This week FF is playing along, let's hope it lasts.

Thank you so very much for your encouraging reviews.

I would have given up a long time ago if it wasn't for Stayce, she's the heart and the brain behind this...thanks Babe.

Disclaimer: Only the psychos are mine, everything else is JE's

Rating: it's all tame

Spoilers: up to TS

Living on a Prayer

Chapter 32

When Thomalla directed me off Route 295 via Route 76 onto 55, I got an uneasy feeling. Well, okay, even uneasier. My stomach was a twisted knot and I had to struggle to breathe. There were a lot of possibilities where we might be going, but I didn't like the general direction. We were getting further and further away from Trenton and from any possible help.

I shifted in my seat and something poked me. At first I thought it was my house key, but I realized I'd tossed that into my bag after locking up. That left Ranger's car key. I had put it in my pocket after I'd gotten my bag from his car at the courthouse. It was like a little talisman, and it would protect me, I decided. I bit my lip before a hysteric giggle could escape. I'd never believed in talismans before.

Thomalla kept the gun pointed at me, but he had relaxed a little after a few miles on the highway, probably he felt safe now. I realized he would have spotted anyone following us, and my heart sank.

I was so sick and tired of being kidnapped, attacked or otherwise overwhelmed physically, and I vowed that if I got through this, I'd sign up for every available self-defence class in Mercer County as soon as possible. I vowed this would never happen to me again, at least not without a good fight. But since I was already in this mess now, I thought it was as good a time as any to fight back.

I flinched when Thomalla started talking again. "You're awfully quiet there, Steph. Where's the loose lip you're so famous for?"

I didn't have to see his face to know he was smirking again. Ranger had a blank face, but Thomalla had a mask he was wearing most of the time, and it was all I'd ever seen. I wondered if Morelli had known the true face Thomalla was wearing now before he had found the evidence.

"Well?" Thomalla prodded. I took a deep breath. I had plenty to say, I just couldn't think of anything that wouldn't make him want to pull the trigger. I had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel so I wouldn't wring his neck.

"How do you know Teddy?" I finally asked. I'd been replaying the audio file over and over in my head, and I'd finally figured it out. Thomalla had hired Teddy. Whether he'd paid him or I'd been the payoff, I wasn't sure, but it didn't matter.

Thomalla snorted. "That psycho! He's too easy! He's really obsessed with you, you know?" I couldn't help grimacing. Like a fool, I'd thought Teddy was the only psycho I had to deal with. Teddy may be crazier, but Thomalla was definitely more dangerous. Teddy didn't have as much to lose. Teddy didn't have Thomalla's connections and experience. Which made me wonder…I just had to ask.

"You were the one helping him in Point Pleasant, weren't you?" I asked. RangeMan had been following a different guy, but he could have been a decoy.

"I think you shouldn't worry your pretty little head about that," Thomalla said. He was smart and he was being careful. That was a good sign, I decided, maybe he was planning on letting me live. I liked that idea a lot, so I didn't press the issue.

Thomalla snorted again, "What, no argument? I think Morelli should have pointed a gun at you more often. It sounded like you made his life hell!"

It felt like he was insulting Morelli when he just spoke his name. Or maybe it was what he was insinuating. Little white dots were dancing in front of my eyes and I had a hard time focusing on the road, I got so mad. I was fast approaching a point where I didn't care if I wrecked the car if it meant Thomalla would die.

I pictured Ranger mad. 'Now you've made me mad,' he'd say, but there was no outward indication he was angry. That's what I was striving for. I needed the anger to overcome my panic, but I couldn't let Thomalla see the change.

I was able to pretty much piece it together and it all added up to Thomalla. He was the reason Morelli was dead. Teddy had been his tool, but the blood was on Thomalla's hands just as much. In a way, Thomalla was a lot worse than Teddy, Teddy had never tried to hide the fact that he'd killed Joe. Thomalla was walking around pretending to be his friend.

By now, I figured, Ranger was long done with his interview. He would try to call me. Since there would be no answer, he'd check my place. And then what? He'd have no clue where I'd gone, but he'd know I didn't leave voluntarily when he saw my weapons on the floor. And then he'd alert the cavalry in the form of RangeMan. I hoped.

