Chapter 46

Waking alone and looking at the clock I realized that at least I'd been allowed to sleep in. I knew that Ranger would be busy making last minute checks on the plans that we'd put together. Was I nervous? Not at the moment, but I was pretty sure that it would creep up on me.

After showering I dressed in jeans and a hoodie for this first escapade because I was being Stephanie Plum as far as the world was concerned. Going downstairs I smiled at seeing both Ranger and Juan in the kitchen area and hoped that what I was smelling was actually real.

"Mmm. Pancakes"

I uttered coming between the two of them to see what they were both doing. Juan was whisking the batter and Ranger was cooking the pancakes both of them seeming comfortable working together.

"Coffee is on the table"

Came from Ranger as he slid a pancake onto a plate and handed it to me. I quickly sat at the table noting the array of condiments set out. Maple syrup, blueberries, strawberries and cream complimented my pancake, and I gladly accepted a second one. As the men sat down with their own, I slowly sipped on my coffee wondering if anything had changed since last night.

"Santos called to say that everything went well dropping Katrina off with the FBI. Apparently, we have to wait for their decision on her identity before they'll release the reward"

I suppose what she'd said to me wasn't incriminating in itself and tying her to those other murders might be difficult. At the moment I had other things on my mind.

"Has Tank spoken to Eddie?"

Because what Eddie would say was crucial to what I would be doing this morning.

"Yes. Tank was subtle with how he worded his question so that Eddie wouldn't get annoyed. Eddie was very sure that Sorenson and Michaels had drawn a blank with Morelli's death"

That was what we'd expected, so I was grateful that Tank hadn't bluntly asked if there was a warrant out for my arrest because yeah, that would have annoyed Eddie. It didn't explain why Sinclair had told me that story or was Sorenson trying to play clever with him and was double crossing him. The plan was for me to confront Sorenson in his office at the police station armed with some printouts from the assassin's site showing me as the next victim. Though that wasn't the limit to how well armed I was. I had on a vest under my jacket and my gun in a shoulder holster along with a really small one strapped around my ankle. Me, I felt that it was overkill to have a knife down my boot and one in the pocket of my jacket, but Ranger wasn't going to let me out of the house without those weapons on me. Of course, I had a mic strategically placed under my hoodie and I lost count of the number of trackers on me. The one piece of equipment that I was worried about was a small box in the bottom of my bag that Hector had provided. The idea was for me to try and place it close to Sorenson's phone so that it could clone his phone. I wasn't sure how I was going to do that.

Driving on my own was when the nerves hit me. I had no sense of how Sorenson would react to me or if he could become aggressive. Okay, I knew that Ranger had a man inside of the station who would be close at hand, but I didn't know who that was and there was team waiting outside surveilling the place.

I parked at the back where I normally would, trying not to look conspicuous by looking around and after giving myself a pep talk walked in through the back door.

"Hey, Steph. Haven't seen you around for ages. How are you doing?"

Turning I smiled as my eyes landed on Robyn Russell and walked over to where she was stood.

"Hi Robyn. Seems really strange being here"

Which was an honest response from me. I kept imagining that Joe would suddenly appear watching me, which to be honest was spooking me out.

"I know. It hasn't been the same since Joe"

Her not finishing her sentence had me realizing how much Joe had been a presence here and how popular he'd been. I wasn't about to shout out that he wasn't dead, because I didn't think that would go down too well, so in an effort to look upset looked down at the floor as though agreeing with what Robyn was saying.

"I know. I wanted to talk to Detective Sorenson, you know maybe see if he had any further developments"

"I'm not sure where he is on the case. He's upstairs in his office, the one next to where Joe had his"

"Thanks"

Was the best that I could say before heading in the direction of the stairs. I encountered a few officers on my way, who it seemed preferred to not have to talk to me with a few "Hellos" offered as I passed them. Maybe they didn't know how to react to me after what they thought had happened to Joe. It annoyed me that they felt that way when he was alive and well somewhere and had me wondering how his mother Angie was coping. Would he ever tell her the truth? I pushed that to the back of my mind because I didn't even want to think about what his grandmother Bella had done.

Not wanting to be dismissed or have to wait I knocked lightly on Sorenson's door before walking in and closing it behind me. To say that he was surprised to see me was an understatement.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

I sat down in the chair opposite him, my eyes scanning his desk for his phone. Once comfortable was when I looked straight at him.

"You owe me some explanations"

That had him sitting back in his chair and glaring at me. So that was how he was going to treat me, bring it on.

"First. You work for Sinclair, how does that work?"

I didn't think that he expected that question from me because he just shrugged his shoulders remaining quiet.

