Author note: I got a comment on a story in the past that I should have put a warning on a scene of graphic violence. It was my first story and didn't know I was supposed to. What happened to Ana is eluded to in this chapter, and it ain't pretty. Please consider yourself warned.

Rosolli safe house compound, Western New Jersey

Connie, earlier that morning

"My uncle Jimmy set up an address for me when I started school. Something I could share with school acquaintances- he did it for all the cousins to keep down unwanted visitors to anywhere the family actually did business. It's a safety thing. Anyway, that was the address Ana had for me." Connie drank down half the scotch. "And after Jimmy found out who Ana was, he told me he needed to put a couple of layers between me and mine and her family, because, well, you know…my family…"

"What do you mean, layers?"

"Rutger's enrollment records for that semester of classes were lost in a fire," Connie explained to Gabriela, without mentioning the La-Z-Boy fire thrower burning a registrar office storage area that made it look like tuition protest.

Gabriela shook her head. "Connie, do you remember the guy assigned to your study group with Ana, the one who dropped out…"

"Sort of... His name was Eric something…"

"Eric Tolar."

"Yeah, that's right. He was in the MBA program. He dropped courses that semester cause his mom got sick or something… But how did you know about him."

"He came up during my investigation."

"Why? He only attended for a couple of weeks- we hardly knew him."

"A year after he dropped out, he was killed execution style in the South Bronx in a neighborhood he never visited over drugs he never tried to buy."

Connie paled as Gabriela continued. "The cops investigating, if I can call what they did investigating, called it a drug buy gone bad. But absolutely nobody who ever knew Eric believed the story. He didn't drink, smoke or do any drug ever. In fact, his sister called him the most boring man on the planet. The crime is officially unsolved."

"Officially unsolved?" Connie practically whispered the words.

"Unofficially, in certain circles of hell, it seemed that Ana's husband Felix figured out that his beloved slept with a classmate and was displeased."

"Holy sweet mother of God!" Connie crossed herself. "How could he know?" Nobody knew."

"I have suspicions on how he discovered the truth." Gabriela looked down again at her notes… What did she see there?

"Since Ana only ever called her lover Babe, Felix didn't have a lot to go on- and may I say, changing the name Ric Manoso to Frederica Mancuso on the class list- making it Rica for short- now that was inspired."

HOLY FUCK, GABRIELA KNOWS!

"And shortly after that," Connie's voice was unsteady as she looked again at the envelope in her hands. "I got this at my dummy address." She handed it to Gabriela and refilled her glass.

Gabriela read the letter and studied the photos of a young beautiful woman, obviously dead.

Connie had seen the photos and read her friend's letter when Jimmy handed it over all those years ago. After the shock and terror raced through her, she sent a note to Ric telling him to call ASAP.

She remembered his grief, the devastation in his voice when she told him Ana died… a broken-hearted young man. And then he went completely off the rails for a while…

Connie shook away the memories as she realized Gabriela was reading the letter out loud.

It began, My friend, if you receive this letter, know I am already dead and gone… remember you care remember darling, keep yearning regardless of losses- safety is essential."

Connie interrupted her. "Jimmy reached out to his contacts after I got the letter and the pictures and found out Ana's husband Felix killed her, Jimmy said he tortured her and killed her. And the bastard returned her to her father, with the Arabic word for whore carved into her- you can see it on the right side in a couple of the pictures." Connie sobbed into her hands. "Jimmy never found out who sent me the envelope."

"And Smirnov wasted no time killing Montenegro and taking a scorching earth approach to ridding the world of his business enterprise. But he looked for years for more information…" Gabriela examined the letter again. "The phrasing in the note is odd, a little too lyrical- almost like she is trying to say something she can't put in writing." Gabriela got a pencil and scratched out the passage "remember you care remember darling, keep yearning regardless of losses- safety is essential." on the sheet. "I think it's code… I think it means Ryčard Kerol- safety is essential."

Connie didn't understand. "What or who is Ryčard Kerol?"

Gabriela stilled and spoke in a quiet, intense voice. "Ryčard Kerol translates to Richard Karl, or should I say Ricardo Carlos, so the message was "Ricardo Carlos- safety is essential". My guess is she wanted Manoso kept safe, out of the line of fire."

