Continuing Eleven

Chapter 4

I'd been running for nearly an hour when Tank wandered into the gym. He was dressed in a white tank and black shorts. Without looking around, he set a boom box down on a nearby table and turned it up… and up…. And up, until I swore the mirrors around the gym were shaking with 50 Cent's voice. He trampled up onto the treadmill next to me and began at a pace that took me thirty minutes to get up to. We ran for about five minutes before he looked up and into the mirror in front of us. His eyes bugged out when he noticed me, which was only a few seconds before he tripped and fell, being deposited at the end of the treadmill with a thud.

"Shit," he said.

I put my feet on either said of the treadmill and turned it off.

"Hiya Tank," I said innocently.

He groaned and looked at me.

"What the hell are you doing in here?"

"Running?"

"Smartass," I heard him grumble as he got up.

"Stop breaking my men, Babe," came Ranger's voice. I looked over and found him leaning in the entrance of the gym, muscular arms crossed over his bare chest. Gulp.

"I didn't so anything! It was his fault," I said and pointed to Tank.

"Let's go Destructo," Ranger said and pulled me out the door.

When we got back up to the apartment, Ranger turned to me.

"You're running the meeting tomorrow. You know everything you need to."

I gaped at him. "Are you joking?" He just looked at me.

"Why me? I don't know RangeMan policy!" My voice was getting a little hysterical now.

"Follow your spidy sense. Tell Gilman what you need and compromise."

I heaved a sigh. "This is sorta pass/fail isn't it? Like gym. I hated gym."

Ranger chuckled at this. "Gym isn't your best way to exercise."

Double gulp!

"Who's going to be at the meeting?" I asked, picking up my notes and skimming them over.

"You, me, Lester, Bobby, Tank, Morelli, Gilman, and another employee I'm bringing in."

I looked at him. Guess I didn't know the new guy. I yawned. Running takes a lot out of me.

"Where are you sleeping, Babe?"

I looked down at the couch. No way.

I smiled and walked past him into the bedroom, pulling open drawers until I found new jammies to change into. These were cute too. They were Superman, same style as the black ones earlier. I exited the bathroom to find Ranger lying on the bed, hands behind his head, legs folded, watching me. I threw my dirty clothes into the hamper by the dresser and went around to the other side of the bed.

"Night Ranger," I said and clicked off the light. I burrowed down into the covers and was asleep in a second.

6 am is not a good time for me. Especially when I'd only gotten a mere five hours of sleep the night before. I am not a morning person. I require at LEAST ten hours of sleep to be able to function. And donuts the next morning are always a plus as well. Unfortunately for me, this was the morning of morning to not have gotten enough sleep. The alarm rang at 6 am and I smacked it. Hard.

I heard Ranger chuckle and I turned to see him freshly showered and shaved, dressed to kill in badass black, guns included.

"Wear this," he said and threw a couple pieces of black clothing on the bed.

I grumbled and got up, quietly grabbing the clothes and shuffling off to the bathroom.

I used the Bulgari which definitely brightened my mood. When I was all squeaky clean and slightly pruney, I shut off the water and stepped out.

An hour, handful of hair mousse, half a can of hairspray, three swipes of mascara, eyeliner, and lipstick later I was ready.

The outfit Ranger threw at me was a dressy skirt suit. It looked more like it was appropriate for Terry Gilman though. The jacket was worn with only a bra under it, the top of the lace poking out, and the skirt covered my ass and not much else.

I topped it off with black four inch heels, very business-like. My hair had calmed down to a dull roar and the curls fell down my shoulders. Basically: I looked good.

"They're here," Ranger said as I walked into the kitchen. A plate of pancakes, a cup of coffee, and an orange were sitting on the table.

"For me?"

Ranger looked at me. Right. Like he'd eat pancakes. Duh!

"Thanks," I said and sent him a smile.

It took me all of five seconds to down the pancakes and gulp down the coffee. I stared at the orange. To eat it or not. Huh.

I looked up to find Ranger giving me an amused glance. I sighed and grabbed the orange.

"Just in case we get stuck in the elevator and I almost die of hunger."

Ranger gave me all 200 watts as I grabbed the files and headed out the door.

Conference Room 1 was located on the main floor of RangeMan, down a long gray hallway. It was your typical conference room- that is if your idea of a typical conference room was an abnormally large oak table, plasma screens, and a two-way glass mirror. Just another day at the office.

"Relax, Babe," Ranger said. The door opened and Tank, Lester, and Bobby walked in followed close by Terry and Joe.

They all took seats around the table, Ranger at the head.

"We need to do this fast, Manoso," Terry started. "We've received Intel that Hawkins will be making a delivery in two days."

Ranger stood up.

"Precision. I like knowing what I'm getting into," he stated.

"This may be our only chance."

"It would be stupid, no offense, to go in guns blazing. It won't take care of the problem. It'll just put it aside for a while. We need to study the guy and take him down from the inside," said Lester.

"And how is it that you know this?" Terry said rather bitterly.

Lester got a dark look and stared her in the eye. "We have something in common, Sweetcheeks."

"Enough," said Ranger. "Stephanie is coordinating, so she will present the current plan."

Terry and Morelli's eyes flashed to me, just noticing I was there for the first time.

"You're coordinating the op, Cupcake?" Morelli asked incredulously.

I just shot him a look. He couldn't believe I was doing this. Well I'd show him.

"We have a plan. All you need to do is approve it." I passed a file over to both of them.

"Read it over."

Lester, Tank, and Bobby had already been briefed and were waiting for Morelli and Terry to respond.

Terry blew out a sigh. "This is bullshit. Fucking bullshit. Why don't you come up with something that we can actually do? Or better yet, why don't you leave it up to the professionals?" she said with a sneer. "You people have no idea what this is really like."

I laughed at that.

"They stick their asses out there more than you do."

Morelli jumped in. "Terry's right, Steph. This isn't what we agreed on when we said we would work together. None of our guys are going to be in there."

"Your men are all known as cops. My men are known as criminals," Ranger supplied from the shadows.

Terry snorted. "All the more reason we shouldn't be doing this."

I was getting agitated. The plan worked.

"It's my way or the highway on this one. You don't like it; you can find someone else to do your dirty work."

Terry got up. "I think we're done here." And she walked out.

Morelli looked at me and then down at the file. "Do you have any idea what you'd be getting into Steph? I don't think this is a good idea."

He turned to Ranger. "We'll be in touch."

Ranger inclined his head.

"You can find yourselves out," Tank said gruffly.

I blew out a sigh. "I'll be right back."

I ran out the door and caught up with Morelli as he was signing out with the guy at the desk.

"Morelli, at least think about it."

He turned and looked at me.

"Where did you stay last night?"

I was getting impatient. "Here, I told you."

Morelli nodded and looked me up and down. "You never dressed like this for me."

"I never conducted a meeting before either. It's a day of new things. Now please think about it."

Morelli ran a hand through his hair. "Cupcake, you want to set up an entire new life to do business with a mob family. That is fucking crazy Steph. If they find out, they'll shoot you on the spot. No questions asked. And the PD will just be sitting here until it's all over waiting for information? It doesn't work that way."

"If the PD were to be involved, it may blow our cover. I can't risk that. You'd have to trust me that I would include you in the actual take-down. Lester is right. Taking down Hawkins isn't going to end this mess. We need to get inside."

Morelli shook his head. "Maybe. But I don't like it."

"Like it how? As a cop or as my ex?"

"Both."

"Maybe we can find a way to have the PD involved more without actually being directly in the set-up. Come up with some ideas and call me."

"Was that an invitation?" Morelli asked with that look in his eye.

I rolled my eyes and pushed him out.

"No Joe, in fact, call my line here."

He pouted. "I'll see what I can do."
He clamored up into his Ford 4x4 and sped out of the lot, Terry in the passenger seat.

The hair on the back of neck prickled seconds before I felt Ranger's hand settle on the base of my neck.

"That went well," I said sarcastically.

"Remember- you have to apply enough pressure. People wear down." And he walked away. Hmm, something to think about.

I walked back to the conference room and snagged Lester by the shirt. "Can we talk?"

He looked at me and nodded, putting his arm on the small of my back and guiding me out the room.

"Nice job in there. And nice outfit. Sexy."

I couldn't help it, I blushed. "Thanks Les. Listen…."

He held up a hand. "If this is about the other night, nothing happened."

I felt tension ease from my shoulders at his words. "We were both seriously wasted. It's a miracle we made it home alive."

I chuckled a little bit. "I remember us tripping over the curb and falling into the street coming out of the club."

"Yeah, took about ten minutes for Tank and Hal to haul our asses up and get us into the car."

We both laughed a little bit at that.

"Well thanks for the use of your apartment."

He flashed me a grin. "No problem. Anytime." Tempting. Nooo! Stop those thoughts.

"One question though."

"Shoot."

"Your shirt?"

He broke out laughing.

"Lester! LESTER!"

He was bent over at the waist and held his hand out in a 'one-minute' gesture.

"You…." Wheeze. "You told me you liked sleeping in black T-shirts."

I narrowed my eyes.

"And… you asked me if I got them from Batman."

Oh Lord.

Lester fell into a fit of hysterics as Bobby came out. "Les man, we've gotta hit the building on fifth for the night."

Lester slumped. "Way to ruin the mood." I smiled.

"Have fun," I said and gave them both a finder wave.

Just before he left Lester turned back. "Why the hell were you talking about Batman?"

"You better go," I said and hurried off to my desk.

I grabbed my keys off my desk and proceeded to the office.

Connie and Lula were staring at me as I entered.

"Damn girl," Lula said.

"Is that supposed to be a business suit, Steph?"

I flopped down on the couch with the two files Connie handed me.

"I'm running an op for RangeMan and I had a meeting this morning."

Connie and Lula did the staring thing again.

"You run the meetings?" Connie asked in awe.

"This one. Usually Ranger does."

"You really movin' up in the world, white girl."

I smiled. I guess I was.

"Guess stuff like this is probably beneath you now," Connie chided.

"I can run a meeting, but I can't make a capture without ending up rolling in garbage. Not many things have changed."

They both smiled. "So Steph…." Connie started.

"Can we come see your new place?"

I looked puzzled. "You know the apartment at RangeMan."

Yikes! "Umm, well it isn't my apartment. It's one of the boys. I might keep it while this case is going on, but then I'll be moving back home."

"Sooo…can we see it?" Lula asked.

"Uh well…" But I was saved from an answer when Ranger walked through the door.

"Ladies. Babe."

He walked over to me, never breaking eye contact.

"Got a phone call from Morelli."

Oh really.

"Seems he's reconsidering the offer."

I smiled.

"Just have to apply the right pressure."

This earned me a full-on Ranger smile. Connie handed him a body receipt and he turned back to me. "Proud of you, Babe," he said.

"So who's the other guy working with us?"

All I got was an enigmatic smile. "He's coming in tomorrow."

So it was a him. Lots of information there. Wonder if he's as hot as the other MerryMen. I mentally fanned myself. I heard Ranger laugh softly. Damn ESP.

"So I put pressure on Morelli. Who puts the pressure on Ms. Mobster?"

Ranger gave me a dark look. "Morelli."

He nodded to the girls and blew out the door and into the wind.

"We should have a girls' night," Connie said.

"Yeah girl. We'll pick you up at your apartment tonight," Lula said and they both shuffled out the back door before I had the chance to say something. I heard tires squeal and saw a flash of Lula's red Firebird before I looked down at Connie's desk.

'Out to Lunch'

Yeah. Go figure.

At six I was starting to panic. How the hell do I get Connie and Lula through here without them knowing I was staying in Ranger's apartment. Hell, how do they even get in here. I was still in the business suit, having just finished making some major changes to the game plan, pacing around Ranger's apartment. I heard the locks tumble and keys being thrown into the dish on the sideboard and suddenly Ranger appeared.

"Looking a little scary, Babe," he said, giving me the patented eyebrow raise.

How to put this.

"Lula and Connie want to have a girls' night out."

He looked at me with the 'this relates to me how?' face.

"Well… they sort of want to see my apartment here. And I don't have one."

Ranger shook his head, went over to the panel, and ordered dinner for us.

"You've got a problem."

I nodded.

"Ask Lester."

The light bulb popped on. What an ingenious idea. Lester was neat. Neat enough I could slip a few of my things in and pretend I live there for a day.

"Great idea!" I flipped out my cell and dialed Lester.

"Tell me a joke," he said, answering.

"Uh… a horse walks into a bar and the bartender asks 'why such a long face'?"

Lester cracked up.

"I was being sarcastic, Sexy. Whatcha need?"

I smiled into the phone. "I need a place to live."

"Thought Ranger had that covered."

"I need a place Connie and Lula can see when they come get me tonight."

He whistled. "Now I get it. And you want to use mine." It was a statement, not a question.

"Well… ugh… if that's okay?" I crossed my fingers and told God I'd give up donuts completely for a month if he said yes.

"You'll owe me. And watch where you put your girly things."

And he hung up. I stuck my tongue out at the phone and mimicked his last sentence.

When I got back to the kitchen, two plates of lasagna were waiting for me.

"Yum," I moaned and dug right in, completely bypassing the all green oil and vinegar salad that was next to it.

