Page 75 of Theirs to Take

“We’re also the one holding these,” the tall guy said, waving his gun around as if proving his point.

“Well, I’ve got one of those too,” Ranger admitted, patting his shoulder holster.

Luke groaned, “Jesus, man,” he said. “You had to go and tell them that? You don’t want to get out of this alive, do you?” he asked. The other guy walked over to Ranger and held out his hand, silently ordering him to hand over his weapon.

“I’m just trying to help them out. I mean, they can kill both of us and go back to their boss empty-handed, or they can take me up on my offer, let you go, and I’ll give them the information that they need.” Ranger stared down both of the guys still pointing guns at them.

“You’re insane,” Luke breathed. “I think you might just be the craziest fucker on the planet.” Ranger laughed, actuallylaughed, and Luke shook his head at him. It was almost as if Ranger was enjoying the whole crazy scene.

“Listen,” Ranger said. “All I have to do is make one phone call and you’ll have the answer that you want. I just need some reassurances that you’ll let my friend go once I get you your answer.”

“Make the call,” the tall guy said. “We’ll let your friend go once we have our information.” Luke could tell that Ranger didn’t believe him any more than Luke did, but there was no other way around the fact that no matter how they handled this, they would probably end up dead.

Ranger reached into his pocket and both guys shouted at him to stop. He smiled and slowly pulled out his cell phone. “I’ve already given up my gun,” Ranger assured. “I’m just making that call like you wanted.” The two guys stood by Ranger, taking their attention off of Luke. He wasn’t bound to the chair, and he decided that this might be his only chance to grab the gun that they had laid on the kitchen table earlier. He gently slid it under his thigh and sat back in the chair before either guy noticed that he had moved.

Ranger took his time looking through his contacts to find the number he was looking for. By the time he had the phone up to his ear, Luke was sitting back in his chair as if he hadn’t just swiped the gun from the table.

“Hey,” Ranger said. “I need you to put those hacker skills to good use for me,” he said. “Can you do that?” Luke wondered who he was calling. He tried to think over Ranger’s contacts and who might be the hacker that he was referring to.

“I need to find out who had Joo Won’s family right now,” Ranger said. “I’m looking for his wife and two sons. Okay, thank you,” he said and ended the call. “Now, we wait.”

“Wait,” the tall guy repeated. The tall guy took Ranger’s phone from him and stuck it into his jacket pocket.

“Yes,” Ranger said, “we wait for my contact to get back to me. I’m assuming that you’ll be the one to take the call then.”

“Have a seat,” the other guy said. He shoved Ranger into the chair closest to Luke and the two guys started speaking in Korean again. Luke knew that Ranger was fluent in Korean. He seemed to pick up the language no matter where they were stationed.

They seemed to finish up their conversation and looked back at Luke and Ranger before leaving the room. “What the hell, man?” Luke asked.

“Don’t worry, man,” Ranger said. “It’s all part of the plan. You just need to trust me; can you do that?”

“You know that I trust you, Ranger,” Luke said. “Tell me that you know where Ruby is and that she’s safe.”

“I do,” Ranger agreed. “Your girl called me as soon as she got out of here. Congratulations, by the way. She told me about the baby.”

“Thanks,” Luke said. “But I can’t think about any of that right now. Is she safe?”

“Yeah,” Ranger said. “I sent her to be with Millie.”

“Why Millie?” Luke asked. “I hardly think she’s qualified to keep Ruby safe.”

“Oh, she’s qualified, all right,” Ranger said. “Millie was keeping a little secret from your girl. She’s ex-military and probably the best hacker that I’ve ever met. It’s why I hired her to work at McTavish for us.”

“You hired Millie without even asking me?” Luke asked.

“Yep,” Ranger said. “Like I just said, she’s a damn good hacker and well, she’d just as good making sure that hackers don’t attack our systems at McTavish. Plus, you were a little bit busy running from the bad guys and knocking up Ruby. I didn’t want to bother you with work things,” Ranger said.

“Well, bother me now,” Luke said. “So, Millie is like a super computer spy? Is she the one you called just now?”

“Yes,” he said. “If anyone can find Won, Millie can.”

“But she doesn’t have clearance,” Luke said.

Ranger chuckled, “That woman doesn’t need clearance to find them. She’s like a super ninja with a computer. She’ll get the information that we need and be out of the North Korean’s system before they even know what hit them.”

“So, you think that the North Koreans still have them?” Luke asked.

“Well, they were the ones holding them, to begin with. I’m guessing that they either still have them, or that they’re dead,” Ranger said.

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