****AN: Standard Disclaimer – Don't own it and not making any money. My greatest thanks to my Beta, Angie who is always there to red mark all my horrendous errors. Thanks girl – without your eyes, this would be crap. Thanks to all the readers who have kept up with this story and have taken the time and effort to send me such great reviews and support.
"She left a note. She mentioned going back to the beginning. Meet me at the diner in ten minutes with Woody, Lester and Bobby." He snapped his phone shut and headed towards the garage. He was going to find his wife today and tell her he loved her. It was Valentine's Day and he wanted to spend it with his love. She held his heart, and right now, she had a death grip on it.
"After the Darkness"
Chapter Twelve
"Running Around in Circles"
Ranger stepped out of the Bronco and saw that his men were already there. He knew that this was the first place that he'd met Stephanie. For him, that meant this was where it all began. He'd had Woody pull up her GPS unit, and nothing. He couldn't imagine that she'd disabled the unitknowing that they had somebody after them. Maybe it had malfunctioned and that was why they couldn't get a bead on the location of her car.
When he stepped into the diner, he waved off the waitress. He hadn't eaten anything, and knew that his stomach wouldn't be able to handle anything. Not knowing the whereabouts of his Babe was doing a number on his stomach. And that didn't even begin to touch how his heart was feeling. It felt as if he'd been given a double shot from a defibrillator.
He slid into the booth, where they'd first met, noticing that Lester was missing. "Where's Lester?"
Tank spoke, "He just got off a double. I imagine he's turned off his phone and is down for the count for at least for the next eight hours."
Ranger sighed, just great, he thought. If anybody knew where his Babe was, it was probably Lester. Those two were thick as thieves. He wanted to begrudge the relationship, but was relieved that Stephanie had someone like Lester to look out for her. He'd thought, maybe, just maybe, she'd be here. Stupid, he thought now. What about her old apartment? That was where he first found her locked to the shower rod and where they'd first been intimate together.
"Let's roll. Woody and I are going to check out her old apartment. I want you to go over to Lester's and get his ass up. Find out if he has any clue as to where my wife has gone. Woody and I will check out the bonds office, talk to Lula and Connie, too. I don't really want to have to alert her parents, but will if we don't know something in the next two hours."
An hour and one illegal entry later, and they still had nothing. They'd found no evidence that she'd been in the old apartment. He tried her phone again for the millionth time. Why the hell wasn't she answering her damn phone? Woody drove to the bonds office and they both exited the vehicle. He knew he'd have to play this cool. He didn't want Lula and Connie to know that Stephanie was missing.
He stepped in and pulled off his shades. "Ladies." They both gawked as they always did when he arrived in the office..
"Connie, you got any files for RangeMan?" Cool. Just act like today was a normal day. They'd spill if they knew anything. Lula was the first to crack.
"Where you been keepin' my girl? We ain't seen hide nor hair of her since you two came back from your honeymoon. She calls, so I know she's feeling better. But how come she don't come by?"
Well, guess he had his answer. "She's still tired a lot. I'm sure she'll be by sometime next week." God, he hoped she was back where she belonged and running around wild with her partner in crime, Lula. He had an image of finding the two of them behind the scene of a burning building. If he wasn't so frustrated and worried about her, he would've smiled at the memory of him cuffing her to the sissy bar in his truck. He could remember her words.
"You're so cute... you're so quiet...Quiet, quiet, quiet... are you going to have your way with me now that you have me handcuffed?"
He remembered thinking she was so damn cute that he wanted to eat her whole. Damn, and then he remembered that he'd been a gentleman and made her sober up, which lost his chance, just like he'd lost his chance last night to tell her that he loved her. Shit, what was it about him that he always seemed to be screwing things up with her? If…,no, when he caught up with her, he was going to set things straight and she wasn't ever going to doubt his love for her again.
Where the hell would she go? He thought of Point Pleasant as he sat in the truck and Woody drove around Trenton in hopes of spotting her car. No, she wouldn't go to Point Pleasant because they had no memories there. Did they? Shit, he didn't know and he couldn't ask Woody. The only people that knew about his memory loss were Tank, Lester and Bobby. He wanted to scream with frustration. Not only was his Babe missing, but he'd yet to fully find all his memories. They were there, just at the fringes, but still out of reach.
