They see us walking
We're the talk of the town
There ain't no stopping us now

Niykee Heaton – Devil

Continued from Chapter 17.

Rhodes joined me as we walked from Ramos's house to the sleek vehicles we'd arrived in. "Hannibal Ramos is not in Santa Barbara with his wife"

I sighed. "That would be too easy" I stopped walking, as did Rhodey. The others continued as they'd been told. "Here's what we're going to do." I gave him a succinct view of the plan that had been floating around in my head for longer than I cared to admit.

"This was your plan all along"

I shrugged. "Not really. It pays to be prepared"

Rhodes shook his head. "Was it his idea or yours?"

My hesitation to answer was answer enough.

"You don't have to go ahead with it. You could run"

"Serious ideas only please" I said with a small smile, pushing him towards the Audi Q5. "Go. Stay with me until it's too late. You do not come back for me. Whatever he tells you to do, you do. If he tells you to leave me to rot, you do it"

Rhodes gives me a nod, his eyes tight. He's too loyal for his own good. Loyalty to me will cost him more than it pays.

He climbs into the passenger seat of the Audi, I watch his lips move as he gives instructions to Leo. Rhett and Carter file into the back but Julian hangs back. I had left James and Emilio to take care of Gaultier in my absence.

Julian's not a chatty foot soldier of Alejandro's but a good one. He follows orders, keeps to himself and was one of the few who took me at face value. Others were not so quick to trust. But Julian had reason to be thankful to Alejandro and therefore wouldn't hesitate fulfil my every whim.

He's holding the door of my own Audi R8 for me, watching me carefully as I approach him. He's started the engine already, the pleasant purr of it ready and waiting.

"Está seguro?" He asks me, his voice is quiet in the night. He's bathed in the lights of the Ramos compound and it makes his serious eyes look almost eerie.

"Por supuesto" I answer without hesitation." Te ha dado órdenes?"

He nods."Si"

"Entonces sabes que es correcto" I reach for the door and he steps back to give me room as I slide into the car.

"Está tomando un riesgo" he replies gravely. It's the first time I've seen him look unhappy. He's not looking at me anymore, instead frowning at the back of the others Audi where the door is left waiting open for him.

"Valdrá la pena" My words bring his attention back to me. This time he says nothing, merely shutting the door gently and dipping his head to let me know he's heard me loud and clear, whether he agrees or not. I watch as he pulls the door of the Q5 shut, the sweep of its light as it pulls out of the drive.

I give them a thirty second head start. I shift my own Audi into gear, settling into the luxurious leather seat. Might as well work in style, I think, not able to help a small smile.

In the scheme of things, this wasn't the worst case scenario. Neither was it the best. Now that I'd spoken to Ramos, I had a better idea of what Ulysses was up to. I just had to find him. By finding Ulysses I would find our target. The end of the path. Mission accomplished.

Ulysses was the middle child of the three Ramos brothers, and until recently, we thought he was the least intelligent. Well that's still up for debate, but he's gone further than the other two could have dreamed.

I knew it was very likely I wouldn't be able to avoid Hannibal without gathering attention in one way or another.. I needed to stay in the country and follow the leads before I could think about returning to Alejandro. Returning empty handed would be a death wish.

There was one other thing. A lead that had been growing stronger and stronger. My spidey sense telling me that the missing piece was something a little bit bigger than a wayward Ramos brother.

I needed to call in a favour.

Two Weeks Earlier – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

"We almost had him" I look up sharply at the word almost. Samuel is relatively new to our organisation. A recruit of Luis's. I hadn't paid him much attention before, but had sent him with Sofia to follow a lead one of our rats had passed us.

He was younger than me. Softer and more innocent than any of us could claim to be. I'd seen him watching me, as if waiting for an opportunity. Keen to impress. It was common knowledge that the quickest way to Alejandro was through me. Most of his lackeys, his army never even saw his face. To them he was just a legend. A myth. If you wanted to get to Alejandro, to raise through the ranks and guarantee your position, your safety, first you had to get through me. It was an attitude that rankled some of the older members of the guard.

But it seemed our newest recruit had a death wish. Words like almost should never be uttered within a mile of Alejandro let alone twenty feet. He was in his study, waiting for me to turn my back on his foot soldiers and knock on the antique mahogany door and to tell him the latest news.

The boy seemed to realise he had mis-stepped. It didn't help that everyone in the room had shared my reaction. "They were protecting him. At least twenty of them against four of us" his eyes are wide, almost pleading with me to listen. To him it sounds rational that twenty should defeat four. To the rest of us it sounds like failure. And the sound of graves being dug.

I turned to Sofia. "Anyone we know?"

She shook her head. "No one in particular. A couple of the usual faces. A woman I had not seen before"

"That's interesting" I say.

