This story contains characters that belong to Janet Evanovich.

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Scent of a Woman

Chapter 19

Friday morning saw a flurry of activity at RangeMan. The day started out with an early meeting of the team Ranger wanted for Giordano's takedown. In addition to the core team members of Ranger, Tank, Bobby and Lester, Tank had assigned Cal, Hector, Woody, Hal, Ram and Binkie. Stephanie found it fascinating to watch the men plan and strategize the event as if they were choreographing the takeover of a small third world country. They used maps, and blueprints that outlined every, room, hallway and exit of the hotel. They discussed parking, weapons, bodyguards, timing, public safety, her safety, communication, surveillance, back-up contingencies…it was dizzying. At one point the discussions became so intense that Stephanie felt overwhelmed. She stood up and walked out.

Ranger found her in the break room nervously peeling the label off a bottle of water.

"Babe, are you okay?" His eyes were full of concern.

"I'm fine. Its' just…there is so much that can go wrong…so many variables I never knew about before. I've never really thought about how much planning goes into one of these things. You or one of the other guys usually just picks me up, gives me a profile of the subject, and I go do my thing. And, if all goes according to plan, I leave when it's over. I guess I got a taste of this down in Miami when I helped plan Sandor's takedown, but this is so much more complicated."

"Giordano is a complicated and dangerous skip, Steph. We have to think of everything before we can send you in there." He pulled her into an embrace. "You don't have to worry about all those details. That's my job. You have the hard part. We need you to get Giordano out of that restaurant and, if not outside, then a least some place inside the hotel where we can get to him, but where public traffic is still at a minimum."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that. I have an idea, but I want to call Andrew first." She looked up at Ranger. "I'm sorry I just walked out of the meeting like that."

Ranger leaned down and gave her a soft kiss. "It's all right, Babe. You're so good at working with my men, that I sometimes forget that you don't have a military background. I'm sure it can be overwhelming." He stepped back and put his hands on her shoulders. "Take a few minutes, but I would like you to come back to the meeting and give us some perspective on how you see things working."

"Let me make a phone call, and I'll be back in. I promise." She gave him another quick kiss and he returned to the meeting. Stephanie had made a decision. She was pretty sure that, after the way things went on her last date with Andrew, she could take this next course of action and be successful. It's not what she wanted to do. In fact, it was about as far away from what she wanted to do as she could get. But there was no way she wanted to continue this charade any longer than was necessary. She had an idea that would give her the opportunity to get Giordano out of the hotel, and she was going to take it. Stephanie took out her cell phone and dialed.

The phone rang twice and Andrew's buoyant voice answered. "Hi, Sweetheart, I was just thinking of you."

Stephanie smiled. "I hope they were good thoughts."

"Absolutely." Stephanie could hear his smile in that one word. "I can't wait to see you tonight."

"Me either. I bought a new dress just for the occasion. I wanted to wear something special for you."

"Maria, you could wear a burlap sack to dinner, and you'd still be the most beautiful woman in the restaurant."

"Liar!" She teased. "But seriously, burlap? Do you know how uncomfortable that would be?"

"My guess is that you wouldn't want to wear it very long." He intimately suggested. "That would not necessarily be a bad thing."

"Oh, Mr. Sullivan, you are persistent."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Not necessarily." She took an imaginary deep breath. "I have a proposal for you."

"A proposal?" He repeated. "That sounds intriguing."

"It could be." She purred. "I have asked my mother-in-law to keep Carlos for the night. I thought that after we finish dinner at the hotel, the three of us could go back to your place and have dessert and coffee. I make a terrific chocolate cheesecake." Stephanie rolled her eyes at the lie. "I know you and Victor would still need to have your business meeting, but I could make myself scarce somewhere else in the house until you were finished."

"Maria, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that after your meeting with Victor, he would leave and…I…wouldn't." Stephanie closed her eyes, hating the words coming out of her mouth.

There was silence between them for a few moments. Then Andrew responded with an obviously suppressed excitement. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." She whispered.

"I would love that, Maria, but are you're absolutely sure you're ready for this?"

"Are you, Andrew? I know it hasn't been that long since your wife…"

Andrew cut her off. "Hey, I have met an amazing woman, who has shown me that life can go on. I need to go on with my life, Maria. I love your idea for tonight."

Stephanie sighed with relief. "Are you sure Victor won't mind the change in plans?"

"You're asking me if Victor would mind coming back to my house for cheesecake?" Andrew laughed. "When we were in college, Victor could eat an entire pie in one sitting. He's a complete sugar addict. I'm sure he will love the idea."

