Saving All My Women

by Rangerbabe21

What can Ranger do when Stephanie is taken and the threat that comes in is for all his women: Julie, his mother and sister's too. Where and how can he protect them, when the bad guys can find them where ever they go? Babe HEA

18. Chapter 18 California Beginnings

Chapter 18 California Beginnings

A/N I actually got two chapters written last week so here is a bonus chapter. 😊

I turned to Stephanie who had her arms crossed and was glaring at me.

"Babe, I know you don't understand, but there is nothing between me and Skylar."

"But you are so nice to her. Over the top nice."

"Let me tell you a story." I told her all about Danger and my promise to him.

"So, you CAN be polite: just not to me." She said at the end, got up, and stormed up the stairs with Marc quietly slipping up the stairs to follow her.

Damn, it had been so hard to learn how to talk to Skylar and now I realized I was going to have to do better with Stephanie. I locked my computer and set it aside with all the papers. I had to go talk to her and I had to figure out what to say. I went up to our room, passing Marc in the hallway, and knocked on the door before opening it to see her sitting on the end of the bed staring at her ring.

"Babe, the way I talk, the way I am is normal for me; I am abrupt, I get to the point. I have spent the last eight years in the military, not talking, well only talking when necessary. We are concise. How I talk to Skylar is unnatural for me. It took me a long time to be able to talk to her like that."

"But she means enough to you to learn to do it." The 'and I don't' was implied.

"Well I was under the threat of death or dismemberment."

"But still you care enough about her to be over the top gracious and polite on the phone. In all the years, I've known you, you've never said goodbye to me. Not one single time."

"Babe, I don't say goodbye to anyone, not my mother, my grandmothers, my sisters or my men."

"And not to me. I'm not worth enough in your life to respect me." Her shoulders went back as anger flashed in her eyes.

"Babe, I respect you, I love you. You're the most important person in my entire life. It's just in the armed services we don't say good bye. We finish and then we're done. We don't ask how your day is going either."

"Well this may come as a shock to you, because you run your business like the military, but you're a civilian now. You were discharged. You are out of the military. And I don't care how abrupt you are with your men but there are two women in your life you are going to start being nice to. Me and your mother. She deserves your respect too. Actually, make that three. You're going to respect my mother too."

"Babe."

"No Ranger, that's the third time you have talked to her in front of me and you're super polite, you tell her how wonderful she is and you always say goodbye. I'm going to be your wife and you are going to start treating me with the same respect or I'll shoot you with your own gun!" I had to fight to keep my lips from twitching. I knew she was seriously mad, she was really hurt and I was going to have to make some changes.

I walked over and sat down next to her on the bed. I reached out and took her right hand in mine as I turned to her. "Babe I will change. It's not going to be easy for me," I looked deep in her sad eyes, "I will get better. I would do anything for you and I know what you're asking for isn't that much but it goes against my programming," I sighed. "It's something I…" I didn't know what else to say. "It took me years to learn to talk to her like that so you'll just have to be patient."

"I know you can do better than that, when you talk to me just pretend you're talking to her. You don't even hesitate, you sweet talk her and don't think twice about it." I saw tears forming in her eyes and I knew she felt neglected, disrespected, betrayed and second best in my life.

"Stephanie. You are the most amazing woman in my world and I thank God every day that you are now mine." Ok slightly blasphemous but true. "You are the most important person to me. I will do anything I can for you." Like kill a guy who has threatened to hurt you. I wish she would ask for that because it would be so much easier than this. "Babe I will always talk to you like that on the phone and in private, but not too much in public, I still have a badass reputation to maintain." I explained and then leaned in to kiss her.

"Not so fast." She said leaning back. "You talk to her like that in public."

"Not in public. I do it in front of you, but I never talk to her in front of my men or anybody else. I'd never live it down." She sat staring over my head and I knew she was thinking about it.

"and I promise to say goodbye to your mom and mine." I added.

Her eyes flew back to mine and she smiled, "Okay, but I'm holding you to that, or I'll still get your gun and shoot you."

"Ok." I told her. Then I thought for a moment. "Any specific place you plan on shooting me?" I asked offhandedly.

She smirked, "No place life threatening, or permanently damaging, but it would lay you up for a while, like maybe your foot….and you would have to lay in bed," and she pulled her hand out of mine, turned towards me, moved them both to my waist and started feeling her way down. "and I would have to give you a sponge bath." She smiled at me and I kissed her. Long and slow and deep. I knew most of the families were putting their kids to bed and if we disappeared for thirty minutes no one would notice.

I had specifically assigned Stephanie and me to the room at the end of the hall next to my men. I knew they would never say anything to me and if my sexual exploits went through the ranks it would only improve my standings with my men. In my life, I had only met one man that came close to having the same sexual stamina as me and he had gotten married a few years ago. He and I made great wingmen because where everyone else could only go two or three rounds and then want to leave, he could go all night like me and still want to go again in the morning.

I'll never forget the night we picked up an entire Bridal party on a bet. Eight bridesmaids and the bride. We rented the honeymoon suite and spent the night fucking while the women played drinking games. After we rented the room, we told the ladies to order room service and watch a movie, we'd be back in half an hour.

