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Abducted
By TT

Ranger walked down the hall and felt a flicker of worry as he stopped before Stephanie’s door.

There were some new scratches on the locks of the door. He had more than enough experience to realize they were from someone, rather clumsily, picking the lock.

Slipping his gun out of his holster, he stepped to the side of the doorway and turned the handle. With a gentle push the door opened.

Nothing happened.

With great caution and keeping his back to the wall, he entered the apartment silently.

Pausing a moment in the hallway, he was distracted by faint, familiar sounds coming from the kitchen.

As he moved closer, he was able to discern the first sound. It was bullets being loaded into the chamber of a revolver. The second sound was a sniffling.

In a few steps, he found himself at the entrance to the kitchen where he was met with the sight of Stephanie loading her gun. He watched for a second as she sniffled again.

“Babe?” he asked, concern for Stephanie overwhelming his need to finish his search of the apartment.

Stephanie looked up. It was obvious she had been crying, but the anger and determination shining from her eyes proved she was beyond the original emotion. What gave him pause, however, was the full utility belt she was wearing.

“They took him,” she said, her voice shaking with her anger and, perhaps, just a hint of worry.

Raising an eyebrow at this odd non sequitur, he waited for more information.

As she slid the now-loaded gun into its holster with one hand, she shoved a paper across the counter at him with the other. “Read that,” she commanded. When her gun was in its proper place, she stepped to the table and extracted a file from her purse.

Struggling to keep the broad smile the note had caused from appearing on his face, Ranger barely managed to maintain his blank face as he took the file from Stephanie. “Morton Collins,” he read aloud, praying his amusement couldn’t be heard. “Eighty-six years old, out on bail for illegal possession of a controlled substance.” He looked up at Stephanie.

“His friend left his pills over at Mr. Collins’ house. Collins was returning them when Gaspik pulled him over for running a stop sign and saw the pills,” Stephanie said. “I went over yesterday to pick him up, but he, um, resisted. But now he’s gone too far. He’s abducted Rex.”

Ranger blinked as he struggled to keep his countenance. “Rat-napping might be a legal offense. Do you want to call Eddie or someone to press charges.”

Stephanie paused in her search for her keys. Ranger watched as her head tilted to the side in contemplation. When her attention snapped back to the present, she narrowed her eyes at Ranger, “Rex is not a rat. He’s a hamster,” she informed. “And I may call Eddie or Carl, but not yet. First, I’m going to make sure he knows not to mess with my Rex.”

Clearing his throat in order to quell the laughter that wanted to escape, he asked, “Want some backup, Babe?”

Stephanie headed toward the door, slipping her wallet into her back pocket. “Suit yourself,” she said with a shrug.”

Ranger took the file with him and followed after her, making a mental note to have Hector come out and replace the chain on the door.

Ranger had given up trying to completely suppress the smile that threatened to break forth. He did maintain enough control to keep his laughter from escaping, but the gentle curve of his lips betrayed his amusement.

Stephanie had been magnificent in taking down Morton Collins. Ranger admitted to himself, not for the first time, that if he ever took the time to fully train her, she could be remarkable. As it was, she showed no inclination for more training and he loved her just the way she was.

After cuffing her skip, Stephanie had glared at him and demanded the location of Rex. Honestly, Ranger had never seen her so scary. He was impressed.

Utterly defeated, Collins admitted Rex’s location and apologized for hamster-napping him. He was wearing bandages on three different fingers to show for his effort.

Stephanie had rushed over and retrieved Rex, only to suffer the same fate Collins had. Stephanie now also sported a bandage on her finger while Ranger was tasked with carrying Rex back to her apartment.

After a very brief contemplation of how to transport the furball, Ranger had slipped him into a nearby box and carried him that way.

Dumping Rex back into his cage, he turned and smiled at Stephanie. “Going to press charges?” he asked.

Stephanie huffed and pushed past him to the refrigerator where she retrieved a grape and dropped it into Rex’s cage before returning her gun to the cookie jar and turning to face him. “Thank you for coming,” she said.

“No problem,” Ranger assured. He took a step closer to her, tucking a curl behind her ear.

Stephanie shuffled her feet, her eyes cast downward, a faint blush on her cheek. Her eyes flicked up to meet his before returning to the ground. She cleared her throat and offered. “So, would you let me buy Pino’s as a thank you?” she asked.

“Sure,” Ranger replied with a smile, placing his arm around her shoulders and heading toward the front door. He idly noted that the locks and chain had all been replaced while they were out before exiting her small apartment.

End

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