Stephanie shivered and huddled against Ranger as they left the bar. He tried not to enjoy the way she leaned on him too much.
"You okay?" he asked, rubbing her arm.
"I'm fine. Are we going to see Jorge's brother?" she asked.
"Not we. I'll go see him. I don't want you to come in contact with him at all. As bad as Estaban is, he's a kitten compared to Julio. Julio and Jorge are from the same tree, figuratively and literally. " Ranger said.
"How do you know these people?" she asked as Ranger opened the vehicle door for her.
"Occupational hazard," he said simply. She watched as he gave the guy in the doorway the rest of the money promised. She'd always been so nervous around him but Stephanie noted now that he seemed like a truly nice guy. To have these kind of connections, that scared her. She couldn't imagine what sort of daily life Ranger had to lead to come in contact with pimps and killers. A shiver of excited dread rolled through in her body and she felt a moment of horror at how turned on it made her feel. But then, Ranger was so good looking. She'd felt his toned arms and chest when they were seated so closely and that sent a new kind of shiver through her. He slid into the driver's seat.
"What should I do?" Stephanie asked as Ranger pulled away from the curb. He inwardly groaned because that was a loaded question.
"I'll let you know as soon as I've spoken with Julio," he said instead of the answer he'd wanted to give. Stephanie nodded and stared into the darkness. Ranger glanced at her and then weighed his words before he spoke.
"This life, if this is what you want, these are the people you meet. It's always going to pay off to go in prepared. Gun. Maybe some training. I could help you." He said. She nodded.
"It's just been a little bit… different." She said, after a moment. "I may take you up on that help. As you know, I can't shoot and…." Her voice trailed off.
"You've had a bit of a shock? One of those times when maybe it would have been helpful to your confidence to know?" Ranger asked. Stephanie nodded, not taking offense. "It would be. Estaban lives in a different world than we do." Ranger said.
"Clearly," she said. She sat up straighter in the seat. "I'll be prepared next time. I'd like to speak with Julio." Ranger pulled over to the side of the road and turned in his seat to look at Stephanie.
"I don't want you to feel like I don't need you on this, Stephanie, because I do so I want you to know that this is going to be ugly. I'm willing to compromise but I need him to not see you. Agreed?" Ranger asked. Stephanie nodded wondering how Ranger would pull off her being there while not being there. He hit the Bluetooth in the SUV and a phone rang through the radio.
"Yo," a deep voice answered.
"Tank, its Ranger. I'm going to need some closed circuit cameras."
"Size?"
"You're going to wear it. We have an op. I need a witness on the outside." He glanced over at Stephanie. "How's Lester?" he asked. He smiled inwardly as she jumped forward in her seat and turned sharply to look at him, a horrified and angry look on her face.
"Bad shape but coherent." Tank said.
"Get him cleaned up, I'm bringing someone to talk to him." Ranger said. There was a long pause at the other end of the line.
"Cop?" Tank asked.
"Worse," Ranger promised.