Chapter 20

He had long dark hair surrounding an angular face which in the shadows looked threatening. A long dark coat flowed down almost to his ankles giving him a sinister look. I didn't recognize him at all and just watched as he opened the tall cabinet next to him and pulled out a brush and pan.

"Stay still while I clear away the shards of pot"

I could do that and did that as I stayed perfectly still and watched him sweep up the broken mug from the floor and then deposit it into the garbage bin. As he stepped closer to me, I was pushing myself backwards against the counter and watched as he reached above me and then held another mug in front of me.

"There you go Azulejo"

My hand was shaking as I took the mug, him being so close to me and much as I wanted to appear brave, I was frozen in place. I was trying to come up with the courage to say something, but he was already out of the door and then he was gone. I almost felt embarrassed with how I'd reacted to him but to be honest I'd felt intimidated by his presence. He must have been a newbie that I hadn't met before because it was obvious that he didn't know who I was. I plucked up the courage to go to the doorway and see if he was still around, but the hallway was totally empty. Shaking my head to pull myself together I returned to making my coffee, relieved when I was back inside my office with the door closed behind me. For some reason that unexpected meeting had left me feeling really uneasy.

I needed a diversion from that minor heart attack so opened up Sullivan's information and started to read it as I sipped on my coffee. He'd been born and raised in Trenton before joining the army. He'd done his time and returned to Trenton afterwards where his parents were still living. As a job he'd been employed by Alfred Creighton as a bounty hunter which was where he had met and worked with Vinnie. There was the change of ownership of the bonds office to Harry with the new manager being Vinnie but Sullivan had only stayed working for Vinnie for two years before he'd moved to New York City and been employed by ABC Bail Bonds.

He'd worked there for twelve years and then, nothing. No employment or medical records and no hint of any marriage or owning property.

He'd totally disappeared. I sat back as I worked out how old he'd been when that had happened. He'd disappeared at 48 with no clue as to where he'd gone. In fact, there was nothing until the last notation that stated that he'd died, aged 62. There was no up to date photo to find even through a passport or driving license renewal so I was still in two minds whether or not it had been him at the bank, I mean I was sure that he'd seemed older than that to me but maybe because of his illness he'd looked older.

Thinking back to the bank I knew that he'd come in through the side door with the manager so was wondering why he would do that. Maybe Mandy might know. I could always call her on the pretext of asking how she was doing.

I must have fallen asleep laid back in the chair but this time it was the noise from beyond my door that woke me up. Loud voices and footsteps coming from beyond my door which to me implied that there must be an emergency. I sat up and tried to stretch cursing the aches from sleeping in a bad position and then went and opened the door. As I approached the monitoring station there were more men than usual crowded around looking at the screens and no one took any notice of me as I walked toward them.

"What's up?"

Hoping that one of the men would fill me in, before letting out an enormous yawn.

"Break in"

Was all that I heard so knowing that there was nothing that I could do to help I started to make my way toward the elevator with the intention of heading up to Ranger's apartment. That was when absolute silence hit me. There was no talking at all and when I turned to find out why, all of the men were just watching me. I looked down at what I was wearing and apart from being bare footed I was reasonably dressed. My hand went to my hair thinking that maybe it was so out of control that it had shocked them. Then I had to turn around again at hearing my name being called down the corridor.

"Babe"

I watched as Ranger almost ran toward me, his face blank and verging towards frowning. I was wondering what the hell was going on and was shocked when his arms came around my waist and he lifted me off my feet and into a crushing hug.

"I can't breathe"

Came out as a gasp because he was holding me so tightly. I felt his arms relax and my feet hit the ground, but he was still holding onto me.

"What's wrong?"

I asked because obviously something wasn't right.

"I couldn't find you and when Hector worked out that we'd had an intruder in the building, I thought the worst"

I'm sure that my eyes shot up at hearing that and I felt so very guilty for causing him to worry like that.

"I, I was working in my office. I couldn't sleep but didn't want to disturb you. I fell asleep"

I felt as his muscles relaxed around me, the tension that had been evident before slowly dissipating but then the rest of what he'd said hit me.

"Intruder?"

I asked in disbelief. This was a secure building, wasn't it? How the hell had someone got inside? Along with those thoughts came the memory of seeing that man in the breakroom. Was he the intruder? Oh shit. If he was then why was he wandering around the corridors?

