Thanks for following this one despite its irregular updates. This one has really kicked my butt since it started backwards.
Recap: We know that Ranger and Ben were shot and Stephanie taken on Friday, because Mary Lou makes the comment about the impromptu lockdown not affecting her kids' schooling as the weekend was near. Stephanie escaped the same night she was taken (aka Friday). She's had two mornings in the Barrens, which puts us on Sunday when we saw her last (slightly under 48 hours from the taking/attack). Ranger arrived back in town the day before the shooting (Thursday) bumping into Babe at the shops before her Six Flags chaperone gig. That means the story from chapter one until now has literally been in the span of about 4 days (Th-Sun). Hope this quick recap helps.
Some of you have mentioned that it doesn't seem like Stephanie was in love with Ben, more like she was comfortable. After finding out Ben never changed his Medical Directive to name someone other than his ex-wife, it's been hinted that maybe he's not all that in love with Steph either. We need more background on them, which we get some in this chapter as well as what happened before Ranger left. Stephanie's been labeled the bad guy by some reviews even though we never got her POV of what happened (all we had before this was Tank's minimal retelling and then what Lester finally shared with Ranger).
Some of you were confused about Steph's living situation. She still lives in her apartment building, on the same floor as Ranger discovered when he broke in. Grandma Mazur lives in the building too, simply spent the night when she watched Mia with the Merry Men's help on the Six Flags night.
In chap 1 Ranger said he was gone 27 months and some change. Stephanie had Mia about 7 months after he left, according to Tank. When Ranger came back it was sometime in the fall (before winter), because it was mentioned that people were shopping way before Christmas. That means Ranger left around the summertime two plus years before, which makes Mia a Spring baby.
Special thanks to ChristinaS for reaching out to ask about the next update for this one. Had it not been for her letting me bounce off what I had so far, this may have taken a little longer.
This chapter is long, over 6500 words without the AN. I already started working on the next chapter. This story is at its climax, which means we're close to the end. Thanks for sticking with this one.
Disclaimer: The Plum universe belongs to JE. The typos and long gap in updating is my bad.
Stephanie's POV
I blew out a breath, hoping it would ease my headache as I continued walking. Slowly but surely I'm moving forward. The changing trees around me are good indicators of my progress.
"Headache killing you?" Ben asked, arching his eyebrow as I leaned against a tree trunk for support. It's getting harder and harder to move without continuous blasts of pain. Any exertion of energy has become unbearably painful. But I have to keep moving. I'm not giving up!
"Nope." I lied.
"Babe." Ranger gave me a pointed look.
"Okay, fine. Yes." I huffed out, gritting my teeth as I worked on letting the new wave of painful dizziness pass.
"Babe." I didn't have to look at him to know it was an encouragement. Yup, I'm crazy alright. I can even interpret ghostly Ranger's Babes, yay!
"He doesn't talk much, does he?" Ben inquired as I slowly continued my trek.
" 'Babe' can mean a lot of things." I huffed out again, feeling extremely tired.
Thankfully there was blissful silence for the next several minutes. Well, sorta. Nature was still doing its thing.
I continued focusing on keeping one foot in front of the other as my jumbled brain seemed to nearly explode. Slowly, one step at a time.
By some stroke of good luck, I came across a small creek and nearly cried. This was confirmation that I was closer to my destination.
Falling to my knees, I wasted no time cupping my good hand through the running water. The liquid tasted very earthy, but even so it was a glorious feeling to at least be able to partially quench my thirst. I found stagnant water yesterday. Despite not wanting to drink it, there weren't many other options. So, I drank it. Besides being gross, the dirty water made me sick. The stomachache and subsequent vomiting episodes made the day even more unbearable just when I thought I couldn't feel any worse.
After several awkward failed attempts to bring water to my dry mouth fast enough, I resorted to just plunging my face into the moving water. Bad idea. The coughing fit that ensued made my whole body hurt even more. Ugh.
Once my breathing returned to normal, I tried again. Drinking to my thirst's liking was indescribable. After feeling parched for so long, drinking water, actual clean water… okay, at least it looks clean, so I hope it's clean-ish… felt really good.
