I slid out of the car in front of the bonds office just in time to see Connie and Lula slack jawed with their faces pressed to the front window. I gave them a little finger wave before turning to wait for Ranger. He handed me back my keys after locking the doors and placed his hand on my lower back, guiding me to and through the office door.

"Hey guys," I smiled, waiting as Ranger headed into Vinnie's office before plopping onto the faded brown faux leather couch. "Seriously, you two are starting to creep me out."

"How come Batman gets to drive the new car?" This from Lula, as she headed towards Rhino mode.

"Forget driving the car, when did he get back and how long has he been with you." Connie scrutinized my face for a moment, sighing. "Must not have been too long."

"He just got in a few hours ago. And he didn't know I had my ringers turned off, so he stopped by my place on his way here to check on me. And before your head explodes, Lula, if you wanted to drive my car all you had to do was ask." I smiled as she plopped down beside me, taking in her outfit of the day. She was wearing black spandex pants, and a violet peasant top. Her hair was red this week and done in big loopy curls to her shoulders. Lula is a former ho, her job may have changed but her clothing was still out there. Since she's been going to the gym with me she's lost a bit of weight, and her outlandish clothes are actually looking amazing on her.

The door to Vinnie's inner sanctum opened and Ranger stepped back out, pausing as he took Lula in. I smiled, thinking he finally realized I was serious when I said I'd been dragging Lula along with me. "Looking good Lula, Tank definitely made the wrong choice with the cats…" He raised an eyebrow at my giggle, but Lula cut me off.

"Thanks Batman, and your right, that man was an idiot to let me go." I didn't think Lula blushed, but managed to make it behind the filing cabinet before fanning herself behind Rangers back.

I suppressed another laugh, then did a double take when Ranger slid down next to me on the couch. "I have a job I need to discuss with you." He paused looking up at Connie and Lula. "All of you."

I just stared at him, doing what I'm sure was a great impression of a fish. He laughed and closed my mouth with a finger under my chin."You'll catch flies Babe. I have a contract with the feds to bring someone in and distraction is the only way to go."

"But, why would you need us?" Connie was the first to find her voice. Lula was still gaping at Ranger. "Steph I can understand, she's done that kind of thing before, and now that she's trained I'm sure she's better than ever. Lula's a good choice too now that Steph's teaching her, but why me?"

Ranger sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I need the three of you, and whoever else might care to go, to have a girls' night out. Or rather, a few girls' nights out."

"Ranger," I waited until he turned back to me. "You know I'll help regardless, but they're not used to field work like this, I think you need to tell us everything, from the beginning. That way they know exactly what they're getting into and we can come up with a way to keep them safe." I stressed safe, this wasn't something I wanted to drag my friends into without knowing for certain they wouldn't be hurt.

"I'll explain what I know, and we'll find out as much about this guy as we can before any of you get near him." Funny, I was worried about the girls, but from the way he looked at me when he said any of us, I'd say Batman was worried about me. Wonderful. "He guy we're looking for isn't FTA, he's a suspect. As far as we know he doesn't know he's been made. The feds can't find him, he moves in some closed mouth circles. They found his prints at one of their crime scenes and connected him the all six of the other victims."

"What kind of victims?" Lula had moved from behind the filing cabinets to the corner of Connie's desk while Ranger was talking. She looked like she'd seen a ghost, or put together something Connie and I hadn't, or couldn't.

"He's responsible for seven rape/murders in the last four months. They think he also might be responsible for the deaths of three prostitutes. I thought you might have heard something, but it's up to you if you want to talk about it." Ranger smiled sadly at Lula then turned back to me. "He likes brunettes, actually, you look enough like all of the victims that even if we hadn't got this contract I'd want you be on the look out. He likes a challenge, all the victims, all ten victims, were out with friends clubbing. Witnesses have said that they all left with their friends, none of them were out looking to hook up. We think he stakes out a club, wait for a target then follows them for a while. All the victims had a routine girls' night. They all only went out to spend some time with friends, no dates, no hookups, nothing. I think he would change targets if the girl made an exception." He dropped his voice slightly, looking me in the eyes. "He's the kind of person I don't want anywhere near you, but if we can't find him soon, he's going to hurt someone else." He cleared his throat, looking back to the girls. "If you don't want to do this I'll understand, believe me, I don't want any of you out there."

Connie smiled, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "I think that's the most I've ever heard you say Ranger." I snorted, laying my hand on his arm.

"I think you might have to work at getting them to buy that tough guy image anymore. I'll help, I'm sure Mary Lou will Jump at the chance to tag along. I'll make sure she dyes her hair again, she looks better as a redhead anyway." I smiled at him reassuringly. "We'll get him." Turning to face the girls I frowned, "well? You guys up for keeping me company and dancing your behinds off?"

"Do you even have to ask, white girl?"

"Can't let you have all the fun, now can we? What's the plan?"

Ranger smiled as my stomach chose that moment to protest my lack of food. He stood offering me a hand up before turning back to Connie. "Why don't I take you all to lunch, we can talk more about it there."