DISCLAIMOR: I don't own any of the characters in this story but Callie Taylor.. The rest I'm just having fun with...

-Chapter Eight-

Stephanie & Callie

Rangeman HQ (9:00 am)

When the four of them return from retrieving the disks in the place where Callie had hidden them, Stephanie insisted on taking Callie up to one of the apartments and letting her sleep for a while.

"Go ahead. You can look at the list and see which apartments are empty," Ranger told her.

Stephanie knew he wanted to look at the disks they'd just retrieved and would want to discuss the information with Callie later. A bit of sleep was going to be needed if Callie was going to make any sense. Anyone looking at her could tell she was dead on her feet. But then after the night she'd had, Stephanie would have been surprised if she wasn't.

She could see Bobby watching the girl. His eyes, usually cold and hard, like Ranger's when he was -in the zone-, were filled with worry and concern. Stephanie knew if he could, he'd be the one taking the girl up to the apartment, to see her settled in.

Too bad he'd been such a jerk before. The way Callie was acting since finding out that the love of her life, had been lying to her from the start.. Didn't bode well for a happy reunion between the two. She didn't know what he had said to her while they had been waiting for her to arrive after being summon by Ranger... But what ever it was.. It killed what feelings she may have had for the big guy.

"Are you okay?" Stephanie asked her when the door to the elevator closed behind them.

"Not bad for someone who just found out her psychotic murderer of a brother escaped from prison and was coming after her to finish the job he started... or that the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.. only slept with me because his -job- required him to keep a watch on me and he chose to do this by pretending he cared about me to get me into his bed instead of just coming out and telling me the truth."

Callie looked at her, and Stephanie was reminded of what she herself looked like after a sleepless night, followed by her hair drier blowing up. A funny look came over the girl's face as if something suddenly came to her.

"To top it off, I've been assaulted, threaten, kidnapped, and drugged by the man –you- work for," her eyes narrowed. "How do I know you're not part of all this. How do I know you're –help- over the last few years wasn't part of –the job- for you too?"

Steph's mouth dropped open.. She really must be donut deprived if she heard what she thought she had just heard. "Do you honestly think... that I've been helping you hide out and taking you on shopping trips and to the doctor and to talk with your parents and being there when you needed someone to talk to because I was ordered too?" she exclaimed. "If you do then you don't know me at all after all this time."

"Well you have to admit," Callie started to say as the elevator door opened and she followed Stephanie out into the hall of the forth floor. "It is kind of strange that the company you work for, employ the people who kidnapped me.. Makes a person wonder who they can and can't trust."

That hurt. Stephanie knew the woman wasn't in the best frame of mine after all she had been through.. Hell if she didn't know Ranger and woke up to find his body pinning hers to the bed.. She might freak out too.. Or had an orgasm on the spot... The man was that hot! The girl was only lucky that Ranger hadn't send Tank to retrieve her. Callie might have died of fright. Tank was a real scary person... even after you got to know him.

Stephanie turned away from the girl and walked about twenty feet down the hall to where she shoved open a door, reached inside and grabbed a set of keys off a nail on the wall. She took a quick look at key fob to find the apartment number then turned fuming as she walked down the hall to stand in front of the door, which she remoted open.

"Well don't you think it's kind of funny?" Callie asked her again, to which Stephanie replied by grabbing the lapel of her borrowed jacket and dragged her into the room.

"Inside," she hissed, then slammed the door shout, before turning back to face the woman she had been helping the last few years. "First thing, I'd rather not have this conversation out in the hall where it can be picked up on the camera's and provide entertainment for Ranger's men in the control room."

She lifted her finger up in front of Callie's face when she would have spoken, to stop her. "Two.. I just started working for Rangeman when I found you past out and bleeding to death on the floor of that apartment. I wasn't –on the job- or working for anyone that had any connections to you. I was there only to pick up a damn pie pan for my mother.. But I helped you, hid you and watched over you when I could have just let the cops deal with you.. I came to enjoy and even look forward to the time we spent together because it was easy.. I could forget about the scum I saw on a daily bases in my real life. Being friends with you made me feel almost normal. It was a feeling I liked."

She had to stop talking for a moment to take another breath, then went on. "I could swear to you that I had no idea Ranger knew anything at all about you much less that he was having you watched. I could swear to you that I had no idea that the –new man- in your life was someone employed by Rangeman... Because I had never seen you and him together!"

"So I'm just suppose to take your word for it," Callie snorted.

