Stephanie was back in the dark, wet, room. She wasn't sure how much time had passed. She'd been playing memories in her mind like home movies. Some were happy, some sad. When the memories turned to Morelli, she'd started making plans for what she would do when she got out of this situation. That her face had been covered was encouraging. If her captors had let her see them, she'd have known for sure that they'd planned to kill her.
She pictured Ranger and despite the near hopelessness of her situation, she smiled. Stephanie pictured Ranger smiling as well which, admittedly, he didn't do a lot but when he did, his smile was dazzlingly infectious. She pictured him peeling his clothes away to reveal his gleaming mocha latte skin. She shook her head. This was seriously the time to focus. What would Ranger do?
Ranger. Stephanie sighed heavily. She couldn't deny that there had always been something between them. Stephanie was the first to admit that over the last few years she hadn't been exactly tuned in. There had been an attraction that was electric and Ranger had run hot and cold which was annoying as hell. That sort of attraction hadn't been something she'd felt with anyone else. She'd realized, in her quest with Morelli, that she wasn't someone who ever wanted to be married again. Been there, done that, and burned the t-shirt. She liked living in her own apartment and having her own space. Ranger seemed to think that relationship meant kids and picket fences but Stephanie realized that her own definition had changed and what had annoyed her was that his hadn't seemed to have altered but he was once again throwing her mixed signals.
She wanted monogamy not babies. They would have a lot to talk about when she got out of this mess. What she really wanted. It was about time he heard what she wanted and about time he said yes or no and they moved on. She forced her focus back to her current predicament. Plenty of time to set things right if they ever made it back together.
In the past, Stephanie would get into scraps and someone would save her and she would blithely go on with her life. It was time to tune in. It was time to make a plan. She knew Ranger was coming but that didn't mean she couldn't make life a little easier for him.
The door opened again. No one spoke and the door closed slowly and quietly leaving only a thin band of light to filter into the room. As the person approached, Stephanie determined the shape to be female. The woman crouched next to her.
"I need for you to come with me," she said. "I want you to be as quick and quiet as you can be. If you do what I tell you, you won't be hurt. Do you understand?" Stephanie nodded. Had Ranger been quicker than she anticipated?
"Who are you?" Stephanie asked, as the woman helped her up.
"That's not important right now. The important thing is to get you out of here." The woman led her through the door and then into a hallway. This was clearly some sort of office building and
they were in its depths. As her eyes adjusted to the light, Stephanie could clearly see her new best friend. The woman was a little taller than Stephanie and her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Her most notable attribute was that she was armed – heavily armed. Stephanie swallowed back a wave of panic at the large handgun the woman was holding. Guns had never been her thing.
They moved quickly and reached the end of the hallway where an elevator sat on the right side and a staircase on the left. Stephanie's new friend pulled her toward the staircase but slipped around to wait under it when they heard footsteps above them.
"How long are you going to wait for him?" someone asked.
"Not too much longer," her primary captor answered. "We can probably move her today. We're going to have to stay ahead of Manoso and you've worked with his men so you know that's not going to be easy." Stephanie wished that she could look around the staircase to see if she recognized the first speaker. Her new friend held her back. The voices receded as those conversing moved down the hallway.
"We have seconds until they realize you're gone so we have to move," the woman whispered. She pulled Stephanie around the staircase and ran up them so that she had a very hard time keeping up. By the time they reached the top, a security alarm was going off. Her new friend nodded toward a set of doors on their right.
"Run. There's a black Expedition waiting. I'll take care of this." They heard pounding footsteps coming from the staircase and the woman ran toward the noise while shouting something into a handheld device. Stephanie took her advice and ran to the doors but found them locked. She heard gunshots in the background. She needed to find a way out and she needed to find it now.
"Stay back!" Someone yelled through the doorway. She ran back just as the front end of a black Expedition crashed through. The SUV pulled back to sit parallel with the broken entry. The rear passenger door flew open.
"Jump in!" a Hispanic male with dark hair yelled to her. Stephanie hesitated as her blonde friend came up behind her.
"Get in!" she shouted, pushing Stephanie forward. Stephanie fell forward into the SUV and the blonde woman jumped in after her. The SUV shot forward just as two huge and heavily armed men filled the opening and lifted their guns to shoot. Bullets pinged off of the exterior metal and Stephanie crouched down and covered her head with her arms. Someone laughed.
"You don't need to worry, we're bulletproof." He said, "Nothing they have will make anything but a dent." Stephanie heaved a sigh of relief and got her first good look at her rescuers. The blonde woman held out her hand.
"KT," she said.
"What?"
"My name is KT," she said again with a smile. She waved toward the young, heavily muscled, Hispanic male and the driver who could have been his twin, "This is Jamie and his brother Eddie."
"Are you with Ranger?" Stephanie asked hopefully. The fourth and final occupant appeared to be in the late 40's age range. Very nice looking and fit with only touches of gray at the temples of his richly, dark, hair.
"No, sweetheart, I'm not with Manoso. I'm John Minardi and you were kidnapped by people trying to force my hand to turn against people I'd rather work with. If any survive, I must thank them. I had no idea that Manoso had finally formed an attachment with someone and I've been waiting such a very long time."
