Chapter Seven

The next morning, I was still smiling and still thinking about Montero. Tank walked in.

"You OK?"

"Yes, why?" I asked.

"You're smiling" Tank seemed genuinely confused.

I laughed. A real laugh. Les walked in and gave him his 1000-watt grin.

"A good day" he said and winked at me.

"I hate to say it Les, but I think you might have been right."

Tank looked between me and Les like we were nuts, which of course caused Les and I to just laugh harder.

Tank just shook his head and sat down at the conference table. He mumbled something that sounded a lot like "Why me."

We went over the security plans for Ruiz. The place was a security nightmare. It was a hotel, which meant there were any number of unvetted guests and staff at any one time. There multiple entry and exit points and a blind alley.

I looked up from the plans shaking my head. "This place is a nightmare" I said. "Who picked it?"

"Wyland" tank replied.

I voiced what we were all thinking "do you think he is nefarious or stupid? Do you think he is trying to get Ruiz killed or is he just too arrogant and stupid to realize this place is like an engraved invitation?"

Tank and Les both shrugged.

"I don't like this at all. Let's double the team and make sure we have the connecting rooms on both sides. Tank, you and Les can team and I'll go with Roman. Roman will be remote. I don't even want the Feds to know about him or the extra rooms." I had a bad feeling. My spidey sense was in overdrive.

Roman had known Ranger, I'm not even sure how. He was the first guy Ranger recruited when we came to DC. He had been a sniper and then did work for the CIA. That was about all I knew about Roman.

He was tall and blond with shaggy hair. He looked like a surfer dude right up until you looked in his eyes. They reminded me of a shark's eyes. Roman kind of scared me. I'd never had a personal conversation with him and he seemed to avoid me at times, but I knew he watched me when he thought I wasn't looking. It seemed like he was always close, but stayed in the shadows at a distance. He had stayed on after Ranger died, and did excellent work so I guess I couldn't complain. Ranger trusted him and that was good enough for me.

At 7PM we loaded up to take our shift with Ruiz. Les and Tank went in one vehicle and Roman and I went in the other.

Roman and I rode for a while in silence. In for a penny in for a pound I thought.

"How did you know Ranger" I blurted out.

Roman's expression never changed and he never took his eyes off the road. I thought for a minute he wouldn't answer me.

"Ranger saved my life. I got captured by the Vega cartel and Ranger got me out."

The hair on the back of my neck stood up. Roman and Ranger both knew Vega before Ranger took the job. What the hell. Did Ranger take the job to settle old scores?

My eyes cut to Roman and unease slithered through me. Roman must have sensed my distress. When we parked at the hotel Roman turned to me and put his hand on my arm. I flinched at the touch and he quickly removed his hand and something like sorrow flashed across his face. I immediately regretted pulling away.

He locked eyes with me. "You should know, I owe Ranger my life. I will do anything for Ranger and I will do anything to keep you safe." Roman and I stared at each other and I reached over and touched his arm. Roman smiled at me and I smiled back and nodded.

I got out of the SUV thinking it was odd that Roman referred to Ranger in the present tense. Roman didn't strike me as a guy that needed to move through the seven stages of grief. Roman struck me as a guy well acquainted with the finality of death.

Roman disappeared into the night and I went inside the hotel and up to Ruiz room.

Just my luck that prick Wyland was coming down the hall. I sighed and steeled my spine.

"So nice the pussy brigade has arrived to be entertainment" he snarled. "Hopefully Ruiz gets blown not blown away tonight." Wyland laughed at his own clever turn of phrase.

What the hell? This was the second time Wyland had used a reference to the events of the party. The only way he would know that is if he had been there or had seen the body cam footage. The implications of either were not good. I ignored him and kept walking.

"What's in the duffle?" Wyland wanted to know.

I gave him the death glare "props."

"You think you are really one smart cookie, but really you are just an uppity cunt. I can't wait for you to get knocked off your high-horse" he hissed and walked off. I thought that seemed like a lot of metaphors for an idiot, but ignored him.

