If you recognize them, they are not mine. Special thanks to Margaret for reading ahead as my beta and deeming this chapter good to go.

Chapter 23 — Lots to think about

Ranger's POV

Less than twenty-four hours after Kraven was taken into custody, he was out on bond. It wasn't Vinnie that wrote his get-out-of-jail card or I would have personally wrung his greasy neck. I'd told Stephanie an hour ago, when I found out, because I didn't want her to accuse me of hiding things. I could tell that the news didn't sit well with her. For the first half-hour she was pacing and mumbling to herself and for the last she's been quiet and researching online.

"Carlos, I saw the look he gave me. As long as he's out on bail, I'm not safe. And neither is Hector. I never thought I'd be asking this question."

"What question Babe?" I finally asked her when she didn't expand on the thought.

"Ok. I know that you and Tank and probably 75% of the guys at Rangeman have a...," she looked back at her computer screen before continuing, "a RFID chip implanted under your skin. I remember it allowed us to find Manny last year when he was abducted. Does Hector have one? And what would it take for me to get chipped? I'm serous. I was thinking about how easy it was for Scrog to take all my trackers and the panic button from me. I don't want to die. Especially now that were together," she rambled on.

"Babe, breathe. Hector opted not to get chipped. At the time he said he didn't need one; no one could get close to him. But he may be rethinking that after his attack at Citi Field. Give some more thought to what it means Babe. I can be called up on our monitors at any time and my location will be conveyed with pinpoint accuracy; being chipped is not like having trackers that you can just dump out of your purse when you're 'feeling smothered'. "

Those were the exact words she'd said to me on more than one occasion when she found trackers on her car or in her bag.

"I understand that Carlos, but I'm scared now."

"You can't take them on and off the way you do a pair of earrings. I want you to give this a lot of consideration. Kraven will probably be locked away in six month's time."

"And in six months I could be dead. I didn't hear or feel him sneak up on me. If he was able to get me once, he could get me again. And I don't think he'll try to attach me to some contraption either. He'll kill me on the spot. I saw the hate in his eyes."

Unfortunately I did too.

"Just give it a little more thought Babe. Bobby can insert it, but you need to be sure."

"I'm sure."

"Steph-an-ie." I used every syllable of her given name for annunciation. "Think about it."

She went back to looking at her computer screen. I couldn't tell if she was pouting or she'd already researched removing RFID chips and was scanning the page. I wanted to give her the space to make an intelligently thought out choice. Stephanie was one of the smartest women I knew. She had unbelievable intuition, yet at times she reacted hastily. This was one of those times.

"I don't want to be stuck in this apartment for the next six months. I want to be able to meet with Connie, Lula or Mare and go shopping or go out for drinks without being afraid for my life. If you know any other way, aside from your men following me around like baby ducks, tell me. I'm open to it."

"You do realize that even if you're chipped and we know where you are, we'd still have to get to you to keep you safe? That does mean a man on you. You saw how quickly you went from being relatively secure to being dragged into an unsafe situation? It was seconds Babe. No tracker, no chip, no anything can save you in seconds."

"I carry my gun. I'm trained. I don't know how he got the jump on me."

"Your guard was down. I have a suggestion..."

"Yes?"

"You and Jace already have highly evolved intuitive skills. I'd like to bring in a professional to work with the two of you. He's the person who trained Tank, Santos and myself when we were in the Rangers. He's retired from the military now and working on his own. Would you be open to meeting with him?"

"What's his name?"

"Dr. Warren Feingold."

"A doctor?"

"He's got multiple doctorates. But yes, you can call him a doctor."

"And what will he do?"

"He'll teach you to work more effectively with what you already have. And you have more than I had when he first started working with me."

"But Carlos, you always know when..."

"Training Babe." So now I was giving her two things to think about.

Stephanie's POV

So maybe the chip wasn't a good idea after all. I still wouldn't be able to roam around on my own; I'd still have to have someone watching my back. The only thing that kept me focused on it as a possibility was that I saw a lot of Scrog in Kraven. They were both very intelligent, yet certifiably out of their minds and if Scrog had successfully removed my trackers and panic button, leaving me pretty much untraceable, Kraven probably could too. On the other hand, maybe there was something to this PhD? I mean, Carlos has amazing skills.

I know he wanted me to really think about the chip and working with the doctor, so I started with the obvious — I googled the doctor.

Google said he was a social cognitive psychologist and had been a member of the Joint Psychological Operations Task Force. Whatever that means. Social? Getting along with people. Cognitive? Brain development. Psychologist? Well we all know what that means. Shrink. Put them all together and I'm thinking, mumbo jumbo. I'd dismiss the whole thing but when I look at Carlos' ability to makes sense of a hair out of place or a blood stain on a car three blocks from the scene, it's pretty scary. Ok, I'd work with him. But I still wasn't dismissing the chipping thing.

