A/N: -Peeks out from behind stage curtain- Don't shoot!! I'm sorry for my absense.. It seems the teachers are playing Lets-See-How-Much-Homeworo-In-One-Night-We-Can-Give-The-Freshmen-Students or something. I'm serious. It's crazy. This is literally the first time I've been on since.. I last updated. Now I gotta go through and find all my favorite stories that I was in the process of reading. CALL OFF THE MAFIA! Ladies and Gentlemen, the Cows have come home!
Basically, what I'm saying is, I'm baaaaaaack. For good, hopefully. I know I lied about when the story would be done, but I lie about a lot of things, and I'm working hard to finish it.. I'm thinking I may make it into a series, but I don't know. I'm supposed to be reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" but I figured I'd update instead, just so people don't start e-mailing me e-anthrax or something.
But, to get on with the important stuff. I changed up my story line a tad bit (not majorly, but a little), so I re-posted chapters 8 and 9. It's nothing major, nothing worth re-reading, all I did was change everything that Morelli said to something that Lester said. Lester is my favorite Merry Man.. who's yours? Anyway. I'm working on the next chapters as soon as I get these next few chapters posted.. I PROMISE. So don't hurt me.
I APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY FOR THE WAIT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE, AND I LOVE YOU ALL!!!
-Amber-
And now, for your feature presentation..
Ranger made a couple of phone calls, then decided there was nothing more we could do for the day. We drove in silence to our destination, both in our own zones. I expected him to go back to the apartments at RangeMan, but we ended up at my apartment. I hadn't stayed there in a few weeks, and he knew it. We pulled to a stop in the parking lot, but neither of us moved to get out.
"Stephanie," Ranger said finally, turning toward me, "I'm sorry."
Say whaaat?
This caught me completely by surprise -- Batman isn't supposed to apologize about things.
"Sorry for what?"
His face was completely blank, showing none of his emotions. "For bringing your neices into this."
I cringed. Surely he wasn't going to beat himself up over it, was he? "It's okay, Ranger.."
"No it's not," he said harshly, making me flinch. "It's not okay." He pushed his head into his hands and closed his eyes. "I'll come up with you to secure your apartment," he said, his voice muffled by his hands. This was a side of Ranger that I had never seen -- the human side. I tenatively put my hand on his shoulder, feeling the muscles underneath it tense up. We sat like that for a few more minutes, until he abruptly pulled away and got out of the car. I sighed and, after unbuckling, followed.
We rode the elevator up to my apartment without speaking. Ranger strode ahead to my apartment door, while I trudged along behind. I really didn't want to be alone in case a psycho clown tried to grab me, but Ranger seemed to be ready to get rid of me for the night. He did the routine walk-through of my apartment, then came back to me empty-handed.
"Clear," he said, stepping aside for me to enter. I looked at him, expecting him to follow, but he stood in the hall, not looking at me. "I have to go," he said. "Lock your doors."
My jaw dropped as I gave him an unbelieving look, but he ignored me. "Bye," I said sarcastically as he entered the elevator. He either ignored me again or didn't hear me, because he didn't respond. I sighed and did as he said, bolting the floor bolt and pulling the chain.
"I must be crazy," I muttered. I felt lonely. Rex was still at Ranger's, as were the majority of my clothes. Also, needless to say, I didn't exactly feel very safe in my little apartment, especially when there's a psycho clown after me. I sighed a few times, feeling depressed, then sat on my couch and flipped on the TV. I watched a few movies until nighttime. I wished Ranger would call or drop by or something, but he remained unheard of.
"Guess what," I said to the remote control, "My life sucks." I undressed and climbed into bed, but every time I drifted off to sleep I saw my neices.
"Dammit," I swore, after a rather vivid dream and Angie's repeated calls to me for help. I glanced at the clock -- 12:30am. I got up and took a half of a sleeping pill -- just enough to stay asleep, but enough that I'd be able to be awaken if Ranger decided to call. I threw the now empty bottle of water into the trash, then padded back to bed. I had just drifted off into a surprisingly un-disturbing dream when my phone rang.
"Shit," I growled, grabbing blindly for my cell. After knocking over my alarm clock, a book, and a glass of water, I found it. "Hah," I said softly, violently punching the "Talk" button.
"It's about time you called," I grumbled into the phone, reaching over and picking up my alarm clock. 2:35am. Great.
"Oh, is that so?"
I froze. I knew that voice.
It was the damn clown.
"What do you want?" I asked, sitting up. I was now fully awake.
"Why, Ms. Stephanie, there's no need to be so rude," the clown said. I bit my tongue to keep from retorting. One thing I've learned in my bounty huntering experiences is that it's not exactly smart to piss off a psycho. Especially when said psycho is holding a member (or three) of your family hostage.
