Surveillance and Distraction

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Janet.

We were parked at the end of a dark street on the edge the Burg, with a clear view of a ranch style home covered in blue vinyl siding. It was like many of the other homes on this street, attached one car garage, tiny but well-maintained lawn with a flower bed near the front door. Unlike the other homes on the street, this house was rumored to be a meth lab.

The owner of the house, a retired Trenton fire chief, now spent every winter and much of the spring in South Carolina. His son, Philip Spinelli, had moved in to watch over the house in his father's absence and according to the Burg grapevine, he had also started a business. We were waiting for Philip to make an appearance.

I shifted uncomfortably on the front seat of the Explorer. I flipped open my phone to peer at the time, and then clicked it shut again with a loud snap. Forty-five minutes down, three hours and 15 minutes to go. I had already gathered all of the loose change at the bottom of my purse, organized my automatic teller receipts and recorded them in my checkbook and surreptitiously eaten a Butterscotch Krimpet.

I didn't think Ranger noticed really. After all, he was in his surveillance zone … unmoving, eyes fixed on the target. Maybe he quit breathing and entered some state of suspended animation. It was hard to tell. Anyway, I had unwrapped the Krimpet very quietly and there weren't more than a few tiny crumbs on the front of my black cargos. I never really understood why he banned food on these interminable surveillance outings anyway. Tasty Cakes helped to pass the time.

"Clock on the dash, Babe," Ranger said, never turning his eyes away from the blue house.

"The Turbo is way more comfortable than the Explorer. Tell me again why didn't we bring the Turbo?"

"Surveillance, Babe. The goal is to blend in, not be noticed. The Turbo doesn't blend, at least not in this neighborhood."

"Ranger, why do you bring me out on surveillance?"

"Part of the job, Babe. All Rangemen employees do surveillance."

"Ella doesn't have to do surveillance." Ella was Ranger's housekeeper extraordinaire and an amazing cook. She feed kept Ranger and the rest of Rangeman, including me on occasion, well fed.

Ranger cocked his head ever so slightly to the side and raised one eyebrow at me. "You want to start cooking with Ella, Babe?"

"Noooo … but I totally suck at surveillance."

We both knew my cooking skills sucked even more than my surveillance skills, but neither of us said that out loud.

"I am not without talents, Ranger. I am good at research. I can be very persuasive with the right kind of skip. But I am terrible at surveillance!"

"I'm aware of your talents, Babe."

Ranger continued to stare at the house. I took that as my cue to continue.

"Some people are very good at surveillance, though. Take Hal for instance. Hal can go hours without talking. I'm surprised you didn't want to bring him tonight. "

"Hal's not as pretty as you, Babe."

Huh. I ignored that and forged on. "And what if the bad guy comes home tonight? Hal is a better shot than I am—"

"Not planning on shooting anybody tonight."

"Hell, Hal probably even has bullets in his gun -!"

"Stephanie." Ranger's voice was low and I heard the warning in tone. Not being dressed in the field, when I was serving as Ranger's back up no less, was cardinal sin territory. He held out his hand for my gun.

"Joking!" I said weakly, passing over my Glock for inspection. Since I had starting working at Rangeman fulltime, I has got used to carrying my gun. Practicing at the gun range with Hector helped a lot, and truth be told, I wasn't a terrible shot. Surveillance, though, was a different matter entirely.

"Ranger, I can't sit still. I can't focus on the target. I distract you—"

"I can't be distracted, Babe."

I bit down my lower lip into my mouth and hesitated for just a second. That sounded like a challenge if I ever heard one. What kind of Jersey Girl passes up a challenge like that? I reached out my left hand began to rub small circles on Ranger's right thigh, each circle a little higher than the last. Thinking what I was going to find at the top of his thigh made me a little breathless. Ok, it made me a lot breathless, and once again, I indulged in some inner longing for the Turbo

Ranger sighed and gently grasped my hand, moving it back to rest on my left thigh. He left his hand on top of mine, our fingers intertwined.

"Playing with fire, Babe."

I blew out an exasperated puff of air and flipped open my phone. I typed quickly and hit send.

