DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters in this story but Callie Taylor.. The rest I'm just trying to have some fun with...
Chapter Three"You can call me.. Ranger.." the sexy voice said with a slight trace of amusement in the tone.
"Like the lone Ranger?" Callie asked, then giggled. "Hi ho Silver! Away!"
"Sorry but no.. I don't own a horse."
"But I bet you have a mask..." she muttered as her eyes closed and she tried to fight back a yawn. Some little thread was starting to tickle her memory. She had heard that name before, but where.. Oh yea... Now she remembered.. -She- had talked about him. All about him. For days it was Ranger this and Ranger that. -Ranger- was all she had talked about while trying to keep Callie's mind off the aches and pains her body was making sure she felt every time the drugs wore off when Callie had woken up in the hospital. Recovery was a bitch who wanted to be noted.
Callie had just wished the bitch would shut the hell up and go away. She was such a wimp when it came to pain.
Her protector had hung around the hospital with her until she was release. She claimed she stayed or came to visit so Callie wouldn't be alone. But she found out only later it was because the doctors had begged her to keep coming in. She helped to keep Callie's nightmares away. As long as she could see/sense her in the room.. the injured woman could sleep without waking up screaming every half hour. When she had finally been released, her new friend had helped her find a place to live and a new name... The funny thing was, she was finally getting used to being called Lisa Coats and now she was back to being Callie Taylor...
"Ranger's really Batman... Or was it Batman was really Ranger.. No Ranger is a wizard who looks like Batman... No that ain't right either.. ah hell." the girl on the chair frowned when she couldn't remember right. She still had her eyes closed so she didn't see the slight look of surprise come over the big mans face. Only someone who knew him well would have notice any difference in his expression.
"Stephanie would know..." the girl's muttering went on. "Steph would remember who's who... Ranger or Batman... should ask her.."
"How do you know Stephanie?" the voice asked her. He had to work hard at keeping the irritation out of his tone. How in the hell did she know who he was! What did Stephanie have to do with it?
"Friend... " was all she would say. The drug he had given her was making her head swim. Then she frowned, "Thought Bobby was my friend.. though he really liked me..."
"Bobby does like you Callie," Ranger told her. "He thinks your funny and smart."
"Not smart enough," she snorted. "Fell for a pretty face and a sexy body..." Her blue eyes opened a bit and she turned her head to look over to the side where Ranger had moved his chair. "Story of my life you know... can't pick brothers or boyfriends... Worse luck ever! Should have known somethin' was rotten in Denmark... I mean the Burg...No Denmark.. Oh hell! Bobby's so damn sexy and cute. He could have any woman he wanted... Should have known he didn't really want me...People don't see me.. If it wasn't for Drew being my brother... someone like Bobby would never look twice at me.. Unless they were drunk...Or a reporter looking for a story... Stephanie likes me for me.. She's my friend."
Ranger stole a look at the other man in the room. He was turned away from him so he couldn't see his face, but Ranger knew the girl's mutterings were effecting him. The white of his knuckles as they gripped the edge of the roll away table gave it away. It had been his idea for Bobby to -befriend- the girl and get to know her. Had he forgotten that she was only a job? A means to an end in finding information about her brother and his friends? He'd have to talk to the man later on and find out how far things had gone between them. If he'd developed feelings for the girl.. How would it effect the job?
He turned back to the girl there was something bothering him and he hated unanswered questions. He also wondered why the truth drug wasn't working like it should. Others who'd been given it couldn't wait to tell him anything he wanted to know. "How do you know Stephanie? Did Drew introduce you to her?"
He knew that Drew Taylor had broken into Stephanie's apartment a few days after she'd stumbled upon him in the act of trying to kill someone... Stephanie, being Stephanie had ended up saving the life of Taylor's intended victim... While he had gotten away. Only to come after her a few days later, breaking into her apartment with a gun in his hand. What he hadn't counted on was Ranger being there seated in her rocker watching her sleep like he had many times before.
Thinking about that time now, Ranger knew he had slipped up big time back then. He had been so angry with himself for not finding out the name of the victim Stephanie had rescued at the time. Didn't think it mattered since police reports at the time claimed the woman had died in route to the hospital. They hadn't even brought her name up during the trial that followed. His main concern was making sure Stephanie was alright, If he had known it was Taylor's own sister he'd tried to kill, Taylor would never have made it to his own trail.
They'd all thought his sister was another innocent victim.. That was until they found out he'd been sending e-mails to a woman outside the prison and they had been traced to the home where.. low and behold.. there lived a very much alive Callie Taylor living under an assumed name. After checking Taylor's visitor logs, it was found that a woman matching her description and going by the name Lisa Coats had made several visits to the convicted felon. That's when Rangeman had become involved.
