Chapter 6: Home, but not for long!
The drive to the office was quiet. In my mind I was organising work for next week. I hadn't spoken to Tank, so he didn't know about this weekend and I didn't know what had happened in the office this weekend. We didn't work in the weekends unless it was necessary but we were on call and did check in by phone regularly. I was on call for the even weeks, and he had the odd week numbers. However, if things were really bad, he would call me. He knew it was the weekend of my fathers' birthday and since he hadn't shown up, I took it that something happened that required his assistance. Usually he would come by in the evening for a few hours, my parents had known him for years now. I glanced at Stephanie. She drove with a glee in her eyes. She must like this car almost as much as I do. I hoped she would stay around for the day, but knew it would take careful planning. She usually got pretty nervous when we were alone. I suppose I was guilty of pushing her a bit and she was afraid of what would happen when she would play along. She and Morelli had called it quits a few months ago now, and sometimes I still couldn't believe that it was over for good between them. Tank once said that I was still waiting for her to go back to him and that she would go to someone else if I didn't change my behaviour. It had been food for thought. I now had the chance of getting her into my life for good and in a serious way, but it was all down to me. The playing had been nice, exciting and fun. But now I had to face up to the reality: play time was over. She probably still didn't know how much I felt for her, and she had no idea how scared I was of getting close to a woman. The whole episode with Julie's abduction didn't help but it had shown me how much she was willing to sacrifice for me. Even without Aurelia's 'help' I had already decided that I would start showing her a little bit more of me and see how she would respond to that. Stop playing and start getting serious.
We arrived in the garage and I got out. I waited for Steph to lock the car and held my hand out for the keys. She looked at me with a grin on her face and for a moment I thought she might try to hold on to the keys a little longer, but then she gave them to me. I could see the security camera zooming in on us from the corner of my eye. Probably wondered which woman was allowed to drive my personal car while I was riding shotgun. I pushed Steph in the direction of the elevators and we went up. I pushed the button for the 5th floor and got off.
"Go ahead to the apartment, I'll join you in a minute." I first wanted to speak to Tank.
"Okay." The elevator doors closed again and I looked at them for another second. When I turned around Tank was standing at the entrance of the control room looking at me. He looked tired.
"My office?" I asked. He nodded and we walked there together.
"What happened this weekend?"
"You know the new client that you weren't so sure about?" I remembered them. It was a small IT company and they wanted us to do their security. That in itself wasn't so strange, we provided security for more businesses. But what had my alarm bells going was that they didn't want to tell us what exactly they were doing and I also had seen that they didn't have any security on the premises yet. That is very unusual. My services are good, but they don't come cheap. Usually a company will call us because normal safety precautions have failed, or because their business progressed and required a higher security level. I had them checked out and came up with very little information. That is also unusual. So in the end I decided I wanted a trial period of 1 year. Something felt off about this, and I wanted to be able to terminate the contract without any repercussions. The trial period had started last Monday. Somehow I wasn't surprised that they were the subject of Tanks story.
"What happened?"
Then Tank started to tell me what had happened. Saturday around 6 pm the alarm had gone off and they discovered that a break in was taking place. They had gone to the property and saw that almost everything had been taken, and that the property had been set on fire. They had called the police and the owner, and the owner had wasted no time in telling them that he would sue Rangeman because they hadn't done anything to protect the company and why did they pay any money if Rangeman wasn't doing anything and so on. This was when Tank was called in. He had asked the people working in the control room about the time of the alarm and the time that the first team had been in place, and there had been less than 5 minutes between that. He soon realised that the burglars wouldn't have been able to take all the stuff that they took and set fire to the company in that small amount of time. So either the alarm had been disabled and turned back on when the fire had been started, or the office had been empty to begin with.
Tank had waited for the owners to leave the police station and took them to Rangeman where he had a hard talk with them. Within an hour they broke down. Turns out that they had started doing business with the wrong type of customers and that, on top of that, they had tried to blackmail those customers. Those customers had made some threads and they had turned to Rangeman for security. However, the customers had abducted the wife of one of the owners, and they demanded a large sum of money. Since they didn't have that kind of money, they took all their office equipment home and then set fire to the building, planning on suing Rangeman for the loss of the equipment and the insurance for the building and pay the ransom with that cash. They thought that they could win the case by arguing that if Rangeman had responded within a reasonable response time, a lot of the equipment should still be in the office. They hadn't realised that Rangeman recorded every conversation and movement of their personnel and would be able to show that they responded immediately. The guys were in great stress and had no idea how to get out of it. So Tank decided to help them and had spent the rest of the night helping them to get the wife back. Tank had found out who was responsible for the abduction and had negotiated between the 2 parties. The price for the woman's freedom had been greatly reduced (now "only" $250,000) but they were still looking for a way to get the money. He had a plan, but needed to talk it over with me before he could propose it to the IT guys. He hoped that Rangeman could come up with the funds and then work out a repayment scheme with our clients. Even though I am a tough business man, I still value life above anything else, so I agreed with Tank that this was the best way to go. I said that we would have to go over the details with them at a later date, and to let them know that I wouldn't let them off the hook easily. I'm not a loan shark, but I'm no charity either.
"So how was your weekend? You look a little pale." I almost rolled my eyes at that. He sounded like my mother.
"It was fine."
"How's the flu?" I looked at him in surprise. How did he know that? But then a light went of in my head.
"Aurelia called you." Tank nodded slowly.
"What did she tell you?" Tank grinned.
"She said that you had gotten sick on Friday and that she had drugged you on Saturday night and that she had gotten the Bombshell to take care of you." I could see he was enjoying this. Great.
"What else." Aurelia usually didn't just give the minimum amount of information, Aurelia usually gave the maximum amount of information.
"That you should be kept in bed until Wednesday and you shouldn't do any physical work until next week." I could see there was more.
"And?" I asked.
"And that I should make sure that it was the Bombshell that took care of you because she apparently knew exactly what to do." He was grinning widely now. Bastard.
"What else?"
"She hoped she had an opening in her schedule to come and check on you early next week." Oh great, why don't you just shoot me now? I dropped my head in my hands and rubbed my face. I rubbed the cuts and quickly moved my hand away. I could see Tank studying me.
"You and the Bombshell had a fight?" He asked. I could see that he was still smiling inside.
"What?"
"Scratches." Oh, yeah.