We came back forty minutes later with a cooler full of ice, vodka, rum, tequila rose liqueur, coke, three 6-packs of redbull, four different kinds of fruit juice, maraschino cherries, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, chips, dip, snacks, four twelve packs of condoms, playing cards, sex cards, dirty dice and four more bottles of the rose wine they had been drinking.

We had bet in the car about who could use the most condoms. At eight am, we had drunk most of the rum and vodka with redbull as the mixer and were happily drunk, wide-awake and mostly sated. We had used thirty-one of the condoms, he was one ahead of me but all the women had passed out and there was no one left to fuck to even up the score. I had tried to wake three different girls up with kisses and soft petting, but two turned me down flat, rolling over and mumbling for me to go away and the third dashed to the bathroom and threw up.

So, we gave up, ordered room service, showered and sat around in robes hacking into their phones and deleting all the pictures that showed our faces. We had told them when they started they couldn't take pictures of our faces so we felt justified in doing it. I sent a bunch of the pictures to my phone so we could prove to the guys we had won their bet. The night had been fun, the girls nice, the sex excessive but it would never compare to one time with Stephanie.

I was waiting till we got married but I was going to give her a set of dirty dice, maybe a sex game or deck of dirty cards. Then I would introduce chocolate syrup, cherries, whipped cream and finally different flavors of fat free cake frosting. She thinks I don't like desserts what she doesn't know is that the plate you eat your dessert off of makes all the difference. Besides the little bit of frosting I spread on her is nothing compared to one piece of cake that she so loves. Oh, now that I think about it we would go through whole desserts. Flan, pudding, jello, ice cream, cheese cake, pies, oh endless assortments of fresh baked pies. I'll show her how I like warm fruit pie and she'll want to feed it to me every night.

If I know her she will want a turn to eat it off me too! That of course would be part of the purpose and a big part of the plan to introduce desserts into the bedroom. Dios I could just imagine her moans in the bedroom as she ate her favorite desserts off me. I smiled slightly even as I looked down to see my hard, pulsing member being dragged out by her soft and tender hands.

Tonight, I was going to show her how I felt about her and I stopped her exploring hands that had my pants open and dropped down to her feet. I removed her sandals kissing her feet, the inside of her ankles then stroking my way up to her knees that I knew to be sensitive. I kissed her there too and stood up bringing her with me and kissed her hard and intense while I divested us of all our clothes.

Minutes later I tossed her onto the bed and began crawling my way up. Kissing her calves, knees, licking and kissing my way up the inside of her thighs. I jumped over her sweet spot, kissing up her left hip bone and across her stomach to dip my tongue inside her bellybutton. She squealed and laughed and pushed my head away.

I kissed up her right ribs to circle her nipple that was hardened in anticipation. Next I kissed over to her shoulder and across to her neck. She was breathing hard and squirming with expectation. I jumped to her chin, kissed it, kissed her nose and then settled on her mouth where I devoured her. Her arms wrapped around my back, clutching at me and pulling me closer. I laid my body down on hers, my dick resting in the center of her legs, her hardened nipples poking into my chest, holding up just enough weight so she could still breathe.

After several minutes kissing her mouth, I moved down her neck to her breasts, and lavished excessive praise on them. In between kisses, licking and sucking, I told her how much I loved them, how perky they were, spectacularly responsive, so sweet, hard nipples like rock candy. I tugged on them with my teeth and she moaned. I worked my way back down with her writhing body moving underneath me as I kissed my way to her right hip bone, with her fingers digging into my shoulders trying to direct where I should go.

I made my way over and kissed her soft hairs, trimmed in a straight line like a runway showing me where to land my plane. I licked and kissed her clit, worshipping that little nub while her hands dug into my hair holding me in place while she moaned and thrust her hips up to meet my mouth. I slipped two fingers inside her wet tight heat and started a slow rhythmic stroke. I kept it up slowly increasing my pace; when I lifted to look at her as she was gasping for air, she groaned out a "Nooooo," forcing my head back down with her hands, thrusting her hips harder up toward me and I began to suck. Lightly at first, then I took her nub between my teeth and sucked and bit tenderly until she shattered.

"Carlos…" came out in a ragged groan as her whole body tensed up and released. Dios, I am so hard for her and when she calls my name I want to slam into her and fuck her till next week. I moved my mouth down to her pussy to lap at all the hot juices that were starting to come and I pulled out my fingers replacing them with my tongue, licking and licking in nice long strokes parting her lips and tonguing her hole. After several minutes, she started pulling my hair up, in an attempt to pull me on top of her.

"Ranger, Carlos, please." I hear. I know she gets really sensitive for a few moments after she comes and needs a moment's break. I make my way up her body kissing random sensitized spots as I go, listening to her gasp and squirm underneath me. I reach her mouth and kiss it, and kiss, and kiss. When I pull away I am achingly hard and desperate for her.

I grab a condom, slip it on and move over her. I know she is still sensitive and her inner muscles are still twitching and contracting. I feel them clamping down on me as I slowly slide inside her, reveling in the way she is so tight, hot and ready for me. "Babe" I growled, holding myself still so she can relax and begin to adjust to my size. So tight, so good, if I move I'm going to lose it like a fresh-faced fourteen-year-old.

