Disclaimer: I am only borrowing the characters. I am not making any money from this, only enjoyment.
If you are scratching your heads in confusion, so am I. I got caught in the mess of the shut downs on Fan Fiction over the long weekend and my Babesrus account is somehow frozen. I have called on technical support and so far they have not responded. I am re-posting the first five chapters on my new site and then continuing on. For information, I have three and ½ stories on my old site. This is a sequel to 'Stephanie's Worst Nightmare'.
The Nightmare Continues
Her diamond ring sparkled in the morning light. Stephanie shifted slightly and Ranger wrapped his arms around her again. It had been a long night of celebrating. His Babe had said "Yes", and he was the happiest man in the world.
His cell phone rang and Ranger reached over Stephanie to answer it. "Talk", came a gruff response. Ranger gently dislodged Steph as she sprawled across his chest. He listened to the conversation. "Be down in 10", standing up as he hung up.
Stephanie groaned. What ungodly hour was it anyway? Groggily she watched as Ranger got out of bed quickly heading to the bathroom for a quick shower. Returning scant minutes later clad only in a small towel around his waist, he sat on the bed quickly dressing. Knowing he would tell her when he was ready, she slid from the bed stumbling her way to the bathroom to take care of business.
Ranger stood up, walked to the closed door and said, "I have a meeting in a few minutes, Babe. I need you downstairs as soon as you can make it." She grimaced and turned on the shower. This did not sound good. She was dressed and downstairs fifteen minutes later.
Walking into the conference room, she noticed the entire core team assembled with files in front of them and very serious expressions on their faces. She sat down on Ranger's right and opened the file folder in front of her.
Putting her hand to her mouth, she gasped. There, in front of her were the pictures of Mary Werrick and Gary Gaspick. Stephanie looked up and listened as Ranger spoke. "Okay, what do we have?" Cal spoke up. "Since they were bonded out a month ago, we have been doing drive byes periodically. Last night, we drove by at midnight, and the lights on both houses were on. We did another drive by at four am and the same lights were on. Vince and Zero just reported twenty minutes ago that the lights are still on, but the cars are missing. Just in case, Vince phoned the residences. He is only getting voicemail. They are still outside Gaspick's house waiting for instructions."
Ranger nodded. He had suspected that something might happen. They had agreed to all the conditions that Les Sebring had stipulated before he would bond them out way too fast for his liking. Now, it appeared that the accused had flown the coop.
Stephanie couldn't contain her question any longer. "Excuse me Ranger. Can we go after them yet, or is it in the hands of the TPD?"
Ranger responded," They had certain conditions to be adhered to. We were given a list of the conditions for release and since they have been broken, we have the authority to find them and return them to jail."
Looking back at the men he ordered, "I need eyes and ears on the street. Hector, check with the gangs. Remind them how serious it is harboring a fugitive. Manny, check with Mr. Orr. Confirm that Dickie is in the house where he is supposed to be. Tank, I need you to check with the D.A. Advise him of the situation. Maybe he might hear something about the judge through the legal circles." He paused. "Any questions, dismissed." There was a scraping of chairs and everyone stood up.
Ranger looked at Stephanie. "Please stay for a minute, Babe."
The room quickly emptied. Stephanie remained seated, a small worry line working its way along her forehead. Ranger slid his chair over to her and took her hand in his. He looked at her, and she knew there was more. "OK, Ranger, I'm a big girl. Tell me what's wrong."
Ranger rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand, hypnotically. He looked at her and spoke, "I want you to stay at Rangeman until we find them, Babe. You will be safe here. I don't want you going outside by yourself, or even with a bodyguard." Her mouth opened in confusion. "Why?" He sighed and played with her ring. Ranger picked her up and set her on his lap. He kissed her gently on her ear, down her jaw line and finally reached her lips. She pulled back. "I need to know what it is, Carlos."
He wrapped his arms around her again and cradled her against his chest. "I can't give you many details right now, Babe, but we were advised that when Werrick and Gaspick were led away after being charged, Gaspick made some threatening remarks about getting even with you if it was the last thing he did". The deputies marked it down but mentioned that people say really stupid things like that when faced with trials and jail time.
