Anyone recognizable belongs to Janet Evanovich

A/N This chapter is my personal favorite. Thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing. ALL comments are welcome.

Chapter 4

A true friend is someone who can make us do what we canRalph Waldo Emerson

My first conscious thought was this is the third morning without Ranger. My second thought was that I was in pain. My elbows were scraped from yesterday's contact with concrete. My head throbbed and my neck was stiff. I got out of bed and made my way unsteadily into the bathroom. One look in the mirror confirmed my worst suspicions. My left cheekbone was bruised and swollen where Johns had punched me. I knew Hal would be moving slowly today as well. A bullet to the chest, even with Kevlar, was painful.

I winced when I remembered the aftermath of Johns' escape. I hoped the incident wouldn't be reported in the paper. I didn't want any bad publicity for Rangeman. Ranger was adamant about his company and employees keeping a low profile.

My thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of my phone. I looked at the caller ID. It was Tank.

"Hi," I said. "Have you heard anything from Ranger?"

"No." His reply was terse. "I need to see you in my office this morning. Be here in thirty." He disconnected. I was left feeling very unsettled, almost as if I were being called to the principal's office, and I thought I knew why.

Twenty nine minutes later I walked through the door of Tank's office. My hair was pulled back into a ponytail showing my bruised face to its full advantage. I was pretty sure I was going to get my butt chewed and I wanted to use any weapon I had to defray his displeasure and maybe gain a little sympathy. I was wearing my usual outfit of stretchy t-shirt and jeans. My t-shirt was black so I wasn't completely out of Rangeman uniform. Tank got up from his desk and walked around me. He closed the door and pointed for me to take a seat.

"Stephanie, we're going to have a talk," he said, repeating the words I had said to him eight months ago before I left for Las Vegas.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I got Hal hurt and I feel terrible about it. You have every right to be angry with me." Tank sat heavily on the chair behind his desk. He leaned his forearms on messy stacks of paperwork and stared intently at me, looking perplexed.

"I am upset that you were hurt, and I'm disgusted that Hal let the situation get so out of hand. You dove head first into an apprehension for which you were totally unprepared, and Hal let you do it. He's is a trained operative and he should have known better."

"It happened so fast." I said. "One second I was cuffing him and the next second there was a gunshot and Hal was on the ground too. Thank God for his vest."

"Johns never should have gotten a shot off. Hal screwed up."

"Wait a minute," I said. "Are you blaming Hal for my screw up?" I was becoming indignant. "It was my fault and I will take responsibility for it."

"Well that's a change," Tank shot back. "Isn't your favorite line 'It wasn't my fault?'" I jumped to my feet, sputtering.

Before I could think up a scathing comeback Tank said, "Sit down and listen. I've got a lot to say to you." Suddenly I longed for the time when Tank spoke to me in monosyllabic phrases. "When Ranger is gone I run Rangeman," he continued, "and if it was up to me I'd fire you, but you're Ranger's wife and that changes everything."

I sat down. I didn't like the way this meeting was going at all. Tank got up from behind the desk and walked around to sit on the front edge. The sheer size of him was intimidating, but I wasn't afraid of him. We had developed a comfortable friendship over the last few months and I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize it. I was afraid I already had.

"Stephanie, you don't play by our rules. Rangeman is a group of people who are very loyal to Ranger, and he runs a tightly controlled organization. No other employee would dare to disregard the rules like you do. You desk drawer is full of contraband junk food. You consistently blow off requests to train at the firing range. I've never known you to fulfill even the minimum physical conditioning requirements."

My head hung lower with each accusation he threw at me. It was all true, and I felt that I would choke on my own humiliation. Tears sprang from my eyes and my body convulsed with huge shaking sobs. A large black hand pushed a box of tissues in mine. I gave a watery glance at Tank and saw that he was totally unaffected by my noisy, but genuine, show of emotion.

"Calm down," he said. "There's more." I took a few slow deep breaths and tried to prepare myself for the next onslaught. "Do you remember," he asked, "when I told you that Ranger was better than good at what he did?"

I shook my head yes. "You said he was phenomenal."

"He is Stephanie. Ranger and I have been through more than I can tell you and we've seen all kinds of soldiers and operatives with all kinds of training, and there is one thing that Ranger and I are in total agreement on. We've never seen anyone with the gut instincts, the natural intuition that you have. Not even Ranger himself."

My head shot up, not quite believing what I had heard. Tank slid off the desk and sat on his haunches in front of me. He grabbed my hands and held them tightly in his large ones. "I've heard Lula and I've heard Ranger both say that you always wanted to be Wonder woman. Steph, you've got all the equipment needed. All you are lacking is the training. Every guy here is half in love with you and wholly afraid that Ranger will find out. Steph, let us train you! We all want to see you kicking butt to your maximum potential."

Tank sat on his heels, unmoving, silent waiting for my response. I smiled so wide it hurt my bruised cheek. "When do we start?" I asked. We spent the next few minutes planning our strategy. Vince and Cal would handle my firearms training. Hector would show me how to pick locks and disarm simple security systems. Hal would help me learn defensive driving techniques as well as how to install and use tracking systems. Ella would help me curb my sugar addiction and Tank would have total control of my physical conditioning.

