Mona Lisa Glower (Ranger)

The Ranger's phone was beeping, the ringtone was repeated beeps not a little ditty or a song like most other phones. His phone didn't often ring, most people didn't know his number and as a satellite phone the number was decently difficult to find.

He slid the phone out of his pocket and answered it and heard a familiar voice on the line. Lenna. He was decently surprised having not heard from her in a long time. She said she wanted to see him and gave him her address, it wasn't needed he knew where the place was. A date was set and they ended the call.


Come the predetermined date the Ranger readied to leave. Forgoing his normal side holsters he slid a P226 into the crotch of his pants while wearing a belt and slid his shirt down over it. The placement allowed for freedom of motion and unlike hiding it anywhere else prevented the formation of a silhouette. Any indication of the grip against his shirt would be viewed as his belt.

He left his place and decided to hoof it to Lenna's. He still hadn't replaced the General and there was no need to skip out on the exercise by taking public transportation or a cab. Besides the weather up in New York is generally a cake walk compared to back home, until it gets cold.

Following a decent run he was at Lenna's apartment complex, he knocked on her door and waited for her to open it.

The Ranger didn't have to wait long before the door swung open unveiling a familiar yet slightly different sight. Seeing Lenna from a point of view where he stood taller than her is a little odd, some of the first impressions seem to linger.

"Michael,"

"Lenna." He returned the greeting with a word and a nod.

"Come on in." Lenna made room in the door way and the Ranger crossed into the apartment. She then closed the door behind him. "Taking care of yourself, I see," Lenna passed ahead of the Ranger and led the way to the living room.

"You too." And she did, still fit and with no bullet holes in her.

Arriving in the living room Lenna sat in a chair, The Ranger took a seat across the coffee table on the couch. As he sat he gripped the edge of his pistols grip with his index finger and end of his palm to pull it forward, insuring the barrel was in the right place when he sat.

"How've you been?"

"I've been good. Done a little of this, little of that. Took some time t' keep my Airborne Ranger skills sharp." He leaned back. "How 'bout yerself?"

Lenna had spent time reading and on missions. Reading was good, the Ranger knew he should do more of it, but every book in the library? That just seemed excessive. To each there own though.

So this wasn't just a social call. Many people don't go digging up decently hard to find numbers of people they haven't seen in a long time without some reason, and considering their skill sets it was not unexpected. Something was taken and they were to recover it for the boss. If the boss would like it than it had to either be valuable or valuable to him, if someone took it (and going to be a gift, it more than likely wasn't his to begin with) it was more likely the former.

"So we're...liberatin' somethin' from thieves fer the purpose of giftin' it. Interesting. So what was taken?"

The Mona Lisa.... That was defiantly something valuable. Incredibly valuable... and hard to steal no doubt, the thieves must have been highly skilled. They're now in New York, that makes it easier. Home Court advantage assuming they were not locals. Lenna believed that they may be setting up somewhere for it and drop it since it is to hot of a good.

"Guys good enough t' steal the Mona Lisa would've known it'd be the hottest item on the market. They'd've had a fence located beforehand, someone they've worked with. The paintin' would be sold on the black market t' high rollers that have private collections. It'd be secret, but they know its there an' that makes them feel powerful. Otherwise it'd be sold to an upper class member of a non Interpol nation. Of those we would be lookin' at one or two men per country. North Korea's rulin' family being the most likely, Kim could use it as a symbol for how they are superior t' the west. Pure propaganda." He paused for a moment to think and added, "I'd put my money on a rich American or European addin' it t' a private collection though. It's more likely since it is common followin' major thefts."

Lenna gleamed a bonus reason off of this visit. Killing two birds with one stone. The Ranger never called, in fact made no real attempt to contact her for any reason. "I haven't made contact with many, and for a while was out of the country. Hopping around Europe... And havin' met each other under such strange conditions just made it seem awkward. Completely irrational I know, so sorry."

