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Chapter 12

         Francine glanced over at the goon stationed by the door to the little living room where she, Stephanie and Daniel were being kept and relaxed a little.  His back was to them, which provided her the perfect opportunity to work on dislodging the half-rake from the cuff of her sleeve.  Her hope, back at the apartment, that she and Stephanie would have been put in the back seat together, had been quickly dashed when she’d been tossed in the passenger seat, and Benjamin had shoved Stephanie in the back with him, where he could keep his gun trained on his ‘insurance policy’.  She had to admit to herself that she admired the bounty hunter a great deal right now.  Considering the situation they were in, Stephanie was keeping a very cool and calm demeanor, despite the fact that the brunette’s eyes gave away the fear she was obviously feeling.

         Stephanie leaned as close to Francine as she could, considering the fact that she was now tied very tightly to a very uncomfortable wooden chair. “Do you think Agent Petrakis is okay?” She whispered, keeping her voice as low as possible, so as not to insight the anger of the guard at the door.

         Francine glanced over to the couch where Daniel lay unconscious and shrugged. “He’s still breathing, so that’s a good sign.” Her hand fumbled within the seam of her blouse cuff and had to bite her tongue from crying ‘eureka’ out loud when her fingers finally clasped tightly around the little pick she’d been seeking.  Keeping it in her grasp, she slowly moved her hand into position and began working on the lock of the cuffs around her wrists.

         Stephanie glanced over at Daniel and then back towards Francine. “I don’t know about that, I’m no doctor, but that was a huge goose egg I saw on the back of his head when they dragged him in here. Not to mention the fact that he just spent the last thirty minutes being bumped around in the trunk of the car.”

         Francine let out a small ironic chuckle. “Trust me, I’ve seen worse on Lee, and he’s always managed to survive.” She glanced briefly towards the doorway as she continued to work on the cuff’s lock.  “Besides,” she shrugged slightly, “FBI agents have a reputation for having very hard heads and a little bump on the head every now and then seems to help keep their egos from getting too huge.”

         “Why do you think they brought him here and didn’t kill him?” Stephanie shuddered as she realized what she’d suggested. “I didn’t mean I want to see him dead, and it’s probably a good thing for him that he’s just unconscious, though I’m not sure he’s even breathing, but if you think he is, I’ll take your word for it, after all, you probably have more experience with this type of situation than I do.”

         Francine rolled her eyes as she worked on the lock of her cuffs.  “Are you sure you aren’t related to Amanda?”

         Stephanie looked at her curiously. “Pretty sure, why?”

         “Oh nothing really,” Francine shook her head slightly. “It’s just that Amanda tends to ramble when she’s nervous, too.”

         “Oh, that…” Stephanie laughed nervously, “I’ve been in some pretty tight places since I started tracking down FTA’s, but I can’t say as I’ve ever been used as insurance before.  The first case I was on, I was going to be raped and brutally maimed before I was killed, so this should seem like a piece of cake.”

         “How did you manage to get away unharmed?” Francine realized that the brunette needed to talk, and it allowed her the freedom to hide what she was doing, should the goon at the door look their way. “I’m not trying to assume anything, but since you’re still working for your cousin, I’m guessing that you got out of the situation okay.”

         Stephanie closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she nodded. The memory of what happened in her apartment that day was still very fresh in her mind and she needed a moment to get her self under control. “I managed to get away from him long enough to get to my purse…and my gun…he was the first person I’d ever killed, and hopefully he’ll be the only one.” She opened her eyes slowly and caught the understanding look in the blonde’s eyes. She quickly looked away and back over at Agent Petrakis, hoping to see some sign of life in the man. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to being in life or death situations.” She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the steady rise and fall of the agent’s chest, and turned her attention back to Francine. “How do you do it? I mean in your line of work, this kind of thing must happen all the time.”

