Chapter 13

SPOV

As I came awake, I know I panicked trying to work out where I was, of course that brought on a fit of coughing that had someone rubbing my back. I felt warm and was laid on a solid pillow, somewhere where I should be familiar with because I'd been here many times before. I remembered how I'd come up here in the early hours of the morning and that no words seemed necessary between us. As the coughing subsided, I groaned at the ache in my chest, I was so fed up with the feeling and so needed to be back to how I was.

"Babe, do you need anything?"

"No, I hate how my chest hurts with coughing"

" Bobby says the infection is clearing, the coughing gets rid of the stuff in your lungs, so it should start to get easier"

As my head lay on his chest, I noticed the yellowing bruises from where Tank and Les had taken him to the mats.

"You shouldn't have let them do that to you"

"I deserved it and probably more"

"Does it hurt?"

"Yeah, if I move too quickly"

I felt his hand in my hair and the other on my back and felt contented as though my world had just righted itself.

"I felt as though my world had shattered when I realized what I had done to you, I never want that to happen again. It was worse than all the times that I lost you and couldn't find you, because I knew it was me that had done it to you"

I listened as he spoke, I wasn't going to say it was okay, because we both knew that what he did wasn't okay, but I felt that he was trying to explain how he felt which for Ranger was a new experience. Yeah, he would say he'd been worried about me, but he'd never really expressed how that made him feel. I waited, wanting him to continue talking, pleased when my patient waiting paid off.

"Babe I don't want to rehash what happened, I have a temper that usually I can control, I don't lose it often but it's like an angry beast waiting to get out. On missions it serves me well, but I never wanted to hurt you like I did. If you feel you still want to go, then I won't stop you but know that what I feel for you runs deep. I can't promise I won't lose my temper again, but somehow you seem to calm me when you're near. So, I'm asking you to please stay"

Wow, that just about took my breath away, I wondered if that was why he was so distant and tried to keep me at arm's length, but could I cope if his temper turned on me again? If I knew underneath that he cared for me would that make a difference? I mean look at how often Morelli lost it with me, and I easily forgave him. I really needed to be careful though. I desperately wanted Ranger back as my friend. I knew he didn't want anything more and I would have to keep my feelings to myself even though I did still love him.

He watched my face as his moved into mine as though he were waiting for me to push him away and then his lips were on mine, before teasing at my mouth. The kiss was soft and gentle, holding my breath I reciprocated the moves of his tongue and then I had to pull back as another coughing fit took over, but it was so intense my hand came to my mouth.

I sprinted for the bathroom, retching horrible brown mucus into the toilet bowl. A hand was holding my hair from my face as my stomach emptied, and the coughing continued. As the incident subsided, I sank sideways holding onto the bowl with my arms draped around the top. I felt Ranger sat on the floor behind me, his hands running along my arms.

"It's phlegm from your lungs that gets into your stomach and coughing so badly can make you sick"

"Shit, I thought it was getting better"

"It is, coughing helps clear your lungs"

I felt a bit better so started to move allowing Ranger to help me to stand, he was stood behind me with his hands still rubbing up and down my arms when he suddenly stopped and lifted an arm up away from my body.

"Where are all the cuts from?"

I had to think that one through and remembered the experience with Buckley and the window.

"Skip, but it wasn't really his fault, one of his machines in the room was smoking so he moved me out of the way"

"Go on"

"We ended up going through the window, which is how I got so many cuts"

"The skip you had when your car was stolen?"

"No, Adrian Buckley. He was really concerned and patched me up but then he disappeared from the house"

"So, you spoke to him?"

"Yeah, he wasn't bothered at me turning up, and he seemed genuinely concerned that I got hurt. He disappeared, but Connie said his house burnt down the night after and I still have to find him"

"No, you don't"

"Why not?"

"The charges have been dropped"

"Dam, he was a high bond as well. Never mind, but I do need to call at the office and see if there are any new files"

"Babe, there are a group of men who beat you up, they may still be after you"

"I have no idea what that was about, I hadn't had the best couple of days before that, so I haven't even thought about it"

I watched as his hands moved up my front unbuttoning my top, I may have wanted him to do that in the past but at this moment there was no way I was ready for that or fit for anything remotely active. I stopped his hand as he reached the top button.

