CHAPTER 2

Pulling into the garage under the RangeMan building, I drove into the spot that was always empty and waiting for me. I think that everyone has unofficially agreed that it's my private parking space.

As I waited for the elevator, I waved at the camera, smiling at the guys on monitor duty. When the elevator finally arrived, I rode it up to the fifth floor. I was looking for Ranger and if he wasn't there I'd settle for Tank. Stepping off the car once it reached its destination, I saw Tank coming out of Ranger's office

"Hi Tank. Is he in?" I nodded in the direction of the room behind him.

"Meeting at a client's office. He'll be back in an hour. Was it important?"

I shrugged, "Not really. I'd like his help with something and I need to talk to him first." That put me in a dilemma. I had an hour to kill. I guess I could wait. "If you've got any searches that need doing, I could kill some time helping out?"

Tank shook his head. "No work at the moment. You could wait on seven if you want. You'd be more comfortable up there."

"Thanks Tank." I smiled. "Will you tell Ranger I'm waiting for him when he gets back?"

"Sure."

I stepped back onto the elevator and prayed that Ranger hadn't deactivated my RangeMan key fob for seventh floor access. I pushed seven, pressed the remote on the fob and the car started to move upwards. Good, I still had access.

As I reached the seventh floor, I realized I had another problem. I'd left my door key on the hall table before I left Ranger's after lunch the previous day. Now that I thought about it, Tank obviously hadn't been informed that I no longer had a key to the seventh floor apartment. Ranger, however, would know that and would want to know how I'd entered his apartment without a key.

Mentally shrugging, I thought that he'd have to find out about me at some point, and this was as good a time as any. I did my thing with the door and entered. The calmness of Ranger's inner sanctum washed over me. I loved this apartment.

I wandered into the kitchen and helped myself to a bottle of water from the refrigerator. Carrying my water into the living room, I settled down on the couch to wait for Ranger. Leaning my head back, I thought about my life. I thought about it for all of five minutes before I dozed off.

Sometime later, I slowly awoke from a confused dream about Diesel and people with angel's wings sitting on clouds, and became aware of the scent of Bulgari. Opening my eyes, I wasn't surprised to see Ranger sitting in the armchair opposite me. He was watching me with a steady gaze.

"Babe. Mind telling me how you got in without a key?"

You have to hand it to Ranger, he never beats around the bush. He goes straight for the jugular every time.

"I er... picked the lock?" I knew he didn't believe me.

He confirmed that by imperceptibly shaking his head. "The truth Babe."

In lieu of an answer, I stood up and beckoned to him to follow me to the front door. I touched the door and locked it. "Try and open the door."

Ranger reached for the handle and raised an eyebrow when it wouldn't turn.

I touched the lock again. "Try it again."

This time it opened easily for him. "Babe, do you have something to tell me?"

"Yeah, I do." I led the way back over to the couch. "How much do you know about Diesel… about what he does?"

"I know him. We aren't friends, but we've run across each other from time to time. We're in the same business."

"Right, in a way you are. But he's a little different. He calls himself an Unmentionable. He has special... powers, for want of a better word." I took a deep breath, it was now or never. "So do I. Have special powers that is." Ranger raised that eyebrow again and I rushed back into speech. "I can do stuff with locks, and some other stuff."

"Do I want to know about the 'other stuff'?"

"Hmm... better you don't know, I think. At least for now, anyway." I grinned at him. "But I didn't come here to show off my new abilities. I need your help."

"With?"

I explained about Steven Kavanagh and his relationship to Joe. How he had been picked up for pushing in a sweep at the Blue Stocking Club. I described what Joe and I had found at his cousin's apartment and that Morelli was going to make discreet inquiries with his family about possible girlfriends or friends, and at work about the sweep and arrests.

"Which brings me to why I need your help. I want to go to the club this evening and snoop around."

"I don't snoop, Babe." The corners of his mouth tipped up in that 'thinking about smiling' smile. "But I will ask questions, if that's what you want me to do."

"I hate to ask this of you, especially after our talk yesterday," I looked down at the floor, I didn't dare look at him, "but could you pretend to be my date?"

