Disclaimer: Just playing with Janet Evanovich's characters.
Note from Amy Lynne: Hey kids, here's another chapter! The next two weeks are going to be busy for me. I have a few Harry Potter parties (I warned you, I'm a dork) and on Friday it's time for the big 2-1 for me! I finished my final outline for the story and as of right now it's going to have about 20 chapters (give or take one or two) and a very special out-take that I've been working on. XDD Trust me, you'll enjoy it. Also, just want to say that the neighborhood used in this chapter and the next one is based of a very good friend of mine's apartment complex. It's actually off the streets mentioned in Hamilton Township (where I'm from). Just switch Klockner Boulevard (which is actually used in the books) to Avenue and you'd have directions. Klockner's actually the street I live on, so I'm excited. I'm hoping to maybe get a chapter (or part of one in) for my neighborhood, but we'll see. It might have to wait until the sequel (which I'm in the planning stages for!). Depends on if I write a sequel, we'll see if you guys want it.
And now I'm done talking. I swear, one of these days I'm NOT going to write a hundred word note at the beginning.
Oh, and I really want to get up to Chapter Twelve posted tonight, because I love what happens in it, so wish me luck and hope that my friend can check them over for me!

I woke up the next morning and just laid in Ranger's heavenly sheets for a bit longer than I should have. I knew I should get up. I should shower. I should brush my teeth. I should brush my hair. I should put on actual clothes. But then I knew that I was still going to be on RangeMan lock down until Ranger gave the all clear. Yeah, like that was going to happen anytime soon. Hmmm, I wonder if the Grandma Mazur threat would work again this quick? Probably not, besides I didn't actually have anything to do this morning. At least I don't think I do.

I crawled out of bed and started stumbling into the bathroom. I turned on the water, letting it run warm, and was just about to step in when I heard my cell phone ringing in the distance. It loved to do this to me, didn't it? Just start ringing when I was about to go to sleep, take a nice shower, or have a good time with the shower head. I walked back into the bedroom, naked as the day I was born, and looked at the phone.

Connie.

This could be a promising day.

"Hey. I have a skip here for you. Normally it would go to Ranger, but I called to let him know and he said that you would be able to take care of it."

"Wait, Ranger said what?" That's very unlike Ranger, especially if it was on a high paying bond. Something was most definitely not right here. He was giving me a skip to chase while there was another psycho out looking for me?

"The money's right, but apparently there's no fun in this guy, since he's going to be sitting at home wallowing in his grief. He said you would be over later today to pick it up."

"Oh. Okay."

"Just hurry. I heard Vinnie on the phone with Joyce after he heard that you were taking this instead of Ranger and I'm afraid that he might try something funny." I must have channeled Ranger at that moment because I hung up the phone without even saying goodbye.

I ran back into the bathroom (which now had the water running semi-cold) and took a quick shower. I did the hair thing, deciding to just let it air dry, and put on a couple layers of Jersey war paint a.k.a. make-up. Hey, this guy might just be laying around waiting for someone to pick him up, but that was usually the skip that gave me the most trouble. The ones that are supposed to be no problem, just pick them up, usually ended in me rolling around in garbage.

I went back into the bedroom and grabbed my phone before going into the kitchen, hoping to get a cup of coffee. Instead I got an eyeful of Ranger.

"Babe." I leaned on the island next to him.

"I hear you're letting me out of the building. Not only that, but I'm allowed to work."

"Peter Langdon is a repeat car thief. He's definitely staying in jail this time, but he's not a hard kid to bring in. No thrill in it for my men. You won't get cabin fever and I won't have to worry about you taking a stun gun to one of the guys." Ranger leaned on the island the same way I did.

"I resent that. I accidentally knocked out Lester and I didn't even try to run. I even called you and told you. You should be proud." Ranger smiled.

"Real proud of ya, Babe." Okay, even if Ranger was kidding and poking fun of me (which I couldn't actually tell if he was or not), those words coming out of his mouth always made my heart swell. "You'll have all day to make it up to Lester, he's with you."

"I bet he loves that."

"I think he wants to prove that it's going to take more than you knocking him in the face with a door to take him down again." I smiled and looked over at Ranger. "That doesn't mean I don't want you to be safe today. You go in fully armed."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And won't my Merry Man being loaded enough for both of us?"

Ranger leaded over and grabbed my by the back of the head, pulling me close as he planted a kiss on my forehead. His lips found their way down to my cheek, then my lips, and I knew he was doing it to make my brain melt and to get me to carry a gun, but at the moment, that didn't really matter. I was getting kiss senseless by Ranger! He had put his other hand on the small of my back and had brought my body close to his, and I could feel how much he was enjoying the kiss. Good to know that I wasn't the only one being affected, and good to know that he wasn't using the power he had over me just to get his way.

"Promise me, Babe," he whispered against my lips. "Please, tell me that you'll take your gun, and the stun gun, and the pepper spray, and your cuffs with you today."

