Chapter 9
Ranger barked orders for the men to search all possible areas where Dickie could be hiding Jay. Stephanie followed Ranger from the room to go with him. "Babe, please stay here where it's safe," Ranger begged.
"No. I'm coming with you. Jay doesn't know your men, except for Cal and Hal," Stephanie said. Ranger didn't say anything. He grabbed her hand to drag her to his car.
When they entered the elevator, Ranger scrambled the camera. He slammed his lips against Stephanie's mouth. His tongue stroked across her bottom lip. He deepened the kiss when she opened her mouth to him. The elevator chimed when it arrived at the garage level. "Babe," he whispered.
Stephanie felt the connection was as strong as it was fourteen years ago. "Let's find our son. We can talk later," Stephanie suggested.
Ranger unlocked the Porsche Cayenne and helped Stephanie climb into the passenger seat. He had wanted to take the 911 turbo, but it didn't have a backseat for Jay. Ranger turned right onto Haywood, leading them towards downtown. "Turn around," Stephanie ordered.
"Babe?" he asked.
"Ricky, please turn around," she repeated.
"I don't like my first name. Call me Ranger in front of everyone else, but Carlos in private," Ranger stated.
Stephanie nodded, "Carlos, turn around and head towards Point Pleasant. Dickie's firm owns a cottage in the woods."
"Do you think he's there?"
"Yes. There are a few things you need to know about our son," Stephanie replied. She told Ranger about the escape lessons from Eddie, Big Dog, Robin and Carl. He laughed when Stephanie said that Jay was playing on his tablet when Eddie looked for him.
"Anything else?" Ranger asked.
"Maybe. Jay can pick locks, take Big Dog to the mats and speak Spanish fluently," she replied. Stephanie watched Ranger raise an eyebrow. "We trained him to escape."
Jay heard a car pull onto the gravel path. He couldn't tell if it was Dickie returning. A large crash sounded from the floor above. Jay grabbed his backpack and hid inside the cabinet. "Ranger, this door," he heard his mother's voice.
He heard about Ranger from the kids at school. Ranger wore black clothes, drove black cars, and everyone had said he was a thug. Jay listened to the lock getting picked as he got out of the cabinet. Dickie would use a key, not a lock pick.
Stephanie was relieved to see Jay. She pulled him to her chest and hugged him tightly. "I'm okay, mom," Jay mumbled. He looked over her shoulder and stared at the face he saw in the mirror every morning. "Hi, dad." Ranger raised an eyebrow. "Can we talk later? I want to go home."
Ranger ordered a team of men to wait for Dickie at the cabin. He drove back to Rangeman to debrief Jay. When Ranger parked the Cayenne beside the 911 Turbo, Jay jumped from the car to take a closer look. "Awesome car," he said, trailing his fingers over the hood.
Jay looked around the garage and grinned. "Do they look familiar, baby?" Stephanie asked.
"Yes," he replied, pulling the matchbox cars from his backpack. Ranger raised an eyebrow. "Open your hand, dad," Jay said. He dropped his favourite cars into Ranger's hand. Ranger looked at his hand then the cars in the garage. He tipped his head back and laughed.
"Our son has great taste in cars," Ranger joked. Stephanie rolled her eyes.
"Where are we going?" Stephanie asked when the elevator kept climbing floors.
"To my apartment on seven," he replied.
Jay's stomach growled a few seconds before Stephanie's answered. Ranger grinned as he listened to the two stomachs communicating. "I hope you have food. I'm starving," Jay said.
Ranger guided them into the apartment. "Take a seat in the living room. I'll ask Ella to bring us dinner," Ranger announced.
Stephanie noticed the rope burns on Jay's wrists. "Did Dickie tie you to the chair?"
"Yes. I concentrated on Eddie's lessons and got myself free. But I couldn't open the door," Jay said, frowning.
"Baby, there wasn't a key slot for you to pick. The deadbolt could only get unlocked from the other side of the door," Stephanie said, rubbing his wrists.
Ranger gave Stephanie a tube of arnica cream. "For Jay's wrists," Ranger stated. Jay rolled his eyes before taking the tube from his mom.
"Why did you go with Dickie?" Stephanie asked.
Jay shrugged. "He said we needed to talk. I didn't know he was going to drug and kidnap me," Jay replied. He told Ranger and Stephanie the story. "I heard another man at the house, but Dickie never said his name."
Ella knocked on the door. She saw the woman in the building earlier that day. The young boy they brought back looked like a younger version of Carlos. Ranger opened the door for her to push the food cart into the apartment. She quickly set the table for three as she stared at the boy.
