A/N: Thanks to everyone for the continious interest and support in this story. It is much appreciated. So here it is, the long awaited Ranger POV chapter

Four weeks after Stephanie's disappearance

Ranger's POV

I had just landed in DC and was not really looking forward to my two day briefing that was mandatory after missions. The last three months seemed like they had gone on forever. But they were over now, finally, and that was all that was important for now. Two more days wouldn't matter really, since home was just one stop away now and not several long-haul flight halfway across the globe.

And for the first time I was feeling my age and found myself wondering whether I'd become too old for these missions. There comes a point when you are no longer helping your country, but are a liability to your country. It was crucial to realize when that moment came and to admit age had finally caught up with you.

"Yo, Manoso. Got a couple of calls from your guys in Trenton, asking to get back to them when you had the chance," my handler greeted me once I had left the aircraft and was moving across the runway. He handed me a bag with my personal belongings as was customary.

"Did they say anything?" I asked, curious. They wouldn't usually call casually and knew I was hard to reach at times. So them calling set alarm bells off in my head.

"No. And they haven't really called back since I spoke to them a few weeks back. Guess whatever it was it got resolved," Jonathan said, shrugging. Probably not caring one way or the other.

Getting into the SUV that would get me back to civilization I got my cellphone from the bag Jonathan had handed me and called Trenton.

I just wanted to make sure that why ever they had called really was resolved.

"RangeMan control room," I heard Zero's voice.

"It's Ranger. I'm back online and stateside. Will take me a few more days to get back to Trenton. Everything alright on your end?"

"Sure…" Zero said after short hesitation. I wasn't sure whether he was just surprised to hear me since my mission was set to last a few more weeks initially. "Welcome home, boss."

"Everything ok at RangeMan? Any problems while I was gone?"

"Nope, all great."

"And Stephanie?"

The silence that followed had me concerned. Babe was a trouble magnet. She didn't mean to, but trouble and mayhem always found her.

"Zero?" I prompted when there was still silence after a few moments.

"Look, I … let me put you through to Tank, man…"

That was odd, to say the least and all of a sudden I was expecting the worse.

"Ranger," Tank said the moment he got on the line.

"What is going on, Tank?" I asked, hoping I wouldn't hear she was dead.

"Nothing. Everything is as it is supposed to be," I heard my second in command answer. Something was off about the way he said it, something in his voice…

"What about Stephanie?" I asked, irritated that Zero felt the need to put me through to Tank.

"What about her?" Tank asked back.

"When I asked Zero about her he became all quiet and put me through to you…"

"Steph is… well, you know Bomber. Trouble that doesn't find her doesn't exist. She is… good. Just the usual mayhem. Not much has changed… I'd advise you to get through that briefing quickly and get your ass back to Trenton, though…" and then he hung up. Which was odd, seeing that I was usually the one deciding when a conversation had come to an end.

Two days of briefing drag on forever and by the time I had been officially released from my mission and was on my way back I was certain something was going on in Trenton. I had tried calling Stephanie once only to hear a female voice telling me the number was no longer in service. I figured her cell phone had suffered the same fate most of her cars ended up with but when asking Tank he was anything but confirming my thoughts.

"What's going on?" I asked when I made my way into his office back at RangeMan, dumping my duffle bag by the door.

"Good to have you back, Ric," he said as greeting. "You… might want to sit down for what I'm about to tell you."

He looked at me serious, so I followed his suggestion and sat down in the chair opposite of him.

"Bomber is gone," he said, throwing a file at me which showed Stephanie once opened.

"What do you mean she is gone?" I asked irritated, looking at the file and wondering why there was a file on my Babe and why the hell it was as thick as a novel.

"About four weeks ago she left and hasn't been seen since. She… got into a bit of a situation and… well, she probably didn't see any other way than running."

"What did she get herself into?" I asked, assuming I'd get an answer quicker than when reading the file. The thing is Stephanie had always somehow managed to get into situations and trouble, but she also always found a way out of them. She wasn't a runner, and she sure as hell wasn't a quitter either.

"Before I'll get into this, I need to let you know Bobby, Lester and me had been in the north of Canada and Alaska, apprehending an FTA RangeMan had been after for months. We were out of reception for cell phones so I only learned about all of this two weeks after she was already gone…"

I nodded at Tank, knowing about which FTA he was talking about. An FTA that brought us a neat sum of almost a million and who we had spent months tracking down. I certainly didn't blame him for doing his job.

"What happened?" I repeated myself.

"Barnhardt was found dead in some back alley. Stabbed and somewhat disfigured. After a few weeks of investigation Stephanie was the prime suspect…"

I didn't like how this already started and sounded.

"She didn't have an alibi, the trackers had been down for the time frame of the murder and prosecution decided her motive was Steph's general dislike for Joyce and the fact that Joyce had screwed her husband way back. Witnesses placed her at Barnhardt's house, leaving angry and her fingerprints on the murder weapon, which was honestly enough reason for anyone. In the pre-hearing to her trial she was released on bail which Cal put up. Half a million…."

"Remind me to thank Cal later…" I said, seeing Tank nod and smile at me.

"He brought her to RangeMan. The night before the trial she… drugged Cal, knocked him out with what I'd assume are illegally obtained drugs, went for the safe in the basement and took about two-hundred-fifty grand with her. Cal was found the next morning by Binkie, not remembering a thing and tested himself with one of Bobby's self-testing things. Apparently she had mixed his drink with a date rape drug…"

"What? Where would she even get something like that?"

"The guys went through the tracker data of the day and she made a stop on Stark Street. You know it yourself, with the right amount of cash there isn't anything you can't get on Stark Street. The guys have also been going through every possible scenario and came up empty handed. She left all her trackers in your apartment, alongside her cell. She emptied out her account, maxed out her credit card and hasn't shown up since. We know or rather assume she took the late night train to Washington, but we can't be sure whether she ever got there. We lost her trace pretty much at the train station…She could have gotten off anywhere in between. We spoke to family and friends, no one knows anything. They all received letters though. And we assume the envelope popped up against the keyboard in your office contains yours. All we know is in that file…"

I just nodded, digesting the information Tank had just laid out for me. Somehow this wasn't the sort of welcome I had expected when making it back form that god-awful mission I had spent doing for way too long.

"Why didn't you tell me any of that when I called two days ago?" I asked accusing, making sense of Zero's weird behavior all of a sudden.

Before answering Tank looked at me doubtfully.

"Because you were in your post-briefing. We both have been in enough of these goddamn briefings to know they are mandatory and there is no way out or around them. Telling you about Bomber's situation back then wouldn't have been doing anything. Yes, you would have known sooner, but you wouldn't have been able to do anything. And the last thing I need is the DoD or the DoJ up my ass cause you decided on skipping the briefing and taking a hike, trying to find Stephanie by yourself. Two days more or less wouldn't have made a difference."

Given Tank had a point, I still didn't like it.

"Anything else I need to know?" I finally asked after a moment of silence.

Tank shook his head, answering my question in regards of business. Good, his answer meant I could concentrate of getting Babe home, because right now, that was my priority. As a matter of fact it was my sole priority.