I finished dinner about when Ranger finished his salad. He was staring at me with those dark eyes he gets from time to time.

"It was great," I said and hopped off my stool to go pack my things.

Lester was right. I was going to owe him big time. I had Rex on the counter and all the tampons under the bathroom sink. My clothes were hung in the closet, my shoes under the bed. A flat iron, curling iron, can of hairspray, and bag of make-up now adorned the bathroom counter. Thank God Lester ate like me or I would have had to make a trip to the grocery store. I was just admiring my fast handiwork when my cell rang.

"What's shakin white girl. We're down here at the desk and the big guy won't let us through."

I sighed.

"Put him on the phone."

There was a bit of shuffling and scraping on the line and Tony, resident gatekeeper at RangeMan, came on the line.

"You know these girls?"

Tony and I were old friends. Well, he learned who I was because I kept loosing my ID to get into the building. We said the usual hi and good-bye, chatted about the latest Rangers game, stuff like that.

"Yeah, can you take them up to Lester's?"

"Sure thing, Steph." And he disconnected.

A minute later there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find Tony flanked by Connie and Lula.

"You'd think this place was Fort Knox," Connie mused.

"Some days it is," I said.

I thanked Tony and ushered the girls inside.

"Feel free to snoop, I've gotta change."

I walked back into the bedroom and picked out a pair of tight black pants and a of the shoulder red top and changed. I heard them moving things and opening drawers in the other room. I heard the entertainment center door slide open and suddenly a sultry Spanish beat was pounding out the speakers. Lester had a great sound system.

"You listen to this?" Lula shouted over the beat.

"Sometimes," I lied and hit the button to turn down the volume.

"What do you need sexy Latina music for, Steph?" Connie asked.

"It's upbeat."

That's when the door open and a half asleep Lester entered the room.

He put his jacket down on the back of the chair, peeled off his t-shirt, and grabbed a beer before plopping down on the couch. Connie, Lula, and I just stared.

"And who are you?" Lula asked, not taking her eyes off his uncovered torso.

"Name's Lester." He flashed an amused glance my way.

"OOOOH!" said Connie.

Lester pretended to look hurt. "You mean you don't know who I am?"

He turned to me. "Honey, they don't know who I am. I'm hurt." And he got up, came up behind me, and put his arms around my waist, planting a kiss on my cheek.

Connie and Lula stood there with their mouths hanging open. Probably I looked like that too.

"You're gonna have to pay for that later, Sexy," he said as he bit into my neck.

Now see, this wasn't supposed to be happening. I imagine this was Lester having a good ol time and payment for using his apartment. Ha fucking ha. Now what the hell do I do?

"I….I…" I trailed off.

"Uh well, Steph was gonna come with us for a ladies night," Lula said. "But if you wanna come, we'd be glad to have ya."

Lester smiled his smile that made all women trust him. Reliable, responsible, respectable. That was our Lester. "Thanks ladies, but I just got off shift. I think I'll stay in tonight."

He spun me around and pulled me in for a long, hot kiss. His lips were on mine before I knew it and the worst part was, I didn't protest. It seemed easier to just kiss him back and explain this whole mess later while plotting a suitable payback. It was a real hardship to stand there and be kissed by possibly the most drop dead gorgeous man I'd ever met. I was crying a river.

"Try to come back before I have to go to work," he said on a wink and disappeared into the bedroom.

Woo, hot flash.

I lead them out of the apartment as we made our way to a new club in town. As soon as the questions about Lester came up, I started ordering shots. That's why, when I got back to RangeMan at two in the morning, it took Tony and Hal to drag my ass up to Ranger's apartment. They had to knock since they couldn't find my key fob in the mass of stuff I had shoved into my purse. A groggy, boxer clad Ranger opened the door.

"Sorry boss," Hal started. "We couldn't find her keys and she can't find anything."

I remember mumbling something about being a bit drunk and Tony practically laughing his ass off.

"I think you're a couple drinks past a bit there, Steph." Ranger scooped me up and shut the door, taking me into the bedroom and dropping me down onto the bed. As he leaned down to help me untangle the shirt I had brought over my head, I pulled him close to me. "You smell nice." Ranger quirked his lips.

"Come on, Babe, put these on," he said and handed me a pair of black silk jammies I had purchased the week before.

He helped me into the bathroom and I slowly changed, trying to get the world to stay right side up.

Somehow I made it back to the bed and fell down face first, instantly falling into an almost dead state.

I woke up to the smell of fries. Fries fries fries. Glorious fries. I rolled over onto my back and threw an arm over my eyes to block the rising sun.

"Time to get up," Ranger said. He was kneeling down next to the bed on my side holding a large coke and a McDonald's bag. Bless the man. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and managed to stand up. "Take these." Ranger handed me what looked like two Advil and the coke. I downed them and eyed the bag.

"You gonna give me those?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, if you promise to shower meet me in the Conference room in an hour."

I mumbled and he must have taken that as a yes because he relinquished his hold over the blessed bag of fries. I moaned at the first one and saw Ranger's eyes darken.

He stood up and walked to the doorway. "One hour."

And he was gone.

Dressed in another Ranger outfit of a short leather miniskirt and black stretchy top, I made my way into the Conference room to find Lester, Tank, Bobby, Ranger, and someone I didn't know waiting for me.

"Nice night?" Lester asked with a huge ass grin.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Yeah it was great. The entire Burg now thinks we're 'living in sin'! My phone was FULL of messages!"

I huffed and planted myself in the only available chair.

Ranger lifted his eyebrows at Lester.

"Just paying Bombshell over here back for the use of my apartment."

Ranger's face went blank.

"Let's start," he barked.

Tank stood up.

"Thanks to the plan updates provided by Steph and her coaxing of Morelli, the PD has agreed to our terms."

I smiled. Go me!

"The Mancini Brothers," Tank began, passing us each a file. "Are not good guys. They are Vito Grizzoli's godsons. They gun-run, sell drugs, kill people. The whole nine yards."

He took a deep breath and brought a picture of a good looking blonde man around my age. He was wearing an expensive suit, but his occupation was at a restaurant. Warning.

"This brings us to Aidan Hawkins. He is a close friend of Dino and sets up most of the deliveries for the brothers."

He pressed a button and the image changed to some heavy duty guns.

"Aidan Hawkins is making a delivery for the Mancini brothers tomorrow night at a warehouse downtown. Despite our concerns about the PD blowing our plan to shit, they've decided to try and apprehend Hawkins then get him to talk. RangeMan is having no part in this. Depending how the delivery goes tonight, we'll know how to proceed."

I'd never heard Tank talk this much. But he was spilling off facts, so it wasn't entirely off character.

