Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money. I'm just playing.
Trial no.9 – Part 2
They stopped for the first night at a Hampton Inn in Greensboro.
"You know, it's only four o'clock," Connie pointed out as they walked into the lobby. "We could get a lot further tonight."
"We have plenty of time, and I know you're tired. Might as well get some dinner and plenty of rest. We'll push it harder when we're bringing Warren back."
She raised her eyebrows. "Plenty of rest?"
"Okay, some rest."
He checked them into two separate rooms, which caused her to look at him sharply.
"Company credit card records," he murmured when he saw her look.
After a shower and dinner in a local restaurant, Connie felt a whole lot better and started to wake up again.
"So what is there to do in this hotel?" she asked Hal as they walked back together from the restaurant.
"From the looks of it, not a whole lot, unless you brought a bathing suit with you."
"Never even occurred to me. Damn."
"You could always skinny dip," he said with an innocent expression.
She started a slow burn at the thought. "I don't see the management going a whole bundle on that," she said, trying to keep her voice level, "and Ranger would probably frown on his employees breaking into the pool after hours to skinny dip."
"Possibly not the image of RangeMan he'd like to us to present."
"One day, though–"
Connie squeaked in surprise as Hal suddenly grabbed her hand and hustled her into a nearby alley, where he pressed her into the wall with his body and kissed her hard. Her legs sagged and refused to take her weight and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in and deepening the kiss further.
The moment was abruptly broken as a door into the alley banged opened next to them. Garbage cans rattled as someone took the trash out within a few feet of the spot where they were leaning against the wall.
Connie's face flamed at being caught, and she quickly buried it in Hal's chest where the guy taking the trash out couldn't see it. She could feel Hal's shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter as he bent his own face down to hide it too.
"It's not funny," she hissed when the door had closed again.
"Sorry. But being caught making out in an alley like a couple of teenagers; you've got to admit it's a little bit funny."
"It's embarrassing. And it's all your fault."
"Nope, not taking the blame for this one. You shouldn't have told me you wanted go skinny dipping one day. A man only has so much control."
"You're a Rangeman. Control is supposed to be your middle name."
"What can I say? You broke me."
o0o0o0o0o
When they got back to the hotel, Hal watched in bemusement as Connie carefully inspected both rooms to decide which one they would actually sleep in.
She checked the bathrooms for cleanliness, looked behind the curtains and bounced on each bed a couple of times. She even looked out of both windows.
"Con, it's going to be dark soon. What does it matter what the view is like?"
"I just want to make sure there isn't a dumpster under the window or anything."
"Fine, whatever you say."
But even then she couldn't make up her mind. She went and sat on each bed a couple of times again, and poked her head into each bathroom again. Finally, as she went to open the window of one of the rooms again he cut in.
"Con, they're both exactly the same. Just pick one."
"But I might be missing something. What if one of them has bedbugs and I haven't found them? One more look round."
"Can I offer a humble male suggestion?"
"Go ahead."
He picked her up and threw her into the middle of the bed in the room they were currently in. "This one. Don't move. I'm going to get your bag from the other room."
o0o0o0o0o
When he got back to the room with her bag, Connie was still in the middle of the bed where he had left her, but her arms were folded and she had a glare going that could leave scorch marks.
"I take it I'm in trouble," he said.
"Maybe."
He sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, unlacing his boots and pulling them off before lying down on his back next to her with his fingers laced together over his chest. "Gonna shoot me?"
"Possibly."
"Do I get a last request?"
"Go on."
"Can you tell the guys that I got shot single-handedly foiling a bank raid or something? You know, basically lie."
He slanted a sideways look at her.
She was gnawing her lip and looking studiously at the ceiling, but her eyes were crinkling suspiciously at the corners.
"Hey, it's hard to be a tough guy surrounded by ex-Rangers and Seals," he continued. "You owe me a heroic death. And if you could throw yourself over my coffin, sobbing, that would be cool."
He felt her shoulders start to shake.
"And if you could wail something like, 'I'll never find a man that well endowed ever again, I've been ruined forever–"
She burst out laughing. "You're an idiot!"
"But you love me."
"I must be insane!" she announced to the ceiling.
"Too late now. You can't take it back. I'd have to stalk you."
"You're going to stalk a mob princess. You must be dumb."
"It's in my job description. Dumb muscle. That's me."
"Well, since one stalker is definitely enough, I guess I'm stuck with you."
"Well and truly."
