PAYBACK

Chapter 14

Confused, tense and sweating, Ranger sat upright in his bed. Fighting through his emotional disorganization of his mind, Ranger searched to find the reason his stomach was knotted with fear. Stephanie.

Slamming his naked back down onto the mattress, he stared up into the darkness shrouding the ceiling. Somehow he knew she was with another man. The longer he stared, the surer he became. "Forgive me, Babe," he whispered into the dark.

Stephanie and Harrison remained focused on each other. Stephanie's intentness was reinforced by sheer stubbornness, Harrison's by frustration laced with desire long denied. "I told you to call your friend," Harrison growled, stepping back from the bed and adding distance between them. "We'll talk in the morning." Turning, he stormed out the bedroom door.

Stephanie heard the soft click of the lock being turned from the outside. Leaping off the bed, Stephanie ran to the bedroom door and tried to open it. "Unlock this door, you bastard!" she screamed, yanking hard on the doorknob. "I mean it!"

"Tomorrow, my little Night Warrior, tomorrow." Harrison's voice faded as he walked away.

"Damn it." She kicked at the door. Crossing to the window, she pulled back the curtain and jumped back at seeing her reflection in the darkened pane. Automatically reaching for the window latch, her hand hesitated when she realized that the windowpane was all one piece and that there was a code panel on the side of it. Well, shit. Sighing with defeat, Stephanie walked to the bed and picked up her phone.

Punching in the condo's number, she waited for Randy to answer the phone. "Hello?" His voice sounded guarded.

"It's me," Stephanie said and heard Randy's heavy sigh.

"What the hell's going on?" he asked. "Are you all right? Is Harrison really Mongrel?"

Stephanie couldn't help but smile. "Slow down." Sitting on the edge of the bed she told him the night's details. "Looks like I'm stuck here for the night. Not sure when I'll be released tomorrow, but you can bet I'm going to get as many of my questions answered before I leave. You have Harrison's address, so if I'm not home by tomorrow night, call the police."

"Take care of yourself and keep me posted," Randy added. "Call me if you need help."

"Thanks, my friend, get some sleep," Stephanie yawned suddenly.

"Sounds like you need to get some sleep, too," Randy said. "Night."

Fatigue was rapidly causing her movements to become sluggish and her arms to feel as if they were made of lead. Slowed by her lack of manual dexterity, Stephanie struggled with the zipper of her pants. Mindful of her bandages, she unhooked her bra carefully before slipping the soft silk nightshirt over her head and then padded off for the bathroom.

Finished with most of her nightly bathroom routine, Stephanie glanced at the full-length image of her body in the mirror. The nightshirt was beautiful and the fit was almost perfect. She ran her hand over the wrinkles that Harrison's strong fist had bruised into the silk. His haunted words echoed in her head, 'she's dead'. Stephanie knew the pain of those words. Turning the bathroom light off, she slowly reached the bed, crawled carefully under the covers and relaxed into the softness of the sheets in an instant.

Harrison sat slouched in the black leather chair behind his desk. Stretching his long legs out on the top of the desk, he crossed his ankles, trying to make himself as comfortable as possible. Shit, the house had six bedrooms, why in the hell was he trying to sleep in a chair? He knew why. All the bedrooms were on the second floor and any of them would be too damn close to her.

Ranger walked into his office and, using the soft glow of dawn as his light, he navigated the distance to his desk and sat heavily in his chair.

"She has that effect on a man," a raspy voice rose from the direction of the couch. Joes' silhouette came into view as he sat up in one easy fluid movement.

Angry that he hadn't noticed the other man before now, Ranger struggled to stay under control. "Yes, she does."

"Well, looks like it's going to be another long day," Joe said as he stood and stretched his lean body. "Guess I'll take a shower and grab some coffee." Silently he left the room.

Ranger wrapped himself in the room's silence as he thought back over the dream that had awakened him. Was this to be his payback for lying to the woman he loved? To always be haunted by her? Closing his eyes, he lowered his head into his hands, running his fingers through his hair. "Forgive me, Babe."

For the second day in a row, Bonnie knew the instant she entered the house that morning that something was different. She had been Harrison's housekeeper for the last six years and could tell just from the house's vibrations that something had changed since yesterday.

All of Harrison's cars were in the garage and the alarm was properly set. She still entered the kitchen with care and reached for the kitchen phone to carry with her as she checked the house. Cautiously checking each room, she made her way down the hall toward Harrison's office. Standing quietly outside the open door, she saw his long body twisted out between the chair and the desktop. Bonnie decided to continue her search up the stairs.

Making her way down the hall, glancing into each bedroom, nothing was amiss until she came to the master suite and found that the door was locked. Who was inside? Had Harrison brought a woman home with him? Walking away from the door backwards, Bonnie took refuge inside one of the other bedrooms and quickly punched in a familiar number into the phone. It was answered on the second ring.

"Good morning." The smoothness of his voice always caused her to shiver.

"General? It's Bonnie," Bonnie whispered into the phone.

The man on the other end of the call smiled. "Yes, Bonnie, how can I help you this morning?"

"He fell asleep in his office chair last night," Bonnie continued in a hushed tone.

Frowning now, the General asked, "Again? He hasn't done that for over a year, what caused his regression?" Without waiting for her answer, he asked another question, "Is he all right?"

"He appears to be all right, but the doors to the master suite are locked. I think there's a woman in there," Bonnie's words were rushed.

"Finally," the General smiled as he said the word.

"What?" Bonnie asked.

"Don't worry, Bonnie. I think he'll be okay," the man said. "Just pretend everything is normal, let him tell you what's going on. I think you'll get better answers out of him."

