AN: Two kids in school and a college student cousin living in my basement asking for help with homework, means my writing had to take a little break. I'm aiming to post story updates on Mondays and Thursdays. Thanks to my Beta, Di for everything she does. I own nothing it's all JE's.

Ranger woke up in shackles. His arms were chained to the ceiling and although he was fully stretched out his feet were flat on the floor. He had been disarmed but that's about it. He could still feel his wallet in his back pocket but his keys were gone. He kept his eyes closed listening for the sound of anyone else in the room, all he heard was the deep even breathing of somebody asleep. He cracked an eye and saw Meagan sitting in a simple wooden dining room chair, her hands cuffed to the arm rests. She was still out cold. He didn't know how long she had fought after he went down; but that didn't matter, her insomnia meant that if she went out she stayed out longer than most. Fortunately, all of her clothes were still intact. All he could do at this point was wait. He didn't want them to know that he was conscious yet.

"Fuck again?" Meagan cursed, in Finnish of all languages, and he smiled. She looked up at him and assessed the situation. "You all right?" She mouthed and he nodded then looked up at his wrists then back down at her with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." she muttered. She tried to slip the cuffs, wouldn't be the first time she'd done it; but it would be no joy this time. They were too tight. She looked around the room again and her eyes fixated on Ranger's belt. "Maybe we leave this part out when we debrief? I don't think Stephanie and Lester are going to like it." She shifted her chair closer to Ranger and then used her feet to peel off her socks. She stuck one leg out and began unbuckling his belt with her toes.

Yeah, no way was he volunteering this information to Stephanie. She got the buckle undone and began pulling his belt off and cursed when it got snagged on a belt loop. She inched even closer and used her teeth to finish taking his belt off. He really, really wasn't going to volunteer this information to Stephanie.

She got the belt in her hand, used the prong of the belt buckle to pick the locks on her cuffs and freed herself. She stood on the chair beside Ranger and groaned. There was no way she could reach the locks on Ranger's shackles by standing on the chair and she cursed her diminutive stature… Not for the first time in her life. "Brace yourself Carlos," she said softly then got down off the chair and moved it out of the way. She got a running start, launched herself at her long time friend and wrapped her legs around his waist. Then, belt in her teeth, she shimmied up his body until her legs were wrapped around his broad chest, her breasts were in his face but, more importantly, she could reach the locks on his restraints. He felt the flex of her strong thighs as she worked and tried not to think about what she was doing.

"Hurry up Tink, before I have to let Lester kill me," he muttered. She freed one hand which he then used to hoist her ass up further and to add additional support so she could get the other shackle unlocked. Once freed, he lowered her straight to the ground. He pulled her into a quick hug and kissed the top of her head. "Lester is a lucky guy. You've got talents I didn't want to know you had." one side of her mouth kicked up in a half smile.

"All right, Carlos, time to stop being decorative. Do your thing."

"With pleasure." He picked up the chair she'd been sitting on and shattered it against the wall. She grabbed one of the broken legs to use as a club if necessary and they waited. They didn't have to wait long. The noise of the chair breaking brought their guards rushing in guns drawn. Ranger was waiting by the door and snapped the first one's neck, Meagan grabbed the guard's gun on his way down and shot the second guard in the head before he'd even registered what happened to his partner.

She dropped and began searching the bodies while Ranger stood watch. Their luck was holding. There were only two guards and their weapons had silencers. She found a couple of extra clips for the weapons, an iPhone and a knife. She pocketed the phone and pulled the knife out.

"Hurry up, we're about to get more company." He glanced down just as she shoved something else in her pocket and then dragged both bodies fully into their cell. Ranger signalled that two more guards were on the way and Meagan stood ready to shoot. They neutralized the guards and put them in the cell with the other bodies. It didn't take long to realize that they were in the basement of a rather large house.

