Disclaimer: I am not making any money from this, I promise.
My grateful thanks to JE for her wonderful characters, which I hope I haven't damaged too much.
Honour and Vengeance
Steph's POV
He laughed, the SOB laughed at me, his eyes danced with amusement. I glared back at him. Glad he finds me funny.
"You are presumptuous though, what makes you think that I'm here for you?"
My fear crystallised in my chest becoming harder than diamond and colder than ice. "To get to him you have to go through me" I crossed my arms over my chest in a gesture of pure and ultimately futile defiance and raised my chin." You'll have to take me apart piece by piece, because while there is still breath left in my body I will keep you from him"
It's odd, I've never considered myself to be particularly brave, but it would appear that all you have to do to turn me into a tigress is to threaten the man I love. Now I know I am no match for Adam, but at this point I don't care, I will defend my man and I will stop this maniac from reaching him.
His face softened for a moment as he looked down at me. With the hard edges gone, I realised for the first time just how attractive he was.
"He's a lucky man, there are few that would face me and fewer who would dare to place themselves deliberately in my path. I see now why he fell for you"
"My woman doesn't respond well to the flattery of fools" a familiar and welcome voice from behind me brought a rush of sudden tears. I resisted the urge to turn and throw myself at him. I kept my eyes firmly on Adam and took a step back and then another until I hit a warm solid object and felt those long wished for arms encircle my waist. I felt the brush of his lips against my hair. His whisper soft enquiry reached my grateful ears "You OK?"
"I am now" I couldn't keep the relief from my voice. Contact with the power and heat of him thawed my frozen spine and liquefied my icy core.
"You're here for me?" Carlos asked his voice steady, his thumb very gently moving against my waist, soothing me.
"Yes" Adam shrugged and rolled his shoulders as if trying to loosen them "But there's something I need to know first"
"Ask" his tone was clipped, terse and I felt him tense again, his thumb stilling against my skin.
"This will be just between us? No outside interference?"
"Agreed and whatever happens Stephanie's safe?"
"I didn't come here for her"
"Thank you, but before we get down to this, I ask a favour"
"Ask away"
"Bobby doesn't deserve to be left out there; we need to bring him back to the house"
Adam looked in my eyes and then up at Carlos. "It would seem my lady that your wish is my command"
"Bobby's my friend, he wouldn't leave me there and I won't leave him" I told Adam my voice fierce.
"Then we fetch your medic" he grinned "We may well need him when this is over"
Carlos squeezed me tight and let me go. I turned to look into his eyes for the first time, my heart fluttering in my chest. He still looked like hell, his eyes dark ringed and his skin pale, but he was back behind his eyes, there was warmth there, his gaze reached down inside me and calmed my heart, the small smile he found for me, soothed my soul.
"Look after Bobby, please?" he asked. That word, he rarely uses it and I am told only with me. How could I refuse?
"Take care" I whisper
"I have too much to lose to be reckless now" his lips pressed too briefly to mine.
Bobby when they brought him to me was still out cold, but his breathing was fine and I couldn't see any blood. They put him on the settee and I pulled the afghan that decorated the back down over him and sat on the edge and gently stroked his cheek. When I looked up Adam and Carlos were gone. I stood and walked quickly to the patio doors, they were on the lawn circling each looking for an opening.
Entranced by this terrible spectacle I edged forward trying to keep Bobby and the combatants in sight.
Tank's POV
OK, call me crazy, but you would think that a Rangeman monitored, super secret safe house that only a handful of people know exists would be somewhere that a crazy stalker wouldn't be able to get to her?
Turns out that even there she isn't safe, now who'd have guessed it?
I could put that woman in a space shuttle and shoot her to the moon so that she was the only living creature out there and what do you bet that something comes from the frigid depths of outer space to harass her?
Life around her is never dull, although some days I yearn for the vast swathes of tedium interspersed with small bursts of excitement that life at Rangeman used to be. Then she bounces in and turns that smile on me and I wonder how we ever got along without her.
