AN: I play a little with Ranger's past in this chapter. I've changed a few things to fit his history with Tink. As always I don't own anything. Still just cleaning things up!
"What's going on?" I asked Hal, who was on monitor duty a couple of days after the big reunion. There was a group of men glued to a screen showing the gym.
"The Boss and Tank are sparring with Tink," Santos said behind me, "Come on; let's go get ring side seats." He handed me a coffee, and draped an arm around my shoulders, and steered me out of the room.
"You aren't afraid of her getting trampled?" I asked as we headed towards the elevator.
"Nah, they used to workout like this all the time. She's even faster and stronger now than she was then, so it should be fun to watch."
We got out of the elevator at the gym level, and walked in to the sound of heavy hits being landed in rapid succession. I looked over as Meagan, clad in a pair of tiny black dance shorts, and a tank top, connected kicked Tank hard, in the kidneys. I winced on his behalf as Les and I sat on one of the treadmills to watch. It didn't take long to realize that it wasn't really sparring, as it was a lesson. Meagan would demonstrate a combination of moves on one of them, and then show them the defensive maneuver as they came back at her with the attack.
Both men were skilled in hand to hand combat but evidently she had learned a few things and they were interested. There was very little verbal communication, but the lesson was none the less, very informative. After this went on for about twenty minutes, Lester got bored.
"Aww come on! Bossman's been wiping the floor with us, it's time he went down!" Santos complained after a while, "Give the boys upstairs a show, baby; Kick his ass!"
Ranger and Meagan grinned and she raised an eyebrow in challenge. They'd already been going at it for about an hour and they were both coated in sweat.
"You are that sure she's going to win?" Ranger asked as Tank backed off the mats.
"Hell yeah," Lester said, "She's nice and limber this morning. You're going down Primo."
Bobby walked in with his med kit and joined us on our makeshift bleachers. "Just in case." He winked.
"Bring it tough guy," she teased.
"Given what I saw at the Bonds office I'm giving it even odds," Tank said, "I forgot how quick she was, I'll bet Ranger has too. It could get a little rough, are you prepared for that, man?"
"It's hot," Lester said, waving him off. Ranger wasn't wearing a shirt so I agreed with him. I rolled my eyes anyway. Lester was smiling as he took a sip of water, and it occurred to me, that I don't think I'd ever seen him looking that happy. Kind of strange since his cousin was about to kick the shit out of his girlfriend.
"Looks like you got a little soft Carlos," She teased and there was a collective intake of breath. There wasn't a scrap of fat on his body and we all knew it. Her smirk was a challenge and he raised an eyebrow.
"And you've gotten slow." he replied.
And then she dropped and took his legs out from under him and it was on. The sparring was like watching Ranger spar with pretty much anyone else, the only difference being that she was actually landing as many hits as he was. Neither one was slowing down, and for me, that's what was impressive. They were sweaty, her skin was flushed, but neither of them were breathing too hard.
"When does it end?" I asked and winced as Tink took a kick to the ribs that looked like it hurt and she retaliated by tossing Ranger, and there was momentary silence in the gym, aside from a soft chuckle from Ranger. Nobody tossed Ranger. Not even Tank.
"Oh, they're just getting warmed up, Beautiful," Lester said, "Tank'll stop it, if it gets out of hand."
"If they'll listen to me," Tank said.
Ranger got to his feet and shook his head with a grin. He said something to her in what sounded like German and she laughed. "You're telegraphing everything, Hermano, do you plan to stop doing that any time soon. Don't tell me I need to teach you to fight again."
"Stop holding back, and I'll stop going easy on you," Ranger said.
"Bring it," she said. The teasing looks dropped and it was like someone hit the fast forward button.
It was almost graceful, watching them fight, their moves looked choreographed, and very few hits landed, as they blocked or dodged hits. Ranger was definitely stronger, and a look around the room proved that he wasn't pulling his punches. She used her small size to best advantage, and made it difficult for him to aim at the small, fast target. They were both smart, and their tactics changed quickly, the other adapting quickly to the change in technique, both switching rapidly between offensive and defensive, their countermoves, perfectly timed like we were watching a violent dance.
Most of the staff had found their way down to the gym to watch this display and they were fascinated, by what they were watching. It turned out that Ranger did in fact have an equal. A 5' tall blonde woman who looked like a strong breeze would knock her over. The stamina was impressive too, neither one of them looked like they were remotely interested in slowing down, if anything, the longer the sparring went on, the quicker they were. Lester, Tank and Bobby, were all looking on with satisfaction, periodically saying things like.
"Shit, I haven't seen him use that move since that time in Uruguay." Or, "Shit remember the time she did that to what's his nuts, when we were in Russia, I hadn't laughed so hard since…" "Bali!"
After about half an hour, of this Lester checked his watch and nudged Tank.
"Time! You've got a meeting in twenty Ric," Tank called and they both stopped mid-blow a mere centimetre from making contact and dropped into a relaxed posture.
If the sparring hadn't been impressive what happened next, was. Bobby and Lester each lobbed a bottle of water at them and they snagged it out of the air left handed, twisted the top off and chugged it back. The act itself wasn't what was impressive, it was that it was identical. Their body movements, their facial expression, even their breathing were all perfectly in synch. They finished their water at the same time and tossed it in a recycle bin. Both making the shot, then Ranger pulled her into a one armed hug breaking them out of their almost eerie connection. She returned the side squeeze and they broke their contact. That's when it hit me. I knew why I couldn't help but like her, and who she reminded me of. She was the female Ranger.