His cell phone rang and he snapped it open on the first ring. "Talk."
"Boss." It was Hal. He frowned. He'd forgotten all about sending him and Bobby to Colorado. He hoped they had good news.
"Tell me something good, Hal. It's been a shitty of day."
"Sorry, Boss, afraid not. There's a warm body here, but it ain't Sullivan. It's a good lookalike. I don't know how the hell he managed it, but this guy's been here for a while. We've got him in interrogation and we'll find out what we can, but I thought you'd want to know that Sullivan's on the loose."
"You thought right. Fuck, Hal, this day just keeps getting shittier and shittier. Stephanie took off this morning and I don't know where she is."
"Oh shit, Boss, I'm sorry. We'll get what we can from here, but I also thought you'd want to know that I have another gut feeling."
Well, hell, just bombard me with one cluster fuck after another. "Go ahead."
"I've been mulling it over and I think Sullivan's had help from the start." Hal waited a minute, before continuing, "Inside help."
Ranger's voice was icy when he responded, "Want to run that by me again?"
Hal sighed, "Listen, I know we don't have any proof to back this up, but it makes sense. How the hell did Sullivan know that you and Stephanie would be returning that day and that your vehicle would be waiting at the airport? I think we need to start looking at an inside source."
"I'll get Tank on that. I've got my hands full here. You and Bobby breathe hard and heavy on the lookalike. I want answers, and I want them yesterday."
"Got it, Boss. I'm out."
Woody slid Ranger a look. "Doesn't sound like good news."
Ranger just shook his throbbing head. They pulled to a stop at a red light and saw Tank pulling behind them. Woody saw the signaling headlights and pulled to the curb. Tank's large frame slid into the back seat.
"Sorry, Ranger. Lester must have had a booty call. I haven't been able to get in touch with him and he's not answering his phone."
Would the shit ever stop? Tank interrupted his internal monologue. "Woody man, turn that country shit off. It makes my innards curl."
As Woody was about to reach and turn off the background noise, that Ranger had tuned out, he realized what was playing.
"How the hell could I be so stupid?"
"What is it, Boss?"
Ranger grinned for the first time today. "It's 'Back to Tennessee'. That's where the hell she's gone, back to the beginning. She's gone to where she feels we began for real. Where we decided to get married."
Tank's phone rang and he answered with his standard 'Yo'. "Lester, thank God. Do you know where Stephanie is?" He asked, even though he felt sure that Ranger was right. As he listened to Lester's tale of helping Stephanie plan a trip to the cabin for Valentine's Day, Ranger was already calling Simon.
Both men cut their connections at the same time and grinned at each other.
"Well, men, looks like I'm going back to Tennessee. Tank get me on a red eye to Memphis. I want you here looking for an inside source that could be helping Sullivan. Call Hal and Bobby and get an update and when you know something, call me. I'm going to get my woman."
He didn't have time before the flight to go back to the house and get his Valentine's present, which he'd gotten for Stephanie. However, he knew something he could pick up on the way to their cabin, that would mean a great deal more to her. The heart charm bracelet that lay in the bottom of his underwear drawer could wait until they got home. There was something far more personal that he wanted to give her today.
Several bumpy hours later, Ranger stepped off the small plane into the sticky, wet cold of Memphis. He'd never understand how it could actually be warmer in the South, but feel much colder. The locals said it was the humidity in the air that made the cold stick to you and sink into your bones. Whatever it was, he pulled his coat tighter to combat the chill that was seeping through his clothes.
It would take him an hour and a half to get to his Babe. But first, he had a very special stop to make. She was sure to have checked her messages by now, and knew that he was coming for her. What she didn't know was that he'd remembered most of it. There were sketches of his memory that still remained hidden, but for the most part, he remembered what was important. Stephanie, and their love.