I never equated emotions to good sex. I was always exceptionally detached to my one-nighters. But my feelings for Stephanie added a whole new dimension to the sex. Feelings that make me want her more, make me crave being inside her like an all-natural high that I can't get enough of. Making my release feel like my whole body is awash in pleasure, my mind overwhelmed with it, my heart like it is going to simply explode from my chest.

Dios, it has never been this good and it seems to just keep getting better. I focused on bringing her back in the game. I kissed her for several moments until I felt her relax, letting me slide in further, and then she tilted her hips up and moved against me. That was my green light and I began to move, achingly slow inside her, then faster. Setting a gently pounding rhythm that I knew from my past I could easily sustain.

I realized one thing I had never done was see how long one erection could last while continually fucking. I could already last so long I have never pushed it, not wanting to completely wear my partner out. That time in the hot tub I was focused on how many times I could make Stephanie cum and stopped at five because I was wearing her out. Of course, that position required her to ride me and her thighs were trembling as much, if not more, as her insides were by the time we were done.

I was going to have to repeat the challenge in a bed, seeing how long I could last and how many times I could make her cum in one fucking session. Mouths and hands not counting, strictly cocky satisfaction. I smiled to myself and kept going and going and I could feel her build around me. I slowed the pace and leaned down to take her lips and spur her engines into high gear. When her heels were pressing into the bed as she worked her hips in time with mine I took it to the next level, speeding up until she arched against me groaning and tightening around me. I let her drag me over the top and every muscle tightened. I couldn't even breathe as my lungs froze, everything stiffened and I was releasing into her over and over and over again.

I collapsed on top of her, feeling bad, worried one day I wouldn't have any strength left and crush her. I lifted a little of my weight off her and her arms tightened around my neck and she sought my lips even as she was working to slow her breathing. When we broke away again, I put my forehead to hers and looked in those fathomless blue eyes and told her, "I love you. Don't ever doubt that I would do anything for you."

She smiled brightly at me, "Even come take a shower with me?"

"Of course. Just give me a minute." And I felt myself going half hard inside her again at the thought. I pulled out of her and discarded the condom, rolling to my side and pulling her into me. This might not be the best time to discuss it but no time like the present.

"Babe, when we get back… can we find alternative preventive measures? Like the pill or better yet the shot?" She looked surprised at my question. "I want to feel you, skin to skin. I don't want to live in condoms forever."

"Sure, I guess. When I was married before I got on the pill, but then I went so long without sex I stopped. I just have to go see a doctor again." She said as she snuggled into me.

Twenty minutes later we'd done it again in the shower and were redressed and headed back downstairs, Ramon trailing a long distance behind us, to finish the lists and see what Skylar had sent me. I checked my email on my phone and found she had already sent me the security protocol and a detailed breakdown of crimes in the parks for two years ago which she said was the last year published.

In the living room, all the women but my mother and grandmothers had congregated watching a comical movie about witches and magic. Picking up my laptop and the papers, I took Stephanie's hand and began to drag her into the den, when I realized all the men, except my father were in there watching one of the last Transformer movies. I led her into the library, with a smaller 40-inch TV that no one was using, and sat on the couch pulling her down next to me.

I handed her the papers and asked her to number the most popular places to go after the ones I already had on my list. Specifically, for my parents and grandmothers. After several minutes of scanning condensed reports, it seems both Disneyland and Universal Studios used both metal detectors and an intense screening protocol at the entrances and had seen no gun violence in their parks. Most of the crimes committed at the different parks were shoplifting, passing counterfeit money and tickets, and cars being broken into. Very low numbers of violent crimes, the most common being rape or attempted rape and I knew in our large group with bodyguards that was nothing to worry about.

My biggest concern was that the men that were after the women might find us while we were exposed in small enough groups to shoot or take a woman out. But the gate protocol would make it almost impossible to get a gun in the park and the park was separated from the surrounding neighborhood businesses by an eight-foot wall. Nothing a ladder couldn't overcome, but they had an army of employees watching for such things. It was such a farfetched idea that they would know we were in the park and find us amongst the thousands of visitors on any given day.

I turned to Stephanie. "Babe what do you thing about a day at the theme parks?"

"That would be great! I love rollercoasters and I know Julie, Becky and Maggie would love it too. In fact, they asked me to talk to you about going to the Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios. They really want to do that." She smiled big at me.

I smiled back. "Well, Skylar has sent me the crime reports for the different theme parks and Universal Studios seems the safest. Their biggest problem is shoplifting. They have a very strict screening protocol at the entrance and they have an 'everyone involved' policy. That means all their employees are watching all the time for anything or anyone suspicious. Their person on person crime numbers are very low."

"I think that taking Julie to go on the Harry Potter ride could win you some kind of 'Father of the Year' award, and your nieces and nephews will nominate you for 'Coolest Uncle Ever.'"

"Let's go talk to the women."

We went into the living room, passing Ramon who was standing right outside the doorway, just as a really funny scene came on and everyone was laughing. I stepped up next to the large 65-inch screen and asked them to pause the movie. I went into the dark man cave that had every light but the TV turned off and asked the men to join us for a minute.