"Ranger"

A man's voice had both of us turning and looking towards where the shout had come from, and I saw Les, Tank and Bobby stood facing the stairwell door with their guns held out in front of them. I was partly behind Ranger and watched as the stairwell door came open. The tension that was coming from everyone was thick and even I was holding my breath waiting to see who was going to appear.

A man appeared, facing away from me, with his hands up as he took in the guns pointed at him. Then one by one I heard safety catches being engaged and the guns were quickly put away. I recognized the long black coat and long dark hair and realized that this man had been my night time visitor.

"What the hell man?"

Came from Les, so obviously Les and the others recognized him. Maybe the man shrugged his shoulders, but he was soon turning around and looking at us, his eyes dropping down to the gun still in Ranger's hand. I just didn't expect him to break out into a huge grin and start to walk toward us.

"Carlos. Is that any way to greet a long lost friend?"

Friend, this man was a friend of Ranger's? Just like last night I was totally drawn to just staring at the man because now instead of looking like the threat that I remembered I was seeing a face with handsome features that looked welcoming.

"A long lost friend doesn't break into a secure building. He calls first"

Ranger was annoyed but at least he'd lowered his gun and was returning it to the back of his waist band.

"Are you going to introduce me to Azulejo? No need. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Juan Mateus Hernandez, at your service"

Seeing him finish that by sweeping his hand and bending low almost had me giggling, but not quite, because I was pretty sure that Ranger was still pissed at him.

Ranger didn't respond, instead he turned and with his arm around my waist I was soon being walked into his office. As I sat down on the couch I watched as Juan followed us with Tank, Les and Bobby close behind. I wasn't sure who knew who so was definitely going to be waiting this one out. Ranger was the only one not to sit down but after he'd paced the office a couple of times he eventually came and sat down next to me.

"Why are you here Juan and why the games with our security?"

Maybe that was why Ranger was annoyed because if Juan had broken in then that would imply a weakness in the system.

"I was in the area. You were always throwing me challenges Carlos, so the security was a challenge. Don't worry, I've been with Hector and shown him how I did it so that he could revamp the system"

That Juan knew Hector surprised me because Hector wasn't one of the men who knew Ranger from the army, so how did Juan know Hector and well enough that Hector hadn't killed him for tampering with his security system?

"You on a job?"

Came from Les, which had everyone looking toward Juan. Now I was really confused with who Juan was.

"Just following up on something"

A glib answer that didn't really give much away but it did have me wondering exactly what it was that he did. With the following silence came a moment of awkwardness so not being privy to whatever any of these guys might want to talk about, I got to my feet.

"I've got some work to get back to. Les, I sent you an update. It was nice to meet you properly this time Juan"

I wasn't going to be swayed from leaving by the look that Ranger gave me and was immediately regretting what I'd said. With a quick look at Ranger, I muttered "Later" and made a hasty retreat. Once outside the closed door I remembered that I was going to head up to seven to shower and change clothes. As I went through those rituals a plan came to mind so grabbing my bag, I was soon heading back downstairs relieved that I didn't bump into anyone. I didn't want to have to explain where I was going because damn it, I wasn't answerable to anyone, I could do as I wanted, couldn't I.

Yeah, I'd felt like an outsider, once again. Always on the fringes of Ranger's life which was why I'd felt the need to leave the men to talk to Juan because no doubt they wouldn't want me privy to their discussions. That compounded how I felt about being so close to Ranger. It was as though I was losing myself within Rangeman. I needed to regain some of my independence so that was what I would start to do.

I may have had a disturbed night, but I wasn't feeling tired so was determined to catch up with Mandy from the bank. I'd totally lost track of the days with being at Rangeman and realizing that it was Saturday so I knew that she wouldn't be working. The problem was I had no idea where to find her phone number. I knew where she lived though. I could call at her house, a plan that I actually liked.

By the time that I'd reached the garage I was feeling a bit guilty with the whole idea of just leaving the building. Fortunately, Miguel appeared from the stairwell door, but I got the feeling that he was actually there for me.

"Err, are you here because of me?"

I asked, almost embarrassed that I was asking.

"Sure am. Sorry Steph, I'm your shadow for the day"

Why was I surprised with that? I knew that Ranger was concerned with regard to those robbers and knew that in the past in the same circumstances that he'd assign a shadow to me. Ram had been shadowing me the day that I went to the bonds office and then to Mary Lou's and then I remembered that Miguel and Binkie had been outside Pinos when I'd left with Ranger that day, so maybe I did have more than one shadow but never noticed. Joe was no longer a problem, but I wasn't going to have a go at Miguel because he was just doing his job.

