Standard FF disclaimers.

March 30, 2012

Established Relationship

Chapter 1

Heat radiated in waves off of the pavement. It was hot in Trenton, but that was to be expected at the height summer. It was the humidity, however, that was bringing everyone down. That heavy presence that seemed to drain the world of its color, of its energy, of its life.

This weather did not bode well for the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. With the horribly saturated climate, the skips seemed to be hiding out. As if they were being held down by the oppressive atmosphere, not caring to move from their shelters. That created a dry spell for Stephanie. She had a stack of files, FTAs that she could not find. It was depressing.

She hated going out every day in her POS car without air conditioning. Looking for and just hoping that one of these skips would peek out long enough for her to grab them and bring them in. She seriously doubted her ability to keep this search going. Only her desperation kept her out now. She would be hiding out somewhere too if she didn't have rent to pay, and if she didn't have an annoying need to eat.

What she wouldn't give to be tucked away in the RangeMan building with its quiet, cool air. And fully stocked break room. But she was back 'on' again with Morelli and he was making those same old demands on her. He wanted her to keep away from Ranger. That meant no working at RangeMan. She allowed herself a heavy sigh at the thought that RangeMan was the one place she really wanted to be, for so many reasons.

When the weather gets this steamy, Stephanie thought, people seem to go a little bit stir crazy. Being outside makes them hot and sticky, and irritable. But being holed up inside leaves them feeling anxious. The oppressive heat seems to keep the madness at bay, if only because people stay inside, away from each other. But the minute the humidity lets up, and the temperature drops a little, the mood change goes completely off the charts.

Stephanie had seen this happen before. She could only guess that hiding is just against their nature, and the minute they can, these people come out, and they are crazier than ever before. Especially the people she was usually looking for. The cops notice the same thing, Joe and Eddie commented about it regularly. Never underestimate the effects of the weather!

Even with the heat, Stephanie had caught sight of a few of her FTAs during the week, but they always seemed to be a step ahead of her and disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. By Thursday afternoon, Stephanie had officially become frustrated. "How many times do I have to put with the insanity that is my job," she thought.

Finally, today she had been lucky enough to catch up with the Skip that was #1 on her list. Georgie Preston was young. He was thin and about as tall as Stephanie. This was his first time in the system, and Stephanie had been hoping that he would be just scared, or inexperienced enough to buy her story of getting rebonded quickly. If she had ever entertained the idea that bringing him in was going to be easy, he had instantly dispelled that idea.

No, Georgie decided to lead her on a wild goose chase. He made her chase after him down alley ways, over fences, and across rooftops, all over the Burg. "Dang, he is fast," Stephanie thought, and he seemed to be running on an endless supply of energy. All Stephanie had going for her, was her determination. She was sweating and wheezing as she saw Georgie turn a corner and run between two row houses. He didn't see the clothes line stretched across the narrow expanse of yard. He ran directly into it. It hit him right in the throat, throwing him back. He stumbled and landed on his back, knocking the air out of his lungs. Stephanie caught up with him just as he went down. He grabbed her. He was grasping at anything to keep himself from falling. Instead he took them both down, causing her to smack her forehead on the ground. Georgie was coughing, and Stephanie could feel a big headache coming on, as she cuffed him and dragged him back to her car.

As relieved as she was to finally have a check in her hand for the capture, she knew it wasn't enough. She would have to keep going out. Keep looking. She sifted through the file folders, picking out another first time offender. "Time to go after skip #2," she said to herself. The paperwork she pulled out was for one Stanley Worneki. The file showed that this guy lived down the street from her parents.

"Just great," she mumbled. That's all she needed, to create a spectacle of herself, right in front of her mother. Stephanie really didn't want to have to deal with any of that. She decided to find Stanley at his place of work. She had Connie call and confirm that he was at work today. Connie told her he was there, now.

So, Waterfront Park was her next stop. Worneki was working with maintenance at the stadium. He seemed like a regular guy. This was his first offense. He had never been in trouble before in his life. How he became involved in the knock'em'down, drag'em'out fight after a game, she just didn't know. Who knows what goes through anyone's mind, at any given time. Probably just another case of the unbearable weather affecting a persons sanity, concluded Stephanie as she pulled into the nearly empty parking lot.

She looked at his picture in the file, one last time. Then Stephanie walked over to the offices located on the ground level behind the stadium entrance. She pushed open the double glass doors. An older woman sat at a circular receptionist desk. She was dressed in a large, well worn 'Trenton Thunder' jersey, and she kindly greeted Stephanie when she walked through the door.

Stephanie had to suppress a laugh. The lady looked like a character. She was short and looked like a fire ball with her frizzy, over permed, cherry red dyed hair. Stephanie couldn't help but think that her Grandma Mazur would probably get along fabulously with this lady. It even looked like they had the same hairdresser.

"I'm looking for Stanley Worneki," Stephanie told the woman. "Could you tell me where I can find him?" The woman had a grin on her face that seemed to get bigger and bigger. She looked as if she was about to say something, but she got distracted. She took a breath to speak, but didn't get a chance.