Our first focus will always be the business, or so I tell myself right up until the moment we know she's in trouble. Then she is the only thing on our collective minds.
Woody, who is way more intelligent that I ever gave him credit for explains it like this.
'She accepts us the way we are, she doesn't care about any of the shit that we've had to do to survive. To her, we are the good guys, the cavalry who ride to her rescue. And I don't know about you, but it makes me feel really good' and candour forces me to admit that it makes me feel really good too.
When she first came to us, I admit, I thought she was a huge liability. One that Ranger and by extension Rangeman certainly didn't need. Strange how much she's grown on me, on all of us. I hadn't quite realised how much and just how deep the need to protect her is, until she looked up into that camera and spoke. I was half way to the elevator with my gun in my hand before I caught myself. I held it all together long enough to organise the men and set my hastily arranged plan in motion. Now I can worry. We are still 27 minutes out. A lot can happen in that time. All we can do is wait and hope that we are in time to come to her rescue once again.
Ranger's POV
It felt like old times just now, helping Adam bring Bobby back into the house. We fell back into once familiar patterns. I remembered how he prefers to take the shoulders since a very drunk Lester cracked his jaw with a kick as he tried to pick him up off the floor. It was on tip of my tongue to ask if he remembered which mission that was. Then I recalled why he was here and the query and grin died on my lips.
Steph's POV
They move so fast I can barely make out each individual blow. Each series of kicks and punches they're inflicting on one another flow so well, each flurry of movement has a painful purpose, every feint and parry displays a savage elegance. They break apart for a few seconds and grin at one another, Adam rolls his neck as if to loosen it and Carlos flexes his shoulders and I realise that I ain't seen nothing yet, they're just warming up.
Adam's POV
It feels like a lifetime since I called him friend.
He needs to pay for the pain he put me through when he took my life from me. She's the only thing I've ever loved, the only person who I have ever really cared about and he killed her. My anger roils within me like a poison and I can feel its darkness running through my veins. It feels safe, familiar, a long trusted ally, maybe the only one I have left. It feels good to fight, to finally have a target, for too long I've been hiding, waiting for the right moment to strike.
That time is now. I've always wondered which one of us was better. Guess I'm about to find out.
Steph's POV
Bobby's coming to and all I have to offer him is a cold cloth for his aching head and a glass of water. Without knowing what Adam did to him, I'm not sure how to treat him.
His dark eyes flicker open and he lets out a groan.
"Hey" I press the cold cloth against his forehead and he lets out a sigh as if he finds my touch comforting, his eyes closing again. Understanding comes back in a rush and his eyes pop open "Adam?" he asks, struggling to rise and pushing the blanket back.
"It's OK" I place my hands on his broad chest and he stops, although if he truly wanted to, I'd be no real obstacle.
"What happened?" he asks shrugging off my hands and sitting up, although he swayed dangerously and I leaned forward and grabbed his shoulders.
"Ranger, he's back with us, he and Adam are outside"
"Shit" Bobby exclaimed and he took hold of my shoulders and used them to hoist his protesting body to its feet and I nearly buckled with the weight. "Where are they?"
I pointed and with a lurch he stumbled towards the patio doors. "What's wrong?"
I joined him as he reached them and he leant heavily against the door frame, obviously unable for the moment to go any further, peering out into the garden. "You don't understand, this is about honour and vengeance, so neither of them will give up on this, we'll have to find some way of getting between them or they'll end up killing one another"
Hearing Bobby's sombre words gave my feet wings, I tore out into the garden, determined, somehow to stop them before it went too far and one of them was seriously hurt.
I could hear his muttered curse from behind me as he tried and failed to catch me.
Each blow was now more measured, deliberate, no doubt calibrated to cause maximum damage. I could hear the laboured breathing and the slightest of exclamations from each as they threw and absorbed punches and kicks that would have levelled me.
