The sea air blew and the sun shined down as the Ranger sat at a table near the coast in Constanţa. He had purchased a ticket for a ship that would carry him to France, from where he would board a plane for the States. Most of his gear had been dumped, trying to leave the country with it would be a nightmare that the Ranger didn't need to concern himself with. Rather, he had a few of the smaller, more expensive, items and one thousand dollars in Romanian leus.

The Ranger checked his watch, it was time to board. He grabbed his backpack, slid on a pair of sunglasses, and headed to the boat. On the way he saw a group of security guards running to the dock, as they ran past the Ranger caught a look at the picture they were all carrying. It was a shot of him from a security camera. The Ranger turned to face the water and leaned on the railing thinking, he need another way out of the country.

Scanning the area he spotted a blond woman down near another dock where a ship had just pulled out. He made his way down to her and stopping beside her after noting an abscess on her arm took off his shades and looked at her, "I guess we just missed the boat."

The woman laughed slightly and looked back to him, "I guess."

"Maybe it's fate, gettin' stranded in a country and talkin' to someone you'd probably walk right by back home. I guess the question is what do we do now?"

The woman shrugged and followed the Ranger as he turned and headed away from the rail on the ledge."Can I ask you something?" The Woman nodded slowly, "Where do you get your hit?" The woman paused for a second and then continued double stepped to get back in stride.

"How could you tell?"

Rather than audibly answer the Ranger pointed to his left arm on the inside of the elbow. The woman looked down and then pulled her sleeve down farther. "I know a guy...I'll take you to where he normally works."

The Ranger had no intent to purchase anything from the man, but he would have to have a supplier and chances were the supplier would have a boat. He would try to negotiate for passage on the boat. So for now he would follow this woman.

The pair made their way through the city, they discussed good times back home. The Ranger's stories completely fabricated, but his friend of convenience didn't know that. In fact she knew nothing of the Ranger, she thought he was a Californian looking for a good time in Europe named Evan.

Finally, they came upon a little coffee shop of sorts. They passed in through the front doors and after a quick scan of the area the girl pointed out a man sitting out on the back patio area smoking a cigar and reading a book. "He's through there." She pointed through the door at the man.

"Great... You got any cash?" The woman looked at him confused. "To get us started." The Ranger smiled at her and she pulled a small wad of cash out of her pocket.

"I was going to by my friend a guitar back home." She spoke slightly saddened, but her desire for instant gratification got the better of her.

The Ranger gripped the cash and to coax her into letting go added reassuringly, "Well, this'll be more fun." She smiled and the Ranger took a step away and said, "Wait here."

He then made his way across the establishment and out onto the back porch. A few more steps and he was by the man's table. "Hey." The Ranger caught his attention, he lowed his book and pulled his cigar out of his mouth. "Some friends of mine and I are throwing a party."

"Good for you."

"I'm thinking we could use a little help."

The man smiled, waved the cigar around and asked, "Do you?"

"How much would five-thousand lei get us? That is if you got it."

The man had brought his cigar back up to his face but froze and stared at the Ranger at that."Are you freaking serious?"

"Yeah." The Ranger nodded and smiled indicating he serious.

The man extinguished his cigar and then stood up sliding his book under his arm. He waved for the Ranger to follow him and made his way to a gate leading out of the area. The Ranger looked to the girl, waiting by the doors and motioned for her to wait a minute. He then followed out the man. When they had excused themselves from everyone's earshot he gave the Ranger instructions."Meet me under the bridge two miles north of here, all the cash in hand or no sale." The Ranger nodded and let the man move almost out of sight before he started following him.

The man traveled up a few blocks, over a few and on he went almost zigzagging through the city. The Ranger followed, remaining out of sight. It wasn't much of a challenge the guy scarcely looked to see if he was followed. People following him to find the supplier was probably not a normal occurrence.

Finally, after a few hours of walking the man entered what was basically a trailer park. It was a mix of parked trailers, dilapidated RVs, and what looked like crack houses from back in the States. Following in this environment would be more obvious to others who might alert his target. So, the Ranger hung back farther. If need be he could find some height and use his scope as a monocular.

