Disclaimer: I love the Stephanie Plum series, but I don't own them and I don't make anything off of them.
Warning: Those that like the Cupcake ending will not be happy with this story. Not much physical harm comes to Morelli, but his ego definitely gets beaten to a pulp. Not sure if this is a HEA story at this point, but let me know if you have any suggestions. This is my first FanFiction attempt and I Promise to complete it. I am having a lot of fun with the story so far. Thank you in advance for reading and please let me know what you think.
Thank you to suedesigns101 for reading this ahead of time and giving me the encouragement I needed to get up the nerve to post the story. I truly appreciate it.
A big thank you to those who have reviewed my story as well and let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing what you think should happen next.
First half of the Columbia Job
(Tank's POV)
We exit the car in front of the restaurant where we are supposed to be picking up Escobar and I'm on edge. There are at least 20 men standing by the door that were looking our direction. My normal reaction was to grab my gun from my holster, but Steph shook me off. She approached the men with a smile and a wave and was enveloped into the crowd. We lost sight of her for a few minutes, but we could hear all of the laughter from her and the men. One even threw her up in the air before holding her and planting her in front of us with a big smile on his face. I recognized him from one of our previous missions down here and knew his reputation. I was amazed that he seemed to have such a good rapport with her; he had always been known to hate women and be a cold hearted bastard. With her, he was just like us; you could see the merriment in his eyes before he walked away. That's the true nature of my Little Girl, she was open and brought life back to those who thought there was nothing left for them. I was in awe of her yet again.
Here we go, I can't wait to see my Little Girl in action; I can't remember the last time that I was this excited about anything. We have been sitting outside the restaurant for the last hour and other than our arrival being announced no one has been interested in approaching us. As we sit here in the car we discuss her interaction with the men when we arrived. I still couldn't get over her comfort level with some of the meanest and most sadistic men I had ever been around. Sitting in the car Steph was relaxed but you could tell that she was aware of her surroundings. After about another thirty minutes our attention was caught by a shiny black sports car, Steph nodded her head that this was who we were expecting and we waited for him to exit his car. The man had come alone like Steph had said he would, not the smartest thing for a government official but if your on the take I guess you figure that there wouldn't be anyone after you, some people are over confident. The man was about half way across the parking lot when Steph signaled us to exit the car and she called to him.
"Jose, I need to talk to you before you go in for your meeting." Blaze called. He froze mid step and just stood there with his body rigid. You could tell her was trying to figure if he could make it to the door before we opened fire. "Don't do it Jose. You won't make it. Now keep your hands where they are and turn around before I shot you in the leg." This should be interesting.
"What do you want Blaze? I didn't know you were visiting us, to what do we own this great pleasure?" Escobar says in a sickly sweet voice as he turns around. The man was just too stupid for his own good. The color draining from his face as he sees the gun in her hand pointed at him.
"Well, let me think a second, there were several reasons I'm here to see you actually, and I bet you know each and every one of them don't you? How about the fact that you gave knowledge to take down a group of troops that were working with your government, and that they were also protected by me? Does that sound familiar?" She shoots him in the left knee and he screams like a girl. "How about that you tried to lure me down here to be eliminated? That you want to increase your income?" She shoots him in the right elbow as she approaches and he wails again at the impact. "Does that answer your question? Or do I need to go on?"
"You bitch. You don't know anything. You will die for this you know? You can't attack a government official and get away from it. The Columbian Government will see that you are executed." Before he can continue his rant through his tears she shoots him again in the shoulder. Damn this is hot. The guy has sweat beading on his forehead as he stares daggers at her.
"Who do you think sent me to get you Jose? Do you think that I act on impulse alone like you, you coward? You sent someone with information after men that were doing a job your government asked them to do. You gave out the information to a piss poor drug runner that couldn't shoot worth shit and he was so quick to give me the information on you that I was after your head would have turned. He was so willing to give up his manhood he basically threw it at me. Too bad you won't have another chance to take me out and give me more of a challenge. You are going to pay for everything that you have done." Blaze says to him in a cool collected control I have never seen from her.
