A/N : Hey! Sorry it's been a while. I've been busy writing some other ideas for stories that I'm going to post in the future. Their coming along but it's slow. Sometimes I'll just have bursts of energy then other times I just stare at the blinking line on the screen and find it impossible to conjure up a decipherable sentence. It's been rough – lol.

Also, I didn't really think anyone was reading this (still don't) but I'll update just so the sake of it and hope for a good response.

Thanks to the people who have reviewed, the more I read, the more spurred on I am to update.

I've been making minor changes and tweaks to the story as I edit it so it runs better.

Enjoy!

Hope you haven't got tired of waiting (those of you who are reading this?)

Chapter 16

Previously…

"What time are we going?" Cammy said looking at the clock.

"9 at the Phoenix club, maybe a little earlier. Why?" I said frowning and looking at the clock.

It read 17.55 and I mentally screamed.

"Shit. I'm gonna go take a shower now. You guys can go in after me." I said running into the bedroom, then bathroom.

3 hours later the three of us were fighting over the mirror.

"Get out of the way! I'm the one who has to distract the damn guy!" I shouted, fighting for an inch of mirror to do my makeup.

While we had been putting on makeup I had filled them on what the job inquired. Amia had been particularly interested in Rio, having John Rippami as a brother.

"Oh please, you've had it for twenty minutes!" Amia shouted at me pushing me out of the way.

I sighed deeply and stomped away towards the tiny mirror in the bathroom.

I did my eyes a smoky grey with two coats of mascara along with a little eyeliner too and put on a shiny lip gloss. I was wearing tight, black, hip huggers that were low on my hips; black FMP and a white halter with only two tiny ties, one behind my neck, the other across the middle of my back, the rest of my back completely bare, making it very obvious I was wearing no bra. I couldn't wear panties with the pants either otherwise there would be a panty line. My hair was down with tight curls framing my face and shoulders.

I looked hot and I knew it.

Small problem though; where was I supposed to put my gun?

I, thankfully, had a large black leather purse that could fit my guns, knives, mace, spare clips and my stun gun; I squeezed in my cell, purse and keys, somehow, too.

I checked the time and screamed, not mentally either.

It was nearly 9 and we weren't even at the club.

"Come on, we gotta go." I shouted to the girls.

They grabbed their bags and we rushed to the car.

We got in and while I was driving like a mad person they analyzed the car.

"You drive this? It's hideous. It's a big blue beast." Amia said grimacing at the colour.

I rolled my eyes but unwillingly smiled, "Tell me about it. It's disgusting I know, but it's all we've got."

We got to the club 10 minutes late and I swore as I pulled up to see all the guys waiting for me.

Why did I always manage to be late?

How is it, as soon as I come to New Jersey my punctual ness goes out of the window?

I stopped the car and got out, the girls following me out.

I ran over to them putting on my best innocent face.

"Hey." I said smiling at them.

Ranger was raising an eyebrow while the rest had ghosts of smiles on their faces.

"You're late." Ranger said sighing.

"Really? Oops." I said sarcastically.

The girls caught up and stood next to me and the guys eyes shifted to them.

I looked at them both, they were looking pretty hot too.

Amia was wearing tight levis and a lilac strapless top that clung to her and showed off her toned, flat midriff.

Cammy was wearing a tiny white denim mini skirt showing off her long shapely legs and a white, skinny strapped top that showed more than a little cleavage.

I grinned at them and looked back at the guys.

"This is Amia and Cammy. Cammy can't speak much English though so it would be better if you spoke to her in Spanish or French. Amia is bilingual, she knows English." I explained.

"Hi." Amia said sending them a sexy smile.

"Hola" Cammy said following suit.

Tank and Ranger looked like the only ones who weren't completely staring.

Ranger just shook his head slightly and grinned at me.

Tank just grinned.

I gave the girls quick introductions and was happy to find out that most of the guys knew Spanish except Guy and Woody but they both knew a little French so it was okay.

Ranger took my coat for me and gave me the wire.

I bit my lip and pushed it under my shirt, between my breasts, thankfully not flashing anybody while I did.

Ranger took that time to do a long once over and when he was finished his eyes were black and he had a sexy smile on his face.

"Nice babe."

I grinned, "Thank you."

