Ranger

I wanted to hear what Hector was doing inside the room with Stephanie and Cal. He used a signal jammer to prevent us from listening through the device Tank installed in the nightstand earlier. "You can't interfere," Lester said. I knew he was right, but I had to ensure she was safe. "Hector learned a few tricks."

Lester's statement had me raise an eyebrow. "What tricks?"

"He had candles in the bag." Lester went to the door. "I can't hear anything other than soft music playing," Lester replied.

"When Little Girl read the letter, she mentioned Necromancer. Do you know who he is?" Tank asked. "Edna said he was a military man but gave no name."

I'd heard the moniker before, but I couldn't place it with a face. "No." Tank turned the laptop around to show me a military file. Most of Necromancer's special ops details got redacted. "Which division?" I asked.

"Mercenary for hire," Tank replied. "No loyalty to the country. He died last month getting tortured after casting his voodoo on a protected woman."

"Protected?" I asked.

"The woman was protected by her faith. I know you don't put too much into religion, but the woman was incorruptible. His curse or whatever evil mojo he produced had rebounded on him. Everything he did from that day made the others pin down his location. I searched for his name but came up empty," Tank replied.

"Necromancy is the practice of dark magic involving communication with the dead. The person summoning the dead uses them to foretell the future or use them as weapons. Why did they assign the moniker of Necromancer to a man who specialized in hypnosis?" I asked.

"I suggest asking the general," Tank said.

I reviewed his intel. We could ask General Plum to tap into the network. Though, I'd have to owe him a favour in exchange. "No," I decided, "We will research this ourselves." Tank nodded. I didn't trust General Plum at the moment. He hurt Stephanie by assisting Helen. There had to be more to the story, but I doubted the general would be forthcoming.

"Do you believe that letter?" Lester asked. Bobby and Tank said they did. "I think it's a hoax." I believed it too. In my heart, I know Edna spoke the truth.

During a few dangerous missions, we would never have survived if it weren't for the group of unmentionables. They were the elite of the mercenaries. The skills the men possessed were practically magical. A council of sorts monitored their actions and stepped in when things got to chaotic. It hurt my head too much thinking about them. I raised my eyebrow instead of providing a response.

"I know about that special group. Maybe we should ask if Necromancer was one of them," Lester suggested. It wasn't a bad idea, but I didn't want to take that road. I knew Stephanie would eventually have the answer.

Stephanie rushed from the room after screaming, "The photograph."

"Babe?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Where's the box?"

"Inside my Rangeman safe," I replied. I had Hector on a video call as I watched him lock the box away inside my Rangeman Trenton apartment.

"Thank you," she whispered with a sigh of relief.

Stephanie jumped when someone knocked on the door. She retreated to the washroom and waited for the server to deliver the food and leave. "It's safe," I called toward her hiding spot.

"What are we having?" Stephanie asked as she approached the food trolly.

Lester lifted the metal lids and passed her a plate of Fettuccine Alfredo with grilled chicken. I took the grilled chicken salad. Tank had the double serving of spicy sausage penne. Bobby took the chilli. Hector ordered the steak with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. Cal had Fettuccine Alfredo, spicy sausage and risotto. None of my men were following the dietary restrictions I enforced at Rangeman. I let it go this time.

Stephanie ate with gusto, surprising all of us. She ate her food in record time, then convinced Hector to split his steak with her. Tank offered her some penne, which she accepted. "Save room for dessert," Lester said.

"Really?" she asked. Her eyes were bright and danced with excitement.

"Yes, really. I believe you asked for chocolate cake." Lester pushed the smaller covered plate toward Stephanie.

She slowly lifted the lid with her eyes closed. I watched as she inhaled the scent of the succulent chocolate. Dios. Stephanie took the fork to remove a piece. She put it into her mouth and moaned deeply. The sexy sound had me hard. Chocolate cake was my weakness. "Do you want a bite, Batman?" she sexily asked. Stephanie removed another forkful of the cake. She raised the fork to my mouth, which I opened for her. Stephanie licked her lips as I pulled the cake off the fork.

"What about your body being a temple?" Lester joked.

"Damn, I want to worship that temple," Stephanie muttered.

"Babe." Her face flushed red. She didn't mean for me to hear. Stephanie could worship at my temple from dusk to dawn.

After everyone ate their dinner and dessert, much to my chagrin, we piled the empty dishes on the food trolly, then pushed it into the hall for the server to collect. Everything would get charged to Rangeman.

"Who was at my apartment?" Stephanie asked.

"We don't know. The man was gone by the time Hector and Cal arrived," I replied. "They found cameras and listening devices inside the apartment. It's not safe for you to return."

Stephanie wiped a tear from her face. I could tell she didn't like getting displaced from her home. "Friend or foe?" she asked.

