Disclaimer: Any Janet Evanovich materials recognized are used for entertainment purposes only.

A/N: I know I'm updating a lot. Wrote a lot this weekend and couldn't post!

Warning: Bad things happen here and may be offensive.


Diesel and I were headed to Atlantic City in my Bugatti when my cell phone chirped. I didn't recognize the number, but answered anyway since half the city was on the lookout for Stephanie. "Yo."

"Ranger…" Stephanie. Her voice was barely a whisper. I could hear the pain and suffering behind every syllable.

I was silent for a beat, to school my voice. "Babe. Where are you?"

I heard a strangled choking sound come from her and then a cold voice said, "Hello, Mañoso. Do you remember who I am?"

I felt hot rage build within me. "Truro," I spat out.

He laughed. "So good to know you haven't forgotten me. I have your little friend here. She's something, isn't she?" I heard her whimper. "Come here, Stephanie. Tell Señor Mañoso how good my loving is. Tell him how much you love what I do to you."

I heard her crying as the phone was placed up to her mouth and felt as if my chest would explode from the emotions I refused to release. Not her. Not Stephanie. My Babe; this was my fault. "Ranger…"

"I'm coming for you."

"Tell him, you little slut," I heard Truro hiss. "Tell him how much you loved tasting my cock. How good my mouth feels; how good it felt when I was fucking your brains out." I closed my eyes as her breath came out in sobs and she struggled to control herself. I heard Truro growl and a muffled sound come from her. "Tell him or I will slit your throat."

"It … was … good." She hiccupped on a sob. "S-s-so good."

"I'll get you out of there," I said, my voice unable to speak louder than a hoarse whisper.

I heard a thud and Truro's muffled voice speaking to her. She moaned and stifled a sob. "I have to go now. I need him again." Her voice was trembling and I could tell she was terrified.

Truro's insane laugh floated back to the phone. "There, you see? She loves me, can't get enough. In fact, she doesn't have to wait any longer. I have toys here, Mañoso. Lots of toys. In fact," I heard the rustling of plastic and metal, "I think I will try this one on her."

"Nooooo!" I heard her scream in terror and it washed over me in a wave of panic and grief. I didn't know what he picked up, but anything that made her scream like that…

I slammed my phone shut and looked at Diesel. "All bets are off. I'm breaking the rules."

"You can't."

"She's more important than the rules. Did you hear what happened just now?" I felt cold fury pumping through my system.

Diesel's eyes had lost their humor and, for the first time since we'd met, I saw him become angry. "Yes."

"Tell me that the rules matter more to you than her safety."

He looked at me. "We can't undo it once it's done."

"I'd go to hell and stay there for her," I said.

"Wow, you love her." He looked at me in wonder. "It's not even the "oh she'd be great for a romp in bed" kind of love. You're entirely head over heels."

I nodded. "We're doing this and if you don't want to be a part of it, you can get out."

"I'm in." His voice was cold, quiet.

I pulled the car over to the side of the road and parked. Diesel and I stepped out and I pressed a button on my remote. The car vanished and Diesel sent me a mirthless grin. "I want it to be here when we're done."

"I don't think you have to worry about what you will or won't have when you're done. Let's go talk to the man." We both closed our eyes and, after a few seconds of focus, we were standing in a long corridor with a twenty-five foot crystal ceiling. In fact, everything appeared to be made out of crystal. The building felt like home to me, more than any other place I'd been and figured it was because I'd spent more of my time in this place than anywhere else.

Diesel and I looked at each other and walked toward the large double doors at the end of the hallway. We pushed them open in tandem and stepped into a large, brightly lit office. The room boasted the same high ceilings as the hallway, except the ceiling was a large oval pane of clear crystal that displayed the afternoon sky to perfection. There were bookshelves on the far wall stacked floor to ceiling with books. On the east side of the room was a large white marble fireplace. On the west side sat a large carved mahogany desk and, behind it, sat a man named Batiste. It was this man we sought and now approached to stand in front of his desk.

"I know why you're here and the answer is no," he said. His steel gray eyes pierced into mine. Batiste had short gray hair, a gray goatee, and he was dressed in a crisply pressed white cotton dress shirt with the top button undone and gray dress slacks. It was casual day at the office.

"With all due respect, I'm not asking permission," I challenged with a glare.

He held my eyes with his gaze. "It's not in your power to decide to break the rules."

"Then I'll speak with the Board." I crossed my arms and waited.

"You're needed. If you give up your place, we may not be able to fill it. One person isn't worth jeopardizing all we've worked for." Anger flashed in my eyes, his softened just a fraction. "Carlos, think about it. She's one woman."