Just then, both women heard a noise in the office behind them. Stephanie turned toward the sound, when a man unexpectedly raced through the door and headed straight for her. It was Stanley Worneki. He tackled her and started yelling at her to leave him alone. He was acting as if she were a stalker who had been following him relentlessly for days or maybe even weeks. His eyes had a wild, desperate look in them. The things he was shouting didn't make any sense to her. But suddenly Stephanie had no problem picturing this man as someone who could get involved in a fight. He truly seemed to be a man on the edge.

"Get away from me," he yelled. "Stop bugging me, I don't want anything to do with you or your crazy schemes!" The rant continued, his arms were like windmills, his hands pummeling her on her head and upper body. Stephanie had both of her arms up, trying to protect herself from him. Worneki kept yelling, he hadn't even stopped to take a breath. "I never want to get another call from you ever." "Ever!" he repeated, his voice getting louder. "You will never get me to join your pyramid, ponzi game." His eyes were nearly bugging out now. "You have to leave me alone."

Stephanie had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. But she was too busy warding off his attack to think much of it. Obviously, he had her confused for someone else. So she tried to let him know who she was and why she was here. Although she didn't think he would want to see her, any more than he wanted to see the person that he thought she was.

"Mr Worneki," she tried to say, as she deflected another flying hand. "Stanley!" she tried again. She forcefully rolled him off of her and tried to move back enough to grab her cuffs and get into a position where she could slap them on his wrists.

But he glared at her and grabbed her bag, dumping it out all over the floor. Worneki grabbed her car keys and stood up. He turned to run out of the office, but he stopped suddenly and turned around. Stanley pulled Stephanie up by her shoulders and pushed her toward the door. She tripped and slammed into the glass door before he pushed it open and pushed her through it.

He found her car easily, as it was one of only two cars parked outside the offices. He pushed her into the passenger seat. She started to object, and asked him what he thought was doing. He smacked her hard across her face, banging her head against the door frame, knocking her out temporarily. When Stephanie came to, she saw Worneki at the wheel, driving like a maniac. His eyes were focused ahead of him. He didn't even seem to be aware that she was sitting next to him.

Worneki accelerated, he was speeding down the street, still staring directly in front of him. The road took a sharp turn to the left, but Worneki did not turn, he bumped the car over the curb and continued traveling in a straight line. He was driving on the grass, crossing the walking paths and flower beds that ran parallel to the river. He plowed into park benches and into garbage cars. Causing them to bounce off of the top of the car and scatter the contents everywhere. He didn't seem to notice any of the destruction that he was creating.

Stephanie thought that it looked like he was heading for the Delaware river. Only seconds after her realization, that he might actually intend to drive the car into the river, that was exactly what he did. There was some incredible air time, as the car crashed through the metal barriers and shot out over the water. But the car then took a nose dive into the river.

Water rapidly started filling the car. As her windows were always open, there was nothing to stop the river from closing in on them. Stephanie was shocked at how cold the water felt. Somehow she thought that the hot temperatures outside would have heated the water in the river too. But the shock of the icy water knocked her breath from her and jolted her wide awake. She looked around. Worneki looked like he was passed out over the steering wheel. He didn't look very good, there was blood pouring down his face from a gash on his head. Looking closer, Stephanie noticed that he was limp in a way that suggested that he was more than just unconscious.

She knew that they needed to get out of the car. Fast! It was slowly being pulled down with the ever increasing weight of the water. As she tried to move, Stephanie realized that she had been injured too. One arm must be broken, because she could not move it, without experiencing extreme pain. She was worrying about how she could get herself and Worneki out of the car with only one arm, when she saw the blood. It was swirling in the water all around her now. Something had sliced a deep cut in her side, and she was bleeding profusely. Between the cold water and the loss of blood, she could feel herself going into shock. "No, Stephanie," she told herself, "hang on!" It would be really bad to be unconscious in the water.

"Think…Steph…Think"… "What would Ranger do"...

As soon as she let the thoughts of Ranger into her mind, she felt much better. Calmly, she tried to find a pulse on Worneki's wrist. She couldn't feel anything. So she tried to find it on his neck. Still nothing. She had that terrible feeling again that he was already dead. She couldn't help him now, but she could try to help herself out of this mess. The water had filled the car and she was holding her breath. She arranged her broken arm to wrap across her chest. With her other arm, she began to pull herself out of the open window. She was half of the way out when the car shifted, it turned on its side. She was now under the car as it continued to fall deeper toward the river bottom.

Panic was slowly building. Stephanie was still struggling to work herself free from the car. Her lungs were burning. And she could feel a headache start pounding from the water pressure and the cold. If she could have felt them, she would know that tears were streaming from her eyes too. She had only minutes left to get out of the car before she joined Worneki on his journey to the after life. Her body felt so heavy, so slow. Her frustration mounted and she could feel the panic take hold in her chest. It was no use. It was too late to get out now.

Ranger was the only thing in her mind now. Her final thoughts would be of him. How she would miss him. How she should have told him how much she loved him. How she should have fought to be with him. The ache in heart matched the pain in her head. She knew she would be unconscious soon. Now Stephanie was aware of the tears. This was all so unexpected, so unfair, so final. All she wanted was to feel Rangers arms around her. One last time.

TBC