The characters belong to JE. I receive nothing from this, but it sure is fun.

Chapter 15

Steph's POV

Most women in my position would be in tears right now. But here I am, the only hostage in the bank that they bothered to tie up. Everyone else gets to lay flat on their stomach with their eyes on the floor. Since I was recognized as a bounty hunter, they decided to tie me up. The reporter that puts all those pictures of me covered in garbage and articles about my car fires is going to regret the day he ever heard of Stephanie Plum.

On the bright side these guys don't even know how to tie someone up right. I should know as many times as I've been tied up by stalkers and skips. Anyone who knows anything should know that you always tie a person's hands behind their back, not in front.

At least I can say that my life is never boring, ridiculous maybe, but never boring. I can hear my mother now, 'Isabella Lombardi's daughter, Elena, never gets taken hostage in a bank'. Well mom, Linda Perry's daughter, Darla is also being held hostage, I think as I mentally stick out my tongue. Yeah, I know, I probably won't actually say that to my mother, but I can definitely think it.

"We got company!" The guy acting as the lookout calls out. He must be the newest member of the gang since the rest keep calling him, Newbie.

"What kind of company?" The ringleader asked.

"Looks like we got some cops, the SWAT team, and a bunch of really big guys dressed in all black." Newbie answered.

Men in black! Ranger and the rest of the Merry Men are here! I'm torn between feeling relief and annoyance since I've been trying to avoid Ranger.

"How…how are we going to get out of here?" Newbie asked.

"Why did we have to bring the new guy?" The guy whose sole purpose was apparently to point a gun at me asked. "Hey, Rocco?"

"What? I'm busy!" The ringleader said as he shoved money into the duffle bags.

"Maybe we should keep this bounty hunter chick. The boss would probably appreciate a new toy." He said.

Why does every man I meet automatically think that I'm a toy to be played with?

"Not a bad idea, Axel. Giving her to the boss could get us some bonus point with the boss." Rocco agreed.

"And if I don't want to go with you or your boss?" I asked.

"Aw, Sugar. We want you to fight back. The boss loves it when you fight back. It gives him an excuse to use his knife." Axel laughed.

My thoughts immediately flash back to the time that I found Lula on my fire escape. Benito Ramirez had beaten and left her for dead. The doctor told her that her body had so many trauma that she would probably never be able to have children. Lula still has nightmares about what he put her thru.

"Can I make a suggestion?" I asked.

"Sugar, I can think of more than a few suggestions that I could help you with." Axel said, leaning down and running his hand along my cheek.

"Hands off!" Rocco yelled. "You're the one that suggested that we give her to the boss. He won't like it if we give him damaged goods!"

"You're no fun!" Axel yelled back, as he stood up. "What's your suggestion, Sugar?"

"You could surrender and let us all go. My cousin owns a bonds office. I could get him to post your bail. You wouldn't even need collateral. Then all of could take off. Just disappear. There's no reason anyone has to get hurt. Your boss probably wouldn't even like me." I suggested. I didn't bother to point out that the odds of a judge setting bail, was unlikely. Even if a judge was willing to set bail, there was not way that Ranger would let anyone bond these guys out. I was hoping that luck was on my side and that these guys would be too dumb to realize it.

"Trust me, Sugar. If anyone gets hurt, it won't be one of us. We never surrender and we're not about to start now." Axel chuckled.

"M…M…Maybe we should listen to her." The Newbie suggested.

"Any maybe you should learn to shut up and do as you're told." Jerry snapped.

"Fine, have it your way. I was just trying to help." I said. Well, they can't say I didn't try to warn them.

"Hey, Rocco?" One of the other guys asked. "How are we going to get out of here?"

"We're going to have to use the hostages as body shields. The cops won't risk a bullet hitting a hostage. We can dump them after we get out of Trenton." Rocco explained. "We can use the hostages to carry the cash so we won't have to."

The bank's phone began to ring.

"Sh…should we answer that?" Newbie asked.

Rocco answered the phone. "We're coming out with hostages. We have a guy watching the bank from the outside. If you make any attempt to shoot or follow us, he'll blow up the building, killing the rest of the hostages. Once were far enough away, we'll drop the rest of the hostages somewhere outside of Trenton. This is not negotiable." Rocco slammed the phone down, not waiting for an answer. "Those idiots won't give us any trouble when we try to leave. They think we got someone watching the bank waiting to blow it up and kill the rest of the hostages."

"Don't you?" I asked.

"No, but they don't know that." Rocco laughed.

I need to buy Ranger, the Merry Men, and the Trenton P.D. more time. I've been in enough situations to know that any hostages forced to go with the gang, probably won't be found alive later.

"I need to pee!" I announced.

"Not our problem, Sugar." Axel glared.

"Fine, but if I pee all over one of your motorcycles, it's your fault." I warned.

"Take her to the bathroom. I don't want here peeing all over my bike." Rocco ordered. "Just make sure that there are no windows that she can climb out of first."

Axel grabbed me by my shirt and set me on my feet. "Where's the bathroom?" He asked.

"How should I know? This isn't my bank." I told him.

"If this isn't your bank, then why are you here?" He asked.

"I was picking up a FTA, not that it's any of your business." I glared.

"Where's the bathroom?" He called out.

An older man that I didn't recognized raised his head and pointed to a hallway off the side of the lobby. "The employee restrooms are that way." He told Axel.

"Well, what are you waiting on? Let's go!" Axel said, attempting to drag me towards the restroom, causing me to fall flat on my face.

"I can't walk unless you untie me." I said, rolling my eyes.

"You can forget that. I'll just carry you." He said grabbing me and throwing me over his shoulder. He carried me to the restroom. He used his foot to kick the restroom door open and roughly placed me on my feet.