"There is no way the government would send you after me. They need me too much to even think about getting rid of me. The US government has been paying me for years to keep things the way they were." spits Escobar. I don't think so jack ass, as least not as a whole they wouldn't. If I ever hear of someone doing that they will not live too much longer if I have anything to say about it.
"Oh really, somehow I doubt that any US official would come to a weasel like you. You are too willing to roll over on anyone willing to pay you your next big payout. They would need you to keep quiet and you don't have it in you to keep your mouth shut. And you're too stupid to cover your trail. We have the paper trail on who has been paying you and how much for the last two years, you just gave me the excuse to actually make it worth my wild to come after you myself." Ouch, hit him where it hurts why don't you. It's amazing what going after someone's ego can do. As he's down on the ground she kicks him in the ribs and steps on his privates. Man glad it's not me she is going after, she is cruel.
He groans from all of his damage and then continues to speak, "You don't have shit. There's no paper trail; you've got nothing on me. Benitez was a poor choice, but he worked cheap." Well confirmation number one down. What more does he know? It is amazing to watch Blaze work her magic. "Others will come after you and those you love, just like with Ranger." Shit he did know who it was he sent the bastard after. At that she shoots him in the other shoulder and I see her eyes burn with fury. She takes out her knife and stabs him in the leg just outside enough to miss the artery and twists the blade before removing it. That had to fucking hurt.
"And just how did you know who was on that team Jose? Did you meet with them before betraying them? Did you see them on the street? I don't think so. You wouldn't put your face out there because you're a coward of the worst kind. Maybe before I turn you over to your own government officials I should remove your male parts. Since you seem to be limited in that department it wouldn't be much of a loss for you. I am sure your wife wouldn't miss it." The look on his face is so contorted with rage at her comments.
"You stupid Americans always think that everyone in your own government follows their orders. I have spoken with several over the years that have paid for the elimination of their own soldiers. The most recent one was someone who hates you Blaze. He was willing to do anything to get you out of the way, even if that meant getting rid of his best operative. You may want to look close to home for this person if you plan to challenge them, but I don't think you will make it back there. Blackhawk will not go down easily, nor will Johnson." Holy shit; does she know who he is talking about? The names sound familiar but I couldn't place the faces at the moment. Something in the look on Blaze's face showed me that she knew exactly who we were dealing with and she was not happy about it at all. I was proved right when she put another bullet in his other knee.
"Jose, you just gave me all I needed to know. I am going to hand you over to these gentlemen to give you some punishment of their own before we turn you over to the authorities." She turns back to us with fire in her eyes and says, "Have at him boys, just don't beat his face too badly. I want the officials to be able to clearly see who we are turning over to them." Then she walks over to the car and leans against it with her arms crossed over her shoulders and I can see the anger radiating off her. I nod to Lester and Bones to take a turn at him and they approach him with smiles on their faces, as I approach Blaze.
"You okay there? You looked like you knew who he was referring to with the names. They sound familiar to me, but I can't put a face to the name." I see her jaw clench and unclench and the warring emotions on her face.
"Yeah, I know exactly who he was talking about, but I can't get into it right now. Give me a few minutes to calm down and then we can get going. Actually I think I will step inside and get a quick drink before we head out. Have some fun with this ass hole, you've earned it." With a pat to my shoulder she walks away and through the door of the restaurant. I want to follow her, but I know that she needs time, I just can't get over how comfortable here she is with the scum of the earth. If she doesn't come back in five minutes I'll go check on her. Something about her reaction seems off and has me really worried for her, I have seen Blaze in action and work without emotion, but this was a real surprise to her.
I walk over to Lester and see him taking a swing at Escobar's ribs and the guy falls to the ground. Lester steps back and looks at me with a look of glee on his face. "That was amazing; I don't think I have ever seen anyone go at their target that way before. She didn't even break a sweat man. Shit, she got the guy to crumble and spill his guts in less than twenty minutes and no one came to his rescue, and we're in fucking Columbia man." He says shaking his head.
It's true, at the sounds of gun fire there are usually others that come out of the woodworks just to be part of the fight, but tonight no one was around except for those that were in the restaurant. The respect that they show her is unreal, we don't even get that amount of respect at home, and she is an outsider here. My Little Girl has come a long way.