His planning was for not, minutes after entering the trailer park the man approached a trailer and began to chat up another man there. The Ranger moved closer, attempting to get in earshot without being seen. He could make out something about the money and securing the supply. Bingo!

The Ranger approached them, when he was a few yards away the man from the coffee shop he was noticed. The man gave him a confused and slightly angry expression.

The Ranger held out his arm showing he had no aggressive intentions "Okay, okay. Yeah, I followed you."

"What the hell man!" The man took a few steps toward the Ranger taking an aggressive posture.

"Alright, look. I want to meet the man who supplies you. I have three-thousand lei for the man with a boat."

"A boat?!" The man was surprised by the request.

"Yeah."

At this the supplier spoke up. "How about we just kill you now and take the money?

The Ranger pulled back the left side of jacket revealing his tactical gear and firearm."Give it a shot." He waited, it was their move now.

The supplier began to laugh, confusing the other man who eventually started laughing. Apparently those in illegal operations in Romania brown nose with the best of them."Okay, I'll take you to meet my boat pilot. He will decide if you can buy a ride or not."

At that the Ranger let his jacket conceal his weapon again."It's good to see you are a reasonable man."

The supplier waved for the Ranger to follow and led the way back behind the trailer to some t-top hooptie, the Ranger followed and when the man climbed in and started the car he followed him in and they were off. While they rode the man pulled out a cell phone and called the ship pilot, told him to meet him at some bar, and then hung up.

No conversation was held on the way there. Which was favorable to the the Ranger, the less this guy knew about why he wanted a boat the better. Though, it did make for a boring thirty minute drive to a little hole in the wall bar near the coast.

Finally they arrived and climbed out of the car. They made their way into the establishment and sat down at the bar, the Ranger would defiantly have loved to have a beer but in the situation he preferred to remain sober. Water it was. The supplier ordered himself a beer, took a sip and then turned to the Ranger, "He'll be here soon." The Ranger nodded and scanned the area, if it all hit the fan he needed to know what was around him. Not many people, but the ones there looked pretty mean, and the bartender was packing heat.

Finally the smuggler/boat pilot arrived. He entered the bar, looked around, and then made his way to the bar. Placing the Ranger between him and the other man. He then ordered rum.

"I need to get out of the country. I can pay. Three-thousand lei." The Ranger took a sip of his water and the smuggler laughed.

"For three-thousand you can't even look at the boat."

The Ranger, a little irritated, replied, "Okay, how much?"

"For an American, who was probably involved in all this unrest. Ten-thousand."

He thought for a moment and then countered, "You know, if I was in your line of work, I would want to be able to see people at night, before they could see me." The Ranger slid out an infrared optic. The smuggler reached for it, but the Ranger pushed his hand back. "No, no. For ten-thousand you can't even touch it. But for a boat ride you can have an infrared night scope, very limited edition, supposedly U.S. military only, half kilometer range."

"This will do. Be at dock five in an hour." He took the sight and stood up to leave.

"No. I go with you now."

"Okay. You come with me now."

The look on the smuggler's face indicated that the Ranger had caught him in an attempt to make off with the hardware and leave Michael in the country. He would have to keep his guard up on the trip, lest they try to kill their obligation.

They made the trip to the boat on foot, it wasn't far, it seemed all the questionable ships were in this area. Several of them were small boats for running blockades, others were almost decent sized cargo vessels, but the vessel this smuggler used was a beat up, old luxury yacht.

"So this is her?"

"Yes, now hurry on. The crew will have her ready to head out soon."

"Sounds fine."

The pair boarded the vessel and the smuggler showed the Ranger to crew's lodging area, he could stay there until they arrived in France. He was instructed to remain down there if either Romanian or French authorities inspect the vessel, a hidden hold was in the floor in which he was to duck into.

Within an hour the ship was readied and set off. The trip would in theory only take a few hours, and was only slightly out of the way as the ship was headed out the straight of Gibraltar, around the cape of Good Hope, and up to Pakistan.

The short hop theory would not hold up in practice, as anticipated the smugglers would turn on and attempt to milk money out of the Ranger.