Chapter Fourteen

Stephanie tried to do some work, but mostly she just kept glancing at her phone wondering why Morelli hadn't called her back. She resisted the urge to call him again and leave another message. Irritation crawled across her skin. How many times in her life had she left two urgent messages for the man? Exactly never. Surely, he'd be smart enough to figure out she really did need something.

Every time she glanced at her phone, the message from Pardo would glare back at her. Taunting her. Should she text him and tell him no, or just ignore him. That was the question. If she just told him no, he might think she just had other plans, unless she said no, not now or ever. If she just ignored him, he might think she didn't get the text and text her again.

Stephanie really didn't know why figuring out how to respond to Pardo seemed like a bigger deal than uncovering money laundering. It was entirely possible she was insane. All you had to do was look at her grandma Mazur to know crazy definitely ran in the family. Although that wasn't really true in her book. Her grandma seemed perfectly normal. It was her mother that always struck her as insane, which when she thought about it, was a sure sign, she was crazy.

Of course, there was something to be said for being crazy. Crazy definitely came with benefits and built-in excuses. Crazy was never boring. In her experience, it was normal that was way overrated. That and respectable. Respectable was just a construct used by boring people to look less boring, at least that was her theory. All that disapproval and reproach for people that didn't quite fit the mold.

When she was younger, she had been fierce and independent. Not bogged down by the weight of other people's opinions. Sometimes she wondered what happened to that girl. The one that wanted to be an intergalactic princess and jumped off the garage because she thought she could fly. That little girl had traded all her wackiness and imagination for the illusion of respectable. Maybe that was the problem with adulthood. It sucked all your dreams out and stomped on them. Ground them into dust and replaced them with bills and marriage. Wasn't that a cheery thought.

She looked at the message from Pardo, sitting there all sullen with just a hint of disapproval. She blinked and then blinked again as a second text message appeared. She'd always heard if you spoke the devil's name you could conjure him up. Now she knew it was true.

"I need to talk to you. There is something you need to know."

Like that wasn't ominous she thought. Hopefully it wasn't something like oh hey, I forgot to tell you last night I have an incurable sexually transmitted disease. Stephanie groaned and whacked her head down on her desk. She probably should have asked a lot more questions before jumping into bed with him. Maybe there was something to be said for that whole respectable thing after all. But hey maybe it was something simple like I just wanted to let you know I'm a wise guy for the mob or I'm a serial killer. She already knew he drank black coffee. Serial killer couldn't be that far off.

Ranger jabbed the keys on his phone with barely contained irritation. Since when did women not text him back? Since Stephanie Plum that's when. He narrowed his eyes and took a calming breath. That woman made him crazy.

She was such a swirling mass of contradictions she made his head hurt, and his dick throb. He literally had no idea what to do about her. On one hand she was all girl next door, born and raised in the Burg. On the other, she was a corporate executive that had honed in on a money laundering scheme that had gone undetected for years, and she'd figured it out in less than a month.

She was a woman that should be all buttoned up and married with a bunch of kids, yet she lived like a destitute college kid with a hamster and a broken toaster, and she had been anything but buttoned up last night. She had burned red hot. They both had. She was chaos to his order, and he couldn't help but kind of like it just a little.

Ranger had felt something with her that he thought had died a long time ago. He'd felt emotion. He'd felt a connection beyond just the physical joining of their bodies. The walls had been down, and the mask had been off. It had been stupid to be so careless he chastised himself. And apparently one-sided, because now she wasn't even texting him back, he reminded himself. Another wave of irritation and something else he chose to ignore washed over him.

Ranger focused his attention back on Silvio. Her laptop had been easy to crack, especially with a password like RexRomulan. Ranger figured either the little furry dude was Rex and she liked Star Trek, or Rex was some guy he was going to have to hunt down, and beat the crap out of. It really shouldn't bother him that Stephanie might hold a torch for some other man, but it did. The sudden surge of jealousy both surprised and alarmed him.

"What did you find?" Ranger asked Silvio through his clenched teeth. Ranger thought it was entirely possible he might grind his back molars into dust.

Silvio had worked at RangeMan for a couple of years. He was a pretty good hacker, but not good enough not to get caught. He'd done a couple of years on the inside, for stealing credit card data. When he got out, not too many people were interested in a hacker with a prison record. Ranger had taken a chance on him, and Silvio had repaid him by working hard and being loyal.

