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 time to leave for our flight came quickly. 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.
XXXXXX
Information and the Start of Some Fun
The time in California went rather smoothly, both fortunately and unfortunately. We now knew, or at least my guys and the Families that were involved, that Jeremy was responsible for these murders. He left his calling card on the body of the women that he had used on many other jobs that we knew about. Normally with special ops you didn't do anything that would leave a trace, but Jeremy had developed his own signature over the years, meaning that his method of killing was easily covered up in ops with bombs or fires. In this case, since the bodies of the victims were basically dumped out in the open, late at night, the signature was very clear. The victims' throats were slit in a t shaped pattern, the top cut being the actual deadly stroke and then a line down that went from the center of the first cut all the way down to the breast bone, this one being more superficial. The police were looking into any past cases that had happened, but I knew that they weren't going to find any. The part that disgusted me, was that all the victims had had intercourse recently. It was unknown how long before the actual killing took place, and no body fluids were found on the bodies themselves. So that meant that who ever the partner was, was wearing a condom.
The women had all been prostitutes that the Families employees had often visited, but no one in the heads of the families had any contact with. Our meetings with the police went quickly, but Lester, Hawk, Bones and myself spent a lot of time trying to find other evidence that would lead us to Jeremy, unfortunately we didn't come up with much, he did leave the phone that he called with behind, which the police hadn't found, since they didn't know who they were dealing with. His hiding spot was not something they would have normally been looking for, however for us it was pretty obvious, it was taped to a branch high up in a tree that if you knew what you were looking for you would have been able to spot it a mile away, since the tape was a shiny silver against the brown bark of the tree. Honestly it was the perfect spot for a sniper to sit and blend in.
We spent the next day talking with all of the members of the Families to find out if anyone had spotted or had interactions with Jeremy and came up with nothing, so we knew he was staying well hidden. On our down times I was making phone calls to set up my bit of fun for when we all returned to Trenton. Lester and the boys still had no idea what was coming, but they could tell it was going to be good. I had explained to them what was going on and my discussion with the judge. They were all angry and wanted to help in this task. I had a connection that they knew nothing about and was all too thrilled to finally get to use it.
"Hello?" asked a smooth male voice.
"Donny, hey it's Steph. How are you?" I asked.
"Good girl. To what do I owe the pleasure of your voice?" Donny asked laughing.
"I need some assistance actually. Are they available for a few days? And can they rotate?" I asked. I saw Lester's brows wrinkle and meet in the middle to make a unibrow, the look made me laugh.
"Yep, timing is about 30 seconds and we can do lots of fun things with them, even music. When do you want them?" He asked.
"How about the day after tomorrow? I'm in California right now and will be back late tomorrow night. Can we set this up to run starting at, oh say 10am thru the rest of the day? I can send what I want to you in the email. I should have it to you in about 45 minutes. Will that work?" I asked.
"Sure thing Steph. I can't wait to see what you've got. Things are never dull when your involved." He laughed.
"I aim to please Donny. Thanks for your help. Talk to you later." I said and hung up.
Lester and the guys were just looking at me with questioning looks. I smiled at them and went to work putting my plan in motion. I had everything that I needed on my hard drive. Getting the email ready I saw Lester trying to sneak looks at my computer, after several failed attempts got tired of hiding my screen and I threw a book at his head and hit him square in the head and then he finally gave up. The guy was incorrigible.
"So what are you up to Beautiful?" Lester asked from across the room, probably thinking he was at a safe distance.
"Something highly explosive." I said with a smile, never looking up at him.
"Uh oh. I don't think that I like the sound of that." He replied.
"No worries Les, it won't be directed at you. But, you guys can help me. I'd like you to email as many people in Trenton as you know, outside of Rangeman of course, and make and announcement that a special event will be taking place just outside of Pino's and everyone is invited to attend. Time of the event will start as of ten am so to get a good spot they should plan on arriving at say nine or nine thirty am." I explained.
"Sure thing Steph. Anything else?" Hawk smiled.
"Tell them to pass the word to anyone they know and that it's free to attend." I smirked.
"Oh I can't wait to see what you have planned." Bones laughed. I smiled at him and went back to work. Getting the email sent off to Donny in the time I specified. A few minutes later Donny emailed me back with, 'oh boy, this should be interesting' which only made me smile that much bigger.