"Babe."

Still unable to look at him, I kept talking, knowing that if I stopped now, I'd never be able to continue. "It'll look less suspicious if we're together, and Diesel's okay with it. He actually suggested I ask you." Okay Diesel didn't actually suggest I ask Ranger to act as my date, but he did tell me to ask Ranger to go with me.

He gave an imperceptible nod. "Nine? I'll pick you up at your apartment."

I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked him. He gave me a nod in farewell and turned to head towards the kitchen. I hadn't realized how much I'd been dreading asking him to help. The fact that he had agreed so easily was a weight off my mind. As I walked out of the apartment to go down to my car and head home, I was thinking that I really needed to take a nap before getting ready for the evening.

oooOOOooo

I was dressed and ready well before nine that evening. I'd come home to find that Diesel had already left. I couldn't help but smile when I saw the small bunch of daisies sitting in a large glass of water on the dining room table.

Now, as I sat on the sofa waiting for Ranger, I tapped my foot anxiously and stared at the flowers. I was feeling nervous. I'd never felt nervous before when going on a job with Ranger, even when we were going to do the most dangerous of distractions. But things were different this time. I was no longer a free agent. Even when I'd been with Joe, I hadn't felt bad about going on a job with Ranger.

Perhaps it was because I'd asked him to act as my date. Diesel knew Ranger was going with me, and it was work after all. Somehow it just felt wrong but I was going to have to deal with it. I had work to do.

At exactly nine o'clock Ranger knocked on the door. After letting him in, I went to go grab my purse and jacket. When I came back out of my bedroom I found him standing by the dining table staring at the small bouquet of daisies. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Daisies?"

"They're my favorite flower." I shrugged my jacket on and followed him out of my apartment. I shut the door behind us and locked up, this time using the key, just for a change.

I headed down the hall towards the elevator, but Ranger stopped by the stairwell.

"Stairs are quicker."

I couldn't help but think I could get us down to the car or even to the club in record time, but I wasn't ready for Ranger to know about the rest of my powers yet. So instead, I rolled my eyes at him. "Not in these heels they're not!"

I walked over to the elevator, and Ranger headed for the stairs. A few minutes later we met up at his car.

Ranger had brought the Porsche and I sunk into the leather seat with a sigh. I love this car. Once on the road, he went into his zone and there was silence in the car as we drove to the Blue Stocking Club.

Ranger found a spot right near the entrance; his parking karma was obviously still working.

I started to chew on my finger, wondering how we were going to find out the information we needed. This wasn't like a distraction. I hadn't really done anything like this before with Ranger. Ranger must have picked up on my indecision because before he opened the car door he turned to face me.

"How do you want to handle this? Do you want me to take point?"

Suddenly he'd made everything seem easy. "I'm not really sure. I thought we could go in, dance a bit then work the room. You know, maybe try and find out if anyone has any Ecstasy to sell or if they're using. Perhaps get some names." As I was speaking, I checked my make-up in the mirror on the sun visor. "If it's okay with you, I'll run any names we get through the RangeMan computer tomorrow."

I shrugged out of my jacket, deciding to leave it in the car. As I opened the passenger door, I looked up to see Ranger standing there. I stared at him, momentarily stunned. I hadn't realized he'd left the car and I never heard his door close. Batman strikes again. He reached out his hand to assist me out of the Porsche and with his hand on the small of my back, he guided me to the entrance of the club.

As soon as we entered the building, I realized it was going to be difficult to find out anything. It was wall-to-wall people, and the music was so loud it was as if I could hear it through my skin. The flashing strobe lights made it appear as if everyone was moving in slow motion, which was extremely disorientating and even a little nauseating.

We made our way to the packed dance floor and squeezed between the gyrating bodies until we found a space. Ranger pulled me against him and we tried to dance. It was almost impossible. We managed to sway a little, but all we really managed to do was rub up against each other.

Unfortunately that awakened feelings in me that I'd rather have left sleeping. Looking up at Ranger's face, I saw that our movements were having the same effect on him. I caught his eye and shaking my head, I grabbed his hand to lead him off the floor to the bar.

