Disclaimer: I like this one: STD (standard disclaimer), but oh well, I don't own it anyway
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Chapter 2:
"Babe, you up for distraction tonight?" Ranger asked Steph.
"Sure, the usual?" that meant the longer and shorter the better. Since the Zervos file was considered closed for the Trenton office and Miami was taking care of it, there was nothing else Steph had to do. Maybe dinner at her parents, but this sounded much more fun.
"Yeah, the jobs at Salt, someone will be here are 9 for you," and that was the extent of their conversation. Some nights he suggested that she wear her little red dress, but mostly all he told her was basic information, stuff that was only relevant to the job.
"Ranger, why won't you talk to me anymore?" Steph didn't know why she asked him, it was just another sentence that bypassed her brain before it came out. Suddenly she was up against the wall and Ranger was kissing her rather soundly.
"You and Morelli split for good now?" he asked. What kind of question is that, thought Steph. She pulled back from the kiss just long enough to whisper into his mouth.
"Yeah…" She was cut off by another mouth watering kiss. Steph felt her knees buckle and she was caught in Rangers arms. He broke from their kiss, breathing hard, his eyes liquid with desire. "Ranger, you know we're in the middle of the corridor?"
"Yeah Babe"
"Someone might see," she looked pointedly at the camera winking at them from the corner of the ceiling.
"They won't tell," Ranger pushed away from Steph, "I'll see you in the gym later," he brushed a kiss across her lips, leaving her sagging against the wall.
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Steph pulled up outside the bonds office and angled out of her new black Lexus. She walked in, where Connie and Lula were listening intently to the sounds coming from Vinnie's office. "It's barking today," said Connie, the receptionist who was that kind of Italian. She was referring to the sounds Joyce Barnhardt was making. Joyce was the bitch that Steph had found screwing Dickie all those years ago.
"Yeah, they got at it early today, you got doughnuts?" asked Lula. Lula was a plus-size ex-hooker turned sometimes-filer-but-mostly-sidekick-bounty-hunter.
"You got any skips for me, Connie?"
"Nah, but you can take these for Rangeman," Steph was handed some files; they would go to the boys at Rangeman, and a package. She looked at the smallish box, it was nondescript, brown and addressed to one Carlos Manoso. Steph shrugged and left.
With no skips and all her files finished as work she though she might go to the gym…that thought had nothing to do with the fact that Ranger was going to be there, did it? She pulled into the garage at Rangeman, locked her car and took the elevator to the control room, where she dropped of the files and then package, then she went her apartment and she changed into some spankies (A/N: for those who do not know, spankies are tight ¾ gym pants) and a gym top. Steph didn't necessarily like getting sweaty, but it kept her fit and able to defend herself from most of her everyday skips.
She was half way through her program when Ranger appeared at the edge of her vision; he did the macho handshake thing with several guys and made his way over to her.
"Babe"
"Mmm...," Steph struggled to complete one last movement before turning to Ranger, "Ok, all good now."
"Just wanted to say hi,"
"Oh, well, hi then," that had annoyed her; he had left her wanting and well…she felt that it was about time she evened up the power thing in their relationship. Stealing herself, she leaned in and gave him a light kiss on his lips and walked away. Ranger let her, admiring the view of her tight ass.
"Man, she has you whipped," commented Tank once the doors had closed behind Steph.
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Steph was putting the final touches on her makeup for the distraction gig when there was a knock at her door. "Come in!" She finished with a last coat of mascara and grabbed a jacket from her wardrobe. She walked out into the lounge, but instead of Ranger, it was Lester, not that Steph minded, she liked him just as much as the next guy, buy he would never compare to Batman himself. "Hey Les, you ready?"
"Yeah, Ranger got caught up, handed this job over to Tank, said to say sorry," Lester smiled and ushered her out of the door.
Steph and Lester took the elevator down to garage and they hoped into a waiting Jeep, Tank was already in the driver's seat.
