Chapter 13

         Lee climbed out of Morelli’s truck and then extended his hand to assist his wife out.  When she was safely on the ground, he looked around at the scattered black SUV’s along the somewhat deserted street.  Fortunately it was still dark out this early in the morning, and unless you were looking for them, the black vehicles were well hidden. As he pondered the need for the element of surprise he glanced over to the group of black shadows gathered on the other side of the tall bushes that bordered Benjamin’s beach house.  The hairs on the back of his neck stood up when a very large, foreboding looking man, who resembled a tank more than a man, passed through the faint light provided by the street lamp nearby. Placing a hand on his wife’s shoulder, he looked at her with pleading eyes. “Amanda, maybe…”

         Amanda turned towards her husband with a no-nonsense expression on her face. “Lee Stetson if you even think of telling me to wait in the car, you’ve got another thing coming.” She could see the distrusting expression on his face as her husband’s gaze was split between her and the men gathered behind her. “Those are Ranger’s men. You can tell by the fact that they’re all dressed like Ranger. And I don’t think that Ranger would associate with disreputable men. Nor do I think that Veranos would have men just milling about.  They’d be guarding the inside of the house, and maybe have one or two men posted outside, but not in the neighbor’s yard.”

         Joe came around the front of the vehicle and shook his head. “You’re far too trusting Amanda. I happen to know for a fact that a few of those men have pretty shady pasts.  Ranger has them on his payroll because they aren’t afraid to get a job done, any job.  Ranger has his own methods for getting things done, sometimes very creatively, it’s the reason Vinnie uses him for more of the difficult apprehensions…the ones no one else in their right mind would do.  Lee has good reason to be cautious.”

         Lee turned his attention back on his wife. Morelli was right, his wife was too trusting, which is why, in this particular gathering, he felt even more protective of her than usual.  “Amanda…I wasn’t going to ask you to stay in the car, I’ve stopped trying since no matter how many times I ask, you don’t stay put. I was, however, going to ask you to stick close to me.”

         Amanda rolled her eyes. “Nothing is going to happen to me with regards to Ranger’s employees, so you can stop worrying about that. What we should be doing is concentrating our efforts and concerns on getting our friends out of that house.” She pointed to the house on the other side of the bushes. Then, seeing Ranger joining the other men, she shook her husband’s hand off of her shoulder. “Now, I’m going to go over and find out what the situation is. Feel free to stay here and brood.”

         When Joe started to follow Amanda, Lee placed a hand on the cop’s arm. “You don’t trust Ranger do you?” He asked in a low voice as he fell into step beside Joe.

         Joe took a deep breath. “I trust Ranger to keep Stephanie safe, but that’s the only thing I trust him for. His business dealings are extremely shady, he disappears for days and weeks on end, and no one seems to know where, and he knows way more than he should about what goes on around here.”

         Lee slowed his pace as he glanced over at Morelli. “Have you run a background check on him?”

         Joe grunted. “Everyone has and the guy knows how to keep his information secret, including where he lives.  The only thing we could uncover was his address, which happens to be an empty lot.”    

         “And yet you still trust him with Stephanie’s safety.  You’re a better man than me. I don’t think I’d feel that comfortable entrusting Amanda’s life to him, not unless I had more concrete data on him.” Lee felt a knot beginning to grow as he watched his wife talking with Ranger.  He admitted that a small portion of the uneasiness he was feeling was jealousy, but the rest was because he had sensed something familiar about Ranger.  It was a feeling he’d gotten many times in the past when he’d been forced to work with an enemy agent. In fact, it was exactly how he’d felt when he was forced to work with Petrovich and Chang on the stolen detonators being smuggled out of California.  He wasn’t saying that Ranger was working for the other side, but the fact that he kept his past well hidden, wasn’t earning him any points.  The only thing keeping him from suspecting the worst about Ranger was the fact that he was almost positive that some kind of silent recognition had passed between Agent Petrakis and Ranger back at the site of the Corvette bombing. 