He was uber male, lethal, a bit scary. She couldn't have been more feminine but after watching them fight I realized, just as lethal, just as scary. Ranger's stoicism threw people off balance, made you wonder what he was thinking, made it so he could control a room with no effort. Tink had the same command presence as he did, and could silence someone with a slight quirk of an eyebrow. She just used flirtation to disarm people the way he used his blank face.
Lester snagged Meagan around the middle and dragged her to him. He gave her playful kiss before she slapped his chest and pushed away from him giving him a cheeky grin. She stood on her toes and whispered something in his ear and a slow smile spread across his face before he threw his head back and laughed. He still didn't look like he wanted to release her just yet. He was lightly hanging on to her hips and she turned around without forcing him to break contact.
"Well boys and girl," she said, "It's been a slice but I have to go to work and break the news to the Director that I won't be renewing my contract and that you guys blew my cover."
"You're coming to work here right?" Tank asked hopefully, as Bobby took Ranger back to his office.
"Yeah, if you'll still have me?" she made her eyes look all big and pleading, but the accompanying pout was clearly teasing.
"Tink, sweetheart, if I have to drag you back here and lock you in an office, I will," Tank said.
"Paperwork getting to be too much of a pain in the ass, Big Guy?"
"I hate it; I really do," he said.
"Uh-huh. You're lucky I find monotony relaxing." she turned to me, "I'm going to use you for the first little while to help me get to know the men if that's okay? I know some of them from the Army and of course I know anyone related to Carlos and Les, the rest?" She did a palms up, "my knowledge is limited."
"Sure, no problem," I said.
After that Bobby took her away to check her out after the sparring. Ranger told me later that they got carried away every now and then, and required medical attention. Bobby had been less than impressed each time, and insisted on giving them each a once over after every time they sparred together. I watched Bobby lift the back of her shirt and frowned. She whispered to him, over her shoulder, and he nodded before pulling the top back in place. Once declared sound she jogged out of the gym towards the stairs, finger waving over her shoulder as she went. Lester's eyes never left her body.
"Does she ever run out of energy? You'd never know that she was just extremely active for like two hours," I said. He gave himself a shake to snap himself out of his little happy trance.
"She didn't sleep much last night either," Santos winked. I groaned.
"TMI buddy. TMI." I said he just laughed.
"Remember that one mission?" Tank asked, "She went four days without actually going to bed. She would just sit down in a chair and catnap for ten minutes and then she was good as new. It was like a system reboot or something."
"Yeah, but then she slept for three days straight and scared the hell out of me. I thought she was sick, because I couldn't wake her up." Santos said.
"I think she survived on strong tea and straight sugar for that mission, but she found you you and Ric and got you out alive," Bobby said. Santos shuddered at the memory. I knew they couldn't tell me more than that or they would have. As much as I really wanted to know the rest of that story but I let it go.
RSRSRSRSRS
"Princess, you're leaving me to go work for Manoso?" Joe whined as Meagan sat down at her desk.
"Quit your bitching," she said affectionately, "I had to call in a dozen favours, and conduct some serious negotiations just to be able to ride the rest of my contract out in Trenton. I'm being made official liaison, between the FBI and Rangeman, until the end of this case. I still have lead, and we'll be working largely out of the Haywood facility. Which is good, because they have better everything there, and their computers don't still operate on Windows 95."
"In fairness, it's only the one computer," Joe said with a laugh, "All of our other computers are under a decade old."
"Dude, if I had access to my former bank account, TPD would be getting a huge donation, just because this place still has some computers using dial up modems."
"You loaded?" Joe asked.
"Sorta, before I died anyway."
"So, you and Santos?"
She beamed at Joe, and couldn't have looked more beautiful if she tried, "I fucking adore him. I've known his family for years; his brother, Julio, Ranger, Hector and I were really close when we were younger. Julio's older and took it upon himself to play big brother to the three of us while we were in college. I spent a ton of time in the Santos residence, holidays and stuff, but never managed to be there at the same time as Lester. I didn't meet him until after I finished my second Ph'd, and we were partnered up on a mission, what? Christ that's seven or eight years ago."
"That math doesn't work there sweetheart," Joe said, "You're only twenty-nine."
"The things you don't know about me, could fill several file boxes Morelli," she said with a wink, "Anyway, Lester and I hit it off instantly, and I've been his ever since. It was a bit tricky at times because we were in the same unit, and I outrank him, but we made it work."
"So your street contacts are good because of your relationship with Manoso?" Joe asked.
"Not exactly," she hedged, "Actually, it's sort of need to know."
"Well are you getting anything from these contacts?" Joe asked.
She stretched out and put her feet on the desk, reclining her chair, and laced her fingers behind her head. He'd been somewhat dubious about her so called street rep, right up until she took him to New York, and parked her car on a street in Spanish Harlem. She leaned up against her car her badge clearly visible on her hip, as she picked at her manicure. After about ten minutes of this, Joe was about to say something when they were surrounded by half a dozen cars, loaded with men wearing Prince colours.