Twenty minutes later I was parking the SUV outside of Mandy's house and could honestly say that I'd been unaware of having Miguel shadowing me. Maybe he was following the tracker that the SUV had installed rather than keeping me in sight. She lived in the Burg, which was how I knew her, a couple of streets away from where Joe had lived. That thought had a shiver run down my back and I was chastising myself for even thinking about that. He was dead, so there was no chance of him accosting me.

I'd only just opened the car door when the door to Mandy's house opened, and Mandy was stood on the step watching me.

"Stephanie Plum, what are doing here?"

I smiled as I walked up to her because I knew that I was only here for information but didn't want her to know that.

"I thought that I'd call and see how you were doing, you know after what happened"

Probably a selfish move on my part because her expression immediately changed.

"Okay, I suppose. I haven't been back to work yet"

It had never occurred to me that she would have been traumatized with what had happened. Now I did feel rotten for coming.

"I know what you mean. Something like that, well it stays with you"

I went for sharing the experience and as I hoped Mandy seemed to relax a little. As she sat down on the front doorstep, I sat next to her and looked across her garden to the houses opposite as if remembering our shared experience.

"The manager said to take my time, and then just visit the bank to start with"

"I'm sure once you've done that it'll be easier. How are the others doing?"

I asked hoping that this was my way into knowing who that elderly man had been and why he was there.

"The manager, Mr Hutton, he seems okay, well he's back at work now"

There had been four of us who had been removed from the bank and pushed into getaway cars. I remembered that Ranger had told me that Mandy and the bank manager had been found quite quickly but he'd never mentioned anything about the older man.

"At least they let you go quickly. Did you hear anything about the older man who was with me?"

I prompted hoping that she knew who he was.

"I don't know, I haven't heard. From what Mr Hutton said he was only there to pick something up from a safety box"

Interesting, so he had been there for something other than the usual bank business.

"Who was he because I don't think that I recognized him"

Not an unusual question to ask because let's face it everyone knew everyone else and what they were up to. This was the Burg.

"No, I didn't either. Mr Hutton asked me to call him when he arrived. I think he was called Sullivan, but he wasn't a regular, which was strange because Mr Hutton said that he'd had a box with us for years and it was the first time that even he had met him"

So someone called Sullivan who used to live locally and then had moved. To be honest I was almost feeling worried because it was too much of a coincidence with the name, so to me it sounded as though the man who had passed that book onto me was Silas Sullivan. Shit. Was all that I could think, why was I so worried about that? Sullivan was dead now, and the book was probably just a memento. Yeah right. So why had he made sure that he didn't have it on himself?

"You got hurt worse, are you okay now?"

I turned to Mandy as she asked me that and could be honest with my answer.

"Yeah. Everything has healed up, just this brace for a few more days"

I lifted my arm to show her the brace and to qualify that my arm was okay now.

"Word is that you've stopped working as a bounty hunter?"

I was frowning when Mandy said that wondering where she'd heard that from and I was probably giving her that look that said, you need to explain why you said that. I was pleased when she stumbled with her words but eventually began to tell me what the gossip was saying.

"I, err, well. My ma, she heard it. That you were going to settle down and marry Joseph Morelli. All of us were dead envious, then, well he got shot. No one's seen you around, so I suppose, well it made sense, you know. That you'd left town"

I suppose she was right about that, but it hit me just how much that was down to me not wanting to be seen. Did I need to do that now if I wasn't actually out on the streets chasing down bad guys for Vinnie?

"No, I haven't left town. Maybe like you I'm just adjusting to what happened"

That was all that I was prepared to say right now. To be honest if people thought that I'd given up bounty hunting then maybe that would be safer for me. I'd have to reassess those thoughts once I eventually went out in the field with Rangeman, but hopefully being associated with the company would keep the bad guys away. At least at this moment in time I was dressed in my usual jeans and sweater.

"I hope that you feel better about going back to work, you know regain that confidence. You're good at your job Mandy, so don't let them win"

Whilst I know that I had an ulterior motive for visiting Mandy, as I left, I hoped that I'd given her something to think about and that she'd soon be back to feeling normal. I wasn't sure if I was the best person to give her advice because the whole of the bank job and Joe's behavior had definitely left me feeling out of sorts Yeah, maybe those feelings were affecting how I behaved as well.