         Joe laughed. “Stephanie doesn’t give me much of a choice. Since she insists on continuing to work for Vinnie, someone has to watch out for her.  I admit I don’t care at all for the way he looks at her, but I trust Stephanie, and if I can’t be there to keep an eye on her, Ranger’s the second best choice.”

         Lee shook his head slightly. “Well I still give you credit for having such confidence in his ability to protect her for you.” As he and Morelli approached the others, he made a mental note to do a full in-depth Agency background check on Ranger when he got back to D.C.

          “As a precaution Santos is positioned in the shadows near the back door, and is ready to move on my signal.  Hal is assessing the situation inside, and should report back shortly.” Ranger glanced over at Lee and Morelli as they approached. “According to Tank, we know that Adams and Veranos are both inside.” He nodded subtly towards the large man on his left.  

         “Have we received confirmation from your men that Francine and Stephanie are inside?” Lee asked Ranger.

         Amanda nodded along with Ranger. “Daniel’s in there too.”

         “How many armed men are inside with them?” Joe glanced towards the house, keeping his voice low.

         “Veranos brought two men with him, and Adams and the henchman who helped bring the girls in, makes five.” Ranger glanced over at Tank, who nodded confirming the count.

         Lee reached for his holster and pulled out his gun. “Well, then what are we waiting for.” He knew, from past experience, that opportunities where all the players are together didn’t come along often, and if they had any chance of nabbing both Benjamin and Veranos, they needed to act now.

         Ranger shook his head. “I don’t recommend moving in until we know for sure where the girls are.” Sensing the urgency radiating off of both Lee and Morelli, he quickly added, “and I’m not ordering my men to make a move until I’ve gotten Hal’s report.”  He glanced at his watch. “He’ll join us as soon as he confirms where they are.”

         Lee gritted his teeth as the muscles in his neck pulsed. “You expect me to just stand around and wait...and let the opportunity to capture one of the most wanted gun runners slip through our fingers…because if we don’t move now, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.  Our window of opportunity is going to disappear.”

         Amanda could sense the jealousy and distrust of Ranger radiating off of her husband, and she knew that if she didn’t intervene soon, Lee might very likely end up doing something that might jeopardize the whole operation.  Her husband was an excellent agent, and he’d gotten better at not charging into a situation half-cocked, but there were times when people he cared about were in danger that he sometimes forgot to put that agent mask firmly into place.  Hoping that she could reason with her husband, she placed her hand on his arm. “Lee, neither Veranos nor Benjamin is going to get away. Tank was telling us that Veranos only arrived about five minutes ago, which means it’s very unlikely that he’s going to be leaving any time soon.  I agree with Ranger, we need to make sure we know where Francine and Stephanie are.  If we go barging in there like gang busters, we risk getting them both killed.”

         Having gotten to know Lee Stetson, Joe was sure that if it were possible, steam would have been coming out of the agent's ears.  Though Amanda and Ranger were both right, and they needed to make sure Stephanie and Francine wouldn't get caught in any cross-fire, he agreed fully with Lee; they didn't have the luxury of waiting. “Veranos doesn't like to stay in one place for long.  I care about Stephanie and Francine's safety as much as Lee or you, Amanda, but your fiancé’s right, we need to act now.”

         “If you and Stetson want to go in now, then you’re on your own, Morelli,” Ranger kept his expression neutral as he looked the other man square in the eye. “because, I am not ordering my men to move in until I know the hostages won’t get caught in the cross-fire.” He had come close to saying Stephanie, but afraid that too much concern would be evident in his tone, and not wanting to enrage Morelli’s jealous side, he chose to use a formal moniker instead.

         “If there really are only five armed men inside,” Lee looked over at Morelli. “between the two of us, we should be able to handle them...”

         Amanda glanced at her husband. “Lee, why are you being so stubborn about this?”

         Before Joe could respond to Lee, a shot echoed from inside the house, followed by another. “This debate just ended.  I’m going in now…” Drawing his weapon, he turned and ran towards the front of the house, where the shots had come from.

