Stephanie opened her eyes when a woman screamed. She shook the fogginess from her head as she searched the surroundings. A woman with bloody blond hair hung limp on the wall. The blood stopped dripping shortly after Stephanie opened her eyes. Amber's blood pooled near the drain a few feet from Maria and Ricardo. The shackles were the only thing keeping Amber upright. Her naked flesh quickly tinted grey and blue. Stephanie recognized the tattoo on her thigh. "Is she dead?" Stephanie groggily asked.
"Yes! It's your fault. Amber was the perfect partner until she contacted you," Javier snarled. "I had to kill her before she released my location." Stephanie hoped Amber uploaded her files before Javier snatched her.
A black balaclava covered his head. Stephanie could only see the contours of his nose and chin, which wasn't enough for her to recognize Javier. The device against his mouth distorted his voice, making it unrecognizable to his mother.
"You're one sick bastard," Stephanie growled. It felt like a thousand monkeys were playing a monotone drum solo inside her head. "What did you give me?"
"Special K," he replied. "Did you enjoy your trip to K-land?" Stephanie couldn't remember anything after arriving at the motel.
Again, she looked around the emptiness of the space. Stephanie noticed she was the only one sitting on a chair. "Where are we?" Maria and Ricardo Sr huddled together on the floor, leaning against the cold cement walls with their arms behind their backs.
Javier slapped Stephanie's face. "It doesn't matter. Where is Ricardo?" Javier asked, saying Carlos' given name with as much contempt as he could muster.
"I don't know. He hasn't returned from the mission," Stephanie lied.
"You're a terrible liar," Javier snapped, slapping her face. "Where is he?"
"I don't know," she repeated. Javier punched Stephanie. She closed her eyes as Javier assaulted her. Stephanie smelled the faint scent of blood. When the blows to her face and chest stopped, Stephanie rolled her head; she felt the pain behind her ear and knew Javier removed the tracking device. Carlos wouldn't know where to find her.
Stephanie felt a mixed bag of emotions. She was glad Carlos and their children were safe. However, the fear of dying in the cement room with her in-laws watching was at the forefront of her mind. Stephanie didn't want to witness Javier killing his parents, either.
"Leave her alone!" Maria cried. "We don't even know you. Why are you doing this to us? We never did anything to you."
Javier got closer to his mother. She never recognized him at the house. He slapped her face before pulling the gag over her mouth. "Shut up, bitch."
Meanwhile, inside Rangeman Trenton, the men were frantically updating Ranger, Tank, Lester, Hector and Bobby with the newest location of Stephanie's tracker. "Give the coordinates to the others," Ranger ordered. He suspected Javier removed Stephanie's tracker.
"We have to follow it," Lester argued. He heard Ranger growl into the earpiece. "Oh. You think it's a wild goose chase to distract us from finding Stephanie."
"Yes," Ranger replied. "Binkie, have you contacted the TPD and FBI?"
"Matt Meyers will arrive within a few hours, sir. Chief Juniak dispatched his detectives and officers to search the industrial and warehouse district. Rodriguez is checking the video feeds to see if our clients' cameras caught anything. Whoever took Stephanie seems to know how to avoid our equipment."
"My brother, Javier, took Stephanie. Has Ace arrived with the other men?" Ranger asked. He heard the other men gasping in the earpiece. They had no idea it was Javier Manoso who kidnapped Stephanie. The few who knew never reacted.
"He's in the air," Binkie replied. "ETA is one hour." Binkie couldn't believe Ranger's brother was the man attempting to ruin his reputation.
Ranger hung up without further discussion. He had to think about where Javier took Stephanie. "Ranger?" Tank asked when he stopped at the side of the road.
"I need to collect my bearings," Ranger replied. "You drive." They quickly swapped seats. Ranger closed his eyes and meditated. He pictured Stephanie in his mind.
"Where?" Tank asked.
"Toward Newark along Route 1. The motel was close to the highway exit for Trenton. I want to see if I can sense where she went from there," Ranger explained. Tank followed the instructions. He pulled into the parking lot.
While Tank went to speak to the manager, Ranger went to the parking space where his friend, Al, found the car. Ranger concentrated on Stephanie. He sensed she walked toward the dark corner. Following the path Stephanie took, Ranger found a syringe and a bloody cloth. He removed a glove and a collection bag from his utility belt.
