I woke up feeling optimistic and happy. I was in a comfy bed where I was meant to be, not sneaking into a mercenary's apartment, I could smell pancakes and soon this being stalked by a serial killer would be over with. Hopefully resolved in a Stephanie-gets-the-bad-guy fashion too, not in a Stephanie-is-gotten-by-the-bad-guy-and-should-have-listened-to-Morelli-and-now-her-mother-will-visit-her-grave-and-say-why-couldn't-you-be-more-like-your-sister way.
I showered, got dressed in my black wardrobe, then went out for breakfast. Ella was out in the kitchen.
"Oh good, you're awake. Did you sleep well?" she asked. "I thought you might like breakfast up here, the break room schedule is for muesli and yoghurt this morning."
"Yuck. That's like eating bark," I said. Ella handed me a cup of coffee.
"Luis has already started work, so it's just us. Tank has asked that you go downstairs to Level 3 at 8am."
"Thanks Ella. And thank you for the pancakes. Hopefully this will be over with today and I'll be out of your hair."
"You're welcome, Stephanie. It's nice to see you again, and nice to have another woman around this building." Ella squeezed my hand, and then left to head down to Level 5 and get started on her day.
I ate breakfast, cleared up my breakfast dishes, then took a deep breath and prepared to go downstairs. I pressed the button for the lift, and stepped into it without looking around. After all, Level 7 was empty, Louis was busy and Ella had left earlier. I immediately regretted that decision when I smacked into someone really solid. Although this was the Rangeman building so really solid described a lot of people. But I knew that smell in particular.
I was a bit afraid to look up but I'm also stubborn, so I looked up to meet Ranger's eyes. He looked tired, and was halfway to growing a decent beard, but his eyes looked happy. In fact, he almost looked… amused?
"Stephanie. I got home after 2am this morning and I was disappointed to get into an empty bed. It was a long drive home and I could have done with someone to warm me up."
I blushed. Oh no. I'd hoped that he wouldn't find out.
"I'm sorry. Who told you?" I asked.
"This whole building is monitored, and there's an extra alert when the seventh floor is accessed. Tank got the alert and called me as soon as you went up to the seventh floor. We figured you had a good reason to be here so he let you stay."
"He knew I was here the whole time?"
"Yeah, he did. He admired your sneakiness though. Why didn't you ask him for help? We have staff apartments on the fourth floor he could have put you in."
"I don't know. This seemed like the best option somehow. He could have given me your wifi password. That would have made it better."
"I'll make a note of that for next time."
"Why did you let me stay? You don't look like the sort of person to have someone in your space."
"This is just an apartment where I sleep. After years in the military you get a different idea about what home is and isn't. And besides, maybe I just wanted an opportunity to get you in my bed."
There was that wolf smile again. Eek, I was in trouble. There was no way that I could explain that to Dickie, ever.
The elevator stopped on Level 3, and Ranger gestured for me to walk out ahead of him. I walked into the conference room for Lester's briefing of the plan that we would go through today. Lester went over the plan that we'd gone through yesterday, and made sure that everyone had the details. Ranger nodded, his face blank. I wasn't sure what he thought of the plan.
"We're going to have eyes on you at all times," Lester said. "We're going to be discreet, and have men pretending to be working at businesses nearby. They're already in place. Ram and Zero are also going to slip in the back door of the building before you arrive and be in the back office so they're close by if needed. We're hoping to intercept Junkman on the way but we don't have a clear visual of what he looks like so we might need to rely on you identifying him for us."
"Won't they get bored?" I asked.
"No. They're trained not to." He handed me a small device that looked like similar to a keyless entry button for a car. "This is your panic button. Keep it in your pocket, and if for some reason you feel threatened, press it and we'll come storming in. So don't accidentally press it." I eyed in warily and slipped it into my pocket. "One last thing," Lester said, and held up the keys to Ranger's Porsche.
"Make it flashy so any Slayers watching know that it's you," he told me, tossing me the keys. Ranger's mouth twitched at the corners. I took that to be approval.
Ella had washed my clothes, so I changed back into my usual work uniform of jeans and out of the all black clothes. I met Lester in the garage and he told me that he'd sent the men out earlier to get into place early.
I drove the Porsche out of the garage and revved the engine. My phone was on the seat beside me, sending out its signal to Junkman, wherever he was lurking. I was tempted to drive around town for a bit, but didn't want to give Junkman a chance to approach me anywhere where the Rangeman team wasn't in place. I was soon outside the Plum Lingerie office, and parked the Porsche out the front. I breathed a sigh of relief as I unlocked the office door and walked inside. I made a show of locking it behind me again as if I was worried about keeping Junkman out.
I opened up my laptop and got started on our orders. Ram was in the warehouse space and Zero in the back office. I nodded to both of them, but didn't speak, as per my orders from Lester. His theory was that if Junkman had the technology to track my phone, he'd probably bugged my office too.