"What's for dinner, dad?" Jay asked.
"Is he your son, Carlos?" Ella asked in Spanish.
"Yes, Tia Ella," he replied. Ranger introduced Ella to Stephanie and Jay, "Ella, meet Stephanie Plum and her son, Jay. Babe, Ella is my aunt."
Jay replied, "It's a pleasure to meet you." His stomach grumbled again. "Sorry, I'm starving."
Ella smiled as she hugged her great-nephew and Stephanie. She was happy her nephew found his Babe. Her smile disappeared when she remembered Julie. Pulling Ranger to the door, she whispered, "Will you tell them about Julie?" Ranger shook his head no. Ella left, disappointed.
Bobby arrived after they ate to get blood samples from Jay. He hoped to learn what Dickie used to drug him and run a paternity test. Stephanie said Jay was Ranger's son. Until Bobby saw hard evidence, he didn't believe her. Lester, Ranger, Tank and Bobby invested too much money in Rangeman for a money-grabbing woman to topple their plans. Ranger would take him to the mats when he found out, but it was better to ask for forgiveness instead of permission.
It didn't take long for the results to return. Dickie had used an animal tranquillizer on Jay. From the amount found in the sample, it was almost enough to cause serious harm. He printed the results from the paternity test too. Jay was ninety-nine percent Ranger's son. "Son of a bitch," Bobby muttered. "She was telling the truth."
"Who was telling the truth?" Ranger asked as he entered Bobby's office. He snatched the test results from Bobby. "Why did you run this test?"
"Her timing was too good," Bobby replied. "Stephanie lost her job. You got immediately tagged as the boy's father. It was too convenient."
"I knew Jay was my son. Stephanie would not lie about something that important. She refused financial support from me," Ranger snarled. "Mats 0500."
Stephanie and Jay got asked to stay in Ranger's apartment until he returned for protection. She didn't like getting told what to do, so she waited for Ella to gather the dishes, then had her take them to the garage.
"I'm sorry, but we can't let you leave," the voice said as she neared the gate.
"Let me leave, or I'll ram the gate!" Stephanie screamed.
The man wisely opened the gate for her to exit. She drove home and pulled Jay into the apartment. "What the fuck happened, mom?" Jay asked.
"Probably Dickie looking for something," Stephanie replied. She grabbed trash bags and filled them with items from the apartment.
"Mom, all of our clothes got destroyed," Jay said, his chin wobbled. She went into the bedroom to see the mess left behind. Stephanie gave Jay the shirt Ricky gave her fourteen years earlier. It got shredded along with everything else.
"Baby," Stephanie said as she pulled Jay into her lap. They sat in Jay's room and cried. "We can buy new clothes."
"It's going to use most of your money," Jay added.
"Money doesn't matter. I can find another job," Stephanie told her son. "Only you matter to me."
Stephanie heard someone break into her apartment. She grabbed the Glock on her ankle and pointed it towards the open bedroom door. "Babe?" Ranger asked.
"What do you want?" Stephanie asked, lowering her weapon. She turned on the safety and placed the gun back into the ankle holster.
"To bring you home," he replied. Ranger looked around the apartment. "What happened?"
"Probably Dickie. May I borrow your smartphone? Someone stole our computers," Stephanie replied. Ranger unlocked his phone for Stephanie. She accessed her google account to recover the video from the cameras. "Yup. Dickie. He helped Edgar Martin with the illegal business practices. I have everything proving his involvement."
Ranger reached out his hand to view the video. His eyes showed increasing irritation as he watched Dickie destroy everything in the apartment. Stephanie and Ranger vibrated from anger. They needed to vent their frustrations.
"Mom," Jay said, trying to get Stephanie's attention. He tried a few more times to break her concentration before he touched her face and yelled, "Mom!"
"Oh. Sorry, Jay. I need to find a gym," she said.
Silently, Ranger grabbed Stephanie's hand and pulled her to her feet. He called someone to collect Stephanie's car and drove his family back to Rangeman. "Carlos, when Bobby took Jay's blood, did he run a paternity test?" He nodded. "I'm going to kill him," she growled.
"It proved I'm Jay's biological father." Ranger mentioned that he called Bobby to the mats in the morning. Stephanie couldn't wait that long.
Ella met them in the gym. She gave Stephanie clothes to wear. Ranger cleared out the locker room for Stephanie to change into yoga pants and a sports bra. Stephanie sat on the floor to stretch her muscles. Bobby walked into the gym when she stood up. "You," she pointed to Bobby. "In the ring. Now!"