"I'm sorry," I told Tank. "I won't be an embarrassment to you and Ranger anymore. I promise."

Tank stood and pulled me up with him. "Let's get one thing clear. You have never ever been an embarrassment to anyone here. More times than not, you are totally amazing to us. I just hate to see all your potential stay untapped. We will start with the physical conditioning today. Meet me downstairs at 1630 hours." I frowned. Sixteen minus twelve plus…

"4:30 pm, Stephanie," Tank said dryly. "And since I'm telling you how it is, there is one more thing I have to tell you. Morelli called this morning. Thomas Johns, your FTA was not the man you tried to apprehend yesterday."

"What?" I asked.

"No Steph, it was not Thomas Johns. It was his twin brother Timothy, the man he tried to kill. No one knows where Thomas is." At the look on my face Tank chuckled. I looked up at him and smiled. I giggled. Suddenly we were both laughing loudly mostly with relief that we had cleared the air between us.

Tank scooped me up in a big bear hug and I planted a noisy smooch in his cheek. A skittering of electricity ran up my spine as I heard a voice from the doorway say "Should I be jealous?"

Tank let me go immediately, and I flew across the room burying my bruised cheek in Ranger's chest. Our arms went around each other simultaneously. I breathed deeply of his familiar scent. My husband was home.

"Babe," he said softly, his lips ruffling my hair. For the moment nothing mattered anymore. Not my bruises, not my skip, not even my new training program. The pure pleasure of being held in Ranger's arms overwhelmed every other part of my consciousness. After a minute I felt one of Ranger's arms loosen and he reached out to do a complicated fist bump handshake with Tank.

"Give us an hour," Ranger said to Tank, "and then come up to seven for a debriefing."

"Will do," Tank said. "Glad your back, man."

"I'm glad too," Ranger said. "Do you think an hour is long enough for you come up with a good story as to why I found my wife in your arms?" I looked up to see a smirk on Tank's face.

"You told me to take care of things when you were gone, Boss" Tank said. "Just doing my job." I saw a look of camaraderie pass between them. Ranger's eyes had deep shadows beneath them but there was amusement lurking in their depths, that is until he looked down at me and saw my bruised face.

"Babe?"

I sighed. "It's a long story, but I imagine you'll hear it all." We walked, arms around one another, out of Tank's office and across the control room, and took the elevator to seven.

When the door to the apartment closed behind us Ranger pulled me close and pressed his lips to mine. It was truly non verbal communication. The tenderness was erotic in a way aggressive passion wouldn't have been. When our tongues touched I moaned and my body turned to rubber. Ranger held me close and he continued to work his magic, his mouth leaving my lips to shower soft kisses over my bruises and then returning with increasing ardor to continue his exploration. Ranger had only been gone a little over forty-eight hours, but he was gone to someplace I'd never go, doing something I'd never know, and having him back better than anything I'd imagined.

"Babe," he said softly, "I want to hold and caress you and look at you. When Tank comes we will talk. I'll tell you what I can, and you can tell me how you were injured. And when Tank leaves I'm going to take you into the bedroom and we won't be coming out until tomorrow."

"Promise?" I asked.

"I promise, Babe," Ranger said. "I've had less than eight hours sleep since I last saw you and I haven't eaten in twenty four hours. I'm going to call Ella and have her bring breakfast up to me. I'm going to take a quick shower and then I have something to discuss with you and Tank."

When Tank came to seven an hour later he found Ranger and I curled up next to each other on the sofa. I was anxious to hear Ranger's explanation of where he'd been and what he'd done. Tank sat down in a chair opposite us and asked without preamble, "You done?"

"I am done," Ranger said. "I no longer have any contract with the agency. Technically I have been done for a while until this…" he shot a sideways glance at me, "this loose end appeared."

"And did you tie the loose end up?" Tank asked. "Or did you eliminate the entire thread?" This was also asked with a glance toward me.

"The loose end is now firmly tied," Ranger said, "and will no longer be a problem. The thread, however, is still in place."

"Okay!" I shouted. "This is ridiculous. Why don't you just ask me to leave so you two can talk. I'm obviously not going to learn a thing, am I?"

"Babe." Ranger hooked an arm around my neck and pulled me close to his side. "I'm not at liberty to say. Tank has prior knowledge so he has a good idea what I was doing. It would be best for you not to know."

I sighed. "Did you kill anyone?" Ranger took my face in his hands and being careful of my bruise turned my face to him.

"No Stephanie," he said, "I did not. My mission was to disable something and I was very successful. Some of your good luck must have rubbed off on me because things lined up just right and I was able to complete my task very quickly. Now tell me how you were injured."

"My mission," I said "was to disable something and I wasn't very successful." Ranger looked perplexed and Tank burst out laughing.

"I'll tell you later," I promised him.

"The bottom line is that now I can devote all of my time to Rangeman without other distractions," Ranger said. "I plan to expand our operations in Trenton and that's what I want to discuss with both of you."

