Breaking Down Barriers

This story takes place after Gaining Forward Momentum and is the third installment in my Dancing Outside the Lines series. Six months have passed since Steph and Maryanne captured Briggs. Now Tank's received a death threat via Rangeman's intranet and everyone is taking it seriously. Kraven, the sadist who collects midieval torture devices, is still on the loose but hasn't made any additional attempts to get to Stephanie or Hector…until now.

I want to thank Margaret for agreeing to be my beta once more. Thanks Margaret, big hug.

Chapter 1 — Tank as the Target

Stephanie's POV

I knew something was up. We were driving back from a successful meeting at Campbell's Soup when Lula's phone rang. I could tell from the ringtone that it was Tank. He rarely calls her during the day and I gathered from her end of the conversation that he wanted her to come home.

Hector was driving, so when she asked him to take her to the house she and Tank shared in Hamilton instead of back to Rangeman, my suspicions were confirmed.

"Nooner?" Hector joked.

"Tankie didn't tell me much 'cept we're going on another vacation."

I immediately dug my phone out of my bag and called Carlos.

"Where are you?" I asked in lieu of hello.

"I'm at my desk. Where are you?"

"We're taking Lula home. Anything you need to tell me?"

"Tank needs to feel some sand under his feet."

"Bullshit. They just got back from a long weekend in Costa Rica. What's going on?"

"Come back to Rangeman and we'll talk." Code for 'you're not on a secure line'.

I pitched my phone back into my bag. Something was up. "Carlos isn't talking either," I said to the car.

"Well if it was Kraven, you'd be getting the call, so my guess is it's one a Tankie's enemies. I'll take my laptop and I can work from wherever we end up," Lula said as we pulled into a spot in front of her house.

Tank was at the door with Applepuff, his giant Maine coon cat and they came out to greet us when he caught sight of our SUV.

"Lula baby, how did your meeting go?" Tank asked, releasing Applepuff, opening the door for Lula and pulling her into his arms.

They were almost as bad as Carlos and I, so when they broke from their kiss I pounced with my questions.

"What's going on? Is Lula in any danger?"

"Ranger can give you all the details, but let's just say I need to take a little vacation. And I think we'll be fine once we get out of the country. Rangeman is on it."

Tank turned his attention back to Lula, "Let's go inside baby. I'll tell you what I know and you can start to pack."

Lula looked back to the car for a second. "Don't know how long we'll be away, but I'll try to keep in touch. Email me with any new jobs," and with that she was gone.

Once Lula and Tank disappeared into the house, I turned to Hector, "Tell me with a straight face that you don't know what's going on."

The Rangemen had a unity, if one of the key team knew something, they all did. And Hector was as close to the core as you could get without actually being in the core. I knew he knew something.

"Chica, I was in the meeting with you. I not know anyting more. Here take my phone, check my messages. Then you and I find out at the same time."

I took the phone he offered me and I saw he had three recent calls.

"You want me to play your voice-messages on speaker?"

"Sí. My code for today is 3114."

Hector was giving me his security code. I punched in the number and saw that of the three recent calls only one caller left a message. I played the message. It was from Carlos.

Unfortunately it was in Spanish.

I didn't understand very much, but I could tell by the expression on Hector's face that it wasn't good.

"Spill," I said once the call ended and I handed him back his phone.

"Tank's life is being threatened and someone was able to break through our secure lines at Rangeman to tell him he's going to die."

"Phone lines?" Hector shook his head no.

"Internet? That's your domain, how could anyone break in?"

"Intranet actually. The area where we talk to one another. Highly secure. Four levels of password protection. Almost impossible to get into. We need to head back and I need to follow the break-in back to its source.

"And one other thing," he added as if on second thought, "Ranger received a package in the mail today from Kraven."

Shit.

It took us about ten minutes to get back to Haywood. Hector drove as if his life depended on it. Come to think of it, it probably did. He was our tech guy and if someone got through his crazy, convoluted firewalls, he needed to figure out how. And why.