"No. I'm not going to asking you to take my word for it," Stephanie snapped. "I said I could swear those things to you but I don't know why I should. I've been honest with you since day one. I never lied to you or led you on about anything.. If you want to believe that I did.. then find.. believe what you want.. I'll just go tell Ranger that you don't want our help finding your brother and putting him away. That you're not going to be of much use to us and he can let you go back to your life and then you can deal with your brother all on your own. Is that what you want!"

"No," Callie glared at her. "I want my life back. I want to be able to wake up in my own bed and not feel afraid. I want to be able to walk down a friggin street and not feel like everyone I see is out to get me! I WANT to know that the people I love and care about the most in my life are people I can trust to be who they say they are! That's what I want!"

"Callie.. I've been nothing but honest with you from the start," Stephanie told her, (inside doing a mental eye roll while thinking 'That's Gratitude for you after all I've done for her.') Aloud she continued. "I never told anyone about you. Not even Ranger, who I admire, respect and I think I even sort of love a bit, even if I am a little afraid of him... he's big time pissed off at me right now because he found out I knew you were alive –and- have been helping to hide you out for the last few years... -and- didn't tell him. Which I don't regret doing for one moment. But it took me a lot to convince him not to fire my ass over this...You wouldn't believe the deal I had to make with him.. But more important.. He listen to me when I told him why I thought you were innocent and not a part of your brother's schemes... He trusts my word enough so that he's willing to help you now instead of thinking you're in it with your brother.."

Callie sighed, blew out a long breath. She turned and looked out the window not really seeing the view as her mind was racing around the problem at hand. "I thought I could trust my brother until I found out what type of friends he was hanging out with and what happened after that. But then he tried to kill me.. I trusted Bobby with my heart.. and found out he only there because they thought I was involved in the murder of my parents and part of Drew's crew.."

The sleepless night suddenly seem to catch up to her. What little energy she had left, took her to the couch where she slumped down onto the soft cushions and sighed. "You know... I'm more hurt over the fact that Bobby turned out to be someone I didn't really know.. I really liked him. He made me feel really special and damn was he good in bed.. I thought men who could do the things he did were only real in romance books.. I know what they say about big men small dingdongs.. but in Bobby's case it wasn't true.. He's big everywhere.. Now I think he's ruin me for other men.. How can I trust a man like that?"

'Eww,' Another mental eye roll.. Way to much information,' the female bounty hunter thought. She was having enough trouble keeping a picture of a naked Ranger out of her own mind.. she didn't need to hear about Bobby's dingdong too.."

"You might not think you can trust us but we're all you have right now to keep you safe from your brother. Ranger gave his word to help you and find you a new identity when this is over.. Ranger –never- goes back on his word. I trust him with my life."

Callie's eyes narrowed, more out of lack of sleep then distrust.. "It's fine that you trust him with your life... But would you also trust him with mine?"

'Enough so that I offered to be his –sex slave- for as long as he wants, if he helped you,' Stephanie thought to herself, but aloud she said, "Yes. I would. Ranger gave me his word."

Enough said.

"Now get some sleep. There's a soft bed in the other room," she told her, as she started walking towards the door. "Ranger's going to want to talk to you about what's on those disks when he's done looking at them."

Planning session

Rangeman HQ (3:00 pm)

When everyone was seated at the table in the conference room on the fifth floor of the Rangeman building, all eyes turned to Ranger. He was the master planner. The one who directed everyone else. They were waiting to see what ideas he had come up with to deal with the information Callie had given him.

He sat there, leaning back in his chair, powerful arms crossed over an even more powerful chest.. a chest Stephanie was picturing in her mind without the tight black t-shirt he was wearing. She was thinking about the deal she made with him... Had she been out of her mind offering to be his -sex slave- or what?... and was now wondering when he was going insist on her filling her part of the deal. It was all she could think of since the two women had rejoined the men... Donuts just weren't doing the trick any more.. the sex hormones were over powering the sugar rush from the donuts ten to one..

Ranger sat up abruptly drawling her attention back to the reason they were all sitting in the room. She looked over at him and saw that damn knowing grin on his handsome face.

She sighed.

"Should I send Tank to get you some donuts," he teased, knowing the others wouldn't understand the double meaning. Stephanie did and squirmed in her chair before she could put on what she called her -Ranger face-. "You're going to need to keep up your energy for later."

Instead of a the sarcastic remark she normally would have given him in return for his taunt.. She glared at him. This caused Ranger to rise an eye brow. He'd have to get to the bottom of that look later when they had time.