"Well? What are you waiting on? Use the bathroom." Axel ordered.

"Could you please untie me? I don't want to accidently pee on myself. It's not like I can escape. There are no windows or doors that lead to the outside." I pleaded.

"I'm starting to think that you're more trouble than you're worth." He said bending down to untie the rope around my ankles and then my hands. I would have used the opportunity to use my famous knee on him, but what good would that do? I would still have to get passed the other five guys out there and I didn't want to risk putting the other hostages in more danger than we already were.

"Um…I can't pee with an audience. Would you mind waiting outside?" I asked.

"You've got to be kidding me? Hurry up and don't even think about trying anything." Axel said stepping out of the restroom and shutting the door.

I immediately started to look for something that I could use as a weapon. As usual, I left my gun in the cookie jar in my apartment. I wanted to find something that was small enough that I could hide it under my clothing until we were a safe distance from the bank. The problem was that I couldn't find anything that I could use to defend myself, unless I wanted to toilet paper their motorcycles.

To make matters worse, now I really needed to use the bathroom.

"What's taking you so long?" Axel yelled thru the door.

"Uh…I'm on my period. I'm looking for a tampon in the supply cabinet." I lied, knowing that anytime a woman even mentions a period, it freaks guys out. I even made Ranger uncomfortable one day when I complained about cramps to Lula. It serves him right for breaking into my apartment, and sneaking up behind me when I was on the phone with Lula.

"I really didn't need to know that." Axel replied.

I finally couldn't stand it any longer and went into a stall to relieve myself. I opened the stall door and found Ranger leaning against the sink.

"Oh my God!" I whispered. "Where did you come from?" There was no tingle alerting me to his presence. Why didn't I feel the tingle?

"You need to settle down and quit getting into these messes, Cupcake." Ranger said.

I know I didn't just hear him call me Cupcake.

"Not that I don't appreciate you being here, but did you just call me Cupcake?" I hissed as quietly as I could. I might be mad, but I'm not stupid. There are six guys in that bank lobby that are heavily armed and I didn't want to be the one that alerted them that Ranger was in the bank.

"We used the air ventilation system. Old buildings like this one have older system with large duct work. We accessed the duct system from the roof. We were just lucky that you happened to be in the bathroom where there was a large enough vent return for us to fit through." Ranger said, pointing at the ceiling above the sink. That's when I felt the tingle and noticed that Morelli was lowering himself from the air vent. Why is my radar off? It alerted me to Morelli's presence, but not Ranger's. Maybe I'm coming down with something. I placed my hand on my forehead to check for fever.

"Babe." Joe greeted me.

Wait a minute.

Ranger said Cupcake…

Joe said Babe…

DIESEL!

"Have you guys seen Diesel lately?" I asked.

They both nodded.

"Did Diesel do to you what I think that Diesel did to you?" I asked, looking back and forth between Ranger and Joe.

"Babe." Joe said.

"Ranger?" I said looking at Joe. He nodded, confirming my suspicion.

"Your friend Diesel is some kind of freak." Ranger said, or should I say, Joe in Ranger's body.

"So….this morning when I thought I was talking to Joe, I was actually talking to Ranger?" I asked.

Joe, I mean, Ranger nodded.

"Oh My God! Oh My God! Oh My God!" I said bending over in an attempt to make the room stop spinning.

"What's taking you so long?" Axel demanded as he stormed into the restroom. I never got a chance to answer him, because Joe, I mean Ranger, punched him, knocking him out.

"This is confusing." I said as Ranger and Joe used the ropes that were used on me to tie up Axel. The real Ranger also used a pair of handcuffs to cuff Axel to the pipes under the sink to ensure that he couldn't escape.

"Try living it." Ranger said (or should I say Joe said in Ranger's body). "Take his gun and stay here."

"Are you trying to tell me what to do?" I glared as I took the gun from him.

"Somebody needs to, Cupcake." He replied.

"No way. There are five more guys out there." I argued.

"Hector and Lester should be in place on the other side of bank lobby. They dropped into a loan officer's office. Tank wanted to come, but he couldn't fit into the ventilation system." Joe, I mean Ranger explained.

"Babe, wait here until it's clear." The real Ranger told me. "Please?"

He knows I can't say no when he says please.

"Fine." I reluctantly agree.

Then he touched the communication device on his ear. "She's safe. She was in the restroom we dropped in." The paused and waited for a response. "Let's go."

"Don't get shot." I said.

"Don't go crazy." The real Ranger replied with a slight grin as he and the real Joe headed out into the lobby. That was weird hearing Ranger say that with Joe's voice.

Ranger and Joe headed out of the bathroom towards the lobby. I know that I promised that I would stay here until they cleared the lobby, but I didn't think it would hurt if I stayed in the hall. You never know, they could need my help.

I waited a few minutes before I quietly snuck into the hallway, and walked towards the lobby. I peaked around the corner so that I could see what was going on. All five of the other guys were sitting on the floor, lined up. Wow! It didn't take Ranger. Joe, Lester, and Hector long to subdue them. Most of the hostages were beginning to stand up and hug each other relieved that everything was over. I noticed one of the other female hostages was standing over to the side near where the Ranger and Joe had apparently piled bank robbers' guns. I started to walk into the lobby when I saw a woman grab one of the guns that bank robbers had been using. It took less than a second for her to aim and fire the gun.

"No!" I yelled as I raised my gun and shot at the same time. The 'hostage' fell to the ground. I dropped my gun and ran over to the only man I've truly ever loved.

"Get Bobby!" I yelled as I ran over and put pressure on the gunshot wound located where his neck met his shoulder. I was crying uncontrollably as I yelled, "Don't you dare die on me! You're not allowed to die and leave me here alone! Do you hear me? Don't you dare die!"