"Okay. Good. Then I better get busy. I have a dessert to make and a special dinner date with a handsome man to get ready for. We'll have to change our plans slightly. I should drive over and meet you at your house so I can put the cheesecake in the refrigerator. We can leave for the restaurant from there. Is that okay?"

"Yes." He hesitated and then added. "Maria, I can't wait."

"Me either, Andrew. I'll be at your place shortly after six. Goodbye."

Stephanie hung up the phone. She had one more call to make, before heading back into the meeting. She picked up the house phone and punched a number.

"Hello, Ella?" She squeaked. "Help!"

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Stephanie opened the conference room door hoping to slip discretely back into the meeting. But as soon as she stepped across the threshold, ten pairs of eyes turned to focus on her.

"Sorry." She weakly whispered as she took her seat.

"Babe, you're just in time." Ranger turned his attention on her. "We were just going to discuss the best possible exit route. What have you got for us?"

Stephanie nervously cleared her throat. "Well, I just spoke with Andrew, and the good news is that I have convinced him that it would be nice for all three of us to leave the restaurant after dinner and have dessert and coffee back at his house. I told him that I make a killer cheesecake." She smiled. There were a few chuckles around the room. Her disabilities in the kitchen were well known. "Hey, you guys, I can make the coffee!" She rolled her eyes in surrender. "But Ella has agreed to make the cheesecake." Smiles abounded around the table at her confession.

"And the bad news, Babe?"

"The bad news is that we have to make this work tonight." She looked up nervously. "In order to... motivate... Andrew to go along with this plan, I had to suggest that tonight would be a good night to redeem that rain check from Wednesday."

"Shit." That was the one word response from Tank. There were also grumbles of discontent from some of the other men. Tank, Lester and Bobby had all been wired Wednesday and understood the meaning of the rain check reference.

Ranger's face showed understanding. "It won't get that far, Babe, I promise you."

Stephanie gave him a weak smile in appreciation, and then slowly added… "There's more."

"What do you mean, Beautiful?" Lester leaned forward in concern.

"I asked Connie to dig into Victor's reputation with the local families." Woody looked up at the mention of her name. Stephanie gave him a reassuring look. "You know that she has connections, and the RangeMan searches have been pretty much limited to numbers and statistics. I wanted more, so she made some calls."

"What did she come up with, Bomber?"

Victor's mother is the niece of Dominic Bilotti. Connie's Aunt Vernie travels in the same circles as her. Anyway, she says that Victor's mother has been confiding to her friends that Victor has been very unstable the last few months. She believes that he's hooked on prescription drugs, and when she confronted him about it, he flew into a violent destructive rage."

Tank sighed heavily. "Damn, Ranger, the Bilotti family? Giordano could be more dangerous than we thought. Do you know how fast this could go totally FUBAR tonight? Are you sure we should be sending Bomber in there?"

Ranger, who had been very quiet and non-responsive during Stephanie's revelation, now looked to her. She could see the internal struggle he was facing, so she spoke up to help him with his decision.

"Ranger, Andrew would not let anything happen to me. He has spoken to Victor recently. He says he's looking forward to this dinner. We'll be in a public place. I think it will be okay. We need to do this tonight because we may not get a better opportunity."

Ranger hesitated and ultimately nodded in agreement. "Babe, let's take a look at which exit we're going to need you to use." He looked across the table. "Santos."

Lester began his report. "Since Giordano arrived last night. He has only left the hotel once. At both his arrival and departure from the building, he used the same entrance…this one over here." Lester pointed to the floor plans. "It's not the main entrance but it has easy access to the parking lot, elevators, and is more private. His bodyguard is also his driver on this trip. The driver pulls the car up to the entrance, and Giordano gets out and enters the hotel. Upon leaving, the driver leaves the building first to get the car and Giordano waits inside this entrance until the car pulls up to the door."

They spent the next half hour showing Stephanie surveillance photos of the hallway and exit she needed to become familiar with. When they got to the details of the actual capture Ranger shot her a nervous look.

"Babe, Tank and Hal will take care of the bodyguard outside when he goes for the car, but we will have four additional men at the door for the takedown. We're going to have to apprehend Sullivan as well."

Stephanie looked shocked. "Why? He isn't FTA."

"We can't afford to have him trying to interfere with the capture. He could create complications. He doesn't know about Giordano's arrest and will most likely think the takedown is a mugging or some other attack. Sullivan's first instincts will be to protect you. We saw that last week on the night of your performance when Lester…provoked him. We don't need him playing the hero."

Stephanie looked upset. "You won't hurt him will you?"

