Morning has broken. The sun had slowly risen in the east, chasing the darkness away. Stephanie looked through the cracks of the boards covering the windows. Her body shook as the cold air bit at her exposed skin. She retreated when she noticed four men approaching, hiding when the door opened. Silently, she prayed the men didn't hear her climb into the spot much too small for an average person to fit.
Her body shook from fear combined with the cold. Stephanie willed herself to remain calm. She couldn't afford to get caught by the men trying to kill her. Stephanie's spidey sense tingled as it detected imminent danger. She breathed slowly, ensuring the breaths were even and quiet. Stephanie finally understood what the men attempted to teach her during meditation. She used those skills to remain hidden.
"It's empty," the man said. Stephanie shoved her fist into her mouth to prevent her from screaming at the men.
"We have to check everywhere," the leader stated. Stephanie willed her body to remain still as the men searched the room. She heard the men looking inside cabinets, slamming the doors upon finding them empty. The furniture scraping across the rough floors indicated they were searching in and under everything for Stephanie.
They wouldn't find her hiding in the air vents. Nobody ever thought to look there. At least, that was what Hector told her. He said to hide in the ventilation ducts if they were big enough.
The men opened cupboards and closets, making loud noises too close to Stephanie's hiding spot. There was no sign of the woman inside the dilapidated house. "Are you sure you tagged her?" another man asked. Stephanie tried to match the voice with the face. She knew everything about the four men from the background checks but only met Bones and Erik once. Neither man talked to her.
"Yes. The bullet entered Stephanie's right leg. I watched the blood pool on her pants," the first man replied. Ranger would slowly kill the man if he heard his sick pleasure after injuring her. "If we're lucky, she's already dead."
Her aching leg was a constant reminder that she needed medical attention. Stephanie had tied her yoga pants around the bullet wound, stopping the blood flow, thankful they didn't snag on the brush as she ran through the dense vegetation. It was excruciating, but she managed to run and hide.
She expelled a breath when the men left. Stephanie's heart raced, partly relieved they didn't find her and scared they would suddenly appear to finish the job they started.
"Why me?" she quietly asked herself. "What did I ever do to them?" Chas, Bones, Erik and Pete had chased her through the trees and over uneven terrain. Bones fired his weapon, and she felt the bullet tear into her leg. Reacting quickly, she removed her yoga pants to tie them around her leg. It prevented leaving a blood trail for the men to follow.
Stephanie was thankful the bullet went through her leg and hit the tree in front of her. She pulled the bloody slug from the trunk and shoved it into her bra. The burn was worth protecting the evidence. Ranger would want proof. It was evident they never cared about hiding the evidence. Where was she?
As much as getting confined in tiny spaces scared her, Stephanie remained in the spot, hiding for several hours until her leg was cramped. Sweat poured off her forehead as she shimmied back to the opening in the ventilation system, praying her damp skin didn't stick to the metal and prevent her escape. Relief was Stephanie's first emotion as she dropped from her temporary metal cage. Stephanie shook off the memory of Stiva shoving her into the coffin and cupboard.
She returned to the window, peeking through the slats to see outside, ensuring the men had gone. Stephanie squinted, attempting to see through the trees. She checked the tree canopies. Nothing was moving. Stephanie sighed in relief.
"How did I get here?" she whispered into the dark room. She searched around the house for clothes. A few shirts and sweatpants were inside the dresser with peeling veneer and missing knobs. After gently peeling the cloth off her wounded leg, Stephanie used a discarded knife to cut the pants into strips. She wrapped the cleanest part around her thigh with shaking hands, thankful it stayed in place.
The dark grey sweatpants were too large, but they had a drawstring to tighten at her waist. Her hands shook as she pulled them over her aching leg. Stephanie groaned as she leaned on her right leg to pull the pants over her left foot. She hastily wiped the tears off her face. "Please find me, Ranger," Stephanie prayed. Her leg felt hot to the touch. Stephanie knew an infection was settling into the wound. She prayed Ranger would save her from the hellish place before she died from sepsis.
Stephanie removed the slug she tucked into her bra. She carefully wrapped it in a scrap torn from her yoga pants; the piece of the fabric was where the bullet tore through them. Stephanie wanted Ranger to see the evidence. She sighed, relieved to find the sweatpants had pockets. Stephanie shoved the bloody material into the pants.
