Dangerous Deals - Chapter 10

Slumping down in the seat as far as her seatbelt would allow Stephanie pulled the bill of her baseball cap down over her eyes, feigning sleep. Not for the first time, Stephanie was grateful for Ranger's habit to drive in silence. In the past his silence had allowed her to enjoy being with him without the fear of saying something stupid; today it allowed her to resume her thoughts about the 'deal'. Well, maybe 'thoughts' wasn't the right word. Plotting was more like it. And one thing she had learned in her short career at E.E. Martin was that deals could always be broken.

"Deep thoughts, Babe?" Ranger's voice brought Stephanie out of her trance. She sat up and readjusted her cap and was astonished to find they were parked in the lot of her apartment. She felt somewhat embarrassed as she slid a sidelong glance in Ranger's direction and found him wearing an amused smile on his face. Damn. Releasing an exasperated sigh, she opened the car door and hopped out. She needed to remember that the most important part of the deal was to find Joe. The second most important part was to screw Ranger and his deal. Her steps faltered as she replayed her words through her head. No screwing Ranger! Screw the deal! Get a grip Stephanie, it was time to stop thinking and time to start scheming!

She met Ranger at the back of the SUV, and reached down to collect one of her suitcases, allowing her arm to brush along Ranger's thigh as she lifted it. "Sorry." Without looking at him she turned and started towards the building. Okay, Steph, initial contact has been made. Keep it innocent and light, nothing obvious. All she had to do was apply enough pressure to drive Ranger to the point of frustration so that his resistance would crumble. They'd have sex and the deal would be broken.

She walked in front of him, and then waited for him at the entrance. She turned and watched as he closed the distance between them in slow but well-measured steps. Steps giving the impression that he was the hunter and not the hunted. Damn he was gorgeous. Stephanie shook her head with indecision; did she really want to break the deal? Her hormones wanted to have sex with him, several times over and for long periods of time, but did she love him? Did she want to marry him?

Ranger walked towards her. Behind the dark lenses of his sunglasses he took in every soft loose curl, every soft curve of her body and, most of all, the small open space between her lush lips. He almost stumbled as he imagined slipping his tongue between her lips; tasting the sweetness of hers. Fuck! He needed to get control. He stopped in front of her as she waited, pulled his sunglasses down so he could look at her with naked eyes. "Something wrong, Babe?"

Stephanie cleared her throat. "No." She let her eyes drift bit by bit down and back up over his body for effect. "Just didn't want to spoil your cautious entrance."

Ranger took the last step that separated them. "Smart thinking, Babe." He inhaled her scent and pushed his glasses back up on his face to hide the desire in his eyes. He watched as her breast rose with the uneven breath she took. Christ, this was going to be hard.

Stephanie felt her breath catch as he stood close to her. Wanting him was not going to be something she had to fake. Stopping would probably prove to be the hardest part.

He opened the door and held it so she could step inside, watching as she continued on to the elevator. Stephanie reached to push the button and turned, cutting her eyes in Ranger's direction. Their eyes caught, freezing the moment until the elevator door open. Despite carrying the rest of their luggage, he started up the stairway, taking two steps at a time. He reached the door to her apartment a full minute before the elevator doors opened and she walked out. This time, he waited for her to unlock the door.

Stephanie knew the minute she walked into the apartment that someone had been in it. Before she could get "someone has been in here" out of her mouth Ranger's muscular arm pulled her behind him, his gun drawn and ready in his other hand. Habit and training caused her to stay where she stood.

oOoOo

The knuckles on Terri's hand gripping the phone were so taut they appeared as small white dots. "What do you mean you haven't verified this information? Murdock, I'm giving you twelve hours to verify Joe's whereabouts or you'll pay the consequences." With a disgusted breath Terri disconnected the call. Thank God she didn't have to rely on that incompetent bastard as her only means of finding Joe. Ranger not only had unlimited sources of information and means to find Joe, but he was also a man in love. For the first time since Joe's disappearance, Terri allowed her heart to hope that she would see him again.