"We're going to put a lot of manpower behind this project. There will be two teams. Terry Gilman knows Dino Mancini through her father. She is the contact on that side. Ranger will go in as a prospective buyer and try to make a deal. Bobby, you're going to work with Morelli on this to set up surveillance. I don't want this messed up. All the equipment has to be unidentifiable or at the least untraceable if found."

Bobby nodded his head and began jotting down ideas in the file.

"The PD wants Dino brought in first. That will make Marty Mancini more difficult. More than likely that operation will still be going on when Dino is brought into custody. We can't screw up and lose Marty." He looked over at me.

"Marty's yours, Steph."

I sucked in a deep breath and stood up.

"Tank's right, this is more complicated. What I have so far is that I, and someone else, can go in posing as a couple. That way there is backup if need be. Maybe they could be engaged and looking to start in the business."

The man I didn't know cut in.

"Mancini has his own harem. Your team should be a man and his top woman."

He wanted me to play the role of head whore?

"And how would that help us?"

"Whores talk," was all he said. I was feeling a little defensive, Lula having been a 'ho in a previous life.

"I disagree. I think that would leave only one person open to doing something where having a legitimate couple would bring two in."

"All you are needed for is backup. Mancini would respect a man who lives a life like his own."

I threw my hands up. "I'm running the op."

"Not if you're going to do something stupid like that, you aren't."

"This is stupid."

"I agree."

I let out deep calming breaths. In…out… count to ten.

"Whatever can be better done for surveillance is our best bet," I said calmly.

"My way is the best bet," the man said coldly.

Lester stood up and walked over to the fax machine where a new fax was being spouted out.

"This solves our little debacle," he said.

He looked to Ranger. "Elena is currently working under cover for the FDA as Marty Mancini's mistress."

Ranger nodded. "Fang, you'll go in looking to get into business with Mancini. You just moved here from Miami and are looking to start up. Babe, you'll be his mistress."

I was pissed. How dare that little know-nothing's idea be chosen over mine! Fang. What kind of name is Fang anyway?

"Fine," I said a little indignantly. Guess this wasn't my meeting anymore. Little Fang just came in and took it all over. Kiss ass. Teacher's pet… little dumb f-…

"Babe!"

I looked up to find Ranger and everyone else staring at me.

"What?" Oh intelligent Steph. Nice going.

"Lester and Tank are going to start putting together a surveillance plan for you and Fang."

Lester ran a hand though his hair. "A lot of this is going to be flying by the seat of our pants. Basically sitting outside somewhere and waiting for gunshots. We can't bug you without them finding out. The only surveillance we'll have is what we can get by hacking into their security cameras. Elena's been in for three months now with only an occasional satellite phone call into her headquarters. "

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach knowing that I was going to be stuck for God knows how long with Mr. Know It All as his sex slave. A typical situation for the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. We can only hope I blow Marty's damn cartel off the face of the planet by accident. And who the hell was Elena?

"That's all for now," Tank said and got up and left. I hauled off and punched Lester in the arm for good measure. "Shit, Sexy. That's quite a right hook."

"You… dumbass! How could you do that in front of them? I got stuck answering questions about the sexy man who had his tongue down my throat and who's apartment I was staying in! This is the BURG!" I shouted as if that meant something to him.

He just laughed, pecked me on the cheek, and said he'd be home for pot-roast at five. I wanted to scream.

I turned back to gather all the files together when I noticed Ranger and Fang staring at me. And that's when I noticed it. Fang was about six two with a mocha latte complexion and deep brown eyes. His medium length black hair was parted down the middle so small chunks fell into his eyes. Even with a shirt on, I could tell his body was a temple to be revered by all women. He was a lean mean Cuban sex machine. With an uncanny resemblance to Ranger.

"Babe," Ranger said and I realized I'd been staring for a few minutes.

"Yeah sorry."

Ranger looked amused, Fang looked… nothing.

"Babe, this is my older brother Fang, Fang this is Stephanie Plum."

His eyes held mine for a minute before he extended his arm.

"Nice to meet you."

I took it.

"You too."

Then he broke out in a wide grin.

"Can you tell me about the Porsche getting smashed by a garbage truck?"

I rolled my eyes and started grabbing at files.

"Or the garage blowing up?"

I started toward the door.

"Or when you set the dead guy up in a lawn chair?"

I was walking down the hall.

"Later then?" he called and laughed.

It was soooo not funny.

The rest of my day went by without notice. Lester packed up all my things and sent them back to Ranger's apartment and I completed all the work in my in-tray before six. I took the elevator to the seventh floor and had my shoes and pantyhose off before the door opened. I unlocked the door and threw my keys in the sidedish and took off my shirt.

I twisted around and unzipped my skirt when a voice said, "You might want to stop now." I shrieked and looked over to find Fang lounging on the couch watching T.V, cigarette dangling out the side of his mouth.

"You scared the shit out of me."

"You scared the shit out of me. I didn't think anyone lived up here."

I looked at him like he was crazy. "Ranger lives here. And there is no smoking," I said, eyeing the cig.

Fang shook his head. "Not the last time I was here. He gave me keys and told me to make myself at home. He only stays here when he works late and doesn't want to drive… erm, nevermind. So he lives here now, huh?" He totally disregarded my no smoking warning as he flicked his ashes into a tray on the table. He had strong looking arms, a cross tattooed on the underside of one forearm.

I shrugged. "Guess so."

Then I sprinted off to the bedroom to change into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

Fang watched me as soon as I came into view. I grabbed the coffee from over the counter and started a pot. Then I opened another cabinet and removed graham crackers and peanut butter, grabbing a knife and coming back out to the living room.

"So are you and my little brother a couple?"

I laughed. I couldn't help it.

"No. We definitely are not a couple."

He looked skeptical. "So are you just screwing each other then?"

Rhino mode.

"No, we work together. My apartment is about ten minutes away and I've been putting in major hours lately. So I've been staying here. Long story short I moved out of my ex-boyfriend's place and am in the process of moving my family out of my apartment. Don't guess about my life."

He nodded.

"Seems like you are something to him," he said. "Don't fuck around." And he walked out of the apartment.

Sigh.

The call came in at one in the morning. Ranger and I were both in bed and the ever-so-charming Fang was curled up on the couch, not asleep yet. That was complicated. When Ranger informed him he was sleeping on the couch, he looked at me with contempt and asked where "sleeping beauty" was crashing. A muscle worked in Ranger's jaw as he walked away. After spending the evening playing guitar, smoking, and drinking the rest of the beer, the chords of "Stairway to Heaven" had just dissipated. The phone let out a loud ring and, as I was waking up and Ranger was leaning over to grab it, we heard numerous creative methods of cussing come from the other room and a bottle smash.

"Yo," Ranger barked into the phone.