I reached them and started to circle looking for my opening, hoping to find some manner or method to make them call a halt to this.
My heart dropped into my boots as the uppercut that Adam threw at Carlos made him stagger back, dropping to one knee as he did so. Without conscious thought I was in motion.
An explosion of pain, my breath exiting my body in one short burst, the next is the sensation of movement, then my back was on fire and when I dared to try to open my eyes the darkening sky above me danced and wheeled adding nausea to my list of woes.
Fighting against the pain, the sickness, I pushed my damaged body to my knees, the exertion required to lift my head was almost more than I could handle. I forced back the grey that threatened to overwhelm my vision, battling to stay conscious.
When I finally managed it, I found Adam fighting and failing to regain his feet and Carlos a few steps away looking down at me. His lips were moving, but for a second I couldn't make sense of what he was saying. I started to make the attempt to get to my feet, but he fell to his knees in front of me, his muscular arms capturing me, trapping me against his chest.
His head settled in at my neck, his arms gentle around me. His breathing was harsh and laboured against my shoulder. His voice reached me in a broken whisper, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" and I felt wetness seeping into my shirt and I realised that he was crying.
I wrapped myself around him, enfolding his strength with my softness, trying to absorb all his pain and anguish. He suddenly slumped forward, catching me unawares and I fell back onto my heels straining to keep us upright.
"Bobby" I cried out, my voice shrill and Carlos' weight was lifted from me.
Tank looked down at me, his usually blank face open, his expression one of concern. Looks like the cavalry just arrived and it feels good to know that they came to my rescue once again. "Hey Tank, thanks for coming out" I told him, blinking away the mist of tears.
He lifted me to my feet and pulled me so tight against him that I was sure I could hear my ribs creak under the pressure. He didn't say a word, just let out a long breath and put me back down. I took a step back and asked "Carlos?"
Bobby broke in "Passed out" he indicated Ram and Lester who were taking Carlos into the house. "He's been running on empty since he got back, heaven only knows where he got the strength to fight"
"I do" Tank's muttered reply brought another series of fast blinks and he reached for me again and this time lifted me into his arms and carried me towards the house. "I can walk" I protested.
He stopped and let me down and I opened my mouth to tell him off.
The look on his face stopped me cold. "Sorry, I just need to make sure you're safe. Losing you now would mean losing him too. If anything happened to you, he'd never come back" he looked down at his feet and then up at me. "And I couldn't bear losing either of you "
Smiling I lifted my arms to him and with the softest grin I had ever seen on his face he picked me up again and continued on to the house, not stopping until he deposited me in my bedroom.
I was just out of the shower, when a soft knock came to the door. "Steph, it's Bobby, can I come in?"
I wrapped the towel around me more firmly and called out "Sure"
He carried his backpack with all his supplies in it and he too had showered and he was dressed in scruffy blue jeans and a faded sweatshirt, his hair still wet and his feet bare. "I've come to take a look at you, if that's OK?"
Casual Bobby, first time I've seen him and I think I like it. "I'm fine, just a bit bruised, that's all" I explained.
"I have to check you out, Boss' orders"
"Is he OK?" I asked as Bobby started to examine me, his touch light and sure.
"He needs sleep" he smiled "And he needs you"
I smiled back "I need him too" I hissed as he touched bruised tissue.
"You need to heal, both of you do, I'm just next door, if you need me. But I warn you if I hear anything that I shouldn't, I will burst in on you" He had on his serious medic face and I knew that I had to listen. I didn't think I was up to anything of the sort.
"Did you give him the same lecture?" I asked my cheeks tinged with pink.
"Hardly, I like life"
We exchanged a look and burst out laughing "Thank you for being such a good friend" I leaned forward and hugged him.
When I drew back his eyes were very tightly closed and his fists clenched. "Bobby you OK?"
"OH GOD I'm so dead" he exclaimed "Steph I didn't mean to see, the towel..."
I looked down to find that my towel had fallen open and I was displaying my rather less than ample attributes to him.
"It's OK Bobby, You're my medic and allowed to see bits of me that would get others killed, remember?" I grabbed my shorts and tank and shimmied into them. "You can look now"
He let out a sigh "Thanks"
"And thank you" I took his hand and squeezed it.
Adam's POV
Under guard again, but this time it's by friends. While I was in the so called care of the General and his people, I never felt safe. Here I do, I know these men, they have honour and pride in themselves and the jobs that they do. These are things that I once had too. How could I have forgotten? I sit on the edge of the bed, unbound for the moment, but who knows how long that will last.
Lester is leaning on the wall and the weight of his scrutiny is almost more than I can bear. I close my eyes against his questioning gaze.
Lester being Lester, he can't keep giving me the silent treatment, he isn't the kind to keep it all in and it looks like he's just about reached boiling point.
"Would you let me talk to her?" I asked and he glared at me.
"Why? Gonna try to hurt her again?" he taunted
I sighed and rubbed my injured hands over my battered face. "I feel need to apologise, to explain"
"Why should I do this for you?" some of his anger has dissipated, he's more curious now.
"Maybe Ranger finally beat some sense into me" I admitted as I rubbed my face again. "Les, I know I'm the one in the wrong here, Marta or Susannah or whatever she was really called turned my head inside out" I looked up into his eyes "I need to tell your Stephanie that I'm sorry that she got all caught up in my shit"
"She's tricky, she'll ask questions you may not want to answer" he conceded and I knew he was considering my request.
I grunted in response "As bad as the General?"
He laughed ruefully "In some ways she's worse, she looks at you with those beautiful, guileless blue eyes and you want to tell her anything she wants to know"
"Sounds to me like Ranger isn't the only one that has a soft spot for her?" I probed wondering how much he'd spill.
With a laugh Lester pulled the chair over from the corner and sat down. "Man, she's something, she gets in more trouble than she knows what to do with" he rubbed a hand through his hair. "She's funny, smart, sexy as hell and she has this way of looking at you that makes you feel 10ft tall"
I don't think I have ever seen him so animated, she truly must be something. I let him go on; laughing at her exploits with him and enjoying the chance to have him talk to me as if we really were still friends. Eventually he ground to a halt and I asked him again "Can I see her and apologise in person?"
"That's up to her, I'll ask"
Steph's POV
Adam's request took me by surprise, but I feel like I should face him. I admit that having a house full of the big strong men of Rangeman around me while I do it makes it all feel so much safer.
Lester escorts me and leans nonchalantly against the wall just behind me, although I can feel the coiled tension in his stance.
"Thank you for coming Ma'am, I know I had no right to expect that you would" Adam starts, his head down, his voice soft. "I had no business dragging you into all this" he paused and I took the opportunity to jump in and ask my question.
"Tell me how it started?" I could feel Lester straighten behind me and Adam's eyes flicked up to mine and away again quickly. "Tell me as much as you can" I press.
Adam looked behind me and a look must have passed between them as I heard Lester sigh and say "They have to be here too, come on man, she needs to hear all of it"
Lester left the room and I wondered where he was going.
"Ma'am?" While Les gets them, I'll take this chance to offer my apologies. I am truly sorry for putting you through this"
"Help me understand why and I'll do my best to forgive you"
"She's willing to listen, that's already more than you deserve" Carlos' voice came from the doorway and I looked round to see him and Tank enter the room followed by Lester and the door was closed firmly behind them. The room, not that large to start with suddenly felt oppressive and I stood up to find some air.
Carlos pulled the chair back and sat down and with a hard smile pulled me on to his lap, curling his arm possessively around me. "Babe" he whispered into my ear.
Refusing to be diverted I ask "Adam, are we all here?"
