There Ain't no Love Like Ranger Love

Steph opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by familiar voices behind her.

"Beautiful?"

"Bomber?"

Chapter 4

Yahsi raised an eyebrow, but Stephanie wasn't sure if it was because of the appearance of the two large men in black he was staring at over her shoulder or the nicknames they called her.

She turned to look up at the curious faces of Lester and Bobby. "Hi guys. Early lunch?"

They both looked at her and then at Yashi and then back at her. "Uh, yeah," Lester told her. Hal called a little while ago and got a lead on a really high bond skip so we're having a planning meeting at one o'clock. We thought we'd go ahead and grab an early lunch."

Lester glanced at Yashi again. "You going to introduce us to your friend?"

"Yes, sorry. Yashi, these are two of the guys that work for Ranger. Lester Santos," she gestured toward Les, and Bobby Brown," she said, nodding toward Bobby. Guys, this is Yasahiro Nakamura. Vinnie sold the bonds office and Yashi is the new owner."

Just then, the waitress came back and the guys had to step aside so she could put the pizzas on the table. When she walked away, Yashi held out his hand,"Nice to meet you, Lester, Bobby," he said as they all shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.

"Would you like to join us?" Yashi asked, looking at Stephanie for a sign that it was okay with her.

"Yes," Steph chimed in. "Where are my manners? Join us, guys."

"No thanks," Bobby spoke up. "We ordered a few pizzas to go to take back to RangeMan."

"Ranger's allowing pizza in the break room today?" she asked with surprise.

"Yeah, Ranger's acting a bit weird today. The pizza was actually his idea. You don't happen to know what's up with him, do you?" he asked Steph. His eyes shifted to Yashi for a brief second before locking back onto hers.

"I'm not exactly sure," Steph told him, "but I'm having dinner with him tonight. Maybe I'll find out more then."

"He thinks you're coming by for lunch any moment now," Les told her. "With this high bond skip, he won't be around at dinner time."

Stephanie stopped herself from rolling her eyes. "I told him I didn't know if I could make lunch or not, but that if I couldn't, I'd be there for dinner. He was okay with that, I think, but that was probably before he knew about the skip. I'll call him."

It was clearly more information than she usually shared with them about her interactions with Ranger and she saw Bobby and Lester exchange a quick look.

"Yeah, give him a call. Soon," Lester added. "Like I said, he's acting strangely and we need him to not be distracted for this take down tonight."

Steph knew that Ranger would not be happy to know they were discussing him, and if he knew they were doing it in front of Yashi, he'd probably ship them all to Turkmenistan in a dilapidated crate or have an aneurysm at the very least.

They said their goodbyes, and once again, Steph was alone with Yashi.

She started to slide a piece of the pepperoni pizza onto her plate, but she couldn't get her mind off Ranger. "Yashi, will you excuse me for a moment while I make a phone call?"

"Certainly," Yashi responded cordially. He could tell she was concerned about Ranger and he really had to wonder about her earlier declaration that they were just friends. And the way the two men, Bobby and Lester, behaved made him even more curious.

Stephanie pulled her cell phone out of her bag and headed toward the back door to step outside and make her call.

Hitting number one on her speed dial, she smiled when it only took half a ring for Ranger to answer.

"Yo! Babe, you remembered! Are you coming for lunch?" He sounded excited and excitement was a rare emotion for Ranger to exhibit. Now she felt like crap. She made a sudden decision to change her plans.

"I told you'd I'd remember to call you, Batman. You're pretty unforgettable, you know. Listen, I just wanted to let you know that I'll be there for lunch in about 45 minutes to an hour. Does that work for you?"

"Babe, I hate to tell you this, but we're having a planning meeting at 1300 hours. Something came up just a little while ago."

"Oh, that's right, the high bond skip," she said. Sheesh, how could she forget so soon?

"Right," Ranger said. "How did you know about that?"

Christ! Now what do I say? she thought to herself. Geeze, she was bungling this whole thing.

"Babe?"

