When Ranger's alarm went off the next morning, I rolled over, cuddled in and held on tight. "I have to get up, babe", he said with a laugh. "I've already heard Julie up."

I groaned. "Oh, God. It's time to get up, isn't it? I had hoped that you had made a mistake and set your alarm wrong."

I could see Ranger's smile in the dark. "Nope. Forget working and go back to sleep. It will be okay."

I groaned again and pulled myself to a sitting position. "No. I'm strong. I am invincible. I am Wonder Woman. I can do this."

"I think to do it you'll have to be able to open your eyes." He turned on the soft light at the side of the bed.

I reached up and pried my eyes open with my fingers. "The light! It burns!" Ranger smiled. "You can laugh. You're the Dark Knight and can handle every and all dangers. Batman conquers evil, every time. He can even conquer the Joker, and anyone who can conquer a playing card is a hero in my books. I mean, playing cards can give you paper cuts. Bad paper cuts. Deadly paper cuts. You can never underestimate the danger associated with a paper cut. The Joker is vicious."

"Uh-hunh."

"You scoff. A deck of cards is the most underestimated weapon of torture that has ever been created."

"Are you awake or are you asleep?"

I sighed. "Unfortunately, awake. If I have a shower, can you make a pot of coffee? Maybe you should crush a bottle of caffeine pills and add it to the ground coffee beans."

Ranger laughed. "We don't have caffeine pills."

"You know? I always wanted to try them. I thought that, if I did, I'd be able to reduce my need for sleep down to nine hours a night. I figured that maybe, just once, I'd feel refreshed."

"Somehow I don't think caffeine pills are natural."

"True and, to tell you the truth, I'd be afraid that Grandma would find them when she was rooting through the cupboards looking for my junk food in the middle of the night, and she'd help herself to a little sample of five or ten. She'd have a heart attack and fall flat on the floor, and I don't know if my mother would be thankful or angry at me."

Ranger smiled again. "Your mother would be upset."

"Oh, I know that she'd be upset. But I suspect that I wouldn't be cut off from pineapple upside-down cake. She'd be upset about her mother, but she wouldn't be upset enough to blame me for it."

Ranger smiled and headed into the dressing room. He changed into some workout clothes and came out of the closet with his socks in his hand. "Babe, go back to sleep. I think it will be too much of a stress on your body to get up this early. You have to work up to it, slowly. Start by getting up at noon and work your way back."

"Smart-ass." I swung my feet out of the bed and hauled myself to my feet. "Nope. I can do this. I am determined. I will conquer the night and overcome the dawn."

Ranger smiled again, and pulled me into a hug. "Good for you. Standing up is the first step."

"Do they have support groups for this?"

Ranger laughed, bent his head down and took my lips in a kiss. As he deepened the kiss, he smoothed his hand up and down my side, and let his thumb graze all the interesting parts. When he stood back a few moments later, I was breathing hard and felt dazed. "Damn", I said. "That was more effective than a bottle of caffeine pills. I'm up, ready, and rarin' to go."

Ranger laughed. "You really don't have to do work this morning. Take the day off."

I smiled. "I don't think, when I said I was up, ready and rarin' to go, that I was thinking about work. I was thinking about more pleasurable activities."

"Uh-hunh. Hold that thought until tonight, and I will take you up on it. However, Julie is waiting for me."

I sighed. "Mentioning Julie's name when I am thinking about a little physical togetherness works like a cold shower, you know."

Ranger smiled. "I'm sorry."

"Ha. You're not sorry at all. You are going to leave me quivering again, aren't you?"

"Perhaps we can have a fast partner shower when I get back."

"I can do fast."

"Trust me. The way I'm feeling, I will set a new record."

I looked down at his shorts and grinned. "Have fun with Julie, and I'll make the coffee. I'll add extra coffee grind so that I'm ready for you."

"You did have to mention Julie, didn't you?"

I smiled again. "Just trying to help you manage the...situation...that is happening in your nether regions."

"Nether regions?" He grinned again.

"What do you want me to say? Your Moby Dick is breaching your boxers?"

"Hooah."

I grinned. "I thought that was hooyah."

