Disclaimer: See ch. 1
Spoilers: Through 14
A/N: Glad you all loved the actual 'talk'. I'm glad Ranger's not seeing anyone, too. Now, shall we see what kind of trouble Steph can get herself into? Alright, as you wish…
I looked over Trotter's file again. He had a place over on Stark. Ranger probably had more contacts on Stark Street, but I was pretty good at working with what I had.
I called Lula. She'd spent a lot of time on Stark Street in her former profession, as a ho.
"White girl, you got some splainin' to do. You ain't never come back yesterday with my lunch and that story bout that hunk Lester."
I groaned.
"Sorry, Lula. Something came up. There was this stalker, you know the drill. I ended up at Rangeman. Anyway, Lester stayed in my apartment with me so I wouldn't be too scared to sleep. That's all." I hadn't explained the Mortars situation to her, and I didn't really want to get into it now. "Look, I could use your help."
I could practically see Lula perk up in her seat. "Well, now, tell me girl, what can Lula do for you?"
"You know anything about Gene Trotter?"
Lula cleared her throat nervously. "Now, girl, you don't want to go getting involved with Trotter. That man is bad news."
"I know, Lula. I'm doing research for Rangeman," I told her truthfully. It was just that the Rangemen weren't the ones who were going to be following up on that research...
"Huh," Lula grunted. "Why you be doin' research for Batman?"
"Ummm…he asked me to help out a bit while he's away," I said, then I rushed on to avoid the interrogation which was sure to come. "The file says Trotter has a place on Stark?" I prompted her. "213, some office building."
"That place ain't nothing but a front. He leaves a secretary and some of his lackies there to deal with potential 'clients'," Lula told me. "I ain't never had no experience with the man myself, but my girl Jackie told me he got someplace he brings women, if you know what I mean."
I knew what she meant. "Do you know where this place is, Lula?"
"Naw, girl, but I guess I could call Jackie for you. Of course, you'd owe me big. We're talkin' lunch-and-dessert big."
I laughed. "You got it. Thanks, Lula."
I hung the phone up and leaned back in my chair. It smelled like Ranger. I wished he was here. But then he'd have me locked up in his apartment and I'd be no closer to finding Trotter. Ranger was pretty supportive of my endeavors as a whole, but I didn't think he'd be real happy about my going after a drug dealer.
I picked up Ranger's office phone and dialed Tank's extension. No answer. I called his cell.
"Talk."
"It's me," I told him.
"Steph? Listen, bomber, I'm kinda…"
"Do you guys know where Trotter is?" I asked.
"Uh, no. We haven't been able to get a lead on him yet. Listen, Steph, is everything okay? Cuz I've got to go." I heard what sounded like gunfire in the background.
"Everything's okey dokey, Tank. Be careful."
I hung up. Now I knew two things, the Merry Men weren't watching Trotter, and Tank was not in the building. That would make escaping so much easier.
Lula called back ten minutes later and gave me an address one street over from Stark. I wrote it down on a piece of paper and stuck it in my purse. Then I closed out the search programs, put the printed copies in my bag and stood up. Now I just had to sneak out of a building full of ex-army security specialists, every inch of which was covered by security cameras. Piece of cake.
I sat back down for another ten minutes or so until I had a plan that I was pretty sure would work. It was complicated. The more complicated, the more likely it would work, right?
I walked out of Ranger's office, trying my hardest to look casual and aloof. I waved to the guys at the monitor, two I didn't know. Pay day! Maybe they wouldn't catch on so quickly.
"Just headed down to the gym," I said cheerfully.
They nodded like this was an everyday occurrence; clearly no one had told them Steph didn't do gyms.
I took the stairs down to three so that I'd end up outside the locker rooms. I peeked in quickly. Empty. Maybe the guys upstairs wouldn't know that I didn't use the locker rooms either…
I waved at the little camera just outside the locker rooms and went in. I walked quickly to the other side, where there was an exit door. I came out in the hallway near the elevator. Hopefully the guys had seen me go into the changing rooms and wouldn't be expecting me out so soon. If they weren't looking for me, I had a better chance of evading them.
