I've never been stun-gunned. Yippy! I did get hit with pepper spray once though. It was an accident, my friend had a key-chain bottle of the stuff and she stepped on it while her bag was on the floor near my head and the tip broke off. Shit burns!

"Te Amo"

Chapter 10

Pov- Julie

I landed hard on my side as I was tossed into the van and twisted to my back so I could see what was going on. I watched one of O'Donnell's men, stun gun Shilo before she collapsed. My ears were ringing, but somewhere in the background, I heard a gun discharge over the roar of the fire. One of O'Donnell's men went down; blood on his chest, and the others all flew into action. One returned fire then they all jumped into the front of the van and took off.

My hands had been bound in front of me and my ankle felt like it was on fire. I didn't think it was broken, but it hurt, bad. I managed to push myself closer to Shilo and looked her over for injuries. She was laying, passed out on her side and her hair had fallen in her face. A little singed, a little battered, but she didn't look to worse for wear all things considered. Her lip was split and blood was drying on her shirt.

"Shilo?" I pushed myself up and sat next to her, brushing her knotted hair away from her face. I shook her shoulder gently. "Shilo?" Nothing. She was out cold.

I looked around trying to take stock of what we had. I'd lost my gun in the explosion and I didn't see one on Shilo. Someone must have grabbed it when they stunned her. She had a collection of knifes around her waist and one in her boot. I was surprised they'd left her armed.

The only source of light we had was the flashing of streetlights we passed, coming in through two square windows in the van's back doors. The rest of the van had been striped clean. I could hear O'Donnell and his men talking through the wall that connected us to the front cab, but I couldn't make out any of their words.

I scooted over to the doors and found them locked tight, there were no handles on the inside and no emergency tabs to pull. This van had been built to keep people locked in the back. I tried to push myself up, so I could see out of the window's and get a feel for what direction we were moving, but my ankle wouldn't take my weight and I fell back down.

The van was moving fast and after only ten minutes, it slowed to a sharp stop. I heard doors slam and more voices. They were coming to the back of the van. I pulled myself over by Shilo and grabbed one of her knifes. It was difficult trying to hold the knife while my wrists were tied together and the metal wire dug into my skin.

I moved myself between Shilo and the door to give myself the best point of protecting us. The door opened and someone shined a flashlight in my face. I blinked through the light then it was lowered to shine over Shilo too. O'Donnell and his men looked in on us; two of them had guns drawn.

"Put that down, stupid girl."

I scowled as O'Donnell spoke, but didn't lower my weapon. What was the point? They were going to kill us anyway. O'Donnell nodded at one of his men and he lunged forward grabbing my bad ankle.

I hissed as pain shot up my leg and slashed out with the knife. One of the men laughed at me as I fell out of the back of the van and landed hard on the ground. My vision blurred as more pain shot to my head. I lost my grip on the knife and it slid away across the pavement.

"Search them both." O'Donnell ordered. "Leave everything behind."

The man, who had pulled me from the car, grabbed my joined wrists and yanked me to my feet. I sunk my teeth into my bottom lip to keep from whimpering in pain. He stuck his gun to the underside of my jaw and smirked at me.

"Now be a good girl and stay still." He said.

It didn't take long for me to figure out why. Another pair of hands started to pull at my clothes searching for weapons. I shivered as unfamiliar hands tugged at my waist and removed my utility belt. They emptied my pockets, tossing my phone onto the pavement along with everything else. I was stripped of my socks and shoes. Hands wondered over my body slower then they needed to and I snarled when the man searching me grabbed at my chest.

"Stop playing with her and hurry up."

My eyes cut to the man who had spoken in my defense. I recognized him from his interview with Shilo. Gavin Lynch. I narrowed my eyes at him. Once my captor had finished feeling me up and was convinced I didn't have anything hidden in my underwear, my hands were retied behind my back and a gag was tied around my mouth.

"There you see?" The man holding onto me said patronizingly. "That wasn't so hard." He jerked his chin towards the van. "Get the other one."

