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.

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.

Payback Time Part III

(Ranger's POV)

Things were going smoothly once we reached the hospital that was until my Babe informed us that she needed to step out with Miguel. I felt every muscle in my body tense up. When I offered to go with her she told me 'no' for my safety. What is that? I can take care of myself; it's her I'm worried about. I have no idea what's going on. The only thing that helped me calm down even a little was that Lester and Hawk were going instead. We couldn't hear what was going on outside and I was growing more and more uneasy with each passing minute. Tank broke me out of my thoughts.

"Man you have to trust her. She can take care of herself and she knows how to handle Miguel. You saw it yourself last night." Tank says to me.

"Yes I did, but the situation was definitely much calmer than this. He could do some pretty good damage to her before Lester and Hawk have a chance to help her. Plus they have two of his men with them. That's an even fight, numbers wise, but size wise they all tower over her." I state flatly.

"Which if you haven't noticed she uses to her advantage. She knows how to handle him. Besides last night you didn't see them when we were waiting for Escobar. She knows him and it seems like she knows him pretty well." Tank comments.

At that I stiffen, how well did she know him? Had she been intimate with him? I didn't really have any clue as to what her personal relationship with any of these men were. I didn't think she would do that, but I noticed that she was different, but how much different I didn't know.

"Not that way idiot! Man, you look like a jealous fool. I meant she knows how he reacts well. Jesus, you really need to get your head on straight. You saw how she has handled these last couple of days, calm and collected, professional and above all else in control. I have never seen a planned mission go as smoothly as this has since she arrived. Things could have majorly been screwed up and you need to accept that she has changed, and from what I have seen it's for the better man." Tank states with frustration.

"Yeah, but she's out there with a group of South American Arms Dealers. You mean to tell me that you're comfortable with that?" I ask him.

"Not exactly comfortable, but I know that she can handle herself. If there's anything they need they will call us you know that." He states matter of factly.

I nod my head in agreement. That was true, but that didn't mean that I had to like it. At least we wouldn't have to worry about being around Miguel that much longer. We would be leaving for the next portion of this op as soon as we heard about how the girls were doing. It had come to our knowledge that there were another three girls found at the other location and that they also were heavily drugged and not under guard. That rescue had gone smoothly as well. I couldn't wait to get my hands on Rodriguez for what he had done. I saw My Babe, Lester, Hawk and Miguel walking down the hallway and did not like the look that I was seeing on Lester's face. Something was up and I knew I wasn't going to like it. My Babe motioned for us to meet in the empty waiting room and I felt like I was walking to my doom.

Before turning to us my Babe whispered something to Miguel who shook his head and exited the room. "Alright, we have a new development and I need you to understand that I have chosen to go with the easiest solution to the problem. You need to trust me, but I know you aren't going to be happy about it. Miguel will be going with us tonight on the take down." She starts, but before she can finish that thought I cut her off.

"There's no way we can work with him. We can't trust him; he would turn on us at his first opportunity." I state angrily, the tension in my body is skyrocketing. No way will I work with that man. "We stick to the plan that we already have. It's the safest way to handle this situation."

"Ranger you need to put your personal opinions of Miguel aside. If we don't take him with us he'll find his own way to get there and cause all hell to break loose. I will not put any of our lives in danger like that. I told you this is the best option and I took it." She says as she looks me straight in the eyes.

"No way. There's absolutely no way we'll be working with him. This is not up for discussion. He's dangerous and he will get us all killed." I state.

"You have two choices Ranger, work with me, the guys and Miguel or stay at the compound with Rico. It's you choice. Any of you that choose not to work with him that's fine, but you will be staying at the compound, not going after Rodriguez. Tell me now if I need to get a new team together, because I'll need to fill them in on the plan that we came up with. This is not up for debate." She says.

"How can you do that? You're willing to put your life on the line for the likes of him? I won't let you do that." I say to her.

"You're forgetting who is in charge here Ranger. I've gotten along without you all this time. This op will be no different if you choose not to help. It's up to you, you have your options. What will it be?" I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. This couldn't be happening; she was choosing an Arms Dealer from South America over me? This wasn't supposed to be how this went. We were all supposed to work together. How can I trust an outsider that's tried to kill me in the past?

Hawk interrupts, "I'm with you Blaze. I have no issues with working with him as long as you're lead."

Then came Bones, "I'm in as well, no worries from me. I trust you."

I looked at Tank, Lester and Bobby and glared at them, they wouldn't choose this way, would they? They have been with me since Basic training. No way would they turn on me.

Lester speaks up, "Beautiful, while I don't trust Miguel, I trust you and I will be there. If you trust him I can work with him." To say that my own cousin would follow her lead instead of mine was a shock. What was the HELL is going on here?

"Blaze I will be there to get this bastard under your command. You can count on me." Tank agrees. HOLY FUCKING SHIT! Have they all lost their minds?

I look at Bobby and I see him waiver. My Babe speaks up, "Bobby I know this is hard, if you don't feel comfortable let me know, I'll understand and won't hold it against you. I knew this was going to be difficult for you all to accept, but I at least thought you would listen to the reasons before you turned me down. Ranger has clearly made his choice." She says the last comment looking directly at me. "This is not a test of loyalty to me. If you are that uncomfortable and don't feel that you can follow through with this I understand."

