Dawn Tracy
The characters you recognize belong to Janet Evanovich. I'm just borrowing them for fun and pleasure.
Rating: R
Spoilers: HS through EOT CHAPTER TENI spent two hours getting dressed. I had a reputation to uphold. The dress I chose was a black short sheath. Simple, elegant and it showed off my curves without looking too slutty. I wore black stockings with a seam down the back and black FMPs with four-inch heels. With the help of hairspray and gel I worked my curls up into a proper Jersey girl do. I put on cubic zirconia stud earrings.
Ranger looked devastatingly sexy in a black Armani suit. I started thinking about unbuttoning his shirt. I think he had the ESP thing happening because he gave me the wolf smile and put his hand on my hip.
"Looking good babe. Sure we have to go to the party?" He kissed my neck.
"Yes. We're working remember? And you said you would take me to dinner afterwards."
"I could feed you." He splayed his hand across my back.
"Later." I promised. I knew he was teasing, he held his car keys in his other hand.
Paula Gumbazzi had her husband's birthday party professionally catered. Professional staff in white and black uniforms milled around with trays and behind brightly clothed tables.
"Oh hello Stephanie. I'm so glad you could come. This must be Ranger. I'm Paula Gumbazzi. Stan is in the den. I'll introduce you later. Have some champagne. Mary Lou and Lenny are here. " One of the staff appeared at her elbow. "Excuse me."
Mary Lou appeared out of nowhere. "Stephanie, I can't believe you came." She muttered in my ear. She grinned like a mad woman at Ranger.
"How are you Ranger?" Mary Lou asked, still grinning.
"Fine thanks. How are you?" He responded regarding her with a cool gaze.
"Great." She continued to grin at me. Damn it, did she know I had sex with him? Was it that obvious? "You look really fabulous Stephanie. Really great."
"Thanks." She did know. I had to shut her up. "Let's get some champagne."
Mary Lou pointed out Perry Bruzniak to us when he arrived. He came alone. He looked to be in his fifties. He had a receding hairline. What was left of his hair was brown and gray. He was about twenty pounds overweight, wore suits from at least fifteen years ago and had an obnoxious voice.
Ranger left me with Mary Lou and I assumed watched him for about half an hour. I watched other people at the party and talked to Mary Lou.
"I can't believe you are here with Ranger. You go girl." Mary Lou patted me on the arm.
"Don't get too excited. We're here working." I sipped on my champagne.
"Oh come on. I see how he looks at you."
I told her about how he asked me to move in with him.
"Well now you see. I told you he was serious. Are you going to do it?" Mary Lou wanted to know.
"He told me to think about it after I stayed with him for a while. I think I'm going to do that. It feels right but I'm kind of scared. What if I fuck it up?"
Mary Lou laughed. "So you fix it."
"Was the party a waste of time?" I asked Ranger after we ordered our meals at Rossini's.
"No. I think Bruzniak is a player. You should continue your research on him. He was there to meet Tom Niles from Niles Electric. They were arranging a meeting for next week. I couldn't hear all the details. Let's find out who he is."
"I'll work on it tomorrow for a while. All I have planned is dinner at my Parents'."
"You saw Morelli today." Ranger was quiet.
"I was going to tell you. But I didn't see you all afternoon."
I told him about what Morelli said. Ranger did not react with any emotion.
"I don't want to tell you about it here. I'll tell you when we get home. In general I don't like to tell you more because the more you know the more danger you are in. You don't want to be stuck in a safe house."
No I didn't. I would let him put me off for now, but I would get my answers. He and Morelli were a lot more alike than I realized. Morelli used to tell me absolutely nothing about the cases he was working on for his job. He would come home obviously stressed out and then tell me nothing. I suppose Ranger did give me nuggets of information. I just wanted to know everything.
It was late when we walked out to the car and the parking lot had few cars left. Ranger walked over to my door and remoted it open. He stood beside me hesitating and I thought he was about to touch me but he pulled out his gun.
"What's going on?" I asked.
Ranger shoved me behind him. Suddenly we were surrounded by a group of men. I counted at least six. They were all wearing black windbreakers with hoods up. Two of the men grabbed Ranger and the three of them began to struggle. I didn't know what to do. I was free for the moment. Should I run? I took a step and one of the men grabbed me, holding tightly to my arms.
A gun went off and then I heard another shot and I saw Ranger fall to the ground. I must have screamed because the man holding me roughly covered my mouth with his hand. I tossed my head around to protest but it didn't make him let go. I tugged and tugged and tried to bite his hand but the man holding me would not let me go over to Ranger. I did not see any blood so I assumed and I hoped that they just stunned him. I kept struggling and suddenly everything went black.
I woke up to Ranger's voice.
"Babe, wake up. Are you okay?"
"Mmm." I sat up and almost hit my head on the roof of the Porsche. How did I get in here?
Ranger put his arm around me and pulled my head into his chest. He kissed the top of my head and rubbed my back.
"What happened?" I asked.
"They stunned us and put us in the car. They left us a letter."
"A letter?"
I sat up. "Let me see."
