AN: The story is pretty much exactly the same as it was before. I have added more back story here and there, but the plot is the same. Don't own anything, just playing, and thank you for reading!
Ranger escorted me down the elevator and I walked into the lot. Parked among the black cars was Meagan's Shelby. It was like a beacon of girly in an otherwise monochromatic lot. It had come in today and I was itching to drive it. Ranger looked at it like he was afraid he might go blind. "I thought Hector and Les were joking; fuck that's a pink car. Morelli actually drove it?"
I laughed, "She said she was proving a point. He said you get used to it." Ranger looked doubtful.
"I hope she realizes she can't take it tonight. It's too recognizable."
"Thank you Captain Obvious," Tink said right behind him. I jumped a mile, Ranger's expression didn't change at all. Probably he sensed her coming. Maybe he had a Tink-dar the way I had Rangedar? It was something to ask him later.
"You just demoted me," Ranger said mildly.
"I'm sorry, I meant Colonel Obvious," she bowed in mock supplication, Ranger looked like he wanted to roll his eyes but was holding it together. "We're taking one of the Explorers." she said offhandedly when she stood up.
Ranger made for the Turbo and Tink cocked an eyebrow, apparently it was a talent required in their unit.
"I'm not going to be the only one at the bar with a Porsche. It will still blend in. As far as I know you are the only person in New Jersey, possibly the world, with a pink Shelby. He probably knows a fed drives that car. He sees it and he bolts."
Ranger might have sounded defensive if he actually knew how to. It was amusing to see him explain himself to someone for a change and I had to bite my tongue to suppress a giggle. Apparently Ranger wasn't immune to the Ranger eyebrow. Tink had it nailed, right down to the almost smile. She shrugged indifferently as Lester snagged her around the waist and hoisted her up into the Explorer's passenger seat. "She's in a mood; we'll never get out of here, if she decides to start bickering with Ranger," Lester said, as he slammed the door, "It's really boring to watch because it's about 50% nonverbal, and usually in a language most of us don't speak."
Meagan wound down the window, "I heard that and can I just say, I've tried to teach you German, and Russian, and what's that one from that place in Africa?"
"Fucked if I can remember what it was called," Ranger said.
"Either way, I tried and you're a shitty student," she said.
"I am not a shitty student. Every time you try to teach me something, you lose focus and start taking clothes off."
"Well stop asking me to teach you to speak foreign languages, while you're in the fucking shower. What do you expect me to do?"
"That was one time," he said, "And that was only because you were singing that song and I wanted to know what you were saying." Lester walked around to the driver's side, and opened the door, "It's not my fault you fixated on that."
"Umm it wasn't just that one time, what about… no wait, I was in the shower that time. Sorry, my bad." The suspension in the Explorer shifted, as Lester got in, and the door slammed. I missed his reply to that as her window powered closed. Ranger grinned, and shook his head as he got into the Porsche.
"Are they always like that?"
"No," Ranger said, "They're worse when Bobby's with them."
"Would you freak out if I got a car that wasn't black?" I asked. He sort of glanced at me and I took it to mean that maybe he would think about it.
When we got to the bar, he took his time placing the wire, which is always fun and asked me if I might be interested in seeing if we might be able to reprise something we had done in the Turbo before. Maybe this time without my ass hitting the horn. He said he might have some ideas about how to accomplish this. It was with that thought in my head, that I walked into the nameless bar, with a spring in my step.
It turned out that Ranger wasn't being cryptic when he said 'Surprise' because that's what the bar's name was. It was theme bar, that had a rotating theme, it could be anything from Country Western to Karaoke. That night it was boasting, their Battle of the Bands, winner, as Headliner, and the bar was packed. Ram was working the door, so I got to feel cool, as I skipped the line and was let right inside.
Santos, Tink, Tank, and Vince were already inside waiting for me and those were just the Rangemen I knew were there. When I walked in the door I scanned the bar, looking for familiar faces, and had to hold back a yelp of surprise when I found Lester and Meagan. They were on stage as part of the band. Meagan was looking tiny sitting behind the huge drum kit with a hands free mic and Lester was holding a guitar and standing behind a mic. The rest of the people in the band were strangers but seemed comfortable with Tink and Santos and they had a great view of the bar. The band was warming up and Tink winked at me.
It took me all of two minutes to find my mark. He was dressed like an aging hipster, with a black cardigan over a black t-shirt and grey skinny jeans. He had messy dark hair that was in desperate need of cutting, and he was about four days passed looking like he had five o'clock shadow, and was making a decent start on a patchy beard. Despite the sad beard he wasn't bad looking, but I was having trouble getting passed the yellow knit scarf he was wearing. I didn't get why he had it on inside. All of his clothing was designer and he I suspected the diamonds in his watch were real.
I sidled up next to him at the bar, and waved to get Vince's, and subsequently his, attention. When I sat, I brushed against him and I allowed my skirt to ride dangerously high as I crossed my legs. He watched the action completely riveted.
"Babe," Ranger's voice said in my ear, "Let that skirt ride any higher and I'm going to forget we're here to work."
I smiled at that, and fingered my necklace as I ordered a fake tequila from Vince. It was actually just water, because I'm such a light weight. I was on my third shot, and wondering how many I was going to have to do before his eyes left my legs. I'd spent the day drinking coffee like it was my job, if I drank too much more, the need to pee was going to become a bit urgent. Of course once I started thinking about that, I had that feeling like I might have to go soon.
His eyes finally made it up to my cleavage, and parked there, "I like your uh... Necklace." He said so I fiddled with my batman necklace, again.
"OH this? It's my favourite."
"You have a thing for Batman?"
"I have a thing for badass, eccentric, rich men, with a penchant for black cars," I said, "Doesn't every girl?"
It wasn't so much that I could hear Ranger laughing through my earpiece but I could feel him. Santos on stage was getting a pat on the back so it's possible that he choked on his water. Vince knocked over the fake Tequila and Tank actually did laugh.
"Is that so?" Mr. Buttinski flashed his Rolex and reached for my Batsignal, and I playfully slapped his hand away, "What if I were to tell you that my car isn't exactly black so much as it's a Black Serires? Would it still count?"
What the hell does that even mean?
My earpiece came to life, "It's an expensive type of Mercedes. There is only one in the lot and it's yellow. Definitely not a Batmobile," Tank said.