XXXXXX
Before we got on the plane to return to Trenton I finally got the hysterical phone call I was expecting from Val.
"Steph, oh my god. Their trying to take my children from me! How can they do this? What are they thinking? I'm a good mother, I put my children first. How can they think that taking my girls from me is going to help them? I can't lose my girls Steph." Val screamed on the other end of the phone in tears.
"Val," I tried to calmly interrupt her.
"Their saying that I pulled them out of school because of my association with you, that your corrupting my girls, that I'm putting them in danger by involving you in their lives. How can they do this? We always take precautions when you see the girls." Val cried.
"Val," I tried again to sooth her, but she kept on going.
"That bitch thinks she can steel my children and turn them against you. Did you know that? She thinks that she can train them to be perfect 'burg girls, and wear them down so they can be just like her. Steph, I don't want that for my girls. I won't let that happen. It would kill them to lose you Steph." Val cried some more and I could hear the sobs over the phone, it really broke my heart to hear her fear.
"Valerie, you need to calm down." I said and I heard her trying to take a deep breath. "I already knew about this, but I need to know how you found out? I've taken care of this so you don't need to worry about it, but I still need to hear how you heard." I explained.
Val sniffed a few times before she could answer. "Mom." was all she could get out.
"Did she call you? Or did you call her?" I asked.
More sniffing on the other end. "I called her," a pause with several sniffs, "just to let her know," another pause along with several short breaths, "that we were," Several sniffs, "okay since it," several more short intakes of breath, "had been a while." She replied. I heard a few hiccups after her response and several more sniffs.
"Val, I've taken care of everything. There will be no way that they can take your kids from you. You know I would never allow her to, so you can calm down. I didn't want to say anything and worry you, but it's been denied by the courts and after tomorrow there will be no way for them to attempt this in the future, trust me." I said calmly with a smile on my face.
I heard a few deep breaths, "What did you do to make sure? I can't lose my kids Steph, and especially not to her. They wouldn't be able to be kids anymore. She would probably brainwash them or something. They need to be able to be children." She started to sniff louder and I could hear her voice becoming less calm.
"Val, take deep breaths. I won't let that happen, I love those girls so much, I would never let them go through what we went through as kids. They are safe and with you, remember that okay? I need to get on the plane so I can get back there. I have to go. Enjoy your day with them, I'll see you in a few days Val and I'll let you know what happened then, okay?" I said calmly.
"Okay." She said hesitantly. "I'll see you in a few days Steph." There was a pause and then more sniffing. "Thanks."
"Anytime Val, anytime. Tell the girls I love them and I'll see them soon. Bye." I said and closed the phone.
I took a few deep cleansing breaths, closed my eyes and once I was calmer I walked onto the plane. "Everything okay?" asked Bones.
"Yeah, that was Val if you couldn't guess. She talked with Helen and was told about their attempt to take the girls from Val and Albert. She was completely hysterical, though I can't say that I blame her." I explained.
"Well, at least she won't have to worry about it now. You're a good sister Steph." Hawk replied giving my shoulders a squeeze.
"Val and I didn't always get along growing up, but we have a better understanding of each other now. Plus I would do anything for my nieces." I said with a smile.
"You're great with them too." said a smiling Lester.
"They are getting really good with their riding lessons. I'm so proud of them. They love being out at the safe house too. I honestly think they are going to hate going home when the time comes." We all laughed at that.
All of us took our seats and got ready for take off. Once we were in the air I made some phone calls and let everyone know when we would be back. The Merry Men were all excited to see what I had come up with and had done as I requested. The word had traveled around the 'burg like wild fire. From what I heard there was lots of speculation as to what the special event was going to entail. Some thought it was a family party, others thought it was a surprise concert, and still others thought this was going to include free food. Oh well, I guess that they would all be surprised. Now on to the fun part, I thought as I smiled inwardly thinking of the havoc that would start tomorrow. Let's see how the Plums like it when others play dirty, god knows they've both rolled in enough dirt and filth to be worthy of any garbage man. As of tomorrow it was 'Game on.'
XXXXXX
Sorry it took so long for the next update. Things have been crazy lately at home. Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter. I was a bit disappointed at the review response, but hey at least I'm having fun writting it. Let me know what you think. More to come soon.