"Ladies, my travel assistant has sent me the crime reports for Universal Studios Theme Park and their security protocol. After reviewing them I am reconsidering going to a theme park for a day. How many of your kids do you think would be interested?"

"My kids are the first in line," Leyla said.

"Wild elephants couldn't drag them away." Richard added.

"My kids would love it. They love theme parks but have gotten a little tired of the ones in Florida." Rachel said.

"They are a little spoiled when it comes to theme parks." Ron said.

"My kids have never been to a theme park. I know they will be thrilled." Isabella said and Diego nodded. Isabella had just graduated with her nursing degree two-years ago and had started working right away to pay off her student loans and help support their growing family. I knew that time was as much an issue as money for them.

"Ok, I already have scheduled the next two days of museums but if that goes well I am going to schedule Universal Studios for Thursday." Everyone agreed that it sounded like a good idea.

"Great, do me a favor. Don't tell the kids yet. I will announce it at breakfast and explain that they have to be good for the next two days to earn going to the theme park. Everyone can go back to their movies, but Oshanna I'd like to talk to you more. Can you get your laptop from the table and come in the library with us so we can figure some activities for you this week?" Skylar had sent me a list of options that I knew would interest her.

I took Stephanie back to the library, we sat back down on the couch where she cuddled into me and I put my arm around her. A few minutes later I heard Oshanna calling me. "We're in the library." I called back to her and she popped her head in.

"Oshanna come sit next to me and let's look at the options. I have you down for the full day LA Star's tour tomorrow. There is a thriving fashion industry here in LA. There are two fashion tours: the first one is a tour of celebrity's homes and a shopping spree on Rodeo drive. The second one is a three-day tour, the first day of LA and Warner Brother's Studios, the second day has the Fashion District, Downtown's Santee Alley, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Little Tokyo, and Le Brea avenue."

"Personally, I think you would be happiest on the tour we have scheduled for tomorrow and then the second day of this tour. What do you think?"

"Can you do that? Only do one day of the tour?"

"We will see in the morning, but I'm betting my travel assistant can arrange it if that's what you want."

"Hot Potato! That would be awesome. Steph, do you want to come too?"

"I'm not sure, I was planning to be with Carlos." This warmed my heart that she wanted to stay with me but I knew I was going to be working the next two days, not running around the town having fun. I would definitely go on Thursday, in a park that big we needed all the security we could manage.

"Babe you can see from the list where everyone is going. I'm going to be staying behind working on the rest of this trip. I have paperwork to do and stuff from the office I have to deal with. Go have fun touring and shopping." I leaned over close to her ear. "I'll even raise the shopping limit on your credit card."

She sat back eyes wide. "You don't have to do that."

I leaned over to her ear again. "I do because I want you to buy something nice to wear."

"Oshanna, I'll even raise the limit on your credit card to $2500 so you can shop. Tomorrow night we are all planning on going to the observatory. But Wednesday night I'm going to look into some comedy clubs or someplace you can wear whatever you buy." She squealed and hugged me sideways trying not to dump her computer off her lap. "Once I can confirm what you can do I will send it to your email. Check it throughout the day tomorrow."

"Thanks Bro, you're the best!" She said as she sprung from the room. Great now she was picking things up from Julio.

Stephanie took the page and wrote Universal Studios Park on Thursday for all the families. I wasn't sure what my parents would want but expected if the whole family was going they would probably want to go too.

Tuesday May 19 05:30

I was up at 05:30 to go running, passing Ramon who was standing in the hallway a few feet from our door. He had quickly tucked his cellphone away and I was sure he had been playing on it. I didn't care, I would rather have him awake playing on his phone than asleep from boredom staring at the walls all night. "You are making hourly rounds and check-ins?" I verified.

"Yes, Sir."

"Carry-on."

I went into the kitchen of the third house to find two men cooking large piles of eggs and bacon. I gathered all the dayshift men and told them the basic plans for the day, where everyone was headed, and asked them to join the family in the first house at 07:45. I also let them know that shifts were changing to 08:00 till 22:00, or once we were back home. That tonight we were going to the Observatory at 22:00 and they were on their targets till we got back home. That we were taking ten SUVs and that the largest families would be in the SUVs with third row seats. I passed out the endangered forms, one for each woman the men were protecting. Told them about local restaurants they can order from and dismissed them to go back to their eating and looked for Ian, Eddie, Billy or Woody. I found Ian and Eddie.

"I assume if you had found anything last night you would have notified me."

"No tracking programs found and no incriminating emails telling where we are. All the electronics are in the correct houses on the kitchen tables." Ian informed me.

"Oshanna is emailing with work, and the kids are emailing with teachers and classmates, Julio is emailing several girls, who all seem to think they are dating him, but no information that would give our location away. He does have an impressive porn collection though, he needs a computer with more memory. His is filled up with videos." Eddie added.

"Good work. Keep the new computers and equipment until we are back at RangeMan."