"Yeah, and they can't drive in a straight line," Tink said.
I directed the smile the commentary elicited, at Buttinski, and leant forward, running my fingers the length of his stupid yellow scarf.
"Why don't you show me your car and I can tell you what I think?" I whispered.
He threw some money down on the bar for both of our drinks and then we strolled out of the club. Tank and Ranger were waiting at the door and had Buttinski in cuffs within a couple of seconds.
Ranger produced my rings from his pocket and slipped them on my finger with a kiss on my knuckles.
"That was a trap?" he said balefully.
"Don't feel too bad," I said, "It just turns out I already have a Batman." Ranger kissed my hair, in order to hid a laugh, as Tank took Butinski off. "You know what sucks?" I pouted.
"No, what sucks Babe?" He smiled at me indulgently.
"I worked too fast and didn't get to hear Les sing."
"Beautiful, we promised the band a set. Get your ass back in here and we will be more than happy to entertain you." Santos's voice said in my ear.
"Any requests?" Meagan asked. I thought about it for a minute. "No Metalica. I haven't warmed up my voice for metal." she added and Ranger grinned.
"No Brittany Spears and we will be fine," I said.
"Are you sure? Because Les does a really great Spears. His Toxic will bring the whole house do-"
"Tink, so help me if you ever, and I mean ever, want another foot massage ever you will stop talking right now..."
"Oh come on! That time at the Blue Lotus, all those boys were-" At this point Ranger pulled my earpiece out and switched off my mic.
"That could go on for a while." Ranger said and then he burst out laughing. Apparently he was still receiving. "I forgot about the pink chaps."
He was still chuckling when he kissed me.
RSRSRSRSRS
Tink and Les, just wow. Both of them could play their instruments well. Tink had a musical voice when speaking so it wasn't a surprise that she could sing. What was a surprise was how well Santos' voice complemented hers and vice versa. Sometimes she sang backup for him and sometimes he for her. The band they were playing with was called, By Your Request and they played anything from Garth Brooks to Pink Floyd. If the audience requested it they played it. They ended up playing two sets before Tink plead old injury and begged to be relieved on the drums.
Finally free from the stage she and Santos found a "quiet" corner of the bar where they could be alone for a few minutes. "Watch," Ranger whispered in my ear. I watched Lester take off her sky high pumps and quickly massage the soles of her feet. He looked like he was aiming for specific targets and I watched as her whole body relaxed. It took less than five minutes, then he replaced her shoes and pulled her to her feet. They walked hand in hand back to the rest of us and I saw what Lester meant about the difference between Meagan and Tink. Her posture wasn't as perfect, her smile was gentler, mischievous even. Sure she was often smiling but this was different.
"So Hermana, you didn't play my song request." Ranger teased.
"Yeah Meagan, what's with that?" Bobby asked. That was the first time I'd heard him call her anything other than Tink. I guess he saw the change in her too.
"Hey don't blame me," She held up her hands defensively, "I was game. Talk to your boy here; he refused."
"There was no way I was singing Genie in a Bottle. I did that one time only and that was only because you guys each paid me $100," Lester said, "It's bad enough that we had to play so much One Direction tonight."
Meagan giggled, "Yeah we did. But you knew all the words there Handsome. Do you have a guilty pleasure you want to share?" He wrapped her in a half hug half headlock and pulled her to him and whispered something in her ear that caused her to burst out laughing.
"Why do I think that didn't go well for me?" Bobby asked and signalled for the waitress to bring another round.
"Because it didn't," Lester said.
Tank came back and there was a lot of reminiscing about the good old days. A couple of hours in, and everyone except for Meagan and Ranger was pleasantly lubricated and we were starting to draw looks from the bar. Around midnight Morelli showed up because there had been a complaint and he was asked personally to speak to us about our rowdiness. He was off duty so Meagan invited him to join us.
After a couple of beer he asked her to dance and she hopped off of her chair and let him lead her out to the floor. Joe didn't dance unless he was at a wedding and I was wondering what he was playing at. Turned out he was getting free dance lessons, because he was going to be in a wedding, and ballroom dancing was required. The band was playing Sinatra and she was showing him how it was done. They were laughing a lot as he twirled her on the floor. Meagan didn't do jealous, and she was a flirt, and Joe was clearly attracted to her, so I watched Lester to see what he thought of this development.
He glanced at them a couple of times, smiled as he watched Meagan do some complicated footwork, that Joe couldn't begin to follow, and then he went back to his conversation. He was completely unconcerned that she was having such a good time dancing with Morelli. When the music changed again, Lester pushed his chair out from the table, in an open invitation for Meagan to sit on his lap, which she did, with alacrity and then stole a sip of his beer. She was still flushed and laughing and Joe looked completely at ease.
Later Meagan and I were at the bar ordering another round of drinks, our waitress long ago scared off by the sheer size of the men at the table, when Carol Sanduski, a burg girl a few years older than me, came up to Meagan and tapped her on the shoulder. I was good at reading Ranger so I was good at reading Meagan, and Meagan had just resisted an urge to reach for her gun out of pure reflex. It wasn't smart to approach people like them with any kind of aggression. Carol obviously didn't know that, so she didn't realize how lucky she was that Tink was in a good mood when she laid into Meagan.
"I've seen you hanging around Joe and I think what you are doing is disgraceful."
"I beg your pardon?" Meagan said, "What'd I do?"
"I saw you come you all over that man over there and then, Joe comes in and you pretend that nothing happened. That's what she did," head jerk towards me, "now look what's happened? Poor guy is heart broken and you are doing it to him again!" She said her piece and was about to storm off but I decided that I needed to defend my friends.
"Carol, just out of curiosity when did your husband lose all the weight?" I asked innocently.
"What?!" She spun around to look at me.
"I just assumed he lost weight and maybe got some hair plugs because obviously that's who that had to have been out there on the dance floor. You know, with how you were draped all over him and all. Or did you get a divorce I haven't heard about yet?" Carol glared at me and stomped off.
About ten minutes later my cell phone rang. It was my grandmother asking if it was true that Joe's new girlfriend dumped him for Ranger's cousin.
"Okay, what the fuck? One kiss," She held up a finger to emphasize her point, "that I didn't reciprocate I might add, and he's my boyfriend? How do you figure that?"