"Babe I won't hurt you I wanted to see what they did to you and then you can use the shower"

Leaving the top button fastened I turned and pulled apart the top uncovering my chest and stomach, my arms tight across my breasts. I looked down at the mass of yellowy patterns that covered a lot of my skin and felt the intake of breath from Ranger. He drew me into his arms and encircled me, his face against the side of my head.

"They really hurt you badly didn't they?"

"Bobby said no bones were broken so they could have been holding back"

"I don't want the chance of them doing this again, please if you have to go out have someone with you?"

I had to think carefully about that, I wasn't that good when I had someone with me. I hated the idea of someone looking over my shoulder and probably wincing or laughing at how I managed to do my job. With how I was feeling at the moment though, I needed to feel safe, probably not feel so alone again as I had done a few days ago.

"Okay, I'll agree to it"

I knew he was surprised at that answer but as he'd brought it up, I really didn't want those men finding me again. I mean one man I could maybe get away from but there were at least two from what I could remember. I watched as he turned on the shower and then stepped out of the bathroom to leave me to wash and try to sort out my hair. In some ways the steam from the shower seemed to ease my chest but maybe that was just because I was feeling more relaxed. I looked down at myself as I ran the sponge over me, the cuts were just about all healed up and whilst the bruising was still evident, I didn't feel any pain from those injuries. I went back through to the bedroom suddenly in a dilemma as to what clothes to wear when I saw on the bed a Rangeman uniform, a set of underwear and cat boots on the floor. Maybe that was Ranger's way of saying he felt we were back to normal. Whatever normal was with us, I'd have to decide just how far I wanted that to be. Being friends with benefits was probably something I needed to think through very carefully. Once dressed and with my hair pulled back into a ponytail I headed into the kitchen. Ranger was just pouring out a coffee and handed me a mug just the way I liked it but then he pulled me into him again.

"What's that for?"

"Because I have a need to feel you and convince myself that you're here"

I used my free arm to hold him round his waist, yeah, I actually felt the same way myself. I pulled back to take a drink of the coffee and watched as Ranger stepped away and pulled some bowls out of the cupboard.

"Do you want me to call Ella to make you something?"

"Nah, yoghurt and fruit will be fine, maybe some toast if you have some"

I watched as he found some bread and placed slices in the toaster and then he pulled a chair out for me at the table. As we sat and ate, I was wondering how Emci was, I hoped she was okay maybe today we could find a way of meeting up.

"Babe?"

"Sorry, just thinking"

"Would you work your magic and look at some companies for me?"

"Sure, are these new clients?"

"No, the ones we had the problems with. I also did some digging into Buckley and the searches came back to a company that doesn't seem to exist, so that as well"

"Why the search on Buckley?"

"I thought maybe he had something to do with why you got hurt"

I needed to think, and think hard, I hadn't been in a good place when those men were beating me up, but I had to remember what it was they were asking.

"Those men were asking me questions, I had no idea what they were talking about, but if I remember right, they thought I had something, or information and they seemed to think that I was the last one to see someone"

"Do you know who they were talking about?"

"I'd seen Morelli and you, Buckley and some random man who was visiting his grandfather"

"Okay maybe something will crop up when you run those searches, I'll drop the files in at your cubbie"

"Is it okay to work at that computer?"

"I'll check with Hector"

I was nervous going down to five even with Ranger, I knew the men I knew well had been to see me at the apartment on four, but it was the others that I was a bit wary of. True to his word there were four files in my in box and sat on the top of the desk was a tall blue glass vase holding a single red rose, I bent down to smell the fragrance and for the first time in ages felt that Ranger was behind me. I turned surprising him before he got to me.