The first person I saw when we exited the elevator on five was Lester. He didn't see me, but I saw the look on his face. Pissed. Angry. Ready for revenge. I wondered which scenario clouded his normally happy-go-lucky expression. Or maybe it was a combination of the two.

"Les," I called out to him. His expression changed.

"Beautiful. I was just thinking about you."

Kraven.

Ranger's POV

I try not to lie to my woman but sometimes I need to stretch the truth with her. Kraven is a dangerous son of a bitch who is on a mission to kill Stephanie. I needed her some place safe while we located and subsequently took him out. It could take days, or it could take weeks. Right now I was giving it days because that's all I knew Steph could handle.

Lula and Tank would be packing for an impromptu trip to the Canary Islands and we'd made Hector an offer of a safe house in northern Spain.

Someone needed to be at the helm in Trenton and with Tank taking himself out of the picture and Bobby running the day-to-day, I volunteered. Our house in Belmar has everything I need to run the business and could be made as safe as Ft. Knox. It was getting to and from the house that carried a bit of uncertainty. I'd already requested one of our para-aramid reinforced Hummers and it would be sitting in one of my spots in the garage when we were ready to leave.

I could be packed and out the door in a matter of minutes, but I knew Steph was less decisive than me and it would take her longer. My goal was to be on the road before rush hour. I'd already called Philipe and he was readying the house for us. We hadn't been out there much during the winter because Steph associates the beach with nice weather and being stuck inside isn't good for her psyche.

I on the other hand, know what is and it's my intention to spend the weekend showing her just how much I love her. Hopefully that will distract her from thinking about the maniac who hopes to bleed her out with 16th century technology.

And I knew something else that she hadn't been made her privy to yet — right now we were under electronic siege and there was no doubt in my mind that it could escalate into something else shortly. And that was the main reason for Tank and Lula's sudden vacation plans. Someone was trying to get to Tank. Although not often is someone stupid enough to try to make him a target. He might be big but he can certainly be an invisible death machine when necessary. I should know; it's the reason he's my #2 and has had my back for years.

Steph's POV

Almost six monthshad passed without a peep from Kraven. During that time, we'd gotten bits and pieces on his whereabouts and heard about some auctions he'd attended around the country. Rangeman had gotten tips about many of his purchases and we knew he planned to piece together a new 'house of pain'.

It also took a good part of those six months to build up Lula's self-confidence again. Tank worked with her on a daily basis in Biloxi and she spent some time in therapy when they got back to Jersey. I was afraid that the circumstances surrounding Briggs' takedown had broken her spirit. And I was also afraid that they'd destroyed our friendship. But now she was back. One hundred pounds lighter but with the same sass as before. Thank God.

The news I heard from Hector was the first thing in a long time to rattle my confidence. After not hearing from Kraven for so long, I figured he'd given up on me. Looks like I figured wrong and Les' expression said more than I really cared to know right now. I couldn't imagine what Carlos had received from Kraven, but I knew I was about to find out. Les took me by the arm as the three of us made our way towards Carlos' office.

"Babe."

Carlos' one-word sentences can mean a lot depending on how they're delivered. This time it said: 'Let me hold you before I tell you anything'. And that's exactly what he did. He got up from his chair and met me mid-way between his desk and the door.

Carlos didn't want to share at first, but he'd gotten a letter in the mail this morning. Well, let me take that back. It wasn't a letter actually, but rather pictures in an envelope with writing on each one. Writing explaining what Kraven planned to do to me...and Hector.

My head had been Photoshopped onto a naked female body that was bleeding out from every orifice you could think of. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. I kind of wondered which antique torture device could deliver those kind of results. Probably a few minutes with several different ones. And I hoped the woman in the pictures, sans my head, wasn't a real person at all. And if she was, what happened to her? Or her body? Yeah, they were those kind of pictures.