Silvio was probably mostly Italian. He had tanned skin and a mop of dark hair that never looked quite under control. He was smaller than Ranger, but scrappy. Silvio could definitely hold his own in a fight. He'd grown up poor in a rough neighborhood. Ranger always figured the credit card theft was more about survival than greed. There weren't a lot of opportunities for guys like Silvio in that neighborhood, unless you wanted to work for the mob, and Silvio had been just a little too smart for that, and a little too squeamish. Silvio didn't do well with blood.

"Not much. It doesn't look like she uses it for work." Silvio responded.

"Browser history?"

"Beach vacations and stuff about hamsters. Hamster playgrounds, the best lighting and temperature for them." Silvio's voice trailed off.

Silvio looked a little uncomfortable. Ranger just stared at him waiting.

"Research on birth control methods." Silvio hedged.

"And?" Ranger prompted and lifted an eyebrow at him. They both already knew that. Silvio had accessed the doctor's records just yesterday.

"How to say phrases in Spanish." A distinct color was starting to flush Silvio's neck.

Ranger just waited. Ranger's silence could be even more intimidating than his fists sometimes.

"You know. Dirty talk. Sex things." Silvio's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed, and he studiously avoided looking at the marks on Ranger's neck.

Ranger kept his face blank. And just nodded.

"Anything else?" Ranger's voice was deceptively casual.

Silvio shook his head. He looked relieved that Ranger didn't press for details.

"Take a look at the hard copy files, let me know what you find. I'm going to get this stuff back to her apartment."

Ranger turned to leave and couldn't help but smile just a little. He was pretty sure he'd probably whispered at least half of those things to her last night, and he was really hoping the other half, she would be whispering to him in the near future.

Now all he had to do was get her to text him back. He was surprised when a little dink on his phone alerted him, she had responded to his second text. Well thank fuck he thought when he read it. At least she had agreed to meet him. "7 PM at Mo's."

Ranger confirmed he would be there. Unease slithered along the back of his neck. She must be planning to work late. The bar was located far closer to E.E. Martin than her apartment.

Ranger dialed Les.

"You have eyes?"

"She's still at work." Les responded.

"Anything unusual?" Ranger couldn't quite shake the feeling of unease.

"No." Not unless the fact that his ass was asleep counted as unusual. Les shifted to try and find a more comfortable position. "But I only have eyes on the front of the building."

Ranger debated about sending another team to check the perimeter. "Keep me posted." Ranger disconnected.

How much trouble could she really get into at her office? Keeping an eye on her apartment and her little trips to warehouses owned by the mob, should probably be higher on the priority list Ranger thought as he slipped back into her apartment.

He pulled out his phone and looked at the photo he had taken of her table before he took her laptop and files. He did his best to recreate the chaos that had been on the dining room table. Satisfied it was close enough so it wasn't obvious someone had disturbed the files; he took one last long look at the refrigerator. That slimy head of lettuce taunting him. He resisted the urge, and walked over to the aquarium.

He took the raisin and raw walnut he had swiped from the breakroom out of his pocket and dropped it in the food dish.

"Here you go Rex." Ranger said in a soothing, quiet tone.

He heard some rustling, and he saw a furry butt emerge as the little rodent backed out of its soup can. It sniffed the air, whiskers twitching wildly and raced over to the food dish, crammed the raisin and walnut in its mouth and raced back in the soup can. Ranger could see its little butt vibrating with excitement over its new found treat.

Ranger made sure everything was secure, and made his way out of Stephanie's apartment.

Stephanie walked back from the breakroom where she had washed and put away the coffee mug she had been using. She cursed with every step. Those cute new shoes had become like little medieval torture devices on her feet.

She sat down at her desk and pulled them off, rubbing her poor abused toes. Her feet seemed to instantly throb and swell the second they were released from the confines of her shoes. Taking them off had probably been a mistake. She had a feeling getting them back on might be a challenge.

She looked at the time. Her meeting with Raymond was in a few minutes. She had called his assistant, Angie, and confirmed around three. Stephanie had struggled most of the day with what to tell Raymond. She'd decided keeping it vague and short was the way to go. A little voice in the back of her head kept telling her Raymond couldn't be trusted. It might not be fair, but the fact he was on his third wife didn't exactly scream scruples to her. A guy like that would need money. Two ex-wives and a penchant for fancy clothes and sports cars took cash, and lots of it.

Stephanie fished around in her bra and pulled out the flash drive. She looked at it a moment debating. There was really no going back if she did this. She'd never thought ignorance was bliss until this very moment. Something was nagging at the back of her mind. Unease and a healthy amount of fear for one thing, but something else.