Stephanie walked through the door to the cabin and plunked down her overnight bag. Immediately, she made for the couch. She was so tired that all she wanted to do was stretch out on the couch and sleep for a week. As soon as she'd walked in through the doors, she knew she;d made a mistake. This wasn't where hers and Ranger's love existed. This was just a place. There love was something that couldn't be beaten down by a little problem such as memory loss.
As she replayed the night before, she saw things now that she hadn't in the light of morning. The expressions on Ranger's face. Crappity crap. How had she missed them? They were as they'd been before the explosion. Complete love and adoration had shown on his face, in his eyes. Her mind whirled as she realized what a dufus she'd been to come here alone, without him.
She rose to retrieve her phone from her purse. Of course, it was dead as a door nail. Digging through her overnight bag, she realized she'd made another terrible mistake. She'd left the friggin' charger at home. She thought of Ranger. He must be going crazy with worry. She'd wondered why he hadn't called her and demanded to know her whereabouts and now she had her answer.
Way to go, Stephanie. She decided that she was too tired to deal with this right now. Stretching out on the couch, she laid down to berate herself. It didn't take more than lying horizontal for her to conk right out.
Several hours later, Stephanie woke to a snarling stomach and a slight headache. She'd picked up some snacks on the way in and went to get them from her purse. That's when she felt it, something wasn't right. Taking a bite from her Snickers bar, she roamed around the cabin. It didn't take long to figure out that somebody had been in the cabin since she and Ranger had last been here.
Several items that she knew had been specifically place were rearranged. A picture, a vase and the wooden replica of a houseboat being moved wouldn't normally have caught her attention. But, she knew that nobody had used this place since she and Ranger had come down to set up the security.
Since the accident, she hadn't really put her full effort into figuring out who had planted that bomb in her and Ranger's car. However, now that she was here, in their cabin, her mind couldn't help but think about the possibilities. The first name that came to her mind was Sullivan. Maybe it was just being back in the cabin. Or maybe, she'd thought it all along. Her Spidey Sense tingled, and she knew she had to be right.
Immediately, she went to her bag and retrieved her weapons. Armed, she felt slightly better. As she walked around the perimeter of the living room, another thought came to her mind. If it was Sullivan, how the hell did he know that they'd be returning that day? It was definitely something to think about. Help. He had freaking help, probably had help all along. And that left only one possibility. Sullivan had an inside man at RangeMan.
Too keyed up to sit, she continued to pace the living room. But, who? She went through the day that she and Ranger had returned. Tank, Lester, Bobby and Hal had each called at some point during their return trip. She was sure that other RangeMan employees knew of their return. But, who, dammit?
She couldn't believe she'd been so caught up in her own family drama that she hadn't thought of this before. She knew she was right, she could feel it. Somebody, inside RangeMan, had helped Sullivan, and was still helping him or was he working on his own now. Trying to think through conversations and get a bead on vibes from the past wasn't usually her strong suit. She usually worked best in the moment. It had to be somebody that'd been hired recently. That left only two people, Connor and Burcham.
In her mind, she walked through conversations with those two men. Connor was a baby-faced new recruit that had a body to die for. She'd say that he was as innocent as a new born babe. Her intuition was telling her that this was more than a feeling. It was dead center. That left Burcham.
D-man, as the guys called him, wasn't the standard RangeMan. He had a squat build and a round face. If the RangeMan physical regime wasn't so intense, she'd have to say that he would be a rolly polly. She tried to think of any contact she'd had with the man, but failed to find a single time that she'd actually talked to him. That was puzzling; she usually made a point to get to know all of the Rangemen.
Maybe, she was making something out of nothing. But now that she thought about it, it seemed as though the man avoided her. Her radar was blaring, 'Alert, alert.' She had to get back to Trenton or at the very least to a phone and call Ranger. He'd want to know what she's thinking.
In the distance, she heard the toll of a barge and was drawn to look out the balcony. She knew she should be high-tailing it out of there, but the call of the river was too strong. She grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch. It wouldn't hurt to go sit on the deck for just a little bit. After all, she'd come all this way to walk down memory lane. The least she could do is give those memories a few minutes of her time. Then she was going back to her man and never leaving his side again.