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Chapter 4

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Rays of sunshine slanted their way into Stephanie's bedroom. Reluctantly she opened one eye, before closing it again and turning away from the offending glare. After a few more minutes of pretending to go back to sleep, she sighed and sat up. She had been having a dream, a really good dream about Ranger and she did not want it to end. While she couldn't go back to it, at least she still remembered it, and that made her happy.

A smile spread across her face. She had more than one reason to be happy this morning. Stephanie took a deep breath. The air freshener that she had found under the kitchen sink was filling the air with a fresh scent. She was waking up to an apartment that was now spic and span clean. She was reminded of the cleaning frenzy she got caught up in, after she had nearly driven herself crazy the day before.

After doing all the research that she possibly could, she still had hours left of her self-imposed confinement. Hours that she spent worrying about Ranger. She had started to feel a bit anxious and didn't know how to deal with it. So she'd popped Ghostbusters into the VCR. But it couldn't hold her attention for long. Finally, after spying a dab of green paint on the bathroom doorknob, Stephanie was inspired to do a little cleaning. It rapidly turned into a massive overhaul of the entire apartment.

Cleaning was therapeutic. And, believe it or not, Stephanie was good at it. She was as thorough in her cleaning as she was in doing her research. Every inch of the apartment was now sparkling. Once again, the feeling of satisfaction for all her work made her happy. Stephanie stood and stretched. As she headed for the shower, she forgot all of the feelings of foreboding that she had had before. It was a new day, and she felt like she could go out and face the world again.

The first thing on her list this morning was a trip to the grocery store. She was running low or was completely out of almost everything that she needed. Rex had twitched his little nose at her and reminded her that he only had one grape left, and the small crust left from her toast was not much to go on. She promised him that she would be sure to pick up some of his favorite pellets and some yummy lettuce for him. That seemed to satisfy him, and he backed into his can to wait until she returned with the goodies.

List in hand, Stephanie said goodbye to Rex, and headed to the elevator. Her hand reached out to push the button to call the elevator to her floor. But then she thought better of it and her hand dropped. She pushed open the door to the stairwell and headed down, two steps at a time. She may not like to climb up stairs, but there was nothing wrong with running down them every once in a while.

Stephanie was humming as she reached her car. Not even the recent 'paint job' could upset her today. Her good mood carried her through the next hour of shopping. She was actually having a good time, and was pleasantly surprised by that fact. Normally shopping for anything other than clothes or shoes was a chore, done out of necessity. But today she was enjoying it, her new bright outlook influencing her mood.

Rex happily welcomed her back home. His whiskers twitched with excitement as Stephanie placed several food pellets and some green leafs into his dish. She filled his water and added another couple of raisins for dessert. He was in hamster heaven as he stuffed as much as he could into his cheeks and disappeared into the soup can.

Then Stephanie turned her attention to the pile of folders that was neatly stacked on the corner of the kitchen table. She lifted the top three files and shoved them into her bag. Now that the shopping was taken care of, her next stop today would be to the Above Average Taxi Co. The skip she needed to find was Dan Ferdon. He worked as their maintenance mechanic, and Stephanie hoped to find him quickly and take him in with as little fuss as possible.

Ferdon had been arrested for public intoxication and disturbing the peace. But through her research into him, she found that Dan was anything but the loud and obnoxious drunk that was singing at the top of his lungs outside of his girlfriend's house, on the night he was arrested. He missed his court date because he had a pile up of repairs that needed to be done at work, and he forgot all about it. It was based on his usually quiet and gentle demeanor that Stephanie truly hoped that he would agree to voluntarily come in and get re-bonded.

When she pulled into the lot off of Tipton St, Stephanie was relieved to see Dan's car parked by the service garage. He was here, now all she had to do was escort him into the police station. "Yeah right, Steph, as if anything was ever that easy for you." Some of her optimism was weakening and she muttered the words as she got out of her car and approached the garage. She had timed it perfectly to be his lunch hour, and as she had expected, he was cleaning his hands, getting ready for lunch just as she approached him.

"Hey Dan," she greeted him cheerfully. He looked up at her, a bit startled. "I'm Stephanie Plum," she said, extending her hand. He took it, and shook hands with her as she kept talking. "You accidentally missed your court date, so I thought that we could quickly go down the station and get you re-bonded and set up a new date for you."

Their hands were still clasped together, and she made no move to let his hand go. Dan seemed confused. Then he did something that surprised Stephanie. He slowly started nodding his head.

"Okay, that sounds good," he said carefully, as if he were still thinking things over. "Can we get this done during the lunch break?" he asked. "I really got a lot of work to do today."