They arrived at the club about 20 minutes later; Steph had read the file on their latest skip, it look like a simple in-out job, nothing unusual about it. This time Steph attached the wire herself, she kind of missed Rangers warm hands, but she guessed anything that would take him away from work was pretty important that that there was nothing she could do about it.
When she entered the club, the skip, Andy Ralph, was already at the bar, drink in hand. He looked shitfaced even though it was only about 9:30. Steph sat down next to him and pretended to check her stocking for a ladder, drawing attention to her long shapely legs. She looked up and saw Ralph leering at he, she smiled, thinking how sleazy he looked. "You know, being single sucks," so it was a crap opening line, but whatever, he probably didn't understand a word she said anyway.
"Yoush wanna go to a party wish me?" he somehow slurred out.
"Sure," Steph swaggered her way out, knowing that Ralph wasn't far behind. As soon as she was out Tank had the cuffs on him.
"Les, Hal, taking him in, Steph and me'll meet you back at Rangeman," Tank ordered Les and Hal.
Steph hoped into the Jeep and waited for Tank, who slipped into the driver's seat quickly. "You know he waited until the cop was gone,"
"What? Huh?" Yeah, Steph, she thought, real eloquent.
"Ranger, he didn't make a move on you cause he didn't want you to run back to Morelli."
"Oh," the drive back was silent, both caught up in their own thoughts.
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Steph woke the next morning with clearer thoughts then she had thought in a long time. She had spent most of the night thinking, and for once it wasn't over a tub of Ben & Jerry's or a bottle of wine.
She had come to the conclusion that she wanted Ranger, she didn't know if she loved him, but she definitely wanted him, bad.
With this conclusion in hand, she dressed and made her way to the control room, determined that by the end of the day she would tell Ranger how she felt……or at least have gotten another kiss.
Steph complete the searches and changed to go to the gym. She walked in to be greeted by Lester and Tank, sparring on the mats.
"Hey, Bombshell! Come 'ere," called Lester, "you wanted me to show you that takedown, yeah?"
"Yeah, sure," it was all part of her job conditions, she had to train 4 times a week if she wanted to keep her job at Rangeman, but Steph had started to enjoy the sessions in the gym with the boys.
Lester directed her to stand upright, with he hands by her sides, then wrapped his arms around her upper torso, locking into a bear hug.
Tank watched them, showing Steph how to get out, "Tuck your chin into his elbow…elbow him in the tummy…stomp…well done Steph," she smiled at Tank and thanked him and Lester for their help.
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Tank looked at the team assembled in the conference room; he was explaining their roles in that capture of the latest skip.
"Steph you need to get his attention, her likes to invite 'special' girls to the VIP area, you need to secure an invitation," she noted that he said 'secure', not 'get directly from the skip'. "Once you're in the VIP area, you need to get close to Dominov, you need to establish a relationship with him. This is more then just a guy who missed his court date people, this is a dangerous guy."
"Aren't they all?" asked Lester, and got a frown from Tank for his efforts.
"It's not so important that we get him back to the system, the Feds will be paying us for our assistance in this case. The most important thing is that we get someone close to him, who can become his shadow. Steph, that's you, you're gonna be undercover for this op."
"Me?" Steph squeaked out, "Um, ok?"
"Yeah, Bomber, it would look a little strange if one of us guys wanted to hang round with him, don't cha reckon?" Tank smiled at her, "We're gonna be behind you all the way, just remember that you have to convince this guy that you think he's the best thing since the internet."
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Steph hopped out of the shower, deep in thought. Ranger had been gone for about a month now. She'd heard from Lester that a job in Miami had got FUBAR'd and Ranger had need to sort it out. It would have been nice of him to call…no, do NOT start thinking like that!
She had acted indifferent with the Rangeman boys, but she was hurting inside. Steph could pretend all she wanted that she didn't care about Ranger, but really, she did. Very much, in fact.
