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Standard FF disclaimers apply.
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I Need You. Reaction
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Dirty dishes were piled on the linen covered cart. Stephanie dropped the pencil down next to the dinner order menu, placing it conspicuously to the side of the breakfast dishes. She smiled up at Ranger as he offered his hand to her. Pulling her close, he held her gently and started humming. They swayed together in a smooth rhythm to his sexy latin serenade.
"All set for dinner?" he asked her. She nodded and tucked her head into his neck, kissing him gently before wrapping her arms around his waist, and moving in closer. They were content and perfectly happy to stay locked up inside their of room for as long as they wanted.
"You gotta love room service," she said with a smile.
Suddenly he spun her around and dipped her so low, her head was only inches from the floor. Slowly he brought her back up, stopping midway to kiss her. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she tightened her grip to prolong the kiss a little longer.
Finally he pulled her into a standing position. Both of them were a little breathless as he continued the dance. Moving to an imagined melody, he circled the room with her enveloped in his arms. Reveling in the feel of her, the sweet scent of her perfume, the sound of her voice as she laughed in delight, elated at the thought that she was his.
With whisper soft kisses, she made her way from his neck to his lips. Suddenly Ranger pulled back and said, "Hold that thought."
Quickly, he crossed the room and rolled the cart out into the hallway. He placed the do not disturb placard on the outside of the door, then he closed it and secured both of the locks. "There!" he said as he turned back to face her. "There are no excuses for any interruptions now."
With one swift move, he had her back in his arms. They continued their dance, with soft light filtering in through the curtains, the music now provided by the ocean itself through the open window. Wrapped in his embrace, Stephanie was happy to not think about anything at all. And right now he would let it be that way. Nothing could touch them here. For now they could act like nothing had happened.
He could pretend that she had never been in any danger. She could make believe that bad guys did not exist. She had not asked any questions about Morboso last night. And now, with the morning light playing with the shadows, they could exist in their own private world.
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While they were watching, Ed tried his best to keep Wyvern talking. It was not an easy task with a man who is usually so taciturn. But he was doing everything that he could think of to make him say something, anything that would give his intentions away. In a neighboring room, Tank and Lester stood by to help with the take down, they silently watched the closed circuit monitor, ready to move immediately when it was time. Down the block, Kara and the team were watching too, they were also getting messages from the agents around the world.
In Cairo, a covert Limo ride had delivered the man who had been next on the list of wanted arms dealers. Code name Rukh, this stupid man stepped into the back of his car, never looking to see who was driving. He had always been arrogant enough to assume that it his driver in the car whenever he got in. Just like so many men in power, he started to ignore and take for granted all of the smaller players in his world. He never even spoke face to face to the man who was responsible for getting him where he needed to go. He may not have recognized him even if he had looked. But this man truly defined the term idiot. When he was delivered to his destination, he finally saw what was happening and he started to put up a fight, even though he was clearly outnumbered. But in the end, all he got was a few broken ribs and a black eye for his trouble. Military police had loaded him onto the Army transport plane within minutes of the Limo's arrival at the base. Kara had to suppress a laugh when she read the comment that they had had a tranquilizer dart 'malfunction'.
Rukh didn't know what hit him, and he would not be conscious again until he was in permanent custody. He deserved everything that he got and much more, she thought as she moved to the map on the board and put a white dot next to the pin in Egypt.
Brian was paying close attention to Kara's every move. He found that he liked the way she looked like a dancer in motion. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if she had taken ballet when she was younger. His lips curled in a small smile. There were so many things that he did not know about her. Things that he would like the chance to get to know. He could imagine that she had been very good at ballet if, in fact, she had taken lessons. His mind wandered, he bet she was good at everything that she did. Her efforts on the team were obvious examples of her skills and how serious she took her job. It was easy to think that she would put the same efforts into anything that she wanted to do.
Suddenly Kara spun around and looked at the monitor. Brian was a little bit shocked, pulled out of his musings by her actions. Tom joined the group, standing around the table, listening and watching. Wyvern's patience, it seemed, had been pushed to its limits, and he wasn't going to take it any more. While Tank and Lester had been in place, in the next room, it hadn't taken Wyvern long to move around the table and take Ed in a stranglehold. His desperation was showing, his physically assaulting a man in a public office building wasn't the first bad choice he had made today, coming here in the first place had started it. Funny thing was, it probably went against all the rules he had ever had for himself. He had been off balance since the first meeting he had had with Ed Aslak.