         Francine shrugged. “We learn to compartmentalize our emotions.  You can’t show fear to the enemy, and if you keep your fears and emotions tucked away, it allows you to keep a clear head,” she lowered her voice to barely audible whisper, “and figure out a way to escape.”

         Stephanie leaned as close to the blonde as she could. “Do you have a plan…to escape that is?” She quickly jumped away when she heard heavy footsteps approaching.

         Benjamin shook his head as he entered the room. “Tsk, tsk, tsk ladies, didn’t your mother’s teach you that it’s not nice to whisper?  Someone might think you’re talking about them.” He moved closer to the pair. “If you can’t be good, I’ll have to separate the two of you. In fact, I think I’ll do that right now, I wouldn’t want you hatching out a plan of escape while my back was turned.”  He walked over to Francine’s chair and as he gripped the sides, he leaned forward and blew hot breath into her ear.  He grinned when she shuddered slightly. “I remember how much you loved it when I did that. I believe it made you wet and hot for me.  Behave, or I might just have to find out if it still does.” He raised his head and dragged the chair a few feet away from Stephanie’s and a little closer to the couch.

         Francine silently cursed herself. She could tuck her emotions away, but she couldn’t control her body’s natural reactions. Of course what Benjamin had thought was her being turned on, was really her suppressing the urge to throw up, but either way, she had reacted and that wasn’t something she was proud of.  Mentally gritting her teeth, she stared calmly at her captor.  She needed to keep Benjamin distracted so she could continue working on her cuffs, and the best way to do that was to get him talking. “I’ve learned a lot about you in the last few days, but there’s one thing that truly puzzles me, why marry so many women? Wouldn’t it have been smarter to just date lots of women whenever you took on a new alias? Surely you had to realize one of your wives was going to get suspicious.”

         Benjamin shook his head and sneered. “It’s all about dominance, Frannie.  See you women all act like you want independence, but in reality you want a man to take charge of your life.  A boyfriend doesn’t have that authority, but a husband, he’s the bread winner.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe in marriage without love.” He moved over to Francine and tenderly ran a finger along her cheek. “I meant what I said the night I proposed to you. I loved you and was willing to give you my heart, and despite what you and your job have put me through the last few days, a small part of me still loves you.”

         Francine let out a small grunt, he may be willing to admit he still loved her, but she could no longer say the same to him. Her love for him had instantly run cold back at the apartment when she had seen his true colors. “Little did I know when I accepted that you could only give me part of your heart.  I feel sorry for the women who came before me.” She kept her face and voice neutral as she spoke. “Actually I feel sorrier for the three children that have the misfortune of being your offspring.  We can only hope that they don’t learn from your example.”

         Benjamin gritted his teeth and began pacing back and forth between Stephanie and Francine. “You women are all the same. When are you going to realize that life was so much simpler back in the days when all you had to do was worry about housework? You know, cooking, cleaning and raising the children.  Men are the ones who should worry about where the money is coming from in order to pay the bills and keep you comfortable. This sudden urge for independence gave you all the wrong idea.”

         “Someone really did a number on you.” Stephanie sighed sympathetically. However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that the deranged man holding them hostage wasn’t acting like someone who’d been jilted at the altar; his attitude was a little more old school.  Even Joe, who was raised in a family where the women didn’t work, hell almost all the women in the burg didn’t work, but even Joe didn’t have this warped ideal of a woman’s rightful place.  She knew that Joe didn’t like her working as a bounty hunter, but he never objected to her working; he just agreed with her mother that she should get a safe job. “Or were these screwed up ideas of women only being good for keeping house passed onto you by your father? Man,” she shook her head sadly, “if that’s the case then I feel sorry for your mother.”

         Benjamin stopped his pacing and, spinning on his heels, he glared at Stephanie. “Don’t you ever,” he took two quick steps and slapped the bounty hunter across the face, “mention my mother.” He wrung his hands together as he straightened up and glared at the brunette. “My mother was the worst one of the lot of you.  She got tired of knowing her place, as my father put it the day he told me my mother left us to find greener pastures.  Never said goodbye to me, her only son, she just up and left.  Never heard from her again, and for all I know she’s dead, which would be just fine with me. I just hope wherever she is she’s miserable and lonely.”

