Disclaimer: 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.

BOND ENFORCEMENT

By Etcetera Kit

Part Two: On the Money
Chapter Six: Across Time

"So can we please not break any windows, blow up any cars or shoot anyone today?"

Eric glanced at Mike. Their commander was standing at one end of the island, giving the normal morning briefing. He would either hand out new cases or ask about continuing ones. Mike also had to sign all the operating reports they turned in, so he found out about all the 'accidentally' broken windows and gunshots.

All five of them were gathered around the island in the kitchen, trying to eat breakfast and look through the new files, before Cam commandeered all of them to put them on the mainframe computer.

"I don't know how those windows got broken," Kira replied.

Mike rolled his eyes. "So, have you two made any progress on Nowicki?"

He was talking about himself and Kira. Eric shook his head. "If she's still in Silver Hills, then I'm thinking she turned herself invisible."

"God," Mike muttered, sitting down and running a hand through his hair. "Collins will skin us alive if we don't get that one." He was right. Nowicki's bail bond was an outrageous six figure number—Collins would have a fit if he lost that much money. Of course, it wasn't like he couldn't afford to lose that much money every so often, he just preferred not to.

"We're going by the Silver Guardians' headquarters today," Eric informed him. "I want to see if Gabe can get anything on her that we haven't been able to." Gabe was head of IT at the headquarters and was a master hacker. He could find out how many times a day a person brushed their teeth in a matter of seconds.

"Take Kendrix. She's going to the board meeting."

That explained why Kendrix was dressed in a pink blouse with a black knee-length skirt. He had been wondering how she planned on doing take-downs in that outfit, but had kept his mouth shut since comments like that sparked gender wars around here. Kendrix had also curled her hair and looked… nice. Those old fat cats at the board meeting wouldn't pay any attention because their attention would be focused on her. Kira, on the other hand, looked like Ellie May Clampett in overalls that were too big for her and an old yellow t-shirt, her hair in pigtails. He didn't know which girl was going to be worse to drag around today, although he knew which one he would prefer to drag around…

"How's the communication system coming?" Mike was asking Cam.

The former Green Ranger looked up from where he had been almost single-mindedly shoveling Cheerios and bananas into his mouth. Cam was the type of person that one didn't talk to in the morning until he had his first cup of coffee, which was fine, because Eric wasn't sure what he would have done if he had a roommate who was overly cheerful in the morning. It was bad enough that he had to constantly throw Cam's scattered stuff back to his side of the room. It was almost like a personification of 'eccentric genius.' Oh well, he and Cam got along a lot better than most people thought they would.

"I'm working on ear pieces," Cam said after swallowing the mouthful of cereal. "I'm fine-tuning the frequency and range."

"No more walkie-talkies?" Kira asked.

"You can use them if you want," Mike replied.

"Yes!" She punched the air with her fist. Those walkie-talkies were some of the most horrendous things ever manufactured. It was also obvious that Mike had sent Kira to the store to get them, because she came back with purple ones. The range on them sucked, but they were all right when a team of them were working on the same take-down.

Eric went back to his English muffin. If he was the commander of this squad, he would just close his eyes to broken windows. And as for the car that they blew up, it hadn't been their fault. Someone had rigged a bomb to it. They were just lucky that no one had been in that car and nothing valuable had been in it either. Fortunately, it was a company car. Unfortunately, Collins didn't view the car being blown up in such a positive light. He hadn't replaced the car and wasn't going to. Of course, it wasn't that big a deal between their personal cars and the van, they had more than enough vehicles. As for someone getting shot, that's just what happens when the skips don't come peacefully. There had been a noticeable lack of fuss on Collins' part when Eric got shot…

Cam stood up from the island, put his dishes in the dishwasher and wandered into the lab, probably to continue work on the ear pieces. Collins, since he was already being over generous with their salaries and benefits, was being oddly stingy with the supply requests he actually honored from them. And after the car blew up, Eric didn't think that would get much better. Oh well, there were ways of going around Collins and no one would implicate him in any of it, especially since Wes was going on a guilt trip about their falling out…

"Eric?"

"What?" he snapped in reply to Kira's address.

