Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, as much as I would like to keep Ranger, I won't. He, along with all other characters, are property of JKR.
Summary: An incident causes Steph to re-evaluate her current situation. I promise there will be a happy babe ending
I smiled as I closed the door to my office and melted into my leather chair, I'd really come to enjoy working in the security business. A lot had changed in the last seven years; I was a whole new person now. I had enlisted, and spent four years as 1/5 of an elite special ops team. When we got out, my team and I opened a security firm; we were morally right but legally grey. We did some contract work for the government too, but only the serious stuff, they have another team they call in for the little stuff. It made me want to laugh, it was almost identical to his past. You can run but you can't hide, right?
I had mountains of paperwork to do, but I didn't mind, unlike most people, I enjoy the paper work. Sometimes it's relaxing to not have to deal people or guns, and just sit back and do the paperwork. Yes, I just called the paperwork relaxing, and I meant it too. I stifled a groan as the phone beeped; the new secretary had been bugging me every five minutes for something. I pressed the button for speakerphone waiting to hear what she wanted now.
"There's a man named…uhh," I could hear her asking him quietly. "He says his name is Tank."
"Send him in," I said, while making sure my 'blank face' was firmly in place. I wasn't exactly hiding my location, but he would have had to have been looking to find me. He looked the same as ever, tall, black and muscular. I looked at him, waiting for him to explain why he was here. He ran a hand over his head.
"He's gone. He was declared MIA months ago, and the government has stopped all search efforts. He was in hostile territory; they don't think he could have made it this long. We can't…proceed with anything legally, he had you on file as his proxy and executor." No, no, no…he's not supposed to be gone. Away, he was supposed to be far, far away from me, but not gone. Gone was forever, with no second chances. But, he can't be gone, I would have felt it if he were gone. I took a deep breath to focus myself. I picked up my cell and punched in a number I had memorized three years ago.
I spent the next fifteen minutes convincing the colonel that, yes, it was absolutely imperative that my team head off to the middle of nowhere to find a man that he thought was dead. The whole time Tank was staring at me, no doubt trying to figure out my connection to the colonel. I picked up my phone and sent a message to my team to meet me in my office with their packs before turning to Tank.
"Are you going to want in on this?" I asked.
"In on it? I don't know what's going on. Why were you just talking to the colonel like you knew him, and why is he handing out classified information to you?"
"A lot can change in seven years Tank, and now isn't the time to explain all of it, so here's what you need to know. I just paged the other four members of my team to this office. The five of us make up the most elite task force the government has." I saw his eyes widen and take in the meaning. "That's right, we're the ones they call when they don't want to give your team the job. We're going to go to his last known coordinates, and we are going to find him, because he. Is. Not. Dead. Now, my question is, are you going to want in on it?"
"Don't you think the government's done what they could?" I had never heard Tank this resigned, it was disheartening. I started clearing the paperwork off my desk, and grabbed my pack from the corner.
"No, Tank, I don't think they've done everything they could," I snapped, as I grabbed ammo from the cabinet and put it in my bag. "If they had, they would have called me, and my team would have already been there!" I continued layering the essentials into my pack. I turned to ask Tank, again, if he was going, but my office door opening stopped me.
Fuck. The last person in the world I wanted to see right now was Dan, but here he was, in my office. Where the hell was my secretary, and why didn't she page me before letting him into my office, damn it. He took one look at my pack and the man standing in my office and he went bullshit. I had expected no less once he saw Tank.
"Where the fuck are you going? Running off to him again! He is scum! Why can't you see that? He's like the dog shit you scrape off your shoe. He is nothing, he doesn't deserve to live. Fuck, he should be sent to the pits of hell just for existing. No, you aren't going to him, not this time. I won't let you." I could feel the rage building in me, collecting, waiting for me to let it out. I glanced at the ring on my finger and moved so I was in front of him looking him in the eye. Without warning my fist flew into his face, breaking his nose. I ignored the blood, and pulled the ring off my finger, dropping it at his feet.
"Don't you ever, ever, insult him in front of me," I said, my voice cold. "And don't think for one second, that you can stop me, because I will drop you in a heartbeat if you try."
"He fucked you over, he almost got you killed! Are you really going to choose him over me?" I gave him a sad smile.
"I just did." I said it quietly, and it held none of the anger I was feeling, but it seemed deafening. If looks could kill, I'd be dead. He turned and pushed his way out the door, and only then did I see the other four members of my team standing in the door. I waved them in and turned back to Tank, who was staring at me with an odd look on his face. "Are you going?" I asked him with a sigh, my voice sounding tired. He nodded. I knew the team wouldn't be thrilled having someone they didn't know and trust on the team, but he would be useful.
"What was that all about?" Bekka asked, and I knew she was referring to my fight with Dan. She was not only part of my team, but she was my best friend and I think she was more concerned about me than the mission.
"We're headed into the jungle, about 200 miles Southwest of Coari." I looked at her and continued. "We're going to save Ranger."