If you recognize them, I can't take the credit. :)

A big thanks to Margaret for reading ahead as my beta; thank you Margaret :)

I know I'm leaving you in the dark with this chapter but wanted to end it here for a poignant pause. I promise to post again tomorrow morning.

And thank you once again for all the reviews. Please keep them coming.

Chapter 21—Buzzing like a bee

Stephanie's POV

When I opened my eyes and looked around the bedroom, the first thing I noticed was that I was no longer attached to my six-foot long organic pillow. I couldn't quite figure out how he did that. I was never aware of being disentangled during the early morning hours. He somehow had a way of replacing himself with his actual pillow and it wasn't until it cooled down on its own, or no longer smelled like him, that I even noticed the difference. This morning that happened around 7am.

I had to get up anyway; nature was calling. And I had to be in work by 8:30. Not that work was that far away, it was just a few flights down, but getting there could be problematic. You see today was the day I was scheduled to begin work on my own case. And I wasn't going to be working alone. Jace was going to be my partner in our quest to find Mickey Kraven, the heartless, sadistic, rat bastard extraordinaire.

My problem with Jace was that he was an unknown.

Well, that was bullshit and even I knew it. My problem was the freakin' green-eyed monster. I was jealous that he could do a few of the same things I could...and probably a lot that I couldn't. The guys had relied on my intuition before and I rarely failed them; except when I didn't listen to what my self was telling me. If they had someone who wasn't going to negate things because they were pig-headed, didn't it make sense that I wouldn't be needed anymore? Well I knew they liked me, thought I was fun to be with, grew to respect me after Lula and I got certified, but if they had their own 'go to' guy don't you think they'd go to him first? I did.

Jace was my planned obsolescence.

Well instead of dwelling on it, I was going to do something about it. I was going to tool his skills and together we'd find Kraven. We had to. The pictures of tortured people and emails of what he had in store for Hec and I had to stop. And all because once upon a time he was my FTA? Dick.

I took a shower and got ready for the day, then padded out to the kitchen to see if the magic fairy goddess Ella had stopped by yet. What I wasn't expecting as I rounded the corner was Carlos. He was sitting at the breakfast bar with Bobby, Lester and four covered dishes. Ella must have done her magic again.

"Babe," Carlos said, pulling me to him and kissing me. "After breakfast the three of us are meeting behind closed doors, and this was the safest place in the building. I hope you don't mind a couple of extras for breakfast."

"Never," I said, kissing first Les and then Bobby. They were like second family to me anyway. "Is something going on? Do you need my help?" I asked, hoping I sounded genuine instead of looking for an excuse to postpone my day.

"I need your help catching Kraven, we have other business to discuss and after our meeting we'll be out of pocket until this evening. Hector and Raphael too."

I got it as soon as he paired Hec with Rafe. Gang shit.

"Ok. So what did Ella make for us?" I asked changing the subject.

"I don't know what she made for you, but we have spinach and mushroom egg white omelets."

Boring, not even any cheese. So I opened one of the domed dishes to check it out. Omelet. Jeez. Ella wouldn't do that to me, would she?

"Guys this is an omelet. Can you check to see if you have something unexpected under your domes while I bring in some coffee? I know, black for the three of you."

"This must be yours Steph," Lester called to me, looking under his lid. "Looks like chocolate chip pancakes."

I'd known for a long time that Ella substituted carob chips for chocolate ones in the things she made for me. Doesn't taste bad, just different and I'd heard, healthier. But I went along with the charade anyway and asked Lester to switch plates with me.

My 'healthy' pancakes were actually yummy and I ate them with gusto. Lester looked pained, Bobby tried to ignore me and Carlos' blank face just fell into place.

"I'm sorry guys, these are just so good. Anyone want a bite?"

Three heads shook 'no' and went back to their omelets. Bobby got up first.

"Let's get this show on the road. The sooner we talk to the Marielitos the sooner Tank comes home."

"And Brett," Lester added, picking up his coffee cup and taking it into the kitchen for a refill.

Carlos kissed me goodbye, wished me luck with Jace and told me he'd see me later. Then the three of them disappeared into Carlos' office.

I couldn't postpone it any longer. It was already after eight. I put on some lip gloss and another coat of mascara for courage, grabbed my gun and Rangeman ID and headed down to the conference room on two that Hector had set aside for us.

Jason and Hector were already in there. What was it with everyone getting in early? It was barely 8:25. I noticed blueprints, aerial photos and maps on the table—I guessed we were supposed to look through them and see if they sparked anything? Well, now or never. I opened the door and stepped in. Both guys greeted me and I sat down on the other side of Hector.

We chatted for a few minutes before Hec passed around pictures of Kraven and a shot of his previous 'house of pain'; he then explained what he wanted us to do. We were to go through the photos and maps together, noticing if anything made our senses 'zing' and mark down to which parcel of land. If any property stood out for both of us we were to make an additional note of it. He said he'd be gone for most of the day and would be off the grid, but that he'd check back in with us around five.