Inside Rangeman, Tank was reviewing the client contracts. "I need help," Tank mumbled. He thought of only one person who could assist with the job. Tank dialled Stephanie's mobile number. It rang once before going to voicemail. He smiled, imagining Stephanie was on the beach soaking up the sunshine while ignoring the rest of the world. "Call me."
Tank set aside the contracts to manage the payroll. He didn't particularly enjoy this job, but nobody could handle the spreadsheets. He grinned at his convoluted system. The master spreadsheet contained cross references to other sheets. Once the men updated the secondary spreadsheet, the master one retrieved the information upon opening.
A knock on the door interrupted his process. "Enter," he barked, saving and closing the master spreadsheet. Lester and Bobby entered Tank's office. Bobby closed, then locked the door. Tank raised an eyebrow, waiting for the men to make their point.
"Have you heard from Stephanie?" Lester asked, running a hand through his blond, spiky hair. The sculpting paste he used prevented his hair from hardening, though it didn't stop the spikes from relaxing slightly from the motion.
"She reports to work in a week. Stephanie went to Point Pleasant for a few weeks to unwind," Tank replied, suspicious about the sudden visit and locked door. He shifted to the side to see past the monitor.
"Are you sure?" Lester asked. His leg bounced, annoying Bobby. Lester sheepishly smiled when Bobby cleared his throat.
"Yes." Tank couldn't understand why Lester asked for confirmation. Lester knew something about Stephanie that he had to share. Narrowing his eyes at Lester, Tank asked, "What do you know?"
"I know she left Rex at her apartment," Lester replied. "The poor guy died of starvation." Lester knew Stephanie would be devastated to learn her pet had died.
Tank's raised his eyebrows in shock. "How do you know?" Tank asked, rubbing his hand over his shaved head.
"He was stiff. Rigour mortis set in. The rodent had died between two and seventy-two hours ago," Bobby replied. "Stephanie's suitcase was gone. She would never leave her hamster unattended." Stephanie loved her furry companion.
"Why did you go to her apartment? You know how much she values her privacy," Tank snapped. Tank didn't want Ranger to take out his frustration on him. Stephanie needed time to consider her options without interference from her family and Rangeman friends. It was a difficult decision. Tank felt confident he knew her answer, necessitating the retreat to Point Pleasant.
"Cal was supposed to watch Rex. He asked if Stephanie had changed her plans or taken Rex with her because she should have called him by now. Stephanie jokingly told him to send out a search party if she never contacted him within a week. Since I have a key to her apartment, I dropped over to check on her," Lester replied. Everyone knew Stephanie wouldn't cancel her vacation at the beach. He pulled something from his pocket and slid it across the desk toward Tank.
"Is that Stephanie's phone?" Tank asked, pointing to the device inside the plastic bag. He left it on the desk, preferring to leave it for Rangeman's forensic specialists to check for prints.
"I don't know. We found it behind the dumpster. It could be anyone's, but it looks like hers. I didn't touch it with my hands," Lester replied.
Tank pinched his nose. He took a few deep, calming breaths before calling Hector. Speaking Spanish, Tank ordered, "Pull the data from the phone. I need to know if it belonged to Stephanie. Get Hal or Zero to dust for fingerprints."
Hector arrived within a few minutes with Hal, who grabbed the phone off Tank's desk. Hal and Hector went to the lab on the second floor, across the hall from Hector's office. Hector patiently waited for Hal to get the supplies. Hal pulled latex gloves on his hands and then removed the phone from the bag. He used the powder and dusting brush to swirl over the phone. "It got wiped clean," Hal replied.
"Remove the cover," Hector suggested. Hal shrugged but followed Hector's order. He found perfect prints, which he scanned into the computer using the wand. In the five years Hal worked for Rangeman and lifted prints, he had never seen a perfect set. It was as though the owner purposely placed the fingerprints concealed by the phone protection case. Hector examined the scratches on the black back. "Batman & Wonder Woman 4 ever" was etched into the plastic.
"Is that Stephanie's phone?" Hal asked, pointing to the scratches. Hal removed the etched plastic, finding more prints its back. He scanned those into the computer.
"Maybe. Are you done?"
The computer matched both sets of the perfect prints within a few minutes. Hal compared them to the fingerprints on file for Rangeman employees. "Yes. The prints returned as Stephanie's."
"I need to check for clues. Don't tell anyone," Hector said as he shook his head. Hector went to his office across the hall. Then, he searched for the standard charging cord to resurrect the dead device.