I was passed off to another man who grabbed a hold of my hair and forced me to my knees. I felt the barrel of a gun poke into the back of my head so I stayed silent. Ranger would be able to track my phone to this location, but what did we do next? Shilo was pulled from the van, still asleep, and searched. They added her knives, shoes, and socks to the floor before emptying her pockets.

"Hurry it up," O'Donnell shouted from the front of the van.

Shilo was gagged, then moved back into the van quickly and I was glad her search hadn't been quite as through as mine. I probably wouldn't have been able to stop the snarky muttering if one of them had felt her up in her sleep. As is was, I was memorizing faces so that if I had the chance I could personally see to the end of each man that had touched her. Apparently, I had a possessive, jealous side when it came to Shilo.

I was yanked to my feet and shoved face first back into the van. The doors slammed shut behind us and I heard a lock snap in place. The van rumbled to life and we were off again. I pushed myself back to a sitting position since it hurt to lie on my hands and moved to Shilo's side. I didn't want her to freak out when she woke up.

It took another fifteen minutes, but finally Shilo moaned. She wiggled a bit and fought against her bonds before she started coughing. She choked on the gag and her eyes flew open, wide with confusion and fear. She met my stare and calmed down.

She glanced around the van before looking back to me. I wish I could have said something, but I was having some trouble breathing around the gag to so I chose to remain silent. Shilo seemed to understand and I watched as she pulled herself up into a sitting potion as well.

She slid away from me and for a moment, I was worried I'd done something wrong. Then she rolled onto her back and managed to get her legs through her tied arms so her hands were in front of her. I smiled around the gag when she looked back at me. Smart girl. I wasn't that flexible, even without my bad ankle I don't think I could have done that.

She pushed herself back to my side and pulled the gag from my mouth. It hung around my neck. She pulled her own gag free and took a couple of deep breaths.

"Let me guess." She said softly. "We're locked in the back of O'Donnell's van?"

I nodded.

"We've been stripped of our weapons." She continued, glancing down to her empty belt. "I'm kind of glad I missed that part."

I shivered at the memory of calloused fingers on my skin and she looked up sharply. "One of them touched you." She guessed.

"It wasn't that bad." I promised her. "You just have much softer hands."

My comment got a little grin from her like I'd hoped it would. Then her face fell and she looked down at her lap. "I'm so sorry I've dragged you into this Julie." She said softly. "You have to believe that I never meant too."

"You say that like we're already dead."

She shrugged and leaned against the side of the van, letting her head thunk backwards against the wall. "Might as well be." She said disheartened. "I'm pretty sure I've used up my nine lives."

"Stop that." I said. "We'll figure a way out of this."

When she didn't respond I moved to her side. She pressed back when I leaned into her and her foot bumped my bad ankle. I hissed and she jumped away an inch.

"Your ankle, I'm sorry."

I shook my head, bit back the pain and moved back into her side. "It's ok, just a bad sprain I think."

She was silent for a minute before she looked back to me. "Ryan was already gone?" She guessed. "I saw you and Ranger through the window."

I nodded. "Yeah, he was gone when we got there. There was a half-eaten sandwich at the table and the front door was unlocked. A couple of chairs had been overturned. Looks like they caught him by surprise, but he put up a fight on the way out."

She nodded, then I watched as she looked over the van. Probably checking for the same things, I had.

"There's no handle." I said, when she glanced at the door. "No emergency tabs either."

She nodded. "I didn't really expect there to be."

She relaxed back again, and pressed into my side. There was no noise coming from the front of the cab and the rumble of the van was oddly soothing. I let my mind wonder and found myself worrying about my Dad and the guys. Ranger had been hurt. How many had gone to the hospital? Had everyone gotten out of the house?

"Do you think Ranger and Tank got out ok?" I asked.

Shilo glanced up at my face. Her eyes were cautious and calculating. "I don't know." She said honestly. "I hope so. Was anyone upstairs?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but I'm not sure who. Ranger had a couple of the guys going through the house."

She grimaced. "I was in the backyard when the explosion happened. The second floor was a mess."

