Chapter 25

When I woke, I didn't need to know why, it had to be 3 in the morning judging by how dark it was. After moving from the bed, I was dismayed to see that I was wearing the T-shirt from the evening at Shorties along with my bra and panties. I must have fallen asleep in the car afterwards and someone must have pulled off my boots and socks before removing my jeans and tucking me into Ranger's bed. I didn't want to know who that had been so wouldn't be asking. After a visit to the bathroom I dressed in gym gear, sure that Juan would be waiting for me. Maybe I was hoping that he would be because I was beginning to like him and appreciated him always being there at the gym, even when it was at an unearthly time in the morning.

Our session in the gym was totally different to what we'd done before. After warming up he took me to the middle of the mats and had me stood facing him.

"Okay, time to put into motion what you've learnt"

I spent the next thirty minutes trying to land a punch or kick onto Juan, but he was just too fast at moving or deflecting me. I was getting annoyed with myself with how bad I was doing so for some reason started to watch Juan more closely rather than being so focused on striking him. Minute by minute I realized that I was managing to land some punches. It was as though the whole thing was about strategizing and reading your opponent which I found I could do.

"Enough. I knew that you'd work it out in the end, that it isn't just about how to attack someone but when"

I smiled at Juan and then turned to walk over to where I'd dropped a towel totally surprised when I felt Juan's arms around me, holding me tightly to his chest. Instinctively I bent my knees, that slackened his grip slightly, and stepped one foot behind his feet which then allowed me to bring my arm back into his gut. The effect was immediate as Juan tripped up backwards over my foot and landed on his back. He was laughing as he sat up which confused me a bit.

"That was one of Carlos's moves. He'd be really proud of you Azulejo"

That hit me harder than I realized, hearing Juan say something that I was so used to hearing from Ranger. I turned before he could see the way that my eyes were watering, shit, the last thing that I needed was for Juan to see how I felt about Ranger.

I took my time showering and changing before going down to my office. The floor was unusually quiet, not because it was empty but because everyone seemed absorbed in what they were doing. I sighed internally at seeing Ranger's office door closed because it meant that he still wasn't back but went to check the screen for what other people were doing. It gave an instant visual of where people were, so I was surprised to see that Bobby was in charge today while Les was out on surveillance with Ram and Tank was off duty. The rest of the men who were out of the building were on patrol or installation jobs.

I wasn't sure what I would be doing today because as far as I knew I was caught up with the skips that we'd had. On an impulse I made a call through to the newspaper that was responsible for the article on Silas Sullivan.

"Hi, could I speak to Katrina Cashelle please?"

"One moment while I transfer your call"

I sat and listened to some awful tune play down the phone so sat back in my chair as I waited and propped my feet up on the desk.

"Katrina Cashelle speaking, how can I help?"

The voice took me by surprise and my feet dropped from the desk before I got control of my voice.

"Hi. I, err, read your article about Silas Sullivan and was curious if you knew more about him?"

"Who's asking?"

I was slightly surprised by how curt Katrina asked me that and wondered if I should have said something different to her. It was said now so I ploughed on with the excuse that I was going to use.

"I work as a bounty hunter in the office where Mr Sullivan started out, so I was curious to know about him. Vincent Plum spoke so highly about him"

The silence hit me, and I was almost sure that Katrina had cut me off when I was aware of a strange sound coming through the phone.

"Okay, say I believe you. Why now and why would anything about Mr Sullivan be of interest to you Miss Plum"

Shit, she must have been doing a search on Vinnie's business and discovered that it was me who was calling.

"I was in the office when Vinnie saw your article in the paper and, well, he surprised me when he told me that Mr Sullivan was the best bounty hunter he'd ever worked with. It made me feel like I was a failure, so I wanted to know more about the man"

"Okay, ask away. What do you want to know?"

That threw me because I hadn't thought through that far and to be honest, I hated the impersonal approach that came with a telephone conversation. I wanted to see her face and judge whether or not she was being honest with me and to carefully work out why she felt that she needed to write the article.

"I don't have the time for a long conversation and thought that maybe we could meet, maybe somewhere quiet"

Once again I was listening to a quiet phone and was worried that maybe I'd overstepped with what I'd said.

