Unapologize

By: PricklySare

A/N: If you recognize the people and places from a book, they're obviously not mine. Though, my Steph is much more kick ass. :)

Thanks to my M's and to Stayce. I'm learning so much from you.

Sare

Chapter 34: Lester's Ready to Play

Lester's POV

We'd been in the SUV with Cassidy for forty-five minutes and Steph was now asleep with her head on my shoulder. She'd spent the first twenty minutes trying to pick his brain before giving up and relaxing against me. Typically with a concussion you're not supposed to sleep, but I was keeping an eye on her and wouldn't let her get into too deep a sleep without waking her. My whole body was on edge. I didn't like not knowing what was going on, and the only thing I wanted to do was find that fucking cop and tear him apart. Instead, I was stuck in a vehicle with a lawyer, an agent I didn't trust as far as I could spit, and a beautiful woman I needed to protect.

Relaxing back against the seat I tried to release the frustration I could feel building inside me with each passing minute. I closed my eyes and began counting back from fifty while I concentrated on slow, even breathing. My eyes flew open before I'd hit twenty-five, the sound of bullets impacting the side of the SUV snapping me back into combat mode. So much for relaxing, but maybe I would get a chance to release some of that frustration.

In an instant, I had Steph on the floor of the SUV, my body covering hers. There was a good possibility that the vehicle was bulletproof, but I wasn't betting her life on it. I felt her body tense under mine as she was startled awake. "Take it easy, Beautiful," I told her.

"What's going on?" She asked, her voice a mixture of sleep and nerves.

"Just someone looking to play," I told her, a smile forming on my lips.

She let out a long sigh. "Great. One more thing to add to the day." She stopped speaking and I knew she was looking at me. "You're a nut," she said. "I can't believe you enjoy stuff like this."

"Yeah, well, you never did like to have any fun," I said, my smile growing bigger.

"Oh," she said, her eyes growing wide as realization dawned on her. "Oh! We're being shot at?"

"Got it in one, Beautiful," I said. "Stay down." I levered myself up to look over the back seat while I pulled my gun from the holster on my utility belt. "Any idea where the shots are coming from?" I asked the car in general. Haver was ducked down on the floorboard in the front seat a Glock in his hand. He might be a lawyer now, but he hadn't always been.

"Two shooters are in the bank building at three o'clock, and there are two more at nine o'clock on the third floor of the professional building," Cassidy said as he accelerated. I watched the speedometer climb and pulled out my cell.

"What the Hell is going on?" Tank's voice bellowed through the speaker of my cell.

"We've taken fire. Four shooters, three and nine," I told him.

"Is Bombshell alright?"

"I'm fine, Tank," Steph said from her place on the floor.

"She's good. Annoyed, but good," I said, smiling.

"What's the plan?" he asked.

I held my phone up so that Cassidy wouldn't have to yell to be heard. "We're going to need to check for damage. There's an abandoned gas station about three miles up the road. It's the only building, and there aren't many places for people to hide, and they might not have anyone in place there. Whoever is behind this didn't bother with professionals."

"Now, that's just insulting," Tank said. "Guess we're just going to have to show them what real professionals are like."

"This will be fun," I said, wanting to rub my hands together. Steph looked at me from her spot on the floor and just shook her head.

"You're both nuts."

"Yeah, but that's what you love about us." She rolled her eyes at me and I couldn't help but laugh, before returning my mind to the situation. This day might end up not being so bad.

"How big is this gas station?" Tank asked.

"The building is probably twenty by thirty, and has about three quarters of an acre of land surrounding it." Cassidy replied. "It hasn't been active in thirty years."

"We'll cover your six. When we get there, stay in the car and keep Bombshell down. Bobby and I will scout the perimeter and make sure no one has found a bolthole. Once it's cleared do your vehicle inspection. We've already called for backup. Rangeman ETA is four and a half minutes," Tank said.

