AN: I swear I'm not attempting to be bad about the disclaimers, lol. I just get on a role and keep on going! I don't own them. Although I wouldn't mind owning Ranger. Anyway, thanks for all your wonderful reviews! Hope this chapter does some pleasing :-)


Chapter 6

Alex waited until Stephanie left the house that morning. She would go about her daily life, which was good. She wasn't allowing her fear to run her life. He had heard about the phone call this morning from RJ who had spent a grueling three hours helping Stephanie work off the frustration. Most of the men crashing in the house had come down to see a slender woman taking down a big man like RJ. It was usually entertaining, but today they knew it was therapeutic.

"Tank," Alex called when he saw the other man. "Do me a favor. Gather your men and Ranger and meet us in the large dining room. We have to fill you on what's going on."

Several minutes later, all of them were sitting in the dinning room. Ranger was sitting at the head of the table. If Stephanie were there she would be sitting at the other end. It only seemed fitting. Alex had spent most of the night trying to decide what to do. Finally he decided taking Stephanie's wrath would be the better than finding her dead in the long run. He knew they needed help from Ranger and his men, but he had to make sure they knew what happened.

Alex walked around handing folders out. The men started flipping through them as he stood at the other end. "I know what I'm doing could be considered a betrayal to Stephanie, but considering the flowers she received and the fact that Ranger was attacked, it stands to reason that we update all of you on the events that kept her in Europe."

"While she was in Europe she met Brett Traymon. From what I understand, she just came off a break up with a local cop here and was using some time in Europe to cool down. Brett wooed her. She made it perfectly clear to him that nothing was going to come of it because she was interested in someone at home. Brett cooled back a bit, befriended her, showed her some of the local sights in England. He brought her home to meet his grandfather.

"A few days before she was scheduled to fly back to the states, Brett tried to convince her to stay. He wanted to convince her that she was better off there. When it didn't work, he attacked her."

By this time Ranger was looking at the photos of Stephanie. She had been badly beaten. Her face was bloody and bruised. His hand curled into a fist. He looked at Alex and waited for him to continue.

"He did more than just attack her. He raped her." Alex watched Ranger carefully. The man went stone still, and suddenly he realized it had been smart to tell him what was going on. Ranger would help protect her. "Brett's grandfather found her and got her medical attention. As luck would have it, Brett's grandfather didn't particularly like his grandson. This wasn't the first time that Brett had done something like that. But for whatever reason, John Tresdale didn't want Brett getting away with this one. He helped Stephanie press charges and got him in jail.

"He offered to get Stephanie home immediately, but she said she wouldn't go home looking the way she did. She asked if he knew anyone who could teach her to fight. Ranger, I'm sure you know John Tresdale well enough to know that answer."

Ranger did. As he struggled to see past the red haze that had overcome him, he knew it would have caused Stephanie to snap to be violated like that. She would only be pushed so far, and that had been the breaking point.

"John got her trained. It didn't take long. She was determined. RJ worked with her a lot to help." Alex motioned to the man sitting to his right. "But for whatever reason, she wanted more. She didn't want to come back as clumsy as she left. Her words, not mine."

"She has a sticky note on her monitor." Mac chimed in, looking down at Ranger. "It says WWRD. Whenever things seem to get to her, she just mutters that over and over."

"WWRD?" Tank looked down at them.

"What Would Ranger Do." RJ explained.

There was a brief pause before some of Ranger's men chuckled. When everyone settled down, Alex continued, "When John died, it was time to come back. She wanted to, I think, by that point. A couple days ago, I found out that Brett was out of prison. I don't know how he did it, but I know he's not happy that he has no place to stay, no fortune, and is extremely pissed off with Stephanie."

Ranger continued to look at the folder. It had a list of information on Brett, including some other rapes that had occurred that Tresdale had covered up. "What was it about Stephanie that made Tresdale help her instead of cover it up?"

"He knew about you." Alex replied. "He could see she was special."

"Now that everyone is up to speed, and we know that Ranger was attacked by Brett, I'm sure we can all find a way to protect Ranger and Stephanie." RJ said.

Everything in the room went dead silent. Given what most of the Merry Men had just heard, they would be surprised if Ranger didn't pack her up and hide her in his most secure safe house.

"Realistically, it would be easier to hide both of you away until we find Brett, but that's not going to fly with Stephanie. She's willing to draw him out and kill him herself." RJ told him. "She's going to go about her day as calmly as possible and wait until he makes a move. Unfortunately, Brett will bide his time. He hasn't found a way to get to the house yet. We're still working out how he got the flowers to the house….Stephanie."

"What's going on?" Stephanie walked into the room.

"Um, well…" Mac drifted off when she held up a hand. She picked up a folder from the table and flipped through it.

"Steph—" Alex stopped speaking when she held her hand back up.

"It's for your protection." RJ said ignoring her hand. "Ranger and his men need to know what they're up against and why."

"Hm." Stephanie closed the folder and placed it on the table gently. She took a quick sweep of the room. Her eyes met Ranger's briefly. Quietly, she turned and left the room.

"This was a bad idea." Mac said.

"Why? Scared Bomber will taser you?" Lester asked.

"No, that doesn't scare me. What she will do scares me, and none of us know what she'll do."