oOoOo

Murdock slammed his cell phone closed and cursed under his breath. Damn her. If he had known that finding this Morelli guy was personal to Ms. Bitch, he would have refused the job. Yeah right, and not live to see another day. Shit. Dead or alive, he had twelve hours to find this guy or at least who had him.

oOoOo

Jennifer hesitated before stepping into the Judge's office. She knew the Judge wouldn't be happy to learn that Murdock was getting closer to confirming his information on Morelli. Murdock was good at his job, she had even warned the Judge to be careful, that bringing Morelli back to Trenton was a bad idea. The smell of stale cigar smoke greeted her as she opened the door to his office. It was late and no one else was around. Her footsteps echoed as she crossed the small reception area and knocked at the inner office door. Damn, why didn't the Judge just kill Morelli?

oOoOo

Ranger swept his glance around the room and then he searched the rest of the apartment. Stephanie watched him tuck his gun back into its holster. "Someone's been here."

He nodded, his eyes locked on hers. "Quick reaction, Babe. Proud of you."

Stephanie rolled her eyes at his compliment and walked into her apartment. "You don't seem upset, so my guess is that it was one of your guys dropping off some of your stuff." She walked over to the coffee table and picked up a small stack of books. "Not exactly my choice of reading material." Stephanie replaced the books and moved over to the kitchen counter where a small stack of CDs had been left. She shuffled through them and then put them back. "Looks like you're going to make yourself right at home. Of course, how would I know, I have no freaking clue where you live or what you do when you're there. The latest thing I've learned about you is that you like to make deals, dangerous deals at that."

"Babe, all you have to do is ask…" Stephanie held up her hand, indicating that he should stop talking.

Stephanie closed her eyes. She needed chocolate and then a nap. Heading for the freezer, she said a silent prayer that the ice cream fairy had made a visit while she was gone. If not, maybe there was an empty carton still in there that she could lick. Opening the freezer door, Stephanie could only stare at the quantity of food in it. Without taking anything out, she closed the freezer door and then opened the refrigerator. The last time she had seen that much food in her refrigerator was… well, never! Shutting the fridge and reopening the freezer, she reached in and selected a pint of Phish Food ice cream. Closing the freezer with her shoulder, she reached into the drawer and pulled out a large spoon. She retreated back to the living room and had the first bite of ice cream shoved into her mouth before her butt hit the couch.

Ranger had watched her expressions while she examined his books and his music. Her face had softened for a moment as her curiosity won out over her anger. He knew most of her anger was a cover for the fear and worry she had for Joe's safety, but some of that anger was for him. Anger that he rightfully deserved because of that asinine deal he'd made with her. And then on top of everything else, he had made another stupid deal with Terri. Not as stupid as the first one, but close enough.

Fortified with enough ice cream to stave off starvation, Stephanie went to put the remaining ice cream back into the freezer. Without saying anything further, she lifted her suitcase and headed for the bedroom. Ranger felt his feet freeze in place and waited, knowing that Stephanie was about to get her second welcome home surprise. When she reached the bedroom doorway she stopped, stared, and dropped her suitcase.

"Holy shit! When you make yourself at home, you make yourself at home!" Stephanie turned her head and looked at him. "I take it you have no intentions of sleeping on the couch." Ranger just shook his head. "Well for now, I'm going to sleep alone. I need a nap." She picked up her suitcase and shut the door behind her.

Once the door was shut, she smiled her first true smile in twenty-four hours. Well, thank you, Mr. Ricardo Carlos Manoso. You have just added to my plan. Stephanie went to the bed and assumed her thinking position. Wow, this felt great. She moved her arms up and down as if she were making a snow angel. The last thing she thought before drifting off to sleep was a line from a nursery rhyme, 'come into my web said the spider to the fly'.

oOoOo

Tank had just finished checking on a couple of loose ends when his cell phone rang. "Talk."

"Update." Ranger ground out between clinched teeth.

"Confirmation on a couple of things. Nothing still on his possible whereabouts." Tank watched the e-mail signal flash on the office computer. "Looks like something coming in from Tommy C."

"Call me back after you've had a chance to go through it." Ranger was disconnecting when he heard Tank's voice.