His face took on a pained expression and he groaned. I laughed, leaned forward and kissed him, and deked around him and went into the washroom to use the facilities and brush my teeth. By the time I got out of the washroom, Ranger and Julie had left for the day. I yawned as I walked into the kitchen and measured out the coffee grind for the coffee, added water, and wondered about the benefits of administering straight caffeine directly through an IV compared to drinking it in coffee form. After all, coffee - although fairly high in caffeine - was still a diluted form of caffeine.

That, of course, made me pull out my phone and check the web for alternative and stronger sources of caffeine. Coffee, unfortunately, was definitely one of the most concentrated sources of caffeine. However, I was looking for a stronger buzz, the feeling of electricity sparking off my fingers, my hair standing straight up and the inability of my eyes to close. I was looking for the treadmill workout on my heart without the need to get on the treadmill and sprint. Of course, anything greater than a walk on the treadmill I considered a sprint. Ranger might not agree, but what did he know? According to my heart rate, it was definitely a sprint.

Coffee beans coated in dark chocolate had more caffeine per ounce than anything else available outside a chemistry lab. So that made me click onto Amazon. And sure enough, they had some. They were incredibly expensive, but I thought it might be a good idea to get them for my sister for Christmas. After all, she constantly looked sleep-deprived. Of course, it would be remiss of me to buy something for her and not know if it was a good thing to get. I put them in my cart and clicked 'buy now'. As I put away my phone, poured a significant amount of cream in my mug, and waited for the coffee to finish percolating, I sighed. Sleepy shopping wasn't the safest shopping. It was a good thing that I was soon going to be consuming some caffeine. The magic elixir would stop me from breaking the bank on things that I might not need. And then, as I yawned and wiped the sleep out of my eyes, I decided that I really did need those chocolate-covered coffee beans. They may have been an impulse buy, but they weren't a stupid purchase. Even if I never bought some for my sister.

I walked with my cup into my office, turned on my computer, and looked over my review. I thought that I had done a good job on Todd's report and on Richard's report. However, I hadn't done an overview of Todd's parents. I drank down half my cup of coffee and, fortified with caffeine, I made use of my liquid energy and started the investigation.

I set up In-Spect to run Todd's parents' names. As I sipped my coffee, I leaned back in my chair and looked out the terrace doors. The sun wasn't coming up yet, but it was getting lighter out. I thought that I would never admit it to Ranger, but it was a nice time of the day. It was peaceful and still, the day poised to become something magnificent. I could see why he liked it. I personally liked my bed better, but I had to admit that it was a pleasant time of the day. With enough coffee - or chocolate-covered coffee beans - I might even look forward to it and get up at that time every day.

Nah.

In-Spect dinged and I turned back to the computer. I had run Todd's father first. Like Todd, he had an income from the same numbered company but did not file taxes or claim any income - and never had. He had a couple of possession charges and had been captured as a pimp, and had been put in jail for a few months in the past for it. That was, however, a long time ago. His record was clean for the last fifteen years. He didn't have a lot for In-Spect to retrieve. He didn't own property - he had given his house to his son when he went into prison. He was a mechanic by training. He had a great relationship with his wife; people saw him as being a good husband and a good father, a caring man and a loving man to his family. I wondered what his relationship was like with his brother-in-law. I wrote it in an email to Cal to ask the undercover detective.

He seemed like a person who cared deeply about his son. Perhaps we could use that?

He didn't have social media; he had little in his bank account. There wasn't much to discover.

The same thing went for his wife. She had basically the same report, with the exception of the job that they were trained in. Instead of being a mechanic, she was a trained tattoo artist. Her body was her billboard and her own advertisement.

The only handle we had was the love they had for their son. Sure, the wife had her own shop, but her real love was her family first, her club second, and her shop third.

I sat back and thought about it again for a moment, then sent a note with the accompanying reports to Cal. "I think you should talk to Todd. Want some company?" I didn't think Ranger would be too impressed, but somehow I knew that I had to be there. And as Ranger often said, instinct was a wondrous thing.

A few minutes later, Cal sent a note back. "Got your reports. Absolutely, that's the next step. I'd love the company. I'll let you know when I can set something up."

I went into the kitchen and poured myself another cup of coffee as I tried to figure out how to tell Ranger that Cal and I were going to meet the person who was doing the extortion, and talking to him about the sensitive subject of his parents 'stealing' from the club. I sighed. I was just going to have to take his worry. And really, it was misplaced worry. With Cal around, what could happen?