And... here's the next chapter. This one was hard to write because I really wanted the interactions between Stephanie and Rachel to be full of witty banter and amusing repartee. I came up with this instead.

I hope you enjoy.

Stephanie's POV

Since it was a domestic flight and I wasn't checking luggage, I was able to make my flight to Miami with a few minutes to spare. Tank arranged for me to sit in first class and it was sparsely populated. Nobody was sitting beside me or behind me so I felt it was safe enough to pull out the search results I had on Tim West and re-read them. Nothing new came to light, other than the sudden realisation that the hotel in Miami was just down the beach from where Rachel and Ron lived. I knew I recognised the address of the hotel earlier, but I hadn't put two and two together at the time. In the end, Lula had my back and she figured it out so I don't need to dwell on my failure too much.

I put the papers away when the pilot announced that we were 10 minutes from landing. I couldn't get off the plane fast enough, but the people in front of me chose today to take their sweet time. I was losing patience with an old lady who was hobbling along trying to carry her suitcase and balance her cane so I offered to take her case. The young man behind me seemed to get the hint and he took the case instead and I was able to get ahead.

I got my hire car and left the airport and drove around for a little while until I noticed the same silver hatchback following me. To confirm that I wasn't seeing things, I took the exit and then turned into a shopping centre. I pulled out a map and then after a few minutes, I pulled out again and saw the same car on my tail. I pulled out my phone and dialled Ranger, just as instructed.

"Hey, I'm in Miami and there's at least one car following me. Where do you want me to go?"

"Does your car have GPS Babe?"

"No, but my phone does."

"Good, enable that and go to this address."

I recognised that address and said, "Why am I going there?"

"Look in your bag Babe. Ella packed a birthday present for Julie and I'd like you to deliver it. While you're there, I need you to find out as discretely as possible what she knows about my current whereabouts. If she asks why you are there, tell her that you're in Miami on RangeMan business and that you're staying in my apartment.

"If she asks you when you saw or spoke to me last, tell her that I left town and that you haven't heard from me since. I need her to think that her plan, whatever it is, is working."

"OK. I'll talk to you when I leave and am heading to RangeMan."

I got off the phone and plugged the address into my phone and went to give Julie her birthday present from Ranger. I parked the car on the street and took a deep breath telling myself, "Here we go."

I was nervous as I stood in front of the door waiting for someone to answer it. I was beginning to think that nobody was home. After another minute, I sighed and turned to return to my car. As I reached out to open my door, another car approached and turned into the driveway. As the car stopped to wait for the garage door to open, a door opened and I could hear, "Julie, get back here!"

Instead of listening to her mother, I watched as Julie jumped out of the car and launched herself at me. She squealed when she hugged me and looked around expectantly. She frowned when she saw that I was alone and asked, "Where's Ranger?"

I smiled at her and said, "He's out of town on business. He really wanted to be here himself, but you know your dad and his work commitments. I've come on his behalf to bring you your birthday present."

The present in my hand caused Julie to squeal again. By now, Rachel, Ron and their two children came out to greet me. Ron shook my hand and Rachel sort of started at me with a look of disbelief on her face. Ron suggested that we all move inside so Julie could open her present. I nodded and took Julie's outstretched hand and followed her inside.

As soon as we were all seated in the living room, Julie opened her present to find three games for her Xbox. At one point or another, she had mentioned all three of them to Ranger during phone and Skype conversations over the past month or so. Ranger did well as she was very happy with the contents. Rachel on the other hand, looked annoyed. Julie missed Rachel's expression and hugged me before leading her younger siblings into the other room to try out their new games.

As soon as the girls were gone, Rachel turned to me and asked, "What has Carlos gotten himself into now? Or is he simply too busy to bother visiting his own daughter on her birthday?"

I just stared at her as I tried to digest her meaning and her tone of voice. Ron noticed it as well and said, "I'm going to get us something to drink and check on the kids. I'll be back in a few minutes."

As soon as Ron left the room, Rachel continued talking in her angry voice. "Knowing Carlos, he's either gotten himself arrested or blown up. Which is it?"

I stuttered in my reply. I finally managed to say, "Ranger is just busy with RangeMan business. He left town about a week ago and I haven't seen him since. Tank just asked me to drop off Julie's present while I'm in town for some training at the Miami RangeMan office."