"The manager said the cameras are offline. What did you find?" Tank asked.
"A needle and a bloody rag," Ranger replied, showing him the bag. He needed to know what drug Javier used to sedate Stephanie. Ranger had Tank look for more clues as he called Bobby.
"Yo," Bobby answered.
"Do you have the drug and blood test kits in your vehicle?" Ranger asked.
"Yes. Where?"
"Motel off Route 1. We'll wait for you to arrive," Ranger replied.
"We're a minute out," Bobby announced and hung up.
Ranger approached Bobby's vehicle. Lester was bouncing with barely contained rage. He wanted to rip Javier apart limb from limb. Jeanne Ellen arrived with Kyle. Her red-rimmed eyes betrayed her emotions. "I'm sorry," she kept saying.
"Jeanne, getting emotional isn't going to help us find Stephanie. You need to tamp those feelings down until we find her," Ranger said. He barely contained his emotions and didn't have the time or patience to deal with his sister.
"It's been six hours already," she whined. Ranger glared at his sister. She stepped away from Ranger and let Kyle's embrace relax her. Jeanne nodded once she contained herself. She focused on their task and helped Kyle search for more clues.
"We found this cat," Vince announced, arriving at the scene. "Someone tied Stephanie's tracker to its collar. We can't remove it without getting clawed to death." Claw scratches dotted Vince's cheeks, arms and neck with blood. Tank smiled at the cat. He removed it from Vince's arms and looked into its eyes.
"Did someone give you a present?" Tank asked. The cat meowed. "I'm going to take it off your collar, okay?" The cat meowed. Lester's anger dissipated as he listened to Tank talk to the cat. He only heard that tone of voice from Tank when speaking to Ric and Hanna. "You're a good kitty," Tank said, making Lester snort. He stood a few feet away from Tank, shaking in silent laughter.
"How did you do that?" Vince asked, impressed with Tank's cat-whispering skills. "It wouldn't stop scratching me."
Tank read the name on the tag. "Did you tell Fluffy what you were doing?" Tank asked. Vince got closer. Fluffy hissed at him.
"He doesn't like me," Vince replied. Tank chuckled and placed the cat on the ground.
"Go home, Fluffy," Tank ordered. Fluffy meowed before running towards the bushes behind the dumpster.
Bobby tested the blood type on the tracker and cloth. "The blood type's the same," Bobby announced. "Both are O positive."
"That's Stephanie's type," Ranger said. "And the drug?"
"It wasn't the usual street drug used on Stark. I'm thinking it's rohypnol or ketamine," Bobby replied. "Both would work relatively fast on the recipient. I don't have tests for those."
"He's dead," Ranger growled. He hoped Javier never sexually assaulted Stephanie. Ranger closed his eyes to calm the beast inside. It was ready to tear through his flesh to annihilate everyone surrounding him. Tank recognized the signs and got everyone to return to their vehicles.
After a few minutes, Ranger climbed inside the SUV for Tank to continue their journey. Ranger allowed his senses to guide him. He kept his eyes closed and told Tank where he should turn. They ended up in a warehouse district near an industrial zone.
"Are we locking and loading?" Tank asked.
"Not yet. We wait for the others to join us," Ranger replied. As much as he wanted to storm into the complex to find his wife, Ranger needed the others to surround the area to prevent Javier from escaping. His phone vibrated in his pocket. Ranger used the Bluetooth earpiece to answer. "Yo."
"Boss," Hector said, "Over ten warehouses and fifty storage crates. I'm not reading a heat signature on any of them."
"Where are the others?" Ranger demanded.
"ETA thirty minutes," Hector replied.
An emergency on the highway delayed the arrival of the other men by an hour. Ranger didn't want any mistakes when rescuing his wife and parents. After getting Jeanne Ellen to describe the scene in their parents' kitchen, Ranger realized Javier entered the house through the back door. There wasn't any indication of the locks getting picked. The hide-a-key spot was empty. Only the Manoso children knew the location of that key. Wherever Javier was hiding Stephanie, Ranger would find their parents.