         “So you fell in love and married four times, just to get back at your mother for deserting you?” Stephanie’s cheek was still smarting form the slap Benjamin had bestowed before, but she’d caught sight of the slight movement of Francine’s hands and had a feeling that the blonde would rather the nutcase’s attention remain on anything but her.  She just hoped that Francine managed to get herself free of her bonds soon, because she didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep Benjamin’s attention and not get the crap beaten out of her.

         “You truly are a woman of many trades, aren’t you Miss Plum?” Benjamin laughed. “Fire magnet, bounty hunter and shrink.” He shook his head and sneered. “I’m surprised that boyfriend of yours hasn’t managed to teach how to keep your pesky nose out of everyone’s business.” He turned his attention on Francine. “I guess birds of a feather really do flock together, Frannie.  I’ve been meaning to ask you, what was it that prompted our little game of twenty questions the other night.  You never seemed that interested in my past before.  Was your little secretarial pool really all that interested in me, or had you run some sort of background check on me and discovered my slightly colored past?”

         Francine mentally cursed under her breath.  She’d almost managed to get the tumbler to click over at the exact same moment that Benjamin had turned his attention back to her, and she’d been forced to stop what she’d been doing. “Actually it was Amanda who ran the check on you. She recognized you when you dropped off your wife, Sally Thompson at some restaurant in Baltimore. Apparently she was meeting your wife for lunch.”

         Benjamin snickered at his dumb luck. “It really is a small world, isn’t it? I knew letting her join that book club was a bad idea, but it was either that or let her get a job, and that was totally out of the question.”

         Francine felt the knot in her stomach tightening.  She couldn’t believe she’d fallen in love with such a back-ass-wards creep. “I’m curious about something, though, didn’t Veranos object to your many wives, especially since having more than one in this country is illegal, and if you were caught it would probably alert the feds to your connection to him.” She smiled sweetly at him, “oh that’s right you were, caught, weren’t you? I’m surprised, frankly, that he didn’t make you join the fish in the Hudson.”

         “Carlos and I go way back.” Benjamin smiled at Francine. “We met in college and ever since I saved him from an almost fatal car crash, he sort of owes me his life, so no, I don’t think he’ll be offing me anytime soon.  He’s the brother I never had; in fact he was the best man at my first wedding.”

         “And to show his gratitude, he let you in on his ‘family business’?” Stephanie rolled her eyes. “I’ve grown up around organized crime and I know that if you double cross the head of any family, blood or not, they won’t blink twice before they fit you with cement shoes.  You may have saved his life which gave you one get out of jail free card, but buddy, I think you’ve used it up.” When Benjamin turned in her direction, which is what she’d been hoping for, she caught the look of annoyance shining in his eyes and prayed that she wasn’t going to get another slap across the face. “Oh, I get it, you need us to make sure that Lee, Amanda and Joe stay far away from Veranos’ business deal, so that you don’t end up at the bottom of the Hudson.”

         “Girly, you’d be wise to keep that smart mouth of yours shut. One of these days it’s going get you killed.” Benjamin leaned against the arm of the couch and folded his arms comfortably across his chest. “Your concerns for me are quite touching though, but unnecessary.  See Carlos actually encouraged me to marry Sally.  He saw how much I loved her, and figured that marrying her would make my alias as Clyde Thompson even more trustworthy.  People tend to trust family men a lot more than do single men.  Then when I had to come back here to do business in Trenton, I met and fell in love with Eleanor. Made my dear grandma so happy to think that she was going to finally get some great-grandchildren.”

         “Little did she know she already had three.” Stephanie muttered as she thought about sweet Polly Adams.   