I nodded not trusting myself to speak. I was running through a list of names. Ranger was hurt, but he'd been down stairs. I could remember seeing Tank. Steph and Hector had been out by the cars. Had Lester gone up stairs? Who else had been there? Ram was there, he'd come in with Cesar and Vince. Had Bobby and Col. Lowry showed up yet?

I hadn't realized she'd called my name until Shilo touched my cheek. She whipped away a single tear that had broken past my walls and dared to roll down my face.

"I hope they're all ok."

The van rumbled on for what felt like hours. I was past exhausted, but didn't trust to fall asleep. The pain in my ankle had faded to a throb as long as I didn't move. We both reeked of smoke and our clothes were singed. Finally, the van started to slow down and it felt like we were turning onto a driveway.

"Do you have any regrets?" Shilo asked softly.

I glanced over at her face, wondering what thoughts had led to her question. "About what?"

"Anything," She said.

I shook my head. "No" I didn't believe in living with regrets. You had to own up and take responsibility for the things you did in life and life was too short to pass up on the things you wanted. I regretted nothing, except maybe having dropped my gun in the explosion.

"I do," She continued. "Actually, I have a lot of them." The van stopped and Shilo shifted closer to me as we heard doors open and close from the cab. "I don't know why they brought you here," She continued. "and I'm sorry you're in danger again because of me."

I opened my mouth to tell her this wasn't her fault, but she caught me off guard. Her lips pressed against mine and I felt another tear roll down my face at the pain I felt from her. The usual heat between us was gone and left in its place was the bitter truth that this could be the last time I ever saw her. "The chances of me leaving this house are very slim." She said bluntly, as she pulled back, and I choked up. Was she trying to say goodbye? "I would have regretted not doing that."

The doors swung open and another flashlight shined in on us. Shilo had pulled back when the doors open and she growled when her eyes locked on John O'Donnell.

"Alright ladies." He said pleasantly. "Time to get out."

Two men were standing behind him with guns drawn to make sure we behaved ourselves. He waved his flashlight at me, signaling I should get out. I started to scoot forward and hissed when I moved my ankle. Apparently, someone thought I was moving too slowly. A rough hand reached in to grab me and I felt Shilo jump.

She tackled the man who'd grabbed at me and they both went down hard. Shilo swung at him as best she could, with her tied hands, and when I moved to join her Gavin grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the van. He locked one strong arm around my chest to keep me from moving and used the other one to hold a gun to my side.

Shilo was cursing, her words switching back and forth between English, and what was probably, Celt. John gave his man a chance to fight her, but when it became obvious he was losing, he moved forward and swiftly kicked Shilo hard in the ribs.

I heard her gasp of pain as she fell sideways and struggled against Gavin's hold to try and reach her. "Don't move." He said sharply, tightening his hold on me almost painfully. Two men grabbed Shilo and dragged her to her feet before they re-tied her hands behind her back.

John moved in front of her and smiled when she tried to kick him. He nodded to one of the men holding Shilo and then he sucker punch her in the gut. Shilo stopped fighting, her head hung as she struggled to regain her breath. John fixed her gag and I was mildly disappointed she didn't try to bite him. When he tried to fix mine, I sunk my teeth into his finger and tasted blood.

He cursed and yanked his hand away before backhanding me. I would have made a comment about how he hit like a girl, except for the gash his ring had left behind on my chin. O'Donnell glowered at me for a moment before nodding at Gavin over my shoulder. "Take her inside, chain her up. She'll come in handy later if her dear old Daddy make any attempt to stop us."

Then he looked over at the two men with Shilo. "Take her downstairs."

They were splitting us up? I struggled against Gavin's hold, too worn out to really give it a good effort, but not willing to go down without trying. I could hear Shilo fighting back to, but couldn't see her as she was pulled away in the opposite direction.

During my struggles I tried to take stock of where we were. This had to be the house in Point Pleasant. I could smell salt on the air, even if I couldn't see the ocean. The house was huge, three stories, old brink lots of fancy ass columns.

Gavin dragged me up a set of old stairs. He'd put his gun away in order to use both hands against my struggles. "Would you knock it off?" He asked, his voice gruff and thick with his accent.

"Never," I vowed breathlessly.