"And she is in trouble because of my choices. You know everything about me, everything about her, and you know that she will never be 'just a woman' to me. How would you have handled listening to her pain on the phone if you were me?" I asked, my body shaking with unspent rage.

His eyes turned cold. "I've felt more than you would ever want to experience in a lifetime. You have to let it go."

Diesel stepped forward. "What if we brought her in, gave her an alternative?"

Batiste looked at Diesel. "You're with him on this?"

"I don't want this to go on. She's going to be ruined when Truro finishes if we don't stop him." His voice was quiet with deadly sincerity and I felt myself begrudgingly gaining a little respect for him. "She won't just be another victim, she'll be worse."

"How do you know she would rather give up having a normal life than to die? Are you making the decision for her?" He arched an eyebrow at us, waiting for an answer.

Diesel's face contorted with pain and rage. "He's not going to kill her. If it were just death…"

Batiste looked shocked and turned to me. "Death is one thing, but this is another matter altogether." He shook his head and stared at his desktop, chewing over this new information. "What do you propose?"

"Let us neutralize Truro and we'll give her the option," I said. "If she chooses to return to her life, at least she will have had the choice."

"This isn't a movie, Carlos." Batiste sighed. "If you tell her about us she will have no choice."

"Then she's being offered more of a choice than she has right now," I said. "Truro specializes in stealing souls and he likes to take his time. It's not working for me to stand and argue about this. I want him neutralized now. We have enough evidence." I could hear the anger and frustration in my voice. I never allowed my emotions to govern my actions, but I was helpless to stop this time.

All I could think was about how, as each moment ticked by, she was losing more of what made her herself, what made her the woman I loved. I didn't want to look into her eyes, like I had so many others he'd taken, and see a vacant expression, a living being with no emotions, no thoughts, no life to them; a mere shell of who she once was.

"How do you know she will be able to join us?" He asked. "She may not have the abilities to do it."

"She does." I stared at him, unblinking.

He sighed. "You're sure about this? Will she be okay with it?"

"In a few hours, she won't know what's going on. I don't see how it matters. Besides, she's curious and likes adventure. I think she will be okay. She'll still be able to see her parents, albeit not on the same scale as before."

Diesel jumped in again. "I really would hate to see him change her, she's different. Not to mention that I'd also like to see Truro squirm."

Batiste waved a hand. "Fine. Go, take him down. If you can rescue her without revealing anything, do so. If you have to bring her in to save her, we'll deal with it then. I'll have documents drawn up just in case."

We nodded and closed our eyes. A few seconds later we opened them and we were back beside my invisible car. Diesel looked at me, showing no emotion and, for once, I couldn't read him. "This is about as serious as it gets."

"Let's just go get her." My mind was racing. I didn't know how much time we had before he would start his torture, if he hadn't already begun. Rape was bad enough and I hated knowing that she'd had to endure something so horrible, but knowing his level of torture, I felt that she would survive the sexual assault better. I felt confident of this because she was already mentally prepared that something tragic could happen to her due to her job. She would be able to heal from the physical torture well enough. It would take a while, but I would do what I could to help her overcome this experience. But if her soul was gone, there would be no healing, not unless we were able to kill him and release her. And I would do it if necessary.

"So, you seem pretty sure. What skills does she have? I never picked up anything in particular." Diesel asked as we slid into the Bugatti. I pulled out and saw Morelli speed past us. He slammed on his brakes and pulled over, sliding to a stop at an odd angle. I pulled up next to him and Diesel rolled down his window.

Morelli glared at us through narrowed eyes. "Where are you headed?" He asked.

"Atlantic City."

He nodded. "You know about Harrah's?"

My turn to nod. "You know it's not going to lead anywhere, right?"

He stared at us, his face devoid of emotion, but I was listening to his inner dialogue and knew his plans. Then he looked at Diesel. "You're here, too?"

Diesel managed a half smile. "Yep, I hate missing parties."

"Sounds like a serious party," Morelli said. "Am I invited?"

I gripped the steering wheel and compressed my lips. "This is gonna piss you off, but this one is out of your league, Morelli."

I was right, he was pissed. He opened his mouth to yell and I cut him off since I'd heard them before he acknowledged them. "What I need you to do is to get some men out at this address to secure the perimeter. No one goes in or out." I wrote down an address and handed the slip over to Diesel.

Morelli reached a hand out and warily took the paper from Diesel's fingertips and then looked at the paper before meeting my eyes again. "I'll bite the bait, but I want an explanation later." His eyes flicked over the car. "Nice car."