Tank let me in. He and Les were babysitting Ruiz. Ruiz rolled his eyes when I walked in.

I stalked over to Ruiz and threw the duffle at him. "Take all your clothes off and put these on" I commanded. I'd brought Ruiz a sweatsuit, socks, and tennis shoes.

"You want me to take off my clothes?" Ruiz sounded incredulous.

"It's your lucky day" I deadpanned and pointed to the bathroom. Ruiz complied.

My spidey sense was clanging.

Tank raised an eyebrow at me.

"I don't want to accidentally pick-up any unnecessary bugs if we have to move him." Tank gave a little nod.

A few uneventful hours passed. I wanted to relax but I still felt on edge. This whole thing felt like a set-up. I heard a whisper of movement in the hall. Tank, Les and I looked at each other.

I leapt up and grabbed Ruiz and hustled him into the adjoining room, quickly closing and locking the door behind us. I heard the crack of the door as it was kicked open in the other room, and then I heard a flash bang. Gunfire immediately followed. My heart was in my throat. I wanted to help Les and Tank but my job was Ruiz.

I heard Roman in my ear. Two teams. One inside the hotel. One outside. He was in the alley. I knew I had just seconds to act. I pushed Ruiz into the bathroom, out the window and down the fire escape at a rapid clip. The other room was eerily quiet.

Roman was waiting with the SUV. I bundled Ruiz in the back of the SUV. He looked terrified and his hands were shaking, but he was cooperating. My eyes locked with Roman. "Go" I hissed and started back to the fire escape. I had to get to Tank and Les.

I felt Roman hook me around the waist and pick me up. "No" he whispered in my ear. I struggled against him trying to get free.

"I have to get to them" I cried out. Roman's grip was unyielding. "No" he said again. He hauled me off my feet and shoved me through the driver's side door into the SUV and drove off.

Anger was vibrating off me in waves. How dare he man-handle me when my family needed help.

"Tank Report!"

"Les Report!" I barked into the comms. I repeated myself three more times.

Silence. Tears were starting to well in my eyes. I was terrified they were dead. My entire RangeMan family wiped out in a single night.

I heard some crackling and then Les' voice came over loud and clear. "Two tangos down. Tank has a gunshot to the upper thigh. We are on the way to George Washington University hospital. What is the status of the package?"

"Package secure" I replied. I was surprised my voice sounded normal. Almost calm. Roman reached out and squeezed my hand.

Roman and I took Ruiz to a RangeMan safehouse and got him settled.

"Thank you" I told Roman.

Roman gave a slight nod. "So, I'm not fired?"

I arched an eyebrow at him.

"Good to know. Want to go interrogate Ruiz?"

"Yep. Good talk. We should do it more often" I said and rolled my eyes.

Roman laughed. Who knew Mr. Stick-up-his-ass had a sense of humor?

I grilled Ruiz about Vega's operation and who he might be using as an informant. Ruiz admitted he had heard Vega say he had someone at the FBI, but didn't know the identity of the mole. I believed him. Ruiz had literally wet his pants, I was pretty sure he wouldn't withhold information knowing it could kill him. Ruiz swore he hadn't arranged the hit on Vega, and he'd gotten out of the house by pure dumb luck. Another damn dead end.

I called Barnes and had a very pointed discussion with him. He confirmed the two dead attackers were members of the Vega cartel. He also confirmed that Ruiz had a tracker planted on his clothes. This is probably the only reason Roman and I got out clean. The second team was watching the tracker and it hadn't moved.

Of course, the FBI didn't know I had Roman on the team either so nobody thought to look for him. That gave me a moment's pause. Somebody had set-up Ruiz to get killed on RangeMan's watch. This wasn't just blind luck. Ruiz was put in an unsecure location and tagged with a tracker. The only people that had access to Ruiz in the last 48 hours were the FBI.