"No more than three hours then you need to rest"

"Okay, then maybe I can go out this afternoon"

"I'll sort something out for that"

I turned and sat back down then gingerly switched on the computer. Hell, I'm sure from the look on my face I thought it would suddenly go up in smoke. Nothing out of the ordinary happened so opening up the search program I ran the first company, Hastings Inc, and as that ran decided to run the company that Ranger had found associated with Buckley, Herichlon Industry.

The search on the second company finished first so I sent that to the printer while I briefly read through what was written about Herichlon on the screen. It was a new business started up a year ago but had no record of who actually owned it, which was weird because I'd never seen that before. There was always at least one name associated with a company, but as I came to the end of the very short report was the fact that it had been liquidated. I input the address given to discover that no such address existed plus the description of what their actual business did was very vague, innovative ratiocinative processes. I had no idea what that was supposed to be. In fact, I had no idea what one of the words even meant so put it into Google to get a definition, ratiocinative - the process of logical reasoning.

That definitively had me stumped so on a whim and seeing that Ranger had found this company through Buckley I pulled up the search on him already in the system. Wow he really was a genius with computers, okay let's look into his financials. For someone who had a great deal of money there were very few entries on his account. He seemed to withdraw money regularly, so I assumed for food or paying bills. The only other outgoings were to a couple of places but there was no indication of who they were, only a numerical reference and the amount. There were only three places where money had come in from but again only a reference number and the amount were recorded. I printed that page and found that my original search on Hastings had finished and was now printing. I was about to get up to collect the printing when Bobby appeared next to me handing it over.

"Thanks Bobby"

"How you feeling today?"

"Better, I'm fed up with coughing though"

"You taking the tablets?"

"Of course"

"Why are you down here?"

"Some research"

"You'll still get tired easily so don't work for more than three hours then have a rest"

"Yeah I will"

I was half listening to Bobby as I started to read the printouts and vaguely heard him shout back at me "Drink plenty of water" as he walked away. I noted that this had been one of the first companies that Rangeman had taken on when they first started up and wondered how often a search was run once the client was secured. Hastings had been set up just before Rangeman and started up as an electronics company manufacturing and selling components. Maybe it was possibly that Rangeman bought supplies through them. As time progressed though they'd moved away from manufacturing and sales into research and development making their money through patenting new systems. Mmm, I wonder. I pulled up the financial records of the company but only got the absolute basic information, even with Hectors program.

They were a company, and I read that they had a board of directors overseeing management, who were in charge of major corporate decisions, and corporate officers. There was a chief executive officer (CEO) and a chief financial officer (CFO), who managed the company's business operations on a day-to-day basis, just like any other company set up, but I couldn't find any names to go with the titles. What was interesting was that the company looked to have had a change of personnel 18 months ago and the share allocation had changed drastically. Who the hell did Ranger deal with when he spoke with them? I would need to do a lot more digging on this one.

On that note I decided to call it quits so closed everything down, hell I hoped nothing happened today. I collected a sandwich and bottle of water from the break room and headed down to the apartment on four, dropping the food on the table before heading into the bedroom and collapsing on the bed. I hadn't realized just how tired I was as sleep overcame me.

It felt comfortable as I rolled over but as my arm went out to feel for the pillow it hit the side of something solid. My eyes opened and I realized that Ranger was laid down next to me and he was still asleep. How was that, he always woke when I moved, hell he must be exhausted if he hadn't woken up. I looked up at his face taking in the bruises still evident and the cut above his eye. He was still so handsome and asleep he looked younger if that was possible, I saw his eyes flicker and a small smile appear on his lips, a tell that he was waking up.

"I only meant to lay down with you for minute"

"What time is it?"

He lifted his arm to look at his watch, I'm sure groaning at the length of time he'd been asleep.

"1400hrs, 2 o'clock Babe"

"Okay I need to get changed and head out"

"You still want to do that?"

"I have to"

"Why?"

"I need to pick up some files and get in some skips"

"Babe why the rush to get back to work when you know you're still struggling?"

I wasn't going to answer that, if he knew I needed the money he'd just hand it over and that wasn't how I worked. I could never take money from him without working the hours to earn it.

