Author Note: Italics indicate a scene lifted nearly verbatim from canon. They were lightly edited for clarity and to better flow in the story but it is Janet's work.

Trenton, the following afternoon

Mary Maisonet

I have worked for the FBI since graduating college. My father was an agent, and my grandfather was Hoover's right-hand man. I was working child abductions when I first met Joe Morelli. I was looking for Julie Martine and the prime suspect in the abduction was her biological father, Ricardo Carlos Manoso. Known as Ranger, Carlos Manoso was former Special Forces and a Mercenary for hire for the agencies of the Federal government. He had top secret clearance and was a legend in certain circles.

Except it wasn't Ranger who had taken Julie. It was a wannbe Ranger look-a-like named Edward Scrogg. He believed he was meant to be Ranger and went after Manoso's kid and then Stephanie Plum… Even though she was living with Morelli at the time. That tells you a lot about Morelli and Plum's relationship. It was Morelli's idea to have me work in the bond office and shadow Stephanie. He told me she would have insight on Ranger who Morelli said was a good friend of hers.

After meeting with her, it was immediately clear that Stephanie was completely loyal to Manoso. He even stayed with her when the entire world was hunting him. She always defended him. Never doubted him. And Morelli wasn't even surprised, like he was expecting it. And when Scrogg snatched Stephanie, Morelli was frantic, but Manoso- Manoso was a man driven. All business.

The cops we worked with to locate her told me about the time Plum was kidnapped by a crazed undertaker. They described Manoso as a man possessed. Then Gazarra reminded the group that it was likely Manoso who "helped" a man named Abruzzi go straight to hell after torturing Plum. He spoke with what could only be described as admiration.

The bond between Plum and Manoso was incredible even then, and Joe didn't see it. He didn't see he was never going to be Stephanie's choice. Since coming back to Trenton for this case, Gazarra updated me on Plum and Manoso. He jumped off a bridge into the Delaware to save Stephanie when a serial killer's goons tried to kill her.

When this problem first arose, Manoso showed his stellar character. He reached out to all his contacts across his network to fight the coming trouble. Thanks to Manoso, there was help from all elements of Trenton society.

And now Vito was dead and Manoso… It just didn't look good for Manoso… And I was stuck babysitting Mobster Barbie and her favorite Barney Miller. I couldn't believe it when Terry Gilman asked for Morelli, but was speechless when Morelli gave up his whole life on the turn of a dime for his high school sweetheart… After years of chasing Plum. Men! I just don't understand them.

Hospital ICU, the same day

Andy Roche

"What the fuck do you mean, he's dead?" The grumpy man stood before the ICU nurse, Louise Malinkowski, in a rage. "I was only gone for twenty minutes. You told me he was stable."

"I told you he was critical but stable, he became rapidly unstable after suffering heart failure. Despite our best efforts to revive him, we not successful."

"I can't fucking believe this," Andy Roche pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. This was a disaster. The treasure department couldn't build a case against Geara without a witness. "I should have interviewed him right away, damn it…"

An alarm sounded and Louise walked toward the room the sound emanated from. The interview, as far as she was concerned, was over. Andy would need to confirm this was an expected outcome for the deceased as opposed to murder. Treasury's case was hanging by a thread. Again!

Hospital Chapel, Virginia

Steph

I remember the first time I ever saw Ranger laugh- a full out laugh, leaving him doubled over the steering wheel of his Bronco. I had just taken the bumper off or Morelli's police car, when we collided going after a van full of gun buyers.

Morelli, enraged, asked if it was Ranger in the Bronco, and I looked over and there he was, overcome with laughter. It was the middle of my chase after Kenny Mancuso, who had stolen military grade level weapons.

I remember the first time Ranger kissed me. The BMW he had loaned me was stolen when I went after Kenyon Lally and when I gave him the plate and VIN that the thieves left behind, tears had started to fall and he brushed them away gently and said,

"It was a car, Babe. It wasn't important."

He was very close. I could feel the heat from his body. And I could see that his eyes were dilated black in the dark parking lot.

"Here's something else to worry about." he said. And he kissed me- his hand at the nape of my neck and his mouth on mine, soft at first, then serious and demanding. He drew me closer and kissed me again and desire washed over me, hot, liquid and scary.

"Oh boy," I whispered.

"Yeah" he said. "Think about it."

"What I think… is that it's a bad idea."

"Of course it's a bad idea." Ranger said. "If it was a good idea, I'd have been in your bed a long time ago."

It wasn't a bad idea. As I brushed fresh tears away, again awash in the frustration of all the time wasted. I loved him, even then. I love him now. And my heart is aching with fear.

The door at the entrance to the Chapel opened and Lester, my shadow for today, walked in.

"I have an update on Ranger." He said as he slid in the pew beside me. "Ranger made it through the second surgery and they were able to close his abdomen. Thank God in heaven for that flask Kinsey gave him. It saved his life by changing the trajectory of the bullets. Don't get me wrong, he has some serious injuries, but he can survive them…"

Robert Kinsey, on hearing that Ranger and I were finally engaged gave Ranger a titanium flask filled with aged scotch. Ranger had it in his shirt pocket when he was shot and the bullets meant to hit him in the center of his chest basically ricocheted off the flask, with one tearing through his abdomen and one piercing a lobe of his lung. The lobe, badly damaged, was removed, along with his spleen. His abdomen had been packed and a machine was cleaning it out. Today's surgery was to finally close the abdominal wall.

We still had a long road ahead, but this was another step forward.

Trenton Police department

Carl Castanza

More fucking paperwork. Martin Plover had to be rushed to the hospital with chest pain, which was a pain in the ass and now the murdering bastard up and died in the hospital without being interviewed by the Treasury Department suit. You can't imagine how much paperwork is involved when a detainee dies in custody. I was gonna be here all night. At least the Geara case was not my problem.

At least Plover's death saves the state the cost of a trial. Though we will still have to prosecute the other two idiots involved in the activities of the other night. And now they were going to be in protective custody for no reason I can fathom.

Not for the first time, I counted the months till I hit the magic number and could retire. I am not so far from the twenty-year mark, having started at the tender age of eighteen. It couldn't come a day too soon.

Virginia, later the same day

Tank

Ric was still alive, Booby was with him, and we have a top notch surgical team, so I was focused on the job at hand.

The shooter, who took one in the middle of his forehead, was Slavic, carried no ID, had no fingerprints and his weapons were untraceable. A literal dead end.

My more immediate problem was how this prick got into the facility in the first place. I have some of RangeMan's best interrogators interviewing the staff that had access to this campus. The whole place has been on lock-down for months, since we knew about the threat, with Zip Zabar leading the team. Hal, Slick and Rodriguez were working on the electronic data with the wonder twins and none of us like what we are finding.

The data breech was a set up. Ric was the target. The multinational conglomerate that is planning to destabilize the drug and gun running system in the tri-state area was elusive. Ric has been using every contact to shake out the details, and clearly, this shooting means he's rattled the right cage.