Ranger ordered a couple of beers and when the bartender brought them over, I turned my back on Ranger and smiled flirtatiously at the guy. He could have been a candidate for RangeMan. The man was tall, well muscled and absolutely gorgeous. Hey, I'm not blind! I leaned forward on the bar and I'm pretty sure he was getting an eyeful.

"This is a really great club. But I'd like to feel the music, you know, like really feel the music." I flicked my hair away from my face with one hand. "Who should a girl see around here to get some… assistance in that department?"

He didn't seem to be phased by my cleavage, either he was gay or he saw enough skin on a nightly basis that he just wasn't impressed with the results of my Wonderbra. But he did nod his head in the direction of the end of the bar. "See Rollo. Tall guy. Lots of gold chains."

I winked at him "Thanks, handsome."

Turning back to Ranger, I pulled at the front of his shirt to bring him down a little so he could hear what I had to say without having to shout. "Did you hear that? Do you think you can find out his full name?"

He nodded without saying anything and, carrying his beer, he made his way to the end of the bar where business was obviously being done. I stayed where I was and slowly drank my beer, tapping my foot to the music.

Ranger was back at my side within ten minutes. He didn't say anything, just put his hand on my elbow and gently guided me through the crowd towards the exit.

Once we were safely back in the car, Ranger turned to me. "Got his name Babe. He's well known on the street. Not a guy to mess with." He started the engine, put it in gear and drove in the direction of my apartment.

"Are you going to give me the name or are you going to keep me out of this." I was ready to fight for the right to be in on this investigation. "I won't let you, you know, he's my only lead to the skip."

Ranger slanted a glance over at me before turning his attention back on the road. "Be at RangeMan tomorrow morning. All the relevant information will be waiting for you. You can run him through the search programs."

I had to take a deep breath to calm myself; I had been ready to slip into rhino mode just as easily as Ranger can slip into his driving 'zone'. Which he did then, of course, and silence reigned until we arrived in the lot behind my building.

"Thank you for coming with me this evening, Ranger."

"No problem Babe. Told you many times, there's no price for what we give each other.

"Thank you." I leaned across the console and kissed his cheek. "Goodnight."

I wasn't sure if he was shocked by my behavior or not because he said nothing, just watched me as I got out of the car. As I walked into my building I heard the purr of the engine as the Porsche left the lot.

Making my way up to my apartment my mind wandered away from Ranger, Kavanagh and the lead; I started to think about Diesel and his meeting with his bosses. If the meeting was about us, I began to wonder about what they could or would do to him. Fire him? Could they take away his abilities? Could they force him not to see me anymore? I couldn't face that.

The apartment was silent apart from the squeak of Rex's wheel. Diesel obviously wasn't home yet. I dropped my purse on the kitchen counter and slung my jacket over the back of a chair.

"Hey Rex. How're you doing?" He stopped his running for a nanosecond and twitched his whiskers. I dropped some hamster pellets in his dish and fished a couple of grapes out of the refrigerator for him. As soon as the grapes landed in his dish, he left his nightly exercise, stuffed a grape into his cheek and dived into his soup can. "And goodnight to you too!"

I had no idea when Diesel was going to be home so I got ready for bed. I put on one of his t-shirts and crawled under the blankets. Pulling his pillow towards me, I cuddled it to my chest and fell asleep thinking of him holding me in his arms.

I was in the middle of a totally hot dream when I realized I wasn't sleeping anymore.

Diesel was between my legs, doing things with that tongue and mouth of his that almost made me swoon. I pushed myself against him and he sucked harder. Without warning, I came so hard I thought I really would swoon. He moved up in the bed to hold me in his arms while my breathing settled back to normal.

I raised my face to kiss him and he held me tighter as he returned my kiss ten-fold. His hands started to wander pulling my shirt up and over my head, giving him better access to my body but I pushed away from him. "D, thank you for a wonderful wake up, but before we do anything else, are you saying goodbye?"