He listened for about a minute and let out a conversational "fuck" and hung up.

Placing the phone back in its rightful place, he turned to me.

"The delivery went bad."

I imagined what 'bad' could mean on a bust like this.

"How bad?" I asked, praying to God Morelli wasn't lying in a hospital bed somewhere, or worse, dead.

"Bad."

And he got out of bed, tugging on black cargos and a t-shirt in the process. I followed suit with jeans and the closest thing resembling a top I could find.

"What the hell?" asked Fang when we appeared in the living room. He was picking up the shattered shards of glass from the bottle of Jack Daniels that had hit the floor when he flew out of bed.

"You work in security?" I asked skeptically. He was nothing like Ranger. Ranger didn't smoke, didn't drink, and slept lightly.

He fixed me with a look. "I've been in Colombia for two years. I'm indulging myself."

Made me wonder what else he had indulged in earlier in the evening when we weren't around. And where. I visibly shuddered.

"What happened?" he asked and broke me out of my scary visual.

"The PD fucked up," I said helpfully.

Ranger smiled. "Babe," he said and started out the door. I followed and saw Fang drop the glass back on the floor and do the same.

As soon as I walked into the Conference room I saw blood. Everywhere. Three officers were being taken care of by RangeMan personnel and I saw four ambulances outside. Terry was sporting a gash on her arm, but seemed unharmed otherwise. Morelli was a mess. He was slouched, for lack of a better word, in a chair around the table. There was a long slice down his cheek, one eye was almost completely swollen shut, he was holding his side and not moving his other hand and I clearly saw a bullet wound on his thigh.

I shrieked and ran to him.

"Joe." It was all I could get out. I couldn't believe how many men were injured. There had to be seven in all.

"Go ahead… say it…" Morelli got out, then winced.

"What?" I asked, swiping away a tear that had somehow made it down my cheek. Hey, it was an emotional time.

"I told you so… go ahead. I can take it." He tried to laugh a bit, but ended up coughing and wheezing and holding his side.

"Broken rib," Bobby said, kneeling down next to me to check out Morelli's chest. "Painful. Try not to move."

He pushed here and there and Morelli spat out a "damn it."

Bobby handed me a towel.

"Apply pressure to the leg until the paramedics can take over. Don't leave him."

Yeah, like I was going to do that.

"Why did you come here?" I asked Morelli.

"Closer," was his only reply.

Five minutes later Morelli was strapped to a gurney and loaded into an ambulance. I watched the vehicle pull out of the parking lot and merge into traffic before I went back inside. As much as I wanted to follow Morelli to the hospital, I still had a job to do. Morelli'd probably be out until late tomorrow anyway.

A cleaning crew was busy at work in the old conference room, so I ventured further down the hall where Tank and Lester were standing.

"You okay?" Lester asked me as we took our seats.

"Yeah, just worried."

He nodded and gave me a quick hug before looking up at Ranger who was clearly ticked off.

"I think the appropriate words here are I told you so," Lester said to Terry.

"Shut the fuck up," she replied. How eloquent.

"What happened?" Ranger asked.

Terry sighed.

"We had everything set up. Everyone was in place, we had audio and visual. Everything was smooth at first. A black Mercedes pulled up and Aidan Hawkins and his sidekick Neil Spencer got out with their two bodyguards."

She inserted a memory stick into the computer at the far side of the room. The scene she just explained popped up on the screen. The men were standing next to the Mercedes which was parked alongside an abandoned warehouse.

"Two unmarked trucks pulled up with the merchandise. Three men to a truck. Armed."

She clicked and two trucks appeared on the screen, six men guarding trucks full of giant wood crates.

"Who was the deal with?" I asked.

"Mancini was selling with Jose Alverez."

"How much?"

"Four mil."

Shit. I can't even imagine that much money.

"We were expecting the guards. We had 10 men set up to go in and five on surveillance, including Morelli and I."

Ranger nodded and she continued.

"About ten minutes after all this, one semi and a limo pull up."

Another picture.

"Alvarez gets out, him and Hawkins talk."

It only appears that Alvarez has two bodyguards and two loaders. The loaders are unarmed, as you can see." She zoomed in on the men.

Ranger nodded.

"Alvarez gets the money, we go in. This is where it all gets shot to hell."

She shook her head and flipped the picture.

"Our ten guys come out and surround them. The four bodyguards all whip out guns and so do the six loaders. We didn't like the odds, so we called the backup ten in. They made a second ring around."

The men dropped their weapons, Hawkins and Alvarez surrendered. That's when we knew something was up, but it was too late. Morelli and I ordered them to fall back, but it didn't do any good."

She clicked up a picture of about twenty guys with guns coming out the back of Alvarez's truck.

"It was a free for all. Ten men died, and Alvarez made off with the money and stole both trucks. All I can say is the Mancini brothers are not going to be happy about this."

I was speechless. Talk about an opt gone seriously wrong. I don't think you can screw up worse than that.

"You fucked that up all right," Fang supplied. "Maybe you should have gotten a little background before you went in. Known what your were up against."

I smiled when Terry turned red.

"We'll wait for a reaction from the Mancini brothers before we start anything," Tank said.

"You said Hawkins was Dino's friend?" I asked.

Terry nodded.

"We might have a problem then."

Everyone looked at me.

"Marty and Dino are in business together, but they don't like each other. Everything is a competition."

"So what?" Terry said, growing impatient.

"I have a feeling Marty isn't going to be happy about this."

Fang shook his head. "Mob families don't turn on each other like that."

"They do if they want power," I shot back.

"You think Marty will disown his brother and try to do things on his own? Hawkins had all the contacts."

No. That's not what I thought at all. My spidey sense told me Marty was not one to mess with. It happens like that with twins. Good twin bad twin. Sure both these guys are bad persay, but maybe one was better than the other.

"I think Marty will try and get Hawkins' contacts. I don't trust him is all."

Fang laughed.

"Well. If you don't like him. What great reasoning. They've been together this long."

Fang could be a real pain in the ass.

"Steph has a point. Keep an eye on the Mancini brothers and Hawkins," Ranger said.

Ha! I win this round, buddy.

Lester yawned and I followed suit.

Fang looked dead.

"Let's get some sleep," Tank said. Everyone mumbled agreement and scattered out. Ranger, Fang, and I walked back down the hall toward the elevator, but when we got to the other conference room I stopped. I looked at the chair Morelli was in and remembered Terry's words. Ten dead. That was almost Morelli.

I felt an arm come around me.

"Come on, Babe."

Ranger steered me away from the scene and back up to the apartment.

Fang said something like a goodnight and fell onto the couch. I walked into the bedroom and sat on the bed, making no move to go to sleep.

