Disclaimer: JE owns the characters.
I saw the money pass between them and I chose to ignore it for the moment. I turned my attention back to the flaming pile of metal that use to be a car. I looked up at the tall man in blue that stopped next to me. He smiled down at me as he slipped his arm around my shoulder. I slipped my arm around his waist and pulled him back five feet. I knew that the gas tank hadn't blown yet. I liked Big Dog and didn't want to see him hurt by one of my minor catastrophes. Besides, it looked like he hit the jack pot this time.
Everyone around me started clapping and shouting as the gas tank blew.
"Aren't you a little worried?" Big Dog asked.
"Nope."
"Don't you think that he'll get mad?" he asked me as he looked around the area.
"I know that he's going to be mad," I said on a sigh when the firemen started spraying down the car. "It was a great car, too."
"That was a cherry car," Carl said as he came walking up. "I sure am glad that I'm not in your shoes. People have disappeared for shit less then this."
"I'm not going to disappear, Carl," I said in what I thought was a reassuring tone.
"Did you hear what he did a couple of months ago to that one guy?" Carl asked Big Dog over my head.
"Yeah," Big Dog said as he continued to scan the crowd that was forming. "You know that they still haven't found all of the body parts yet?"
"I heard yesterday that a foot washed up by the river over the weekend."
"I'm not going to be chopped up into pieces over a car," I said, more trying to reassure myself then them. I was starting to have doubts though.
"I sure hope so, Steph. That guy had only cut him off when he was driving down Haywood."
"No shit?" I asked as the first little wave of fear rolled through my gut.
"You know," Joe Juniak whispered in my ear from behind me. "I heard that he totally lost it when he was in the Rangers."
"What did you hear?" Big Dog asked.
"That he slaughtered a small group of militia over in Rwanda. I'm talking severed heads and limbs. I heard that they had to shoot him with enough tranquilizers to sedate five elephants," Juniak whispered.
We all silently contemplated how much it would actually take to tranquilize five elephants. An EMT came over and checked me out. He said that I was all clear other then the third degree burn on my right arm and some singed hair. I sighed at the thought of another trip to see Mr. Alexander. He wasn't going to be impressed.
"Then there was that guy two years ago," Big Dog whispered after the EMT left.
"Oh, Man! That was a mess!" Carl whispered back. "There was blood everywhere!"
"What are you talking about?" I asked as I started scanning the crowd with Big Dog.
"We found a guy hanging from the rafters in a warehouse," Juniak whispered. "He had been gutted."
"Ohmygod!" I whispered as my hand flew up to my mouth.
"We heard a rumor that he had said something bad about you," Carl whispered.
"Something about me?" I squeaked.
"What did they say that he said?" Carl asked Big Dog.
"It was a couple of weeks after that whole mess with the Slayers. The rumor mill said that this guy came in to Shorty's mouthing off. Said you should have died in that square after those guys had their way with you," Big Dog said as he looked down at me.
"There wasn't a trace of evidence in that whole building. Not one fiber or hair," Juniak whispered. "It was like smoke came in and killed that man."
"That can't be right," I whispered.
"It was the only thing that we ever heard about that guy," Carl said. We stood silently for a few moments and stared at the wreckage that sat in front of us before he started speaking again. "You know that all of the slayers started showing up in the river when they got bailed out?"
"I never heard that," I whispered as a shiver raced up my spine.
"We kept it out of the papers," Juniak whispered.
"You know that Ranger didn't kill Abruzzi, right?" Big Dog whispered in my ear.
I looked up at him and felt all of the blood drain out of my face. Oh. My. God. This was just so damn unexpected. I would have never thought that he would do that for me. He had always been so distant and cold. He probably hasn't said more then a dozen words to me since I met him four years ago. Why would he have done all of that? Did Ranger ask him to clean it all up?
"Oh, God! I killed his car!" I shouted in a whisper as I started franticly searching the crowd. "You have to get me out of here, Big Dog!"
"To late, Steph," Big dog said as he pointed to a black Bronco that stopped behind a fire truck.
"Carl," I said as I grabbed his arm, "Please. You have to call Joe and tell him 'good bye' for me. Tell my family that I love them. Tell Ranger that it wasn't his fault."
"I really don't think that he's going to hurt you, Steph," Carl said as he watched the owner of the latest vehicle that I have blown up climb out of the Bronco. "Remember that guy that washed up six months ago?"
"The one that had no hands or head?" Big Dog asked.
"Yeah," Carl whispered. "I heard this morning that they finally got an identification on him. He was last seen with the big guy over there."
"No shit?" Big Dog asked.
"Wait! What are you talking about?" I asked. I was so nervous now that I thought that I was going to throw up. "What body with no head?"
"They finally got an I.D. from one of his tattoos," Carl whispered.
We watched as the man that we had been talking about slowly made his way over to the remains of the 1970 Oldsmobile 442. My heart sunk as I watched him rub his hand across his forehead. His shoulders where slouched over. He ran his hand through his midnight black hair and turned around to face us. The blank expression on his face was something that I was use to. The troubling part was that I couldn't tell just how mad he was.
I tightened my grip on Carl as he started walking over to us. Big Dog took two steps to his right, putting some distance between us. Carl held out as long as he could and then ripped his arm out of my hand at the very last second. I shot Carl a look over my shoulder that screamed 'TRAITOR'. I felt Juniak pat my shoulder before he ran for cover. If he didn't see anything, then he was in the clear.
I immediately looked down at my shoes as he stopped right in front of me. I couldn't bring myself to look up at him. He had loved his car and I had destroyed it. I had a feeling that Big Dog and Carl were going to be fishing my body parts out of the river for the next few months. He brought his hand up and with the tip of his fingers, gently lifted my head so that I was looking up at him.
"Are you okay?" he whispered.
I couldn't find my voice, so I just nodded my head 'yes'. I watched as the eyes of the scariest man I have ever met start to water. I quickly found myself two feet in the air in a big bear hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck when he buried his face in my hair. I head onto him tightly and leaned my head against his. This frightening man was sniffling into my neck.
"I'm sorry about your car," I whispered.
"The car is just a piece of metal," he whispered in my ear. "I thought that you were gone."
"I really don't know what happened," I whispered as my hands started to shake as I thought about my close call. "I was just driving down the road and the back seat caught on fire."
I had just barely gotten out of the car on time. I burned my arm grabbing my purse before I jumped out while the car was still rolling down the street. It had been frightening to say the least. The flames came out of no where.
"You aren't mad?" I asked quietly.
"How could I be mad at you?" he chided as he sat me back down on the ground. "I'm just glad that you are okay."
"You know that this is the most that you've ever said to me at once," I said when he slipped an arm around me shoulders and steered me over to the Bronco.
"If you tell anyone," he said as he helped me into the Bronco, "They won't find your body."
"I was hoping that they might fish me out of the river," I joked with a big grin.
"Maybe they'll find you gutted in a warehouse."
"Ew!" I said as I scrunched my face.
"Steph," he said with a smile and a shake of his head.
"I really am sorry about your car, Hector."
"I know, Bomber. I know."