Diesel rolled over onto his back pulling me on top of his naked body. Holding me lightly against his chest, he laughed his eyes alight with happiness. "No darling. Not goodbye. Never goodbye. We were worried for nothing. In a round about way the 'Powers That Be' have given us their seal of approval."

Bracing my hands on his chest, I raised myself up. "You're kidding me. Is that why they called you in so late? Just to tell you that we can stay together?

"Not exactly. It's a new job of sorts."

"Is it going to take you away for a long time?" I'd gotten used to having him around on a somewhat permanent basis.

"Nope, this doesn't involve any travel. It's a local job. In fact it's another training job. It seems that the 'Powers That Be' are so pleased with the last training I did..." He stopped to pull me back down and kiss me.

"Have you trained many Unmentionables?" I asked when the kiss ended.

"No, you're the first. I usually track down Unmentionables that have gone haywire, you know that. However, they're really impressed with your progress, so..."

"Do you mean that they're watching me?" I pulled the sheet up against my chest and gave a furtive glance around the bedroom, just in case they were watching at that moment.

Diesel moved his hands from my waist to my behind where he started to stroke my cheeks. "They don't have to, I'm here. I send progress reports back."

"Who will you be training? Is it another woman?" I gave him a playful slap on his chest. "You'd better behave yourself if it is."

"Yeah it's a female. And you know her."

"I do? A female? And you've been assigned to train her?" I felt a stab of jealousy. "Who is she? Does she live here in Trenton?"

Diesel's smile widened. "Yes she lives right here in Trenton, in the Burg in fact. You know all about her, you're even quite close to her."

I felt my eyes widen as I realized whom he was talking about. "Surely she's too young."

Still smiling, he shook his head slightly. "It's a long term project. I've been charged with watching over her, nurturing her budding talents and to help her focus her abilities as she grows up." He hugged me to him. "It means that I'm free to live here, to put down roots. That is, if you want me to stick around."

"Want you? Oh yeah, I want you. Come here." I deftly flipped us over so that he was on top. I opened my legs and he slipped between them. I could feel him nudging against me, so I angled my hips and he entered me in one swift movement. I gasped as he buried himself inside me.

Sometimes we made love slow and sensuously, sometimes fast and furious. This was a fast and furious moment. We couldn't seem to get enough of each other. I met every thrust of his with one of my own. We both kissed and sucked wherever we could reach. When we climaxed, it was together, and it was immensely satisfying.

We lay together afterwards holding each other, touching and stroking, our legs entangled.

I was feeling euphoric. Not only were Diesel's bosses not splitting us up, but they had just given us their blessing. "Will you still be chasing down crazy Unmentionables."

"Yep, Mary Alice is just an extra job. A long term, permanent job if you want to call it that. One that I'm going to really enjoy, and I get to have you help me with it."

Smiling, I snuggled against him and we fell asleep in each other's arms, secure in our love.

oooOOOooo

Once again I awoke to the wonderful smell of freshly brewed coffee. This time, however, it was a kiss that did the actual waking.

"Mmmm. A kiss and fresh coffee. I love you."

Diesel chuckled. "Come on sleepy head. You can't stay in bed all day." He pulled the blankets off me. "How did it go at the club last night? Any trouble?"

"Nope, no trouble. Ranger got a name," scowling, I half sat up and grabbed at the blankets to pull them back up. "I've got to get over to RangeMan and run it through their search programs." I reached for my coffee, which he'd placed on the night table. "I have a gut feeling that this guy will lead me to my skip. What about you? What are you doing today?"

"I received an e-mail early this morning. I've also got a skip to track down. I'll be in Seattle all day, but with a bit of luck I'll be home tonight." Taking my coffee cup out of my hand and placing it back on the night table, he leaned down and kissed me.

Reaching up, I hooked my arm around his neck and held him close. I deepened the kiss, not wanting to let him go. Diesel pulled far enough away to give himself enough room to speak. "Steph, you have to let me go. I'll try and get home tonight. I promise." Reluctantly I let him go, but not before pulling him back down for one more kiss.

He stood up, walked over to the closet to get a jacket and then he was gone. Seattle. I was impressed. I wasn't sure I was ready to teleport over that kind of distance.

