Chapter Twenty-Seven
After apprehending Hannah Moore, it was almost lunchtime, and I couldn't decide how to proceed. Hannah Moore had been a quick apprehension once she had laid eyes on McKinney and Hal in the car. She became all goggly-eyed and had insisted that McKinney was the one putting the handcuffs on her. I didn't care and let him do the job. She had also wanted McKinney to ride on the backseat with her, but I didn't want to risk a lawsuit.
Now, there was only Gwen Harolds left from the shoplifters, but I really didn't feel like going after her. I had thought to bring Grandma Mazur with me for the apprehension. She always liked the action and Grandma Mazur was older than Gwen Harolds which meant that Grandma could get nasty and rude towards Gwen without risking looking like an abuser of the elderly. But the car would be too crowded if I picked Grandma up with Hal, McKinney and Loki in the car plus Gwen Harolds when we brought her in. Gwen had to wait for another day. I was contemplating going to the bonds office to get some other files, when my phone rang. It was Tank.
"Can you come back to Rangeman?", he asked without much of a hello.
My heart sank.
"What happened?"
"I want to update you, and a bike courier is here with a delivery for you."
Oh, great.
"We're on our way," I said, disconnecting and giving Hal the new instructions.
On the short drive back, I tried to distract myself by playing with Loki next to me. He had some pent-up energy, and I needed to go on a prolonged walk with him when everything was settled with Tank. Maybe Rodriguez was still on duty in the control room, and we could go on a walk together. Loki could play with Red and burn some energy.
When Hal pulled into the garage, Tank was already waiting for us. He guided me to the reception on the ground floor where the bike courier was still waiting. I showed him my identification and signed the receipt. When the courier handed me a big brown envelope, and I asked him who the sender was, I already guessed the answer.
"I don't know. I had to pick up the envelope from a locker at the train station. I have received the instructions by phone. The sender paid double."
Tank took a note of the number, but we both knew that it was a throw-away number that had been deactivated by now. The courier left and Tank and I went upstairs into Ranger's office. My fingers were itching to rip the envelope open, but it was better to do so in a private space where no cameras caught the contents. The envelope was mostly flat, but there was something rectangular bulky in it, too. The moment Tank had closed the office door behind him I ripped open the envelope.
The bulky thing was a throw-away phone that fell out first. Next, I retrieved a couple of pictures, and I immediately became sweaty hands. The first picture showed my parents' house. The second picture showed my father in front of the TV. The picture had been taken through the living room window. The third picture showed my mother and grandmother through the kitchen window, sitting at the kitchen table having a cup of coffee.
I sat down hard on one of the chairs in front of Ranger's desk. My breath came in short puffs, and I had to concentrate to breathe evenly for the black dots in my vision to disappear. I had to clear my head. Panic wasn't going to help me know. The threat was clear: Colonel Harris was targeting my family, probably to blackmail me into doing whatever he wanted me to do.
I looked up at Tank, hoping to see in his eyes that he knew exactly what was to be done now. It wasn't his family that was being threatened, but he looked somewhat pale all the same. While we were staring at each other, the throw-away phone began ringing and startled us both. I pressed a hand to my chest to calm my heart, and Tank motioned for me to pick up the phone. I accepted the call with shaking hands and put the call on speaker.
"Stephanie?"
I only saw the Colonel once, but I thought to have recognized the voice, and the way Tank's expression hardened confirmed it.
"Yes," I said, still trying to regain my composure. "Who am I talking to?"
"I believe you know who I am," he said patronizingly.
Despite my anxiety and nervousness, I hated the way this man just assumed he was the hub of the world.
"I have a list of enemies, so a pointer would be good."
Tank looked at me like he couldn't decide if he should smile or smack me.
"With that disrespectful smart mouth of yours I can see why," the Colonel said. "Now, quit playing dumb. I'm aware that the CID has received some information a few hours ago that will prompt them to investigate my person. This is rather unfortunate and forces me to act much sooner than I had intended. But if I go down, I will take you and Ranger down with me. Since you are hiding behind a bunch of ex-marines and criminals, I couldn't get to you directly and was forced to involve your family. I have a man in place in front of your parents' house. You are free to verify that the pictures are from only two hours ago and if you would like to have proof that my man is still in place, I'm happy to order him to fire a warning shot through the living room."
"What do you want?", I asked, the bravery and humor had left me.
"Call your parents."
"Now?"
"Yes, I want you to take this seriously. Stay connected at this phone."
I exchanged glances with Tank. I didn't want to involve my family, but I didn't see how to prevent it. Tank looked to be at a loss, too. I took out my other phone and retrieved the recording button from my messenger bag. I pressed the button to activate it and dialed my parents' landline.
"Hello-o," Grandma Mazur sang cheerfully into the phone.
"Grandma, hi, it's Stephanie," I said, trying to control my nerves. "How are you? Is everyone alright?"