It never hits you how real everything is. Even when I got stabbed and shot at and everything, it was just another day. I always made it through. But seeing someone that means so much to me be so close to death… well it just makes you think. I felt the bed dip a bit as Ranger came up behind me and start massaging my shoulders. It felt amazing.

"Don't think about it," he whispered next to my ear. Yeah right.

"Do you want to go?"

I shook my head.

"No. I just want him to be okay."

"Sleep. Long day tomorrow."

And he stopped kneading my shoulders. I decided sleep would be a good idea and changed again. When I came back it was dark and Ranger was under the covers. I slipped in and hunkered down when I felt his arms come around me.

I turned into them and buried my face in Ranger's chest, inhaling his scent and feeling safe. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my lips before settling into a comfortable sleeping position and dozing off.

Ranger let me sleep in until nine. He'd set the alarm for me and left me a note saying "call me." I decided I would shower first; Bulgari always cheers me up.

After the shower I dug around and found a box of Frosted Flakes and poured a cup of coffee.

"You two looked pretty cozy last night," said Fang.

I screamed and picked up a kitchen knife all in one movement. Nice. I didn't know I could do that. When I looked up and only saw Fang's cocky smile in front of me, I calmly put the knife back and gave him the Burg glare.

"Are you always here?"

He shrugged. "Nothing else to do."

I got an idea. "You say you do security?"

He nodded, casting a weary look at me and I smiled.

After calling Ranger and letting him know my plans for the day, I sped off in the Mercedes, Fang in the driver's seat.

"Pull in here," I said when he reached Vinnie's.

"Damn," he said. "You're really gonna make me do this shit again?"

I smiled. "Nothing better to do, remember?"

He slid his shades on and eased out of the truck. Fang is a rock star, I'm convinced. He wore a CBGB's shirt, the sleeves only covering part of the tats on his arm. His black hair was styled up and messy today, his face scruffy with day old beard. He was hot. And for some reason, he looked good smoking. He was the bad boy in the leather jacket that sneaked a smoke between classes in high school.

He let me go past him to enter the office first, lighting a cig on the way.

"Hey guys," I said coming in and flopping onto the couch.

They didn't respond. They were too busy staring at Fang who had taken to holding up the wall by the door.

"Connie, Lula, this is Fang. He… he's helping RangeMan."

"Ulk," said Lula who was blatantly staring with huge eyes.

"Uh, hi, uh," Connie said.

I rolled my eyes.

"You got anything for me?"

"Yeah," Connie said, rifling around through the files without taking her eyes off Fang.

I grabbed the files and looked at the first one.

"Manny Goldburg. Manny got caught for peeing in public. Yuck."

Fang came over and pulled the file out of my hand.

He read it over and looked at me.

"What kind of bounty hunter are you?"

"A bad one?" I said.

"Godamn," he said. "Jesus fucking Christ."

"You know, you don't have to swear every other word. And stop blowing smoke in my face!" I yelled and grabbed the cig, throwing it on the floor and stepping on it to put it out.

He took a step forward so he was glowering over me. "I can fucking swear as much as I godamn want and I will have a damn cig if I fucking want one, Princess."

He pulled his pack out and lit a new one.

Yeah, this was going to be a great day. I can see us skipping and holding hands by the end of it. Not.

"So we heard about Morelli," Connie began cautiously.

I nodded. "I figure I'll go see him later."

"You know what happened?" Lula asked.

I sighed. "He was involved in the case I'm working on. The PD and RangeMan differed in their views on how to handle the situation. Turns out we were right."

It didn't feel good and they knew it.

"You going back to him?" Connie asked.

I sat down. Sure, I'd thought about it. I'd thought about how I'd feel if he had died. If I could live with that. But then I decided that I would feel bad no matter what. Morelli was a good guy and had part of my heart.

Fang was listening closely, I could tell. I had no idea why he found my life so interesting. Probably just wants something else to fight with me about.

"No. We're friends, so I'm glad he's okay, but I'm not going back."

Connie and Lula smiled.

"How's Batman?" Lula asked, feigning indifference.

I glanced back at Fang and was horrified to find him hanging on every word.

"We should go," I said standing up.

With that Fang and I left for a fun filled day together.

Manny Goldburg resides on a 2x2 tin trailer on a patch of brown grass just on the outskirts of the Burg. Fang pulled the SUV to just before the metal fence with a "Beware of Dog" sign attached. Fang sighed and I attempted to raise my eyebrow.

"Not a fan of dogs?" I asked teasingly.

He reached into the backseat and pulled out a shotgun. "Nope."

I was out of the car and two steps from the latch on the gate when a menacing black dog bounded around the back of the trailer and galloped for us.

"Holy shit!" I yelped and jumped back.

Fang threw a 'you're a pansy' look at me before aiming the shotgun and firing. I heard the dog yelp, tuck its tail between its legs, and run off the way it came.

"Damn dogs," Fang muttered.

I stifled a laugh. Big bag Fang was scared of the little doggie. Now I did laugh.

"Let's get this over with," Fang said as he pushed open the gate and strode up to the trailer. I followed and banged on the door.

"Mr. Goldburg, I have a package for you." I shouted.

Manny was five foot five with a shaggy beard and a huge gut. And Manny apparently lacked a fondness for clothing. So when Manny opened the door to receive his non-existent package, we got the full view and it was not pretty.

"Jesus!" Fang exclaimed. I would have said something, only I am extremely used to over half my skips being naked at some point during the capture. I was immune to it now.

"What is it?" Manny grunted.

"I lied, you jumped bail and have to reschedule."

Manny snorted. "I ain't rescheduling. A man has the right to piss on his own property."

"Not when there is a busload of kids right out front," I said.

"They shouldn't have been there."

"Oh, right, the bus should have broken down someplace else!"

He nodded. "Yup. See, you got it. Now leave me alone."

He went to close the door when Fang came forward and shoved his boot in the doorframe. "Get your filthy ass out here now before I do it for you." Uh-oh, Fang was not a happy camper.

"Get out of here before I call the police," Manny grumbled.

Fang rolled his eyes before grabbing Manny's shoulders and spinning him around, quickly securing the handcuffs around his wrists.

Manny was halfway to the car before he mentioned his clothes.

"I can't go to jail naked! They'll kill me! Perverts!" he hollered and fought against Fang.

"Sucks to be you," Fang said and wrangled him into the backseat.

We were halfway to the police station before Fang spoke.

"That didn't seem to surprise you."

I rolled my eyes. "Most of my take-downs go like that. Actually, you helped out a lot. Usually I have to chase them down and the naked ones tend to put stuff on them to keep me from taking them in."

"Stuff?" Fang asked, peering at me from over his sunglasses.

"Vaseline, grease, lube, pizza, eggs, you name it basically."

