A/N: It is very complimentary to Pat and I to know that readers are enjoying a story we wrote almost seven years ago! Please remember that when this story was first written, JE fans didn't have the character background they do have now. We have revised the story, but decided not to change the story content to agree with the additional bits and pieces of information JE has since revealed about the characters we love... we hope you don't mind. We also hope that you enjoy the story!

DANGEROUS MERGERS

Prologue

Tank rolled over and reached for his cell phone. Whoever was calling him tonight must be planning on dying. He, Lester, Bobby and some of the cops had celebrated the marriage of Ranger and Stephanie.

"Talk!" he barked into the phone.

"Uh, I'm trying to reach a company called RangeMan. Have I got the right number?" A tired male voice came from the other end.

Tank hauled his full size straight up. The woman next to him turned on her side and buried her head under her pillow, trying to avoid the tone of her partner's conversation. "Yes, now talk."

"This is Detective Miller of the Las Vegas Homicide Department," the man said.

Tank was already out of the bed and pulling on his pants while he listened to the detective and then he froze for a second before he shouted into the phone, "What the fuck do you mean he's dead?"

Tank started searching for his shirt in the mangled heap of clothing at the foot of the bed, growling when he finally located the twisted and knotted wad of black cotton. Flinging it back into the heap, he headed for the closet. "Talk, damn it!" Tank barked into the phone. He reappeared and separated the phone from his ear just long enough to pull his shirt over his head. "I said talk, damn it!!" Tank roared at the caller.

"Sir, if you'll just calm down," Detective Miller raised his voice, hoping to be heard.

"How was he killed? Where's Stephanie? Where in the fuck is the plane?" Tank quit struggling in his attempt to pull his socks one handed and put the phone on speaker. "Answer me, damn it!!"

Detective Miller pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger and counted to ten. "Sir, if you'll just give me a chance to answer…"

"Talk," Tank willed his voice under control and pulled his boots on. Detective Miller wasted no time in relaying the meager amount of information they had been able to compile since finding the body. Tank glanced at the readout on his phone. "I'll call you back on this number. We're on our way. I'll call with our ETA." Tank disconnected the call and reached for the house phone next to his bed. "Bobby, get your ass out of bed, we've have a situation. Downstairs in five." Tank didn't give Bobby a chance to say anything more than "fuck" before he disconnected and called Lester with the same instructions. He had one more call to make. "Marcus, we have a situation. Meet you at the airport in thirty. File a flight plan for Vegas!"

He turned his attention to the woman sitting up in bed with her hair tousled from sleep and sex; he paused just long enough to give her a quick kiss. "Sorry, Donna, I have to go. I'll have someone drive you home when you're ready. Just pick up the phone and dial '0'. Call you when I get back."

Five minutes later, all three men were running to climb into the closest SUV. As soon as they had cleared the exit of the garage Lester turned to Tank. "Spill it." Tank outlined the situation in less than one minute.

"Holy shit!" Bobby exclaimed. Not another word was spoken when the SUV sped into the night toward the airport.

DANGEROUS MERGERS

Chapter One

Their bodies were spooned, Stephanie's back to Ranger's, front as they slept in the bedroom aboard their private jet. He felt the soft weight of her breast shift in his hand when she coughed. He gave it a light squeeze and smiled, drawing her relaxed body closer. Her next cough was harsh and racked her whole body. His concern turned into fear when he, too, began to cough.

"Gotta move, Babe!"

"Ranger, please. Just a few more minutes of sleep and I'll be ready to consummate some more." Coughing, she snuggled her face into her pillow. Next thing she knew, her body was off the bed and she was standing next to it.. "Damn, Ranger! All right, if you need it that badly." Before she could focus her sleepy eyes, Ranger pulled her discarded tee shirt over her head and shoved her back down on the bed, tossing her a pair of jeans and her tennis shoes. Guess something other than sex was on his mind.

"Ranger?" she asked while she pulled her jeans on. Stephanie watched as he pulled the covers from the bed and stuffed them around the bottom of the door. His naked body was total motion. No movement was wasted. "Ranger?" Stephanie yelled.

"Gas. Something's wrong." Ranger picked up the phone next to the bed. "John?" He knelt next to the bed and slid a small panel hidden in the platform of the bed. "John?" Dropping the phone, he pressed a series of numbers into the keypad and the bed moved sideways to expose an array of equipment. Guns, knifes, parachutes, grenades, trap door, everything the average person would expect to find under a not so average person's bed. Grabbing one of the parachutes and Stephanie, Ranger started tightening the parachute harness on her.

"What are you doing?" she asked as Ranger fastened the last strap and pulled her towards the bed. Both of them stopped moving as a loud thud sounded against the locked door.

"Listen to me." Ranger's fingers dug into her upper arms when another loud thud sounded against the door. "As soon as you start falling, count to ten and then pull this." He shoved a metal handle into her hand and made pulling motions across his chest. "When you land, relax your legs." He slapped the parachute pack on her back. "Keep this with you, it has a tracking device in it." His dark eyes searched her face; pulling her into his chest he kissed her lips. "I love you, Babe."

"And just what the fuck do you think I'm going to do?" The last traces of sleep were chased from Stephanie's mind, replaced by the realization of what he was explaining to her. "I'm not leaving you and I'm NOT jumping out of this plane!"

Two more thuds sounded with vibrating force, shaking the door on its hinges and denting it on the inside. Ranger unlocked what appeared to be a small trap door. Immediately, the room was filled with a strong feeling of suction. Ranger pulled Steph closer to the hole. "NO!" she screamed as he turned her upside down, held her arms tight to her side and shoved her out of the plane like an arrow.

"R-A-N-G-E-R!" Her scream faded when she tumbled downward.

She kept her eye fixed on the metal handle she was still gripping in her hand, anything to keep from looking at the world that was whizzing past her. She tried to remember what Ranger had told her to do, but she couldn't. Besides, she had more important things to remember at the moment, like how to breathe and how to keep her heart from leaping out of her chest. Her body flipped over and she let out a scream that emptied her lungs and woke up her memory. Shit! She was supposed be counting! Should she start now or cut the count to five? Deciding proved too much for her in this situation and she yanked the handle across her chest. She was jerked back and then upwards when the parachute opened and filled with air. Her body began to drop at a slower rate, almost like floating, she thought. Wow, she sure could have used one of these when she jumped off the garage!

The ebbing of her fear should have been her first warning that things weren't going well; instead, the ear-shattering sound from above followed by pieces of metal and other burning debris falling past her was. She tried to deny what she was seeing, but she failed and comprehension of what had happened replaced her fear of falling with the horrible, paralyzing fear that Ranger hadn't made it out of the plane.

oOoOo

Twenty-four fingers rapped out a nervous rhythm against six armrests while Tank, Lester and Bobby all struggled to stay in their seats. It felt like it was taking forever to get clearance for take-off. They had hypothesized and bantered around what little information they had, now all they could do was wait. When the plane leveled off, they snapped off their seatbelts and started pacing up and down the aisle with hyper energy.

"You're cleared to use the plane's phone," the pilot's voice announced over the intercom.

Tank smacked his finger on the speaker button and then stabbed in the detective's number, "What?" The one word greeting was stretched to its limit with stress.

"Talk." Tank's stressed greeting matched the detective's.

Detective Miller remembered the man's voice and curt greeting. He rubbed his tired eyes; this was going to be a difficult conversation. "We've had another development."

Tank stopped in mid-pace at the detective's words. "What?"

Miller's exhale echoed his fatigue. "Unknown to us at the time, the RangerMan plane took off a short time before I called you." He held the phone away from his ear, knowing a verbal explosion was about to erupt from the other end. When the loud stream of profanities and questions stopped, he brought the phone back to his ear. "Ready to listen?"

"Yes." Tank held his voice to a growl.

"When we found the pilot's body, it was in a hangar assigned to another company. There was some confusion about which plane he was flying and, with him being in the wrong place next to the wrong plane, well, it simply got fucked up."

"So where's the plane? That hasn't been simply fucked up, too, has it?" Tank didn't bother to keep the contempt from his voice.

Miller counted to ten. "That's the other little twist. It seems that the flight plan was changed after take-off and instead of their original plans of going to Bali they're headed for Virgin Gorda."

"Fuck!" Tank yelled. "Somebody…"

"I'm on it," Bobby answered the unfinished question and headed toward the cockpit to inform Marcus to turn the plane south.

"Miller, we're heading for Virgin Gorda. I'll have another representative from RangeMan in Vegas tomorrow morning. He'll be there to take care of John's remains. I'd appreciate it if you'd give him your full cooperation."

"Yeah, we'll play nice," Miller replied. Shit, that's all he needed on this case, another professional.

Without a departing word, Tank smashed his finger on the call end button. "Fucking idiots."

oOoOo

Ranger's feet had just slipped through the hatch when the hijackers crashed through the door. He'd managed to pull on a pair of jeans and grab his gun. He fought to adjust his parachute; it had been the last thing he'd grabbed before he dove from the plane. He could see Stephanie's chute floating below him, thankful that for once, she had followed directions. He spared a glance upward to make sure that no one else had jumped from the plane then pressed the remote detonator he held one hand and pulled his ripcord with the other. Two seconds later, the plane exploded into a million pieces of metal and burning wreckage.

Once his chute was filled with air, he tilted his body downward, head first to increase the speed and direction of his descent, hoping like hell none of the falling debris would punctured his chute. He watched Stephanie's downward progression, safe and out of range of the falling fragments.

A second and stronger explosion from the plane sounded, sending currents through the air so strong that he lost all control. Struggling to stay in a safe descent pattern, he ended up going in the opposite direction from Stephanie. The more he struggled the farther apart they became. Cursing in both English and Spanish, he scanned the area below him and tried to locate safe place to land. The only thing below them was water. Lots and lots of water. Shit, he sure hoped Stephanie knew how to swim.