I step forward and get some excess energy out of my system using Escobar for a punching bag. By the time all of us are done with him, he should have some internal bleeding in addition to the bullet wounds Blaze put in him. After about fifteen minutes of exercise I back off to look at the unconscious body on the ground. I look up to see Lester and Bones standing back but still no Blaze. I take my hand cuffs out and pin Escobar's arms behind his back, not that he is going anywhere, but better safe than sorry.
"Hey guys why don't you load him in the car and I'll go inside and get Blaze." I see Lester move forward but Bones stays where he is.
"Tank man, you need to let her come out on her own. She should only be a few more minutes. She just got some news that I think she needs a few minutes to deal with. Give her a chance to get her legs back under her before we move on to the next task." Bones says.
"What news, the two names that this ass hole mentioned? What do they have to do with Blaze? It's not good for her to drink heavily on a mission, you know that and she has a tolerance problem, we need her head in the game." I say to him.
"No man, she has an unbelievable tolerance for alcohol now. She'll be fine and she probably only had three shots at the max. She never drinks more than that during a mission. I can't give you the information on the who, that's up to her to explain, but don't push it, let her come to you with it." Bones clarifies.
Just then the door to the restaurant opens and Blaze walks out with a few of the men that greeted us when we arrived. She turns to them and gives hugs and a kiss on the cheek to each. They all walk over to look at Escobar and before the men turn to leave they each take a turn giving him a punch of their own. Nice.
"Okay lets get him turned over and then on to the next portion of tonight." She states back to her normal self. I'll have to find out later exactly what's going on. We all climb in the car with Escobar in the back with Blaze and Lester in the middle seat, Bones behind the wheel and myself riding shot gun. I hate riding shot gun.
The ride to the meeting point to turn over Escobar was uneventful, Escobar only woke up twice on the ride over and Blaze elbowed him to knock him out again each time. The turn over went quickly, Blaze did all the talking and was thanked and hugged by all present. This girl is unbelievable, now on to the pick up and drop off of Rodriguez kids.
(Steph/Blaze POV)
I knew this operation was going to be different, I just didn't know how different. My sense told me there more players behind all of this, I just didn't know who and now that I do, not only did I feel like my world had been turned upside down, but I was furious. Man were they going to pay when I got back, but before I can get to that I need to get this job done. I need to get these kids to safety tonight and then I can make some phone calls and get my plans in motion. Now the question was, do I do it in the US or do I deal with it outside of the country. So many options to choose from, I'll have to think about it some more. The drinks with my contacts in the restaurant helped to alleviate some tension, but I will just have to push the rest out of my mind.
The turn over of Escobar went smoothly as I expected, I even got to elbow him a few times before the meet. Now onto the next portion of the night, Bones is driving and I was able to relax next to Lester. In all the years that I have known him he has helped me to calm down, today it was definitely needed. I take deep breaths to help calm myself down while Lester rubs my arm in soothing patterns. I look up to him and smile in thanks and he winks at me in acknowledgement. We pull up to the house and the garage door slides up for us to enter. Once the door has closed behind us we all exit the car and walk to the door that leads to the house. I enter the code and slowly open the door announcing myself.
"John, Isa, it's me Blaze I have three other men with me and we're coming in alright?" I hear no response. I pull my gun from my shoulder holster but keep it low not wanting to scare the kids. I check the inside security panel and look to see if they had locked themselves in the panic room as I had originally discussed with Rosa when we set this house up. Once they locked themselves in they would have to be released from the outside with a handprint of someone I had listed in the system. I see that the system has been activated and approach the master bedroom. In the closet behind a bunch of clothes hanging in the there is a small door. There is a panel that has a hand print scanner that I apply my hand to and the door clicks open. Slowly sliding the door open I see John and Isa cuddling together in the corner.
"Hey there guys, remember me? My name is Blaze; I made arrangements with your mom to get you to safety. You can come out now so we can get you changed and then we can get on our way okay?" I ask them before stepping back to allow them space to exit.
"Blaze, our mom told me to thank you for your help. She also told us that we can trust our lives to you. I hope she is right." says John.