Since my temporary cast was pretty much ruined anyway, I dunked my forearm into the water. The material loosened further as the bonds disintegrated fully. Not wanting to pollute the water source more than I probably already have, I grabbed the ruined cast to chuck it out of the water. Gingerly, I stuck my right arm underwater again. Slowly, I cleaned up as best as I could despite the constant throbbing. By the time I was done, I felt sorta fresh.
"Next, we'll follow the water down stream." I announced before any of my two guys asked, earning me an arched eyebrow from Ranger. "What?" I shrugged. "See, I paid attention to all the survival tips I got from you and the Merry Men." I beamed, slapping his left cheek affectionately.
As I moved away from Ranger, I frowned. Looking down at my hand, I wondered how alive I really am I've I'm able to touch someone who's not physically here in the same way that I touched everything else in the Barrens. In fact, was that water even real?
Looking around, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It sounded like moving water and that unmistakable scent of wet earth surrounded me. Yeah, the water's real. When I opened my eyes again, I double checked and sure enough I found that I no longer had caked mud on my skin. The scrubs? That's a different tale. Those are beyond ruined.
After walking for what felt like a good while, the water I drank decided to make a reappearance.
"You know the drill. Turn around." I ordered my two companions. I haven't really needed to handle mother nature's call, what with not having much in my stomach to begin with since I haven't eaten since the donut I had the morning before all hell broke loose. Factor in not drinking much water since the whole Six Flags Great Adventure night… yeah, there's been very little that's needed to pass.
As awkwardly as the first time, I did my business as best as I could. Luckily, this time around there was running water to help clean myself afterwards. All in all, not so bad.
It was then that I noticed my engagement ring wasn't on my finger.
"Damn, I lost your ring. Sorry." I said to Ben as I slowly resumed my walking.
"Babe." Ranger's barely there smirk was infectious.
"Why is he smiling?" Ben asked.
"Because had it been his ring, I would have been found long before now." I wouldn't put it past Ranger to sneak in a tracker in my jewelry. Well, the Ranger I knew would have definitely done just that.
When my eyes flicked to Ranger, he was pointing to the back of his neck. My eyes narrowed as I shook my head. A groan escaped. I don't learn. Gotta be real careful with my tender head and stiff neck.
"No. I'm not wearing a subcutaneous tracker." Nuh uh. That's super invasive! "We've been through this." A lot of times.
"It would be helpful given your history." Ben oh so helpfully supplied, ever the voice of reason. I narrowed my eyes at him. Even in ghostly apparitions Ranger gets supporters. Figures.
"Nope. Not gonna happen." I huffed as I dodged the sludge on the embankment.
As I continued my slow as a snail's progress, my jumbled brain decided to continue to work overtime by reminding me of every little thing that's happened in my life these last several years.
Chancing a side glance at Ranger, a familiar pang of conflicting emotions spread heat across my chest. Ranger and I have had a rollercoaster ride worthy history: fast, exciting and a disappointing ending once it was all over and you realize it wasn't what you were expecting.
After Morelli and I parted ways for the final time, Ranger stayed on the sidelines. When he didn't make good on his promise, I continued trudging along my usual routine. Helping with the usual searches or occasional distraction job. With the close proximity we inevitably gravitated towards each other. And it was good. Really, really good.
Just when we finally settled on a relationship of sorts and things were going smoothly, that painful night came. Ranger showed up to my apartment late one night. I knew he had a heavy workload, yet was pleasantly surprised by his unexpected nighttime visit. We'd been going strong for several months at that point, spending nearly every night together, so I couldn't have suspected the curve ball he was planning on pitching me that night.
"Ranger?" I asked him when he entered my darkened bedroom that night over two years ago. He removed his weapons in eerie silence, safely tucking them on the nightstand on what had become his side of the bed in our newfound official relationship. His boots and clothes were next, leaving him standing in the nude. It was a hot summer night. I'd left the window leading to the fire escape cracked open with the drapes parted partially. The moonlight and outside street lamps casted a weird glow on his darker skin.
