A/N: Standard disclaimers apply.
Once they had finished cleaning and packing, they loaded everything but the bare essentials in the truck before grabbing beers and enjoying the rest of the night around the fire. Bruce was chasing fireflies until he lost interest and curled up on one of the long, reclining lawn chairs with Stephanie to doze. Eventually, they headed off to bed, but in actual beds this time, ready for new possibilities.
Chapter 5: John the Revelator
Stephanie woke to a growling Bruce. He had taken to sleeping with her, which quite honestly she found comforting. She felt less lonely with him curled up beside her feet. He wasn't as wild or obnoxious as Bob either. He was a fairly mellow dog with an apparently fierce protective nature according to Ray, which is why she was instantly on edge with his growling. Her spidey-sense was pinging too. Something was wrong. That's when she heard the banging and what she thought was a muffled scream. She put her hand in her purse and pulled out the first thing she grabbed. She checked it. The stun gun was fully charged, thank God for minor miracles.
In a hurry she ran out the bedroom door, Bruce bolted toward the noise as soon as she pulled her door open.
"You are mine, my dear. You know better than to run. I see the boxes and I know you were trying to leave me."
It was happening so fast and so slow, all at once. Realizing the man's voice came from Ray's room, her heart started racing. It was just as scary on this side of a crazy. If she wasn't consumed by the moment, she might make the connection that this is what it was for everyone around her when she had attracted her latest crazy like a moth to the flame.
"You were destined for a life by my side but it looks like you are going to meet the angels before me."
Tamping down the instant panic and nausea, she ran into the room just in time to see Bruce sinking his teeth into at a leg of some man. Those words struck too close to home and she stilled, frozen in the scene. He was choking a terrified Ray who looked to be losing her battle with consciousness quickly. Even so somehow he kicked Bruce in the ribs with the free leg, without missing a beat, before focusing on Ray once more. He had yet to notice Stephanie who was still rooted in place.
"Who are you to disobey me? I am the voice of Heaven, the voice of the many waters, the voice of a great thunder. I will not smite you but sacrifice you like a lamb on the great alter. I will watch your blood drain from your body and cleanse your soul."
The scene was unfolding in front of her but she couldn't move. She saw Scrog and then the door to her apartment open. Ranger, eyes locked with her own, walked in. She saw him fall, the blood pouring out of his body. She saw his lifeless eyes.
Then she saw Ray's. Ray's fading eyes caught Stephanie's and it was in that moment that she was pulled out of her own nightmare. He slowly released his grip on Ray's throat, holding her in a bruising grip by her arm, as he reached down to his waist. Stephanie grabbed the lamp on the table beside her and surged forward, catching the man by surprise as she hurled it at his temple. She connected with a sickening thunk as his knife fell to the floor. The second that he released Ray's arm and out of harm of the current, she zapped him with the stun gun. Once he collapsed she pocketed the knife and ran to her friend.
"Ray?! Look at me! Are you okay? How bad is it?"
"I am okay," she said hoarsely, rubbing her throat. When she heard her gasp, Stephanie whirled around following her line of sight to Bruce. She hadn't even noticed that when the man kicked poor Bruce, he had been thrown into the corner of the bed.
She crouched down and was relieved to find him breathing.
"I think he is just knocked out but he'll feel the pain," Stephanie said. "Come on big guy, wake up for us."
He opened his eyes slowly, obviously trying to focus them. Relieved that he was okay, Stephanie took in the scene. Okay, she thought with a big sigh. I can do this. I can be the rescuer. Inner Ranger. Hooah!
"Ray, are you going to be okay? Do we need to go to the hospital?"
"No," she said shaking. "What do we do? What did you do to him? Is he… is he d-dead?"
"I stunned him but we don't have long before…" Her sentence was interrupted by a grunt from the man. Ray screamed and a lethargic Bruce growled weakly and tried to get up, only to whimper. She knew she had to work quickly. Running to her room, she grabbed her purse, searching her handcuffs as she ran back. Ray was cowering beside the bed, shaking and trying to console Bruce. Or maybe it was the other way around.
