All recognizable characters belong to Janet Evanovich. Completely Babe. Rated M for mature content, adult situations and language. Places, names and procedures have been altered to fit the story. All mistakes are mine. My deepest thanks to everyone who has read this story and those who have taken the time to review as guests.
Sometime long after Pennsylvania disappeared into the night behind them, Steph succumbed to the lethal combination of Ranger's steady heartbeat under her fingers and the warm weight of his hand resting on hers. She slid into the soft darkness of sleep, the rumble of the Merry Men's quiet voices following her down. She floated there, perfectly content, until electricity spun across every nerve ending she possessed, jerking her awake; Ranger brushed his fingertips across her skin again and Steph's heart crawled into her throat and clogged her breathing in a cloud of physical need.
Well aware she was awake, Ranger hesitated for a moment, then ran a finger across the tendons on the back of her hand, light enough that the instinctive shiver ran up her arm and across her spine like a wash of cold, cold water. As he started the return trip, Steph pushed herself upright, intent on reclaiming her hand before he got even more creative. Something in her back twinged, and all she had time for was a split-second oh shit before her back lit up in a massive cramp. Pain shot through her hips and into her legs, erupting into her brain and setting off fireworks that had nothing to do with her hormones.
An involuntary whimper escaped her and Steph collapsed back onto the pillow she'd held on her knees, tears of sheer agony leaking out of her tightly shut eyes. Ignoring the babble of voices around her, Steph turned her face into the pristine white pillow cover and simply cried.
Bobby's hand touched her upper back, sending waves of crippling pain through her shoulders and into her arms. "Steph, what's wrong?"
She didn't answer, and couldn't have found the brain power to string together words anyways. Then someone picked her up carefully, muscular arms cradling her next to a firm chest that didn't belong to Ranger. As Steph struggled to draw air into starving lungs, she was lowered carefully onto the soft cushion of the back seats. Steph turned on her side, curling her legs into her chest as she sought a position that would ease the pain.
Something pressed against her lower back and Steph flinched hard. The weight moved with her, staying in place no matter how she tried to escape it.
Then she felt it. Warmth. Blessed heat seeped into the hard, knotted, spasming muscles of her lower back, spreading in all directions until the pain eased enough that she could once again feel her legs. Steph blinked to clear her blurry eyes and found herself surrounded by the Merry Men standing entirely too close in the small space at the back of the jet.
"I'm okay," she croaked out, her voice scratchy from sleep and the unpleasant wake up call. "It was just a cramp."
Men who stood fast in the face of gunfire and gas explosions and faced down gangbangers and international cartels with equal courage paled at the last word. Hal swayed and abruptly sat down in the nearest chair, his fair complexion going ghostly white.
"In my back. Yeesh."
Bobby crouched next to her, keeping the chemical heat packs in place. He wasn't fazed by the thought of female cramps, but he was also a veteran of more than a few rotations through the St. Francis OB/GYN during full moons, summer holidays and winter storms.
"How does it feel now?" he asked, shifting the packs a little. "I shouldn't have let you sleep that long slumped over. But every time I roused you for a concussion check you went right back to sleep afterwards."
"I've slept in worse places," Steph said, cautiously straightening her legs and rolling her shoulders to encourage the muscles to release. There was only a little protest from her back, so she arched her spine, coaxing it to loosen even more. Her breathing deepened and relaxed, and Steph carefully used her elbow and hands to roll upright.
"Let me—"
Bobby juggled the packs as he tried to help her at the same time, but Steph stopped him with a shake of her head. "No, I've got this. It's better."
He watched her balance for a moment, then glanced at the men still surrounding them. The Merry Men took the hint and backed away, gathering up gear and heading for forward hatch en masse. It was then that Steph realized the engines were silent and the hatch wide open, letting in daylight and decidedly colder air.
"Where are we?"
Bobby rested his forearm on one knee, weariness in every line of his posture now that the immediate emergency was over. "Manitoba, Canada. It's an airbase we've worked out of before on some of our missions. The ambulance should be here shortly for both of you."
Her eyes went to the stretcher. At some point in the flight while she slept, the head had been elevated so Ranger was half-sitting. To her eyes he looked just as exhausted as Bobby, but he was outwardly alert, his eyes dark and unreadable and his mouth set in a grim line.
"And this ambulance is going where?" Steph asked, easing towards the edge of the seat as she worked up the courage to try the whole standing thing. If it didn't work, then she'd already decided one of the Merry Men could carry her to the ambulance, pride be damned.
Bobby rested a hand on a seat for a moment before pushing himself to his feet. "You'll be going to the medical center. It has an excellent lab and radiology unit. While we're there, the jet will refuel and take off back to the States. Our next ride will be on a military transport."