She rolled over to lie on top of him, lacing her hands flat on his chest and resting her chin on them so that she could look up at his face. "Mine?"
"Always." He brought his head down to hers and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"If we get bitten to death by bugs tonight, I might still shoot you."
"If we get bitten to death by bugs tonight I'll probably thank you." He pulled her up to him and wrapped his arms around her for a deeper kiss.
She sighed and relaxed bonelessly into him, opening her mouth to let his tongue twine around hers. He reached a hand up to release her hair from the chopstick that she had put in to go to the restaurant and dropped it to the floor beside the bed. "No offensive weapons allowed in the bedroom," he murmured. "You're far too dangerous as it is."
She smiled wordlessly and pressed in closer to him, initiating the kiss herself this time. He reached down to push off her sneakers and started systematically stripping off her tee-shirt and pants between kisses until she was down to soft white cotton underwear. He pushed her up to sit on his lap so that he could sit up and strip his own tee-shirt off, and lifted her away from him long enough to push his cargoes off his hips.
"Socks!" she announced imperiously. "Socks off!"
"Socks?"
"It's a fundamental principle. Any man looks ridiculous wearing just socks. They have to go."
He shook his head and pushed his socks off, letting them fall to the floor at the end of the bed. "Socks off, check."
She went to lie down next to him and he put his hands to her shoulders to stop her, keeping her sitting in his lap with a knee either side of his hips.
She cocked her head to one side, looking at him curiously. "What?"
"Just looking at you."
Straight away she looked uncomfortable. "Don't."
"Why not?"
"I don't like it."
"Then I need to change your mind, because I like looking at you." He leaned forward and kissed her again, combing his fingers through her hair and drawing it away from her face to trail down her back. He moved across to press open mouthed kisses down the column of her neck and across her collar bones, sucking at the flesh where her neck joined her shoulder until she caught her breath and ground her hips against him.
He combed his fingers through her hair again, starting at her temple and raking them through the thick fall of dark hair until he reached the middle of her back. He traced his finger along the line of her bra, looking for the clasp. He couldn't find it.
Her shoulders twitched with a stifled laugh while he continued to look. Finally she leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "Try the front."
He raised his eyebrows and brought his hand around to trace along the front of the bra, following the line where it cupped her breasts and finally finding the front clasp nestled in between them. He released the clasp and watched the bra spring away, releasing her breasts into his hands. "Witch. You did that on purpose."
"Maybe."
"Oh, you have to pay for that." He flipped her over, pressing her back into the mattress, and took her right nipple into his mouth, sucking hard and bringing it to a stiff peak. She gasped and pressed her hand to the back of his neck, asking for more. He moved over and did the same to the other, reaching down to stroke her center at the same time while she whimpered incoherently beneath him.
When she started to writhe frantically against him he stopped and sat up again, resisting all her attempts to pull him back down.
"Say sorry for teasing me with your underwear, or I stop."
She laughed breathlessly and undulated her hips underneath him. "Never."
He reached forward and grabbed her hands quickly, pinning them both over her head with one of his own. "This is your last chance. Say sorry."
Her eyes sparkled with laughter. "Nope. Still not sorry."
"Right. Remember, you asked for it." He reached down with his free hand and tickled her underarms.
She shrieked with laughter, twisting to try to get away from him. "No! NO!"
"Oh no, no mercy." He kept her hands pinned and kept tickling her until she screamed.
There was a sudden banging on the wall and a muffled voice shouted, "Knock it off."
They broke apart immediately and collapsed onto the bed together in silent hysterics. Finally their laughter died away and he pulled her to lie on her side facing him. He ran a hand down her side, pulling her panties down and away until she lay naked with a leg thrown over his hip. He traced lazy circles on her thigh where it stretched across him. "Witch. You cast a spell and I didn't stand a chance, did I?"
"Cuts both ways," she whispered.
He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her as he gently pushed into her. She closed her eyes and pushed back against him, moaning softly in the back of her throat. They started to move together, familiar now, comfortable with each other. He reached between them and pressed against her center in a way that he knew would cause her to sigh with pleasure, and he wasn't disappointed. Their movements became more intense as they moved together and found a faster rhythm. She nipped and sucked at his earlobe and it was his turn to groan, helpless to stop himself pushing into her faster, harder, hoping desperately that she would get there before him, grateful when she keened softly and threw her head back in climax just in time before he came himself.
He kissed her once more before spooning her into him and pulling the covers over them both. "Definitely a witch."
