Ranger, Steph, and Raphael, belong to Janet. Olive, Ranger's new buddies, and any mistakes, are solely mine.

I was ready to put this incident behind us ... Raphael received some closure, I made my point, and two more asshole will be off the streets ready to immediately be 'lost' in the system. But I can't deny Stephanie anything. Her wanting in on this, and hands-on insight into how we operate, isn't something I can say no to. I should want to protect her from this darker side of life, but I can't help but want to support her participation in combating it.

"Which entrance would you like to make, Babe? Air, land, or mini-sea?"

"I'm feeling vengeful, not stupid. You know I hate being wet and cold. And I'm not purposely jumping out of anything unless it's a half-second away from crashing. I'm taking land ... the smaller the mountain the better if that's an option. These jerks are the ones who should be suffering unspeakable horrors, not me."

"Can she travel with us everywhere?" Snare asked me.

"No. She has children, a husband, two dogs, and a company, who need her more than your morale does."

"Says you."

"And what I say is the only thing you need to pay attention to," I told him.

"As Kane stated, there's enough of me to go around, Guys," my wife said. "And there are plenty of you to show me what to do and when. Who's up first?"

"That would be me," I informed her. "Choose your weapon and direction. Either trail will cut them off."

"I want something that leaves a mark ... or at least a brightly-colored splotch on them. Though I wouldn't be totally opposed to shooting something fiery over their heads to make them run faster."

"As in an RPG?" Slipdisk asked her, already turning to get something from the outcropping behind him. "I never leave home without one."

"No," I told him.

"I do have a history of blowing things up even when there's no explosives or incendiaries near me. Ranger's right, something that intentionally makes things light up, I should steer clear of. I'll take the closest thing you have to a paintball gun."

He started to hand her his own weapon, but I took it before she could touch it. My people know what to do in every possible situation, more importantly ... they know to follow my orders without question, but their senses of humor always have to be monitored. I checked to make sure the bullets loaded were for play only. It would be just like them to shoot something to pieces right beside either Archie before tagging the fuckers with only paint, just to fuck with their heads a little more.

My impromptu weapon-inspection got me grins all around. "You don't trust me?" 'Disk-man' asked.

"If I didn't trust you, you wouldn't be here or anywhere near my wife. I do, however, know how you keep yourselves amused. Stephanie can hold her own in any fight, but she has different rules of engagement than we're used to."

"Got it. Protect the missus while she protects those who don't deserve the consideration."

"That sums it up. You sure about this, Babe?" I asked, turning to her but still hesitating to arm her.

"Ranger, I made and then pushed our little human out of me ... a game of scare-tag in the woods should be a piece of cake compared to pregnancy and labor. It helps that I know these assholes can't shoot me back, though. I wouldn't hold up under the stress you guys are normally confronted with."

"I'm glad you brought your daughter up, Mrs. Ranger," Sampson said. "While we're here in your area, we were hoping we'd also get to meet the little one before we head back to work."

"You're all welcome anytime. Olive will love having more Uncles fussing over her."

"We don't fuss, Ma'am," Snare proudly stated.

This time I grinned. "You'll start three minutes after she smile at you," I warned. "Her dimples will cripple you."

"Bring it," he shot back.

How quickly they forget how, with only one teardrop threatening to fall, Julie had two of them putting tourniquets on her invisi-injured Teddy Bear. They'll be reminded how easily they can fall in love soon enough. Toby the Bear recovered faster than they did.

"This is fun," Steph told me.

"It's about to get more so. If you'd like to take a stroll through the woods with me, which way are you feeling... right or left? I can hear our prey already."

"I don't hear anything."

"Trust me ..."

"I do. So I choose the path 'left' traveled."

That answered got her a glove-covered fist-bump from Sampson.

"Follow me," I instructed, handing over her weapon of choice while pulling out mine ... which does contain actual bullets.

It's early in the afternoon due to Steph and I wanting to make this trip while Olive is taking her nap, but under dense foliage, it appears as dark as dawn. She kept her body against mine as we made our way down the path ... stepping over rocks, branches, and around more of my men who are still having fun 'playing'. They're pleased that their group now includes the man of honor … Raphael.

I tugged Steph up and over a slightly steeper embankment and moved us both into a small copse of trees. I motioned to everyone to remain quiet and used my hand to signal to Snare and Lincoln to spread out on either side of us. I want Stephanie to have her moment, but she's not moving even a millimeter without plenty of cover.

We all stayed motionless until everyone could now hear the unmistakable sound of an amateur's approach. Both Archies are dragging. By the uneven cadence made by one proves he's literally dragging a left leg ... a hazard of not knowing the terrain or how to rappel down whatever they come across. I touched Steph's shoulder to get her eyes on me. I held up three fingers and she nodded her understanding.

When I got down to just my index finger, I used it to point to our right. She lit out ahead of me and fired off two shots just like I've taught her, hitting each man with a pellet to the chest, not perfectly centered over their hearts, but close enough that my pride and my dick swelled in response to her actions. She had moved with so little noise, just a blast of cold air blowing through the trees masked the sound of her impending attack.

"Hi, jerks 1 & 2. Funny meeting you out here in the middle of nowhere."

Their reaction time was slow due to physical exhaustion, sleep deprivation, and having every sense stretched to the breaking point. It's difficult to tell where Steph had just tagged them, with their bodies and clothes completely saturated with paint and dye, but it's clear they felt the newest shots from where their hands shot to.

"It must suck to be you two. First, a seriously-injured guy just about took the two of you out despite the pain he was in. And now 'a girl' would've ended you before you even realized we've been standing here watching you stumble down the trail."

The older of the two brothers opened his mouth, but I smacked it shut. "My lady wasn't finished speaking," I informed them.

"Yeah, asshole," Sampson added, "where are your manners at?"

"If you two idiots learned nothing else this past week, at least you know exactly how Raphael felt, being surprised and then hurt just for moseying on by. Since you'll need things to do for the short time you'll be alive in prison, think hard about this ... you should be thanking God none of us are 'like you' otherwise you both wouldn't be walking outta here. You would've been buried over there," she said, pointing to a small clearing that's thick with partially decomposed Fall leaves, "five days ago."