ABDUCTION
Tank called the 7th floor with that 'I don't want to tell you this' tone in his voice. "There may be a problem. Stephanie's GPS hasn't moved in five hours. It's been parked at the mall since 17:00, and the mall's been closed for the last hour."
Ranger looked at the bedside clock, 11 o'clock is late for Steph but not unheard of. "Did you call her?" A redundant question, Tank knew what he was doing and would not have bothered him unless all avenues had first been traveled; but still a question that had to be asked.
"Her phone is turned off. Everything goes straight to voice-mail."
This got Ranger's attention. Stephanie's phone is never turned off. "What about her personal tracker?" (Referring to the GPS in the pen she carried in her purse)
"Stationary. Just like the Cherokee"
It wasn't like Steph to turn off her phone, but it was like her to run the battery down to nothing. She could have left the car in the lot for any number of reasons. Her personal GPS was another story. She carried her purse everywhere. Ranger had tried unsuccessfully to convince her that cargo pants would function better in the field. He'd come to the conclusion that her purse served her the same purpose as Linus'es blanket served him; and had given up.
"Get a car over there" He ordered as he rolled out of bed to dress.
"All ready on it. Should be getting a report in a minute or two." Of course. Tank was Ranger's best man. He would have been responding before he phoned Ranger.
When Ranger stepped out of the elevator into the garage, Tank was waiting for him with Hal in tow. "Doesn't look good. Her car is in the lot, locked. Her purse with a broken strap was found under the car."
"Call Connie, find out if she was working something in that area. See if you can get in touch with Lula. She might know something." They headed to the mall.
When he pulled into the lot, Ranger saw one of Rangeman's SUV's and a mall security car. The men were out of their vehicles standing near Stephanie's Jeep. The door was locked. Ranger produced a "spare" key. Door was unlocked and vehicle carefully searched.
"Connie said she had no outstanding FTA's. Her last one was Wally Grickes on a public lewdness for pissing on a grave. Lula said she left Steph at the food court. Steph said she had to make a quick stop at Radio Shack before going home. That was at 8:00." Tank reported.
As he walked around the vehicle, he spotted something near her purse…a splotch of blood. Rangeman's priorities were about to change, big time.
"Stay with the Cherokee. Don't touch anything. And don't let anyone else touch anything. I'll be back." Ranger ordered as he headed back to his car. Calling Tank aside, he filled him in on the blood and told him to get Silvio, his primo researcher to start checking similar abductions. Ranger headed to Steph's parents house.
SCENE 2
"No, not tonight. She always comes to dinner on Saturday night. Is there something wrong? " Her mother asked when he knocked on the door.
"No, Mam. Her phone's not working again and I needed to touch base with her." No sense in getting everyone worked up…yet.
"Well when you see her, remind her dinner is at 6:00. You're welcome to join us. There's always room."
"I'll keep that in mind. Sorry to have wakened you. Thank you." Shit, Babe what have you gotten yourself into now", Ranger said under his breath as he got back into his Porche and headed back to the mall lot.
On the way, he made the call he was dreading. He called Morelli. Joe and Steph had stopped seeing each other for the last 6 months or so. They had agreed to an open relationship but when Stephanie saw Joe out with Terry Gilman, the 'open relationship' got ice cold. She and Ranger had been together a couple of times after that but Ranger wasn't fond of 'rebound or spite fu*ks'. He'd bide his time. All or nothing. Ranger wasn't fond of sharing.
Morelli's SUV was at the scene when Ranger pulled up. Things were strained between them and the air pressure around them showed it. They looked at each other like two alpha dogs…respecting each other's space and waiting for any show of weakness. There was an unspoken truce between them when Stephanie's well being and occasionally her life, was involved. This was one of those times.
"Did you see the blood on the ground? Not much but, it is Stephanie we're dealing with. Could be hers or someone else's. I have Lab on the way.'' Morelli said in his dry 'cop' voice.