She blew out a harsh breath. Here went nothing. She pushed the drive into the USB slot and logged into her personal cloud account. She held her breath and copied the files. No alarms went off, no passwords were required. She knew she had just left a digital footprint, but it couldn't' be helped. She couldn't risk something happening to the flash drive. She had a feeling it might be the only proof of what was going on at E.E. Martin pretty soon. The way those thugs had been shredding files, told her someone was cleaning house and tying up loose ends. Her thoughts went to Brian Fry. She wondered if he had been a loose end.

She pulled the drive out and tucked it back in her bra. It was time for her meeting with Raymond. Stephanie shutdown her computer and grabbed her cross-body bag, draping it over her neck, and pushing her arm through so her hands were free. She took one last look at her shoes. They'd looked so cute and alluring in the store, and now they just looked like the devil. Apparently, she tended to have the same problem with shoes that she did with men.

Stephanie decided she would just carry her shoes until she got to Raymond's office. She couldn't bear the thought of actually shoving her feet back in the hateful things. Somehow walking barefoot through the office seemed like the lesser of two evils, besides everyone was long gone anyway. It was six on a Friday evening. People were either on their way to happy hour or the beach. Right now, both of those options seemed better than meeting with Raymond, which was better than meeting with Pardo. So, there was that. Her Friday was shaping up to be a giggle a minute. All she wanted to do was crawl into some comfy PJs. Flop on the couch with some pizza and beer, and watch a movie. She didn't want to think about E.E. Martin, she didn't want to think about Morelli, and she most certainly didn't want to think about Marc Pardo.

She couldn't believe she had finally broken down and agreed to meet Pardo. See what life altering bullshit he had to tell her, and she was sure whatever it was would be bullshit. She was beginning to wonder if anything about last night had been real. May as well get the bad news out now, so she would have the whole weekend to ruminate over it and eat ice cream. She grabbed her shoes and the file folder.

When she got off the elevator, she noticed it was eerily quiet. She was suddenly on high alert. It almost felt like there was something sinister in the silence. She didn't really want to consider the reasons for it being too quiet. A sense of dread was starting to bubble up, that was quickly turned to panic as her spidey sense started clanging.

This was probably all in her mind. Her own guilty conscience making her jumpy. She took a deep breath, she needed to squash the panic clawing at her stomach and replace it with a more constructive emotion. That was all. Maybe she would try cool reasoning. Yep, that seemed like a viable plan.

As she stealthily made her way down the hall, she rapidly came to the conclusion the cool reasoning plan wasn't working. She didn't seem to have any of that particular emotion available. Her heart was hammering in her chest so hard she could barely hear over the thudding sound it made in her head. Her jagged breath coming in short, hard gasps. The sound of her breathing echoed in the silence.

When she rounded the corner to Raymond's office, he was sitting at his chair with two men on either side of him, but something seemed weird. Something her brain couldn't quite process. Raymond was staring straight ahead, but he didn't react to her presence.

And then she realized what it was. It was the bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. Raymond was staring at her with sightless eyes.

She must have made a sound, because both men turned to look at her. One of the men she recognized from the warehouse. The fireplug with the bad haircut had two black eyes and his nose was taped. It looked like had taken a beating since she last saw him. The other man she'd never seen before. He had on a three-piece gray suit, and was bald as a cue ball. His dark eyebrows reminded her of hairy caterpillars taped to his forehead. He had the face of a monster. A sharp nose, and thin cruel lips.

She watched in slow motion as the big one that looked like a fireplug swung his gun towards her. Her eyes went from his face to the gun, and then all she could see was the gun. The big, black gun with a silencer on the end.

She was temporarily paralyzed by fear. So, this was how it was going to end. Gunned down in an office building by a guy that didn't have a neck. She'd never really spent much time thinking about how she was going to die, but she could definitely say, it wasn't like this. She'd always imagined it would be much more dignified than shot in the head.

She realized with absolute clarity she wasn't ready to die. There were too many things she wanted to do that she hadn't yet done, and far too many things left unsaid. She was surprised in this moment it wasn't Morelli that came to mind, it was Pardo. She'd think about that, if she lived.

What about Rex? Who would take care of him? She'd been a bad pet parent. Failing to plan for his care. Would anyone even think to get him before he died of hunger and thirst? She needed to do something, other than just stand there and wait to get shot. She needed a plan, but her brain was in neutral. The horror overwhelming her ability to think. She found what she lacked in cunning she made up for in rage. That she had in spades. Fuck this, she wasn't ready to die.

Pure instinct took over and she hurled her shoes at the fireplug cracking him square in the face. He let out a howl of pain as the shoe connected with his broken nose with a sharp thwack. He jerked his hand up and towards his face, firing. Whether it was accidental or on purpose she had no idea. She felt the sting of a bullet graze her arm before it embedded in the drywall next to her with a little whump sound and halo of dust.

