Hohoho … It's almost Christmas here, so … here is my gift to you

I want to sincerely thank everybody who has reviewed, favorited , alerted this story – this was amazing ! I couldn't believe my eyes at the amount of reviews …. You guys rock !Thanks so much !

There is someone I can't thank enough … Dog_in_the_Manger, Editor Extraordinaire, that I'm proud to call my friend …

Chapter 2:So close …

Mary was awakened by the annoying sound of Marshall's phone- the Starwars theme- from the adjacent room. Years of transporting witnesses all over the country had taught her to sleep half awoken and she knew something was wrong as soon as she heard the phone. She rose from her bed, grabbed her Glock and went straight to the windows, scrutinizing the surroundings. There was no movement outside, but she maintained a firm grip on her weapon. She scanned the parking lot, looking for cars with headlights on. The reception area was quiet too, nothing outside was moving but the trees. The adjoining door opened, and Marshall signaled her to come in before he started whispering:

"Stan called. The marshals in Jersey have just reported that a private jet took off from Trenton airport, with a flight plan heading for Indianapolis. She has a GPS somewhere on her."

Mary nodded her agreement. "Take care of the car, I'll take care of her. Meet you outside in ten."

She came back to the room she shared with Stephanie Plum, and carefully picked up a bag of clothes the witness had brought with her. Inside, between a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt with a Rangeman logo, Mary found a picture of the family of the young brunette. She emptied the contents of the bag onto the bed, not caring in the slightest about waking Stephanie up.

"What are you doing with my clothes?" Steph asked, eyes still full of sleep.

"Where is it? Where did you put it?"

"Where is what? What is going on?"

Mary turned to face Stephanie.

"You listen to me very carefully, miss Plum. We're here to assure your safety, not to let you play games. We told you that you couldn't bring anything linking you to your family," the marshal said, picking up the picture that was lying on the coverlet, "friends, or former coworkers." She went on, throwing the Rangeman shirt in Steph's face. "Now, if you don't want to comply with the rules, that's your problem, but as you're dragging me and my partner in with you, it becomes my problem. Tell me where the GPS is, now, or I swear to God, I'll tie you to the headboard of this bed, and let you discover who is after you!"

"Someone is after me? Who? What GPS? I mean, Ranger usually has a GPS tracker on my car and in my purse, but I didn't take either. So…" Steph looked genuinely surprised.

"Your boyfriend puts a GPS in your purse and on your car? What a pervert!" Mary sneered. "Who does that?"

"He's not my boyfriend! He's Ranger... it's complicated. You wouldn't understand…"

"Try me. Where could he have planted a GPS? What do you take everywhere that he could be sure about?"

"I don't know, really! The only thing I could have taken is Rex, but he's at my parents now." Mary raised an eyebrow at the mention of the name – it didn't appear in Stephanie's file as a relative or a sibling.

"My hamster" Stephanie explained. "I just took some clothes and toiletries. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Well, if it's not in your clothes, it's in the bathroom. So grab your suitcase, we're leaving now."

"But Ranger is a good guy, he'll help us!"

"Stephanie, a plane took off from the airport with a flight plan to Indianapolis. We don't know who's aboard, and can't take any chances. We're leaving now. Marshall's waiting in the car." Mary hurriedly closed the zipper of Steph's bag, while the young woman was getting dressed.

"I'm not taking anything from the bathroom? I can't go outside without make-up".

Mary sighed. "Trust me, we have make-up in the Southwest. Come on. We have to go, now."

As soon as Mary opened the door of the motel room, she saw the SUV park in front of them, and herded Steph inside, before turning and jogging around the truck to the driver's seat, while Marshall took shotgun. No words were exchanged as Mary eased the truck from the parking lot.

-o-o-

"Numero 51 y 52" Hector said, closing his laptop, and putting on his vest. "Rooms 51 and 52"

"Move in," Ranger said, checking his weapon.

The door of the minivan opened quietly, and five men silently fanned out, their suede shoes hitting the pavement. Huddling at the doors to the adjacent rooms, they checked for lights or sounds that would be out of place. At the sign from Tank(?), they lowered their night vision goggles, and waited for the locks to be opened by two pairs of very gifted hands.