In response to his request, Stephanie grabbed her cell phone and called Connie. She arranged for her to meet them at the station. She smiled at Dan and pointed to her car. "All worked out, Connie will meet you there, and you will be back in no time," she said. Dan was following her out to the parking lot when he got a better view of the car she was moving towards. He hesitated and Stephanie thought that he might be changing his mind.

"That's your car?" he asked, looking horrified. He stopped completely, and just as Stephanie was about to reach for her cuffs, he grabbed her hand and led her to his car.

"Is it alright if we go in mine?" "I really don't want to be seen in that yellow nightmare you call a car," he said. This was unusual, but she had to see his point. His car was much nicer, and it was not splattered with paint. In another unusual move, he handed her his keys. "I'll even let you drive," he said.

Connie was there waiting for them. It was the quickest transaction that Stephanie had ever seen, and she got Dan back to the taxi company before anyone even missed him. She tossed his keys to him and smiled. "Don't miss the next court date, okay?" she said. Dan smiled sheepishly at her and gave her a mock salute.

"I'll be there," he said. Then he nodded his head and said "Thank you."

Watching him turn and disappear into the garage, Stephanie was stunned. She thought of just how strange this had all been. After a week of crazy skips, it was almost like she was dreaming. Dreaming, the word stuck in her mind, she had been doing a lot of that lately. A secret smile appeared as she thought about the dream she'd had last night. And now she felt like celebrating. She got into her embarrassing little car and drove straight to Pino's.

Of course it was still lunch time, so she had to park down the street. But that was okay. The smells that greeted her, as she left her car, tantalized her all the way into the restaurant. Pulling out her phone, Stephanie quickly asked the girls what they wanted, and less than thirty minutes later, she was headed back to her car with a takeout bag full of meatball subs. They smelled so good, she could hardly wait to get to the office to devour them.

Click, Click, Click. Stephanie heard the sounds just a split second before she felt the first paintball hit her leg. Of course, it was immediately followed by dozens of others and she was covered with paint by the time she reached the refuge of her car.

Taking just a moment to catch her breath, Stephanie looked out of the window. Who were these people? She did not recognize any of them. They were not Ritchie's friends and they were not the young punks who had attacked her yesterday. These guys seemed to be college age. They had done their damage, and were now turning to run away from the scene.

She watched them as they scattered, laughing and-high fiving each other as they fled. What was going on? Her heart was still racing, and the dark heavy feelings she had had before came rushing back. Not only was this not normal behavior, it felt more than wrong. She now knew that she was, indeed, being targeted, singled out for these attacks. But why?

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The black SUV was just out of her line of vision. Roy was behind the wheel with his cell phone in his hand. "You won't believe what just happened," he said.

Roy was frustrated. He had watched the attack and knew that there was nothing that he could do about it. The group of people with paintball guns had appeared out of nowhere. The entire incident had taken less than 30 seconds. Even though he had immediately jumped out of the truck, he had not been able to get to any of the attackers. They scattered, taking off in all directions, disappearing into back lots and alleyways. The only evidence that they left behind was splattered all over Stephanie. There was nothing else to be found.

"She did not do anything," he said into the phone. "The girl is just a magnet for trouble," he concluded.

The tech savvy rangemen had accessed whatever footage they could from the neighborhood surrounding Pino's. All that they could find only confirmed what Roy had told them. The people appeared out of nowhere, they did not waste any time. The attack was quick, complete and almost too efficient. And then they were all gone. Someone was behind this. But who?

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When she trudged into the office, Stephanie was ready to explode. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Lula looked up when the door opened, and started laughing before she could stop herself. "Oh, Steph," she said. "What?"… Where?" … "How?" … The words came out one by one, between the laughs.

Stephanie did not look pleased, and Lula tried to stop by taking a couple of deep breaths. Just then, Connie walked out of Vinnie's office. Stephanie glared at her, daring her to laugh. Connie smiled and simply said, "Orange." And the control, that Lula had fought so hard for, vanished and she let out a huge guffaw.

Connie crossed the room and sat down at her desk. "What's the story this time?" she asked. The anger had eased a bit, and her indignation melted, Stephanie did realize that she must look ridiculous. She still did not think it was all that funny, but she managed a small smile and held up the bag of sandwiches. As they ate, she told them of the series of events that led up to her being here covered in paint again.

"Sounds like, to me, they all just copycats," said Lula. Taking a big bite, she nodded firmly. She swallowed and finally concluded. "Ritchie Hamblin may have started something without even knowing it."

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