Ranger just nodded as Tank walked up to him.
"There have been three similar abductions in the Jersey/PA area in the last seven months. All three women were taken at night in public parking areas. All three vehicles were left at the scene. And all three women were found raped and murdered. Their bodies left at public rest-stops along interstates. There are no outstanding leads, but Silvio is still checking."
"Shit!" Morelli summed it up for everyone there.
"Who was her last call to?" Ranger asked.
A search of her purse didn't turn up her phone. It wasn't in her car. It wasn't anywhere on the ground. There was a chance that she still had her phone on her. Suddenly there was a little glimmer of hope. They couldn't phone her but if she was still able…she could call them.
"Have Silvio monitor her phone. If she turns it on, I want a GPS location immediately." Ranger ordered.
"I'll try to keep it quiet for a while. Her parents shouldn't have to worry until we know something for sure. If news hits the burg it will be all over the place. Missing Persons won't take a report for 48 hours. That should give us some time. How long were the others missing before their bodies were found?"
"48 hours" was Tanks droll reply.
SCENE 3
Stephanie forced her mind through the fog, trying to put pieces together. OK. Said good-bye to Lulu, went to Radio Shack and got the battery replaced in her phone, stopped at the Godiva chocolate kiosk and got the 6-piece cream center special. So far so good. When did things go wrong? Oh! The parking lot. That old guy kneeling between a beater truck and her Cherokee. He was feeling all over the ground, looking for something.
"Is something wrong?" She remembered asking, carefully keeping her distance.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you, young lady. My key ring broke and I'm having difficulty finding my key. The eyes aren't what they should be."
He seemed harmless enough. Gray scraggly hair and one of those gawdawfull quilted flannel shirts she'd seen worn all over the berg.
She bent down next to him to help him. Now she remembered! As she got near, he grabbed her by the front of her jacket and purse strap. She fought back and his hair fell off. He wasn't an old man! Her normal plan of attack is a good shot to the 'royal pair' but that was impossible since they were both on their knees. She tried a punch to the face but only managed to bloody his nose. Then she felt the familiar tingle of a damn stun gun and lights went out.
But this didn't feel 'stun gunish'. This felt like when she woke up in the hospital. Bitch! Stunned and drugged. What the f… who was this guy? Why was she wrapped in something dark and smelly? And how come nothing moved, her arms and legs felt like lead sausages and she was pretty sure they tied with something. She was bumping along on some kind of secondary road or riding along on the railroad tracks. Either way…fix the damn shocks! Her head hurt!
When the truck stopped, Steph was fully alert and mad as hell. The last time anything like this happened, she was locked in a trunk and delivered to a pack of angry Slayers. Then she felt dread. There would be no Sally on a school bus to saver her now. As far as she knew nobody knew she was in trouble. She had no serious felons on her FTA list. The last couple of weeks had been pretty same-old same-old. There was no 'red alert' to get Joe's or Ranger's attention. 'Shit, Stephanie, what have you gotten your self into now', she thought. Then the back of the bed opened up. She was thrown over somebody's shoulder and carried off.
SCENE 4
"The first body was found in the truck area of the rest stop near Alpine on Rte 78. The second in PA, in the dog walking area at the rest stop of Rte 80 near Tannersville. The last one was two months ago, again off 80 between Hope and Knowlton. One witness thinks he saw a blue pick-up with a tonto bed cover in the area but he was pukeing his guts out at the time. Didn't want a DUI so he pulled into the rest stop to sleep it off." Silvio could have had at least some good news, but no. This was going from bad to catastrophic.
One o'clock in the afternoon and they were no farther ahead than they were last night. Ranger's mood had gone from irritated to concerned to 'somebody's going to pay dearly for this'.
He highlighted the drop points on his computer and buzzed Tank into his office.
"Everything seems to be happening in North Jersey and far Eastern PA. Get a team together; you, Raphael, Hal, J.B. and two others. Four SUV's load them up and bring electronics. We leave in an hour."