Ranger nodded slightly, and the doors to the rooms were opened at the same time, weapons were drawn and the five men slipped inside. Moving slowly to one of the beds, a man in black pulled the coverts off the bed, before heading to the bathroom, checking it, and then made his way to the door.

In the adjacent room, another man in black saw that the room had been abandoned.

In the bathroom, Ranger stood, holding Steph's mascara tube with the embedded GPS tracker inside.

-o-o-

"So, will you tell me now why you don't want to have Miss Jersey as your witness?" asked Mary, after checking if Stephanie was still in the conference room with the ADA. "Abigail's being jealous?"

They had come back two hours ago and were waiting for the assistant district attorney to finish his review of the case, before going through the process of the MOU. Mary was searching for a place in their usual apartment complexes, eyes locked on the computer screen.

"No, not really. This isn't really about Abby." Marshall sighed. "It was before you came to Albuquerque, when I was partnered with Keith. There was this witness, a high maintenance woman I had to take care of, and ,well, she was really… intrusive. She kept calling me at all hours of the day for nothing, and then found out where I lived, after following me one evening. She had to be relocated, and I moved out. Had to change my alias too, I was Marshall Manners back then."

Marshall settled in his favorite chair next to Mary's desk. She turned her attention from the screen to stare at him, stunned.

"You're kidding me, right? A witness followed you home and you didn't notice? You skipped the driving test or what?"

"What's more surprising is that you didn't fail it, Mare, given your driving record."

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with the way I drive, jackass." Mary scoffed. "Is this the only reason why you don't want to take care of Miss Plum there?"

"Well, that, and Abs might be a bit jealous, even though she suspects what I do…"

"Aha! I knew it! I was right! Nancy Drew's jealous!"

"I'm around a lot of women every day and she'd rather there would be more men… But, come on, Mare, wouldn't you feel the same in her place?"

Mary looked straight into Marshall's eyes and answered without hesitation.

"You don't have a cheating bone in your body, Doofus. You're a commitmentphile. It's pathetic really. So nope, I wouldn't be jealous."

"Inspectors? You ready?" Stan's voice came from the framing of the conference room.

"Coming, darling," Mary grabbed the file she was working on, and followed her partner into the conference room.

-o-o-

Stephanie was feeling completely lost. She no longer was Stephanie Michelle Plum, but Stephanie Vaughn living in the old town of Albuquerque. Everything was so different there from New Jersey. The sky was of the purest blue, almost matching her eyes. And from every turn of a street, she could see the desert was nearby.

"It's the superior air quality. No pollution here," said Marshall.

"I said it out loud, didn't I?" Steph sighed at the nod of the marshal.

"I hope you don't do that too often, it can cause… problems in your current situation."

"Well, it's not that unusual for me…"

"You'll have to be careful then. " Mary said, handing Stephanie a smartphone. " I'm one on your speed dial, and Marshall is two. In case you can't reach us, you have Stan's and Delia's numbers programmed into the phone too." She looked around the room, before continuing, "We'll be back tomorrow morning, to get you started in your job search, and give you a complete tour of the town, so you can spot the important places. We'll get you a car, too. Any preference? Make? Model?"

Stephanie smiled at the thought of the list of cars she had had in the previous years.

"One that runs would do… What kind of job will I be looking for?"

"Nothing similar to what you used to be. You've got until tomorrow morning to figure out your options… We'll be there around nine. There's food in the fridge, and the cable is on. "

Mary turned to the door, but Marshall remained behind. "If anything happens, you call us, Stephanie. If you're scared, or have a question, you call us. That's what we're here for. And a one piece of advice for tomorrow morning… Mary isn't a morning person, but she loves good coffee… Have a good night, and don't worry. We'll take care of you."

-o-o-

Ranger waved Tank into his office. The trip to Indianapolis proved to be a dead end. Stephanie had been long gone when they arrived at the motel. He looked at his second in command, waiting for him to speak.

"Steph's in Witsec."

"That's what I thought. Can Hector hack into their system?"

"He says he could but won't. Too risky for everyone involved."

Ranger nodded. He had been pretty sure this would be a dead. What use would he be if he was in jail for breaching a federal network?

"We'll find her, Ranger."

"Yes. We will. At any cost."

That's all for 2012 folks Next chapter will be up on 2013 – Have a very merry Christmas Day and please; keep on reading and reviewing