Watching as Mandy went back inside the house I sat and considered our conversation. Was Mandy's reaction how a normal person would react? I supposed that it was which had me wondering how I'd ever managed to stay with the job of bounty hunting. I'd had so many close calls that I was almost blasé about them, so why had this last incident have me feeling out of sorts with my emotions. Probably because I couldn't remember what had happened to me. Was it that bad that my memory was blocking it and only my dreams were alluding to something horrible that had happened. Hearing my phone ringing had me jumping and I was surprised that I recognized the number as belonging to Les. I was positive that I'd never given it to Les.

"Hi"

I answered just in case I'd mistaken who it was that was calling.

"Beautiful, I've been looking for you. I had to threaten Hector to give me your number so you can add me to your contacts now"

Les threaten Hector? That was worth finding out about because I was sure very few people could do that. Though I wasn't going to admit that I already had his number in my contacts.

"How did you manage that?"

I heard him laugh so knew that he was pleased with himself.

"I threatened to ask Juan to hack into his systems again. Anyway, I wanted to call you to let you know that I've set up surveillance at that park for Gosblock. That old garage drew a blank and I'm onto watching the cemetery tomorrow. I was calling to ask if you could take Cal and pick up some files from the office in the morning"

"I can do that"

"Great, maybe see you tomorrow"

I suppose if I was working under Les then it was important for him to know how to contact me and if I picked up some new files then I'd have those to work on. It would be a busy day tomorrow then, because I also needed to catch Ram at the range as well. I felt better knowing that I had a full day tomorrow, less opportunity to worry about that whole thing with Sullivan. In fact, I was tempted to just forget all about him and that damn book.

I sighed to myself as I realized that I would need to head back to Rangeman and was wondering if Ella had bought me any peanut butter and olives. I fancied making myself a sandwich. Once inside Ranger's apartment I had my head in the fridge looking for the ingredients for my sandwich when I was sure that the door to the apartment opened. I wasn't expecting company and for some reason a fission of panic curled through me as to who it might be, so I used the fridge door to hide behind. Looking over the top of the fridge door I was more than surprised to see Ranger walk in and even more surprised to see him wearing jeans and a russet colored sweater under his leather jacket. He was carrying a bag that had me curious, so I popped up from my hiding place to be greeted by a smile.

"Hiding in the fridge Babe?"

No answer to that was there, so I closed the fridge and watched as he began to empty the contents of the bag onto the counter.

"Spicy chicken and veg with rice. Courtesy of Ella. It's her night off but she left this for us"

As he removed the bowls with lids, he placed them in the microwave and was back to unpacking the bag. I could swear it was like Mary Poppin's bag because he just kept bringing things out. A bottle of white wine, that went in the fridge, a bowl of cut fruit and another that held meringue. Oh, and then a pot of cream and finally a box that Ranger handed to me. I looked from the box to Ranger and then back to the box. Recchiuti confections Black Box, oh wow, I could eat these first because I'd heard that they tasted exquisite.

"No. After you've eaten your meal"

As Ranger stepped forward and distracted me with a kiss on my nose, I lost hold of the box and watched as he placed them high up on top of the cupboard.

"You set the table and I'll serve out the food"

I felt a light swat on my backside so after sticking my tongue out at him did as he'd asked. We hadn't used the dining table for a while, so I went the extra mile and set some candles in the middle and lit them. It was as we were helping ourselves to the chicken and rice that I took in the scene of us sat there. It felt surreal that we were sat at the dining table eating this amazing meal, especially with the candles flickering between us. Was I losing it? I mean even Joe had never wined and dined me like this or ever brought me chocolates. Was I being too hard on Ranger with my thinking? Sheesh it was making my head spin with how he was behaving.

"Luke was asking after you today"

That had me looking over to Ranger because I was curious why Luke was asking after me and what Ranger had said.

"Oh, why would he do that?"

So sue me, I knew if I didn't ask then he wouldn't tell me.

"I'm not sure, maybe he thought that you were being evasive with him when he saw you down in Miami. I know that you were there to help me but he's very good at reading people"

I remembered the couple of times when I'd been with him and how he'd asked me how I was coping. I'd just assumed that he was talking about me coping with how Ranger was behaving, not about me personally. Mia had made a comment though, so I wondered if she'd mentioned something to Luke.