"We don't know anything definite yet. Aren't we jumping the gun? Suppose she can get to a phone and it's not up North?" Questioning Ranger's plan…Tank was under stress too. He really liked Stephanie.
Ranger's steel glare was answer enough. Tank left to make arrangements.
Ranger phoned Morelli and told him the plans. Joe had been up all night going through surveillance footage at the mall. Hoping to find someone following Stephanie in the mall or out into the parking lot. The one guy that looked promising was just an "ass man" appreciating the view. His alibi was air tight. The blood at the scene wasn't Stephanie's. It belonged to a male. The state lab was running DNA matches of known past felons on file with the system. They both agreed that Joe would stay in Trenton and follow up any leads and would stay in touch by cell.
North Jersey felt right. Ranger had hunted men for years; first with Special Forces and Special Ops and later FTA's for bounty. He was good at it, probably one of the best. He had one other thing going for him…his special bond with Stephanie. Somehow even without GPS they seemed to know where each other was and when there was trouble. She called it her "spidey sense". He didn't have a name for it, but trusted it. 'Come on, Babe, start transmitting' he said to himself as he left the office.
SCENE 5
She was dumped, unceremoniously on the floor and literally spun out of the rug. She was in a dumpy, old cabin with a very scary man. Who at that moment was standing over her with the most self-satisfied smile she had ever seen.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" was all she got out before the first kick came. Right to her ribs. She groaned as the air left her body and the pain replaced it.
"Shut the fuck up! You don't talk unless I tell you, you can!" He screamed at her. Through squinted eyes, she sized up her captor. Shaved head, lots of tattoos, 5'11" or more and pretty good build…not cut like Ranger but definitely able hold his own. A second kick was to her butt. "Get up."
She struggled but couldn't with both wrists and ankles tied. "Jeeze" he said as he dragged her upright. He took out a jack-knife and her heart stopped. He cut both ties and grabbing her by the back of her hair, threw her into what looked like a storage room that now seemed to be filled with old clothes and junk. "Get undressed, and make it quick" he growled and shut the door.
What light there was, was coming from one boarded-up window. In panic mode, Steph franticly looked for something, anything she could use as a weapon. The clothes piled on the floor were all women's some stained dark, God! Probably blood. Under the one pile was a pair of stiletto heels.
'Better than nothing' she thought. Now for a plan.
She would wait by the side of the door, where it was dark and hit him HARD in the face and run. Not the best plan, but a plan none the less.
There were all kinds of scraping and shuffling noises coming from the main room. Then silence. Then footsteps. She took a deep breath, which hurt like hell, and got ready.
Stephanie had forgotten two very important things when constructing this plan. One, he was much taller than she was, and stronger. Two, she had just been kicked in the ribs and most likely had one or two broken; thus giving her the strength of Rex, her hamster.
He stepped in. She swung. He grabbed her and punched her square in the head. Lights out!
When she came to, she was tied spread-eagle and nude to an old iron frame bed. She hurt all over and the sudden realization of what was about to happen made her heart beat right out of her chest. She could hear her own pulse in her ears and she began shaking all over.
"You can scream all you want. There's no one around for miles. I like to make women scream. Wanna see how?" He was standing at the foot of the bed, very naked and very aroused.
"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" tears coming to her eyes.
"No! No! No! I told you no talking. Just screaming! That's all I want to hear." With that, he put his cigarette out on her thigh. She screamed.
"That's better. Now let me help you scream some more." And he climbed on top of her.
When he was through with her, he dumped her back in the storage room. "I like to sleep alone. We'll finish up after breakfast. You try anything else and I'll break both those arms. You won't be needing them much longer anyway." He laughed the most awful laugh, shut and locked the door.