Without a word, he climbed into bed.
"Carlos?" I tried a different approach, quickly realizing that something was very off about him.
"Babe." Was all he said as he crawled over my body after yanking the covers off of me. His mouth found mine in the partial darkness, kissing me roughly.
"What's going on?" I asked breathlessly when we parted for air. My body was on board with his skillful ministrations, but my brain was screaming that something wasn't right.
"I need you, Babe." I couldn't see his face very clearly, yet I understood that there was a war raging within him. Whatever had him so distressed had to be monumental. Ranger hates losing control. I know that it must be eating at him to be this unbalanced.
"Okay." I nodded, inadvertently brushing my forehead against his with the sudden movement. "I'm right here." Slipping my hands under his armpits, I snaked my arms around his back so that I could plaster myself against his front. His weight instantly settled over mine as he wordlessly accepted my hug.
Ranger broke into my apartment regularly throughout the years. He always claimed that it was simply to watch me sleep, because he wanted to make sure that I was okay. The reality was that it was Ranger who needed someone to guard his sleep. I realized it some time into our friendship. So, I made it known to him that he could climb into bed with me on those nights no questions asked. It wasn't always sexual. Most of those difficult nights we gravitated towards each other, simply basking in the other's presence.
That night, however, wasn't a platonic one. No, it was round after round of explosive intimacy.
"I ca-can't, Ranger." He'd made sure to deliver mind blowing orgasm after mind blowing orgasm. Hours in, as he reached for me for what I thought was the sixth or seventh time, it was hard to keep track, I tapped out. Ranger's magic and his stamina was always impressive, but I felt exhausted. My body was done and I told him just that.
Of course, it's Ranger we're talking about. He's a Wizard. My body proved me a liar when he coaxed out the most explosive orgasm I'd ever experienced. Breathing heavy and quite tired, I fell asleep wrapped in Ranger's arms.
I was jolted awake when I felt movement around me. Cracking an eye open, I noted that the early morning rays of sunshine had infiltrated through my cheap curtains. Without moving my head, I tracked Ranger's movements as he dressed hastily.
"Mornin'." I murmured as I stretched. Instead of the good morning greeting I was expecting, Ranger dropped a proverbial bucket of cold water over me when he instead responded by giving me his oh so unhelpful advice: for me to work things out with Morelli.
I was momentarily speechless. It was deja vu to our first morning after, except this time it was worse because we actually had a relationship. What we shared the last several months wasn't a simple hook-up arrangement.
"Haha, very funny." I deadpanned with a forced laugh. I'm a good sport and all, but that was a very distasteful joke even for Ranger humor standards.
Reality hit me in the face as soon as it sunk in that he wasn't joking.
"Ranger, what the fuck?" I glared at him as he strapped on his weapons and utility belt. He couldn't be serious?!
"Babe." Was the last thing he said to me before he turned on his heel and walked out of my life without so much as a backwards glance.
Yes, I followed after him. I made it to my front door before I realized I was naked, naked. I found it difficult to wrap my head around what happened. It was unexpected and extremely cruel. That confusion afforded Ranger the necessary opening to make a speedy escape out of my building's lot.
I was angry at first. I wanted to hate Ranger. I really did.
As the days progressed with no contact from him, my hot anger morphed into sadness. Then the sadness turned into mourning of our lost connection. How do you come back from something like that? The coward went in the wind right after and none of the Rangemen would tell me anything. Of course, I didn't give anyone aside from Mary Lou details of what he said before he left.
Eventually, I knew that whatever Ranger and I had was dead. He killed it that morning before he left. And it hurt. As the days turned into weeks, I wondered if it'd be possible to die of a broken heart. I felt a hole where my heart should be, an emptiness that seemed to spread with every passing moment.
Valerie dumping Princess on my lap was a godsend, even if it didn't feel like it at the time. The insistent little yapping, whimpers and curled tail waggles got me out of bed, even if it was just to feed her, especially on the days that I was stuck in my inner darkness.
