Hi Guys
Looks like you're enjoying this story - I'm having so much fun writing the contest part and you're words of encouragement are really enouraging me to type faster!
Life's been busy so I haven't had time to proof read this too much so apologies for the literals and typos.
Enjoy and please review, it's the only 'payment' us writers ever get (and it so lifts my day, that's for sure!)
xxx
Dawn broke early as the weather welcomed the campers' return to consciousness with the pitter patter of large angry rain drops on canvas.
"Great" thought Steph. "Fucking cold and fucking damp. Wonderful." She grimaced and tried to roll but the sleeping bag she was in was wound tightly round her and she knew she needed to untangle herself if she was going to have any hope of moving.
Several grunts and curses later, Steph released herself from her down filled prison and went in search of coffee, her breath billowing like steam around her head as the rain started to fall even harder than before, turning the world soft grey.
As Steph entered the mess tent she heard the sound of laughter and the unexpected noise made her break out in a smile.
"Steph!" Connor said excitedly as he handed her a metal mug filled with pale brown steaming coffee. "Guess what New York tried to do in the middle of the night?!"
Steph grinned as she wrapped her black, knitted fingerless glove covered hands round her drink "don't tell me, er… something stupid?"
Mungo chuckled "Yeah, you could say that…" clearly not wanting to steal Connor's thunder.
"Seems they took more of a mullering than we did when the water cannons were turned on them and when the last real down pour occurred they must have decided it was worth taking a gamble and trying to get a couple of the tents that were confiscated when we first arrived." He paused and took a drink for dramatic effect. "So at 05:15 they sent in three of their best trackers and lost them all!"
Steph looked a bit surprised at New York's apparent stupidity.
"Apparently their camp is a disaster. They've been reduced to one piece of canvas, held up on uneven poles, with only a couple of sides to give them any shelter and last night's rain seems to have been the final straw. Looks like they were pretty desperate and their brains must have fallen out." Connor explained with a wry grin.
"Seriously?" Steph asked, her eyes wide and her chin on the floor. Surely no-one was that naive, were they?!
"Yeah, seriously! Seems that the confiscated equipment was just too tempting and because of the poor light and crappy weather the would-be thieves missed a couple of traps. They all ended up dangling in a cargo net, covered in fluorescent paint." Supplied Mungo, creasing up with laughter. "Fucking amateurs!"
"How did you find out?!" Steph asked incredulously.
"Chase couldn't sleep and decided to go for a scout about to clear his head. Plus he wanted to see how the other teams were doing. Saw the whole thing." Connor replied.
"Does that mean they might do a raid on us or any of the other teams then?" She added.
All the laughter suddenly stopped. "Christ! Good thinking, Steph." Connor said soberly.
O0o0o0o0o
"Well done, men." Ranger said loudly to Silvio as he watched him herd the three very subdued, paint splattered New York Rangemen into the hangar.
Rubbing his hands to keep them warm and just because he could, Hector stood to one side grinning as the traps he'd help set up had been so effective.
"Mine, yeah?" he asked Ranger as he took the men's names and crossed them off the list of active personnel.
"Have at 'em" Ranger said indulgently.
"K boys. This how it work. You now work for me, eh?"
The three men nodded. "Time to go set up new activity. Which one of you good with flame thrower?" All three men grinned and nodded like bobble headed dogs. "You not right!" Hector humphed out snippily but with a twinkle in his eyes. "We not use."
The New Yorkers looked confused.
"We play with smoke though…" Hector said slowly with an evil grin on his face.
"Hector, you are enjoying this way too much!" Ranger grinned out, shaking his head slightly before stepping away to see how Lester and his team were doing at setting up the next set of exercises.
o0o0o0o0o
Steph sat quietly, letting the noise of the rain calm her as random thoughts floated round head. It was clear that they'd underestimated the evilness of her man and his band of sadists.
Her man!
Wow!
