Author's Note: I just want to say thank you to all of my readers. You guys are simply amazing and I hope you enjoy this chapter and the next to come. It's not over yet... I promise!

A very special Thank you to Jenio1. :-)

And I know its short... :-)

Chapter Ten
Dale Isn't So Bright

Steph didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to think either.

"Dale!" Steph's eyes went wide as she looked upon the man that had stunned her in her own bed. "Dale Silverman!"

He grinned wickedly. "Oh good, so you do remember me."

Steph curled her lip. "Of course I remember your ugly ass." She commented and he slapped her hard.

"You're such a bitch." He replied.

She shook off the painful sting on her cheek and gave him a careless shrug. "Who's got who tied to a chair after a cheap shot with a stun gun? You didn't even fight fair, coward. You waited until I was asleep in my bed in the middle of the night. And how did you get in my hotel room anyway?"

"You wanna talk about fighting fair? You snuck up behind me and stunned me while I was trying to hook up with a good looking ho." He frowned. "Which now that I'm thinking about it… you set that up, didn't you?"

Steph smirked. "You're not very bright are you?"

His eyes narrowed and he slapped her again. Steph tasted the blood in her mouth, spitting as much as she could on the floor she shot a glare at Dale.

"And for your information, she isn't a ho either. She's my friend so watch what you say about her or I'll shove your balls up your ass and into your throat."

Dale laughed as he pulled up a chair across from her and sat down. "Well, Miss Bombshell Bounty Hunter, it doesn't look like you can do much of anything right now. Does it?" He asked gleefully.

He wasn't the Dale she went to school with, this Dale was creepy. Not scary creepy, but whacko creepy. Or was there a difference? Steph didn't know nor did she care. She was tied to this shitty wood chair with nylon rope. However, that didn't bother her because the idiot didn't know how to tie a real knot. She knew if she worked it a little bit, she would be able to slip her hands through and then somehow untie her feet before Dale noticed that she was free. But she couldn't do anything at the moment because Dale was looking right at her. So she would have to bide her time and wait until he turned away or until he moved. She needed to get him talking and agitated so maybe he would get up and pace or something.

"Why am I here, Dale? And how did you find me? You didn't follow me all the way from Trenton. I would have known?"

He gave her a blank look. "You really don't know what you did?" He questioned in disbelief.

Steph shook her head. "Should I?"

He nodded dumbfounded. "You signed my death warrant, Stephanie. So now I'm going to sign yours."

Steph's eyes widened and a little bit of panic set in. He wanted to kill her! What the fuck!? "I don't understand, Dale. Explain to me how…"

He sighed. "You know why I was arrested, right?"

She nodded. "You hacked into the FBI database."

"Yes I did." He stated proudly before frowning. "And I got caught. Apparently, FBI has sensors or something that notify them when their system is hacked into."

Steph wanted to say 'duh' but she held her tongue. She didn't want a repeat of the first two slaps. So she just nodded like the idiot he was.

"They found me easy enough I guess since I wasn't expecting to be arrested, but they let me out on bail because it was my first offense." Dale laughed and shook his head. "What dumbasses!"

He cocked his eyes and frowned suddenly. "Do you know who Freddie DeMarco is?"

Steph didn't know so she shook her head, but stayed silent. She didn't want to interrupt after all. She had manners. Kind of.

"Well, he's the one that got me the job in the first place and the reason why I hacked into the FBI computers. He wanted me to remove his file completely." Dale waved his hands in front of her face. "He wanted to disappear." He giggled at that. Yes, he giggled. Like a little girl. "So I hacked into FBI files and began to delete all of Freddie's files. But before I could finish the job, my so called boss walked in and I had to shut it all down."

Steph slowly nodded. "So you wasn't able to delete all of this DeMarco guy's files?" She asked cautiously.

Dale eagerly nodded, glad she was understanding what he was telling her. "Exactly! Well, because I wasn't able to delete everything and the FBI caught on to what I was doing, they knew Freddie was behind it so they've been putting the pressure on him."

"And that got you into trouble with him?"

Again Dale nodded. "He had his cronies pick me up one night. It was late and I was taking my trash out when they grabbed me. They brought me to a place similar to this." He cut off mid-sentence and looked around. Steph looked around as well, but she took the opportunity to jerk and loosen the ties around her hands and feet. She didn't have a clue where they were, she just seriously hoped they were still in St. Louis.

