Sorry about the cliffie in the last chapter. Or, not sorry... Here comes the next chapter, short, but some action.
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Chapter 17. Taken
When Steph woke she didn't recognize her surroundings at first. She was lying down on what felt like a bed, there was a snoring sound to her side, and she was both parched and in need of a toilet. She tried to sit up, and discovered that she was dizzy and nauseous. She couldn't sit either, her right hand was restrained. She also realized that she wasn't wearing any clothes. Looking towards the snoring she saw Joe Morelli beside her in the bed. He was stark naked and stank of booze. Looking around again she recognized Joe's bedroom. She tried to put everything together, but her thoughts were muddled and slow. She looked at her restrained hand and saw that she was handcuffed to the bedpost. Trying not to wake Joe she looked around for the keys or anything else that could help her.
The bedroom was dark and she tried to take her bearings, fumbling in the dark. She had just found some clothes on the floor beside the bed when she heard the sound from a muted cell phone. Apparently Joe hadn't been thinking clearly. It was her own cell phone, and she could reach it!
"Hello," she whispered.
"Babe?"
"Ranger?"
She started to cry.
"Are you alright?"
"No, I'm not. I'm handcuffed to Joe Morelli's bed. My mum must have helped him kidnap me."
"You're what!?"
"Please, Ranger. Just come and help me get out of here. Joe's sleeping, and I don't know for how long."
"Five minutes."
"Please, don't hang up on me. Even if you can't talk, I just want to hear you breathing at the other end."
She cried as silently as possible, interspersed with quiet sobs. She could hear a car's engine, and Ranger breathing.
"I'm here, Babe. I'll be with you soon."
He talked to her in a quiet and soothing voice, while she sat as far away from Morelli on the bed as she could.
Ranger was a man of his word. Five minutes later he stood in Joe Morelli's bedroom. Stephanie huddled under a blanket. In a cold rage he silently walked towards the bed. Clinically he made sure that Joe Morelli wouldn't be awake for quite some time. He then helped Stephanie to get out of the cuffs. She threw herself in his arms, sobbing and sniffling. He just held her.
"Please, Babe," he said. "What happened?"
Ranger soon realized that he wouldn't get a clear answer, just broken pieces. What he did hear made him furious.
"He's dead," he calmly said.
Steph was inconsolable, but managed to make him promise not to kill either Morelli or her mother.
He helped Steph with her clothes, made sure she had all her things, and took some pictures of the scene. He then viciously cuffed Morelli to the bed spread eagle, and made sure he had neither cell phone nor keys in his vicinity. He also made sure he would be pissing blood for the next days.
He then helped her out of the house and into the car.
"Babe. Do you need a doctor? Did he…" he fell silent.
"No, he didn't rape me. There's no way he would have used a condom."
"Are you OK with Bobby taking some blood? I think we should have some blood tests done, to know what you were drugged with."
Steph started crying again.
"Not Bobby, I don't want anyone to know, I'm so ashamed, my own mum…"
Her sobs was getting louder, and he quickly fastened her seat belt.
"I promise not to tell anyone," he said. "I know a nurse who will help with the blood test, and not tell anyone. And she doesn't know you or anyone from the Burg. And she owes me."
Steph passed out in the passenger seat, and he silently drove through the night to the secret address. He carried Steph inside, and the nurse helped with the blood tests. She also made Steph leave a urine sample."
"I'll mail you the results." she said.
"Thank you."
He helped Steph inside the car again. She was still crying silently and then fell asleep again. She was totally out of it, but the nurse had assured him that it was the aftereffect from the drugs plus the trauma of the situation, there wasn't anything physically wrong, at least not after the drugs were out of her system.
At first he had planned to go to Haywood, but seeing Steph crying in her sleep, he knew that she needed solitude. He only hoped that she would want him around, and not be upset that he, in a way, also abducted her.
He drove for a couple of hours. Ranger called Rangeman confirming that he was going to his beach house, punched in the code at the gates, and looked directly at the surveillance camera, and finally parked the car. Steph was still out of it. He left her in the seat while he opened the door to the house, and then carried her inside. The house was a bit dusty, but he gently laid her down on the sofa and made the bed. He carefully carried her to the bed, and undressed her, put her in one of his t-shirts and undressed himself. After her experience he didn't want her to wake up alone, or in a bed with a naked man, so he put on a t-shirt and basket shorts. He held her close, and finally managed to go to sleep.