She nods. "She was…. determined" Sofia and I share a small smile. Women in this business tend to be particularly devoted to proving themselves when they first start out. We know better than most.

It was also rare. In other organisations, gangs whatever you'd like to call them women were becoming more commonplace. Alejandro now employed many women for his special line of work. Sofia was one he had a particular fondness for. One of the only ones to know his face and have spoken to him in person, she had served him longer than I had. He admired her efficiency.

Whilst Alejandro may have seen qualities in us to value that was not true of men like Jacobo.

Jacobo Felipe Alvarez. Alejandro has always simply referred to him as 'Jonah'. His father, for all his faults was an extremely religious man. He could have quoted entire chapters of the bible without reading a single page. For Alejandro, Jacobo had been a bad omen for more years than he would like to admit.

The man we'd been chasing was one of Jacobo's favourites. An assistant to the man who kept a steady stream of illegal weapons and god knows what else flowing into the US. The man's identity was a mystery. To have such protection would mean he was valuable. He would know enough to lead us to Jacobo and was precious enough that his boss would expend effort on protecting him rather than killing him to eliminate the threat. Most of the time, cartel bosses preferred to cut any potential problems before they occurred. It was very rare that they would leave one for so long unless it was someone close to him or a sicario.

Jacobo must have known for some time now that we were looking for him. Since Alejandro was leaving a trail of destruction everywhere we asked 'questions' this wasn't surprising to me. He had gone into hiding.

"Do we have a heading?"

"Nothing. They were smart enough to split us and keep our attention long enough for the women to slip him away. By the time we had dealt with them, it was too late. Rico's following the car tracks but at least four vehicles drove the same road before he could get on it"

"What effort they are going to" I mused, ignoring the fact they had been the closest to the target and had let him slip away. "The car?"

"Beige Cherokee. Battered, ten years old at least. It would be difficult to find" Most criminals do not register their vehicles. It was likely the Cherokee had been used for one leg of the journey then dumped.

"Make sure Rico keeps looking until he finds it. He does not stop until then" Sofia understands a dismissal when she sees one. She inclines her head before hooking a hand round Samuel's arm and forcibly marching him from the room. He doesn't know how lucky he is that he belongs to Luis. That Alejandro doesn't even know he exists.

Had we known we'd stumble across someone so valuable, I would have sent several more of our men. I would have gone myself. As it was we have been searching or a very long time and kicking up mostly dust and average foot soldiers. Not one of Jonah's more trusted accomplices. We were finally starting to get closer.

I turn on my heel, take exactly eight steps and knock twice, once, three times. In that order. I don't wait for an answer. I don't need to.

I walk in to find Alejandro staring out the left hand side window across the gardens. He's dressed as if he was any other man heading for a business meeting. As long as I've known him, he's had a taste for fine and expensive things whether it be clothes or weapons.

He seems relaxed, hands in pockets I come up behind him to see him watching the gardeners tending to the various sections of the garden. It's vast and well looked after.

I don't bother to wait for him to speak. He despises following convention and wasting time. Every 'mission' we do, every objective we have comes from Alejandro himself. A mouse couldn't run through these grounds without him knowing about it.

"It wasn't just a lackey" I start. Alejandro hums softly telling me to go on. "A detail of twenty for one man being moved across the border"

He tilts his head like a lazy predator, never taking his eyes from the window. "Do we have him?" Alejandro has a deep, low voice that is at its most terrifying when he speaks quietly. When he talks, you listen. When he asks, you jump.

I swipe my tongue over my lower lip. Best to get it over with quickly. "No. They were well prepared. Sofia has told me they had brought out new men, women, to protect him. Whoever it was was important. We're getting closer"

"Not close enough" He muses, he turns suddenly to look at me, his green eyes carefully examining my expression as if he can see all of my darkest secrets.

Alejandro is not an unattractive man by any means. What he is capable of, what he has done in his life dulls his appeal but if you did not know him, if you had passed him on the street you could easily have described him as sex on legs. His build is somewhere between Morelli's and Ranger's. Six foot tall and stronger than he looks. He hasn't done his own dirty work for a very long time but he still trains as if he does and it shows. His skin is smooth caramel and his bone structure could have been carved from stone.

Most people are too imitated to meet him to really look at him properly. Most people don't get to meet Alejandro unless they are being 'taken care of'. I was one of the few that he liked to keep close. Partly because the trust between us was a strange and fragile thing. We worked together by necessity not choice. Every day we worked towards removing the common thread between us.

"The others?" he asks, turning back to the window. He has either found what he was looking for or he's not bothered.

"Cortez told them the drugs that were shipped through last were being met by a group of men who belong to a man called Gaultier" I answer this one easily. We were following several leads at once so it was nice to know at least something had turned up.

