Thank you for reading and reviewing. Well, the good news is some of the questions will be answered soon, the bad news: I'm not done yet!

Chapter 9

Tank headed for his office.

He had noticed Josh coming out of Stephanie's office while she was in the lunchroom and was getting ready to follow him down the steps. Tank was beginning to wonder if he might be the employee involved in the goings-on in RangeMan.

He was about to open the stairwell door, when the building shook and alarms began to sound. His cell rang and Luke, who was at the monitoring station was on the line.

"Tank, there's been an explosion on two, by Hectors' room."

Tank swore.

"What the hell happened?"

Luke blurted out. "I'm trying to get the camera angled to tell me what's going on, but it appears to have been knocked around by the blast."

He stopped talking.

Tank growled.

"Where's Ranger? Did you call him?"

Luke was slow to answer but he finally blurted out.

"He told me he was leaving the building. I saw him head down the stairs and then I saw you head to the stairway door, Sir. I thought you two were going out together and if he's driving, you could answer the phone."

Tank wasn't sure if he should call Luke out, but the simple fact that the men had noticed someone accompanying Ranger every time he was going out lately. Should he discipline an employee who was actually thinking?

Tank realized that there was nobody on the line and hung up.

He ran to the control room in time to see Luke pick up the phone again.

"What's happening?"

Les was standing by Luke who was on another line. Woody was at the other monitor but was sneaking glances sideways.

"Hector says that Stephanie's down and injured. He's called for Bobby, and Luke's on the phone with Ranger."

Luke swore.

"Oh, shit, Bobby's requesting an ambulance."

He looked at Tank.

"I've called the ambulance and both Ranger and Bobby are down with Hector and Stephanie. Bobby says she's pretty banged up and they need to transport now."

Tank was running toward the stairwell heading downstairs. He yelled as he hit the door bar.

"I'm heading down to the main lobby and will direct the ambulance. Send a text clearing the men out of the way. Advise me of any further developments."

Les barked, "Sir, yes, Sir."

~~~o0o~~~

Ranger was just opening the door to his truck when there was a booming noise and the sound bounced around in the garage. Alarms began to sound and men who were in the garage began to run to their action stations.

Ranger slammed the door of his truck and hurried to the stairwell, racing up with the men to the main floor reception area.

Rangers' phone rang and Luke was on the line.

"There's been an explosion in the hallway on two by Hectors' door. Bobby is enroute and Hector let me know that Stephanie is down. "

He paused.

"The building has been put on alert and I'm waiting for further instructions, Sir."

Ranger was running back to the stairwell door and yelled into his phone.

"Is there any information on how badly hurt Stephanie is?"

Luke shook his head.

"No word yet, Ranger, but Bobby just called for an ambulance."

~~o0o~~~

Gentle hands lifted the stretcher carrying Stephanie into the air. Bobby walked beside the stretcher as the men quickly made their way to the stairs where Caesar was holding the door open.

Walking carefully down the stairs they emerged onto the main floor and out the stairwell door, held by Curtis. An ambulance was sitting at the front door with the lights flashing.

The men set the stretcher on the gurney and the ambulance attendants buckled her along with the stretcher onto their piece of rolling equipment. They proceeded to put an oxygen mask on her face, and a blood pressure cuff on her arm. They inserted an IV and nodding to the men, they rolled the gurney to the back of the ambulance.

Sliding her in, one attendant jumped in with Ranger following.

Tank was standing back watching the action, but he turned around to watch the faces of the men who had also crowded around the doorway. What he observed was horror, concern and even a couple of tears.

He stood on the sidewalk pondering whether he should also head there, but was considering his options.

There was the hallway to check out to see what had happened. At first glance, it had all the indicators of a grenade having been released.

Robin was standing by the back door of the ambulance and slamming the door, she pounded her fist twice on the door, alerting the driver that they were loaded and ready to roll.

The ambulance pulled away with both lights and siren on and raced down the street. Two vehicles flew out of the RangeMan garage.

Tank had already directed two teams to follow the vehicle all the way to the hospital and provide security on Ranger and Stephanie. Bobby was standing on the sidewalk, waving for one of the vehicles to pick him up. The last one slid to a stop in front of the building and Bobby hopped in the back seat. They took off again with a screech of tires.

Tank received a call on his cell.

"Talk".

Ranger barked.

"Other than the men following and those on patrol, nobody leaves the building. Total lock-down until I return."

Tank nodded.

"Copy that."

He pressed one button ending the call, then another to phone out.

In Spanish, he barked, "Lock down the building. Nobody leaves."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Robin walk toward him.

She had her notebook open and pen poised.

"You know the drill, Tank. What the hell happened to Stephanie?"

Tank sighed. How much to tell her?

He shrugged.

"We're processing it ourselves right now and I will let you know what we find. It appears that she set off a stun grenade."

Robin looked at Tank. A stun grenade? Stephanie was known to be accident-prone, but a stun grenade? Was there something going on behind those doors that would never leave the building? Since it was Stephanie who was hurt, she knew that Ranger would be relentless in his pursuit of the truth.

Robin muttered almost to herself, but Tank's hearing had always been exceptional.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I suppose it will be kept in-house and nothing will ever be mentioned outside your very secure walls, either."

Tank stood like the rock he could be and nothing else was said.

Robin turned around to leave, but looked back over her shoulder.

"Tell Stephanie, get-well soon wishes."

She and her partner hurried to their patrol car and sped away, heading in the same directions as the ambulance.

Tank looked at Les standing by.

"Check the weapons room to see if any ordnance has been removed. Get Cal to check the hallway for any indication of something else."

Les looked at Tank. "Was it Hector that was being targeted and Beautiful stepped into it? To me, it looks like someone was trying to take Hector out of the game, either mortally or incapacitated for some time."

Tank shook his head. These were questions that needed to be answered, and soon.

