I was sitting in Ranger's bed staring blindly at the wall. By the time we'd gotten back to Rangeman, there was another update on Ranger. This time the men had refused to let me even see the photo. I left the guys to share what we found and decided to crawl into bed and cry.

He was running out of time.

I felt hollow. I was out of options. I chewed on my cheek, debating with myself. The guys would be furious with me but I couldn't wait. Besides it was just a phone call. I'd still be safely ensconced in Rangeman.

I picked up the phone and cast my mind back to the other night. I tapped out the number slowly and took a breath as I hit dial. I heard the line pick up but no one spoke.

"Uh hello?" I said hesitantly.

"Ah Stephanie… or do you prefer Babe?"

"Stephanie is fine." I grit out.

"Are we alone Stephanie? I would be very disappointed if someone else was listening in. Someone might get hurt."

"No please! It's just me. I snuck in a burner phone."

"Oh very good Stephanie. I know how difficult it is to get things past those men in black. It takes some skill to get a group of Rangemen to disobey orders and bring you to an unsecured location. Did you get the present I left for you?"

A shiver ran up my spine. "Yes I got it. Look I called like you said to."

"Yes you did. Have you liked seeing my work?"

"No!"

"Well it's your fault that I have him Steph. I just wanted you."

"No you didn't." I said angrily. "You just wanted to hurt Ranger. It's not his fault your brother died! He tried to save your brother after he tried to save another man. Your brother was trying to help someone and you are destroying his memory by hurting others!"

There was silence on the other side of the line and I felt nauseous. What the hell had I just done? Finally there was a chuckle. "Someone's been doing their homework. So the men know about Billy. I have to admit I'm impressed that the men managed to find him. I checked my own records multiple times and made sure he wasn't connected to me." I bit my tongue to stop myself correcting his sexist assumption. I'd already told him too much. "But you're wrong Steph. I wanted to hurt Ranger and I have. But since working at Rangeman and learning about you, I decided that I wanted you too. That idiot Ricky used to go on and on about you. He was going to get ahold of you for me and then meet an unfortunate ending along with Ranger. Then he had to get himself arrested and ruined everything! Now I may have lost my chance to take over Rangeman, but I can still kill Ranger."

"No! Please don't kill him." I begged desperately. "You want to make him hurt, to break him right? Well I know for a fact that you haven't done that. Ranger can take any torture you dish out up to his death and he won't break. He only has one weakness… me. Everybody who has seen him work with me could tell you that and I know you must have seen it too. So why not hurt him by letting him live. Let him live knowing that not only do you have me, but that I went to you willingly because of him."

"Intriguing. You would come with me willingly?"

"Yes, if you let Ranger go… and he isn't hurt anymore."

"And why should I trust you to keep your word? To not try and bring men to save you?"

"I wouldn't risk it with Ranger's life on the line. Send me to a safe location, you can track my movements to be sure no one is there. In return you'll send me the live feed to Ranger. When I get to the chosen location, and see Rangemen get Ranger, you get me."

"Deal. You have an hour to get to the boardwalk. There will be a bag in locker 27 with next steps."

"Wait! There's no way I can get all the way out there in that time. I have to figure out how to get out of Rangeman."

"You said you got my gift. Use the key fob to block the cameras and go through the garage." Cannon said annoyed.

I glanced at Rangers key fob laying innocently next to me. "Right, you don't think the guy on cameras would be a bit suspicious if the cameras just went out when Ranger is gone. They'd be on me in seconds."

Cannon laughed. "Oh Stephanie. You didn't think Ranger was the only one with a fob did you? All the top men have one. Trust me, as someone who has been on monitor duty, none of them will think twice if one of the leaders wants some privacy. I'll even help you out. I'll call the monitor phone in hmm 5 minutes to cause a distraction. Get moving Stephanie. And remember I'll be watching you. Any sign of betrayal and Ranger dies."

The phone went dead and I was left with the knowledge that I had either just saved Ranger's life, or doomed it.