Rex dying shortly after sent me spiraling yet again. Despite the double loss, I tried my best to move on. If Ranger was done playing house with me, then I had to accept his choice and keep myself moving forward. I couldn't stay stagnant forever.
Oh, but life had a funny way of reminding me that things couldn't be as easy as I'd wished them to be. Not for Stephanie Plum. My sudden aversion to food, followed with bouts of incessant nausea tipped me off that something was wrong with me. I'd been so wrapped up in my own self pity to realize that I'd missed more than one period. My obvious suspicion was correct, of course: pregnant.
The shock took days to wear off. I was pregnant with none other than Ranger's baby. He'd made it very clear that he didn't want me anymore. I couldn't be a Bounty Hunter while pregnant, yet I had to figure out a way to make ends meet and pronto!
Working remotely for Rangeman was my best option. Thankfully, Tank didn't ask too many questions. I guess he felt sorry for me. That, or he was extremely grateful for all the boring searches and admin stuff I helped with, freeing him up to do more exciting tasks.
Going into labor in my crappy orange and brown bathroom monstrosity wasn't ideal. I didn't realize that my lower backache and overall discomfort were the warning signs that the time was coming. However, when I finally realized what was going on, it wasn't until it was too late. I was busy getting myself ready for my video conference call with the Merry Men. It had become extremely difficult to hide my bigger boobs and baby bump the closer I got to my due date. So, I always made my face the central point in any video calls with the men. They only ever saw me from the shoulders up. That coupled with less than stellar lighting kept my secret, well, a secret.
Except, when I missed the morning call, Tank decided to come looking for me. Maybe he has his own Spidey Sense going on. He walked in on me fumbling to call Mary Lou to tell her that it was time. She was the only one who knew about my pregnancy. Mary Lou was my rock.
"Bomber." Tank muttered, eyes widening as he took in my appearance.
My foot slipped, effectively pulling me out of the replay of my life. As I regained my footing, I glanced at my two companions. Ranger and Ben. They were like Night and Day.
Shaking myself out of the minor interruption, I kept walking.
My mind inevitably returned to replay my memories. Poor Tank. He almost pulled a Cal that early morning, nearly fainting as it dawned on him that I was very much in labor. It was Tank who drove me to the hospital. Since St. Francis was closer, I knew that the Burg would find out very soon. The Burg Grapevine nearly collapsed with all the buzz about my delivery.
Tank is a smart man. He easily put the pieces together. In between contractions I wondered if he'd reach out to Ranger. I knew nothing about his whereabouts aside from knowing that he hadn't been back to Trenton since the last time I saw him.
"Little girl." Tank said once I was finally in a room and told to push one more time.
"Yeah, I'm having a little girl." I joked, just before I pushed and Mia was born.
She's been perfect since the first second I laid eyes on her.
"Does Dad want to do the honors?" Tank gave me a wide eyed look when he was asked if he wanted to cut the umbilical cord. My poor Merry Man probably saw more than he should have of me that day. He didn't correct the medical staff, and did his 'daddy duty'.
"She's perfect." Tank's massive hand was bigger than my baby's head. In fact when he held her, she nearly fit in both of his large hands. "Got a name in mind?"
I blinked at the small being that was placed on my chest and nodded. "Mia." I'd given it a lot of thought since I found out the gender. I wanted my daughter to be able to embrace both sides of her lineage, so Mia felt like an appropriate name for her to start accomplishing that.
Mia Plum, my world.
The crunch of leaves under my heavy footsteps transported me back to the present. Glancing at Ranger's apparition, I noted that he was watching me closely. He could probably still read my mind. Like he's always done.
"I begged Tank to get my letter to you." I confessed wanting to give Ranger the opportunity of hearing that he was a father for a second time from me. I figured it was the least I could do. Despite Tank sharing that he was given acknowledgement that the letter was received, I never heard anything from Ranger. I was never told any details, but if he got the letter and never reached out… Well, the silence was answer enough.
"Maybe he never got it." Ben pipped in, ever the logical one.