~~~o0o~~~

Jeremy O'Day looked at his training partner.

"You let them get away with that?" he questioned as they walked away.

Robin shrugged. How to tell her trainee that RangeMan marched to a different beat, but got the job done, and usually only a little in the gray area of legal.

"Sometimes I think that what happens in that building will always stay in the building, but RangeMan does let us in on their secrets enough that we can't really call them on it with search warrants and what-not."

She looked back at the building.

Yeah, there were so many secrets in that building and as her partner was questioning the validity of their actions, so did Robin.

"Let's go. RangeMan will let us know what they are willing to divulge later. Right now, it looks like Stephanie is their main concern and we won't know what happened until they are ready to advise us."

Robin slid into the passenger side of the patrol car and called in that they were heading to the hospital.

~~~o0o~~~

Josh raced down the street zigging this way and that. He had snuck out the man door in the garage and was making his escape. He had his go-bag with him with a fake passport, and money. He'd been well paid to cause the disturbances, but lamented that the final payment would not be arriving since he had failed to complete his mission.

He was careful to take a circulatory path to the car parked in a driveway just a few blocks from the RangeMan office building. He had paid a significant amount in cash to have it parked there. It was a nondescript Nissan Sentra, dirty enough that it didn't attract attention, but clean enough that it didn't look abandoned.

He was feeling pretty good about himself. Nobody had come even close to identifying him as the person disrupting the normal workings at RangeMan Incorporated.

He had planned carefully each move, never rushing, but making it all seem so innocent at the same time. Who would have guessed that the electrical had been tampered with? He had been on shift and there was a period of about an hour when the main power was re-routed for the electricians to finish tying in the new plug-ins. While they were down in the electrical room, he had snuck in and had changed some of the wiring.

He grimaced. The cut lines on the vehicle was just bad timing that Ranger had sent Tank to lead the convoy. He had been in the third vehicle and had mentally groaned that Tank had come out relatively unscathed, saving the pedestrians. Losing Tank would have been icing on the cake. Tank hated him and had already written him up for a number of minor offences. He'd been hoping for a transfer to a new branch, and more responsibility.

He'd been in the room when there was a call for more men for the take-down of Robin Bellamy. He'd used his own rifle but there was no clear shot from his vantage point and he had melted away.

Everyone in the room had heard that Ranger needed to change his range time and it was a quick trip in to disable the weapon. He liked working with armaments.

The poisoning, well, he had some inside knowledge of that too. His best friend had been on that mission and was one of the casualties. He totally blamed Ranger for that. Why had he come home and his best friend hadn't? At the funeral he'd been one of the pallbearers and had lifted the casket realizing it was empty.

In fact, he blamed Ranger for a lot of things.

He hopped in his vehicle and turned the key.

An explosion ripped through the car and it started to burn. Car and business alarms were blaring into the afternoon air. The car beside it was showered with pieces of the car on fire and the heat was intense.

Sirens were heard, almost as if there were units in the area.

Two black and whites raced to the scene, blocking traffic in both directions. A fire engine pulled up and men poured out of the truck, pulling hoses from the racks on the back and attaching them to the fire hydrant at the corner.

RangeMan had been alerted by sensors of the blast and while it was still two blocks away, they were on alert. Who knew when an attack of some kind could come with a diversion from another direction? It had been known to happen in combat.

There were just too many things happening all at once.