"It's not too late to change your mind," said Ranger suddenly. "Lester can have a private flight chartered to take you to warmer climates by the time your labs are done. Blue sky, warm sand, room service."
Steph wrapped her hand around Bobby's proffered forearm and pulled herself to a wobbly stand. "You almost had me at room service, Ranger. Too bad your suave and charming self forgot the most important thing needed to change my mind."
His obvious puzzlement almost dredged a laugh out of her. Steph didn't often see baffled Ranger, and she had to admit it was a sight she wouldn't mind seeing more often, especially if she was the one putting that expression on his face.
Slowly, Steph inched across the carpeted floor to the chair closest to him. Sinking into the cushion, she waited for a moment to see if her back would throw another tantrum. It declined to tie itself into knots again and Steph exhaled in relief.
"What am I missing, Babe?"
"You," she said without hesitation. "None of it matters if I know you're somewhere else hurt and in danger."
His expression softened and he held out his left hand. Steph reached for it, then stopped and grimaced as the muscles in her back protested. She paused, waiting for it to loosen, then gritted her teeth and took his hand without regard for the pain.
"Stop wondering if I want to be anywhere else," she said. "I don't. This is where I want to be, right next to you."
Ranger brought her hand to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss on her knuckles. "You're impressing me, Babe. It's scary."
"Yeah, well, I've figured out a few things these last few days." Steph rolled her eyes, mostly at the thought of how much adrenaline she'd manage to burn through just from sheer terror. It was a wonder she'd had time to do anything else. "I know what's right and what isn't, and I'm strong enough to do what's right when it needs to be done. Staying with you is so right that I don't even want to hear someone tell me all the reasons why I should leave."
His smile grew until it was a dazzling one hundred watts. "I'd say I was proud of you, but I didn't have anything to do with this. It's all you, Babe, and you're simply amazing."
Her first instinct, drilled hard into her from an upbringing in the Burg, was to duck her head and hide from that kind of praise. But with Ranger looking into her eyes with a steady gaze that drove deep into the center of her soul, Steph gathered up her courage and decided to take her own advice.
Do what's right.
"I couldn't have survived without the guys," she said. Bobby made in indistinct movement from his spot, but Steph shook her head. He could argue all he wanted to, but she wouldn't back down on this one, either. "You and Tank and Bobby and Lester, the rest of the guys—you've built RangeMan into a formidable force with talented and skilled men on your team. I wouldn't be surprised if more people want to hire RangeMan after they see what everyone has accomplished these last few days."
"Oh, please, God. No." Bobby sat down in the nearest seat faster than Hal had. "I'll go stark raving mad if I have to keep doing this shit over and over."
"Ranger will have to hire you more staff," said Steph, her smile turning mischievous. "Maybe Kallie from the trauma center is looking for a change. I'm sure Ram would love that."
"Ram would love for you ladies to quit chatting over tea cakes and finger sandwiches and get moving," said the man himself from the hatchway of the jet. "Ambulance is here and they'd like to get everyone loaded."
Bobby lurched to his feet. "That's my cue. Bomber, you're up first. Hector, Ram and Woody will ride with you. The rest of us will follow."
"Promise?" Steph asked, not quite sure if she liked the idea of being separated from Ranger again so soon. "Promise me that we'll all leave this base together?"
"Promise, sweetie," said Bobby, and with that she had to be content.
"Okay, then. What are the contingency plans if these cartels have people in position already?"
Even as she said it, Steph was hoping that wouldn't be the case. Surely even international cartels and smuggling rings wouldn't have enough manpower or funds to have people in place this far out of their normal area of operation. For the first time in days, she actually let herself believe they finally had time to catch their collective breaths before the next phase.
"Better hope we don't have to go there," said Ranger. "At this point it would involve outside bathrooms and no running water."
Her mind flashed back to the first time Ranger tried to get her to a safe house in Maine. While she hoped that particular one had since been upgraded in the intervening years, the memory and the dire possibilities were enough to get her moving again.
"Yeah, sharing the brush with something more dangerous than a New Jersey pervert is not going to work for me," she said. "I need at least the promise of modern conveniences And no barks or twigs."
Bobby steadied her as she swayed. "Easy does it, Bomber. After all you've been through, it's going to take some time to get your body to behave."
"Yeah, I have that song and dance memorized." Steph breathed deeply through her nose, concentrating on pulling her balance back into line. Satisfied that she was as good as it was going to get, Steph turned towards the open hatchway and the ever-patient Ram, only to be yanked backwards by her still-captive left hand.
Not for the first time, she wished she could do the one eyebrow thing, because Ranger definitely deserved it. He held tightly to her hand, amusement dancing in his dark eyes as he watched her. The amusement changed swiftly to something else when Steph rested her hip against the stretcher and leaned in close.