"Hmm." She was already halfway towards sleep. He pulled her a little closer and followed her example.
o0o0o0o0o
"So who are we going to pick up?" Connie asked through a mouthful of toast at breakfast.
"Georgina Warren. She's not one of Vinnie's. Assault with a deadly weapon, three priors for the same thing."
"What was the weapon?"
"Nearest thing to her; this time it was a table leg in a bar. Beat the crap out of some guy with it."
"She must have been strong to use something like that."
Hal passed the mug shot over the table to her. Georgina stared aggressively out of the picture at her. It was a memorable image. She had brown hair cut in a pixie cut and a very un-pixie like body massed underneath it. Her shoulders wouldn't have disgraced the Rangemen and there were distinct biceps bulging from the cap sleeves of her tee-shirt.
"Are you sure these numbers are right?" Connie asked.
"As far as we know. Why?"
"According to this, she's 6'2" tall and weighs 200 lb."
"I feel sorry for the guy. That table leg must really have hurt with that much weight behind it."
o0o0o0o0o
The elevator at RangeMan Atlanta had a mirror on the back wall, and Connie stole surreptitious glances at it as they rode to the control room on the fourth floor. The front desk had been informed of their impending arrival and they had been sent straight up to the control room without an escort.
When they had stopped for lunch earlier in the day, Hal had dragged her into a small clothing store and bought her a plain black polo shirt and black pants to change into. Now, with her new black clothes on and her dark hair pulled back into a braid, she almost didn't recognize herself. Hal bulked large behind her, dominating the space and looking every inch the urban warrior in RangeMan uniform with his gun clearly visible at his side.
When the lift opened into the nerve center of the building she couldn't force herself to step out into the room. It was very much like the Trenton office, occupied by large men with guns and dangerous faces.
"Go on," Hal said behind her.
"Can't," she replied, cotton-mouthed. "I shouldn't be here. Do they know I'm in trouble with Ranger?"
He put a large hand to the small of her back and gave her a gentle shove out into the room. "I don't know, but it doesn't matter. You're here to do a job. Just do it."
A large man with tanned skin and deep lines graven into his face came out of an office off the main room and walked over to them. He held his hand out to Hal. "Sam Wheeler. You Hal?"
"Yeah, here to pick up Warren."
Wheeler turned to look at Connie. "Who's this?"
"Connie Rosolli. Chaperone for us on this trip."
"You employing women in Trenton now?"
"Sometimes."
"Heard the boss put his woman on the staff. I had no idea it was spreading."
Connie would have been affronted at the inference if she hadn't been confused. She looked up at Hal with her furrowed eyebrows and mouthed "His woman?"
He shook his head fractionally without meeting her eyes.
Wheeler wasn't paying any attention to her and missed the exchange. "We have orders from Trenton to put you up here until they're ready for her. What the hell is the deal with this skip? We could have had her on a plane and back in the system yesterday."
Hal shrugged. "No idea. Boss's orders. Where do you want us?"
"I'll have someone take you to the apartments. Nothing for you to do until Trenton calls again.
o0o0o0o0o
Stephanie paced restlessly up and down the control room floor watching the monitors and fidgeting with the clip on her RangeMan badge.
"Bombshell, please, sit down." Woody sounded like he was coming to the edge of his tether.
"Okay! Look, I'm sitting." Stephanie sat on one of the desks and started drumming her heels against it. "Happy now?"
"No. That's worse. Please, Bombshell, in the nicest possible way, could you go away?"
"I can't. I said I'd take a turn on monitors since I'm stuck here. I can't leave now I'm on the roster."
"You can. Take a pee break. A really long pee break. A pee break so long you don't come back before shift change. I'll be fine, honest."
"You sure?"
"Positive. I know this is driving you nuts. Just, for the love of God go, before I go nuts too."
"Fine." Stephanie spun on her heel and stomped over towards the offices instead.
"Bobby, I need an update," she announced.
"No change."
"What do you mean, no change? He must have showed himself by now. How much longer do I have to wait?"
Bobby looked like he wished he was anywhere else but in charge of the office. "As long as it takes."
"I can't do this much longer. This is driving me crazy. This is letting him win."
"You know better than that. We're playing a game. You're just pretending to hide."
"I'm still locked up," she pointed out.
"Can't be helped."
"Fine." She stomped out again.
o0o0o0o0o
An hour later, Ranger found her in the gun range, firing at paper targets with fierce determination. He folded his arms and leaned against the door to wait until she noticed him. Finally, when she had emptied the entire clip into the target, she lowered the gun and took her glasses and ear defenders off.
