Being Found

Steph POV

I was sitting in a wet, unfinished basement that had a couple of boxes with nothing useful inside of them. I had nothing to use as a weapon, no way to defend myself against this guy. After what felt like forever I sat down on the damp concrete floor.

I was trying to stay awake when the door to the basement burst open and Seth came down the stairs with a slight spring in his step.

"Tanya is no longer a worry."

Shit I better not be next.

"Don't worry I won't kill you yet. I have to pay you back for making my family look like fools because some little white girl was able to bring my dad in."

This guy had lost it for sure. How could he have not seen Lester?

"It's going to be fun. We will have to time you to see how long you can withstand the torture. Tanya didn't last very long. A couple of hits and her neck snapped."

So not the way I wanted to die. Not that I wanted to die but being beaten to death was so not the way I wanted to go.

He slowly walked around me nodding his head.

"What are you doing?"

"Deciding how I want to start. Now quite I need to think."

Yep I draw the crazy out of people.

Seth stopped in front of me and stared down. I kept my head down not watching him, his shoes were right in front of me. A white pair of sneakers that, were old and caked with mud. I tried to only look at his sneakers but he stood there so long I finally had to look up. As soon as I did his fist connected with the side of my head. Stars exploded behind my eyelids as my head fell backwards and connected with the concrete floor.

He grabbed my hair pulling my head up off the ground. I tried to open my eyes but my throbbing cheek told me it was already turning into a shiner. I used my feet to push up off of the ground so all of my weight wouldn't be on my hair. As the pain was lessening he unexpectedly gut punched me. All of the air whooshed out of my lungs and my legs gave out. He let go of my hair and let me crumble to the floor.

I lay there trying to get my breath back. I curled up into the fetal position hoping to ward off any other blows that might come. I squinted my eyes open in time to watch him bring his leg back for a kick. I closed my eyes tight and tried to get my head out of the way.

The kick never came. An alarm on his watch went off and he stopped.

"Dinner's ready."

He just left me there. He went back upstairs to have his dinner. What a weird guy. Thank God.

I lay there for who knows how long hoping he wouldn't be back down. I listened to the pipes working and the water being turned on and off. Then there was a thud as if he had tripped or dropped something. Hopefully he fell and hit his head so he wouldn't be back down any time soon.

Then the basement door flew open. Shit it just isn't my day.

I watched as black boots thundered down the stairs.

Ranger's POV

I got the whole team together, if Steph was in there I didn't want there to be any mistakes. We had pictures of Seth and floor plans scattered on the table. Bobby and Lester were going to cover the back door, so Seth wouldn't have anywhere to run to. Tank and I were going to go through the front door. Around the outside of the house I had men positioned everywhere so even if he did get past us he wouldn't be getting far.

The most likely spot he would have her would be the basement. The windows were too small to get out of and that was the usual spot to store kidnapped victims. We went over the plan twice to endure that no one would be making any mistakes, then we got our gear on.

We checked our mics then got in to the trucks without a word. We had all done this before we knew what we were doing. I just kept repeating that the while I drove over to Ferdinand's house.

Tank and I got out and made our way silently to the front door. At the door we waited until everyone checked in that they were ready.

"Team B in position."

"Team C is go."

"Team D is set."

"Team E is ready."

"Team A is going in." Tank pounded on the door as I spoke.

"Coming." We heard from inside the house.

Seth opened the door; he was smiling until he got a good look at us.

"My father is already in jail." He let us know. He tried to shut the door but I jammed my boot in the way.

"We know." Tank pushed on the door easily opening it back up. Seth had his whole body against the door but Tank was still able to open it with ease.

Tank gave it a real good shove so Seth ended up sprawled on the floor. Lester and Bobby came through the back door and had him covered with their weapons. Lester turned him over and held him down so his arms were behind his back. Bobby came over and cuffed him and judging from the wince from Seth, he put them on tighter than he was supposed to.

Woody came into the house to help Lester take Seth outside. Bobby stayed inside incase he was needed to look at Steph. Ranger went down the hall and opened the first door. He was ready to go running downstairs to look for Steph. Instead he was hit in the head with a mop handle that fell out of the closet.

"Shit."

Tank smirked and opened the next door down the hallway. There were stairs leading down into the basement. Ranger went down first.

Steph was curled up on the floor hugging her legs. I raced over to her, I was carefully not wanting to cause her pain.

"Babe, did he hurt you?"

"Hit me a couple of times."

Bobby crouched down next to me and looked at the bruise forming on her cheek.

"You're going to have a black eye."

"Where else did he hurt you?" I was looking over her arms and legs but they didn't seem to be sporting any marks.

"He just punched me in the stomach, I'm okay Ranger."

"Babe, you're going to go to the hospital anyways."

"But Ranger…"

"He's right Bomber, have to make sure there is no internal damage."

Steph glared at Bobby for agreeing with me. Bobby stood up and made his way back toward the stairs.

Tank bent over in Bobby's spot. "Come on little girl, let's get you to the hospital."

He gently picked up Steph and carried her up the stairs.

I followed the two of them up with Bobby bringing up the rear. Tank brought her outside and placed her in the back seat of the truck. I climbed in after her leaving tank to drive us to the hospital.

Steph was anything but cooperative when we got to the hospital. She did everything to ensure that she would be getting out of there as soon as possible. She told the doctors that she was fine; even though she winced no matter how lightly anyone touched her bruises.

Doctor shook his head but deemed her able to leave as long as she took it easy the next couple of days.

Steph POV

I was able to leave!! I didn't care how much it hurt to have them poke and prod my bruises I wasn't staying. I happily followed Ranger out to the truck and carefully got into the front seat so I wouldn't jar anything.

As soon as I settled into the seat I was out. When I woke Ranger was picking me up out of the seat.

"I can walk."

"Babe."

Ranger proceeded to carry me through the garage and into the elevator. I let my headrest on his shoulder and before I knew it Ranger was laying me down on his bed. I must have fallen asleep again.

"Hey why am I here?"

"Babe, you need to be more aware…"

"I know. I know."

Ranger went over to his closet and came back out with one of his shirts.

"Here you can sleep in this."

"Thanks." I hesitated before just pulling off the clothes I was wearing. Ranger stood there and waited and took my old clothes and put them in the hamper while I pulled on his shirt.

"You didn't answer me why am I here?"

"The doctor said you needed to rest. You're here so I can make sure that you follow those orders."

"Hey!!"

"Babe."

I guess being stuck with Ranger taking care of me for a couple days couldn't be that bad.

Standard Disclaimer Applies

I don't have any medical knowledge excuse any mistakes made pertaining to it.