"You can John. We are going to get you out of here and I have some clothes that may be a bit large on you, but they will work in the mean time. You are going to stay with a friend of mine out of Columbia and you will be safe, but you will also be able to have some fun while you are there. Let's get you changed so we can get going. The sooner we are out of here the better off we'll be. Here you go." I say to him. I turn to Isa and ask, "Isa, would you like John to help you change or can I help you? I have some clothes from a friend of mine that should be about your size. I need you to dress in black to help hide you in the dark, okay?"
She looks up to me and with her big brown eyes and lunges at me with her arms wrapped around my neck quietly saying, "Thank you for helping us." over and over again. I rock her in my arms and smooth her hair with my hands, while shhhhing her.
"It's my pleasure Isa. I want to make sure you are safe. You are going for a ride on a plane and you will have some guards with you. I need to tell you that I won't be able to get on the plane with you, but John will be there to protect you. Once you get where you're going you'll get off and there will be a man named Tommy that will be meeting you. He's really nice and is like a big teddy bear. You can hang off his arms and use him as a climbing wall, and tickle him. I'll tell you a secret, Tommy is really ticklish behind his ears, so if he gives you a piggy back ride, tickle him for me, okay?" She smiles at me and nods her head yes. Isa takes my hand and we walk into the bedroom to get her changed into the clothes and John stays in the closet to change himself.
Once the kids are all dressed I close up the panic room and reset the system. I look around to gather anything that they brought with them they may need and realize that they really didn't have anything. Before we exit into the garage I turn to the kids to give final instructions.
"Okay you two, I need you to do something for me when we get into the car. I know that you are used to riding in the middle seat in a large SUV, but I need you to ride in the back and lay flat on the floor. John I need you to lie on top of your sister. Make your selves as small a target as possible. This is just to be on the safe side. If we come under fire for any reason you need to stay down, do not get up for any reason. Do you understand?" They both nod their heads at me. "Once we get to the airstrip we are going to run for the plane. The guards will already be on board and you'll be taking off as soon as the doors close so you'll need to get seats as soon as you get up the stairs. If you hear anything behind you don't stop, just keep going for the plane, alright?" They both nod. I see Isa's eyes tear up, but John hugs her close to his side in support. I smile at him and give him a slight nod in approval. "Alright lets go. My friend Jeffrey and his staff know how to reach me if you need anything. I'm hoping to get your mom to you soon, but I don't know how soon that will be. If you need anything Jeffrey and I will make sure that you have it." I got a few weak smiles and we all climb into the SUV.
The garage door opens Bones backs us out and as soon as the door is closed again, we were off like a rocket. The first five minutes of the ride were uneventful, but then all of a sudden we are under fire from behind. With the bullet proof SUV it's not a problem, but we weren't willing to allow them to follow. Lester and I roll down both passenger windows to return fire. After two clips had been exhausted the first of our tails had been crippled and came to a stop on the side of the road. However we now had three more tails on us.
"Bones take alternate Route C. It's bumpy, but will take us far enough from our destination that we can dispose of them before we get close to the airstrip. Lester, in the bag at your feet I have some new toys. Pick one and use it, but I get the rocket launcher." I smiled at the grin on his face as he pulled out the new guns. I pull out the rocket launcher and ask Bones, "hey Bones let me know when we are at the next straight shot. I want to make sure I don't waste a shot. I only brought four rounds for this thing."
"Sure thing Blaze, glad it's dark out here. They might see it coming." He says with a laugh.
"Hey at least you'll get a good lights show in the rear view mirror." I say to him.
"After this next left we will be heading straight for about the next two miles, however be careful of the bumps. If I remember right they are pretty big in this stretch." Bones says.
"Perfect. Tank you'll want to grab something out of the bag as well. Lester will need to reload in about the next two minutes at the rate he's firing." I say.
"Sure thing Blaze, I'm always up for trying new toys." Tank responds with a smile.
I heard Isa whimpering under her brother, "Isa you are doing great honey. We are almost there, just hold on a little longer. Cover your ears to protect them from the noise." I set my sights on the car in the lead tailing us and fire, within seconds the SUV is exploding and one additional SUV runs right into the burning vehicle. In a matter of minutes there is another explosion from the gas tank exploding from the second SUV. Two down one to go, the firing has stopped, but we're ready to take them down. Lester aims for the grill on the car and somehow on a bullet proof vehicle makes the cars engine explode. "I'd love to know what you hit on that vehicle, because I have no idea how that happened unless it wasn't bullet proof. That shouldn't have happened." I say shaking my head. He just grins at me.