"This lunchtime, I eat at a small café, Kristofs Kitchen, Perrineville Rd, Monroe Township. I have a meeting in the area this afternoon, but I'll be there from 12"

This time the phone did go dead, and I was left thinking through the wisdom of what I'd just done. That she'd set up a meeting so quickly surprised me and in some ways also intrigued me. Of course, I wasn't under special watch as far as I knew, but after seeing that car by my apartment I wasn't happy about going out on my own. Yeah, me, Stephanie Plum, was going to voluntarily ask someone to go with me.

I was back looking at the screen trying to work out who I could ask to go with me when I heard someone saying my name from behind me. Turning it was Binkie who was stood behind me and having got my attention he stepped closer to me.

"Anything I can help you with Steph?"

I looked from Binkie back to the screen knowing that I had no idea who I could ask.

"I was wanting someone to go with me to a meeting at lunchtime but I'm not sure who might be available"

If Binkie was surprised with what I wanted he never showed it or said anything instead he pressed a button on the side of the screen that brought up another list of names.

"All of these men are based in the office so any would be able to take you"

I skimmed down the list of names picking out the men that I knew well and focused on one in particular, Miguel.

"Where will I find Miguel?"

"He'll probably be in the breakroom because his shift starts soon"

After thanking Binkie, I made my way to the breakroom pleased that Miguel was the only one sat inside. I made myself a coffee and sat down next to him, suddenly feeling very nervous about asking him.

"Miguel, could you take me up to Monroe Township to meet someone?"

Miguel looked up from the soup that he was eating and studied me first.

"It's not a skip is it?"

"No. It's something personal"

I suppose I couldn't get mad at Miguel for asking me that because once upon a time I would have gone out on a limb to find someone, and he knew that. No more putting the lives of the Merry Men in danger because I needed them to trust me as much as I trusted them if Les was ever going to let me go out in the field.

"What time do you want to leave?"

I arranged for us to meet at 11.15 knowing that it was a fast journey up route 95. In fact, we arrived early enough for Miguel to drive around the place, and I suppose to make sure that there were no visible threats. It always amazed me how the men would always take on that bodyguard mode whenever they were with me. Miguel was very discreet as we entered the café and he made for the small service bar on his own, acting as though it was a coincidence that we'd walked in together.

I recognized Katrina sat in a booth at the back, the brown hair shaped into a bob at her chin and the round glasses sat on a pretty face, so started to walk up to her. The place was very quiet, and I didn't sense that there was any danger in being here so continued to her table and waited for her to look up.

"Nice to meet you Miss Plum"

As she stood up, I noticed that she'd dressed similarly to me, blue jeans, sweater with a jacket laid on the seat next to her.

"Steph, please"

I suggested as I sat down opposite her. I nodded my head at a waitress who suddenly appeared next to me with a mug and a jug of hot coffee, so waited until she had finished pouring it out.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet me"

I knew that I needed to be polite and not piss her off by asking the questions that I wanted to.

"I did some research on you Steph. You have quite a reputation around Trenton and also an excellent rate for capturing your FTAs"

I suppose I should have expected her to be prepared for meeting me, but it did have me wondering exactly what she'd read about. All of my disasters tended to get reported by the newspapers, especially any fires with me being known as the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. I raised my eyebrows at her because I wasn't going to even try and explain how most of those incidents weren't my fault.

"Shit happens, it's the nature of the job. The bad guys will do anything to avoid being caught. I understand Silas Sullivan was excellent at doing the job, no explosions or garbage or old men covered in Vaseline"

I hadn't meant to sound so sarcastic, but I was sure that Sullivan never came across the problems that I did.

"I suppose the villains are more reckless and devious than they were. Sullivan, well he was a mean son of a bitch"

Which was just what I wanted to hear to give me the opening that I wanted.

"So, you knew Sullivan then?"

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes as she realized that she'd said something that she hadn't meant to. We were disturbed by the waitress again as she placed some fries in the center of the table and a plate of scrambled eggs in front of each of us.

"I ordered for the both of us"

I nodded my thanks as I picked up a fork and began to eat the eggs, which did taste amazing. Eating meant that we were both quiet until our plates were empty, allowing us to take our time to pick up the fries.