         Benjamin’s expression softened as he thought about the woman who’d been the only nurturing entity in his life after his mother had left. “I felt terrible not being to share my kids with her, but there was no way I could have kept all my aliases a secret if I started introducing everyone, now could I?” He sighed regretfully. “But we all have jobs to do, and Carlos was relying on me and my keen business sense to see that his deals went smoothly.  Everything was going just fine until Eleanor got suspicious.  Carlos warned me to stay away from Marie, but there was something about her innocence and absolute trust in me that I just had to marry her. I couldn’t live with the idea that if I let her go, some other man was going to get her.”

         “I bet it absolutely devastated her to know that you were a fraud.” Francine would have preferred to keep Benjamin’s attention off of her, but when the pick had missed the tumbler for the third time, her ire had grown and she felt like taking her frustration out on something that truly deserved it.

         “Oh, she’s being well taken care of and she was so in love with me that she instantly forgave me.  It might surprise you to know that she still sends me love letters.” He noticed the slightly curious looks on both women’s faces and grinned. “I bet you’re wondering how that’s possible, since I move around and never keep the same name?  I set myself up with a post office box and one of Carlos’ men checks it for me. He then forwards my mail to me, depending on where I am at the moment.”

         Stephanie gave Francine a slight nod of understanding. Ranger had checked into the post office box that Polly Adams had given them.  According to the post office, no mail was ever requested forwarded for the box number and the box was always empty when they went to put new mail in the next day.  Now they knew why.  “I guess what they say about love being blind really is true.  Marie must really have been an innocent, but then if she loved you so much, why did she willingly sell this house that would hold such pleasant memories of you?” She asked sarcastically.

          “Once I made bail, the first thing I did was contact Carlos and asked him to keep an eye on Marie for me.  He approached her, told her he absolutely loved this house, and very kindly made her an offer double it’s value. He told me she was reluctant at first, but when she realized that she had no real means to support herself, she finally accepted his offer. By the way,” Benjamin smiled as he looked around the room, “do you like my little beach house?  This is the one house I actually feel at home in.  Guess I’ve always loved the sound of the ocean crashing into the dunes at night.”

         “So assured that the only woman who still loved you, despite your past, was taken care of, you then ran straight back to Sally, the only woman who didn’t know about your past. Very clever.” Francine tilted her head slightly and raised her eyebrow questioningly.  “There’s one thing that we’ve all been dying to know, though, how is it that Sally never showed up on the radar?”

         Benjamin shrugged. “Carlos has his ways. I don’t ask how he does it, and frankly I don’t want to know.  He knew he needed me in D.C. to arrange the sale of the weapons, so he worked his magic and somehow managed to keep my connection to Sally off the radar.  Of course I stayed away for awhile until I was sure that no one had linked her to me. That’s why I got the job at the Arlington high school.  Although meeting you had made things bearable…at the time, I was glad when Carlos assured me Sally was safe. I missed my son.” He shook his head in disappointment. “Who knew that meeting you would end up complicating my life even more than it already was?”

         Mentally sighing, Stephanie knew that she needed to turn Benjamin’s focus away from Francine so the blonde could get back to working on getting herself free. “And what about your kids? Forget about the fact that you couldn’t tell them they had a great-grandma, but look how you turned out without a mother, aren’t your kids being raised without a father?”

         “I warned you to watch that mouth of yours.” Benjamin began advancing on Stephanie, but pulled up short when he caught sight of Randolph motioning him into the other room. “Looks like you just got lucky bounty hunter. If you’ll excuse me, I have business to attend to.” He walked over to Francine and placed a kiss on her lips. “Don’t go far, my love, I have plans for you later.”

         Francine waited till Benjamin was out of earshot and then spat on the ground. “I’m never ever falling for anyone ever again.”