He laughed. "Damn. At least it's interesting."

I sighed. "You could say that."

"You ever think about training?"

I watched the houses pass by. "Yeah, I've thought about it. I love food too much."

"Ranger is a hardass. I'm sure you could come up with an arrangement that didn't make you lose all food."

I thought about it and shrugged.

"Why do you call him Ranger?"

Fang looked over at me.

"Just wondering. It seems odd that his brother calls him by his street name."

"I could never call him Ricardo, that's our dad. My mom calls him Ricky." I snickered.

"I used to call him Ricky, then he hit fifteen and learned that wasn't cool. So it was Ric after that. But that was back when he was a Ric."

I was confused. "What does that mean?"

"It means Ranger is a title of honor and respect. He earned that name. As soon as he earned it, he stopped being Ric and started being Ranger. I'll call him by his name when it is just the family, but I refuse to degrade what he has done when we are working. He's earned my respect."

I thought about that. It meant a lot that his older brother would respect him like that. It made me respect Fang a little more too.

"There are a lot of men who go into the Rangers that don't come out with the nickname Ranger. Why him?"

"The title was given by his commanding officer. I can't tell you more than that. If he wants you to know, he'll tell you."

And that was the end of the conversation as we pulled up to the cop shop.

Thirty minutes later I was sailing into Vinnie's, body receipt in hand.

"Got the pisser?" Connie said, laughing her full head off.

I nodded.

She abruptly stopped laughing when Fang walked in the door, flanked by Ranger and Lester. Hell, I stopped smiling. My jaw dropped, my heart sped up, my mouth went dry, and I drooled. I know I did.

"Looking a little shell shocked, Babe," Ranger said with an amused look.

Gulp. "No, just surprised to see you." And I flashed a big smile.

Connie piped up. "Well if it isn't Lester!"

Lula smiled. "Hmm, you got yo'self a fine man there, Steph."

Jesus. I looked at Lester and he was grinning from ear to ear. Ranger on the other hand looked pissed, but apparently Lester didn't notice because he came over to me and put his arm around my waist.

"What can I say? She has good taste." And he leaned down and bit my earlobe.

Fang stared at us, looked at Ranger, and back to us… then broke down laughing. I mean seriously laughing.

I shoved Lester away. "You've had your fun," I said laughing.

"More than enough," Ranger said and gave him a hard punch to the side.

Lester was too busy laughing to notice.

"Okay, boys," I yelled.

They stopped. Good boys.

"Babe, we got some new info."

His face didn't look happy. Joy!

"Guess that means I'm gone. Talk to you girls later," I said and, with a small wave, was gone. I went to get in with Fang, but Ranger's hand on my neck guided me to his truck.

When we were on the road I turned to him.

"Any reason I had to come with you?"

He thought for a moment then flashed me the wolf grin as he stopped for a red light.

"Yeah, Babe," and he hauled me onto his side of the truck and kissed me.

Hmm, not a bad reason, I thought as I kissed him back. For once there were no emotional entanglements. Whoa, scary. Ranger had his hands under my shirt when the guy behind us laid on the horn.

"Fuck," Ranger said and jammed the truck into drive and took off. I was still lying on top of him, my legs straddling one of his, trying to regain my breath.

"You want to go see Morelli?" he asked.

I shook my head. Joe was still a friend.

We turned into the parking lot of the hospital and Ranger expertly lead me through the maze until we got to room 302. He stopped outside the door and gestured for me to go in. I nodded and he stalked off to a nearby waiting room, picking up the Wall street Journal on the way. Probably checking on the bat stocks.

I pushed the door opened and revealed a worn torn Morelli. He was staring out the window, but turned his glance on me when the door creaked.

"Hey Cupcake," he said and gave me a short smile. He looked sad and I knew why. He had lost a few friends in that disaster and he wasn't happy about it. Whatever his moral standards were, Morelli is a good cop, always has been, and he doesn't like to see any man killed over a fruitless war.

"Hey, how're you feeling?"

He shrugged. "I'm living."

I nodded. "You need to get better so you can get back to eating foods that'll clog your arteries." I said, eyeing the tray of 'food' the hospital provided.

"Yeah really. That shit's gonna kill me."

I smiled. Just then his mother entered the room followed by Grandma Bella.

"You there! You get away from my favorite grandson you little whore!"

"Grandma!" Joe yelled.

"Stephanie I think you should go," Mrs. Morelli said.

I looked back to Joe. "Get better."

"Thanks, Cupcake, and sorry about this," he said gesturing to his family.

I shrugged. "Not my problem anymore."

He nodded.

Ranger was standing right outside the door when I walked out.

"Everything okay?" I nodded and started down the stairs. "You said you had new info?"

Ranger nodded. "Looks like there's a new player in town." Oh boy.

I stared at the screen. Nothing was happening so I glanced at ranger.

"watch." He said

I turned back to the screen. Two guards came into view holding what looked to be some kind of machine gun. They were standing by the truck although I couldn't see much since it was night. I squinted and thought I saw movement at the bottom corner of the screen.

"was that.." I started, but all of the sudden both the guards were down. I felt my jaw drop. They were definitely dead. "how'd that happen?" I asked ranger. But before I could get a response a new group of goons stumbled onto the scene. I watched the shock on their faces and the sense of alarm travel throughout the guards. Then, out of the shadows, a figure appeared. He advanced on the clueless goons, holding what appeared to be some kinda sword.

"holy shit those guys don't even see him." I muttered.

With lightning speed the sword glinted and slashed through the air. A guard gurgled his last and the others turned, aiming about six guns at him.

"fucking amazing." I heard Tank utter. I would have turned to look at him cause he never speaks, but I couldn't tear my gaze away from the scene in front of me. Everything was moving in slow motion. The two guards nearest to him spun trying to level their guns at him, but the figure knocked the guns out of the way with super-speed movement and slashed both of them at the throat with his sleek sword. He then elbowed one guard in the face, then in the same movement, up-ended him with a sweeping kick that had the ground on the ground in a heap. Rolling across the ground the figure slashed out at the guards' ankles while remaining out of shooting range. I heard screams of pain as one guard fell to the ground clutching the back of his leg.

"Achilles tendon." I heard bobby mutter. As if an executioner, the mysterious figure rose up behind the kneeling guard, and with one quick slash, cut his throat. The other guard on the floor turned to get up, but the figure whirled in a single motion. The sword glinted and the guard crumpled to the floor, very much dead. I gulped. All the while gunfire was being unleased and I thought for sure this mystery guy was done for, but then I realized that not all the gun-fire was from the machine guns.