A few minutes later, I heard a faint hum in the vicinity of Range's hip. Of course, he would have turned his phone to "vibrate" during a stake out. Wouldn't want a ringing phone to give us away. Belatedly, I clicked my phone to "vibrate" and waited.

Ranger lifted his phone to read the incoming text message.

I'm not wearing any panties!

"Is that an invitation, Babe?" he asked, his voice husky.

"Um, no … just meant to be informational. You know, in case you were wondering."

The temperature in the car notched up, and I no longer had to wonder if Ranger was breathing. I felt his breath on the shell of my ear and when he fingers began to caress the inside of my thigh, I knew had his attention. Victory! Before I was completely drawn into the force field that was Ranger, a rationale thought crept to the surface. This was not the way get myself excused from surveillance duty! Time to redirect, Rangegirl!

"Ranger what am I to you?"

"Babe?" His hand left my thigh.

"I mean, if we ran into your parents at Rossini's, how would you introduce me?"

"My parents don't eat at Rossini's, Babe. Plenty of nice Italian restaurants closer to home."

"Ranger!"

"You've already met my parents. No need to introduce you." I had met Maria and Ricardo Manoso briefly at the hospital, after Ranger had been shot by Scrog. I had introduced myself, as Ranger had been unconscious, fighting for his life, in the ICU. We were silent for a moment, remembering that.

"I've been hurt worse, Babe, " Ranger reminded me gently.

I should have stopped there, I know I should have. But tonight I just couldn't seem to help myself.

"Ok, not your parents, Ranger. What about your abuela? I haven't met Abuela Rosa."

"Mi abuela no se llama ingles, mi Querida." Ranger was smirking now. It was dark in the car but I could feel him smirking. I am so going to learn Spanish. I made a mental note to ask Hector tomorrow.

"What about your brother, Antonio?" Antonio was Ranger's older brother. He lived in Miami and I hadn't yet met him "How would you introduce me to Antonio?"

"Would you say, "Antonio, this is my employee, Stephanie?"

"Babe." I could sense, even in that one word, that Ranger was getting a tiny bit frustrated with me.

"My fellow fugitive apprehension agent?"

I took Ranger's silence as license to continue.

"Antonio, this is Steph, my friend from Jersey." I put a little emphasis on the word friend. I wasn't going any where near the term girl friend tonight. Girl friend implied relationship and we both knew that Ranger didn't do relationships.

"This is my former lover - "

Ranger finally tore his eyes away from the house and shifted suddenly in his seat to face me." He pulled me toward him and before I could protest, I was straddling his lap, facing him. His hands gently cupped either side of my face and he was staring at me with the unwavering glaze that he had previously reserved for our target.

Ranger brushed a very soft kiss across my lips. It wasn't an insistent, hungry kiss like the stolen kisses in the alley. This kiss was tender, underhurried. It was the kiss of a man picking up a longstanding, intimate conversation where he had left off … a conversation that had no real end in sight.

Usually Ranger kisses generated a spark of heat that swirled through me and went straight to my doodah. This kiss made my heart ache. Ranger rested his forehead against mine and we sat like that in the darkness for a full minute.

"Babe," he began softly.

"I can't help it," I whispered. "I have to know." I hadn't planned to ask but suddenly, since I had, my whole world seemed to turn on the answer.

Without breaking contact, Ranger tapped on his phone and waited."

"Antonio? We leave for Miami in a couple of hours. ETA 0500 hours if Raphael can get the plane ready. Can you bring the car to the airport yourself? I'm bringing my Stephanie and she wants to meet you."

Ranger chuckled. "Yeah, I know, hermano. About damn time."

Ranger tossed the phone on the seat beside us. His left hand tousled my curls and his right rested on my lower back, pulling me closer to him.

"My Stephanie. Mine. Now and always, ok? You good with that?"

My heart was racing and it felt like all of the air had whooshed out of my lungs. Miami? Tonight? Antonio? Always? I wanted to ask him to explain, but Ranger spoke first.

"Now you tell me, Babe. I have to know."

He waited for an answer but my head couldn't seem to put it all together. So when I opened my mouth, what popped out was an answer from my heart.

"Yours. Always.