Rachel had a smug look on her face when she said, "Of course you wouldn't know where he was or what he did. You're probably not that close with Carlos. Whenever he comes here to visit Julie, he tells me everything that is going on. We're very close."

Before Rachel was able to elaborate on how close she and Ranger were, Ron returned with a tray. He placed a pitcher of iced tea and two glasses on the table in front of us. I looked up at him and was going to ask him why he wasn't going to join us when he said, "I have some work to do out in the garage. I'll leave you two ladies to talk. Make sure you stop by before you leave Stephanie."

I nodded and smiled at Ron. He glanced at Rachel and then left us alone. Rachel poured herself a glass of iced tea and left me to pour my own. I did so, and as soon as I took a sip, Rachel said, "I know what you're trying to do. You're here trying to undermine my relationship with Carlos. No matter what you do, you won't be able to lure him out of my life and into yours. We have a daughter together and that's a bond that nobody can take away."

I struggled to swallow the liquid in my mouth so I didn't spit it all over Rachel. It sounded to me like the words coming out of her mouth were rehearsed and that she didn't really believe them. I looked at her with wide eyes and said, "Why on earth would you think I was trying to get between you and Ranger? He's my boss. Besides, there's nothing between you and Ranger except a history."

Rachel looked at me like I was a moron and said, "Ha, I know that the two of you have been spending a lot of time together and that you've ended things with that hot cop you were dating."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Ranger just hired me to work at RangeMan fulltime. I've spent a lot of time with him as he trained me and helped me tie up the loose ends from my previous job. As I said, he's my boss."

Rachel sneered at me and said, "I know there's more than that between you, or at least on your side. Why else would you lure him up a mountain and then force him to take a stupid romantic horse-drawn carriage ride?"

I had to think fast here. If I pissed her off, she might shut down. If I denied everything, she might also shut down. In the end, I decided to say something that was feasible, although a complete lie.

"We were under cover. A well known drug-dealer lives near the restaurant we visited. We kept up the pretence of a couple to avoid suspicion."

Rachel looked triumphant at my explanation. She smiled and said, "I didn't think Carlos would go for a woman like you. You're a disaster waiting to happen. It's a shame because you'll never be able to experience what it's like to truly be with a man like that. He's dynamite in bed and you'll just never have that privilege."

I was having a hard time keeping a straight face at her comment. I couldn't leave it alone and said, "I hate to disappoint you Rachel, but I have experienced the softer side of Ranger. He's not into relationships and I went back to the cop, so it doesn't really matter.

Rachel's smile turned into an angry scowl. She looked like she was about to explode, but she surprised me when she whispered instead of yelled. "It doesn't really matter now. Neither of us can have him when he's dead. He went and got himself blown up."

I tried my best to play along with her and said, "How do you know that?"

She smiled triumphantly and said, "I have a friend who told me that he was arrested and taken to a temporary holding facility. Carlos tried to escape and set off some sort of explosion that killed him."

I pretended to be shocked, put my glass down, stood and said, "I need to leave. Could you please get Julie so I can say goodbye?"

Rachel was beaming as she walked down the hall to get Julie, thinking that she upset me so much that I needed to get out of there. Moments later, Julie returned. I hugged her as I explained that I needed to leave. Julie looked a little sad and asked if I could come back. I said, "I'll see what I can do. I am only in town until tonight, but if I come back to Miami, I'll stop by. I'll call first so you know to expect me."

Julie hugged me one last time and whispered, "Give Ranger a hug and a kiss for me. Thank him for my present and tell him that I hope to see him soon."

I smiled down at Julie and nodded. I noticed Rachel's look of victory as she overheard her daughter. Rachel walked me to the door and when Julie was out of earshot she said, "I know Carlos' death will be hard on Julie, but I'm sure his money will make up for it. We'll be able to do anything we want once we get our hands on it. Goodbye Miss Plum. I hope to never see you again."

Rachel closed the door in my face, causing me to laugh at her triumphant attitude. As I walked down the path from the front door I noticed that the garage door was open. Ron was sitting on a stool in front of a workbench doing something I couldn't see. I knocked on the edge of the door and said, "I'm heading out now Ron. I just wanted to say good bye before I left."