         “He must be a really good actor, he managed to fool a lot of women Francine, don’t let it get to you.  There’s a good man out there for you.” Stephanie laughed to herself.  If only she believed the same would be true for her as well. Joe was a good guy, but he wasn’t perfect, and then there was Ranger, dark, mysterious and totally wrong for her.  Maybe neither one of them was the right one for her, and somewhere out there, was her Mr. Right; she just hadn’t met him yet.

         “This is all my fault.” Francine glared at the brunette when she saw Stephanie start to open her mouth to protest. “Don’t say it’s not, because if I hadn’t let my emotions get the better of me in the first place, I would have taken the information on Benjamin at face value and not had to prove Lee and Amanda wrong. I didn’t want to believe he wasn’t the right man for me.  Then I had to be even more stubborn in trying to track him down.  If I hadn’t let my guard down tonight, there’s no way Benjamin would have gotten the jump on us back at your apartment.”

         “Francine,” Stephanie shook her head, “it won’t do any good to think about what ifs. Instead,” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “I think you might want to go back to working on that little project you were working on earlier.” She opened her eyes wider and tilted her head, hoping that the blonde understood what she was saying.

         “So you were baiting him on purpose.” Francine nodded as she glanced over towards the door to make sure that no one was watching them too closely, and assured that they weren’t, she went back to working on the cuffs.

         Stephanie nodded. “And don’t worry, you were being very subtle about it, in case you worried that you were being obvious. If I hadn’t been thinking about how we were going to get out of this and glancing your way hoping maybe you had an idea, I probably wouldn’t have noticed at all.”

         Francine chuckled despite the situation. “I really am glad you’re here, at least you’re bringing some levity to the situation.  Even if I do finish my ‘project’,” she lowered her voice as she spoke, “I haven’t been able to come up with a plan to get us all out of here safely.”

         “Somehow, I have a feeling that if we don’t end up dead soon, the cavalry is going to come busting in any time now.” Stephanie looked towards the window as she caught sight of a very familiar black SUV driving by the house for the second time.

         “I swear if I didn’t know better, I’d believe that Amanda really was here with me.  She’s a bigger optimist than you.” Francine gritted her teeth as the pick missed the tumbler again. “And if she were here with us, then I might believe you. Lee always shows up to save her in the nick of time, but she’s not here, so forgive me if I don’t share your confidence.”

         Stephanie lowered her voice as low as she could and still keep it audible. “It might be wishful thinking on my part, but I think I just saw one of Ranger’s merry men driving by.”   

         Francine looked at her skeptically. “How do you know it’s them? It may not be prime beach season, but that doesn’t mean a car or two wouldn’t be driving along this road just to get somewhere. Besides we don’t even know if anyone knows we’ve been taken and even if they did, we haven’t been missing long enough for them to have found us already. It takes hours of research to pinpoint a dozen possible locations, and even longer to narrow it down to the most likely one.”

         Stephanie shook her head gently. “Yes, but when it’s a very non-descript black SUV driving by, not once, but twice…” She shrugged her shoulders slightly. “Trust me, I don’t know how Ranger does it, but he always manages to find me. I think he’s planted a homing device on me somewhere. And maybe it is wishful thinking on my part, but he hasn’t let me down yet.”

         “If that’s true, than I’m doubly thankful you’re with me.” Francine shook her head. “Maybe I need to die my hair brown. They say blonde’s have more fun, but I’m beginning to think that brunettes get all the luck, or at the very least the psychic connections to the really good guys.  It’s the only way to describe the unique connection that Lee and Amanda have.  They have ways of knowing when the other is in trouble, and of finding each other in the bleakest of situations.  Even you, if what you say is true, with regards to that Ranger, then I definitely think it has to be linked to the color of your hair.” She let out a small grunt as she suddenly realized that Stephanie had not one, but two men watching out for her. “What’s with you, anyway, isn’t one man enough?”