Would he get as far as my living room, would he think it odd that my laptop was still out? I doubted he'd go looking for the files I had copied, he'd have no way of knowing Thomalla was even involved.

"Take the next left," Thomalla instructed. Shit. The sign said 'Shiloh 5 Miles', and I suddenly knew where we were going. Back to Teddy's house. Home, as Thomalla had called it.

I shivered involuntarily, just thinking about the house made my pulse speed up, and I could feel Thomalla sneer.

"I need to use the bathroom," I said when I saw a gas station up ahead. Mostly I was hoping to buy some time, but maybe I'd be able to draw attention to me.

"We'll be there soon," Thomalla said and his tone made it clear that the discussion was over. I'd been unconscious and in the trunk of Teddy's car when I was brought to the house, so I didn't know how much further it was. There were only a few houses after the gas station, mostly middle-class, small houses on big lots. Cars were big and American. Jersey's backyard.

I'd never been there before because it was too far from the shore to be interesting. In fact, I'd never been to the entire area we'd been driving through, I'd only known it as the swamp.

I kept my eyes trained on the properties, hoping to spot someone, but it was the middle of the afternoon, folks were at work. Even if I saw someone, there was probably nothing I could do with Thomalla's gun still pointing at me. I just needed to focus on something else but my panic.

"Turn right," Thomalla instructed. We were moving further away from the highway and the space between houses got bigger. It looked like the kind of place where you didn't even really know your neighbors.

"The driveway on the right," Thomalla said and I thought the house looked familiar. The sound of gravel underneath the wheels seemed to trigger a memory, too. My pulse was at about 200 when he told me to turn off the engine.

No one had followed us here, there had been so few cars, I would have picked up on a tail. I was alone with yet another…well no, I realized, Thomalla wasn't a psycho. He wasn't crazy. He might have been greedy and power hungry, but I got the impression he calculated everything and planned his next moves carefully. Just my luck.

Thomalla held his free hand out for the car key when I had killed the engine, then he ordered me to unbuckle and slowly get out of the car. He did the same. "Leave your bag in the car," he instructed before closing his door. So much for my potential weaponry.

When he walked around the hood a moment later, I saw the gun poke through the fabric of his coat again. Even out here, with the closest neighbour about half a mile away, he was careful. Always the cop, always vigilant, I thought as I remembered how Morelli had been the same way.

"Don't get any ideas. You won't be able to fool me like you fooled the lovesick nutso. Just walk towards the door, nice and slowly." Under normal circumstances, I would have given him a proper Burg girl eye roll, but I was concentrating on keeping my cool exterior, I didn't even nod, I just made my feet walk towards the front door.

It was a two-story converted ranch, probably painted white at some point, but the paint was chipped and greying. The short driveway cut the front yard in half, and where there wasn't gravel, there was crab grass and weed. It looked as neglected from the outside as it did from the inside.

And I really didn't want to see the inside again. For a second I contemplated running. I was sure Thomalla wouldn't shoot me where shots could be heard, but then I didn't know where to run. Since he was right behind me, he'd be able to catch me easily, so there was really no sense in even trying.

So far, he'd been keeping his hands to himself, and I wanted to keep it that way. If I tried to run, he might get the idea that he had to hold on to me or something, and I really wanted to avoid that. So I sighed inwardly and braced myself for the emotions that would come flooding back as soon as I saw the inside.

"Pick up the key from under the mat," Thomalla ordered from a few feet behind me. I bent and flipped a corner of the doormat. A single rusty key lay under it. I picked it up and shoved it into the lock, but then I hesitated. My mind automatically went back to the time Teddy had carried me over the threshold. He hadn't known I was awake by the time he carried me inside, so I'd had a chance to take a look around. There was nothing spooky about the house itself, but it somehow seemed to me like a haunted house.

"Open the door," Thomalla urged behind me. His voice was still calm, but the friendliness from before the unmasking was gone.