I walked swiftly, but calmly, to the elevator and pressed the button. The doors opened practically before I'd taken my finger off the button. Magic! I jumped inside and hit the button for the garage. As soon as the doors opened, I was out and sprinting to Big Blue. I pressed my key fob to open the garage door before I'd even gotten the car backed out, so it was open by the time I got to it. I glanced in my rearview as I pulled out of the garage. No Merry Men came racing after me. I'd made it.
Two blocks from Stark, I finally considered tracking devices. I didn't know if Ranger had put a tracker on Big Blue, but I knew that there was at least one in my purse. He'd given me a pen that was actually a tracker a while back, but that had been destroyed with one of my cars. After that, I'd found a new barrette in the bottom of my bag. I suppose he wanted me to wear it. Kidnappers never thought to take things out of your hair. The barrette had blown up along with my old key fob. I wondered briefly what new tracker Ranger had slipped into my bag, but I didn't take the time to dump out my purse and check.
I contemplated ditching my purse, but then decided that it was probably a good thing for the guys to be able to track me. And if worse came to worse and Ranger hadn't gotten around to replacing the barrette, the Rangemen could track my cell phone. I made sure it was turned on and functioning as I turned onto Stark Street. Hopefully they'd give me a little while to get a lead before they came blazing in to 'rescue me'.
I drove past the gym where I'd almost been raped by Benito Ramirez. That brought back fuzzy memories of a different, more adventurous Joe Morelli and I had to blink my eyes to keep the tears at bay. He had changed so much since the time so long ago when he'd been my first FTA. Too bad the change wasn't necessarily for the better.
I rolled past the Stark Street address for Trotter. No one was about on the streets, no one visible inside the building. If Lula said this was just a front, I believed her.
I drove two blocks down and turned right on a cross street, then left onto Lenning, the next street over.
I drove past the address Lula had given me. There was a big guy standing near the front door, arms crossed over his massive chest, head swiveling on a nonexistent neck. I parked two blocks down and watched the building in my rearview mirror.
I was watching the big guy pick his nose in horrified disbelief when my passenger's side door opened. I turned with a smile on my face, expecting one of the Merry Men, and was met with a hypodermic needle and a guy with one eyebrow.
My hand was halfway to the door handle when I felt the prick of the needle.
Who-knows-how-much-later I woke up. The room was dim, but a small, grimy window emitted a trace amount of light. My arms were bound behind my back, but my legs were free. I blinked my eyes, trying to clear my head. I was alone in the room.
Stay calm, Steph. I told myself. The Merry Men are probably already on the way.
I sat up slowly, closing my eyes as the dizziness hit me. I wondered what the guy had drugged me with. I pulled my bound hands down under my bum and managed to wiggle my legs through so that my hands were now bound in front of me. I stood slowly and walked to the window. It was kind of high, but if I stood on my tiptoes, I could see the street outside. It was the same street I'd been parked on. I was in the building I'd been watching.
I glanced up the street to where I'd parked Big Blue and my breathing stopped. The car was gone. I glanced quickly from side to side, willing it to be parked somewhere else. It was gone. Shit. My purse and cell phone had both been in the car. If it was gone…the guys had no way of tracking me here.
I sank down onto the floor beneath the window and brought my hands to my face. I wasn't going to cry. No, that would not help my situation whatsoever. A tear slipped out, followed by another. I sucked in a breath and wiped my face. Stop it, Plum. Suck it up and think.
This whole time, my eyes had been surveying the room I was in. There was a set of metal shelving on one end of the room. The rest of the room was bare.
First things first, I stood and walked to the door. It was locked. What? A girl can hope, right? Who says a kidnapper can't be stupid and leave the door unlocked? Too bad this one wasn't.
I stepped back and surveyed the room once more. Nothing. The window was sealed shut. I sank back down and laid my head on my knees. Maybe the guy would
come back and I could somehow get past him and out the door. Right. Like that ever worked. Most likely, three more ugly uni-brow guys would fall in to stop me.
I almost laughed at the irony of my situation. For once, I hadn't made any attempt to stop the Merry Men from tracking me, and they still wouldn't be able to.
