Chapter 2
I fell asleep and dreamed of space age robots chasing me around telling me everything was too dangerous. Somehow they had started to sound like my mother, when the ringing started.
I struggled to wake up. What the-- oh, the intercom was buzzing. I stumbled across the room and pushed the button to answer it. "Hello?"
"Ms. Plum?" Louis Guzman's gruff voice shook me more into waking up mode. "Ms. Thorne has a visitor." I blinked, trying to think who it could be. She hadn't mentioned anyone, and I was pretty sure she would have said something if Dom or Quinn were going to be in town. "He says his name is Alec Masters."
I frowned at that. Why would Alec be here, I wondered. He was probably planning on groveling and begging forgiveness. Probably I should just tell Louis to get rid of him… but I had never seen even a picture of him. I was curious to know what the slimy little worm looked like, and I admit I had half a mind to go down there and beat his ass. Now, I know what the mature and adult thing to do would be. I really do, but I'm Hungarian. We don't do mature adult things. We do impetuous, brave, silly things.
"I'll be right down, Louis. Just have him sit tight. Thanks!" I dashed into the bathroom and fixed my make-up, slicked my hair into a pony tail, and yanked on my shoes, all in record time. My curiosity was going to eat me alive. I caught myself almost bouncing on the elevator ride down. I was definitely spending way too much time around Haley.
I really shouldn't have bothered getting all excited, though- Alec was exactly what I had thought he might be. He was a clean cut, freshly shaved, freshly pressed, wholesome Midwest kind of boy. He was past six foot but was thin as if he hadn't quite finished growing, his curly brown hair kept short, highlighting his bright green eyes. He wore khakis, a polo shirt, and doc martens: a total young Republican.
His face lit up as I stepped off the elevator and he rushed forward. "Haley?" said, a moment before reality sank in. He immediately slowed down as I approached, his jaw hanging open a little. I smirked at his discomfort and he cleared his throat nervously.
"Ms. Plum?" he inquired, sliding a GQ smile into place. I looked him up and down.
"Why are you here?" I asked glaring at him. He reminded me of a satanic combination of Dickie and Morelli. With something else I couldn't quite place...
"I need to talk to Haley," he said, looking to the elevator behind me.
"She isn't here," I told him flatly, folding my arms over my chest and shifting my weight to one foot impatiently. Alec frowned.
"Where is she?"
"Out," I said. I didn't care what had brought him here- whatever it was it could take him right back. He was scum, and worse he was predictable and oddly familiar scum. I didn't care to talk to him.
"Please, Ms. Plum, I need to talk to her!" he protested.
"Call her." I kept my gaze gold and watched him dispassionately. He shuffled his feet nervously, like a shy country boy. Probably that move had helped him win a lot of females over in the past.
"She won't answer her phone," he said, sounding crushed. Oops, guess that explained why her cell phone had been vibrating itself across the carpet all night. But I didn't feel inclined to pity him, so I just shrugged.
"Then I guess you're screwed," I sniffed and looked past him to Louis and the two large RangeMan guys on security detail- Cal and Junior, two of ther larger, scarier variety. I smiled at them and pointed to Alec.
"Could you guys please make sure he gets out okay?" I asked as nicely as I could. I looked back at Alec. "I think you ought to consider moving on with your life. Haley doesn't need you or your lies." I didn't wait for a response, I just turned and headed back to the elevator. I got about three steps before Alec's hand wrapped around my arm. Silly boy. I turned back, trying to pull my arm free.
"I need to see her!" he protested, tightening his grip on me. "She's got to listen to-" he broke off suddenly as Cal's gun appeared in his field of vision.
"You might want to rethink your strategy, son," Junior advised in a conversational tone from a couple yards back. I saw he had his own gun up and ready. I felt my lips curl into a smirk as Alec's face drained of color, his eyes focusing on the gun barrel.
"Yeah," I added. "Blood's a bitch to clean up, you know." Alec's hand dropped away, and he stared at the three of us in dawning horror.
"Fucking mercs," he spat, as the shock of finding himself at gunpoint apparently wore uff. "What the hell is it with your family?"
I didn't have an answer to that one, so I let it go. "I think you need to leave now," I advised him.
"I'm going," his green eyes met mine and I shuddered. They were blazing with anger, but somehow they seemed empty. Empty like Ramirez's had been. Empty like Hannibal Ramos'. I stepped backward almost without meaning to as Cal's hand settled on Alec's shoulder. The two guards ushered him out of the building, but I didn't stay to witness it. I fled back into the elevator and into the apartment.