"Yeah" he was staring at his hands. He looked up at each of the others in turn. "Promise me this won't leave this room"
"I promise"
"Where do I begin?"
"Don't tell me where or when, just the how and the why"
"We were a standard four man team sent to a location to destroy a group of drug and people traffickers. The..." Tank cleared his throat and he paused "An agency" he continued after a few seconds thought "already had someone on the ground there monitoring their activities, so we were asked to make contact with them when we reached our destination"
He fell silent, obviously struggling with his emotions. I reached out and gently touched the back of his hand " It's OK, if you need time, take it" I started to withdraw and he reached out to me with the palm up, asking if I would let him take my hand. I lowered my hand to his and his long fingers closed over mine and it seemed as if that simple human touch gave him the strength to continue.
I could feel a sudden negative energy surge from the Rangeman contingent, they certainly weren't happy that Adam had hold of any part of me and I swear I heard a little growl from the back of the Cuban throat that held me.
"That contact was Marta or Susannah as I now know her. She wasn't pretty or funny or smart, not like you are, but she felt genuine and I think that was why I fell for her. She told me all sorts of lies, like Phil was her brother when he was really her husband and I believed them all" His head came up and although he was still dry eyed, I could see the heartache etched into his features. "She had me completely fooled, she was working for the people we had come to stop" he stopped and looked at Lester "Do you want to take over here?"
"Sure" Lester moved into my line of vision and sat down on the bed next to Adam. "Marta had arranged a little surprise for us, a visit from some of her special friends." He put a hand on Adam's shoulder, "She made sure that you weren't there when they came for us, you meant something to her" he squeezed Adam's shoulder. " Her husband, worried that she was missing scheduled check ins and her reports were slapdash or not filed at all, got permission to come see her and make sure she was all right. He got to her just as she was leaving to set up the ambush and he followed her all the way to us" Lester looked to Tank
Tank took over "Her husband was as well trained and almost as lethal as we were" There was pride and sadness in his voice." He realised what was going on and managed to warn us. He even fought on our side. The struggle was short and predictably ugly. When Marta found out that all her plans had gone for nothing, she seemed to capitulate, accept that she would have to face the music for what she'd done, but the second we let our guard down she stabbed her husband and then went for me"
The arm tightened around me, his head resting between my shoulder blades. "I had no choice, she would have killed him" there was such pain and regret in his voice.
"So you did shoot her?" Adam's voice was tight.
"Tell me what would you could have done different?" Lester asked. "There was no time for anything else"
Adam stayed silent but his hand tightened on mine.
"She still managed to knife me as she went down" Tank rubbed his right thigh absently. "She told us that you were already dead, that you'd been taken out on the way over" Tank also joined Adam and Lester and went to stand just by the bed, his hand reaching out to touch the arm whose hand I held, just above the elbow. "I believed her, I'm sorry man, I left you there, didn't even look for you. I failed you"
"We were so shocked by it all, the ambush, her betrayal, it all seemed to happen so fast and Phil's people pulled us out immediately so he could get the medical attention he needed" Lester added.
Adam took over again "I must have got back just after you left. I found her near death and she died in my arms, still spouting her lies as to what had happened. She told me that Carlos had raped and shot her. I was so blinded by what I felt for her that I ignored all I knew about the honour and integrity of my friend and swore that I would make him pay" he lifted my hand to his lips and very gently placed a kiss on my knuckles, giving rise to another growl from behind me "I was wrong to involve you in all this. For all the pain I have caused to you my lady, I beg your forgiveness" he kissed me again "I thought she was my soul mate, I'd never been in love before and it consumed me, made me crazy"
I reached out and touched his hair "Love makes even the most sensible of us do crazy things" The pain that he'd been carrying for so long was entrenched so deep that he may never fully heal from it. "You have to forgive yourself too"
"That may have been her final act of revenge, to tear me from the only family I'd ever had" he looked to Lester, then Tank and finally to Carlos.