Ranger rested his forehead against mine. I could tell that his eyes were open and trained on me, but I kept my eyes closed. I knew the look he was giving me. It was intense and even if he hadn't said the 'P' word, I probably won't have been able to say no to it. I just shook my head yes, which resulted in him kissing my forehead again.

"I'll be in meetings until around three, but if you need anything, call." He backed up just enough that I was at arms length, seeing as his hand was still on my back and I finally opened my eyes. That bastard had a grin on his face. "If you promise to be good we might finish this later."

&&&&&

Lester and I were heading over to Peter Langdon's apartment in Hamilton Township. Lester was turning onto Klockner Boulevard and I was apologizing for the seven hundredth time about hitting him in the face with the door.

"Really, Lester. If I had known that you were there... I wasn't aiming for you or anything. It's nothing personal. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you..."

"There is." Well shit, I didn't think he would actually say that. This is one of Ranger's men. Aside from the fact that it was a new development that they could speak at times, I don't think Ranger would like the idea of me doing things for them, at least agreeing to do things without knowing what they were, and that's what I was about to do.

"Anything." Lester turned left past the pet cemetery and we were soon turning into Langdon's complex.

"Stop apologizing. It was an accident. Getting taken out by the Bomber is a right of passage into RangeMan anymore."

I didn't know if I should be honored or insulted. For the moment I was going to pretend to be honored, but I would be plotting my revenge.

Lester pulled to a stop a few apartments down from Langdon's. They were nice apartments. Four to a unit, two downstairs, two upstairs. Langdon's was on the bottom right. The bottoms had plain fronts while they would have a little patio in the back, the tops had small balcony's in the fton. There weren't any cars parked out front and it looked like his mail was sticking out of the mailbox. Just my luck. A perfectly easy capture is going to turn into a pain. At least I had Lester instead of Lula to back me up. Thank God for small favors.

"How do you want to do this?" Lester asked, gearing himself up as we stepped out of the car.

I was leaving my gun in the car. I would take the stun gun and cuffs, of course. Hey, I promised Ranger I would bring them, I didn't say that I would bring them in.

A look from Lester told me otherwise, so I reached in through the open window of the Bronco and grabbed my gun.

"I'll take the front and you take the back?" Lester nodded.

"I'll wait until I hear you make contact, then I'll go in."

We made our way over to the apartment and I watched as Lester made his way around back, gun drawn. I swear, the Merry Men could be so dramatic at times. I gave him a few minutes before I started pounding on the door.

"Mr. Langdon?" The door swung open on it's own when I knocked. Never a good sign.

I peeked my head around the corner where the door had just opened and walked into the living room. I should have my gun drawn, Ranger would flip if he found out that I didn't, but instead it was sticking out of the waistband of my jeans. I smelled something. It was a bad smell. It was the smell that I was becoming all too familiar with. I looked into the kitchen and there it was, the dead body of Peter Langdon.

I put my hand over my mouth and quickly turned to run outside and hurl when I slammed into a body. I made a silent promise to God that if it was Bobby being sneaky I would give up Tasty Kakes for a week.

God must know I could never make good on that one, because when I looked up it was Christopher, and he had his Glock pointed at me.

"Toss your gun onto the floor." I did as I was told. "Go sit down on the couch." I did as he said again, and he stepped backwards and closed the front door, never letting his eyes leave mine.

'Come on, Lester,' I thought, 'pop in here and do that superhero bullshit.'

"I'm afraid your friend won't be joining us for this chat. He took a baseball bat to the back of his head." I winced. I really hope Lester was alright. Ranger was probably going to dig into him about not being aware of his surrounding if someone was able to sneak up on him. "I'm sure he'll be fine, and you will be too, as long as you answer my questions. I would hate for someone as pretty as you to turn out like Pete here." My stomach rolled. I would really hate for me to turn out like Pete, too.

I careful felt my jean pocket, stun gun was there and ready to go, I just had to get this freak close enough to me, and hope that he didn't notice what I was doing. I'm not usually gracefull about these things.

"What do you want to know?" Christopher smiled.

"That's what I like to hear." He went into the kitchen and grabbed one of the wooden chairs, sitting it across from me on the other side of dead Peter Langdon's coffee table. I had to admit, he had a nice apartment, too bad it was invaded with death cooties. "What do you know about Ricardo Carlos Manoso?"

"Don't know anyone by that name." Christopher's smile faded and his face tightened. He cocked his gun. Way too piss of the crazy, Stephanie! "I do know someone named Ranger, though."

"What can you tell me about Ranger?"

"He owns RangeMan."

"And?"

"And he does the occasional skip for my cousin, Vinnie."

"And?"

"And he eats the same kind of food as a rabbit." Christopher sighed and looked me in the eye.

"What can you tell me about Joesph Morelli?"

"He's a cop."

"Anything else?"

"Neither one of them like it when people threaten me. The seem to take it personally." I crossed my arms in front of chest. Way to be tough!