Haley had almost married that. Why hadn't anyone said anything sooner? Didn't someone notice he wasn't freaking sane? I shuddered at the thoughts of what might have happened if Dom hadn't held her to that promise, and threw myself back down on the couch to escape back to some other corner of the galaxy.
I had barely gotten through the first commercial break when my cell phone rang. I picked it up without even looking at the screen.
"Hello?"
"Babe," Ranger sounded... strained? Uh-oh, Haley had done something.
"What's wrong? Did she freeze?" I sat up, preparing myself to get lectured on bad choices and unprepared novices.
"No. She did fine... but there was a slight problem." My heart speeded up. Oh god, not again….
"Ranger?" My voice trembled a little and I hated myself for it.
"A bunch of cars blew up when she was leading him out." I saw spots dancing around my vision and my stomach started crawling toward my throat.
"Oh my god! Is she okay? What happened?"
"It got crazy after the explosions. Hoped she'd gotten home on her own."
"No. She hasn't. But Alec just showed up. Maybe she saw him and it scared her off."
"Alec?"
"Her fiancee. He, um, he made a scene down in the lobby. Cal and Junior escorted him off the premises…"
"We'll be there in twenty." And he hung up.
I had a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I thought some good old Ben & Jerry's would help, but one look at the carton had me feeling sick. This wasn't good. I tried several other food options, the same result each time.
The bad feeling got worse, and by the time Tank knocked on the door I had been staring at the same Snickers bar for fifteen minutes, unable to manage a single bite. I let him in and went back to contemplating the first unappealing piece of chocolate I had found in my life.
"Bombshell." Tank looked serious and more than his usual amount of scary as he walked in. He was in the usual black, and had all the usual weapons on him, but it was the look in his face that got me. The last time I had seen that look was on a redecorating job when he tossed some guy out a third story window. I felt a sudden surge of happiness that he was on my side. "The Boss is still sorting out the cops," he said the word with only the minimal amount of disdain. His inscrutable dark eyes bored into mine. "She was on one of our operations- and nobody messes with our people."
For once I didn't look away from his gaze, even though Tank was one of the Merry Men I really didn't feel all that comfortable around, mainly because I had gotten him shot and his leg broken. I kept wondering when he was going to remember that. He was also one of the biggest guys I had ever seen, and probably one of the deadliest, it's an awe-inspiring combination. Unless you're Haley, who seems to think crazed mercenaries are completely normal. "What if we don't find her?" I tried to keep my voice calm and failed miserably. I felt the tears starting to gather and cursed them- I hated acting like a stupid girlie-girl in front of anyone, especially the RangeMan guys. "Where do we start looking?"
Tank looked like he was about to say something when his phone rang. "Hey Ric... yeah, I'm here.... You sure? ... All right... Fuck.... Be right there." He lowered the phone and looked at me warily. "Looks like we're meeting in the conference room. Debriefing time."
"He find out anything?" I asked hopefully. Tank just did his impression of a stone wall, which was actually pretty believable.
"We'll find out," he said simply. But I was pretty sure his tension level had just increased. Yeesh. I slipped my tennis shoes back on and as an afterthought I grabbed Haley's phone. It said she'd missed 15 calls. Momentarily forgetting my imposing company, I scrolled through the call list. Almost all of the calls were from Slimer, who I assumed to be Alec, except for three, which were from Mom, Cyclops, and Superman. Great, you needed a decoder ring for her freaking phone book.
"Let's go," I sighed and let Tank lead the way to the conference rooms. I still wasn't too clear on the exact layout of the building, so it was just easier that way.
--------------------------------------------------
Normally sitting in a room with some of the hottest eye-candy in the area is something a girl like me will only dream about. But here I was, seated in the conference room with the A-Team and Batman, and I was wishing that I could be anywhere else on the face of the planet, third world countries included.
"Please tell me this is some sick joke," I whispered, staring up at Ranger, begging him to tell me that it wasn't true. His face stayed blank, and he shook his head. Well, he actually just moved his head a fraction of an inch to the left, but the impression was one of 'absolutely not.'
" The kidnapper claimed to have you, not Haley," he said. "We can't let him know differently."
"Who is this son of a bitch?" Bobby demanded from my left. All of the guys were looking like they could single-handedly take over a small island nation, but Bobby looked offended to boot. His pride was taking a beating I guess, since they had apparently been taken by an incompetent kidnapper.