         “Move in now,” Ranger spoke into his mic as he joined Lee and Amanda who were charging after Morelli.  He didn’t need to look around him to know that his men were moving into position, covering every possible exit to the house, because that’s how he’d trained them to react.

         Joe ran straight for the front door and, waiting just momentarily for Stetson and Ranger to get into position on either side of him, he kicked the door in.  With split second timing, he quickly assessed that neither Stephanie nor Francine were in line of his gunfire and as he did a diving roll into the house, he fired a shot at a bulking figure in a gray suit who was entering into the room.

         Lee glanced briefly at as his wife, who had taken up position beside him with her gun poised and ready. He nodded once, letting her know he was ready and that he knew she had his back. He then glanced at Ranger, nodded once more and as he moved to enter, quickly ducked back outside as a bullet grazed the doorframe. 

         Ranger bent down and, estimating the angle from which the shot was fired, moved in and fired three shots.  He moved in at a low crouch and nodded with satisfaction as he caught sight of his target falling to the ground.  As he sensed Lee entering the house, he heard gun fire coming from the back of the house and heard Tank shouting to Veranos to stay where he was. 

            Amanda slipped into the house and glanced around at the bodies lying on the floor.  The first one she noticed was Benjamin, curled up in a ball, moaning.  Catching Ranger's eye, she nodded in the bigamist's direction.  Ranger gave a quick tilt of his head and moved over towards the downed man.  The next set of bodies she saw caused her heart to stop.  Lying face down, in front of a toppled chair with a very much alive Stephanie attached to it, was Daniel, with a pair of unmoving female legs sticking out from under him.  She rushed over to her friends and as she knelt beside them, she stuck her fingers to Daniel's neck, and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a faint pulse.  She then noticed a pool of blood and she quickly moved to check Francine’s pulse.  As she waited for a beat, she glanced towards the bounty hunter. “Are you okay?”

         Stephanie did her best to nod. “Couldn't be better.” She replied sarcastically. “Might be better if I weren't tied to this chair and lying on the ground, but, hey, I'm alive.”

         Amanda smiled, not only at the brunette's sarcasm, but also with relief as she felt a very strong pulse emanating from Francine.  Sensing a familiar presence above her, she glanced up at her husband, catching the worried expression on his face. “The blood's not Francine’s.  It has to be Daniel’s.  His pulse is very weak.”  Hearing the scraping of Stephanie’s chair, she glanced behind her and watched Joe as he righted his girlfriend. Then, as she felt Francine start to stir, she looked back towards her husband. “Can you move Daniel off of Francine?”

         Lee nodded and bending down, slowly began moving the injured FBI agent off of his friend. “You’re sure Francine's not injured?”

         Amanda shook her head. “I have no idea, and I won't know for sure until I can get a good look at her.” She watched as her husband gently rolled Daniel over onto his back, noticing for the first time the large blood stain on Daniel's upper chest. She glanced back towards the blonde and watched as her eyelids began to flutter. “She seems to be coming around, that's a good sign.”

         Having moved Stephanie’s chair into an upright position, Joe began untying her bonds, his eyes searching as much of her as he could from behind for any signs of injury. “Are you sure you’re okay?" 

         Stephanie nodded fully now that she was sitting up again. “I'd be a lot better if I could feel my fingers though.”

         Joe laughed. “I'm working as fast as I can, Cupcake.”  As he undid the last knot, he moved around to the front of her chair and helped her to a standing position.  Then, without any hesitation, he pulled her into a fierce embrace and planted a hard, possessive kiss on her lips.

         As Joe broke the kiss, Stephanie realized she’d lost all feeling in her lips, and decided that it was a good thing that Joe was holding her up; otherwise she might have melted into nothing but a pool of liquid on the floor. “Wow, maybe I should get kidnapped more often.”

         Joe shook his head and laughed despite himself. “Don’t push your luck, Cupcake.” He commented as he tightened his arms around her, and smiled warmly when she responded by wrapping her arms around him and laid her head against his chest.

