A/N: Thank you so much for all the kind words and reviews. I really appreciate all your enthusiasm. You guys are the best :)

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Extra special thanks to my beta, Fredda (Rangergirl1234) for her fabulous edits to this chapter, the name of this story and encouraging me to write. Fredda, you're the best :)

JE owns the characters; I'm just taking them for a test drive.

Chapter 37 Hell

I woke up not knowing where I was. It was dark, I felt cramped and the object I was in was definitely moving. If I had to guess where I was, I would have had to say in the trunk of a car. I had a really bad headache but I was able to think about what I had seen before I blacked out.

There were two men that I knew of. There was the one that blew the dart at me, and I think from the repeated whooshing sound, he blew one at Hector too. He was dark-haired and dark-bearded. I don't think I'd ever seen him before. The other man was sandy-haired and kind of scruffy. It could have been Kraven, but I didn't get a good enough look at him. I just saw him in profile in the dimly lit garage. Then I saw Hector throw his knife at blow dart man and make a direct hit into his throat. I have a feeling blow dart man is going to have trouble talking- that is, if blow dart man even exists anymore.

As I was going over the events that led to me being in this confined space I remembered the earrings. If I activated it now, the camera would just see blackness, but at least the panic button would start sending Rangeman the coordinates of where I was. They'd be able to follow my blip on screen. So I pressed down on the fake stone of my right earring.

I felt bad that we stood up DataDependable. I hoped Carlos or Bobby would call their office and let them know why Hector and I didn't show. And then I thought about Hector. If he was hit, was he knocked out too? Did they take him? Was he with me?

"Hector?" I called, just a little above a whisper. "Hector, are you here?"

I didn't get an answer and the only breathing I heard was my own. I figured I was alone and I was who they were looking for.

Suddenly the car stopped and I was jolted forward and back. Boy was I going to have some bruises from that stop. I thought I'd kick whoever opened the trunk in the face and see if I could get away, but then thought about it. It would probably be better if I just got a picture of my captor so that Rangeman could figure out who it was and get me out of here sooner. I wasn't sure if my camera had sound, but I spoke to it anyway.

"We just stopped. When someone opens the trunk I'm going to look to the right so my left earring records a good picture." Then I added, "I love you Carlos. Don't worry, I'll see you soon."

All of a sudden the trunk opened. I turned to the right and shielded my eyes from the sunlight, hoping the camera was getting a good picture.

"Ms. Stephanie Plum," my assailant said, as I turned to look at him.

It was Kraven. But at least he wasn't swinging a flail at me this time.

"So what do you want with me?" I asked, suddenly feeling brave.

"Didn't you get my note? I was hoping to get you and your fat friend together, but one at a time will give me just as much pleasure."

"Yeah, I got it. I wasn't sure I understood it." I said, thinking if I could engage him in conversation it would give Carlos time to get to me.

"What's not to understand? I'm going to make you wish you never came after me. Even your Rangeman boyfriend won't be able to help you...if he could find you."

He'll find me I thought, that's what he does best. I was still squatting in the trunk and he reached a hand in to help me up. At least that's what I thought until the hand slapped me across my face, hard.

"You little bitch. You think I'd help you up? You and your fat friend thought you could take me in and that would be the end of it? Ha. You don't know who you're dealing with."

Well, he had an ego and he liked to talk. Maybe I could keep him busy until Carlos found me. I didn't think we had driven very far, but I wasn't sure how long I had been out. It couldn't have been much longer than a half an hour based on my previous experience with stun darts.

He reached in and slapped me again, knocking my head against the trunk of the car. I reached back and felt blood. Carlos said he would torture me and mutilate me until I wished I was dead. I really hoped Carlos would get here before that happened.

While I was trying to wish away the bad, he reached into the trunk and pulled me out by my armpits. I banged both shins on the inside lip of the trunk and tore my skirt on the lock mechanism as he yanked me out. The tears started to well up in my eyes as he threw me down roughly, and slapped me again.

"Bitch! Think crying will help? I'll give you something to cry about," and he pulled my arm behind my back and up towards my head until it really hurt as he pushed me towards the now open back door.

Once my eyes adjusted to the low-level of lighting in the basement we were in, I could see some of the things he was famous for. I recognized some of the devices from pictures. In front of me was an oblong wooden rack. It had a roller with a ratchet and handle attached to it at one end and a fixed bar with manacles on the other.

I don't know why my eyes were fixated on this devise when there were other things and strange masks in the room, but I was sure he was taking me to the rack.

