Disclaimer: Janet Evanovich owns the rights to the following characters. This story is only intended as artistic exercise. I am in no way profiting financially from it.

Warning: This story is intended for adult readers only; contains graphic violent content, mature themes and adult language.

This is a Babe story, and will have and eventual Babe HEA.

Breaking of Souls

Chapter 10: A Warning Chill

Three weeks had passed since their return to Haywood. Stephanie had worked diligently in keeping her promises to Ranger. She had agreed to begin a training regimen, not only to learn how to protect herself, but to become more efficient in her job as well. Bobby had volunteered as her self defense instructor, starting with basic moves and working up to more advanced techniques. The training sessions had been physically and mentally grueling for her, purposely catching her off guard to simulate the adrenaline rush of an attack. She began to unconsciously assess her surroundings and the people in it as if by a second nature; Bobby's words replaying over and over in her mind like a mantra, "Stay aware … Stay alert … Stay alive."

Stephanie held no illusions about her physical limitations against an attacker of Bobby's size. She thought of Cain, and her abduction, and how lucky she was to have escaped alive and without serious injury. She knew that without a great deal of time, effort and training, she would still be easily overpowered during a struggle. Bobby taught her how to use her own body, her hands, elbows, feet, and teeth as natural weapons against an assailant. But, the most valuable component of her personal artillery was her intuition; learning to trust her instincts was vital to her personal safety.

Ram had agreed to further her training at the shooting range; grilling her relentlessly on her stance, body alignment, and trigger control. After shaking off her initial aversion to guns, she found the process to be somewhat therapeutic; focusing intensely, clearing her mind of everything but the target ahead of her. She felt empowered with her newly acquired skill; her lack of size and physical strength made irrelevant by the gun in her hands. A well placed bullet would stop the biggest of men … evening the playing field. That knowledge was a driving force for her, pushing her to strive for a goal of utter perfection. She was thrilled with her progress, and Ram was amazed with her natural instincts and steady hands.

"I know you don't like guns … but, Bombshelll … you've got real talent! I mean … look at this!" Ram held her bullet riddled target up as proud as any PTA mom. "You've got eight rounds entering within a four inch spread … that's incredible!"

Stephanie laughed at his rampant enthusiasm; she had never seen anyone so elated over a holey piece of paper before. "Well, I was taught by the best … and shooting with my eyes open has definitely helped to improve my aim."

"Improve?" Ram scoffed dubiously. "You're almost as good of a shot as any of the guys here. I'm serious, Steph … you've got raw, natural talent." He was so puffed up with pride in her achievements that he was practically floating.

Stephanie sighed dramatically, bringing the barrel of her .38 to her lips and blowing away the imaginary steam, "There's nothing like cold steel to encourage a man's admiration."

Ram blushed, rolling the target up in his hands, "Yeah, well … I'm just impressed is all." he muttered gruffly. Flattering Ranger's woman was like drawing a bull's-eye on your forehead for his personal target practice.

Stephanie couldn't help but smile at the big, bashful man. She leaned forward, giving Ram a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

He flushed a dozen shades of red before settling on a rosy pink hue; a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "My pleasure," he grumbled, wringing the rolled up target in his hands. He busied himself by setting up a fresh target for her to continue practicing. She fell into a comfortable rhythm, focusing solely on her foresight and the aiming target ahead, only pausing to recover from the recoil before firing again.

She smiled as tingles trickled down her neck, announcing her company. She felt a warm hand settle at the small of her back before her ear protection was lifted away from one side of her head. "Nice shot, Babe," Ranger whispered huskily, heat radiating from his body. "You know … there's just something inherently sexy about a woman who can handle a gun."

Stephanie turned to look at him with a wicked smile, "Hmmmm … Is that so? Well, a gun isn't the only thing I can handle." She cooed suggestively, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip as she trailed her eyes down his chiseled form.

Ranger pulled her to him by the collar of her shirt, kissing her roughly, "I may need a private demonstration of your skills." He growled into her ear, goose bumps erupting over her body.

"I think that can be arranged," she rasped, her toes curling in her shoes.

A sigh of frustration froze them in their heated embrace. "If I'd have known that target practice was the way to your heart, Bomber, I'd have booked the place solid months ago." Lester shook his head, his expression sour with jealously.

Stephanie laughed rolling her eyes, "You know, Lester … For some reason I think my HEART is the last destination you'd be interested in traveling to."

Lester grinned, a naughty twinkle sparkling in his eyes, "Well, of course there would be some interesting observation points along the way ... Wouldn't want to miss out on the scenery--"

"Santos! Gym, 0500 hours, where I'll be taking you on a little trip of my own; just pray your journey ends at the infirmary and not at the morgue."

Lester quickly raised his hands in an unarmed gesture, "Ahhh… Come on, man! You know I was just playin' around."

Ranger raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing Lester's expression. Lester's innocent facade cracked under Ranger's intense gaze, his playboy smile leaking through, "Okay … I was MOSTLY just playin' around." He chuckled, sending a wink in Stephanie's direction before strutting towards the exit, calling over his shoulder as he left, "We're all set up in conference room B."

Stephanie watched his retreating form before looking up into Ranger's expectant face, her azure eyes sinking into deep chocolate pools.

"Babe." He sighed, shaking his head in exasperation.

"What?! What's that look for? I didn't do anything!" she sputtered defensively, planting her fists on her hips.

"Trust me. You don't need to DO anything. Just standing there … looking like THIS," he waved his hand down the length of her body like the unveiling of a sculptured masterpiece, "is enough to encourage him."

Stephanie couldn't hide the knowing smile that spread across her face, "Awww … Batman's jealous!" she teased tickling his ribs.

He caught her hands in his, averting his gaze. "I'm not jealous … I'm just … protective."

