Standard FF disclaimers.
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I Need You. Legacy.
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Harsh sunlight streamed through the window, assaulting Stephanie as it hit her full in the face. She attempted to ignore it, rolling over and groaning her displeasure. But she was awake now, and nothing she could do would put her back into the dream that she had been having. She sighed, they had been dreams of Ranger, his arms around her, whispering in her ear.
Stephanie stood abruptly before she let her thoughts go on too far. She swayed as the lack of blood to her head left her dizzy. Or was it the dream? It had seemed all too real. But dizzy or not, she could not think of a better way to start the day, than with Ranger on her mind.
Hot water pounded down on her shoulders as Stephanie luxuriated in the shower. She was feeling so relaxed. Until, at the same moment, a thought popped into her mind and the hot water ran out. Blasting her with a spray of ice cold water. Three hours later she would be hard pressed to say which had affected her more, the thought or the jolt of cold water. But she had thought long and hard about it and she knew what she had to do. She grabbed her bag and the box from the kitchen table and resolutely walked out of her door.
No matter how much the dream has captured her attention this morning, Stephanie remembered Rangers late night visit. She could not forget the feel of his strong arms around her, or his hot breath on her neck as he spoke to her. Every time she thought about it, she would feel her heart skip a beat, just like it had last night. Most importantly though, she remembered looking him in the eye and telling him that she would do everything that she could to keep safe while he was gone.
The weight of that promise settled on her today. There was something about the way he made that same promise to her, that made her stop and take notice. Every other time that he'd come close to saying it, it had been implied that it was really out of his control and that he was just giving it lip service. But last night was different. In his voice she had heard that he really meant it, he wanted to be safe and he wanted to come back to her. How could she not do the same?
She hauled the box into the office and waved to Connie. She did not stop to talk, she burst into Vinnie's office and set the box down heavily on his desk. "Steph, what the.." Vinnie started to say, before he slammed the phone down and stood up quickly. "What is all this about?" he asked.
A determined gleam in her eyes kept him from saying anything else. Stephanie grabbed a couple of sets of handcuffs and dropped them on the desk. Her stun gun followed as she set it down with a thunk. She threw a couple of cans of pepper spray on top of the pile. Vinnie was still watching with a deer in the headlight look on his face. A small stack of folders was placed on the corner of the desk and she placed a hand on them as she leaned forward.
"I am done Vinnie,' Stephanie said. " Pass on the Bombshell Bounty Hunter legacy to someone who wants it," she stated. Before he could say a word, she pushed herself up, turned and walked out of the door.
"Bye Connie," she said over her shoulder as she left. She waved her hand and did not look back.
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Gustavo Matthias Sanchez. He ran his finger over the name tooled deep into the thick leather cover of the family bible. The name had a sound of importance to it. That was what Gustavo had always thought. He had been proud to carry the name of his father, and his father before him. Matthais, the name that would live on forever now, through his son.
Out of the small window, he could see the couple walking up to the house. Their wedding was coming up tomorrow, his son and his pretty bride looked so happy. He couldn't be happier himself, and he started to hum a lively tune as he lifted the heavy book into his arms. He would be passing it on to his son someday, but today he wanted to show them where their names were to be added to the family genealogy, along with the date of their dia del matrimonio. It was a family tradition to do so, and had been for generations. But that is not why Gustavo was so anxious to share this with them. It was for Maria. He wanted her to see that she had a place to belong. He had seen how devastated she had been when the fever took her parents and her sister from her over a year ago. Family was important. And he wanted her to know that she would never be alone again.
He turned to set the book on the table. Just then, Audelia, his beautiful wife walked into the room. She could light up the darkest night with her smile. He had always loved that about her. She was gentle and kind and so generous. And he was still so honored that she had chosen him all those years ago. Oh, how he loved her, and the knowledge that she loved him too always made Gustavo stand just a little bit taller. His life was good. Audelia kissed him on the cheek. Leaving him with a smile that stayed on his face all evening.