Bobby removed his shoes, guns and other weapons. Lester wrapped his hands while Jay wrapped Stephanie's hands. "Show them what you've got, mom," Jay whispered. He grabbed a new guard from the basket and placed it into her mouth.
Stephanie feigned a few shots to gauge Bobby's reactions. She got him to watch her hands as she swept his feet from beneath him. He fell hard to the mats. Stephanie waited for him to get back on his feet. Bobby punched her shoulder. Leaning into him, she raised her knee and hit him in the gonads as hard as possible. He fell to the mats, clutching his balls. "I am not a liar. Do not ever run a test without my permission again. Got it?" Stephanie asked.
"Yes. Need your permission," Bobby replied.
Lester pulled Bobby from the ring. Cal noticed Stephanie still was charged to fight. "Come on, Hal. We need to help Steph blow off steam," Cal said. Hal obediently followed his friend to the ring. Both Hal and Cal got ready to spar with Stephanie.
Ranger watched Stephanie spar with Cal and Hal. He had never been more turned on in his life. She handled the two men with ease. "Someone wrap Jay's hands," Stephanie called.
"I can handle it, dad. Trust me," Jay said as Ranger reluctantly wrapped his hands.
"Show them what you've got, baby," Stephanie added while she climbed out. She stood in front of Ranger, preventing him from entering the ring. "Don't help, Ranger. You have got to let him defend himself. We don't need to live at Rangeman for protection."
Ranger realized the mistake he had made earlier. His Babe and son don't need protecting. "Wow. Did you see Jay flip Hal?" Lester asked. Lester moved closer to Ranger and Stephanie to talk. Ranger wrapped his arms around Stephanie to stop himself from entering the ring to help.
"Does Rangeman have a gun range?" Stephanie asked.
"Babe?" Ranger asked.
"Jay and I apparently have to prove ourselves to you. While we're playing show and tell, we may as well show all of our cards," Stephanie replied.
"Thanks for sparring with me, Uncle Hal, Uncle Cal. I feel better," Jay said.
"Anytime, buddy. If you need us, I'm extension 404, and Cal is extension 414," Hal said.
Ranger held Stephanie's hand as he took them down to the level below the garage. He opened the large door and turned on the lights. "I use a Glock. Jay's used my weapon before," Stephanie stated when Ranger opened the gun drawers.
"Who taught you how to shoot?" Ranger asked after Stephanie unloaded her magazine into the centre of the heart.
"Grandpa Plum. I taught Jay," Stephanie replied.
Ranger pulled Jay's target closer and whistled. "I'm impressed," he said. Jay nodded before grabbing the broom to sweep up the spent shells. Stephanie helped Ranger clean the guns and replace them in the drawer. "You can handle my weapon anytime you want." He pressed himself into Stephanie's back. She moaned from the pressure.
Jay smiled as he used the phone to dial extension 414. "Hi, Uncle Cal. May I crash on your couch tonight? My parents need time alone. Thanks." He noticed Ranger's erection when he watched his mom fight and shoot in the range.
Cal waited beside the elevator for Jay to arrive. When the door opened, he waved to Ranger and Stephanie before guiding Jay to his apartment. "Your Tia Ella left some clothes for you. The school principal got informed that you're home until Dickie Orr gets captured," Cal explained.
"I heard Lester say that Manny got in trouble for letting mom and me through the gate earlier," Jay said, curious if it was true.
"Ranger was furious. We haven't caught Dickie yet," Cal stated.
"Check at Joyce Barnhardt's house. Grandpa heard he likes to fuck the slut," Jay added.
"Hey, Lester. Jay said to check with Joyce Barnhardt for Dickie Orr. I've got Jay for the night. Okay, let me know if you find him," Cal said and hung up.
Jay was exhausted from the excitement of the day. He didn't take long to fall asleep on the couch. Cal lifted the boy and placed him on the bed. Lester texted to say they found him hiding in Barnhardt's closet.
"Why did Jay tell you to look in Barnhardt's home?" Lester asked.
"When Stephanie left Dickie at the altar, her father said Dickie got caught hanging around Joyce Barnhardt. Mr. Plum said that Dickie's been frequenting her house since," Cal explained. "Do you want to contribute?" Cal shook the coffee tin in his hand.
"What are we saving for?" Lester wondered.
"Hal and I are taking up a collection. Jay said Dickie destroyed everything in the apartment. They don't have any furniture, food or clothes," Cal stated.
"They should live here. We have an apartment available," Lester added.
"I don't think Stephanie would like that. She hates getting forced to do anything," Cal explained.