"You're hurt," He said muscling me up another few steps. "You're going to permanently mess up that ankle if you don't try to take it easy while you have the chance."

I snarled at him as we hit the landing and he started pulling me down the hallway. "Like you even care."

"I don't," He rolled his eyes. "It was just a suggestion."

We passed several doors and I caught sight of the ocean out of a large window. "Why am I here?" I asked.

"Convenience," Gavin said. "It's unfortunate you were with Shilo when O'Donnell spotted her. Consider yourself lucky; until he realized who you were, his orders were to shoot you."

He fumbled with a doorknob and we entered a large spacious bedroom. The walls were bare and it looked like some of the furniture had been removed. Gavin tossed me onto the ground near the end of the bed and pulled out his gun again.

I glared up at him from the floor trying to look menacing but probably only pulling off desperate and hopeless. I was so tired I was shaking, my teeth chattered from the adrenalin let down and pain was making my eye's water.

"Work with me and I'll put the shackle on your good ankle." He promised. "But, if you take a snap at me I'll finish breaking the other one."

I nodded, at a loss for anything else I could do. Gavin holstered his gun, and leaned down. I hadn't noticed the length of chain until he picked it up. One end was bolted under the bed the other ended in a thick gray shackle.

As promised Gavin hooked it to my good ankle before gently lifting back the end of my pants so he could see the other. It was swollen and bruised. "I'm not a medic." He said. "But stay off it, this chain will let you reach the bathroom." He added, pointing over his shoulder where I could see another door. "Try soaking it in cold water."

I didn't know why he was helping me, but I agreed that the advice was sound. If I thought I was strong enough to move I'd go do it now.

"What do they want with Shilo?" I asked.

Gavin shrugged and hooked an arm around me, pulling me up so I was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Don't know." He said easily. "My advice would be to forget about her and the boy. You're a bargaining chip, work on making sure you don't get killed in the negotiation."

"I won't forget about her."

Gavin shrugged. "Suit yourself." He said. "You'll be lucky if they live through the night." With that reassuring statement, he stood and left the room, closing the door behind himself. I heard a lock tumble and waited two breaths to make sure I was alone before the damn broke and big fat tears rolled down my face.

I had planned to search the room, see how far my chain could go, see if I could find anything to free myself with. I had planned to go try and treat my ankle with cold water. In reality, I cried for ten seconds before utter exhaustion took over and I fell into darkness.

Pov- Shilo

The feeling of being numb wasn't exactly a new sensation to me, but it had been a long time since I'd felt this disconnected to the world around me. The feeling had started with the fire. Taking over my body, trying to protect myself before I'd know that Julie was alive. Then waking up in the van, disarmed and weak I'd realized that my luck had finally run out.

I'd been stupid to think I could rescue Ryan alone. I'd always been the type to act first and think later. I didn't like to waste my time on plans when ninety percent of the time you had to throw them out the window anyway.

When I'd felt the van slow down I couldn't stop myself from insuring I got one last kiss from her. I poured everything I had into it, unable to actually tell her goodbye. I regretted so many things in my life. I'd done things I wasn't proud of, I'd missed opportunities that I'd never get back. I regretted not having discovered the truth about Ryan in time to save him. However, as she was being dragged away from me, I realized that the thing I regretted most in my life was that I'd ultimately led her to death as well.

I could live with having gotten myself caught. I was rash and stubborn. I should have known I'd get caught, I almost deserved it. I could even live with knowing I'd failed Ryan. After all, I'd done everything in my power to get to him first. I couldn't live with knowing I'd failed Julie. I'd find a way to make sure she got out of this.

I watched as Julie was taken away through the front door of the old mansion we'd stopped at and noted the scent of salt in the air. We must be near the ocean. I didn't have the strength or the breath to fight as I was yanked away in the other direction and taken into the house by a side door.

We traveled down a flight of stairs into what looked more like a dungeon then a basement. The room I was taken to was gray. Cement floor, cement walls, and open rafters in the ceiling with bare bulbs dangling on chains.