"Using your gun? It must be bad."
"It passes the time. Ranger, there must be another way to do this. You were out all last night looking for him, and all day today. You're going to drop."
"No, I'm not. We'll find him soon." He looked critically at the pattern of holes in the paper target. "Relax your fingers and squeeze the trigger. You're snatching at it."
She re-loaded the gun, put her glasses and ear defenders back on and tried to follow his instructions.
"Better," he commented afterwards. "Want to try something different?"
She shrugged. "If you like."
He unlocked a gun cabinet at the back of the room and pulled out a 12 gauge shotgun.
Stephanie looked at it incredulously. "You are kidding, right?"
"Just give it a try."
He showed her how to open the gun and load the shells.
"Now tuck the stock into your shoulder and put your opposite foot forward. The notches along the top help you to aim; line them up so you can see through both notches then squeeze the trigger. It'll kick hard. Try to lean into it."
He stepped up close behind her as she took the shotgun and cautiously settled it against her shoulder. She lifted it in the direction of the paper target and sighted carefully along the barrel.
When she finally squeezed the trigger, the recoil from the gun knocked her straight off her feet and backwards into Ranger's waiting arms. He stopped her fall but didn't release her, holding her shoulders gently to keep her back to his front.
"Good shot."
There was a large hole through the center of the target.
Stephanie flexed her shoulder gingerly. "You weren't kidding about the kick. That actually hurt."
"It takes some getting used to. Want to try another shot?"
"I think I'll stick with my usual gun. I'd like to keep the use of my arm."
Ranger removed a hand from her shoulder and used it to sweep her hair to away to one side. He waited to see her reaction and was rewarded with a shiver as she reacted silently to his touch. He proceeded to trail a series of kisses down the back of her neck, watching the tiny hairs on the back of her neck lift as she sucked in a sharp breath. Neither of them spoke, and the air in the room crackled with tension.
A cell phone rang, shattering the charged silence. Neither of them moved.
"Babe?"
"Huh?"
"Phone."
Stephanie blinked hard and visibly shook herself. "Right. Phone. Yeah."
"Your pocket?"
She reached into her pocket and found her phone, still ringing insistently.
"Hello?.. Mom, calm down. What's happened?.. Please, Mom, don't cry. Yes, I promise. I'm on my way."
She ended the call and turned to Ranger with a stricken look. "My dad's in the hospital. Mom thinks he may have had a heart attack. I have to go."
"I'll take you."
o0o0o0o0o
They reached the hospital in less than fifteen minutes, breaking most of the city's speeding laws on the way. Stephanie ran in to find her father sitting up in bed and looking a lot better than she had expected. Her mother was sitting by the bed clutching one of his hands in both of hers, and her eyes were red and puffy.
"Daddy?"
He looked up at her and smiled. "Hey, baby," he said gruffly. "No panic. Your mom over-reacted." He squeezed his wife's hand. "I'm fine."
"You are not fine, Frank. I thought you were going to die," Ellen said tearfully. "I was so scared."
Stephanie walked over to her father and wrapped her arms around his neck for a hug. "What happened?" she asked her mother over his shoulder.
"It was your grandmother."
"Insane old bat," her father mumbled under his breath.
"She stole the car and headed out to Atlantic City with Mabel and a couple of friends to play the slots. Except they didn't get there; she crashed the car having a race and rolled it into a ditch."
"Oh my God, are they all okay?"
"Getting treated for bumps and bruises right now. Nothing serious–"
"Shame," her father muttered.
"–but the car is wrecked. The police called your father because it was his car, then all of a sudden he was holding his chest and he couldn't breathe, and I panicked and dialed 911." Ellen stopped to wipe her eyes with a ragged tissue.
"I'm fine," he insisted again.
"They think it was a panic attack, but they ran some tests to be sure it wasn't a heart attack. We're waiting for the results."
"You want me to wait with you?" Stephanie asked.
Her mother looked grateful. "Please." She looked up to where Ranger was standing by the door. "Thank you for bringing her."
He nodded silently, making no attempt to leave the room.
Ellen looked at Stephanie in confusion.
"It's complicated, Mom. We'll both wait with you."
o0o0o0o0o
Stephanie slumped into the passenger seat of the Cayenne and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. "Shit. Who'd have grandmothers?"
"Sold mine a long time ago," Ranger said as he drove back towards Haywood.
She snorted. "Yeah, right."