"Reminds me of home," Meagan whispered. "Only daddy didn't have a dungeon in the basement." Ranger smirked and motioned for silence. They could hear footsteps coming so they stepped into a doorway of what looked like a storage room and Meagan tried the door. It was unlocked. She opened it and they slipped inside and scanned the room. "Carlos," she whispered. He turned his attention briefly away from the men coming down the hall. If he'd been a different man he would have gasped in shock. They were in a shrine to the two of them.

There were pictures of them in uniform, newspaper articles about Rangeman, magazine articles about Humphries from the year before. They did a quick scan of the room. "Shit, Carlos." Meagan held up a photograph of the two of them. In it they were sitting on his grandmother's front step holding hands. She had her head on his shoulder and he was kissing her hair. She was wearing one of his hooded sweatshirts over a pair of cut offs and she had a cast on her right arm. The picture had been taken when she was 12. She shoved the picture inside of her top.

"Lock it down." He said sternly. The order was as much for himself as it was for her, "We've got company. Collect anything important and we'll analyze it later." He went to the door to wait and she went to work going through the room. She heard the telltale whistle of a silencer a couple of times and she slipped out of the door behind Ranger. They weren't going to investigate further. The name of the game was get the fuck out of Dodge. They kept trying doors, looking for exits until, finally, they found a mudroom and were able to slip out back. It took all of about two seconds to determine that they were in the middle of fucking nowhere in the middle of the night and they hoofed it to the tree line on the edge of the property.

"Where the fuck are we?" She asked when they got there.

"Damned if I know." Ranger said, "Philly maybe? What happened to celestial navigation?"

"I left my sextant and star charts in my other bra." She quipped back.

"We need wheels."

"Would you like me to fashion you a vehicle out of twigs and stones?" She patted herself down, "Sorry I left those tools in my other bra, too."

"Someone's testy."

"I have a headache."

"I don't suppose the bra you're wearing is the one with the phone in it?"

"As it happens, it's not, because the phone is in my pocket. I lifted it from one of the guards." He rolled his eyes and she reached into her pocket and pulled out the iPhone and something small and pink. She pressed the pink thing to the phone and grinned.

"Is that a thumb?" Ranger asked.

"Phone unlocks with a fingerprint scan."

"Stephanie would have hurled if I had done that," he commented mildly.

"Then it's a good thing I did it and that you aren't Stephanie," she returned absently as she opened the Maps app. "We're about an hour outside of Boston." She took a screenshot of the map that showed their position, snapped a couple of pictures of the house and then changed the settings on the phone so she didn't have to cart the thumb around with her. She handed the digit to Ranger who promptly tossed it into the woods.

"Let's go boost a car." He suggested.

"I feel like I'm 12 again…"

They found a Lincoln Navigator in the driveway with the doors unlocked, "Fortune smiles!" She said and Ranger grinned, unlocked the door and tossed her into the SUV. A few seconds later he got the car started. They made sure they were well clear of the house and without a tail before they called Tank. The call was brief. They didn't want to keep the phone for too long. As soon as Tank called back with the information they needed Meagan opened the window.

"Shame. I like the phone. Remind me, I want to buy myself one when we get back." and with that she tossed the phone out onto the interstate where is shattered.

RSRSRSRSRSRSRS

Lester and Joe were going over every detail in the video footage from the Starbucks. Julio was in Boston using his tech guys there to pull up every possible lead on Beals they could find that we might have missed here. I was doing what I could from my end, which consisted of going through open cases and looking for anyone recent who might have a score to settle and coordinating my information with the boys in Boston. Miami, New York and Atlanta were doing the same (We were running everything through Julio because he ran the three out of the other four offices, he knew what men to put where). Lula and Bobby were at the truck looking for evidence and Tank was staring at the phone in my cubicle, willing it to ring with a lead, a tip, anything. When it did ring, he hit the speaker phone button so hard I was concerned that the phone was going to go through my desk.

"Talk."

