If you recognize them, I can't take the credit. :) And a big thanks to Margaret once again for reading ahead and pointing out my flaws.

Chapter 5 — An email from Satan

Ranger's POV

Hector used his developer account to download my email, his email, Bobby's, Les's and Tank's. We were hoping to have everything straightened out in a few days and until then access to Rangeman's email server was suspended. That was almost a blessing. I was glad the majority of the men weren't able to open the email that was sent en masse. Kraven's a demented individual with a sick sense of humor and if I ever got my hands on him, I'd fuck him up badly. I'd probably have to restrain myself from killing him.

We were on the phone with Bobby and Tank. Hector had just made our emails available to our personal accounts when Bobby let out an 'oh shit' over the line.

"Ranger did you get an email from a 666K address?" followed his 'oh shit' outburst.

I was still reading through the one from Roebling jewelers who were looking to upgrade their cameras to smaller, more discreet versions and I hadn't gotten as far down my list as he had.

"Not yet" I mumbled, scanning my inbox and noting that I had one too.

"Don't," Bobby said too late, as I'd already jumped to look at it.

Unfortunately I had moved with my laptop to a seat by the door so Hector could use my tower as a development tool and my screen was visible from the doorway. It was at this moment that Steph decided to join us again.

She took a look at the image on screen and after she read the description her stomach revolted. As I said earlier, Kraven's a very disturbed individual. I supposed he got off on this shit since he spend as much time photoshopping images together as he did scanning the country for his pieces. I was just sorry she had to see this latest creation. I had hoped to delete it from both our accounts without a trace.

I grabbed a waste basket when I realized she was going to be sick and I took both it and her to the half bath in the hall.

I guessed I must have been apologizing over and over because once I had her feeling a little better she stared at me, "Carlos, it's not your fault, let it be. If it wasn't now, it would probably be tomorrow. I just didn't expect it to be so graphic."

"I'm sorry Babe," I said again, for lack of anything else to say.

"Stop. I'm ok. Are we prisoners here? I think I'd like to get out tonight."

I hated that she felt this way and was going to oblige even though I'd rather we stayed in.

"Dinner at the Ramos'?" I asked once I knew we'd be going out.

Alexander and Homer Ramos were the owners of Niko's, a Greek place in Deal. Of course that was not public knowledge and they hired staff to manage and run the place but one or the other, or both, showed up most nights to eat. And since the place was 'protected' I liked to recommend it when I wasn't feeling particularly great about going out. The food was good, I knew Steph loved it and I also wondered if Alexander had heard anything about either one of our problems. His tentacles were far-reaching.

"Thank you Carlos. I want to brush my teeth and change my clothes. Then I think I'd like to take a nap for a while. How about around seven?"

It never ceased to amaze me that my woman could even be hungry after seeing such gruesome things, or that she recovered so quickly. I kissed her on the top of her head and then cleaned up the bathroom while she headed down the hall to the master suite.

Les had to leave for the city and his weekend with Autumn, but I'd try to convince Hector to accompany us tonight. I wanted him to keep Steph occupied while I fished for answers. Alexander would want to protect her and clam up if she was at my side while I interrogated him.

I headed back to my office with the waste bin.

"How is she?" Both Santos and Hector asked as I placed the receptacle back beside my desk.

"She says she's fine; she wants to go out to dinner."

I told them my plan and Hector volunteered without my asking. It probably wouldn't have taken much; he worried about Steph and would want to see for himself that she was ok. And I was glad that I'd convinced her to let Cal and Ram stay in the apartment in case we needed them. Their being here wasn't a complete waste of time since they were working with Hector to come up with another angle for the break in. Although they weren't hackers in the sense that Hector or Alex were, they possessed some knowledge of systems and information retrieval and had wanted to help.

When Les left around four, I went over to the apartment with my laptop. Although I didn't want this email circulating, I thought they needed to know why I was going to ask them to be our personal bodyguards tonight.

"Is this the same asshole who caused Steph to miscarry last year?" Ram asked, looking at my screen and wincing.

"One and the same. Notice his 666 email address. He thinks he's Satan and if I ever get my hands on him, I'll send him back to hell where he belongs," I said, not particularly wanting to relive Steph's miscarriage. It was one of the things we hadn't talked about since she recovered less than a year ago.

"Of course we'll watch the place while you're inside," Cal said before adding, "Although I'd much rather be on Erik's team looking for him. There's not much excitement watching a parking lot or digging through computer files. We need to get his ass and get it now."

