Disclaimer: I still fail to own the Stephanie Plum universe. Janet still has that honor. I promise to put them all right back where I got them, good as new. But I solemnly swear I will be up to no good if I stumble across Ranger in a dark alley somewhere.

Note: Thanks as always for the wonderful reviews and all the support.

Chapter 10

Trenton

Ranger groaned as his cell started beeping. Well, not like he'd been sleeping anyway...

"Yo," he answered, not bothering to keep the irritation out of his voice.

"You've got to move it up." It took him a moment to realize who was calling but when he did his mind kicked into gear, any chance of sleep sailing out the window.

"What happened?" he demanded, although he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer. Something had to have happened, and usually something that meant moving an op up meant something bad.

"Alia- I mean, Haley," Rico sounded tired, but there was an undercurrent of anger audible even over the phone. "She's been missing for a couple days, after a fight with Masters." Ranger's stomach tightened, he closed his eyes. This could only lead one way, and that was directly south.

"Les found her in the lab," Enrique continued. "In some kind of sensory deprivation tank. As far as we know that's where she spent the last two days and it didn't look like he had any plans of getting her out." Ranger's thoughts were chaotic as he considered the implications. He was familiar with sensory deprivation chambers in interrogations, it tended to be a very effective method unless the subject cracked and had a psychotic episode...

"How is she?" he asked, preparing to hear further bad news. Instead there were several beats of silence.

"Sleeping," Enrique finally said.

"Rico," Ranger pushed. He heard the sigh on the other end.

"I don't know, ok?" his friend snapped. "I don't have any experience with this shit. She freaks if you leave her alone though, and she's sensitive to light. Maybe we'll know more when she wakes up."

"Rico, get some rest yourself," Ranger advised. "I'm going to call the teams. You'll hear from me in an hour."

"Right. So you got the messages?"

"Yeah. We got them."

The phone disconnected and Ranger sighed, staring down at it. A flicker of movement in the doorway caught his eye. He looked up to find his nephew watching him intently from the doorway. How much did he need to know?

"What's going on?" the younger man asked, his voice deceptively calm.

Ranger stood up, stretching the muscles in his back to give himself time to consider. "We're moving up the op."

"Why?" Dom asked, standing perfectly still, his dark eyes still fixed on his uncle.

"Lester found more than the files in the lab." Ranger stopped, evaluating his next choice of words. His gaze fixed on Dom before he continued, watching for any reactions. "He found Haley in a sensory deprivation tank. They're guessing she'd been there at least a day. Maybe two."

Dom remained still, but Ranger caught the infinitesimal sag in his shoulders. He too was familiar with interrogation tactics. "Is she still..." he trailed off, unable to finish the thought.

"She's sleeping. She went into shock after Lester pulled her out. They'll know more when she wakes up." He kept the other smaller details to himself. They could deal with any other problems later.

"Where's Masters?" Dom asked, his voice low and ominous.

"We don't know that yet. But we will soon," Ranger's voice equally dark. What would happen afterward went without saying.

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The Caribbean

The bedside lamp lit the room in a soft hazy glow strangely fitting for the unusual scene playing out. Lester Santos, crazed bad ass mercenary extraordinaire, was holding a trembling almost-naked female and not putting any moves on her. It was a day for the record books, Enrique decided with a smirk.

Lester glared at him from the bed. "Shut up, bro."

"Didn't say a word."

"Uh huh," Les snorted, then glanced down at the girl sleeping his arms. Her wide, frightened blue eyes had finally closed when she gave up fighting the sedative, her breathing becoming more regular as she drifted off. He sighed and brushed a few strands of hair away from her face.

"Think she'll be ok?" he asked as Enrique sat down on the edge of the bed and began checking her pulse.

"Maybe." Rico shrugged, unwilling to place any bets. "Good thing you found her when you did, though."

"Masters is going to die," Les said grimly as Haley whimpered in her sleep. "In a very painful and slow kind of way."

"No shit." Rico squeezed the wrist he held to keep her from pulling away as he counted. "From the sound of Ric's voice on the call I got just now, you might have to stand in line on that one."

"They got the files, then," Les was obviously relieved. The PDA had been a neat little device but he could never quite learn to fully trust a computer.

"Yeah. They got the files," Rico said as he released Haley's arm.

"What's the plan?" Les asked after a moment of silence.

"The op is gonna get moved up. No way are we risking a repeat of this," he gestured to the sleeping girl. "Ric's calling back in an hour to let us know."

Lester nodded, his eyes returning to the girl. Haley was just a cute little piece of fluff for all that she wasn't intimidated by any of the RangeMan employees, which he privately figured was because it hadn't occurred to her. Putting her through this, leaving her in that tank, it made him think of a spoiled kid torturing a puppy. Worse because this was a human and someone he had claimed to love. It was sickening. "What the fuck did she do to piss him off like that?" he wondered aloud.

"No idea. Probably she came here the other night instead of crying to him," Enrique sighed. Further conversation was stalled as Haley stirred and mumbled something in her sleep.

