Chapter 19-

Ranger had not moved a muscle since he heard Joe say it was his fault. He stood there stone faced and motionless as a statue. All around him men were yelling, some even trying to attack Joe. But Ranger just looked at Joe waiting for him to say something. The officers that had come with Joe were also yelling, one removing his gun. This was the wrong choice because in seconds every man had pulled a gun and silence had descended the room to see who was going to make a move first.

Still Ranger didn't move, he watched.

Ranger watched Joe tell the two other officers to put their guns away. Eddie had stepped back not engaging with the group refusing to take a side between the men that loved Stephanie and would do anything for her, even kill….and Joe who was a work colleague. After a moment the two cops put down their guns and slowly Ranger's men lowered their weapons one at a time. Looking to Ranger to see what they should do.

Still Ranger did not move; it was like he wasn't even part of the group. He was staring at Joe, cold and hard.

It was a look that lesser men had pissed their pants from. Joe stood up straight and cleared his throat. "I got an email that said I needed to get some evidence out of the evidence locker and I would get Stephanie back."

Ranger raised one eyebrow at him, still silent.

"Obviously I can't do that, but I know that you have a man that does electronics. I was going to give you the email and see if you could track it. Maybe help us make a passable fake chip to give the guy." Joe said in a voice full of tension.

Ranger just looked at Joe, he literally could not move because if he did he was going to fly across the table and kill Joe. Rip his head off with his bare hands.

Everyone turned to look at Ranger to see his response to Joe, there was no movement from anyone. The room held one collective breath as they looked from Ranger to Joe, and their bodies filled with tension as they watched Ranger turn from the table and walk out the door without a word. There was complete silence as they looked at one another around the table, no one was daring to speak because they had no clue what to say.

Everyone jumped up when they heard the first crash across the hall, several people watched as Joe flinched probably imagining that it was his face Ranger was pretending to hit. Tank looked around the table at each man, stopping to stare Joe down.

"Wait here." He said tightly, turning to follow Ranger out of the door.

Tank knocked on Ranger's office door and waited for him to answer, but all he heard was another crash followed by a slam.

After a second he knocked again and waited another moment, when there was no other crash he slowly opened the door and went in to see Ranger leaning against the window with both arms and his head tilted forward looking at the ground. His body was so tight it looked like a bow being pulled back ready to fire. This situation was wearing him down, it was wearing all of them down. Something had to give and it had to give soon.

His office was a disaster, his desk on its side with a crack down the center, the tables and chairs where clearly thrown against the walls from the dents in it. Tank walked over to the window to look out onto the street next to Ranger, crossing his arms and then waited for Ranger to calm down and speak first.

After a few seconds Ranger stood tall and crossed his arms also. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath, something that showed Tank how lost Ranger really was.

"I can prepare for my enemies to take her, hurt her. I can work to make sure she is protected when she is going after someone." He paused and shook his head, "How the hell am I supposed to protect her when I can't see the enemy coming?" he whispered.

"You can't protect her from everything Ranger." Tank said.

"I have to." Ranger said shaking his head, "I can NOT lose her."

"Ranger, all you can do is do the best you can. You cannot put her in a bubble, you cannot save her from everything." Tank said, "All you can do is love her and be there from her."

Ranger just nodded. "Easier said than done."

Tank turned to look at Ranger, "Right now we are going to find her Ranger, we are going to get her back. Later we will kill Joe and bury the body."

Ranger looked over to Tank and gave him a half smirk. "I am not going to kill him, I am going to beat the shit out of him and then give him to the guys."

Tank looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded his agreement, "Yes the guys are going to want a turn also."

Ranger looked at his office and cringed. "I can't let Stephanie see this."

Tank looked around also then smirked, "I think she would like seeing that even you throw tantrums."

Ranger glared at Tank as he walked out of the office and back into the conference room silently.

He looked straight at Joe, "Hector will go with you over your email and track her."

Ranger said nothing as Joe turned to see Hector walk through the door. Joe paled as he looked at Hector standing in the door way, arms crossed, jaw clenching making his tear drop tattoos look like they were glistening with each movement. He looked at Joe like he was going to be the next tear drop tattoo on his face.

Joe swallowed deeply and followed Hector with Lester right behind them so he could translate.

Ranger looked at the guys still at the table, you could see the strain on their faces of the last 24 hours. You could see the tension in their bodies as they fought the thought that Stephanie might not be coming back. With each hour that went by they got more and more desperate. "We are going to find her; she is coming back. Get ready to move, when Hector traces her we are going in."

He watched as the guys nodded and filed out of the room, then looked to Tank. "We are going to find her." he said.

"Yes we are." Tank said.

-/-

The lights came on in a flash, it made Stephanie slowly blink her eyes. She watched Mikel walk down the stairs and begin to pace back in forth in front of her.