"I knew him. I was a mixed up kid at the time and hated everyone, especially my dad. I knew that he worked for the mob doing god knows what for them, but I suppose my mum and I chose to ignore it. Then he was arrested for murder and of course he skipped his court date. My life was hell at school and my friends disowned and ignored me so when this bounty hunter showed up, well, I suppose it was the final straw. Sully never left us alone and was hanging around all of the time. Hell, even after he caught my dad he would call to see if mum was doing okay. I funked my exams so couldn't get in anywhere to study law like I wanted to, so opted for journalism"

As Katrina explained herself, I was going through the information that I'd found out about her and her father. Being a teenager was bad enough, but I could understand how what happened with her father screwed her up. There was the link though between Katrina and Sullivan though it seemed strange that she called him Sully.

"You made a new life for yourself though didn't you, even changed your name"

"I had to. My dad got released but we all knew that he was as guilty as hell. I suppose him dying was almost a closure for me. I was in Boston studying, so changed my name when I was legally able to and came back to New York to find work. My mum and I, well we drifted apart after dad died and I wanted a place of my own anyway"

I was following what Katrina was saying to me, her hate for her father and estrangement from her mother, but she was missing out something because to me she knew Sully better than she'd made out.

"Why write that article on Sully then?"

I waited patiently as Katrina picked up the last fry and dipped it into the ketchup before biting one end off. It was as though she was trying to decide what she should tell me.

"My mum got really ill, and I decided to put the past behind us and go help her. It was strange being back in my family home and I realized just how much she had suffered as well. The thing is she wasn't sad for my dad, she was sad for Sully. I didn't know but all that time when my dad was in prison she was falling in love with Sully. I think my dad being released and then dying made her feel really guilty. After she died, I found a box of mementos that she'd kept of their affair"

Wow, that was the last thing that I expected to hear. I never imagined that Sully had got involved with Katrina's mother. So what had happened to end the affair, why hadn't they continued their relationship after Katrina's father died and why had Sully disappeared?

"Maybe I felt guilty as well for not seeing how miserable my mum had been in her marriage to my dad, but hey, at 17 I had my own issues to deal with"

"I'm so sorry Katrina"

I didn't know what else to say to her and could see that she was upset with having to remember those sad memories. It didn't go unnoticed by me that she still hadn't explained to me why the article about Sully or if she knew how he had died.

"Why did Sully disappear?"

Just came out as something that had puzzled me.

"I'm not really sure. As I said I wasn't even aware that he and my mum were having an affair so didn't realize that he'd disappeared. He just suddenly turned up at my mum's funeral, a couple of months ago. He looked ill to me and pretty down, but I wasn't sure if that was him lamenting the loss of a relationship with my mum or not seeing her before she died. I met up with him a couple of times and I suppose there was something about him that had me wanting to know more"

"He died though, how?"

"I used my contacts as a reporter and spoke to the police officer who was leading the case. He was diabetic and the coroner reported that he died from hypoglycemia"

I suppose that might have accounted for why Sullivan had looked older and so ill. I pondered that information and being the dubious thinker that I was I wondered if Sullivan had in fact died while he was being held by those men. I wondered if he knew how dire his situation was and that was why he had dropped the book into my pocket or maybe he just didn't want the men to get their hands on it. In some ways that had me feeling annoyed because Sullivan's action had landed me into a load of trouble.

The waitress came over and started to clear away our plates, so I expected that our meeting had come to an end. I'd heard a very sad story from Katrina but wasn't sure if this was the end of my journey in looking at Sullivan. I made to pick my jacket up expecting Katrina to do the same when she laid her hand on my arm to stop me.

"Did you ever meet him?"

I sat back down just staring at Katrina totally lost as to what to say. Why on earth would she say that to me? I tried to keep my face blank as I looked up to see Katrina watching me, not sure what I should be saying.

"I couldn't understand why you would want to know anything about him"

I shook my head slowly as I held her gaze because this was just too weird. Why would she think that I'd met Sullivan, what was she not telling me?

"Just curious is all"

Okay, I was totally ignoring her reference to me having met Sullivan because admitting that would have to include saying something about the package and to be honest, I didn't know her well enough to divulge any information that I had.

"I wrote the article to see if anyone would be interested enough to want to know more about him and here you are. I don't know anymore"

This time it was Katrina who was standing up and pulling her jacket on. As she walked away, I was speechless at her abrupt departure but when I saw a wad of notes on the table, I knew that our meeting was definitely over this time. With my jacket over my arm, I made for the door, Katrina was nowhere in sight, but Miguel was soon walking next to me as we made our way outside to the car.