Alejandro laughed quietly and the news seemed to appease him.

I rose one eyebrow in question, "Something funny?"

He turned to face me, leaning against the window frame and suddenly much closer than before. The news had put him in a better mood and that was promising if not a little disconcerting. We stood eye to eye as he talked.

"Gaultier is a rat. A small time desperate little drug dealer operating out of New Orleans. He's been getting more and more demanding with his requests to Cortez for some time. He seems to be making a move to expand his territory. It is interesting that such a useless man could have interested Diego" Diego was one of Jacobo's favourite henchman recently killed by Sofia as she chased him in an effort to find answers. He wasn't cooperating so she pulled the plug. No loose ends was a policy that I was not keen on, but kept my mouth shut. Diego had recently been putting 'special requests' to Cortez, the leader of a medium sized drug cartel that usually operated within Alejandro's sphere, not Jacobo's. It was a bold move that Diego wouldn't make unless it was worth it.

"Do you think Diego is interested in the man, or what he can offer?

Alejandro smiled and closed the distance between us so that he could whisper in my ear. "Why don't you go and find out?

Present Day

We had been right to be wary of the eldest Ramos son. That became apparent twenty minutes after we'd left the Ramos compound.

They started to herd us, coming in from multiple directions, trying to head us off before we hit the highway.

While Hannibal undoubtedly wanted me dead and out of his way, he would need to do it quietly. So far the feds had no idea Ramos had such extensive connections. And no matter how much damage it would do to them if the law found out who their new benefactor was, it was no way near what it would be like if he was caught up with me. As I know very well, being friends with Alejandro was a one way ticket. Kind of like being dead, only more painful.

I however, was willing to go to extreme lengths to complete my objective and with one of my more valuable favours cashed in I was ready to go the distance.

If Hannibal Ramos wanted to do this quietly, then I was going to make sure it was anything but.

Lester

It was business as usual at Rangeman.

Lester had been stuck on monitor duty for what felt like years but was really only two weeks. Doctors' orders. Johnny Gelf once upon a time businessman now drug addict FTA had managed to fracture his ribs before he finally wrestled him into a pair of cuffs. As if the whole business wasn't embarrassing enough, he now had to relive the memory of how he got here every day as he watched monitors where absolutely nothing happened hour after hour. It was if all the criminals had gone on holiday and without Steph it made for very boring business.

Hal took the other chair to the left. Policy dictated that at least two men were on monitor duty at all times. No matter how quiet or busy they were. Most days everything ran as clockwork. Occasionally there would be an alarm for one of the accounts, a fieldwork update or undercover check-ins.

So used to a lack of interesting information coming in he at first tuned out the police scanner as it seemed unrelated to any of Rangeman's current ongoing cases and it wasn't an emergency the police couldn't handle.

That was before something plastic hit the side of his face. He immediately turned to face Hal. "What the fuck Hal?" he said, rubbing his cheek. The usually shy Rangeman was sitting bolt upright typing rapidly as he pulled up screen after screen, maps of the state covering not just Trenton but the deal area as well.

"Did you catch that on the scanner?" Hal didn't look away from his work, his fingers flying over the keys.

"No. Was it really worth attacking me for?" Lester asked with his both eyebrows raised in an 'are you kidding me expression'.

Hal didn't even roll his eyes like he might usually. "Cops are chasing a couple of cars on the I-95 towards Monroe Township"

That was out of their immediate jurisdiction. Unless they were working a case they tended to only take notice within so ten or twenty miles of Hamilton Township. "So? Not our problem"

"The cars came from the Ramos compound in Deal. Hannibal Ramos has been spotted in one of the cars"

That was surprising. No one had heard or seen from Hannibal Ramos in a while. The whole family had been keeping a relatively low profile in the last couple of years as far as he knew. Lester sat up straight. "Hannibal, eh? Wonder who he's got caught up with now"

Hal shook his head. "He's not being chased, he's doing the chasing"

Before Lester could ask any more questions, the scanner burst into life again. "Second suspect has been identified. Brunette female in a black Audi R8. All available units respond. Both suspects are believed to be armed and dangerous. First suspect is Hannibal Ramos. We believe the female is Stephanie Plum, wanted for questioning in regards to several cases"

Lester and Hal both froze and stared at each other for an impossibly long second before Hal lunged for the phone and radios and Lester threw himself out onto the main floor at a dead run for Ranger's office.

He didn't pause to knock and barely registered the look on Ranger's face as he blurted out, "You need to come to the monitors. Now" Ranger wasn't moving quickly enough so he went for it. "It's Stephanie"

Lester couldn't decipher the look on Ranger's face but he moved quicker than he believed possible as they headed to the monitor banks.