My hand was shaking so bad, I couldn't turn the key, and tears were blurring my vision. Thomalla sighed heavily behind me and without warning, he shoved me aside to open the door himself. I tried to keep my balance, but my right ankle twisted and I fell off the porch, landing painfully in a dry bush.

Thomalla mumbled something that sounded a lot like "Stupid cunt" and watched me struggle to get up.

I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me hurt, so I bit my cheek when a piercing pain shot up my lower leg as I put weight on it. Of course it was the same leg that had the injured foot, the way my luck was going, I wasn't even surprised.

Thomalla had gotten the door unlocked and held it open for me, taking a look around to make sure we were still alone. I shoved my hand into my pocket and grasped Ranger's car key for support, not caring how ridiculous it was.

I took a deep breath and walked past Thomalla into the house, squinting, so I would see as little as possible. Inside, it was dark and smelled musty, as if no one had been here for weeks and all windows had been closed. I looked down at my shoes so I wouldn't see the hallway that led to the bedroom I'd been held in and the kitchen.

Thomalla was behind me, I heard him close the door, but didn't turn around. I stood stiff as a poker, a few steps ahead of him, trying hard not to acknowledge where I was.

"Sit down somewhere," Thomalla said somewhere behind me and I heard him flip open a phone. I took a look around the room, I remembered it as the room I'd found the phone in. Maybe Thomalla didn't know about the landline, I could hear the faint beeping of him punching a number into his cell phone.

Since he was probably still watching me, I didn't look around for the phone cord, I just sat down in the overstuffed chair that stood behind an old-fashioned coffee table. There was a coat of dust on it, just like on all surfaces, undisturbed. It wasn't dirty, it was unlived in.

The small sitting room opened to the hallway on the right. There was another chair on the left wall and an empty bookcase next to it. A worn rug covered some of the hardwood floor. Again I got the feeling it was an old couple's house.

I was hoping Thomalla had forgotten that I said I had to go to the bathroom. I'd rather let my bladder explode before I'd go back to the bathroom here. I didn't want to see any part of the house I associated with Teddy.

"I'm here," Thomalla said into the phone, "No problems, just as predicted." I folded my hands in my lap and focused on them, trying to get into a zone like Ranger did when he was driving, trying to play 'anywhere but here'.

"No go, he's staying in jail. Forget him." I wondered if Thomalla was talking to another accomplice. If he was going to ask him to come over, I'd take my chances with running.

"No, we go ahead as planned," Thomalla said, he had started pacing. He wasn't looking at me, but I knew he was watching me. "Yeah, tomorrow. Make sure you keep your eyes open. Tell the others. And call me!" He said and disconnected. So there were more than just two people working with Teddy.

I'd been playing along up until now. I hadn't resisted at my apartment and I had driven us here without argument. I didn't know if the phone call Thomalla had just made had anything to do with it, but something inside me snapped and I was done being nice. I realized it could end badly for me, but I was beyond caring.

"Now what?" I asked, looking at Thomalla, "We wait for the boat to leave for Panama? You will not get away with this, you know that, right?"

Thomalla turned to look directly at me and his eyes narrowed. "Oh, but I have," he said, grinning. "Did you see any roadblocks? Any choppers cruising overhead looking for you? No one suspects me. The only one who did is dead." He padded his pocket where I assumed he'd put the CD. "I took all evidence out of circulation."

If I told him he was wrong, there was a copy of it on my laptop, he'd call one of his goons and have them take care of it. But I really wanted to wipe that grin of Thomalla's face.

"Jeter knows," I bluffed. Thomalla scoffed. "If he did, he'd have no clue what it is he knows. The guy couldn't find his ass with two hands and a flashlight. Nice try, sweet cakes, no one knows."

I swallowed hard. He clearly knew that I knew. That really made it obvious, he was planning on taking me out of the picture. The fact that I wasn't dead yet probably meant he still had some use for me.

"Teddy knows, he might crack." Why didn't I just keep my mouth shut? If I got Thomalla angry right now, I might shorten my life expectancy even more. Oddly enough, a big part of me had stopped caring.