A man, who Joe recognized from his organized crime briefings, as being an Inca for the Spanish Princes, got out of an escalade and walked up to Meagan, and flicked the badge on her hip, an amused look on his face. "You a Feeb now, Baby Girl?"
"This week," she said with a grin, "I need some intel, what can you tell me about the Slayers?"
"Not much right now, haven't been around since some bitch took 'em out with an uzi and a school bus."
"I hear Big D is working to revive his East Coast trade. My details are sketchy though, if I've not been overseas, blowing shit up, I've been locked in a room in DC. I thought when the Slayers went down, you guys moved in to their territory."
"Nah, jefe, wasn't interested in it. Not a strategically good local for our people, we'd have been sandwiched in between two rivals."
"Yeah bad plan, that," she said, "Gonna need the lay of the land in Trenton, who's in charge?"
"Ralphe," he said, "Tell me what you need, and I'll get him to hit you back with what we can dig up."
"Any chance you can keep our conversation from Jefe, just for a couple of weeks?" she asked.
"No chance, Baby Girl. He was the one who called me to make sure you real, and not some ghost. He wants you to call him, because he wants to know what the fuck is going on."
"Tell him, it's complicated, and I'll drop by in a couple of weeks when I get some shit untangled."
"You in trouble Baby Girl?"
"I'll let you know," she'd said. At the time Joe hadn't understood this line of questioning, he got it now of course. The next day she got a list of names, and she'd been going out and digging up what she could from sources at every level. Some of the men, would see her, and she'd be hugged like she was a long lost little sister. Others treated her with the deference of royalty. She wouldn't tell him why they treated her like this, she said it was classified, each time. One time, and one time only, did she tell Joe to wait in the car. The man she spoke to had flown in from Miami, and they spent an hour talking, when she finished, he put her in the car and said, "You say the word Baby Girl, you don't have to do this shit on your own anymore."
"I'll call if I need you," she said. It was obviously not case related, and there was visible sadness on her face, as she pulled out of the lot. She refused to talk about it, beyond saying, "It's a personal matter, and he's an old friend."
These little excursions, had taken weeks, but her phone had been ringing for days now, as her little feelers started paying off.
"Okay from the beginning," she said, "LA branch of the Slayers wants to reestablish itself on the East Coast, because they are facing a little too much scrutiny out West right now, and it's been detrimental to distribution, and cutting into their bottom line. Obviously this is a bad thing. However, the Slayers don't have much clout here at the moment, because it's shit for street cred, to have the majority of your crew taken out by a girl, and a cross dresser driving a school bus. To fix that, they are going to have to take out Sally and Stephanie. The trouble for them, now, is that the few remaining Slayers, all know now that Stephanie is married to Ranger, and they are scared shitless of him.
This has led to a rise in out of town recruitment. They are going for the young and impressionable, and the batshit crazy, and Ranger's rep, isn't going to be enough anymore, unless he puts on his own display of illegal awesomeness. Clearly not an option, since we're involved so we have to think of different strategies.
We've got Sweet in a Safe House in Philadelphia but he's making noises about the little dudes needing him and he's getting antsy. Steph was okay, as long as she took her protection semi seriously, and stayed away from Stark Street, which she was doing, but we're going to have to rethink that as well."
"What's changed?"
"What's new and worrying is that my contacts have informed me that Big D, is getting a little frustrated with the lack of progress so he's hired some pros and I have a list of names. It's not good." She handed him the list.
"Shit. They're bringing in all of the big guns from out West. That's not good." Joe said as he reached for the ever present bottle of Maalox on his desk.
"You know you can get a prescription that will help with the reflux," She commented as he took a swig.
"When I have time to go to a doctor, I'll get one. In the meantime I'm thinking of using this in my coffee instead of creamer."
"Eat less grease, and lay off the coffee, buddy; you aren't doing yourself any favours."
"Bite me," he said, "Give me your assessment, of these assholes."
"We have two problems. One: these guys are smart and fucking crazy. They don't fit your usual banger profile, and unfortunately, my knowledge of the West coast muscle is somewhat limited. I need as much intel on each of them as I can get, not just jobs they have done but also the impressions of the boys on the street. Most bangers aren't that bright but they have survival instincts, they should be able to tell us which of these guys is the biggest threat. So, you know, shake down who you need to. I'll get Hector and Ranger to do the same."
"What about your people?"
"Keeping other gangs from joining in on the hunt. Last thing we need are for the Slayers to join forces with the Kings for profit. We'd be fucked if they did, which is why it's a good thing the Princes owe me a few favours, they should be able to discourage any alliances, Big D might try to make." The Princes were easily the largest Latin gang in the country, they had a lot of clout on the streets, and not many people liked fucking with them.
"The next problem is that we are going to have to co-ordinate with LAPD because they will have a lot of the intel I need. Also we don't cut the head off of the snake only to have it grow back again. If we play our cards right we might be able to put an end to the Slayers, nationwide; not that it makes much difference, in the long run. Someone else will just take over their turf, but hey the media will like it." Joe grunted in agreement.
"Steph seems to be taking the news that the Slayers are gunning for her, well. Given what happened to her last time they had a contract out on her, I'm surprised she's not curled up in the corner trying to find her happy place." Meagan said as she reached for her Tinker Bell cup, which made so much more sense now.