Barnes finally admitted he was afraid he had a mole in his group, and agreed to let RangeMan provide protection for Ruiz at an undisclosed location. Only Barnes would be privy to the location information.

Another RangeMan team arrived and Roman and I went back to headquarters. I called the hospital to check on Tank. He was going to be fine, but they wanted to keep him overnight. I knew he would be thrilled about that.

I went into the apartment and stripped off my clothes. I needed a shower. I heard he door open. I pulled on a robe and went out to find Les.

I knew he was suffering from adrenaline burn-off. He looked exhausted and there was a slight tremor to his hand. He was sitting in a kitchen chair working on the straps of his Kevlar vest. I put my hand on his shoulder and gave a little squeeze. I helped him with the vest and pulled it up over his head.

"How about some hot cocoa?" I asked.

Les smiled. "Sounds good."

"Everyone knows cocoa cures whatever is wrong" I winked.

"I need a shower" Les said and headed to the bathroom.

He stopped at the door and turned to face me. "Want to join me?"

I locked eyes with Les. The smile was Les the charmer, but the eyes were Les the predator. "Pass" I said.

"Is that a hard pass?" Les asked.

I thought about it for a minute. "No."

"Then I'll leave the door unlocked" he said and went in. I heard the shower turn on.

I walked over to the bathroom door and stood there for a minute contemplating all the reasons this was a horrible idea.

Something inside me had awakened. I couldn't deny that. Ranger was dead, but I was still alive. I thought about Les. He was sexy and funny. I loved him, but would never be in love with him. I trusted him. He was the perfect candidate for casual sex.

My thoughts drifted to Montero. I liked him a lot. And, that was the problem. Montero would never be casual sex material, because I already felt connected to him. If I ended up in his bed, I would want to stay. He had that force field that just reeled me in.

I put my hand on the knob. I'd made a decision. I turned the knob and walked in. No one would ever accuse me of good judgement or common sense.

Steam was swirling around and I could see Les naked in the shower. Desire pulsed through me. He had a magnificent body. He looked over and held out his hand to me.

I put my hands on the belt of my robe. I hesitated for a second, and took a deep breath. I dropped the robe and took his hand. He pulled me into the shower and under the hot spray.

We took turns soaping each other's bodies and exploring them. Learning just how to touch the other. I was beyond primed. "Please" I whispered.

Les reached down and picked me up. My legs were wrapped around his waist. He backed me up until my back was resting on the tile. The tile felt cool on my back, and he used the wall for support.

He hooked one arm under each knee and spread my legs wide. I could feel his cock throbbing against my entrance. I tried to wriggle down onto it, but he held me still. I made a sound of protest. I'd forgotten just how strong he was. He was effortlessly holding me up against the wall, but I could tell it was taking every ounce of control he had not to thrust inside me. I could see the cords in his neck and the tension in his jaw.

"Please." I knew I was begging and didn't care.

"Steph, I need you to look at me" Les commanded.

I did. "I need you to be sure this is what you really want."

I looked at him like he was insane. I was in a shower with him naked, legs spread wide, literally begging him to take me, and he wanted to be sure? If I hadn't been about to spontaneously combust, I might have appreciated the gesture.

I looked him in the eyes. "Les" I wanted to make sure he knew I was making love to him and not some Ranger substitute. "I really, really want to do this with you."

He leaned forward and kissed me all serious and demanding and then thrust inside of me.

I cried out from the shock of him being inside me. He immediately stilled and let my body adjust to him before he continued. He set a nice easy pace.

"More" I panted. "Harder."

"Dios, woman you are going to kill me" he whispered against my ear, but eagerly complied with my demands.

Les was right. When I came, I was screaming his name.

We reached for each other twice more during the night. When I woke up Les was gone, but he had left a note. The note said make it a happy day.

I smiled and rolled out of bed. I was sore in places I had forgotten about. I smiled. I was definitely well fucked, and that seemed like a good way to start the day as far as I was concerned.

I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I wasn't sure I was ever going to be able to look at this shower quite the same way ever again.