"No, that was Lily."
"The kitten got jealous of your attention for Steph?" He was laughing again.
"No, that happened when Aurelia surpri….." I quickly stopped. Better not go there.
"When Aurelia…?"
"Drop it."
"Sure thing, boss." Smartass. We both got up and walked back to the control room.
"Say hi to Steph for me."
"I will. Let me know about the IT case." Tank nodded and I got into the elevator and pressed the button for the 7th floor. I hoped that Steph was willing to stay, it would greatly improve my Sunday. On the other hand I also wanted to get involved in the IT case. Standing at the sideline was never my thing. But Tank had everything under control.
I opened the door to the apartment and found Steph sitting on the sofa, watching television. She looked up and smiled at me.
"Hi. Rangeman survive the weekend without you?"
"Yeah, looks like it." I contemplated telling her about the IT thing. I knew I could trust her and it would show her that I could share.
"Tank might call later though, to update on a case." See if she took the bait.
"Oh?" Close enough. She probably didn't want me to think she was curious. So I told her the story that Tank told me. She laughed when I told her that they wanted to sue Rangeman, but looked worried about the kidnapping of the woman. When I told her that Rangeman would provide the funds, and that Tank was now negotiating with the kidnappers she looked at me with clear blue eyes.
"That is really nice of you."
"Yeah, I'm a nice guy."
"Are you going to let the kidnappers get away with it?"
"No, but I want the woman to be safe first. Tank already knows who they are, so as soon as we know that the woman is safe, we'll go after them."
"Good." She sounded satisfied with that answer and smiled at me some more. Then her cell rang and she answered. I wondered who it was.
"Hello?"
"Oh, hi." She looked at me. Uh oh.
"Ehm…." She listened some more.
"I see." She looked at me again, a little uncertain.
"I'll tell him." I mouthed: who is it? She mouthed: Aurelia, and then rolled her eyes. I grabbed the phone from her on impulse.
"Aurelia!" I practically barked.
"Oh, Ricardo." She was surprised.
"You PROMISED me!" I didn't need to tell her that this was about her no longer involving herself in my personal life.
"I did." She sounded very calm. Strange.
"So?"
"I promised you I will never use that disinfectant on you again, Ricardo. I didn't mean to hurt you." I was almost boiling.
"What?!" I heard her smiling.
"Wasn't that what the conversation this morning was about?" She sounded innocent enough, but she didn't fool me. I was so angry that I was almost at a loss for words. I realised just in time that Stephanie was still in the room, and that it was her phone I was almost crunching in my hand. I took a deep breath to calm myself and eased my grip on the phone.
"This isn't finished yet," I growled.
"That's right, Ricardo. You and Steph are still a long way from being together." I really had no reply to that, other then one that would end in a shouting match, so I punched the end button and handed the phone back to Steph.
"What did she say to you?" I asked Steph.
"She wanted to know if you were in bed yet. And then she said that I had to make sure you went to bed soon." She was blushing and fidgeting.
"What did she promise you?" she asked me softly. I wasn't sure how honest I wanted to answer that one. I decided for more or less the truth.
"I told her to stay out of my private life."
"Uh huh." Steph looked like she knew that was only part of the truth, but luckily didn't continue her line of questioning. I leaned back against the sofa and closed my eyes for a moment. One weekend at my parents, and look at the mess I was in.
"So, how are you feeling?" She looked at me with concern.
"I'm fine." The answer came out automatically. I opened my eyes and saw a look of hurt cross her face. I regretted my answer, if I ever wanted a relationship with her, I needed to tell her the truth, most of the time anyway. I leaned over to her and put my hand on her leg. I looked her in the eyes.
"Really, I'm feeling much better. Just a bit tired, but that's all." She nodded slowly, contemplating the second answer versus the first. I moved back and felt the muscles in my stomach again, they really had cramped up during the vomiting and were still stiff. Steph was observing me closely. Mmm, this telling the truth wasn't so easy. Talking about my physical state made me feel weak. In the Special Forces we usually didn't say anything unless we had broken bones or couldn't walk anymore. But of course, I was no longer in the Special Forces. I took a deep breath.
"My muscles are stiff from throwing up." I felt lame saying it, but Steph nodded in understanding. Okay, not so bad.
"Would you like me to get you anything?"
"No, but feel free to grab something from the kitchen if you want."
"You have something that I would eat?"
"There should be some stuff left from the time you were hiding here and working here." Best days of my life, that were. When Stephanie was snooping around the kitchen, my phone rang. It was Tank.
"Yo."
"Yo, you feel strong enough for some action?"
"Give me 5 minutes." And I disconnected. I turned to Steph in the kitchen.
"That was Tank, we are leaving in 5 minutes. Want to come?"
"Why would you want me along?"
"I think the kidnapped woman would like a woman there." And I would like Steph there.
"Okay, but I didn't bring any clothes with me."
"No problem, there still is a set in my closet. And I'll get you a gun and other stuff. Go grab the clothes. You can change in the bathroom." She practically ran into the bedroom and quickly found the clothes. She raced into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. I quickly changed into my black work clothes too and opened the gun locker to take out my gun and one for her. I was just grabbing the vests and utility belts when she reappeared from the bathroom. I looked up and was once again stunned by her beauty.
"Babe." And I smiled. I threw her the flake vest, which she caught easily and shrugged into it. She grabbed a utility belt of the bed and started filling it. Gun, handcuffs, pepper spray, stun gun. We were both ready and I grabbed her and gave her a quick kiss on her soft lips.
"Let's go get them, tiger."