"Should we get going?"

"Yeah," he replied, finishing his food. He glanced at Mike. "What are you doing today?" he questioned.

"Interrogating some people."

Sounded like fun. He was braving the Silver Guardians' headquarters and since the board meetings normally lasted until noon, so all the fat cats could go out to lunch afterwards, he and Kira could either hang around and wait for Kendrix or go snooping around for Nowicki and then come back. The latter was probably their best bet.

He rolled his eyes and put his dishes away. "Let's go," he said to the two girls.

"Whose car?" Kira asked as they went out into the garage. She had a large purse that held most of the equipment she needed. Kendrix was holding a dossier that Mike had dredged up somewhere and her purse was not bulging, meaning it was absent of the junk she took on take-downs.

"Mine," he replied. Kendrix didn't normally drive, although it was easy on the nerves to have her behind the wheel of the car. Kira drove like a bat out of hell. Eric was amazed she didn't have any tickets or wrecks under her belt yet.

His car also got better gas mileage, he reflected as the girls climbed into his car—a tiny Ford Aspire. He had recently traded in the old junk bucket for this new junk bucket. Kendrix was looking highly anxious, while Kira looked like she was up to no good.

"Can I-"

"No," he cut off the question. "You may not touch the radio."

Kira grinned. That argument was one she picked just for fun now. Considering her previous pop diva status, Ford was exceptionally level-headed and intelligent.


The Silver Guardians' headquarters was buzzing with life when they arrived. Kira glanced around at the guardians going through their normal routine, the secretary taking calls and directing people and the general bedlam that defined the place. The clock on the wall said that Kendrix had ten minutes before the board meeting started.

"I better go," the Pink Galaxy Ranger said, her voice shaking. She still did have to get to the Bio-Lab building next door.

"Give us a call when the meeting's over," Eric replied. Kira tried not to smirk as he took Kendrix's hand and gently squeezed it. "Good luck," he whispered. Kendrix smiled at him and hurried out to sight towards the conference room.

"You so like Kendrix," Kira said in a joshing tone once Kendrix was out of earshot.

"Don't go there," Eric growled.

Now was probably a good time to change the subject. "So what are we doing here? Besides bothering the IT guy, I mean."

Eric gave her a sidelong glance, his almond-shaped eyes narrowed. He motioned for her to follow him down the empty hall that led to the IT department. "We're going to engage in random acts of deviance."

"Meaning what?" Since it was Eric, Kira didn't read into the sexual undertones that could have had if someone along the lines of Conner had said it. Myers was up to something.

"Mr. Collins denied our request for the laser guns."

"Yeah… and?"

"So, we can't get them the traditional way. In light of that, we're just going to have the get them the old-fashioned way. We steal them."

"Steal them?"

"Yeah, steal them."

Kira didn't know if she should laugh or frown. "What if someone realizes it?"

"No one will realize it. The inventory sheet for that stuff, including the extra ammo, is a piece of crap. People forget to sign out the things they take. At the end of every month, the inventory never matches up with what's in the closet, so someone doctors it." He paused, a grim smile on his face. "And if someone does realize something, it will probably be Wes and since the first person he'll suspect will be me, he'll keep his mouth shut and just doctor the sheet."

"Can I be your case buddy more often?" she asked in a flippant manner. If Eric hadn't joined the police force, he would have made a great crook.

"No." His voice gave no room for argument. "Now go down and talk to Gabe. I'll get what we really came here for."

Kira nodded and headed down towards the end of the hall that was where someone had sandwiched in the IT guys. She had no idea why it didn't bother her that Eric would even consider getting weapons, no matter how illicitly, from the guardians. Perhaps it was in light of the lecture they received about the blown up car. Collins had gone on and on about how they needed to treat company property with respect. Of course, no one had a chance to tell him that one of their skips had planted the bomb. There had been a distinct note of revenge in Eric's voice as he told her what he was doing. The question was revenge against who? Collins or Wes?

The IT office was cramped and crowded as she peered in the door. Gabe looked up as she stared at the chaos, not knowing how they managed this.

"Hey!" he said in a friendly tone. "What can I do for the neighbor bounty hunter?"