"She told us to keep Ric safe. When she knew she would die, she begged me and my family to protect Ric, to keep him safe, and I never knew. God, I never understood her message."

"But I think your uncle Jimmy did. He locked down everything around Ric Manoso's identity. And it stayed locked down until relatively recently. Smirnov never believed it was Eric Tolar. I wasn't sure why that was when I starting researching the recent upsurge from the Russian side. But as I looked more deeply, I put the pieces together."

"I still don't understand. My uncle Nunzo said Ana's father died eight months ago. He can't be behind what is going on now. And why now, when all this happened so long ago.

Gabriela refilled Connie's glass and sat down in the chair beside her. "I actually think everything started last year after Trenton had that really successful blood drive."

Virginia Safe house

Stephanie

"Let the record reflect that RangeMan is represented by Robert Brown, Stephanie Plum and Pierre Boudreaux…"

Tank's blank face was locked down. He hated being called Pierre.

"The FBI is represented by Special Agent Charles Bell…"

Government meetings were sooo boring. I was planning for a trip to the pool in my tiny new bikini to help my fiancé decide on a wedding date in the near future.

"The CDC is represented by Doctor Christopher Frye…"

If this doesn't work, I don't know what I'll do. I love Ranger, but he was IMPOSSIBLE!

"Homeland Security is represented by Lesley Kulick…"

Looks like Mr. Kulick likes Lesley as much as Tank likes Pierre.

"Dr. Frye, you have the floor."

"To update everyone, we at the CDC were called in related to odd issues with blood collections in the tri-state of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, to ensure no infectious agent was being introduced into the blood supply. The original issue was the disappearance of donations… well, really phantom donations that were noticed over eighteen months ago at a community drive looking for a bone marrow match."

I remembered the event, because Joe and his whole extended family worked to get everyone out to donate. We had been in an on stage, and Ranger was in the wind.

"The blood banks had no record these donations were ever made, in spite of sign-in records indicating the donations had in fact been given…"

Dr. Frye talked about blood donations and supply and corruption of the system and on and on he went, and I was bored out of my mind and then he mentioned the Morellis.

"Sorry, can you repeat that?"

"I stated that after blood samples went missing in Trenton, we thought it was an event involving the Mancuso and Morelli families, because many of the missing samples were from men with those surnames."

"Can I see the list of missing samples?" I asked, and Dr. Frye sent a copy of the phantom donor list down.

It included Anthony, Mooch, Joe, and a mix and match set of their male cousins, but there was another interesting element to the list. I started counting, and sure enough, while there were twelve members of the Morelli-Mancuso extended family listed, more than twenty of the missing samples were RangeMen.

"So, the Trenton samples were the last to go missing?" I asked those gathered as I made notes on my scratch pad. "Do you have the original list of donors for the whole day?"

More papers were passed to me and I went through both lists a couple of times.

"Care to share with the class, Little Girl?" Tank whispered.

I had stopped writing and stared at the lists.

Every missing sample came from a male between the age of thirty and forty. None of the missing samples came from men raised outside of the tristate area.

"I think these guys were looking for somebody." I announced to the group. "They looked for Italian/Latino men, in their thirties, local to the New York Metropolitan area. Nobody outside those parameters had a sample go astray."

Bobby sat up straight. "DNA, Bomber?"

I nodded. "I am not sure they found an exact match. But I think they know the guy they are looking for has ties to Trenton. I think maybe that's why the hammer has really fallen so hard on our city."

For a few minutes there was absolute silence and then it seemed like everyone was talking at once, until Tank stood and told everyone to be quiet.

"How sure are you?" Tank asked me.

"Every one of the Morelli-Mancuso clan on the phantom list was within a couple of grades of me and my sister in school. And I know all the RangeMen listed. They are all close to me in age, and fit the profile as local and Italian or Latino. The guys who stole the blood are hunting for someone. And they think they are close."

What I didn't point out to anyone was the name not on the list, who was supposed to be.

Lester Santos didn't appear on either blood donor list even though I know he was there and gave blood. Because I had been on the cot next to him. The whole town came out to donate and be tested to see if they were a bone marrow match for a sick firefighter. I was nervous but Lester joked the whole time and made it all alright.

What the fuck was going on?!