Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in the following story, they all belong to the amazing Janet Evanovich. I'm just taking them out on loan to play with for awhile. Even Auggie isn't original, he's modeled after a gay boy I had a crush on in high school. LoL Loosely modeled, but essentially him nonetheless.
Rated R for adult language, and adult situations. The characters are all adults, and act accordingly.
Authors note: Once again, this story was not supposed to turn out this long. Apparently I'm too anal retentive with the details to keep anything short. This story was prompted by Green Day's 'She's a Rebel', but I'm not quite sure it came out exactly as I would have liked. I warn you now punctuation is not my strong suit, I slept through most of those classes, so bear with my tendency to write the same way I'd speak. I'd like to say thank you to all of the other Plum writers out there. Your awesome stories make me laugh, cry, and often nearly wet myself with laughter. I only hope I can return a fraction of the favor.
So please read, hopefully enjoy, and feel free to shower me with your opinions when you're done. Good, bad or ugly, I take all kinds.
muah
Em
She's A Rebel
Lester and bobby exchanged a 'what the hell?' look behind Tank's back as they nearly walked into him exiting the Rangeman jet. Tank was leading the procession out of the plane at a private airstrip outside of Atlanta, when he stopped dead blocking the doorframe.
Tank turned his head and looked down at Lester like he was considering just swatting him off his ass like a fly for a moment, before amusement broke out over his face. He glanced back down the aisle towards Ranger waking Steph from her nap, then back at the boys. "Prepare yourselves boys, this one's gonna be fun." Then turned back and headed through the door and down the stairs to the tarmac.
When Tank dropped low enough on the steps that they could see over his head, both Bobby and Lester stood in the open doorway with matching expressions of shock and confusion.
"What…."
"How…."
Then suddenly they were pushing and shoving to get out that door first to get to the bottom of the matter.
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Steph's POV-
I came to slowly to the feel of fingers running down my cheek. Slowly sliding my eyes open I found Ranger almost smiling down at me, one hand curled around my cheek, thumb running back and forth. My eyes wanted to flutter shut again, but I stopped myself, remembering that I wasn't at home in my own bed, and why. I grimaced as I thought about the last week trying to track down this son of a bitch.
"Come on Babe, no worries, he's not getting away from us now." Ranger said as his hand slipped from my face down into my lap and undid my seatbelt before tugging me to my feet by my hand. Must have noticed the grimace I guess.
"I'm not really worried Ranger. At least not about catching him, about what I'm going to do to him once we do, well yeah, maybe a little."
A small nod was all I got from him before he started towards the front of the plane, never dropping my hand.
I thought about the current case as we passed the rows of seats.
It had started out as an ordinary low bond from Vinnie, but then again, don't they all. Greg Perducci was wanted for a simple blue collar crime. He had stolen $2000 in petty cash from the office he worked for in downtown Trenton. All of the normal initial checks had come back saying that Greg was a simple 9 to 5 baby boomer, who spent most of his life swimming in the upper middle-class gene pool. No Family connections. No guns registered in the state, and no previous record. Lula and I thought the capture would be easy enough, and headed out early Saturday afternoon to bag us an easy $500. I suspect, looking back now, that that is where we went wrong, expecting anything to be easy. When Perducci answered his front door in nothing but a pink terry cloth bathrobe, smelling like my dad's garage on poker night, we probably should have turned and ran. Instead I decided to give him my normal 'I'm from Vincent Plum Bail Bonds' riot act. Before I could even finish he was screaming and slurring in my face that he'd heard about me and my "gang of thugs and gang bangers", and we weren't gonna bring him in. He went from insulting me and my friends directly to pulling a gun from the pocket of his robe and waving it in my face. By this point he had decided that all of his problems were my fault. I started backing away from the door slowly when he raised the gun and fired into the ceiling screaming "You'll never take me alive you piece of snatch!" I figured now was a good time to turn and run full tilt for my car at the curb, only to realize that Lula was already sitting in the passengers seat, frantically waving me on. How the hell she made it there before me, I'll never know. We peeled away, a plan already forming in my mind to come back later, maybe with a Merry Man or two in tow. Except by the time I returned the house was empty, with no sign of Greg Perducci anywhere.
