities and probably enough that her being shot down had deeply disturbed Ranger. She had been employed as a teacher for the son and had actually been with Dresden for last eighteen months.

"I didn't realize that you were working on something"

Sheesh when would I ever hear people creep up on me? I wasn't sure that I was pleased to see Kinley or not but maybe she could be useful with what I was looking at. I smiled at the look that she gave me, making me think that there wasn't anything that this woman couldn't access through a computer. I opened the program that held the details of the woman who had died, an Anna Reebock, for Kinley to see and then went back to reading the search. Nothing seemed untoward until I read who she was related to.

"Steph talk me through what you're working on"

I wasn't sure if I should do that because I didn't want to betray Ranger or the mission that he'd been on. He'd told me in confidence.

"Steph why don't you take a break and I'll hang around here. I'll make sure that no one sees what you've been working on"

Where the hell was Ranger when I needed him? I didn't even have a phone to call him. I took a deep breath and stood up then walked over to the door. I was surprised when it actually opened for me and was soon walking down the corridor toward the rest rooms.

So maybe I spent the time arguing with myself. If Kinley tracked that information back to Ranger's mission I was going to be in deep shit, not just with him, but probably with the government as well. Would Ranger be in trouble for even saying something to me? Probably, hell he could even be court marshalled and sent to prison. I was shaking like a leaf when I got back into that room and was pretty sure that I was close to panicking. Ranger was going to kill me. That was the decision that I'd come to.

"Steph, what's wrong?"

I sank down on the couch unable to utter a sound as the enormity of what I'd done swamped through me.

"I'm so sorry, but I can't let you help me"

When I eventually looked up and wiped my eyes Kinley was knelt down in front of me, her hand on my shoulder.

"You don't understand. Ranger told me in confidence when really he shouldn't have and if his bosses find out then he'll never speak to me again and it would be because of me that he'd get into trouble"

I sure hoped that Kinley understood what I was trying to say to her but instead of her being shocked with what I was saying she started to smile at me.

"You won't get into any trouble, and neither will Carlos. I already know why Carlos was on that mission. We always look after our own when we can and now is the time that we can"

I didn't fully understand what she was saying or why because she was confusing the hell out of me. I took a tissue from her and let her lead me back to the table to where the laptops were sat.

"The woman that you were looking at, I tracked her financials and emails. A lot of businesses email a receipt now. She bought some devices from an electronics shop which would enable her to download the contents of a hard drive. I don't know what she did with it"

So what Kinley was saying was that Anna had bought a device that would download information from a computer. Had she somehow downloaded information from Dresden's computer? Why would she do that and what on earth was on it that was so important? Then it hit me. Dresden was working as the Presiding Justice of the Supreme Court in New York City. He'd been passed over for one of the top jobs in the country, so could it be that he was pissed with how he had been treated? Or was there something else?

"Kinley, can you find out what happened to the person who was responsible for Mrs. Dresden's death"

If he was part of the group that were responsible for doling out a death sentence, then had Anna found out?

"Harley Diablo. He was charged with the murder but was released when his defense claimed that the evidence was circumstantial. He died nine months later from an overdose"

I pondered that answer from Kinley. Was that a coincidence? Another person who was seen as a murderer who got away with it. As Ranger would say there was no such thing as a coincidence and given where Anna had worked and who she might know I was sure that Dresden was involved. Damn it. Did that mean that the device was lost?

"Okay, let me get this straight. The woman who died on Carlos's mission, she worked for that man, Conrad Dresden. She'd bought a device that would allow her to download information from a computer, presumably Dresden's computer. She's kidnapped with his son but somehow after Carlos and his team rescue them, they're found, and she's killed?"

My head nodded with what she was saying surprising me that Kinley actually had the knowledge and an understanding for what I was looking into. I was pretty sure that Dresden had organized for Anna to disappear, but I didn't think that he'd have planned initially to have her killed, I think that he was after making her tell him where that drive was. When she was rescued, he'd needed to make sure that she couldn't tell anyone what she knew. Well, that was one theory"

"Are you thinking that Anna had confidential information that Dresden wanted back? Why was the son taken then?"

I shrugged my shoulders because I had no idea, so maybe I needed to find out the circumstances for when the two of them had been kidnapped. Did that mean that Ranger wasn't always out of the country? Huh, I'd always assumed that he was working in some third world country, which was probably a naïve notion on my part.

Maybe we'd solved the problem of who had betrayed Ranger and his team but proving that would be another thing. I suddenly realized that it had been Kinley who had helped to pull everything together and I needed to thank her because she'd gone to a lot of trouble to help me with it.

"Kinley, thank you. I would never have been able to figure all of that out on my own"

"No, you have good instincts Steph, you see something and go with it. All that I did was give you the tools to do it. Besides I think that you've just added aspects to this job that we've been working on that we would never have come across"

I wasn't so sure about that. I mean looking at Dresden had been for Ranger and his mission. I never imagined that it would tie into what had happened to me and the puzzle from Sullivan. It gave me time to reflect on how well Kinley and I had worked together.

She seemed so open and never questioned what I was doing, instead she seemed to be able to follow the thread that I was taking.

To distract myself I turned to the laptop ready to turn it off and realized that it was late, and that Ranger hadn't got back yet. As I pushed down the lid of the computer, I was feeling antsy so started to pace the floor worrying where he was.

"I'm worried about Ranger"

Yeah, that feeling of panic was like a butterfly in my stomach. Something wasn't right and it was making me mumble my thoughts out loud. I had to get out of this room, out of this building, it was driving me crazy because I hated the feeling that I was being kept here. Without thinking I was opening the door and walking down the corridor toward the double doors. I slammed against them with both palms then screamed with frustration when they failed to open. Godamnit, now I was locked inside as well. Was that what Sinclair had intended, for me to stay here? Then it dawned on me, I'd unwittingly already helped them with what I'd found out about Dresden. Those doubts about him came flooding back to me. I really didn't like the man and trusted him even less. Shit, was he using me, trying to get information out of me like everyone else?

I kicked the door in pure frustration but then had to jump back as they suddenly opened. Charging through didn't get me very far because I collided with a strong solid body whose hands came out to steady me. They weren't Ranger's, that was for sure, and I found myself looking up into those pale grey eyes.

"You set the alarms off Miss Plum"

I stepped back and glared at him. Did he really think that he could keep me locked up inside his fucking building.

"I need to get back to Rangeman"

I saw the way that his mouth twitched up and his eyes crinkled as though he thought that I was amusing him. That just added fuel to the fire for how I was feeling now. I was annoyed and worried about Ranger so didn't give a shit as to who he thought he was. I feigned stepping back as though his mere presence was intimidating me and quickly sidestepped him, pushing him to the side as I shot past him.

I careered down that corridor with his words following and if I'd been less stressed, I might have laughed.

"Someone stop that damn woman"

I think not. I headed for the door that had the exit sign over it but was once again thwarted by it being locked. Since when were all the doors in a building locked? Turning I watched as Sinclair approached me, his hands in front of him like he was approaching a wild animal and he wasn't sure what to do. Movement caught my eye, and I spied another man approaching me, the one with a black eye. He seemed even more reluctant to get close to me but between the two of them it gave me a moment to look around and come up with some way to get out of the building.