Chapter 11

SPOV

I knew I wasn't doing too well; I'd been feeling hot and sweaty before the coughing started. When that happened and I was getting this horrible mucus in my mouth things had gotten worse. I found it hard to breath and then it was with short and shallow breaths. I couldn't do anything but lay there; feeling more and more exhausted.

I'd heard Emci trying to talk to me, calling my name but I didn't have the energy to move and then it had gone quiet, so I allowed myself to drift in and out of sleep. Now though I felt slightly better, I didn't feel as hot though the need to cough was still there. I felt more comfortable which had me suddenly realizing I wasn't where I had been.

There was the hum of a machine in the background and I didn't feel sticky. What worried me though was a weight on my arm, that didn't seem to shift. I slowly opened my eyes and blinked as the light assaulted my vision and slowly turned my head.

Panic was my first impulse as I saw a head of dark brown hair resting on my hand. I couldn't be here, I couldn't cope with a repeat of his anger directed at me, why the hell was he here and why had he brought me here?

I tried to pull my arm away but that only woke him and as he lifted his head, I cringed away from him so frightened of what he would say. In my heart I knew he would never intentionally hurt me physically but having seen his anger I wasn't too sure of that anymore.

Of course, my breathing hitched and suddenly I was caught up in a seizure of a wracking coughing fit. I felt myself being sat up and being held close to a chest, there was the feel of a hand making circles on my back.

I had to get control of this, so after a few minutes as the coughing became weaker, I just sat trying to calm my breathing down. It was then that I noticed the IV in my hand and several bags of fluid dripping into the tube. What the hell had happened to me, why was I so ill and feeling like shit.

"Babe?"

I didn't answer and I certainly didn't want to look into his face.

"I'm so sorry Babe"

He was sorry, did he think saying those words would heal the hurt I'd endured?

"Babe please look at me"

I shook my head, I know at one time I would always respond to him saying please but now, I couldn't, I just didn't feel that I could trust him not to hurt me again.

"Please Babe, I am so sorry I shouted at you, I was angry, and it just took over, please Steph"

I knew there were tears running from my eyes, but I looked up and at him, surprised by the look on his face, but especially his eyes. Maybe he was sorry but hell he'd hurt me deeply, frightened me, abandoned me and that showed he didn't trust me anymore.

"Babe I didn't mean to hurt you, I know I did, but will you let me make it up with you?"

"I don't know Ranger, I don't know if I can do that"

"Will you please stay here at Rangeman?"

Stay at Rangeman, did he expect me to just forget everything and for us to go back to how we were. There was no way I could stay near him on seven.

"Babe if you stay in an apartment on four will you please stay?"

An apartment on four sounded like a better option, maybe that would be all right as long as he kept his distance from me.

"Why would I want to be here, why am I even here?"

"You were ill Babe and Bobby needs to make sure you're looked after"

I had no idea what to say to that, if I went back to my apartment would I be well enough to cope on my own? Maybe a few days in one of the apartments until I felt stronger would work.

"Okay"

"Do you want Santos here instead of me?"

I just nodded my head as I looked down at my hands, I didn't want to look at his face again but having Les with me felt like it would be okay. I mean he and Bobby didn't abandon me, go rushing off to Miami, they helped me even when Ranger had obviously ordered them not to come near me.

I heard the door open and knew Ranger had left the room, it didn't stop the tears though, so I laid back on my side curling up and allowed myself to fall back asleep.

I knew Bobby was with me and made a real effort to wake up, turning to him as I felt a cold stethoscope on my back.

"What happened Bobby?"

"You have pneumonia Steph, I'm not sure how that happened but you were dehydrated and probably hadn't eaten, plus your body was still struggling after being assaulted"

"I didn't know what to do"

"Where did you go, we looked everywhere for you"

"I wandered the streets and then found a shelter, but I couldn't stay there"

"There are lot of folk in those places who are ill Steph, maybe you picked up something there"

"I ended up getting soaking wet through and was so cold"

"Well you're here now, I'll make sure you get better"

"How long do I have to stay here?"