"Hey? How did Steph react when she saw the bed?" Tank guarded his voice, knowing that if any laughter could be heard he was in for a lot of trouble.

"Too calm," Ranger answered.

"Didn't think we were going to get that king size bed in that room. One thing's for sure, man; someone else can take it out," Tank added.

Removing the bed from the apartment wasn't his concern; all he wanted was to take the woman out of the apartment.

oOoOo

The room was cast in soft gray shadows when Stephanie woke from her nap. She must have been more tired than she thought because she was still in the same position she had started out in. She took a deep breath and prepared to face her problems. As soon as she opened the bedroom door, she smelled a wonderful spicy aroma and a delicate female voice singing in Spanish. She stopped when she reached the kitchen.

Ranger was busy cooking something on the stove and filling most of the cubic inches of her kitchen. He had changed into a pair of loose fitting black drawstring pants and a dark gray cotton sweater. The sweater molded perfectly to his large upper body without being too tight. He turned his head and smiled at her. Without a doubt he was the most gorgeous and the sexiest man she had ever known. Just being close to him caused her body to react with anticipation and right now she had the wet panties and erect nipples to prove it!

"Smells wonderful," Stephanie said as she came closer.

"I know how much you liked the sausage and pepper dish at Rossini's so I thought I'd cook my version of it for you tonight." Ranger stepped aside so that she could see what he was stirring.

Not sure if she wanted to see what Ranger's version of the dish would look like, Stephanie closed one eye and peeked at the sauce with the other. Opening both eyes in surprise she looked up at him. "What's different? I mean I see chunks of sausage, peppers and mushrooms in a thick tomato sauce."

"Just one small change, I'm using turkey sausage. We can eat in about thirty minutes, okay?" Ranger asked, stirring the sauce one last time before turning to face her. Damn, she was so beautiful. He managed to stop himself just as he started to lean over to kiss her.

"Fine. That should give you time to update me on what Tank and his buddies have found out about Joe." Stephanie pulled a chair out from the table and sat down.

Ranger stayed across the room, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "We know for certain that Joe was brought back to Trenton." Ranger stopped and raised his hand up for her to 'hold on' as she shot up out of her chair. "We don't know where. We should have who or where sometime tomorrow."

"If you don't know who or where, how do you know he was brought back to Trenton?" Stephanie asked, sinking back into her chair.

"From your pictures." Ranger looked at her and waited for her to explode.

"But we couldn't see anything on them! Even you didn't find anything."

"Tank took the negatives to one of our friends who has invented a special type of computer enhancement that allows him to develop more of the negative. From those results we were able to get part of the license plate number. It was just a matter of tracing the car. We found it in the police impound lot. Seems that it was left sitting in the mall parking lot so security called the police."

Stephanie wasn't sure if she felt better or worse because of the information. Better because they now had something concrete. Worse because they knew he was here but didn't know where. "Were there any traces of…?" She couldn't say the word.

"No. We're almost certain he's still alive."

Stephanie grew quiet and then anger flashed in her eyes as she put two and two together. "You bastard! You knew about this, yet you still tricked me into accepting your lousy deal!"

"I didn't trick you; you just didn't give me time to explain before you accepted the deal." Ranger knew he was digging himself in deeper but for some stupid reason he just couldn't stop.

"Deal's off!" Stephanie shouted and stepped close enough to be nose to nose with Ranger, her hands fisted on her hips.

"Is the deal really our top priority right now?"

Stephanie blew out a breath of resignation. "No, it isn't. The only thing that's important is finding Joe before it's too late." She started pacing, "I just feel like we should be out there doing something instead of sitting around here talking and having dinner."

"Babe, if there was something I thought would help by us doing it tonight, we'd be doing it. Right now, thanks to you, Tank's making some progress. We might as well get some rest tonight. The next few days will be long ones if we get verification back on a couple of leads."

"What else are you keeping from me?"

"Nothing."

Ranger wanted to take her in his arms and hold her till the pain in her face disappeared. Instead he went back to the stove and stirred the sauce. Right after sex, the next item on Stephanie's list of things she loved most was food. If he couldn't satisfy her by making love to her, he'd at least satisfy her with food.

oOoOo

Murdock was sitting at a table in Pino's with Carl and Eddie, enjoying the last slice of pizza when Big Dog rushed in. "Hey, Big Dog." Carl managed to get the words out of his mouth before he filled it with the last of his beer.