"How did you not reciprocate?" I asked incredulously, "I've been so pissed off at Joe that I wanted to run him over with a Buick, and I still kissed him back. That's something he's very good at."
"It wasn't easy," She said with a snort, "And I was working on three years of no male physical contact, and no fucking clue if there was any point in being faithful. I was tempted to do a helluva a lot more than kiss him."
Just one more thing she had in common with Ranger, crazy self control.
"How many meals have you had at his place?" I asked, returning to the problem at hand.
"A dozen maybe? We work together and we can talk more openly at his place than we can in a restaurant," She said, "Why?" I nodded. Light dawning.
"Yeah, it's called Marriage by Pot Roast. They all assume that you're cooking for him, and that pretty much means it's only a matter of time before you officially walk down the aisle. If you've eaten dinner with his mother, then it's basically a marriage announcement."
"Jesus. You don't want me to cook, but Angie brings us things to heat up all of the time. You don't think, she thinks Joe is more than my partner do you?"
"Angie is surprisingly level headed, she's probably figured that out," I said. She scanned the bar. There were several people staring at us.
"They all from the Burg?"
"Most of them," I replied, "or their parents are from there." I watched her assimilate that information, probably looking for a way to deal with it. She caught Ranger's eye and they both smirked about something and she leaned over the bar and ordered him another mineral water.
"Can I ask you something? I mean Ranger said that your relationship wasn't physical but you know each other so well. I trust him but…"
"He doesn't talk more than he has to and you are dying of curiosity," she finished and I nodded, "First of all our relationship is physical. The man doesn't speak, physical communication is necessary. What he meant was, we haven't been in a sexual relationship."
The bartender handed her a tray with our round of drinks and she picked up her cranberry juice and took a sip.
"Why not?"
"Do you really want to know the extent of any romantic entanglements we might have almost had? I can tell you. I promise it won't bother you, it might even make you feel better about me."
"Okay," I said.
"The night before Carlos enlisted, he came to my place and we had every intention of sleeping together. We'd come really close earlier in the week and were interrupted by Hector. So Carlos gets to my apartment, we know it's going to be forever before we see each other again. There's no question we love each other, and we've made out enough times to know that if we sleep together, it's going to be fantastic. And we came to a sudden realization that it was a colossally bad idea. Like I mean a really, really, awful idea. We used each other for everything, and we were codependent as fuck. I mean neither of us made a move without the other. If one of us got into trouble the other one did too. If we slept together, and then he left, it would have destroyed us both. What we needed was to be apart. I saw him again, just after Julie was born, and the chemistry was gone. I still loved him, but I had no desire to sleep with him anymore, and the feeling was mutual. When I met Lester, I realized why what I felt for him was so different from what I felt for Carlos."
"And the difference?"
"I was never happy with Ranger," she said, "With Lester, even when things are bad, we can get into each others head and we can make each other feel better. He can make me laugh when no one else can, and when he goes dark, I can get him back."
"Lester goes dark?" I said with disbelief.
"He's a special forces sniper, and he's the best in the world," She said, "Believe me, Snipers have to go really fucking dark, and you don't get to be as good as Lester is, unless you love it. Trust me, that fucks with your head, especially when you have to do something really fucked up. Anyway, Ranger and I are close, but I'm no threat to your relationship."
"Weirdly, only thought you were a threat on the drive to Haywood after he saw you in the Bonds Office. I trust him completely."
"I know you do," she smiled, "He needs that."
"I just wonder why I've never heard of you until recently."
"Ah." she took another sip and put her glass down on the bar, and told the bartender to put some vodka in her drink this time, "My guess is for Lester's benefit and to some extent Bobby's. He talks about his sisters though right?"
"Sometimes."
"I'm the one who used to make him braid her hair," she said with a chuckle, "When I met him I had a cast on my wrist and didn't like to be touched. I felt safe with Hector, Carlos and Julio. Julio is hopeless at hair, Hector and Carlos can both do a mean french braid. Oh and if you ever want someone to do your makeup, Hector is the man to call. He used to do my stage makeup all of the time."
I started laughing and she answered me with a big smile, "Oh man that just destroyed his image."
"Oh honey I could tell you stories. Some day remind me to tell you about Tank in the circus," She grinned as she took another sip, "Stick with me Steph. The ammunition I can give you…"
"Hey? What is taking so long?" Joe bellowed as he approached.
"Just having a little girl time." She gave him a lazy once over. Joe was looking really good and her smile let him know that.
"You're such a fucking tease Princess."
"I won't deny it," She smirked at him, "But just because I can appreciate a good looking man doesn't make me a tease." She hopped off her bar stool and walked past Lester, she skated her nails lightly across his back while he was lining up a shot in his game of pool. He stilled completely and she continued on without breaking her stride. His eyes were now glued to her ass. "That." She said when she returned to us, "Makes me a tease." Lester looked up from his game with a huge heart stopping grin that screamed payback was coming. She met his gaze with a look of feigned innocence and then picked up a couple of the drinks.
We carried the round back to the table, short of seats she perched on Bobby's lap as it was available and Lester was still hustling pool "So Gorgeous, you gonna sing for us again?" He asked.
"I might be convinced." she said, "It would depend upon the song."
A few requests were lobbed at her and she allowed herself to be bullied back on stage. She got behind the mic and spoke to the band and they started playing the intro to Losing Sleep by John Newman. As the table started to empty onto the dance floor a new face showed up. One I hadn't seen since before I got married, and slipped in to the seat next to Ranger. Hector looked out of place in the bar and he knew it.
"Hec!" I gave him a hug which he returned briefly, "Where have you been?"
He looked around to make sure nobody was really paying attention, the man only spoke English around those he trusted. The list was small, "Helping her." he said quietly. He gave Ranger a significant look.
"With what?" Ranger asked.
"A personal matter."
"For how long?"
"Almost two months now."
"And you didn't think you should tell me? Julio?" Ranger's voice remained even but there was a hardness in his eyes. Hector had just disappeared without saying where he was going, I know Ranger had been worried.
"She told me not to. She's terrified Hermano; I haven't seen her like this since that asshole Mark."
"Why?"