         Stephanie rolled her eyes. “I don’t know if I’d go so far as to suggest that I have more than one man. Half the time I don’t even have Joe.” She watched the blonde raise her eyebrow, and sighed. “It’s complicated. In many ways he’s everything I could ever hope for in a man, but at the same time, he’s not.  He’s damn sexy and incredible in bed, but I think there’s something missing in the less physical aspect of our relationship.”

         “You mean he tries to control you?” Francine tilted her head to the side and raised her eyebrows knowingly. “I’ve watched the two of you, and although it’s obvious he cares about you, a lot, he doesn’t really accept you for who you are.”

         Stephanie grimaced. “You’re making him sound like the nutcase whose holding us hostage.”

         Francine shook her head slightly. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

         “I know you didn’t.  For one thing, Joe could never have more than one wife; he’d never be able to pull it off, at least not while Grandma Bella’s still having her visions.” Stephanie laughed somewhat self-consciously. “Why do you think anyone would even want more than one spouse? Hell, I can’t even have a steady relationship with Joe long enough to decide if we’re even meant to spend the rest of our lives together.”

         Francine shrugged. “I honestly can’t answer that one. If you’re asking me why Benjamin went down that road, perhaps he really did fall in love with each of his wives,” she let out a long sigh, “and perhaps even me, and felt the proper thing was to marry each of them…us.  He did give us an answer, though. For him it’s not just about love, it’s about seeing how many women he can control, but it was also a way to establish his many aliases.  The more I think back on it, the more I realize that he had hinted to me more than once that I didn’t need to work, that I deserved to be taken care of.  I thought he was just being romantic. I had no idea he really wanted me to be the ‘little woman’ cleaning house all day and having dinner ready and on the table for him when he got home from work.”

         “I think that’s my biggest problem with the idea of marriage.” Stephanie shuddered. “I’m not ready to be the one standing barefoot and pregnant at the door, with one kid on my hip and another tugging on my apron strings, when my husband comes home from work ready for me to give him a kiss and tell him that dinner’s almost ready.”

            “Unfortunately, there are a lot of men, like Benjamin, who feel that that’s the way women should be.” Francine glanced back towards the door to the other room and shook her head. “It’s a shame really that they feel that way, after all this country wouldn’t be the same if all the women were meek.”

         “I’m surprised Benjamin was able to get Eleanor to agree not to work.  She doesn’t seem the type to succumb to that kind of pressure.” Feeling her bottom start to fall asleep, Stephanie adjusted herself in her seat slightly.

         “Yeah,” Francine nodded in agreement, “after talking to her yesterday, she really didn’t seem like someone who would, but take it from me, damn it…” she gritted her teeth when the pick missed the tumbler again, “anyway, Benjamin can be very convincing as a caring, loving man.  He had me fooled, and I always prided myself on being an excellent judge of character.”

         “Do you think he really got his other wives to stop working?” Hearing a spring creak in the couch where Agent Petrakis was lying, Stephanie glanced over in his direction with a hopeful expression.  Seeing the agent’s eyes still closed and the even breathing of his chest, she realized that he was still out cold and her expression changed to disappointment; it would have been nice to have an unbound ally to get them out of this, especially if that hadn’t been a Rangeman vehicle she’d seen driving by.

         “Well, based on what Eleanor told us, and from what Amanda told me about Sally, Benjamin’s second wife,” Francine shrugged, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he had gotten the others to stop working.  I bet he thought he’d eventually have gotten me to quit my job. Hell I came home more than a dozen times since we’d started seeing each other, bitching and moaning about how much I hated my job.  I didn’t really mean it, I was just blowing off steam after a bad day, but he was probably storing all that up to use in his argument to get me to quit once we got married.” She let out an ironic laugh. “It’s funny, really. I was all set to tell him the truth about my job, right before I found out about his past, that is, and I can’t help wondering where I’d be now if I had told him.” She tilted her head towards the other room. “I bet he’d be pissed off, but not because I kept it a secret, but because it was going to mess up his plans, which in a sense it already has.  He probably would have poisoned me or killed me in my sleep.”