Life in Cabo Estrellita was simple and quiet. Not much changed out here near the rain forests, and most of the villagers liked it that way. Traditions were strong and were a way of life. Gustavo was a rancher, it was the family business, the one that Matthias now worked with him. The one he would give to his son in just another couple of years. Everything that Gustavo had learned about the raising and care of horses and llamas, he had taught to Matthais. It was hard work, but their horses were the ones used by the farmers to plow their small fields, and by the traders who left the village to sell their goods to neighboring communities. And the llamas provided the wool that Audelia used to weave beautiful rugs and blankets. Most of the ones she made were for the family and friends, leaving just a few that were taken to the market and sold. Each one a unique work of art.
It was because of the tranquility and simplicity of their lives that they loved being mostly isolated from the rest of the world. It was also what made it so easy for the drug cartels to disrupt it. The traders had long been coming back with tales of the injustices being made in the other villages. Greedy drug lords were swooping in wanting not only their lands, but the labor of the people who lived there. Huge promises were made to them for their cooperation. Promises that were never kept.
It was a profound foul evil, a disease of corruption, and no one in Cabo Estrellita wanted any part of it. But it would turn out not to be their choice. Just a few short months after the beautiful wedding of Maria Ibarra and Matthias Sanchez, the peace of their little community was shattered.
The leaders of the village had been approached by one of the drug lords. He had made his proposal, his promises, and they had turned him down. Rejection was not something that was to be tolerated and it was a lesson hard learned by the village. Only hours after the meeting, an attack had been made out by the river. It was swift and final. The women washing clothes in the shallow waters near the banks of the river had been gunned down. Not one of them had been spared. But the noise of the automatic guns brought everyone from the village running to see what the commotion was.
Maria had been in town at the time. She dropped what she was doing and was one of the first people to reach the river. Gustavo was right behind her, he knew that Audelia had walked out of the house with her basket of laundry a short time before. At first they did not see her, but Gustavo found her lifeless body under the roots of the same Mangrove tree that had been the favorite hiding place of her son and his novia. Maria had known loss, but she had never experienced anything as heart wrenching as this. She held her hands clasped in front of her chest, tears fell unchecked and she watched as her father in law knelt by his wife and pulled her into his arms. Holding her head close to his he wept. Soundless sobs that shook his body. His faced twisted in the pain he felt as half of him was torn away. His heart was broken. Maria tried to console him, but there was nothing that she could do.
Gustavo had given up. He was nothing without Audelia. Matthias had not been able to say anything that could ease the pain of his father's grief. For days he neither slept nor ate. He spoke to no one. His suffering seemed never to end. He was not alone, many of the men in the village had lost their wives that day. The whole community mourned. It had been the worst thing that had ever happened to them because of the evil intent behind it.
In this time of mourning, Maria and Matthais discovered that she was expecting. Desperate not to add to the grief of the village, they did not know how to tell anyone of their glad news. But they shouldn't have worried. It turned out to be the miracle that they had all needed to begin to heal the open wounds that the deaths of their loved ones had left. A renewed desire to preserve the life of their little village helped Gustavo to see that he did have a reason to live. This news reminded him that he had a legacy to pass on to his son, and to his grandson.
Once again the men met in the center of the village. Determined that this atrocity would not go unanswered. Gustavo led the discussion with such an impassioned speech that he rallied the strength that was found deep inside of everyone to fight the cartel. It was with this fervor and commitment that they talked again with the representatives of the drug lord. Knowing what they wanted, the men attempted to propose a compromise. They could use the fertile lands along the river if they would just leave the village alone.
There was no such thing as compromise for the cartels. And within hours, the attack on Cabo Estrellita began. Gustavo once again rallied his friends to stand up to their enemies. He was the first one to die. Matthias had been by his side and tried to attack the man who had killed his father. Other men came to his aid, and in the chaos, Matthias looked up and saw Maria. She was pulling children out of harm's way, grabbing the small children paralyzed with fear and taking them into the forest. His love for her filled him. As he watched her disappear once again between the thick growth of trees, he hoped that this time she would stay there. He knew that she could hide with the children and be safe.
They fought valiantly. Mismatched with weapons and skills, still they did all that they could to defend their families, their homes. It was a horrible scene. When Maria rushed back to rescue another child, her heart was crushed. So much death, her friends gone. Unshed tears stung at the back of her throat. She knew that the inevitable was happening, and she frantically searched for Matthias. Their eyes met, she rushed to him. But before she could reach him, he was shot in the back. "No," she screamed. This could not be happening. Someone heard her anguished cry and turned to see the same man pointing his gun at Maria.
