Chapter 31: planning and plotting

Warning: language

I swallowed hard after Tanks' harsh words. I realized just in time that he didn't know what had happened and that stopped me from killing him right there and then. I looked up at him and saw him watching me with angry eyes. I took a deep breath and stared straight ahead in space.

"You don't understand," I said softly.

"What's not to understand?" he asked.

"She left before I had a chance to tell her my choice." I looked at Tank again, seeing the words register and the confusion kick in.

"How do you mean?" he asked. I sighed again, and ran my left hand through my hair.

"I need a drink," I said. Tank turned around and got 2 Corona's from the fridge. I dropped on the couch and he took the chair. He gave me a Corona and I accepted it gratefully. I took a big swig before explaining Tank what had happened. When I finished he sat back in his chair with a dazed look.

"That sucks, man."

"Yeah."

"But why didn't you go after her?"

"First I didn't understand what had happened, and when I did she had already left the building."

"But after that?"

"I'm afraid she'll never listen or believe me. I'm afraid she'll think that I changed my mind because I didn't want to hurt her, or because I was afraid to be alone or something like that. I first need to convince her that I had always intended to say yes to her. Remember, she never heard or saw the phone. She'll just think I want to explain my decision, and understandably doesn't want to listen to that." Tank nodded at that.

"And I lost my brain for a few minutes when I realized what had happened," I added with a half-hearted chuckle.

"Do you remember calling Control?" Tank asked.

"I remember trying. Why?"

"I answered that call, and when you screamed I thought you were trying to kill yourself. Lester and Bobby stood near me, so they heard it as well. When I went upstairs Bobby asked if I needed backup. He must have thought that somebody tried to kill you or something." Tank ran his hand through his hair, relieve showing on his face. I snickered.

"But now we need a plan to convince the Bombshell that this was an incredibly cruel misunderstanding," Tank said. I nodded. Tank started the planning.
"Let's see. First we need to…" I got paper and pen from my desk and Tank and I spend the rest of the day planning this mission. We checked with control and they had managed to solve the problem all by themselves like the big boys that they were and we sent Bobby over to Steph's apartment to make sure that she was there and wasn't killing herself. Bobby reported back after 30 minutes that the light was on in her apartment and that he had heard some sort of crying noises coming from inside. It broke my heart, but at least I knew where she was and I wasn't planning on letting her go out of my sight anymore, figuratively speaking of course, after this whole misunderstanding was cleared up. We told Bobby to stay put and wait for further instructions while Tank and I went on a quick shopping spree to get the necessary supplies.

We had decided to keep the plan as simple as possible. Tank and Alex, a guy whom Steph never met, would break into her apartment and kidnap her after she went to bed. They would blindfold her and only Alex would talk to her. Tank would keep quiet to minimize Steph's resistance. Believe it or not, we thought she might fight harder if she thought they came to bring her to me than if she didn't know who was taking her. I hated it that I would scare her, but in the end thought she would prefer it to stunning or drugging her. I did tell Tank that if he really thought that there was no other way, to stun her. Then they would drive her to my house. Not the 7th floor apartment, but my real house. It was situated on the outside of Trenton, on a large plot surrounded by trees. It would take them about 40 minutes to get her there and they would put her in a chair in my living room and then they would leave. I would then proceed to play the phone conversation that I had had with Ram, the one she so misinterpreted. I have never been more grateful for the fact that we tape all calls at Rangeman. It was the only proof I had to show her that I had not been talking about her question when I said those words. I would play the recording for her, which she no doubt would recognize instantly, and then I would take off the blindfold and tell her my real answer to her question. I didn't have a lot things planned for after that, but I did stock up on Tastycakes, chocolate and Cheez doodles in addition to fresh fruit and whipped cream. Okay, those last items were bought with some x-rated images in my mind, but still. Tank would take Rex with him to the office and take care of him until we returned. Since I can do a lot of paperwork, phone calls and research from home and I still have a cast on my right arm, I intended to spend a fair amount of time with her there. Luckily I hadn't been home since I'd broken my wrist, so that place was still very tidy. Lester would drive me to my house and help me get everything ready there. I wanted the house to look good. So Tank had helped me pick out a few things that he thought might help with that, like candles and flowers. Then he had added massage oil and bath salts with a knowing smile as well. When he had stretched out his arm to grab the bottle of massage oil, I had spotted some bruising on his wrists.

"What happened to your wrist?" I recognized those bruises, I had seen them often enough on wrists. Tank looked at his wrist and then he blushed! Whoa! I couldn't believe it. Hang on, these bruises hadn't been there this morning and he had only left the building to meet up with Lula. I grabbed his other wrist and saw the similar bruises there as well.

"You did something to piss Lula off?" I asked, while trying to hide my amusement. I had a pretty good idea what the answer would be. Tank just looked at me with the biggest shit eating grin imaginable.

"You should try it sometime, Ranger." I had wondered about it, but never found a woman that I trusted enough to try it with. But since that was about to change…

"That good, huh?" I asked him. He just nodded. Hmm, something to keep in mind for later.

When Lester and I were finished with the preparations in my house, I felt myself starting to get nervous. I knew that they on their way over here now, so this was it. Lester wished me good luck and left and I took another look around my living room. The candles really did give it a nice warm glow, as did the fireplace. Then I heard the security system beep. They were at the gates. I opened the gates for them and walked to the front door and opened it. I saw the car approach on the driveway and when they stopped, Tank got out and closed the door behind him again.

"How'd go?"

"Man, that wasn't as easy as we thought. I really thought for a moment I had to stun her." Tank was smiling at the memory.

"She went on about rude men were and how tired she was of them and so on. She basically kept up a running commentary all the way over here."

"That's my Babe. Do you think she suspects something?"

"No, she said that it was rude to kidnap her now, since she wasn't due to start work until Monday." I almost laughed out loud after that.

"Okay. Bring her inside." Tank nodded and motioned to Alex to get her out. Alex got out and opened her door and pulled her out. She was saying something and then she suddenly stopped and stood still, tension radiating off her. She turned her blindfolded head unerringly in my direction. Oh shit. Then she took a few steps backwards before Alex caught up with her and stopped her by grabbing her arm. She started resisting him, trying to pull loose from his grip while screaming out loud.

"No, NO WAY! Fuck you, Ranger! How DARE you! Let me go! You bastard!"