"How well does Luke know Mia?"

Okay that might have seemed a random question to Ranger but all that I was doing was following a train of thought.

"Quite well. Mia will bring in Luke if she thinks one of her clients' needs his services"

I suppose that Mia could have mentioned something to Luke but that brought me back to wondering what Ranger had told him.

"I told him that you were doing okay. You are, aren't you?"

I nodded my head as an answer because I was past thinking about what Joe had done and now that he was dead there was no point in thinking about it. Yeah, denial was definitely the way to go on that one because I knew that there was no way to find out the truth now.

I busied myself clearing away our bowls and fetching dessert to the table purposely placing the meringues next to me. I could eat those on their own, their sugary content just melting into my mouth. A look from Ranger and I knew what he was thinking so just to prove him wrong I placed a portion of meringue in the bottom of a bowl, added some fresh fruit and then covered the whole lot in cream. For something so simple it tasted amazing and I'm sure that as I closed my eyes I moaned out of sheer delight.

"Babe, you're killing me here"

My eyes shot open to see an amused Ranger watching me, his eyes black with an intensity that had nothing to do with being furious, the total opposite. I felt my cheeks warm up so was sure that I was blushing, so to cover up my embarrassment I looked down at my bowl and mixed together some of the contents ready to eat. Once upon a time I might have replied to his comment, taken what he'd said to the next level, toyed with him until I got what I wanted, which was obviously him. Now I couldn't do that and even the idea of being with Ranger in a sexual way almost had me panicking. Was that because I was trying to protect my heart, that it was me now, who was putting distance between us?

I looked up into his face as his hand came down over mine.

"Don't look so panicked. I told you before that until we're both ready then nothing will happen"

"I don't know what's wrong with me"

I whispered more to myself than for him to hear me. Because I couldn't control how I was feeling and that just wasn't me. I wasn't sure what I expected from Ranger and maybe that was part of the problem but him standing up and pulling me into his arms wasn't it. There was nothing sexual as he held me, his hand holding my head to his chest. It felt so comforting that I was close to tears with how compassionate he appeared to be.

"One chocolate and then you need to sleep. You must be tired after being up half the night"

I raised my head as I remembered that all too well.

"I saw him"

"Saw who Babe?"

In my mind I was seeing Juan as he'd appeared at the breakroom door. He'd been stood there, and I hadn't said or done anything and that made me feel both stupid and inadequate.

"Juan. I was in the break room, and he just suddenly appeared"

"I know he told me about it. At first, he thought that maybe you were part of the cleaning crew that worked nights"

Well shit, was that the impression that I gave? I suppose I was just dressed in leggings and a hoodie but what cleaner would work with bare feet?

"What was it that he called me?"

Because that was something that stuck with me both during our stand down in the break room and afterwards when he appeared in front of Ranger and introduced himself.

"Azulejo. In Spanish it means bluebird"

I was sure that I'd heard that before but for the life of me couldn't remember when. I was aware as Ranger led me over to the couch and pulled me down to sit so that I was leant against him.

"Juan and I have known each since we were kids. We lived in the same neighborhood but he's a few years older than me. You know that I got into trouble as a teenager, got involved with the local gang?"

I nodded my head because that had been one of those snippets of personal information that he'd told me about and how he'd ended up having to live with his grandmother down in Miami.

"Well Juan was part of the same gang. I got caught for stealing a car, but he was caught for hacking into a bank. I ended up down in Miami but because he was older, he was charged and sent to prison. We lost touch until a few years ago when he turned up as one of my team on a mission"

"How?"

Because I had always assumed that Ranger worked on those missions because of his connection to the army.

"After prison he turned his life around. He used his skills with computers and became a consultant. The mission needed a computer geek"

Wow who would have thought that they would meet again like that, both working on the same side.

"Is he still here at Rangeman?"

I asked more out of courtesy than because I wanted to know. Maybe Ranger would benefit from having his old friend around.

"No. He was going to be doing some work with Hector and then he was leaving. Though I have no idea what he's doing, he wouldn't say"

"So he knows Hector?"

Thinking about what Les had said to me.

"Mutual respect Babe"

I laughed thinking about that and could imagine that Hector respected Juan's computer skills and that Juan might respect Hector for his knife skills. Then again, they had similar backgrounds, both gang members who had been given the opportunity to make something of their lives. I smiled thinking about that which turned into an enormous yawn.