Disclaimer – All characters belong to the lucky JE and I am not making any money from them.

In The End

Have you ever had one of those moments of wonder, where you look back on your life and wish you could just go back? There is always one thing that sticks out above the rest. One thing you wish you could change. A place you wanted to visit. Words you want to take back. A decision you want to remake.

A person you should have told that you loved them.

The clock counted down soundlessly as I thought of my life.

Time was running out.

Ranger:
We're almost there Babe. Please stay strong.

Philip Hernandez should have never been anywhere near Stephanie. He was arrested for driving drunk and resisting arrest. The cops wanted him in on whatever they could get. He was suspected of planting bombs in the city so he could then rob one of the banks while everyone focused on the bombs. He succeeded three times in the past month. What had me worried was the sophistication of the bombs. They weren't simple plans that could be printed from the internet. Each time it took the bomb squad at least 25 minutes to disarm them.

Of course I had to open my damn mouth and tell Steph to stay the hell away from him. I practically ripped the file from her hand before I left the bonds office. What I didn't know was that she managed to convince Connie to make her a copy of his file after I left.

Rule number one with dealing with Stephanie Plum: Never tell her she can't do something.

With her damn luck she was able to find him when Grandma Mazur dragged her to some specialized sex shop near Point Pleasant. She called to tell me, hanging up on me when I told her to get the hell away from him and wait for us to get there. Lester, Tank and I raced down to Point Pleasant, breaking every road violation known to man.

But it was too late.

There ended up being a struggle for her stun gun.

Stephanie lost.

Hernandez took her to his car and drove to the nearest clothing store, we know because he used her credit card to purchase the clothing, then they went off the radar –Steph's cell phone and personal trackers went off the grid- until he called me three hours later from her phone.

"Come and get her Manoso. Time's a ticking."

He left the phone on after that so we could find their location.

Ram found the address. It was Philips ex-wife's cabin in the woods about an hour away.

Everyone was on their way there now. My five car team had its own police escort. The bomb squad was assembled and just a few minutes behind us.

"Son of a bitch," I growled. "Drive faster Tank."

He beat me to the front seat expecting an argument from me. To everyone's surprise I moved into the passengers with no complaint. I wasn't going to waste one second. It didn't matter how we got there as long it was fast.

"Ranger the pedal is to the floor man. We're going as fast as we can." He was quiet for a minute. "Bomber is a fighter. She'll be fine. We're only a few minutes from the dirt turn off."

I didn't say anything. Of course she was going to be fine. My Babe always makes it through. She's the toughest person I know. We've been through a lot of bad shit together but she held her own when others would have broken down. This time was not going to be any different.

It couldn't be.

I'll make damn sure of it.

She'll get the training she needs whether she likes it or not. I already put it off for too long. I once told Steph that she had all the power between us and that was the truth. One bat of her eyelashes and she could practically get out of anything with me. It almost cost her her life too many times. This would be the last time though. She was going to learn everything. I'll put her on rotation with the guys.

Hector will teach her about electronics: how to bypass and disable. Lester will teach her regular B&E and how to handle knives in a fight. Tank with deal with all the guns: short and long range. I'll do hand to hand combat with her myself.

She'll still be Stephanie, just more aware.

"One minute Ranger," Tank said.

I refocused myself and realized we were on the path to the cabin. The trees beside us blurred together as we flew past them.

The cops in front of us were already parked about 100 feet before the cabin getting ready to do a perimeter sweep.

Tank turned the car to get out of the main road and before he could come to a complete stop, I was out of the car. My men were seconds behind me already in gear as I made my way to the chief of police.

"Ranger," he was practically glaring at me. He's hated Rangeman ever since we found a kidnapped little girl before the department found a single lead.

"You can arrest us all later," I interrupted him when he opened his mouth again, "if you want to fight about it but I am going in there to get her out."

"Chief, it's not about who gets the glory this time," a familiar voice said behind me. Morelli walked past me, lowering his voice so only the Chief could hear.

Whatever Morelli said did the job. The Chief smirked at me. "Alright Manoso you call the shots. We'll follow your lead." He walked away without looking back.

I raised my eyebrow at Morelli.

He shrugged. "Just reminded him of the truth. If your guys go in our cops are less likely to die first."

There was no comment for that. "Hal, Ram, Cal, and Woody take up the four corners and report."

Zach Beldur, head of the bomb squad, had reached us by then with his own group of men. He pointed to two of them and told them to follow. "What do we know," he asked when they left.

"One room cabin. Two front windows. One door."

He glanced at the cabin in the distance. "Let's hope that's it." When he looked back to me his eyes were guarded.

Before he could utter another word my phone rang.

It was Stephanie's phone.

I put it on speaker and waited.

"You can tell everyone they don't need to look around the place from such a distance Manoso," Hernandez spoke. "There is only one bomb. It doesn't have a sensory trigger. Just your standard countdown. You might want to get in there soon. Your whore doesn't have must time."

Morelli, who I had forgotten about, took a step forward with his hands clenched.

"There?" I asked in a low voice.

"Very perceptive Mr. Manoso," he laughed. "Don't worry, I'm still hanging around to see the outcome. Tick Tock." Then he hung up.

Morelli grabbed my phone from my hands and dialed Steph's number. It went straight to voicemail. "Shit," he yelled. Joe took a second to take a deep breath before pointing at me. "When this is over I'm taking her away from you. She's going to move in with me. I'm going to marry her. We're going to have the family we would have had long ago if she hadn't met you and your band of thugs."

Tank made a move beside me but I stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. "Don't."

The mic on my vest chirped. "Report," I said.

Everyone gave the all clear from the distance.

I turned towards Zach. "Are you going to let me go in peacefully now or start something?"

"Let me check the door for wires. If it's clear then it's your show."

I could deal with that. Wasn't worth wasting time arguing about anything at this point.

Everyone got into their positions and we made our way to the last few yards to the cabin. Zach stepped in front of me and did his thing. What seemed liked hours later he finally gave me a nod and stepped back.

"On my mark. One, two, three, go" I counted softly.

With Tank and Bobby a half a second behind me, I kicked the door open and charged in gun drawn. The single room was empty except for a dirty mattress in the corner to my right. On it was Stephanie.

Tank yelled cleared as I moved towards her.

She was lying on her side in a pair of sweatpants and a large zipped jacket. Her legs and arms shackled together behind her. Other than a gag in her mouth and red eyes she looked fine.

"You're ok now Babe. I got you," I said quietly when I got to the mattress. I took the gag out and tried to sit her up.

She shook her head as a steady stream of tears fell down her cheeks. "Open the jacket," she whispered, barely able to suppress a sob.

The room was empty except for Steph and the mattress.My mind froze for a second.

Dios Mio, por favor.My hand reached for the zipper. It fell open smoothly.

The world stopped spinning for the longest moment before someone behind me yelled for Zach.

My world crashed.

Underneath the jacket was a vest. Attached to the vest were dozens of pockets. The pockets were filled with dynamite. The dynamite had 20…30… at least 40 different wires going between them, around the vest connecting to God knows what. On the upper left shoulder strap there was a clock.

16 minutes. 47 seconds. And counting.

This will only be a 2 or 3 part story. I'm not going to say who or if anyone dies because I don't want to spoil anything. It will be up to you guys whether or not you want to continue reading with that said.

Reviews make me happy!
Cole