But he didn't get angry, he snorted. "That little low life owes me, and he knows it. The only reason he's been flying under the radar up until now is because I made it so. He knows shit will hit the fan if he sings and he's not stupid." He seemed to consider his words and amended, "Crazy, yes, but not stupid. Besides, he knows dick. So what if he knows my name? Like anyone is gonna believe him."

"Let me go and I won't tell anyone," I tried. I pretty much knew it was useless, but I figured it was worth a try.

"Sweet cakes, the day I believe what a woman says is the day I die," Thomalla said with a dismissive wave. I was hoping he'd believe me before the day was over. He was still holding the gun in his right hand, but he hadn't made a move to tie me up yet. It was a sign. He was telling me in no uncertain terms that he wasn't afraid of me, that he had the power. Bringing me here was proof of that.

"Why are we here?" I asked. If I was to die, I might as well know the whole story. I was getting calmer and calmer the more certain I was that this was it, end of the line. Strange, really. But I was sick of being scared, of panicking and of fearing for my life. It seemed I had used up all those feelings. The most prominent emotion I felt was anger.

"What, a walk down memory lane? Trying to intimidate me? Don't you think the .45 in your hand is doing that job nicely?"

Thomalla looked at me and I could see the surprise in his eyes. Hell, I couldn't believe what I was saying either. I figured I'd done a good job hiding my feelings upon entering the house of horrors though, he might just believe I was unfazed.

"This is my house," he finally said. "I let Gardner use it when the little turd had nowhere to go, but it's mine."

Probably the house was in someone else's name though, because if Thomalla's name had come up during RangeMan's check, I would have known. For all I knew, Thomalla could be making it up, and it didn't matter. What mattered was that I had to convince him he didn't scare me.

"So you come here when you got nowhere else to go, too?" I asked, baiting him, daring him to make a move. It was stupid, I had no weapon to defend myself with, and he knew it.

The grin on his face got wider as he put his free hand up to his ear as if he was listening. "You hear that, cupcake? It's the sound of no one caring, no one coming to your rescue. You're here to entertain me until it's time to leave. No more, no less." He shrugged, "I came here because I knew no one would look. I don't like to be interrupted." An hour ago, the look he gave me as he said this would have made me cry or panic. Now, all I could think was 'Bring it on'. It was a much nicer feeling than fear.

I knew there was only one thing he could mean by 'entertaining' and all I could think of was that it would give me an opportunity to kick his balls into his stomach. I would rather die than have Thomalla touch me.

He shook his head and tsk tsk'ed. "Just couldn't keep your nose out of my business, could you? I gave you a stalker and everything; one would think it would occupy you enough." He sat down in the other chair.

"Tell me, did you like being here? Did you and Gardner have a good time?" He waggled his eyebrows and his grin was back to a smirk. I wasn't listening. I was straining my ears to find out if what I thought I'd heard was real.

Ever since I'd parked the car, I hadn't heard another engine. Now I thought I heard more than one car approach.

"Answer me, bitch!" Thomalla yelled and backhanded me. I flew back against the chair and couldn't stifle a gasp. I had let my attention slip, I hadn't been aware of my surroundings, I realized.

I sat back up and denied him the satisfaction of tears. "I think he had a much better time than I had," I said truthfully, to show Thomalla it was nothing I was scared to talk about. I was mightily impressed with my new self. My voice didn't tremble; my eyes didn't burn with tears. I remembered this Stephanie. It was the Stephanie that had first vowed to avenge Morelli's death, and now she was back.

My cheek was burning and would probably turn nice colors in a couple hours, but I was ignoring the pain. Either I wouldn't live to see the bruise or Thomalla wouldn't be alive when it bloomed, I couldn't think of any other possibility.

"I knew that was the way to get your attention," Thomalla sneered, "I kept telling Morelli. But he wouldn't listen."

"Of course he wouldn't listen, why would he, look at you," I spat out and this time, I could see my words hit home. For a split second, Thomalla's eyes grew wide and his upper lip curled back. I didn't even have to specify what I was talking about. I'd acted on a hunch, and it seemed like I'd been right, Thomalla was jealous of Morelli. Of what, I couldn't be sure, but the way he talked about him was too demeaning to be anything but jealousy.