Soon I was in my packaging zone, and before I knew it, a few hours had flown by and I had a pile of packages. I'd messaged Mary Lou earlier that day and she'd scheduled a courier pick-up for me. Mary Lou had streamlined our mailing system by contracting to couriers who would pick the packages up from the office without us having to go to the post office, and they were cheaper than the post office too. I had no idea that was even possible. I missed having Mary Lou at work with me and was looking forward to a giant debrief with her once this was all done. She thought that it was strange that I hadn't wanted her to go into the office, and I think was anxious about me. I owed her a huge catch-up once this was over.
My phone rang and I jumped at the unexpected noise. I checked the display before answering. It was Lester.
"Steph, we got a call. The police say that they've picked up someone who is claiming to be Junkman."
"Wow, that's great! I mean, not for you guys, you miss out on the reward, but now it's all over," I said. I had enjoyed my stay at Rangeman but I was looking forward to getting back to my own bed.
"I think we should still stick with the plan," Lester said.
"But why? There's no need for you guys to stick around here if Junkman has been arrested. I have a more things to do and then I'm done for the day. I might even order some Pino's to celebrate," I told him.
"The description of the suspect in custody is someone of medium height and built," Lester said. I paused. That didn't sound like the man I'd met on the street who had identified himself as Junkman to me.
"Well, shit," I said.
"I think it's a trap to get you to relax your guard," Lester told me. I thought. Junkman might be listening in right now so I should be careful in what I said, but make it clear that I wasn't planning on leaving.
"Well, if the police have their suspect in custody, I should relax? And celebrate by ordering pizza, right?" I asked. Lester chuckled.
"Go ahead, put in your order to Pino's, but stay on alert. We'll be right here," he said.
I rang Pino's and ordered a large pizza to be delivered, along with a meatball sub. Too much food for one person, probably, but I rationalised by thinking that I could tempt the Rangemen with it.
While I was waiting I started up my laptop and marked off the orders that were being picked up by the courier within the hour. I wanted to make sure that we had everything correct. Details usually weren't my thing, but without Mary Lou there, I wanted to get it right. Mary Lou took her office management role seriously and would hold it against me if I got it wrong.
I heard a car pull up outside and stuck my head outside of the office door cautiously. I recognised the delivery driver from Pino's, and soon held a hot pizza and meatball sub in my arms. I let the door close behind me and breathed in the delicious aromas of my food. I decided to eat at our future front counter where I'd been checking the packages since Ram and Zero were hiding in the back office. I'd just unwrapped my sub and was about to take a bite when I heard the front door open and realised that I'd left it unlocked. I figured that it was probably the courier.
"Oh sorry! I wasn't expecting you just yet," I called out, as I looked up. The person who just entered the store was tall, clean shaven, dressed in business clothes, and wearing sunglasses.
"I don't need long," he said, and I recognised the voice. It was Junkman.
I put my hand in my pocket and pressed the panic button, hoping that Lester was keeping watch outside and had already seen him enter.
I backed away, trying to keep our front counter between me and Junkman. He pulled out a knife and came towards me. "I was hoping to take my time with you, but you've been hard to find," he said, lunging towards me. I jumped backwards and looked for something to throw at him. I grabbed my stapler off my stack of paperwork and threw that at him. He batted it aside easily. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and knew that Ram and Zero would be on the move. If I could distract Junkman so they could sneak up on him, I knew that it would be easier for them. I took a deep breath, grabbed my sandwich. Junkman lunged towards me again and I squealed and threw the sandwich at Junkman. It splattered all over him, and rebounded against me too. He stopped and stared down at his clothes in disbelief.
"What the hell? Did you just throw a sandwich at me?" he asked.
"It's a Pino's meatball sub!" I yelled at him as Zero rushed up and pressed his taser against Junkman's back. I was jerked backwards as Ram pulled me out of reach and shoved me behind the desk. Lester and Woody came rushing in seconds later. The entire encounter had taken less than a minute, although it had felt like much longer.
"It's clear!" Zero called, handcuffing Junkman's arms and legs.
"She's safe," Ram confirmed. I stood up from behind the desk and Lester's mouth dropped open.
"I had to sacrifice my sandwich," I explained. I smelled like marinara sauce and I suspected that I didn't look clean and tidy anymore.
The front door chimed and Ranger and Tank strolled in.
"We had some trouble with Slayers outside but I think we found them all. They were a distraction team while Junkman went inside," Ranger said.
"Unfortunately they seem to have fallen down some stairs before we got them to them," Tank added. Ranger looked me up and down.
"You look good enough to eat," he said, leaning over to sniff me. I picked a meatball out of my hair and threw it at him. He dodged it easily, then leaned over, opened the pizza box and took a slice. I swear that I saw Tank roll his eyes as he barked orders at Ram and Vince to get Junkman out of there and to the police station. I looked at the remains of my sandwich, and picked up a slice of pizza.
"I'm glad that I got back in time to see this. I can count on you to brighten up my day," Ranger said. "And also my bank account. Junkman is worth a lot of money. Thank you for working with us on the takedown."
"Hopefully it pays you back for all the extra security monitoring you did to keep me safe. Not to mention the accommodation," I said.
"I'd like you to stay another night. I need to make sure that the Slayers know this is over with," Ranger told me. I nodded. I didn't want to stay in my house on my own just yet. And I wasn't about to turn down another night of Ella's cooking.