"Not sure yet. She's just had me hacking into different systems, and getting her everything. She's looking for something, but she hasn't found it yet, and she's getting desperate."
"And she won't tell you what you are looking for?" He shook his head no.
RSRSRSRSRSRS
"Hey Meagan?"
"Yes Lester?"
"What happened to your ring?" He was playing with the fingers on her left hand and it was oddly relaxing for both of them.
"I thought you had it? I left it in the safe in my office. I thought you found it when you cleaned out my personal effects. Clearly not," Meagan said. They were curled up on the sofa in their little apartment on four watching the flames flicker in their gas fireplace. Meagan's voice was a little hoarse from singing and had dropped an octave; it was now more sultry than soothing. After she rejoined the band for one song the crowd, aka Rangemen and some of Trenton's finest, demanded a couple more songs and she ended up finishing the set with some Adele. Meagan had a powerful singing voice that was barely used, and while she had nailed the song she had strained her voice a little. Now they were home and it was late, or rather It was early. They decided to stay up to watch the sunrise figuring the two hours they had until they had to get ready for work wasn't worth going to bed over. At least not for sleep.
"I didn't clean out your office. Tank did. General Asswipe emptied the safe because of the sensitive material in it." She wrinkled her nose.
"There wasn't any sensitive material in there; just our passports and some jewelry. We were only there for a week." She twisted in his embrace so she could see his face, "Why didn't you do it?"
"Bobby sedated me and they had me on a helo out of there as soon as they told me they were calling off the search and classifying you as KIA. I didn't take it well."
That was an understatement. Tank had been the one to break the news to him and Lester, for the first time in his life, understood the desire to kill the messenger. He'd lost his mind and attacked Tank. Until he told him she was dead, Meagan was just out there waiting to be found. Tank as good as pulled the trigger when he told Lester she was gone. It had taken both Ranger and Bobby to hold him still enough to shoot him full of drugs. It was the reason Tank refused to spar with Lester anymore. He would flashback to the look of anguish on Lester's face every time he saw him in the gym.
Lester had been sedated for 48 hours after that so he wouldn't cause further injury to his own gunshot wound. "It was a few weeks later that I found your bracelet in the box and I knew that you were alive."
"Lester I am so sorry." She knew the words were inadequate. He should be angry, he shouldn't have taken her back so easily. He shouldn't have waited for her.
"It's not your fault," He said bitterly. He squeezed her tightly and buried his face in her hair, "You let me know you were okay as soon as you could." He quietly held her. He was still having moments where he felt like it was a dream; that she wasn't really real.
"I'll tell you this, none of us will accept an assignment from that bastard ever again. What leverage did he use on you to make you stay on?" He asked after a while.
"You," she said quietly, "I either stayed dead and under contract to the government or I'd lose you. At first he reminded me that you were barely alive in a hospital bed with a very serious gunshot wound. That it wouldn't be too hard to make it look like you died from your injuries. Then he showed me the next solo mission he was proposing for Ranger. He was still under contract, so he wouldn't have had a choice. He wouldn't have survived it and if by some miracle he had, well the next one would be worse. And the next and the next, and then he'd do the same to Bobby and Tank. Later, once I knew you were okay, you topped the mission list."
"Are you serious?" Santos asked incredulously. It took a lot of balls to threaten someone like Meagan.
"Yes I have powerful allies that helped me watch your backs, but I couldn't take the risk that he'd get one over on me. That somehow he would wait until I was distracted and go after you. I knew that if he was still focused on me he'd leave you alone."
"Why did he want you dead Gorgeous?"
"That's the thing, I don't know. The second last mission, before you took me to Paris, he was jumpy. He wanted me to get a file off of a computer and he was acting like more of an asshole to me than usual."
"I remember; it was something to do with an Arms Dealer and the file was supposed to list trade routes and drop sites." She nodded.
"I was to make a copy of it and bring it back to him," She frowned, "just before we were about to deploy he ordered me to delete the hard drive, and he wanted me to make it look like a computer glitch."
"In my experience men who deal in the illegal weapons trade are paranoid. A computer glitch of that scale would make them suspicious; any intel you gathered would be next to useless afterwards."
"I argued exactly that. He told me that the reason was need to know only and I didn't need to know. I did what I was ordered to do. Made the copy; used one of Hec's viruses, and wiped out the hard drive."
"What was really in the file?"
"I don't know. Certainly not what he said was in it, but I didn't get a chance to analyze it. There wasn't time and Asswipe took the jump drive before my feet hit the ground when we got back. I've had Hector looking for the file for months now. I knew my contract was almost up and Asswipe has been talking about renegotiation of said contract. I know whatever is in that file will get him off my back but we can't find it. He either destroyed it or he has it well hidden. Hector hasn't been able to find it."
"Did he take the back up too?" She looked at him with wide eyes, "What? Don't you always get a back up?"
"Fuck, Lester you're a goddamned genius," She kissed him enthusiastically, "Do you still have my stuff?"
"Of course I do. Ella put it all in Storage downstairs."
"I need my boots!" She jumped off of the sofa and started pulling on her discarded clothing, "I told Hector that I needed a safe place to hide a jump drive and he went all Q on me and hid a compartment in the heel of one of my combat boots. I normally take the drive out on the transport back. But you, you gorgeous man you, distracted me on the way back. I'm almost positive I didn't give him the backup. It's probably still in my boot."
"Didn't you take those boots to South America?"
"I did but I didn't wear them on that last mission," She took off toward the door and he snagged her by the wrist.
"That room is Ella's domain; she'll be able to find your boots faster than you could hope to. She and Luis are in Newark and will be back at 0900. They can look for them then." He looked at the clock on the cable box, "we have an hour before we have to be up. Let's use it wisely."
RSRSRSRSRSRSRS
Ranger looked at his oldest friend with some concern and stopped the elevator and scrambled the cameras, "What's wrong Hermana?"
"I'm just being stupid." Meagan replied.
"I highly doubt that." He said wryly, "You have an IQ North of 180, last time anyone checked. You aren't physically capable of stupid."
"You know Lester and I got engaged before I died right?"
"I had a feeling," he replied.
"Last night he asked me what happened to my ring. He didn't elaborate on why he asked and it's been driving me crazy since."
"And?"