"Oh, hi Stephanie. Of course, everything is alright. Why shouldn't it? Are you in trouble again?"
There was some yelling in the background and Grandma relayed my mother's question if I would join them for dinner. I declined politely, and that was when I heard the gunshot through the phone and glass breaking.
"Stephanie, you won't believe this! Someone just shot at our house," Grandma exclaimed.
My heart had skipped a beat, when I had heard the shot, but I had to stay calm.
"Was someone hurt? Is Dad alright?"
"No one was hurt. Your father was in the bathroom just now. What has this neighborhood come to?"
"Grandma, listen, stay away from the windows. I will take care of this," I said.
"Oh, don't you worry. I have my gun. I will have a look around outside."
"NO! Stay inside," I said insistently.
"Are you in trouble again?"
"Maybe. Just promise me that you all stay inside," I demanded.
"Okay, but be careful," she whispered, and disconnected.
I stayed quiet for a few seconds.
"What do you want me to do now?", I asked the Colonel.
"I want you to leave your bag in the building, come outside through the front entrance alone, and get into my car. I'd like to keep this easy and clean. I don't want to hurt your family, but if you don't comply, I will. My man at your parents' house has a sniper rifle, a Glock and a rocket launcher. If you don't come outside alone, my man will take out your family one at the time with the rifle. Headshot. No unnecessary suffering. If you involve the police or your gorillas try to take out my man in front of your parents' house, the rocket launcher will come into use. The second my man spots a police or Rangeman car, he will launch a rocket at the house, and I can guarantee you that's not going to be pretty for your family. The same will happen if either the police or someone else will follow our car. Do you understand?"
I swallowed.
"Yes."
"Good. Then come outside now."
No. We needed some time. Tank and I had to come up with a plan.
"I need to feed my puppy first," I said, not knowing how I managed to utter the words without wavering.
There was silence on the other end of the line.
"What?", he pressed out.
"My puppy. I need to feed him first."
"I don't think you understand the situation you're in. You're not in the situation to bargain. You come out now, or your father will be killed first," he said angrily.
I had to tread very carefully now. I didn't want my father to get hurt, but I desperately needed some time. Tank was already typing away on his phone, hopefully organizing something.
"I understand very well the situation I'm in, which is why I have to feed the puppy. Because the way I see it, I won't be back to do so later," I said very calmly, trying not to sob at the thought that I would never see Loki again.
There was another silence.
Good.
Every silence meant that Tank had more time organizing whatever he had thought of.
"You have five minutes. If you are not stepping outside in precisely five minutes, your father will be shot," he finally said and disconnected.
I set the timer at my phone to four minutes and thirty seconds and let out the breath I had unconsciously been holding.
"Tell me what you got," I told Tank.
"Melvin had hacked into the system last night. He forwarded the incriminating files anonymously to the CID. It's the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division. Melvin had also found the bank transfer that proofed that the witness had been bought by Luis Sanchez. It looks like the Colonel had recruited Sanchez after all to kill Gunter Hertz, and most probably Luis Sanchez is the man at your parents' house now."
"Can we somehow enable Sanchez without alarming him first?"
"I don't know. You will have to decide if you want to take the risk and try it, or to hope that nothing happens to them if you comply."
"You want me to comply?"
"No, but I don't see you not doing it. There is no way we can stop Sanchez within, what? Four minutes? Three minutes?"
"You're right. And we should probably already go downstairs so I don't miss the deadline. Do you have a small tracking device here that I could put in my shoe?"
Tank nodded and swiftly retrieved one from the safe, along with a kevlar vest. I placed the tracking device in my shoe, and even though it was very small, it was still uncomfortable. I hoped the Colonel wouldn't notice my slightly off walk. I quickly pulled the sweatshirt over my head and Tank helped me put the kevlar vest on. I pulled the sweatshirt back over my head and thankfully it was big enough to cover the bulky vest. If the Colonel patted me down, he would immediately feel it. But by eye, I should get away with it.
We went to the ground floor, and outside, a pizza delivery driver just drove past. I had an idea.
"You can disguise as delivery drivers to take out Sanchez. Obviously, you can't wear the normal black Rangeman uniform, but disguised as delivery drivers you can scout the area around the house and find out where Sanchez is hiding to take him out."
Tank considered my words and nodded.
"It might work, if you want us to take the risk."
I nodded and pressed Loki to my chest, kissing his head and trying not to cry.
"Please take care of my family and Loki… and Ranger," I said, and I couldn't hold back a sob.
"As soon as your family is safe, we will get you. I promise," Tank said, placing an arm around me. "We have the GPS, and we will follow the traffic cameras. We will know where you are, and we will save you. I'm sure the Colonel won't kill you right away. He would want to do it at a memorable place, whatever that is."
The alarm on my phone went off and I handed Loki to Tank.