Tank was in on the meeting and Callie was introduced to him. He gave her a nod of his head, but other wise said nothing. Callie nodded back at the big man, thinking her Bobby was big and scary looking, but this new man was even bigger and scarier looking. But she wasn't afraid of him. She'd seen him give Stephanie a friendly push to the shoulder and wink. She found it funny thought because she wasn't afraid of him, so Callie told herself he was okay.. just big and scary looking.

"Okay.. We had a look at the information on those disks you gave us," he turned his brown eyes to look at Callie. Everyone could see how impressed he was by what he had found, even before he said so. "I think I'll need to hire you to work for me if this is the type of work you can do. With the information we got off these disks we should be able to double the file we have on Drew Taylor. Plus add about fifty years to his sentence. I would like to know how you decided on which files to copy? I am –impressed- with the job you did. It was no wonder your brother was willing to kill you to get the disks back. You had enough evidence to send him away for life even if he hadn't already been convicted of your parents murder."

Callie explained that her major in Collage had been in Accounting. She went to work for her parents after graduating and fell in love with the sales and ordering side of the family business so left the accounting work to others. Still she had kept up with every new law that came out and kept her credit hours up to date, so she knew how to read a -Spread Sheet-. Finding out how he had -Cooked the Books- had been easy for someone who could memorize columns of numbers.

"I've always been good with number and I've set up enough Accounting Books for friends who started up their own businesses so I know when something add up. I can usually spot a scam and how it works, with a little time."

"Remind me when this is all over," he told her after listening to her explain what she had found in Drew Taylor's computer files. "I have need of a good accountant in one of the other Rangeman offices out of state. If you want the job.. it's yours. Let me know later if you are interested. Now we have to figure out where Taylor'll go when he get's to town."

Callie, freshly washed and made up with some makeup Stephanie had found for her to use, sat there playing with a strand of her longish blond hair. Her eyes, looking more sea green now with the addition of the makeup, narrowed slightly as she tried to figure out if Ranger's was sincere or if he was throwing the offer out as a bribe to get her to go along with his plan.

"The offer is good," Ranger said quietly, as if reading the thoughts in her mind. "I made a promise to Stephanie that I would help you find a new life when your brother was caught."

"How do I know your job offer isn't just an excuse so you can keep an eye on me?" she queried. "I mean if I work for you then you'll always know where I am."

"True.. But not for the reason you think," he told her. "I do need someone with your skills in that office, and you will have the protection of the men working there if any of your brother's men escape capture. I would then be in keeping with the promise I made to Stephanie, to protect you and keep you safe."

"I'll have to think about it." She wasn't about to start trusting him just because he had complimented her skills and offered her a good job... But the offer did sound good and Stephanie seem to like working for the company.. Besides.. It might be nice being the only female in a office full of big somewhat sexy men.. She'd feel safe for once. That in itself was a big incentive for saying yes.

Ranger nodded his head and then turned back to the others. "Idea's?"

"Callie gave you a list of his old safe houses," Stephanie commented. "Do you think he'll go back to any of those. If he figures they're still safe?"

Ranger shook his head. "No. I don't think he'll go back to them. If he knows they were on the disk Callie had, then it's a good bet he'll know they aren't safe for him. We're going to put the word out to our snitches to let us know if they hear anything."

He looked around the room, resting his eyes on his three employee's for a moment until they all nodded. Then he turned back to Callie. "In the mean time.. Here's what we're going to do..."

He went on to explain how they were going to use Callie.. if she agreed to go along with the plan.. as bait. Ranger was going to send her back to her home to act as if she knew nothing about her brother having escaped, or that they suspected the roommate of being his accomplice.

"We don't want to tip off your roommate that we suspect she might be in contact with your brother. We're going to use her to get to him without her knowing we're on to her," Ranger explained to Callie and the others. "First Bobby is going to take Callie back to her home and.."

"I've been gone for two days," she interrupted, with a slight scowl. "How do we explain that so she won't think something was a miss?"

"And if the roommates ask," Ranger continued as if nothing was said. "You tell her that Bobby surprised you with a romantic trip for two to some secluded resort. It was a surprise he sprung on you at the last minute and he thought he had left a note to let the roommate know where you would be... but the big dumbie was in such a hurry to get you alone.. he forgot to drop the note off on the counter where she could find it.. He looks in the side pocket of his bag where he had put it,.. and low and behold.. it's still there... What an idiot... He's so sorry he worried her.."