Joe shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "She doesn't actually know about the threat yet."
"You haven't told her?" she said bemused, "I can't believe with the threat level this high that Ranger hasn't yet either. I'm surprised he hasn't doubled her body guards and armed her to the teeth."
"Well like you said, his name has been protecting her so we figured that it was best if she wasn't afraid. She tends to get proactive and then all hell breaks loose. She's fine with her protection and seems to look at it as the price for being married to a paranoid..."
"Fuck you haven't given him the intel I've been gathering either? Are you a fucking idiot?! He doesn't have the contacts I have with Hector working for me on another matter. You told me you'd keep him apprised of everything."
"Listen this is a police matter. He agreed that there was no need to worry Steph with this until we had names, and I told him about the rise in recruitment. He's been sending her on service calls and keeping her off of the street."
"Two days ago she agreed to be Lula's back up! No way he agrees to that with the threat this high unless you've been keeping shit from him. What is it with you men? Honestly. Lives are at stake and you are hauling out the measuring tape? You lost. Deal with it for fucks sake. You are both good at what you do. You should be working together." She stood up, and walked around their adjoining desks, and cuffed him in the back of the head, "Come with me."
There was no point in arguing with her further, not yet. The cloud of pissed mist that hung around her was so thick that the other officers were giving her a wide berth as she stormed out of TPD. He followed her to her car and she threw her heels in the back upon getting in and slid on a pair of flats. She let him get in and get the doors closed before she squealed the tires pulling out of the lot. Meagan was an aggressive driver at the best of times. Pissed off? It was a good thing he had insisted she had a kojak because it was safer if people just got the fuck out of her way. He chose to switch it on for that reason and her foot depressed further on the gas, as she changed gears with a smooth aggressiveness. She threw the car into a space at her hotel and got out.
When they got to her room she took her key fob and pressed a button.
"Your cell phone won't work in here; I've activated a device that blocks radio transmissions," she grumbled.
"You are a little paranoid too did you know that?"
"Look in the flowers on the table and in the vent above the door. Those bugs are new since I swept the place last time. Please, tell me again how paranoid I am?" Sure enough there was a bug in the flowers and a camera in the vent.
"Jesus Princess, who are you?"
"Someone with enemies in high places, the only good news is that I also have friends in those same high places. I'm not paranoid Joe, I'm walking a tightrope, trying to keep the people I love from getting killed. Now sit the fuck down it's time of a little lesson, on why you need to stop being a fucking dick head, and should swallow your fucking pride."
Joe stood mutinously, before she said, "Would you like a demonstration of what happens when the government decides to weaponize a genius? Because I can fucking show you."
She wasn't fucking around, and Joe sat on the sofa.
She paced a couple of times and then she sighed, "You seem to be under the impression that Ranger is something he's not."
"I think he's got questionable morals and thinks he's above he law and the bastard stole my girlfriend. I'm not about to become his best drinking buddy." She quirked her lips at that.
"Here's a little history lesson, to help you with your perspective. I met Ranger when he was in juvie; he was 14 and I was 12. My parents had just died in a car accident that I blamed myself for, and I was self destructive, his aunt Ella thought that by taking me to Ranger she could do a sort of scared straight thing on me. It didn't work out quite as well as she had hoped. Instead he put me in touch with Lester's older brother Julio and told him to introduce me to Hector."
"Why?" Joe's brow furrowed.
"Two reasons," she held up two fingers, "Carlos was in trouble on the inside. He had a six month sentence and he probably wasn't going to make it through two and I was in trouble on the outside and I needed protection. I was an early blooming 12 year old soon to be high school senior with no parents. My parents decided, in their infinite wisdom that since I was smart, and rich, they weren't going to appoint a guardian. The court was inclined to agree with them, especially since I had staff to take care of me. My inheritance was put in a trust, and my bills were handled by court appointed lawyers. It seemed an ideal solution, except that it left me vulnerable, and there'd already been one thwarted sexual assault attempt in my Junior year, that left me with a concussion and a broken arm.
"Wait you were a 12 year old senior?!"
"And Ranger was 14 and finishing his GED in Juvie," she said with a shrug, "We both started University ridiculously young. But to make an already long story short, Hector and I got the trouble off his back while he was on the inside, and it was the start of Ranger's badass rep. When he got out, I moved in with him and his grandmother for the summer and Julio, Hector, Ranger and I became inseparable. Then Julio went back to Med school, Hector went to night school and I went back to high school and he was looking after his grandmother and applying to universities.
I was in a bad place, hadn't really dealt with my parent's death yet, I was scared, lonely and an outcast. I didn't sleep well, the only time I was happy was around my boys or when I was dancing."
"The dancing doesn't surprise me at all." Joe said. He'd always thought she moved like a dancer.
"Yes well, I was assaulted again, this time was worse, I wasn't raped thank god but it was close. I went home, waited for Carlos's daily phone call and then let my staff go for the night and decided to become a sad statistic. Carlos had heard something wrong in my voice and called Julio, who was was physically closer and asked him to check on me. Julio drove like a bat out of hell to get to me and stopped me before I could hurt myself. Julio, Hector and Carlos fixed me. But Carlos and I were very close. We understood each other. When he turned 18 he left and joined the Army. He's smart, obviously, skilled and soon became a legend. They started calling him Ranger while he was in the Rangers. He was kind of the epitome of everything they look for in a soldier.