"Ricardo Carlos Manoso," she said, fighting back a grin as that something in his gaze flared hotter. "Are you being difficult?"
Ranger dropped his eyes to her mouth, and a muscle at the corner of his lips twitched. "Yes. Is it working?"
Steph kept her breathing even. Whenever Ranger challenged her like this, her first impulse was to run. Or faint. Or wet her pants. But that had been before, and Steph wanted to do something different, something that would take her to the future she wanted to live.
If your back is against the wall, push back. Ram's words echoed in her brain.
"Maybe you're right," she whispered, not sure if she was talking to herself or to Ranger. "Maybe there are times when thinking is overrated."
His lips parted as she moved tantalizingly close to him, close enough that she could feel his breath quicken. Then just as his dark lashes swept across his cheek in a slow blink, Steph dipped her head down and took his soft, talented mouth.
At full strength, Ranger would have taken control of the kiss immediately, turning her until she ran into something solid and then plundering her mouth until her knees gave out. But he wasn't close to full strength, and so Steph took the reins and poured every bit of hope, fear, love and a smidgen of lust into the single point of contact, intent on blowing his concentration out of the water.
All while staying fully clothed, since they still had an audience.
It was hard to stay on task, because even a weakened Ranger was still a formidable opponent. His tongue tangled with hers, drawing it further into his mouth as his fingers flexed around her hand. Steph broke the kiss, teasing him with the space between their lips, then slid back in, touching and tasting him until his heart monitors were going nuts and his chest heaved from the exertion.
A finger tapped her firmly on the shoulder, and Steph pulled away. Her left hand came off the stretcher as she took her now-free right hand well out of Ranger's reach. Her smile was back, impish and perverse, and Steph let Ranger see it before switching her attention to Ram, who had turned to stare outside the jet with rapt interest.
"Ready to go?" she asked brightly. Something that might have been a groan rose from the stretcher beside her, and the little imp of the perverse took over. The faint smile became a full-out grin when she met Ranger's dark gaze and knew that her kiss had achieved its objective.
"That was only the first part," she said, and he rolled his eyes toward the ceiling as if beseeching somebody for more strength. "The second part will have to wait until we're at the safe house, and only if you behave yourself and do what Bobby tells you to."
Ram wordlessly handed her the hoodie from Eirene's salon as she swept out the door. As she shrugged into it, Steph hobbled down the steps, well aware that it was a lot easier to negotiate them when the jet in question wasn't moving. Her ankle still hurt from being dragged under the stairs, and her hip and leg ached, but she was upright and that was a good thing.
Her foot settled onto Canadian soil and Steph took in the bustle around this part of the airfield. They were in the shadow of a huge hangar that blocked her view of everything but part of a very distant runway. The sound of multiple jet and heavy engines rumbled through the air, and she could smell fuel and oil and a thousand other different smells that she couldn't sort through.
An EMS medic leaned against the hood of the ambulance parked near the tail of the jet. She straightened as Steph reached the ground and jogged over to them.
"You the first patient?" she asked.
Steph traded a look with Ram, who seemed to have appointed himself her current shadow. "I guess I am. Bobby said he wanted a CT—"
"Got that in the orders," said the medic. "If you'll wait right here, we'll get the gurney over and—"
"I can walk," said Steph at the same time as Ram said "We'll wait."
The looks traded this time were not as friendly, at least not on Steph's part, but before she could correct the Merry Man, the woman was next to her, wrapping a gloved hand around her arm and guiding her towards the bottom step of the jet.
"Ma'am, if you would sit—"
Steph shook off her hand. "I can walk. Ram, get the rest of the guys so we can get going. The less time it takes, the faster we'll be in the air again."
"Ma'am…"
She staggered to her feet and started walking, not listening any more and certainly not willing to stop. Now that she was farther away from Ranger, she was more aware than ever that she wasn't comfortable with the distance. The sooner she had him back in her sight, the calmer she would be.
Ram caught up with her and just as Hector and Woody jogged around the tail of the jet. The former gang member was still wearing a splint on his wrist, and she felt a pang at the thought of how much she had damaged the Merry Men already.
And we haven't even reached the safe house yet.
Ram opened the back door of the ambulance and offered Steph a hand as she scrambled inside, ever mindful of the touchy back muscles as well as her other injuries. Turning sideways to avoid the empty stretcher, Steph plopped down on the bench seat, sliding down to make room for everybody else who would have to fit in the small space. To her surprise, Woody was the only one who crowded in behind Ram and the medic; she glanced through the window to the front cab and saw Hector slide into the passenger seat, his gaze fixed directly on the young, brown-haired medic driving.
The man gulped and put a shaking hand on the gear shift. His partner thumped the partition and he flinched before putting the vehicle into reverse and backing carefully away from the jet.
