A/N: This is a Babe AU story. All recognizable characters belong to JE, the rest are my creation. Although I have been a pet parent for many years, I am not a vet, so any medical or procedural mistakes are all mine.

Previously -

Stephanie walked into her office and found the card Tank had given her a few weeks ago. At the time she didn't think she would need his help, but now she was glad for his contact information. If something bad was happening with Wyatt's owner, she wanted to make sure he wasn't sent back to a home that couldn't properly care for him.

Stephanie took another sip of her coffee, as the call connected. "Good Morning, RangeMan Security, how may I direct your call?"

Chapter 2

"Hello, may I please speak with Tank?"

"Who's calling," the gruff voice questioned.

"It's Dr. Stephanie Plum."

"Hold on a minute; let me see if he's available."

Several minutes passed before, "Stephanie, it's Tank, how are you?"

"Great Tank, how's Mr. Whiskers?"

Stephanie could hear the smile in his voice as Tank told her that there had been no further incidents and Mr. Whiskers was adjusting well to his new home.

"So what do I owe the pleasure of your call, Stephanie? Have you changed your mind about our security evaluation?"

"No, nothing like that," Stephanie laughed. "I actually am calling for your military expertise."

"Military expertise? You're not planning on overthrowing a country, are you?" Tank teased.

"Not today, but if I decided to you'll be the first one I call."

"So what's up?" Tank asked.

"One of my vet techs found a stray dog the other day, which isn't unusual, but the information that came back on the owner is puzzling. The dog is registered as retired military and so is the owner. I know all the red tape and trouble that soldiers go through in order to be discharged with their K-9 partners, so I find it a little odd that he would just let the dog run loose. I'm afraid to return the dog to the owner if this is the kind of treatment he's going to receive."

"Do you want me to run a background check on the owner? Do you have his name?"

"Yes, his name is Miles Rogers. The implant chip shows he lives in Trenton, and I think the address is close to St. Francis Medical Center. Do you mind? I mean if it's no trouble."

"Please, Steph, after what you did for me and Mr. Whiskers, it's the least I can do."

"Thanks, Tank. You don't know how much I appreciate your help."

"No problem, let me do some research and I'll get back to you."

R&S R&S R&S R&S R&S R&S R&S R&S R&S R&S R&S

Two days later Stephanie was busy ordering supplies when she heard the bell jingle on the front door of the clinic. Lifting her head, her eyes came into contact with the most delicious looking Latino man she had ever seen. He was dressed completely in black and his muscles bulged beneath his tight t-shirt.

Before she had a chance to speak, Tank came in the door behind the mysterious stranger.

Stephanie smiled when she saw Tank and walked over to greet him.

"Tank, it's so great to see you again," Stephanie said as she hugged him. Tank was surprised at her show of affection and Stephanie felt him tense up. "What's wrong, big guy, never touched a girl before?" she teased.

The man in black chuckled and Stephanie turned to look at him. He had the most amazing smile and Stephanie thought she might melt right there from his smoldering gaze.

"I'm sorry, Steph," Tank said, "this is my boss, Ranger Manoso, the owner of RangeMan. Ranger, this is Dr. Stephanie Plum."

Ranger extended his hand to shake Stephanie's and when he touched her, she felt a tingle all the way to the back of her neck. Ranger seemed similarly affected as he let his hand linger in hers.

Stephanie smiled and said, "please, call me Stephanie or Steph, I'm not very formal and any friend of Tanks is a friend of mine."

Ranger flashed his 200-watt grin. "Nice to meet you Stephanie. I understand from Tank that you're a real lifesaver, or should I say, cat saver?"

Stephanie blushed, "thank you for the compliment, but it really wasn't that big of a deal."

"It was to me," Tank spoke up.

"Sorry, Tank, I didn't mean to diminish Mr. Whisker's problem. I just meant in that in the scheme of problems that I see every day, it was an easy fix and I'm glad that everything turned out okay."