We managed to get out of a neighbor that Greg's wife had been gone when he made it out on bail. The rumor going around the neighborhood was that she had been whining about a new pair of Manolo's she wanted, but were way above their tax bracket, so Greg was slowly filtering money out of petty cash to get them for her. When Greg got busted, and was still mucho cash short of her dream shoes, she decided she was better off finding someone who could afford her upkeep. How sad. She'd packed up the kids and left while Dad was still in holding. As soon as Greg realized his family was gone, he'd climbed straight into the bottom of a big bottle of Scotch.
The next five days were spent learning just how loyal the Perducci clan were. Lips were sealed everywhere. On day two, I returned to my apartment after a little sleepover at the Rangeman building, and screamed when I found my bedroom trashed. The mirror over my dresser said "This is all your fault." in my favorite shade of lipstick. The empty tube of 'Viscous Trollop' sat on the dresser top taunting me. The worst of it though, brought me to my knees and tears to my eyes as I pulled out my cell.
I was still on the floor when Ranger and Tank stormed my apartment five minutes later. They both took a step back as they took in my bed. The mattress had been slashed from corner to corner, the top mattress fabric pulled back, and the stuffing pulled out and thrown everywhere. The cavity left behind by the missing stuffing had been filled with my clothes. All of my clothes. Every drawer was either open and empty, or lying on the floor around me in pieces, the closet door hung open on one hinge, nothing left hanging in it but a single satin padded hanger from Victoria's Secret. Every piece of clothing I had lovingly picked out over the years, even that ugly sweater with the reindeer on it that Mary Lou's oldest had given me for Christmas last year. Each piece appeared to have been sliced into ribbons before being tossed into the bed, and the whole mess smelled like a public pool.
"This is personal now." I said, looking up from the mess to Ranger's eyes. A barely there nod told me he understood me perfectly, I caught the same from Tank out of the corner of my eye. "It's on now Perducci." We called in TPD, I gave my info on the find, and we left my apartment in the capable hands of Eddie and Big Dog to head back to Rangeman and redouble our efforts.
Our break came on Thursday evening. We were all in the conference room, having our own little version of a Round Table. Everyone was throwing out ideas.
"Hey Boss, maybe one of us should take a run down to Point Pleasant. Check out the boardwalk, make sure he's not down there playing Ski-ball." You could almost see the outline of the light bulb going on over Binkie's head as he addressed Ranger from the other end of the table. Ranger was wearing his usual blank face, but I could tell I wasn't the only one at the table that wanted to know what Binkie had figured out that we couldn't. He looked around the table and took in the curiosity on everyone's faces before continuing. "What? That's where Jay and Silent Bob found God when she was missing?" Groans and chuckles went around the table as everyone realized that Binkie wasn't going to be much use at this point. I settled for smacking myself in the forehead since Binkie was too far away. "Oh come on! It's more viable then Lester's idea that we should canvass all the strip clubs."
"Screw you Binkie. That was a valid plan. The man's wife just left him and he's drunk as hell, if I were him I'd be front row with a wad of singles." Lester defended himself.
"Yeah right Lester, who would have married you in the first place?"
"Pfffft, oh please. We all know I get plenty more then you do. The only person I've ever seen sucking on a Binkie is a baby." The stifled laughter that started racing through the room was stopped instantly when Ranger's voice cracked overtop of it like thunder.
"Attention!" I'm sure I felt the boom of his voice in my bones, my eyes went wide, and when I looked around the table every man at it was sitting stiffly, hands at rest in front of them, wide eyes forward and focused on Ranger. After that I could easily picture 'Drill Instructor' Ranger keeping his recruits in line with nothing more then the sound of that voice. The thrill that went through me, and the dirty little thoughts that followed, were something I'd have to set aside for another time. As a matter of fact, time was one thing we were running out of.
We'd hit a wall, with no sightings for 3 days, since my apartment was found trashed, and his family still not talking, there was nothing to go on. I thought I was having an internal dialogue, but as usual it turned out I was opening my head up to everyone in the room, muttering along the lines of 'This Bond's gonna run out, not enough time to wait for the family to share where they're squirreling him away'. Ram suddenly let loose a grunt, rather loud and prehistoric, before yanking one of the laptops across the table towards him.