"By the way, it's half past and you haven't showed up. You might want to make an appearance any time soon." He said and I could sense the sarcasm.

I rolled my eyes, "Sure. So do I just lead him out here?"

"Yeah"

"Okay, see you." I said strutting into the club.

I found my prey by the bar and strutted over to Rio who was wearing a white buttoned shirt – very sexy - and pants.

I sat next to him and grinned at him.

He looked me up and down, slowly, and flashed me a sexy smile.

"You look gorgeous." He said stroking my ego.

I grinned, "So do you." I replied honestly, he was one hot mob boss.

"Wanna drink?" he said to me calling the nearest barmaid.

"I'll have a beer please." I said to the bar maid.

She went to go get it but not before narrowing her eyes at me and studying me.

I frowned as she walked to get the beer but didn't say anything.

I looked back at Rio who was looking at the dance floor.

"Wanna dance?" he said to me grinning.

I nodded and followed him to the dance floor.

He was a great dancer and we were good together, and I was envied by many woman dancing.

Finally we made it back to the bar hot and sweaty, well I was anyway, he looked as cool as ever.

The bar maid came back to us and gave me my beer, studying me again.

"Stephanie Plum?"

I involuntarily looked up at her, then mentally smacked my head.

Shit.

"I knew it. You're Stephanie Plum, the bounty hunter. It's Betty Slone from college, I shared a dorm with you. Don't you remember? Man, I haven't seen you for ages!" she said grinning.

I looked at her with wide eyes, "I'm sorry. I'm Vivian Miller, you must be mistaken."

I glanced at Rio who was looking at me with narrowed eyes, and looking very pissed.

He grabbed my arm and yanked me off the seat, "Bounty hunter? Think you could fool me did you?" he said yanking me towards the back of the club, towards the back door.

Shit.

I was supposed to lead him out of the front door.

There weren't any guys at the back.

I struggled at his grip but he just back handed me hard.

My head swung back but I didn't fall.

I looked back at him to see him opening the back door and shoving me into a black Mercedes.

I looked around the car to see a bunch of big guys, tank big guys.

Shit.

I let out a high pitched scream before I felt a sharp pain hit my head and I fell into unconsciousness.

Chapter 17

I felt myself get shaken by a strong large hand and I opened my eyes to see a set of electric blue ones.

Shaking me was a large thug-like man and I suddenly remembered what happened.

I looked around, I was in what looked like a cabin; I was sitting in the corner of the room with my hands bound and legs bound.

There, behind thug man, was Rio staring at me with angry eyes.

"There's little Miss Plum now. You have been a very disloyal woman Miss Plum, lying to me to try and get me in jail. You will receive your reward for your unfaithfulness soon, but right now I want you to tell me about your relationship with a certain Amia Rippami."

I frowned at him, "Who?"

I sure as hell wasn't going to tell him that I knew her.

"Amia Rippami, don't try to tell me you don't know her because I have people who have evidence of you being with her. Why is Amia in Trenton?" Rio said to me crouching down to my level.

I didn't say anything; no way was I going to rat my best friend out.

He leaned in closer, "It would be in your best interest to answer my questions Miss Plum."

I still didn't respond, just looked at him uninterested.

He slapped me hard and I had to struggle to stop myself from falling to the side.

"Answer me." He said his voice angry and chilling.

I just sniffed, still not saying a word.

He sighed deeply and punched my in the stomach.

I didn't make any noise just stayed still even though my breathing became a little ragged.

"Fine; you don't want to talk, no food." He said getting back up.

He took one more look at me before spitting on the floor, a couple of inches from my feet.

I sighed as he left the room, but felt my heart start to race as the thugs came towards me; picked me up, kicking and screaming and dragged me into a small dark closet in the bedroom.

I heard the lock click and I took in a shaky breath.

How was I going to get out of this one?

I looked around, I couldn't see a thing; it was pitch black.

I felt around with my hands tied but came across nothing useful.

I started working the bounds on my hands and feet before I could do anything else.

Once the ropes were gone I rubbed my raw wrists and hissed as I touched open cuts.

The bastards were going to pay.

But I needed to get out of here first, before I could even think about kicking those mothers.

I put my head to the door and listened closely.