"Speaking of problems," Tank said, "I've got some information on your missing dog."

"Great," Stephanie replied, "let's go into my office. I'd like to make some notes in my computer so that I can keep Wyatt's information up to date."

"Lead the way, Babe," Ranger stated and held his arm out in a 'ladies first' motion.

The two men followed her down the hall and into her office. The walls were crowded with photos of all shapes and sizes of various kinds of animals. Some showed a smiling Stephanie holding puppies or kittens, while others were her of her in action at the clinic.

Ranger was surprised at the sheer number of animals that she had treated and the care that showed on her face for them. He was intrigued by this blue eyed beauty with the big heart and immediately felt a protective vibe towards her. The information they had discovered on Sargent Rogers was not good and he was concerned.

Stephanie tapped a few keys on her computer and looked up, "okay, gentlemen, what can you tell me about my most recent clinic guest."

Tank spoke first, "We ran the standard government background on Rogers and he has a clean military history. He was in the Army for eight years as a BDT or Bomb Disposal Technician, and Wyatt was with him the entire time beginning a few months after he got out of basic."

"Okay," Steph said with a curious look on her face, "that doesn't sound like a guy that would just let his dog run loose. Have you been able to find out anything else?"

"Well," Ranger continued, "his record is clean, but his brother, John's is a little more sketchy. Apparently, the brothers joined the Army at the same time. John is two years older than Miles and while Miles excelled in the military, his brother found nothing but trouble. He has been disciplined for public drunkenness, gambling and suspicious activities."

"What kind of suspicious activities?" Stephanie questioned, her brow creasing with concern.

"The kind that can get you court marshaled," Tank answered. "Two months ago he was sentenced to 25 years for arranging the sale of bomb information to Al Qaeda. Unfortunately, before he could be transferred to a federal military prison he escaped."

"And you two think that Miles had something to do with his escape?" Stephanie wondered.

"Not at all, Babe," Ranger responded, "we are concerned that John has involved Miles due to his expertise with bombs."

"Why would you think that? It sounds reasonable to me that Miles would be involved. It is after all his brother. I know you said he had a clean record, but that doesn't mean he wasn't just flying under the radar." Stephanie theorized.

"That brings us back to your guest, Wyatt." Tank said. "When we got the intel on John, we decided to pay Miles a visit to see what he could tell us, and also to check up on him for you." Tank took a deep breath, "when we got to his house it was a wreck and not the kind where the guy didn't clean up after himself. There were definite signs of a struggle and we found a significant amount of blood in the kitchen."

Stephanie paled and grabbed the armrests of her chair. "Did you find Miles?" she squeaked.

Ranger and Tank both shook their heads.

"The back door to the house was wide open and I believe that's how Wyatt escaped," Ranger continued. "We questioned his neighbors but nobody was able to tell us anything except Miles lived a quiet life and was never any trouble. He rarely had visitors and pretty much kept to himself. We also found out that he is enrolled at Douglass College in their Veterinary Tech program. It seems he likes working with animals and wanted to continue in civilian life."

"Oh, shit, I really don't like the sound of any of this," Stephanie said.

"Neither do we," Tank agreed, "I'm not sure of the extent of what is going on, but for right now, we need you to keep Wyatt with you until we can locate Miles. Will that be okay?"

"Of course," Stephanie quickly responded, "I can keep him as long as you need. In fact, I'll probably just take him home with me tonight. He's been here for a few days and I'm sure the change of scenery will do him good."

"Great, as soon as we have more information we'll let you know," Tank said.

Walking them back to the entranced of the clinic, Stephanie cocked her head to the side and looked at Ranger, "Is your name really Ranger?" she asked.

Ranger smiled and said, "Have dinner with me and I'll tell you my real name."

Stephanie countered, "You know I can just Google RangeMan and find out for myself."

"But what fun would that be?" he replied as he and Tank left the clinic with Stephanie staring dumbstruck behind them.