Hector, on the other hand, made light of it all. He said the male body that had his face super-imposed over it bore no resemblance to him and no one would be able to get to him or I anyway.

Carlos wasn't as optimistic as Hector.

The news upset me, so after pretending to not care and putting on a good face in front of Carlos, Hector and Les I made my way to my recently converted office. I googled-searched the names of the devices we'd learned Kraven had acquired and was studying them intently when Carlos walked in.

"Babe?"

"I'm not staying in hiding Carlos and I need to know just what he has. And what it can do to me."

"I'm not asking you to stay inside Babe, but I'd like at least one team on you and Hector when you travel back and forth between your meetings. He got to you in a public parking garage before, and I'll do all I can to make sure he never has another opportunity.

"We think we have a bead on his whereabouts and Erik and Eugene are heading to Bergen County tonight to check out some places. I asked for a listing of recently purchased warehouse space and a number seem it fit the bill. Why don't we go out to our house for a few days and let the guys see what they can come up with?"

"I know what your doing?"

"What am I doing?"

"We'll go to the shore for a few days and then you'll convince me to stay there until you nab Kraven. I have a job to do and clients to deal with. I just can't take off for a month when the whim strikes. You can work from the house, but my job is to make our clients feel all warm and fuzzy like we give each one our undivided attention. And I can't do that if I can't see them in person.

"And you know what else? Next you'll be telling me that Hector's taking a leave..."

"Babe. I appreciate everything the three of you have done for the business and I'd never keep you apart from something you love, but humor me here. It's just for the long weekend."

"Long weekend, like how long? Today is Thursday. Are we talking Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Or are we talking Monday too? I need to know before I agree to this. I'll have to move around meetings and co-ordinate with Hector and..."

"Babe, one step at a time. Tonight through Sunday for starters. Please. For me?"

He had to use the 'please' word. I was just getting started. I don't know why I do that sometimes. I think it's easier to just keep on going then to take a deep breath and listen to what he really has to say. He only has my best interests at heart.

"Ok. We come back Sunday. I could use a little beach air anyway. No guards ok? Just me and you."

"Ram and Cal can stay in the apartment, they won't bother us unless we need them. Babe this is a matter of your safety. We don't know that he hasn't followed you out to our house before. He's been quiet for the last few months. He may have been fact-finding..."

"Ok, ok. I give. Jeez. You drive a hard bargain."

Ranger's POV

I was packed and ready to leave and wondering what was taking Stephanie so long. I walked back to the closet and found her sitting on the floor surrounded by a pile of shoes.

"Babe?"

"Carlos, I can't find my other sneaker," she said, holding one up to show me what it looked like. I immediately did a 360 from my vantage point and spied the missing shoe. I bent down, picked it up and handed it to her.

"Maybe you should work with Ella to come up with a better way to store your footware; this doesn't seem to be working."

"I had them all paired off and neatly lined up; I don't know what happened."

I did.

My fiancé can only be neat for so long. We were probably going out and she tried on multiple pair for the right look. It was just easier to kick them aside than it was to line them up again. I'd ask Ella for some ideas.

I helped her put all the things she'd arranged on the bed into a suitcase and took both bags while Stephanie said goodbye to Rex and closed up the apartment. Ella would take care of the rodent while we were away.

I don't particularly like driving the Hummer, but better safe than sorry so I fobbed open the big car and put our bags in the back. Then I helped Stephanie into the front seat. Once I was assured she was buckled in, my hand lingered on her waist. Then I moved it to her face and I kissed her before closing the door. Whoever had monitor duty was probably passing that video around right now. I didn't care anymore. I'd lost interest in my men catching us kissing. Stephanie was my woman and if they weren't adult enough to accept that we had a very healthy sexual relationship, they really needed to grow up.

I walked around to the driver's side of the car, got in and was in my zone once we exited Rangeman.