         As Amanda helped Francine into a sitting position, she glanced over at Ranger, who was holding up a cuffed Benjamin, and noted a flash of anguish cross the bounty hunter’s face as he watched Stephanie taking comfort from Joe.  She could tell, from that one brief look, that Ranger definitely had feelings for Stephanie, and she wondered if Ranger’s distress was because of a secret longing for something he could never have, or simple jealousy towards Joe for having what he strongly desired.  Catching her eyes on him, Ranger quickly pulled his attention away from the couple and turned it back towards his captive.  Turning her own attention back to her friend, she asked, in a worried voice. “Are you injured anywhere, Francine?”

         Francine moved her hand to the dull ache at the back of her head and shook her head. Then, as she glanced slowly down at the red stain on her designer shirt, and for the first time in her adult life, she didn’t care that her clothing was ruined, instead, knowing that the blood wasn’t hers, she glanced over to the man lying next to her.  Then, with concerned eyes, she looked at Lee, who was bending over the agent with his hands pressed to a wound on Daniel’s chest, trying to stop the flow of blood. “Lee, is he…?”

         Lee looked at his friend with a grave expression on his face. “He’s weak, Francine, but he’s alive.  Looks like he caught a bullet in the shoulder but I’m not a doctor, so I can’t tell you how serious it is.”  He glanced over at Ranger. “Has anyone called in a med team?”

         “Ambulance should be on its way.” Ranger nodded. “One of my men called for emergency support as soon as we moved in.”

         Amanda placed a gentle hand on Francine’s shoulder. “Do you think you can move?”  When the blonde slowly nodded, she slipped her hand under her friend’s arm and helped her stand up. 

         Francine put all her weight on both her legs and instantly felt a sharp pain rush through her left leg.  She involuntarily grabbed Amanda’s arm, as her foot gave out. “Maybe I’m not as okay as I thought.”

         Supporting Francine, Amanda led the blonde over to the couch. “That’s why I stopped wearing heals during working hours.” She smiled teasingly and glanced down at the sneakers adorning her feet as she assisted her friend down onto the cushions. Then noticing the cuff dangling from Francine’s wrist, she pulled a leather case out of her back pocket.  Opening it, she pulled out a thin piece of metal. “Here give me your hand Francine.” When the blonde produced the wrist with the cuff, Amanda went to work on releasing the tumbler. “Do you remember what happened? How everyone ended up on the floor, and unconscious or,” she glanced over at the man lying motionless on the floor, whom she knew neither Ranger, nor any of them had shot, “…dead?”

         Francine nodded as she returned her gaze to the injured FBI agent.  Although she remembered everything with full clarity, she was still in shock.  Petrakis had jumped in front a bullet meant for her.  No one had ever done that before. “I’d managed to get my cuffs unlocked, and Benjamin pushed his luck one too many times and found out just how much a woman’s knee can hurt.  While he laid moaning and groaning on the floor, Randolph,” she motioned towards the lifeless body of Benjamin’s body guard, “came barreling in guns blazing.  Instinct took over and I knocked Stephanie over,” she turned towards the brunette, “I’m sorry if you have any lasting injuries, but I couldn’t think of anything else to do.”

         Stephanie stepped out of Joe’s comforting embrace and moved to sit beside the blonde. “Hey, you saved me from getting shot. What’s a bruised arm, right?”

         “What happened after you knocked Stephanie to the ground?” Lee watched his friend carefully.  He knew that she seemed to be in shock, and he also knew that if she didn’t keep going while it was fresh in her mind, vital details might slip from her memory.

         Francine glanced once more at Daniel’s slow rising chest. “I heard Randolph cocking his gun, I fired and the next thing I know, Daniel’s pushing me to the ground.”  She removed her gaze from the agent and stared at Amanda. “He took a bullet for me. Why the hell would he do something like that?”

         “He took an oath to protect others, Francine.” Lee shrugged his shoulders non-committally. “You know the FBI handbook isn’t that much different than the Agency’s on that score. ‘Protect all others above yourself,’ you should know that.”

         Amanda gave her husband an exasperated glare, then turned her attention back on her friend. “I know Daniel, and although he liked to play by the rules most of the time, he didn’t do anything life threatening just because it was his job.  He put his heart and soul into everything he did…does, I mean.”