How she missed Ranger and hoped that in amongst the fun he was probably having he was missing her too.
Her man… yum.
Hot, sweaty….
"F.O.C.U.S!" A tiny voice of reason yelled out, stamping her feet to get Steph's attention. "We need to win this thing! Get your mind and hands out of his pants!
Steph did a mental cough, blushed and took a deep breath, then let her mind wander to slightly more productive thoughts.
Why was it that the teams were being whittled down? She wondered.
Was it Ranger's deliberate intention to thin the teams and how would this effect morale and their ability to perform? If only Atlanta still had a full complement of Rangemen on their team they could function at full strength and be more effective…
Steph had a stupid, irrational and utterly mad light bulb moment and went off in search of Chase to tell him what she'd suddenly thought about.
It was something that no-one in their right mind would try and do.
An evil grin spread across her face.
If it worked, perhaps Atlanta might yet turn the tables and win.
o0o0o0o0o
The walkie talkie crackled to life and Connor reached over to grab it.
"Rangeman Atlanta, receiving!"
"Get your teams ready for the surveillance and skip apprehension contests. 11.30 at the hangar. Do you copy?"
"Affirmative."
Steph rolled her eyes at the brusque manner of the call, then realised why Ranger had such appalling telephone manners. Go figure that she should work out why in the midst of this contest.
Connor put the handset down and grinned at the whole team who, apart from the guards, were huddled around him.
"It's a go, 11.30." He grinned out.
"As soon as Mitch gives us the all clear, the rest of you know what to do." Everyone nodded.
The fun and games were about to begin.
Oh boy…
o0o0o0o0o
The Rangeman Atlanta team climbed out of their SUV, strode purposefully up to the hangar and walked inside. Each tasked with identifying relevant information that would be vital to the success of their mission.
Steph waved at Ink who waved back as he continued setting up a table for eleven men. She pretended to look for Ralph but in reality she was looking to see who else was present. She knew Ranger was not close by as her neck was not tingling, but she could see Bobby and Lester. She waved at them and continued to look about, glad that Ralph was not anywhere to be seen so that she had the excuse to continue to gather information. Like where the guards were.
Leo and Jed were casing the joint for hidden cameras and additional electronic security measures and Ian and Mitch were scoping out the size of the building and paying particular attention to the layout. Bit by bit, each of the team gave their information to Mitch who murmured into his ear piece, giving Mungo everything he needed.
"This way." Tank yelled out, suddenly appearing from nowhere. Immediately Ian whispered something to Mitch who relayed what he had seen to his base camp team mates.
"We leave in five. Everyone needs to get into the vehicles they arrived in. A map with co-ordinates on and your instructions for these exercises have been placed inside." He quickly left the building and everyone else started to follow.
Steph was nervous and excited all at once. If they'd planned this right, they could end up with a huge advantage over the other teams and maybe, just maybe, they would stand a chance of winning this thing.
But if it went wrong... she shuddered at the implications.
She just hoped no-one else had come up with such an insane and audacious plan. She grinned as she saw Mitch say a few final words then surreptitiously flick his tiny earpiece/microphone into a waste paper bin near one of the tables.
o0o0o0o0o
"Targets neutralised." Ethan whispered as he crept up to the hangar.
"Copy that. Go get Grandma and Popsy." Mungo commanded softly.
Ethan nodded in understanding and gestured to Pike who angled himself out of the undergrowth and walked into the hangar as nonchalantly as possible.
"Pike! What you doing here, man?" Someone asked as he moved into the middle of the room.
"Hey, Fraser, didn't expect to see you here, Bro'. Just wanted to see how the other half were living, you know." He replied. "Food smells good, is Ink spoiling you?"
He ambled over towards the table which was now surrounded by 8 seated men who were tucking into large plates full of lasagne and salad. Three more, including Ralph, were walking over to join them having just put some equipment down in a nearby crate.