"Have Hector trace this call for our location." Ranger barked. Tank motioned for one of the men to get Hector, Lester and Joe. I wanted to say something but my heart was in my throat and I couldn't speak. If Tank was surprised to hear Ranger's voice, he didn't show it. "Tink is going to read off a VIN, I want the GPS disabled from the truck we are in and I want a clean-up team to meet us at whatever RV point they think will be safe. We're going to ditch our wheels there. Let us know where we are going. I want security on Stephanie doubled; Lester doesn't leave the building without back up; Morelli doesn't leave the building period and I want Burrows and Gilman brought in and put in the safe house in the basement. Once everyone is inside I want the building on lockdown. Get me Hector."

"Here, Hermano. Are you alright?" He asked and squeezed my shoulder. All three men plus Tank were now crowded into my cube.

"We're fine," he said curtly. "I want all key fobs reprogrammed and ours disabled."

"Already done. We have video of you getting grabbed, Hermano."

"I want it processed and every detail pulled from it," Meagan said. Her voice didn't sound right. Lester tensed and looked at Tank. He nodded to Lester, telepathic message received. "Are you at one of your computers?"

"We're in Stephanie's cubicle. I've made it so she has access to everything I do." That was news to me, "What do you need?"

"Pull everything from this phone: Pictures, emails, video, text messages. Everything." Tank grabbed the back of my chair and wheeled me out of Hector's way. I watched as Hector took my place and his fingers began to fly over the keys. Pictures started popping up on the screen and then disappeared to wherever he sent them at high speeds.

"There is security footage from your location; he could access it from the phone." Hector said.

"Follow protocol," Meagan said. "Tank, contact Frakes, let him know about the video and tell him that Ranger and I are going to need access to our service records in their entirety."

"I've got everything I can get from the phone," Hector said.

"Good. Make the calls." Ranger said.

"Julio is in Boston." Tank replied.

"Tell him Tink needs shoes." Ranger disconnected.

"What the fuck is going on? And why doesn't Meagan have shoes?" I demanded.

"She didn't have them in the coffee shop either; she probably took them off in the truck." Lester squeezed my hand. "The important thing right now is that they are alive and safe. We'll worry about details when they get back" He turned to Tank, "You heard it?"

"Go do what you need to do. Morelli, help him. You will need Ella's help." Lester and Joe left the cube and Tank picked up the phone and dialled Rangeman Boston, "Get me Santos."

"Yo."

"Ranger and Tink are on their way to you." He relayed the orders and Julio was silent for a couple of beats.

"How bad?"

"Disarm them immediately."

"She been sleeping?"

"No idea. Your brother is prepping. I'd be happier if we could put more than a floor between them."

"Lock down, Tank. That was the order." The command in Julio's voice was unmistakable and Tank reacted the way he would have if Ranger had given the order.

"Yes, Sir."

"I'm going to go to the scene after I get them on the chopper. I imagine that Lester and Mrs. Ranger would rather have them locked up in your building than locked down here."

"Lester is already prepping."

"I'll be there tomorrow." He disconnected and Tank and I shared a moment of mutual relief before he went back into command mode and started issuing orders again.

RSRSRSRSRSRS

"Hey, Baby, how was your night?" Lester asked as he casually draped an arm around Meagan's shoulders when she and Ranger came into the office a few hours later.

"You know - same old same old - got kidnapped, escaped with just a bit of death and dismemberment. You?" She quipped with a flat smile that didn't reach her eyes. Like her voice on the phone, it was just wrong.

Before they arrived we received word their ride was two minutes out so we had congregated in the Control Room to wait for them. Tank didn't want any of us outside and exposed in any way until Ranger gave orders otherwise. That included the roof.

As soon as I saw Ranger I ran to him and hugged him. He held me tight while burying his face in my curls briefly before he stiffened and stepped out of the hug.

