Chapter 1

I was sat huddled up on the beach watching the waves as they crashed onto the shore. The wind was strong, blowing my hair all over the place. I pulled the hat I was wearing further down over my head in an attempt to save my ears from freezing off. I could feel the freezing mist from the sea on my face and the wet from the sand through my jeans, but I didn't care. I didn't care that it was so cold or that the moisture on my face was turning to ice, because that's how I felt inside.

My name is Stephanie Plum, I'm 33 years old, single and live on my own. I'm a bounty hunter, usually, but things haven't really been happening in that department for the last few weeks. Fortunately, my rent had been paid in advance curtesy of a large bond FTA that I had luckily captured, and I didn't have the need for anything else.

I wasn't interested in eating, but my mother had insisted that she stocked my fridge for me. I wasn't interested in going out so the need for new clothes was mute. I certainly didn't want company but there were people who thought that I needed it. That was why I was sat here on the beach, trying to get away from everyone and everything, even myself at the moment. You may be asking what was going on and I suppose part of the reason for me being here was the incessant voice in my head that insisted that I needed to evaluate what I was going to do next, ensure that it was the only way forward that was right for me. In order to do that I had to pay a visit to the past first, a place I didn't really want to go to.

"You missed your court date, I'm here to help you reschedule"

I'd said that so many times that I was sick of saying it. The response could vary depending upon who I was talking to. Sometimes the person would turn and run back into the house and slam the door on me. Or they could push past me and make a run for a car. In more cases than I liked to admit the person that I was after would think themselves clever if they hurled anything that came to hand. Usually that was food or garbage and on rare occasions a molotov cocktail. Very rarely would they apologize and give an excuse, then be happy that I was there to take them to the police station.

As I'd said that I was aware of the door opening and I quickly realized that this particular FTA was none of those, when a sorn off shotgun appeared through the door. I dived to the side to avoid being shot, only to hear a laugh as the door slammed shut behind me. I shook my head trying to clear my ears of the ringing created from the blast and then managed to sit up, wincing slightly at a pain on my shoulder from where I'd hit the ground. As I wiped my hands down my jeans, I could see the evidence of what I'd landed in. There was a smear of brown that had the unmistakable smell of dog shit.

There was no way I was going back near that man again. I'd been trying to apprehend Brian Dougel for most of the week and each time I seemed to be close to where he was something happened that had me getting hurt and him laughing at me.

The first time I found him was in a bar, and okay maybe I was a bit naïve how that would go down. Dougel was sat at the bar, watching the game on the TV and seemed totally ignorant to the fact that I was there. As I approached him, he'd quickly turned around and had thrown a full glass of vodka in my eyes. I had heard him laugh as my hands went to my face and my eyes began to sting. It was the quick action of the waitress who had helped me by dragging me into the ladies room and making me wash my eyes with cold water. My eyes were slightly pink and sore so there was no way I was even interested in knowing where Dougel had gone.

The second time I saw Dougel was when Lula and I had stopped to pick up a new cable for Lula's phone. As we'd walked into the store, I'd noticed Dougel stood at the counter. A quick whisper to Lula and she exited the store to go around to the rear exit, in the hope that if Dougel ran, then maybe she'd be able to stop him. It wasn't a bad idea, after all Lula must have had 50lbs on the man and she excelled at using her weight to flatten someone.

The problem was that he decided to come my way and was heading for the door. I had my stun gun in my hand and my cuffs within easy reach but that didn't do me any good. Before he even got to me, he was pulling a cable that was hanging down from a top shelf. A cable that was attached to the TVs along the row, probably some sort of security system. The result was that the TVs started to fall off the shelf and try as I might, I couldn't get out of the way. Who knew a TV could hurt so much if it landed on your head? I'd heard someone laughing as my head swam and the next time that I'd opened my eyes it was to see Lula looking down at me.

So here I was again, so close yet so far from actually getting my hands on Dougel I felt defeated as I picked myself up from the ground and walked through the weeds and grass back to my car. I was sure that Dougel was watching me from behind a drape in the upstairs window. I found some plastic bags in the trunk so after opening the door to my car had placed them on the seat before getting in. I needed to go home, shower and then throw these clothes in the garbage. I wound down the window as the awful smell seemed to fill the car and to be honest, I was close to throwing up.

Parking by the dumpster meant the bags went straight into it as I walked past, and I was very tempted to drop my jeans and throw them in as well. I didn't think my neighbors would appreciate seeing me wearing just my pants though, then again as old folk they seemed to thrive on my exploits. Okay half of them were blind and the other half would probably be sat in front of their TVs with the sound turned up, but I thought I brought enough excitement into their lives without stripping down to my underwear.

I went up the stairs to get to my floor and once inside went straight through to the bathroom. When I was feeling clean, I used a towel to wrap around myself and picking up the offending clothes deposited them into a black garbage bag. I inspected my boots pleased that at least they'd not been covered in the offending dirt and then went through to the bedroom to get dressed. I chose some joggers and a T-shirt because I had no intention of going out again, other than to take the black bag down to the dumpster.

Once changed I went into the kitchen and made some coffee using the time waiting for the machine to work to look closely inside the tank where my hamster Rex lived. All was quiet in his world so I dropped a grape inside and watched as he wiggled out backward from his soup can. As soon as the grape was in his mouth, he was back inside his can again. A man after my own heart.