"Does expanding operations mean hiring new staff?" Tank asked, "or will you just be bringing people in to Trenton from other offices?"

"Both, actually." Ranger said. "Do you remember Jack Bridges?" he asked Tank. Tank nodded. My attention immediately focused on Ranger. I remembered Jack Bridges. He was the one date I had while I was in Las Vegas. I erroneously thought that our marriage had been annulled and that I was a free woman. Thankfully, I was wrong about my marital status, but Jack had gotten caught in the crossfire.

"I've been talking to him," Ranger continued. "He is working for the same security company in Vegas that Stephanie did. He is under-utilized and ambitious for something more. I'm thinking about asking him to come to Rangeman. What do you think?" The question was directed to Tank.

"Well, I haven't seen him or even thought of him in years. He still had a lot of time left on his tour when we got out. We can vouch for his training though because we both had a hand in it. I think it would be a good fit." In spite of our on mostly disastrous date I had liked Jack. I was happy Ranger was going to give him a chance. Ranger and Tank spent the next few minutes discussing the logistics of moving men from Rangeman Boston to Trenton. I thought there was an entire area they were missing.

"I have an idea," I said. They both turned and looked at me like they just remembered I was in the room. "I think you should hire an administrative assistant. There is a mountain of paperwork on Tank's desk, and Ranger you despise spending time in the office when you rather be on the streets or at account sites. The right person could take a tremendous load off of both of you."

"That's a good idea, Babe" Ranger said. "I have considered it from time to time but it's hard to find the right person. It has to be someone who would be trustworthy to handle a lot of sensitive information. I've often thought that you could do it, but I don't see you in an office all day. You can barely keep your ass in the chair for four hours of computer searches."

"Hey!" I wanted to protest but it was true.

Tank had been listening. "I don't want Stephanie for the administrative assistant position." Ranger looked surprised, but Tank continued. "I'd like to work with Stephanie as my partner for a few weeks. I'll help her with her skips in the afternoon and we will devote mornings to Rangeman. If I can't get all my Rangeman duties taken care of with her help I'll put in extra hours."

Ranger said, " Am I in some kind of time warp? I was only gone two days, right? It seems like quite a bit has gone on around here since I left. Anything else you want to tell me Tank?"

"Since you asked, Ranger, Hal will be on light duty the next few days. He took a bullet to the chest, but he was wearing Kevlar. No broken ribs, but he's pretty bruised up." Ranger's eyes went straight to my bruised cheek.

"Any connection to this?" Ranger asked as his fingers softly brushed against my bruise.

"Yes" Tank said as I simultaneously shouted, "No!"

Tank looked from Ranger to me and said, "I think I'm going to leave you two alone now. I imagine you have, ah, things to do and to talk about." I knew the last part was directed to me.

Ranger said, "Stephanie and I are both offline. Tell the control room no interruptions, no exceptions for the next twenty four hours." His eyes were dark and focused on me and I felt that familiar warmth start to burn low in my belly.

"Sorry, Rangeman," Tank said. "No can do. Stephanie and I have a date at 1630hrs." To say Ranger looked astounded was an understatement.

"That's four thirty," I told him, "p.m."

"What the hell was my wife doing in your arms, kissing your ugly face downstairs a while ago," Ranger asked. Tank gave him a little salute and walked out of the door.

"Babe, we need to talk." Ranger said. I walked over to him and ran my hands under his black t-shirt. My palms skimmed over his muscles and my fingers went in search of male nipples. I leaned into his neck and traced the collar of his shirt with my tongue.

"We need to talk, ah, later." He said and together we made our way to the bedroom. I watched Ranger slowly take off his shirt and start to unsnap his black cargos. My hands flew to help him. I was ready. No foreplay for me. This time would be foreplay for the next time and the clock was ticking. We only had a few hours till I had to meet Tank on the mats.

"Stephanie, slow down," Ranger said. "This isn't a race. There is no prize for coming in first."

"First, last, I don't care," I said, "but I will be finishing this race." Ranger flashed me the 200 watt smile and pulled me to him, his lips coming down on mine. We stood with me fully dressed and him half naked taking pleasure from each other's mouths. His hands crept up under my t-shirt and found the curve of my breasts. I became aware of an irritating buzzing sound. It was the bat phone, our direct connection to the control room. I pulled back.

"Ignore it." Ranger said. It wasn't long until my cell rang. "Ignore it." Ranger said again. I did. My shirt was puddled at the end of the bed and my bra was headed there next.

Ranger's cell phone began ringing. He picked up the phone and growled into it. "This better be the end of the world, or it will be for you!" His face paled as he listened. My heart came to my throat. I couldn't imagine what was wrong. He snapped the phone shut and turned toward me.

"Babe, your mother and grandmother are on their way up here, and, they have suitcases with them." We hurriedly pulled our clothes back on and went to the hallway in time to hear the doorbell chime. I pulled open the door to see my mother and grandmother standing side by side with two suitcases being wheeled behind them.

"Stephanie, I've left your father. He is having an affair. "