I slipped from the bed before he had a chance to stop me and collecting some clothes from the closet went into the bathroom to change. Jeans and a long-sleeved sweater would do. Then I stopped with one foot in a leg of the jeans wondering where the hell they had come from. It wasn't the time to think about that so tidying my hair I stepped out to find Ranger stood lent against the wall by the door.

"You ready?"

"Yeah, who's with me?"

"Me"

I didn't react to that, at least not on the outside, inside I was suddenly panicking. How the hell could I go into the bank and ask for a loan, that's if they'd even give me one. I felt nervous as we stepped from the elevator and into the garage. I wasn't sure if it was because Ranger was with me or because I was heading outside. I heard the blips from a Porsche Cayenne so headed for the passenger seat and buckled my seat belt as Ranger got in beside me.

I hadn't noticed how sunny it was outside, hell the last time I was outside I'd got soaking wet in the rain.

"Where to first?"

"My bank"

He didn't say anything, just drove the car, so I watched as we passed the shops and buildings aware as Ranger pulled into a parking space right in front of the entrance.

"I won't be long"

I didn't wait for him to respond but was pleased when he seemed to be staying in his seat. Once in the bank I groaned as I saw two other people in front of me. I waited as the first man turned and left from the counter and pulled out my phone as a message came in.

"Thanks for rent money Steph, bank transfer came through this morning"

How had Dillon got my rent money? I mean I usually left an envelope for him through the mailbox by his door, which meant somehow, I must have paid him and forgotten about it. I knew I'd toyed with the idea of setting up a direct debit. A voice from in front of me had me looking up and I moved forward to the counter.

"Hi Steph, long time no see. I thought you did all your banking online now?"

"Yeah, but my phone's been playing up, could you print me a statement for this month?"

"Sure"

As she handed the paper through to me, I shouted back "Thanks Rita" and was trying to read what was printed out as I walked toward the door.

"Babe?"

"Shit, I didn't know you were back here"

"Everything okay"

"Yes, no, I don't know"

I was still trying to read the figure that the printout had given me, and it didn't make sense. Okay I'm not great at maths but even I couldn't understand how the amount that had gone into the account was bigger than the amount coming out, and the balance was showing that I was in credit? How that had happened I had no idea, unless I'd been paid for the day I'd worked at Rangeman but that usually took a few more days to be paid into the account.

"Babe"

I hadn't realized I'd got into the car and that Ranger was waiting for me to tell him where to go next. Did I mention this to someone? Maybe the bank had made a mistake, but at this moment in time I had enough money to get by on so the need for skips wasn't as urgent.

"Sorry, the office?"

He started the engine and swung out into traffic as I folded the paper and put it in my bag, I'd look at that again when I got back to Rangeman. Rangeman, I was assuming I would go back there but I had my apartment, it may not be the safest place in the world, but it was mine. I felt the car stop and saw that we were parked outside of the office but just sat there jumping when my door came open and Ranger took my hand.

"You're distracted"

"I know, I'm sorry"

I focused on Ranger as he scanned the street and sidewalk and allowed him to guide me into the office, his hand at the small of my back. As we walked in Connie looked up from her desk, a worried look on her face.

"Steph, where've you been?"

"Sorry Connie, I got ill so had to stay away from work"

"Are you better now?"

"Getting there"

"You got a stalker again?"

I noted the concern in her tone as she looked over at Ranger and didn't really know what to say, did I have a stalker?

"Not sure"

"Okay, well there's only one file, medium bond"

"Tha"

"Wow, you're here"

I hadn't even heard the door opening let alone known that Lula had walked in, but I had remembered the mood she'd been in the last time she'd spoken to me.

"Lula how you doing?"

"Okay I suppose. We gonna be going after the one in that file?"

"I haven't even looked at it yet Lula"

I noticed that Ranger was stood behind us, closer to the door but was sure he would hear everything being said. As Lula tried to make a grab for the file I stepped sideways out of her way.

"What the hell Lula?"