He didn't. Instead we walked over to this pointed pyramid atop a wooden vaulted base. It had a round metal belt with massive locks above it and four, no five, hooks attached to the wall with chains hanging from them on either side of the belt. It looked like the belt could be hoisted above the pointy rack thing and I wasn't too sure what it was used for.

"Do you know what this is Stephanie?" He asked me, using my name and making me cringe with the way he said it.

I shook my head no.

"It's called Judas' Cradle. I could tell you what it does, but I'd rather show you. I hang you by your waist with your arms and feet bound, and I lower you, or rather bounce you, over that pyramid point," he said, and started laughing.

"When I'm done with you, your Rangeman boyfriend won't want to put his dick anywhere near your pussy."

He then walked a few feet away, picked up a heavy metal ball and threw it at me. It hit me in my lower abdomen and I fell over backwards from the force of it. I was lying on the ground with the wind knocked out of me when I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. Suddenly I had another excruciating pain in my pelvis. It felt like my insides wanted to come out. I moaned and I could feel something leaking out of me. It felt like the worst period I'd ever had. I looked down and saw that blood was gushing from between my legs.

Kraven saw the blood pooling around me. He picked up something that looked like a club and came at me. I thought it was over. I thought he was going to bash my head in when the door burst open and Cal and Vince came running through.

I heard Cal yell, "she's here," and then more activity. Someone grabbed Kraven and someone else jumped the other lunatic that was in the room.

Carlos walked towards me and hesitated slightly when he saw the blood. He tried for his blank face, but wasn't very successful. I could see how concerned he was—as was I. He bent down, took my hand and kissed my forehead. "Babe please don't move until we know how bad this is. Dios!"

Carlos got up and went over to Kraven. I heard his voice change when he addressed him. "What did you do to her?"

Kraven laughed that barbaric laugh of his and Carlos punched him in the face.

"What the hell did you do to Stephanie? I'll kill you!"

"Carlos, no!" I said. "He threw this," and I pointed to the heavy metal ball on the floor. "He threw it…at me."

I couldn't say anything else because another stab of excruciating pain hit me and I felt more blood ooze from my body.

"Carlos! Is Bobby here?" I asked before I blacked out.

I woke up in the back of a Rangeman SUV. Carlos was holding my hand and stroking my hair and Bobby had started an IV.

"Babe, we're taking you to the St. Francis ER. Bobby thinks you may have miscarried. They'll take you right in—they know we're coming."

"Miscarried? I…I wasn't…I wasn't pregnant."

"Bobby thinks you may have been. He took some samples from the blood you lost. I suppose they'll do a pathology test on them. Dios, Babe…I'm so sorry."

I suddenly felt another excruciating stab of pain and held my abdomen. I felt more blood gush from between my legs and it took all of my concentration to keep from passing out again.

I concentrated on taking deep breaths and when the wave finally passed, I looked up at Carlos. "Is Hector ok?"

"He's fine. Kraven's thug hit the both of you with blow darts. Hector managed to kill him and call us before his dart immobilized him. We called the police to make sure Hector wasn't wrongly accused. He's at TPD now with Santos. They're taking his statement."

I was glad Hector was ok and wasn't taken for a ride like I was. "Did anyone call Peter Burg? I would hate for him to think Rangeman stood him up."

"Yes, we called. Hector says he and Manny can meet with him and the Eisenberg's tomorrow so we can have someone on board for Friday."

"I'm going to be there too. This was my job," I said emphatically when I heard they weren't including me.

"Babe. We didn't know what to expect. We still don't know."

"Did the camera catch everything? Will we have enough evidence to put him away for a long time?"

"Yes, we have enough evidence. But are you sure you want him in the judicial system? He can get out on probation. He could get an early release. Remember what happened with Ramirez?"

"Carlos, I don't want you or Rangeman to get into any trouble for doing something illegal."

"Neither I nor Rangeman would have to touch him. But we can give out information which might lead to someone else ending a dispute with him."

"Do what you think is best. I don't want to know." Then I thought about it. If we played by the judicial system, I'd have to testify. I knew what high-powered lawyers could do. My life would be an open book. And all of a sudden I felt sick to my stomach.

"Carlos, I don't want to have to go on the witness stand."

Carlos pulled me tighter to his chest as he stroked my abdomen. "Babe."

When we got to the ER they did in fact take me right in. Thankfully, I had signed some papers at Rangeman the first time I worked there that made Bobby my medical power of attorney and he was able to come into the ER with me and Carlos.

There was an ob/gyn specialist in the ER that had been brought in by Rangeman for me. She did an internal exam while Carlos and Bobby waited outside and confirmed that I had miscarried. She said the miscarriage was complete and that I didn't need surgery or any other medical intervention for it, but told me that I may have side effects for a week or so. She didn't like the look of the bump on my head and had us wait for a different doctor to come in to take a look at it.