The night Taylor had come after Stephanie, Ranger had heard the sound of the lock on the apartment door sliding open and the barely audible sounds of footsteps in the hall leading back to her bedroom. He'd moved without making a sound, gun drawn to stand behind her bedroom door and waited to find out who has breaking in. For all he knew it could have been Joe Morelli the Vice cop Stephanie had had an on again off again relationship for the last few years. But it wasn't Morelli.. It had been Taylor coming to finish off the only witness to his crime.
Not expecting anyone but Stephanie to be in her apartment at that time of the night, Taylor had thought himself home free. Just step to the bed and fire off a round killing the damn bounty hunter who'd seen him at his sister's place.. and then disappear into the night.. Only he hadn't figured that bats came out at night.
"Callie.. Tell me how Drew knew Stephanie?" he asked again when she remained quiet.
Callie frowned again at the mention of her brothers name. She didn't want to think about him, much less talk about him and Stephanie in the same breath. He had tried to kill her and would have succeeded if Stephanie Plum hadn't showed up looking for someone else altogether and stumbled into the murder attempt. She'd got the drop on Drew, but he'd escaped when she went to have a look at Callie, laying bloody and unconscious on the floor of the living room in her apartment. Then she had stayed with Callie until the police and ambulance had arrived, protecting her for fear that Drew might come back to try and finish the job.
It had been Stephanie's idea to have the ambulance crew tell everyone that the woman had died before they arrived at the hospital. She had her checked in under a phony name so even if her brother checked or had someone check for him... They would think he was home free.
Stephanie Plum then spent a good part of each day with her while she was there in the hospital recovering from the stab wounds. She had even helped Callie to change her name and find a new place to live where no one would know who she was. She'd also helped her find a job with someone who owed Stephanie a favor.
"Don't want to talk no more," Callie whined a bit like a child being stubborn when told to do something he/she didn't want to do.
"You can sleep when you tell me where your brother is," the voice prompted. "Bobby wants you to tell me."
"Don't want to talk about Bobby... He doesn't believe me.. Said he loved me.. He lied to me.. and I even doodled his name after mine.. Thought he was the one.. Made me feel so special and loved... Now I feel like the world's biggest idiot and it's all his fault." she argued and turned her head away from him. "Want to talk to Stephanie.. Stephanie will believe me. She Never lied to me."
She didn't see him walk to the door and buzz it open with a remote on his key chain, since she had fallen asleep. So she didn't hear him yell for someone to call Stephanie and tell her to get her butt down there.
He hated to involve her in this. Didn't want her to think he was doing the over protective thing again.. But maybe with her here... He could keep a watch on her and at the same time he could finally get some answers out of the sister. Drew Taylor was out there somewhere and getting closer. Ranger had to find him and neutralize him before he could get to Stephanie.
If the girl was telling the truth and Stephanie was friends with her, Ranger knew he'd have to talk fast or she might do something stupid out of the stubbornness she was known for. He could always tell her the Government had asked for the help of Rangeman in going after Drew Taylor since it was known he was from the area and they felt he would turn up here sooner or later. Or maybe he would share with her the information Bobby had found on the woman's computer when he'd searched her home. The e-mail's from Drew that stretch over the last year or more. Found in a hidden e-mail account that only the owner of the account who had hid them or an expert with computers looking for them could have found them.
Bobby was such an expert. It hadn't taken him long at all to find the files and copy them to a disk for viewing later back at the office.
He didn't want to lie to Stephanie, but he would do what ever he could to make sure the bastard didn't get any where near her. Even if he had to lock Stephanie up in the Batcave to make sure she was kept safe.
While he waited for her to arrive, he tried to figure out how Stephanie could have set things up to make it look like Callie Taylor had died... she's even had a grave yard service for her...All that.. Without his knowing about it. He thought he knew all the strays Steph had picked up over the last few years. Seems there were a few things he and Steph needed to talk about before she found out Callie Taylor was here..
There was a knock at the door. Bobby turned to answer it, but Ranger called him off. "I'll let her in. But first I want to talk to her outside.. Keep watch on sleeping Beauty while I'm gone. We'll talk about this other thing later."
Stephanie was leaning against the wall opposite the door when Ranger opened it and stepped out. "You wanted to see me?"
"Babe," he growled, shaking his head from side to side as he reached for the lapel of the light jacket she was wearing and drew her close. He felt her body quiver as his lips softly covered her is a teasing kiss meant to tilt her off balance. "You've been holding out on me..."
To be continued... Next up.. Stephanie has some explaining to do...