"The men here are aware of who he is." Ranger nodded around the table. "They will do their best to protect him. But he has to be neutralized. I won't take any chances with you being that close. You're safety is their first priority." Ranger's words were delivered in a tone that made it perfectly clear the subject was not up for debate.

Stephanie wanted to argue but she remembered her promise to let Ranger do his job. "I understand." She replied. But that didn't mean they would not be discussing this later…in private.

Ranger concluded the meeting and everyone got up to leave. They all had their assignments and needed to prepare for them. Stephanie never left her chair. The room emptied and Ranger sat down next to her.

"What's on your mind, Babe?"

Stephanie looked at him but didn't answer right away. She wanted to choose her words very carefully. "Carlos, I don't want to be treated differently because of us…being together."

"You think I'm doing that?"

"I think you're asking your men to do that."

"Stephanie, this is no different than any other distraction. Your safety is always top priority. When you step into one of these situations, you very rarely have the ability to carry any kind of weapon. As a member of the team you have to be protected."

"I understand that, but this plan to take down Victor is different than any of my other distractions. You have never assigned six men at the door before. What's going on? What aren't you telling me?"

"We have to take out the bodyguard and Sullivan as well. That requires more manpower."

"Come on, Ranger, I understand your concerns about the bodyguard, but even I could take down Andrew alone; he's not a threat. And Giordano shouldn't be much of a challenge…physically, so what's going on?"

Ranger knew Stephanie was not going to give this up. He turned her face with his hands. "Babe, what do you know about the Bilotti family?"

"Connie said that Dominic Bilotti is not a nice guy. He's mob…so that's no surprise. She didn't say anything else. Why?"

"We knew Giordano was involved with the mob, but didn't know it was the Bilotti family until you brought us that information. Dominic Bilotti's organization is heavily into gun running. There has been a lot of competition for that business on the east coast, but the Bilotti's are the biggest supplier. They run a very tight ship. No loose ends. If they have 'concerns' about Victor Giordano, they are probably watching him very closely. He's probably been given some leniency because he's Bilotti's nephew. But that won't protect him if he steps too far out of line."

"So you think there could be complications with the takedown?"

"I think the Bilotti family doesn't want anyone causing them trouble. Family or not." Ranger stood up and pulled her from her chair putting his arms around her waist. "The Bilotti's don't want negative publicity. They can't afford it. They aren't going to do anything out in the open. As long as you are in the restaurant, I don't think they will cause trouble. I'm just taking some extra precautions during the takedown." His voice softened. "Don't forget how very important you are to me." He pulled Stephanie into a kiss. It quickly deepened into a passionate affair that had Stephanie's heart racing and her panties wet. She pulled his shirt from his pants and ran her hands up his chest. Ranger lifted her onto the conference table and slid his hands under her sweater. He unexpectedly broke from their intimate contact and sighed, leaning his forehead against hers. "Dios, Babe. The cameras."

"Cameras? What do you mean?" She questioned in a breathless fog, not wanting to stop.

"You know the building is wired for security. This room has a camera that is being monitored in the control room." Ranger explained as he removed his hands and smoothed down her sweater.

Stephanie had a hint of mischievous humor to her voice. "You mean, right now, God knows how many of your men are standing out there getting a free show?"

"Afraid so, Babe."

"What about sound, can they hear us as well?"

"No, the sound is only recorded during interviews and meetings with clients for record keeping purposes."

She pushed Ranger back into his chair as she slid off the table and returned to sit in her own original seat. "So if we sit like this, looking perfectly platonic, but I tell you that I'm so wet, that if you don't take me upstairs in the next ten minutes I'm going to scream…They can't hear that?"

Ranger's jaw tightened and so did his pants. "No."

"And if I sit here looking all innocent and business like..," she crossed her legs and began the pretense of writing on the tablet in front of her, "...and I say something like…Once we're upstairs, I plan to strip down to nothing and ride you like a horse…no one can hear that either?" She continued to tease.

"No one, but me." Ranger's voice was becoming strained.

"Hmmm, that's good to know, Batman." Stephanie stood up, walked out of the room, and headed for the elevator without looking back.

Ten minutes later she found herself answering a knock at Ranger's apartment door on seven. "Can I help you?" She responded innocently as she opened the door to the visitor.

Leaning against the doorframe, Ranger smirked. "I'm here to see a lady about a horse."

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Right after lunch, the entire team met one more time to finalize all the plans. Ranger and Stephanie were now heading back to the house in Philadelphia. Ella met them at the elevator carrying a cooler.

"Stephanie, dear, I've put the cake in here with some cold packs. When you get to the house, just put it in the refrigerator until you're ready for it. I hope it's what you wanted. I used a new recipe I found online." She smiled warmly at them both.