I finished my coffee and got myself ready to start my day. As soon as I was dressed in my usual jeans and long sleeved t-shirt, I gave Rex some breakfast.

After I'd made sure I had all my bounty hunter paraphernalia in my purse, I debated whether or not to take my car. Realizing I couldn't teleport into RangeMan without being caught on camera as I materialized, I decided to take my car.

The drive to Haywood took longer than usual, for some reason the traffic was much heavier than was normal for the Burg. Parking in my spot in the underground garage of RangeMan I got out of my car and waved at the security camera while I waited for the elevator.

Reaching my cubicle, I followed my usual routine of switching on the computer and then going in search of a caffeine fix.

When I got back to my desk, Ranger was leaning against it, arms folded across his chest. "Babe."

"Good morning, Ranger," I said, putting emphasis on the 'good morning'; I'm going to get him to say hello and goodbye properly if it's the last thing I do.

He ignored my sarcasm and handed me a slip of paper. "That's the dealer's full name. Call me when you get through and I'll assign a couple of men to go with you."

"Thanks." I sat down in my chair and opened up the first search program. I looked up to say 'bye' to Ranger, but he was already gone, moving like a ghost as usual.

I looked at the name Ranger had given me, Cesar Barrantes. I keyed the name into the first program and sat back to drink my coffee as the computer searched through unknown databases looking for information. I wondered briefly how Cesar came to have 'Rollo' as a street name.

While I was waiting for the computer to do its stuff, I called Joe. I told him what Ranger and I had found at the club and that I was doing a search on a guy called Cesar 'Rollo' Barrantes.

He, in turn, told me that his family knew nothing about Steve, and the sweep had only picked up a few users and Steven. I disconnected after telling him I would call as soon as I knew anything more.

A couple of hours later I had pages of printed search results. I knew where Rollo lived, where he hung out, who his girlfriend was and who he was cheating on her with. Now I just had to find out where he was right now.

I sat back in my chair trying to talk myself out of what I knew I was going to do. It was dangerous and if I was seen I might be taken away by men in white coats, examined and then dissected and examined again.

I didn't have much of a choice. This guy wasn't Burg; I couldn't call on my family or friends to give me information on his whereabouts. But I also didn't want Ranger or his men to come with me. I wanted to do this on my own, and if I took my car, Ranger would know exactly where I was.

Question was, how was I going to pull it off?

The only places that weren't covered by security cameras in the RangeMan building were Ranger's apartment on seven, the employee apartments on four and the bathrooms. I really didn't want to go to seven; I couldn't run the risk of bumping into Ranger. So the bathroom it had to be.

As soon as I was safely inside one of the stalls, I whisked myself to Cesar's home address. I materialized just inside a dingy alley and the smell of rotting garbage hit me as soon as I took my first breath.

Opposite me was the run down apartment building that had been listed as his official residence. I hesitated only briefly before crossing the road and making my way into the building. Upon entering the lobby, my eyes immediately began to smart from the stench of ammonia. Obviously the area around the staircase was regularly used as a public urinal.

Picking my way through the flotsam and jetsam of slum life, I made my way up the stairs to the second floor. I heard music coming from inside 2D, so I knocked loudly and the music was immediately switched off. I was about to knock again when the door opened and a tired middle-aged woman stood there in a torn and stained housecoat.

"Whacha want?"

I reeled from the reek of alcohol on her breath. "I'm looking for Cesar Barrantes. Does he live here?"

"Not anymore. He ain't lived here for two years – not since my old man kicked him out." Before I could ask anything else, she slammed the door in my face.

I waited until I was in the stairwell, and the coast was clear, before I 'popped' out of the building and on to the street outside where Barrantes' girlfriend lived. I was lucky there was no one about, because I'd materialized out in the open. I was doubly lucky when I saw who had just pulled up outside the house I was going to watch. I ducked down behind a car hoping Barrantes hadn't seen me.

Flipping open my cell, I called Joe.