"Oh really?" Christopher got up and put his gun to my face. "And how would they feel if you suddenly turned up dead?"

Well, Lester would probably kill himself first, since that would be a lot easier than facing the wrath of Ranger. Or Joe. And sometimes I got the feeling that my Dad, no matter how quiet he normally is, would pull that crazy protective dad stuff.

"I don't think they would appreciate the gesture." I swear, I must of eaten my Wheaties this morning! I only remember some Fruit Loops, but hey, I've been wrong about the amount of food I've taken it at once before.

Christopher laughed. "I'm sure they wouldn't. What can you tell me about Amelia Lion?" Who?

I sat there for a minute, thinking about the name. It sounded familiar, very familiar. Amelia, Amelia, Amelia, Amelia. She graduated with Valerie. Rumor was that she was also one of Joe's lucky girls back in high school, though I never heard about anything written on the bathroom walls about her. She had been married once briefly, had a daughter who's name I couldn't remember, and divorced. Last I heard she was dating an mobster that owned a shitty car dealership on South Broad, then she dropped of the Burg radar.

"I don't know anything about Amelia. She wasn't in my year at school. We weren't friends."

Christopher sat down next to me, putting his gun on the coffee table. I slowly reached into my pocket for my stun gun.

"Stephanie, I know you know more. Men like to tell their woman things about work, it's just what we do." Obviously he's never met Joe or Ranger. He turned my face towards his and I resisted the urge to gag. "Just tell me where she is and I promise I'll leave you alone."

"If I knew where she was, I would tell you, obviously I don't. I don't like people who try to kill me and send nice cars to car heaven." Christopher throw his head back in laughter and I started to make my move towards him, but he quickly picked back up his gun.

He smiled, and, never taking his eyes off me, shot Peter Langdon's dead body three times. I jumped. I might have started crying. I might have gagged, I don't exactly remember.

"I'll give you one last chance, Stephanie. That little episode was just a warning. If I wanted you dead it would have happened already. I could do worse to you, much worse." I didn't doubt that. There are plenty fates worse then death.

We both turned our heads towards the front door. We had both heard it. It sounded like a car had pulled up. Christopher stood, held his gun, and stalked towards the door. I saw my chance.

I grabbed my stun gun, ran into Christopher full force, causing him to send off another shot, before I made contact with skin and hit that little red button that I love so dear. Christopher went ridged for a moment before his body went limp under me. I quick grabbed his gun, my gun, and ran towards the back door. I had to find Lester.

It didn't take me long. He was spread out right behind the backdoor with a baseball bat next to him, just like the crazy promised. I knew I had to move fast, but I also knew that I would never be able to move him myself. I ripped out my phone and dialed Ranger.

"Yo."

"I need someone to come to Peter Langdon's apartment in Hamilton Township, NOW."

I could hear rapid movement on the other line and Ranger barking out some orders.

"What happened, Babe?"

"Langdon's dead. Our friendly neighborhood stalker was here. Lester went around back and was taken out with a baseball bat to the head. I stunned the guy, but I don't know how long he's going to be out for, and I highly doubt I'm going to be able to move Lester on my own."

"I'll have people there in ten. Babe, I want you to get into the Bronco and drive back to RangeMan. Someone will see you and follow you back, just take Klockner to Hamilton back to Haywood."

"Excuse me? I'm not going to just leave Lester out here! I took the guys gun away and I have mine plus however many Lester's carrying, I'm fine. I'm in the back with Lester."

"Babe, get into the Bronco."

"No."

"Babe."

"Dammit, Ranger, no. It's one thing for me to be the cause of so many hospital visits for your men, but I'll be damned if I'm going to leave one here helpless."

Ranger was silent for a good minute. I couldn't tell if he was tiring to control his anger (probably), or trying to think of a way to tell me that my refusal to move was noble.

"Don't move, and don't take your eyes off the door." Aha! That's more like it!

I've done some stupid things in my time. Really stupid. I tend to jump first, ask later, but I was actually a bit proud of myself for this. Yes, there's a chance that this is something very stupid of me to do, seeing as Christopher could have another gun, but what I told Ranger was the truth. I refuse to Lester just lying out in the dirt. He didn't have a choice about coming here, I did. I dragged him into this. I wasn't going to run like a coward. I was going to stand here, Christopher's gun trained at the back door (since it was bigger than mine), and wait until Ranger and the Merry Men showed up and took out the bad guy. I just hoped the bad guy would wait that long.

I had been waiting five minutes maybe, so five more until Ranger was here, when I heard a movement in the bush to the side of the apartment building.

Now I could be in trouble. If I took my eyes off the back door because there was a rabbit or a groundhog in the bush then Christopher might come storming at me. If I kept my eyes trained on the back door, someone could sneak up from the bush. I could feel Lester starting to stir at my feet. Dammit, hurry up! I knew he wouldn't be one hundred perfect, but I figured ten perfect of a Merry Man could be better than my all.