"Someone with a grudge against Steph, and Ranger," Lester said thoughtfully. "And who obviously never got a real good look at Steph." Even in my panicked condition I had to turn that last part over in my mind. I thought there might be an insult hidden in it somewhere, but I couldn't tell if it was aimed at me, Haley, or the kidnapper.
"Hey," I pointed out. " People make that mistake all the time, lately." I was thinking of the several times Haley had reported people wanting to take a picture with her at the club because they thought she was the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. "Even Morelli got confused." I chose to ignore the guys' faces on that last part. I saw about a million wise cracks dying to be let loose.
Ranger just gave me a look. "Kidnappers tend to have detailed intel, and photographs."
"So maybe it's just some whacko?" There were a few derisive noises from the A-Team.
"Some whacko don't manage to plant explosives like the ones at the bar. Those were high end," Tank sounded almost admiring. "And they got one on one of our cars, meaning they had to know a way around our sensors. Not an easy thing to do." I thought of a few choice Italian phrases, but kept them to myself. Why couldn't it have just been a random weirdo? Oh no, it was a smart random weirdo.
"Cal and Hal put together a list of cases we've worked together. Most are in prison, except three," Ranger produced a small pile of folders. "One has found religion and is currently in a mission in Africa." One file hit the table. "One's just a small time street punk, Darien Childs, and the other... The other one is Charles Deering, who has spent the last year in East St. Louis building up a new clientele."
I bit my lip, thinking hard. Deering had been a distraction job- a chauvinistic drug dealer who was a couple fries short of a happy meal and had some serious control issues where females were concerned. If he had Haley... My stomach twisted into some very complicated knots.
"What would have brought him back?" Tank asked.
"Not known, but revenge would be a good enough motive," Ranger said.
"How do we find her?" my voice was desperate. "We should call the police, or someone..."
"Deering had crooked cops in his pocket before he was busted," Lester said quietly. "Trusting the boys in blue might not be a great idea on this one."
"What about Childs?" Bobby asked.
"I've got a team tracking him down."
There was a knock at the door and a large, heavily muscled weightlifter type stuck his head in. "Boss, they just found Childs. He's taken up residence in da county morgue. Been there a couple a' days." And he left. Someone seriously needed to introduce them to the art of the graceful exit. At least that meant we had one less suspect.
But something about Deering was niggling at me, beyond the knowledge of his possible insanity. "Did you say Deering's been living in East St. Louis?" I wondered out loud. The guys turned to me and waited for further information.
"Babe?" Ranger said gently. I bit my lip, letting the thoughts form a little more before I focused my attention on him.
"Haley doesn't live that far from there, that's all. It sounds..." I searched for a word, and one of Haley's popped into my brain, "It sounds hinky is all."
"What would Haley have to do with an East Saint Louis drug dealer?" Lester sounded skeptical.
"I don't know," I admitted quietly. "But I know someone who would." I pulled Haley's cell phone out of my pocket and started scrolling through the phone book. It took me a minute to think which funky nickname was probably the one I wanted, but soon I had the number I wanted. I dialed and waited. It rang all of twice before a sleepy and slightly agitated male voice answered.
"What's up?" he muttered.
"Dominic Vega?" I asked tentatively.
"Who is this?" he demanded, his voice suddenly much more alert.
"Stephanie Plum, I'm-"
"What's wrong with Haley?" Ok. Wow. Did all special forces guys have ESP or what?
"She's..." hm, I considered my options on this one. "She's disappeared."
"What?" Dominic's voice had a distinct don't-tell-me-you-just-said-that edge.
"We need to know if she knew someone named Charles Deering? He was a-"
"I know him," he growled. "Just a moment, Ms. Plum..." and the line was silent for a full minute. I looked around me at the Merry Men, who had a complete lack of expression. It was a little unnerving but Dom's voice came back before I could give it much more thought. "How did this happen?"
I bit my lip again and glanced at Ranger, who nodded once. I let out a sigh of relief and handed him the phone. He knew what questions to ask, anyway. I wasn't all that shocked when the conversation was conducted in rapid fire Spanish, but it was interesting. I don't think I'd ever actually seen Ranger use Spanish before… well, outside the bedroom… ack. Where had that thought come from? So not the time or place, Stephanie.
In typical fashion the phone call was over in about two minutes, barely giving me time to get some highly inappropriate images out of my head. I sighed, deciding to blame Ranger and his sudden attack of morals for my insane hormones. Speaking of the man, he looked a like he was caught somewhere between amusement and annoyance as he put the phone down.
"Dom and his team will be here in four hours," he announced to the room at large. The Merry Men nodded, looking like this was nothing unexpected. I didn't follow it, though. The A-Team didn't seem like they'd be ones for joint efforts. I was debating whether or not to bring it up when Ranger looked back at me.