"Joe. I've found Barrantes... It doesn't matter how, all you need to know is that I got a lead on him, and I've found him. I'm outside the house he's in right now. Trouble is, I don't have my car with me... never mind how I got here... no you don't want to know... Joe will you listen to me... Can you get over here fast so we can follow him when he leaves? Thanks." I gave him the address and disconnected.

I looked around trying to find something better than a junked out old car to hide behind. The whole area was wasted and the old heap was the best there was; so I walked over and hunkered down behind it to wait for Joe.

There is nothing I hate more than surveillance. This time it was worse than usual, I didn't even have a seat in a car to sit on. Damn. I should have used my car. I had nothing to eat and nothing to drink; I hoped Joe wouldn't be long.

I wondered if anyone at RangeMan was wondering where I'd gotten to. Had they checked the bathroom and found the empty locked stall? I was still pondering how I would explain my disappearance, when Joe pulled up in his SUV.

I smiled at him as I climbed into the passenger seat. "He's still in there."

"I called Manoso. I had a feeling you'd skipped out without telling anyone where you were going. Knowing him, if he'd known you were coming here, he would have sent back up with you. He wants to know how you got out of the building without anyone seeing you."

"What did you tell him?"

"Told him he was better off not knowing. He did, however, say he was bringing a team out. Said this guy is bad news, and I agree with him." He raised his voice a notch. "What on earth made you think you could go after Rollo Barrantes alone?"

"Joe, don't start." I was just about to tell him that he had no right to start on that subject again, when a RangeMan vehicle pulled up behind us. We climbed out of Joe's SUV and joined Ranger at his vehicle. He'd brought Tank, Ram and Bobby. I thought that was overkill.

Ranger had his blank face on, but he was radiating danger. He looked at me and I knew that it was because he was angry with me. I gave him a wide-eyed innocent look.

Shaking his head as if in disbelief, Ranger handed me and Joe headsets. He then proceeded to blow my idea about following Rollo, right out of the water.

"Word on the street is that Rollo is hiding someone from the cops at this address. This someone has intel on Rollo that the cops would love to get their hands on." Ranger looked at Joe, "I'm assuming the 'someone' in question is your cousin and he cut a deal with the cops. Rollo would naturally be upset."

Joe nodded. Once again it seemed that Joe was back to playing the old game of keeping things to himself. I wonder if he'd ever planned on telling me that his cousin had 'talked' and that's why he'd been allowed to post bail.

"We need to get him out of there. So, how are we going to do this?" I asked looking at Ranger, but Joe answered.

"There's no 'we' Cupcake. You're staying out here. I'm fairly certain it's going to get rough before we can get Steve out. I'm sure Diesel wouldn't want you hurt."

He thought he'd played his trump card, but little did he know about the ace up my sleeve. Diesel knew I could look after myself now, but they didn't. Boy, were they going to be in for a surprise. So, I put on my best false angry face, folded my arms across my chest and grudgingly agreed to stay outside, where it was safe, while they played at being macho men.

Joe narrowed his eyes at me and I'm pretty sure he knew I was planning something. I tried to keep my face blank and innocent. Not sure I succeeded.

We tested the headsets and they moved out. Ranger and Tank went around the back and Joe, Ram and Bobby went to the front door. I could hear their voices through the headsets. Joe banged on the door and a voice yelled, "Yeah wad'ya want?"

Joe answered, raising his voice to be heard through the door, "Joe Morelli, Trenton PD. I'm looking for my cousin Steven Kavanagh, I was told I might find him here." An instant later I heard gun shots and someone made a grunt as if they'd been hit. There was a crash followed by a second, I guessed that was the front and back doors being kicked open.

I held my breath as I listened to more gun shots and a lot of shouting. I did my best not to think about all the shooting and who had gotten hurt. Instead I thought about my skip. It seemed to me that we had run out of options, Kavanagh was in there and probably in the crossfire. I knew I needed to get him out.

I concentrated on his image as I remembered it from his file, and instantly I was standing next to him where he was tied to a chair. I held on to him and teleported him out of the crossfire, removing his bonds in the process. The last thing I heard before I left the house was Joe shouting. "Steph, what the fuck?"