I waited two years, used my PhD Research to get the attention of people in high places. Which is considerably easier when your Godfather is the Director of the FBI. He showed my research to two Generals who recruited me to work for them. I agreed under the condition that I get all the training Ranger had. They agreed against their better judgement and I joined the Army. They kept us apart for a couple of years where we both earned our own reps and then we became a team.
We would get dropped in these places, and Tank, Ranger and I would divide duties. I was in charge of intelligence gathering, Ranger was personally and logistics, and Tank was our chief strategist. He's a genius when it comes to finding weaknesses in any facility. Between the three of us we could get in anywhere, and do anything we were asked to do. I mean anything. Ranger and I sped through the ranks so fast it made our head spin, and the only reason Tank didn't is because he spent half his time back at HQ directing our movements, and coming up with back up strategies, for when hell inevitably broke loose. We did this for about two years, maybe, before Lester and Bobby joined our little unit. Lester is a PSYOPs expert and a fucking gifted sniper. Bobby, was our medic, and Lester's partner."
"It's a nice history lesson that I'm grateful for but why are we here exactly?"
"Just, let me finish." She held up a weary hand, "About a year before I died, Ranger and Lester were taken by some enemies I'd made on my very first ever undercover operation. I was 19, green and I'd been assigned to retrieve some intel from someone deep undercover. All I had to do was go to a dinner party where I was to pick up a jump drive and then get out. Unfortunately there was a leak and my contact was shot right in front of me at the dinner. I maintained my cover, played things out until I could get the intel myself, and then signal for an extraction.
The agent who died had a brother who was a member of the Russian Mafia. The brother blamed my inexperience for the agent's death and decided to take Ranger and Lester a few years later as revenge. It took me several days to find them, going against orders, I might add, during which time Lester was almost beaten to death. Ranger was fairly unscathed when I found them, but he'd been drugged and kept out of it. The plan was to slowly torture Lester to death, and when they were finished, they were going to drop him off at my doorstep, and then repeat the process with Ranger. It was too close, and Les was touch and go for a while.
That's when the five of us decided that we needed to get out. Ranger was a father, Tank was just done, Lester needed time to recover and Bobby didn't trust us to look after ourselves without him. I worked my government contacts and put the wheels in motion to start Rangeman. I was going to be the first one out, then Ranger and Tank, then Bobby and Lester. Bobby and Lester should be retired now. I was one mission away from retiring when I was forced to re-sign my contract. The boys however, kept to their words. They started working as bounty hunters until they had the capital to get Rangeman off the ground. Rangeman is exactly what it says on paper. A private security firm that does occasional skip tracing and private investigations work. From what I read this weekend they followed the model Ranger and I built before I died, so the odd job for the government comes up."
"What kinds of jobs?"
"Mercenary work, hostage rescues, ex-fils, protection, you name it and they've done it. Most of it Top Secret. The security work and the bond enforcement keeps the men sharp between contracts. All of the work above board. Ranger has adrenaline issues, but he's not a vigilante. He's a war hero several times over, and he's saved countless lives. Yes, he has a moral code he sticks to but he hasn't broken any major laws to uphold it. Okay there was that time where he held that lady at gunpoint when Steph was captured by Stiva but that doesn't count."
Joe was silent. That wasn't the only major law broken in favour of protecting Steph.
"Abruzzi was sanctioned." she said quietly, "I kept my distance from Les and Bobby because I didn't trust myself to stay away if I saw them, but I kept tabs on Ranger. He was already assigned to end Abruzzi for reasons you don't have clearance to know about. He just got to enjoy it more after what happened with Steph."
This painted a whole new picture of the Mercenary. Sure he probably was a few donuts short of a dozen, but personal history aside it was reassuring to know that he wasn't out there committing felonies for profit.
"Joe, you are a good cop. A very good one. You are being wasted doing what you do and you're a little burnt out, but you're still one of the best. You should be using all of your resources and personal feelings aside, like or not, Ranger is one of them. He uses a team and an integral member of that team is Stephanie. Keeping her benched right now is the worst thing we can be doing. I know it freaks you out, but we want her proactive. Ranger can find anyone you ask him too, the man's a fucking bloodhound and her capture rate is better than his. The reason she gets into trouble is because you keep shit from her. We need her help going after these people, and she needs to know what's going on, so we can focus her energy in a direction that won't get her killed."
RSRSRSRSRSRSRS
Ranger and Joe told me about my latest death threat and I don't know what bothered me most; that there were at least five people being paid to kill me or that it felt like it was just another day in the life of Stephanie Manoso. There was talk of a safe house but Tink had objected on my behalf. She said she needed me, and was calling Hector back in to help me. To make Ranger more comfortable with this arrangement, she was volunteering to head up my protection, so I didn't have to give up all freedom, for what could be months. It made her just a little more perfect and it pissed me off. I wanted to find a flaw.
Santos couldn't stop himself from touching her, and it seemed unconscious. She would show up and his hands would be on her. Like now for instance. She was briefing us on the different gang bangers that we should be looking out for. She was standing and pointing at a picture projected on the screen. His hand was on the back of her thigh and he was looking up at her paying rapt attention. There was no doubt he was listening to her and taking it seriously, he just needed her to be in reach. I guess I couldn't blame him.
