Chapter 14

3 months later

Ranger POV

It's been four months since Stephanie Plum walked into Rangeman and turned our lives upside down but for once it was a good thing. I never expected to meet the love of my life by random chance in the middle of a grocery store only to find out she worked for me but I guess the strings were being pulled all along. We have been official for three months now and things were going better than I expected.

After our date on Valentine's I took her home to my apartment and spent all night worshiping her but at the end of the night or rather early morning as I laid away listening to her sleeping as she snuggled into my chest I realized that she was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life sleeping next to. Since that night we went on weekly dates going to museums, New York, a Ranger's game, several movies, an amusement park, and a road trip to a small inn in Connecticut. If we weren't short staffed at Rangeman the dates lasted pretty much the whole weekend. It was wonderful.

Another thing that surprised me was how happy she made my men. They flocked to her anytime she was in her office, the breakroom, or really within five feet of them. Stephanie has gotten our company running so efficiently the core team rarely has to work past our regular shifts now. She was able to renegotiate several contracts with our suppliers for office supplies, medical supplies, and security tech between the offices, something that I hadn't even thought about but has resulted in us hitting all of our business goals for the year and it was only the first quarter.

The first week of March Stephanie convinced me to lift my sugar ban but I kept some restrictions. First only she or Ella were permitted to provide the treats and they could only be put out once a week. I also implemented a policy that required anyone who indulged in the treats to have to run two extra miles per treat. I've probably totaled 20 ish miles since that week, my girlfriend was a damn good baker.

About halfway through March she was walking by Junior and Cal discussing one of our open skips Julianna Tucci she was wanted for murdering her husband and so far we had no luck locating her. Steph overheard and immediately recognized the name as Julianna was from the Burg and had graduated two years ahead of her. Stephanie was able to call out that we hadn't looked into the properties her ex Steph Father owned. We hadn't caught the connection because her mom had remarried four times and he was the second husband who she had only been married to for less than a year. Stephanie thought she could be with him because Jamie had the closest relationship to him. After two days of surveillance we found her hiding out in one of his rental properties.

Since then the guys have been bringing any skip with a connection to the Burg to Stephanie. If she couldn't think of a connection she called her mom, grandma, and best friend Mary Lou to see if they could find any information. It's resulted in a 100% capture rate for any skip that Stephanie has been involved with.

Thankfully Stephanie hasn't been in any more accidents since that fateful day back in February but that had a lot to do with her moving into my building. It also had to do with Hector keeping a very watchful eye on her anytime she left the building. Sometime in April she had found some of the trackers he had hidden in her belongings and car and gotten mad at both of us for tracking her but when we reminded her that our associations with the government,gangs, and mob families put her at high risk she settled down but only after we agreed to always tell her when we were placing a tracker and that only me and Hector had access to those trackers.

We had also made progress on our community center for veterans in Trenton and the surrounding cities. The sale of the YMCA to us was halted when the inspector found that the indoor pool had been leaking into the foundation and now it was uninhabitable. Stephanie took it in stride though last week after the sale stalled and we had fallen asleep after a rather vigorous round of love making when I heard a crash in the dining room. I grabbed my gun and quickly moved to secure the apartment only to find Steph hunched over a broken coffee mug that had fallen off her dining room table. I took the dustpan and broom from her, cleaning up the mess and wiping up the coffee.

When I returned I wrapped my arms around her waist with her back to my front and listened as she explained all of the drawings she had in front of her. She hadn't been able to sleep so she stayed up to sketch up different ideas for a new completely custom building. I was amazed by the way her mind worked and was excited to help her bring the new project scope to life. The next day we found a new 50 acre property on the edge of Trenton and technically in Hamilton Township directly on the Delaware River. It was a considerably larger investment than the YMCA but I was more than willing to use my personal funds for the project and after my men heard about the project many of them wanted to invest as well. We put an offer in and it was immediately accepted so Steph has spent much of this week meeting with contractors and architects in addition to her normal duties.

Currently I had a large stack of paperwork that needed to be completed but I was feeling restless and needed to get out of the office so I decided to see if Steph wanted to join me and pick up the new FTA files at the local bonds agencies and drop off some paperwork with the Trenton PD. Her office door was mostly closed so I knocked before entering. "Hey Babe. I'm heading out for the afternoon. Would you like to join me?"

She crossed the room and gave me a quick peck on the cheek before reaching around me and grabbing her coat and purse off the coat rack. "Of course Ranger let me just drop off these skip files to Hal and payroll to Tank." I followed her to Tank's office then over to the cubicles before we headed down to the garage. I led her over to the 911 and helped her in before driving us out of the garage. Les Sebring only had one file for us and Vinne, who was Stephanie's sleazy cousin, had three. I was talking to the desk officer at the TPD when a loud bomb followed by shattering glass caused by gunshots took out the front entry of the station.

I felt the sting of the bullet as it grazed my shoulder and leg as I dove behind the desk to take cover. After a brief moment of confusion I quickly gathered myself needing to get to the parking lot to check on Stephanie who had been waiting in the Porsche.

Stephanie POV

My breathing was staggered and my eyelids felt heavy as I struggled to gather myself and determine what just happened. I had been sitting in the Porsche looking over the new FTA files and waiting for Ranger to return from dropping off his paperwork with TPD when I heard a whistling noise causing me to look up just in time to see a blue pickup truck speeding around the lot what looked like a rocket or a firework speeding straight towards me. I quickly opened the door and rolled out of the car but ended up being hit by some of the debris from the explosion as I made my escape. So now I was laying on my back hoping Ranger was okay and trying my very best to stay alert.

Suddenly a familiar face appeared above me. Eddie Gazzara, my childhood friend who was now a cop, was looking at me trying to get my attention. I couldn't actually understand anything he was saying. A few moments later Ranger appeared in my line of vision followed by Hector and Bobby but I still couldn't hear anything they were saying to each other or me. All of their faces were blank and before I could ask for any clarification the world turned to black.

Hector POV

"Fuck" Tank yelled breaking the chair he had been standing by. We had all just listened to the TPD reports of being attacked and knew that Ranger and Stephanie had been there when his 911 went offline. The reports coming in were for rocket launchers and gunshots and now there were several cars on fire. We all rushed as quickly as possible out of the building, taking only 5 minutes to get to the station as opposed to the normal ten.

What we saw upon arrival was utter mayhem as several cops lay in the parking lot wounded, the front of the station riddled with gunshots, and several cars on fire or exploded. Lester and some of the men ran over to aid the healthy officers with securing the area. I scanned the area looking for signs of Steph and Ranger only to spot Ranger hobbling from the front of the building over to the area behind where his car was currently half exploded and half still on fire. Me and Bobby ran quickly over to the area, meeting him there, approaching one of the uniform cops who was trying to speak to Stephanie and get her attention.

She didn't respond when any of us called her name before passing out so Bobby checked her ears and found that her ear drums had been damaged likely from the explosion. He quickly assessed her body finding no major injuries and determining that she passed out likely from a concussion. I held her hand and waited with her for the EMT's to check her out while Bobby tended to Ranger's injuries. The bullets had only grazed his left shoulder and right calf so he only needed minor first aid. The EMT's were busy attempting CPR on some of the officers who had been in the parking lot when the attack occurred so it took about 20 minutes before some of the back up ambulances were able to arrive and Stephanie was strapped to a backboard and taken to St. Francis with Bobby. I helped Ranger into my SUV and we followed them to the hospital.