I was back in our room to wake Stephanie at 07:00. We had a nice shower together skipping the frolicking because we had done a lot of it last night and I was very conscious not to wear her out. When we got downstairs, my mother was in the kitchen cooking up a storm of French toast, while my Abuela Rosa was slicing up a large selection of fruit.

"Good morning Mama." I greeted her as I kissed her on her cheek. The French toast transporting me back to when I was little. "Buenas dias, Abuela." And I kissed her on the cheek.

"Get plates and eat while it's hot." Mama pointed to a pile of plates and forks on the counter. I took a plate and slipped three slices of French toast on it. I got a vanilla yogurt out of the fridge, because my mother never would buy plain and also got a bunch of fruit, including apple and orange slices, blueberries, a whole banana and some pineapple.

Stephanie joined me with a plate full of French toast swimming in butter and syrup. There were two apple slices on the side and I knew she had only taken them for my benefit. Slowly more family filed in and I thought about what my men were having for breakfast. I ate with the yogurt and fruit spread on top of my French toast instead of the customary butter and syrup. When I was through eating I put my plate in the dishwasher and walked over to the third house. The kitchen here had been set aside for my men. Night shift was in there now, cooking eggs and bacon and making a pile of toast.

"Report" I said to Ramon who was at the stove.

"No noises, no movement, nothing happened all night long."

"Good." I got the attention of all the men gathered around the kitchen and dining room. "Starting tonight I am changing the shifts to 22:00 to 08:00. We are going to be at the observatory tonight. Come on shift as normal and watch for us to get home. Also, there is a little plaza outside this housing development with a breakfast place, a sub shop, and Italian and Greek restaurants. Feel free to order out for any meals as long as there is a car to go pick it up. Here," I picked them up off the counter, "are the menus. No food deliveries." Several men whooped.

"No more eating this sad excuse for food." Chet said and pulled out his phone to call in an order.

"We are taking ten SUVs, leaving you guys two. Here are the keys." I put two keys with fobs and rental tags on the counter. I passed out one letter of protection for each woman to the men assigned to their houses, leaving one copy each for my personal file. "Catch up on your sleep. Everyone will be gone today so it will be quiet in the houses."

I walked back over to the first house to find all the kids sitting around the dining room table or on the back porch eating. The living room was filled with eating adults. I addressed everyone inside, what the activities were for the week and told the kids if they were good the next two days we would go to Universal Studios theme park on Thursday.

Cheers went up around the room and I got a lot of questions, especially from Shylia who wanted to know when we could go to Disneyland and see the princesses. I told her I wasn't sure, that I would have to talk to her parents, and Isabella came over to tell me that Shylia was into dressing up as all her favorite princesses. I told her Friday wasn't scheduled yet and maybe we could work it in.

I went over the rules for the day and then went outside to repeat everything. Julie, Maggie, and Becky were outside laid back in loungers, with their food balanced across their laps. Freddie and Chris were there too sitting at two chairs around the glass table with a solid blue umbrella. I ran through the plans for the next two days, the rules everyone had to follow, and then told them if everyone was good and we didn't have any problems we would go to Universal Studios Theme park on Thursday.

Squeals went around, Julie got up and hugged me enthusiastically. I got several 'Yeahs' and 'That's great'. And for the second time this trip I wanted to spend more time with these kids and my family. I got my family ready to go and had everyone gather in the living room with all my dayshift men.

"No trackers were found on the electronics. Thank you everyone, you can take yours back. They are on the tables in your respective houses. Now for today, everyone knows where they are going. Two men to each woman. Men raise your hands as your names are called. Mama you have Erik and Francis, Stephanie you have Marc and Tiger. Abuela Rosa, you have Manuel and Gavin, Abuela Sanja you have Vince and Ian, Leyla – Hal and Tony, Angelia – Woody and Dillon, Isabella – Cal and Red, Oshanna – Lester and Sport, Julie – Junior and Scott, Rachel – Eddie and Pace. Bobby, you are going with Oshanna and Stephanie today. Zip and Zero you are extra on the main group. Ram, you are on my mother and grandmothers. Everyone going on the LA tour, you have to be to your destination by 9:00, be outside at the SUVs in five minutes. Rachel, Isabella, Leyla – your families get the SUVs that still have the third-row seats so your whole family can fit."

I followed Stephanie up the stairs to make sure she had everything she needed to go.

"Leave your Plum ID here. Only take your assigned one." I told her.

"Why?"

"You don't want anyone to see you have two IDs in your wallet and question it." I told her. She took her Stephanie Plum ID out of her wallet and put her new ID in its place.

"Bonito 'Bonnie' Guerrero? Who comes up with these names? What name is on your ID?"

"We have an ID generator that recommends names and combinations based on what nationality you start with. Your name is Spanish and translates to Beautiful Fighter. Whoever made these for us, I think they picked out your name rather than use the generator."

"They made me 28 years old! Somebody was being very nice to me. Do you think I can pass for twenty-eight?" She asked as she put her wallet into her purse and slung it over her shoulder.

"Of course, you have no lines on your face there is no reason you couldn't pass for twenty-eight."

"What is the name on your ID?"