Carlos' arm moved from around my waist and gripped Adam's forearm gently trapping my hand. "Will you accept our help?"
"Don't send me back to the General" he looked down at where our hands were all touching. "Please"
Lester was first to speak "Let's take him home, Boss"
"I concur" this from Tank "He needs friends"
"Adam, I'll need your word that you won't try to harm Stephanie"
"You have it" he answered breathlessly "I won't harm a hair on her head and I won't let anyone else touch her either"
"Good enough for me" he let go of Adam "Tank and Lester will take you back and get you settled" he looked up at Tank "Get Dr Scoggins started with him as soon as possible"
"Lester slapped Adam's shoulder "You'll like old Doc Scogs, she's a leggy blonde with huge..."
Carlos cleared his throat behind me and Lester fell silent.
I squeezed Adam's hand before I let it go "I forgive you Adam"
"Thank you Ma'am"
"Since you just swore to protect me, you can call me Stephanie" I smiled at him.
Carlos gave a short chuckle "Has anyone talked to you about all the trouble she gets in to?"
"Lester gave me the edited highlights Sir, but I look forward to hearing more"
"Then you shall" Lester grinned "Until your ears bleed from it"
Ranger's POV
Just when you think that you know how anyone is going to react in a given situation, they go and surprise you. Adam did just that, when he asked my Babe to forgive him.
And she did. The depth of her compassion astounds me; I've seen too much to take anything at face value anymore, even Adam's apparent change of heart. Believe me, I hope it's genuine, I want to help him work through his issues and for him to find a home here with us as he was a good man, one of the best I've ever known, but if this has damaged his soul, then as much as I feel for him, she is my priority and he will have to go back to the General's tender mercies, if the old bastard has any.
She reached out to him; with a single gentle touch she helped him. I could see the tension leech out of him and when he took her hand I couldn't stop myself growling at him. Then I felt awful as I wondered how long it's been since anyone touched him with such compassion and tenderness. I know that emptiness and I know the unadulterated joy her touch can bring, because I was exactly the same before she brought my heart back to life.
She looks exhausted, but even bruised and battered there is a spark, a vital essence that she possesses that I've never encountered before. I can't wait to get her into my bed. Though I doubt I'll be much use to her when we get there. I'm so tired I can barely stand, I don't know how long it's been since I last slept properly, but with her safe and warm in my arms, tonight I'll do just that.
Alone at last, her eyes huge in her pale face as she looks at me, waiting for me to speak, to say something, anything, but I can't find the words, any words to describe how I feel right now. So I fall to my knees before her, my woman, my lover, my goddess and press my face to the warmth of her slightly rounded stomach and kiss it. Her arms enfold my head pulling me even closer and I revel in that feeling, in this precious moment of comfort "I love you" the words slip from my lips and it feels as natural as breathing. Why did I fight against it for so long?
"I love you too" she let go and pulled me to my feet and pushed me to the bed. "Get in, we need sleep"
She's asleep, moulded to me, those crazy curls tickling my nose. Despite the bone deep exhaustion, I can't sleep; my brain is refusing to switch off. It's my own fault, you see there was this word that kept coming into my head when I thought of her and that word was 'Relationship' and it only went away when I did something about it and made her mine.
There's a new one, well, two actually and I get the feeling that I'm going to have to do something about these ones as well.
They are 'Husband' and 'Father' and they don't scare me the way they used to, they feel like a natural progression instead of a huge commitment. The thought of her rounded and glowing with my child growing within her makes me feel all warm inside and I take that thought with me as I finally drift into slumber.
Author's note
OK so this was meant to be the last, but when I saw how long it was getting I thought I'd better split it. I have waited until I'm almost done and hope to publish the last part shortly.
Thank you to all my readers and reviewers, you are stars!
One more to go, honest, even I can't prattle on for that much longer.
Valzie