"There's no and. Are we starting over? Are we still engaged? Is he pissed with me? I know he's happy I'm back. I know he loves me, but it's freaking me out. Saying sorry isn't enough, and he says he understands but…"
"You're babbling."
"I don't have time to be stressed about this, but it's all I've been able to think about since he brought it up. I'm not sleeping so I can't think properly, between Steph and…Nevermind… Steph is priority and I should be focusing on not just because it's what I'm paid for, but because she means so much to you, but I'm having a hard time. It's like I'm obsessed and I can't lock it down."
"Come here." Ranger said and pulled her into a hug. He didn't need to say anything. She pulled away after a few seconds and re-started the elevator.
"Thanks."
The doors opened a second later on 6 and he used his fob to unlock the door directly in front of the lift. She opened the door and went inside.
"Why the hell is this vacant? Shouldn't this be Tank's?" Meagan asked.
The apartment took up almost half of the sixth floor, had very high ceilings and was unfinished. Ella and Luis had the only other place on six and it was only marginally larger than the places on 4. It was larger than the apartment on seven as it came equipped with a small dance studio and a second bedroom. Otherwise the floor plans were similar.
"He's got one on 4 and he has a house. This was always going to be yours; we started construction just before you died."
"And you just left it?" She looked incredulous.
"Les wouldn't take it; said you'd earned it, not him. Since you own it and you left everything to him, he just left it vacant. I've spoken to some contractors and they can have it finished in about a week, maybe two, if you can decide on floors, and a tub and they are in stock. Luis said he'll bring you paint chips to look at."
"Steph might like to help with selection so she doesn't go crazy. Searches can be mind numbing and I'd like to keep her exposure to a minimum. I'm sure you'll sleep better if I keep her in the building as much as possible."
"Thanks for that. I'm having a hard time remaining objective."
"So don't be." She said simply.
His nostrils flared slightly and he almost frowned. He obviously thought she was being obtuse.
"Either use the feelings Hermano or have someone else take the lead. You are no good to us if you are out of your mind with worry. The team is here to help you, not just make you look good." He didn't reply to that. He wasn't expected to.
"Want me to call Steph to help you with this?" He asked, pretending it was his idea, knowing the reaction it would get out of his former partner. He was rewarded with a mischievous grin.
"Sure. What the hell." She said. Steph was going to love her.
RSRSRSRSRSRS
Tank's door was open so Santos knocked on the doorframe. "Hey Tank. Can we talk for a minute?"
"Sure man, come in." Tank waved Santos into his office. Lester sat down, he looked tired but happy. Tank grinned, "You are going to have to start running more so you can match her stamina man."
"I've got three years of pent up energy working for me; it's not a problem. I just need to stay hydrated and maybe get a shot of B12." They both laughed.
"It's better here now. Have you noticed? Bomber is where she belongs, the boss's head is finally out of his ass and he's no longer calling everyone to the mats, and Tink is alive. It's like old times but better."
"She's still in trouble. Hell they both are. Meagan's told me some of what's going on but I know she's leaving shit out."
"Should Ranger be hearing this?"
"Probably, but that's actually not why I am here."
"What's up man?"
"You cleaned out her office; were you there when Asswipe emptied her safe?"
"You talkin' 'bout the ring?" He'd seen the general open the box and they'd both been surprised by the ring. He hadn't really appreciated just how good with his money Lester actually was until he'd seen it.
"Yeah man. I gave it to her the last time we had leave. We went to France. I proposed at Versailles in the Hall of mirrors. She cried. It was awesome. Third best day of my life."
"I saw it; Asswipe said it was worth a small fortune and he insisted on delivering it to you personally. Guess he never did huh?"
"He did not; I just always assumed she had it."
"I'll make some calls," Ranger said from the doorway. Lester turned around and looked at his cousin. He had Ranger's personalities figured out too, and right now he was looking at Ric, the cousin who'd been more like a brother, and not his boss."
"Don't worry about it Ric; she's in a lot of trouble with Asswipe as it is. I'll just get another one; it won't be the same but it's the thought that counts."
"What's she told you?" Ranger closed the door and took a seat and Lester filled them in. When he was finished Ranger pinched the bridge of his nose like he had a migraine starting. Tank tossed him a bottle of Advil and handed him a bottle of water. He popped a couple of the pills and contemplated what Lester had just told him."
"Sweet. My wife is being stalked by five hit men and my little sister has a corrupt black ops General gunning for her. This isn't going to end well." He ran a hand over his face in another uncharacteristic display of stress. "Fanfuckingtastic. Let me make some calls. I might have to put you both into hiding but I'll make sure she's not going to get blackmailed into another three year contract." He reassured Lester. "She was already burning out when she died; it can only have gotten worse since then."
"I appreciate that," Lester said, "I'm thinking it might be a good idea to go to the house. It's secure, and we have resources set up for a quick getaway. If we have to disappear, we can."
"Good," Ranger said, and he sighed, "I'll make you a deal. Let me worry about your woman; you worry about mine."
"And how do you want me to do that?"
"Stephanie can handle a day, maybe two of being cooped up before she starts going insane. Give her something to do; maybe show her how to build the profiles we're going to need, to catch these bastards. If I'm not worried that she's going to get fed up and ditch her protection, I'll be able to put some distance on this, and maybe be able to remain a little objectivity."
He rested his arms on his legs, and contemplated the part bottle of water, trying to suppress the stress.
Santos patted him on the shoulder, "She'll be alright man; she's been through worse and Steph is tough." Ranger chuckled. That was true. Though if they kept her cooped up any longer they might have to start giving her a constant IV drip of chocolate cake just to keep her stress levels down.
Santos got up to leave, "Hey, what were the other two?" Tank asked.
"Other two what?"
"You said that her saying yes was the third best day of your life. What were the other two?"
He smiled, "The day I met her, and the other day when I saw her in that conference room." He turned around and walked out.
"I'd be nauseous, but it's nice to see the real Lester Santos again. They are going to be unbearable for the next little while, and I don't think a lecture on professionalism in the work place is going to be effective."
"Besides, how do you tell a man who hasn't seen the woman he loves for years, that he's not allowed to touch her. Especially when he's working fourteen hour shifts to protect your wife's ass."
"Exactly," Ranger said, "That and Meagan would just tell me to fuck off, and probably make out with him in the com room just to piss me off. He'd better fucking propose again soon though, or Meagan is going to completely unspool, and that's never pretty."