"I have several IDs, everywhere we go is booked under a different ID. Let's get you down to the SUV. We don't want to hold up the caravan." I put my hand in the small of her back and let her towards the door. The truth is that I left with ten different IDs. But Bones had been a smart ass and made me another ID: 'Vengar Guerrero', which roughly translates to 'revenge soldier' or 'avenging fighter'. I was debating using it as my ID to travel to Colombia. He had added a passport and I think that was his plan.

I walked her down to the black SUV that had Tiger and Marc in the front seat and pulled her into my arms. We had been together every moment of every day since last Thursday and instead of being grateful to get away from her I was missing her and she hadn't even left yet. I wanted to be back on the island where we could just be together uninterrupted and safe.

Traipsing around town didn't feel safe to me. I didn't care what the rest of my family did, I wanted Stephanie to stay by my side. It was an irrational thought and feeling and I almost shook my head to dislodge it. They were going in an enclosed bus that has tinted windows, no one could see them, Marc and Tiger would be there. I hadn't worked with Tiger personally but he was also ex-special forces and I knew she would be safe with them. The greatest danger to her was probably going to be whatever she chose to eat for lunch.

Yet the next thing I knew I was having her scoot over and I was climbing in beside her. I don't know what was with me. I had important things to do and she didn't need me to ride with her there, but I closed the door and had her scoot back over to sit in the middle seat, next to me. I think my men were just as surprised to see me climb in the car, but I couldn't help it.

The irrational fear that something bad was going to happen to her now that we were engaged was stuck in my heart. Even though there was no way for Boris or his men to know we got engaged, in my mind there was a huge target on her back and I had painted it there. Dios, she was like my own personal sun bringing light to my life and now that I had decided to make her mine it would destroy me to lose her because one of the many people coming after me got to her, hurt her, killed her.

I took a deep breath. I had to deal with this. I couldn't let her mean so much, it was stopping me from doing what I had to do in my life but I knew once we were safe from Sergio it would get better. I could still see her hanging there, eyes closed, seven stories up, knowing that if they dropped her she would die before I could get to her. I hadn't even known if she was alive as I climbed the ten stories to the roof and could still imagine the heartbreak I would have felt to get her down and find out that she was already dead.

She was the most fortunate woman I know, always coming out alive and unscathed no matter what she got herself into. In my life, I have always come out on top no matter the situation. I might be shot, stabbed, blown up or in one case have a brick wall fall on top of me but I always got the mission accomplished and got my men home. She gets repeatedly kidnapped and amazingly always gets away unharmed. One of her kidnappers burned himself up with a blow torch, her sister rammed the house with a van, a bus driver showed up with an Uzi, a guy hearing a wooden tiki showed up and the block she was tied to got stuck in the guardrail and I managed to get there before she falls in the water.

It's like she has a magical mojo always protecting her, even coming through mostly unhurt after that video showed her being abused. Having another woman take her place while she was tied up in the bathroom. I know I have to let her go and I have two of my best men on her protection detail, but part of me wants to call Tank and form an impenetrable ring of armed muscle around her.

I clicked off her seatbelt and she protested as I pulled her sideways on to my lap.

"Carlos! What are you doing?"

"Babe." I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. She put her hands against my chest pushing away looking up into my face.

"Ranger?"

"You're going to be gone all day, I just want to hold you for a minute."

"We're just going on a tour. If you're so afraid you can come with us."

"Babe" It was all I could say. She was right, she was so right. I had to let her go, we had to move on. I leaned down to her ear and her arms relaxed and she leaned against me. I whispered, "I know that everything will be ok. You have my best men on you. But every time I close my eyes I see you hanging off that building and I never want to let you out of my arms ever again. You have your watch," I tapped it even as I spoke. "You'll be fine. Logically I know this but my heart is having a hard time. When I told you last week in your apartment that it hurt to let you out of my arms ever again…it was true. I just want to wrap my arms around you and never let go." She relaxed fully against me and laid her head on my shoulder looking up at me.

She put her right hand on my left cheek and I turned my head and kissed her palm. She lifted her hand and put it back on my cheek turning my head to face her. "Ranger, I'm fine. Everything is going to be fine. We're going to be riding around in an enclosed bus in downtown LA and in posh neighborhoods looking at mansions through locked gates. We're going to eat lunch at a farmer's market. Nothing scary. No bad guys. I have two of your best men with me. It's going to be quiet and boring. But if you're really that worried you're welcome to come along."

She smiled up at me that sweet innocent smile of hers and I felt the tight band on my heart easing. My gut was telling me that everything was going to be okay, my mind knew it too. It was my heart looking at the fading bruises hiding under her make-up and remembering that video that couldn't let go. I wanted to kiss her senseless, but instead I nodded to her and let her slide off my lap and put her seatbelt back on.

I took her hand, entwined her fingers in mine and absentmindedly rubbed circles on the back of it with my thumb. She looked up at me questioningly and I gave her a small smile. Life had to move on, I had to let her go live her life and know that she would be okay, like she always is. I leaned over and kissed her on her forehead.

I wanted to tell her how I felt. I loved her, truly, madly, deeply. I thought those were some sappy lyrics until now. Now I feel about her in ways I never thought were possible. "I will be here to pick you up at the end of the tour. Be happy and safe today and have fun." My phone beeped again and I checked the read out. "That is Skylar telling me she can get tickets for the second day of that fashion tour for Oshanna. Do you want to go with her too?"

