Disclaimer - Not mine; wish they were. All mistakes are mine and mine alone.

***SLIGHT SMUT WARNING***

Chapter 12

Stephanie was straddling Ranger with her head thrown back and her hands on his thighs. She was slowly grinding her hips; teasing him with her pace. He growled and attempted to grab her hips, but she slapped his hands away.

"Patience, Carlos, you had your turn, now it's mine."

As she increased her tempo, Ranger's phone began to ring.

"Ignore it," she moaned.

The ringing stopped.

Stephanie continued riding him, her breath coming in pants. Ranger reached up and began fondling her breasts.

The ringing began again.

"Christ," hissed Stephanie. "Ignore it. I'm almost there."

The ringing stopped.

Ranger felt her muscles tighten as she moved faster. He began massaging her clit with his thumb and took a nipple in his mouth.

The ringing began yet again.

"Fuck," yelled Ranger.

"Just answer it," groaned Stephanie as she rolled off of him, "they're obviously not going to stop calling."

Ranger snapped the phone open, "What part of off-line do you not understand?" He listened intently for a few seconds, "Fuck! Does Brown know?" "No, I'll contact him." He disconnected and began dialing.

"What happened?" Stephanie asked warily.

"They've lost the tail on Field's."

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Bobby was at the table waiting for Sam to return when his phone rang.

"Yo, Boss, what's up?"

"Brown, are you with Sam?"

"Yeah, we're just getting ready to leave."

"Can you see her?" Ranger questioned.

"Not right now she went to the bathroom," Bobby said. "Ranger, what's going on?"

"We lost the tail on Fields. I'm sure she's fine, but I need you to find her."

Panic washed over Bobby as he rushed to the back of the building. He reached the ladies room and pounded on the door. "Sam are you in there?" Silence. "Sam, come on, you're scaring me." Silence. Bobby opened the door and stared at the empty room. "Fuck! She's gone Ranger. I'm going to search the rest of the building."

"We'll be there in 20," Ranger replied.

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Sam's eyes were heavy and her head was killing her. She tried to lift her hands to reach her face, but she couldn't move them. She slowly opened her eyes and looked down and saw they were tied to the chair she was sitting in. When she tried to move her legs, she realized they too were tied to the chair.

Fear rushed through her as she recalled bumping into the stranger in the hall and the needle prick to her neck. She looked around the dark room trying to figure out where she was.

Suddenly, a familiar voice spoke to her from the other side of the room.

"So, sleeping beauty is finally awake."

Stepping out of the shadows, Sam recognized one of her drivers. "What the hell am I doing here, Rocky?" she demanded.

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When Ranger and Stephanie arrived, the police and several RangeMen were already on the scene. Bobby was standing against the wall visibly shaken.

As Ranger headed over to speak with his core team, Stephanie immediately went to Bobby and pulled him into a crushing hug. "How are you doing, Bobby?"

"Shit, Bomber, I don't know how I lost her," he sighed.

"You didn't lose her," Stephanie replied. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, but she was with me! She was my responsibility!"

"There was no way you could have known," Stephanie sternly said. "Hell, even Ranger didn't know until 20 minutes ago."

"Yeah, I know," he exhaled. "But I could kick myself. I should have never let her out of my sight."

After Ranger was briefed on the situation, he made his way over to Stephanie and Bobby.

"One of the witnesses remembered a tall, thin white man carrying a small red headed woman out the back door around the time Sam disappeared," Ranger stated. "She said the man mumbled something about the woman being ill."

Stephanie gasped. "He must have drugged her. But that doesn't sound like your description of Chuck."

"Now we know there is at least one other person working with Chuck," surmised Ranger.

Bobby's fists clenched and he punched the wall. "Shit! I should have noticed she was gone too long."

"Brown!" Ranger bellowed. "What did we discuss this morning? Keep it in control!"

"You're right, man," he replied and stood up straight. "What else do we have got? When I initially talked to the cops they were clueless."

"Right now we don't have a lot to go on," Ranger agreed. "I've got the team checking on the addresses we found when we ran the initial search on Fields. Until then we wait."

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Rocky stared at Sam with a maniacal grin. "Guess I'm the one in charge now, aren't I?"

"Damn it, Rocky! What's going on?" Sam's fear had turned to anger and she wanted answers.

"I'm here to help teach you a lesson. You're a very stubborn woman, and I think it's time you learned your place."

"What the hell are you talking about? Is this about you arguing with Slim? Because if that's the case he's obviously not a threat right now."

"Silly, naïve, Sam," he laughed. "I don't give a shit about that old man. I'm talking about you doing the right thing."

"What right thing?" God! It was like pulling teeth to get an answer out of him.

"I'm talking about selling to Chuck. You remember, Chuck, right? Your former brother-in-law? The one whose company was stolen right out from underneath him? The one who worked for years only to have it taken away from him and given to his spoiled brother?"

"Brian was not spoiled!" Sam shouted. "True, he originally didn't want to run the business, but when their father died, he stepped up and took care of things. He poured his heart and soul into the company. He did it out of love and respect for his family."

"Bullshit! He always thought he was better than Chuck. You forget, I've been around a lot longer than you have. I grew up with Chuck and Brian."

"What makes you think you can force me to sell?"

Suddenly a door opened and Chuck appeared. "He can't, but I certainly can."