I was pleased that Miguel didn't ask me what my meeting was about, maybe he thought that Katrina was an old friend, and we were just catching up over lunch. The journey back was spent going over what had been said. For some reason I was pretty sure that Sully had been the man at the bank, but I was left with so many more questions least of all was what else did Katrina know that she wasn't telling me. It was almost as if he expected me to solve his mystery, to understand what his burden had been. I was pretty sure that whatever it was had happened just before he had left New York which had another question coming to my mind and that was, why was it so important now? I really didn't want to be spending time resolving a personal issue for Silas Sullivan just because he felt bad about it.

Katrina, well she confused me. I did feel for her as a teenager, and I did believe the story that she'd told me. But it was how she'd written that article, as though she was baiting someone to contact her. Yeah, and that had been me. So did she know that there was a book that had been written by Sully, was she waiting for me to solve the puzzle and would she swoop in at the end and, maybe write a story? Hopefully that would be the last that I would see of her because I wasn't sure that there was anything to find anyway.

As we came to a stop in the garage I jumped when my door was suddenly opened and was surprised that it was Les. As he helped me from the car, I was pretty sure him meeting me meant that he wanted something.

"What's up Les?"

"Can't I meet my favorite girl when she arrives in the building?"

I took Les wriggling his eyebrows at me as a no to that statement but looped my arm through his as we walked toward the elevator.

"What are you after Les?"

I asked getting bored with the suspense of playing his little game. Les managed to stay quiet all the way up to his office which was kinda spooking me now. When he sat me down on the couch, I was at the point of dreading what he was going to say, and all sorts of concerns started going through my head. Was Ranger okay, was he coming back, or had he decided to go to another office? Was I crap at the job that I was doing for Les, and he'd decided that I wasn't good enough to keep here?

"Beautiful, are you okay, you've gone as white as a sheet?"

I suppose that I was feeling a bit queasy but that was all Les's fault, and he was making me feel more nervous by the second. As he sat down next to me and handed me a bottle of water, I was about ready to burst into tears.

"I've worked out how to get Latisha"

I nearly choked on the water when I heard Les say that. He'd hijacked me and made me suffer all this time just to tell me that.

"You're going to be the distraction"

"What?"

Latisha was a sexy woman who I was sure wasn't a lesbian, so how the hell could I work a distraction on her?

"It's all set up for tomorrow night. They think I'm this rich guy who's into the kinky stuff and can't wait to meet her for a foursome with my fiancé. She's really into that"

I opened my mouth and closed it because I couldn't believe what Les had just said. A foursome? How the hell was that supposed to work, not the four adults making out, but Les doing an apprehension? What about the other man involved, what if he got protective of Latisha, what if I couldn't keep his hands off me?

"It's all sorted, Ram is her man of choice

I was probably still staring at Les because I couldn't work out how the hell he had managed to organize that. I mean surely if he and Ram were able to talk to her and organize this then he could have taken her there and then?

"Why not just do the capture when you met her?"

"She has this manager who arranges her bookings, he sources out her potential clients, you know, makes sure that they pass her criteria and background checks"

I didn't think that I wanted to know what the criteria were, or what Les had said as a cover story. Knowing Les, he could probably come up with a range of sexual exploits that would be tempting.

"Just remember she's into erotic asphyxiation"

Remembering how the man had died who she was charged with murdering. It seemed that I didn't have much choice in doing this because Les had already put a plan into action.

"Ella is onto what you can wear, you just need to look the part and keep her distracted enough so that we can get her into the private room and then do the capture"

All thought of my meeting with Katrina went to the back of my head. The newspaper article went into my desk along with his package and the search results that I'd done. I almost felt like talking to Lula to ask her for some tips on how I should behave or what I should say that would encourage Latisha to fall for our deception. Almost, but the idea of having a discussion with Lula on BDSM and fetishes was more than my brain could take.

I spent the evening with Ella looking at material and designs for my outfit that would be appropriate and was treated to a meal with her and Louis. It was a relaxed evening and certainly took my mind off the impending distraction and more importantly off Ranger. It was an early night for me which of course ended with a 3am wake up and the inevitable session in the gym with Juan. It was also a day where I relaxed and pampered myself in preparation for the ordeal ahead of me, ensuring a nap in the afternoon to catch up on some sleep.