~~~o0o~~~

Well, that went well! My mole has been eliminated. I paid good money for a successful contract and the funds are already on their way.

~~~o0o~~~

Ranger's phone rang. Reaching down he pulled it from its holster on his hip, and spoke.

"Report."

Maurice was on the other end of the phone.

"There's been an explosion two blocks down the road. Sounds like a car bomb. Fire and police are at the scene. RangeMan is secure in case it's a diversionary action."

Ranger growled as he paced back and forth in Stephanies' room.

"Is the building still on lock-down and have all personnel been accounted for?"

Maurice hesitated.

"Josh Danielson is not. It looks like he slipped out the garage door. Video is on your computer."

Ranger grunted.

"Find him."

He hung up and wondered why Tank hadn't looked after the situation. Where was he to take this call? Didn't the men know that he was at the hospital?

~~~o0o~~~

Les phoned Tank.

"We've done a personnel check and everyone is accounted for except Josh Danielson. We checked his room since he didn't respond to rollcall."

Tank brought up his trackers. Yup, one was moving away from the building and the others were in the building.

"Can you get a patrol to do a drive-by down Hamilton? I have a tracker on him and he's rabbiting right now."

Les hesitated. "Ok, done but why did you put a tracker on him? Did he ping on your radar?"

Tank shook his head. Well, it had to come out eventually.

"Just do it, and I'll explain later."

~~~o0o~~~

The phone rang. Hal had now taken over in the control room.

"RangeMan."

A man who spoke only slightly more words in a day than Tank was on the line.

"Hold on."

Tank picked up the phone and barked. He was in his office processing time sensitive work that Ranger had abandoned when he rushed to the hospital. Beside phone calls checking on Stephanie from the other offices, and the usual phone calls needing attention, his patience was at an end. He wanted to take the next person to the mats on general principles alone.

"Talk."

Hal patched him the call and hung up. Everyone was on high alert and it sounded serious with the Police Chief calling.

Tank listened then spoke, choosing his words carefully. "We do have a Josh Danielson on staff but he is not in the building at the moment."

He listened some more.

"The license plate shows the car was registered to him? I had no idea he had a car parked there. We usually accommodate employee vehicles in our garage."

The Chief spoke again.

"I assume an autopsy will be done tomorrow or the next day. Keep us informed."

He hung up.

Sitting at his desk he muttered. Why had that asshole stashed a car out of the building but close enough to get to so soon? Had he been planning his getaway?

He leaned back in his chair. Josh had never seemed the type to plan something. He had always been a follower, never questioning an order or making suggestions. He'd been having some issues with Josh for the last while and he had put it down to the fact that he had applied for a transfer to a new branch and had been turned down in the first group of transfers. He didn't have the skills to be a leader and that's who they were promoting first. He had to be a minion in this. Someone was behind him pulling strings.

~~~o0o~~~

Stephanie began to stir. First, she could hear the beep of the monitor, and then felt the scratchy sheets. That meant that she was in a bed, probably in a hospital.

She had the mother of all headaches and her body felt like she'd been hit by a bus.

Someone was holding her hand and she could feel a thumb lightly rubbing up and down her hand, up and down, up and down. It was soothing, and truth be known, it was keeping her grounded.

Her brain felt fuzzy.

Willing her eyes to open, she could sense someone leaning over her and as her vision cleared, Ranger came into view.

He looked a bit ragged, as if he had been thrusting his fingers through his hair. His hair tie was a bit off, and he appeared to have lost his calm and cool attitude.

She began to open her mouth, but Ranger put a finger over her lips.

"Babe, you're in the hospital but you're going to be ok. The doctor will be in shortly."

He lifted her hand slightly, bent down and gave her a soft kiss, then placed it back down on the bed with his hand over hers once again.

"It appears you tripped a wire and triggered a stun grenade. Unfortunately, the hallway was narrow and the concussion blew you against the wall. The blast was supposed to be directed more towards Hectors' door and instead of a delay, it activated when your boot touched the wire. Don't try to move too much yet although the first reports say that nothing is broken."

Just then the door opened and a doctor she had never met before strode in. Bobby was behind him and a nurse completed the threesome.

He strode to the bed and looked at the monitors for confirmation.

Marking something on his chart, he looked up.

"Ms. Plum."

He looked at Ranger who had protectively placed himself between Stephanie and the doctor. He began again.

"Ms. Plum. My name is Dr. Reynolds. I am the physician in charge of your care while you are in the hospital. Do you remember what happened that put you in this situation?

Stephanie tried to marshal her thoughts. She opened her mouth and could only squeak.

Ranger picked up a glass full of water with a straw in in and cocked his head in question.