"Second. He told me that you had issued a warrant for my arrest for the murders of Judge Laithwaite and Joe Morelli. Why, when it wasn't true?"

"He suggested it as a way to keep you safe"

Okay, Sorenson had just admitted that he was working for Sinclair with that answer, and I suppose just maybe Sinclair had suggested it as a way to control me by saying that he was keeping me safe. Not that that had worked out too well for Sinclair.

"You're a lose canon so had to be contained before you screwed things up"

I raised my eyebrows at that because that was so unfair and sounded exactly what Joe would have said to me.

"And just exactly was I going to screw up?"

I used his silence to pick up my bag from the floor and remove a tissue. After blowing my nose I stood up intending to drop the used tissue in the trash bin, but Sorenson beat me to it and lifted it for me. I'd moved forward enough to be able to place my bag on the side of the desk, exactly where it needed to be. Sitting back down I stared at Sorenson hoping to keep his attention on me.

"Well, are you going to give me an answer?"

I asked trying to keep my voice steady, though what he'd said was actually annoying me.

"Look, I've been a patient man, so why are you actually here"

Which meant that the excuse that he'd given to me, of me screwing up, only emphasized for me that someone was worried that I was getting close to finding out the truth. I just wish that I knew what it was that I was looking for. I leant forward and pulled out the photocopied sheets from my bag, pleased to see that the box from Hector had a green light blinking.

"It really pisses me off that someone thinks that they can put a contract out on me"

I placed the sheets on the desk in front of him and watched as he began to read them. Gone was the arrogant expression, replaced with confusion until he looked down right worried with what he was seeing.

"I, I don't understand"

Yeah, I bet he didn't. He hadn't denied that he was involved and hadn't questioned his or Joe's names included in the screen print that looked as though it came from a secure site, so I waited for what excuses he'd come up with. Yeah, between Hector and Kinley they'd managed to produce a site similar to the one that Katrina had used but had managed to adapt it to include other names.

"Sorenson, for a detective you really are naïve. How the hell do you think that I have that? Those two bounty hunters, okay they managed to find some of the targets but they're amateurs. I've got far more skills at finding people and getting the job done"

That was when he looked over to me, as though he was trying to figure out the puzzle.

"Lady, I have no doubt of your skills but what the hell are you talking about?"

"Why the hell do you think I dumped Morelli? No way did I want him to get his hands on that information and neither do I want Sinclair to have it. I'm very good at what I do and what I allow people to see. So back to my question, why the contract on me?"

"I have no idea. Maybe you've pissed off the wrong person"

Even as I watched Sorenson, he was quick to close down any expressions on his face. What the hell was that about, or had I accomplished what I came here to do, to rattle him into doing something stupid.

"You and Sinclair thought that I would somehow screw things up, but I assure you that I know everything"

I stood up and slung my bag over my shoulder as though totally disgusted with what I'd learnt and turned to leave Sorenson's office hoping against hope that he'd say something before I actually walked out.

"Look, I'm sorry, about everything. This whole thing has become a clusterfuck and I honestly don't know what the hell is going on. You need to be very careful Miss Plum because you have definitely upset the wrong people?"

I digested what he'd said as I walked through his door. In my own mind I was sure that he was issuing me with a warning which could well be seen as his complicity. I wanted to smile but didn't though, instead I tried to look miserable as I retraced my steps out of the station, just in case I came across anyone that I knew. Sat in the car I went through what had been said in that office and started to feel a bit disheartened. The man had been guarded with what he'd said and to be honest I couldn't be sure of what his role was in all of this. That he was working with Sinclair was for sure but if he was the one that was highlighting possible victims was still up for debate as far as I could work out. Had he actually read that sheet properly and seen his name? Maybe not.

I turned over the engine and exited onto the street continuing to think about Sorenson. Ranger had told me to make sure that no one could follow me, so I took a lot of turns and ran through amber street lights to get to the house we'd agreed on.

It felt weird to drive up that track to that house again. There was only one car parked at the front, but I knew there would be a fleet of black SUVs hiding somewhere in the woods. As I got out of the POS car Ansgar appeared out of nowhere and ran up to me allowing me to kneel down and give him a hug and tickle. I'd been out voted in taking him with me, something about him probably sensing any danger and going for Sorenson. Huh, would that have been such a bad thing. Okay, I conceded that we needed to know what Sorenson would do next. Walking into the large room that had once been the bar and dance area I was amazed at the change that had taken place. Okay, the bar was still there but the rest of the room boasted a couple of couches and tables with some amazing old fashioned sideboards against the wall. To be honest it was a difficult room to furnish given its size.