She tried her best not to, but Steph vomited on the floor. Her whole body was screaming in pain. She had tried to fight him off, tried to prevent him from entering her. He found a way and hurt her bad. In her mind she knew this wasn't sex, this was brutal assault; but she still felt un-clean and vile inside. She wanted a bath with hot steaming water. She wanted to wash him away inside and out. But more importantly…she wanted to live. Live long enough to kill that sonofabitch!
SCENE6
Ranger had set up base at a small Mom & Pop motel as close to geographical center of the drop points. It was near a sparsely populated forest area around the Delaware Water Gap; lots of hunting camps, RV parks and tourist spots. Just the kind of area he would have picked for clandestine operations. It felt right. The feral feelings of the hunt started running through his body. They were close but would they be in time.
He wasn't sure how, but he knew he was going to kill whom ever it was that had Steph. How long it took and how much pain would be involved depended on her condition. And if she was dead…the Devil himself would cringe.
Morelli called a little before midnight. There was a positive hit on the DNA. His name was Leroy Owen Adams, aka LeeO. His rap-sheet was long. He was released a year ago from PA's Graterford Prison after serving eight years on assault, battery and rape. Released early for good behavior. "Don't you just love the system?" Joe hissed. Immediately violated his parole and hasn't been seen since. "One other thing," Joe added. "He's one of those survivalist nuts. Considers himself a regular Mountain Man. Your instincts could be right"
"They usually are" Ranger said as he hung up.
Morelli had pictures faxed along with the rap-sheet. Silvio was told to find any connection to Adams in the area. The men started hitting convenient stores and bars with the pictures. Even at this time of night somebody must be up. No one could sleep so they might as well look.
Hal called in around 3AM. A park ranger had stopped in at the 7/11 and thought the picture looked a lot like a guy he had seen fishing at Swartswood Lake near Middeville about a week ago. Nasty attitude, lots of tatts. Gave him a warning and made him throw his catch back…no license.
'Bingo! I got you, you bastard!' was Ranger's thoughts as he hung up.
Everyone gathered in the parking lot to get their assignments. "You don't fish far from where you eat. And you usually eat at home. Every cabin, every camp, every hollow damn tree. Find this S.O.B. Just find him, don't approach him, and don't let him know you've found him. He is mine."
The teams broke up. Equipped with night vision goggles and infrared binoculars, each man was trained in stealth. The hunt was on.
SCENE7
Stephanie found her clothes, what was left of them after they had obviously ripped of her body. As she picked up her jeans there was a clunk…her cell phone. There was a God and he still loved her! Shit, she just had the battery changed and hadn't had time to charge it. Wait a minute she paid extra for a rapid charge at the store. It was to hold her over until she could get home and give it a full charge, but there was some life to it. She turned it on. No bars! Up here in 'God knows where land' there was no frigging bars! Maybe near the window. Yep two lousy bars. She tried 911 and got nothing. Shit, it's going to be morning soon and she sure as hell wasn't going to go through what she went through last night. She'd die first, or after, depending how things went. Her eyes started to leak again making her angry and the anger made her fear go away or at least hide out of sight.
She left the phone turned on and stuffed it between two boards at the window. Maybe, just maybe ions in the air could find a cell tower. Just like that the phone slipped from her hand and fell out of the window onto the ground. Her last hope had just gone out the window. The sun was beginning to come up and with it her tormentor.
Silvio called around 5AM. There was an intermittent ping coming from Stephanie's phone. It wasn't strong and it faded in and out. It was hitting one tower, so he couldn't get a triangular fix. But he could give them a pretty good distance fix from that tower. The problem was that he couldn't give a direction from the tower. They would have to circle out from the tower's location.
As the men headed toward that tower, Ranger called in a favor.
"Yo!" was the answer on the phone.
"I need one of your birds. The situation is heavy."
"When and where?"
"Now, Swartswood Lake Park"
"Give me two hours"
"Make it one."
"Jeeze! OK! One hour. And we're even, right?"
"One hour" and Ranger hung up.