She studied his face, her heart squeezing at the tender vulnerability shown there. "Okay," she whispered placing a gentle kiss to his flexed jaw. She knew better than to believe that, but she didn't want to wound his ego by pressing the issue. "But, just so you know … you're the ONLY man who'll be getting a tour of Plum Paradise."

He had warned her that being in a relationship was completely new territory for him and that she would need to be patient as he navigated the unfamiliar waters. The effort he was making to communicate his feelings with her made her love him even more than she thought possible.

Ranger chuckled, flashing his wolf grin. "Plum Paradise, huh?" He bent down, throwing her over his shoulder, swatting her ass playfully as he strolled towards the exit. "Let's get this meeting over with … I've got an itch to do some exploring of my own."

They walked hand in hand into the conference room, Ranger taking his usual seat at the head of the table with Stephanie sitting to his left, Lester, Bobby and Tank filling the remaining seats.

"Report," Ranger barked getting down to business.

Lester passed Ranger a single photo, "We've had twelve residential accounts hit within the last two weeks. The neighborhoods that have been targeted and the time frames that the burglaries occurred have been completely sporadic."

Ranger inspected the still shot taken from the surveillance video of the most recent theft. The suspect was young, in his late teens or early twenties. He tried to keep most of his face and body carefully concealed, but he made the mistake of looking directly into the camera. The photo was pixelized and grainy, but clear enough to determine his ethnicity, approx age, weight and height.

"I don't know, man, something just feels off. Even watching the surveillance footage you can see these guys have no idea what they're doing. Even a smash and grab robbery would have been more thoroughly planned out than this. The guy took a fucking BOOK off of the coffee table … didn't even touch any of the valuables that were in plain sight. It's almost like they're just taking a souvenir to prove the act of the theft itself.

I almost wonder if this is some type of a gang initiation or something. That would explain the lack of planning and the "proof" taken from each home … it wouldn't need to be valuable, just the closest thing they could get their hands on before getting out.

I've got a friend down at the Jersey Street Gang Bureau; I'll give him a call and see if this matches the M.O. of any of our local gangs."

Ranger nodded, "In the mean time I want the man power on the monitors doubled. Every available man is assigned to patrol surveillance throughout the potentially targeted areas.

Tank, have Hector look over this photo. I want to know if there is any identifiable gang paraphernalia on this man's person or attire. I also want to be contacted personally with any additional information or update that we receive. From this point on, a core team member is to respond to all home security breaches. Understood?"

Bobby, Tank and Lester nodded their heads in assent before filling out of the room.

Ranger sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. The timing couldn't possibly be worse. Finding Cain was his first priority and his men were already working overtime to track him. In addition, Ranger had promised Stephanie to always have an extra man with him whenever he left the Rangeman building. He didn't feel that it was necessary but complied to ease her mind. He also knew that he would need to assist with the additional security measures.

"Babe, how would you feel about doing some surveillance with me tonight? I know you've been cooped up here and you'd probably like to get out for a few hours."

Stephanie agreed, unable to resist a change of scenery and the promise of fresh air.

They had been driving aimlessly for hours, perusing the streets of their most valuable accounts. Stephanie had fallen asleep an hour into their shift after demolishing her "surveillance snacks". Ranger smiled at her peaceful sleeping form, her wild curls plastered against the passenger side window. He chuckled at the empty candy wrappers strewn about the car. He wouldn't have been surprised if her cat nap was actually a sugar induced coma.

Ranger unclipped his phone from his belt as it vibrated. "Yo."

"Boss, this is Hal, we've got a security breach on Lexington and 3rd. The alarm was triggered four minutes ago from an exterior main level window. I've called the residence; the tenants are currently not at home."

Ranger pressed his foot down on the accelerator, swiveling his head to read the street signs as he drove.

"I'm two streets over; I'll respond to the call." Ranger disconnected, adrenaline pumping through his system. He peeled onto Lexington, pulling to a stop in front of a two story colonial. He hesitated briefly, debating whether or not to wake Stephanie. Deciding to let her sleep, he shut the door, arming the alarm, carefully locking her inside.

He approached the house, the flood lights illuminating his presence as he walked up the porch steps. He used his company security code to disable the alarm, walking through the threshold. He crept down the hall, his gun held in front of him, scanning each room as he passed. He could see the shimmer of shattered glass sprayed across the wood floor from a broken ground level window, the blinds crushed from the intruder's entry.

"Fuck." He growled assessing the vacant room, a warning chill racing down his spine. The pit of his stomach twisting with unease as every instinct in his body screamed that something wasn't right.

The wind howling against the motionless car woke Stephanie from her sleep. She yawned, stretching her arms above her head as she looked around disorientedly. She scrubbed her hands up and down the length of her arms, fighting the chill that was slowly seeping into the car. She peered out at the house that she was parked in front of, noticing the Rangeman Security stickers in the front windows.

She chewed on her lip nervously as she scanned the windows for any sign of movement within. She assumed that Ranger must have stopped to check on a security breach at the residence. She reached for the door handle, dropping her hand as she resisted the urge to get out of the car and follow him inside, knowing that he would be upset if he returned to find her missing.

Movement from the shadows caught her attention; a lumbering form creeping along the perimeter of the house towards the porch steps. The figure turned its head, a white puff of breath steaming into the brisk night air as it scanned the vicinity of the empty front yard.

She gasped in terror, seized by a fear so intense that she struggled to breathe, starring at the unmistakable profile of Derek Cain.

TBC …

*Thoughts? I would love to hear your feedback. I promise the next chapter will be coming soon : )

*I want to thank my fabulous Beta Ryl! I am so grateful for your time and talents! Without her help I would have never been able to publish this chapter before the holidays.

*I wish everyone a safe and wonderful holiday season!

Jen