Turning toward the kitchen area I watched as Hector came into view and taking that box from my bag handed it to him. I sensed Ranger behind me so was turning yet again to see him coming down the stairs. To be honest now that I was inside the house, I realized that it was way too big as a cover story and was beginning to worry that the players we were after wouldn't bite on the story that I'd given to Sorenson.

"Don't look so worried. Kinley just called to let us know that Sinclair received a call before he disappeared"

"From Sorenson"

Came from Hector surprising me that he'd managed to do anything so quickly with that cloning thingy.

"Any idea what was said?"

I asked hoping to know if and where they would be meeting. Okay, I got a look from Hector that basically said, get real, which meant that we had no idea what their conversation was about.

"We have a tracker on Sorenson's car Estefania, so we'll know where he goes"

I suppose that was what we were planning for, though now that it was happening, I wasn't too sure that we would have planned for everything. I was pleased to see that a door had been put in that led down the corridor to those rooms so with Ranger behind me headed upstairs to what had been Latisha's room.

"Oh wow!"

Came from me as I walked over to the new shelves set into one of the alcoves. I'd never before seen so many shoes in my life, even inside a shop, and all of them looked to be Jimmy Choo shoes. The closet doors were open wide with mannequin heads covered in a variety of wigs and racks where Latasha's clothes now hung neatly. There sure was enough here to provide a variety of disguises.

"If we're reading this correctly, we'll receive the profile of the next victim. If Sorenson is involved and he's working with Sinclair then it'll be a test to see if you really are who you say you are and have access to that site"

I suppressed a shiver at the idea of that because no doubt whoever was the new target wouldn't be easy to find and he'd be dangerous once we caught up with them. I was pretty sure that Sinclair would be a step ahead of us, looking for a trap and looking out for Ranger or any or his men. I suppose in my mind I was convinced that Sinclair wasn't all that he'd seemed to be and was worried if he had lied to us. Was he someone who was already involved in this so that was why he was so keen to get his hands on Sullivan's information? That would make this really hard to manage and plan for.

Ranger had the sense of how I was feeling and I took comfort from his arms as they came around me. He made me feel safe and with him and the men I was feeling more optimistic. Sighing I left all those amazing clothes and went down to the kitchen with Ranger to find Les pulling things from the fridge.

"We have electric?"

Stupid question to ask when the fridge was obviously working.

"Yeah, generator out back. Help me with these, I'm sure the guys are ready for something to eat"

I was keen to help take the food from Les because I was definitely hungry after the morning that I'd had. Following Les I was surprised when we went back into the main room and then through another door. The sight of what Hector had done to the room that we went into shouldn't have surprised me. One wall had screens on it showing every aspect of this house, both inside and out while another wall had views of cars moving along streets. I suppose that was how I was always found and watched, from street cameras so why not use their method as well.

The quietness while we ate was unnerving me, come on everyone knows just how much I hate waiting. Taking everything back to the kitchen I even tidied away the dirty plates and put in time washing and drying them before returning back to where everyone was waiting. I was a bag of nerves just waiting but even though we were expecting it, the beeping from one of the laptops on a desk startled me.

"We have a new message come in"

No shit, I felt like saying, but was sure that I rolled my eyes before going and standing behind Hector. I watched as Hector used a password and as the home page came into view. It was a simple design that showed links to other pages, no doubt the ones that Kinley and Hector had come across. As Hector hit the message icon, I held my breath because I was getting a really bad feeling about this.

The heading for the message read, "Wanted for multiple murders" and had an attachment that Hector soon went to. Opening it had my hand going to mouth as the photo came into view. I turned to Ranger, not really sure how he would react to it, not surprised to see his blank face. Shit, how easy was this going to be seeing as the person who they wanted killed was Kinley.

"Are we any closer on finding out who sent this?"

Ranger asked because I was sure like me that he had wanted some evidence for us to follow with regard to who was responsible.

"No. Someone has used this contact to send the message and it isn't Dresden"

Okay I was confused now and was definitely frowning as I waited for someone to tell me how the hell that had happened.

"Kinley was going to give Sinclair what she'd found on those files, the sites that Dresden had used. We can't categorically prove that it was Sinclair who sent this, but very few people know of the site that would give a contact for the assassin"

I was actually surprised because I hadn't felt that my meeting with Sorenson had gone very well, certainly not well enough to establish that he was involved. That he'd met with Sinclair afterwards, I suppose only emphasized that the two of them were in cahoots. It seemed that we were looking at Sinclair for sending this through but why have Kinley as the target? Was it a way for me to prove to Sinclair that I was the assassin? Had Sinclair found out that she was working with us? Surely all we had to do was call Kinley and get her to somewhere safe then we could set up a scene that looked as though Kinley was dead.

