Recap: Backstory on Susan, and Stephanie tears her fishnets and garter. She smells Bvlgari behind her and assumes it's Ranger, only to find out it's Williams.

Stephanie

OK, play it cool. You wanted him? Now he's here. Play along.

"Why thank you." I said in as seductive a voice as I could muster. I hope it came out as a purr and not a squeak, but I'm not sure.

Williams reached down and worked with the clip, trying to open it up so the jammed-in strands would come loose. I turned my head to my other side, adjusting my garter and trying not to let my feeling of revulsion show.

Suddenly I felt a slight pain in my leg. I gasped, and turned to look. Williams had accidentally scratched me while fiddling with the clip. It wasn't anything really, no more than accidentally scratching a mosquito bite too hard, but the faintest trace of blood beaded on my skin.

"Get your hands off her!" boomed a voice, and there was a whistle through the air.

Susan

I could tell Stephanie was uncomfortable, Williams couldn't see her face, but I could. She was unhappy, but trying to hide her emotions. This was exactly what we wanted, for him to become interested in one of us, and if it was Stephaine, so much the better. She was used to taking down men on her own, I usually had an anesthesiologist do it for me by the time I entered the operating theatre.

But the urge to protect is strong in a doctor, and when he nicked her with a fingernail while digging around he drew blood. It didn't matter that I deal with gunshots a few times a week, and occasionally detached limbs, it still made me mad to see her hurt. She was wearing a light kimono to cover the bruises on her arm, but I'd seen them when she was getting ready in the van. She didn't need this creep touching her and scratching her up as well. All that went through my mind in a fraction of a second, and I took my riding crop and smacked him on the arm hard enough to raise a welt.

"Get your hands off her!" I bellowed at him.

Stephanie and Bobby looked at me, horrified. I felt terrible, had I just ruined our chances? If we had to drag him out of here forcefully someone might get hurt trying to prevent us from 'kidnapping' him. If we waited until he left on his own his armed guards might be there to pick him up. Shit, shit, shit. I might have just lost a boatload of money for Rangeman, and risked this asshole escaping. All because I couldn't overlook an injury that would be forgotten in minutes.

"I'm sorry mistress." came a quiet voice. Williams had his hands folded in front of his stomach, his head down. It was a very submissive pose. But something else was looking up. Through his pants I could see a bulge starting to grow. Seems we'd found his type, and it was me.

Ranger

I followed Natasha Williams to the buffet, trying to remember how to flirt with someone I didn't know. Stephanie seemed to think I just smiled at women and they fell into my lap. That did happened sometimes, but not reliably enough to take it for granted in a high stakes situation like this. It had been a long time since I'd tried to pick up a woman in a bar, ever since meeting Stephanie casual sex hadn't held much interest for me. I was out of practice.

"Hi there." That seemed a decent start.

"Hello."

Shit. Now what. Shoes, women cared about shoes, right?

"Nice shoes. Where did you get them?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. I needed to step my game up. I'd read the file on her, but we'd had precious little information. This job had come up so quickly we hadn't been able to do more that a cursory background check on her, and so we had nothing before she came to the US 2 years ago. She was Eastern European, and had no record of anything criminal. She married Williams a few days after coming to this country, so presumable they had met overseas and gotten engaged there.

She looked past me at the food sitting in the chafing dishes, grimacing a little. "Don't zey have anything healthy here?"

I looked at them too. "Seems not, I'm glad I had a salad before I came here."

She nodded. "My husband doesn't care at all about what he eats, it's a struggle to even get him to take a vitamin."

"Try gummy vitamins. Maybe he'll eat them if it feels like candy."

"I'm sorry, my English is not perfect. Gum-my?"

"Vitamins that are easily chewed and taste sweet. I don't like how they taste, but my girlfriend does. She lives on meatball subs and Boston Creme Donuts, I've no idea how she does it."

She smiled at me. I had to get used to referring to Stephanie as my 'girlfriend' to someone who didn't know us both. It seemed we were so much more than that, but I didn't have a better word. 'Love of my life whom I don't deserve and have killed to protect' seemed a bit of a mouthful.

"I try to eat healthy, but getting Martin to do the same? It is like, what is word?" She mimed using a tool in her mouth.

"Pulling teeth?" I suggested.

"Ah, yes. Pulling teeth. It is pizza and fried chicken for every meal."

I nodded. "Americans. Food is so abundant they forget what it is for."

She looked at me. "Are you not American?"

"I am. But my parents were immigrants. They grew up with scarcity, and taught me to never take anything for granted. They told me many stories over the years of what it was like to not have enough."

She nodded solemnly. "It can be difficult to come to another country, leave everything behind, even if you know it is best for you and your family. I send money home to my parents, they are too old to work anymore."

I seemed to be getting through to her. Maybe I remembered how to do this after all. Make the connection with her, let her see what you have in common. "It's a brave thing to do. My parents were newlyweds when they came here. They wanted a better life for their children. Later they brought over my grandparents, but they landed in Miami with nothing but the clothes on their back, and me growing inside my madre."

She smiled softly at me. I was getting through to her. "Then you are immigrant too, just, much smaller." Her smile really was lovely. Not as lovely as Stephanie's, but I could see why Williams had brought this woman halfway around the world to be with her.