"Finally stopped believing everything you hear?"
"Somewhere along the way."
"Damn. How am I going to scare you now?"
Stephanie yawned. "I'm sure you'll think of something. And you still scare everybody else."
"Guess I'll settle for that."
Ranger's cell rang, and Stephanie snapped out of her torpor and watched him with wide eyes as he answered.
"Yo… On my way."
"What?" she asked.
Ranger put his foot down and the Cayenne speeded up. "He's been spotted. I need to get you back to the building and get over there."
"There's no time for that. Just go."
"No."
"Damn it, Ranger, how many times have you missed him?" Stephanie demanded. "You don't know if he's buying it or if he'll be gone again in twenty minutes. There's no time to waste trying to hide me. We're both armed, and I thought you trusted me. Let's go."
"This is a bad idea." Ranger swung the Cayenne around and took off in a new direction. "You shouldn't be involved in this."
"I'll stay in the car if it makes you happy, just as long as we catch this son of a bitch."
o0o0o0o0o
They pulled into a space near the front of the Ship's parking lot and Ranger cut the engine. "Stay here."
Tank emerged from another SUV that was already parked at the back and Ranger got out to meet him. They conferred quietly for a few minutes before Ranger got back in.
"Now what?" Stephanie asked.
"Now we wait."
o0o0o0o0o
Twenty minutes later a huge man walked out of the back door and into the parking lot. Shaggy red hair and a beard identified him as Gerard.
Ranger pushed Stephanie's head down. "Stay down out of sight." He got out of the Cayenne silently and stalked towards Gerard as the big man pulled out a set of keys and headed towards a gray car.
Stephanie peeped up over the dashboard and saw Tank doing the same thing. The two men closed on him silently, and she held her breath, almost afraid to take a breath in case he somehow heard it.
Then they were next to him, and she watched in horror as Ranger grabbed Gerard from the back and twisted his neck sharply. Gerard dropped silently towards the ground, where Tank caught him. Between them they lifted the enormous body and threw it into the back of the gray car as if it weighed nothing. She watched as the head lolled sickeningly backwards.
The whole scene unrolled in terrible, deathly silence, and Stephanie could hear her own blood pounding in her ears. Tears streamed unnoticed down her cheeks, but she couldn't move or look away.
Tank got into the gray car with the body, pulled the car out of the lot and disappeared without looking in her direction. The SUV followed a moment later, driven by some unknown person.
Ranger got back into the Cayenne, making her start with shock. She hadn't even seen him move.
He didn't say anything, just started the engine and pulled it smoothly out of the parking lot.
When they were a couple of miles down the road and clear of the scene he pulled over and let the engine idle. "You didn't stay down, did you?" he said quietly as he looked out through the windshield.
Stephanie shook her head silently, not trusting herself to speak.
He closed his eyes and looked down, knuckles white where his hands gripped the steering wheel. "Fuck."
He turned towards her and saw the tears staining her cheeks. He reached out a finger to wipe them away, and she flinched, very slightly. He saw the tiny movement and pulled his hand back sharply. He regarded her without speaking for a moment before turning back to face the road again. Putting the vehicle into drive, he pulled the Cayenne back out onto the road.
"I'll take you to your parents. Your mother will probably need the company anyway. We'll talk tomorrow."
o0o0o0o0o
Ranger didn't really expect to see Stephanie the next day. When she tapped quietly on his office door at ten o'clock and walked in, looking pale and shaky, he was hard pressed to conceal his shock.
"You didn't have to come in."
She sat in a corner of the couch under the window, pulled her knees up under her chin and wrapped her arms round them. "You said we'd talk today. So talk."
"I'm sorry you saw. You weren't meant to."
"I think I'm getting that now. Keeping me in the building was never just about protecting me was it?"
"It was. You just didn't know what you were being protected from."
"You," she said quietly.
"From things you didn't need to know."
"But now I do." Her voice was almost inaudible.
"I tried, Babe. I sent you back to Morelli, I tried to stay away from you. I make no apologies for what I am or where I am, but I didn't want to pull you down into the dark with me."
She got up and walked over to where he sat at the desk, keeping her arms wrapped tightly around herself. He kept his hands flat on the top of the desk, not wanting to see her flinch from him again.
She took a deep breath. "I don't know what I thought would happen last night, but it wasn't that. I knew what you were, but I never really saw it before." She paused. "I need some time to think. I'll be around, but I need a little space, okay?"
He nodded, and she left his office as quietly as she had come in.