"Wait a minute.. If Bobby claims he left a note for my roommate and is there to give it to Susan, then that means he's with me and I refused to have anything more to do with that lying pig," Callie stated, sitting up upright in her seat and folding her arms across her chest. Her eyes narrowing even further as she glared at Ranger, forgetting for a moment that he could be a very scary guy. "You'll just have to find some other way of doing this.. because I don't want to have anything to do with Bobby any more."

Ranger's expression didn't change as he glanced at her. Stephanie wondered if the girl was crazy. –NO one- interrupted Ranger when he was speaking.. or disagreed with him. "Bobby goes with you to protect you, or we keep you locked up here until your brother is caught. If we want your roommate to think she'd in the clear and we don't suspect her of being involved with Taylor, then we have to keep things the way they were. If you were to show up after being gone for two days without Bobby, or a good excuse, she would start to wonder. So Bobby goes with you, or you get to be our guest here."

"So I have to pretend he didn't rip my heart out or that everything I thought we had together was built on a lie.." she snorted. "Sorry but not even I'm that good an actress."

"Then you had better learn to be –that good- and fast," Ranger warned her, wondering if it would be better to go ahead and just lock her up until they found out where Drew Taylor was hiding out. There was someone else in danger from the man. Someone Ranger cared a great deal about. To make sure things went as smoothly as possible, he needed the girl's willing co-operation. "If your roommate notices something wrong between you, it could blow this whole operation wide open and your brother could get away.

"Shit.." Callie muttered and leaned her head backwards until her eyes were looking at the soft creamy beige swirls on the rooms ceiling. "I've always tried to be a nice person. I've always said my pleases and thank you's and ate all the peas on my plate without gagging or throwing them up. I was good to my parents before my psycho brother murdered them, and even helped little old ladies across the street! I've never even had a speeding ticket! So why is all this happening to me?"

She looked around the room, glaring slightly when her eyes fell on Bobby, and then continued on until finally she ended up on Ranger.

"Why do I have a brother who wants to kill me? Why does the best boyfriend I ever had turn out to work for a man who makes the Delta Force look like amateurs, and who's only real interest in me is to use me for bait in catching said psycho brother.. Please tell me.. What did I ever do to deserve this? How do I know who to trust?"

"Better question," Ranger's lips turned up in the quarter smile. "You have to ask yourself.. Who are you more scared of -us- who will protect you and keep you alive and safe... Or your brother who wants to make you suffer a lot before he kills you because he thinks you betrayed him?"

She gulped, blew out a long breath causing her bangs to lift up away from her forehead. Then rolled her eyes before looking back at Ranger. "Well if you're going to put it –that- way.. I'm more scared of Drew then you. But if Bobby thinks he's going to share my bed then he has another thing coming. You can sleep on the floor once we're behind closed doors. If you try to kiss me even once I'll... Used the stud gun Stephanie gave me on you. Understand!"

"Loud and clear," Bobby replied clearly , so she'd know he got her meaning. "I'll give you my word.. No kissing except when we're out in the public eye to make it look good.. And –No- kissing behind your bedroom doors.. even when you beg me too."

Stephanie didn't know weather to laugh or hit Bobby, but decided keeping quiet after seeing the look on Ranger's face was the best thing to do. So she did.

"Well I never!" Callie exclaimed.

Stephanie didn't know weather the girl was upset or embarrassed.

"Bobby." Ranger called his man to order.

"Callie.. I'm sorry. That was uncalled for," the tall blond headed man apologized, his voice sounding as sincere as his words were meant to convey. "I promise I won't bother you any more then I have to when we're out in public, and you'll be perfectly safe from me when we're alone. I won't try to force you to do anything against your will. I give you my word."

She looked at him for a full minute, there was sadness in her blue eyes. But when she spoke her voice was strong. "Okay.. I'll work with you until you take care of Drew. After that I'm gone from here."

The big guy nodded again. "I'll take care of you Callie, keep you safe from him and then when this is all over.. I swear I won't bother you again." Even though I'm in love with you woman and it hurts like hell to know I'm the reason you're hurting so much inside.' he thought to himself. Maybe when this was over she might give him the change to explain and tell her how sorry he really was, and beg her to let him make it up to her.Maybe she'd forgive him and maybe she wouldn't. He didn't know what he'd do if she told him to get lost.

"Okay.. Now that we agree on things.. Here's what we're going to do," Ranger went on to explain his plan. He wanted to use the Roommate with out her being the wiser. Set her up with some misleading information that hopefully she would then pass on to Drew Taylor.

"When he comes after you, my men will be waiting to take him down," He looked at Callie. "At no time will you be left alone. Even when Bobby has to leave, someone will be there keeping an eye on you."