"Uh, I ran into Lester and Bobby and they told me."

"Lester and Bobby? They were supposed to go to Shorty's and come straight back here. Where did you run into them?"

The oppressive combination of the sweltering temperature and high humidity was causing Stephanie's hair to stick to her overheated skin. She gathered the damp locks from her face, pulled them back, and held them behind her head with one hand. She swore under her breath at the fact that she didn't have a ponytail elastic with her. She felt like her ass was firmly planted in the literal as well as the proverbial the hot seat.

It was useless for her to attempt to circumvent the question. If she did, and he heard about it from Lester or Bobby, it would appear she was trying to hide something from him. "I'm at Shorty's right now," she confessed. "They told me when they came in to pick up their pizzas."

Before he could respond, she tried to distract him. "That was really nice of you to let the guys have pizza today. What's up with that?" she asked.

"I don't know," Ranger admitted.

Stephanie could picture the slight shrug of his shoulder. "You don't know?" Steph frowned. Ranger didn't do anything without knowing why he did it. His behavior was getting more and more bizarre.

"Babe, you didn't answer me. "You're not at Shorty's alone are you? You know that place is dangerous."

"No, I'm not alone and my pizza is getting cold, so how about if we talk tomorrow?"

There was a short pause on the other end of the line, then, "Babe, who's with you?"

Steph pulled the phone away from her mouth for a moment and blew out a sigh. Placing it back at her ear she said, "Yahsi is with me. He wanted to ride with me to see how I pick up a skip, but she wasn't home. We decided to get some lunch to kill a little time while we wait for her to get off work."

Ranger frowned. Yahsi, the little pissant, was now at the top of his shit list and the bottom dregs of his shit list. He wished he could storm over there and tell him to stay away from his woman, but the problem was, she wasn't really his woman. He just liked to think of her that way.

"Babe."

"Ranger, be careful tonight, please. I'm worried about you being distracted. You don't seem like yourself today."

"I'll be careful," Ranger promised. I have to, we have a dinner date tomorrow night, right?"

Steph laughed to herself. She didn't remember any mention of rescheduling the dinner date for tomorrow night, but she decided to just go with it. "That's right, and I don't want to be eating hospital food with you, so try not to get shot."

"Try not to go crazy with Yashi, Babe."

"I won't, Ranger. Promise. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Babe wait!" he said before she could hang up.

"Yes?"

"Uh ..." He wasn't ready to let her go, but suddenly he felt a bit tongue tied and didn't know what to say. "Miss you. Bye," he finally said before disconnecting.

XXX

Ranger tossed his cell phone on his bed and changed from his black cargo pants and boots to a pair of shorts and sneakers. He needed to go down to the gym to try to get his head on straight.

He needed to go punch the shit out of a punching bag and pretend Yashi's face was attached. He needed to figure out what he was going to do about his non-relationship relationship with Steph.

Dios! He loved her so much, he couldn't stand the thought of her getting interested in someone else. He knew it was probably wrong to keep stringing her along, but he needed to hold onto her until he could figure out a way to fix things. He needed to wait until his current government contract was over and he could plan for her long term security against the enemies he'd made over the years.

He needed to make sure he could give her what she wanted and needed. Once he got all of that taken care of, he could think about giving her that white picket fence and a child or two. She claimed to not want those things, but he wanted to be prepared in case she changed her mind some day.

On his way to the gym, he met up with Lester in the hallway. "What's wrong with you?" Les asked him.

"Nothing," Ranger barked out.

"Bullshit," Lester shot back at him. "Only one thing can put a look like that on a man's face and that's a woman."

"Go away, Lester. Just because you fuck a different woman every night of the week, it doesn't make you an expert on women."

"Ah, but I am an expert on women," Lester told him with a smirk. "If you handle them right, they're putty in your hands."

"Well, thank you, Johnny Bravo," Ranger ground out sarcastically. "Worry about your own issues with women and stop butting into mine."

"Oh, so you agree you have issues with women? Or, should I say, one woman in particular?" Les asked him pointedly.