         Francine felt her hand cramping up and regretfully removed the pick from the lock.  Wiggling her fingers, she did her best to get some feeling back into her hands. “I know one thing for sure, if we had gotten married and he did try and get me to quit my job, our marriage definitely wouldn’t have lasted very long.” As she slipped the pick back in the lock, she glanced curiously at the bounty hunter. “I’m curious about something, why do stay with someone who tries to get you to change who you are?”

         Stephanie scrunched up her face and shrugged. “I don’t think Joe’s trying to change me, he just doesn’t like this bounty hunter gig, because of the danger I manage to stumble into and frankly, he does have a point. Some days even I don’t understand why I keep doing this job.”

         “So why do you keep doing it if you don’t like it?” Francine looked at the brunette seriously. “It’s not like its very glamorous, and from what I’ve gathered it seems to be a pretty thankless job.”

         Stephanie laughed. “You can say that again and it’s not like it’s a steady paycheck either.” She then shrugged her shoulders again. “To be honest, I think I do it because it’s different and I meet some interesting people.” She smiled as she thought about Sally Sweet, the cross-dressing rock singer who’d helped her with the treasure hunt in the stolen car case that tied directly into Joe’s counterfeit money case. “And, I think I do it to prove to him and everyone else that I can do the job.” She chuckled. “In some ways I stick with it just to piss Joe off.  He can be so infuriating sometimes and this job is the only thing that really ticks him off.  He says it’s because he doesn’t like to worry about me being in danger, but that’s not the entire reason.  He doesn’t like me working with Ranger.”

         Francine nodded in understanding. “I noticed he listens to the little green monsters too, though he hides his jealousy a hell of a lot better than Lee does.  I admit that in some ways jealousy can be flattering, but when they start polishing their guns every time another guy talks to their woman, it can be aggravating. I don’t know how Amanda puts up with Lee’s jealousy. Then again, I don’t know how she puts up with a lot of his quirks.  Guess love really does do crazy things to people, is that why you put up with Joe?”

          Stephanie let out a woosh of air. “I don’t know what I feel for Joe.  There’s a strong attraction and a feeling that we’ll end up married some day, but I don’t know if it is love.  I thought I was in love once, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.  I think I get more jealous than Joe does, and I know he trusts me way more than I trust him.  Does getting jealous and wanting to tear out the eyes of a leggy blonde who shares an intimate past with my boyfriend mean I love him,” she shrugged, “I have no idea.  As for why I put up with Joe, sometimes I think I do it because not only do I care deeply for him, but because I don’t want to be alone.”

         “What about Ranger?” Francine paused once more as her hand began to cramp.  She was glad for the distraction that talking about Stephanie’s love life was providing, otherwise she’d probably be cursing up a storm. She’d always done extremely well with picking locks before, and was beginning to get a little annoyed at herself for not being able to have cracked these cuffs by now.  She was beginning to wonder if Veranos really had designed a cuff that was pick proof, as Benjamin had mentioned earlier. Determined to prove that theory wrong, she went back to working on her little project. “He’s good looking, if you like that dark, mysterious, brooding type, and he seems to be very protective of you.  Does Joe have a good reason to be jealous?”

         “If you’re asking if I have feelings for Ranger,” Stephanie closed her eyes and sighed deeply, “I don’t know. I think I might, but then maybe it’s a guardian angel complex…you know the protective thing, he always seems to know when I’m in trouble and is always there to get me out of it.  At first I thought it might just have been because I was his protégé, but lately there have been a lot more obvious sexual overtones in his comments.” Overtones that she admitted to herself made her weak in the knees and unsure if she wanted to jump his bones or run screaming for cover.  “You have to admit, though, there is something very exciting about a man who is dark and mysterious, and who does a damn good job of keeping everything about himself a big secret.”