The left side of the room was bare except for a set of chairs and a card table that probably housed guards while they had prisoners. Along the other side of the room were four individual cells, set side by side. Gray iron bar walls and thick silver steel doors. Someone had spent a lot of time making sure captives would know they were in deep shit when they got to this room.

I was given two minutes to use the bathroom under supervision, a task alone that was more degrading then anything I'd ever done before. Once I'd finished I wasn't even given the chance to wash my hands before getting dumped into one of the cells like some kind of animal. A short chain was secured around my right ankle and my wrists were left untied.

I jumped when the cell door was slammed shut, the sound of ringing metal echoed off the walls. Then I watched as all of our captors left the room, shut the door and listened as a bolt slid home. Guess they were going to let me stew for a bit before they killed me. Great.

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding and groaned, finally give myself the chance to look over my injuries. Various parts of my body throbbed and I still reeked of smoke. My clothes were singed, my lip had torn back open when I'd jumped the man who'd tried to touch Julie and it felt like John had managed to crack at least one of my ribs. Overall, I'd been in worse shape before, but I wouldn't have said no to a hot bath or an ice pack.

"What are you in for?"

The only thing that kept me from shrieking aloud was my military training and as it was, I jumped again, my nerves shot by the 'day from hell' I'd just had. I hadn't realized that someone was in the cell next to me. Leaning against the far wall of the cell was Ryan. He had his back to the bar's one leg laid out in front of him. As he looked me over, I noted a green guitar pick between his teeth.

He'd been worked over pretty well. His face and arms were dotted with darkening bruises. He was sporting a black eye and there was blood on his shirt. His brown hair was shaggy and sticking up in places where it looked like he had been tugging on it. When he caught my eye, I found myself staring into green eyes identical to my own. All of us kids had gotten our dad's green eyes.

"Ryan?" I breathed the word making it come out more like a question even though I was sure it was him. It couldn't have been anyone else.

He cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "Do I know you?"

I almost laughed, he didn't recognize me. Why would he? I'd only been nine years old the last time he'd see me. I'd changed a lot since then. For starters, I'd grown nearly two and a half feet and my boobs had come in.

"You better," I said. "You saved my life fifteen years ago."

He was silent for a moment and I watched his face while he pieced it all together. He moved stiffly to the side of my cage, getting a closer look. I knew I was a mess. Bruised, blood covered, my hair all over the place from getting ripped out and stun-gunned. I hope that he could see past all of that. I saw comprehension flash behind his eyes and then he frowned at me. "Is this some kind of a joke?" He asked darkly. "Did they purposely send you in here to try and break me?"

I whipped at the blood on my lip and rolled my eyes. "You think I'd let them work me over this well just to trick you?"

"Shilo? Is it possible?"

I nodded. "Long time no see."

He sat there and stared at me, dumbfounded, for a long time before he found his voice again. "You died." He said his voice a whisper.

"No," I argued. "You died. It's a long story."

"You have somewhere else to be?" He asked sarcastically, motioning to the room around us.

I glanced around at the bar room and the steel door. Even if I had somewhere else to be, it wasn't likely I'd get there. "I guess not."

"Start at the beginning." He said.

"Do you remember Dad's friend Col. Lowry?"

He nodded. "Vaguely, yes."

"Did he come to you at the hospital after the fire?"

Ryan nodded. "I remember seeing him once. He was the one who introduced me to the family that took me in. I never saw him again after that."

I nodded, putting of the urge I had to learn about the family who'd adopted him. Hopefully, we'd have time for that later. I continued my story, keeping it short. Col. Lowry had adopted me and tricked us each into believing the other had passed away. I skipped though most of my childhood, touching on small details, finally arriving to my trip to Trenton.

"You willingly came to work on a case when you knew the O'Donnell's were there?" He asked. "Are you stupid?"

I scowled at him. "You're telling me you're not curious?" I shot back. "I want to know what they want. We deserve to know why we have no family, why they attacked us. We have a right to know why they hate us so much."

"It's not us," He said. "When they talked to me earlier they kept asking me questions about Grandma Cleona. You wouldn't know her, she passed away when you were a baby."

