Chapter 10: Spidey-Sense for the Win!
Three Weeks Later
Stephanie's POV

I was settling comfortably into my new position at RangeMan. Training was going well. The guys seemed very pleased with my progress, and I had to admit that I loved looking at my new svelte body. Running was still a pain in the ass, but if it got me looking like this and still able to eat dessert most nights, I was okay with that!

I could now hit the target in the right place almost every time I shot...and I was carrying my loaded gun on me at all times. I'd managed to nearly take down Lester once Tank had taught me self-defense moves. Thanks to Bobby, I could now pick locks with the best of them. He'd also taught me basic CPR and medical care so when I was in the field with the guys, I was a help, not a hindrance if someone was injured. Overall, I was feeling pretty damn confident.

I'd spent the last month trying to track down the jackass that had finally driven me out of my apartment for good. Even so, I was surprised when I'd finally found him not long after getting to work today.

I picked up the phone and called Tank. "Tank, I found Jefferson."

"Where?" As always, straight to the point.

"Staying with a friend's cousin's nephew. Don't ask me how I found that out. Just happened to get lucky. Anyway, he's in Philadelphia, but apparently, he's planning on leaving soon, so I think we need to go pick him up today," I explained.

"My office, ten minutes," he ordered before hanging up.

I finished the search I had running, and right before time was up, I ran over to Tank's office. I walked in to find Lester, Cal, and Junior all sitting around various spots in the office. I grabbed a chair beside Les and gave Tank the folder of information I'd put together.

"You're up, Bomber. Tell us what you know," he said.

"Through various contacts—friends of friends, gossip mills, you all know how it works—I figured out Jefferson is currently staying with a friend's cousin's nephew. He's been moving around every week or so, which was why it was so hard for me to get a handle on his whereabouts. The guy is less than an hour away, in Philadelphia. As far as I know, he doesn't know I'm on to where he's staying. My contact was going to make sure she didn't let anything slip. She wants the guy gone from where he's currently staying just as much as we want him picked up."

Staying true to form, Lester asked, "So when are we leaving?"

"Half an hour," Tank said to the group. "Get your gear and meet down at the garage. Lester, Steph, and I will take one truck, while you guys"—motioning to Cal and Junior—"take another."

Twenty-five minutes later, I had one gun at the small of my back and another in a holster at my ankle. My vest was in one hand, and the Jefferson file was in the other. Everyone else was ready as well, so we climbed in and headed out of town.

When we got to Philadelphia, Tank followed the GPS instructions to get to the house. We parked two blocks away, strapped on our vests, ear pieces, and mics, and then made our way slowly toward the house. As we reached the house next door, I stopped short, causing Lester to run into me from behind.

"Beautiful?" he questioned.

His voice brought the rest of the group to a standstill. They turned to face me, their eyes asking what their voices didn't.

"I—I don't know. I'm getting a very bad feeling about this. Something isn't sitting well with me. I can't tell what exactly, but I'm really getting the feeling we need to be extra careful when we get to the house."

I looked at Tank as I spoke, somehow, some way, needing him to believe me. I didn't know why. I certainly couldn't explain it.

"Your spidey-sense again, Steph? Okay, let's get up there and we'll take a look." He glanced around to the group. "Everyone keep their eyes peeled."

We got up to the house and Tank motioned for Cal and Junior to go around back. "Wait for my signal," he said.

The three of us—Tank, Lester, and I—slowly made our way to the front door. He looked over at me. "Still getting the feeling, Steph?"

I nodded. "Much more intense now. I don't know, Tank. Something isn't right."

"Okay, I can't see anything. Santos, go look around and see if you can find other points of entry. Cal and Junior, hold your positions."

Lester took off, silently skirting the house. After a moment, his voice suddenly spoke over the ear pieces. "Window unlocked, lower floor, east side. No movement down here that I see. Moving around to the other side." It was quiet for several minutes, and then his voice came up again. "Another unlocked window in what looks like the laundry room. Coming back around front."

We stood there, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up until Les came back around front.

"Tank, we got a problem," he said. "These are not huge windows. The only one of us fitting through any of them is Stephanie. Any reason we can't just go through the doors?"

I shook my head immediately. "No, I don't know why. But the window's our best bet."

He nodded. "Steph, you okay to go in and unlock the door for us?"

I nodded without needing to think it over. "Let's do it."

"Santos, go with her, check out the room, and then boost her up. Come back around here as soon as she clears that room."

We moved around the corner of the house and heard Tank's voice. "Cal, Junior, stay there in case he bolts."

When we got to the window, Les peeked inside, confirmed it was still empty, and then slowly opened the window. Boosting me up, he helped me slide inside, gun drawn.

As soon as I was clear of the room, Lester's voice said quietly, "Okay, she's in. Coming around to you, Tank."

"Steph, take it slow. Keep your eyes open. Senses alert," Tank instructed.