"We don't know for sure, but I would say foe," I replied. "They destroyed some of your clothes and shoes."

"The trackers and cameras are a dime a dozen. You could buy them online in bulk. Hector scrambled the signal when we entered your apartment. We left everything in place to throw them off the trail," Cal explained.

"Who would do this?" she asked. "General Plum?"

"Not the general. I was hoping you'd have an idea," I replied.

Stephanie looked at me for several minutes. "Show me what you have," she demanded.

Tank grabbed the laptop when I nodded. I wanted to see how she reacted to the intel we gathered regarding the Necromancer. She opened the laptop and shivered. I grabbed the blanket to wrap around her shoulders. "Go on. I'll enter the password," I said. She looked at me for a few minutes, then watched as I entered CM08!j .

"Change your password. It's not secure. I know you go by Carlos Manoso. Your birthday is in the eighth month of the year. Julie is your daughter's name. Your birthday is on the twelfth of the month, and Julie was born on the fifteenth of September, which was a Thursday," Stephanie said.

Hector laughed behind his hand. He had told me to select a different password since anyone who knew me could crack it. I was surprised Stephanie guessed what it stood for the first time.

Stephanie found the search results on the desktop. She opened the Necromancer's military special ops file. Her face paled when she looked into the face. "I've seen him," she whispered.

"Your grandmother mentioned him in the letter," Lester reminded her.

"No. Not from my youth, while I was in school. I was gathering research for my MBA project in the New York library," she explained. "He was on the elevator with a boy a few years younger than me."

"Do you know his name?" I asked.

Stephanie shook her head. "It's not popping into my mind at the moment. I'm sorry, guys. I need to get some sleep. Maybe resting would help me remember."

She rubbed her temples. "Do you need an Advil or Tylenol?" Bobby asked.

"Advil would work. Thanks, Bobby," she replied. I watched Bobby grab a few pills from his medic bag. Lester passed her bottled water. Stephanie smiled at the men before swallowing the tablets. She returned the empty bottle to Lester.

Stephanie kissed my cheek before retiring for the night.

Stephanie

A red baseball cap drifted to the floor and landed at my feet. He wanted to get my attention. I looked up at the other levels, but nobody stood out. Everyone busied themselves with searching for whatever book would complete their studies.

Looking at the hat made my blood run cold, and my skin erupted in goosebumps. I could feel him watching me. There was nothing I could do to escape his attention. "Get the business journal," I told myself. It wasn't in the reference section, so I could remove it from the library stacks. I didn't want to stay there longer than necessary.

I pushed the card catalogue drawer back. The floor number, Dewey Decimal code and stack location were recorded on the paper scrap in my hand. I was relieved it would take me to a different floor, away from his eyes. My spidey sense heightened as I approached the bank of elevators. He was getting closer. The elevator door opened when I arrived. It was empty. I felt relieved. He wasn't on the fourth level.

It didn't take me long to find the issue I required for my project. I wanted to prove that anyone could launch a business without investors. The first few years were practically a famine, but with perseverance and tenacity will get results. I needed the projections vs actual income from the online game company. They interviewed for Business Weekly and had solid tips and advice to advance your goals. I knew the trick was to provide a service the public would need.

After reading the article, I determined it was the one I envisioned. It had projections and boasted the owners were self-taught programmers. Instead of devising a new business idea, I wanted to capitalize on their vision. They could take the industry further if they hired trained professionals. The college offered computer courses, but they could earn a lot more if they created game design and animation programs. My professor thought I should construct a business plan for the college board of directors.

I held the journal in my hand as I approached the elevator. The doors opened. A man was inside with his son. The child appeared to be twelve, but my gut said he was seventeen. His round babyish face made him appear to be younger. The father made my skin crawl. I pretended I had to go up instead of down to avoid joining them on the elevator. When the next car opened, it was empty. I sighed in relief.

My relief was short-lived. When I got to the ground floor, he was waiting for me when the door opened. His son held the red hat in his hand. "Stephanie, we meet again," he said as his hand grabbed my wrist. "You have to come with me. I never got to finish the job last time." His glass eye remained fixed as his cold grey eye stared into my soul.

"Who are you?" I shakily asked.

"Necromancer. You know me as Alberto Mancuso." I tried to pry my arm from his grip, but he held on. Every pull got countered with the tightening of his grip. I knew my wrist would bruise from the strength of his fingers.

I screamed. The boy, Kenny Mancuso, put his red hat on my head to disguise my curls. "Let me go!" I begged. I punched the man's back when he tossed me over his shoulder. Nobody offered to help. I could see another man watching us. He stayed hidden where I couldn't see his face. I could only tell he was average height and slim. Nothing else about the man stood out in my mind.

"Babe, wake up. You're having a nightmare." Ranger had me cradled in his arms as he rocked me.