I whole-heartedly agreed. I hadn't heard from Erik yet today but his team wasn't due to check in until 11 tonight. Some things are best done under the cover of darkness and searching for a functioning torture chamber was one of them.

Stephanie's POV

I woke up from my nap feeling much better. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth again before looking in the closet for something to wear tonight. Although the place was informal, I still wanted to look good. 'Carlos could look amazing in a paper bag, but I had to work at it', I said to myself as I pulled a pink top with a low boat neck out of the closet. I'd pair it with skinny jeans and Carlos' favorite shoes; the Louboutin pumps with the peep toe. It must be the red soles, but I swear every time I wear them we have a night of amazing sex. Well, we have amazing sex anyway, but you know what I mean.

I did my hair, globbed on a few coats of mascara and then got dressed. I looked at myself in the full-length mirror and thought I looked a little pale. I'd blame it on Kraven, but it was probably a winter's worth of lack of sunshine. To make up for it, I dug through my purse again and pulled out some blush. A couple of swipes later and I felt like a new woman. I added earrings along with a necklace I couldn't remember buying and went out to find Carlos.

He was in the kitchen with Hector, Cal and Ram and his eyes dilated black when he saw me. He came over, wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. It was one of those great kisses with lots of tongue. Yes, in front of the guys. I was pretty sure it was a 'she's mine' thing.

"You look beautiful, Babe."

"Where did I get this necklace, Carlos?"

"Do you like it?" he asked answering my question with a question. It was one of those frustrating habits of his, probably left over from interrogating the enemy.

"Yes, I like it, but where did it come from?"

"I saw it in Paris when I bought your ring and thought it would look beautiful on you. I was going to wrap it and give it to you, but I thought it would be more fun to just put it with your other jewelry and watch your expression when you found it."

Insane man. I could have gone rhino. "You said you bought that ring four years ago. You mean you had this hidden for four years too?"

"Yes."

"Um, is there anything else hidden that I need to worry about?"

"Maybe."

He was frustrating me, but the expression on his face was so cute I let it go. I'd see what I could get out of him later.

"So I was thinking..." I continued, changing the subject. "You never told me about Tank's threat? What could someone possibly say to get him to leave the country?"

"This was his third threat Babe. Each time it kept getting closer and closer to home. First his office email, then a text to his Rangeman cell and now our intranet. Whoever it is knows where he lives, they know the names of his cats and they know about Lula. He could take care of himself but he was concerned for Puffball or whatever her name is and Lula."

"Applepuff," I corrected. "Go on."

"They told him they were going to skin his Maine coon and leave her on the porch for him to see, and then they were going after Lula. Anyone with that much information probably knows his day-to-day routine and the threat seemed personal."

"Where are Suzy, Miss Kitty and Applepuff?" I asked, suddenly very concerned for them.

"They're staying with Annabelle, his cat sitter. They're at her parents' cabin in upstate New York."

"What if he was watching and followed her?"

"Junior and Slick picked up her and the cats and brought them there. They said they weren't followed."

"But what if they were? She's just a college kid. What if someone skinned all of them already? How would we know?"

"She has our number Babe. She'd call Rangeman if there was anything suspicious going on."

I wasn't 100% satisfied but I'd drop it for now.

We took the Hummer to Deal and I saw another Hummer in the parking lot. Homer's. Guessed we had similar concerns when it came to safety and I wondered for a minute if theirs was bullet-proof too. But of course it was, weren't they gunrunners? Seemed to me if you were a gunrunner you needed to be worried about someone gunning for you.

I watched Carlos. He tries not to give much away but I knew him better than anyone and I saw relief on his face. He seemed glad that at least one of the Ramos' was here tonight. I always wondered why he didn't just pick up the phone when he wanted to talk to someone. What if this 'fate' thing didn't work when you needed it?

We got out of the car and he put an arm protectively around my waist as we walked into the restaurant.

Both Homer and Alexander were sitting at a table by the bar. It looked like they had just been served, so I hoped we'd sneak by and not bother them while they ate. Obviously Alexander has ESP though and he looked up as we entered.

"Chickie, good to see you. Come over here and make an old man happy."

Carlos, Hector and I walked over and Alexander got up. He pulled me into an embrace and whispered in my ear, "You're still with him? What do I have to do to change your mind and convince you to come to Greece with me?"

"I'm very happy here. Carlos and I are engaged," I said, showing him my ring. I was pretty sure I showed it to him the last time we bumped into them, but well, he's old; maybe he forgot.

"Can't blame an old man for trying. Your dinner's on the house tonight. Stop by before you leave though, I may have something of interest for what's his name," he said nodding his head towards Carlos.