I wondered if they had always been like this or if they were just reconnecting after three years of hell. Ranger and Tank didn't seem to even notice the intimate interaction. Then again Ranger did have his hand up the back of my shirt and was absentmindedly tracing a circle on my lower back while she spoke. Maybe it was just typical behaviour for this core group of men to maintain skin on skin contact with their women whenever possible. I was contemplating this, fully ensconced in denial land, when I realized the meeting was breaking up. Meagan was sitting on Lester's lap and they were discussing something in a folder that she was holding.
"What are they doing?" I asked Ranger.
"Profiling. Santos is good at it. He studied it because she needed someone to speak her language."
"Did she learn to be a sniper to help him too?" I teased. He either missed the tone or was ignoring it because he nodded without acknowledging the sarcasm.
"She's not as good a shot as he is but then not many people are. What she does is give him intel. She knows him and knows what he's looking for when he goes on missions. She makes sure he has it."
"They're a good team," I observed. They were true partners. They shared every aspect of their lives. They had learned what they could about each other's fields in order to offer the best support possible. Once again I found myself wondering how they made it through three years without each other.
"They are. You aren't going to recognize him in a few days. He's already turning back into the man he was before she disappeared."
"You mean the talkative flirt who can't keep his hands to himself will suddenly become all like you and speak using as few words as possible?"
He smirked, "Not exactly."
"But he won't flirt with me anymore because she'd kill him?"
"No she doesn't do jealous. She says it's not a practical emotion and they are both incorrigible flirts. It's like a sport for them. Watch them for a while and you will see what I mean," he said. He was trying to distract me out of my fear. This was odd since I hadn't really felt any yet. Denial was either firmly in place or I just trusted the people around me enough to keep me safe. Also Ranger had managed to get me a permit to carry concealed and now I was armed, legally, at all times. He made sure I was.
"How are you doing with all of this Cupcake?" Joe asked. I had almost forgotten he was in the room. He was working closely with Tink so she insisted that he be kept in the loop. She'd come back from TPD furious and had called Ranger to the mats. Much to everyone's dismay he'd scrambled the cameras and locked the gym. When they came out again they were both relaxed. Apparently she had slapped some sense into Joe (verbally since he wasn't limping) and Ranger (physically and they were both a little battered) and they were now fully cooperating with each other.
"I am okay," I answered Joe, "It hasn't really hit me yet. I do wish there was something I could do."
Ranger chuckled, "I told you she checked into denial land 20 minutes in."
"Cupcake, you do have something you have to do. You will be doing research. The more information you can give Santos and Harris the better the profile they can form, and the faster we can find these guys before they have a chance to get to you."
"Do you think they will do what they did last time?" I shuddered remembering the terror of being in that circle, being taunted, sure I was going to be raped and murdered until Sally showed up and saved the day with his school bus and Uzi. Ranger put a calming hand on the back of my neck. God my life is a train wreck.
"Nah your life isn't a train wreck," Meagan said without looking up, "Just go by the old saying, 'if they are shooting at you, you must be doing something right.' You are in law enforcement; if they aren't trying to kill you, you aren't doing your job."
"Did I say that out loud?" I asked. Ranger shook his head.
"It was written all over your face sweetheart," Meagan said and got off of Lester's lap. He frowned, guess he wasn't ready for her to leave yet, "Okay, We have motive, we have a target, we have names. I just need to get into their heads and for that I need everything right down to where they buy their shoes. Stephanie, can you run searches on these guys and Big D? When you are done can you put them in the shared folder?" She began to pace with a nervous energy that was not at all Ranger like. The focus however was. She stopped abruptly "I have to go think. Can I do that in this building or am I going back to my suite?"
"Hal and Cal's apartment should suit your needs, for now." Ranger said, "I'll let them know you are going to be in there for the next hour or so. Is that long enough?"
"Thanks" she walked out of the room, barefoot, leaving her heels under the table. Lester reached down and picked them, up with a grin.
"You'd better get started on those searches," Ranger said, "When she says she wants everything, she means everything. She's given you her access codes, to all of the federal databases. Between them and our search engines, you should be able to paint a pretty good picture of these guys for her. Start running them and then come upstairs so we can talk."
Ranger gave me a gentle shove towards the door. Dismissed!
"Where is Meagan going?" I asked.
"Meagan is always cold," Bobby said, "she likes to boil herself in a bath and go over her notes a thousand times until the water gets cold or she comes up with something useful. Hal and Cal have the only bathtub in the building."
I went to my cubicle and started the searches for the 6 men that wanted me dead. Well the six that we knew of. While I was at it I started searches for a couple of skips I had picked up from Vinnie and then I found myself staring at the computer screen and delaying the conversation I knew I was about to have with Ranger. He was going to ask me to stay in the building until we caught all of them. He was going to say that it would free up manpower if he didn't have to worry about my constant need for protection. He was probably going to bring up the safe house again, apparently that's where Sally was. Maybe they would put us together so at least I would have someone to talk to while Ranger was out making the world safe for me again. I sighed. Maybe Ella would have chocolate cake for me with dinner. I'd start with that and maybe being a prisoner wouldn't feel so bad. I shoved away from my desk and made my way up to seven.
