The grip he held on Santos neck was slowly tightened. The conference room was silent, there were no harsh breathing coming from anyone. Carlos was silent, Santos harsh breathing sounded loud in the quiet room. No one moved to intervene nor said a thing. But I slowly moved towards them, I could see Tank shake his head to stop me but I kept going. I placed my hand on his shoulder; I could see the veins down his arm bulging. I squeezed his shoulder a little just to get his attention. I did not want him to do anything he would regret later. I'm sure it was a joke, Santos looks like a jokester. I didn't want to interfere and make it seems like he cannot handle this on his own. I do not want him to look weak in front of his peers, but I had to stop it.

"Carlos, you don't have to do this"

"Babe, stand back"

"Carlos, I need you to step away"

When his hand uncurled from Santos's neck, he quickly stepped back. I barely got out of the way. His chest moved rapidly up and down.

"Santos, 2 hours, mats." His spoke softly but the command was heard. The look in his eyes sent a shiver down my spine. I moved to take a seat at the table, but my hand was taken and I was lead out of the room.

It was a blur from there to an empty office. The room was dark, our bodies pressed together with my back against the door. It felt as if the temperature in the room went up. The heat radiating from his body was warming the front of mine, I felt every inch of hard muscle. The sudden urge to kiss him was strong. The feeling of my heart pounding in my chest, the tingling of my fingers, and the humongous butterflies in my stomach made me feel like a little school girl with her first crush. He had to have felt it also. His hands traveled from my hips to the base of my skull, he tilted my head up until I could look in his eyes. Those dark eyes held emotions too hard to describe from just one look in his eyes. This man who consumed my every thought wanted me. He wanted me, Stephanie Plum, the traumatized girl from the Burg. And when our lips met, I knew that I would be ruined. His kisses would be something I craved from days to come.

We were so wrapped up in each other that when someone knocked twice on the door I jumped at the sound. It's like he took over everything, I could feel him, taste him, and breathe in his scent. In at that moment with a chest tighten realization, Carlos Manoso, he would become the only man for me.

With a one last kiss ending in a bite of the lip, he pulled back and rested his forehead against mine. Before moving his hands to rest upon my shoulders as he pulled back.

"We should go back" I just nodded and took a deep breath. His voice was deep and accented.

"We should" my voice cracked with each word.

We slowly made our trek back to the conference room. While we were gone, the table had been set up with the notes and pictures from the case. A white board in the back of the room had a map of Trenton with little black push pins in different locations. Pictures of who I assumed were informants and potential suspects also pinned. I avoided the lingering eyes of his partners and begin to dispense my notes and evidence to the others. Carlos went around the table and sat in a chair at the top leaving me at the end. I sat in my chair and looked to Carlos to start the meeting.

"Everyone, this is Stephanie Plum, and she has been assigned to this case as a Forensics consult. She has experience with solving difficult and cold cases, and find evidence that some people either have tampered with or lost. She's the best we have and she will be shown respect." He didn't have to look at Santos for him to hang his head when Carlos spoke. "This case that the Trenton PD handed over to us is going to be difficult, but I'm sure we can handle this case. This particular case has similarities to the serial killer Poet back in California. We know the killer is not the Poet, because he was found dead a week ago."

When he said that Tank looked at him in surprise, "I just got the intel this morning."

"How do they know that have the right guy? What if he had a partner and the partner did him in."

"The suspect was found surrounded by poems and a bookshelf filled with homemade DVDs. Detailing his crimes, they've solved a lot of cold cases."

"Babe why don't you tell us what you know."

"Two days ago, I received this Jane Doe from one of the other forensic guys, my uncle is the police chief and he wanted me to look at her. They found her in an abandon Church down this dirt road. The neighbors are at least a half a mile away, and the only way they found her is because their dogs came home with a piece of her blouse with blood on it. There was a blood red shard of glass that was different from the shattered glass in her hair. There was bruising indicating that someone put her head through a glass window. The glass from the body did not match the glass from the church. She was killed at another location and dumped. How anyone could not tell the difference between the pieces of glass from the scene and the body is beyond me."

"Babe" I amused him.

"What's really strange about this case is that a couple of months ago, a body turned up with similar injuries but the rib bones were intact and they couldn't get to the heart. What's even stranger is that this case was handled by the police in the next town over and all the forensic files are missing."

"So, you think someone is tampering with evidence from the inside."

"I know someone is, just last week I went back to my lab because I forgot my badge. When I came to my door, the door I keep locked, it was opened and two cops I've never interacted with before were roaming my office. When I caught them that acted like they were lost. I couldn't voice my suspicions because there were two of them and I know I'm not strong enough to overpower them both. Plus they had guns."

Carlos let out a pained Babe, "What? I carry my Mace and Taser now."

He just shook his head and smirked, "Be careful Babe, I don't want your brothers to come after me."

Just as I rolled my eyes both our phones started to ring.

"Plum" "Manoso"

"Steph we need you to come down to Pond Run there's been another one." Carl spoke in hush tones, "Chief's on the scene and he's asking for you."

"Ok give me 15 minutes I'm not that far from Hamilton."

"Steph hurry it seems like you have someone down here that doesn't want you on the case."

I hung up and turned to Carlos, he was hanging his phone up also.

"So I guess we're going to Pond Run?"

"Let's move"

When we arrived on the scene several officers formed a barricade around the area. Carlos and I walked the perimeter; I could tell he was taking in his surroundings. Looking and detailing every little thing he could. When he came upon the victim, there was a larger white canvas sheet covering the body. My uncle and two other officers were standing around while a forensic team searching and cataloging evidence around the body.

"Stephanie, glad you could make it." My uncle walked towards me.

"What happened?"

"You wouldn't believe it If I told you." I looked at him expectedly, waiting for him to start. "We got an anonymous call from a voice stating the directions on where we could find the body and they mentioned your name."

"What?"

"The calling specifically said that you had to be at the scene."

"With all due respect chief, is it wise for her to be here? Did you not think that this would be a trap for her?" Carlos spoke to my uncle with his blank stare.

"I would not put my niece in harm's way, Agent Manoso."

"Well guess what you did."

I looked at my uncle with a sick feeling in my stomach. My dad always told me I had good instincts, so when I feel this sick feeling I began to glance around. And across the road hidden in bushes I saw a figure crouched down with a shiny object pointed towards us. Carlos must have seen the person also, because before I could say anything I was pushed to the ground.

"Everyone down NOW!"

I could hear them slamming themselves to the ground and drawing their weapons. I don't know who shot first but when the gunfire was over I lifted my head up to see the damage. Carlos got up and quickly made his way to see if the person was still in the bushes. I looked to my left and saw that the two officers were shot, and my uncle had a dart sticking out of his neck. It looked to me as if the intent was to kill everyone and kidnap me. But why?

Thanks for reading!