A/N This started out as a response to the Valentine's Day Challenge. It's evolved since then into a longer story. Not mine. Not making any money. Warning for angst, language and adult situations. Babe, but very Morelli friendly. I promise that eventually, Steph will have a HEA. But that's all I'm saying about that! I'm sorry this took so long to post, Thanksgiving kicked my behind!

Thanks to Amy, as always, for all your help and support!

Chapter 21

The lights went off in Steph's apartment, and Ranger settled in to wait and watch. He had assigned a Rangeman tail on Steph, in light of her weird feelings about being followed. Ranger had never seen anyone with better instincts than Steph. Tank hadn't seemed happy to know that Steph had maybe picked up a new stalker, but hadn't said a word. Ranger hadn't been thrilled that Tank seemed to have such a personal interest in her.

Ranger had insisted on taking the first watch. He had been feeling that something just wasn't right for the past couple of days. When Steph had admitted to feeling something was off, too, he knew he was right. The boys had dug through her last FTA files, and couldn't come up with anything suspicious there. She wasn't working on anything big these days, so that was a dead end, too. But where Steph was concerned, she didn't have to be doing anything to attract a psycho. Ranger had never seen anything like it.

So, here he sat, on the ground, in the bushes that surround the parking lot. He had already decided to let the air out of Morelli's tires if he spent the night. Juvenile sure, but entertaining all the same. Lucky for Joe's tires, he had left. Ranger knew that Cal was invisible on the other side of the building. Cal would have loved fucking with Morelli, too. Maybe next time

But for now, Ranger was in his zone. Nothing was happening, and he was glad of that. Suddenly, he saw the flare of a match, and movement at the side of the building. He watched as the glow of a cigarette moved towards the fire escape under Steph's window. Ranger moved silently across the parking lot and reached the other side in time to watch the unknown subject stoop to set down a step ladder, climb up it, and reach towards the lower steps of the fire escape.

Ranger moved forwards, pressing the barrel of his gun firmly into the man's ribs, and hissed, "Freeze, asshole!"

The man, predictably, kicked out towards Ranger, who took the opportunity to kick the step ladder out of the way. He rode the unknown threat to the ground, and slammed his gun into the side of his head. Seeing as the man was out cold, Ranger took this opportunity to call Cal for backup before moving the prone body into the deeper shadows.

Ranger and Tank stood in a darkened room in the sub-basement of the Rangeman building. They could watch their prisoner through the two way mirror.

"Do we know who he is?" Tank asked his boss, looking in at the young man in the room in front of them. He appeared to be in his early twenties, Hispanic descent, dressed nicely and wearing an expensive watch. Not exactly typical gang banger attire.

"Not yet. No ID on him. Couldn't find his car. Do you think he'll tell us if we ask nice?" The tone of Ranger's voice made Tank's blood run cold. It was pure venom.

"Do you think he's just a peeping Tom? It happens, and Steph's always a magnet for weirdoes."

Ranger didn't answer, but shot Tank a look that left no doubt as to what he thought of the big man's theory.

Their subject was still a little out of it. Bobby had checked him out, and pronounced him fit to question. They certainly weren't going to be giving him a ride to the ER, in any case. As the two men watched in silence, the subject raised his head and looked blearily around the small holding room. He tried to stand up, but the fact that his wrists were cuffed to his chair made that difficult.

"Hey, hey, what goin' on? Hey!" The subject began yelling, in heavily accented English. He was quickly becoming agitated, and his eyes were wild with fear. Ranger couldn't blame him. It sucks to wake up and not know who is holding you captive. Tough.

Tank shot Ranger a look and asked simply, "Ready?"

In answer, Ranger moved through the door and into the small room, with Tank at his heels. As he walked in, he watched with satisfaction as the young man's eyes widened first in recognition, and then in fear.

"Do you know who I am?" Ranger asked, his voice cold and emotionless.

"Si," answered the younger man, in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Do you know why you're here?" Ranger asked, again with the cold voice.

"No," the subject answered, but his eyes darted wildly to the side, giving away his lie.

"BULLSHIT!" Ranger shouted and slammed both fists down on the table. The subject jerked so hard trying to get away that he tipped his chair over. Tank and Ranger just watched as he fell and then floundered around on the floor.

Tank righted him after a minute. "I suggest you try that one again, Tommy."

Ranger raised his eyebrow at Tank's words, but his eyes never left the man cuffed to the chair.

"Do you know why you're here?" Ranger asked again.

The young man looked around for a moment, clearly trying to decide if it was worth it to lie again. His eyes flittered between Ranger and Tank, and then back again. A whole gamut of emotion played out on his face: fear, arrogance, uncertainty, pride, terror. Suddenly, sensing it was best to cooperate, he just answered, "Si."

"What were you doing in that parking lot?"

"I need to take a picture," came the reply.

"Of?" Ranger barked.

"Stephanie Plum," was the whispered response.

"Why?" demanded Ranger.

"I dunno."

"WRONG ANSWER," Ranger bellowed, and slapped him across the face. The impact of the blow whipped his head to the side.

"Now, let's try this again. Why were you trying to take a picture of Ms. Plum?" Ranger hissed out his question.

The subject defiantly met his gaze for a moment, but then seemed to wilt into himself. "My boss told me to," he muttered.

"Tank, you may go. I'll take it from here." Ranger's tone left no room for argument. Tank hesitated to leave his friend alone with their prisoner, but wasn't going to contradict Ranger. He decided to just watch from the other room.

As if Ranger had guessed his intention, he added, "Tommy and I will be fine. You can go relieve Ram on the monitors, his shift ended an hour ago.

"Why do you keep calling me Tommy?" whined their captive.

Tank couldn't resist answering, as he walked out of the room, "Because your only chance would have been if you were just a dumb fuck Peeping Tom." He could hear the perp swallow audibly as he walked away.

Two hours later, Ranger walked into the Control Room, looking dangerous.

"Tank, Bobby, Conference Room. Now. Get Santos' ass back here ASAP." He issued the order, and then turned and strode down the hall.

Tank and Bobby exchanged questioning looks. Tank sure hoped Ranger hadn't killed that boy downstairs. He was getting too old for that kind of cleanup duty. The two men got up and followed their boss down the hall.

Ranger paced in front of his desk, trying desperately to get a grip on his emotions. The dumb kid downstairs had just been doing a job, trying to earn himself some respect. Luckily, he had sung like a canary after he had peed himself when Tank left the room. Ranger just didn't have the heart for strong arm interrogations any more.

The information that Tommy gave him had made Ranger's blood run cold. It was all his worst nightmares come to life. Molina. It all came back to fucking Molina. If it weren't bad enough that Ranger had sold his soul to the devil, now the devil didn't trust him and was checking up on him. How had his life come to this? How had Molina found out about Stephanie?