"Once the bag is empty, I'll remove the IV but you'll need to finish a course of antibiotics. Give yourself time to heal Bomber, it can leave you tired and the coughing could be around for a while"

"Okay"

I looked up as the door opened and saw Les stood there smiling at me, shit he had a worried look on his face as well.

"You look better than you did Beautiful, how're you feeling?"

"Tired and sore"

"Ella's sorted out an apartment on four for you, she's stocked the cupboards with all your favorites and there are clothes in there for you"

"How did you find me?"

"Long story, maybe when you're settled in the apartment, we can swap stories"

I nodded as I thought about that, yeah maybe I needed to talk through what had happened to me.

I spent the night in the infirmary with Bobby keeping an eye on me, he said he wanted to be sure the antibiotics were working and that I was a little bit stronger before leaving me on my own. I was actually okay with that because I still felt so tired and weak and ended up sleeping most of the time anyway.

Later the next morning Ella helped me to dress in joggers and a T-shirt and two hours later I was wrapped in a blanket propped up on a couch in the apartment. It was a nice space, with a small kitchen area and lounge. The bedroom had its own bathroom and a large bed, everything that I needed.

I looked up as Les came in carrying a tray and knew straight away that Ella had made something especially for me, no doubt something easy to eat. The smell was enticing, and my stomach growled telling me I was right. Les placed a bowl in my hands along with a spoon and soon I was scraping the bottom of it. Chinese noodle soup was a new one from Ella, but it had a taste of sweet and sour that made it all the tastier. As I set the bowl down Les handed me another bowl, yeah, I could get used to eating like this, a large bowl of assorted flavors of ice cream.

"Ella thought it would calm your throat from all the coughing"

"Tell her thank you"

"She'll be here soon so you can tell her yourself"

"So, are we going to swap stories?"

He put the bowls onto a tray and carried them into the kitchen area before returning and sitting down next to me. His arm came around my shoulder so that I could lean into him making myself more comfortable.

"Hell, Beautiful we looked all over for you, Ranger was going nuts when we couldn't find anything and then he suddenly got the idea from somewhere to check that old warehouse you were in"

"Why there?"

"The photo, I think maybe he thought you'd gone there from seeing it in the photo"

I had no idea that the place I'd ended up in was the same place as in that photo, I mean what were the chances of that happening and then it struck me. Emci, I'd sent a copy of that photo to Emci with the focus being on Ranger and how he was the one that hurt me. That she found the place and directed me to it couldn't be a coincidence, she'd done that on purpose, but why?

"Steph, you with me?"

"Sorry"

"Your turn"

"Well I knew you'd get into trouble with Ranger and I couldn't be part of that happening to you and Bobby so, sorry, I borrowed some things and just started to walk. I didn't have anywhere to go and thought if someone was after me, I needed to stay out of sight. I spent the first night at a soup kitchen, which I hated, then when I couldn't sleep any longer ended up at a side door that was open into that warehouse and thought it seemed like a good place to stay"

"So you're saying it was coincidence?"

"Yeah, something like that"

For some reason I didn't want to tell anyone about Emci helping me, they'd want to find her, and I didn't think she wanted to be found yet and I could respect her need for that privacy.

"Les do you have the phone I had with me?"

"Yeah, you still want it or do you want the other one?"

"Are they both here?"

"Yeah, in my office, I'll bring them down for you"

"The morning will be fine I'll need to get back to my apartment"

"Don't think so Beautiful"

"Why not?"

"Someone trashed it and there're probably some people still after you"

Shit, why would they do that? And then the whole ordeal of being beaten up came back to me along with some of the things they'd said. I knew I was safe here at Rangeman, but I didn't want to stay any longer than necessary.

"You had many visitors?"

Les's question was obviously a way to distract me from thinking about returning to my apartment and it worked. I smiled, it had been a steady stream of men coming to see me all just wanting to hug me and making sure I was feeling okay asking if I needed anything. In the end Bobby had stopped it and told them that visiting hours were between the hours of 11 and 3.