Ink smiled "Pike! Good to see you, but should you be in here? We're not supposed to be talking to you guys now that we're 'neutral'." He said, putting air quotes round the word neutral.
"We'll see about that." Pike added, smiling before he turned and nodded at Ralph who grinned back. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of smokes. "Anyone got a light? Mine died when the water cannons went off."
Someone sniggered and everyone immediately relaxed as several lighters appeared. "Don't let Ranger catch you" someone said.
"He ain't here, dipshit!" a different voice added. "He's out with the teams, fuckin' 'em up good styl-ee." He added with a chuckle.
"Oh. Well that's ok then." Pike said, putting his packet of cigarettes away. "He won't notice that you're all gone will he?!"
Everyone looked at him, non-plussed, then realisation dawned as he pulled out his gun and aimed it at them. At that moment, Chase and Connor oozed into the room, pulling a couple of trussed up men behind them, guns drawn but at their sides.
"We're going for a walk, back to our camp." Chase explained. "We figured you might want to get back in the game, or at least stretch your legs. 'Sept if you come with us you'll be working for Atlanta." He added.
Ralph stood up and backed away from the table, reaching for his own weapon and aiming it at the men he'd been sitting with moments earlier.
A couple of the boys started to stand up in surprise but Robbo appeared like smoke and stood at his brother's side gun in hand, so they quickly sat down again.
"Weapons on the tables, boys." Connor ordered softly as he moved in front of the twins.
One by one, the men removed their guns and knives from their clothes and laid them down, gently, on the table. Ralph leaned in and gathered them up, putting them into a nearby crate.
"Look. I know you all came to these games to get some action but you know as well as I do that Ranger won't let you back into this contest as long as you're in or guarding this hangar. You come with us and at least you'll be in the middle of everything again."
"What if we don't want to? We have loyalties to our own offices, you know!" one of the tied up men said indignantly. "Why should we switch allegiances?"
"Fair comment, but if that's the way you feel we'll just use you as pack horses to get the gear we want and then you can come back here and join the others."
"Sounds fair enough." The man replied, blandly, shrugging his shoulders.
"Ink, Ralph, you coming?" He asked
"Sure thing Boss." Ink replied, ripping off his apron "Just need to get a few supplies." He added as he headed back into the makeshift kitchen.
Ralph merely nodded happily.
"Who else is coming with?" Connor continued. None of the other men volunteered, but clearly they were enjoying this unexpected turn of events. "Suit yourselves." He said with a nonchalant shrug. "You three, go help Ink." Three men stood up and followed and quickly returned laden with bags.
"Any more food back there?" Chase asked.
"Affirmative, but it's no longer edible." Came the amused reply.
"Ralph, Robbo, grab any equipment you think might come in handy, use some of the guys if you need to." They both nodded as a couple of the men grinned and stepped forward, volunteering their empty arms.
"So. Here's what we're going to do." Connor said. "Grab your lunch and file into that room over there." He waved towards one of the empty offices next to the 'kitchen'. "We're going to make it difficult for anyone to rescue you. K?"
The men all nodded, smirking as they grabbed their plates and started to move off. After all, most of them had nothing better to do and at least they'd be out of the rain for a while.
"Not you, morons." He growled as the three fully laden men started to follow, staggering under the weight of the food they were carrying.
"We need to move." Ethan said softly, reminding everyone that time was ticking.
The rest of the team nodded.
Robbo started to head out, gesturing to the three pack horses to lead the way. "Be back in 5, Bro." he said to Pike as he, Chase and Ralph disappeared out the door.
The captives sat happily in their prison. Plates on laps as if this sort of thing happened all the time, while Pike and Ink chained their legs together, said their goodbyes then locked them in.
"I'll set up a couple of little surprises." Pike said "You go and search out Mitch's ear piece. It'll be in one of the waste paper bins."
Ink grinned and he and Ethan began to look.
"Found it!"
"Good! Our job is done here. Let's get the hell out of Dodge."