"She's waking up," Les said, his tone uncertain at best. Would she wake up as Alia, Haley, or something else entirely? It was a scary possibility.

"I'm going to get something for her to drink," Rico announced. "She's going to need it." And with that he left, only to return a few moments later with a glass of thick yellow... stuff.

"Is that a smoothie?" Les asked incredulously, eyeing the drink in Enrique's hand.

"Yeah. Got all the vitamins and minerals you need in it."

"Christ. You're getting as bad as Ric."

Enrique rolled his eyes and focused on Haley as her blue eyes opened wide. She blinked a few times, and pressed a hand over her eyes.

"Sleeping Beauty awakens," he said quietly. She uncovered her eyes and looked at him blankly. Not that this was new; her face had been devoid of expression the entire time she had been here. Even when they had redressed her. Enrique pressed the glass into her hand. "You need to drink this, ok? It'll make you feel better."

Haley accepted it and obediently took a sip. Enrique let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. While she gulped down the drink, he took the time to examine her. Some of her color had returned, but her eyes were still slightly dilated. The hand not holding the smoothie was holding tightly to Lester's forearm. She hadn't let go of him since he'd brought her in.

Rico took the empty glass from her and set it on the nightstand. Then he took her hand in his, and squeezed gently. "Sweetie, do you know where you are?" he asked. She looked at him for a long moment.

"Your room," she said at last, her voice husky from disuse. He smiled at her.

"Good girl. Do you know me?"

She nodded slowly. "Rico. And..." she turned her head to look at Lester, the confusion dawning in her expression. "He's the one you reminded me of... but that doesn't work. I dreamed him. Didn't I?" she asked, looking back to Rico.

"I wish," he said with an impish grin. "Princess, this is my twin brother, Lester. I think you might have met before." Haley blinked at him.

"Curiouser and curiouser," she said, shaking her head.

Lester laughed, then tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "Later we'll have to show you just how far the rabbit hole goes, Alice. But right now you need to rest."

"No." Haley's voice was stronger, closer to its normal tones. "If you're real, and I'm not dreaming... then who am I?" she demanded. "Because if you're both real, then something's hinky... and I'm not crazy," her voice broke again on the last part, and slow tears began sliding down her cheeks.

Enrique met her blue eyes and was shocked by the desperation he saw there- he hadn't realized she knew what everyone thought of her. He looked to his brother for help only to find Lester's eyes were locked on the girl he still held.

"I'm real, sweetheart," Les said simply. "And you aren't crazy..." he smiled then, "at least not as crazy as you be thinking."

"Then," Haley took a breath to steady herself. "Then I'm not Alia Darling, am I?" she asked, looking from Les to Enrique.

Enrique leaned back, and looked at her closely, as if gauging her. "Haley Jane Thorne," he replied at last.

"And I knew Les when I was Haley?" she guessed, biting her lip as she turned the news over in her head. Enrique nodded, apparently waiting for her reaction. "So, I'm Haley, but someone..." she struggled for the right words to fit what was in her head, "Someone made me into Alia?" she ventured. Again, the answering nod.

She sighed. "Okay, then. I need ice cream for this."

Les's face broke out in a grin. "Only you, sweetheart." Haley tilted her head and shot him a curious look, but remained quiet.

-----------------------------------------------------

Several Days Later...

I couldn't help it. I, well, I was storming through the house. And I had been for the last few days. The entire staff was avoiding me as much as possible. Fine by me. I didn't want to see them anyway. I wanted to see my sister, but she was nowhere to be found. Alec had said she would be back the next day! Ha! That was three days ago, and not a peep. The whole island had been searched, the house was turned upside down, the island searched again. Nothing. I was going to have another break down; I just knew it.

I had already let Enrique have it several times over for assigning some incompetent to watch her when he should have been doing it himself. I had yelled at every other member of the staff for... I couldn't remember. I just knew I'd been yelling a lot. It eased the tension.

Fortunately for my mental health, Charles would be home either today or tomorrow. I took comfort in that. He would straighten this out. Then I was going to throttle Alec with my bare hands for having the... the... audacity to lie to me.

I found myself in my favorite spot, the window seat in my sitting room, looking out over the island and the bay beyond. I smiled to see a yacht cruising by in the distance. It was a common sight, since we weren't all that far away from Curacao or a hundred other jet-set playgrounds. I longed to join that circle some day- to fly around the globe, sipping champagne and attending marvelous parties. I sighed, if only my constitution was stronger. The frequent dizzy spells, the haunting dreams... Some days I secretly feared that perhaps Alia's condition was genetic. Perhaps I was going to be as out of touch as my sister. Maybe that was why I always had dreams about mad old women, and my gangster-Higgins. Maybe I was just a different brand of crazy.

Thankfully I was pulled out of those unbelievably depressing thoughts by the sudden shouts rising up from the yard. The supply plane was here! I jumped out of my seat and practically ran for the door. If it wasn't the supplies it was Charles... or both. Whatever it was, it was a very welcome distraction.