Tank sat in the dark office, idly massaging his knee. It had been a pretty hard hit – nothing broken but he was still limping around and Ranger had him stuck on monitor duty for this op. They had four Rangeman vehicles watching the warehouse, two men in each vehicle. Or two men each in three of the vehicles, the fourth vehicle was Ranger and Stephanie Plum.
They'd been in place about 2 hours with nothing to show for it so far and Tank had listened to a lot of silence and the occasional comment. Most of them from one woman.
"Is he ever going to show?" Stephanie sounded bored. Very, very bored.
Tank heard a wordless rumble of sound from Ranger and knew what it meant – he was telling her to settle in and be quiet and patient.
Good luck with that, Tank thought. Of course, if Ranger had really wanted a quiet, patient partner on this stake out, he wouldn't have brought her in the first place. Ranger had brought Stephanie along because he wanted her there, next to him.
There was a rustle of fabric and a breathy sigh from Stephanie. "Ranger..."
"Fun, but not a good idea, Steph," Ranger said, his voice amused.
"I can be quiet."
"I don't think that's actually true."
He heard her snort, and then he heard her voice, up close and breathy, whispering. "You're not that quiet, either." Her lips must have been right up against Ranger's neck, just above where the mic pickup was clipped inside Ranger's collar.
Tank could picture Stephanie's lips on Ranger's neck, working her way up to his lips. He coughed into the control microphone to remind Ranger that he was live.
"Still not a good idea."
"I think it's a great idea. Better than watching nothing happen at a warehouse."
Ranger chuckled. "I am wired for send and receive, babe."
He heard a sharp intake of breath and a scramble of movement. "Who is listening?"
"Right now, the entire team."
There was silence for about 5 minutes, then a little more rustling, moving closer to the mic. Then the sound of a deep exhale from Ranger.
"Fewer people could be listening."
Tank heard the underlying command in Ranger's voice and he keyed the control room mic twice so that Ranger would hear the two clicks and understand that he was going to be cut out of the SEND feed.
Tank spoke to the rest of the team. "Boss is offline for a few."
Lester laughed back. "He knows we've got night vision on, right? We can see them in the truck"
"I really suggest you don't look that direction, then. Eyes front on the warehouse, where they belong."
"What are we supposed to do if the targets show up?"
"Handle it."
"While he handles someone else?"
"Santos, he can hear you. He's still on the RECEIVE feed."
"Ahhh, shit," was the only answer. "There went my week."