         Joe crossed his arms and put on his best interrogation face.  He wasn’t trying to say that Francine was a suspect, but he had learned from years of experience that sometimes someone in shock could very easily assign a hero worship to a person who had accidentally saved their life.  “Are you sure Petrakis pushed you out of the way, maybe he just got in the way of the bullet and fell on top of you, knocking you down?”

         “Oh no, he definitely jumped in front of the bullet.” Stephanie turned towards Joe. “I may have been on the floor, but I saw the whole thing.  We thought Daniel was out cold, because of the huge knot on the back of his head from where Veranos’ man hit him.  He was lying on the couch, then the next thing I know, he’s flying across the room and knocking Francine to the ground.” She glanced over at Joe. “I thought it was against the bad guy code to shoot a man in the back.”

         Joe shook his head. “Yeah, but it doesn’t count when it’s a cop or a fed you’re shooting.”

         “Ah,” Stephanie replied then narrowed her eyes at Joe.  “Oh, stop being such a cop, Morelli. You’re among friends, so you can stop treating everyone like they’re suddenly a suspect.  If you want to go interrogate someone, go play with Adams.” She rolled her eyes and sighed as she turned her attention back towards the blonde. “By the way, Francine, thank you for saving my life.”

         Francine shrugged. “You’re welcome.” She was about to add that it was all in the line of duty, but immediately decided against that.  Stephanie had become almost a friend, and after having her own life saved in a similar fashion, she realized that what Amanda had said about Daniel, could almost be said about herself.  There had been a time when she would have put her life on the line for another person merely as a sense of duty, but sometime in the last few years, she had come to realize the importance of friendship. Whether that was because of Amanda’s influence or not, she didn’t know, but what she did know, was that she would willingly give her life for a friend, as well as for her country.

         Amanda could sense the awkward silence that had befallen the group and was about to say something to break the stillness when fate stepped in and did it for her. “Speaking of saving lives…” She glanced towards the front door and the sounds of approaching sirens. “Looks like the medics have finally arrived.” She looked towards her husband. “Do you think Daniel’s going to make it?”

         Lee shrugged his shoulders slightly. “I’ve managed to stop the flow of blood, but his pulse is still very weak. I’d say that the ambulance is arriving just in time.”

         Joe walked to the front door and peered out into the early light of dawn.  He saw two approaching ambulances but didn’t see any sign of the authorities.  He turned around and looked at Ranger. “Didn’t want the cops mucking things up?”

         Feeling his prisoner starting to get bold, a sign that his pain and discomfort was subsiding, Ranger shook his head as he tightened his grip on Adams. “Figured we had enough men here to handle things, including the clean up. I think it’s time I check on things in the back and make sure Veranos and this one get secured in a vehicle. You’re welcome to ride back to the station with me and take care of Veranos.”

         “If only we knew where the guns were this whole case could easily be wrapped up. I doubt we’ll get Veranos to talk here, not by conventional methods anyway.” Joe glanced knowingly towards Ranger. “We won’t be able to use any kind of force, not with medics arriving; they don’t like shows of violence.” He grimaced. “Not sure if it’s even worth bringing Veranos in.  Without the guns, we don’t have much to hold Veranos and he’ll be calling his lawyer the minute we walk in the stationhouse door.”

         “What about kidnapping?” Stephanie asked, as she rubbed the throbbing ache on her arm from where it had hit the floor.

         Joe shook his head. “Since he wasn’t present when Benjamin took you and Francine, he can claim that he had no knowledge and that once he found out what was going on, he came here to see to your safe release.”

         “Boss,” Tank called out as he stepped into the room. “I think you need to come back here and look at this.  We found the munitions from Fort Dix.”

         “Guess you just got your wish.” Ranger glanced briefly at Morelli before turning and walking towards the back of the house, dragging Adams with him.

         Joe started to follow, and then catching sight of Stephanie beginning to get up off the couch, he turned towards her. “Don’t even think about it, Cupcake.  You need to have the medics check you out.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he put his no-nonsense cop face back on. “Don’t argue with me, Steph, I saw you holding your arm, have it checked out.”

