Disclaimer: I love the Stephanie Plum series, but I don't own them and I don't make anything off of them.

Thanks to everyone for your reviews on my first story. Also a special Thank You to Margaret Fowler for you encouragement.

I hope you like it

Previously…

The trip back to Jeffrey's estate was quiet and everyone seemed to be deep in their own thoughts. Well, except for Isa who fell asleep on the way back. There were only a few more days in Miami and I was planning on making the most of them with John and Isa.

So far we hadn't learned much about Jeremy and I figured that it would be a while longer before we would. I knew he was being very careful. Eventually he would slip up and then we would get him. I needed to concentrate on the kids and see how things would go with Ranger. Hopefully they would turn out well, for all of our sakes.

XXXXXX

More Information on Blackhawk

I was staring out the window at the back of the house in Deal watching the waves roll in with a cup of coffee in my hand. We had been back in Trenton for about two weeks and still felt like we were no closer to finding Jeremy and I was starting to get antsy. He could be patient, but this long was strange for him. It was starting to worry me and I wasn't quite sure how things were going to play out when I did hear something. I wanted answers, but I also wanted to make him pay for everything he had done and attempted to do.

Things had been going well between Ranger and I since our return. We were spending even more time together than while we were in Miami. I had even spent a few nights at Rangeman, in a forth floor apartment, but I was close to him none the less. We had dinner and were working out our problems, but we hadn't upped the level of affection just yet. I'm not quite sure why, but I just wasn't ready just yet. It might seem silly to some, since the man was Sex on Legs, but I didn't want to just rush into things. When I rationalized it to myself, he was only back about a month now, and a small part of me was worried he would still walk away.

There were still things that he didn't know, but eventually they would come out. Time would tell what type of reaction he would have and I needed to prepare myself for it. Okay, maybe a little selfish, but I wanted to spend time with him and relearn how we would be around each other before almost everything came out. Plus a few things that would go public soon, but not until this whole Jeremy situation was resolved.

I was pulled from my thoughts by my cell phone ringing, "Hello." I stated.

"We have news. We were able to intercept a phone call made by Blackhawk, but he was gone from the location in a matter of an hour. Our guys either spooked him, or he wanted it to be over heard and planned it." came the Generals voice.

"Were you able to record it?" I asked.

"Yes. I'm forwarding it to you now. It seems pretty generic to me, but maybe you can get something from it." said the General.

"Alright, thanks. Where was the signal coming from?" I asked.

"Los Angeles, CA." He stated.

"Hmmm. That seems strange, but I'll put in some calls and see if I can come up with anything out there." I said. I wasn't sure if Jeremy had any contacts out in California, but it was worth checking with mine. They all knew we were looking for him.

"Let me know if you need anything, or if you come up with anything." He said.

"Will do." And we hung up.

I headed for my room to get ready for the day and hoping that we would be able to get something else from the tap outside of his location, but with Jeremy you never know. Something told me we wouldn't get much, that he was just yanking our chain, but we needed to look into it. I quickly showered and donned my skinny blue jeans that hugged my curves, strapless white lace bra, matching thong and my new blue and white floral off the shoulder peasant top, that was tight at my torso and rolled a scarf in my hair, matching my top, to keep the length out of my face and let the ends trail over my right shoulder, large hoop earrings, minimal makeup (mascara, lip gloss and eye liner), and my four inch black stiletto sandals. I was ready for the day once I added my ankle holster and my Glock down the back of my pants.

Heading down stairs I heard Adrian and Alexander in the foyer. I kissed them each hello and let them know what was going on.

"Jeremy was tracked to Los Angeles according to the General. He has the recording of the conversation being sent to my email. I'm heading over to Rangeman to see if we can use any of their equipment to pick anything up from the audio. He was gone before the surveillance got there." I stated.

"Have you heard it yet?" asked Alexander.

"Not yet, but if I find anything I'll let you know. I'm also going to call some of the families out there and see if they noticed anything. I wanted to see exactly where he was. I'm a bit confused by the fact he was in California. He doesn't have that many contacts out there to help him, so it's a bit strange, but who knows. Maybe he has more contacts than I thought." I replied.