We pulled into what could have loosely been termed a gas station sometime in the last hundred years. The building was rundown with chipped paint and missing shingles. Dirt covered the single pane windows, and what pavement was left was broken up and crumbling with age. It would have fit in perfectly in some rundown desert town, and seemed out of place in the commercial district of Trenton. Cassidy wasn't kidding when he said there wouldn't be many places for people to hide. The closest buildings were at least a block away, and from the look of them, they were also abandoned.

I positioned myself so that I was covering Steph while still being able to shoot if we started receiving fire again. Haver had readjusted himself on the passenger seat floor and was quickly scanning the surroundings, and even in his suit, he looked like he was in his element. Cassidy on the other hand looked as pissed off as I felt. I didn't think he enjoyed taking orders from Tank, but at that point I was pretty sure he knew he didn't have a choice. After all, he was out numbered, which also meant he was outgunned.

Steph was being unusually quiet and I took a moment to look her over. "You okay, Beautiful?" I asked.

"Yeah, Les. Just tired and wondering what the hell is going on," she replied.

"I know, Beautiful. We'll get through this. Just keep doing what you're doing."

"Honestly, I'm not sure what I've been doing," she said. "I've just been playing it by ear."

"Well, it's working for you, then," I told her, and it really was. She was showing more strength than I'd ever seen from her before. Sometime since the night of the take down she'd grown a backbone and wasn't taking shit from anyone. Steph was a beautiful woman on a normal day, but when she was fierce she was unbelievable. It was like a switch had flipped on inside her and she was radiant. Ranger was in for a surprise when he got home.

"So, Cassidy," Steph said from her place on the floor. "Have any idea who decided to play with us today? Or is this all part of the safety you're going to provide me?" Sarcasm wasn't necessarily a Jersey thing, but I hadn't met many people who were as highly honed in it as Steph, and it was obvious she wasn't a huge fan of Agent Cassidy's. I didn't blame her.

"Look, Ms. Plum, I realize this isn't an ideal situation. In fact, it fucking sucks, but trust me when I tell you that you're safer right here than you were sitting in that jail."

"I know that, but I'm not sure that has anything to do with you, and everything to do with Rangeman." I felt her shift to sit up, and I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"Stay down," I told her. I knew she would hate not being in on the action, but I didn't want to take a chance on her sitting up and making herself a visible target.

"Fine," she said settling back again. "Since we're going to be here a while, why don't you tell me what's going on. Where exactly are we going?"

"Backup's here," I said, as two black Rangeman SUVs rolled into the dirt beside us. "You'll have to wait to interrogate the Spook for a little while longer, Beautiful."

"Well, Shit. That's no fun," she said with a smile. "Which of the guys are getting hazardous duty pay today?"

"I'm not sure yet, but my guess would be, Hal, Cal, Ram and Hector. They're who I'd choose, who Ranger would choose, so I figure Tank would choose them too. They're the usual suspects."

"Usual suspects, huh," Steph said. "So, they're like, what? The second string? JV to the A Team's Varsity?"

I couldn't help but laugh, and I'm pretty sure that Cassidy even let out a chuckle. I know that Haver did. "Pretty much," I told her.

"Good to know," she said. Just then Tank rapped on the window and Cassidy powered it down.

"All clear, but let's hurry this up."

"You do realize that I'm not one of your men, Tank," Cassidy said as he moved to open the door. I watched as Tank stood motionless blocking it from opening.

"That might be, but Steph is, and so is everyone else. At the moment, you're the little fish in a very large pond." Tank stepped away from the door allowing Cassidy to exit the vehicle.

"Wow," Steph said. "Why don't they just save us all some time and whip it out." Haver snorted from his position up front, but didn't comment.

"More fun this way," I told her. "Now, I need you to stay right here, please. I'm going to get out and keep an eye on things." I shot a glance at Haver and he nodded his head.

"I'll stay here with Ms. Plum."

Steph looked at me and said, "Stay safe. Try not to let anyone shoot you."

"There you go, taking away all the fun again," I said, dropping a kiss on her head before climbing out. Hal, Cal, Hector and Ram all exited their vehicles at the same time, in full gear, loaded for bear.