Callie gulped, then took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "I want my life back and the only way I'll get that is if he's taken care of. So I'll work with you to see that that happens."

Stephanie took note of the words the woman used. Not -if he's caught- and back behind bars... but -if he's taken care of-. The two wordings had vastly different meanings. Something she could tell the three Rangeman employee's also took note of if the expression on their faces could be read by someone who knew then as well as she was beginning to.

Callie had given her permission to make sure Drew Taylor burned in hell for his crimes. Maybe she understood things a little better then Stephanie gave her credit for.

Her phone rang just then. -Bad boy bad boy what'ch'a gonna do..- filled the room. No one needed to look at the display to know who was calling. Joe Morelli.

She looked at Ranger who sat there at the head of the table looking back at her with a questioning look in his deep brown eyes. She shrugged. "I'll take this out in the hall." She said and left the room.

"Yo," she answered once she had flipped the cell open. It had been a few months since she had spoken to him. She'd seen him around the police station when she'd taken in a few FTA's, but he was usually busy talking to someone else or acted like he was. She didn't trying to strike up a conversation with him, only nod her head and go on with what she was doing.

"You hear the news?" he asked without even offering up a greeting. "Drew Taylor escaped from prison."

"Old news."

"Let me guess," Joe remarked dryly. "Ranger?"

"Yes.. well one of his contact's let him know late last night," she told him, leaving it at that. She didn't think Ranger would want her to tell Morelli that Callie Taylor was actually alive and had been for the last two years. He'd want to do the macho thing like.. take control of the job away from Ranger.. Who in Stephanie's mind had the better chance of keeping the girl alive and breathing. Not that Morelli was a bad cop.. because he wasn't. Far from it.. but she just thought Ranger was the best man for this job. He could do things Morelli's badge would stop him from doing. Things that could get Callie killed.

"So I suppose he'd got Tank or one of his other crazy men babysitting you."

"I'm staying here in one of the Rangeman apartments and have one of the guys going out with me to look for FTA's if that's what you mean." She knew what he meant, but wouldn't ask. He wanted to know if she was sleeping with Ranger. Well she wasn't going to answer his unasked question. And sure as hell wouldn't tell him about the deal she had made with her sexy boss, in exchange for helping Callie move on when this was all over.

"Cupcake.. you know you can always come stay with me," he told her. He still didn't trust Ranger after all the time they'd known each other. Especially around Stephanie. "Bob and I can keep you safe. Bob misses you."

"I don't think that would be a good idea," she reminded him. "The last time someone was after me, you threaten to chain me up in some safe house until I agreed to quit my job."

"So have you given it any more thought."

"No."

"You should before your boss's troubles rub off on you," he grunted.

"Are you worried about his trouble's rubbing off against me or Ranger himself," she said before she could stop herself, then hung up. When he called back she turned the phone off. She didn't want to get into it with him just then when she had other things to worry abut.

The door open then and the others came out. She swung around, hiding her cell phone behind her as if getting caught doing something she shouldn't have. A hold over from her childhood when she was always doing things she wasn't suppose to and didn't want to get caught.

Callie waved at Stephanie before following Bobby to the elevator and waiting for it to arrive. When they got on, the woman turned back to her telling her she'd see her later.

"Good luck.." Stephanie returned before the door slid shut and the light above the door indicated the car was on it's way down.

Ranger came out of the office just then and looked at her.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Same old, same old," she gave a eye roll. "He found out Drew Taylor escaped and wants me to come live with him so he can protect me.. Tried to use Bob missing me to make me feel guilty."

"Do you?"

"No."

"So you're going to stay here?"

"Yes."

"You know Babe, I can understand why Morelli wants to lock you up somewhere safe," Ranger commented, and he moved closer, forcing her back against the wall behind her. His hand came up, finger's gentle as he smooth back the same lock of hair that refused to stay in the band she had tied her wild hair up in. "I know because I want to do the same thing at times like this."

"But you wont," she stammered, her breath coming in slow shallow gasps. Her head tilted back, tongue came out to lick lips suddenly to dry.

"Babe.. you want me bad," Ranger chuckled softly as he leaned in close to a dropped a light kiss on her moisten lips. "Maybe later tonight when we get home if you're a good girl.. right now we have to go to work."

This time his kiss deepen, tongue and all and just when she thought her legs were going to give out on her, he lifted his head, grabbed hold of her arm and headed towards the elevator door.

"Come on.. We have someone we need to see."

"Can we make a stop by the donut shop on the way?"

"Babe.."

To be continued...