         “When I was younger, I might have agreed with you.” Francine sighed as she glanced back towards the doorway, “but I’ve been in the intelligence business long enough and have been burned twice in love, to know that it’s better to be very wary of anyone who has anything to hide.”

         Stephanie tilted her head and looked at Francine with a skeptical expression, “Even if that person seems to have your best interest at heart and you know in your heart that he’d never do anything to hurt you?” 

         “Sometimes faith in someone isn’t enough.” Francine felt the lock click and had to bite her tongue to keep from shouting for joy.  Glancing once more towards the doorway, she quietly slipped her hand out of the cuff, and was about to start working on the other half when she heard heavy footsteps approaching.  She quickly moved her free hand back into a position that made it appear that she was still bound.

         “Well ladies,” Benjamin shook his head almost regretfully, “it looks like our time together is almost coming to an end.” He smiled at Stephanie as he approached her, “It seems your boyfriend knows how to follow orders or else he’s very good at hiding because none of Veranos’ men can find any trace of him anywhere in Trenton,” he reached out and ran his finger along her cheek.

         Stephanie glared defiantly at Benjamin, she knew from first hand experience that Joe could hide under a rock in plain sight and not be seen if he didn’t wanted to be seen. “You must be talking about someone else, because the guy I’m dating, wouldn’t follow the orders of someone like you, especially not when there’s bigger fish to catch.” Unable to stand the feeling of the low-life’s hand on her skin any longer, she moved her head away from his touch.

         Benjamin moved his hand to Stephanie’s shoulder and leaned close to her ear. “Well, for your sake, you better hope that he’s changed his ways, otherwise he won’t be seeing you in one piece ever again.” He stood up straight and walked over to Francine. “As for you my love, your so called friends seem to have escaped Veranos’ latest trap and taken his warning to heart, because they seem to have left town as well.”

         Francine almost laughed in Benjamin’s face, instead she held his gaze defiantly. “I guess it just goes to show you that you never really know someone as well as you think.” She knew that Lee never gave into a threat; in fact a threat to Lee was almost like a dare and Amanda cared more about others than her own personal safety, so there was no way they had headed back home.  Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Stephanie looking out the window again, and began to suspect that the young bounty hunter’s instincts were probably right on the money, and Ranger and his men had found them.  If that was the case, then Lee and Amanda, and most likely Joe, were quite possibly waiting outside for the right moment to strike. 

         Benjamin shook his head. “That’s why I never count on anyone but myself.” He placed his left hand on the top of the chair, just above Francine’s shoulder, and moving his right hand to her leg, he tantalizingly ran it along her thigh. “It’s a shame things worked out this way, you and I could have been great together.” He then leaned down and capturing her lips with his, he forced his tongue inside her mouth.

         Recognizing this as probably her only opportunity to get the upper hand, Francine bit down on Benjamin’s tongue and brought her left leg up and kicked him smack in the groin. Then as he was doubling over in pain, she whipped her freed hand around and karate chopped him in the neck, sending him sprawling to the floor. “Never underestimate the power of an independent woman.” She quickly bent down and retrieved her gun from the waistband of his jeans. “I’ll take this back if you don’t mind.” As she rose from her position, she glanced towards the doorway of the room just in time to see Randolph and another man running into the room with their guns drawn.  Randolph had his gun trained on Stephanie, while the other had his aimed directly at her. 

         Randolph took one look at his boss lying on the ground and shook his head at the blonde. “Women really have no brains. If you’d just cooperated you might have gotten out of this alive.” He nodded towards Veranos’ man and then raising his gun a little higher, he aimed directly at the brunette’s chest.  “Say goodbye.”

         With split second timing, Francine aimed her own gun at the second goon and as she fired in his direction, she registered the sound of Randolph’s gun going off.  Without thinking she threw herself at Stephanie and the last thing she saw as she forced the brunette’s chair to the ground was a flash of black as she too fell to the floor.

        

 

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