He plugged the phone into a charger. After waiting a few minutes, he unlocked the phone using the number 081210. It was Stephanie's phone. Someone had deleted the contacts, emails and texts. Hector went through the internal hard drive. Everything got deleted. "Stupid asshole left the SIM card behind," Hector mumbled.
There was one more item he had to check. Hector downloaded the gmail app. Once he logged into Stephanie's phone and took a photo, it automatically saved it to her Google account, then sent it to another server. Whoever deleted the phone didn't realize Hector had a hidden program embedded into the operating system to back up her data to a secured location. He noticed a voicemail appeared. After entering the four-digit month and year of Ranger's birthday, Hector heard Tank's message to call him. Hector called Tank, confirming it was Stephanie's phone. To prove his point, Hector replayed Tank's message.
"Well?" Lester asked when Tank returned the receiver to the cradle. Lester's leg bounced as he waited for Tank to confirm the phone belonged to Stephanie. Bobby reached over to stop the motion.
"It was Stephanie's phone," Tank replied. "Where is she?"
"We don't know. Bobby and I can check Point Pleasant and Deal. You know how much Stephanie likes the beach," Lester offered.
"I'll organize a team," Tank said. Tank wondered why Cal had never sounded the alarm earlier. He replayed Lester's explanation and realized Cal wouldn't notify anyone until the date Stephanie said to send a team to search for her.
Hector ran up the stairs to the fifth floor and banged on the door, hoping he caught Tank before he issued orders to the employees. Bobby jumped up to see who had interrupted their discussion. Hector pushed into the room and locked the door. "Have you activated the camera?" Hector demanded, speaking rapidly in Spanish.
"No," Tank replied. "I ensured the audio and video were disabled when Santos and Brown arrived." Hector nodded. Tank raised an eyebrow, waiting for Hector's report.
"Someone went to great lengths to throw us off Stephanie's trail. The data on her phone was wiped six days ago. She never checked into the hotel," Hector explained.
Tank was furious. Only the men employed at Rangeman or the guys at the Trenton Police Department would eliminate their trails. "Could it have been one of her skips?" Lester asked his tone hard from the implication of who took Stephanie. He didn't want to believe people at Rangeman, his colleagues, could be responsible for Stephanie's disappearance.
"No," Hector replied. He passed Lester the papers in his hand. The skips, who could potentially kidnap Stephanie, were sentenced to prison and serving their time. Only the ones Stephanie helped were free. They wouldn't harm Stephanie. "Most people would reset the phone to factory settings when the phone gets unlocked."
"Doesn't that delete everything?" Lester asked.
"Not if their data got backed up. I added a program to Stephanie's operating system. It was still intact," Hector explained. "Restoring the phone to factory settings doesn't erase the operating system. The factory reset only deletes the data stored in the phone. They never reset the phone."
"Meaning they knew enough about her device to remove the backups systematically," Lester replied. Hector nodded.
"Did she lose her files permanently?" Bobby asked.
"No. I automatically backed up the phone to an external server. We cautiously have to organize a team to find Stephanie. Only people we explicitly trust," Hector replied.
"Why?" Lester asked.
"Because the people responsible for kidnapping Stephanie work at Rangeman," Tank replied. His large hand briefly covered his face. It was a tough admission. Tank prayed he was mistaken.
"We'll start clearing the Trenton office," Bobby suggested. Bobby prayed his colleagues weren't responsible for harming Stephanie.
"Use the offsite server," Hector said. He gave Lester and Bobby the credentials to log onto the site. Tank nodded, then asked Bobby to get to work. Lester followed Bobby from the office while Hector remained behind.
Bobby grabbed his laptop and then followed Lester into his apartment on the fourth floor. He sat on the couch, placing the device on his lap. Bobby used the credentials to access the external server. "You must run the search program off the secondary computer," Lester reminded Bobby. Lester logged onto his laptop to assist Bobby.
Instead of opening the search program, Lester accessed the reports Stephanie had created the previous year. "What are you doing?" Bobby asked, peeking at Lester's monitor.
"Reviewing Stephanie's search files that she backed up to the offsite server. She has detailed information on the full-time staff. You only have to check Junior, Zip, Zero and Binkie thoroughly," Lester replied. "Stephanie didn't find anything on the rest of the men."
Lester opened the search program to review the part-time staff hired after Stephanie ran the initial background checks.
Bobby cleared the men. Knowing how much the boss loved her, he wondered why anyone working at Rangeman would harm Stephanie. Ranger would clean house if in Trenton. He would not tolerate his men kidnapping Stephanie. Those ignorant men painted a bullseye on their faces.