Chapter 7: Take down and taken down
We were standing in the garage and I was looking at the faces of the men around me. Ranger and Tank were there, but also Cal, Woody, Ram and Lester. We would go in 4 cars and Tank was updating us about the situation. He had found out that the woman was held in a house on the outside of Trenton. He had negotiated a place where they would give the money to the kidnappers. It was a place that was well known in the company, because apparently Ranger used it as a training ground on occasion. Ram and Lester would be in place way before the kidnappers would arrive. Tank would do the exchange, having Ram and Lester as silent backup. Ranger, Cal, Woody and me would go the house where the woman was held, and free her. We knew that there were 3 people in the house, and we suspected that 2 would make the exchange, so that would only leave 1 in the house. I had a hard time absorbing all the information, because most of it was done in army speak. I was sure that Ranger would give me the English version of it before we did anything, so I was watching faces. They all were very serious, listening to Tank talking and nodding in understanding. On occasion, a question would be asked and then Tank would continue. This probably explained a large part of my attraction to Ranger that developed over the last couple of years. In the beginning, the sentence "legally grey but morally right" had sounded to me like an excuse to get away with crimes. But now that I had gotten to know Ranger better and seen how he handled his business, I realised he used that sentence to explain how he settled injustice. This situation was another example. The IT company had basically given them wrong information, lead them on and then tried to get them to pay for something they weren't responsible for. Despite that, Ranger was now handing over $250,000 of his own money, which in worst case scenario he wouldn't see again, and using 6 of his employees on a Sunday to help the client out. Officially, the police should be involved and the whole formal negotiating game would start then. But in stead, to make sure that justice was done and done fast, he sent in his own people. And they were all more than willing to go. So was I, for that matter.
I felt Ranger's hand on my back, guiding me towards on of the Bronco's. All the guys were also getting in cars, so I guess the briefing was over.
"Want me to go over it one more time?" Ranger asked with a smile. He knew that my thoughts tended to drift away from the subject at hand. I nodded.
"Ram and Lester are driving to the exchange location now, to get into place. Once they are in their location, Tank will park his car in a location where he can see the kidnappers coming and he'll let us know when they have arrived. We are going to observe the house, and let the others know when the kidnappers leave the house. Then Cal, Woody and myself will enter the house and free the woman. You will stay here as lookout and backup for us, and when we bring back the woman you will let the other teams know that we have her. Then Tank, Lester and Ram will take down the guys who do the exchange and we will take them all to a location where we can hold them until the IT guys decide what they want to do. If they want to press charges, we'll drop them off at the police station." What would happen if they didn't decide to press charges was something I wasn't sure about if I wanted to know, so I didn't ask. I nodded my head and switched on the communication device that we all wore. Only Tank had a 1-way radio, so we could hear what was going on at his side, but he couldn't hear us. It would be a dead give away if Tank showed up at the exchange location wearing an earpiece. We all left the garage together, but Tank's and Ram and Lester's cars soon turned right. We drove through Trenton to an area where I hadn't been before. Ranger told me that we were a few blocks away from the house where the woman was held. Cal and Woody would do a drive-by first and then report to us. After about 20 minutes we heard that Ram and Lester were in place, and I called Tank to tell him the good news. He told me he also was in place, so now Ranger and I were driving closer to the house to start our observation. Woody and Cal had parked a few streets away, waiting for our signal to move closer. We had to wait for close to 30 minutes before we saw 2 guys leaving the house. During this time, nothing was said between Ranger and me. It was a strange silence. I was getting nervous and anxious about the coming action. This wasn't the first time that I was involved in a takedown with his team, but it was the first time that I had a serious task. Normally I did distraction. Ranger seemed to be in his zone, calmly observing the house, looking relaxed. He only moved when I heard a soft "zzzzzzzz" sound that turned out to be his phone. He looked at the display, frowned and pressed a button. The buzzing stopped. One minute later, his pager buzzed. Ranger looked at the display, sighed, pressed a button, and the pager was silent again. Then one minute later, the display of his car phone flashed. Ranger made a soft growling noise before pressing a button that stopped the flashing. Mmm, somebody wanted to talk to him. Then his phone buzzed once, he had gotten a message. He checked it and put it back on his belt. One minute later, it buzzed again. Ranger closed his eyes and didn't even bother to look anymore.
"What's going on?"
"That's Aurelia." Oh my, that woman was fearless!
"Wow," was all I could say.
"Yeah." His phone buzzed again. Ranger looked positively furious now. An idea suddenly popped into my head.
"Let me answer it." I held out my hand. Ranger lifted one eyebrow.
"Give it to me, I know what to say." Ranger slowly pulled the phone of his belt and gave it to me.
"Hello?"
"Stephanie?"
"Aurelia?"
"Yeah."
"Hi, how are you?" I'm very polite, didn't I tell you?
"Fine, thanks. Listen, is Ricardo there?" I quickly glanced at Ranger and smiled at his questioning look.
"No, he's asleep." Well, he was sitting still, so I wasn't stretching the truth too far, don't you think?
"Really?"
"Yeah. Like a baby." I added, to give it more credit. Ranger slowly closed his eyes and let his head fall against the steering wheel. He knew he couldn't say anything, or it would give him away. I decided to play a little.
"He was really tired, so he went straight to bed when we got to his apartment." Straight to work was more like it, but well. Ranger started to wave his hands in some movement that probably indicated that I was pushing it.
"The poor guy." I almost snorted at that, but managed to stop myself just in time. Instead I made some sort of affirmative noise.
"Listen, can you ask him to call me back when he wakes up?"
"Sure, but that might be a while. He was really out of it." Ranger glared at me. I smiled sweetly at him. This was fun, although I knew somewhere in the back of my head that I probably was in great danger, playing with Ranger like this.
"Okay. Thank you. Bye."
"Bye." I hung up and looked at Ranger. I had to swallow before I could speak after I saw the look in his eyes. Gulp!
"Babe, that wasn't funny."
"Hey, I'm helping you!" I tried to sound indignant.
"Mmmm." And he focused his eyes on the house again. About 10 minutes later, 2 men appeared and Ranger was all business. He gave a short description of the two men to everyone, including the car that they drove and after 2 minutes, he told Woody and Cal that it was time to move. Since they didn't know where exactly the woman was, they decided that Cal would ring the bell and when the guy answered, he would stun him. Ranger and Woody would be at the back of the house, breaking down the back door in case of trouble. Woody would let them in if he managed to stun the guy. Ranger opened the door of the Bronco, gave me one last look and then disappeared. Now all I could do was listen to the radio traffic to understand what was going on. Tank, Lester and Ram had acknowledged the information from Ranger and now were waiting for the 2 men to arrive. It would be a close call to see if they managed to free the woman before or after the money was handed over. After 5 minutes, I heard Ranger telling Woody that Cal and he were in place and that he could ring the bell. I felt myself tense up. This was it.
I heard Woody ringing the bell. He waited about 30 seconds before he reported that nobody opened and he would ring again. He did and still nothing happened. Uh oh. Then the action exploded in my ear.
"Go go go!" Ranger shouted. Crashing noises and some yelling.