"what's happening?" I asked, but no one answered. Then in a squint of light, I saw the figure had a gun in each hand, effectively shooting at all the remaining guards. One by one I watched them go down. There was so much yelling and gunfire that I hadn't even noticed when the figure suddenly jerked and wheeled backwards. He must have gotten shot, I thought. One of his guns dropped to ground and he disappeared once again into the shadows.

"how does he do that?" lester asked himself.

I wondered the same thing. There was silence. There were two goons remaining and they seemed about to wet their pants in fright. They hastily reloaded their guns and looked around frantically. There was a noise and both guards turned, shooting off a couple rounds out of scared instinct. During this, I watched in awe as the figure came back onto the screen behind the guards. He was right on top of the gurads when they both reeled around. The figure surged forward. I heard something crack, a blood-curdling scream, and then two slashes. I was so stunned I didn't speak. I watched as the figure just stood there, surrounded by dead guards. He reached over his head and placed his sword back.

"a sheath between the shoulders… brilliant" said bobby.

Then the figure glanced up, as if caught on candid camera. I could see him smile in the darkness. He said something then pulled out a gun from nowhere. I heard a single shot and then the screen went fuzzy.

I leaned back in my chair. I was replaying the scene in my head. Wow.

"what did he say?" I asked in almost a whisper. After a minute, bobby turned from the screen and said,

"we think he said, 'hope ya enjoyed the show'."

I thought about it for a minute. Wow.

"who was that guy?" I said incredulously. the guys looked from one to the other.

"we aren't sure babe." Ranger replied.

"he's not one of yours?"

"no."

"but, I mean, how did he.." I stuttered lamely. than tank turned to ranger.

"you don't think it was dante do you?" he asked. Ranger shook his head. i was getting tired of not knowing things so I piped up, "who the hell is dante?"

"no one you need to know babe." I glared at him but his gaze remained serious. I sighed.

"what do we know?"

"he's a fucking genius that's what… I have never seen a person move like that before." Exclaimed lester. I raised an eyebrow at him, stunned at his reaction, but he just kept shaking his head.

"babe, this guy is dangerous." I snorted and thought well, duh! Ranger gave me a stern look.

"you're gonna have to stay close, real close." I winced.

"what does 'close' mean?"

ranger just looked at me. I sighed. I really didn't want to fight right now. "so when should I go pack?" I said resignedly. Ranger looked relieved.

"tank and I will get your stuff from your apartment. You can stay here."

"no way!" I said angrily,"at least let me pack MY stuff!" I stood up with my hands on my hips, giving ranger my best burg glare. He didn't look like he was gonna budge. Humph.

"please?" I said, dropping the glare and pouting the only way a jersey girl can. He rubbed his forehead.

"fine." With that he got up and gestured for me to come with him. I looked back once more at the now static screen and shivered. Then I headed out the door.

The drive to the apartment was silent except for Fang's incessant finger drumming from the backseat. Every five seconds I saw Ranger glance in the rearview mirror with a perturbed glance. It was fun. We pulled into the driveway and Ranger glided into the parking space near the dumpster.

"I'll just be a second," I said and ran to the door and trampled up the stairs (the damn elevator was broken) to my apartment.

I unlocked my door, grabbed an overnight bag from the closet and went to the bathroom to grab all the essentials. I guess I'd be staying longer than expected and I needed to stock up on supplies. I grabbed a couple grapes from the fridge as I passed and gave one to Rex. He picked it up, looked at me for a whole five seconds with his little black eyes, gave a butt wiggle, and crawled back into his makeshift home. Ah, the joys of parenthood.

I zipped up the bag and headed out to the living room when a sight made me stop dead in my tracks.

Blonde hair, blues eyes, big gun. What a combo.

"You have something I want. Give it to me."

Well, wasn't he right to the point?

"Uh, well tell me what it is and I'd be happy to get it for you."

The man stood up and loomed over me a good foot or so.

"I'm not playing around Stephanie. Give it to me or die."

I sighed. First a naked guy, then a deadly mystery guy, talk about a trained assassin. I just want to go to bed.

"Who are you?"

The man clicked the safety off the gun.

"I really have no idea what you want."

The man walked toward me, backing me into the back wall.

"You have until three."

I frantically searched for anything I could use as a weapon, but there wasn't anything within reach, not that I could get it before he killed me anyway, but I felt I needed to attempt to save my life.

"One."

I racked my brain for anything that I could have that this man could possibly want.

"Two."

Okay, shit. Shit shit shit. Right, breath. What was the point? In another second your brains are going to be toast. Closed casket for you Missy.

The man opened his mouth again, but nothing came out as he slumped to the floor. I looked over and saw a tiny bullet hole in the window and looked down to see blood trailing down the man's head. I backed into the bathroom, shut and locked the door, and called Ranger.

"Yo."

"Come here now."

There was a disconnect and in two seconds I heard my door being broken down. Footsteps entered the room.

"Holy fuck," I heard Fang say.

"Babe!" Ranger yelled.

I unlocked the door and came out. I tried not to look down, but it was almost impossible to stop myself. I saw the man's cold dead blue eyes staring up at me, the blood slowly moving past his temple and I bolted for the toilet and threw up. I just threw up perfectly good pizza. Damn.

Ranger called the cops then scooped me up off the bathroom floor and took me out into the hall.

"Who killed him?"

"I don't know, Babe, but we'll find out."

I nodded and buried my had in his chest, trying to forget the look on the man's face.

Ranger shifted me on his lap and I tried to zone into denial land where no one was trying to kill me and there wasn't a dead body mere feet from me. It was a happier place. Minutes later I heard the sirens and saw the flashes of the red and blue lights and knew the onslaught was coming. I was the angel of death and everyone in the Burg knew it and made money off it. Frankly, I felt a little jipped seeing as I did all the work and they reaped all the reward.

A pair of boots came into view and I looked up to see Carl Constanza. "Steph, honey, you okay?" he inquired, squatting down to my level and turning his gaze to Ranger. "One upstairs," Ranger said and I mentally cringed. Carl gave me a crooked smile that didn't quite meet his eyes and jogged off with the rest of his team to survey my latest disaster.

"I hate dead people," I said to Ranger before plopping my head back on his chest and waiting for the questions that were soon to come.

It was after midnight before the cops let Ranger, Fang, and I leave. I was exhausted and shook up. They made us go over the story over and over and over until I thought I'd cry.

When they finally said we could go, they didn't have much to go on. No one knew who the blonde guy was and there was no evidence to who shot him. There were no leads. But I honestly didn't care right now. I grabbed Rex and we sped back to RangeMan.

"What's the plan?" Fang asked as we rode the elevator up to the fifth floor.

Ranger's eyes turned hard. For just one moment I was able to tell what he was thinking. Ranger was furious.

"Consider RangeMan locked down."