Still in Trenton...

Steph's POV

I walked down to the gun range with a bit of a heavy step. I wasn't really looking forward to this and there wasn't much that was going to get me excited to fire a gun. I ran into Lula on the way down and she was beaming. It was obvious that she had a grand old time shooting with Tank, but I wasn't so sure she'd enjoy her time with Hal and Hector as much. I smiled at her as she bounced past and headed to the gun range and Tank.

I walked in the gun range to find Tank standing beside a table filled with all sorts of guns. They ranged from a tiny little thing that looked like a cigarette lighter to a large automatic rifle of some sort. I looked at the table apprehensively. Tank must have seen my face fall because he laughed and said, "Don't worry Bomber, we're not expecting you to fire any of these guns today. I know you are not comfortable with guns so I wanted to start with something a little different.

"Today we will focus on the different types of guns that are out there and then if there's time, you'll try a few out."

I nodded and walked towards the table. I recognised a few of the guns on the table, but none of them looked particularly inviting. I picked up a few of the hand guns at Tank's request and told him how they felt. After about 15 minutes, Tank asked me to pick up the gun that felt the best in my hands. I looked at the guns and after a few more minutes of holding them, I picked up a Glock 19 and said, "I think this is the best one."

Based on the look on his face, I think Tank was a little bit surprised. He smiled and said, "Ranger will be happy. He was expecting you to stick to your Smith and Wesson."

I looked confused and said, "What's the difference? They're both just guns."

Tank laughed at my comment and said, "The difference is that the gun in your cookie jar gun holds 6 rounds and reloading is time consuming because you have to put each bullet into its own slot in the barrel of the gun. The little gun in your hand is lighter and it holds 15 rounds and one in the chamber before you have to reload. If you carry a spare clip it takes seconds to reload."

"OK, I get it, it's fancier and a little more modern," I said sarcastically.

"I also think it's prettier, but that's just me. I like guns." Tank grinned as he motioned me to move to his end of the table. He held out his hand and I gave him my gun. We spent the next twenty minutes going over all the parts of the gun. Tank showed me how to take it apart and put it back together. I was just loading an empty clip when I dropped the gun and reached out to the wall to catch myself before I fell down.

Tank rushed over to help me and asked what was wrong. I looked up at him and said, "I'm not sure. My spidey sense just went berserk. Something's wrong, I'm just not sure what or where."

Tank and the rest of the Merry Men have had enough experience with my spidey sense to take me seriously. Tank pulled out his phone and called up to the control room. Nobody had anything to report so Tank hung up and said, "There's nothing from the control room. Do you think it's RangeMan related?"

I shrugged and said, "Do you mind if we finish a little early? I will stay longer tomorrow to make up the time. I want to go call my family."

Tank nodded and stayed to clean up the guns and put them back in the gun safe as I rushed up to my apartment to call home.

"Mom, it's Stephanie. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I think so. Your father and your grandmother are both out right now. Why? Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure. I just have this bad feeling that something horrible has happened but I don't know what. If you hear something, please let me know."

I got off the phone and called Connie next. She wasn't aware of any tragedies, so I called the next person on my list. Valerie confirmed that she and the girls were fine. Albert was at work and she had spoken to him just a few minutes ago. I had one more phone call to make so I wished Val a good day and called Mary Lou. All was well at her house, but the feeling of dread wouldn't leave me.

I looked at my phone and thought about calling Ranger. I knew he was probably in the middle of a meeting with the General but I just wanted to hear his voice, even if it was just his message on his voicemail. I dialled his number but decided not to leave a message. Ranger would see he missed a call from me can call me back later when he had the time.

I pocketed my phone and headed back down to my desk. I looked at the clock and saw that it was just about 11. Lula would be up from her session soon and I was looking forward to hearing about her day so far. To kill a bit of time, I unlocked my computer and looked to see if my search was finished. When I saw that it was, I printed the report and put it in my outbox. I'd drop it off at Rodriguez's desk when we went for lunch. There was a new search from Vince so I started that while I waited for Lula to come back.

I heard Lula long before I saw her. She was having an animated conversation with Hal about the different security cameras. She seemed to know the model numbers and their features quite well. I was a little jealous that she was able to learn so much while I struggled to remember a few features. I was also proud that she was doing so well, so I suppose that won out over the jealousy.

Lula walked towards me and waved at Hal as they separated. "Wow, there sure are a lot of things to learn here. I never realised it was so complex. I just always thought they went after dangerous skips. I completely misjudged Ranger and all his Merry Men. I have a lot of new respect for the guys.

I smiled because I knew exactly how she felt. I always had similar thoughts, even after I worked here for a while. Now I know better, but if you only see Ranger or any of his men out and around town, you don't see the security side of things.

I looked up at Lula and said, "What would you say to taking a long lunch break today and helping me with my apartment now instead of later?"

Lula agreed so we headed up to our apartment to change our t-shirts. We were going out in public and Ranger didn't want the coloured t-shirts to be seen outside the office just. We each grabbed our bags and headed down to control room to let someone know where we were going.

We ran into Tank while we were down there and he asked us to join him in his office. We followed him and he handed each of us a small box. I opened mine and found an id badge, a key fob and a set of keys. I looked up at Tank and he said, "The keys are to your company vehicles down in the garage. The key is to get in and out and the id badge is needed when you start visiting customers. For now you can keep it in a drawer at your desk."

I looked down at the car keys and said, "I still have my car here. Is it a problem to leave it here?"

Tank shook his head and asked us where we were going. I said, "Because of the whole Lester situation, I didn't get a chance to clean out my apartment over the weekend. Lula and I are going to get some lunch and head over there now to try to get as much done as possible."

"Let me know if you need some help moving anything. We can send another vehicle and a couple of bodies to help carry things if you need. There are also some boxes and packing tape on the 6th floor storage room. Help yourself."

I smiled and said, "I might take you up on that, but it won't be today. I think we'll need today to just go through my things and decide what I want to keep and what I want to donate to charity. I will probably leave all the furniture as is. My grandmother won't have any of her own and if she decides to take my apartment for the next 6 months, she'll need everything there. After 6 months, I don't know. I can worry about it then."

We waved goodbye to Tank and grabbed a handful of boxes and tape. Next we stopped by the staff room on the way out to stock up on lunchables. We each grabbed a sandwich, some fruit and a couple bottles of water. We would have a nice picnic in my living room and we'd stick to our diet because we were eating Ella's sandwiches.

Lula and I hurried down to the garage to find out what we could drive. We both had a black SUV just like the rest of the Merry Men except ours were a little smaller and a lot more streamlined looking. They were nice cars and both of us wanted to drive. I laughed when we both climbed into separate vehicles. I rolled down my passenger side window and Lula rolled down her own window. I said, "Why don't we both drive because if I have stuff to bring back, it might not fit in just one car."

Don't worry, we head back to Washington next... Coming soon.