Prologue

"Ranger?"

Stephanie Plum opened the door a crack and peeked in, her one eye scanning the area best it could. She waited a beat before opening it fully and walked in slowly, closing the door after her lightly. The room was dark and still as she sauntered upwards and poked her head around the corner. Finding nothing, she tiptoed towards the back and opened another door leading to a room.

"It's rude to go snooping through someones home."

She let out a loud shriek and spun around, startled by the sudden voice, striking out unconsciously. The man made no attempt to shield himself as her hand connected with his face in a slap. Her eyes widened when she realized who it was. Taking her hand back, she smiled nervously, her cheeks burning.

Ranger stood staring down at her, rubbing his cheek. He was dressed in his usual. Black long sleeves shirt, black jacket, black cargo pants tucked into black boots. Compared with his dark skin and dark hair, he always seemed to fade in with his surroundings. And if someone did recognized him, they either blushed from his killer good looks or went white with fear by his threatening glances. Stephanie did the latter.

"First you snoop in my house then you slap me?" He turned and walked towards the kitchen. Stephanie straightened up and followed after him with a frown.

"First off, I wasn't snooping." She took a seat on one of his stools. "Second, I'm sorry for slapping you but that's what you get for sneaking up on me."

"I wasn't sneaking. One of my men saw you come in." Ranger pulled out two cold waters out of the fridge. "I didn't exactly expect to find you in my room." He pitched one at her.

She caught it. "I wasn't IN you're room. Besides, you're the one who called me. I was looking for you!" Ranger had that almost smile on his lips and it made her angrier.

"I was meaning to catch you before you made it inside."He took a long pull of his drink. "I got caught up."

Stephanie looked at her bottle for a beat but decided to abandon it and set it on the table. "And what made you think I'd wait here all day?" He gave her that almost smile again and she rolled her eyes. "So what's the urgent news?"

"How badly are you in need of money?"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Badly." His eyebrows raised a fraction. "By next month, I might have enough to buy some groceries and pay off my phone bill."

"Good." Ranger brought up a folder and slid it across the table to her.

She gave him a confused look and opened it to see a picture of a man. He was brown haired, cut short and black eyed. His skin was tan and the expression on his face wasn't friendly. The collar at his neck gave her the impression he was wearing a suit.

"His name is Fernado Li. Five Eight, one hundred and sixty pounds. Has an IQ over two hundred. Deals with anything illegal and easily accessible. You're regular white collar criminal."

"What race is he?"

"What does he look like?"

Stephanie stared at the picture for a second. "Maybe Italian."

"He's mixed. Asian, Chinese and Arab." Ranger took the folder and the photo back. "Italian?" She shrugged and his mouth twitched.

"So why'd I need to know about Fernado again?"

"Just thought you might like to know about the man we're going to be hunting down."

Stephanie froze. "Hunting down?"

"Fernado escaped from jail three days ago."

"That's not my problem."

The corners of Ranger's mouth raised slightly. "Now it is. You've been called into duty, Babe."

"What?! Why me?"

"You need money, don't you?"

Stephanie opened her mouth but closed it instantly. Of course she needed money. She always needed money. She bit her lip and mentally cursed. Well it wasn't like she had never hunted down a criminal before. Actually, she did it daily. This would just be like any other old job she got. Capture the guy and bring him back to justice. She had never really went after someone who had escaped from jail though but hey, how hard could it be?

"Besides," Ranger shrugged, eyeing her intensely. "I thought you'd enjoy it. You're getting better at this bounty hunting thing."

She stared and gulped instinctively. "Isn't this a matter more for the police?" She asked, tapping her fingers against the table. Ranger grinned and said nothing. Stephanie did some mental knuckle cracking. "How much money are we talking here?"

She watched him cross his arms over his chest and lean on a long cabinet. "Enough."

She rolled her eyes. The man never gave a straight answer. "Well that could be from a billion dollars to a penny."

He pushed himself off the cabinet and walked around to her. "Or I could always pay you in..." He looked down at her chest. "Other ways."

Stephanie felt her face grow red and she swallowed. "I hope you're not making me do this for that."

He flashed her a full on smile. "Babe, if I wanted to we'd already be doing that."

"So you don't want to?" She heard herself say before she could stop herself. Teasing Ranger was something that should have been a huge 'No No' in anyones book, especially hers yet whenever he decided to play, she had to fight back. To this day, she still hadn't won.

"Do you really want to know the answer to that?"

Stephanie bit her lip again. Don't do it Steph, she told herself. "Unless you have a better way of letting me know." Oh jeez. He reached for her shirt and she shrieked and leaned backwards, toppling off the stool and crashing onto the kitchen floor.

Ranger burst out in a fit of laughter, holding his stomach. She blinked, finding the outburst unexpected. The man had only laughed about three or four times in their recent history. He leaned over the stool to look down at her, a wide smile on his face. She frowned up at him, her face going red. "Don't mess with the master."

She stuck out her tongue. "Asshole."

One of his eyebrows raised. "Glad to be loved. Pick you up at Ten." That said, he turned to go.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" Stephanie wobbled to her feet, chasing after him. "Ten!? Ten at night? Tonight?!"

He nodded, picking up his keys that had been on the bowl by the door. "Ten tonight."

"Why ten? Why tonight? Pick me up and take me where? Should I dress in black?"

He opened the door. "Ten because our flight leaves at eleven. Tonight because we need to get started fast and I still have to prep you. I'm taking you to an airport. Yes, dress in black and pack lightly."

"Airport? Flight? Pack!? Where are we going?"

An almost smile from him. "Asia." Then he was gone.

Stephanie stood staring at the door long after he had left, her eyebrows furrowed and eyes squinting. When her mind finally did comprehend, her eyes got wide and she opened the door and leaned out into the hallway which led to the elevator.

"ASIA!?"

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