They all fell into a brief silence, wondering what Stephanie would do now that her secret was out. Ranger spoke first. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you this doesn't leave the room." His men nodded in agreement. "Good. Then we will all work together. For now, until we get a better grip on Brett Traymon's methods, we will go about our daily lives."

"Boss, we think it's best if you stay here. The phone call Stephanie got last night puts you in danger too. He managed to get you as you were coming out of RangeMan." Tank said.

"If he's planning to use you against her, then keeping you two together would be safest." Hal pointed out.

Ranger nodded. He would have liked to go out and find Brett and beat the shit out of him and kill him, but logically, he had no idea where to start. The men who worked for Stephanie would be the best place to start. They knew Brett and they knew Stephanie.

"What can we expect from him?"

"Not sure." One guy spoke up. "He's never acted like this before. He usually does his thing, expects his grandfather to clean it up, then moves on. I don't think he was counting on Stephanie Plum. Hell, we weren't counting on Stephanie Plum. The man is smart. He'll give all of us a run for our money before we catch him. He's going to fuck with Stephanie for awhile."

"Her family needs to be protected."

"They are, but he won't bother with them. He sees her as his object and he sees you as his enemy. The only other person besides her he'll fixate on is you."

Ranger sat back and thought for awhile. They were right of course. If Brett couldn't get to the house he and Stephanie were both safe. He was too unfamiliar with Brett to willingly go out and try hunting him. While he was sure he'd win, he wasn't sure how the outcome would be ultimately.

"We'll set up the base of operation here." Ranger decided. "Are there spare rooms we can use?"

"Yeah, we'll show you." Alex motioned for them to follow. They walked to a different wing of the house. "Here's the armory," He opened a door, "so if any of us need…son of a bitch…."

Everyone peered around him. Every weapon they had, which was many, was on the floor disassembled. Mac shook his head. "I told you this was a bad idea. It's going to take hours to get those all put back together."

"RJ, we told you not to teach her how to do that!" The man who'd spoken earlier, snapped.

"Shut up, Seth." RJ grumbled.

"Bomber did that?" Tank looked impressed.

"It's RJ's fault." Seth said. "She wanted to know how to dismantle a weapon. None of us thought it was a good idea except RJ. So he taught her. Now she's used it as punishment."

Ranger choked on a laugh as he walked away to keep exploring. Whatever he had been expecting from Stephanie that certainly hadn't been it. He glanced out a window and saw her jogging away from the house along the river. Instinct made him want to run after her, but something said for now she was safe running out there.

"Okay, so we'll come back to that disaster later." Alex motioned them along.

Ranger knew. It was the only thought that had been plaguing her mind since she began running. She had told him she would explain things later and they both managed to go back to sleep. When she'd woken, she'd found herself wrapped tightly in Ranger's arms. It had been safe. Comforting.

But she wouldn't let herself fall into that. She wanted to make sure she could protect herself against Brett without Ranger. She jogged harder, then came to a stop, breathing hard. Holding the back of her hand to her mouth, she forced down the urge to cry. She might be able to protect herself, but when it came down to it, if it came down to killing him, she had no idea if she could do it. She had done it before out of self defense but…

She shook her head and kept running. She would do what she had to if it was called for. There would be no second guessing herself.

"Stephanie."

She whirled around and saw Brett standing twenty feet away from her. A quick glance around told her she had run at least six miles away from the house. Which meant Brett was close to knowing where she was if she didn't already.

"It hurts to know you didn't wait for me to get out of jail, Steph." Brett ambled closer, but Stephanie took several steps away. The last time she had seen him he'd a slightly muscular build. It seemed that spending time in jail had done more for him that way. He was no where near the size Benito Ramirez had been, but he was still scary. She could see the madness shadowing Brett's eyes.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"I've come for you." He smiled. He'd had a charming smile, but knowing what she knew about him now, it didn't seem like a charming one. It seemed like one hiding his insanity.

She shook her head. "No, that's not why you're here."

"Isn't it?" He angled his head, still watching her. "You should be mine. Not his. We will just get on a plane and go back to England. Of course you'll be the provider seeing as how my grandfather favored you over me. The estate will be redecorated of course…"

"I sold the estate." She said, attempting to distract him enough that she could get away.

It was the wrong thing to say. With an angry snarl, he lunged at her. Stephanie tried to dodge him, but he caught her by the ankle. She tried not to yelp as she felt the twist in it.

RJ's training kicked in for her. She managed to free herself, and run into the woods, but Brett wasn't disabled for long. Stephanie knew that he was unfamiliar enough with the area that she could lose him and keep her house safe, especially since she was so far from the house.

Brett caught her by the shirt, but she ducked out of it leaving her in her shorts and workout bra. Still undeterred, he grabbed her and shoved her into a tree. Bark tore at her ribs. Her head was throbbing, but she forced herself to think clearly.

"How dare you!" He shouted. "We should have been making that decision! Not you alone! You will pay, and then you will get our house back."

Survive.

The one word popped into her head. Unsure of what she did, she managed to knock Brett away from her. He staggered and fell. Underneath the fallen leaves, he hit a rock on the side of his head. Stephanie saw the blood, but didn't hesitate to run like hell to get away. This time she would survive.