"You know I saw that ring," Tank said thoughtfully, "It might actually be a good idea to make some calls about it. There might be a simple solution to Tink's problem."
"Explain."
"Well they got Capone on tax evasion right?" he leaned forward, "Maybe we don't need to nail him on whatever Tink thinks she might have. What do you know about diamonds?"
RSRSRSRSRSRSRS
"Babe I need to see you upstairs," Ranger said into my phone, before I had even had a chance to say "yo." Then he hung up before I could answer him. I looked at Tink.
"How come he has nice manners everywhere but the phone?" Tink was sitting in the guest chair in my cubicle reading about the life and Times of Big D on her iPad. She had her stockinged feet up on my desk and we were sharing a box of doughnuts. We were using an overturned file box as a makeshift picnic table and it was in between our two chairs. It turned out she loved refined sugar as much as I did and it was feed the blooming friendship between us. Tink shrugged her shoulders.
"What's he want?"
"Me, upstairs," Tink grabbed my wrist and checked my watch.
"Bit late for a nooner," She said around a mouth full of bear claw.
"He usually calls me into his office if he wants that. It's a more efficient use of company time if he doesn't have to go all the way upstairs." I replied. I liked talking with Tink like this. No teasing about my sex life and no fits of the vapours at the thought of Ranger naked. Why? She's seen him naked many times, and while there are certain family resemblances, Lester has the nicer ass.
"Touché" Tink said with a grin, "Mind if I hang out here? I'm comfortable, and what's supposed to be my office is currently being used to store, all manner of crap."
"Not at all; Just save me a couple of doughnuts. I'm almost done with Freddy Finch. You should be able to pull him up on your iPad soon." Finch was one of the baddies supposedly contracted to off me. I had two more to research for Meagan. After the first two searches she'd sent one of the men for donuts for us and she'd asked Lester if he could find her brain food. I was dying to know what fuelled that mind. He wasn't back yet.
I finger waved and walked out of the cube. When I got into our apartment I found Ranger, Tank and Hector sitting around a pad of paper. Hector was trying to draw something Tank had seen briefly years before. It looked like a ring.
"What's up?"
"You have a top secret mission Babe," he said, "You're going to have to work on it up here, I don't want Meagan involved unless it's absolutely necessary."
"Oh...Kay...What is it?" I asked cautiously. I knew I was going to get lobbed a lot of busy work to keep me in the building and I was a bit leery of people trying to interest me with "Top Secret" missions. Even if people meant Ranger.
"Santos and Tink were engaged before she uh you know…" Tank said, making a vague gesture, and letting the sentence end there. I didn't blame him, saying 'before she died' was weird, and saying 'before she faked her death' sounded a little Days of Our Lives. "Before she went on that last mission she put her engagement ring in the safe in her office. I was in the office cleaning out her personal effects, and General Asswipe, insisted on emptying the safe, and he found the ring. It was clearly very valuable and he said that he would deliver it to Lester, personally. That didn't happen, in fact, it never went near Lester, and he always assumed Tink was wearing it when she went on the mission."
"You want me to see if I can find out what happened to it?" I asked. Awww how sweet it that!?
"This is actually not about sentiment Babe," Ranger said. "This General has been doing his damned best to get Meagan killed for the last three years and he's pressuring her to re-up. She can't do it, she doesn't look it, but she's barely hanging in there. If she goes on another mission, she'll probably not survive; we need to buy time, to find evidence that will put him away forever. Meagan left everything to Lester, full stop. Any personal effects of hers in that safe, were his after she died and the theft of that ring is a felony. That should be enough to get him off of her back, and give the feds probable cause to start a larger investigation."
"How much is the ring worth?"
"If Tank's description and Hector's research is accurate, about $500k," Ranger said.
"Yowzers!" I knew they made good money with their government contracts but damn.
"Babe."
I had to see this ring! I fished out my phone and called Connie, "I'm looking to see if Santos had a ring insured about three years ago," I said when she answered. I could have done the search myself but Tink was in my cube and Connie was quick if you told her exactly what you were looking for. It took her five minutes of digging into Lester's financials before she answered.
"Yep, it's a gorgeous ring from the looks of the picture. Who knew the clown had that kind of game?" Connie sounded impressed.
"Thanks Con email me the picture and the policy." I disconnected and realized I pulled a Ranger and hadn't said goodbye before hanging up on her. My mother would have been horrified.
A few seconds later my phone dinged and I opened the picture of the ring, "Holy shit!"
The ring was a three carrot Princess cut pink diamond set in rose gold framed with a zillion smaller pink diamonds on a slender rose gold and pink diamond eternity band. It was stunning. There was a matching eternity wedding band on the policy as well.
"Jealous?" Ranger asked with some surprise; my own ring was nothing to sneeze at.
"Of course not. This ring isn't my style at all, it's 1000% Tink though. It's gorgeous and over the top; I'm not surprised Lester piked this at all."
Ranger handed Tank my phone, "Yup; that's the ring all right," he said and Hector whistled.
"Do you know where he had it made?" I asked. This was no ordinary pick it up at any jewellery store ring. He had this custom made for her; no question.
"Nope," Tank said.
"It's probably on the insurance form; is the General married? Does he have a daughter? Girlfriend?"
"Uuuhhhhh," From all three.
"Men," I mumbled, "Okay I need the General's name." I took my phone back from Tank.
"General Seymour Humphries," Ranger said.
"One of these days I am not going to believe you because you will have made up a name just to test me," I muttered. I tapped in 'General Humphries and pink diamond' into google. It was a long shot; pink diamonds of any size, weren't cheap and if he was smart, he'd have sold them individually. Apparently he wasn't smart because I got a bunch of hits mostly from capitol hill gossip columns.
"He gave it to his girlfriend Sandra Freemint three years ago; they have since been married." I pulled up some images and sure enough she was wearing the ring on her right pinkie at a charity gala. I showed the boys the picture and then scrolled through googled some more. "You are going to like this. They are now divorced, and she lives in DC with newspaper publisher Eric Whitman."
I googled her alone, and saw her wearing the ring on her pinkie at a recent state dinner, "and she still has the ring."
I looked up, "What?!" I nearly shouted at the three sets of brown eyes that were staring at me.