Stephanie sat quietly, but her expression was troubled. It was not over. She knew that her nightmare was going to continue. "We'll get them, Babe." Ranger stood her up and hand in hand they walked to the door. "We'll get them."
Hand in hand, they strolled into the control room. Most of the employees were either milling around, in the break room or on monitors.
Ranger cleared his throat. Immediately there was silence on the floor. Ranger smiled and kissed Stephanie. He looked around at his employees. His eyes twinkled. "Last night I asked Stephanie for her hand in marriage. She has graciously accepted. Let me introduce you to the future Mrs. Ricardo Carlos Manoso." Cheers erupted from the room. Tank and Lester elbowed each other. Lester fought his way to Stephanie. Hugging her, he whispered, "Welcome to the family. If you ever tire of him, you know where I am." She laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks Les. I don't think that will ever happen, but thanks for the offer."
Tank pulled her away from Les and also hugged her. "Congratulations, Little Girl. You two deserve each other. All I can say is, it's about time." Stephanie smiled and reaching up as far as she could, kissed him on the chin.
Manny hugged her to him. "Gee, wifey, can I still call you that?" Stephanie laughed and nodded yes.
She was being passed around the room, hugged and/or kissed by everyone. Manly slaps on the back and shoulder greeted Ranger. His normally serious expression was replaced by a goofy grin. There were the usual remarks about the size of the ring. Finally, the crowd dispersed.
Ranger headed to his office and Stephanie walked to her cubicle. A magnificent bouquet of flowers resided on her desk. There was a card. Stephanie sat down and took the card out of the envelope. In his powerful handwriting style, Ranger had written, "My love forever." Stephanie smiled. Picking up the vase, she took the flowers up to seven.
Manny sat at his cubicle talking to Mr. Orr. He had just confirmed that Dickie was indeed still at the house. Not providing them with an explanation, Manny thanked him for his time and hung up. He thought back to the conversation.
In addition to listening to Mr. Orr's words, he also concentrated on his tone of voice. He sincerely hoped that Dickie was a good boy and stayed there. He would have hated to have had that man as a father. Manny reported his findings to Tank.
Hector slipped out of the building and was cruising his neighborhood. He stopped in for lunch with his mother, chatted with his sisters, held his nieces and nephews, rough housed with his younger brother, and mowed the lawn. All the time, his eyes and ears were open, listening for any tidbit of information.
Just as he was packing up to go, he heard his oldest nephew on his cellphone. Now in stealth mode, Hector sidled past the door and stopped to listen. Jesus was cupping the cellphone in his hand and speaking rapidly. From his side of the conversation, Hector could tell that something was about to happen that night. He walked away. Saying good bye to his family, Hector climbed into his truck. He needed a nap. It was going to be a long night.
Meanwhile, back at police headquarters, the hallways were abuzz with officers stopping and speaking with colleagues. Gaspick's name was on everyone's lips. The members all knew of Picky's hatred of Stephanie and how he had allegedly played a part in her being sentenced to prison.
Carl and Big Dog were standing together chatting with a number of patrolmen discussing the issue at hand. They had been told of the APB (All Points Bulletin) with respect to Mary Werrick and Gary Gaspick. In addition to their regular list of activities for the day, the duty Sargeant had asked everyone to be on the lookout for either their cars, or hopefully them. They were to be treated as armed and dangerous.
The patrolmen had been cautioned that Rangeman Securities was also on the job searching for the pair.
Carl and Big D wandered away, and stepped into an abandoned office. After a quick game of rock, paper, scissors, Big Dog picked up the phone and punched in a number. After only one ring, there was an answer. "What the hell do you want?" came a quick retort. Big Dog quickly gave a summary of what had transpired over the past few days. Listening carefully, he heard, "I'll see what I can do." There was a click and the soft dial tone in his ear. Big Dog cradled the phone, and looked over at Carl. "We'll see what happens now." They quickly left the office and walked out the door.