"Is there something else you haven't told us? What is the reason that Miguel is insisting on being a part of this op?" Bobby asks.

"Yes, there is, but someone," looking directly at me with a glare, "decided it was better to react first and ask questions later. You know Ranger sometimes when you do things like that I wonder how you can be so good at your job. Isn't it usually better to get all the facts and make an informed decision, rather than jumping the gun? Honestly you're acting like any idiot. Where's the infamous control that you supposedly have, huh?" I narrow my eyes at her at that statement. No one has had the balls to call me an idiot in this context in as long as I can remember. I'm starting to feel like a scolded child. She returns her attention to the others, "One of the girls that we found at our location was the daughter of one of his men. She was supposed to be on a trip with a group that was led by a tour guide. He hadn't heard anything about them missing so first it was a shock to him. Then he was angered by the fact the Rodriguez not only knew he was taking government officials children, but also the children of other organizations. Miguel needs to feel as though he needs to make up for this by taking care of the problem. If we don't include him in our plans, he will take his own group of men and attack Rodriguez before we get there, which honestly would be bad. I explained about Rosa being there and the need to try to get her out safely, but that if she doesn't make it she understood the risks. Honestly I don't think that Rodriguez will let her escape, I think he will try to kill her either before or while we are there, before we get him. Miguel understands that he may not be on the team that gets to Rodriguez first, but he needs to verify that he is dead, if it only means that he gets to put a few extra bullets in him that's fine as well. He knows the big picture is to not only to put Rodriguez out of business, but to also end his miserable life. He will not go after any of you, he will keep his anger in check and he knows what I can do to him if he doesn't. He won't test me." She looks at each of us.

Honestly, now I feel like an idiot. Funny that I'm agreeing with both her and Tank in this instance, I do need to get it together. I'm only digging a deeper hole for myself with her. I want to hang my head and ask for forgiveness, but I can't, I guess my pride is too much.

Bobby comments, "Well I guess if I were in his place I would want the same thing. I can work with him, I may not be one hundred percent comfortable with it, but as long as I'm not partnered with him that will be fine." My jaw wanted to drop to the floor.

"Alright, since we are down a man from our original team I will partner with Miguel, Tank with Hawk, Lester and Bobby, Bones will be the sniper. This way no one that is uncomfortable with Miguel will have to worry about him. With that settled I will make arrangements to have Ranger taken back to Rico's compound." She turns to me, "You have the codes to get into the room and you will need to stay there by yourself until we get back. I'll call and have one of Rico's men pick you up." And she turns to leave.

"I won't be left behind Babe." I state to her.

"I won't work with someone who is acting like a spoiled child when they're told something that they don't want to do. If you are not comfortable with Miguel you will go back and wait for us. I won't take a chance with anyone's lives, and that includes Miguel's whether you like it or not Ranger." She says to me without turning around. She starts to walk out of the room again.

"I will be there to make sure that everything goes as planned, you will not be leaving me out." At my comment she turns to glare at me, as well as all the guys on our team.

"I didn't choose this Ranger; you did by throwing a temper tantrum. You said there was no way you would work with him. You said there was no way that he could be included in this before you had the facts. Don't put this on me you stubborn ass." She growls at me.

At first I am taken aback by her statements, and then I realize that she's absolutely right. I'm the one that created this tension. I'm the one that put my foot down whether I had a right to or not. "I won't be staying behind; I will be there tonight to take down Rodriguez." I state.

"Which makes you more uncomfortable Range, being at Rico's compound alone, or working with Miguel?" She asks me and I just stare at her.

"Fine, play your stupid silent game, you can come but you are with Tank. Hawk your with Miguel and I." She turns to Tank and says, "You better keep him in line." And with that she exits the room.

All of the guys are glaring at me. "You fucking idiot, you couldn't just keep your mouth shut?" Asks Lester. "She warned you that you wouldn't like it and you jumped on her anyway. How fucking stupid are you?" I just stare at him.

"You do realize that you just dug yourself a deeper hole with that stunt, right?" asks Tank. I glare at him, but I know he's right. Things had gotten better this evening working at getting the girls safely out and now she was pissed at me and it was all my doing, but I still couldn't admit it to them.

"Where is your control man? You flew off the handle before she had a chance to explain what was happening. You acted like a two year old." Says Bobby.

"I have none when it comes to her, you know that. That's why I left in the first place." I admit in frustration.

"Well, what a great way to earn back her trust dumb ass. You better keep yourself in check while we're out there, because if anything on our end goes wrong you're going to be the one blamed." Lester snarls at me.

"Don't worry about me I'll be just fine. Let's get this shit done." With that I stalk out of the room into the hallway and I see my Babe and Miguel at the other end talking. The fury that I feel for this situation is palpable. I need to get my head in the game, we'll be leaving shortly and I have no intention of being the cause of any problems.