"Can you get in touch with Kinley?"

I asked of anyone who was listening.

"Her phone's offline"

Came from Ranger as he slammed his phone onto the desk. Shit he was back to being annoyed again. We had to find her which wasn't going to be easy because this meant that she was probably hiding out somewhere if she knew what the contents of that site was. I closed my eyes as I thought through the whole situation and decided that the only way to find her was by doing it the old fashioned way, yeah through searches of any information that we could find.

"I'll start a search and look at her life"

I said on a sigh because knowing how good Kinley was with computers, I doubted that she'd have a history that could be found.

"Santos, with me. We'll do some surveillance on Sinclair's house. Any news on Dresden yet?"

That got a shake of the head from Les, but I was pretty sure that Dresden wouldn't be involved with doing this. He'd be hiding out until all of this blew over and looking at ways to cover his tracks.

I spent an age running searches on Kinley Malhoun and as I'd suspected there was nothing to find anywhere. In the back of my head, I knew there was always a way, a thread that could be found, but I was running out steam on where that could be. She had to have had a family, parents maybe even siblings which probably meant that she was using a false name. That had me remembering what Ranger had said to us, so turning to Hector hoped that he was as good as her.

"Hector can you hack into Homeland?"

"I could try that"

Came from behind me, making me jump.

"Sorry, Azulejo. Didn't mean to frighten you"

To be honest I'd forgotten about Juan. The last time that I'd seen him was at Ranger's house at breakfast so wasn't aware that he was even here.

"What do you want to know?"

I wasn't sure if I was chasing something that would help or not, but hey, I'd chased up on weaker ideas before now.

"To find out what Kinley did that had her demoted to a desk job"

A low whistle came from Juan, but he never questioned why I was asking for someone to do that. In my mind I also remembered Ranger saying that he'd worked on a job with her so maybe she was using an undercover name then as well so I bet that Juan wouldn't find a record of Kinley Malhoun in the Homeland files. I sat back and put my feet on the desk thinking through what else I knew about Kinley.

"Juan, I don't think that you'll find her under the name Kinley Malhoun so could you get the names of any female agent who was demoted going back from when she started to work for Sinclair to six years ago.

I didn't want to call Ranger for an exact time scale since he'd worked with her. Not sure why not. I knew that Kinley had been doing research on me because she found my files far too quickly, so I considered what else had she had found that day? Anna's emails and finances. Was that just her being good at what she did or had she already known where to look. Yeah, that had me thinking through exactly what we'd found that day. Anna Reebock, the woman who had died, the woman who had stolen the files from Dresden. Now why would Anna even do that? She'd worked with Dresden's son for 18 months, so had she overheard something? Then there was the whole thing of her knowing what to buy and how to use it. Was she that computer savvy to know?

I reran a search on her, and this time read past her tie to Albert Creighton, to be honest just the sight of his name had had me ignoring everything else. This time I started at the beginning, reading the names of her parents and siblings. It was only a single line, easily missed, was what I argued with myself, but there in the search was the name of her brother. The reason why I'd probably missed it was because he had died, and he'd been a soldier. At the time I knew that even had I read that then I wouldn't have given it a second thought, now though, I just had a feeling that it was important.

"Juan, when was that job where Ranger was ambushed because of false intel?"

I watched as Juan rubbed his hand down his face as though he really didn't want to be remembering that, now that he knew his part.

"Seven years ago, or near then"

Internally I was saying mmm, to myself. Was the death of Anna's brother anything to do with this. Was it a coincidence that he'd died seven years ago? I wasn't sure if I was going to find anything worthwhile through searches so went to my trusted site that accessed news reports and input Stephen Reebock into the search for the paper of where he had lived. That was going to take some time and obviously Juan hadn't found anything yet so once again I was sat with my feet up on the desk. A ping brought me out of the sleep that I'd lost myself in, making my feet drop to the floor.

It was an obituary for Stephen Reebock giving a short report about him. He'd been seen as a local hero in the small town where he was raised and there in black and white was mention of a sister named Anna and a reference to his grieving fiancé, Sasha Delaney. They'd been high school sweethearts, but his army career and her job had delayed the wedding until he was supposed to be next home. Could Sasha be Kinley? Hell, it was such a long shot.

"Here is the list that you asked for, but the detail of the discipline isn't detailed"

Taking the list from Juan I skimmed down the names almost thumping at the air when I read the name Sasha Delaney.