Anger and agony mingled and tightened in her chest. The man was a coward she thought, they were all cowards hiding behind their big guns. Her momentum carried her forward, and she did not see who attacked the horrible man, saving her life. Her eyes only saw Matthias as he slumped down to the ground. She reached out to him, catching him in her arms. Hugging him to her she cried out his name. Matthias opened his eyes. His Maria, his beautiful wife. He wrapped his arms around her and in his final act of love he rolled over, covering her with his body. He knew that if the evil men saw that she was alive, they would stop at nothing to kill her too. He would not allow that to happen, not to her, not to his child.
She struggled underneath him, she had to see his wound, stop the bleeding. But she stilled when he whispered her name. "Maria, don't move," he gasped in an uneven breath. "I love you princess," he said. His final words before he died. She now knew how Gustavo had felt. Her grief consumed her, but out of respect for the sacrifice of her husband she did not move. All she could do was silently cry, streams of tears coursed down her cheeks, but she made no attempt to leave until all sounds of shooting and shouting ended. When she finally got up, she looked in horror at the place that used to be her home. The huts were all destroyed. Bodies of her loved ones and her friends were everywhere.
She kissed Matthias on his forehead, as she gently laid his head down. The pain of losing him consumed her and she collapsed, her head resting on his chest, her arms around his shoulders, holding tight as if she could will him to come back. She did not know how long she stayed there. The sorrow in her heart seemed to be so big that she could not breathe, could not move. Finally she stood and started to search for survivors of the massacre. She found none. Even the children she had tried to rescue had been found and slaughtered. Somewhere a fire started and it spread from hut to hut, igniting the dry straw from the thatched roofs and sending flames high into the sky. Thick black smoke rose in the sky, taking everything she had ever known, ever loved with it. There was nothing that Maria could do to stop the spreading of the fire. She raced to her home and then to the home of Gustavo and Audelia. She recovered what she could and left the village burning behind her. She knew that she would never return, there was nothing left here to come back to.
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Large beads of sweat formed on his tanned forehead and dripped down into his eyes. With an absent gesture he wiped the back of his hand over his face as if he hadn't really noticed. His focus was on the bird lying on the ground at his feet. Bright blue and yellow feathers stood out against the rich, moist soil beneath the motionless body of this bird. Plastic gloves covered his hand as he stooped down to pick up the bird and place it in the sterile container.
Dr Brian Taylor was a tall man, and while he appeared slim, his body was solid muscle. He was bald now, but when he allowed it to grow, his hair was thick and dark blond. An appealing combination with his ice blue eyes. He knew that many women thought of him as a handsome man, but he had not given it much thought. Over the years, he had not given women much thought either. His work came first. Always first. He did not miss the relationships that others seemed to think were vital to the existence of human beings. He never even thought about them. He vaguely wondered if the fact that he would never have children would upset his parents. After all their legacy of scientific prowess would end with him.
His love was birds. It had been this way for as long as he could remember. He would not be able to tell you why, it had just always been so. As a child he observed them from the window in his second story bedroom. The tree outside his room had been a haven for all kinds of birds and he would sit for hours watching them. Maybe it was just something to do, for an only child of older parents. His parents, both professors at the local university, encouraged his interests. They actually let him participate in the research that the biology department conducted.
As a young man, Dr Taylor remembered one of those biology professors telling him that his fascination of birds was a wasted effort. There was nothing to be gained by studying them, he said. All that they needed to know, he told him, had already been discovered and documented. That conversation had left him disheartened and very discouraged. But all that changed in the 1980's, when a scientist discovered that the Pitohui bird in New Guinea was poisonous. The response to this news made a big splash in the scientific community, and the bird as well as the scientist became famous. But more importantly, it changed the world for young Brian Taylor. Apparently there was more to learn, so much more.
Back in the lab, he consulted with his partner. Showing him the bird. This was beginning to be a huge concern for them, and they both knew that they were going to need some help to continue with this research. Dr Taylor's studies in Madagascar matched the findings from Costa Rica and Borneo. He had been on his way to the Amazon to continue his research when he became involved with Dr Tom Dutton, his current partner.