"Will you be heading out there to check it out?" Adrian asked.

"Probably not. Unless something happens, I really have no intention of going anywhere right now." I said with a smile.

"Glad to hear it." He smiled back and giving me a kiss on the lips.

"Hey, you might want to give the judge a call. He called yesterday and was looking for you. I told him you were in meetings all day yesterday and that you would call him as soon as you could. He seemed a bit on edge." Alexander explained with a smirk.

"I saw that he'd called my cell, but I couldn't get away from the meetings last night. I haven't listened to the messages yet. I'll be sure to call him later today. I want to see if we can find anything on Jeremy first. He didn't say that it was life or death did he?" I laughed.

"No, but he did seem anxious to speak with you. I know that he's always nervous when dealing with you. I think he constantly worries that he'll offend you." Alexander smiled.

"It's always good to have a judge that's willing to give me a heads up, but I do wish he would get over his nerves. I swear the man sweats none stop every time I see him. Does he do that with either of you?" I asked shaking my head.

"Nope. Although I think he is afraid of your grandma." laughed Adrian.

"Well at least with her at the safe house we can worry less that this is about her. That should make him feel better." I smiled.

"Alright, will you be home for dinner this evening?" asked Alexander.

"Not sure, but I'll give you a call later. It all depends on whether the information is productive or not. I better head out. I'll see you both later." I kissed them both goodbye and headed for my car.

The weather was nice today so I took the Corvette. Sliding my aviator glasses in place I pulled out of the garage and was ready to hit the open road. The top was down and I was enjoying the breeze through my hair. Driving my car was one of my favorite things to do and helped me to reflect on the days activities. I was blaring the music and cruising down the highway and enjoying the feel of the leather of the seats, one of lifes true pleasures, I felt like I was flying down the road and before I knew it I was at Rangeman and the gate was sliding open for me. Guess they saw me coming, well either that or heard me. The music was shaking the car pretty good and it echoed off the walls of the garage as I pulled in, yet I refused to turn it down until I parked in my space, next to Ranger's cars, that apparently had never been given away. I noticed Ram and Lester standing near the elevator smiling at me. Climbing out of the car I hear the low whistles of them and smiled to myself. Yeah I looked pretty damn good.

"Hey there boys. Like what you see?" I asked with a smile as I walked up to them.

"Always Beautiful." Lester said kissing my cheek.

"Never doubt it Steph." Ram replied with a smile.

"So what brings you here today Beautiful?" Lester asked throwing his arm over my shoulder.

"We have an audio file to go over in my inbox from the General. They were able to intercept a call from Jeremy. I haven't heard it yet, but the general thinks it's pretty generic." I replied.

"Well, at least there is some news on him, rather than the silence for the last month or so. Let's get everyone together on this." Lester replied.

I nodded in acceptance and we headed up to the fifth floor. When the door opened we were greeted by a pissy looking Ranger and a blank faced Tank. "Hey there, can we use the conference room? We have audio of Jeremy we need to go over." I explained.

"Of course Babe. Did you need a laptop as well?" He asked looking at the arm Lester still had on my shoulder.

"Yeah, we also need to get Hawk and Bones in on this. Do you have the extra programs we were talking about the other day for analysis on yours? We can see if we hear anything in the background." I asked.

"Sure thing. We'll meet in there in five." He looked me in the eye and I smiled at him, which seemed to settle him down some and I received a smile in return.

Five minutes later we were all in the conference room and the laptop had the audio file ready to run. Looking around the room to make sure everyone was ready I hit the play button.

"Hello?" came a familiar male voice.

"Hey there Dad." Jeremy's replied.

"How are you son? It's been a while." The voice was clearly Frank Plum.

"Good actually. I've been laying low for a while, but I'm back in action now." Jeremy laughed.

"Well that's good I guess. Taking vacation time son?" Frank asked.

"More or less. I needed to get my head back in the game. Some missions didn't go as planned recently and I needed to come up with a new plan." Jeremy replied.

"And were you able to accomplish this? You know that you can always ask for help son." Frank explained.