She tried to clear her throat to get his attention but it was barely loud enough to for her to hear, there was no way he was going to hear it above her. She could see that he was clearly frustrated and upset. She slowly and painfully rolled her head back slightly to look up at him and waited for him to acknowledge her. She could hear him beginning to mutter to himself, his hands moving around in crazy little circles.

So far he had been a not so bad kidnapper but this was a new side of crazy that she wasn't sure of what to do. Honestly though she could barely move and there was not much she could do, and what worried her more was that she was beginning to not care. She was just cold and tired, so very tiered.

She blinked at him with wide eyes as he sat down in front of her head and looked down at her. He cleared his throat and chewed his lip like he was trying to figure how to start.

"If you are going to kill me can you do it fast?" she murmured to him with a broken voice.

His eyes widen to comical proportions, "I am NOT going to kill you." He said in a loud voice. "In fact I am thinking that maybe that I need to let you go. None of this is working out. From the first day everything has been messed up."

He shook his head, "You are so hurt right now and Joe is not responding and your guy is getting closer and closer to figure out where we are. Even with all the blocking I am doing he is getting closer. I have never seen anyone as good as him. It's only a matter of time before he finds us."

He lowered his head into his head into his hands and took a deep breath, "I think that maybe I should just run, maybe if I run far enough, fast enough I could maybe get away and maybe those guys that want the chip won't even try and find me. I don't want to die but I don't know what to do anymore." When he lifted his head Stephanie could see a small tear run down his cheek.

Stephanie took a moment to really, really look at Mikel, she was surprised when she realized that he was barely older then a kid and he looked terrified and just as tired as she was. She actually began to feel sorry for him, which was surprising because she was freezing on a cement floor in a random warehouse because of him. She could see that he was way over his head and completely lost on what to do.

"Take me back to the building I was in, I will protect you." She said in her broken voice, and she meant every word, this kid needed help. He needed someone to help him and she was going to do it.

He looked up at her, "You would help me?" he said in a small voice.

The fact that he believed her just proved that he was young and completely inexperienced. No other kidnaper would believe her even if she was telling the truth. She slowly nodded her head, "I know you didn't mean to hurt me and I know you are scared."

He looked at her for a moment then smiled a small sad smile, "I saw those guys that you are with, even if you don't hate me for everything thing I have done. They…. they will kill me. Even you said that before."

She decided to be 100% honest because she was beginning to believe that he was being completely honest with her, "Yes I would try my best to protect you but they are not going to be happy."

He raised his eyebrow… "Not happy?...try more like murderous rage."

She gave a small smile back, "You are not wrong."

"I think the best thing would be if I got my stuff and turn off the blocker and leave right away." He saw the panic in her eyes when he said he was just leaving. "Don't worry, when I drop the blocker I have a feeling your guys would be here in less than 15 minutes."

She scrunched her eyes in question.

He gave another small smile, "Your Tec guy already has a 10-mile radius center of where we are, he is hacking through my best blockers and tricks. If I drop it, he will be able to see where we are immediately and we are only about 10 miles away."

Stephanie gave another small smile; her Hector was amazing. She took a moment to think then gave a small nod.

"I think that you are right, if you leave before they get here you have the best chance. They will come, I know it." She looked at him for a moment then said as an afterthought, "Will you email or call or text me and let me know if you are ok?"

His eyebrows shot up, "Are you asking so your guy can track me or because you actually want to know?"

She looked at him for a moment before she replied, "I really want to know, I know that you are scared and you made some poor choices. I am worried about you. Maybe if you tell me who is threatening you I can send my guys after them. I mean you only did all of this because of them."

"NO." he shouted startling her and making her jump which caused a painful reaction to her cold sore muscles.

He saw her jump and her eyes widen, "I don't want them to even know about you, they will kill you without a second thought. They are really bad and I didn't even know it until it was too late." He said shaking his head.

She nodded at him, this just proved that he was lost, now he was trying to protect her.

"Can I ask you a question?" she asked softly.

"Sure." He said with a small grin that made him look like he was even younger.

"Is Mikel your real name?"

He gave a soft laugh, "Nope, I haven't used my real name in a long time, my mom was the last person to call me by my real name. I didn't want anyone to know it."

"Would you tell me?" she asked softly.

He shook his head, "I never tell anyone…." He tilted his head to the side, "but I have hurt you a lot and yet you are still being nice to me."

Stephanie gave a small shrug, "I can see that you are scared and that you are stumbling trying to just stay alive. I also see that you don't really know what you are doing so that means that you don't do this very often."

He gave a sharp laugh, "Try like never ever, ever do this. That's why I suck at it so bad." He cleared his throat and looked down at her. "My name is Timmy…. well that's what my mom called me. My name is Timothy."

Stephanie just looked at him for a moment that broke out in a crackling, broken laugh, "I was kidnaped and almost blown up by a kid named Timmy."

Timmy looked slightly offended as he stared down at her, "Hay I didn't mean to blow you up, your car sucks and set it off!"

Her laugh stopped and she glared at him the best she could, "Leave my car alone, it worked pretty good!"