"Lucky shot I guess, but I won't complain, at least their off out tail now." Lester shrugs.
"We're coming into town now, be prepared incase there are any additional cars waiting for us. Tank it looks like there may be some coming at us from the headlights I see on our right." Bones says.
Both Lester and Tank turn back toward their right guns ready for an attack. I turn to the left just to make sure we are covered there as well. We found that we were attacked from both sides as we travelled through town. Luckily Rico likes to have his cars ride a bit higher than most and the spray of bullets that would have been at the height of the window only hit the mid panel of the door.
"Glad Rico thinks ahead when he has his cars serviced; the added height is a life saver." I said and the guys agreed readily.
We made it through town and ended up with another two tails on us. I pulled my rocket launcher out again. "Bones are we on a straight shot again?"
"No the next two miles are nothing but turns. I'll let you know when we have the longest straight shot of the turns so you can shoot." replies Bones. About three minutes later I hear him call, "after the next turn you should have about 30 seconds to shoot."
"Thanks." I get myself set to aim as soon as we complete the turn. Once the turn was completed I aim out the window and fire as soon as the first tail completes their turn and the second SUV is halfway through with no chance to change direction. The rocket hits and both tails are taken out; however I hear gun fire coming from Lester and Tank. Apparently we were under fire from the right side again. Since we were in a warehouse district I grabbed a grenade out of the bag, pulled the pin and then lobbed it out my window over the top of the car toward the attackers. I pull a second grenade and it follows the first one. Once both have gone off, all gun fire stops. Bones speeds up our vehicle and we are propelled to the airstrip with no further issues. After another ten minutes we pulled up next to the plane and Lester and I jumped out to get John and Isa.
"Okay kids come on; it's time to get on the plane." As we run to the plane I remind them, "Remember what I said about getting in contact with me. My friend and his staff will be able to get a hold of me any time if you need me. John take care of your sister and yourself." We get to the plane and the kids run up the steps. I nod to the guards that were sent by Rico, the doors close and Lester and I move back to the SUV quickly. The plane is on the runway in a matter of two minutes and up in the air a minute later. At least they will be safe for the time being.
Climbing into the SUV, Lester and I prepare for another onslaught on our return trip to the compound. Luckily we only came under fire again passing through a village and we were able to quickly take down our attackers. Finally reaching the compound we are able to breathe a sigh of relief. Pulling up to the garage Rico and Garcia meet us next to the SUV as soon as the garage door closed.
"Well it looks like you had an eventful evening. Did everything go smoothly?" Rico says with a smile.
I grimace at his comment. "As well as could be expected, by the way, I think I am going to have all SUV's lifted like this one. The spray that would usually have been at the windows, hit the mid panel instead, none of us even have a scratch on us." I state flatly.
Rico looks at me for a minute, "You okay?"
I smile sadly at him, "I will be. The kids are safe and on their way, Escobar is full of bullet holes and was unconscious when he was delivered, and pretty beaten up. Hey Garcia, you didn't tell me that Miguel would be there at the restaurant. That was a nice surprise." I say with a smile.
"I thought you'd enjoy it. Did you end up drinking with him again?" he asks with a smile.
"Yeah, he wanted another shot contest, but since we weren't done for the night I had to pass. I promised him a rematch another time." I smiled.
"Make sure I'm there for it. I missed the last one and I heard it was great entertainment." Garcia chuckles.
"No problem, he's going down, be my guest. Alright I'm tired and I need to make a few calls. I think it's time to head up to bed. See you two in the morning Rico? Around 7am again?"
"Yep, and I'll choose some different music for tomorrow. Sleep well Blaze." Rico says.
"Something up beat please. See you in the morning." I say to both giving each a kiss on the cheek.
Rico grabs my elbow and whispers in my ear, "I can tell you got some bad news tonight. If you need to talk you know I'm here for you, but I won't push." At my nod he releases my elbow and I walk off with the guys to our rooms.