The moment was over, Thomalla had regained composure. "Doesn't matter now, does it? I'm alive and he isn't, end of story."

My face must have given away the effect his words had, because he grinned satisfied. Shit. Just a friendly reminder I wasn't as tough as I'd like to be, I still had to bite back tears at the mention of Joe's death. But I willed myself not to dwell on it and straightened my shoulders.

"Pretty sad when you have to kill people because you feel so inferior…" I said, forcing my voice to stay calm. His hand jerked forward before I could react and he backhanded me again. Probably we were even in finding each other's weak spots, but he still held the gun and the muscle power. Was I trying to get him to kill me?

The sane Stephanie wanted to plead with him, even play along with what he wanted, only to make it out alive. The Dirty Harry Stephanie thought she heard car doors close. I ran my tongue over my teeth to make sure they were still there; my vision was kind of blurred from tears now.

Thomalla had gotten up and stood by the side of the window, looking through. Apparently he'd heard something, too. He turned and focused his eyes on me.

"I changed my mind," he said, his voice cold and without emotion, "I don't want to play with you anymore. But just in case I'll need you to negotiate later, I'll keep you around."

I had a snippy remark on the tip of my tongue, but my burning face made me keep quiet. I should focus on planning my escape, not baiting a criminal, I decided. It seemed I had less of a death wish than I thought.

He walked towards me, pulling a piece of twine out of his pocket.

"Get up," Thomalla barked and gestured with the gun. I stood, favoring my injured leg and took a step in the direction he was indicating. I thought he would tie me to the bed or something; instead he told me to stop in the middle of the hallway and opened a closet door. He took my hands, wound the twine around them and tied it with a double knot.

"In here," he simply said and gave me a shove. It was a coat closet, but the rod was empty. I debated my chances, if I took a step back and turned, then lifted one knee…probably I'd get shot before I'd completed the turn. Where was my earlier carelessness? I was surprised Thomalla didn't even tie me to the rod; probably he didn't have any rope.

"Make yourself comfortable," he sneered and closed the door. The closet was big enough for me to sit down. I wasn't comfortable, but I had time to think.

For one, I really wanted to choose a direction and stick to it, I was angry at myself for getting scared and intimidated again. I was still berating myself when there was a knock at the front door. I held my breath. The noises I'd heard hadn't been my imagination.

"You make a sound, I kill whoever it is," Thomalla said through the closed door. That was fine by me. If it was Ranger, he wouldn't wait for Thomalla to draw his gun, I didn't need to warn him. I was still holding my breath when I heard the door open.

"I said call me!" Thomalla steamed, "Not show up! What the fuck! Come in already, get out of sight!"

So, not the cavalry then, one of Teddy's or Thomalla's thugs. Hopefully just one. I resumed my normal breathing and strained my ears to listen to the conversation. They were walking away from the hallway, probably into the sitting room, so I couldn't make out the words. I just tried to stay still and not make a sound, maybe Thomalla would forget about me.

Yeah, like that would happen, Sane Stephanie spoke up in my head. Boyfriends and husbands may forget about you, stalkers and deranged police officers don't.

I started gnawing at the twine. It was wound around my wrists twice, nothing I couldn't handle. Now I was glad Thomalla left my cuffs at my house, it'd a lot harder to get out of those. The twine gave, and I was able to pull the knot over my hands. I'd freed them. Okay, so Thomalla hadn't exactly bound and gagged me, but still, it felt like an accomplishment.

What I needed now was a plan. I smacked the heel of my hand against my forehead to get my thoughts flowing, but I only made my head hurt more.

"You what?" The visitor exclaimed, "She's here? Are you nuts? What do you want with the bitch?" I couldn't hear Thomalla's reply because he kept his voice low, but I was pleased to hear that he apparently wasn't the boss of the little group. They continued to talk, but I couldn't understand them through the door.

I heard a cell phone ring minutes later, there was some shouting, and then heavy footsteps rushed towards the closet. I got up and raised my hands, but I didn't know if it was to attack or defend myself. Since the door never opened, I didn't have to make the decision.

The cell phone rang again and Thomalla was barking into it. He was walking while he talked and his voice kept getting closer.