But he had made his move, and now he was going to see the rules that Tank lived by. Before Ed could really feel the effects of having his breath crushed out of his windpipe, Tank had grabbed both of Wyvern's arms and pulled him back away from him.
The large man roared, his anger filled the room with a sound that was more like an animal growl than anything human. Kara gasped. Tom looked on to see Tank take Wyvern down to the floor. The struggle was ferocious, one of Tom's men entered the room as Lester was escorting Ed away from the melee. The chair he had formerly been sitting on was now in pieces on the floor, the table had been knocked over to the side of the room with the powerful leg thrusts by the man who was now realizing his mistakes. Confirming what everyone knew, that he should never have come here.
Both men were large and well built, but Tank had several inches of height and probably a good fifty pounds of weight over Wyvern. The struggle was hard to watch, a trapped animal is one of the most dangerous and unpredictable things to have to deal with. And for all intents and purposes, Wyvern was trapped, and he knew it. His head shot up as Ed was being pulled out of the room. He looked into the eyes of the man who had brought about the end of his world. Everything had started when he had made the mistake of working with Ed Aslak. He knew it, and now there was nothing that he could do about it.
Brian had ended up standing next to Kara and Tom to witness this final fight of the man who had come so close to ruining his years of work, his formula for the serum. This is why he was here,what he wanted to see. He held his breath watching Tank subdue the large man. He liked Tank and he was hoping that nothing was going to happen to him. They were moving so fast, it was hard to see what was going on. Wyvern would get some leverage and whip his legs around, and the next thing they knew, the men were on the ground. Sometimes Tank was on the bottom, sometimes on top, but he never let go of his hold on Wyvern's arms. Brian had never seen anything like this, and he wasn't sure he wanted to see any more. He could not handle the thought of Tank get hurt. He started to take a step back when he felt a hand on his arm. Brian looked down to see that it was Kara's hand that rested on his forearm sending bursts of fire through all of his nerve endings.
"He will be alright," she said softly. Brian looked into her eyes. He saw the concern, but also the confidence that came from working with men like Tank. They were a special breed, and they did not give up. No matter what the bad guys came up with, men in these positions fought to the end with all they had.
His expression must have said what Brian could not put into words. His fears, his worries, his inexperience with this kind of situation. She must have understood it all because Kara let her hand slip down his arm to hold his. In fact, in an action that he never expected, she took his hand in both of hers, pulling him closer as she whispered into his ear. No one else seemed to notice, but for Brian, his world had just been turned upside down. Her touch, her voice, her breath on his neck, the sensory overload of having Kara Knight next to him was the most amazing thing he had ever experienced.
When she turned back to look at the screen, she kept his hand. Brian watched her. He could not take his eyes off of her. He knew that Tank had succeeded in subduing Wyvern, just from the look of relief on her face. He knew that this had been the culmination of the job she had worked at for so long. The satisfaction was evident in her smile, in the sparkle in her eyes.
She squeezed his hand and suddenly the connection was severed as she moved to place another dot on the map. He felt the loss of her touch immediately. It took him a few minutes for his brain to kick in and allow him to examine just what he had been feeling. The revelation that came to him rocked everything that he thought he knew about his world. He did not want to be alone. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Kara. Now what was he going to do about it?
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The sun had come out a few minutes ago. The rain storm had passed through and Karl watched with interest as the bright rays warmed the wet asphalt and steam was formed creating a thin mist that rose from the ground. He had been standing here next to his car for nearly fifteen minutes now. The agents should be in place and the men he was about to meet should be here anytime. He hoped it would all be over soon. This waiting, not knowing what was going to happen was every bit as bad as he had imagined it would be.
He was getting closer to feeling that he just couldn't take any more, and he had pushed himself away from the car. Karl started mumbling, but seemed to remember suddenly that everyone could hear him so he stopped, leaving the thoughts unspoken but still echoing in his mind. Back at Humelik, Jasper kept himself from smiling. He recognized the tone, and some of the words that his friend had just said.
He was repeating the mantra that they had had in school when things were going wrong. They were lyrics from a song they had learned as kids. It was in a different language and Jasper and his friends had used it with the intention to deal with frustrations, or anger, but not let anyone know when they were mad or upset. He was happy to know that some things did not change. Jasper himself had used their mantra many times during his soccer games. It had helped him often, he hoped it was helping Karl now.