"I'm in!" Woody.
"Left, left!"
A shot was fired.
"Shit."
Somebody grunted.
"Drop the gun! Drop it!"
"No fucking way!"
More shots. More shouting.
"Drop it! Drop it!"
"Fuck you!"
"Go!"
Some grunting and wrestling sounds.
"Cuffs!"
"Get off me, get the hell of me!"
"Get up."
"Where is Mrs. Johnson?" Ranger.
"Bite me." A solid thud, like a fist connecting with a body. A grunt followed.
"Where is the woman?"
No sounds.
"Fine, search the house."
After a few very intense minutes I heard the words.
"We've got her. She's fine."
My breath came out in a whoosh, I wasn't even aware that I was holding it until now.
"Okay everybody. We've got the woman and the guy. Apprehend the others."
Lester and Woody made an affirmative noise and I called Tank to give him the message. He said that he hadn't seen the other 2 man yet, but that they would apprehend them and then get back to us.
I saw movement and looked towards the house again. Woody and Cal came out first, dragging the guy between them. He was cuffed. They secured him in the Bronco and then walked over to my vehicle.
"Ranger wants you inside."
I got out and walked into house. Ranger heard me and called out to me.
"In the basement!"
I saw a door that was halfway down the hall and half open. I opened it further and saw a set of stairs leading down. A small light lit the steps. I could hear a woman softly crying. I carefully walked down and was shocked when I saw the scene before me. A woman was sitting in the corner of the room, on the dirty ground. She was wearing a jogging suit in light blue, which was smudged and torn. She was crying and looked incredibly tired. She sat with her back against the wall, hugging her knees which she had drawn up to her chest, looking at Ranger with fear. The smell in the basement was awful and I couldn't see any food or water. There were chains around her feet, and when I followed the chain, I could see it was connected to a hook in the wall. She could barely move 6 feet. Ranger was sitting opposite her, at about 3 feet distance. He had squatted down, hoping that would be less intimidating, but the woman only looked back with eyes hollow with fear. I quickly took off my flak vest and dropped my gun belt. I mean: what kind of message do you sent across when you say "I'm a nice person" but you are heavily armed and built like Ranger. I suppose in a situation like that it could come across as "You better believe me or I'll snap you in two." I slowly walked further into the room. She didn't even seem to notice me.
"What's her name?" I asked Ranger.
"Cheryl."
"Okay, now please leave the room." He looked at me for
a second, then nodded. He slowly got up, and Cheryl tried to
disappear in the wall behind her. He slowly walked to the exit and
quietly said:
"I'll be at the top of the stairs." I nodded and then walked towards Cheryl myself.
"Cheryl" I said softly. Nothing.
"Cheryl," a bit louder this time. She seemed to realise it was her name, and looked at me. I had squatted down too, and was still about 6 feet away.
"Hi, my name is Stephanie." I wasn't sure if she understood what I was saying.
"I'm here to help you." No response or reaction. Cheryl was in serious shock. I moved one foot forward and she looked weary at me.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you." She looked at me more intently now. I moved another foot forward.
"What happened, Cheryl?" I hoped that she would start talking, to get her out of this shock state.
"Cheryl, can you hear me?" She seemed to think for a moment, and then nodded. Good, a reaction.
"Can you say something to me?" She looked intently at me again and then suddenly something changed in her face. Some sort of relief was showing.
"You're the Bombshell bounty hunter" Cheryl said. I almost rolled my eyes. I thought I heard Ranger snicker on the stairs.
"Uhm, yeah. So you know now that I am here to help you, right?" She nodded slowly again. And then I could see her eyes filling up with tears. I moved closer to her and extended my hand to her.
"Let me help you, Cheryl." Slowly, she extended her hand to me. It was dirty and shaking. When her hand touched mine, she grabbed my hand so hard it was almost painful and started crying uncontrollably. I moved towards her and pulled her close to me. I had tears in my eyes, the woman must have gone through hell and now she realised it was finally over and it all came out. I made soft soothing noises while Cheryl cried.
I don't know how much later, but I felt she was finally calming down a little.
"It's going to be okay, Cheryl." She nodded and loosened her grip on me a little bit.
"Listen, we need to get this chain off you. Do you know if there are keys anywhere?" She shook her head no.
"Okay. No problem, we'll find a way to get you out of those. Would you like something to drink first?" She nodded yes and I heard Ranger move towards the kitchen.
"Cheryl, listen to me. That man in black that was here earlier is Carlos Manoso, he is the owner of Rangeman. He is here to help you. Don't be afraid of him, okay?" She nodded.
Ranger came in with a glass of water and slowly approached us. Cheryl followed his every move with her eyes, scanning over his utility belt and clothes. Then she looked at his face.
"He looks cute," she said to me. Ranger actually looked perplexed for a second and I gave a small chuckle. Cheryl was getting herself back together again.
"Yes, he looks real nice. And he is real nice" I said. Ranger handed her the glass of water, which she drank in one go.
"More?" he asked her. She nodded gratefully and Ranger went upstairs again.
"They grabbed me when I was jogging" Cheryl suddenly said. That explained her outfit. I nodded and waited to see if something else would follow this statement. Ranger came back in with another glass of water and gave it to her. He took a few steps back and leaned against the opposite wall. Cheryl studied him.
"He's really hot." Then she realised what she said, and clapped a hand over her mouth, blushing furiously. I laughed and gave her a squeeze.
"Are you feeling a bit better now?" She nodded and I looked at Ranger.
"How do we get the chain off?"
"I've found some tools. I'll get them." He left again, and Cheryl looked at me.
"Jeez, that has never happened to me before."
"Getting kidnapped?" I asked.
"Well, that too, but I mean what I said… earlier… about him."
"Honey, women the world over have preceded you. Nobody is prepared for their first meeting with Ranger. It takes multiple sightings to believe that a man that handsome exists and another dozen to get some sort of working brain function when he is around." Cheryl chuckled too, and looked 1000 times better. Ranger returned with a tool that looked like a really big pair of garden scissors. He walked over to us and he picked up the chain and studied how it was looped around her feet.