"Dominic and his team are based in the RangeMan Saint Louis office," he explained. I thought about this, and realized it explained a lot. Okay, so one mystery solved. And since it had been via a direct answer from Ranger, I decided to shelve the rest of my questions. For the moment.
"Why don't we take a break?" Bobby suggested. "The new kids won't get here, and the kidnapper ain't gonna be calling for a while."
I didn't want a break- I wanted Haley safe. I wanted to grab Sally's uzi and go looking for her, but the guys had convinced me not to go out anytime soon, because if it really was Deering, he wasn't going to be happy he got the wrong girl, and he might take it out on Haley. I felt sick again.
It wasn't until Ranger actually pulled me up out of the chair that I realized the guys had left. "Please, Babe," he whispered. Please what? Had he been talking to me? Crap. I hate having to worry that I missed something important. I looked up at him, not bothering to even try to hide the confusion.
"This isn't your fault, Steph. It was my operation- I lost her." His dark chocolate eyes were locked on mine, and they showed his determination. And when Ranger gets that look people either get out of his way or die. It was sweet, in a scary sort of way. "She'll be fine. She's too much like you not to be," his voice was quiet and soft as a caress.
I just desperately hoped that he was right. I was tired and I was worried and I couldn't do a damned thing about it. I leaned into Ranger and closed my eyes as the smell of Bulgari washed over me. I felt so safe... and Haley was in so much danger. My eyes started filling with tears. "We should find Alec, at least tell him what's going on," I said into Ranger's chest. But he was playing with my hair, so I wasn't about to move. Somehow, as long as he was there, it was going to be ok. Stupid logic, even for me, but whatever works, right?
"Probably," he responded, but didn't make any moves to leave. My stomach chose that moment to make its emptiness heard. Ranger laughed, held me tighter. "Let's get you fed." I nodded, although I really didn't see the appeal of food for once, even if my stomach did. We were almost to the door when I realized what I hadn't told him.
"Ranger," I said, coming to a complete stop. I turned to him, my eyes wide in the realization of my own stupidity. "Ranger, about Alec. I told you he was here, and Cal and Junior had to get rid of him?" he inclined his head and stayed quiet, I think he was used to my random flashes of intuition now. "His eyes, he looked like Ramirez." I shuddered at the sheer memory of what eyes like that could do.
"Babe-" I shook my head and held my ground.
"I'm not saying he's slice and dice crazy like that, but he wasn't there, Ranger. He looked empty. Angry, desperate… but empty." His mouth thinned, and his eyes went blank.
"We'll look into it."
----------------------------------------------------
An hour later I had begun to pace a hole in the rug. The boys were all off doing useful things, but there wasn't much I could do except stay put and answer the phone… I blinked and thought about that. I wasn't allowed out, but I could still call, right? I dug Haley's phone out again and tried Alec's cell phone. Sure enough it worked. He picked up on the first ring.
"Baby doll!" he said quickly. "I really need to-"
"Save it, Alec. This is Stephanie." There was dead silence on the other end of the phone. Finally he cleared his throat.
"Oh, sorry, I-"
"Haley's disappeared. I was wondering if you have any ideas?" I asked, keeping my voice as cordial as I could. I managed it, but barely.
"That god damned Vega is what it's about. I told her he was trash!" Alec hissed. "I told her so many fucking times that hanging out with him was dangerous. Hell, he's dangerous. But she wouldn't listen. Shit. Now this..." I had heard similar speeches before. Substitute "Ranger" for "Dominic". And just like then, I didn't see how Dominic would be tied into this.
"Call me back if you think of anything else." And I hung up on him. Jesus, no wonder Haley packed up and left- it was probably a hell of a lot easier than talking to that man.
I spent the next two hours pacing, trying to puzzle out why a former skip from almost two years ago, who had apparently since set up shop in East St. Louis would suddenly decide to take revenge by kidnapping me. Unless the guy was just totally Fruit Loops, something was definitely hinky. I had just retraced my thoughts into a mental circle for the umpteenth time when the phone buzzed. Reluctantly I picked it up.
"There are some gentlemen here from the Saint Louis offices. They said they'd like to meet you," Louis Guzman said. Even though all the panic and anxiety, I smiled. I was curious to see what Dom and the others were like. Haley hadn't talked much about them, but I had the impression Dominic and his team had been important to her back home.