"Sure, that sounds like fun. I'll probably need to get more luggage for the extra clothes I'm going to buy, since you raised my credit limit." She smiled widely at me.

"Anything for you Babe." I gave her an answering smile. "But limit yourself to only buying one thing for Oshanna, otherwise when she realizes you have a higher limit she will have you buying out every store."

She smiled widely at me. "How about I limit her to $2000?"

"Babe I just raised her limit to $2500. Tell her whatever the most expensive thing she wants you'll buy but only one thing." I paused thinking about the wisdom of that idea. "On second thought, she'll show up with an $8000 dress and you'll have to say no. Okay, I'm going to let you use your judgement. Try to spend less than $2000 on her. There is no limit for yourself."

"Okay, I can do that. As much as I like shopping, I just want to see how the designs out here differ from what we have on the east coast. Maybe buy some shoes."

"Buy yourself something really nice and I will take you to a place that's worthy of it."

We pulled into an underground parking garage and my men circled around until they found spots marked LA Tours and parked. Two more SUVs pulled in and I wondered if Julio had insisted on driving himself until I saw that Woody was driving and Dillon was in the passenger seat. Angelia had come and probably brought her brood that would get bored or have potty problems on the long trip.

When she rounded the van followed by Bobby and no little bodies, I got angry knowing my parents had given up their day at the Getty to take care of her little ones. I took Stephanie's hand and led the way up the elevator with her guards then motioned for Oshanna's team to wait for the next one. Once on street level I led the way to the front door of LA Tours. In the office, I walked up to the very happy brunette, on the phone, sitting behind a dark fake wood desk with a sign on the front that read Welcome to LA Tours. The name plate by the computer read Cheryl.

I paid for eleven tickets, gathered all the guards and passed out the tickets. I provided them with the tour route information and got the keys from Marc for a SUV. I told them to text me when they were on their way back and I would meet them here.

I went over to Stephanie, who was now standing talking to Oshanna, Angelia and Julio. I passed out tickets to everyone, letting them know that their guards would always get out first at every stop and that they needed to stay together in a group.

A perky five foot five blonde came out from a back room and introduced herself to the group as Ashlyn, a Los Angeles native that knew everything about the city and its beaches. She was distracted for a moment by all the hunky men in black as she went around the group getting names and collecting tickets. Julio looked disappointed as he was trying to get her attention but realized he was no competition for the heavily muscled Rangemen.

Oshanna took great pleasure in explaining that all the men in black with stun guns strapped to their sides were their bodyguards because their lives had been threatened. Ashlyn was properly impressed and concerned and asked if it was safe for them to be walking down the street and Oshanna assured her that with their guards they were safe.

I turned to Stephanie, gave her hand a squeeze and kissed her on the top of her head. "I'll be here to pick you up in six hours." I told her and stepped away. She stepped up to me for a kiss. I leaned down and gave a quick peck on her lips. She looked at me questioningly. I guess I was going to have to explain to her that I don't make out in public and especially not in front of my men. Okay so once in a while there had been kissing where the monitors could see us, but that was minimal and I usually scrambled the cameras.

Ashlyn slapped on a big smile and started the tour with a walk down Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame. I watched the group follow her out the front door and stood there for a moment getting my bearings. I pulled out my phone and created a texting group for the men on Mama, my abuelas, Leyla, Isabella, Rachel and Julie. I requested updates and learned that everyone was on the way to the Discovery Cube and no one was going to the Getty.

I knew that my parents would enjoy seeing their grandkids all day, but really wanted to work in some quiet enriching time for them and my abuelas; they deserved a break from all this craziness. I looked up some lingerie stores to find one that was nearby. 'Be My Baby' lingerie and novelty store was further down on Hollywood Boulevard. I keyed it into my GPS and headed there.

My plan to wear Stephanie out so she would sleep naked was half working. Problem was if we started out in the shower she would put her old sweats on and it would take me till midnight or 02:00 to get her naked for the night. If she was going to insist on wearing something I was going to buy her satin and lace.

I looked around for a while seeing outfit after outfit that were skimpy and hot. Outfits I would love to see Stephanie wear but that I knew she wouldn't be into for a while. Men are very visual creatures and seeing our women dressed up gives us fuel for our fantasies even if that outfit is only worn for five minutes before we rip it off. Towards the back I found what I was looking for two 4-way displays of baby doll dresses with matching thongs.

I picked out three, a black one that was sheer but not completely see through with a matching thigh length robe. A red one with scalloped white lace along the bust and hem lines, but had six inches of tight stretchy see-through lace covering the waist. The third was a silky fuchsia pink with a deep V in the bust, lined with black lace ending in a little black bow, the bottom was slightly longer than the others as it had a black ruffle flowing out from under the pink all the way around the bottom. I also got the matching robe. I would give her this one tonight.

Then I couldn't help myself, I got a black teddy that was an X, crossing the breasts going down into a high waist, high cut lacy bottom half. This would emphasize her breasts, her little waist, her long legs and her full butt that I love. I had the sales lady gift wrap each one in boxes with tissue paper and a bow on the outside. I wrote a small letter in the bottom right corner that matched the color of the dress inside and an X for the smokin' hot teddy.