"Give it me, I bet his address is right here, all we gotta do is drive over there"

"No Lula, that's not what's going to happen"

I don't know if it was the sudden movement or not, but my breathing changed and the need to cough was overwhelming. As the coughing fit took hold, I felt Ranger behind me gently rubbing my back. He took the file from my hand looking at Lula very intently, in fact I'd say he was pissed at her. His stance was solid, and he was coiled like a spring ready to go into action. As the coughing abated, I stepped behind him and ran my hand from his hand up his arm and back down again. I felt his stance relax until he simply turned taking my hand in his and walked us out of the door and toward the passenger side of the car before helping me in. Once he was sat next to me, he turned to me, his face now relaxed.

"Why does she think she can coerce you to take risks like that?"

"Most times the file is all we have and usually the address in there pays off"

He leaned over and held his hand to my cheek.

"I don't want you to get hurt Babe for the sake of Lula wanting to rush in without thinking"

"I know what you mean but sometimes the info in the file is all I have"

"So use the programs at Rangeman"

That seemed to be the final say on the subject as he then started the engine and pulled out into traffic. I wasn't sure where we were going next but didn't think it wise to ask, sometimes Ranger just needed to feel in control and now was one of those times.

I was surprised when we pulled over and parked in front of a small café, I knew he'd driven north out of Trenton but wasn't sure where. I joined him in front of the car and he guided me inside to an interior that had me stopping and looking around. The inside was so different to how the outside portrayed it as being. There was color everywhere from the cloths on the tables to the pictures on the walls. The wall opposite the entrance had doors that were open onto a garden with more tables and chairs set out.

"Babe, can we go in?"

As I walked forward a pretty woman came to us and kissed Ranger on the cheek, then held her hand on his arm. I know I felt myself deflate, hell did I really think that Ranger wouldn't have a woman somewhere? She was dark skinned with long dark hair and a figure that put mine to shame, probably more the type that Ranger would be attracted to. I stood to one side to give them their space and felt embarrassed when Ranger pulled me into the conversation as he started to introduce me.

"Babe this is Nita, Nita Stephanie"

As usual my Burg manners kicked in and I held my hand out to her.

"The Stephanie, the one you guys are always talking about?"

Shit, I wasn't just entertainment for Rangeman now it extended to women he knew.

I felt Ranger's hand at my back as we followed Nita out into the garden and as he pulled a chair out for me sat down.

"It's beautiful here, I never knew it existed"

"Nita has a good following, so she doesn't need to advertise, everything is home cooked, some Cuban some not"

I was mentally chastising myself, hell I'd only just resolved that I could forgive Ranger for what he'd said and done to me, and here I was feeling jealous when I knew perfectly well I had no right to do that. Did I think he didn't see other women I mean he could have a serious relationship with someone for all I knew. Though from what he'd said to me in the past I wasn't so sure about that, unless of course it was because I'd totally misunderstood him, and I suppose that was it. I'd been in a physical relationship with Morelli so I was sure Ranger would find woman to be with as well. That's when I realized that I couldn't do casual sex with him, it meant too much to me. I couldn't be just one of the women he bedded when he needed it. I knew we could end up working closely together and I suppose for Ranger work was a serious priority. I suddenly felt out of my depth, I wasn't good looking, I had no skills and bungled my way through life. How the hell did I ever think that I would fit into Ranger's life?

I needed to take my thoughts in a different direction so picked up a menu and noticed that it was written in English and Spanish making the decision to try something new for a change. I went with Vaca Frita which in the translation was "fried cow", a dish prepared with beef marinated in lime, garlic and salt and then seared till it becomes almost crispy. Ranger chose the Arroz con pollo, rice with chicken, and water for each of us, I suppose knowing that being on antibiotics I couldn't mix alcohol with them. As we waited for the meals to arrive, I felt Ranger's hand on my arm so turned toward him.

"Babe I'm sorry but I didn't like how Lula treated you, she was pushing me when I went in to see Connie while I was looking for you and today, I could feel myself getting tense with her behavior, so thank you"

"For what?"