"That's gotta be it!" Ram said, and we all sat, waiting with baited breath for him to explain what was it. After a minute of pounding away at the keys Ram spun the laptop around to face the rest of the table. "Check this out Boss, The Bombshell did it again. Musta knocked something loose when she smacked herself in the head."
There on the screen, was a lease, for a Timeshare just outside of Atlanta Georgia, in Greg's cousins name, taken out four days ago.
A round of cheers went up around the table. A lot of "Way to go Bombshell's" followed by a "You never disappoint Babe" from Ranger. I was still unsure as to what I'd done, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth so I just smiled around at the guys.
"Alright" Ranger's voice had gone all business, " Tank I want you on the phone with the time share's rental office, fax them a picture of Greg and get them to confirm his occupancy. Once we're sure it's him, get permission to get a team in there from the Atlanta office to keep an eye on him until we get there." Tank stood from the table and headed to his office as Ranger's eyes slid to Lester.
"Get a hold of Atlanta, I want them appraised of the situation and have a team ready when Tank gets the go ahead. Make sure they know that subtlety is the key with this operation, we do not want Perducci getting spooked and moving on before we have a chance to 'talk' with him." Ranger's eyes slid from Lester's to mine when he said 'we' and I felt a little rush shoot down my spine. This bastard was gonna be mine.
I was pulled from my flashback by the sound of Ranger's laughter echoing back at me from the plane's doorway. Wait, Ranger's laughter? What the hell? I took the final few steps to bring me out from behind Ranger, to see what he was laughing at, and I was struck dumb. Unusually at a loss for words I just gaped down at the tarmac.
Spread out on the tarmac below, in front of the white hangar, were at least half a dozen black SUV's. Standing in front of them was a mob of Merry Men I didn't know, holding up a huge sign that read "Welcome to Atlanta Bombshell" With a big smiling rocket painted beneath it. As Ranger and I stepped out onto the stairs a group yell went up from below. I couldn't help it, I started giggling and I'm sure a decent blush started up my cheeks. What the hell was going on here? I'd never even been to Atlanta, none of these guys knew me, why in the name of Tastykake were they doing this?
When we reached the bottom of the steps I was swallowed up by a sea of Merry Men, and nearly lost my hold on Ranger until I heard Tank's voice boom out from the back of the pack, and then the sea parted and we made our way to the rest of our Trenton team. When I was safely tucked away between Ranger and Tank, I finally took a minute to let my eyes roam over the Rangeman Atlanta team that had come out to meet us. My eyes once again confirmed that I knew not a one of these men, no one looked familiar, except in that painfully hot and well muscled Rangeman requirement sort of way.
One of the men detached himself from the group and stepped forward, holding out a small box to me. I glanced nervously left and then right, Tank and Ranger were wearing matching almost smiles, so I stepped forward and reached out for the box.
"Welcome to Georgia Bombshell," he said as he laid the box in my hands, I looked down and tried to hide the smile on my face when I saw that it was a box of 'moon pies'. I like these guys already, they're meeting me at the airport with junk food, I might just have to come to Georgia more often.
" I'm Auggie, and on behalf of the rest of Rangeman Atlanta, I just wanna say, we're all awful glad to have you here. We don't get to see much action, but now that you're here, I'm sure it's gonna get hot in Atlanta real fast." There was a big smile running from ear to ear on his face by the time he was done talking, and mine had disappeared. I could hear the guys behind me chuckling
I narrowed my eyes at Auggie while I shifted the box to one hand and placed the other on my hip. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean? And how in the hell have you heard about me?"
He got a flustered look on his face, and his eyes started darting back and forth between the guys behind me, I felt them take a huge step back behind me, knowing better then to stand too close.
"Well… I…. we… we've all heard stories….."
"Stop right there" I shouted. " Whatever you've heard, it wasn't my fault!"
A collective snicker ran through the group, except for Auggie, he kind of looked like a deer in headlights.
"Steph" I heard from behind me, and turned halfway to see Lester stepping forward. "This might kinda be my fault." He hung his head, talking to his boots.
"Explain, Santos" Ranger was trying to sound stern, but even I could pick up the amusement in his tone. Good to know he's getting a kick out of this, I just really wanted to know how the hell I'd become famous in Georgia.