I shook my head. "No, I know her." I'd done enough research on my family that even though I couldn't remember ever actually meeting her, I knew who she was. She was actually our great grandmother on our father's side. "What do they want with her? They have to know that she's dead. She'd be like 140 by now."

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think they're looking for something that she had or used to have. Like they expect us to know where her belongings ended up? Really, I just tuned most of the interrogation out."

I nodded, but said nothing. My thoughts had strayed upstairs, wondering where Julie was and if they'd mistreated her in anyway. I don't know how long I worried over her, but eventually Ryan broke the silence.

"Shilo, come here."

He was still sitting at the side of my cell, his forehead resting against one of the bars. He reached out a hand to me and I slid closer to the edge of the cage. I stopped once I was sitting next to him and he reached through the bars to take my hand.

"I still can't believe you're alive." He said. "All this time, I thought I'd failed you."

I squeezed his finger. "You didn't fail." I told him. "I'm alive and well all thanks to you. I know I'm a few years late saying this, but thank you for saving me."

He smirked and pulled me forward, my forehead against the bars, so he could kiss the top of my head. "No problem sis. Now we've just got to find a way out of here. I noticed a cellar door at the end of the hallway. That will probably be the fastest way out."

I pulled out of his hold and moved far enough back so that he could see my face. "If you get the chance to run, you'd better do it." I told him. "I'll help you if I can, but one of my friends is upstairs somewhere. They caught us together and I won't leave her here to die for me."

Pov- Stephanie

"So far we haven't had any luck finding her, Bombshell." Bobby explained, the grumble in his voice telling me he didn't particularly care either way. I knew several of the men were sore over the news that Shilo had lied to them. In reality, I think they were mostly just ticked off that she'd put Julie and the rest of the team in danger. "We had Hal's team flash her photo at the bars, but no one they talked to had seen her."

I nodded along, continuing my pacing across the front yard of Ryan Thatch's house. Col Lowry had been able to confirm the ID of the boy we believed to be Shilo's brother, but at the moment, no one was home.

"Alright, thanks for the update Bobby." I said.

"No problem; let us know if you find anything at the house. Col. Lowry's getting antsy, I'm not positive he'll wait the agreed 48 hours."

I promised I would call with news and hung up my phone. Ranger, Julie and a few of the guys had gone inside to look around. We decided a small team would be better. They could be quick and thorough without leaving a million different fingerprints behind.

Hector was leaning up against the side of the SUV we'd driven here and I could tell without looking that he was watching me. "Bobby didn't have anything new." I told him, as I passed by on my pacing path.

"Shilo, not the one we have to worry about." He said easily. "I'm more worried that Ryan's not home. I feel we are already too late."

"He could be over at a friend's house." I said hopefully. "Or with Connor since he wasn't home either, maybe the bands having a late practice?"

"Not likely."

Party pooper. As much as I didn't like it, I think everyone had agreed that we'd arrived too late to protect Ryan. The front door had been unlocked when we arrived and we had signs of a struggle inside. The only good thing was that, sign's of a struggle, meant that Ryan had been alive when he was taken from the house. At least they hadn't just shot him and left him for rot.

I turned to cross the yard again, when a blast from the house nearly knocked me off my feet. I'd seen enough explosions in my time to recognize the boom and hadn't even realized I'd started moving until Hector caught me around the waist and started dragging me away from the burning house.

"Carlos!" Fear griped my voice throwing it an octave higher then it would normally be as every nerve in my body was screaming to find Carlos and pull him out of the house.

I fought against Hector's lock hold, but even with the defense training I had gotten since joining RangeMan, I'd never been able to beat him. "No Bonita." He said quickly, keeping me locked against his chest. His lips near my ear so I could hear him over the flames and the shouts of the men as they sprung into action. "Let the guys find him."

I never stop trying to get away, but Hector managed to drag me near the road and placed us between two of the SUV's. I could see a couple of the guys on phones. Probably calling paramedics, and firemen, and head quarters. In my head, I was adding the Navy, the Marines, heck throw in a phone call to God just get them out of the house! I never figured we would need Bobby during this search.

"Hector we have to help." I pressed desperately. "Julie and Ranger are inside that-." My voice broke off as I looked over the house, really seeing the damage for the first time.

