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Chapter Nine

Stephanie awoke to a warm mocha latte arm draped across her stomach. She stretched and snuggled deeper into his side.

"Morning, Babe," his voice still groggy with sleep.

"Morning, Carlos. You slept late today. It's almost 0800."

Ranger laughed at her use of military time. "Well since we didn't get to sleep until after 0300, it's really not that late."

"Well you're the one that insisted on having the Victoria's Secret fashion show last night."

"Babe, I think we both benefited from that," he growled.

"True," she yawned, "but I should have saved something for later. I guess Sam and I will just have to go shopping again." She gave him a quick smile and scrambled out of bed to answer nature's call.

When she exited the bathroom, Ranger was sitting against the headboard with his arms open to her. Climbing back to her warm spot, she kissed him sweetly on the lips. She suddenly jerked her head up and said, "Carlos, we never discussed your meeting yesterday with Chuck Fields. What happened? What did you find out? Is he part of this?"

"One question at a time, Babe," he responded before relaying the events of the meeting to her.

"Hmmm," she said. "You're right. He does have something to do with this. At first I thought he was just pissed off because Brian inherited the business and not him. But, once we get the report back from RangeMan we'll have more to go on."

At that moment, Ranger's phone starting ringing.

"Talk," he commanded. He listened for a few minutes and then said, "Be there in 30. Well, Babe, looks like the report is in. Get ready, we're heading to RangeMan."

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Ranger, Stephanie and Bobby arrived at RangeMan shortly before 9:00 a.m. Sam was at the hospital checking on Slim and would be briefed later.

When the elevator doors opened to the control floor, a hush fell across the room.

A well-built man in his early 50's greeted Ranger with a hearty handshake. "Good to see you again boss," he smiled and nodded to Stephanie. "I'm assuming this beautiful lady is you're your wife?"

Stephanie blushed, and Ranger seemed to thrust his chest out. "Yes, this is Stephanie," he replied.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Manoso. I'm James Winston, General Manger of the Atlanta facility."

"Nice to meet you as well," she responded, "but, please call me Stephanie, or Steph."

"Okay, Stephanie it is," he smiled.

James turned to greet Bobby. "Brown, I've seen you so many times in the past few year I'm beginning to wonder if you work for me now," he joked.

"Not quite, James," Bobby said, "but I have to admit, Atlanta is my favorite office."

Stephanie couldn't help but giggle at Bobby's statement. The location of RangeMan didn't matter as much as the proximity to Sam. Ranger shot her a silent nod of agreement.

"If you will follow me," James said, "I've called a meeting with my core team."

Upon entering his office, Stephanie noticed a large photograph behind James' desk. "Is this your family," she asked?

"Yes," James replied with a widening smile, "that's my wife Helen and our seven children."

"Wow, seven kids," Stephanie gasped. "I can't imagine that. Your house must be crazy busy."

"Yes, crazy, busy, loud, but most importantly fun and full of love," he laughed. "Just wait, I know you and Carlos are still newlyweds, but having children will change your life for the better."

Stephanie looked at Carlos and blushed. He put his arm around her shoulders, "Babe." They had discussed children, but hadn't made any decisions. They had agreed that practice makes perfect and that was enough for now.

Her thoughts were interrupted as four large, good looking men entered the office. They were physical clones of the Trenton Merry Men. Stephanie laughed to herself that if his security business ever went bust, Ranger could make just as much money on beefcake calendars.

Once the introductions were completed and everyone was seated at the small conference table, James began the meeting.

"Our investigation into Chuck Fields resulted in some interesting information. As you know, once he left Atlanta three years ago, he landed in Las Vegas. He found work with a fly-by-night trucking operation that was eventually shut down by the DOT due to Federal violations and drug trafficking charges. The trafficking charges are still being handled in the court system there as the defense attorney has been able to lengthen the process by filing multiple appeals."

"What is Chuck's role in these charges," asked Ranger?

"He has not been indicted, but we believe he was involved," responded James. "Our research has shown that he has ties to organized crime both in Las Vegas and Atlanta. When he returned to Atlanta, he immediately applied for a Federal Motor Carrier license. It's not an easy task, as it requires a large sum of money for the amount of equipment and insurance he has operating. We believe that the mob is behind this and they may be trying to continue their trafficking operation based here."

"If he's already set up with an operation bigger than Sam's," Bobby began, "why would he want her business as well?"

"I'm not sure," replied James. "We are concerned not only with his interest in Ms. Fields, but also the recent truck explosion. We only have an initial assessment, but early indicators are that the truck exploded due to foul play. We are working with the Georgia DOT and they have agreed to let RangeMan handle the reconstruction of the accident. We have a team working on the truck at another location to determine the events that lead to the explosion."

Stephanie's spidey sense was going haywire. It just didn't add up. If Chuck had what he wanted with a larger operation, why target Sam? He had everything Sam had and more. Could it be revenge for his so-called birth right, or was he just plain crazy?

"There's something else you should know," James continued. "Since Chuck's operation is still relatively new, the Feds are keeping an eye on him. It's not that he's connected to Las Vegas because nothing was in his name, it's because it's standard operating procedure for all new carriers. For right now he's flying under the radar, but my suspicion is that sooner or later, things will change."

The meeting was concluded with James' assurance to Ranger that additional information would be relayed to him as soon as available.

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Ranger, Stephanie and Bobby met a smiling Sam at the hotel.

"You sure look happy, baby," Bobby said giving her a passion filled kiss.

"I found out today that Slim's going to be discharged to a rehab facility by the end of next week. He's doing better than they expected, so his stay at the hospital is almost over," she beamed.

"That's great news, Sam," responded Ranger.

Sam hugged Stephanie and whispered in her ear for a few minutes. Stephanie laughed, nodded her head and whispered back to Sam. Stephanie said, "Okay, I will."

Ranger and Bobby exchanged puzzled looks.

"Sorry, boys," Stephanie smiled and put her arm around Ranger's waist, "It's a girl thing."

"Babe, let's go upstairs and get ready for dinner. I thought we might go dancing tonight."

"Good idea, Batman, you going to take me to a country western bar? I want to see if you can two-step."

Ranger gave her his best 'burg' eye roll, "Babe," which meant 'are you crazy?'

"What time should we be ready to go," asked Bobby?

"Sorry, Bobby," said Sam with a smoldering look, "We have other plans." She grabbed his hand and headed for the hotel entrance.

"Babe, what's she up to?"

"Don't worry about what she's got planned. Worry about what I've got planned," she said with a husky voice.

"Babe."