There was a lot of mumbling that slowly disappeared while the thugs slowly disappeared from the room.

I pulled a hidden hair pin from my hair and stretched it out so it was straight and started working the lock.

Half an hour I slowly opened the door and slid out, gasping for air; the closet was quite claustrophobic and suffocating so I was glad for some air.

I got to my feet and looked around the room.

I spotted my bag on the coffee table and grabbed it.

I opened it and fished out my cell phone.

"Yo."

"Yo yourself." I whispered into the phone smiling at the sound of Ranger's voice.

"Babe? Where are you? Hold on, stay on the phone and we'll trace it."

"'kay."

"How are you? What has he done to you?" he voice sounded surprisingly angry with a hint of worry.

"I'm fine, a little pissed. He hasn't done anything to me, just asking me about Amia." I whispered whilst picking my weapons out from my bag and trying to put them in my pants. Unfortunately the pants were skin tight and would not let me put even on gun in them. I looked around for a gun belt and nearly sung to angels when I saw one hanging out of one of the drawers. I slipped it around my waist and put my weapons in it.

I looked around again, in hope of finding another shirt because mine was a little…skimpy and it was probably alluring Rio, which is not good.

"Amia? Why?" he sounded confused.

"Amia's surname is Rippami. Does that spell it out for you?" I whispered smiling triumphantly after I found a plain black t-shirt in the wardrobe then smiled even wider when I saw a Kevlar vest as well.

I pulled them on and instantly felt better.

There was a pause on the phone and I could tell Ranger was smiling.

"Friends with a mob boss's sister, babe?"

I grinned, "Well you know me."

"Okay, we got the address. I need you to try and get out, and run away as far as you can. Okay babe?" he said and I could sense tenseness in his voice.

"Okay." I replied and nearly dropped the phone at Ranger's reply.

"Bye babe."

"Bye Ranger." I said to the dial tone after I finally composed myself.

Ranger had said 'bye' he had actually said it on a phone.

What did this mean?

I looked at the window in the corner of the room to see it pitch black outside with only the moon and stars as light.

There were no street lamps, no garden lights, no house lights, just darkness so it should be easy to get away unnoticed.

I looked at the window with narrowed eyes.

I couldn't make a noise or they would know I was gone straight away and I wanted at least a 5-10 minutes free running time.

I flipped open my knife and cut the edges of the window, slicing through the silicon holding the window in place. I used the knife to pull it out slightly then grabbed the glass and pulled it out of the window.

I placed it on the floor and grinned proud of my quick thinking.

I froze at the sound of talking outside and my blood ran cold. I quickly edged out of the window, and jumped onto the ground.

I was right, it was a log cabin and only had the ground floor so I hadn't jumped far.

I took a quick scan of the area and came to a conclusion that there was nothing but trees everywhere, except for the small dirt road where the cars ran on. I took off running when I heard the talking grow nearer to room and didn't look behind me.

I decided it would be safer if I ran in the trees beside the road, otherwise knowing my luck I would get lost and Ranger wouldn't even be able to find me.

I sprinted down a big hill thanking the gods that I had decided to continue to go to the gym and go running most days.

I pushed myself to go faster as I heard shouting in the distance behind me.

I kept running and running, faster and faster, as far away as I could.

I reached the bottom of the hill and looked around.

I was now on a long, long, stretch of road. I looked both, left and right, but see nothing but miles of road.

I was screwed unless the guys got here right now.

I heard a car in the distance and swore, looks like they found my disappearance a little quicker than I had anticipated.

I forced myself to run faster while I listened to the distant hum of a truck engine.

My blood ran cold and adrenaline spurred me on even further.

I nearly cried in relief when I saw black SUV's in the distance.

Just keep running Steph! I chanted to myself and I forced myself not to look when I heard the hum of the truck following me get louder and closer.

Just keep running.

"Hey, bitch! Stop running, you're not going to get away." I heard Rio shout from behind me.

But I ignored him and continued running fast towards the SUV's which were getting closer and closer every second.

It seems like they had finally spotted me and were now getting faster and faster.

They pulled up finally when they were yards in front of me and they got out of the SUV's.

I spared a look behind me to see the truck pull up too and a bunch of thug guys and Rio get out.

It was on.

TBC