"Be a good puppy," I told him, giving him a last kiss and hurrying out through the main entrance onto the street, pressing the recording button in my hair tie. I didn't actually think it was still needed, but it wouldn't hurt anyway.
I stood on the sidewalk and blinked away the tears that had formed in my eyes, when a silver Lexus stopped in front of me. My hands were shaking, and I took a deep breath before opening the passenger door. When I looked inside, Colonel Harris was looking back at me from the driver's seat. He wasn't wearing a uniform or the badges he wore at the gala. Instead, he wore a plain brown coat, looking like an ordinary elderly citizen, save for the gun he was pointing at me.
I froze.
Maybe Tank had been wrong, and the Colonel would shoot me right on the spot.
"Turn around slowly", the Colonel said, and I did as I was told. "What's that in your pocket? Your phone?"
I looked down at myself and nodded.
"Throw it on the sidewalk."
I retrieved my phone and placed it carefully on the sidewalk. Tank could retrieve it once we were gone.
"Get in the car," he said, and I did. "Show me your watch."
I hesitated.
"Give me your watch," he repeated, moving the gun slightly forward as a threat and I complied.
I took off my watch and handed it to him.
"It was a gift from Ranger," I said soundlessly.
"I bet it was. It looks manipulated," he said, throwing the watch out of the car to the street, where a passing car drove over it.
I still had the tracker in my shoe. And the recording button in my hair tie. Not that the latter was of much use to find me.
I wasn't the most faithful person, but I was still raised Catholic, and I prayed to God that Tank would take out Sanchez, so my family would be safe, and that he would be able to take out the Colonel, too.
When he put the car into motion, I was able to take some more steady breaths. Despite still aiming the gun at me with one hand, I felt slightly more relaxed. He wasn't going to kill me here. Tank had been right. There was still hope. I just had to gain some time. I shuddered at the thought of what had happened the last time I had played for time. But I couldn't see the Colonel lower himself to that. It was more likely that he would kill me sooner rather than later if I annoyed him too much.
"Where are we going?", I asked, thinking it was an innocent enough question to test the waters.
"It's of none of your concern," he said shortly.
He clearly didn't feel like talking, but I had to try anyway.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Why do women always have to talk?", he asked annoyed.
"If I'm going to die, because that's what I assume is going to happen, I want at least to know why," I said as calmly as possible.
"Because you are the unfortunate woman Ranger fell in love with, which makes you valuable. And of course, because you were responsible for Carr's death. I really liked that boy."
"I assume you were the one telling Orin Carr to kill Kinsey and Ranger. But why?"
"I never said something about Kinsey. Carr decided on his own to eliminate him, too. It had been Ranger that had poked his finger into things that he shouldn't have. He was a soldier. He should simply have followed orders. That was what he was trained to do. But then he decided to quit and the whole unit fell apart. Do you know how lucrative it is to have a highly skilled Special Forces unit at hand? There are people out there paying good money to get a job done by specialists. I had made millions with the side business, and I could have made many more if not for Ranger. It took me years to form another unit like that, but they had never reached the potential and efficiency of the first one."
"So, all this just for money? And you didn't care that the people who had hired you were most likely bad people?"
"Just money? I don't know in what world you live, but money is the most powerful resource in our world," he said condescendingly.
"I live paycheck to paycheck. I know all too well how important money is. But I wouldn't sell my soul for it."
"There is no such thing as a soul," he barked. "A few of my clients might have been terrorists. So what? As a Colonel of the United States Army, I had fought enough of them. I'm not single handedly responsible to establish world peace."
I shuddered. I could point out that as a member of the United States Army you took an oath to protect the United States and loyalty to your country. Certainly, you were not to help the enemy. But I kept quiet for once. Besides trying to gain information and a confession from Colonel Harris, I had paid close attention to where he was driving. I thought we were heading towards Philadelphia, and I was wondering why. I tried to think of a connection that Ranger might have to Philadelphia. But the Colonel took a sudden exit, and it became clear that Philadelphia wasn't our destination. I had no clue where we were going, and it made me feel uneasy. I was thinking about my family, and I hoped that Tank had found a way to disarm Sanchez. The longer we were driving, the more time Tank had for his rescue mission. I thought of Ranger and wondered, if he had been informed about what was happening or if he was oblivious to the danger I was in. Ranger was somehow always able to save me just in time. I wasn't sure if Tank had the same ability. I tried to keep faith, but Tank wasn't Ranger, and Ranger was locked up at the police station.
This time, it really didn't look all that good for me.
Funnily enough, I wasn't paralyzed with fear, thinking about my impending death. My hands were sweaty and my heart beat double the normal rate. But the most prominent feeling inside me was concern about Ranger. What would he do, if the Colonel killed me? I wanted him to be safe. I wanted him to be okay. And I wanted to tell him one last time how much I loved him. We had too little time together.