Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money. I'm just playing.
Shadow Puppets
Chapter 18
Ranger hit the button on the speakerphone and ended the call with relief. It was getting harder to keep the business under control from the end of a telephone; there were only so many excuses in the world for avoiding meetings and he'd used most of them more than once. When this was all over he was going to recruit someone to take over more of that part of the business.
He climbed down from the desk and walked to the sitting room to find Stephanie.
She wasn't there.
"Steph?"
The apartment was silent. He checked the bedroom and kitchen to find both empty.
"Steph."
That just left the bathroom. He'd made her promise not to leave the apartment unless she was covered by Bobby, and although a promise from Stephanie not to do something was as reliable as July snow, he'd thought she was taking the security risk seriously after the surveillance trip.
Chalk that one up to experience: not everybody finds solace in work. Instead she'd stormed into the apartment afterwards, sat on the couch in front of the TV and buried herself in a cooking show. Which was pretty much where she'd been ever since. And where he'd expected to find her now. Which led to the question: where the hell was she?
He checked the bathroom more out of thoroughness than any real expectation and recoiled in horror at the sight of her motionless body under the water in the tub.
Somehow her thick, black wool should have drifted in the water like normal hair. Instead it lay with her at the bottom of the tub like a heap of rags, just emphasising her otherness.
Ranger reached into the water, seized a handful of it and heaved.
She was a solid, unmoving weight.
Water soaked into his arm and the sudden drag almost pulled him in with her.
"Shit." He let go and pulled back. His right arm hung uselessly at his side and dripped a steady stream of water onto the bathroom carpet as he pulled the phone out of his pocket. "Bobby, crisis, get up here now."
A minute later Bobby and Hal slammed into the apartment. "What's going on?" Bobby asked.
Ranger pointed to the tub. "Steph's in there. Get her out, quickly."
Bobby reached a hand into the cold water and pulled her out. Water cascaded from her sodden body in a rush. Bobby held her over the water for a moment letting the waterfall die down to a trickle.
"Jesus, Bobby, she's not laundry," Ranger snapped. "Help her."
"Sorry boss." Bobby lowered her to the carpet. Water soaked into the carpet underneath her in a spreading stain.
Ranger pushed her shoulder gently. "Steph?"
She lay there unmoving.
"Can she drown?" Hal asked. "Should we give her CPR?"
"Well if she was normal we'd have to get the water out of her lungs," Bobby said, "so I guess we need to get the water out of her…" He trailed off.
"Agreed," Ranger said. "Do it."
"So do we wring her out like laundry?"
Hal winced. "If she's alive she's going to be really pissed."
"Or we could really hurt her," Bobby said.
Ranger looked at Stephanie helplessly before turning to Hal and shrugging his right shoulder. His sodden arm barely moved. "Test it on me first."
"Okay." Hal used his huge hands to squeeze the water from Ranger's arm.
Pain shot through Ranger's arm and he pressed his mouth closed to keep from shouting.
Hal saw it and stopped. "You okay, boss?"
"Just finish it," Ranger said, trying to speak normally through the pain.
Hal nodded and twisted the arm. The pain intensified into an agonising burn as water dripped out onto the carpet. Heat spread out through the rest of his body to join it.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Hal let go.
"Fuck," Ranger muttered as he flexed his fingers and rubbed his arm. "It's going to hurt her like hell."
"So what do we do?" Bobby asked.
Ranger looked at Stephanie again where she lay like a pitiful bundle of rags on the floor. "No choice. Do it. Just be as gentle as you can."
Bobby folded her arms and legs into her body until she was curled up into a ball and pressed down on her back. Sodden fabric squelched and the dark stain on the carpet spread as he gradually squeezed the water out of her body.
He stopped while she was still wet. "I don't want to do it too hard," he said. "I could really hurt her and not know it."
"Move to CPR then," Ranger said.
"Okay." Bobby tilted her head, put his mouth to hers and breathed air into her mouth. "Ugh," he muttered. "That feels just… nasty."
Ranger snarled. "Concentrate."
"Sorry boss." Bobby took a breath and breathed into her mouth again.
"Her chest isn't moving," Hal said. "I don't think it's working."
"Stop staring at her chest then," Ranger snapped. He knelt down next to her. "Steph," he said, "are you okay in there?"
She groaned and all the men sighed with relief.
"Jesus, Babe, you scared me half to death," Ranger said. "What were you doing in there?"
"Besides trying to shrink yourself," Bobby said.
Ranger glared at him.
"I felt dirty," Stephanie said as she uncurled painfully. "It's been weeks since I had a bath or shower."
"But the water's cold."
She just shrugged and didn't meet his eyes.
"Okay, have it your way. You want to lose some more water?"
"No." She jumped back with more animation that he'd seen in weeks. "I'll air-dry, thanks."
"Fine. Let's go sit on the roof. Away from the edge."
She glared at him. "Jeez, give it a rest. So I made a mistake. I'm fine."
"Of course you are." It was his turn to not to meet her eyes.