(Steph/Blaze POV)

The nerve of that man trying to tell me what I can and can't do. Who does he think he is? This isn't Trenton and I'm not the same Stephanie that he once knew. Open your eyes dumb ass and come to terms with the new me or get the hell out of the way. I walk out of the waiting room and head toward Miguel who is staring through the window into the room of one of the girls. I can see the sadness on his face and want to give him a hug to make him feel better, but I know that this is not the time or place. Others see this man as a scary and evil man, I agree to a certain extent; I've seen the softer side of him, that's why I agreed to his being a part of this op. Also keeping him with me will assure the others that I trust him. Whether Ranger likes it or not, he will have to accept this.

"How is she?" I ask him as I approach.

"No change so far." He drops his chin to his chest. "I know this is going to cause some problems for you, but I have to be there."

"Don't worry about it. It's taken care of. We are all set to leave in about thirty minutes. Can you be ready by then?" I ask him and he nods in agreement. "Okay you will be going in with Hawk and I when we get there. We have one sniper and three teams at separate entrances. I will shut down his security system before we enter. We will be taking everyone out again; they are all loyal to Rodriguez. That's one thing I have in common with Rodriguez, we expect 100 percent loyalty without question. The only one that we will be trying to save is Rosa, but like I said before, she knew the risks of staying when I could have gotten her out and she chose to stay. If she gets caught in the crossfire then so be it. The bad thing is I still feel like Rodriguez will attempt to take her out before we get him if he hasn't already."

"It sounds like him. The man's a heartless bastard. Where are his kids?" He asks me.

"Safe, and out of harms way. Rodriguez was trying to do the same thing to his own daughter." At this comment Miguel snaps his head to look at me. "That's how Rosa found out about his new business a few days ago. He was trying to get his daughter alone, Rosa and John wouldn't let it happen. Apparently he was also trying to get John involved in the business as well, but hadn't had any luck." I finish.

"That sick bastard, his own daughter? Now he really deserves to die, not that he didn't before! To bad you can't die more than once." I chuckle a little at that comment.

"Okay well we'll be heading out soon. I'll see you in the parking lot. Don't forget to bring all of your Kevlar. I have some extra weapons if needed." I get an eyebrow raised at my last comment and shake my head. "Hey, I had to say it, that way I wouldn't blame myself if something happened to you." At that he nods and returns his gaze to the window. As I turn I see Ranger staring at us with a blank look on his face. I swear he better keep his mouth shut for the duration of the evening before I haul off and beat his ass, injured or not.

Just over an hour later we are all ready to get this show on the road. We stopped about two miles away from Rodriguez's home compound and try to hide our vehicles them best we could off the side of the road. After using my laptop to disable the security system, and all loaded down with what seemed to be enough ammo to set off a major explosion we start our walk to the compound. We split into our groups and Bones takes the lead so he can pick his spot that will give him the best spot to cover us. We all proceed to our spots where we will be entering the compound. Tank and Ranger to the left, and Lester and Bobby to the right, Hawk, Miguel and I will be taking a direct line to the main house. After fifteen minutes of waiting and several shots from Bones later we have the all clear to move in.

All of our weapons have silencers on them so we can be as quiet as possible, but that itself is difficult with the number of bodies that we were dropping left and right. We cleared the main corridor in less than ten minutes and got the all clear from the other two teams as well. Miguel was at my back and Hawk to my left as we moved swiftly through the living spaces. The downstairs was cleared with little to almost no returned fire. The three of us moved like a well oiled machine, as we had a mission and we all knew what needed to happen next. We headed for the stairs and were able to clear the first two bedrooms before shots were rapidly fired at us. We all dove for cover and were able to get our attackers down with shots to the legs and then to the head once they were on the floor.

Waiting before we stood to go further we listened for any noises, of which we heard none. We stood to move forward slowly, and before we got to the bodies of those we just took down I caught a glimpse of a shiny wire very low to the floor. I held up my hand to stop our progression. "Trip wires on the ground as you come closer to the master bedroom, watch yourselves." I say to everyone. I look for where it leads, and follow it behind a cabinet in the hallway, glancing behind the furniture I see a small bomb attached to the back ok of it. I quickly move around to disarm it so we can continue our forward progress.

As we reach the master bedroom door I double check to make sure everyone else is in place and get all affirmative responses. But before we can proceed there is screaming coming from the bedroom and it sounded like it was Rodriguez.

"How could you betray me like this? You let her take our children, you gave them information on me. You are MY WIFE! YOU ARE MINE! How could you do this to me?" The sound of flesh hitting flesh.

"Go now" I whisper into the com link. And we all burst into the bedroom. The scene in front of us is so horrific that I have to keep myself from vomiting right then. The next thing you could hear were multiple gunshots being fired.

Alright I won't be posting on Thursday unless it is late in the day. Since the kinds are out of school this week we finally broke down and got a babysitter so my husband and I could go out to dinner and a movie. Nice huh? Can't remember the last time we did that. Anyway, I will be posting later on Friday and then into the weekend to make up for it. Let me know how you like it so far. This story is coming to a close, but the new one will start shortly after picking up where this leaves off. The title will be up in a few days for the new story.