"Okay, I can cut it here and here, but you'll have to hold really still." Cheryl nodded. Ranger put the tool to good use, and 5 minutes later Cheryl was free. She tried to get up, but almost immediately fell back to the floor again. Ranger caught her in time and lifter her in his arms. Her eyes glazed over and she sighed in content. I had to smile at this, because Ranger looked a bit lost for words. He looked at me for help, but I held my hands up and smiled. Don't look here for help, mister. He shrugged and walked up the stairs and outside while I followed. Ranger put her into the backseat of the Bronco and managed to untangle himself from her. She tried to hold on as long as possible. Ranger gently closed the door of the Bronco and leaned against it while sighing and running his hands over his face. I laughed out loud now.
"Babe, this wasn't funny."
"Oh, it was Ranger, it was."
"What happened? One moment she is scared to death of me and the next I can't get her away from me."
"She got kidnapped. And then she realised that her rescuer looked like prince charming and her hormones overreacted."
"Hmmm…. Let's go back to the office."
"Wanna sit in the back with her?" I asked him.
"No! You sit with her."
"She'll
be disappointed. She is a client…"
"Babe," he
growled.
"Sorry, Ranger. Couldn't help myself." I got into the car and Cheryl and me spent the rest of the trip talking about hot guys.
The reunion with her husband was really touching. They did the whole running to each other, kissing like crazy and hugging. More kissing, more hugging and then they were gone. Ranger told the IT guys that they would keep the criminals over night and they would discuss their options in the morning. I had the sneaky suspicion that the flu was catching up with him. He looked tired and I had to admit that I felt a bit deflated too after the emotional rollercoaster with Cheryl. I was feeling the beginning of a monster head ache and I really wanted to go home. But then I realised that my car was still at the house of Ranger's parents. Shit shit shit. We went up to Rangers apartment and he asked me if I wanted to stay for dinner. The thought of not having to cook myself and getting served with Ella's delicious cooking had a great appeal (not to mention the nice company) so I relented. I asked Ranger if he had some Tylenol for me.
"What's wrong, Babe?"
"I have a headache."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, probably from all the excitement of this afternoon." Not to mention yesterday. He nodded and went into the bathroom. He returned with a bottle of Tylenol and a glass of water. I took 2 pills and swallowed them down. We settled on the couch and were quiet for a while. I studied Ranger. He looked a bit tired himself.
"So, how are you feeling?" I asked him. He cut his eyes to me and smiled a small smile.
"I'm okay, but a bit tired." He was still wearing his vest and utility belt, so I think that the "bit tired" was an understatement. Suddenly my eye was attracted to a spot on his vest that didn't look right. Hang on, that looked suspiciously like a bullet!
"Ehm, Ranger. What happened to your vest?"
"What?"
"Your vest, what happened to it?" He looked at his vest too, and then looked at me again.
"He shot me there, but the bullet didn't penetrate." Penetration or not, I knew from the last time he got shot while wearing a vest that the bruises could be huge. I walked over to him and tugged on the vest. He moved so he could let it slide off his arms. The bullet hit the vest almost in the middle of his stomach. Not a lot of bone there, but a lot of sensitive soft tissue. Although, with me it was soft tissue, with Ranger it was his hard six pack. I laid the vest on the couch and pulled his t-shirt out of his pants. There was a large angry bruise on his stomach, right were the bullet had lodged itself in the vest.
"Jeez." I said. I dropped the shirt again and looked at him.
"Yeah. Can you give me the Tylenol too?" I got up and gave him the bottle and a glass of water. He took 2 and swallowed them down. Then Ella was at the door with the food. It smelled delicious, but I realised soon enough that I wasn't really hungry. Actually, the thought of eating made me feel sick to my stomach. What's going on here, I thought, I normally can eat anytime, anyplace, anywhere!
"You okay?" Ranger asked.
"I'm fine." And I started putting some food on my plate. I didn't want to be impolite, so I better eat something. We settled at the table and I looked at the food. I took a few bites, and I'm sure it would have tasted great if I had been hungry. But I wasn't, and it started to feel like a large brick was settling itself in my stomach. I started to push my food around, hoping the Tylenol would kick in soon. I could feel Ranger glancing at me on occasion, but so far he hadn't said anything. I forced myself to eat another bite, and then suddenly felt my stomach turn over. Oh shit! I quickly pushed my chair back and raced to the bathroom, making it in time to the toilet to throw up all the food I had had. Even when I felt there was nothing there, my stomach kept on squeezing and contracting, it was painful. Suddenly I felt a warm hand settling itself on my back, soothingly going up and down. After what seemed like an eternity, my stomach finally decided that it was empty and stopped heaving. I leaned my head against the wall while savouring the feeling of Ranger's hand on my back. After a few moments I got up and rinsed my mouth with water and washed my hands and face. I felt dizzy and weak. I turned to Ranger and sighed.
"I'm sorry." I said.
"Hey, it's not your fault." He put his hand to my forehead and against my cheek.
"I'm afraid it's mine" he continued.
"How do you mean?" I asked.
"I think I gave you the flu."
Chapter 8: Down time
I couldn't believe my ears. Ranger gave me the flu! Grrrr! I hate the flu, it makes you feel like shit. Ranger had given me a lot, but that was usually good things. This was a change.
"Maybe it's just a cold" I tried. It didn't feel like just a cold, it felt like the flu, but a girl can hope, right?
"Babe." I gave a deep sigh, I knew he was right. I slumped on the couch, feeling miserable.
"I just want to go home, Ranger." It sounded a bit whiny to me, but I figured I had a right to whine. I had left my home 2 days ago to take care of HIM and look at me now. I had to meet his family and specifically his sister Aurelia, I had to do a take down and now I was down with the flu. I almost felt cheated. The idea of taking care of Ranger had some attraction in it, but I didn't get to do that. There was no sick Ranger, coughing and whining and waiting for me to bring him some water. No, it was ME who was in that position. And I wanted to go home and sulk in my own bed.
"Stay here, Babe. Let me take care of you." Mmm, that did sound attractive. His lovely bed, Ella, and himself of course! But still…
"I have no clothes here, nothing." It was a lame excuse, but I thought I had to give some resistance.
"I'll have Tank pick something up for you." When I still looked doubtful he continued.
"Come on, Babe. I feel responsible for getting you sick, let me make it up to you." Well, if you put it that way…
"Fine, I'll stay here tonight" I said on a sigh.
"Good." Ranger walked to the phone and called Tank. I could hear him give instructions about what to pick up while I dozed off on the couch.