Most of the flames were in the front left half of the second floor, the roof had been blown off and flaming piles of debris now littered the yard. I watched the front door as Lester appeared. Ram was leaning heavily against his side, but they both looked alive.

"I won't let you go inside." Hector vowed. "Ranger wouldn't want you to risk getting hurt while his condition is still unknown."

"I've been hurt lots of times." I reminded him. "I'm a walking magnet for trouble, everyone knows that. My car's blow up, I fall in dumpsters." I'd taken a couple of bullets from aggressive skips in the past and I'd had more than one distraction go south. None of that had ever stopped me from making sure that Ranger was ok before, or getting right back out in the field. Persistence is my motto.

"If something's happened to Ranger you need to keep yourself safe for the sake of the boy's." Hector said, pulling on the one heartstring that would be more important to me than Ranger's safety.

There was a reason that Ranger and I never went on high-risk captures together. We had vowed when we'd first agreed to try starting a family that we would never risk leaving our children orphaned. Unfortunately, with our line of work it was something we'd seen happen before.

I stopped fighting and Hector relaxed his hold on me, understanding that I wouldn't try to run again. He stayed near my side and let me hold onto his arm while we continued to watch the fire. My eyes were locked on the front door, waiting to see more of the men get out.

While we watched, I found myself absentmindedly hanging onto the locket Ranger had given me for the boy's first birthday. The little gold oval held a picture of each of our son's. Their names inscribed behind the photos. Unknown to Ranger I'd had his name added to the back the next year. This way I could carry all three of my boy's near my heart whenever I left the house.

Needing to move and feel useful, I walked over to where Lester and Ram had been moved to check on them for myself. Lester looked alright, except for some coughing. Ram had a nice burn across the right side of his body but he was alive enough to glare at the man treating him.

"Are you both alright?" I asked. Hector stood guard nearby, offering me moral support and acting as a block in case I lost my mind and raced for the house again.

Lester nodded stiffly. "Fine, blast caught us off guard though."

"We didn't see any explosive device on our first walk through of the inside." Ram said, wincing as Woody rubbed salve on his burn. "I was at the top of the stairs when it blew. I don't know where Vince and Caesar are."

"Did you see Ranger or Julie?"

Lester's eyes flashed back to the house. "They haven't come out yet?"

"No."

"We passed Tank on his way inside." Ram said. "He'll find them."

A few moments later, we could hear sirens in the distance and Nabors had come outside to see the destruction. Then a commotion at the side of the house caught my attention and a couple of the guys appeared out of the smoke, carrying Vince between them.

Out of all of the men who'd appeared so far he was in the worse shape. A few of the other guys raced forward to help move him. I watched as his pulse was taken and a thumbs up went out to let everyone know he was still alive.

When the ambulances started arriving, I took charge. I ordered the RangeMan car's to be moved down the block by anyone in good enough shape to drive and directed the first paramedics to Vince. He was loaded up immediately and carried away. I forced Ram onto the next ambulance, only letting Lester stay because he wasn't bleeding.

"Look," He said pointing back towards the house.

There was a sick groan, so loud you could hear it over the crackling fire and another part of the roof caved in. Fear gripped me again, hopping that none of our guys had been under it. How long would the house stay up? Where was Carlos?

A few moments later Tank emerged from the smoke through the front door, with Ranger over his shoulders. He stumbled on the stairs and paramedics rushed to pull them both away from the fire as hoses were pulled out and water started to put out the flames. I pushed past the officer who tried to block me and launched myself to their sides.

"Ranger?" I shook his shoulder, fear gripping me when he didn't open his eyes. "Carlos!"

"He's alive." Tank said, his voice gruff with smoke as he coughed. I kept one hand on Carlos's shoulder, not willing to let go of him yet, as the paramedics started to look him over and turned to Tank. He looked alright, a burn on his shoulder, a little battered.

"Are you alight?" I asked, feeling bad that I hadn't checked on him sooner, but knew he'd understand my desperation to check on Carlos first.

He nodded. "I'll live."

"What about Julie?" I asked. "Did you find her inside, she hasn't come out yet."