I headed back to the house and called Tank to find out how the investigation was going. He asked me to hold while he got Bones on the line. "We've found five main properties where he seems to have residences." he explained. "Three in Colombia. He stays the most at his southern compound where he has his newest wife and a three-year-old son. A property in Panama where another of his wives lives with three more kids and one in Venezuela where he has a mistress. There are seventeen other houses listed under his various businesses but he doesn't seem to stay in any of them. We've found the emerald and uranium mines. Finally, there are sixty-eight more properties and lands under his businesses and distant holdings he has under various names."

"We've found eight planes, twelve cargo ships, two personal cruisers, his trucking company and a fleet of smaller fishing boats that are registered under three different corporations. Most of his planes are cargo planes that make weekly international flights from small airports that don't record who or what is on the plane. We are looking closely at a small ten-person prop plane and a twenty-two-person turbo prop that only stay in the region but are very active. Colombian flight records are not directly searchable but we have been hacking airports one at a time starting with the ones closest to his compounds and converting them into searchable files. We need a couple more days to get a complete picture, but so far we can tell that his small prop plane makes regular trips around Colombia during the week, twice a month the turbo-prop takes a long weekend in Venezuela, and once a month it goes to Panama for several days, usually a Saturday morning till Monday night."

"So where do you expect him to be this weekend?"

"The pattern is not perfect, we've only been able to go back three months. By tomorrow we should have six months of records and be better able to tell. This past weekend his turbo prop didn't fly anywhere that we can find, so our best guess for this weekend is Venezuela. We will know for sure by Friday because he always leaves Thursday afternoon or Friday morning when going there. This is assuming that it is him on the plane. We have not been able to confirm flight manifests with any of the flights yet, that is located on a different server and Hector was going to focus today on hacking them."

"Do it and notify me as soon as you can verify passengers. Send me a list of all his businesses and what they are. I'll be back at the house in thirty minutes, I want aerial views of all his holdings so start searching for them." I disconnected as a plan was forming in my brain. I drove in my zone all the way back to the houses. After surviving an ambush by Mario, Ramon, Chester and Gino with loaded LSATs that I was expecting and complemented them on, I spent the next three hours searching through aerial photographs, figuring out where his active cocaine fields were.

I was going to burn him to the ground, blow up his mines, his planes, ships, destroy his businesses and ruin him before I torture and kill him. I would take him apart piece by piece and show all my enemies that if they threaten what's mine, nothing and nowhere is safe from me. I was sending a message that would ricochet around the world.

To be continued…

A/N: Thank you all for your great reviews! They make me smile and laugh and motivate me to keep writing. Garbonzobeans, so excellent you made me laugh! Bonnie, Mission MSHF! Make Stephanie his Forever. That is perfect! If Ranger thought in acronyms I would work it into a monologue. Well just have to see. Aruvqan great idea with the hotel. May have to work it in the future.

Another day getting everyone ready to go. I had to laugh at Ranger, because he was supposed to give Stephanie a panty melting kiss and send her on her way. Instead he climbed into the SUV and messed up the plan for the chapter. One thing I have learned in writing this story is that sometimes characters do and say what they want no matter what you have planned. Especially 'nobody's going to tell him what to do' Ranger. Anyway, he told me it was worth it because he got to stop for the lingerie. LOL Please read and review.

As always big THANK YOU to my beta Sassysaint if you haven't read her stories they are worth your time. Her current story Nothing Worth Having is Easy is great and worth the read.

Second Big THANK YOU to my sister, Jonelle. Who is giving my stories a thorough technical analysis (ie deep proof reading) Thank you for fixing all my many, many little mistakes.

Ranger's Family Album

Mother's Mother – Abuela Rosa, Father's Mother – Abuela Sanja Manoso

Mother – Maria Father – Javier

Siblings and family in age order

Leyla (35) & Richard Gonzales– Rebecca (Becky) 12, Margaret (Maggie) 10, Richard (Ricky) 7, Michael (Mikie) 5

Angelia (34) & Jordan White – Shanna 5 – Kendrick (Ricky) 3

Ricardo Carlos Manoso (32)– Ranger

Julio Manoso (30) Ex Allysa – Jacob 2

Isabella (27) & Diego Diaz – Chris 8, Shylia 6, Parker 3

Oshanna Manoso (22)

Rachel & Ron – Julie 12, Fredrico (Freddie) 9, Cassandra (Cassie) 6

Trenton & Miami Merry Men Assignments (33 Men)

Abuela Sanja – Vince, Ian

Abuela Rosa – Manuel, Gavin

Maria – Erik, Francis

Leyla – Hal, Tony

Angelia – Woody, Dillion

Isabella – Cal, Red

Oshanna – Lester, Sport

Rachel – Eddie, Pace

Julie – Junior, Scott

Stephanie – Ranger, Marc, Tiger

Extra's – Bobby, Ram, Zero, Zip

Night's – Chet, Chester, Gino, Mario, Ryan, Ramon, Billy, Cade, Simon