"Maybe." I shrugged, because it didn't really matter at this point. "I also reached out to Rachel." I avoided looking at Ranger as I recounted my difficult conversation with his ex wife. Surprisingly, she was very understanding. She didn't judge and allowed Julie to make the decision for herself. Of course, Julie being Ranger's kid wanted to meet her little sister. We still keep in constant contact to this day and I take Mia to visit her older sister every chance I get. And no, I didn't share the details of why Ranger and I were no longer together. Rachel and Julie were under the impression that Ranger was in the wind on some government mission and I wasn't going to be the one to say otherwise.
"She's Julie all over again." Rachel had shared that Mia looked a lot like Julie did as a baby when we first visited last summer. Rachel had the photo albums to prove it, much to Julie's embarrassment.
"Mia also knows who you are. Not that I had many photos or videos of you to show her." I shrugged, telling the creepy woods that I've done the best that I could.
"Babe." Ranger's voice seemed to swirl around me like the chilly wind. I didn't look at him. I couldn't, because I knew I was going to cry and that's not going to help me get out of here faster.
Instead, I shared something about our daughter.
"Mia calls Mary Lou MaLu and Lenny Dada because she hears their boys calling them mom and dad." I smiled despite the pain, because they've been part of my village. "You're Papi." I said to Ranger.
"You've done a great job." Ben added as I spotted what looked like a trail.
When I looked into his blue eyes, everything that we've been through flashed through my jumbled mind in rapid succession. I've learned a lot from him. I'll always consider him my first real adult relationship, because that's exactly what we've been. No screaming matches, no doubts, no second guessing what he means when he says something… what you see is what you get. At least with him. That's why when he proposed it wasn't a panic inducing moment, making it easier to accept. I could vividly picture what being married to Ben would be like and it was nothing like Morelli's version or my failed marriage to Dickie was.
The rapid flashes of images continued, showing me everyone I've been close to. When the images focused on Mia, my heart began to pound as I understood that this was it. I was going to die and there wasn't anything that I could do about it. Closing my eyes, I mentally said I loved you to those I cared about.
I'm sorry I won't be there to see you grow up, baby.
My final plea ended up not being my ending. Whatever that was that just happened to me, it passed slowly. Popping one eye open, I glanced around. Nothing looked different, but I felt different. I felt weird, like I got slapped across the face.
"Okay." I blew out a breath several moments later when I was able to speak again.
It was more important than ever for me to keep moving.
I kept walking in silence, slowly making progress for what felt like a really long time. It was going to get dark in a couple hours tops, making me put more effort into my lagging movements.
S&R
"Damn it." I cursed when I couldn't get a signal. Only I would get sent out to the fucking Barrens to tow out a stranded driver as night is falling. Of course, he'd give a very vague description of where he was. And just my luck would have me getting turned around in here. It's going to get dark before I can hook my client's vehicle if I don't somehow point myself in the right direction.
Because I was busy checking for a signal I almost missed the figure that staggered out of the woods. It took my brain longer than I wanted to admit to finally register that the figure was a person!
I nearly had a damn heart attack when she fell on her knees on the dirt road and my tow truck stopped just short of ramming into her.
Jumping out of my seat, I rounded the front of the truck praying that I didn't hit her.
"Oh thank God." Was the first thing that came out of my mouth when her impossibly blue eyes looked up at me. "What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?" I asked as I inched closer. She was wearing scrubs, the hospital kind, looked injured and like she'd been wandering these freaky woods for a while.
"Dad?" She blinked those big blue eyes up at me and my heart nearly stopped once again.
I eyed her warily, wondering if this was some sort of set up. "I think I'd know if I had a daughter your age." I joked, testing the waters.
She shook her head minutely before refocusing her eyes on me. "Sorry. You looked like my dad for a second there." As I helped her onto her feet I realized that she was in pretty bad shape.
"What are you doing out here?" I hissed as I shrugged off my jacket. It can get extremely cold out here this time of the year. She's lucky it's not winter. That would have been for sure death in the snow.
"I was kidnapped, but I escaped." She shared as I draped my jacket over her smaller frame. "Thank you." She said politely as I helped her up onto the passenger seat.