Standing next to Ranger's truck, I checked Kavanagh over. Aside from looking totally dazed, and having some bruising from his captivity, he didn't appear to have any serious injuries. He obviously had no idea what had just happened, and I wasn't about to tell him.

My heart was in my throat while I waited for the men to come out. I knew someone had been hit, and I didn't want anyone I cared about to be hurt. Impatiently, I watched the front of the dilapidated house from the comparative safety of the truck.

Steven had sunk down on the pavement and was leaning back against the side of the truck. "How did you get me out of there? It felt like one minute I was tied to a chair, with bullets whizzing around my head, and the next I was out here."

"We walked out, you must have been in shock and that's why you don't remember." I crossed my fingers behind my back as I told the white lie. "I'm Stephanie Plum, by the way. I work for your bail bondsman, Vincent Plum. You know I've got to take you in to be rebonded, don't you?"

He nodded. "Yes I know. I'm innocent though. Rollo planted the drugs on me."

"I'd guessed that from all the information I've managed to gather. Joe will help you, I'm sure, and you'll be acquitted." Just then there was a commotion at the front of the building as Ranger came into view dragging Barrantes, who was cuffed and looking a lot worse for wear.

I stood up and moved towards the group, trying to see who had been shot. I sighed with relief when I noticed that both Ranger and Joe seemed okay, then I noticed Ram was walking with one hand clamped to his upper arm and there was blood seeping through his fingers. He was walking on his own, so I guessed it wasn't that bad, probably just a flesh wound. I'd had a few myself, so I knew from experience that they hurt like shit.

Joe reached me and slung an arm around my shoulders. "That was some party trick you pulled in there. I guess that explains how you got here without your car."

"Yeah. It's a lot quicker than driving."

"I imagine it would be."

I opened my mouth to ask him not to say anything to anyone when he forestalled me.

"Don't worry Cupcake, no one will find out from me." We were joined by Ranger after he'd handed off Barrantes to Tank. All three Rangemen and Barrantes were waiting in the truck for Ranger to join them.

"Not from me either, Babe. Didn't see anything. Don't believe in supernatural hocus pocus anyway." Ranger gave me the full 200 watts and pulled me towards him to kiss my forehead. "Take care Babe." And he climbed into the driver's seat and drove away.

"Joe, where's he taking Rollo?"

Joe was helping Kavanagh stand up. "There are outstanding warrants on him. Ranger's taking him in." He turned to speak to his cousin. "Steve, I'm sorry to do this but I've got to cuff you, it's standard procedure." Steve nodded and turned around to allow Joe to cuff his hands behind his back.

We all piled into Joe's SUV to drive back to the police station. Steve needed to be rebooked, and I needed to collect my body receipt. It was a silent ride, Joe and I didn't want to discuss anything in front of Steve and besides, I think he was still in shock.

Once we arrived at the station I handed Kavanagh over to Big Dog who was doing a stint at the desk, received my body receipt and made my way back outside.

Joe was waiting for me by his vehicle. "Do I need to give you a ride home?"

I smiled at him. "No, I have my own transportation." I became serious as I realized that we were now talking to each other almost like old times. "Are we okay now Joe?"

He nodded. "Yeah. You hurt me and I don't think I'll ever forget that. But I've realized that we need to move forward, so, yeah we're okay."

I leaned into him and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you Joe." I turned around and walked around the side of the lot where I knew there were no cameras and 'popped' home. My first thought after arriving in my living room was, 'oh shit my car's still at RangeMan'.

Epilogue

Diesel and I were sitting opposite each other at my parents' dinner table. Everyone was there, including Val, Albert and their girls. Mary Alice was sitting next to Diesel and every so often he would bend down and say something quietly to her. Sometimes she would nod, and sometimes she would look up at him and give him a brilliant smile.

I caught Diesel's eye and winked at him, and he gave me his gorgeous sexy smile in return. I was happy. Everything was right in the Stephanie Plum world. Hell even my mom had told me before dinner that she liked Diesel. Her exact words were, "He may not be Italian but he's got a good heart."

I couldn't agree more. In fact, I would go one step further. Not only does he have a good heart, he has a good everything!

The end... for now