Hector handed out radios to each of us, and I secured the throat mic around my neck before hooking the earpiece inside my right ear. We'd be in constant communication from this point on, and I could feel my frustration beginning to ebb. I knew it wouldn't completely go away until I found that sorry excuse for a cop, but at least now we were doing something. We weren't just passive bystanders, but were actively involved in protecting Steph. "Hola, hermano. How is Steph?" Hector asked. In the past few years his English had gotten better, but he still had a tendency to speak Spanglish.

"Fighting mad, a little scared, but as determined as ever," I said as Ram, Hal, and Cal joined us, securing their radios as well. "She's got bumps, bruises and a possible concussion. She needs a medical checkup, but currently we haven't wrangled control away from the Homeland Security Ass yet. Until we do, it's his show."

"What the hell happened to her?" Cal asked. All Rangemen were big, and Cal was no exception, though his size wasn't what really intimidated people. In the center of his forehead he had a flaming skull tattooed, and that gave even the hardest criminals pause. When it came to his job, Cal was one of the best, but just like the majority of Rangeman, he had a soft spot for Steph.

"We're not really sure, man. Just that a cop from some shithole little town called Shifting Sands, laid his hands on her," I told him.

"What the hell for?" Ram asked, his features hardening and his stance becoming aggressive. It was apparent that he was looking for a fight. He wasn't the only one. Tank was busy dealing with Agent Cassidy, so I gave them the quick overview of what we knew so far, which in my opinion was next to nothing, and tried to answer the questions they were lobbing at me like baseballs.

"Fuck, that's all I know. Supposedly we're heading to some place safe, but if this is Homeland Security's idea of safe, Steph is screwed," I said scanning my eyes around us. "Let's get this shit over with."

We'd taken no more than ten steps when all hell broke loose. The sound of large engines broke through the relative quiet of the area and as a team we went on alert. Steph was as safe as she could be, inside the SUV with Haver. I knew he'd make sure nothing happened to her. The sound of the engines grew closer until two jacked up trucks with custom paint jobs came into view. I drew my gun from its holster and held it down by my thigh, waiting. I had a feeling that these guys weren't out for a joyride. "Company's coming," I said.

"Santos, you and Ram cover Cassidy's SUV. Hal and Cal, I want you to grab rifles and spread out. Find cover, they don't need to know how many of us there are. Cassidy, you're with Brown and me. If they start asking questions, you take point, since you're the one with the badge. If it gets out of hand, it becomes my show. Bombshell's safety is our top priority. Pecking order can be squabbled about later," Tank said, his tone of voice leaving no room for argument. "Santos, brief Haver. You've got sixty seconds."

"On it," I said double timing it to the open driver side window. "We've got company. Do whatever needs to be done to keep Steph safe," I told him before looking between the seats at Steph who was still lying on the floor. "How you feeling, Beautiful?" I asked.

"Like I've got a freight train running through my head, but otherwise nothing a little food wouldn't cure."

"Take it easy. We'll get you out of here as soon as possible. Just stay down and listen to Haver." She looked like she wanted to object but I cut her off saying, "Beautiful, keep you head down, please. You can kick ass later."

That seemed to pacify her and she said, "Okay, Les. I'll hold you to that."

"Later, Beautiful," I said knocking on the roof of the SUV. Haver powered up the window and positioned himself in the driver seat, his gun resting on his lap.

"Showtime, Santos," came Tank's voice through the radio.

"Locked and loaded," I replied. I was more than ready for some action.

The trucks slowed and two men jumped from each of the beds. It was obvious they were carrying, but so far they hadn't drawn their weapons. Once the men were offloaded, the trucks continued down the street. "Appears there are at least four more men between the two trucks," I whispered, knowing that the throat mics would pick it up clearly.

"We've got more company coming from the west," Hal said. They're carrying shotguns, and stomping around like a herd of elephants."

"Fucking amateurs," Ram said.

"Keep sharp," was Tank's command. The sound of gunshots filled the air.