Read a book that was based off of a poem called the Highwayman by Alfred Noyes and had to write a story, to try and get the feelings I got from reading the Highwayman, with the characters that we all know and love.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Janet Evanovich except for my unknown. Also I do not own the Highwayman, idea based off of Alfred Noyes' poem.
WARNING: There will be character death and high angst. Do NOT read if you don't like character death, please.
For You
Steph's Pov
How did it come to this. My life had finally started to make sense for once. Had started to become a life I could see continuing for years to come.
Morelli and I had stopped pretending with our on-again off-again relationship and finally decided to sit down and talk. We came to the conclusion that we weren't right for each other. We never were. We were just friends now, very good friends. He was engaged.
I was working for Rangeman now, with a little work for Vinnie on the side. It had been five months since I started and I loved every minute of it. Well, there were the occasional stalker but the guys always helped me get through the tough spots. I had gotten to know them better and realized how amazing they could be when you looked past their tough guy looks.
Ranger has of yet to make good on his promise but I'm glad he hasn't. Not that I wouldn't complain if he did but he's decided to take a different course of action. We actually had a date two months ago. With flowers, dinner by candlelight, music in the background. Thinking about that night always brought a smile to my face. I realized that night that I wouldn't be happy with anyone else in my life. I loved him too much.
The next time we went out he took me to his parent's house. His family was just as crazy as mine but they showed a little more emotion than mine did. For instance, his mother, a woman who never stopped smiling, hugged me the second I walked through the door like I was her long lost daughter finally come home. I loved her instantly. It had felt wonderful.
Nothing felt wonderful now.
Ranger, Tank, Bobby, Lester, and Hector were called out on an emergency and wouldn't be back until midnight. We were all staying at the Batcave, a three story house that had a dozen rooms and was in the outskirts of Trenton. There were trees for half a mile that surrounded the house with a fence protecting the property. They were like family and shared the house.
I stayed behind.
It was close to eleven when I felt I wasn't alone. I was sitting on the couch watching Ghostbusters and waiting for the guys to get home. I always waited up to see if they were okay. I think they secretly liked having someone fuss about them for once.
I turned the t-v off and was about to grab the gun left inside the table drawer beside the couch but I was too slow. He came from behind.
I woke up in one of the guest bedrooms, the one with the window facing the path leading to the front gate. I was lying on the bed with my hands tied above my head, each separately tied too the headboard. Each of my feet was tied to one of the bedposts so that I lay spread out.
My heart immediately rocketed up a notch at that realization and then went into hyper drive when I saw the figure beside the window.
"It's nothing personal against you but you're his weakest point." He started with no warning. His voice was soft and if I wasn't tied to the bed I would have thought he was telling me a bedtime story.
"I want him to suffer before he dies though. I've set up a gun, it's right above you, aimed at your heart, and tied a string from the trigger to the door in a way that if the door opens the gun will fire. In his last moment, Manoso will die with the knowledge that he killed the only one he has ever loved. Oh, and to make sure you cannot spoil anything." The shadow came closer and I closed my eyes not wanting to see what this thing looked like. I felt the cloth against my skin as he gagged me and felt like crying. I was helpless.
My blood ran cold. Oh God, no, not again.
The nightmare by the window laughed to himself and returned to looking out into the dark. I could see the gun he carried now by the light of the full moon in the sky.
I could also make out the string connected between the gun and the door now that I knew what to look for. It was within reach if I could get my hands free. I began to work my hand around slowly, trying to get the rope loose. I wanted the choice. The choice: to end my life by my own hand or allow time, with the chance that Ranger could save me, for him to open the door himself.
Tank's Pov
Silence filled the car as we made our way back home. The emergency we were called for had turned out to be a hoax. Nothing but a false alarm and it put all of us on edge.
We didn't like that we were pulled away for nothing. Especially Ranger.
I glanced over at the man I had fought with, laughed with, cried with and couldn't help the smile that spread across my face thinking about the woman he had waiting for him at home. He deserved to have some happiness in his life, someone to love him.
All the guys couldn't help but be drawn to her. She had so much life in her, a smile that was infectious, and those blue eyes seemed to see right through all of our souls. She made us want to be more than want we would settle for in life. She made us want to do something great just to make her proud.
I shook my head, damn, we were all whipped and we weren't the ones dating her.
It was twelve o'clock and there was a full moon. The light shined down on the path through the trees we were driving along. Everything was quiet, peaceful even.
Ranger pulled up to the house and we all got out slowly, not wanting to disrupt the quiet around us. The house was dark and I felt a little bit of disappointment that Steph hadn't waited up for us like she always did. Then I felt something else, a little pinprick at the back of my mind. Something wasn't right.
Steph's Pov
Blood ran down my arm from twisting my hand free but I didn't make a sound. I couldn't or all my effort would be wasted if he found out.
I shifted slightly and stretched my arm towards the string. I could barely reach it.
A car came towards the house and the headlights swung past the window as it pulled into the garage.
I searched my mind frantically for any way I could warn them. Before one of them was shot walking through the door unaware. Before Ranger was shot, killed, erased. NO!
I couldn't let that happen. Not him, please not him.
I felt rather than heard the guys in the house. Felt them pause, they knew something wasn't right.
I closed my eyes and prayed for the courage to do what I was about to do. I prayed he would forgive me.
I love you.
Tank's Pov
I drew my gun at the same time that Ranger did. He sensed it too.
There was a note on the table by the couch and I picked it up quickly scanning the message there.
I'm in the guest bedroom.
That's it. I'm in the guest bedroom. Nothing else. No name or initial, it wasn't Steph's handwriting though. I handed it too Ranger and watched as his face became blank, hiding the fury there. He turned to go down the hall.
A shot ripped through the air as the bedroom door swung open.
We dove for cover, expecting the shooter to be heading towards us but no one came for a moment and then we heard the glass shattering. Bobby, Lester, Hector, and I went through the front door in pursuit of the figure we spotted running away from the house.
He didn't get far.
Lester took him down with one shot to the head. None of us would have killed an intruder before knowing who it was and why he was here, but we all felt it down to our souls that he deserved it. We just didn't know why.
A scream of agony came from the house. Ranger hadn't followed.
No
We ran.
He was kneeling on the floor, rocking back and forth, repeating something over and over but I didn't hear him.
Stephanie was lying on the bed, one of her hands tied above her head, the other clutching the piece of string connected to the door and the trigger on the gun.
She had pulled it? NO! Why would she do that?!
I looked closer and saw the blood that started to soak into the white blanket behind her and collapsed to my knees.
For us.
She did it for us.
For him.
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You can find the Highwayman on google if you would like to read it.
Sorry for any hurt feelings here but I wanted to get a certain point across and couldn't do it any other way.