She rolled over the man, careful not to rouse him and handcuffed one of his arms.
"Ray. I know this is scary but I need your help. We need to pull him to the wall."
"N-no, I c-can't," she whimpered.
Stephanie locked eyes with her, "Yes, you can. You are stronger than this. Push it all down and help me. You can do this."
Ray grabbed him under one of his arms and Stephanie under the other. They pulled him over to the old radiator. Stephanie threaded the cuffs through the pipe that ran into the floor and locked his other hand into the cuffs behind his back. It was just in time too because he was starting to wake up. She reluctantly, okay not terribly reluctantly, zapped him once more. She didn't want to use any more of the stun gun's juice but they needed more time. He was a large man, out weighing both girls combined. And he was obviously one stamp short of postal. She needed to get them out of there and quickly.
"Ray, grab everything you can and pack it. We only have a few minutes before he comes to again. I'd rather we weren't here when that happens," Stephanie said as she started throwing things into Ray's last duffle. She was so glad that they were already packed up. They only needed to throw the last of their things in the truck. Ray seemed to snap out of it and started grabbing what was left over. After emptying both bedrooms, the bathroom and the small kitchen, they threw everything in the truck. Ray grabbed a cooler and threw in anything that they could use on the road while Stephanie carried a whimpering Bruce and put him in the cab.
While Ray took the cooler and got in the passenger seat, Stephanie went back in to make sure they had everything. She went into Ray's room last. When she walked in the room which was a disaster from the fight and saw the man was awake looking at her with glossy, dead eyes. She involuntarily shuttered.
"Behold, she cometh with the dark clouds, every eye shall see you and there will be hidden place unseen. I will smite you who stand in the way of my greatness," he said with eyes locked on Stephanie.
"Uh, nope." That is all she said as she backed out of the room and away from Screwy McNutso. Once again, she was resolved. She would protect Ray and get them to safety. Whoa, okay. Got this.
She climbed into the truck and pulled out onto the gravel road, pointing the truck to the interstate. Knowing she was going to lose Ray quickly to an adrenaline crash, she asked her for directions to get them out of there. She also asked if Rosie would be home, assuming that she wasn't there. No way could anyone have missed the noise if they were. Ray said that she had stayed at her boyfriend's house. Small favors. It wasn't five minutes before she fell asleep. Stephanie grinned despite the circumstances. I guess that must be what it is like to deal with me.
After she found her way to the interstate and drove east for an hour or two before deciding she needed some specifics. She found a well-lit and busy, despite the time, gas station. She filled up and locked a sleeping Ray and Bruce in before running in to buy a map. She wished now that she had a data plan to go along with the pre-paid minutes and texts. She was relieved to see that this gas station was geared for truckers. It had showers, a small 24-hour restaurant, and very tiny, 3-computer internet café complete with a printer.
She ran into a problem though. She needed a credit card to use the internet. Damn it. If she used hers, she would alert the guys to her location. Despite the circumstances, she didn't think that was the best plan. She needed to get Ray to a safe, anonymous place to decompress before throwing Rangeman and all of her own crazy at her. Ugh! Will I have my own crazy waiting for me back home? She pushed that thought aside, after all: deny, deny, deny. She saw that one computer was being used by a large, very hard looking man. The trucker must have been well over six feet judging from his seated position. He had a full beard, shaggy dirty blond hair and arms the size of redwoods. He had a large, angry scar running through one eyebrow, barely missing the outside corner of his eye, into his hair line meeting just above the ear. She steeled herself and walked into the small room and sat beside him.
"Hi," she said with a sweet smile she hoped did not reflect her hesitation.
"Sorry, honey. I don't swing that way. Even if I did, I can't imagine you'll get much with your face looking like that anyhow. No offense," he said.
Her eyes got really large and then narrowed. "I am not a hooker!" She punched him square in the nose before continuing, "I just needed a little bit of help. Bastard!" The surprised man pulled his hand from his nose, covered in blood. Seeing the blood, she snapped out of her momentary insanity.