         Ranger turned and nodded. “Babe, he’s right.”

         Stephanie rolled her eyes and plopped herself back down on the couch. “Fine,” she turned and glared at Ranger, “but then I want you to promise that you’ll share the bounty on Adams with me…after all if I hadn’t gotten kidnapped, you wouldn’t have caught him.”  She heard Ranger laugh as he disappeared into the other room, and narrowed her eyes at the sight of the scowl on Joe’s face.   He didn’t like the fact that because Ranger had told her to do something, she had agreed, when he knew she would have gone another three rounds with him.  She was saved, however, from having to endure any kind of comment from him because the medics had begun entering the house.

         “The two women on the couch need to be checked out.” Joe pointed to Stephanie and Francine.  Watching as the first two medics went directly over to Petrakis, he smiled with satisfaction when two others moved towards the couch, and then turned and followed Ranger out of the room. 

         Lee removed his hand from Petrakis’ chest and moved aside to allow the medics access to the agent. As they began to stabilize the agent, he rose and moved to stand beside his wife who was watching them work on her friend with her heart in her eyes. Wrapping his arms supportively around her shoulders, he mentally added his wife’s concern for others to the list of reasons why he loved her so much.  “He’s going to be okay.” He whispered as he planted a kiss in her hair.

         Amanda nodded. “I know.” She turned to look at her husband. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to ride in the ambulance with him.” Before her husband could object, she continued, “I know him, Lee. I can give the hospital all his information, and being that I’m a government employee, I can make sure he gets the NEST treatment, as well as find a way to contact his superiors.”

         Francine who was now standing and leaning on the handsome medic who had been checking her over, placed a gentle hand on her friend’s arm. “No need to incite Lee’s little green monsters, Amanda.” She smiled wanly at Lee and then turned her attention back to Amanda. “I’ll ride over with him. I need to have my ankle x-rayed anyway.”  The truth was that she felt she owed it to Daniel to make sure he was indeed okay, especially since, he had saved her life, no matter what his reasons were for jumping in front of the bullet. As she watched the medics push the gurney by and move towards the front door, she wondered if she really did have a knight in shining armor after all.

         Amanda looked at Francine curiously. “You’re sure?”

         Francine nodded. “You can meet us at the hospital, though. After all, I am going to need a ride home, because I have no intention of spending an entire day at the hospital.”

         “Okay, we’ll meet you there.” Amanda nodded and then watched as Francine, leaning on the medic, hobbled out of the house behind the gurney carrying Daniel.  She then turned towards her husband. “I guess we should find Joe and see what the situation in the back is all about, and then head over to the hospital.” Her eyebrows furrowed as she watched the last medic leaving the house, closing the door behind him. “I don’t suppose anyone bothered to ask which hospital they were going to?”

         Stephanie shook her head. “No, but I’m sure Ranger knows.” She chuckled. “He knows everything.”

         Amanda smiled and laughed along with Stephanie as she caught the skeptical expression on her husband’s face.   She knew that her husband didn’t fully trust Ranger, and she had a feeling that it wasn’t all jealousy related. Once everything was wrapped up and they were on their way home, she was going to get to the bottom of her husband’s mistrust of the bounty hunter.  If nothing else, it would pass the time on the five hour ride home.  As she followed her husband and Stephanie towards the back of the house, she suddenly realized that they didn’t know how they were going to get home since they no longer had the Corvette.  They could always rent a car, but regardless of what options they had, now was not the time to figure out their mode of transportation home. 

         Entering the kitchen, Amanda confirmed that thought with the sight of all the cuffed men and guns lying around.  As the sun started peaking in through the kitchen window, she decided that when they were going to get home was a more appropriate question.  With only a week until their wedding, this day was shaping up to be a very busy one, and she had a feeling that they wouldn’t be heading home anytime soon.  Watching her husband inspecting the contents of a large wooden box, she began walking towards him, eager to get things wrapped up as quickly as possible.