"Ella, I'm sure it will be perfect. Thank you. The lunch you packed for me the other day was wonderful."

"Good luck tonight, dear. Stay safe. I'm anxious for you both to come back here to stay. I miss cooking dinner for you."

"Staying safe is the plan. Hopefully this will all be over soon."

Ranger and Stephanie stepped onto the elevator and headed for the garage.

The closer they got to Philadelphia the more uneasy Stephanie got. Her Maria role was getting to her. The conflict between her real life and her false one was waging a battle in her head. Tonight would be so crucial to the success of the mission. She had to keep her story straight, so she spent most of the ride silently repeating conversations between her and Andrew, committing the details to memory. Ranger seemed to be driving in his 'zone', or maybe he just understood what she needed, but he didn't interrupt her thoughts. He simply held her hand and gently rubbed his thumb over her palm. It was almost hypnotic and eventually generated a feeling of calm over her.

When they reached the house, they unloaded the car. Stephanie carried in her purchases from her shopping excursion with Lula, and Ranger brought in the cheesecake.

"Babe, you have a few hours before you need to be ready. Why don't you go upstairs and lay down for a while. I'll wake you up in plenty of time to get dressed."

"I think I will. I've been so tired lately. Someone's been keeping me up at night." She beamed and gave him a hug. "But I'm not complaining."

Thirty minutes later, Ranger quietly entered the bedroom. His Babe was sound asleep in the bed looking completely at peace. He pulled up a chair and watched her sleep. This had become one of his favorite things to do.

The first time he broke into her apartment in the middle of the night it was to check on her after returning from a two week mission in South America. He had called Tank to let him know that he was about to land in Newark. He had asked about the state of the business and as part of the expected protocol Tank would give him an update on Stephanie's welfare. Returning from this particular trip, Tank had reported that she had, just that day, taken a particularly nasty fall down a fire escape when a skip tried to run out on her. She had tumbled down nearly two stories of steps and hit her head on a short brick landscaping wall. After talking to Lula, who had been with Stephanie for the apprehension, Tank had suspected that she had lost consciousness at least for a brief time, although Stephanie denied it. He was concerned that she might be suffering from a mild concussion and insisted on medical treatment. She had refused to even let Bobby take a look at her, but agreed to call the control room and check in at regular intervals the rest of the day and into the evening. They hadn't heard from her since eleven, when she told them she was going to turn in for the night. Despite being nearly three o'clock in the morning, Ranger had gone straight to her apartment from the airport. He had wanted to see for himself that she was alright, but there was another reason. He needed to feel centered again. He needed to feel like he had really returned home. Stephanie did that for him. Just seeing her smile, hearing her laugh, watching the way she rolled her eyes at his one word sentences, assured him that all was right with the world again.

Now as he sat in the chair, Ranger tried to pinpoint when she had become so important to him. She was beautiful. But she wasn't what he had typically been attracted to. Until he met Stephanie Plum, his eyes had always been drawn to women with dark skin, straight, long, black hair and exotic looks. He had been raised surrounded by the Cuban-American culture. The women he spent time with were mostly descended from his own heritage. Stephanie's porcelain skin, wild, curly hair and blue eyes were a direct contradiction to all his previous notions of ultimate beauty.

The first time they met in the diner, there was a frankness about her that he admired and a feistiness that intrigued him. She was desperate for money and wasn't afraid to admit it; and she wasn't going to be deterred from her pursuit to become a bounty hunter. His admiration grew into friendship when she never once questioned the truth of his innocence during the Ramos case. She was simply there for him in his time of need.

That was it.

He had very rarely ever needed anyone. He was always in charge, giving orders, running his business, getting rid of the bad guys. Fulfilling the needs of others. This spirited little girl from Chambersburg, New Jersey, just appeared in his life and unexpectedly became someone he needed. The more time he spent with her after that, the fuzzier the line became between friendship and love.

It was tricky. There was the cop.

He watched their relationship cautiously, taking great care to respect her wishes. But the draw to her was too strong. He found himself needing to protect her…, to provide for her…, to be near her…, to touch her…, to kiss her. It had been a slippery slope reaching the point when he realized that he wanted her and no amount of desperate purchase could pull him back.

He fought it.

He placed all kinds of barriers in his own way, but by the time Julie was returned to him safely, he knew.

This woman was it for him.

This woman was the one his mother had always told him was somewhere out there...just for him.

This woman was the one who would complete his life like the last missing piece of a puzzle.

Stephanie stirred.

Ranger got up from his chair and leaned over her sleepy form, tenderly brushing the curls from her face. "Babe, it's time."

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