He nodded, having to turn his head as another fit of coughing shook him. "She was with Ranger. They were trapped in the kitchen. Shilo was in there, don't know where she came from. We got them out, then we got separated when the second floor came down, they were blocked off. They'll probably try to get out the backdoor."

I was off and running before he'd even finished speaking. I heard Hector yell for me and laid on all the speed I had. Ranger was hurt, but alive, and that information gave me the confidence to start worrying about the others. Now I had to find Julie. I cut through the next yard over, ignoring the officers and fire fighters who called after us. They were setting up blockades to keep people off the crime scene.

Hector caught me as I reached for the fence. "What are you doing?" He shouted, pulling me back down.

"Julie's back here. Help me!"

He stopped fighting me and instead pushed me over the top of the fence. I landed hard and fell to my knees, ducking instinctively when I heard gunfire. Hector landed, much more gracefully, at my side drawing his gun.

I pushed myself to my feet and followed him across the yard, pulling my own gun out as I took in the scene before us. Across the yard, it was hard to make out the different people running around through the smoke. A van peeled off down the street and we rushed to see what was going on.

Near the curb, we found a boy with white-blond hair, clutching at his leg, a gun near his feet. Hector moved to his side and pointed his gun at him. The boy jumped, but didn't move as he took in Hector's less then friendly appearance.

I spotted a body in the street and moved to it, quickly checking for a pulse. Dead. I noted the bracelet the dead man was wearing and recognized it as the Lynch crest, like the one we'd taken off Gavin. Before meeting Shilo, I never would have noticed it. Now, it gave me chills. Why were the Lynch's here? Why had their car raced off so quickly?

I moved to Hector's side, keeping my gun up and did the talking. This was how we normally worked. Hector was the muscle and the fear when we were in bad neighborhoods; I was the people-friendly figurehead who offered comfort to clients that would otherwise be scared of Hector. "Who are you?" I demanded.

The man in front of us was oddly familiar, thought I couldn't place him. Nearly six feet tall, blue eyes, there was blood soaking through his pants where he'd been hit. It wasn't a fatal wound so I didn't feel the need to rush medical treatment. Questions first, band-aid later.

"I'm Ryan's friend. I was working with Shilo." He said quickly, his eyes flickering down the road. "She said she knew you guys. Don't shoot me."

I nodded. "We know her."

"Then you have to help her." He pressed quickly. "The guys in that car came out of nowhere. They took her and this other girl away. I tried to stop them."

Hector caught my eye and I knew we were thinking the same thing. The O'Donnell's had found Shilo and they'd taken Julie too.

"Your name?" Hector said, collecting the gun on the ground.

"I recognize him." I said, finally recognizing where I'd seen his face before. "He's Connor Molony. The dead man's wearing the Lynch family crest."

Connor just nodded, "That's me."

I grabbed my phone and called Lester. I told him where we were, who we'd found and that he should bring a couple of officer's for the dead man. Fire Fighters were getting the blaze under control, but it looked like the entire house had already been destroyed.

It didn't take them long to find us, Morelli was with them. He raised an eyebrow at me as the other officers hurried to start collecting evidence before water from the fire trucks washed everything away.

"Long story," I started. "Shilo and Julie have been kidnapped."

Connor was carted around to the front of the house and I made sure he and Lester were both on an ambulance, promising to follow behind them. Joe listened patiently while I gave him the quick version of everything that had happened.

"Do you have any idea where they'd be headed?" He asked, referring to the van that had taken Shilo and Julie away.

I shook my head. "No, we know they have a house in Point Pleasant, but there's no way to know if they would go back there. I want to talk to Connor. He might have more information." He nodded and left to do his cop thing. I promised to call him if anything else came up.

Hector left an inch of rubber behind as soon as I hopped into the SUV. I wanted to get to the hospital and check on everyone who had been hurt.

~Darkrose

Yeah for my first attempt at Steph's pov! With everyone split up, we'll probably be seeing some of Ranger and more of Steph in the next few chapters as well. Let me know what you think. Your feedback gives me inspiration and proves to me that I'm not completely losing my mind.