All characters named in this chapter were created by Janet Evanovich
Ranger's POV, just after Lean Mean Thirteen
I'm the man you don't want to meet in a dark alley. Carlos Manoso. Dark eyes, dark skin, Cuban American. Raised in the streets of Newark and Miami. My street name is Ranger. In a former life I was special forces. Today I own a security company called Rangeman with offices in Miami and Trenton. I am better known as a bounty hunter. I am a mercenary, hunting men for money, and women for fun.
This part of my story begins in Trenton, New Jersey. I was alone, driving down Hamilton Avenue at 2:30 in the morning. I could see the image of my black Porsche 911 Turbo reflected in the store windows. When I stopped for a light, the engine went quiet. I soaked up the silence and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. It had been a very long day. I was heading back to my apartment on Haywood.
I passed the turn that led to Stephanie's apartment building. She wasn't there. I kept going. Stephanie was deep asleep in Morelli's arms right now. She was safe. There was nothing to be gained from thinking about her tonight.
I pulled into the underground parking garage at the Rangeman building and took the elevator to the 7th floor. The doors opened, and I unlocked my apartment door with a wave of a silver key fob. Again, silence washed over me. I showered, breathing in heavy scent of the Bulgari shower gel Stephanie loved so much. I just felt numb. I kept letting her walk away. Why didn't it bother me more when Morelli took her home when I considered her to be mine? I don't let other men take what is mine. I tried to shrug it off. He loved her. She deserved to be loved. Probably I didn't worry because they would always fight and break it off after a few weeks. I knew she'd be bouncing back into my court again soon. Still…why didn't it bother me more? A lot of time had passed since the one night we'd spent together. I turned off the water. I wiped all thoughts from my mind, and climbed into bed, drifting away for a few hours of dreamless sleep.
I woke just before the alarm on my watch sounded at 6:30 am. I dressed, ate breakfast, and headed for my office. I needed to catch up on paperwork. I answered e-mails, reviewed security reports and flagged sections of surveillance tapes. I made up work assignments, handled a scheduling conflict between two of my employees, approved the week's paychecks, and checked in with my partners in Miami, Boston, and Atlanta.
I needed to stop in at the bonds office, but found myself putting it off. I was strangely anxious. Nothing makes me anxious, except Stephanie. I was just dropping off the latest body receipts and picking up any new skip files Connie might have for me. She might not even be there. I walked over to the monitor, checking the tracking signal. Damn. She was there.
I flipped open two files on my desk and made calls setting up interviews with two prospective Rangeman employees so I had an excuse to high-tail it back to my office, and headed out. It always helped me to stay focused if I had my schedule booked solid.
I pulled up to the curb, got out, and set the alarm on the Turbo. I put on my business face, and headed through the door and straight for Connie. I ignored Lula, who was filing her nails instead of Vinnie's skip folders. I tried to read the atmosphere to see if anything was off, but it was too hard to tell. Lula sucked in her breath when she saw me, and Connie swallowed her gum, but that didn't necessarily mean anything was up. There's no way to gauge normal with these women. The bonds office is a lunatic asylum, and the residents are in charge.
"Hey, Ranger." Connie recovered, and smiled at me. I tried not to focus on the shadow of a mustache on her upper lip as I dropped the body receipts in her 'in' tray.
"Just mail the checks to Rangeman," I told her. "Got anything for me?"
"Well…yeah, I probably do…somewhere," Connie said, fidgeting with something in her bottom desk drawer. I heard a faint beep of a cell phone text being either sent or received. I didn't like it when the girls conspired against me. They were getting braver about it all the time. I was going to need to put a stop to it soon.
I slipped a glance at Lula. She had the jitters, and was trying to cover it up by shaking her hands to dry her nails. I considered just taking off and ignoring whatever they were planning. I wasn't feeling particularly curious today. Before I could turn to leave, Stephanie stepped out of Vinnie's office. She asked if I would come in for a minute. She had been crying. I took a silent, calming breath.
"Babe."
Vinnie was obviously out for the day. Connie had let Stephanie in with her spare key. I wondered why she hadn't come to Rangeman. Why hadn't she called me on my cell if she wanted to talk? If she'd had a fight with Morelli. I would have met her or picked her up anywhere. Why the ambush?
I waited for Steph to give me the answer.
Tears were threatening to break over the dam again, but she was trying to maintain. She had something to say that was deeply painful to her. I wondered how painful it was going to be for me.
"Ranger, you know how you and Joe and my Mom are always telling me I need to find another line of work?"
"Yes." Why would she be crying over a new job?
"And you know how I've tried to…to have a normal job…several times before," she sobbed. She'd quit working bond enforcement for Vinnie several times. A few times she even came to work for me. But she always came back to the bonds office. She was too independent and curious for her own good.
I nodded slightly to indicate that I remembered, and understood. She should continue.
"Well, it never worked out, did it? I mean, I'm no good at anything." She sobbed again.
"Babe."
I wanted to reassure her, but Steph had been a disaster in action since the day I'd met her. I loved her spirit, admired her determination, and was in awe of her sheer dumb luck, but I couldn't help thinking back on all her disasters. Hell, I got shot in the leg on the first case I tried to help her with. I had lost track of all the vehicles she'd destroyed, some of which were mine. She'd been particularly hard on my men, too. Her antics had become a running joke between my accountant, my medical insurer, and my auto insurance agent. Steph was a diligent, hard worker. But the fact remained; Steph was hardly an ideal co-worker. It was just flat out dangerous to work with her, even if the imminent dangers that followed her weren't really her fault.
She looked me in the eye, and began again.
"Yesterday, when I was standing on one side of a metal door, knowing there was a psycho on the other side going to barbecue me with a flame-thrower, I lost it. I can't do this anymore, Ranger." She broke down, near hysterics. I could only make out bits and pieces of what sounded like, "You're always rescuing me. "
She thought she was letting me down. I knew she saw me as her mentor in the fugitive apprehension business. But I never wanted her to do this job. There had been no stopping her, so I helped her. I thought she'd quit. Then I tried to discourage her. I never thought she would become this involved. She had a growing reputation, and it wasn't good. She was high profile on the street. That was dangerous...for her, and everyone around her.
"Babe." I held her tight. I let her cry till she was able to listen. "You aren't disappointing me, Babe. You weren't cut out for this. That's not a bad thing." Slowly, softly, I repeated, "That's not a bad thing."
She hiccuped and looked up at me. I took her face in my hands, running my thumbs down both temples, in front of her ears, letting my fingers tangle in her soft, dark curls. There were singed ends sticking out here and there. It wasn't the first time I'd seen her singed, either. Thank God, I thought. She's come to her senses at last.
"What are you going to do now?" I asked gently, tugging on a curl. I imagined she was going to say something totally unexpected that would make me smile. She never disappoints.
She closed her eyes, sucked in a breath, and with all the courage she could muster, said, "I've finally decided to do what you all told me I should do. I'm doing it because I know you love me, and I trust you to know what is best for me, even when I obviously don't."
"What's that, Babe?"
"I'm going to marry Joe."
The earth stopped spinning. I stopped breathing.
She was going to marry Joe. She was going to stay home with Bob and Rex. She was going to stay out of trouble. She was going to be safe.
It meant something else too.
It meant Stephanie was leaving me...for good.