"Well, ya see, you remember that training camp you sent me and a bunch of the other guys to, oh, about five months back?" Lester asked with a sheepish look on his face. Ha! Lester does sheepish! Who would've thought.
Ranger nodded, and Lester went on. "Well," he looked around at the group of men gathered around us before going on. "Most of these guys were there. As well as a big chunk of the Miami and Boston offices, and a bunch of other ex-service guys we'd all known in passing at some time or other. Anyway, we did field exercises all day, but they left us the nights to do what we pleased, so a bunch of us set up a fire pit, and we'd sit around the fire bullshitting and inflating our own ego's. One night the guy's were all going on about the shit they'd blown up over the years, and I just couldn't help myself, I had to tell a Bombshell story."
At this he glanced from Ranger to me, and I felt my face heat up under his gaze. Why me? Why does everyone on the planet need to know that things tend to explode when they come in contact with me? It's never my fault! Ok, well, almost never.
"Most of the guys didn't believe me that a little white girl could blow that much stuff up, but it turned out Manny had kept one of the newspaper articles about Steph in his wallet after they suddenly got 'married" He sent me a wink, and I fought the urge to smack him upside the head. "After that they couldn't get enough. By the time our two week training session was over, Steph had kinda become our mascot, she was used as an excuse to blow things up over and over again." Lester's eyes had glazed over a little and he looked like he was thoroughly enjoying whatever it was he was reliving.
I stopped fighting the urge, and closed the space between us, reaching up and smacking Lester in the back of the head. "Do I look like a damn dog to you? I am not a mascot!"
"Steph" I turned back to Auggie, and he shrank back at the obvious pissiness in my eyes. "We really didn't mean anything derogatory, it's just that we all admire your tenacity. It takes a lot of courage to walk in our world, let alone to do it and have a capture record like yours. I know guys twice your size, with years of training, that still can't bring in every man they're assigned. You do." Cheers went up behind him, and all the Atlanta guys were nodding their heads in agreement. I was suddenly choked up by the welcome they had put together for me. These men had never met me, but they admired me, simply for doing my job. Without thinking I leaned forward and threw my arms around Auggie's waist, squeezing as hard as I could, sniffling in an attempt to hold back the mistiness in my eyes.
"Thank you." I said when I stepped back. The shock in Auggie's eyes registered and I felt the need to explain myself. "Back home, I'm a joke." I looked down at my own shoes as the mistiness turned into a few tears that trickled down my face. "It's nice to be appreciated somewhere." I smiled up at Auggie through my tears, and watched as a big grin broke across his face.
He pulled me back into another hug and said "No problem Steph, we're all proud to call you our one and only RangeGirl."
We were broken apart by a loud throat clearing noise coming from Rangers direction. He snaked a hand out to mine and pulled me away from Auggie and into his own arms. "Mine" he growled, sending an assessing look around his group of men.
Auggie laughed good naturedly, "No worries Bossman." Then his tone suddenly got very serious. "Just remember, Bombshell here has a whole pack of big brothers to watch out for her, just cuz your our Boss, doesn't mean a single one of us will stand back if you treat her badly." A very serious stare went back and forth between Auggie and Ranger, you could almost feel the air between them heat up before Ranger nodded his head at Auggie and the rest of the now somber group standing behind him.
"Now," Lester piped in from the sidelines, " that that's out of the way, can we get this show on the road? I'm getting hungry standing here watching Bombshell wave those cakes around everywhere." I made to throw the box at his head, then thought better of it, no way was I wasting those. He took advantage of my hesitance and took off running for the line of trucks.
The rest of the group broke up and headed to the trucks, piling in and turning our caravan in what I assumed was the direction of Atlanta, and the Rangeman offices. We'd put in a few hours going over our plan, and by tonight we'd be ready to descend on the Southern Sun resort and get our man. With any luck, he'd never know what hit him.
---
A short drive later we were pulling into the ground floor garage of a nondescript office building in the middle of the city. It looked the same as every other building around it, newish looking brick, multiple stories, nothing standout. I looked back and forth from the large group of well muscled men filing out of the vehicles, to the small looking elevator at the other end of the garage. Wondering to myself what the weight limit on that elevator was, because there was no way I was going to get stuck in that thing with all these Merry Men. I looked up at Ranger, noting the spark of amusement in his eyes as he took in my thoughts.
