IIIII
Chapter 8
IIIII
"If he had wanted her dead, she would be dead," Bobby said, again. This had been an ongoing discussion between the men for the past several hours. "These are all flesh wounds. Intended to damage, certainly, and to inflict pain, definitely, but they are not kill shots."
"You have to be a practiced marksman to place these shots so precisely,' agreed Tank.
Ranger nodded. As much as it had been a relief that Stephanie had not been badly hurt, this information did nothing to ease his worry of the situation. Stephanie had a crazy mad man after her again, but this one was exceptionally skilled and had a definite agenda. There had been no sign of him near the office, he had left no clues behind. He was good, and because of that fact, he was the worst kind of bad guy to have to deal with. He was careful and skilled and patient. And he had a plan. She would not be safe out on the streets. Not with a hundred body guards. Not even with Ranger himself constantly by her side.
There was only one solution for this problem, and they all were pretty sure that they knew how Stephanie would feel about it. But it was something that needed to be addressed immediately. They couldn't keep her in the hospital indefinitely, she was patched up and healing now, and the doctor was ready to release her at any time.
She had gained consciousness shortly after arriving in the ER. But the medication they had given her for the pain made her drowsy and she had spent most of the time drifting in and out of sleep. Ranger had not left her side, and she had had a full contingency of body guards stationed all over the hospital. Now Stephanie was awake and asking to go home. No more waiting, Ranger had to talk to her. Right now.
"Steph," he began, reaching for her hand and holding it with both of his. "We need to get you out of here soon," he said, and she nodded. That is exactly what she wanted to hear. Stephanie squeezed his hand, what she had to say was going to be difficult, but she had thought long and hard about it. Taking a deep breath, she jumped right in to it.
"Ranger," she said softly, turning toward him slightly. "I don't…" the pain in her side made her stop and she had to take a deep breath to continue. This was harder than she thought in more ways than one, Stephanie was suddenly worried that she was being too assuming. They had not yet had the chance to talk, to say the words to each other that they each needed to hear. But she needed to at least let him know what she was worried about. Even if it meant that she was being pushy. But she did not want to be alone right now, so she forced herself to say the words, "I don't want.."
His concern for the pain he could see in her face, and his desire to keep her safe took over and he interrupted her. "It's not safe at your apartment," he said, and not waiting for her response he continued. "The only place we can keep trouble away from you is at RangeMan."
He took a breath to say more, but before he could she smiled up at him. Her bright blue eyes sparkled, her hand tightened around his again. He noticed that her shoulders had relaxed, releasing the tension she had built up from her nervousness.
"Can we pick up Rex on the way there?" she asked.
If he had been expecting a long and detailed argument from her, he would have been surprised. But this time, somehow, Ranger knew that she truly understood the danger she could be in. He figured that getting shot, after a nearly month of being plastered with paint balls, had been enough for her, and she didn't want anymore.
Would it have also surprised him to know that Stephanie had already made the decision to ask to stay at RangeMan? Could he understand that she saw this as the solution because she was angry that of all of the guys had been pulled into her crazy situation? Getting shot had changed everything for her. Not because bullets had replaced the paint balls that were being shot at her, but because Ranger was back. And she was not going to take the chance that he would be hurt too, just by being near her.
Ranger was still staring at her, with a perplexed look on his face. Bobby chose that minute to walk in. Seeing Ranger without his blank face, and Stephanie with a smile, no… make that a big grin on hers, made him wonder what was going on. Before he had a chance to ask, a nurse followed him into the room and picked up the chart from the slot at the end of the bed. She was starting the discharge procedure. He looked up at Ranger who now just nodded as he let go of Stephanie's hand so that the nurse could get around him. They both walked out into the hall closing the door behind them.
He looked at Bobby and started talking immediately. "Send a couple of guys to Stephanie's apartment to pack up some of her things, and to grab the hamster." Bobby nodded, and remained silent as Ranger continued.
"We need to let Ella know that we are bringing her home with us." He hesitated. "Tell her that Stephanie will be with me on seven." Bobby didn't even raise an eyebrow, he only allowed a quick nod.
"We need to start soon, to send out the trucks as decoys," Ranger was saying as Tank walked down the hall and caught the end of that statement. He nodded at Ranger, and then at Bobby. Then he motioned to the men standing there, guarding Stephanie's door.
"Hal, Woody, you go get Lester and Cal, they are down near the elevator. You all need to coordinate your departures and the routes that you will take with the guys in the waiting room." The men left and Tank turned to Ranger.
"What kind of resistance did you get from her?" he asked with a half-smile playing on his lips.
"Not this time," Ranger answered, earning confused looks from both Tank and Bobby. "She agreed." He sighed slightly, and took a deep breath. "I think this one has really got her scared." He shook his head. "You know things are bad when Stephanie gets scared."
Now Tank and Bobby were also shaking their heads. It was bad, and they had no idea who they were up against. There had been no clues left behind to let them know who had shot at Stephanie. And they were still trying to get information from every source possible to find out who was behind the attacks on her. None of the intel was making any sense and everyone shared the same frustration.
"She is only willing to hide out at RangeMan because she is worried that one of us will get caught in the crossfire," said Tank thoughtfully. "You are right, this is bad if she thinks that we can't stop the guy."
"Let's just get her safely home first," Bobby spoke up. "Then we can worry about what we will do to the guy who is behind this."
Tank nodded and reached for his cell phone. Lester informed him of the decoy plans, and that everything was now in motion. Hal and Woody had been the first to bring their black truck to the emergency doors. Several more were on their way.
Most of the guys from RangeMan were here at the hospital. Some taking up guard duty in key spots around the building. Others hovering in the waiting room to hear word about Stephanie's condition. She was their friend, they were all worried about her and they all shared a deep anger that someone had been able to hurt her.
Every one of them took up their places in the plan to get Stephanie to the safety of the RangeMan building as quickly as possible. A wheelchair was pushed up to the black truck. All of the guys that were not in trucks, were standing outside the doors of the emergency room, effectively creating a solid wall that no one could see through. This scene was replayed several times, in the hopes that if anyone was watching, they would not know which truck Stephanie actually was travelling in.
The elaborate performance was not necessary. The man they needed to protect her from knew exactly where she was going. That knowledge was delivered by Stephanie herself, in a phone call to her mother that lasted not more than ten seconds. Once again, they had underestimated him. He put his equipment away as soon as the call had ended. It was just too easy. He almost felt sorry for the poor fools that thought they could protect her from him. They had no idea what they were up against.
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