I ran around the front of the truck after closing the passenger door. As I got into the driver's seat, I tried to check for a signal with no luck.
"I don't have cell service here." I told her I'd be driving up the road until we had some signal so that I could call her an ambulance. The last thing I want is for someone to think that I was the one who kidnapped her.
"Got it." She gritted out as she gingerly touched her head. Yeah, she's in rough shape.
"What's your name?" I asked so that I could keep her awake and talking.
"Stephanie Plum." She muttered.
I frowned, wondering why that name sounded so familiar.
S&R
Stephanie's POV
I was extremely grateful for the stranger who stopped to help me. Luck or divine intervention put him at the right place and at the right time to spot me coming out onto the dirt road. Just when I felt like I couldn't go on anymore.
Yet, despite the relief my Spidey Sense was going off. Something didn't feel right. Or maybe my senses are just broken. I mean, I did confuse this total stranger for my dad at first.
"What's your name?" He asked as he drove at what felt like a snail's pace.
"Stephanie Plum." I muttered, hoping that if he had any nefarious intentions knowing who I am would deter him.
"What's your name?" I asked after several long moments of silence.
"Joseph Marchetti." He said. I gave him a weak thumbs up to indicate that I heard him.
Marchetti drove for another ten minutes. I knew how long it had been because of the time on the dash. The radio kept cutting in and out. No luck on the cellular service either.
"Ah there's my client." Tow truck guy, aka Marchetti, indicated something in the distance that looked like a blurry blob to me. "Any luck with the service?" He asked as he approached what I now clearly saw as a vehicle pulled over on the side of the dirt road.
"No service." I answered after unsuccessfully trying to make a call.
"That's weird." Marchetti said, muttering that we were close to the next ghost town. Service isn't usually an issue in slightly more centric areas. If you can call any place in the Barrens 'centric'.
As Marchetti pulled over to see if the stranded driver had any service, I tried to get through once more with no luck.
"So close, yet so far away." I shared with my companions.
"Could be worse." Ben said just as I raised my head in time to catch a glimpse of the driver.
"Hold that thought." I grunted when I realized it was Silver guy. Of course it would be. Just my luck.
S&R
"You Mr. Rogers?" I called out to the man sitting behind the wheel of the black van. As I approached, the man's head jerked up. Except, he wasn't staring at me. No, he was looking at something over my right shoulder.
Apprehension settled low in my stomach when I noted the glint of pure evilness cross his heated gaze. When he turned on the ignition, I knew that something was wrong. He'd requested assistance due to mechanical failure, but if his vehicle is fine…
I was kidnapped, but I escaped. Stephanie's words replayed in my mind just as the van lurched forward, ramming right into me despite my best attempt to dart out of his path.
The pain was intense. Motherfucker clipped me hard and as I took stock of my body, I knew that I had some broken bones. Son of a bitch!
"Thank you." The man smirked after angling out of the driver's side. "You brought her right to me." He laughed as he reached for something behind his back, saying he's been after her trail in the woods since Friday night.
As soon as the gun was aimed my way, I began a prayer. Somehow I didn't see a way to make it out of this one. This man has been tracking her for days and I don't see him giving up now. This wasn't the ending I had in mind for my Sunday night when I picked up my last assignment. So much for a peaceful end of shift.
Except I had a guardian angel looking out for me: one Stephanie Plum.
She moved silently, giving us no alert that she was out of my truck and headed our way. With a battle-like cry, she swung a lug wrench over the massive man's head.
"Asshole." Stephanie sneered once the man fell to the floor unconscious. He was out cold for sure. I briefly noted that she was holding on to the wrench awkwardly. It became obvious that her left hand isn't her dominant hand. The way she gingerly held her right hand to her torso indicated to me that she's more hurt than I originally thought.
"You got him good." I gave her a weak smile. How this woman managed to stay alive and moving for days while I feel like crying out from this pain is astounding.
"We need to get moving. Help isn't coming. We are the help." She shared with finality.
"I think my legs are broken." Or maybe my pelvis. It's hard to tell. "Leave me." I told her it was okay.