"Where are my neices?" I asked, keeping my voice as calm as I could. Meaning, it only slightly wavered from the amount of anger I was feeling.
"Your neices are fine," the clown assured. "In fact, you may speak to them if you wish."
Duh.
I felt relief wash over me. If the clown was volunteering to let me speak to them, that meant he most likely hadn't touched them. "Yes," I said quickly, "Please."
I heard the phone clatter around and a few whispered words, then Angie's hesitant voice, "Aunt Stephanie?"
I felt the icy hand clenched around my heart loosen considerably. "Angie," I said, my words in a rush, "Are you okay? Mary Alice? Lisa?"
There was a silence, as if Angie was having trouble comprehending my words, then, "What?" This time, I heard it in her voice - she had been drugged.
"Angie, are your sisters there?"
Again, no reply.. then I heard someone take the phone. This time, it was Mary Alice's voice that asked my name. Her words were slurred as well, but she seemed more aware of her surroundings than her sister.
"Mary," I said softly, "Who all is with you? Are you all okay?"
"Um," Mary Alice mumbled. She paused, like her sister had, and I thought I had lost her. Finally, she responded, "It's me.. Me and Angie and Lisa and another person. A girl. She looks like.." her words drifted off, then her voice was stronger, "Like that bounty hunter. The one Grandma Mazur likes. Me and Angie and her are.." she drifted off again, and when she spoke, her words were slightly weaker, "Um, they did something to us. Pearl and Baldy. Pearl didn't want to, but Baldy said they had to.. they gave us a shot.. me and Angie and the other girl. They didn't to Lisa.. they said she was too small. Aunt Stephanie, I'm sca-" She was still talking when the phone was pulled away.
"Sorry, Ms. Stephanie," the clown voice said, "But your 3 minutes are up."
"Why?" I asked, clenching my fist, "Why do you need them?"
"Distraction," the clown said simply. "You see, Ms. Stephanie, your dear Ranger will be very preoccupied with finding your little neices. So preoccupied he will forget about his own and her brother."
He remained silent as I felt the words sink in. "Distraction," I repeated weakly. "What are you going to do with them when you get Tia's kids?" I quietly and slowly pulled the covers off of my body, then stood up and began walking to the kitchen, where I knew the house phone was.
"Why," the clown said, "What makes you think I'm going to do anything with them?"
I wasn't stupid. I knew the drill. Distraction was discarded of when it was no longer needed.
"Are you telling me you're not going to?" I asked, holding the house phone away from me and dialing a number that I had commited to memory. I prayed that someone had answered, and put my cell phone on speaker.
"What I'm telling you, Ms. Stephanie," the clown said, his polite voice tainted with impatientness and hurriness, "Is that in approximately two hours, there will be three Manoso children dead. What I'm telling you, is that unless you want your neices to suffer more than they already will, you need to stay far away from Ricardo Manoso." The clown's voice faded into a harsh whisper. "What I'm telling you, Stephanie Plum, is that for every time I see you in the company of any Manoso, one of your neices will be disposed of. Now, I'm aware there are only three of them, but I seem to recall a beautiful two-week old Morelli baby... Your cop boyfriend's neice, isn't she? She herself has a sister and a brother, does she not? Now, I'd hate to see that poor family get punished again because of you.. don't you agree?"
I felt the blood drain from my face, and I dropped my cell phone. He was correct -- Morelli's sister just recently had her third child, and I didn't want anybody in his family hurt. I faintly bent down and retrieved my cell phone. "Fine," I whispered, "No Manoso's."
"Good girl," the clown said, obviously pleased. "Now I must go, but I will certainly be speaking to you again later." I heard the click of his phone, and I closed mine as well. I pulled the house phone to my ear, hearing heavy breathing on the other side.
"Did you hear all that?" I asked, realizing for the first time that my hands were shaking uncontrollably.
"I heard."
"And?"
I heard a dry laugh. "I guess you'd better stay away from us, wouldn't you think?"
Right.
"So when do I come over?"
The laugh turned into an exasperated sigh. "Do you ever listen?"
"Not really."
"Fine." Diego passed the phone off to someone, grumbling about having to answer to asshole brothers. I frowned as I heard a few mumblings, then Tony's distinctive yell, then a loud commotion.
"Don't come," Tony said quickly into the phone. I guessed that he was the one who had been holding it for Diego. Tony slammed the phone down, blocking out the sudden very-loud chaos. The slam immediately made my mind up.
"Well," I said in the direction of the remote control as I pulled on my jacket, "I think my life is about to get even more sucky." I walked out of the door, pulling it closed behind me. Destination : Manoso's.
Now I just have to remember how to get there.
Without being seen.
While being without a car.
Great.
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