"Sure and I am superman." He said with a grin.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha." She said rolling her eyes.

He stopped smiling suddenly and said, "I really am sorry, this was the worst mistake in my life. I can never make this up to you."

"You can start by getting away from this guy hurting you, and by letting the guys find me. I am cold and want to go to sleep in a warm bed with no rats in the room."

He nodded quickly, "OK I am going to go upstairs and load my stuff in my car. Then I will drop the blocker and leave. It shouldn't take me longer than 10 minutes. I will be fast." He said standing up. "Do you need anything before I leave?"

She took a moment to think. "Maybe another blanket to cover my head and body? I am cold and the rats really do scare me."

"Of course!" he said, "I wish I could get the door to stay open and the lights on but it would take me longer to do that, then to just leave and have them find you."

"It's ok." She said and watched him run up the stairs. He was back in less than 2 minutes carrying a wool blanket. She watched as he threw it over her body, "Head too?"

"Yes please, I can't really stand up and walk out even if you leave the door unlocked and I don't want you to carry me up and have them come sooner." She shook her head, "I can't believe I am saying this but I am actually starting to like you and no matter what I say the guys will kill you or at least maim you before giving you back to the police."

His eyes got wide, "I figured, those guys scare the bejeezus out of me."

She looked at him seriously, "They should." Then grinned, "Now go cause the sooner you are gone the sooner I can be found."

He nodded, pulled the blanket over her head and she could hear him running up the stairs. Under the blanket she could not see when the lights flickered off, but she was no longer worried. Now she was excited because she knew that Ranger was coming. She was going to be ok. All in all, she had had worse kidnappings.

-/-

Hector was practically slamming the keys with his fingers with such a violent force that the men around the room waiting where worried at any moment he was going to break the key board. He had been at it the last 45 minutes after he got the email from Joe. He had 3 screens running in front of him, two with maps that were constantly scanning and one that he was actively working on that had just strings of numbers and letters. No one understood any of it and no one dared to speak to disturb him.

Ranger and Tank stood in a back corner waiting to see what he had to say, Joe sat in the other far corner with some other officers talking softly. Lester sat in one chair next to Hector doing anything that Hector demanded on the other key boards.

Suddenly one of the monitors began to beep loudly with a flashing red circle on one of the maps. Hector whipped over and grabbed the key board from Lester. His fingers flew over the keys faster than anyone could follow. Everyone's head had snapped up to stare and wait, they knew that something was going on. After a moment Hector turned to look at Ranger and began to speak in a rapid stream of Spanish. Rangers body flew into motion as he, Tank, Lester and Hector all got up and ran out of the door and down the stairs.

Joe quickly stood and ran after them, the officers trailing behind.

"What's going on." Joe demanded behind them.

No one turned to look at him or answer him. They made it to the basement and slammed into the arms and gear room. The room was already full of Hal, Cal, Bobby and a few others dressed in full swat gear and weapons. Bobby had two large medical bags ready for anything. Joe and the officers followed them in and watched as Hector, Ranger, Tank and Lester grabbed and dressed in gear. They had a full suit on including a bullet proof vest and belt with knifes and other items. Once they were dressed they started to collect weapons, guns and rifles, knifes and extra ammo.

Hector was still speaking to the others in Spanish when Joe yelled over all of them, "What the hell is going on?"

The room paused for just a moment then the guys were passing Joe without a word and up the stairs. Most the men had passed Joe already and when Ranger went to go by him, Joe grabbed his arm stopping him and growled, "WHAT IS GOING ON?"

Joe didn't even see Ranger's arm come up, he was just standing up one moment and on the floor in the next. Ranger and Tanked turned and went back up the stairs without a word trusting the last men in the room to escort Joe and the officers out of the building.

When Ranger made it to the garage the men were already loading into the trucks, it had been less than 4 minutes since the alarm had gone off. Less than 4 minutes since they found Stephanie's location. And in less than 10 minutes they were going to be bringing her home.

They all loaded into the trucks and nodded to one another, Ranger, Tank, Bobby and Hector were in the first truck. Lester picked up the walkie-talkie in the truck behind them and said, "Let's go get our girl."

Everyone from every truck responded with a "Hell yes."

Everyone but Ranger, because Ranger was too busy saying a prayer that they were not too late, that she was ok. And he was swearing that never again would she be taken by this man.

-/-

Stephanie tried to stay awake, she strained her ears trying to hear when the door came open. But she was so cold, she felt like the muscles in her body had turned to stone. The cold was like an all-encompassing blanket, there was no protection from it. It didn't matter that she had on 4 blankets or a jacket. It had seeped into her body and bones. It was so cold that the rats didn't even come out.

She knew Ranger was coming, she knew all her guys were coming but she just couldn't stay awake any longer. She said one last prayer that they would find her soon, and that Timmy would be ok. But most of all she prayed for it never to be cold again. And her last thought as she slipped into sleep was being kidnaped sucked.