"Get a car on her. Now" Ranger ordered. "Who's in the field?" he didn't raise his voice but Lester pulled up the duty chart next to the tracker dots on the screen.

"Hector and Bobby are free, but Tank's closer" Hal answered, glancing at Ranger nervously. He'd come a long way since the taser incident, but he was smart enough to know that with Ranger, when it came to Stephanie Plum all bets were off.

"Send Tank to intercept her. Hector and Bobby to follow. Make sure she doesn't lose them whatever happens" he pauses, "f she tries to run, make damn sure you catch her" as soon as Hal nods he turns on his heels and makes a sharp exit.

Lester should have known that Ranger has no intention of leaving this up to his friends and co-workers. When it comes to Stephanie Plum there is only one man he trusts and it's himself.

Tank

He wasn't sure if this was the best news he'd heard in three years or the worst.

Stephanie was back.

She was in New Jersey. The fact that the information had been sent through by Hal left no room for misunderstanding. Ranger was undoubtedly already on the move and if there was one thing he knew after all this time, he couldn't let him get to her first.

After everything Ranger was his friend. And he wasn't convinced that the Stephanie Plum he was headed to retrieve was the same one who left in the first place.

"Traffic cams have tagged her in a black Audi R8. She's moving fast and headed for Monroe Township on the I-95" Hal's voice carried loud and clear through the speakers.

"Ten-four"

The speaker crackled to life again. "And she's not alone"

If he'd had any doubts, they were gone when he saw the black Audi. It was lucky he was in the Mercedes SUV otherwise he'd never have been within sight of her. He was sure that Ranger was only minutes behind him in his Porsche and with the way he'd be driving he had a narrow window.

She was slipping between cars so effortlessly it almost made it possible to ignore how close she was to an accident at any moment. A black Range Rover had caught up to her but so had a second Audi, a silver Q5 His breath caught in his throat as it looked like the Range Rover was about to run her off the road and he pressed his foot down as if it would give him an extra burst of speed.

Just as he thought he would have to give Ranger bad news the second Audi burst out from the traffic, causing a minivan to slam on its brakes as it dived in front to pull alongside the Range Rover. The Range Rover was still trying to keep speed and veer towards Stephanie and so missed as the tinted windows of the Audi slid down and two sets of gloved hands appeared holding handguns. They didn't waste time or bullets, aiming expertly and precisely at the tyres causing the Range Rover to veer all over the lane as the driver tried to adjust to suddenly losing drive on one side of the car whilst losing none of the speed.

In a move that could have been choreographed as soon as the tires had burst the brake lights of Stephanie's Audi had glared red. Tyres smoking she had screeched to a stop, narrowly avoiding the Range Rover as the driver finally lost the battle to control it and careered into her lane and through the barrier before jolting crumpled to a stop.

By the time the other vehicles on the road had been overtaken by the second Audi they all seemed to come to the unanimous decision to stay out of their way, coming to stop or pulling over to the side completely, leaving the way free for Tank to push the Mercedes, weaving through the spaces until he drove past Stephanie before hitting the brakes and pulling the wheel so the Mercedes stood between her and the open road. The second Audi was a speck in the distance, having lost no momentum after it took down the Range Rover. The windows had gone up as if nothing had ever happened and it had made the most of the commotion to carry on driving with little notice. It didn't, matter anyway, he'd only come for one thing.

At first, he carried on looking straight ahead at the wreckage of the Range Rover, more than a little wary at what he might find. He reached calmly for the door, stepping out and moving round the Mercedes and down the side of the Audi until he drew close enough to open the door, gun raised just in case.

And there staring back at him with startling blue eyes and a resigned expression was Stephanie Michelle Plum.

Author Notes

Translation by Google. Apologies as I don't remember anything from my language lessons! Conversation went like this,

J: Is he sure?

S: Of course. He's given you orders?

J: Yes.

S: Then you know it is right.

J: He's taking a risk.

S: It will be worth it.

Title from the song Devil by Niykee Heaton from her album, The Bedroom Playlist. Well worth a listen and a great inspiration for some of the chapters to come.

My geography is appalling and was quickly cobbled together so please ignore! It's merely in there to make the actions of the story easier to describe.

I know it's an awful lot to have in one chapter, but that's because it's really more like five different chapters chopped up and pulled together as I changed my mind about the shape of the plot. Steph sees Ranger for the first time in the next Chapter (20) titled Yellow Flicker Beat. Steph and Ranger properly start talking to each other again in Chapter 21 for those of you who have been waiting so patiently! This may be subject to editing along the way just fair warning.

Actual Chapter Word Count: 3975

Please let me know your thoughts! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and thanks to everyone still reading!