Much to my happiness, the mass of men moved off towards the stairwell door in the opposite corner from the elevator, and Tank, Bobby, Lester, Ranger and I stepped towards the elevator. Phew! Do we even make it in under the weight limit for one of these things? Between the four guys, we're talking at least a thousand pounds. I fought the urge to cross myself as the doors slid closed and the elevator started upwards without even a grinding of gears. I must have been amusing Ranger again, he reached out and slipped his fingers through mine, threading our hands together and tugging me an inch or two sideways until we were flush against each other side to side in the elevator. I heard a chuckle come from one of the guys behind us, but it was silenced by Ranger's answering growl, just as the doors reopened on what must have been the Comm. room floor.
I stood inside the open elevator staring out slack-jawed in shock for the second time that day. It looked just like the Comm. room back in Trenton. Same banks of security monitors, same cubicles stuffed with computer equipment. Only one major exception set this office above the Trenton one, and that was the table on the other side of the room. Set against the wall directly underneath a 'welcome' sign exactly like the one from the airport, was a buffet table laden with so much sugar and calories I could feel my thighs getting bigger just looking at it.
My reverie was broken by Lester elbowing me in the back, "Come on Steph, one foot in front of the other, preferably before the doors close again." Just as Lester finished being a smartass the doors started doing exactly that. Ranger reached out and put a hand on the door, sliding it back open while pulling me through it.
I focused back on the table as he led us out onto the floor. There was a giant chocolate fountain in the middle of a beautifully put together array of yummy looking food. A big bowl full of strawberries, one of marshmallows, a tray of artfully arranged graham crackers. Wrapping around the front of the chocolate fountain, separating it from the everything else, was a tray full of sliced up fruit, more kinds then I could name or even recognize. They almost looked like flowers laid all out like that. Down at the far end of the table, away from everything else, sat a tray of Boston Crème donuts, stacked high and deep.
I turned to Ranger with what I'm sure was a dazed look on my face accompanied by a beatific smile. "I'm never going home. This is home now." Ranger looked like he was thinking about laughing for the second time in a single day, (is that possible? The apocalypse must be coming). I was nearly deafened when the entire room erupted in laughter. When I looked up and finally realized that the Comm. Room floor was nearly packed wall to wall with muscle.
I probably turned the color of a tomato, when Auggie stepped forward from the group again. I guess he was today's designated speaker. Now that I was a little more comfortable with him I took the time to really take him in. He was at least 6'1", 200 lbs or close to it. His muscles were in all the right places, including the ones that dimpled his cheeks when he smiled. Dark blonde hair brushed against the collar of his Rangeman shirt, and did a good job of setting off the twinkle in a very mischievous set of dark blue eyes. "Well gee Bombshell, we're sure glad you like the place, we might just decide to keep you anyway." Alright, now I'm sure I'm a tomato.
"Now now boys, that's enough. Give the lady some room." A little woman came striding up the empty floor space between the herd of Merry Men and myself. When I say little, I really mean it. She couldn't have been more then 4 ½ feet tall. The amount of gray in her hair, and the lines on her face put her somewhere around 60, this woman had 'Boy Scout house mom' written all over her. "Stephanie here looks like she might like to try out some of the snack table I put together." She sent a wink my way before mock whispering, "Ella called ahead." The guys behind me started chuckling again and I had to wonder if just maybe somehow, someone had slipped some type of laughing drug into the vents in the jet. This much laughter like behavior from the Merry men was just unexplainable otherwise.
She explained to me that her name was Annabelle, and she was Atlanta's version of Ella, as she steered me across the floor towards the table.
The next half hour was spent blissfully covered in chocolate, and surrounded by new Merry Men. All of the guys seemed very nice, and we had a lot of fun joking around. I even signed a printout of a Trenton Times article that one of the guys had printed up off of the internet. Auggie took it and tacked it to the wall under my 'welcome' sign after I was done. I made eye contact with Ranger across the room a few times, but he seemed to be giving the men time to get to know me, I even saw him dip a piece of fruit or two into the waterfall while I was building the 'smore of the century. I guess he got tired of giving me space though, he had just backed me into a corner and held up a stick with a piece of chocolate dipped pineapple on the end for me to nibble on, when Tank decided to rather loudly voice his opinion that we should probably get on with the briefing if we wanted to get things cleared tonight. Ranger tensed for a second, disappointment flashing behind his eyes before he straightened up and nodded his agreement with Tank. The Comm. Room emptied out into offices and cubicles, and I followed Ranger into a conference room off the main floor.