The place he had her in wasn't too scary, she thought. Not like some of the places she'd been tied up in. She was pretty sure it was a basement of some kind. Or a cellar. The floor was concrete and the walls were cement blocks. A set of wooden steps were set off into one corner, she could barely make them out if she turned her head in a very odd angle. There was a stack of boxes in one corner that looked old and water logged. A table was set up behind Dale, not far from where she was sitting. She saw the stun gun and an actual gun. It was the actual gun that scared her shitless. The rest of the twelve by twelve room was completely empty.

He focused back on her and Steph quickly stopped moving. "He told me if I was ever brought into police custody again, he would kill me. He told me that I needed to get out of town and to never return."

Steph licked her lips. "Why didn't you?" She asked gently.

He shrugged. "I grew up in Trenton. I didn't want to leave. I figured if I just laid low, it would be okay. I should have left. He showed me how serious he was but I really didn't believe he would kill me."

"What did he do?" Steph asked, already knowing she really didn't want the answer to that.

Dale actually whimpered. "He cut off several of my toes."

Steph gasped and fought back the vomit that came to her throat. She blinked back the black dots in front of her eyes and fought to breath. "I'm sorry, Dale." She whispered, meaning it. She really did sign his death warrant and she felt bad, but she was only doing her job.

He gave her a hateful look. "It's your fault. All your damned fault."

She had to keep him talking and not focused on her. "Who is Freddie DeMarco?"

"He lives in Newark on this street where people pay him taxes to keep them safe from harm."

Steph nodded. "So he's like a mob boss or part of some kind of mafia."

Dale shook his head. "Freddie said he wasn't a mob boss or the mafia. He said he just wanted to keep his street safe from thugs so he collects taxes every month."

"What happens if one of those people don't have their taxes one month?"

Dale shuddered. "He punishes them." He whispered.

She shivered from fear and revulsion. "How come you just don't tell the police this to save your own ass? I'm sure you would be safer in jail then out of it. Or maybe they could put you in the witness protection or something."

Dale shook his head adamantly. "Freddie assured me that I would never be able to hide from him."

"Have you seen him since you got bailed out the second time?" Steph asked.

He shook his head. "He sent me a warning."

Her brows furrowed. "What kind of warning?"

A shiver went through Dale and his face went pale. He leaned in close to her. "He sent me my own toe with a note that said, 'I warned you'."

Steph felt his horror. The man sent him his own toe. That's horrible. Steph said as much.

Dale nodded in agreement. "I miss my toes. I mean I didn't use them for anything but I do miss them."

She nodded, deep in thought about what it would be like to have her toes cut off. She shut that thought down quickly. She didn't want to throw up on herself and that had been too close. She felt sorry for Dale. She knew it had to hurt.

She swallowed and then took a breath. "So this DeMarco approached you about hacking into the FBI database at your job? Why not at home? Or the library?"

Dale shook his head. "No, Freddie got me the job. The guy that hired me owed him a favor so he hired me. And he wanted me to use my boss' computer so the FBI would suspect him of doing it."

That confused Steph a little. If DeMarco wanted Dale to use his boss' computer, didn't that mean that DeMarco knew that the FBI would know about the hacking? Sounded to her like DeMarco was a complete jackass. "So he wanted to place the blame on your boss so your boss would get caught and go to jail?"

Dale nodded.

"What did your boss do to this DeMarco?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Freddie said that Mr. Corrigan owed him some back taxes or something."

"Oh okay. So DeMarco hired you to hack into the FBI database from Corrigan's computer but you got caught instead of Corrigan. Right?"

Dale was silent for a minute before he nodded. "Yeah, that's exactly right."

"You didn't use Corrigan's computer?"

Dale frowned and shook his head. "His office was always locked. I mean, one night I picked it until I got it open but then his computer was password protected. I couldn't get in."

He sounded down and discouraged and Steph felt bad for him. But if he could hack into an FBI database then how come he couldn't just hack into his boss' computer? Steph wasn't going to ask, she didn't want to piss him off.