Susan

This was working out better than we could have hoped. Seems Martin Williams wanted a dominatrix. We might be able to tie him up without a fight.

He was staring at the floor. Well, his head was staring at the floor. His Mr. Happy was pointed right up to the ceiling.

"Get down on all fours and apologize for hurting her." I barked. Let's see how far I could take this.

He immediately dropped to his knees, kissing Stephanie's leg. "I'm so sorry. I beg your forgiveness for marking your flawless skin."

Perfect. I whacked him on the ass with my crop. Not hard, but enough to let him know I was there. He let out a moan that was part pain and part pleasure.

"And what will you do it make it up to her?"

"Anything, anything." he pleaded. Perfect.

Plan A was to get him into the adjoining sex shop, where some of Bobby's friends could meet us and help drag him away. So, the best course of action was to move him there, preferably already trussed up.

"You're going to replace her ripped stockings. And then you are going to get on your knees and eat her out until she has come at least twice." Stephanie looked at me horrified, but I kept going. "And then, if you do a very, very good job, I will tie you to a bed and ride you like the filthy little man-whore you are."

He nodded vigorously, giving me enough time to send Stephanie a comforting look. She wasn't happy, but she would follow my lead. I lifted my crop, subtly tapping the wire behind my ear to turn on the transmitter.

"Get up, you have some shopping to do. And put your hands behind your back, you lost the privilege of using them when you marred her flesh. You've also lost the privilege of talking, since your voice is annoying."

He put his hands behind his back, and I snapped some fur-covered cuffs over his wrists. He struggled to stand up without them, so I yanked on his collar to get him verticle. Then I stuffed the ball gag in his mouth and cinched the straps closed. He had a huge grin on his face, which made me feel relieved. As long as he looked happy, we could walk through the crowd and no one would bother us. I pointed him in the right direction and smacked his ass with the palm of my hand, starting the journey that should land him in a cell within the hour.

Hal

Some jobs suck. Some are awesome. And then there are the jobs that are really awesome but you get stuck outside doing the sucky part. This was one of those jobs.

I looked at Cal, who was watching the monitors. No idea why, we only had audio on this job, maybe it was just habit. Cal is a little awkward around people. Not sure if the skull tatoo is a symptom or a cause of that, but it's true.

Our radio crackled to life, and a voice I only vaguely recognized came through. "Get up, you have some shopping to do. And put your hands behind your back, you lost the privilege of using them when you marred her flesh."

Cal nodded to me, and the two of us climbed out of the van, trying to look natural in case there were cameras pointed at the parking lot.

Stephanie

I really hoped this worked. If we could get him into the shop, then I wouldn't have to think about him touching me. It had been so meaningful when it was Ranger, and even Lester. Men whom I trusted with my life on a regular basis. Williams was just a scumbag in a suit. I'd trusted Susan when she laid out the plan, but I hoped to high heaven we didn't have to go anywhere past him buying me stockings.

I followed the two of them as they entered the hallway to the store. Bobby was next to me. It felt odd to have him instead of Ranger, but he was keeping Mrs. Williams occupied. When we had started to move, he had turned his body so she would be looking away from us. We didn't know enough about her to know how she would react to seeing her husband being smacked along like a pony while in handcuffs. Luckily she was talking with the hottest guy on the planet, so she should stay distracted.

I had been a little surprised that a powerful finance guy would be into humiliation and being dominated, but the conversation I had had with Lula last week (was it really only last week?) sprung to my mind.

"on my corner, it was the gang leaders that wanted you to tie them up and sit on them way more than the low-down members. Sex is about fantasy, and you fantasize about what your life isn't, not what it is."

Maybe it made sense that the powerful man with bodyguards and more millions than I had dollars would be into BDSM.

We turned around the corner in the hallway, and opened the door into the Dream Boutique. Cal and Hal were there, casually perusing a rack of porn magazines. They met my eye for a fraction of a second, before setting down their props and casually strolling over to us.

Hal

I had to give it to Bomber and Susan. They had delivered the package, already cuffed and gagged, into our waiting hands. I had the paperwork tucked into the back of my shirt if anyone objected to us carrying this guy off, but the only other people in there were the clerks, so we weren't expecting any trouble.

I sidled over to the group, trying not to be distracted by how good Stephanie looked. Ranger was one lucky bastard. I tapped my wire, but Williams ignored me until I grabbed his arm.

"Martin Williams, you are in violation of your bond. I have authorization from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to bring you in for failing to appear for your court date."

He struggled, but I picked him up and threw him over my shoulder. With his arms cuffed behind his back and his mouth gagged, it was easier than trying to pick up one of Tank's cats to bring it to the vet. The clerk started to object, but I pulled out the paperwork, and Stephanie grabbed it and held it open to the man, explaining what it was, and what Williams had done. After 30 seconds he nodded, by which point I was already mostly out of the door.

Less than 90 seconds after he had walked into the store, Martin Williams was cuffed on the floor of our van, ready to be delivered to the cops. I tapped my wire, "Package acquired and secured. Mission accomplished."

I love it when a plan comes together.