I made my way cautiously into the hall, stepping carefully so as to not make any noise. Making my way to the front hall, I kept my eyes and ears open. "Almost there. No sign of anyone down here," I whispered.

Cal's voice broke in and he said calmly, "There's movement in one of the upstairs windows, but I don't think anyone's seen us. As far as I can tell, he doesn't know we're here yet."

When I got to the front door, I let out a quiet gasp.

"What is it, Stephanie?" Tank asked quickly.

"Explosives attached to the front door," I whispered, my stomach clenching and threatening to revolt from nerves. "I don't see a timer. Looks like some kind of trip wire or something, so when we open the front door, the entire thing would blow. Let me go to the back door and check it."

I took two minutes to quietly move to the back and then said, "Same thing here. Tank, can you talk me through this? We have to get you guys in here."

"I can, Steph. You have your cell phone? Take a few pictures of it all and send them to me. Lester and I are moving around with the guys at the kitchen door."

I did as he asked, taking shots of everything from multiple angles before sending them to Tank's cell phone.

"Okay, Steph. Quietly find a sharp knife or some scissors there in the kitchen."

"Already thought of that. I found the kitchen shears on the counter."

"There are going to be two steps to this. First, carefully follow the blue wire to where it connects to the explosives. Don't do anything with it yet; just find the connection," Tank said calmly.

"Got it," I whispered. I paused, listening. "I hear movement upstairs. Keep talking, but hurry. I'd rather not have to handle this guy alone if I don't have to."

"Carefully lift the blue wire enough to see what's under it next to the device."

I lifted the blue wire to see a small cell phone. "Shit," I cursed under my breath. "Cell phone."

"That's what I was afraid of. Steph, quietly make your way back to the window. Lester will help you out. We're going to call the police," Tank said.

"Tank, I can do this. Let's just do it," I said firmly.

"You sure, Steph?"

"Dammit, just do it," I hissed.

Tank cursed softly, muttering something about Ranger killing him, and then said to me, "First, put your finger on the end of the blue wire. You don't want it to detach from the device. That will trigger the explosion. Holding it in place firmly, take your knife, and very, very carefully, cut through the blue wire only."

I held my breath, stuck a finger to and pressed gently but tightly to the end of the blue wire, and then using my other hand, I slid the scissors around the wire. Giving a quick pinch, I cut through the wire, carefully holding the end against the explosives.

"Okay, the blue wire is cut and still attached."

"Great. That disconnected the cell phone trigger. Now to take care of the trip wire. Piece of cake. Find the right wire and just snip it in two carefully."

I held my breath and did as Tank instructed. When nothing happened, I let out a quiet breath and said, "All right, done."

"Okay, now quietly move to the other door. We need to disarm them both so he doesn't have a chance to use the cell phone trigger on that one as we're trying to grab him."

Three minutes later, the second explosive was also disabled, and at least from my end, I was breathing easier.

"Steph, go into the other room, as far from the doors as possible. I'm going to open the kitchen door, and just in case, I don't want you near it," Tank said quietly.

I moved away to the other room, and soon, I heard Tank whisper, "We're in. Cal and Junior are going to stay outside and fire into the upstairs windows to try to draw him down here with us. Lester is coming to you."

Lester soon joined me in the room across from the stairs, and I saw Tank move to the other side of the hall.

Over the ear pieces, we heard Cal's voice say, "Fire in the hole," followed by a hail of gunfire outside and overhead.

There was scrambling upstairs as Jefferson tried to hide from the bullets flying into the windows. Finally, we heard him cursing as he flew down the stairs.

As he ran past the room we were in, Lester and I stepped out, guns drawn. Tank flung his arm out and cold-cocked the guy, surprising him and forcing him to the ground.

"Freeze, motherfucker." His voice was deadly hard. "Handcuffs," he ordered to no one in particular.

I flicked on the safety, tucked my gun in my pants, and grabbed the handcuffs from my pocket. With their guns trained on the guy, Les and Tank watched as I grabbed his arms and roughly pulled them behind his back one at a time. When I had him cuffed, Tank put his gun away and grabbed the guy's arms, jerking him to his feet. We raced him out the back door and across the street.

As soon as we were clear, Cal said, "Just called the police. Philly PD is on its way with the bomb squad. Proud of you, Stephanie!"

The other guys nodded, clapping me on the shoulders.

Lester picked me up in a big bear hug. Giving me a wet kiss on my forehead, he laughed. "Didn't know you had it in you, Steph!"

We spent forty-five minutes talking with the cops about what had gone on before finally making our way back to Trenton. After dropping Jefferson off at TPD and giving our statements, we went back to RangeMan.

"Bomber, dinner is on us tonight. Meet you down here at six o'clock?"

I nodded my agreement and headed up to the seventh floor. I had a whole two hours until I would need to get ready, and I intended to spend every bit of that time asleep. It had been a long, stressful afternoon. I couldn't wait to relax at dinner and then spend hours on the phone with Ranger tonight. I wondered what he would think when he found out how I'd spent my day!