I went straight for the shower and allowed the scent of Rangers body wash to wash over me. I stood there until I started to prune and then I got out of the shower and into a pair of boxers and one of Ranger's t-shirts and his robe and then flopped down on our bed in my thinking position.
I had to figure out how to process the last few weeks. I went from Stephanie Plum, single, Bounty Hunter with a crappy apartment and POS cars, to Stephanie Manoso, employee of Rangeman, living in a luxury apartment with massive security and more armed guards than the President. I drove whatever luxury car in the fleet that I happened to have keys to at the moment and was currently being painted with a big fat bullseye because I tagged a guy with a Buick a couple of years ago.
Then there was Tink. I liked her, I really did. It was hard not to. In fact I could see us getting close. She was obviously one of the guys. She made people light up around her; especially Santos. If they could harness the electricity that crackled between them it would put a stop to the energy crisis. And I was jealous. I was really, irrationally, jealous. Not because she was with Les. They were unbelievably perfect for each other. No, that wasn't my problem at all. My issue was stupid, but no less a problem in my mind, even if I could acknowledge that I was being unreasonable. I was no longer the only girl at Rangeman and I was actually having trouble with not being the centre of attention.
When I was in the break room earlier today all the talk was about her and the video of her and Ranger fighting. They talked about how smart she was, how much Santos and Bobby fawned over her. There was speculation about her relationship with Brown, because clearly there was something there, it just didn't hold a candle to what she had with Lester. Speaking of Bobby, apparently he'd taken an evaluation of all of her scars and previous injuries so he could update her file. Vince had been there and seen a scar on her back. He said it was horrible. She had been hit by some shrapnel from an IED while she was in one of the Stans and had, had to tend to it herself until she could get to a field hospital. She'd had to make herself a tool so she could bandage herself and get the hell out of Dodge. The men spoke about her with the same kind of reverence that they spoke about Ranger, and I was starting to feel invisible.
"Babe." Ranger said from the doorway. He'd been standing there for probably five minutes watching me think.
"It's been an odd few weeks; I'm just trying to adapt." I said without moving from my thinking position. "It's weird how she isn't even working here yet but everyone is looking at her like she is, I dunno…"
"In command?" He supplied.
"Yeah." I said, "That's right, in command. Even Bobby and Lester are looking to her for leadership the way they look to you and Tank."
"That's because she's a Colonel. She outranks Brown and Santos. She fits easily because she should have been here for the start up. In fact the model for this company was something she helped develop. We just never were able to find someone to fill her shoes."
I wish I had something to contribute. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Your job."
"Is this the part where you tell me you want me to go to a safehouse? And then you say that you can spend more time searching and get this over faster if you don't have to worry about protecting me all of the time. And then I say no and you say please and I have to go because you said please."
He said nothing in response. He just folded his arms across his chest and looked like he might be thinking about smiling. I stared at him. God he's hot. He crossed the room in two strides and was suddenly over top of me on the bed supporting his weight on his elbows. He kissed me softly and said, "Actually, that's not what I was going to say."
"It wasn't?"
"No," He kissed my throat nipping gently. I was starting to find it difficult to really care what he was talking about. Then he was off of me dragging me reluctantly to my feet.
"I need you to do a distraction job for me." He said. "Tonight at a high class bar."
"Who's the guy?"
"Benny Buttinski."
"You are joking. Why would you go through life with a name like that? I mean wouldn't you change it as soon as you were allowed to?" He ignored my question.
"You just need to do your thing. Get in there, get his attention, get him out. Vince will be working the bar, Tink and Santos will be watching the room and Tank and I will be outside waiting for you."
"I'm surprised you didn't ask Tink," I pouted, "Seeing as I am probably safer inside and..." he put a finger to my lips.
"You are an invaluable member of my team Stephanie. Nobody does this job better than you do."
"I'm good at looking hot and shaking my ass. Awesome."
"No you put people at ease and make them feel like it's only natural that someone as beautiful as you are would be interested in them. It's not easy to do. You make people trust you. You aren't just valuable because you were the only girl. You are valuable because you are very good at your job."
"Thanks for the pep talk Batman. I've just been feeling invisible lately."
"You could never be invisible Babe." he said.
"What about the threat?"
"You will have 9 different Rangemen watching your back. The intel is saying that the hit men aren't here yet. If you promise me that you won't go anywhere without an escort, including the washroom, and you wear all of your panic buttons, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Where are we going anyway?"
"Surprise. Dress is expensive casual," He said and left me to get dressed.
I rooted around our closet at a complete loss for what to wear. I could go designer jeans that were painted on, I could do a short skirt. I stared at the closet looking for inspiration. There was a tap on the door. Ranger wouldn't knock so I tightened the belt on Ranger's robe and said, "come in!" I was surprised to see Lester.
"Meagan has a crisis. She needs clothes. She said to tell you preppy rocker vibe and that she has either the pumps she was wearing earlier or some knee high black boots. And that Morelli was supposed to take her shoe shopping but hasn't yet so do you wanna go on the weekend?" Santos said, he paused for a minute, his handsome face screwed up in thought. "I think that's all. Oh yeah and she needs to buy some clothes. All she has are suits and workout clothes because she's a workaholic and whenever she has taken time off she sleeps. She tends to babble when she's stressed."
I laughed, "I can't imagine it. She's always so relaxed."
