Chapter 13:

I had left a message on Joe's office machine. Okay, so that was cowardly. He's never at his desk and I knew I would get his voice mail, but, technically, I didn't break my promise.

"Hi! Just letting you know that I'm loose on the streets!" I can be so perky when I'm full of shit. "I'm helping Ranger out with a skip. I'll probably still beat you home. See you tonight."

I knew perfectly well that Morelli was going to go ape shit. Oh well. We haven't had a decent fight for a couple of weeks now.

I had changed into my cool black bootleg jeans with a black chamois shirt buttoned low to show a black tank top. With my black Timberland steel toe work boots and my batman utility belt, I felt like I was so ready to kick some gangbanger butt. I thought about wearing the exceptionally fabulous black leather jacket, but, to tell the truth, while I had a lot of confidence in Ranger's ability to protect my sorry white ass, I had no confidence whatsoever in his desire to protect my fabulous black leather jacket. It was with real regret that I left it at my apartment.

My coolness quotient definitely dropped a couple of points when I stopped at the Big Blue to get my inflatable donut cushion. As I tossed it on to the passenger seat of the Ford Explorer, I gave Ranger my most evil Burg Babe stare, just daring him to say one word. He glanced at the cushion and then at me before glancing back to the cushion. He lifted an eyebrow and his mouth twitched, but he didn't say a thing. I climbed into the truck and gingerly sat down on my vinyl throne.

Ranger pulled out of my parking lot.

"So what's the plan?" I wanted to get the lowdown on this operation before he went off into his Zen Zone.

"We're meeting up with Tank, Lester, Bobby and Hal. We'll discuss the details then."

There was a suspicious note in Ranger's voice. I stared hard at him. I knew he could feel my eyes boring into the side of his head. He knew I wanted to know more. Finally, he turned and shot me a smile.

"Babe," was all he said.

I piffed and glared out the window. Have I mentioned that patience is not one of my life skills?

In the side view mirror, I saw a black Lexus SUV pull in behind us. Inside, I recognized two very large figures. As I looked at the larger of the two, a thought occurred to me.

"Should Tank be working yet? Didn't he get shot at the hotel and then again at the mall?"

Touchdown! I finally broke through to the Zen Zone! Ranger turned and stared at me with a look of complete disbelief. "He was grazed on the leg and knicked on the arm. He only needed a couple of stitches," he said, shaking his head. "He's fine."

"And what was that look for?"

He glanced at me as if to say 'What look?'.

"You know what look… that look!"

Ranger turned back to watch the traffic, but he was shaking his head and trying to stifle a smile. "Babe. Three days ago you were stabbed over fifty times. Some of the shards went four or five inches deep. You lost a lot of blood before the ambulance came." He glanced over at me and I was surprised to see admiration in his eyes. "Babe, you could have died, and you're worried about Tank?"

"Oh." I hadn't really thought of it that way. Somehow, getting shot with a gun seems a lot more scary and dangerous than get mugged by a candle display.

I think Ranger had the ESP thing going on again. "You're the only human being that I know that should wear a Kevlar vest when she goes to the mall."

"Ha. It's obvious you've never been to the after-Christmas sale at Filene's Basement."

He gave me a little smile and a shake of his head before he turned back to his driving. I went back to looking out the window. In the side view mirror, I noticed a second black SUV peeking out from behind the first one. Since Bobby was driving with Tank, I figured that Lester and Hal must be in the second car. We were approaching gang turf and I was hoping we would meet and brief a little farther away from ground zero, but I bit my lip, determined not to ask again. I was feeling a little weird though. It had only been a week or so since the Slayer incident on Comstock and I really hadn't thought that I would be back here again, so close, so soon.

We were approaching the top of Comstock when a flash of police lights caught my eye in the side view mirror. Ranger caught it at the same time and I saw him glance in his rear view mirror as he put on his directional and pulled over. I looked in the side view mirror and saw Bobby's and Lester's vehicles do the same.

From where I sat, I couldn't see the police car until it pulled up beside us and then cut over to block the Explorer. That's when I saw that it was Morelli's Crown Vic with the Kojac light on the roof. As he got out of the car, he slammed the car door so hard that it shook the glass on the nearby storefronts. He was pissed.

Which was an amazing coincidence, because I was a little angry myself. I ripped open the door and jumped down from the truck, completely ignoring the stabs of pain that shot through my legs and butt from landing so hard on my feet.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I yelled as I stormed up to him in the street.

"You, I know, are insane." Morelli snapped in my face. "Completely insane and irrational, and I'm trying hard to deal with it. But you," he turned to yell at Ranger who had just stepped out onto the pavement. "What the hell are you thinking about dragging her out here the day after she gets out of the hospital?"

First, I'd like everyone to realize that if the Surgeon General hasn't yet advised that yelling at Ranger can be hazardous to your health, he should.

Second, "What the hell do you mean that he's dragging me out here? Do you think that I don't make my own decisions? It's my job! When I need help with a skip, I ask Ranger," okay, so maybe his help doesn't always come without a price tag, "so when he needs my help, I give him a hand. It's the job. And nothing gives you the right to come out here and play Grog the caveman and try and stop me."

"Your job? When did you DECIDE your job was to become live bait?"

"She's not here to be bait, Morelli." I turned to look at Ranger. He was staring at Morelli with a burning cold look in his eye that scared the shit out of me. I remember seeing it before when he went after Abruzzi. The silence on that street was screaming at me. Instinctively, I stepped between them. As Ranger moved his glare from Morelli to me, his eye softened and I let out a deep breath. I hadn't even been aware that I had been holding it. When he spoke again, it was to me. "She's here because she's the only one that can do this. This isn't a decision I've made rashly. I've done my homework and I know the score. If Stephanie helps, the takedown will go quietly. If we do it without her, people will get hurt. That's the bottom line."

"It's not her responsibility." I could hear the anger buried in Morelli's voice.

"No," answered Ranger. "But it is her job."

How can we stand in the middle of the street in the middle of the day in the middle of Trenton and have the entire world be so fucking quiet for so long? I glanced between Morelli and Ranger, more confused than ever.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO TALKING ABOUT?" I finally exploded.