"You're really good at this Babe."
I shrugged. I grew up in the burg; I know gossip and this sort of thing is what I excelled at.
"Is Lester still paying for the insurance on the ring?" Ranger asked.
I pulled up the form and read through it.
"Yup, and your guess was right it's worth $501,800. The wedding band is worth about $70K."
Ranger kissed my cheek and walked into his office. He got on the phone and twenty minutes later he came back out. "I need to go to Washington; I'll be back tomorrow at the latest. Send me those links and the insurance policy," He kissed me with quite a bit of tongue and then he was gone. I turned to Hector and Tank.
"What just happened?" I asked.
"I don't know but I think we might want to watch the news tonight," Tank said.
RSRSRSRSRSRSRS
"Tink?" We were back in my cube, she'd been to see the Director of the field office and was dressed in a beautiful black suit, and after seeing the ring Lester bought for her, and noting her always expensive shoes, I started to wonder just how loaded she actually was. My guess was very.
"Mmmm?" She said.
"Why do you care what brand of sneakers Finch wears?"
"Can't fuck with his head if I don't know what makes him tick," She said without looking up. She was one of those true multitaskers who could actually effectively do three things at once without making a mistake. It was annoying. "Some guys are really into shoes. If he shops at Target-she pronounced it Tar-jay- then he doesn't care about his shoes, but if he dropped $2000 on a pair of Jordan's, then we might be able to use them as leverage. Or it might mean he's vain and in that case a little threat of facial scarring could be enough to get him to back off. Though in fairness, the threat of facial scarring works on just about everyone."
"You're really scary sometimes."
"You have no idea," She said all of this in a bored tone while she continued to flip through Big D's file. Just another day at the office for the killer Pixie.
I shuddered. "Okay. I don't know if I want to know the answer to this," I said and she looked up, "But why are we gathering data to uhh-mess with their minds exactly?" She sat back in her chair and thought about it. Probably trying to come up with a PSYOPS for dummies type explanation.
"It's all about intimidation; like a pissing contest if you will. When they first found out about the price on your head every wannabe Slayer in Trenton was gonna go after you. Ranger and Joe caught one before he got into your apartment and they put the fear of Ranger into him. He spread it around that you were Ranger's woman now and not The Cop's Bitch and they all backed off. Like pronto. The seedy side of Trenton could care less about the police but are terrified of Ranger.
"So Big D here thinks he's King Shit of Turd Island because he's out there in L.A. And doesn't know the lay of the land here. And he's not gonna sit around while his guys in Trenton are too scared to go after a little white chick because they are afraid of some dude named Manoso. It makes him look bad and messes with his power. I mean his men should be more afraid of what he'd do than of some guy he's never heard of before.
So to show he's serious he hires the best and craziest hit men he has under his control and just to make sure his men get the message, we hear the orders are to grab you and that Big D himself wants to do the honours. He is going to show everyone he isn't afraid of some Cuban dude. But big D isn't that bright and he's not done his research; he doesn't have the full picture, where it comes to you. I mean he could publicly put an end to you and all that but he'd pay the price for it. Probably very slowly and we'd wipe out the Slayers, which is our goal. But you would be dead so that's not an option we want to let him explore."
Yikes!
"So we obviously have to find these guys before he has the chance to realize how badly he's fucking up; which Ranger will do because that's what he does. Problem is, what do we do with them once we find them? We can kill them, arrest them, scare them shitless or all of the above.
"Killing them is permanent but the local constabulary would probably frown upon a sextuple homicide. We could make it look like it was gang related and even if TPD was willing to look the other way it would look fishy to the LAPD so we don't wanna go there, unless we really have to. If we arrest them then there is the possibility that Big D gets off or is able to call the shots from the inside. Either way you and Sally are still boned. Not to mention it doesn't really solve the problem. Taking out Big D probably won't put an end to the threat, it could just inspire retribution which means that we have a new problem to deal with.
Then there is scarring the pants off of them. We make it clear to them that it's a bad idea to mess with Stephanie Manoso. I personally think this is the best plan because if we get that message off loud and clear then hopefully two years from now this doesn't happen again.
Unfortunately I don't think it's going to be that easy and we might have to use a little bit of column A and a little of column B in order to achieve column C, hence D, all of the above," she said. She went back to reading and left me to compute that.
"I really hate column A," I said.
"I hear ya. I almost never order off of column A anymore," Same bored tone of voice.
"You are really scary sometimes Tink," I paused, "I bet you could come up with an awesome Haunted house at Halloween."
"Yup."
RSRSRSRSRSRS
Morelli stood at the bar at Pino's waiting for his pizza when Meagan walked in and up to the bar. She placed an order for an obscene number of pizzas, he ordered her a Guinness and walked over to her.
"That's some serious comfort eating you are about to do. Did you and Santos have a fight?" He said.
She chuckled ruefully, "No," she gratefully took the beer, "He and Carlos are in Washington; hopefully just for the night. And when the cats away, the mice will consume massive amounts of grease, fat and carbohydrates."
The words were right the facial expression was right, her eyes were all wrong. They lacked their usual mischievous glint.
Joe snagged her elbow and gently lead her to a booth at the back. "Spill it Princess; what's eating you?"
She took a long pull on her beer, "I'm supposed to be inscrutable you know," she mumbled.
"Maybe, but I've been shamelessly ogling you for a month and a half now. I'm picking up on the subtle nuances. Now talk." The smile was genuine this time if a little sad.
"I shouldn't have come back yet," she said, "I could have sent someone else to you and worked my contracts behind the scenes, but I missed New Jersey, and part of me was looking for a an innocent way to bump into Ranger. Like I said though, it was a mistake, and I think I'm going to have to renew my contract. I got a phone call five minutes after after Lester left this morning explaining to me just how valuable an asset I am. I was not so gently reminded that retiring wasn't in my best interest, but I'm done Joe. I really am. I need a long vacation where I don't wear four different guns just to feel safe walking out the door."
"So don't sign another contract."