"Conference room two is clear," Hector said and we all trooped in. Meagan sat down at the table and was immediately flanked by Les and Bobby. Ranger sat as far away from her as he could get with Hector and I on either side of them.

"Report," Ranger ordered.

"The kids working at the coffee shop are alive and expected to make full recoveries. One of them is going to need rehab to walk again. We're already covering medical expenses for both of them; you want lost wages, too?" Tank answered.

"They are going to need more than that," Meagan said, "Double it and let me know about outstanding student loans. I'll be paying them off. Next."

"Security footage from both the Starbucks and the house are being scrubbed," Hector said. "Clean up crews went to the house and Julio says it's a ghost town. Not even bodies left lying around. They are going through computers as we speak but it looks like they've been wiped. Property belongs to Beals…" he was interrupted by a knock on the door and both Meagan and Ranger reached for non-existent weapons. Lester and Bobby each put a calming hand on Meagan. Hector did the same to Ranger and I followed suit. I was getting really freaked out by them. I'd never actually seen Ranger immediately after he had been in the wind. He usually decompressed at his house before coming back to Trenton and to me. I didn't like seeing him on edge like this and wanted to do something to help. I went to hold his hand and he shook his head slightly in the negative.

"Come." Tank barked and Zero walked in. "General Vadrine called." Vadrine and Frakes had been Meagan's handlers for almost all of her career and they were extremely protective of her, not only as an asset but because they genuinely liked her. "He can't give you access to your full records. He's watched the footage Hector sent him. He wants the Boss Lady to call as soon as she's decompressed to go over what you are looking for."

"Thank you Zero." Bobby said, "Call him back and tell him 24 hours starting from 0700 tomorrow."

"Yes, Sir." He walked out of the room.

"Want to tell us what happened in there?" Tank asked.

"No. Watch the video." Ranger stood and took my hand and pulled me to my feet. It wasn't a gentle tug but it didn't hurt either. As soon as I was on my feet, he dropped my hand.

We stepped out of the conference room and went to the elevator. Ranger looked at me.

"Right, you don't have keys anymore," I said then pulled my keys out of my pocket and tapped it to the control panel. He hit 7. He wouldn't look at me or touch me and I was getting nervous. I didn't think I had done anything wrong and, as far as I knew, I couldn't remember a time Ranger had ever been angry with me. Not even after I had stunned him in the ass and dumped him in the emergency room in Hawaii. Sure he'd wanted to talk afterward but he wasn't pissed. Mostly I think he was impressed that I incapacitated him.

Just like Meagan hadn't been right there was something not right about Ranger. I guess it is understandable given what had happened; but I didn't know what to do. I reached for him and he stepped away. "Wait," he said. It wasn't a "no" so I took heart from it. He wasn't rejecting me.

The doors opened to seven and I let us into the apartment. The door slammed behind me and Ranger pushed me up against the wall. He knee was between my legs and his hand pinned my hands above my head. His free hand was lightly gripping my throat. My pulse rocketed up to near stroke level in a combination of fear and arousal. "If you want me to stop, tell me and then leave. Go to four and stay there until Bobby or Tank comes to get you," he growled. "I won't be able to stop myself if I get started so be sure of what you want Stephanie."

My eyes went wide at the thought of an out of control Ranger; he closed his eyes and turned his head away. "If you're scared of me, leave now," he said, his teeth clenched as he fought to hang onto his self control. I could see the struggle on his face and that little bit of fear evaporated. He might be aggressive, almost out of control and maybe even a little feral; but this was Ranger. He would never hurt me. I've never backed away from him before and I wasn't about to do so now. He needed me and just like he was always there for me, I needed to be there for him. I put my hand on his cheek and turned his head so he was facing me again. He opened his eyes; his stare was penetrating and I met it without blinking.

"Kiss me."

RSRSRSRSRSRS

AN: Lemon? No Lemon? I'm on the fence.

Oh and not to be a total attention whore but ummm tomorrow is my birthday! A review would make a wonderful present!