I was floating in the sea, which was really warm and very clear water. I looked around me and could see the fishes swimming around me. The sun was out and the weather was lovely. I could see palm trees lining the white sandy beach. This was heaven! Hang on, somebody was waving to me from the shore. I swam in the direction, and my breath was taken away by the view before me. It was Ranger. He was wearing black swimming shorts. His broad chest sparkled with water drops and his 6 pack abs rippled with every move. When my feet felt land, I got up and walked the last couple of meters. I was wearing a white bikini that looked lovely against my bronze skin. I stopped right in front of Ranger and put my arms around him.
"Babe." And we kissed, slowly, deeply, lovingly. Mmmm.
"Babe!" What?
"Babe! Wake up." Wake up? No, I don't want to wake up! I want to keep dreaming. Humpf! I opened my eyes, and found Ranger's dark brown ones looking back at me.
"Babe, Tank has brought some stuff over for you. If you want, you can take a shower and go to bed." I was still on the couch, although Ranger had covered me with a comforter. My head felt heavy, although the headache had subsided a little bit.
"Thanks" I croaked. My voice had been affected by the flu too, and I swallowed painfully.
"Babe." It sounded very affectionate. I slowly lifted myself of the couch and shuffled into the bedroom. A bag was sitting on the bed, and I started rummaging through it. I found my shampoo and conditioner and my razor. I rifled through the bag some more and found my lovely light blue with pink daisies pj's. It consisted of a singlet top with a short and it felt lovely. I shuffled into the bathroom and started the hot water. I washed my hair and shaved my legs. Then I used Ranger's shower gel and soaped my whole body. I was beginning to feel a bit human again. I got out of the shower with a bit of reluctance and dried myself off with the lovely towels. I put on the pj's and opened the door to find Ranger standing on the other side.
"Babe, feeling a bit better?"
"Yeah."
"Ready for bed?" I don't know, but somehow that sounded sexual to me… Well, at least I'm not dead yet since my hormones were functioning just fine. I nodded, and Ranger padded on the bed while he sat on the other side. I climbed in and let out a contented sigh when I was laying down. Mmm, heaven.
"Can I get you anything?"
"No, thanks." Ranger gently moved his hand through my hair, sending warm feelings shooting through my body. I was almost asleep when I felt him move.
"Good night, sleeping beauty." He gave me a kiss on my forehead and then he was gone. So was I, off to dreamland!
Ranger POV
I looked at Stephanie sleeping in my bed. Her cheeks were red from the fever, but that didn't make her look any less attractive. Her hair was spread out over the pillow, shining beautifully. She had kicked down the blanket to about mid waist, and the light blue outfit she wore was visible. It was a funny little thing, making her look really vulnerable and female. I loved looking at her, I could spend hours like that. But I was interrupted by my phone.
"Yo."
"Ricardo, you're awake again." Shit, Aurelia.
"Yeah."
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine."
"Listen, can I talk to Stephanie?" Double shit.
"Now is not a good time." I knew it was hopeless. She was curious, she was on a trail and she could hear between the lines.
"It
won't take long." What to say?
"Why?"
"I just want to ask her something." No doubt about me.
"What?"
"None of your business, Ricardo. Now put the girl on the phone."
"I'm afraid she's not available."
"She isn't with you?" I hesitated to think up a good story, but that hesitance killed me right away.
"She is there, isn't she?" I said nothing.
"What's going on, Ric?" Damn it. What to do? Mmm, better not lie to Aurelia, because if she found out I would never hear the end of it. She'd tell Mom, and well…
"Ehm… Steph got sick." It was quiet for a moment on the other side.
"What?"
"She got the flu, Aurelia."
"Wait a moment. You gave Stephanie the flu?" I could hear the smile in her voice.
"Yeah." I sighed. I was never going to hear the end of this.
"So where is she now?"
"She's sleeping." That's a safe answer, I thought. But then, this is Aurelia we're talking about.
"Where?"
"What?"
"Where is she sleeping?"
"Ehm…"
"She's in your bed, isn't she?" I was silent once more.
"Aw, this is so sweet. You can take care of each other now." I had no response to that either.
"Listen, I'll come by after dinner, to make sure you're doing alright there together."
"No, Aurelia, that's …." She had hung up on me. Sigh… Double sigh.
I was tired myself, so after dinner I took a shower. I had just dried off when the doorbell rang. Aurelia. I quickly tied the towel around my waist and walked through the bedroom to the living room. Luckily, Steph had slept through the bell. I opened the door for Aurelia, who was momentarily stunned to see me without clothes.
"Ricardo, why aren't you wearing any clothes?" Her eyes got this dangerous look in them.
"Did I interrupt something?" Mischievous smile.
"No, Steph is sick. What are you thinking?" She was in my house for 5 seconds, and I already felt defensive.
"What happened here?" Aurelia asked, while touching the bruise on my stomach.
"Nothing."
I slapped her
hands away.
"If I didn't know that you were in bed all
afternoon, I'd say that looks like the impact of a fist." She
quickly scanned the room. Shit, the vests and utility belts were
still laying around.
"Or," she continued "the impact of a bullet in a vest." She looked at me with angry eyes.
"Care to explain this, Ricardo?" Nope.
"What do you want to hear, Aurelia?" I was caught red handed, but I didn't feel that I needed to explain my business to Aurelia.
"You could have been killed!"
"I could get killed every day of the week." Sad, but true.
"This way, you're never going to get married."
"Maybe I don't want to get married." This was unheard of in our family, and I was careful not to say anything like it when Mom was around.
"What?"
"I've been married. Didn't work for me." Okay, maybe that had lots of reasons, but well.
"You need a woman to take care of you." No, I need to take care of a woman who is currently sleeping in my bedroom.
"Keep your voice down, you'll wake up Steph." That directed her attention away from me. Phew.
"What happened?"
"Halfway through the day, she got a headache and started throwing up. She had a fever and went to bed."
"Let me check her." There was genuine concern in her eyes. I sighed, ran my hands through my hair and nodded yes. Aurelia walked to the bedroom and opened the door. Steph was still sleeping. She had hardly moved. Aurelia walked to the bed and gently touched Stephs hair and face.
"She has a fever, alright." She mumbled. Steph stirred a bit and Aurelia started talking to her.
