The Cricket

Disclaimer: I do not own JE's characters, the city of Trenton, or the state of New Jersey. Sometimes I wish I did.

Prologue

Sometimes, when you're about to make a big decision, there's this little voice that pops up in your head. They call it your conscious. Sometimes two little figures pop onto your shoulders. The inner Angel and Devil. But sometimes, after years of ignoring your little voices, they just disappear. But are they really gone?

Chapter One

Trenton was abnormally quite, crime wise, as of late. It might have had something to do with the snow. The wet stuff covered every flat surface. The city was having one hell of a time keeping up with the damage control. While the power wasn't out, streets had to be plowed, construction crew had to be deployed to fix landslides and telephone lines. RangeMan was lucky, they had all of their own privet lines and they didn't need to head out on the roads.

In fact, you could find the majority of the RangeMan employees in the large conference room, playing games, drinking coffee, and having an abnormally relaxing day. Their laugher and sounds of joy floated down the hallways and onto the floor of cubicles, into the control room, where the shift was about to change, and even further into Ranger's office.

The man in black was sitting behind his desk, reading a report. He only looked away from it when the lamp across the room began to flicker. He looked back to what he was doing and it began to flicker again. He ignored it. Time went by. He finished his report and was about to but it back in its file when the power went out. Unable to see what he was doing he waited for the power to return. When it didn't he sighed and made his way over to the door of his office, intending to check on the control room.

He tossed the file on his desk, skirted the corner, and worked passed the couch against the far wall. He didn't make it. Actually he tripped, landing on his knees. A snort filled the laugher, followed by hysterical laughter. He stiffened.

"Oh, relax. It's nothing. If they meant to kill you they would have done so." The voice was familiar. Sarcastic and logical.

The lights came back on. Ranger spun around, still on his knees, hand on his gun, to face the intruder. What he found was a young woman. Long hair back in a ponytail, blue jeans, white tank, hazel eyes, and a full smile. "Hey Rangeman. Miss me?"