Dr. Reynolds nodded his head and Ranger put the glass to the side of Stephanies' face and held the straw to her lips.

She opened her mouth and took a small sip, then another. She released the straw and looked at the doctor once again.

"I remember walking down a hallway on the way to an office. I turned the corner and my boot touched something and the next thing I knew, I was bouncing off a wall."

She looked up at the doctor. "When can I go home?"

The doctor almost chuckled and both the nurse and Bobby smiled. Her aversion to hospitals was well known and she was a master at convincing medical staff to discharge her at the earliest opportunity.

Ranger squeezed her hand, and even he had a slight smile cross his face.

"Babe, we all know your aversion to anything medical, but let's let them finish checking you over first."

Bobby added. "Hey, Bombshell. I can be your care-giver once you're released but I need to know how serious your injuries are first."

Ranger looked at the doctor. "As you saw, we have security on the room who will be there until she is released. I assume that your staff are familiar with our methods, but please note that when she leaves the room for any procedure, they go too."

Dr. Reynolds nodded. He looked down and noted that the message was already on the top of her chart.

Nurse Wendy nodded. "Our staff are aware of the safety protocol."

Ranger looked at the doctor once again. "What's your diagnosis so far, Doctor?"

Dr. Reynolds looked down at the chart.

"Well, at first inspection, nothing appears to be broken. I assume that Ms. Plum will be feeling some discomfort from the blast in the way of aches and pains. We know she has a concussion and must be watched for complications. We've stitched up a number of deep cuts and it looked like she took a lot of sheetrock onto her from the blast. She was lucky that her clothing was fairly thick and saved her from more debris. What looks like a bad sunburn is really blast residue, but other than that, she appears to be well enough to be discharged. Ms. Plum will need to be constantly evaluated for other complications."

He looked at Bobby.

"We'd like to keep her here for a few more hours or so to ensure she is stabilized but Mr. Brown's medical knowledge is well known here and I am comfortable with releasing her into your care."

Bobby nodded his head. He knew concussion protocol very well. Mind you, and he looked at Ranger, he assumed that he would not be the primary care-giver today.

The stitches he was comfortable with removing in a timely manner and he had creams that would soothe her skin, and keep any blistering to a minimum.

Ranger reached over to shake the doctor's hand.

"Thank you. We will wait for your call then make arrangements to get her moved out so that you will not be inconvenienced any more than necessary.

The doctor shook hands and turned around.

"Ms. Plum's discharge papers will be at the nursing station when she passes my conditions."

He looked back at Stephanie.

"Need I remind you that you are to take it easy for a few days? Your headaches will dictate your actions. If you experience anything other than those, we need to see you back here at St. Francis immediately."

Stephanie tried to nod her head, but grimaced at the movement.

Ranger squeezed her hand and spoke.

"Thank you Doctor. We will take it from here."

Bobby had already stepped out of the room and having alerted Cal and Hal of the decision, he put the phone to his ear.

"Les, arrange for the Navigator to be brought to the hospital. Steph's being discharged pretty soon. Alert Ella and Luis."

He listened as Les spoke.

"Oh, I didn't know. I'll ask Ranger and get back to you who leaves the building."

~~~o0o~~~

Tank heard a commotion out in the control room and striding to the door, he opened it to find men gathered around a monitor.

Walking quietly behind them, he glimpsed the Navigator pull into the garage and head for one of Ranger's personal spaces by the elevator.

He watched as Bobby stepped out of the drivers' side and observed Ranger gently guide Stephanie from the back seat and the three of them head to the now opened elevator door. The door closed and the numbers showed heading to seven without stopping.

Back in his office Tank brought up the elevator camera feed and viewed Bobby and Ranger inside with Little Girl and both faces were completely blank. Their faces changed as suddenly Stephanie seemed to sag and fall against Ranger.

Without any hesitation, he scooped her up into his arms and held her close.

Bobby stayed back, alert.

Tank had the speaker on and heard.

"I just lost my balance for a moment. I'm fine, Ranger. Really."

He looked at Ranger with his face pressed in what appeared to be a kiss in Stephanie's curls.

"I know Babe, but this way, I have an excuse to carry you."

Stephanie sighed. It looked as though he didn't need an excuse to do anything he wanted to and well, it felt pretty comfortable tucked against Rangers' chest.

Tank noted that she looked tired. Her face had that wrinkled look which could mean a headache. He had had enough concussions that he could well imagine what she was feeling. Being that close to a blast and the collision with the hallway wall probably had not helped. She would need some kind of observation for a few days.

More time lost that Ranger and Bobby would need to account for and take time away from running RangeMan.

Tank rubbed his bald head and sighed.