"Taking the edge off, calming me down"

"You were helping me"

"Do you always give her part of the capture fee?"

Wow that was a change in the direction of the conversation.

"Usually, she insists we take her car, so I suppose I owe her for that and to be honest there are times when I need her with me, and she does sometimes help with the capture"

"So, she gets a wage from Vinnie and what, 2% of the fee?"

"Yeah"

"Babe she probably gets more than you do, do you realize that 8% is nearly half what Rangeman takes"

"I know, but that's the job and it's the only one I have"

I didn't think he really understood that being a bounty hunter was all I seemed to be able to do and yeah I knew Lula could be a pain, but usually we got there in the end, that because of her it might take a few attempts was neither here nor there.

"I know Babe, I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you"

"Let's just focus on the problems we have now"

I didn't mean to sound so harsh but the whole experience of coming here was beginning to feel like a mistake, what with him introducing me to Nita and then criticizing my job I was ready to go. I refused a desert; hell, how bad was that, wanting to get back to Rangeman.

He paid the bill and went out of his way to say goodbye to Nita and then we were heading back to Rangeman. I had to act like nothing was wrong but that was so hard for me to do. Ranger could invariably read me and was going to know something was wrong. Once in the garage I headed for the elevator surprised when Ranger joined me.

"I still have to look at two companies yet"

"Don't get too overtired Babe"

I walked toward my cubbie as he walked into his office, I didn't know what to think of that, I mean I thought we'd come to an understanding this morning and now everything seemed so, I don't know, tense, but maybe it was me feeling that way.

I sat down and booted up the computer picking up the two files still to do and read through the information ready to input the names into the program. This company was called Safenet and was based south of Trenton, according to the file I had they manufactured, sourced and sold all sorts of electrical equipment, from tools to toasters and anything a homeowner would need.

The search came up with more information, the address and the names of the people who were the owners, this was a business that was being owned and run by four men. Nothing seemed amiss with their finances, so I input the names of the men into the search while I picked up the last file.

This business provided a service as opposed to a commodity, the type of business who would be contracted to provide the electrical work needed in a renovation or new build. Being a service, they employed a lot of people but had a warehouse that contained all the stock they used, and the equipment needed to complete a job. I used the search to find out more and while it ran looked at the results for the four men while they printed. Two were older, William Gauge and Samuel Dolby and a third one was his son Jackson Dolby, the fourth man, Clark Lobin, was probably a little older than me and looked to have worked his way up through the business.

To be honest there was nothing that jumped out at me, the photos for each man weren't that brilliant and by the looks of it, information I would usually look for wasn't readily available, so I filed the papers with the rest and went back to the electrical company. For some reason I was getting a feeling that somehow all these businesses were connected but couldn't work out how.

I needed more space to do this in, to spread the papers out and in order to read through the detail and highlight things. With a thick file in my hand I walked around the corridor on five until I came to an empty conference room, the lights went on automatically as I stepped inside and I set the file on the table. I needed a coffee so turned back to go get some.

"Hey Steph, what you up to?"

I stopped and turned, seeing Tank behind me as he came out of his office.

"Trying to find a link between those businesses who were broken into"

"Why "

"Well don't you think it's strange that only those three places were hit?"

"Hell girl they've been with us since the beginning"

"So when was the last time anyone ran a search on them?"

"Err, I don't know. Why ask that?"

"Well Hastings has had a change of management and totally changed it's business plans"

"Shit, does Ranger know?"

"No, I still have some work to do on it yet"

"Can you meet with us in the morning and go through what you've found?"

"Sure, tomorrow"

I turned back to the break room and poured a coffee then returned to where I'd left the file. I set out each search separately on the table, Hastings, Herichlion, Buckley, Safenet, the electrical contractor Joules and lastly the four men who were currently running Hastings. Drinking the coffee I stood by the table trying to decide where to start and for some reason decided that Buckley was the odd one out, but, maybe he wasn't, maybe he was what tied the others together. So I started with his paperwork sitting down with a highlighter and pen and started to go through his history.