A couple of men started walking across the parking lot. They were coming directly at him and Karl unfolded his arms to reveal the word Harvard on his shirt. As they got closer, he could see that theirs said the same thing and he nodded. Assuming that they would all go inside the coffee shop, Karl started to turn in that direction. But the men surprised him by grabbing his arms and trapping him between them. They started pulling him back across the parking lot, the way they had come from.
Karl panicked. He could not go anywhere hidden, he was told that only a public meeting place was acceptable for his safety. He was scared, but putting up a fight would not be the thing to do. Nobody wanted to bring any attention to these men. The agents had told him several times that they needed to do this without raising suspicions from the local law enforcement. It was a complication that they did not need if they wanted to put these men out of business for good. But there was no way he was willing to just quietly go along with these arms dealers. He was expendable, he meant nothing to them and he knew it.
He tried to pull his arms from their grip, but they did not even flinch. They were headed for a grouping of trees, and he was not sure what was going to happen once they got there. Again, he pulled his arms and attempted to stop walking. The men did not seem amused by his antics, but he had succeeded in diverting their attention. While they were looking at him, the agents emerged from the trees and joined them. They each grabbed a hold of the men's arms, propelling them quickly into the trees and out of sight.
The moment that Karl felt his arms go free, he moved away from the men. He watched as the agents effortlessly cuffed them. He frowned. He would have expected more of a struggle. Something just didn't seem right. And just as that thought came to him, he heard movement behind him. It had been a trap, he yelled out and stumbled to the ground as he saw guns in the hands of the men who had come to join the group. A horrible crack sounded in the air above him. Karl was afraid to look up, he kept his head on the ground, covered with his arms.
In his office, Richard was alarmed to hear the shot. "Gunfire!" he said, jumping up and stepping back away from the screen. Paul looked at him and shook his head slightly. Then they both looked at Jasper who gasped and looked like all the color had drained from his tanned face.
"Karl," Jasper said, in a whisper. He had never intended for Karl to be in danger like this. When Karl had agreed to be in on this sting, he had been proud of him, glad to see that he was willing to make things right. And he had thought that the agents in charge would be able to keep him safe. But nothing was worth losing his friend. He stared at the black monitor in front of them. He did not dare breathe, not until he knew what was happening.
Suddenly everything was silent. They froze in place. Jasper was still not breathing. The moment seemed to stretch on forever. When they heard someone ask Karl if he was hurt, a collective breath was released when he said that he was alright. No one had expected any of this. Suddenly it all felt much more real than they had ever imagined.
Karl's outburst had gained their attention and the agents saw the men coming. Their guns were out immediately too. Only one shot was allowed before the agents used their own guns, with silencers, to stop them. Within minutes a van drove up and Karl stood back with the agents and watched as several men moved quickly and gathered up all four men to load them up and take them away.
"Rangers," one of the agents said in response to the questioning look in Karl's eyes. "They were our backup today. Sure am glad they were here!" All Karl could do was nod in agreement.
Suddenly the other agent became very chatty, possibly to ease the uncomfortable situation. It was his experience that civilians usually got shaken up by the events that unfold in front of their eyes. So he spoke up and told Karl that no one had been killed, and that they had only been injured in order to stop them. They would now be taken into custody and interrogated. His part in this ordeal was over, and suddenly Karl felt tired and weak. All he wanted to do now was go home.
Jasper and Richard and Paul all felt the same relief as Karl to know that it was done. No one moved a muscle for the longest time. It was done.
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"I miss him," Stephanie said softly as they were sitting together on the lounge chair on their private deck. Leisurely they watched the waves crash on the beach and roll back into the ocean. Her back was resting against his chest and she felt his arms come around her and hug her gently.
Maybe it had been the fear that her husband had been in danger. Maybe it was the relief that he was now safe. Maybe it had been her part in the whole affair. But Stephanie wanted to go home. To hold Mat. To be together as the little family that they now were. She was just unsure how to tell Ranger that she didn't need a long honeymoon to know that he loved her. And she hoped that he would understand that she intended to let him know, every day for the rest of her life, just how much she loves him and wants to be with him.
Ranger leaned forward and pulled her hair away from her neck so that he could drop a kiss below her ear. Then he whispered the words that she had been longing to hear.
"Would you like to sleep all the way home?"
She turned around to look into his eyes. He always seemed to have the ability to read her thoughts, and she had never been so happy about that particular skill of his as she was in this moment. She may have nodded, just slightly before she planted a big kiss on his lips. The power of that kiss was too much for the back of the lounge chair and it flopped down, spilling them out onto the warmed deck. Neither of them seemed to mind. They were too busy showing each other how much in love they were.