I must have fallen asleep somehow – stupid drugs – because I woke up with the knowledge that life was about to get more complicated. As I watched, the door to my prison swung open and the uni-brow guy walked in. He had a sick smile on his face and he was holding a gun.
"Thought I'd just gotten lucky," he drawled. "Pretty girl, all alone, unlocked doors. But that ain't the half of it, is it? I know who you are."
I remained silent. Maybe he'd gotten it wrong. Maybe he thought he had someone real important like the mayor's daughter…or Lindsay Lohan. Probably he'd be disappointed when he found out who I really was. Probably he'd just let me go. Right.
"You're the bombshell bounty hunter," he said with a grin. "You're Manoso's woman."
Fat lot of good it was doing me.
"Manoso's been after the boss. Maybe you're the leverage we need to get him to back off."
I almost laughed. If this guy thought holding me hostage would get Ranger to back off, he had another thing coming. Holding me hostage was likely to get the whole building blown up and all of its occupants murdered, and their bodies shipped off to third world countries. Ranger didn't kid around where my safety was concerned.
Uni-man was thinking.
"Maybe I shouldn't tell the boss about you just yet. He's busy right now. Maybe I could just have some fun before I let him know what I found."
Shit. I hated it when they decided they were going to 'have some fun'. It was never any fun.
There was a loud rap on the door and Uni cursed and turned back to the door.
"What?" He hissed to someone outside.
"Meeting in five," a voice said.
"Shit." Uni-guy shut the door and turned back to me. "I've got to go to a meeting, darlin'. You'll be here when I get back, right?" He laughed to himself and left the room. I heard the lock click behind him.
Not if I can help it, I thought.
I took a few deep breaths to steady my nerves and help me think. What would Ranger do? I laughed. WWRD? I could make necklaces and key chains. I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity. Not helping, Plum.
I wanted Ranger. I wanted him here, rescuing me, pulling me into his arms, whispering that everything was okay now, carrying me back to the Turbo and buckling me in. I wanted his strength and his reassurance. I wanted to be like him. To be fearless and logical and able to get myself out of these situations. My eyes were getting misty, so I wiped them on the back of my bound hands. I had to let out a laugh that the uni-guy hadn't even noticed that my hands were now in front of me.
I don't know how many hours passed as I imagined what Ranger would be doing at this exact moment, but the sun sank behind the window until it was black as pitch inside the room. I wondered if the Merry Men had called him. Was he worried? Who are you kidding, Plum? Of course he's worried. I was a horrible person. Why did I keep getting myself into these situations? Didn't I care that people were worrying? That there was a contingent of men out there looking for me, fearing for their lives if they didn't find me? That Ranger was bleeding money? Would he be sad if I didn't make it out of this one? Would he go to my memorial service in his mysterious black clothing and stand in the back row and wonder where he'd gone wrong?
He'd tried to teach me to be more aware of my surroundings, to lock my doors in bad neighborhoods, to take back-up. I hadn't listened. Why did he put up with me? Suddenly I couldn't blame Morelli for all of his yelling and ultimatums. I was no good at this job. I should have quit years ago.
I wondered momentarily where my captor had gone. A meeting shouldn't be taking this long. Couldn't he just hurry back and get this over with? I was tired of the waiting.
I let my head roll back on my shoulders. My eyes caught on something in the ceiling and my heart stopped, my mind whirling. A vent. A vent that was about big enough for me to fit through. How had I missed that?
But how was I going to get up there?
My eyes surveyed the room again halfheartedly. I was too realistic to expect much help from an empty room. Then I spotted the shelving. It was a freestanding structure, about five feet tall. Maybe I could…
I stood slowly, then closed my eyes as I swayed. When I was sure I wasn't going to fall over, I opened my eyes and walked over to the shelves. They weren't bolted down. I gripped one end and tugged. Nothing. Of course life couldn't be quite so easy.
I took a deep breath and tried again. It moved about two inches with a loud grinding sound. Great. Any chance the entire building hadn't heard that? I hurried back to my corner and tried to act scared and depressed. It wasn't hard.
After about twenty minutes I figured it was safe to say no one was coming. I went back and started my long, grueling task of sliding the shelves into the middle of the room.