At exactly 10 pm I was stood nervously waiting for Les to appear at the apartment. In some ways I felt ridiculous in the outfit that Ella had made for me and yet incredibly sexy. The dress, if you could call it that, was made from a material that had the appearance of fine gold chain mail. Underneath Ella had sewn in gold panties and a built in bra that covered the essentials and could be seen through the chain material. The whole dress was one piece that was stepped into and fastened at the top as a halter neck. I almost asked her to fix a lock as a fastener behind my neck to make the dress impossible to remove. The effect was spectacular, almost like wearing a bikini with a skin tight meshing over the top. It was short so with the five inch heeled shoes it gave me legs that looked a mile high and had a low back that showed a lot of skin. The material at the front came up to my neck so with my hair piled on top of my head with curls framing my face it only added to the seductiveness of the outfit.

I was nervous so even though I knew that Les was due to arrive his knock on the door had me jumping. I had to admit to looking Les up and down as I admired him in his tailored suit and white shirt. Yep, he certainly looked the part and was sure to meet the expectations of Latisha.

"Beautiful, you're an image that would inspire wet dreams"

I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not but hearing Les yelp as a hand came out and slapped him across the back of his head had me smiling and releasing some of the anxiousness that had started to build up.

"Behave Santos"

Came from Tank as he walked over to me holding open a long deep red coat for me to wear. I'd insisted on a coat to cover me while leaving the building because I really didn't want the men on monitor duty to be seeing me in this dress. I'd also argued that it would add to the seduction once inside the club, like a present being unwrapped. I was sure that Latisha would appreciate it and that it would distract her while Ram or Les cuffed her ready to transport her to the station.

Two cars left the garage which suited me fine because I knew that one of them would bring me back to Rangeman while the other transported Latisha to the station. That Tank was part of that team did surprise me but at least I knew that the backup that we had was the best. The drive was quiet as we sped through the streets and once we had left the lights and the buildings behind us I knew that we weren't far from our destination. Les had spent ages on his phone which at first, I thought was his way of communicating with the men but after making and receiving several messages I was beginning to think that he was setting himself up with a woman.

The house that Latisha had taken over was a large imposing farmhouse set in the middle of nowhere. According to the records, ownership was questionable so I assumed that she'd seen it as an empty building and taken advantage of the fact that an owner wouldn't show up. Access was along a single track that turned to show the lights of the house, well lights that lit up the front entrance. Every window was in darkness, the lights from inside obscured.

Tank stopped the car in front of the building so that Les and I could get out, he'd then park to the side of the building and wait for the signal to mobilize. I wasn't sure where Ram was but assumed that he was in the car following us with Cal driving that one. I linked my arm through Les's as we made our way up two stone steps to a door that had been painted bright red, then watched as Les pushed open the door. I raised the hood on the coat as we entered a large ornate lobby trying to see what we'd walked into. The lighting was dim and there was a young woman stood behind a podium dressed in black leather hotpants and matching bodice. Her makeup was extreme and her smile false as she took Les's name before a clicking sound indicated that she'd unlocked a door to our side.

It was like walking into a night club with the sound from the music and the number of people milling around. Red lighting gave the whole place an ethereal feel as I watched the movement of people around me. Any women that I saw were scantily dressed and most were wrapped around a man. Okay there were some same sex couples. It was like watching a scene of seduction, with hands wandering everywhere, in fact from what I saw I could swear that heavy petting as a prelude to sex was the norm. Les continued to walk through the crowd, the loud music and heavy scent in the air setting the scene. He seemed to know where we were going, so I held on as my eyes darted back and forth.

Walking down a corridor there were doors leading into rooms that had glass panels in them allowing me to see what was inside and let me tell you I was sure that my face was the color of my coat. Naked couples in arousing embraces, their sexual act on view to anyone who wanted to watch. I wasn't sure that voyeurism was something that turned me on or not. As we progressed down the hallway the rooms began to take on a theme, different colors and a change to the exploits happening inside. There was definitely a change in the expectations of the occupants seen from some of the items of furniture contained in the rooms and the vision of whips, ropes and handcuffs being used.

The door that Les stopped in front of was solid, no window to watch through, but the red velour covering on the door gave me an indication of what exactly we were walking into. Oh shit, was my first thought and Fifty Shades of Grey was my second as I looked at the array of strange devices adorning the room as we walked in.