One hour later, as the team was setting up in the Swartswood parking lot; a light hum could be heard in the air. What looked like a model air plane was landing near their vehicles. J.B. stepped out of the SUV. "The operating codes were sent but I need mission specifics."
"Set for clear-def infrared, body heat only and high-def visual. We're not interested in structures connected to utilities. There'll be heavy forest cover and with the sun coming up soon, heat signatures will become less accurate. Start at the tower and spiral out. Do we have live feed?"
"Oh, yea. We have everything but a smart-bomb." J.B. went back to work in the van that now had what looked like an upside down aluminum umbrella attached to its roof.
On of the other RangeMan crew looked over at the air plane. "Is that a drone?" he asked.
"Don't ask. Don't tell" was Rafael's reply.
Ranger and Tank stood at the video monitor. J.B. had been guiding the drone through the search pattern. Except for an occasional black bear or deer herd, the heavy forested area was a no-hit. Close to the lake itself things got busier. Most showed families camping or hunters and fishermen out doing their thing. Frustration was becoming the operative word. The "borrowed" drone had to be returned by noon, its actual location lost in computer red tape, would be spotted by then.
When the phone rang, all three jumped. Silvio had found a 'gem'. A mile and a half, on the lake's west side and half way up the mountain…LeeO's grandfather once had a hunting cabin. It was basically just a shack and was abandoned when the state took over the area for more water shed.
With a known location it was easy to re-program the drone and within 15 min. it was on target. High enough not to be heard, the cameras showed a disturbing site.
SCENE 8
The door burst open, and he walked in. "Cripes, it stinks in here woman!" he yelled. "Don't you have any pride?"
'What an insane question to ask someone you have abducted, beaten and raped!' Steph thought but, remembering yesterday's painful lesson, said nothing.
He shut the door and returned a few minutes later with a bucket of water and rags. "Clean this mess up" he ordered. He stood there and watched until the floor was clean of vomit. "Jeeze, you stink to high heaven. Get outside and clean your self up. I can't make proper love to you with you smelling like that. And take that damn bucket with you."
A chance…outside…a bucket in her hands. 'God, please, please let this work. This may be my last chance" Steph prayed as he pushed her towards the door.
She waited until she was clear of the cabin door. She pictured in her mind one of those Olympic events; the one where they threw that ball and chain thingy. That's who she was, an Olympic champion swinging her bucket! Swing wide, hard and then run like hell…that's the plan. NOW!
It worked. He went down and she ran like a deer. She never turned to see what damage she had done. All she wanted to do was get out of the cleared area and into the woods. 'Gee, I never should have stopped jogging in the park.' Steph hated her brain sometimes. It had the habit of throwing out random insane thoughts and precisely the wrong time. 'Don't think…run!' She told her brain.
She made it to the woods and didn't stop until she was in quite deep. Hiding behind a tree, she stopped to catch her breath and peek behind her to see if he was following. Nothing. No sound. No movement. Maybe she killed him! Too bad, but it would have been nice to see his ugly face as he took that last breath.
She was in the woods, nude, broken, bleeding but alive. The only direction she knew to go was… away. And that's where she headed.
She hadn't gone 200 more yards, when he stepped from behind the tree. Bleeding from the side of his face, now missing some teeth, he still had that awful smile.
"Shit, woman, sometimes you make it all worth it. I haven't had a good fighter in a while." He grabbed her arm, spinning it behind her back. With his other hand he held onto a hunk of her hair.
"When we get back, I'm gonna personally clean you up, tie you up and finish our business. Whoo whee! This one's been fun." And he forced marched her back to the cabin.
Stephanie didn't try to put up a fight. The knot in her stomach told her that it was all over but the screaming.
He dragged her over to the pump and pushed her head under the water. It was ice cold and took what little breath she still had away. Holding her by the back of her hair he briskly used his other hand to wash off the mud and grime. Then he stuck his hand between her legs and "rubbed the filth of the fluff". She stood shivering in the morning coolness, or maybe it was raw fear making her shake so.