It wasn't until she looked in the mirror to do her hair that Steph noticed the envelope on her dresser. It simply had Babe written on the front in Ranger's writing. She put it aside, they were going after Dominov and Steph didn't want anything to distract her.
"Bobby, you know it's not polite to stare!" Steph laughed at his reaction to her dress, or rather, piece of material held together by some thin silver chains. She grabbed a jacket, she didn't want arrive in this outfit, it was way to revealing for that!
"Bomber, everybody's gonna be staring at you tonight, you better get used to it!" Lester commented from the side.
"Ok, enough talk," this caught Steph's ear, usually distraction jobs were kind of fun, but if Tank was this serious then she had better pay attention.
Steph had read the background info on this guy; he wasn't one she wanted to piss off.
The club, Salt, was busy, the line was long and Steph really didn't want to wait hours to get in. She pulled up in a Porsche Turbo, black, of course, and handed the keys to the valet along with a $100 bill, "Look after my car."
Another $100 went to the bouncer, "Name!" he barked.
"Stephanie Rodriguez," He bouncer, a Rangeman employee scanned his list and nodded to her and Steph was let in to a dark club, lasers crossed the ceiling and there was a smoke machine somewhere, white clouds covered the raised dance floor and spilled off the edges.
She made her way to a room for the side a deposited her coat then straight to the dance floor. Nothing shows confidence then a girl dancing alone and it wasn't long before she was surrounded by men, all wanting her attention.
While she danced Steph looked out across the rest of the club and spotted the entrance to the VIP room, the entrance was covered by red curtains and surrounded by butch men, clearly what was behind that door wasn't meant for the casual clubbers.
After she had danced for a few songs, Steph made her way to the bar where she looked pointedly at Dominov and told the bartender, "one of what he's having."
Dominov caught her look and sauntered over, clearly establishing himself as the alpha male, stupid chauvinistic men, thought Steph. "Put that on my tab, hey Adam," Dominov told the bartender.
Steph look at him, he was clearly of Russian descent, pale skin and think, dark hair, although his English wasn't marred by a clear accent, he didn't wound American either. His nose was a bit on the large side and his eyes were dark, almost black.
Dominov also looked at Steph, he saw a petite brunette, toned from exercise. Her breasts were not overly large, something that was rare in the club scene. Her brown hair was tamed into curly, falling to well below her thin shoulders. She was stunning to look at.
"So, I figure you might know how to have a good time," Dominov told Steph, "do you like to dance?"
"Of course"
They danced, rather closely and as the floor got more packed, the closer they danced. Dominvo pulled Steph even closer, so the she was practically hugging him and then he kissed her, Steph shuddered in disgust, but Dominov mistook it as a shudder of desire.
Unable to kiss him any longer, Steph broke away and smiled, inwardly disgusted. "I have to go to the ladies room, you don't mind, do you?"
"Of course, I wouldn't want you looking…anything but beautiful"
Steph made her way off the floor and down a corridor leading to the ladies. Inside the ladies, she was met with the sight of 5 girls snorting white powder. Knowing exactly what would happen if she took drugs; Steph declined an offer to join the ladies, and instead fixed up her makeup. She took advantage of the girls drug induced haze to swipe one of their VIP cards.
Stepping out of the room Steph bumped into a wall named Tank, "the ops been called off, there was an insider and Dominov has left, he knows someone was after him tonight. You don't need to make any excuses, just leave," and then he was gone.
Steph collected her coat and left the club. She didn't even have to tell the valet which can was hers, he knew straight away. "Thanks," she breathed in this ear, slipping him another $100.
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Some notes, I am so sorry I didn't update, but oh well, im working on my laptop and it doesn't have wireless at home and whatever….. also the chapter update thing is being a bitch to me
I don't see joe in this story as stephs love interest, the broke up before the story started, I'm gonna say its cause he didn't like her job and she didn't want to quite. there are a lot of fics with this break up, you can read them if u want to find out, or u can make it up, or whatever… up its been done and I don't think I need to rewrite it here
Izi xoxo