She grinned. "I need some information on Theresa Nowicki."

"What kind of information?"

"Where she might be hiding out."

"No problem, boss." Gabe and the geek squad were off, fingers flying over their keyboards as they searched for any information that might help them find the skip. In a few moments, he had something. "She went on vacation to the beach. Might check down south in the little beach towns—Mariner Bay, Blue Bay Harbor, Reefside. She also likes to gamble, so a road trip to Vegas might not hurt."

She nodded. "Thanks guys. What kind of donuts do you want?"

Gabe waved her out of the room. "You know what kind of donuts we want. Just bring 'em here on Friday morning." The price for using the geek squad's resources was food—sometimes it was donuts and other times it was a pizza. Lately, they had been on a donut tear and were conning donuts out of everyone.

She thanked Gabe and wandered back towards the lobby. It was obvious that Cam could complete the kind of search that the geek squad did, but Cam was working with less computer power and tended to put all his energy into fixing and upgrading their equipment. In the grand scheme of things, it was faster to bug the geek squad than it was to bug Cam. Plus, Eric and Cam had become odd allies about some things and it was safer not to incur anyone's wrath, not knowing if a chain reaction would happen.

Eric was waiting for her in the lobby, looking nonplussed. It also didn't look like he had taken anything from the fact that his pockets and his jacket were not bulging or plagued with mysterious lumps. He stood up.

"Anything come up?"

"She likes the beach and gambling."

"Ah, road trip."

They left the lobby and went out into the parking lot where Eric's car was. He opened the back and pulled the laser guns out of his pockets, setting them next to a milk crate. No wonder no one had noticed anything—the guns were so small that Eric could have probably smuggled a lot more of them out.

"Are we going to return these?"

"Eventually," Eric replied.

"What happens if Mr. Collins finds out?"

"Nothing. Someone could have sold them to us on the black market."

He loaded one and handed it to her. "Point and shoot," he replied. "The entire cartridge comes out and is replaced. Six shots."

"Like a revolver?"

"Almost exactly like a revolver." He paused. "Just remember to compensate for gravity."

Kira nodded, as Eric put the other weapons in the milk crate and covered the milk crate with an old towel that was in the back. She glanced at her watch. "We've got a while before Kendrix is supposed to be done."

"Not enough time to hit Vegas or the beach."

"So what should we do in the mean time?"

"Eric!" someone called.

The pair turned. A young man with green hair was running through the parking lot towards them. He must have been a Time Force Ranger from the future, judging by the white uniform he was wearing.

"Oh shit," Eric muttered.


Kendrix tried to look interested in what was going on, but the truth was she was bored to tears. She had given her report first, since she was the newest addition to Bio-Lab. The subsequent reports had nothing to do with her and she was quickly falling asleep. What did stock options have to do with the bounty hunters?

Mr. Collins thanked the guy that had been droning on. Then he introduced another guy here to talk about finances… Her elbow slipped off the table and she started with the abrupt movement. God, she hoped no one saw that.

The guy across the table from her, Wes Collins, the commander of the Silver Guardians, gave her a sympathetic smile and went back to pretending that he cared about the stock options available through Bio-Lab. He had really pretty eyes, almost blue-green. One second they looked blue and the next they looked aquamarine. Maybe he was like a human mood ring—that would be really cool, someone whose eyes changed color with their mood. Eric did the same thing to a certain degree. His eyes tended to shift from black to dark brown, depending on what kind of mood he was in. Wes looked nice—like he was used to being the ladies' man. Eric, on the other hand, had none of that quality. His features were stronger and he was the type of person who didn't date girls just because they were pretty. He was looking for something else…

What was she doing? Eric had held her hand once! That wasn't a marriage proposal!

Shaking her head, she started drawing flowers in the margins of her meeting agenda. The others here would probably think she was taking notes. Like she needed to be taking notes about all this financial stuff? The flowers morphed into birds and then she finished off the collage with a few hearts.

"Thank you, everyone."