"I'll meet them in the lobby." It was time for our recess to end anyway, so I could go with them to the conference room. I ran through a last minute hair and make-up check then hurried out the door, dying of curiosity.
I'm not sure who, or what, I was expecting to greet when I stepped out of the elevator, but it definitely wasn't the group of men I found standing in the RangeMan lobby. I knew the guys Haley had talked so highly about were all Special Forces types, and I knew Dom and most of his team had been SEALs. Yet, somehow despite the fact that I worked regularly with several former army Rangers and assorted other commandos, I'd never really put the two together.
Dominic Vega was... Ranger part 2. A little over six foot, mocha skin, built like a brick wall, and dressed in a white T-shirt, gray rapper pants, sporting several earrings and shaggy black hair. He looked like an East St. Louis gang member and the two guys with him made him look almost clean cut.
"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Plum," Dominic said, extending his hand and smiling. It made him look younger, more approachable. It also made him look like what GQ photographers dreamed of. I took his hand and returned the smile. I hadn't noticed it on the phone but he had a quiet, soothing kind of voice. Maybe from years of calming Haley down. "I'd like to introduce my teammates," he continued and gestured to the two men beside him. "Angel del Torro, and Dante Santini."
"It's very nice to meet you all," I said, looking them over curiously. God, they were all gorgeous, even if they looked like gang members from Hell. No wonder Haley had managed the RangeMan guys without batting an eye. And after looking at Dom, it was much easier to understand why she had taken to Ranger so well.
"So what's happened to our girl?" Dante asked. He had a vague accent, and the kind of voice that made girls weak in the knees. I pursed my lips. Down, Stephanie. These guys are at least... 6 years younger than you and your cousin is being held captive by an insane drug dealer.
"We're not sure yet. The team's meeting back up in the conference room," I said.
"Well, let's get the party started," Dante grinned, and I was suddenly reminded of wolves and other large predators.
When we stepped into the elevator I took the time to look them over.
Angel was of a lighter build than Dom, with a more golden skin tone, dark blond hair, and blue eyes. In short he fit his name, all you needed was a set of wings. Dante was the tallest of the three by a couple inches, and he had distinctly Italian coloring, his long dark hair was pulled into a ponytail at the base of his neck. The three were silent, but I felt Dominic examining me closely. I turned to him, a sharp question on my tongue, but his words caught me off guard.
"You look a lot like her, you know?" he said softly. Something entered his eyes but he had the bad ass mask back in place before I could name it. "How's she been doing here?"
I thought back over the last few weeks before I answered. He deserved a truthful answer. "I think she's happy," I said finally. "She seems to really like it here, and she loves the guys. I think they remind her of you all."
This drew a chuckle from Angel. "It's sure been boring as hell without her. Never thought I'd miss her and that damned bouncing," he remarked.
"Huh. You should have been around for cheerleading try-outs," Dom muttered. I cast a sympathetic glance his way. If his experience had been anything like mine, he deserved it.
I had a million questions for them, but the elevator slid to a stop and I led the way to the appointed conference room. All conversations ceased when I opened the door. "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce Dominic, Angel, and Dante." There were polite, barely perceptible nods all around. "And this is Tank, Bobby, Lester, and Ranger."
"Hey, Uncle Ric," Dominic said quietly. My jaw hit the floor and I stared from Ranger to Dom. Well that explained the Ranger Jr syndrome. Ranger gave a half smile.
"Dom." He looked at the rest of us. "Everyone get seated. We have a few hours before the kidnapper intends to call back with his ransom demands, and we need a plan."
"We have to wait for him to call before we can trace it, but we'll be ready to move when he does," Bobby said, probably for my benefit.
"What if we can't trace it?" Dante asked.
"We think she still has her wire on. We have people trying to trace the signal."
"He probably won't take her very far, either," said Angel. "Deering has a nasty grudge against you, Ranger. He'll want to stay around and gloat. That means he'll keep her alive for a while, but only if he doesn't realize he got the wrong girl."
"How do you know so much about this guy?" Lester's voice was hard, and his eyes were watching the newcomers like they were time bombs.
"Helped bust him a couple times in St. Louis. Minor shit," Dante supplied. "But this guy, he ain't very nice. We gotta get Haley outta there."
"And he's got resources," Angel added. "Plenty of cash, and a lot of people on his payroll."
I felt a headache building. Nothing quite added up, but the hazy images that were forming in my head were definitely bad. A crazed drug lord wanted to kidnap me for revenge. Ok, that wasn't normal but not unheard of. Lots of people wanted to kidnap and/or kill me probably. But the St. Louis thing wouldn't leave my head.