Ron turned and smiled, walked towards me and said, "Thanks Stephanie. Could you do me a favour once you get back to RangeMan?"

I nodded and said, "Sure, how can I help?"

"Could you please ask Carlos to give me a call? Not Rachel, me specifically. I need to talk to him about something. It's not urgent per say, but the sooner, the better."

I agreed, shook his hand and returned to the car. I could see Rachel looking watching me through the front window, so I smiled and waved at her and left. I started the car and was less than three blocks away when I noticed my tail again. I wasn't sure if I needed to ditch the tail or keep it on me so I called Ranger.

"Yo"

"Hey, I just left Ron and Rachel's house."

"Did you find out anything helpful?"

"I found out a lot of things, but I'll get to that in a minute. I still have my tail. Should I worry about that and try to get rid of it?"

Ranger was silent for a minute and said, "Why don't you pretend to try and lose them and just head to RangeMan. If you try to lose them and fail, it might make them over confident in other areas."

I agreed and then said, "OK, now let me tell you about my visit with your ex-wife and daughter."

I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts and said, "Let me pull over so I can talk without concentrating on driving."

I pulled into a strip mall and turned off the car so I could relax while I spoke to Ranger. I could hear sounds in the background so I said, "Are you ready Ranger?"

"Yeah Babe, I'm just moving into another room so I can hear you better. The guys were a little noisy in the kitchen."

"OK, here goes. Rachel definitely is involved. I don't know if she meant to let me know, but we were being followed in Trenton and she mentioned our carriage ride. She also told me, after several minutes of explaining why you were with her instead of me, that it no longer mattered because you were dead. For some reason, the whole interchange seemed rehearsed. It was as if she was just repeating words that were given to her.

"When I asked her how she knew you were dead, she told me that you were arrested and that you were killed trying to escape. She also said something that made me think she was expecting to get all of your money now that you are dead."

I could hear Ranger breathing hard. I knew this meant that he was angry, so I waited until he spoke. I was giving him the time he needed to think or deal with the shock of whole situation. After a few minutes of silence, Ranger finally said, "She actually told you that she was going to get my money?"

I confirmed this and told him what Rachel had told me. He laughed when I told him about my comment about his softer side because we both knew that there was no soft side to Ranger. When he stopped laughing he said, "George was informed through the necessary legal channels that I was declared dead yesterday. No paperwork has been filed yet, but I will need to act soon before this goes much further. Tank has arranged a flight for you to D.C. later tonight. You can head to RangeMan now to get some rest and then go and catch your flight. I'll get one of the guys to pick you up at the airport on our end."

I smiled and said, "Does this mean that I'll get to see you tonight?"

I could hear Ranger smile when he said, "Yes Babe, and I can't wait. It will be very late, but I'll be here waiting for you. I also spoke to Tank and he said that Silvio has left a package for you in the apartment. It's the search results on Rachel and your boarding pass."

I smiled at the thought of seeing Ranger and then remembered something. "Ranger, I spoke to Ron just before I left and he asked if you could call him. Not the house, but his cell phone. He sounded like he had something to discuss with you and it sounded kind of urgent."

"OK, thanks Babe, I'll call him tomorrow when I know he's at work and away from Rachel."

"That's probably a good idea. Speaking of ideas, I also have one I'd like to mull over for a bit. I'll tell you about it when I get there. See you soon Batman."

"You too Wonder Woman. And Steph?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Ranger hung up before I was able to reply. It always frustrated me when he hung up on me, but this time, I was more disappointed. I wanted to tell him that I loved him too. I took a few deep breaths and pulled back into traffic and made my way to RangeMan. I saw my tail and decided to drive around a little bit in an attempt to lose the tail. At one point, I thought I actually had lost the tail. Unfortunately, they picked me up a few minutes later, but I was getting tired and I ignored it as I pulled into the RangeMan garage.

I made my way from the garage directly to the apartment on the top floor without stopping to speak to anyone. I was exhausted and I only had a few hours before I had to leave again. As promised, Silvio had left a packet on the counter. I didn't bother to read it, I just put it on top of my bag so I didn't forget it and walked into the bedroom and collapsed onto the bed. Before I fell asleep, I set the alarm. I would worry about the rest of my journey once I had a short rest.

More to come.. Reviews welcome, even encouraged. :)