With a coffee in my hand, I sat down on the couch and retrieved Dougel's file from my bag and started to read it through again. He was 49 years old and had been arrested for assault outside a bar. The man he had assaulted was a young kid who had happened to be walking past the door when Dougel had come out. According to what I was reading it was Dougel's first offence, which was why his bond was quite low. From what I'd seen of Dougel I couldn't understand that. Though I'd tried to make sure that he wasn't drunk when I'd gone after him, just in case he was one of those men who was a violent drunk.

I let out a sigh as I contemplated what to do about Dougel knowing there was no way he was going to avoid being taken in, I wouldn't accept defeat. Yet I knew that I was getting nowhere on my own. Even having Lula with me didn't seem to even the odds in my favor.

There was only one option that I had left now, even though I hated to do it, so I picked up my phone and hit speed dial 1.

"Yo"

Was the response that I got from the other side of the phone, one word that had a smile creep across my face.

"Yo to you as well"

From the silence I knew that Ranger was waiting for me to continue, after all it was me who had called him. I closed my eyes as I asked what I needed from him, hoping that he'd agree to what I wanted to do.

"Err, could I come in and do a search?"

"Of course you can. You having trouble finding a skip?"

Did he just suggest that I couldn't find the man that I was after? I didn't want to have to explain that whilst I could find him that I just didn't seem to be able to do the capture, but I didn't seem to have much choice in the matter.

"No. I can find him, but I need some more background information on him"

"Is he giving you trouble?"

I was back to smiling again as I imagined Ranger smiling slightly as he asked that question. Ranger was well aware of the problems my skips could cause me and I suppose he often thought of my methods as being amusing.

"Yes. It's just that he seems more violent than the file suggests"

"What did he do Babe?"

I could hear the change in Ranger's tone as he asked that question and wasn't too sure about telling him what had happened.

"Babe"

"The shotgun was the final straw"

There I said it and was now waiting to see how he would react to that.

"Who is he?"

"Brian Dougel"

The phone went quiet having me wonder if the connection had failed or was Ranger just mulling over what I'd said?

"Come here in the morning and I'll go with you. I recognize the name, but I need to check with the guys first"

This time the line did go dead making me shake my head at his phone manners. In one way I was relieved at what Ranger had said, but in another way, it made me nervous. I was relieved that I'd have someone with me to eventually take down Dougel, but it was Ranger himself that was making me feel nervous.

I'd known Ranger for a few years now, he was my mentor when I'd first embarked as a bounty hunter. He'd met me as a favor to Connie, the bail bonds office manager, to show me how to improve the work I was doing. From that meeting we became good friends and that developed into something more. The attraction between us was electric and after spending one night with him the dynamic between us changed. I found myself feeling more than I should do for the man, the man who kept me at arms-length. In some ways I understood why he did it, but it never changed how I felt, so I tried to get on with my life.

Getting on with my life involved a crazy relationship with another man, a man who I had a history with. He'd been the bad boy of where I grew up but seeing as he was now a detective with the Trenton PD, I'd pushed that history to the back of my mind. He was the darling of the Burg now, the area we grew up in, so as he wormed himself into my life I'd let go of my past memories and given him the chance to prove himself to me.

That relationship with Joseph Morelli was, well let's just say it was tumultuous, blowing from hot to cold. At the moment I suppose we were lukewarm, not exactly on an out but definitely not running smoothly. Part of the reason for that was down to me, because I felt so guilty, which brought me right back to Ranger and the reason why I was feeling so nervous.

Ranger was CEO of a very successful security business, but he would always be there for me, helping me and even saving me when things became dangerous. He was well, my Batman, swooping in to save the day. From crazy stalkers to my cars being blown up which happened far too frequently.

The last time that I'd spent any time with Ranger had been three weeks ago when he'd turned up at my apartment late at night when I was asleep, for some strange reason it was something that he'd do regularly. Usually, I wasn't aware of his nocturnal visit until the next morning when I'd detect the slight fragrance of Bulgari in my bedroom that gave him away. I wasn't sure why he did that, watch me sleep, but I gave up trying to figure it out and just accepted it.

That time though I'd woken up as he'd entered the room and was suddenly eye to eye with him. He'd come to tell me that he was going away for a few weeks, what I called going in the wind. Some sort of clandestine work that he did for the government which always had me worried. One thing led to another and it was three hours later before he left my bed.

I was ridden with guilt the next morning for what I'd allowed to happen and also felt that I'd let myself down by being so ready and willing. How the hell could I have a serious relationship with Joe when I let another man in my bed?

That's when the discord between Joe and I had started, so yeah that was on me. Ranger came back less than two weeks later and let me know by taking me down the alley by the bonds office and kissing me senseless. We hadn't had a serious conversation since that night, which was why I was feeling so nervous.

Sighing I replaced the file back into my bag and decided that tomorrow was another day. No doubt Ranger would treat me as he always had done before, a friend that he could trust, and I would have to ignore those feelings for him, because I didn't want to scare him away. I made sure the door was locked and changed into shorts and a strappy top before setting my alarm and snuggling down under the covers.