God it was going to be a long day.

Once he left, I turned to Jace, "Well let's see what we can do. Want to work left to right or right to left?"

"I prefer to start at the end, so how about right to left?"

I was about to suggest the same thing.

About twenty minutes into the second pile, Jace turned and looked at me. Yep, I felt it too. It was no minor zing either. I pulled out my computer and google mapped the address so we could have a visual to look at. The warehouse staring at me gave me the creeps so I handed my laptop to Jace. He took it from me and almost dropped it.

"I'm sorry," he said fumbling to retrieve it, "I just felt a zap of energy hit me when I took that from you."

"No I'm sorry. I bet that's kind of like the zing I felt when we first shook hands. Next time I'll just put it on the table and pass it over."

He stared at the street view for a while, moving up and down the block, finding the street behind it and doing the same. Canvassing the joint via google maps.

"This feels so strong, I wish we could see this place in person."

"Well it's in Cliffside Park. I'd say it's a little over an hour from here on I-95 north of Newark. Want to go for a ride? We can take the Cayenne. It has all the Rangeman bells and whistles in it."

"Shouldn't we let someone know we're going?"

"We can stop by the control room and let Hal know. He'll put a red flag on our car and pay extra attention to it. Come on, let's go."

I grabbed my bag and we took the elevator up to five. I knew Hal was on duty but I wasn't sure who he was working with today. Roy. I quickly introduced Jace and told Hal and Roy where we were going and that we were taking Ranger's Cayenne. I knew he'd track us anyway as soon as the Cayenne started moving but it was for the best to let him know it was me taking it. And why.

I took the wheel, well because #1, it was my car by default and #2, I knew New Jersey better than Jace. I took the shortcut to 95 and drove as fast as I could without drawing attention to myself. Good thing it was the tail end of rush hour and I could zip around the cars still on their way to work.

I had Jace plug the address into the Rangeman GPS thingy as we drove and he was beyond impressed with Hector's app. Like with Julie and me, it was the little replica cars of the ones that were actually around us that held his attention and he had all kinds of theories as to how Hec created the thing. I was glad his attention was focused on the app and not on my driving...at times I was a little reckless. It still took an hour and fifteen minutes for us to get to the Cliffside Park exit.

The soft-spoken, slightly Spanish-accented voice, that sounded so much like Silvio to me, directed me out of Cliffside Park proper and into a mixed-use section of the borough. As soon as we turned onto the street my spidey sense went crazy.

"I'm sure we're in the right place," I said to Jace as we did a quick drive by.

"I'm buzzing too. Do you think we should call for backup?"

"I don't want to send anyone out needlessly and if we need backup Rangeman patrols areas in Newark and can be here in ten. And I'm sure Hal knows exactly where we are."

There were no cars parked in front, but we drove around the block to check out the building's rear anyway. Directly behind the industrial building was an empty lot. We parked and walked towards the structure as if we owned it. This was a tactic I'd learned from Ranger. People sneaking around during daylight hours drew attention to themselves. As we got close, my spidey sense went into warning mode, advising me of approaching danger. I looked over at Jace before fording through the weeds; his hand was on his neck, he felt it too. I would have stopped and used the binocular app on my phone to look through the windows from where we were, but since I didn't see a car parked anywhere near the place, I didn't think it necessary. Instead I led us forward.

Once we approached the perimeter of the building, Jace went left and I went right. He was taller than me and could see into the windows. In my peripheral vision I saw him beckon me toward him, so I turned back to see what he wanted to show me.

"Steph," he whispered into an ear comm that we'd both donned before leaving the car, "take a look inside. I'll boost you up."

I nodded and let him boost me so that I could hold on to the window ledge and peer in. We were definitely in the right place.

"How are your lock-picking skills?" I asked.

"Probably not as good as Ranger's but I was given a Hobbs pick as part of my standard equipment yesterday. I don't want to call attention to us, so I'll try it on a side door. Cover me and call for backup." "He may have an alarm system in place."

"We'll deal with it. Ranger always says that we have fifteen minutes to get in and out before anyone responds to an alarm. That's more than enough time for us to snoop around and take some pictures. And we're in Rangeman uniform so we could be here legitimately, the police wouldn't know."

"Kraven would."

"We'll take our chances."

Jace got the door open in under two minutes, pretty good for someone who didn't do this everyday. I agreed to stand guard while he snooped around but I guess I was more interested in peering inside than I was watching the surrounding area.

Someone silently approached, put a gag over my mouth and flexi-cuffed my hands behind my back before I could scream or fight back too violently.

"Well, look who it is...Stephanie Plum. How ironic that you've come to me," he said as I tried to kick him.

Kraven.