Dear Mr. Manoso,
It is very simple. We want you to stop working for Ames security. Quit immediately and this will all be over. Continue working and there will be a price to pay for each day.
"Omigod. What do you think of this? Are you going to quit?"
"I'm going to talk to the police and Jude."
"We should call the police." I was dreading it.
"We could just drive over there."
"Are you okay to drive? You feel okay?" I ran my hand down his jaw.
I didn't feel okay. I think I was scared to death. A group of men just jumped us in Rossini's parking lot and stuffed us in Ranger's car. At least we were still alive, but still. This whole body in the car thing was getting old.
"I'm fine."
I made Ranger stop at 7-11 after we were finished at the police station. I bought a bag of cheese doodles, a snickers bar and a bag of M & Ms.
"Do you want anything?" I asked Ranger. He would not let me go into the store by myself. I also saw the Explorer next to us in the parking lot. Ranger didn't waste time.
"No thanks." He smiled at me. "Do you really need that?"
"Yes. And if you give me a hard time I'll buy donuts too, and I'll try to get you to pay for it all."
"I'll pay for it anyway." He put his hand on the small of my back and guided me to the register. Pulling a five out of his pocket he handed it to me.
Armed with a beer and cheese doodles I waited not very patiently for Ranger on the couch.
"Okay we are alone now. Tell me what Morelli is talking about." I demanded.
"You don't waste any time." Ranger took a sip of beer. "I told you before I work as an arbitrator between the different factions. The F.B.I. hires me as an independent contractor. I've been trying to stop doing this. It is not in my better interests anymore to have everyone thinking I'm a criminal when I'm trying to run a business."
"How did you get started working for the F.B.I.?"
"I was almost 18 when my brother Victor was with his friend Jose one night and Jose decided to rob a pharmacy. He didn't count on a security guard and shot him. Jose tried to get me involved, but only Victor and Jose went to jail. There were a lot of pharmacy robberies at that time. I got arrested twice for nothing, just for being Victor's younger brother. I was at Rutgers when an agent came to me and asked me if I would be willing to find out who was doing the robberies. I almost refused because I knew they thought I was a criminal. But the money was good. I did it for two years and then I ended up joining the Army. When I came back to New Jersey one of the agents found me and asked me to help out with the gun running situation. I agreed to help out exclusively with that only. So that's what I do. Unfortunately it means that most people think I'm a gunrunner. I can't keep my cover and contacts and correct them."
I thought about all the things I had heard about Ranger over the years and I now wondered how much of it was true.
"I thought I was finished after Homer went to jail. But right before we started working at the Morrison Center I was contacted about the Sanchez brothers operations starting to pick up."
"Why do you feel you have to stop the gun runners? There are police who work on this." Isn't that what Morelli was working on?
"The police only have access to so much information so they will go slowly. Everyone has a cause. This is mine."
"You don't have a personal reason motivating you?"
"You could say I do. My ex-wife is Alexander Ramos' niece."
Omigod. "You never mentioned that before. So Alexander Ramos is your daughter's Great Uncle?"
"Yeah, but I don't think he's ever met her personally."
"How did you end up meeting your ex-wife?"
"When I got out of the army I was doing some surveillance on some Ramos property. I actually worked for Ramos for a summer doing security. I met Brenda, Alexander's niece and we started seeing each other. It wasn't serious. But we were careless and she got pregnant. We stayed married for almost two years. She didn't like my lifestyle. We weren't really compatible beyond having sex a few times. After the divorce I set her and Nicole up in Miami. Brenda's parents live there."
"Nicole is your daughter?" I still did not know her name.
"Yeah."
I was trying to process all of this information. "So Alexander Ramos knows that your daughter is living in Miami?"
"Yeah. Brenda is remarried and she has another child with her new husband. Her father Augustine doesn't speak to Alexander and hasn't for years. It is their wives who speak and keep the communication between the children so that they can travel between the family properties. I have security on Nicole and they live in a secure home. But right after Homer went to jail Brenda was killed. Augustine swears it was Alexander's men. Although I have to say it never made sense to me why. She was on vacation with her husband on an Island in the Bahamas. No one can really prove what happened. She went overboard and it looked like someone pushed her but there were no witnesses."
I knew about Ranger's obsession with security. I could just imagine what he would be like with someone who was his own flesh and blood. How did he feel about his ex-wife's death, did he feel responsible?
"It's not your fault Ranger." I felt like I needed to reassure him.
"I know." Ranger said. "It's just hard on Nicole not having her mother. I moved my mother down to Miami. She likes it there. She has family there and my sisters go down to see her all the time."
I don't know why it never occurred to me that Ranger thought about his daughter and her feelings. Thinking about him as a father was like considering a whole separate person, but yet it wasn't.
"Does Morelli know about Nicole and her connection to Ramos?"
"No, and I don't want him or anyone to know about Nicole's connection to him. It would be harmful for her."
"I won't say a word." I promised. "Why don't you bring her to live with you? You could keep her safe."
"It's not that simple. I wonder just how safe I could keep her. What kind of life could I give her?"
I went to him and rubbed his shoulder. "You would be able to do a fine job and you know it. And I would help you."