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There were five chairs left empty at the far end of the table, and as we filed towards them I looked around at the men filling the other chairs, and even lining the walls. All in typical Rangeman uniform, all ramrod straight as the Boss took his seat at the head of the table and turned his eyes to his men for inspection. All were Rangeman requirement Hot, some more then others, but who am I to judge, right?
"Alright men," Ranger started in his no nonsense voice. "The skips name is Greg Perducci. The official charge is petit larceny, but this case has become.. Personal." Ranger's eyes landed on mine, and I felt that rush shoot down my spine again. I was going to set this bastard straight. I may be a pushover to most of my skips, but I don't let people talk about my friends like that, and more importantly my clothes were all ruined. My eyes narrowed just thinking about it. "We've tracked him to The Southern Sun Resort outside of Lithia Springs, on the edge of Sweetwater Creek State Park." He paused and looked around the room, taking in his men's demeanor.
A guy halfway down the table on the opposite side from me hesitantly stuck his hand up in the air. "Sir," he said, when Ranger nodded in his direction. "I know the area you're talking about, we lost a runner in the park a few years back." He looked around nervously at his co-workers then back up at Ranger, "All due respect sir, you should probably send a forward team to the rear of the resort to ensure he doesn't make it into the park somehow." He looked back down at his hands as soon as he was finished talking.
"Not a bad idea Edwards. I don't plan on letting him out of that room, but it won't hurt to be careful." Ranger turned to Auggie at the other side of the table, "You'll take care of that." It wasn't a question, and everyone in the room understood that.
Auggie nodded his understanding. "We've got three men in position already. Jones is in the guard booth at the entrance to the resort, so it'll be smooth sailing getting in. Denver is in the Security office inside the resort, he's monitoring the hall outside Perducci's room, as well as the rest of the resort, and gave confirmation when we arrived here that he's still holed up in his room, the door has only opened for room service in the past 24 hours. Denver is patched into the same frequency as the gear we have for the extraction team, and knows to cut the right feeds when you give him the word. The resort will have no evidence to hold them accountable for anything that may happen, and they're just fine with that. Lastly we've got Pipe in the trees at the edge of the woods covering the back of the compound. He's a hell of a shot, but Edwards is right, we should probably send at least two or three more men back there. It's a lot of area for one guy to cover." Ranger nodded again, accepting Auggie's status report as sufficient. I'm surprised he doesn't get neck spasms from all the nodding he does in his line of work. Hehe.
Ranger turned his attention back to the room at large, making short eye contact with random men around the table, making sure he had their attention before he started talking again. "On last contact with the skip he was in possession of an unregistered firearm, assume he is still armed and dangerous, no taking any chances." Not to mention drunk as a skunk, I added to myself as Ranger continued. "The five of us from Trenton are going in, so I only need one of you men to come along on the extraction." The five of us swung our eyes back and forth down the table, waiting to see who would step forward to go in with us. It wasn't exactly an overly dangerous job, unless you considered my penchant for explosions. Nonetheless we were met with big glassy stares all the way around until Auggie cleared his throat.
"If it's alright with you Boss, I'd like to go in with you. I hear the Maids they have working in that place are smokin." He said, grinning at Lester.
"Now that's what I'm talkin about!" Lester shouted from across from me. "A man with his priorities in order."
I shot him a glare, but my death ray must not be working, because he didn't melt in his seat.
"Alright Auggie, you're in." Ranger continued on, completely ignoring Lester's outburst. He must be used to the random idiocy by now. "Send two of the men in ahead, make sure our ass is covered. We'll be leaving here in one hour." Auggie nodded and this was apparently taken as the end of the meeting. The men all filed out of the room. Lester, Tank and Bobby followed them out the doors, shouting at the guys they hadn't seen in awhile.