Carlos had gone back into his office in our apartment to do some work. I knew he was actually 'giving me space' than working since, according to Hal, we had no emergencies and the paperwork was up-to-date. I spent an hour with my friend google researching RFID chips and this Dr. Feingold guy and I'd pretty much made my decision. The thing that kept popping up was that Carlos said he wanted both me and Jace to work with the doctor. I wondered if he'd spoken to Jace about it yet. Only one way to find out.

"Jace? Steph," I said when he answered his cell. "Sorry to call you after hours, but I have a question."

I then told him all the things that were bugging me: from Kraven being bonded out, to the RFID chip, to Dr. Feingold.

"Did Carlos talk to you about us; you, me and the doctor working together to enhance our skills?" I finally asked.

"He did. We just spoke."

Oh. Maybe that's what he was doing in his office? Making calls. "And what did he say?"

"He told me he was thinking about bringing Dr. Feingold here to Trenton for a few weeks to put a limited number of Rangemen through the rigorous psychological training he put the Rangers' through. I told him I'd love to be a part of this experiment."

"He thinks it would be good for me too..."

"And he mentioned Hector."

"Do you know what this doctor will prepare us for?"

"Ranger didn't say exactly but I spoke to a friend, an ex-Navy Seal. He's worked with Feingold too. He said his specialty is teaching 'mental toughness'.

My brain was already tough; just ask my family. When I didn't want to do something, there was nothing you could do to make me change my mind. Pig-headedness is what my mother called it. This was going to be a piece of cake for me, so I thanked Jace and hung up.

I took my laptop to Carlos' office. The door was open but Carlos was busy reading something on his computer screen so I fake knocked in case he didn't know I was there. But I knew he knew.

"Knock, knock," I said, "Can I come in?"

"Anytime. You know my door is always open to you."

"Ok, here's the thing," I stated, going right for it. "I spoke with Jace and he told me what he learned about Dr. Feingold. He says he has a reputation for making people mentally tough…"

"That's one aspect. But I'm not expecting you nor Hector, yes I spoke with Hector too, to do his program and carry 100 lbs of equipment up seven flights of stairs while working on strategies to eliminate the tail behind you. Those are military tactics. I was hoping he could teach you how to fine-tune the skills you already have into something similar to what we were taught without the added physical discomfort."

I didn't know about the 100 lbs of equipment and seven flights. Jace didn't tell me that part. Well he was a firefighter; that probably seemed like a day at the beach to him.

"100-lbs of equipment? I don't think I can carry…"

"The physical aspect of his training wouldn't be right for you; you'd last one day and then want to quit. This isn't the military and I'm not trying to make Rangers out of you, Hector and Williams. But I do think the training would be beneficial. Hector said he'd be interested too."

"That's what I came here to tell you. I'm in."

"I'll call Dr. Feingold and set it up."

"Our wedding is in five weeks, is this going to interfere with anything? If so, we can postpone it."

"There's no need to postpone anything. The training won't take 100% of your time and you might find it beneficial in dealing with your mother and her need to control everything."

Hmmm? Interesting.

Hector's POV

Once I got off the phone with Ranger, I googled the doctor so I would know just who I was dealing with. As soon as I read his bio I knew why Ranger wanted me on this elite team. Number one, it would allow Stephanie and I to be on the same schedule and continue working together...but bigger than that, I knew he was hoping that the doctor could help me develop some of the tendencies I showed on my IQ test. I didn't know my score, but I knew I was treated differently after I took it. Either I scored high or in the idiot range and I knew I was far from an idiot.

This doctor was the guy who perfected psyops as we know them today. He was brilliant and ruthless and I was excited at the prospect of working with him.

I was hoping that Estefania gave it some thought and decided that this program would be beneficial for her too, otherwise I knew Ranger would postpone it until she was ready. And as much as I wanted to, I'd never try to convince Steph to do anything. I just hoped she didn't want to wait and include Lula in this. As much as I've grown to love and respect her, this wasn't a program for her. She was still too impulsive and had no consistent sixth sense of things. Not that one couldn't be developed but she'd hold the rest of us back while she caught up. If later on we thought Lula should train too, I'd be all for it. Just not now; not with us.

On impulse I called Jace.

"Yes, yes and probably," he answered, ESPing me over the phone.

"Stephanie called me, I know about the doctor and his program and I'm pretty sure Steph will agree to do it with us. I may have told her something to give her second thoughts though, I told her about the mental toughness. I hope she doesn't google it and think Ranger is expecting her, or you, to take on days and days of physical exhaustion waiting for the mental breakthrough. Those tactics are meant to get through to people whose muscle memory is stronger than their mental one. Myself aside, that's not our elite group."

"Glad you recognize it. You think she's in?"

"Yes. She's very afraid right now. She was even questioning me about getting chipped and I know up until yesterday, she was questioning me, period."