We made our way quickly to our rooms and I immediately open the doors so we can all walk through and I can secure the security system again. Bobby, Hawk and Ranger all turn to look at us as soon as we walk in the door. I walk to the kitchen to grab Bones, Tank, Lester and myself a bottle of water before I speak.
"Mission accomplished tonight." I say flatly as I walk to my bedroom and close the door behind me and lock it. I had some phone calls that I needed to make in private.
I pulled out my sat phone and hit speed dial one, the call connected in the first ring, "Yes."
"Escobar has been taken care of. Delivered and damaged, but identifiable and breathing. If he doesn't continue to breathe that's their problem."
"Very good. Any news on the other front?" the General asks.
"Yes. Johnson was a leak for the Ranger's. But that's not all, so was Blackhawk."
"Well this should be interesting. Blackhawk has been out of the loop for a while. How do you want to handle this?" he asks.
"I want them all picked up and held until I get back. I will be calling in extra help for my family." I state.
"Understood, do you want them local, or sent somewhere else? I can have them discreetly picked up tomorrow."
"Make it local, but off shore. I also need a list of recent contacts for Blackhawk. It's possible that there could be old contacts being brought in for this, not just new ones." I comment.
"I can have it taken care of and will get you the information tomorrow or the day after at the latest. Be careful down there, your almost done." He says.
"Yeah, this just makes it more complicated." I sigh.
"Don't worry. Not many know all of the stipulations in your contract and there are only three people with security clearance to access your file. So there is no way the information can get out. That's a good thing." He says.
"Well, Rodriguez is in a frenzy to put out the fires I started earlier today. He will be so confused when we go after him it shouldn't take too much time to finish this." I say with a smile.
"That's good news. Keep me posted and I'll get things taken care of on this end. Get some rest."
"I will, thank you." I say and the call is disconnected.
Next I take my business phone and hit speed dial 1. The call is picked up on the first ring. "Glad to hear from you tonight, now I can sleep." Says Alexander.
"You'll sleep better than me, but yes everything was completed tonight. The only issues we had were getting the kids to the airstrip. Although they were lousy shots, none of us have a scratch, but that is probably due to Rico's lifted SUV, all the spray hit the mid panel. We should lift them all at home, honestly it makes sense and I hadn't thought about it before." I chuckle.
"Sounds like a good idea. Are you alright? You sound defeated." Alexander says.
"I feel like it too, but I'll be fine. I need to have my grandmother, Valerie and her family put in a safe house outside of Trenton until I get back. I got some information tonight that complicates things a bit, and I would rather be safe then sorry." I explained.
"We will take care of that first thing in the morning. Anything else I can do for you?" he asks.
"No, for now that's it. Maricela and her kids are already with Jeffrey, John and Isa are on their way now. The next thing to do is put Rodriguez out of business for good. Once that is resolved I can deal with this latest issue. I knew something was up before I left. Sometimes I hate my instincts." I sigh.
"Whatever it is we'll get through this. We are all here for you, you know that." he reminds me.
"Yes I do, and thank you. I should eat something before I go to bed, we just got back. Tell Adrian I said hello and will try to call him in a day or two. Sleep well Alexander" I said.
"I'll tell him, get some rest and talk to you soon." he says and the call was ended.
I sit on my bed for another minute with my phone in my hand. I look around the room and spot a vase that I purchased the last time I was here and walk over to it. I pick it up and toss it up a few times in my hand before I launch it against the wall next to the window, making a very loud crashing sound. Almost immediately the guys are banging on my door.
I walk over to the door, unlock it and step out into the lounge, "I'm fine; a vase had a run in with the wall is all." I state as I walk past them, all of them wearing looks of confusion, with the exception of Bones who looks at me with pity in his eyes. I shake my head at him slightly and he nods in return. I walk into the kitchen to get some fruit and crackers to eat and lean up against the counter looking down at the floor staring off in my own world.
Once I finished my food I decided it was time to go to bed. "I'm going to bed. See you guys in the morning. We're meeting with Rico at 7am again. Get some sleep." And I walk past them to my bedroom with no further acknowledgement and close the door behind me.
Okay, so who is after her now? Any ideas? What will the guys think? Will she tell them everything?