"Thanks, it was a gift," I said and then I rolled up the window and sped away. No need to tell him what was really happening to Stephanie. He would have been useless whether he knew about her or not. I also didn't know how I would work in the part about how she would have to end their relationship permanently, something that didn't necessarily make me upset, but would make him mad as a wet hornet.

"You're evil," Diesel said.

"I can't have him in the way. I don't need to worry about more people today," I said.

Diesel was smiling in his annoying way. "There's going to be a fight later."

"Shut it."

I parked the Bugatti behind an old warehouse and hit the button again making it disappear. Diesel stared at the spot where the car sat and said, "You know, it's not even fair that you get all the cool toys while I bum beds from people and carry a backpack." He reached out to touch the invisible car. "Fun."

I shook my head at him. "Come on, we have a date with Truro."

"Are we killing him or locking him up?" Diesel asked quietly.

I looked at him. "Are you willing to kill him?" I asked.

He looked around and then locked eyes with me. "Yeah, this time I could kill him and I want to."

I nodded. If we didn't kill Truro, we wouldn't be able to reverse the effects of his technique and wouldn't have a hope of restoring her. My preference is to not have to kill my targets and I only do it as a last resort. The longer I knew Stephanie, the more killing I was willing to do to keep her safe.

My phone rang and I recognized Truro's number from earlier. I answered and heard Stephanie's agonized screams coming across the line, they were a mixture of no's, screams, and suffering. My blood kicked to a fast pace. I snapped my phone closed and looked at Diesel.

"It's time." He nodded and we closed our eyes. Seconds later we were standing outside Truro's compound. It was a large piece of land with a huge stucco building. It was surrounded by a huge stone wall with a big wooden gate that closed off the entrance. For some reason I started thinking of the Alamo in my head when I saw it. We were going in and only one was coming out with us.

"You couldn't get us inside?" I asked, shaking my head. "This is inconvenient."

"Hey, give me a break. I'm used to doing this for one." He had his hands on his hips. "You need to learn to do this."

I sent him a killing look. "It's not my skill, but next time let's plan so we focus on the same thing at least. Deal?" I asked slipping through the gate.

Diesel followed. "We need cover."

I shook my head. "No, we're walking right in. His men can't stop us. We have a right to be here now, the Board is backing us." I set my jaw and started walking toward the front entrance with a purpose.

"You pick too many fights," Diesel complained, but he looked happy. If there's anything Diesel hates, it's crawling around on the ground.

I got a flashback. Me, at the age of ten, walking home from school one day. It was after I had accidentally run into Antonio Cerez's girl in the hallway. He told me I was dead when we left school. I had almost wanted to call my mamá to come get me, but I knew I had to face him sometime. I knew the moment I saw him step in front of me that day that it would be painful.

His boys had closed in around us so that it was just me and him. He had come at me, fists, feet, and legs. I had been so badly beaten that I couldn't come to school for three days. My collarbone and nose had been broken, and my shoulder was dislocated. I wasn't upset about the injuries. I was happy I'd survived. I decided if Antonio couldn't kill me, no one could.

Diesel and I walked side by side as I remembered that life changing moment from my past. It had been the moment when no one would tell me what to do again. I had received further beatings up until the age of sixteen, but I never cowered and I never backed down again.

"You never told me what skills you think she has, what she can do," Diesel said, shaking me back to the present. We were getting close to the front entrance.

"In what context?" I asked.

"What could she add to the team?"

"Super Spidey sense," I answered. Diesel laughed.

"I'm not kidding. She's got it in spades. If she were trained how to use it, she'd be dangerous to any criminal within fifty miles, maybe further," I explained. I thought about it and decided that it wasn't just criminals that would be in danger. "Anyway, in all seriousness, I think she has precognitive abilities, with a touch of clairvoyance."

"I can see that," Diesel said thoughtfully. "So, you're going to save her from being soulless to becoming trapped in this life?"

I looked at him as if he'd grown a second nose. "What would you choose?"

"Good point, but Stephanie is also rebellious and free-spirited," he said. The thought had crossed my mind, but I didn't think that this job would mold Stephanie. I felt that she would mold the job to suit her, just as she molded everything in her life.

"The alternative is better?" I looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

He sighed. "Well, no." He looked toward the building. "Let's do it. Good luck."

"Yeah, you, too," I said and we headed for the front doors, drawing out our weapons. Weapons meant to kill, weapons that never failed. We had the right, they would die.