"Well see now, that's unfortunate," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I guess I underestimated her." Who was he talking to? He underestimated me? That was good to know, but didn't make any sense.

"Okay then, let's assume I do have her here, what are you offering?" He asked and his voice sounded a lot closer now. Someone knew I was here. Ranger? Maybe someone was just guessing I was with Thomalla and had no idea where we were, I couldn't rely on others anymore.

I felt around the dark closet for something, anything, I could use as a weapon. The rod was embedded into the walls; even with my full weight on it, it wouldn't budge. There were some boards over the rod that formed a shelf. I closed my eyes even though I couldn't see anything; I was bracing myself for touching a spider or some other creepy-crawly monster.

My fingers brushed against something, it made a soft scraping noise and I felt a surge of hope when I realized it was a wire coat hanger. Dust and God knew what else rained down on me when I pulled it off the shelf, but I held my breath and avoided a sneeze.

I couldn't see what I was doing, but I'd handled enough coat hangers to know what they looked like, so I bent the hook part until it was straight and the hanger part until I had a sure grip on it.

Thomalla was laughing and it was an ugly sound. "I'm always up for negations. And I know a bargain when I see one." All was quiet while I assumed he was listening. When he spoke up again, all fake friendliness was gone from his voice, he was cold and cunning.

"You for her. You come unarmed and you will be my driver, no one follows. Take it or leave it."

I sucked in some air and bit my hand to stifle a scream. He was talking to Ranger and Ranger had just offered himself in exchange for me. No way, I thought, this was all too déjà vu, except unlike the Scrog mess, Ranger had nothing to do with Thomalla. I had dragged him into this; I couldn't allow him to risk his life for me. Unfortunately I couldn't think of a way to prevent it either.

"Okay," Thomalla said and flipped his phone shut. I couldn't hear him, but I felt him getting closer. I slipped the pointy end of the hanger in between the middle finger and the ring finger of my right hand and held it at waist level. The plan was to strike as soon as the door opened, so I didn't have time to think about it. I was always at my best if I just acted on instinct. Then again, I always got into the most trouble that way, too.

But the door didn't open. I had the vision of Thomalla standing on the other side, staring at it. Or maybe he was levelling his gun right now, getting ready to shoot me. I chewed on my lip trying to decide if I should strike first. The door didn't lock, although I hadn't bothered to check if it had a doorknob from the inside. I was reaching out slowly with my free hand, feeling for the doorknob when Thomalla's voice made me freeze.

"So, cookie, you awake in there? It appears you have a knight in shining armor, willing to die for you," he chuckled, "How noble, don't you think? Well, I think he can die, alright, but it's not gonna save you." I could clearly envision his smirk at this point, the sick bastard was enjoying this. I had to take deep breaths to fight the panic that was trying to come up again.

"See, he doesn't know what it's about. But you do, cookie, you do. And because of that, I can't let you live." He seemed to ponder that, or maybe it was just a theatrical pause. "Shame to take a good man like him out, really. It's always women that fell the strongest men."

I rolled my eyes. I was scared shitless, but he was just too much. He clearly liked to hear himself talk, and now he was getting philosophical, finding new ways of saying he was going to murder two people in cold blood. Ironically enough, I was able to once again keep my fear under control because he was overdoing it.

Somebody was banging on the front door and I flinched. Ranger. Walking into the lion's den, yet again. I didn't know if Ranger knew about the accomplice in the house, but I guessed he didn't. Did he have back-up or was he standing at the door by himself, trusting Thomalla to keep his word?

More banging, and I could have sworn Thomalla whispered something like "Showtime" as I heard his footsteps walking away from the closet.

Really, hadn't we learned anything from the Scrog fuck-up? Yes, I decided, I had learned.

I had lost Joe. It had been over a month and it still hurt to even think about him. I didn't think I'd survive losing Ranger, too.

There was just one way to act, really.

TBC

A/N: So this is it, the next chapter will be the last. You tell me what you like to see, it may be in there. Then again…if Thomalla gets his hands on your reviews maybe not. He has ways. Just let me know how you feel, either way, I appreciate your reviews so very much.