"Steph, wake up. Let me look at you for a moment. Steph… Steph, wake up." Steph mumbled something, and slowly came awake. She looked surprised to see Aurelia, and then scanned the room, her eyes settling on me. Her eyes turned large and blue, and she licked her lips. I realised I was still only wearing the towel. Aurelia snickered, bringing Steph back to earth.
"Out, Ricardo" Aurelia said.
"Excuse me?"
"Give the patient some privacy." I mumbled something under my breath and grabbed some sweatpants and a sweatshirt and left my bedroom.
Steph's POV
That was a strange way to wake up. First I saw a woman, and it took me a moment to realise it was Aurelia. And then I saw Ranger in nothing but a towel, looking delicious. And now I was alone in the bedroom with Aurelia. Gulp.
"How
are you feeling, Stephanie?"
"Okay" I croaked. My
throat felt like it had swollen to the size of a big potato.
"Hmm, you're just as bad as Ricardo. He wasn't sleeping this afternoon, was he?" I hesistated, not wanting to rat out Ranger.
"Steph, I've seen the flak vests and the bruise on Ricardo's stomach." I nodded. She knew it all then. She smiled at me.
"So I ask again, how do you feel, Steph?"
"Like I'm sick. I have a heavy head, my throat is sore and I threw up." There, that was it.
"Oh, baby. Let's have a look at you." She put her hand against my forehead and my cheek. Then she felt around my throat. She grabbed a thermometer and said "open up" and stuck it under my tongue. Then she listened to my heart and lungs with her stethoscope and checked the thermometer. I had a fever alright. She looked at my throat and then put all her instruments away.
"You have the flu. I'll give you something for your throat and you should stay in bed for 5 or 6 days I think. You can take some Tylenol or something like that against the fever." I sighed. I hated having to stay in bed, and 5 or 6 days sounded like an eternity, even in Ranger's bed.
"Let Ricardo take care of you, spoil you." She smiled at me again. She fluffed my pillows and I gratefully leaned back against them. She called out to Ranger, and he came back in. He was dressed in sweats and looking as good as ever.
"How are you feeling?" he asked me.
"Like I have the flu," I sighed. He smiled.
"Sit down, Ricardo" Aurelia said, while patting on the bed. He did sit down and she started checking him.
"Aurelia! Stop it." I looked rather amused at the interaction. Ranger seemed to do anything to get away from Aurelia.
"Ricardo, let me check you!" They wrestled some more on the bed and in the end, Ranger gave up. He was laying on his back on the bed and Aurelia was sitting on his stomach. I had the sneaky suspicion that she knew his stomach was sensitive and used that against him. Aurelia felt his throat, checked his temperature and looked at his throat. Then she lifted his sweatshirt and felt around the bruise. Then she stood up again.
"Finished. You're getting better, but you have to take it easy for the next couple of days anyway." He didn't answer.
"How's Steph?" he asked instead.
"She has the flu, and I want her in bed for 5 to 6 days at LEAST." She looked at me sternly. I just nodded. She grabbed her stuff and left the room together with Ranger. That was fine by me, I was ready for another couple of hours of sleep.
Chapter 9: Sleeping beauty…
I woke up feeling a bit disorientated. It took me a while to realise what had happened and where I was. I was in Ranger's bed and I had gotten the flu from him. Even though I had kicked the blanket off, I still felt very warm. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Ranger was laying on his back, the blanket at his waist. Guess I was too warm to snuggle up to tonight. The bruise on his stomach looked very dark. I slowly sat up and felt my stomach turn. Oh no, not again! I stumbled out of bed and raced into the bathroom again. I hadn't eaten anything last night, but I did have a little bit of water to drink, which now found it's way out again. This was soooo unfair. Why wasn't Ranger throwing up? Why did I have to do that, in front of him? My stomach felt once again the need to make sure it emptied itself thoroughly before it stopped contracting. I flushed the toilet and sat down with my back against the wall, savouring the feel of the cool tiles against my hot body. I closed my eyes for a moment when I heard a movement close to me. I opened my eyes to see Ranger squatting down in front of me, looking worried.
"Babe," he said softly. He gently squeezed my hand. I gave him a weak, sad smile and slowly got to my feet again, feeling dizzy. Ranger put a hand against my back to steady me, while I rinsed my mouth. He guided me back to the bed and I sat down on the edge of it. I didn't want to lay down right now, because my stomach still felt very upset. But I felt very weak and tired. I sighed deeply. This was what I hated most about the flu. Those first couple of days when you had no energy, felt weak, when even the tv lost it's appeal and you couldn't find a good position to sleep in. You were either hot or cold, you were thirsty but no drink sounded attractive and you were hungry but the smell of food made you feel sick. And right now I was in the middle of it.
"Lie down, Babe," Ranger coaxed. I just shook my head. I heard the rustle of the sheets and Ranger put a hand on my shoulder.
"What's wrong, Babe?" I tried to find the energy to answer him while his other hand gently rubbed my back.
"I don't want to lie down yet." My stomach decided that that was the moment to make some rumbling noises and for a moment I feared I had to race back to the bathroom again.
"Ah," was all Ranger said in understanding. I felt some movement behind me and I saw him collecting a few pillows on my side and then he settled himself against them. He patted on the space between his legs and I moved towards him. I settled myself sideways against Ranger. I was sitting between his legs, my left shoulder against his right side, my legs laying over his stretched out left leg, my feet dangling over the edge of the bed. His arms came around me. His right arm across my back, settling low on my hip while his left hand settled on my stomach and gently rubbed it. The warmth of his hand was soothing. I buried my head into his neck, sighing again.
"I hate this," I said. I could feel Ranger's chuckle.
"I know, me too."
"That's easy for you to say, you are up and running." Can you say 'whining'?
"Hey, my sister drugged me! And I did throw up on Friday night."
"Humpf." Another chuckle. I snuggled into him and enjoyed the feeling of being cared for. After a few minutes I realised that I had no idea what time it was.
"What's the time?" I asked Ranger. I felt him shift slightly to look at his side of the bed where he had an alarm clock.