When Stephanie finally came up for breath, Ranger managed to let her know that the flight was scheduled to leave from Barcelona at ten o'clock that night. They would have plenty of time to drive back down the coast, eat dinner at that great seafood place they had found before and to be there, ready to fall asleep on the plane.
Stephanie gazed into his dark eyes. The thought of going home made her happy, but she needed to see that he was not disappointed that this is what she wanted. She did not want to hurt him in any way.
"I miss him too," he said in response to her intense look. "Let's go home."
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Within the space of one hour, Tom had heard back from every team. Without exception, the men they were after had been taken down and were indefinitely detained. Tom knew that his next job would be assisting in the interrogations. His knowledge of the illegal arms business would help them in getting the information that they needed to get one step closer to shutting down this practice around the globe. One step closer to a more peaceful world, but Tom did not kid himself. He knew that there were others out there even now to take the place of these top players. Unfortunately there would always be men who were ruthless and power hungry. There would always be a job for people like him to do, to try to stop them. But Tom was having some very serious thoughts about what he wanted to do now that his assignment was almost over.
He was starting to think in terms of taking a vacation that was as long as his mission had been. It might just take some time for him to become reacquainted with Tanner Drake again. He had a lot of thinking to do. Tom's thought were suddenly interrupted when Kara walked by. She was another one who needed to take some time off. He watched her as she kept herself busy, arranging and rearranging the same papers over and over again. She was stalling, and for a split second he wondered why. Then it hit him. Oh, Kara was good. Tom walked away to sit back and watch the show from a distance.
Kara had been busy putting her dots on the map. Brian had enjoyed watching her. Absently he picked up the cup of coffee that she had handed him earlier, just to give his hands something to do while he was concentrating on Kara's every move. The cups of coffee that they had all started out with were nearly untouched. Watching the progress of the teams had held their attention, and now the coffee was cold. Brian lifted the cup to his lips and stopped immediately. There were not very many things worse than cold, unsweetened coffee.
He set the cup down, and looked at it for a moment. Tom could see the thought forming in his friend's head, and he smiled. Brian looked up at Kara and stood. Hesitantly he moved forward. He cleared his throat as he approached her. She looked up at him when he got close and he instantly became lost in her eyes. It took nearly a full minute for him to speak. Tom tried hard not to laugh.
"Umm," Brian said. "I have noticed that my coffee is cold, and I'm willing to bet that yours is too."
She smiled and nodded. But did not say a word. Tom felt like applauding, but he kept quiet. The show was better than he had anticipated. Brian shifted his weight from one foot to the other a few times before he finally asked. "Would you, I mean if you are done here," he said, pointing to the papers in her hands. Tom almost lost it, when he saw the look on Kara's face. Her ruse had almost backfired if he thought she was too busy to go with him. But Brian continued. "Would you like to go down and grab something at the cafe across the street?"
Kara couldn't put the papers down fast enough. "All done here," she said in a sing song voice. She swallowed and looked up in to his eyes. "I would love to," she said. Tom could see that for all the acting, she was just as nervous as Brian was. He shook his head. How did all that just happen? He had witnessed love at first sight and he liked what he saw. No two people in the world deserved happiness more than Brian and Kara.
Love at first sight, the phrase stuck in his mind. He remembered the first time he looked into Maria's big brown eyes. He had been lost right there and then. Something stabbed his heart. A pain that he had not been prepared for, and he found that he was suddenly a bit out of breath. After a moment to calm down, he stopped to wonder what that had been about. With a sudden realization, Tom knew that he was still grieving. With all that had gone on, he had not even had the chance to stop and just think about how much he missed her. How much it hurt that she was gone.
He watched Brian escort Kara out of the room. His heart was happy for his friend. For both of them. It was time for them to find what would make them happy. As for himself, well, he knew that, in time, his heart would heal. But these thoughts were still too painful. Tom stood and started getting busy again with the last few things that needed to be done to wrap up the work here.
There would be de briefings, there would be reports and there would be decisions to be made. Work would be enough for right now, to keep his mind busy. And that was a good thing, he was not ready to take out his feelings and examine them just yet.
At the same time that he felt the resolve to keep busy, a feeling of melancholy settled in. Things that had been lost broke his heart. Tom doubled his efforts to be occupied. He told himself, again, that he was not ready to look at all of those things. Not yet.
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