Chapter 17 Undercover
Tank woke up the following morning, finding the space beside him empty. He shook his head as he wondered why Stephanie was awake before him. Tank heard someone moving around downstairs. He got up and walked down the stairs and saw Stephanie watching some tv.
"There you are," Tank came up behind her and put his arms around her neck. "I woke up in bed alone."
"Sorry. I woke up, and you looked peaceful sleeping."
Tank kissed the top of her head and went into the kitchen. He went into the fridge and called out, "Little one, what do you want to eat?"
"I would love to have some Pancakes," she replied a second before seeing Ranger standing outside the window. Stephanie gasped loud enough for Tank to hear.
"Little one, what is wrong?" Tank asked as he approached his wife.
"Ranger," Stephanie said, pointing towards the front door. Before Tank could open the door to his friend, Ranger had entered the house.
"I am not pleased that you and Tank are together. I thought you were mine," Ranger told Stephanie. She bristled from his cold words.
"Boss, we did not plan this, and we really love each other," Tank explained.
"Tank, you are lucky that you handled Morelli the way you did. But if you ever hurt her, you will be in some serious trouble, and I will be watching you." After delivering his threat, Ranger turned and walked out of Tank's house.
Tank noticed that Stephanie was shaking. "Little one." Tank came up to her and just held her until she settled.
"Okay, Tank. I am really scared now," Stephanie confessed.
"Yeah, so am I," Tank admitted as he held her. They looked out the glass insert in the door to watch Ranger get in his SUV and leave.
"I want to go back to New York," Stephanie said aloud.
"Listen, Stephanie, I have family out there. I can put in for some vacation time. We can get away for a couple of weeks. While we are down there, I can search for a new job," Tank suggested.
"He will try to find us," Stephanie stated.
"I know, but I feel this is the only way right now," Tank told his wife as he was holding her. "I know there was something off with Ranger. I don't think he is the real Ranger. I think he is an imposter; I just need to prove it."
Tank and Stephanie heard an odd noise. It sounded like the wall was ringing. "Is the wall ringing?" Stephanie asked.
"Yeah, I knew he was not the real Ranger." Tank punched the wall three times. All of a sudden, Stephanie saw a satellite phone.
"Are you kidding me?" Stephanie said, surprised to find a phone hidden inside the wall.
"Hey, Boss, what is going on? I just saw you at my place," Tank asked.
"I need you and Babe in New York. Take some time off to visit family," the Real Ranger said, then cut the call.
"Okay, I will put the time in right now." Tank left the kitchen and went to his office, with Stephanie following him.
He filled out a vacation request sheet. After the form got filled out, he sent it to processing with Human services.
A few minutes later, that fax machine started printing. Tank looked at the paper to see the message, "Vacation request approved for Tank Sherman and Stephanie Sherman."
"Pack a bag, little one. We are going back to New York," Tank told her, smiling.
"Yes! I would jump up and down if I could," Stephanie said, returning his smile.