"It's 3.24 am." Wow, I had slept for about 6 hours since Aurelia had left. I wondered how long Ranger had been there. I looked at the bruise on his stomach again, and I traced the outline with my finger. The bruise was about 4 inches in diameter, almost a perfect circle, starting in the middle of his stomach and ending just above his navel. My finger flowed over the different 'cushions' of his six pack, his skin feeling soft and warm. I looked up to his face to find him watching my finger intently. He still looked a bit tired, but it was obvious that his body had beaten the flu. I was intrigued by his muscles and started to trace the muscle groups on his abdomen. I could feel Ranger sitting very still and when I traced a muscle group that led towards the edge of his boxer, I could feel his body respond. But my finger had a will of its own when it crept closer towards his waist and I wondered what he would do if I traced it all the way down.
Ranger POV
When she started tracing the bruise, I felt a tingling sensation go through my body. Her finger was warm and soft. I wondered where she was going with this one when I noticed that she had left the path of the bruise to trace muscles on my stomach. It was playing havoc with my mind and I willed myself to keep still. Steph seemed lost in thought and seemed to have no idea about the effect her finger had on me. I tried to distract myself by thinking very asexual thoughts, but when she traced a muscle group that led from my side down to my groin, my body betrayed me. Despite this, her finger didn't stop its torture and slowly approached the waist band of my underwear. I watched it get closer and closer until it was less than an inch away from the waist band. I was at the end of my self control and my hand snaked out and grabbed hers, holding it still in its position.
"Babe," I groaned. I let the breath out that I'd been holding. I could feel her tense in my arms. I squeezed her softly, to let her know I wasn't angry at her. She slowly looked up at me and I could see the guilt in her eyes.
"Sorry," she whispered.
We sat together in silence for a while. I was still trying to find anything to say to her when I felt her relax against me. My hand brushed her curls and she snuggled into me. I felt very good, holding her like this. She had been the woman of my dreams for a while now, and I had wanted her in my life for a long time. But Morelli had been in the picture in the beginning and later I had found other excuses why I couldn't be with her. Lately, I had been running out of excuses and realised I wanted her in my life, period. No matter what it took. But I still wasn't sure how to achieve this goal. Steph could be very unpredictable. And having Aurelia watching me like a hawk didn't improve things. But at least right now I had her in my arms. Her breathing had become very regular and when I brushed her curls away to look at her face, I saw that she had fallen asleep. I gently lifted her from between my legs and laid her down on the bed again. She murmured a few things and then settled again. I hoped that she would get another few hours of sleep, it would do her good. I went to the other side of the bed and slid under the blanket. I turned on my side and rolled a little closer to her. I propped my head up on a hand and with the other I touched her hair again. I loved that hair, despite its unruliness. The long curls shone softly in the small amount of light in the room. She made a small noise and turned onto her side, her back to me. With a soft sigh I gave in to my desire to be close to her and scooted over to her so that our bodies were touching. She settled into my body and I put my hand on her stomach again, softly rubbing it. I put my head down on my arm and closed my eyes. It would be a while before I would fall asleep again.
Chapter 10: Medication for the soul
I woke up with a pounding head. Last night's memory rushed back. Ugh, I had the flu. I carefully rolled on my back and my stomach made some growling noises, but at least I didn't feel like throwing up anymore. I looked over to Ranger's side, but he had long left. The clock on the bedside table said it was 10.26 am. Wow, I had slept over 15 hours since last night. I slowly got up and grimaced when I felt how stiff my muscles were. Another lovely side effect of the flu. I went to the bathroom to take care of business and swallow down some Tylenol and after I washed my face and brushed my teeth I felt a bit better. I put on Ranger's robe and padded into the living room. All was quiet in the apartment, but a note was laying on the kitchen counter.
Hi Babe,
Hope you feel better today. Call me when you wake up.
Ranger
So I got my phone and called him. He answered after the first ring.
"Yo."
"Yo yourself," I croaked. Wow, I had almost no voice left. My throat still felt sore and swollen.
"How do you feel?" Gee, I don't now, maybe like I have the flu. I guess I still hadn't forgiven him for passing the flu on to me.
"Okay," I croaked.
"Babe." It sounded affectionate. Suddenly there was a change in the atmosphere at his side and I heard some shouting.
"Listen, if there is anything you need, just call Ella. I'll call later today." Dial tone. Guess he was busy. I browsed through his cupboards and found some crackers that looked attractive and made myself a cup of tea. I placed myself on his lovely couch and started channel surfing. I settled on some 'Will and Grace' reruns and nibbled on the crackers. After I finished the crackers and the tea I laid down on the couch and pulled the afghan over me. Slowly I felt myself drift off to sleep again.
Ranger POV
Steph's voice sounded horrible over the phone, which reminded me that I still needed to pick up the prescription that Aurelia had given her. I sent Cal out to get it and then pulled myself back to work again. It was a typical Monday with lots of things happening. Sometimes I had the idea that people spend their whole weekend trying to come up with questions and problems and they all wanted an answer Monday 9am. And I still had to deal with the after effects of the takedown from last night. I would go up for dinner, but I would have to take a stack of paperwork with me to do after dinner. Most likely Steph was sleeping anyway, but it felt nice to be in the apartment when she was there too. Made it feel more like a home. When I had a few minutes around lunchtime I went up to bring her the medication. It was some type of cough syrup that she would have to take 3 times a day. When I entered the apartment, the tv was on, but I couldn't see Steph. I walked closer to the couch and then saw that she had fallen asleep on the couch, curled into the afghan and my robe. She looked beautiful. A cup was standing on the coffee table next to a plate with some crumbs. I was glad that she had managed to eat and drink something after all the throwing up from last night. I gently caressed her hair and face and she stirred.
"Babe." She mumbled something, but settled down again.
"Babe, … Babe, wake up." Slowly she opened her eyes and looked at me.
"Ranger," she croaked.
"I've got some cough medicine for you." I read the label on the bottle and went into the kitchen to get a spoon. Steph slowly sat up.
"How are you feeling?" I asked when I got back. She shrugged and swallowed painfully. I opened the bottle and poured some liquid on the spoon.
"Here, slowly swallow this, it'll help with the throat ache." I held the spoon in front of her mouth and she opened her mouth and allowed me to feed her the syrup. She swallowed a few times and then said:
"That stuff tastes absolutely disgusting." That's my Babe.
"Aurelia said it should help pretty soon." She just nodded.
"Would you like something to eat?" I asked.
"Just some crackers maybe…" She didn't sound sure, probably afraid of overdoing it and throwing up again. I got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen to rummage through the cupboards to find something light to eat for her.