The two men could not be more different, but their love of birds and the desire to solve the mystery of the decline of several species, bound them together in an ongoing relationship. As they consulted their data, Tom Dutton pulled out his large handkerchief, wiping his face and neck before stuffing it back in his pocket. With the humidity in the rainforests, this room they called their lab was unbearably hot. But the importance of finding a solution to save the birds in the rainforests usually took precedence over their obvious discomfort. It was just another day, in temperatures that matched the humidity levels in the atmosphere. Both men would let their eyes wander, at some time, to the thermostat just outside the window. But knowing really did not help them feel any better.
Another paper hit the rim of the trash can and bounced off onto the floor. It joined the countless other papers crumpled into balls and tossed when the notations and calculations seemed not to provide the solution that they sought. It was Brian that contributed most of the discarded papers. Tom was more methodical, slower to discard an idea that did not seem to work. But no matter their differing methods, the men worked well together.
As it always did, their conversation turned to the proposal that they had recently received from the Humelik corporation. The large pharmaceutical company was willing to fund not only their research, but the building of new facilities right on sight in Ecuador. It was a no brainer to Brian. He needed state of the art labs and the money to continue his research, and they had it to offer.
Tom was as eager to find the cause, and subsequently the solution to the dangers the ecosystems faced with the mysterious illness of the birds. But he had definite reservations about the motivation that a drug company would have to help them. In the past he had only had to work with the government and within the medical community itself to fund his work. Something about the Humelik company did not sit right with him.
Why would a pharmaceutical company want to study birds in the Amazon? Tom had asked. Brian had immediately answered, why would they not? The rain forests had long been referred to as the world's pharmacy, since so many of the plants found in them were the basis for the drugs that have been developed. It was a good argument and in the end, Brian won out. They made an alliance with this large corporation. And now, Drs Taylor and Dutton were on their way to finalize the details of setting up their new labs.
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With his long, deliberate stride, Ranger entered the room with his team. Large maps covered the walls as well as the large conference table, and the agency officials were already seated around the far end of the table, waiting.
Their annoyance did not bother him. Ranger had been called in to coordinate a last minute operation. Time was of the essence, but it was his time that mattered, not theirs. The briefing had gone pretty much as he had expected it to. These men in suits wanted to placate everyone, from the military group in front of them, to the pharmaceutical corporation reps that were hounding them for solutions, to the other agency that had been controlling the research information. Ranger tried hard not to succumb to the urge to try one of Stephanie's eye rolls as he listened to their posturing.
The reality of the situation was that these men needed him, and he would agree to help them out, but it would be on his terms. It was always on his terms. All of his terms. He came to them with a legacy of service that was far above the call of duty. If they wanted him, they would do what he wanted.
More and more lately, he had realized that he did not want to leave home. Okay, not home, Stephanie. She was his home after all. It would not matter where they were, as long as they were together. 'Home is where the heart is' they say, and Stephanie held his heart.
The discussion droned on. With highly developed mental abilities, he could carry on this conversation, make his demands and negotiate the terms all while having his internal dialog. He was having much more fun thinking about Stephanie anyway. He almost… almost made a face of annoyance. Not at the men talking to him, but at himself for taking so long to finally realize that he needed Stephanie in his life. He was going over the last conversation that he'd had with her. Her blue eyes had blazed, matching the wild energy of her hair all around her face. He had caught her in bed again, looking all disheveled and sexy, sleep still in her face. Their midnight conversation had not been nearly long enough to say all that needed to be said. He could recite a list, as long as him arm, of the things that he had intended to say to her. But he got lost in those eyes, and all he had wanted to do was hold her. A look of self-disgust had slipped dangerously close to breaking through his carefully crafted mask. He had not even had the presence of mind to say the three little words that he knew she needed to hear. "I love you"
He had pushed it to the last minute, and when it was time to go, all they really ended up with was a promise made to each other to be careful and keep themselves safe. In the end, it was probably something that neither one of them could really have any control over. But it had comforted him somewhat to know that she had stared him in straight in the eye when she said she would try. Reluctantly, he had to put his thoughts of Stephanie away now. The deal had been made, and they had a rescue to orchestrate. All of his focus turned to the details that would get them there and back in one piece. Fulfilling his last promise to Stephanie.
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