"Yes, but this one I need to handle on my own. No problem though, I'll get it taken care of in short order." Jeremy laughed.

"What have you been doing on your down time?" Frank asked, there was a smile to his voice.

"You might be surprised, but I've been working with a mediation expert." Jeremy replied.

"Ah, I've been there. Gotta find a way to channel all that extra energy, nothing wrong with that son. Did it help?" Frank asked.

"Not as much as I'd helped, but hey you can only use your imagination so much." Jeremy replied a bit flatly.

"Well, no worries. I'm sure things will get better soon. Anything I can do to help?" Frank asked.

"Not really, but I'll let you know if you can. But I can say that pretty soon I hope to make my dreams a reality." Jeremy replied.

"That's good to hear son. I look forward to that myself, even if things are a bit different from before." Frank replied.

"Alright. I better go. I'll give you a call when I have more time Dad. Stay safe." Jeremy replied.

"You too son. I look forward to seeing you sometime soon." Frank replied.

"You will Dad, no worries. Bye." Jeremy said.

"Bye son." Frank said, and the call was ended.

I was a bit surprised. Well the call didn't mean anything to the General but it certainly did mean something to me. I finally had the answers that I was looking for. Why he was gunning for me. It wasn't me all along it was Ranger. He was after Ranger. At that thought I had to take deep breaths to calm myself down. How could he do this to me? Wait a minute, I knew exactly why. He wanted Ranger out of the way. He thought that I would be with him if Ranger was completely out of the picture. So he planned on taking him out. The pen that I was holding in my hand was snapped in two and the top went flying in the direction of Lester who dodged it.

"I guess you know what they were talking about Beautiful?" Lester said.

"Yes." I replied through gritted teeth.

"Care to enlighten us Babe?" Ranger asked.

I turned to look at him and had to close my eyes and take a few deep breaths before I could explain. When I opened my eyes I looked straight into the eyes of the man that I had loved for so long. How could I explain this to him? There was worry in his eyes and he reached out to squeeze my hand to show his support.

"Jeremy wasn't gunning for me in Columbia." Ranger's eyes widened. "Escobar made it sound like it was me, but he was either wrong or had no clue. Jeremy wants you dead. Not me, You." I said.

It took him a minute to process this before he could respond. "What make you think this?" Ranger asked.

"Because the biggest dream Jeremy and Frank Plum ever discussed was my marriage to him. It would solidify the bond and officially make Jeremy family." I explained. At Ranger's nod I continued. "Jeremy knew that the reason I would not get into another relationship with him was because of you. At first he figured I would get over it, but when I still didn't change my mind or accept his proposal he lost it." I shook my head the clear the images that were filling my head. I couldn't go there right now. "That was when the General and I had our discussion and I was allowed to pick my teams when I went and Jeremy was removed from my teams completely. He was also put on leave."

"There's something that you aren't tell me Babe. What did he do?" Ranger asked with tension in his voice.

"I won't get into that now. But what he is talking about is getting his release from women, I would assume prostitutes, since Frank seems to know so well and that it's sometimes necessary. I hate to think about what his imagination is being used for, but it gives me the creeps honestly." I explained.

"Okay, well let's see if we can get anything off the background noises." Tank said. He pulled the laptop towards him and started the program. I looked up to see Hawk and Bones both staring at me. I looked back with a sad smile. I decided I needed a break.

"I'm going to get some water. Anyone want anything?" I asked.

I heard a bunch of 'water' requests and headed to the kitchen. I pulled my phone out to listen to my messages and hopefully get my head on something else besides the horrible images swirling in my head. I had a few but nothing immediately needed to get taken care of until I got to the message from the Judge. I immediately stopped what I was doing to listen. A sick smile was spreading across my face the more I listened to the message. I turned around and leaned against the counter, giving me a nice view of Ranger in his black SWAT gear leaning against the doorway watching me with his arms crossed over his chest. He had one eyebrow raised in question but I shook my head that I couldn't get into it right now.

I deleted the message and quickly dialed the number to return the phone call. The call was answered in one ring.

"Hello?" the judge answered.