"I wish it was that easy Joe." she gave up suppressing the emotions and her lip quivered. No point in trying if the man you are talking to can see through you anyway, "I'm trying to get some leverage that will get me out but it might not exist anymore and I put everyone in danger by coming back from the dead before I had all of my ducks in a row. Now Les and Carlos are in DC, and I can't reach them. I been in touch with my DC contacts, and they have no idea why you boys are there, and it's all I can do to not panic. Carlos said he was under orders and couldn't tell me why they were going but that he'd be able to explain when he got back. That makes me more nervous than you can possibly imagine. And then there is Lester…"
"What about him? Things looked pretty good between you."
"We were engaged when I died, and now that I'm back I don't know where we stand and I'm terrified to ask him. I'd marry him tomorrow if he asked me but what I did was awful. I had my reasons, but I know he's angry. I know he is.
Have you seen how slow Bobby's been moving lately? He's taking his aggression out on B, in the gym but he's refusing to talk about how he feels about it with me."
"I think, you need to rip that bandaid off Princess and just talk to him," Joe said, "I think the chances of him telling you to go fuck yourself are pretty slim. At worst he'll say that you need to date again for a little while to see if you were where you were three years ago. If he hasn't asked for the ring back though that's probably a pretty slim chance."
"He asked me what happened to it last night," she said quietly, "It's making me crazy. Oh Joe this is so fucked up." she looked, for the first time since he met her, helpless. For someone carrying four guns and capable of taking on every man in the bar single handedly, it was so out of character, that the cry for help he saw in her eyes nearly broke his heart.
He switched sides of the booth and pulled her into a hug that would probably start Burg tongues wagging. He didn't care. She was a friend in need and he didn't have answers but he could offer comfort. She didn't cry but her breathing was rapid as she tried to get it under control and she seemed to fold herself into the embrace as if hoping that somehow the hug could shield her from the shit storm that was her life; even if it was just for a little while.
He was staring out of the window over her head while she gathered herself and he froze. "Uh Princess, how do you feel about a little physical activity?"
"Joe," She said wryly, "While I appreciate the offer…"
He grinned and chuckled softly, "Isn't that Freddy Finch outside?"
He expected her head to snap up but she was too good for that. She waited a beat and calmly sat up and grabbed a cocktail napkin and blew her nose and then checked her makeup in the window of the bar.
"Yes; and right now I feel like beating the shit out of someone, so I hope he resists."
Joe texted a couple of the off duty cops at the bar and he kind of felt a little bad for Finch. This guy didn't know he was about to walk into the TPD watering hole, and there was a military trained human weapon drinking a beer and looking to violently blow off steam. Word went around the bar fast that one of the guys Morelli was after was about to walk in and he was assured that back up was at hand. "How do we want to play it?" He asked.
"I'm having a bad day and you are walking me to my car to make sure I am okay. Then you'll stand back unless I signal for help."
"Sounds good to me."
Joe looked out the window and it was the perfect scenario. Finch was admiring Meagan's car, lots of men did, because it was a man's car, or it would be if it weren't pink. Joe sent a text to let the rest of his backup in on Meagan's idea. Finch was going to find himself in a cell in short order. They didn't need to press actual charges, he had several federal warrants out for his arrest already and that meant Meagan had jurisdiction. They stepped out into the parking lot and he hugged her and whispered in her ear, "Are you carrying?" he knew she was but wanted confirmation.
"I make Rambo look like a pussy," She sniffed, "plus I am a weapon."
He tilted her head back, "and again, Modest too," He repeated. She laughed ruefully. He kissed her forehead like they were just two friends saying goodbye at the end of a hard day.
He stepped into the shadows and she walked to the car. Finch either hadn't seen him or didn't care that he had been there. "Yo, your car for sale sweetheart?" Finch called when Meagan hit the fob to unlock her car. What only she knew was that Rangeman was also going to be listening in on this conversation. She'd hit her panic button. Tank would be sending backup too. Hopefully Bobby.
"No; she's my baby," Her voice was playful and deceptively innocent.
"Why? Do you like it? Most guys don't cuz of the colour."
She smiled and walked closer to Finch. He wasn't big, maybe 5'10 150 lbs but Morelli had read his file. He knew this guy was bad news. He liked knives a lot, and he especially, enjoyed carving things into the victims he let live. His favourite canvas being the face. Joe had his weapon drawn and he was just waiting for Meagan's signal.
He heard her sharp intake of breath and saw her register fake surprise at the flash of a knife blade, "Maybe you want to give me your keys."
She discretely gave Joe a signal to stand down, and he felt even worse for Finch. He wouldn't want to go hand to hand with Tink on a regular day, and he really wouldn't want to fight her seriously when she felt like hitting something.
She looked afraid. Except Joe had seen her shift her weight slightly, just like he'd seen Ranger do, just before he was about to strike.
"Actually sweetheart, I think I'll take you and the car. You look like you know how to have a good time." He grabbed her bicep.
"I've been having a really shitty day," She said with a new chill in her voice, and Joe took an involuntary step back. That sexy voice was oozing menace, and it caused his adrenaline to spike. Finch felt it too and he looked suddenly unsure of himself "So thank you for the threat, and the assault because things are now starting to look up."
"What do you mean?" Finch said, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.
Meagan was lightening quick. She punched him hard in the throat and then twisted out of his grasp while he was trying to breathe. As she turned she grabbed his wrist and used her momentum to twist his arm and then she brought her free hand down. There was a wet crunch and a strangled sound as Finch tried to scream. After that it took all of two seconds before Finch was down on the ground and cuffed.
"Damn, I was hoping for more of a fight; I guess that rep was all talk," she said. She knelt down with her knee on his back and removed all of his weapons. When she stood up there were about fifteen off duty cops in the parking lot, with guns drawn watching her, "Someone wanna call a bus? I think I broke his trachea…Oh and I know I broke his elbow."
Two large black SUVs pulled up and Bobby and Tank exited them at a run. Bobby knelt down beside Finch and started working on him while they waited for the ambulance.
"What'd he do to piss you off?" Tank asked mildly, as he hauled her to her feet.
"He tried to steal my car," she said, and ran a hand through her hair. Tank nodded like it was a perfectly acceptable reason to break someone's elbow, "Our pizzas are probably ready if you wanna go pay for them." Thank chuckled and pulled her into a one armed hug, and kissed the top of her head.
"Christ! I thought you drove a desk Harris?" One of the cops said.
She shrugged, the twinkle was back in her black eyes, "Sometimes I get a little restless."