"Oh god! I made you bleed. I am so sorry! I shouldn't have punched you. I just really need some help and it's been a really stressful couple of hours or days. Hell, it was been bad for months. Here." She grabbed a few tissues from the other side of the room and handed them to him.
Frustrated, she started crying. She hated crying, especially because she was mad. She put crossed her arms in front of her on the long computer table and put her head down in an effort to pull herself together.
A hand reached out and patted her on the back. "Ma'am, I am sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Yep, just like that he was apologizing to her. What was it about Stephanie Plum? She could scream at someone, punch them in the nose and then have them eating out of her hand in under five minutes. It was a strange but common thing for her. Most of the skips she brought in ended up loving her after all was said and done. She had a way with people. It probably was fair since it balanced out the scales of life considering all of the crazies she acquired.
She looked up to see him handing her a tissue, free of blood. He had two tissues pushed up his nose to stop the bleeding. He looked ridiculous, and less scary now.
"I am so sorry, uh, sir. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"Name's Mac. And I deserved it. Now tell me what I can do to help, Ali."
"Ali?" she questioned him, clearly confused.
"Muhammad Ali. You know, 'cuz that was a mean right hook ya got." Stephanie rolled her eyes at the comment which got a low, baritone chuckle out of Mac.
"We, my friend and I, are kind of, well, trying to keep a low profile." Mac pointed at her face. Stephanie shook her head. "Hers is worse than mine." Mac's face turned hard at the fact that both women looked so battered but motioned for her to continue.
"I just wondered if I gave you cash, could you use your credit card to buy a few minutes for me?" she said motioning to the computers.
"Is that all?" he asked shocked. "I feel really bad, miss. I am so sorry."
"Um, so do you think that'd be alright?" she asked hopefully.
"Yes, ma'am. Of course, do you two need anything? I mean you are safe, right? You have somewhere to go?"
"Yes, I just need to do a little research first. Thanks."
He promptly closed his email on the computer and got up to give her his seat. "Take mine, I'll be back in a few." She sat down and pulled up a window for internet as he left. She quickly pulled up a map to Virginia Beach, their first planned stop. She quickly printed it and found a dog-friendly hotel and a vet, just to be safe, also printing that information. She looked up the number for dispatch in Del Rio as well. She figured that she would call, anonymously on a pre-pay before dumping it, and let them know about the restrained 5150 in Rosie's house. She wiped the history, just to be on the safe side, and closed the browser and signed out of the session. She got up to go find Mac. She saw him perusing a random aisle and waved to him. He held out a Coke and a Sprite.
"I didn't know what you'd like but I thought these are safe bets," he told her as he handed them to her. He looked better, obviously having cleaned up his face. She folded the papers and stuck them in the back pocket of her jeans before accepting the bottles.
"Thank you for helping me." She pulled out some cash before asking, "What do I owe you for the drinks and the internet time?"
"Nothing miss."
"No! I can pay you. I had to print a few pages too. I just needed for it to be untraceable," she insisted but it was obvious he was having none of that.
He reached over to the counter and picked up a pen and napkin. He scribbled something on it before tucking it in Stephanie's hand and squeezing while he said, "You ever need anything Ali, you call me. I am a trucker. I get around, even to Jersey." Obviously her accent had betrayed her, yet again.
When he pulled his hand away, he saw his name and phone number in her hand. Stephanie reached up and threw her arms around this man to hug him. She realized instantly what she had done and pulled back thoroughly embarrassed by her behavior but he was smiling at the gesture. "Thank you, Mac. Really, thank you so much," she said with every ounce of gratitude for this stranger's help.
"Take care and call me if you need help. I mean it. Hell, I wouldn't mind a call one day just to tell me you made it out safe," he called out as she waved goodbye and walked back toward the truck.
Stephanie jumped into the cab and drove back to the highway. Bruce and Ray were none the wiser, both still asleep. They didn't even wake up until she pulled into the hotel parking lot five hours later.