"Hello Judge. It's Stephanie Ramos. Thank you for the call. I'm happy that you let me know what's going on. Will you be able to squash the order?" I asked

"Yes Ms. Ramos. I already have the paperwork being taken care of as we speak. I just wanted to give you a heads up at the attempt. It would never fly anyway, but I knew you would want to know about it either way." The judge replied nervously.

"That was perfect. Thank you again. Let me know if you need anything and I will take care of it ASAP. And please call me Stephanie." I replied.

"You're very welcome Ms. Ramos, I mean Stephanie. Have a good day." came his stammering reply.

"You as well Judge." And I hung up. I laughed so hard I was bending at the waist with my hands on my knees. "I swear that man is scared to even speak to me. The man has no problem with Alexander and Vito, but me, he has a hard time putting two words together. Unbelievable." I laughed harder and shook my head. I was glad I called him back I needed to release some anger and laughing seemed the way to go at the moment.

"You okay Babe?" Ranger asked still leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed.

I was trying to catch my breath, and after a few minutes was able to collect myself. "Yeah, better. I get to have some fun now." I said with a wicked gleam in my eye and a sadistic smile on my face. He just looked at me and shook his head. I pulled a bunch of waters out of the refrigerator and handed some to Ranger. "We should get back in there." I said as I walked by him.

"I'm guessing we need to talk more privately for you to answer my question from earlier." He said.

"Yes, but it won't be today." I said. He just nodded and followed me to the conference room.

The guys were all working away at the laptop and trying to listen for anything discernable. Nothing was coming up even after two hours, but at least we had a location where the call was made. It was right on the border of two Family territories. I had a bad feeling when I learned this. Why would he be there? What was he hoping to gain? My business phone rang just as I was thinking this.

"Hello." I stated.

"Hello there Stephanie." The voice would normally bring a smile to my face, but I had a very bad feeling about this.

"Hello Nicholi. What can I do for you? I have a feeling this isn't just a social call." I replied.

"We have some major problems. We need to you come out here and deal with the PD for us." He replied.

"And what exactly is going on out there?" I asked looking at the guys around me. They were all wearing their blank faces.

"There have been several female bodies that have turned up on our property as well as that of the property of Juan and we are being requested at the PD ASAP. These women have ties directly to us." Nicholi explained.

"Alright. I will be there shortly. I'll leave tonight and be there first thing in the morning. I'll call the Chief and give him a heads up to expect us all there tomorrow afternoon. I'll be bringing a few men with me as well." I explained.

"Understood, but make sure they are ones we are familiar with. I know that your Ranger is back, but I want to make sure that those we are already comfortable with are the ones that are here." explained Nicholi.

I took a deep breath. "That won't be a problem. Hopefully this won't take that long. I'll see you tomorrow." I said and hung up.

"I think we know why Jeremy was in California." I said and paused looking at all of them. "Bodies of females having ties to both the Petrenko and Lopez Families have been turning up on their properties. They need to go into the PD to give statements. I have to get out there to smooth this over."

"Are you sure that this has anything to do with Jeremy?" asked Ranger.

"The location of the call it right on the border between their territories. Is there any other explanation? He placed the call for us to purposely hear and then I get called there for work." I explained.

"Alright. When do we leave?" Ranger asked.

"I leave and I need a few men to go with me but you won't be able to go this time Ranger." I saw he was going to argue and I continued on. "Right now they need to be surrounded by people they are comfortable with. They know who you are, but they don't know you. Your presence there would only make them more uncomfortable in this situation. These particular Families have had a long drawn out competition, I don't need someone to make either more uncomfortable. This isn't my choice. This was Nicholi's request. I have to honor it Ranger." I explained.

"I don't like this Babe." Ranger stated. "Something is off about this."

"I agree with you. But I don't think that Jeremy will be there for me. He is possibly drawing me out of Trenton to gain access to you. I need you to stay in the building. We shouldn't be gone long." I stated.

"I can take care of myself Babe. I don't need to hide." Ranger said with a smirk.

"I didn't ask you to hide. You can still work, just do it in the building. I need to take care of this and then when I get back things can go back to normal." I said.