"Have you spoken with Ranger?"

I shook my head at that question, I really didn't feel emotionally stable enough to do that, I'd end up screaming at him or sobbing and my chest wouldn't let me do either.

"He had to go down to Miami, we had to transfer all our programs to them to operate. Mateo said our whole system was infected"

"Infected?"

"Yeah, it was him who told Ranger that you were responsible for that. I think Ranger saw red because he just couldn't cope with the idea that it was you"

"Who's Mateo?"

"New tech guy under Hector"

"Didn't Hector know what had happened?"

"He was visiting his mother, so wasn't around. It was Hector who worked out you had nothing to do with it, but for some reason it was your machine that seemed to trigger whatever happened"

"So Rangeman could have lost clients?"

"Yeah, we lost one big one and Ranger managed to sweet talk the other two"

"I don't follow Les, what actually happened?"

"For some reason three break ins didn't register in our system, somehow someone overwrote the commands which meant that for every client we have there was the potential for it to happen again"

I hadn't even thought about what had actually happened for Ranger to be so annoyed at me, shit it had really been serious and no wonder he'd flipped. I knew how hard he'd worked to get the business to where it was now.

"Is it sorted now?"

"Not sure, we've got two systems working in parallel in case it happens again"

"Why would someone do that?"

"We're not sure if it was something aimed at us or we were just unlucky"

"What's the saying, no such thing as coincidence"

"Well Ranger's been working nonstop, to find you and work out what the hell happened and why"

"So it was when I was working here that day when you were all out of the office?"

"Yeah, we were actually at my nieces christening"

I jumped at the knock on the door, hell I didn't realize how nervous I was, but then smiled when Ella came in.

"I'm here to help Stephanie, so Les if you wouldn't mind"

Les was quick to leave meaning that Ella had more say in the matter than he did.

"I'm gonna help you in the shower and with your hair, Bobby was worried you may still feel too weak to leave you on your own"

"Thanks Ella, but I'm sure I'll manage"

"Nonsense. I'll be right outside the door"

There was no way she was going to leave and maybe I did feel better knowing there was someone there to keep an eye on me. The water felt luxurious and my hair certainly needed washing and conditioning, but I knew it took a lot of energy to get through such a simple task.

Ella had found me some nightwear, and not one of Ranger's T-shirts, which I gladly let her help me get into and then I was sat in front of the dresser while she combed and dried my hair.

"Will you talk to Ranger Stephanie?"

"I don't know, not yet"

"He took a hell of beating from Tank and Santos when he realized what had happened, hell he just stood there and took it, didn't even put up a fight to defend himself"

I wanted to ask if he was okay, if he was hurt but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, he had hurt me so badly I was still reaming from the consequences of that.

"He's hurting because he knows you're hurting and he's finding it really difficult to forgive himself"

I wasn't going there with Ella, I knew what she was saying but I didn't think she knew all of what had happened that week and that what Ranger had done was the worst of all of it. I wasn't sure if I could trust him anymore and that was what was hurting me the most, because the one thing we'd always had was trust between us. The way he had turned on me made me feel insignificant and although everyone was being so kind to me now, I wasn't sure that he wanted me in his world anymore.

I thanked Ella without going down the route she was wanting to me to go. I knew she wanted to say more and was grateful that she didn't say anymore on the subject of Ranger. Once she'd left, I took my tablets that Bobby had left and made my way into the bedroom, I felt so tired that as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out like a light.

I think I knew I was dreaming when the voices in my head started to wake me up, but it was the coughing that that had me panicking. I found it so hard to get my breath. I knew I was half asleep but for some reason I knew I wasn't alone. I felt someone holding me to their chest, sitting me up and rubbing my back but I was too exhausted to take any notice, their hold on me was what was getting me through the seizure. As the coughing died down, I felt myself being laid back onto the bed and I was soon asleep.