"Come on, darlin', let's go play" he laughed as he pushed her back into that hell hole.
As they got through the door, he reached into his pocket. "Surprise!" was the last thing she heard as he zapped her with the stun gun.
She was stretched across the bed, face down. Her arms were pulled up and forward. Each leg tied to something; whatever it was she couldn't move. 'Not this' she thought. 'I've never done this, never wanted to even try this. This is going to hurt and then I'm going to die.' Thoughts of Rex bounced into her head. Who will take care of him? Ugh! 'Stupid brain!'
He was standing behind her. "Well, missy it has been fun. Shall we begin?"
She felt his hands on her hips and a whimper came out of her from nowhere. And then the world exploded.
SCENE8
There was a bright light and an earth-shattering noise. And then she could see her captor flying across the room and into the wall. He was followed by a blur in camo. The explosion had left nothing but humming in her ears but she could see the man screaming and falling to the floor.
The camo blur turned…it was Ranger.
Knife in hand, he cut her loose and gathered her in his arms. She couldn't hear him but his mouth formed "Babe. Babe. Babe." Then he rocked her gently and stroked her hair and kissed her tenderly on her temple.
He stripped of his Tee shirt and carefully helped her put it on. She wasn't crying. She wasn't saying anything. She was in shock.
Ranger said something and Tank was at the door. In his hand he had a first aid kit and a blanket. Ranger wrapped the blanket around Stephanie and said something to Tank. Very carefully, Tank scooped her up in his arms, holding her like a child. He carried her out of the cabin and down the hill to a waiting SUV. Ranger stayed behind.
It was just her and Tank in the SUV. The other vehicles were parked a little farther down the dirt road. He was sitting close to her, not saying a word but watching the cabin. They sat there for what seemed like a long time to her, but it could have been only minutes. It didn't matter. She was safe.
The humming in her ears was going away and Steph could make out screams coming from the cabin. They sounded like nothing she had ever heard, not even in those horror movies Lulu loved to rent. And then they stopped. Ranger walked out of the cabin and over to the pump. He washed his hands and chest and then his K-Bar knife. He put the knife in its thigh scabbard and walked to the SUV.
She and Tank were in the back seat and Tank moved to the driver's seat as Ranger got in. He looked at Stephanie and there was genuine pain in his eyes. "Oh Babe, I tried to get here as soon as I could. I'm so sorry."
With that Stephanie burst into uncontrollable sobs. "He hurt me. He hurt me so bad."
"I know, Babe. I know. He won't hurt you or anyone again. I promise"
With that, Ranger looked up at Tank and said "Burn it. Burn it to the ground." Tank left and went to talk to the other men.
He returned and asked "Where to?"
"Steph needs a hospital." Ranger replied.
"NO! No hospital. I don't want anyone to know. No one must ever know."
"Babe, you're hurt. You need to see a doctor." Ranger knew this was not the time to argue or upset her anymore than she already was.
"Head back to RangeMan and call Dr. Roslyn. Have her meet us there." "OK, Babe, no hospital. I'm taking you home."
The call to Morelli left him with more questions than answers. But at least he knew Stephanie was alive, safe and relatively unhurt. Mr. Leroy Adams however was no more. Refused to come out of his burning cabin and died in the flames. Before he died he did admit to the previous three killings, so those cases can be closed. They had gotten to Stephanie before anything serious had happened but she still had been roughed up quite a bit and needed time to calm down and sort things out.
Ranger had called her parents and told them he was sorry that he had not gotten back to them sooner but he and Stephanie were called out of town on an urgent case and weren't able to contact them. She would be in touch as soon as things were wrapped up. No need to worry.
The same story was relayed to Connie. Vinnie was pissed, as usual. But he wasn't about to complain to Ranger. He liked his nose where it was, in the middle of his face and all.
Stephanie… that was going to take some time and a lot of special TLC. Not one of Ranger's specialties, but he was a fast learner.
END