"Who are you taking with you? And when will you leave." Ranger asked.

I looked around the room and saw all the guys looking at me. "If they are willing to go, I'll take Lester, Hawk and Bones." Each nodded their head in agreement and I saw Lester smile.

Ranger's jaw tightened and I wasn't quite sure what that was about but I was willing to let it go. "We'll leave from the airstrip around three am, that way we can get some sleep before we leave and I can get some more work done. We should arrive around five am west coast time. Hopefully this won't take longer than a day or two. I may have to go back again, but I need to be here more. I have some other things to take care of as well." I smiled wickedly at the though of what I was going to do.

"What are you up to Beautiful?" Lester smiled at me.

"Oh, you will just have to wait and find out Les. I have to work out the details first." I said smiling a full smile at him. "I have some calls I have to make." I said standing up.

Ranger followed me out of the room. "You can make your calls up in my apartment. I'd like to talk with you before you leave if you have some time?" He asked.

I looked at him for a second and nodded my head in acceptance. We headed for the elevator and made out way up to seven. Walking into the apartment he seemed to get a bit more agitated the closer to the couch we got. I sat down and looked at him.

"Do you need to take Lester with you?" Ranger asked.

I wasn't quite sure where this was coming from, but I would go along with him. "Yes, he's been out in California with me several times. Nicholi is comfortable with him and the others that are coming. The three man team will allow me to cover more ground on this, and we they can help to see if we can find anything on Jeremy while we're there. Is there something bothering you?" I asked.

"Yes." His jaw clenched and I saw him taking deep breaths. "I know that Lester's in love with you." He paused. "I can't stand the thought of you two being together out there." He paused again. "He's said that he would allow us to work things out, but I fear that he might have changed his mind."

I waited for him to continue, but he didn't. "Ranger, you know what type of relationship I had with Lester while you were away?" I asked.

"I know his side of the relationship." He said through gritted teeth. "I know that you've slept together." He closed his eyes and his hands curled up into fists. "I know that you have feelings for him, and probably love him as well." He took a deep breath and then opened his eyes and looked at me. "But I also know that you did not have a traditional relationship with him."

"Ranger, do you know why I wouldn't have a traditional relationship with anyone?" I asked.

"No." Was the only response that he gave me.

"I've told you that I had an arrangement with Adrian and Jeremy. I also had an arrangement with Lester." I looked at him and he was staring at me intently. "The arrangement was because I have always been in love with you. I can't give myself completely to someone when I'm in love with you." I said looking directly at him. His jaw loosened and I saw him start to move towards me. "But," I said stopping him in his tracks, "that doesn't mean that I can just jump right back into bed with you. We both have things we need to work out, and I'm sure there are things that we've each done that the other doesn't like. We need to keep working on things between us." I explained.

"Babe, I love you so much it hurts. I want to be able to show you how I feel, but I'll wait until you're more comfortable and trust that I'm here with you for good. I understand that I hurt you; I hope that you can forgive me some time. Just please, while you're gone, don't sleep with Lester. I couldn't take knowing that he's there comforting you there while I'm here." I saw pain in his eyes as he looked at me.

I could only smile at him and move closer to him so I could caress his cheek with my hand. God I love the way his skin feels under my touch. He closed his eyes and leaned into my hand. Before I knew what I was doing I was placing a whisper soft kiss on his lips. I pulled back and looked in his now open eyes and let him see just how I was feeling in my eyes.

XXXXXX

The time to leave for our flight came quickly and we were loading all of our luggage on to the plane and getting settled. I was seated next to Lester and placed my head on his shoulder when my phone rang. Lifting my head I answered, "Hello?"

"Remember I love you Babe. Come back safe and soon." Ranger said and then he hung up.

I looked at my phone, smiled and then returned my head to Lester's shoulder. I could sleep knowing Ranger was back at Haywood waiting for me to get back.

"Sweet dreams Beautiful." Lester said placing a soft kiss on my hair.

"Night Les." I said yawning and closed my eyes.

So what did you think? Ranger and Steph? Are we getting there? Let me know what you think. This one was a bit difficult to write out. I hope you liked it. More to come soon.