"¿Cúal es su nombre?" Hector asked. (What is his name)

"Alberto Mancuso is the Necromancer. El nombre de su hijo es Kenny," I replied. (His son's name is Kenny). My spidey sense said Kenny wasn't working alone.

"Necromancer is dead," Tank said. I was relieved. Even in my dreams, Necromancer scared me.

Hector ran from the room to grab the laptop. He signed into the Rangeman systems for me to review the photographs. I looked at Ranger for an explanation. "Noah Bogymen changed his name from Javier Ramirez. He was the son of Juan Ramirez, the guns dealer General Plum neutralized," Ranger said.

"You mean killed," I corrected. Ranger nodded.

"We suspect he's behind the threats against you," Ranger continued.

I shook my head. "He's not the only one," I replied. Ranger attempted to say something else, but I cut him off. "Look into Kenny Mancuso and his friends." I pointed to the laptop. Hector moved it onto my lap. I typed through the search engine to find Kenny Mancuso's graduating class. Moogey Bues and Spiro Stiva were working with him.

Ranger read over my shoulder as I let my spidey sense guide me. "We got asked to assist with the CID investigation at Braddock," Ranger said. "What did you find?"

"A newspaper article," I replied, "a cop got killed in Philadelphia three months ago. He wore a bulletproof vest, but it didn't stop the high-penetration rounds from tearing through his left lung and heart."

"Cop killers," Tank said.

"Feels right," I replied as I kept flipping through the newspaper archive. "Two months ago in Newark, they had a drive-by shooting where a light anti-tank weapon got used. Huh. They said it was army issue weaponry. What do you know?"

"The casing from the rocket got traced back to Fort Braddock. They ran an inventory and noticed the munitions were missing, but we don't know how they got shipped," Lester replied.

"You said, Fort Braddock?" I asked.

"Yes," Lester replied. My fingers typed over the keyboard to another article I found. There was a small mention of Kenny Mancuso joining the army to follow in his father's footsteps. Standing beside Kenny in the photograph was Moogey Bues.

"Huh. I bet when Kenny gets caught breaking the law, you'll find his weapon is from the missing Braddock stock."

"We can't find the weapons," Tank said.

I rubbed my temple. The conversation was giving me a headache. "Can we continue this in the morning?" I asked with a yawn.

The men took turns kissing my forehead. Ranger lightly kissed my lips. I grabbed his hand to keep him beside me. "Babe?"

"Please, stay," I whispered. He nodded, then climbed into the bed beside me. I closed my eyes and fell asleep wrapped in the cocoon of Ranger's arms. His scent and warmth comforted me.

The red hat dropped at my feet in the lobby. I looked around to find the boy, Kenny. He was nowhere to be seen. My heart raced as I ran up the stairs to my apartment. I was scared. When I opened the stairwell door, a man was waiting for me. It wasn't the boy. I screamed. "Who are you?" I asked.

"Not Kenny," he replied. What? I thought the child's name was Kenny. If he wasn't Kenny, then who was he? "Your worst nightmare."

I willed myself to wake up. "Babe," a muffled voice called in an attempt to break through the fog.

The man covered my mouth to prevent me from screaming for help. "Nope. He can't help you," the man threatened. Who can't help me? I didn't know who this man was, because he didn't offer a name. His free arm wrapped around my chest, pinning my arms to my side. I couldn't move.

"Babe. Stephanie," the muffed voice of Ranger called again. I sobbed as the man stopped me from speaking. He unlocked my apartment door and pushed me inside. Another man tied me to a chair before he injected me with a sedative. I looked around for Ranger. Where was he?

I settled on my captor. "Who are you?" I asked when the man removed his hand from my mouth. My eyes felt heavy as I fought off the effects of the sedation.

"Uh uh uh. That's for you to figure out," he replied. The man waited for a few minutes before he placed me inside a wooden box that resembled a poor man's coffin. I screamed as the other man secured the lid.

Ranger's warm lips pressed against mine, waking me from the nightmare. I returned the kiss and opened my mouth to his probing tongue. He deepened the kiss before he pulled back. "Babe."

"Carlos. I could hear you say my name. My eyes wouldn't open. I was scared," I whispered. I buried my face into his chest and cried. His hands rubbed my back.

I craved his touch. I needed to feel his hands on my body. He looked into my eyes. A lock of hair fell into my eyes. Ranger removed a hand from my lower back to brush it away. He stroked down my cheek with his fingers. I felt my panties dampen as his touch ignited the inferno.

Ranger kissed my forehead, nose, then lips. His hand trailed down my arm before moving to my waist. I stroked his face. Ranger closed his eyes and moaned deep in his throat. It was the sexiest sound I had ever heard. He ruined the moment by asking, "What did you dream?"