Her panic fueled her as turned and sprinted down the hall. She could hear someone behind her. The heavy footfalls and the harsh breath, made her feel hunted. She would swear she could almost feel his hot breath searing her neck. Stephanie felt herself being tackled from behind.

She knocked into Angie's desk, cracking her hip against the corner with a sickening crunch. The half dead plant and Angie's office caddy clattered to the floor, spewing the contents in all directions. Stephanie went down with a bone jarring thud, crying out in pain as her knees struck the floor with a sharp crack.

She kicked back for all she was worth connecting with a solid form. She heard a grunt of pain as his grip loosened ever so slightly. She tried to crawl forward out of his grasp, and get to her feet. But his grip tightened again yanking her back down. Stephanie felt the carpet burn her arms as she was roughly pulled across it and flipped on her back. Her arms immediately swinging and slapping the cue ball in the face.

The cue ball was straddling her. He slapped her hard in the face. She felt the burst of pain across her cheek bone, and her eye throbbed. The blow temporarily stunned her. The cue ball's hands went around her throat and he squeezed. Stephanie clawed at his hands trying to pry them loose even as stars and dark spots started to pinprick her vision. Stephanie knew if she passed out that would be it. She bucked and twisted but he was too heavy to dislodge.

He was bigger and stronger than her, and by the look on his face probably crazier. Although some might argue that last point. Her vision was starting to tunnel, and her fight was starting to wane. The lack of oxygen quickly taking its toll. Stephanie's arm fell limply to her side, as the last of her will to fight ebbed away, consciousness not far behind. Her fingers brushed against something hard. One last surge of adrenaline pumped through her body, as her fingertips strained and clawed to reach the hard object. Finally, she pulled it into her grasped and slammed it into the side of the cue ball's head with all the strength she had left.

She was wasn't entirely sure which one of them was more stunned. The object had been a stapler and it was now hanging off the side of his head, from a half-embedded staple in his temple. His hands left her throat grasping at the stapler, as his gaze became a little unfocused, dazed from the blow to the head.

Stephanie sucked in some much-needed air, and pushed him off of her and scrambled to her feet. She wobbled and went down on one knee coughing and gagging, but pulled herself back up again racing to the elevator.

"Come on, come on." She pleaded as tears started to blur her vision and she frantically pushed the button.

The elevator doors popped open and she lunged inside scrambling for the buttons and willing the door to close. The cue ball was still on his knees dealing with the attached stapler, but the fireplug was lumbering towards her like an overgrown water buffalo with his gun drawn.

As he pointed the gun at her, fear pulsed through and she ducked to the side of the elevator praying for the doors to close before he reached her. She heard him cursing and then metallic clang as the bullets hit the elevator doors as they closed. She let out a strangled sound. Tears mixed with mascara were streaming down her face, and her throat felt like it was on fire. She could taste the metallic tang of blood in her mouth where her own teeth had cut her cheek when the cue ball hit her. She watched with fascination as little droplets of blood dripped from her fingertips and stained the elevator floor. Plop, plop, plop. Thankfully her arm was mostly numb.

The doors opened and she raced out of the building and across the parking lot. Her bag banging against her injured hip with each stride. She could feel the rocks and pavement biting into her bare feet, but she barely noticed. Her hand wrapped around the door handle and she heard the door unlock, momentarily grateful she hadn't lost her bag in the struggle. She yanked open the door to her car, sliding in and hitting the start button.

The little engine roared to life, as she wiped the tears from her face, smearing blood as she went. Little strangled sobs were escaping her throat. She was not designed for this. She was not cut out to be a spy, and she wasn't exactly equipped to be shot at. She thought running was also a little on the bad list as she heaved to draw oxygen into her lungs. Her body was not designed to run from crazed maniacs. Her body was designed to sit in an expensive car and drive. She took a deep breath. This she could do.

Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely put the car in gear, but somehow, she managed it. She floored it. Gravel sprayed as she tore out of the parking lot, and barreled onto the street. Her breath was still coming in gasping pants, and she forced herself to take a deep breath and hold it as a wave of dizziness washed over her. There wouldn't be a lot of point of surviving a crazed mobster, if she wrecked the car and died in a fiery crash just like Brian Fry.

Les watched as Stephanie sprinted across the parking lot, barely registering the fact she was barefoot and her right arm was bloody. Adrenaline surged through him. What the hell had happened in there? He scanned the parking lot. Nobody was following her. In seconds she was in her car tearing out of the parking lot like hounds of hell were chasing her. Les had just thrown the SUV in gear and pulled out to follow her when an explosion rocked E.E. Martin sending debris raining down, as a huge fireball pulsed in the sky.