I stayed there at the table, staring down at Ranger's right hand on the table in front of me. Taking in the thick length of his fingers, the dusting of hair across the knuckles, following it up to the thin network of wrinkles spread out over the back of a broad dark hand sprinkled with thick, manly veins. My eyes slowly traveled up his arm to his almost smiling face, as I thought about everything that had happened since I stepped off that plane just two short hours ago, and what the next hours would bring my way. When my eyes finally met his melty browns ones I said the first thing that seemed important in my mind at that moment, which meant no brain filter.
"Do you think there's any more of that chocolate left? I'd like to take some home. There are a few things I would really like to dip in it, and I don't think the middle of the office would be the appropriate place." I realized half way through that what I was saying was probably very dangerous, but it was already too late, my stupid mouth just wouldn't stop. The fire that suddenly lit in Ranger's eyes told me I was dead right. Dangerous was looking an awful lot like me bent over the conference table screaming the Hallelujah Chorus. Just when I thought my panties were going to melt off, the door to the conference room burst open, reminding us of exactly why the middle of the office was not the appropriate place.
Tank, once again the bearer of bad timing flounced, yes I said flounced, into the room and dropped a giant storage container down on the table. "The gear you ordered for Bombshell, Boss man. Your regular's out on the floor with everyone else's." He was smiling real big and looked a little too pleased by the obvious tension he'd broken up when he stepped into the room. Smug bastard. He turned and hightailed it out just as flouncy as he had been when he interrupted and once again I found myself fighting violent urges.
I attempted to distract myself by diverting my attention elsewhere. I did my best to raise an eyebrow at Ranger while I nodded to the container Tank had brought in. "Whatcha got in the box Batman?"
He smiled as he stood and motioned for me to join him at the other end of the table. When he pulled the lid off the box, I kind of regretted having asked in the first place. Sitting front and center on top was a .38 just like the one I'd left at home in the cookie jar the day this whole mess started. It was nestled comfortably on top of a thigh holster, and that on top of a rather imposing looking Kevlar vest. I swung my eyes up to Ranger, silently asking for an explanation.
"Can't go in there naked Babe." The lecherous grin told me that even though he meant unarmed, he was still picturing me without clothes on. He picked the gun up off the top of the stack, removed the holster from underneath it and set the gun back down in the container. His eyes locked with mine and I was held in place by them, unable to move as I watched him slowly sink down to his knees. He kept my eyes locked in his mind meld while he wrapped the holster around my upper right thigh, over top of the only pair of faded old jeans I'd had left in his closet, and pulled it snug, running his fingers gently around the bottom edge of the holster. His eyes still didn't leave mine as his other hand reached back up into the box to retrieve the gun. He finally looked down, only for a moment as he opened the chamber to assure himself that my gun was indeed loaded. Before I could blink and clear my thoughts his eyes were back on mine. His left hand slid my gun slowly against my thigh and down into the holster as his right hand cupped the inside of my thigh and his thumb slowly rubbed back and forth, closer and closer to the mother land. The sensations were enough to pull a small moan from the back of my throat and break the mind meld as my head tipped back and my eyes closed. When I came back to myself and reopened my eyes Ranger was standing again, grinning and holding the vest open in front of me.
I sighed, knowing no matter how much of a tease Ranger was being, we didn't have the time, or a private enough place right now for me to tackle him and have my way with him. So even though I knew the torture would continue, probably for days, before we'd have enough downtime to work off the sexual aggression he was slowly building up in me, I was willing to admit that we had to get on with it, our hour was running out.
I slid my arms into the vest and turned so Ranger could strap me in. Now I know why the corset went out of style, it's just no fun being tied into something this tight. When he turned me back around Ranger had that 'kid on Christmas morning' look in his eyes.