"No man left behind." Stephanie declared as she rummaged through the man's vehicle, producing a set of metal handcuffs and what looked like a handful of zip ties.
S&R
Lester's POV
After spending all night and the majority of the next morning going through the photo and video submissions, exhaustion finally crumbled us. Since we already had possession of the on-call room, all three of us went to sleep after a quick bite. Tank would keep watch while we caught some zzzs, along with whichever other Rangeman was available.
I woke up to a small feminine hand shaking my left shoulder rather insistently.
"You need to see this." Ben's ex, whom I now know is Alexa West, motioned for me to sit up.
"What's going on?" I grumbled as I watched Doctor W nudge Bobby awake.
"Yo?" He asked, bolting upright with an alertness that I envied.
"Look." Doctor W pointed to the small TV in the room before raising the volume so we could hear the special report.
Bobby and I shared a puzzled look when it hit us that we were watching some type of police chase. Looked like a tow truck towing a black van. There were at least three cruisers in pursuit as well as a chopper. Guess there wasn't anything else going on tonight to have the chopper out.
"Didn't Hector and Hunter say they were pursuing their lead on a black van?" Doctor W inquired before pointing to the screen. Sure enough that van fit the description Hec gave us. Down to the all black back bumper.
"Shit. Is that Bomber?" Bobby pulled out his cell, probably to call the control room to fill them in.
"It's gotta be Bomber." I said, rising to my feet. Looking at Doctor W I asked her to do her doctoring thing. "Stephanie's gonna need that medical care you pointed out. ASAP!"
There was no doubt in my mind that this wasn't a coincidence. Hec and Hunter have been scouring traffic cams after narrowing down our mystery man's vehicle to a panel van with the back windows covered. The Barrens sounds like the perfect place to keep Bomber captive. Even if the guys got that far, looking for Stephanie in that place would be an insurmountable task. That place is huge, spanning several counties!
S&R
Stephanie's POV
"Oh, I finally understand the whole Swiss Cheese thing you were talking about while we waited in line to ride Batman." The line was a little long despite the special event. Instead of cutting the line by getting us some fast passes at Six Flags, I instead wanted Ben to have the full experience. Angie and her friend didn't seem to mind. Ben didn't either, chattering like he normally does.
"I don't get it." I told Ben as the line began to move. Angie and her friend were busy chattering about their teenage things, so that left Ben and I talking about medical things. On the wait for the previous ride, I shared how running the Bonds office worked. Right down to going after FTAs. It was only fair for Ben to have a turn at sharing something from his profession.
"Yes, you do." Ben pointed out my recap on the risk analysis model he explained was spot on. The whole comparison of layers of security with slices of Swiss cheese sorta made sense to me. I could see how the overlapping holes in the cheese compared to weak points in any plan, allowing something unwanted to pass through despite the barriers.
"You understood it that night too." Ben reminded me, because I eventually felt like I did. I mean he did use food in his example. He always likes to point out that I'm smarter than I give myself credit for. I think he's just good at explaining things to make anyone understand, regardless of their walk of life. That's a gift not everyone has. "And yes, so many things had to happen just a certain way for you to get to this point."
"Proud of you, Babe." Ranger added, which redirected my attention to the fact that my sudden realization that Silver wasn't here for me. Somehow it just simply clicked that if he wanted me for ransom, he'd have taken greater care of me. Plus, I can't ignore his timing. He came after me when I was with Ranger in a very public place.
"You weren't supposed to come back, were you?" I asked Ranger, flicking my eyes to the rear view mirror so that I could look at him. I can see both Ben and Ranger somehow squished behind me on the smaller back bench seat.
Ranger's 'Babe' was answer enough.
"You idiot." I bit out, angry at his stupidity. All he had to do was talk to me! But no, he went all silent and brooding Ranger, breaking my heart in the process instead of letting me be part of the decision.
S&R
Marchetti's POV
"Who are you talking to?" I asked Stephanie, beyond alarmed that she was seemingly having a conversation with either herself or someone that wasn't there.
"Got any signal yet?" She threw out instead.