"I've had a run in or two with high dollar thieves and fences, warlords like nice things too an' the fence has the intel on where t' find 'em." And they betray information with little persuasion. Not torture mind you, that doesn't guarantee factual information, only the lie they think the torturer wants to hear. The goal is to create a situation that is uncomfortable but neither truly harmful nor life-threatening.

"It shouldn't be awkward." Her voice conveyed that she had been to some degree offended.

Rather than scrambling to patch it up, through the various ways people often try to mend similar situations: an addendum that contradicts something they said, a hasty partial revocation, or a rephrasing that leads to either a misunderstanding or is total gibberish, the Ranger took a moment and then addressed it.

"Your right it shouldn't, and it isn't. It was an irrational concern, bred out of pride. Your experience with me was at my most, well, ridiculous. There isn't any way to justify it and I guess trying to would be moot, trying to put reason to the unreasonable and all..." He knew he would get nowhere and dig a deeper whole most likely if he tried much more. "I was stupid, and there is no excuse. I should have called or written a letter or in some way contacted you." When you find yourself in a whole, stop digging. The maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters. Just admit the mistake but don't apologize, it makes you look weak.

The defense that ended with an admission of fault was greeted by forgiveness, a trip down memory lane, and a brief lecture with a rhetorical question to boot. Not his favorite memories to revisit, running all over the city stuck as Lori, but like Lenna said it was in the past and how things happened. Those events led to the following events which made it all worth it, namely his trip to Romania to deliver some force multiplication.

The Ranger didn't chime in at all during Lenna's little speech, he merely nodded in acknowledgment where appropriate until the subject turned. "Do you want coffee, or what?"

"Yeah, sure. Coffee works," He stated, but after a momentary pause added, "Black." He avoided commenting on what Lenna had said, she presented her case and him making any reply, affirmative or not, would only drag it on and distract from more pressing matters. "How much d'we know about these fellas? Names, affiliates, common haunts, physical description? Or we need t' get our ears on the groun' t' start?"

Lenna shared their names, Jordan and Aliyah. It wasn't much, but was all she had, aside from knowing they were here in the city of course. The names sounded middle eastern, though since he isn't all that familiar with middle eastern languages he couldn't pin it down to any one people group. Knowing this little, perhaps the easiest way of searching them out would be to find someone in this city who has the connections to attempt to fence something as valuable as the Mona Lisa. You find the fence, apply a little pressure, and you have the thieves.

Lenna then rose and went to make the coffee, in the mean time the Ranger made a few calls to some old military buddies. His goal was to find out where one of the old fences they would consult was hiding out. Sure, them being sworn to serve and protect from both foreign and domestic threats would normally mean they would apprehend fences, and posse comitatus should keep them from acting inside the United States, but sometimes the situation warranted some rule breaking.

Eventually he had an address and after drinking his coffee it was time to roll out. Rather than literally running all over the city, and having to ride around on the back of Lenna's bike all day (he was not at all a fan or having other people drive him, and much less a fan of riding on the back of someones bike), they first stopped by his place. His bike was parked in the arc under the steps leading into the building. There was not enough room to maneuver around the bike, making stealing it a much more difficult feat. It was room enough to let him slide in the key and move the bike out onto a walkway and then to the road. The Ranger then placed a bluetooth earpiece on his ear, slide on his black helmet, and then climbed onto his Hayabusa. While riding should something happen the easiest way to communicate would be via phone so he was prepared.

The Ranger revved the engine, it sounded good, and was ready to ride. He set off leading the way to where the fence, Eugene Shepard, resided. He was unaware of his incoming visitors, that way he couldn't run ahead of time.

Before long they arrived in a run down area of the city, Mr. Shepard lied in a second story seemingly apartment. The outside of the building, and his apartment in particular looked nothing alike. It seemed the IRS would never think to look inside to spot the fraud.

The Ranger parked his bike, climbed off, removed his helmet and gave Lenna a quick rundown. "His name is Eugene Shepard. He is an old fence my team and I would use to track down buyers. He probably won't be to happy to see me... be ready for anything up there." The Ranger made his way to the front door and opened it for Lenna. He was a gentlemen after all. Beyond the door was a hallway and a set of stairs leading to the next floor.