Ranger clenched his fists at his side. "Santos, you're about five seconds away from needing to have someone scrape what's left of your sorry ass body off the canvas mat in the gym. Now get the fuck out of my face."

Lester threw his hands in the air and stepped aside to let Ranger pass. "Hope no one gets killed tonight because you couldn't get your head out of your ass," he grumbled as he stalked away.

Ranger ignored his comment and resumed making his way to the gym.

He knew he was a little off balance, and he knew why, he just wasn't sure what to do about it. Lester was right though, he needed to calm down and get his cold, steady, badass persona back into place before the take down tonight. He'd never forgive himself if something happened to one of his men because he wasn't on top of his game.

He'd also never forgive himself if he let Stephanie slip away. He'd been lucky that things didn't work out between her and Morelli and he certainly didn't want to test his good fortune again. He found himself standing in front of the punching bag, wondering if maybe he should call Dr. Drew. He'd listened to him once on the radio and the man seemed to know everything about relationships.

Ranger blinked and snorted. Of course he wouldn't call Dr. Drew. Where the hell did that thought from? Desperation, that's where, he reminded himself, but he'd fix things without resorting to calling a radio shrink. Christ! He was out of control, but was going to start getting it back right this damn minute.

XXX

Stephanie closed her phone and leaned back against the building. She closed her eyes and thought about how Ranger had been acting all day. It was so unlike him.

It was ridiculously hot outside and she reached up to wipe away a trickle of sweat that was running down her temple from her hairline.

She blew out a weary sigh and decided she needed to get back inside before Yashi started thinking she'd abandoned him.

She never heard him coming, but suddenly, someone grabbed her by her upper arm and yanked her away from the building.

Her eyes flew open and she found herself face to face with a creepy looking man who appeared to be around thirty years old. He was about six feet tall and had straggly black hair that fell into a greasy, pathetic looking, collar length shag hair cut.

She tried to yank her arm away as her eyes scanned the back parking lot to see if anyone was around to help her. Not a soul in sight. Certainly someone would pull in soon, it was almost time for the lunch hour to start.

The man squeezed her arm tighter when she tried to get away. Her turned her around, then grabbed her other arm and pulled them both behind her. Her back was now to him as he shoved her across the parking lot.

She kept trying to jerk away from him and was just getting ready to scream when he told her that if she opened her mouth, he'd put a bullet into it.

Steph was slightly scared, but not ready to panic yet. She'd been in worse situations and had come out alive. She just needed to keep her wits about her and wait for an opportunity to make an offensive move.

She cursed to herself as she realized her bag with her pepper spray, gun and cuffs was inside the restaurant with Yashi.

She started to get really pissed when she felt the creep start to wrap something around her wrists. She could tell it was a rough piece of rope and wondered where it came from. She hadn't noticed it in his hands when he first grabbed her.

When he jerked at the knot he'd tied, it caused her to lose her grip on her cell phone. She heard it crack as it hit the asphalt and grimaced when the asshole stopped and deliberately crushed it with the heel of his faux snakeskin cowboy boot.

She scanned the parking lot again and still no one. The man was guiding her toward an old rusted out van and she knew she needed to make a move soon. She decided that when they reached the van, she'd try to turn around and give him a knee to the groin. It was one of her best moves.

She wasn't sure she believed he really had a gun. He couldn't have been holding on to a gun while he was wrapping the rope around her wrists and tying it. Still, he could have one tucked into the waistband of his dirty jeans. She needed to give him a solid jab to his nuts before he had a chance to reach for it.

Suddenly, things started happening so fast, Stephanie wasn't sure of the exact sequence of events until later. The sliding side door on the van opened and another grubby man was waiting inside, holding a gun pointed at Stephani's face. At the same time, Yashi had silently reached them and grabbed the arm of the man that was holding her, spinning them both around. He grabbed Stephanie away from him and pushed her out of the way. She landed on the ground on her knees, but she was able to get herself turned around so she could see what was happening.