She brought a padded icepack for me while we waited. My head didn't really hurt, but my shins were killing me. I asked if I could get two more icepacks; one for each, as I now had a good-sized goose-egg on both of them.

This was all in a day's work if I thought back to my early days as a BEA but I hadn't been through this in a while and I'd never miscarried before. As I was musing to myself about my day the gyno, Dr. Wild, came back into the room with two more icepacks for me. After she put them on my shins she spoke to Carlos, Bobby and me.

"Just because you had a miscarriage doesn't mean you can't have children. I'd give your body about four weeks to heal and then you can try again."

"Actually Dr. Wild, we weren't trying." I said. "I've been on the pill for the last few years, and it's been ok for me. I think I may have forgotten to take one, maybe two, this month though. We're not ready to have children. Carlos just asked me to marry him." And I took Carlos' hand and kissed it. "A child is a big step."

"That's a very adult decision. Have you thought about birth control shots? They're very effective and you don't have to worry about remembering to take a pill."

"Carlos and I were talking about that recently. Bobby can give me the shots, can't he?"

"Yes. What we usually do is give you a pregnancy test to assure you're not pregnant before we start them. Obviously you are not now, so if you want, I can administer the first shot and Bobby can take it from there."

"What if we want to have a baby in the future?" I asked, just to be sure this would be reversible.

"It can take up to three months after you stop for you to be able to conceive. So knowing that, just plan accordingly. Who is your current gynecologist?"

"It's Dr. Simonson, but I've never really felt comfortable with him. He was just someone we all went to. He was prescribing birth control pills for all my friends when we were in high school. And he never asked for our parents' permission, so we thought he was cool. Do you see patients privately?" I asked, hoping she did because I really liked her.

"Yes I do, here's my card," she said, taking one out of the breast pocket of her smock and handing it to me. "But I could set up a shot for you today while you're here, if you'd like?"

I looked over at Carlos and then to Bobby. I had never asked Bobby if he'd give me the shots, we just assumed he would. "Carlos, what do you think? And Bobby, would you be able to do them for me?"

"Babe, I'll go along with whatever you want, but I think it's a good idea."

Bobby chimed in. "I don't have a lot of experience with this as Ella is the only woman at Rangeman right now, and she's going through menopause. But I hear the shot is good and of course, I'd give it to you. We could schedule a standing appointment."

I turned to Dr. Wild, "Ok, let's do it."

She left us to prepare the shot and Bobby followed her out for serum and instructions on giving me subsequent ones. I looked over at Carlos and I burst into tears. "Carlos we made a baby and I lost it," I said, the reality of the situation just hitting me.

"Shhh Babe, it's ok. I don't blame you." Carlos said, wrapping me in his arms and wiping my tears away with his fingers. "I'd never blame you. Seeing you with all that blood around you really scared me. Dios, I thought I lost you today. I was going to kill him. I'm glad you spoke—I was seconds away from sending him to hell.

We were still in the same position with Carlos soothing me when Bobby and Dr. Wild came back in. She'd given Bobby a kit of some sort and had the shot prepared. I really hated needles and this looked like a big one. I guess she saw me look at it and wiggle closer to Carlos.

"Don't worry Stephanie, it's a very fine needle. It won't hurt at all. But I have to give it to you in your buttocks. Do you want Carlos and Bobby to leave?"

I thought about it for a nano-second. If Bobby was going to be giving me my shots he'd see my ass anyway, and I wasn't letting Carlos out of my sight.

"No, they can stay," I turned around and lifted my skirt. The hospital had given me a huge maxi-pad to wear in case there was any further bleeding and I was embarrassed for about two seconds that they would see this, but I got over it. She rubbed the area with alcohol and gave me the shot. She was right; it didn't hurt at all. She rubbed the area for a few seconds and asked me how I felt.

"I'm good. It didn't hurt. You were great. But I do have a couple of questions. You said the miscarriage was complete?"

"Yes, there is no more embryotic tissue in you. It was a complete miscarriage."

"Uh, how long do we have to wait before we can have sex?" I asked. Carlos and I had sex a lot and I wanted to know how long we'd have to wait before we could be together.

"The rule of thumb is the further along you were, the longer you'd have to wait. There is always the risk of getting an infection because the cervix is open. You were not very far along at all, I'd say two weeks, so I would give yourself at least a week before putting anything, even a finger or a tampon into your vagina."

I nodded that I understood, and then I smiled. Carlos and I would have to get very creative for the next week.