"Oh shit." Les said to no one in particular and mashed on the brakes. For the second time today, he watched Stephanie's tail lights disappear around the corner.

Les looked at the now empty street and then back to the building. Les grimaced. Dammit he ground out. He made a split-second decision and pulled into the parking lot, barely slamming the SUV in park before he got out and raced into the building. He had to get in there and make sure no one was inside.

Twenty minutes later, Les was covered in grime that smelled like soot, and about forty other toxic substances, but hey it was Jersey. Breathing Jersey air and drinking the water pretty much made him immune. One of the great advantages to living in Jersey with all that tainted water and armed psychopaths, it equipped you for all kinds of things. Once you lived in Jersey, everything else was a piece of cake. Everything except maybe Stephanie fucking Plum.

Les blew out an exhausted breath. This day had become one epic cluster fuck. He was never babysitting that woman again. He just wasn't equipped for it. He didn't have the nerves. He'd take on the Taliban and half the world's terrorists before he did this again. Because dealing with that shit had been far easier than this day. She was like a walking disaster magnet. Everywhere she went it was like chaos followed her. Nope, he would scrub the toilets in the RangeMan locker room with a toothbrush before he was ever doing this again. Ranger could just fire his sorry ass for all he cared.

The scene was crawling with EMS and firetrucks, and Les picked his way past them. Les sat wearily in the SUV and closed his eyes for a minute. Willing his heart rate to slow, and his breathing to normalize. His hand was shaking ever so slightly from adrenaline burn off, and he clenched his fist and willed himself to control the crash he knew was coming.

Les pulled out his phone and called Ranger.

"Yo!" Ranger barked.

A beat went by. How exactly was Les going to explain this? He pretty much knew whatever he said, Ranger was going to be pissed.

"There was an explosion at E.E. Martin. The building is on fire." Les started.

"Stephanie, where is Stephanie." Les could hear the strain in Ranger's voice, and Les realized in that moment, Stephanie wasn't just a job and she definitely wasn't just one of Ranger's casual encounters. Better Ranger than him. Between the two of them Ranger had always had the better nerves and the stronger stomach, and he was definitely going to need it because it was pretty clear Ranger had it bad.

"She's OK. She left the building right before the explosion."

"Where is she?" Ranger barked.

Les scrunched up his nose. This part wasn't going to go well. "Hector said her car is at the Trenton Police station."

"Her car? Is she inside?" Suspicion tinged Ranger's voice. "You're not with her. You don't have eyes on her?"

"I don't know, man. I don't know for sure."

"You left her?" Ranger's words were deceptively soft and vibrated with anger.

"Yes. I had to make sure no one was in the building." Les tried to explain.

"Santos. Your job is Stephanie. You should have stayed with her." Ranger was yelling. The anger and fear vibrated through the connection.

The exhaustion of the day was weighing on Les and finally he snapped. "No brother that's not how we roll, and if you would get your head out of your ass you would know that. Stephanie was fine. The danger to her was not immediate but it was to the people trapped inside that building about to burn to death. We don't let innocent people die Ranger. That's not who we are. And if you were thinking with something other than your damn dick you would fucking know that."

Silence came across the phone. Les was sure he was totally going to get a beat down. He'd seen some advertisement for truck driving school on the way over. He should get that number. Given them a call. Maybe he'd look into that, because he was pretty sure he was going to need a new job after this day.

"You're right." Ranger finally conceded. "Did you get them out."

"Yeah. The security guard and three of the janitorial staff. One of them is pretty badly injured, but I think he will make it." Les sighed. "There's more."

Ranger just waited.

"I'm pretty sure I saw Novak and one of the guys from the warehouse driving out of the parking lot after the explosion."

"Novak was at E.E. Martin?" Ranger growled.

"Yeah, and I think he had a run-in with Stephanie. She looked panicked and her arm was bleeding when she ran out of the building." Les sighed.

He figured he'd skip the part about her being barefoot, mostly because he wasn't totally sure that had been the case. Ranger was already on edge. No need to get his mind spinning about why a woman might not have shoes on.

Ranger was up off the bar stool at Mo's and was jogging to his car. "Anything else?" He barked.

Les kind of thought that should be more than enough, but he kept that thought to himself. "No. That's it."

"I'm on my way to the police station. Have Bobby check you over and get some rest. I've got it from here." Les heard the Porsche start and then the phone disconnected.

Sure thing, he thought. Maybe Ranger would have better luck with calamity Jane than he had.

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A/N: A big thank you for the feedback and reviews!