She took a slow deep breath. "So let me see if I got this right… DeMarco blackmailed Corrigan into giving you a job that you wasn't really qualified for so you could use Corrigan's computer to hack into the FBI database and delete DeMarco's files. Corrigan just thought that you needed or a job or something when in fact DeMarco wanted him blamed for the hacking. However, since you wasn't able to get to Corrigan's computer, you used yours or the one you use while at work. You got caught and arrested but released on bail. DeMarco had you kidnapped, cut off your toes and threatened to kill you if ever in police custody again, then let you go. I came along, took you back to the cop shop so now there's someone out there trying to kill you. Right?"

Dale took a minute to answer but when he did he finally nodded. "That sounds about right."

Steph sighed. "So now you want to kill me because DeMarco wants to kill you. Right?"

Again Dale nodded. "Exactly. I'm glad you're being such a good sport about this." He smiled at her.

She ignored that remark. She wasn't happy with the situation but she was working on that. "I have one question."

He cocked his head. "What?"

"How did you find me? You didn't follow me all the way from Trenton. I would have known."

He nodded in agreement. And then to Steph's utter delight he got up and went to the table behind him. Steph held her breath, hoping he didn't grab either gun, mostly especially the one that held bullets. Instead he grabbed something she hadn't seen. A newspaper. She knew immediately what newspaper it was. Even without seeing it.

His back was to her as he just stared at the newspaper, so while he talked, she worked on the rope. "By the time my lawyer got me bail the second time around you were already gone. I was pissed that you had left. Word around Stark was that the badass Ranger had been blown to bits and you couldn't handle it so you were shipped off to some hospital or another. Imagine my surprise when this newspaper turns up in Trenton and everyone is talking about it." Dale finally turned and Steph immediately stopped her movement. He showed her the paper and she cringed.

"Everyone is so proud of the Bombshell Bounty Hunter helping out a helpless family who lost everything in a fire. I thought it sound a little too perfect. Maybe too planned out."

"You mean fake?" Steph questioned, ignoring the remark about Ranger. Maybe she would punch him in the face for the remark, but she had to keep focus.

"Yea. Fake. Was it?" He asked, looking at her closely.

Steph shrugged. "Does it matter either way?" She questioned.

He laughed. "No it doesn't. I'm still going to kill you." Steph seriously doubted it, but she kept her mouth shut. "So when I saw the Kentucky paper, I headed to Louisville as fast I could. You knew I was following you, didn't you?"

She gave another shrug. "I had a feeling I just wasn't sure." She replied. The back of her neck suddenly went to tingling and it was freaking her out.

Dale smirked. "I should have taken care of you before you left Louisville, but I decided to let you have a little fun before I offed ya."

Steph rolled her eyes."I have a question."

"Whaaat?" He drew out.

"Where are we? Are we still in St. Louis?"

He nodded. "Yeah I rented this little piece of shit house because it had a basement and it was perfect for what I wanted it for."

"You mean to kill me."

He grinned. "Yeah."

"I have another question." And she was pretty sure she already asked this but oh well.

He let out an exasperated breath. "What?"

"How come you just don't tell the police about DeMarco so they can arrest him? Then you would be off the hook."

His eyes widened to the point where his eyes were bugging out of his head. "Are you fucking nuts?! No one rats out DeMarco."

Dale went back to the table and Steph took that exact minute to free herself from the ropes; both from her hands and her feet. When Dale turned towards her –without the gun– Steph smiled at the look of shock on Dale's face and the fact that he didn't have the gun.

"How did you get out of those ropes?" He asked.

Steph gave him a smirk. "You totally suck at tying knots." That comment pissed him off or maybe the fact that she outsmarted yet again, he charged towards her. Steph shrieked –she couldn't help it– as she jumped out of the way and he crashed head first into the chair she had just been tied to. Steph grabbed his stun gun and before he got to his feet, she pressed the tongs to his bare arm and zapped him.

She sat down hard on her ass and took a deep breath. Before she could decide what to do next, she heard a noise at the top of the stairs. She stood up, grabbed Dale's gun and dropped it back immediately when she discovered there was no bullets. What the hell? All she had was a stun gun. She didn't know who was coming down the stairs but she didn't have to wait long. A black combat boot came into view then another one before legs encased in black camo pants came into view. Steph watched as the man himself slowly came into view.

She stared in utter surprise, horror, delight, fear, and anger as the black obsidian eyes she thought she never see again crinkled in pleasure and the corners of his mouth tilted into that two hundred watt smile. And she couldn't move as he came closer and closer until he said that one word.

"Babe."