~~~o0o~~~

Bobby stepped out of the bedroom and spoke to both Ella and Ranger.

"She's sleeping. As per protocol on concussions, we need to wake her every two hours for the next 36 hours. I can take some shifts and of course if anything comes up, I can be up here very, very quickly."

Ella spoke.

"I have some ironing to do and can watch Stephanie at the same time. I know you have some things on your plate right now, Ranger. If one of you can watch her over the supper rush, I can come back later in the evening."

Ranger looked pensive. On one hand he wanted to be the one watching his Babe, but on the other, he had a couple of things really needing his attention.

"If you could, Ella, I'll get a few things straightened out, Tank can handle the rest and I will cover the supper period on and all night."

Ranger looked at Bobby. He nodded his head. While everyone believed Ella was safe, only the Core Team knew what was going on behind the scenes. Mind you, Ella had her own spidey sense, and had probably figured out something was wrong in the building.

Bobby nodded. He would help out but it looked like tonight was free. That might leave him time to go look at that apartment if he could get hold of Dillon.

He mentally snapped his fingers. Of course, Dillon would be in front of his t.v. The Rangers were in tough in the first round of playoffs against the Canadiens. Having spoken to the Bombshell enough, he suspected that there would be a six pack of beer beside Dillon's chair and snacks on the tv table in front of him.

Maybe if he liked something, he might get in there and finalize an offer that Dillon could take to the owner. He had no financial concerns about a down payment and well, since it still had to be renovated, he still had a place with Les at RangeMan.

Bobby waited with Ranger as Ella left to gather her things.

"I know that look Ranger. You look like a predator stalking his prey and getting within range."

Ranger nodded. "I've got a feeling that we are getting close to finding our man and I want to go over Stephanie's notes. I'm missing something here."

Bobby hesitated but pushed on.

"I know the building is on lock-down but I'm looking at a time-sensitive errand that needs my attention. Am I restricted to the building also?

Ranger looked thoughtful. He knew from a conversation with Les on the surveillance shift that Bobby was contemplating a residential move out of the building. While he had no opinion on two of his Core Team living together for so many years, he had never passed judgement if there had been anything more.

He looked at Bobby and shook his head.

I hope this doesn't ruin your chances at the place, but I need you here now."

Bobby nodded. It was only an apartment. If he was meant to get it, he would. What was another day or so?

~~~o0o~~~

Stephanie woke up. She could hear voices in the living room and tried to get out of bed. She hated to be an invalid. She had things to do.

Unfortunately she groaned a little too loudly as she swung her legs over the bed and tried to stand up. She knew she was weaving and the room was spinning. The door opened and Ella and Ranger came into the room.

Ella clucked in displeasure and Ranger frowned.

"Babe, you need to get back into bed. Your body needs to rest."

Stephanie looked at them.

"I need to pee."

Ranger strode over to her and gently placed his arm under her elbow allowing her to stand then they walked slowly to the bathroom. She pushed away and closed the door in his face. Some things needed privacy.

Ranger waited and listened as the toilet flushed and water ran in the sink. The door opened and Stephanie emerged, still wobbling a bit on unsteady legs.

Ranger put his arm under hers again and guided her back to bed. He helped as she lowered herself down to the bed that Ella had straightened out during her absence.

Ranger spoke. "Bobby left some pain meds for your headache and aches. That was the two hour mark and while we have some more to come, I'm glad that you woke up on your own."

Ella nodded with her own ESP. "I'll just warm up some soup and be back in a couple of minutes with a tray. You need something light to eat, Stephanie dear."

Stephanie grimaced. Uggh. A liquid diet? She should feel hungry. Trying to keep her whining to a minimum, she nodded. OK, soup now, real food in a couple of hours. She was pretty sure she had missed a meal somewhere.

Ella bustled in just a few minutes later with a tray. There looked to be a clear soup in a bowl and a small dish of orange jello.

Back in bed, she accepted the bed tray and began to sip the soup. The clear broth slid down her throat and soothed it. Spooning it slowly she emptied most of the bowl then started on the jello. Funny, she felt full way too soon.

Nodding that she was full, the tray was removed and Ella left, making a bit of noise in the kitchen.

Slowly she slid down from her pillow back rest and her eyes grew heavy. She felt Ranger slide into bed with her and pull her gently to him. Her eyes closed and she slept.

Ella returned and Ranger slid carefully off the bed.

"I'm just a phone call away. I'll be back soon."

Ella watched him leave the room but then looked back at the sleeping beauty in the bed. It had been so close, this last attack. Instead of a stun grenade, it could have been a real grenade.