Inside the warehouse, Stephanie shivered. The thick cement walls surrounding them prevented heat from entering the area. Javier returned to Amber hanging from the wall. The overhead light wasn't enough to illuminate the space—most of the light fixtures contained burnt-out bulbs. Javier thoroughly examined Amber's body using a flashlight. Once he swept the light over her tattoo, Javier used his knife to slash it.
Maria cried and gasped as Javier continued to mutilate Amber's corpse. Since there was no heartbeat, there wasn't any blood. Stephanie saw the blood pooled at Amber's feet. When Stephanie followed the path of blood on the floor, she noticed Maria and Ricardo had plastic zip ties around their wrists and chains around their ankles.
"Don't go anywhere," Javier ordered before laughing. "Right. You're stuck. I have you tightly confined."
The door rattled as Javier moved into the second area. He pissed in the drain and flushed it with diluted bleach. Javier was unaware of anything happening in the next room.
"Mama," Stephanie whispered. "Do you have one?"
"Mmhmm," Maria replied.
"Do you remember Hector's and my lessons?" Stephanie asked; she heard a noise in the next room and prayed Javier didn't walk in on them.
"Mmhmm," she answered.
"Can Papi help?"
"Mmhmm," Maria said. Stephanie sighed in relief.
"Mama, timing is everything. Don't make a move until I yell or someone breaks into the room," Stephanie warned. She watched Maria and Ricardo shift to sit back to back. Maria mumbled where to find the knife in the band of her pants.
Stephanie cringed when the knife dropped to the floor. The metallic clatter echoed in the room. She prayed Javier didn't hear the racket. Ricardo grunted as he held it between his aching fingers and slit through the plastic binding Maria's wrists. She flexed her fingers and stretched her wrists to regain feeling. Maria cut the zip tie that bound Ricardo's hands.
"Mama, Papi, hide the straps and keep your hands behind your backs. He can't know you're free," Stephanie warned.
Javier entered the room a few minutes later. He punched and kicked Stephanie. "Where is he?" Javier demanded. "My contact said he's here."
"Who told you that shit?" Stephanie spat. She refused to give Javier her husband's location.
"Chester Deuce. We met during summer camp when we were kids," Javier replied. Stephanie knew that man was a snake in the grass. She refused to set up the interview with Tank and Ranger. Something about his past made her dump his resume into the trash. She didn't care how many men worked with him on missions. Deuce was a douche.
Hector and Lester patrolled the perimeter outside the complex while Ranger briefed the team. One of the men Ace brought to the site sneered when he approached Ranger. Hector kept an eye on him. Lester moved to intercept, and Hector waved him away. "I'll watch him," Hector said before slipping into the darkness, holding a knife in his hand.
The suspicious man separated himself from the others. He moved into the darkest place behind a building, unknowingly passing Hector and removed the phone from his pocket. Hector slit the man's throat after he pulled up the number to dial. Lester quietly approached Hector with the police chief, Joe Juniak.
"What do we have here?" Juniak asked.
"A traitor," Hector replied. He showed Juniak the number on the phone. Joe called someone to watch the body while he approached Ranger and Tank.
Hector followed the police chief to his boss and explained everything, speaking in rapid Spanish. Juniak understood everything Hector said and asked to see the background check Stephanie conducted. Hector contacted Rodriguez to forward the intel.
Ranger used his phone to call the number on Chester's phone. It rang once before a man answered, "Is Ricardo here?"
"Yes," Ranger replied. "I'm coming in to get you, asshole." Javier laughed and hung up.
It didn't take Hector long to find the warehouse where Javier held Stephanie and the others. He should have realized Javier would use the one for Ranger's birthday. Hector created the message to send to the group leaders. He wrote only "84-08-12" before sending the mass text. The numbers stood for row eighty-four, building eight and room twelve.
Ranger's glare hardened as he approached the warehouse where his wife was held captive. He approached the entrance, falling back until the others got into position. Ranger tapped his microphone to signal he was breaking into the building. Instead of smashing the door with a battering ram, Ranger picked the lock. It took a few minutes, but he didn't want Javier to kill Stephanie.
Javier approached Stephanie. He held the flashlight in one hand as he used the other to peel the balaclava off his head slowly. It dislodged the voice distortion device he had sewn into the area covering his mouth. Maria and Ricardo Sr's eyes popped open as Javier revealed himself to his parents. "Hello, Mama, Papi. Are you proud of me now?" Maria and Ricardo shook their heads.