The man inside the van was so surprised, he fired his gun, but instead of shooting Yashi, his bullet penetrated his friend in the back. Startled at his own mistake, he dropped the gun and Yashi lunged forward, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him from the van.

Stephanie watched as the man tried to take a swing at Yashi, but Yashi ducked and quickly performed some kind of martial arts move. He had the situation under control in a flash. She saw Yashi's hand come down on the back of the gunman's neck and the imbecile collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

She looked up at him in wonder. "My hero, the karate man," said with a smile.

Yashi hurried over and crouched down behind Stephanie. "Are you okay, Steph?" he asked as he worked at the knot in the rope. Her hands were soon free and Yashi stood and helped her to her feet.

"Yes, thank you," she told him, still a bit breathless from all the commotion. "I never heard you coming."

"That was the plan," Yashi said with a smile. "Thank god I came out here when I did. I was getting worried about how long your call was taking so I came out to check on you. I'm so relieved you're okay. I'd hug you right now, but I'm covered with that asshole's blood," he said with a scowl, as he glanced down at his white shirt and then at the man with the bullet hole.

"I brought your purse with me," he told her, glancing behind him where her bag was sitting on the ground. Let's cuff this other guy before he comes to." He picked up the purse and handed it to Steph.

She dug around and retrieved her cuffs, then snapped them onto the man's wrists behind his back after Yashi rolled him over.

Yashi then squatted down and felt for a pulse on the guy who had been shot. He shook his head at Steph, indicating he couldn't detect one. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed 911.

By the time the police, medical examiner and the ambulance came and went, two hours had passed. Stephanie still hadn't eaten and her stomach let out a loud growl.

"Yashi grinned at her and said, "We still need to get you something to eat and I need to change out of this bloody clothing. Let's head over to my house. I've got plenty of food and you can eat while I shower and change."

It wasn't exactly what Stephanie had in mind, but it was true that she was really hungry and true that Yashi needed to change his clothing, so she agreed. "Okay," she told him. "Give me a second though."

Yashi, nodded and watched as she walked toward the dumpster at the back of the parking lot, then dug through her purse and tossed something into the trash. He wondered what that was all about.

Stephanie walked back to where Yashi was standing and said, "Ready," without explaining.

She had ditched her tracker. Not that she wanted to worry anyone at RangeMan, but if Ranger checked and saw her tracker at a strange address, he'd probably check it out. It was only a matter of time before he heard about the incident at Shorty's, if he hadn't already. She didn't want to make things even more complicated when he discovered the address where the tracker was located was Yashi's house, so she had to get rid of it.

They walked to the Mercedes together and Yashi opened and held the passenger door for her, closing it after she buckled herself in.

He opened the trunk and pulled a stadium blanket out to sit on, hoping he could keep the blood on his clothing from getting on his car seat. A lot of it was dry by now, but he didn't want to take any chances. He'd just had the car detailed a couple weeks ago.

They were quiet on the drive to his house. Yashi lost in thought about the shooting incident and the fear that had slammed into his chest when he walked out the back door at Shorty's and saw a strange man forcing Stephanie toward an old brown van.

Stephanie, on the other hand, had already shoved the incident to the back of her mind and was thinking about Ranger. This was one of the few times she'd been involved in a shooting incident where Ranger hadn't shown up almost immediately. She wondered where he was and what he was doing. Maybe he was getting tired of picking up the pieces after each and every crazy life threatening experience she found herself in.

She hoped that wasn't the case. It's not like she planned all this drama. Still, it seemed odd that he hadn't been there. It could be that he hadn't heard about it yet, but that would be odd too. It seemed like every time she got in trouble, he was one of the first to know.

She started to regret throwing away the tracker. After all, the trip to Yashi's house was completely innocent. It only made sense that he would want to shower and change out of his blood splattered clothing. She remembered Ranger's reaction to Yashi earlier that day and it hadn't been wrapped in warm fuzzies, so her first thought was to get rid of the tracker and cover her tracks. She hoped it didn't come back to bite her on the ass.