Bonnie pulled the phone away from her ear to look at it and then brought it back to her ear. "Sure. I'll keep you posted." Bonnie rolled her eyes and then disconnected the call. Damn, all these years she had thought the General was smart as well as handsome. Now she knew the truth. If he thought she'd get better answers by acting like nothing was different he was just plain stupid.

She'd get answers to her questions, but she'd do it her way. As she started down the stairs, she heard the door to the garage closing. Harrison was up. She knew he had heard her when she arrived, but for some reason, had chosen to pretend to be asleep. He'd be running for at least thirty minutes, just enough time for her to get things ready.

Bonnie saw the small pile of Harrison's clothes in the laundry room where he had changed before going out to run. Strange, he was always such a neat man. Frowning, she bent to pick them up. Bonnie had already decided that the occupant of the locked room was a woman and whoever she was, she was messing with Harrison's mind.

Tank looked at his friend and wondered how much rest he had gotten last night; from the look of him, none. Shit, maybe it was time for some more of Morelli's medicine.

"Ric, did you get any sleep last night?"

"Some," Ranger answered and continued reviewing some papers for RangeMan. Putting the papers down on the desk, Ranger looked at Tank and released a sigh. "I had a dream last night about Stephanie. I couldn't sleep afterwards."

"Want to talk about it?" Tank asked.

"No." The word was already out of Ranger's mouth before Tank had a chance to finish the question.

"Fine." Both men shifted their attention as Bobby entered the room.

Bobby looked at Ranger and then at Tank. Ranger looked like shit and Tank looked worried. Same old shit as yesterday. "I talked to Lester late last night." Bobby watched as both men eagerly waited for him to continue. "He talked to Mary Lou yesterday. She hasn't seen or heard from Steph, but the way she said something started Lester thinking."

"Didn't you question Mary Lou earlier?" Ranger asked hotly.

"We did, but didn't tell her that Stephanie was missing. She hasn't spoken to

Steph in over a week," Tank replied calmly. "What did Lester come up with?"

Bobby relayed the entire conversation almost verbatim, ending with "Lester thinks that Stephanie is planning on going after the guy who hired The Worm."

"Oh fuck," Joe said from the doorway.

Harrison came into the kitchen and found Bonnie hard at work. "Fresh clothes are in the cabaña bath, hurry up before breakfast gets cold and your guest gets impatient." She turned slightly to catch a glimpse of his expression. "Go on, get moving!" Like an obedient child, Harrison did what he was told. Bonnie smiled; men were so easy to deal with when they were confused.

The faint aroma of fresh coffee had Stephanie's nose emerging from under the covers. "Mmm," she flung the covers back and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Moving her upper body to follow her legs, Stephanie was reminded of the cuts on her back. "Crap!" Using a little more care than before, she stood and headed for the bathroom.

Harrison wasn't sure how Bonnie had gained the upper hand with breakfast, but he had to admit it was a better approach than the one he had; his plan was just to start demanding answers to his questions. Setting the breakfast-laden tray down, Harrison unlocked the door.

Stephanie was trying to bring her unruly locks under enough control so that she could see when she heard the bedroom door open. Furiously she pulled the bathroom door open, stomping into the bedroom ready to do battle and then stopped short. The second most gorgeous man she had ever seen was standing in front of her with a breakfast tray complete with a flower.

He watched her walk toward him. She was so damn beautiful with her long, lean, attractive legs and slim hips. Breasts swayed lushly under the silk, nipples softly peaked and her face was framed by a circlet of riotous curls.

The fierce determination she showed made her eyes all the bluer. All he could do was stand still, hold the tray and drink in the sight of her.

Clearing his throat, Harrison tried to speak, "How's your back?"

"Where are my clothes?" Stephanie asked.

Sighing, Harrison raised the tray up in front of her face, "Eat or Bonnie will kill me."

Stephanie's stomach growled loud enough to cause her to blush as she surveyed the wonderful morsels on the tray, so much for appearing mean. "Who's Bonnie?" Stephanie reached for a huge flaky croissant.

"She's my housekeeper. Nosey as hell," Harrison said with good humor. He set the tray down on a small table next to the boudoir chaise lounge. "Sit down and eat while we talk."

Feeling awkward, Stephanie sat on the chaise folding one leg underneath her, trying to reduce her feeling of exposure as he continued to gaze at her. Harrison poured them both a cup of coffee, taking his with him as he sat on the end of the bed.

"Why did Manoso send you here?" Harrison's voice became direct.

"I don't know anyone named Manoso," Stephanie whispered and looked down at the tray.

"Don't lie to me, Stephanie," Harrison's tone turned firmer.

Stephanie's head shot up, revealing her flashing eyes. "Don't call me a liar and I don't know anyone by that name."

"I watched the way you used your knife last night. I know one person who held a knife that way and that was Ric Manoso. Told me a three-fingered man had taught him how to use a knife when he was a little shit," Harrison saw the flash of pain in Stephanie's face each time he said Manoso's name. "Why? Why did he send you to me?" Harrison asked, but not as forceful this time.

She knew the man was speaking the truth, Ranger had told her that he was a small kid and about the three-fingered man. "He didn't," she answered. "Ric did his own fighting." She glowered a direct look into Harrison's eyes. "Are you Mongrel?"

"Did?"

"What?" Stephanie shook her head, not understanding.

"You said, he 'did' his own fighting."

"Ric was killed," again, pain flashed across her face. "Are you the man he called Mongrel?"

"Yes."

Great, another man with one word answers Stephanie mused. "I need your help."

"What makes you think I'd be willing to help you?" Harrison found it hard to keep his words even as he watched her stand and walk over to him; taking the empty coffee cup from his hand Stephanie set it on the small table.

Turning back in his direction, she stopped with her legs inside his knees. "Because it seems I have something you're very interested in."