"A call just came in over the radio. A body's been found. Female, shot in the head. From the description it sounds like Terri Gilman." Big Dog didn't bother to wait; he just turned around and headed back out the door, knowing that the other men would follow.

oOoOo

Stephanie was relaxing, okay, plotting, in the privacy of a hot bubble bath. She was finding it hard to hold onto the logic of her plan, especially when Ranger was in close proximity.

Dinner had been wonderful. He had been wonderful. And according to Terri, he loved her! Damn. How was she supposed to believe that coming from Terri; after all, they had been archenemies since childhood? But then she remembered last week. A week that had been so special, so wonderful, so loving that her heart wanted to believe that Ranger did love her.

Her head, on the other hand, was screaming at her to be smart, telling her to stick to her plan. If he really did love her, then he could ask her to marry him again the 'normal' way.

Before her mental resolve could weaken, Stephanie finished her bath and put the second step to her plan into action. Ranger was right, if Tank received verification on more information tomorrow, they'd be busy searching for Joe and she was more afraid for Joe's safety than she was of marrying Ranger. Stephanie's whole body stopped. If she wasn't afraid of marrying Ranger why was she doing all this plotting? Because… because…

oOoOo

Ranger couldn't seem to keep his mind on the book he was reading. Every time his eyes focused on the pages, he would hear a splash of water from Stephanie's bath and then his mind would drift off, thinking about how soft and warm and… Down, boy! It was taking everything in him to keep his hands off her. Maybe he should just drop to his knees and beg her forgiveness and propose to her the 'normal' way.

oOoOo

Stephanie sauntered out of the bedroom and made her way to the kitchen, wearing her usual nighttime wear, boxers and a tank top. What she really wanted was the rest of the ice cream, but her plan called for what was on the top shelf in the cabinet. After finding out about the pictures, she was even more determined to carry out her plan. She drug one of the chairs over and climbed up to stand on it. She could feel Ranger watching from behind. Okay, here goes… just then his cell phone rang.

"What?" He growled.

"Damn, Ranger! Who pissed in your Wheaties?" Tank asked with surprise. Silence came from the other end. Tank sighed. "Just received a call from one of our contacts. The police found a female body, shot once in the head." Tank paused. "The description matches that of Terri Gilman."

Ranger turned away from watching Stephanie while he listened to Tank. "Find out. No mistakes. Do it yourself if you have to. Let me know as soon as you can." Ranger disconnected and turned back and almost dropped to his knees. Stephanie was standing on the chair, searching for something in the cabinets and all he could see were her long beautiful bare legs and the most perfect ass he had ever seen peeking out from under her briefs. Shaking his head, Ranger walked up behind her. He wasn't going to last much longer being this close to her and not being able to touch her.

"Need some help?"

Stephanie pulled a small package out of the cabinet and leaned over to place her hand on his shoulder for support when she stepped off the chair, knowing that her breasts would be even with his eyes and that her tank top was tight enough to give him a good view of her nipples.

"No, thanks. Mary Lou gave me this herbal tea a long time ago, but anything that doesn't fall into one of my food groups I toss up there. Would you like some?"

Stephanie handed the tea to Ranger and walked away, smiling. From the darkness of Ranger's eyes, she was pretty sure Step Two had been a success. On to Step Three.

oOoOo

Tank decided that the fastest and surest way to verify the identity of the body was to do it himself. He met Eddie and another man coming out of the station as he was going in.

Eddie nodded. "Tank."

"Eddie," Tank answered. "Heard one of your fellow officers found a body tonight."

Eddie looked at the man standing next to him and then back at Tank. "Before you ask any questions, I think I should introduce you to Murdock."

Tank's eyes flicked from Eddie to the man standing next to him. "Why would I need to be introduced to some suit from IA?" He asked without showing interest.

"Because I have information on the female victim and Joe Morelli, someone I understand your boss is searching for," Murdock replied.