"I'm waiting for my device to reboot." I groaned when she took a sharp turn. "Maybe you should just pull over." I glanced behind us, clearly seeing the many cruisers following after us. This woman has broken so many traffic laws that I'm afraid I may already be out of a job. The only saving grace is that it's dark out, which means there's less cars out on the road.
"I am." She declared, to which I let out a relieved breath. "I just got us a special escort to our destination." A twisted smile spread across her lips as she kept driving mostly one handed.
I am extremely grateful that she didn't leave me out in those creepy swampy woods at night. It wasn't easy for her to follow my instructions so we could hook that asshole's van. It was even harder for her to wrangle the knocked out man into said van, somehow securing him to the passenger seat. Let's not get into how she managed to help move me. It wasn't ideal. None of this was, but I'll take potential extra damage than for sure death out in The Pine Barrens. Everyone knows that creepy, unexplained things happen there after dark.
"Got a signal." I nearly sobbed as we neared the turnpike. That loop coming up ahead is already making me extra anxious.
"Great." She said while expertly dodging a PIT maneuver. Oh, God we're going to die! The cops are now going to try to run us off the road. Yeah, we're going to die! "Tell them that I'm going to pull over. But first, I have a special delivery for the Trenton PD." Stephanie grunted out that they should be in the loop on her kidnapping case.
Sucking in a deep breath, I did as I was told.
S&R
Morelli's POV
I was just exiting my office when the rush of moving bodies alerted me of activity towards the main entrance. It's unusual for there to be so much movement on a typical Sunday night. I shouldn't even be here, but I had a stack of paperwork that wasn't going to work on itself.
"What's going on?" I asked Robin as we moved in the same direction. She gave me the quick rundown as we kept waking.
"Dispatch said they got a call from the passenger stating that they were going to pull over at a safe place." I frowned when Robin shared that the so-called safe place was our station. That's a first in the whole history of this city.
We rushed down the front steps, spilling onto the sidewalk as we heard the approaching sirens. Oh this has the makings to be good.
Two minutes later headlights turned in our direction, quickly followed by the closest cruiser. The chopper shone the spotlight on the tow truck as it came to a full stop feet away from us. The ignition cut off and then two pale hands I'm quite familiar with became visible when their owner stuck them out the lowered driver's side window. The keys dangled in a clear display of surrender before they were tossed onto the sidewalk, inches from Robin's right foot.
"Of course. It had to be none other than Cupcake." How Stephanie gets mixed up in these messes, I'll never comprehend.
"Stephanie Plum?" Robin clearly wasn't a believer, given the low profile Stephanie's kept since she won all that money. A lot of people seemed to forget the kind of trouble that always followed her around.
"Told you." I bit out as the driver's door swung open and Stephanie clumsily slid out. She looked real rough, wearing dirty scrubs.
"Wait!" Robin sprung to action, flashing her badge at the officers already swarming around Stephanie. "Are you okay?" Robin's grip on Stephanie's upper arms was probably the only thing keeping her standing.
"No." Despite her rough condition Stephanie still managed to glare at Robin. "I was kidnapped but escaped." You could hear a pin drop. Everyone wanted to hear what she had to say. "I roamed the Barrens since Friday night." Stephanie quickly said that after she was found by the tow truck driver, her kidnapper intercepted them and attacked him too.
"It's true!" A man yelled from inside the dark truck cab, which resulted in an officer aiming his flashlight inside of the cab. An older man had his hands flat on the dash, making sure to make it obvious that he wasn't a threat.
The shock of Stephanie saying that she not only subdued her kidnapper, but also secured and transported him to us gave me flashbacks to when she brought me in. An involuntary shudder coursed through me at the unwanted reminder of how she locked me in that damn refrigerated truck with all those goddamn dead bodies!
In a matter of minutes, Gazarra and a handful of Rangemen swarmed the scene. I shook my head in disgust. As always, those thugs are going to swoop in and clean up Stephanie's mess. LIke they always do.
"A little help here!" Robin barked as she tried her best to keep a conveniently blacked out Stephanie from collapsing on the asphalt.