"Why did you do this to us?" Stephanie cried. She understood the jealousy angle, having felt that way regarding Valerie during their childhood. But Stephanie would never stoop to the level of Javier and try to overtake Valerie's life.
"I deserved to be named Ricardo Carlos Manoso. Why wasn't that my name? Then Mama got pregnant for more children than they could afford. Each time, Mama brought home another girl. I was happy until the girl I expected was a boy. Do you know what they named him?" Javier yelled.
Stephanie whispered, "Ricardo Carlos."
"That's right. I wasn't good enough to carry on the tradition. You had to give that weaselling wimp the family name. I'm taller. I'm more attractive. I have pleasured many women in my time. Then Ricardo, my stupid brother, had to go and ruin my life with that skank Rachel. He set me up when she got pregnant. I wasn't planning to return to that bar," Javier screamed. "That bitch would have stopped looking for me if my fuckwit brother never told her where I would be. She purposely punctured the condoms to get pregnant. Rachel never deserved my support."
"But you never supported Rachel. You got married to pay her medical expenses. What about Julie?" Stephanie asked.
"An unwanted bastard," Javier replied, pausing when he thought he heard a noise. "Thank goodness Rachel had the balls to ask me to terminate my rights." Javier faced his parents, turning his back on Stephanie. She heard foot shuffles from the opposite side of the door. Stephanie caught Maria's eye and nodded.
Javier never realized he made a grave error by not checking his mother for weapons. As Ranger and his men entered the building and the section where Javier held their parents and Stephanie hostage, Maria removed her hands from behind her back. She tugged the gag free while Javier was momentarily distracted.
Maria heard a noise in the next room. She timed her throw for when someone kicked the door open. Javier twisted as the knife flew through the air. It landed with a thunk in Javier's neck, severing the carotid artery. "Mama?" Javier gasped as blood bubbled from his mouth.
"I brought you into this world, and I took you out!!" Maria yelled. "You are a disgrace to the family name and no son of mine."
Javier fell to the floor. Maria cried as her son died. Ricardo Sr held his wife as they mourned their oldest son.
Stephanie's eyes were too swollen to see who entered the room. Her neck tingled to indicate Carlos was close. "Mama, Papi," she groaned.
"The others can get them," Carlos replied. Stephanie closed her eyes. She was exhausted and wanted to disappear into the dark abyss, attempting to pull her under.
"Stephanie, keep your eyes open," Ranger cried as he removed the shackles and cuffs binding his wife. She groaned when he released her arms. Her ribs ached from Javier's assault. "How bad are you injured?"
"Broken ribs. Probably some internal bleeding. I'm freezing, Carlos," she replied. Upon hearing Stephanie's comment, Bobby and Bones rushed forward to help. "You're here. I wasn't expecting you until next week."
Bones smiled and replied, "Catherine wanted me to help catch that bastard. She'll be here next Monday to visit." Stephanie nodded and moaned from the splitting headache caused by the blows to her face.
Carlos held Stephanie's hand as Bones and Bobby examined her injuries. Stephanie groaned when they touched her abdomen. "Is the ambulance on the way?" Bobby shouted over his shoulder.
"It's twenty-five minutes out," someone replied from the doorway.
"Shit," Bobby said. "She needs to get to the hospital now." He quickly outlined the dark bruise near her spleen using a red Sharpie.
Stephanie moaned when Carlos lifted her. He ran from the building to get Stephanie to the hospital. It was painful for Stephanie as Carlos jolted her body by running. The men moved out of his way when they saw him running while Stephanie cried. She tried to be brave and not show any pain, but it was impossible with her broken ribs.
Bobby and Bones chased after them. Hector jumped into the driver's seat of a Rangeman SUV and drove closer to Carlos' location. Before Carlos could climb into the back seat, Bones and Bobby jumped into the cargo area and pushed the seats flat. They helped Carlos situate Stephanie and secure her before Bobby yelled, "Go!"
"Gazarra, Big Dog and Morelli escort them now!" Joe Juniak ordered. The men ran to their cars and attached the Kojak light to the roof. Eddie flashed his lights as he passed the Rangeman SUV, letting Hector know they were getting escorted to the hospital. Morelli followed behind them to ensure nobody tried to cut them off.