Kendrix snapped to attention as Collins dismissed the meeting. He stayed in the room talking to a Dr. Zaskin and another business type person. She shoved all the papers back in the dossier, picked up her purse and filed out of the room with the others. The group dispersed once they were out in the hall. Kendrix paused at the top of the stairs, searching her purse for her cell phone to tell Eric and Kira to pick her up.

"Hey!" She looked up from the cell phone search that was becoming chronic to see Wes hurrying towards her. "Kendrix, right?" he asked.

She nodded in reply. "Yeah."

"You're one of the bounty hunters?"

"I am." She had also been with Bio-Lab for four years before that as a forensic scientist, but Wes wouldn't have noticed her. Eric had been the one to check up on the meticulous work that his former partner had neglected.

"Do you want to go grab some lunch?"

Kendrix gaped at him. "Excuse me?"

He laughed. "It's just lunch. Nothing binding."

She had not been asked out on a date since before she joined the GSA, before college… never been kissed… maybe this would be good. As quickly as she made the resolution to accept, she thought of Eric. How could she go out to lunch with someone when she had allowed herself to fall head over heels for Eric? It would be like… betraying him. She had done the same thing with Leo, but realized, after she was reunited with them, that it had been nothing more than a silly fantasy. Besides… there was something about Eric that drew her to him…

"I can't," she said in a tone she hoped sounded sincere. "We've got a lot of work to do. Mr. Collins has been on use about finding a couple of the skips with six figure bail bonds."

Wes smiled and nodded. "Some other time?"

"Yeah," she replied, watching him as he walked away.

His expression had been unreadable, but she didn't have time to dwell on it as her cell phone began to ring incessantly. This was one of the times she wished she could just dump her purse out on the nearest surface and find the sucker. Damn whoever decided to start making little tiny cell phones.

She got to the phone just in time. "Hello?"

"Kendrix!" It was Eric. "Meeting out?"

"Would I be answering my phone if it wasn't?"

"Good. Meet us out in the parking lot. Now!" The call disconnected. "Someone's in a good mood today," she muttered sarcastically as she hurried down the steps and through the hall that opened up into the Silver Guardians' lobby.

Eric and Kira were standing out in the parking lot with a couple people dressed in odd white uniforms. Kendrix frowned as she pushed open the glass doors and made a beeline for them. Did these people have some information on a skip or something? They didn't look like people with the Silver Guardians or Bio-Lab, nor did they look like personal acquaintances of Eric's. Not that she knew who any of his personal friends were… or even if he had any.

"What's going on?" she asked them as she approached.

Eric did not look happy. "Weird crap," he muttered. "This is Kendrix," he told the four people. He motioned to each of them as he said his or her name. "Jen, Katie, Trip and Lucas."

Jen was the shorter one with reddish-brown hair. She was dressed like Xena, Warrior Princess gone commando. Katie had chocolate-colored skin and wavy hair. She, at least, looked normal. Trip was the short man with green hair and a green jewel in the center of his forehead. Lucas was tall and has Asian features. He was another one that looked like he was a ladies' man and was well aware of it.

"They're the Time Force Rangers," Eric clarified. "We need to go back to the townhouse and talk," he added, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"Why?" Kendrix asked, feeling confused.

He shrugged. "Cam is already there and Mike is going to meet us there." He turned towards the driver's side door of his car. "Let's go."

The Time Force Rangers didn't have any discernable method for getting around. "Eric, I don't think seven people will fit in your car."

"It's okay," Trip said quickly. "We'll meet you guys there!" He, at least, was being cheerful and perky—something seriously lacking around Eric.

The Time Force Rangers disappeared. Kendrix slipped into the passenger seat and looked at Eric. For all intents and purposes, he looked annoyed. Only the fact that his knuckles were white as they gripped the steering wheel gave away what he was really feeling. Kira was silent in the backseat, looking a little shocked.

Kendrix just wanted to know what was going on.

To Be Continued...


Author's Note: Minor changes to chapter 5, thanks to Hagar for giving me some pertinent gun info. (Or, as they say in Muppet Treasure Island, 'boom-boom sticks.') Thanks to everyone who has reviewed; your input and comments are greatly appreciated. I'm thinking about starting to post another story I have going right now as well, but we shall see. Cheers!