It took about an hour, interspersed with quick trips back to my corner when I thought I heard someone coming. No one came. By the time I had the shelves lined up beneath the vent, I was tired and sweaty and aching. I sank down onto the ground again and took a rest. I stood back up after a few minutes. If I wanted to get out of here, I'd better do it now, no telling when Uni would be back.
I scaled the shelves carefully. At the top, I rested again. This escaping business was really taking a lot out of me…or maybe it was the drugs.
I shoved at the vent and smiled in satisfaction when it shifted. I managed to get the cover off and set it on top of the shelves, then stared up into the hole. It was dark. And probably dirty. There were most likely spiders. I shuddered and closed my eyes briefly. Don't think about it, I told myself.
I pushed to standing and stuck my head into the vent. I couldn't see a thing. Probably that was best. I pulled myself up into the vent and shifted carefully, testing its stability. It seemed to hold okay.
I climbed the rest of the way into the vent and set off. There was no way of telling where I was going. It was so black that even if I'd had a map, I wouldn't have any idea of which direction I was going. I followed what felt like the largest vent until I came to a fork. I flipped a coin in my head and took the left fork.
I tried to keep as quiet as possible, knowing that the vent probably had openings into other rooms.
I heard voices a couple of times, but kept moving. It felt like forever I was in that tunnel, but it was probably only about an hour. Finally, I came to a dead end. I stuck my hand out in front of me and encountered grating. I shoved with all my strength, praying to God that the thing wouldn't lead to some room full of bad guys, and felt it give. I heard the vent cover hit something solid. I moved forward slowly and peeked my head in. Or out, rather. I looked out into the lot behind the building, street lights casting a soft glow over the scene. I felt like sobbing with relief, but I wasn't safe yet.
I turned around and stuck my legs out the hole. I dropped carefully to the ground and looked around. The lot was quiet, empty. I didn't even want to look down at myself. I could imagine the dust and grime I was covered in, not to mention the spiders. I shivered.
I began edging around the building. I had no idea how I was going to get back to Rangeman. I didn't exactly want to walk. I was only one street over from Stark, after all.
The night was warm. The only sounds were the occasional shout from the nearby apartment buildings. It was eerie. I was almost around the building when shouting erupted from somewhere much nearer by.
"Where the fuck…"
"…let her escape…"
"Boss will kill…"
Shit. They'd noticed that I was gone. I slid back into the shadows and waited, my heart pounding. How was I going to get out of here without them seeing me?
"Start a search…"
I took a deep breath and darted across the alley to the building next door. Maybe I could just take off down the street. Maybe they wouldn't notice me.
I kept to doorways and shadows, peeking back over my shoulder every now and again. There were four or five men standing out in front of Trotter's building, talking in loud voices and gesturing wildly. I turned back around and moved faster.
"Hey! Isn't that…"
I turned around in time to see one of the men pointing in my direction. I took off running.
I could hear their footsteps pounding after me, but I kept moving. My legs pumped, my chest burned, but I was so not stopping.
The pounding was getting closer and I could barely see through the tears in my eyes. I stumbled a bit and when I got to my feet, I could hear their labored breathing behind me.
I put on a burst of speed, my breath burning in my chest from the exertion and the sobs. It was no use. I was caught. My legs were already stiffening up, my crying making me weak.
I turned the next corner and a rough hand grabbed me. A vehicle screeched to a stop right next to me, the door was opened and I was thrown inside.
I closed my eyes as the car squealed off into the night and resigned myself. Ranger wasn't coming this time. I was caught again and there'd be no second chance for escape. There would be no dark knight in a fancy sports car sweeping in to the rescue.
I was vaguely aware that I was breathing too shallowly, to quickly. My head felt light, spots danced behind my closed lids. And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the long-overdue end of Stephanie Plum. My world went dark.
A/N: Sorry it's a short one, but I've got a few "between the chapter chapters" planned from other people's POV to make up for it. I'm not sure when those will be out, but it should be either right before or right after the next chapter. So what do you think? Will Ranger come to the rescue? Will Steph be able to escape again? Will Mortars or Trotter show up? Lots more to come!