"That's because she's working. Right now she's just a regular girl going to a bar and she has nothing to wear. It's apparently an absolute crisis. Ella was just sent on a mission for less boring makeup and Lord knows why it matters, better underwear. As if it makes a difference. I mean I love good lingerie on her, don't get me wrong, but why that's a crisis is beyond me."
"Of course it makes a difference! Better underwear gives you confidence, makes you feel sexy."
"Beautiful, I'm always confident and sexy and it doesn't matter what underwear I'm wearing."
"You're probably like Ranger. You probably don't wear any...aaand I said that out loud."
He laughed,"I'll leave it to your imagination."
I rummaged through my closet and produced a short black leather skirt, a black silk halter top with studding at the waist and a bunch of black spangly bracelets. All very preppy rocker wannabe. I found massive black hoop earrings and handed them all to Lester.
"If the leather skirt is too big I have a denim one that will work and Ella can take it in." I found said skirt and handed it to Les as well.
"What are you going to wear Beautiful?"
"No clue," I said.
"When in doubt, start with the shoes." I sent him a questioning look, "It's what Meagan says when she is having a hard time finding an outfit. Of course tonight she's insane but whatever."
"I think it's interesting that you call her Tink at work and Meagan at home."
"Actually I call her something else at home but she said that if I ever said it out loud in public she would kick my ass and, well, I know she could." he deadpanned and I laughed, "I call her Tink at work because I can't think of her as Meagan and still do my job. Also for probably the same reason you only call Ranger, Carlos or Ric, in private, she's different people at home and at work. She's much softer at home. Less business like, laughs more, isn't armed to the teeth. Lets me forget that she could probably kill me with a bobby pin and is just a normal, exceptionally gorgeous woman that needs help opening a pickle jar. She's Meagan. At work she's a lethal pixie who can completely fuck with your head and make you confess your deepest darkest secrets while thinking it was all your idea. Hell she is, The Pixiel drop that name in certain circles and you'll see mafia assassins wet their pants. It's sexy as hell to see her like that but it's only a small fraction of who she really is."
"I can understand that." I kissed him on the cheek, "I am happy for you. I can't imagine what you have gone through." He gave me a hug and then let me go and shrugged. Les and I were buddies. It wasn't going to change and I was relieved.
"I knew she was alive. She sent me a message. I lived like she was in the Wind for years. I knew she would come back eventually."
"Where's your bracelet?" I said looking for the leather cuff he always wore.
"Gave it back to it's rightful owner." he said, "Wear a skirt Beautiful. Ranger loves to look at your legs."
He strolled out of the closet looking more relaxed than I have ever seen him. His player swagger was gone replaced with the easy grace that Ranger had. He actually looked more like Ranger now too. A taller, leaner Ranger with green eyes but still...How weird is that? I realized then that I'd never really thought about him beyond what he wanted me to see. He was easily as good looking as Ranger. I knew he was a respected sniper. He was in the wind as often as Ranger was. He joked about Meagan being able to kick his ass but I'd seen him sparring with Ranger and he held his own and I knew that only the core guys were willing to go up against him and Tank flat out refused to.
What was striking was that now that Meagan was back there was a confidence about him that was gone before. I realized what it was about him that had been missing these last few days. Whenever I wore heels when I walked into a room Lester would have a funny look on his face for just a moment and then he'd flirt. I realized now that it was a combination of happiness to see me and disappointment that I wasn't her.
"Deep thoughts?" Ranger asked as he joined me in the closet. I assumed he was about to pick out his own clothes for the night.
"Yes actually," I said, "He loves her a lot. How is he not angry with her? With the whole situation? I was just thinking that in hindsight you could tell how sad he was. But he's not angry. Not even a bit. He's not even acting like she's been gone for three years. It might not be reasonable but you'd think it would be at least a little awkward."
"They've never, as far as I know, had an awkward moment. They are two sides of the same coin. He knows that she didn't do it by choice," Ranger said drawing me to him, "As for anger, well you didn't stick around to see what he did to the punching bag after she went back to work. Bobby eventually stepped in when it became apparent that the bag wasn't a good enough outlet. They went at it for quite a while. He's plenty angry, just not at her."
"I don't know if I understand. I don't know why she didn't just tell them to fuck themselves. I know that's what I would do if someone told me to stay away from you. Ask Joe. You were the reason for many an argument." He grinned, he was willing to work with Joe but that didn't mean he couldn't get a little joy out of knowing I fought for him and that it drove Joe crazy.
"She wouldn't have followed that order blindly. There would have been a very good reason," he said and before I could even form the question he added, "if it were just a threat to her own life, that wouldn't have been a good enough reason." He finished with a tone that told me the subject was closed. Ranger changed into black jeans and a loose fitting black button up shirt.
I listened to Meagan's advice and put on a pair of leg breaking, mile high red pumps, inspiring me to wear a short stretch dark denim skirt that was bordering on being a denim belt and a white silk t-shirt with slashed sleeves that exposed my shoulders. Ranger watched me get dressed and then kissed one of those bare shoulders. "Ready Babe?"
"Almost. I have nowhere to hide a gun."
"You won't need one; not for him."
"What's he wanted for?"
"Tax evasion."
"Isn't that what they got Al Capone for?" I teased. This got me an almost smile.