A/N: Without further ado. Enjoy!
Betrayal
Chapter 21
Stephs PoV
October 31, 2011 1718hours
Bodie,WA
They are afraid of me.
Good.
Was about time they realize that I´m not the woman they once knew.
But seriously, eleven guns? And I´ve not even have mine raised. That´s ridiculous.
I looked at all of them and raised just one eyebrow. Slowly. See, I can do that too.
I let Rangers Glock twirl around my index finger and offered it to him, handle first. He took it and sheathed it in his tight holster. He kept the Sig in his hand however, but lowered it. The others lowered their guns too. Keeping them also in their hands.
"As I was saying" I broke the heavy silence, "before I was so rudely interrupted. I decided to bring Joe on board when he first started to woo me." I saw Ranger tense up again and the muscle in his jaw jump.
´Oh please´ I thought `Not again` and couldn´t suppress an eye roll. Honestly I am fed up with these constant interruptions. I want to finish this sometimes this century. Ranger is the most controlled, levelheaded and patient man I ever met, but suddenly he is acting like, well me. Well like the Bombshell Bounty Hunter part of me. Jumping to conclusions and flying of the handle over the most unimportant things. Maybe I can shock him back into his usual self.
"For heaven's sake, Manoso, get a grip! Show some of that control you are so famous for. Or must I take you down again."
O.K that has been a bad idea, cause again I found myself nose to nose with an very angry Ranger. Only this time his hand was around my throat. He shoved me against the wall behind me and snaking a leg between mine. His gun pressed on my temple.
Checkmate.
"Don´t push it, Plum." Low, menacing.
"How often have you laughed about me after you fucked him." Squeezing my throat tighter and pushing me more firmly into the wall behind me.
"Tell me, how often you have laughed about idiot Carlos. Giving you cars and men to destroy. Trusting you with my life. Giving you my heart. While you fucked HIM" he roared.
Is he for real?
I have expected to die today. I´m not stupid. I knew exactly what I was doing.
To die because I lied and spied on him and cost him a fortune. To die because I didn´t went to him when I found out that the real traitor was his best friend. To die because I let him believe I placed a job above our relationship.
But jealousy?
Jealousy and wounded pride?
Everything else aside Joe was my "boyfriend" for all he knew. Ranger never laid a claim on me. Hell, he even sends me back to Joe after he fucked me. Oh, I know why he did it. And although it played right in my cards at that time; I could not build a serious relationship or heaven forbid marriage with him, because that might have undermined my integrity with the FBI and validity of the case, it did not hurt less.
It hurt like a bitch to be send by the man I love to another man after the only time I allowed myself to be my real self.
That night I was just Stephanie, not Stephanie the Bombshell Bounty Hunter, not Stephanie the FBI Agent and Black Unit Spy, just Stephanie the woman in love with Carlos.
Well he is in for a surprise.
"Never" I rasped out. Oxygen is going to be a problem soon. He doesn´t believe me. I could see it in his eyes. ´It´s now or never Plum.´
"I have never slept with Joe. Except when I was sixteen." My eyesight is becoming blurry. I´m running out of time.
"I have only slept with one man in the last eight years."
Darkness.
And then suddenly…
Heaven.
~~~~~oooo~~~~~
Rangers PoV
I saw the truth in her eyes.
A dying man never lies.
I let my gun drop and released her throat. Gathering her face in my hands I kissed her with all that I am.
She didn´t respond.
Damnit.
I bit down on her lip. Hard.
She grasped and I took the opportunity and plunged my tongue in her mouth and finally she kissed me back with equal favor. Someone moaned. I think it was me. Snaking my arms around her neck and back, devouring her whole. The world around us disappeared.
Ok, so kissing her was stupid on my part. There is still so much to resolve, but God help me, her confession had me floored. Some primal part within me just had to claim her.
I´m surprised we both were still fully clothed.
And I will be damned, but it feels so right. Now I can only hope I don´t have to kill her at the end of the day, after all.
What could be minutes, hours, years later I reluctantly end the kiss. Panting heavily I leaned my forehead against hers and opened my eyes.
What I saw in her eyes was like a sucker punch in the gut. Pain. A pain I have never seen in anybody's eyes before. Why is there pain when I just poured my soul into her? She lifted a hand to my cheek and whispered,
"Ranger…Carlos, you should hear the whole tale first before you make any kind of decision."
With a defeated sighed she transformed in front of my eyes into the woman who had arrested me two weeks ago.
Ice cold and unapproachable. I could not suppress the shiver that ran down my spine.
She let go of my cheek and stepped around me.
This woman is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.10
But I will solve this puzzle. Even if it´s the last thing I do.
~~~~~oooo~~~~~
Stephs PoV
Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck
"Joe was my cover.
´Stupid, stupid, stupid Stephanie. Kissing him like that. What did you think?´
About four months into case Joe started to seriously pursue me and I only had two options.
`You didn´t that's the problem.`
Either shunt him real loud and publically, like a re-run of the Buick incident or get him on board.
`But god help me it felt so good to be kissed by him.`
The opportunity to have an in into the TPD and a watertight alibi whenever I need it was just too good to pass upon. So after we solved Uncle Mo case I filled him in.
´Get a grip on yourself, Plum. You knew when you took that job it would not end well. No use to cry over spilled milk.`
He was then called to Quantico under the pretense of a Joint Task Force and was briefed.
´But doesn´t make it any easier.`
Well it was more like that he was threatened with Hell and Damnation by my boss and mentors than a briefing but well…
´Oh, quit whining. There is no Happy Ever After for you. Not when all is said and done. You knew it from the start and you knew it when you fell in love with him.´
We had to make sure my cover was foolproof.
`No Happy End for the Traitor Spy.´
My life was on the line and depended on his ability to play his role convincingly."
´Now focus on the goal. Tell them the truth they wouldn´t get from anyone else but you; and then let them go without your blood on their hands.´
~~~~~oooo~~~~~
Rangers PoV
While I listened with half an ear how she explained Morelli´s involvement to my men, I caught a look from her and suddenly all the bits in pieces that didn´t fit before fell in to place; and revealed a picture that was so outrageous in its simplicity and yet so ingenious that I would never have guessed it if I hadn´t caught that look. I wanted to fall to my knees and bow before her.
She had never betrayed me.
She had protected me.
10 A quote from Winston Churchill made on a radio boardcast in October 1939
"I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest."