The Men of Rangeman

M rating

Thank you once again Margaret for reading ahead as my Beta. :) I much appreciate :)

Lester's POV

I was sitting in the break room with a few of the guys when the call came in. All I had to hear was the word 'bomber' and my ears perked up. It seemed like something happened while she was out picking up a skip. I listened more intently, already up from my chair and ready to race down the stairs to my car. Her one-week-old 2007 Honda CRV seemed to have gone off the grid. I hoped it was just more bad-car karma. Hal and Jamie, the new guy, had been on patrol when they heard the call come in over the police band. They rushed to the scene, calling Rangeman on the way. By the time they got there her car was unrecognizable, the victim of a bottle bomb, obviously meant for her. Thankfully she got out with just a few scrapes and scratches as she was thrown from the car trying to exit. I arrived as soon as I could, but Ranger beat me. I found her totally wrapped in his arms. I was about to leave them alone when she caught sight of me.

"Lester Santos, don't you dare leave," she said, seeing me turn to slip away.

"You're safe Beautiful. I don't need to hang around."

"Lester come here," she said disengaging herself from my boss and friend.

I looked at her inquisitively, but it was obvious that she was intent on giving me a hug for coming out to help her.

"Don't piss him off," I whispered into her ear. "I'll be the one paying."

"What do you mean?"

"We'll talk about it another time," I whispered again, breaking from the hug.

They had a curious relationship and I certainly didn't want to get in between the two of them. I also didn't need Ranger questioning my motives, which were sincere by the way. Yes she was beautiful. Yes I'd love to go out with her, but that's not why I was here. Stephanie was a good friend and to be honest, I didn't know whether or not Ranger was even going to show up and I didn't want to leave her stranded with no way to get home. As I said, they had a curious relationship.

I was just leaving when the beat-up car that Morelli drove while on stakeout for TPD showed up. I had heard that they had a kind of ugly breakup a few months earlier, but she never spoke about it to me…and I never asked. I hung around to see what was going to happen, since from what I had heard they weren't even on speaking terms right now.

"Cupcake, are you ok?" he called out from across the street and began walking towards her briskly.

She looked up from her tucked-in position between Ranger's arms.

"You didn't have to come out, I'm ok."

"I can see that now, but the call that came in sounded bad. I won the case so I'll need to talk to you about this soon. Call me when you're ready, but don't wait too long."

She nodded to him and re-tucked herself back into Ranger's chest. He whispered something to her and she nodded. I guessed that was all she was capable of doing right now. I wasn't hanging around to spy on them; I just wanted to make sure Morelli got into his car and took off. Unfortunately, he got back in his car and sat there watching them. Not a good strategy.

I was about to go over and tell him to move on, when Steph and Ranger broke apart and he took her by the hand and led her over to his turbo. It looked like they were leaving. He turned around and saw I was still there.

"Santos if you plan on staying here, make yourself useful and help Junior and Slick dispose of Steph's car."

I nodded at him. Guessed it was catching.

Bobby's POV

I had heard the call come in, so I was pretty much expecting someone to bring Steph to me to check her over for signs of internal trauma. Ranger hadn't been in the building all day but I saw Santos leave in a hurry right after we heard the news.

With that going on in the back of my head I readied my sick bay. I was not at all surprised when my phone rang and it was Ranger. He asked me to meet him and Steph in the infirmary.

I'd never question their relationship, or whatever you'd want to call it. Oh course we all considered her his woman, but from my perspective it was nothing like that at all. I could see they each cared deeply for the other, but they were both so stubborn. He to admit that his mumbo jumbo about relationships was shot to shit and hers stemmed from her not wanting to get hurt again. I can't blame her, but Ranger needed to get his head out of his ass once and for all. Every time she went back to the cop we all suffered. Don't let his caring side and good looks fool you, he can be a nasty son of a bitch. So with this in mind I was prepared for anything.

I had just pulled a fresh sheet of paper down on the examination table when Ranger knocked on the door and he and Steph walked in.

"Babe, you were thrown from the car. I'd like Bobby to look at your wounds and check to make sure you have no internal bleeding. I can leave if you want."

"Stay. Please."

I gave Stephanie a gown to slip into while Ranger and I stepped out. When she called to us that she was ready we came back in and she was lying on my table. I checked her scrapes and scratches first and noticed a hematoma developing under the bruise on her wrist. I pointed this out to Ranger while I palpated her arms, legs and trunk looking for other signs of internal trauma. I noticed she had her eyes closed while I checked her out. I wasn't the boogie man, but I guessed her dislike of doctors and the medical profession even stretched to me.

She had another huge hematoma on her hip. It was already starting to swell and I knew it had to hurt as I ran my fingers over the area to determine how large it was.

"Ok, nothing broken," I said to relieve some of the tension, "but you do have a few very larger areas of black and blue and swelling. I'm sure they'll bother you for the next week or so. There's nothing I can give you for them, so you'll just have to let them heal and take Tylenol if you're really uncomfortable. The one on your hip is quite big, so it may be hard putting jeans on. You might want to wear a dress for the next few days."

I saw her nod in agreement and open her eyes.

"Can I get dressed now?"

"We'll step outside. Take your time."

I was hoping Ranger was going to share with me what his intentions were, but when nothing was forthcoming I decided to butt in.

"I can't tell if she's hit her head or not, there's nothing obvious, but she does seem a little shaken up. I'd suggest someone watch her closely for the next twenty-four hours. I guess Santos, Hector and I can take turns. There's an open apartment on our floor."

"No," Ranger growled. "That's not necessary. She can stay with me."

"Try convincing her of that," I said under my breath and stepped away before I lost it.

"Brown. What the fuck is up with you?" he asked, turning around to face me.

"Sorry Boss, I guess I get a little emotional when it comes to Steph almost getting killed again. I wonder how much longer even you can take it? I know I'm reaching the end of my rope now."

"So what would you like me to do?"

Shit. I wasn't expecting this. "Be honest," I said.

"You know I can't commit fully. Is that what you're asking me to do?"

"I don't know what I'm asking Boss. But you know what they say, 'either shit or get off the pot.'"

He turned away from me and went back into my room. I didn't follow.

Hector's technology lab is next to my infirmary, so when I saw him sitting inside staring at his computer screen, I knocked and walked in.

"Amigo, what brings you here?" he asked skeptically.

"Steph had another mishap; she's in my infirmary with Ranger. I needed to step away," I told him honestly.

"What happened? Is she ok?"

I gave him a brief description of what I knew. Bottle bomb. Cuts and contusions. Possible concussion.

"This is about the third possible concussion she's had in maybe the last seven-months. That can't be good."

"No shit."

"I could use a little help with these apps I'm developing for us. Do you think she might be interested in working with me?" Hector asked out of the blue.

"I think you have the wrong person. She's about as un-technical as you can get. I bet her grandmother knows more about apps for iPhones and iPads than she does."

"Then she'd be perfect. They need to be dumb simple. And I could use someone to play with them and make sure they work they way I want them to. You know…test them before I hand them out to the team."

"She probably can do that. Why don't you ask her? Although to keep her from chasing skips, she's going to need a bigger carrot than that."

"A title? Maybe assistant technical director?"

"She'll feel like we're creating a job for her and that would just piss her off. But I'm pretty sure she'll test stuff for you if you ask…and promise to pay her."

"I don't think that will get her off the streets, she'll want to do both."

I noticed Hector's eyes go from me to outside his office. I assumed someone walked by, so I mouthed, 'Stephanie?' Hector nodded then started whining out loud about needing an assistant. I guessed he wanted Steph to hear.

I turned from him and walked towards his office door to see where she was. I noticed Ranger was holding her close and they were standing at the elevator. My inquisitiveness got the better of me; garage or penthouse, so I walked over to see which floor was pressed.

"Steph, are you ok?" I asked, walking towards them and noticing seven was lit up on the floor indicator.

"Hey Bobby. Thank you for taking care of me. I guess I'll be ok; right now I feel like my body got jumbled around with my bones."

"I hope you're staying put tonight. At least that would be my medical advice, but hey, when has Ranger ever done what I suggested."

"Ranger invited me up for one of Ella's fabulous dinners. Then I guess he's taking me home. We didn't get that far."

"Not my business," I added, "but I'd suggest staying at Rangeman. I can't be sure that you didn't hit your head and I'd hate for anything to happen to you if you were by yourself. There's an open apartment on four, right next to Lester. We can come and check on you every hour or so."

"Brown," Ranger snarled at me, "You are overstepping your boundaries. You can shut up now or meet me on the mats at 0500."

"When it comes to things medical, I have the last say here," I said, getting testy with him. "You want to meet me on the mats? Fine, but I'm trying to keep Stephanie's best interests at heart and I think her staying in this building with people who will watch over her for the next twelve hours is what's best for her right now. You can call a tribunal if you doubt my professional opinion," I said and walked away.

"Ranger?" I heard Step's voice raise in question as I left them.

"We can talk about it upstairs, right now let's get that beast fed. I bet you haven't had anything since this morning."

That was another thing I'd like to work on. I had a feeling things were slow at the Bond's office and she was barely scraping by…and obviously food wasn't high on her list of priorities.

Hector's POV

Bobby left my lab and headed in the same direction that Steph and Ranger did—towards the elevator. He seemed to be asking for it by contradicting and egging Ranger on.

I hoped he knew what he was doing. Rangeman didn't need a medic walking around in a cast.

I had hopes that my offering of a job would get Steph off the streets. Well at least long enough for her wounds to heal and perhaps for her to have a change of heart about working for her fucked up cousin. I never understood how he could stand back and let her get trashed day after day.

Anyway I was sitting at my desk thinking about this when one of my cell phones buzzed. I knew by the buzz it wasn't my Rangeman phone, so I pulled it out of my pocket and answered with as much attitude as one word could portray.

"Yo."

"It's Ranger."

"Why you calling me on this phone?"

"I have something I want to ask you and I didn't want the call monitored."

"What's up?"

"How are those tracking apps coming along?"

"They haven't been field-tested yet, well by anyone other than me. You asked for them to be dumb-simple and I think they still may be too complex. Why?"

"I was hoping to let Rangeman Miami play with them. I want to head down there for a week or two to check on things. Feel like getting out of Trenton?"

"I think the person who needs to get out of Trenton is Stephanie."

"I was going to ask her too. Silvio could use a little help right now."

"Not that it's any of my business, but why does it always have to be about work? Can't you invite her down to relax for a week or so. Bobby thinks she may have a concussion."

"I heard him," he grumbled. "I was planning on leaving Wednesday morning. I'll let Tank know and I'll book a corporate flight for say 10 am? Meet me at Trenton Mercer."

"Confidential?"

"I don't want the men to know I'm using Miami to field-test something before them, so the trip isn't confidential, but the reason for it is. Tank agrees with the plan."

Ranger's never asked me to travel with him before. Obvious to me there was something else going on down there that required skills only I possessed so I agreed to the trip. I assumed the app stuff was bullshit and he'd brief me on the plane.

And as Ranger said the trip wasn't confidential, once I hung up with him I called Bobby to let him know most of what I knew. I left out the app-testing bullshit thing.

"Yeah I overheard him talking to Tank about Miami," Bobby said once I filled him in. "I understand that Rangeman is doing some work for the state and whoever it is that we are being asked to apprehend is believed to be in the Miami area. I think Ranger was at the Governor's mansion all day today. Lester never even expected him to show up when we got the call about Steph."

"Governor's mansion? In Princeton and he made it to the site before Lester?"

"Don't ask."

"I wish I knew what was going on with those two. I told him I thought Stephanie needed a vacation and he said he's going to ask her to come down to Miami with us to work. He said Silvio needs some help. That's pretty fucked up if you ask me."

"He's a very intense man. It's all about work," Bobby said in a way that sounded to me like he was sticking up for him. Strange after the way he just tore him a new one.

"Yeah, but I see the way he looks at her. There's something else going on."

"Well he's had us all believing she's his woman for years, but when I've quizzed her, she just laughs. And she keeps going back to Morelli, so he can't be the Don Juan we all imagine him to be."

"I don't think they're sleeping together. She's probably afraid of being hurt. And Connie told Lester that her and Morelli had a big blow out on the street a few months ago and aren't even speaking. Maybe what Steph and Ranger need is a couple of weeks together in Miami to get things heated up. I plan to give them a lot of alone time."

"Hector you are evil."

"That's what they tell me."

Slick's POV

Ranger called me from the street. The reception was bad but I heard enough to piece together that another one of Steph's cars bit the dust and he wanted Junior and I to pick up the pieces and dispose of them. No problem if I knew where this car of hers was. I wasn't going to call him back and ask, he's been in some fucking lousy mood lately and I didn't feel like getting the shit beat out of me for questioning him. So I called Manny who I knew was on monitor duty to see where her trackers were last spotted.

"Pennington and Calhoun," he told me. "Morelli's trackers say he's still at the scene so tread lightly. We don't need a war with TPD right now."

"Is Ranger in the area?" I asked not wanting to have an internal war either.

"Negative, he and Steph just arrived at Rangeman."

Fuck. Now I'd have to tread lightly around my own apartment if getting rid of this car posed any problems with the Trenton police force. Well, namely Morelli. He and I had butted heads before and he wasn't one of my fans...not that I had too many in Trenton anyway.

I turned the car around and headed back to Rangeman to pick up the flatbed. From there Junior and I made our way down Pennington towards Calhoun keeping our eyes open for cops. Disposing of evidence wasn't exactly legal.

While we were en route, Manny called to let us know that Morelli's tracker said he and his car left the site. He assumed Morelli was heading back towards the station, so I steered clear of any direct routes he could take to get there. I wasn't up for passing him on the street with a flatbed and getting flagged down. It was too early in the week for that shit.

When we arrived at the site by a round about way I saw the remains of her SUV. It looked like a pile of scrap metal. Thankfully it wasn't a very big bomb and pieces of her car weren't strewn for miles. We only had maybe a fifteen square foot radius to contend with. We got the pieces onto the flat bed and headed over to Rosolli's junk yard to dump it.

Manny Rosolli was waiting for us when we got there. I guessed he got word that Junior and I were coming by.

After we dumped our 'cargo' we headed back to Rangeman. Our shift was over a couple of hours ago and we were both happy to have clocked some overtime hours. I was looking forward to that imported stout in my refrigerator when the phone rang.

"Slick? Ranger. Can you meet me in the large conference room on two tomorrow morning at ten? I have an assignment for you."

"Of course Boss. Anything I need to read beforehand?"

"No. Tank and I will have briefing documents for you at the meeting. Keep this to yourself." And he disconnected.

Ok, I'll be honest, I was a little worried. I wasn't usually on the first line of defense here. That distinction usually went to the guys of the core team. I hoped this wasn't a lose/lose assignment.

I made myself some dinner and had one of the stouts with it while I read my mail and caught up on my email. I'm not a TV person, but I do like Bates Motel, so after I cleaned up I sat down in front of the TV to watch the last couple of episodes that I DVR'd.

Right in the middle of the 2nd one my cell phone rang. It was Stephanie. She was calling to thank me for disposing of her car.

"Oh, you're welcome. It was no big deal but we had to drive around for a while before we could get to it. TPD seemed to be staked out by your car. I think they were waiting for us."

"Morelli?"

"Yeah. I hope he hasn't been bothering you. Hal said he won the case. If you need us to tell him to take a hike, just let me know."

"Nope," she said popping the 'p' like a little kid. "Not bothering me...well not yet anyway."

"Where are you?" I asked her, hoping she wasn't running around with a head injury.

"I'm safe," she said. "I'm upstairs with Ranger. Ella brought us dinner and Ranger just told me that you and Junior picked up my car, so I wanted to thank you. I'm going to call Junior next."

Don't ever let anyone tell you that Steph isn't a good soul. I'm sure none of us would have thought twice about getting her car off the street and I certainly wasn't expecting a thank you. But something as simple as a phone call from her made me feel like a million bucks. Ranger was a lucky guy. Well at least on the surface. I had heard the rumors that they weren't sleeping together. I wasn't sure whether to believe them or not and if I believed them I'd have to think one or both of them were crazy. She's a beautiful woman with a lot of personality and he's...well, let's just say he's a pretty decent male specimen. His personality leaves a lot to be desired. Yeah, come to think of it I could see her not wanting to sleep with him.

I went to bed with a smile on my face. Maybe my life wasn't perfect, but it sure seemed that life wasn't perfect for Carlos Manoso either.

I woke to my alarm at 4:30 and hit the gym right away. Ranger was already on the treadmill when I got down there. I nodded a greeting to him and hit the weights first. I didn't have a spotter, but I was used to doing this on my own. After a few minutes Ranger came over.

"Trying to kill yourself Slick?"

"I do this all the time. I'm ok."

"When those 250 pounds come crashing down on your trachea you won't be so smug," he said picking up the bar to hand to me once I was in position. Jeez I hated being in his debt like this.

Once I was done with my lifting, I reciprocated and spotted for Ranger. Then I hit the treadmill while he went off to shower and do whatever it was he did at 6 am. He called to me from the door to the gym as he was leaving.

"See you at ten."

I nodded that I'd be there and upped my speed.

I was a few minutes early to the 10 am. I opened the conference room door and was surprised to find Hector, Junior and Tank sitting around the table. There was coffee, croissants and pastry on the sideboard and Tank nodded to me to help myself. This was quite unusual for a Rangeman briefing.

I was adding milk to my coffee when the door opened and Ranger and Stephanie walked in. I saw Stephanie's eyes light up at the pastries and she immediately walked over to them. She nodded hello to me but seemed to be drawn to the sugar. Nothing and no one else mattered.

Once she had her plate full, she took some coffee, added milk and sugar to it, and sat down at the conference room table next to Ranger. I heard her lean in and thank him.

"Only the best for you Babe," he muttered, pulling her close and kissing her on the top of her head.

Now I knew why we were getting special treatment.

He gave us a few minutes to eat and talk amongst ourselves before calling the meeting to order.

"It looks like everyone who needs to be here, is here. So let's get started," he said.

"Rangeman picked up a new assignment yesterday. One that's very important to Governor Christie. Tank has briefing packets for all of you, so why don't you look them over before I go on."

I opened the manilla folder in front on me and started to read. My mouth dropped before I got to the second paragraph. The case was from 2008, so it was five years old but still active.

Darcy McCall was ten years old when she was abducted from her mother's house in Elizabeth, by a man only described as a very tall, thin Hispanic man. If eyewitnesses were correct, this man was a monster at six foot eight or nine.

Five years ago. Hmmm. That would make her fifteen now. Without any recent photos she would be hard to find. I guessed the look on my face said it all as Ranger once again took control of the room.

"The governor's office may have a lead on the giant who took her. They got a call over the weekend from a woman in Tamiami, Florida who said an overly tall Hispanic man and a white teenage girl tried to rent an apartment from her. She remembered the news story as she was living in New Jersey at the time and called 911. We have been asked by Governor Christie to take the lead in this investigation because we are not a state, local or federal agency. He has deputized us just for legality sake, but we will be operating as Rangeman Miami. Steph and I will stay in my apartment at the Miami office and we have secured small apartments in between the Miami and Tamiami areas for the rest of you.

"We've been asked to bring them both back alive. I have a picture that was taken of Darcy right before her abduction. Hector can you do some magic with it and age her to fifteen?"

"I can try. There's a program the FBI have that I'm pretty sure I can get my hands on. Aging children isn't easy, they usually change too much during those early teenage years, but I'll do my best."