Steph saw the grey shape of the aircraft in the back window as they drove away and stilled the quiver in the pit of her stomach when she also noticed the darker streaks along the underside of the fuselage from the explosion of the truck and the two cars. Another ambulance was already pulling in, no doubt for Ranger, but it was soon hidden from sight as their driver accelerated and turned the corner.
The ambulance sped past rows of planes, both large cargo transports with immense propellers and smaller fighters. Steph didn't have a chance to see them other than a glimpse; as soon as they were moving at a steady pace the medic swung into action, asking questions and running the same field diagnostic tests that Bobby had run on that first helicopter ride. The ambulance turned off the flight line and wove through broad streets, dodging other vehicles and pedestrians with the ease of a true master at the wheel.
While the medic worked on Steph and jotted notes on a clipboard, Ram and Woody sat on either side of the door, watching everything both inside the ambulance and outside. Neither man said anything, preferring to communicate using that superhero ESP channel that Steph had yet to tap into.
Or get the key code for.
Something buzzed in her pocket, making her jump, and the medic glanced at her curiously. Steph dug into the hoodie pocket and pulled out Ranger's phone, bemused for a moment as to why it was still in her possession and not returned to the man it belonged to. Then she read the message on the screen and the light bulb of personal enlightenment flashed on.
Because I like the thought of you carrying my phone close to one of my favorite parts of your body.
Her face went hot and Steph fumbled putting the phone away, nearly bouncing it off the stretcher and the floor in her haste to conceal that particular message that had been sent from Bobby's phone number but no doubt had not been sent with the RangeMan medic's knowledge.
The phone buzzed again and Steph dropped her chin to her chest. Starting a battle of wills with Ranger never turned out well for her. He loved the challenge and would home in on the goal with the intensity of a born predator. And right now, he was evidently of the opinion that she was the prey. And this time, it really was her fault.
With a long-suffering sigh, Steph brought the phone out and read the little message bubble that appeared below the first.
And if my hands can't be the ones heating you up, I'll settle for my phone doing it instead.
"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to put your phone away." The medic didn't quite scowl at her, but her expression edged very close to thunderous.
Steph slid the phone back into her pocket, where it proceeded to buzz at irregular intervals as Ranger no doubt amused himself with trying to make her blush in front of completely strangers. If Joe tried the same thing, no doubt Steph would have accused him of being a macho Italian asshole. With Ranger, she couldn't help but remember the times he hadn't been a macho Cuban asshole. There were so many time that he could have pulled back and made her feel inferior without even trying. Hell, he could do that just by breathing, but instead he focused on her and engaged in play like this as if she were an equal.
Even if she would never be his equal except in her dreams.
The medic noted the numbers for her pulse and oxygen saturation on a clipboard. Then she checked over Steph's skull with fingers that were firm but surprisingly gentle. As she scribbled some more, Steph shot a glance at Ram and Woody, not quite believing they'd been on the ground this long and nothing had exploded and no one was shooting at them.
"It's early," said Ram, noticing her look. "We're not out of the woods yet."
"Don't jinx us," Steph said, and Woody laughed softly at her irritated tone. The ambulance turned hard right, then swung left, and Steph tensed, thinking that the universe wasn't going to wait to screw with them again. But then a shadow passed over the windows and they pulled inside a garage, and the engine shut off.
The back doors opened quickly and Woody's hand dropped reflexively towards his gun. But the only ones standing outside in the garage bay were two nurses from the ER unit, and they readily fell back, giving Steph and the others room to climb out.
Woody and Ram went first, their hands staying close to their weapons. The medic was next, then all three turned and looked directly at Steph.
She froze for a moment, suddenly self-conscious. That translated into not watching her feet and she caught her foot on the stretcher, pitching forward in a trajectory that would end in a face plant on the concrete floor. Fortunately Ram was still faster than her bad luck, and he caught her easily, swinging her around to touch lightly onto the hard surface.
"Thanks," she said, holding onto his arm. "That was close."
"We aim to please," he said, just as Ranger's phone buzzed again.
She didn't fish it out to look at the screen. The Canadian equivalent of an orderly pushed a wheelchair in front of her, and she didn't even argue this time. As she was wheeled forward at a good clip, Steph slipped her hand inside the pocket holding the overactive piece of electronics and touched the smooth screen. It buzzed under her fingers again, sending a shiver through her, and Steph promised herself that she would find the time to answer Ranger.
Just you wait, Henry Higgins. See how you like dealing with innuendo and veiled suggestions in the middle of a procedure.
Her smile turned wicked. Oh, yeah. This was going to be more fun than she'd had in a long time, and Ranger Manoso was in no way guaranteed an easy win.