"This is a new model Babe. The government just recently started using them on high profile witnesses. I ordered one for you a few months ago and had Hector do some modifications. I had it sent down ahead so it would be here for you." Yep, he was a kid with a new toy. "Do you feel that?" He asked as he took my hand and slid it over the right hip of the vest. I felt my fingers snag on a small Velcro closure, no wider then three fingers, and nodded. Ranger nodded back, encouraging me, so I popped the closure open and slid two fingers inside. When my fingers slid over a little circle of cold metal I looked up and met Ranger's eyes again with a question in my own. "It's a cover plate. Feel the little notch in the bottom of it?" He searched my eyes and I nodded again, sliding my fingers over the notch. "If you flip that up, not now Babe, emergency's only, there's a panic button built into the vest. It transmits a constant GPS signal, right back here to the control room. If anything goes wrong tonight, and you somehow get separated from us, I want you to activate that, and I will come find you immediately." I nodded again, not knowing what else to say to Ranger's new tracking device. "Good, now this one." This time he slid my hand down to my left hip. There was another Velcro closure on this side, this one was much bigger though. It ran from my ribs all the way down along my side to my hip , and it felt bumpy. I looked up at Ranger, and he nodded his encouragement once again, so I popped it open and my fingers slid over bullet shaped bumps of cool metal. "An extra round for the .38. Both sides of the fabric are coated with a new Teflon/Kevlar/Titanium mix that the government isn't exactly sharing. That's why the vest feels so much lighter. It's much sturdier then a regular vest, but doesn't require too much muscle mass to run around in. They've coated cars in this stuff during testing and they survived close range machine gun fire. I figure it ought to be up to the task of keeping you hole free." Ranger ended his little speech on a grin, and I fought not to return it, a battle I lost in the end.
I leaned up on my toes, bringing myself nose to nose with him. "Thank you for taking such good care of me Batman." I brought my lips softly up against his, and didn't have to wait long until he pressed his tightly up against mine, making me thankful for a whole lot more. Long moments later he pulled back, I was still fighting the mental fog when he smacked me in the ass. It echoed through the empty room, followed by my high pitched squeal. He chuckled at my look of indignation before saying "Come on Tiger, or you won't have enough time for coffee before we have to head out."
----
I was standing at the snack table in the Comm. Room, a coffee in one hand and a Boston crème in the other. Watching Ranger across the room slipping into his gear and strapping his guns in place. Still doesn't look like family material, but I'm beginning to think I might not be either. He may be up on me by one gun and a knife, but lately my life is more dangerous then his anyway. In all the time I've known him, people have only actually been after him twice. The police and the Ramos family when he was suspected of offing Homer, and Scrog. I on the other hand, am chased and shot at on a monthly basis, simply for being me. If there's anyone who's in danger because of our relationship it's him, not me. Interesting thought. I licked the last of the chocolate frosting off my fingers, and was pulled from my thoughts by a strangled groan. I looked up to see Lester and Auggie standing at the table next to me, looking fully loaded to topple a communist government.
"Come on Bombshell, it's not fair to do that kinda stuff in front of all of us, when we all know you're going home with Ranger tonight." Lester was smiling, but there was a tenseness around his eyes that told me he wasn't entirely kidding me. I looked to Auggie and found the exact same expression on his face as well.
"Remove your dirty thoughts from my Woman Lester, or I may just have to remove your eyes from your head." Ranger threw in nonchalantly as he sidled up behind me and wrapped his big arms around the bulk of my vest. I tried tilting my head back to see his face, make sure he wasn't really angry with Lester, but his chin settling on the top of my head stopped me before I got there. "Load up." And just like that in a blink they were gone, halfway across the floor headed for the elevators, Tank and Bobby hot on their heels. Ranger slipped the coffee cup out of my hand and set it down on the table before spinning me around so I was crushed up against him chest to chest. "Ready for this Babe?"
"Ready as I'll ever be. Somebody's gotta teach this jerk a lesson, and I just happen to be the Jersey girl to do it." I grinned up at Ranger. My answer must have been the one he was looking for because he smiled back for a tiny moment before lowering his head and connecting our lips, sending my brain back into a tailspin. When he pulled back and smiled down at me once again before turning and heading towards the elevator, my hand firmly in his, I had to rush to keep up or stumble over my own feet due to Ranger induced mental fog. I swear sometimes he does stuff like this on purpose, just to see if I can adapt fast enough to keep up.
---------
We were sitting in the employee parking lot on the side of the resort's main building. Waiting for something, I just wasn't sure what. No one had said anything since we'd parked about two minutes ago.
We'd brought two SUV's because, as Ranger explained in the garage, Bobby wouldn't be going in with us. He would be staying behind in the second SUV to monitor communications, provide backup if necessary, and have one of the vehicles ready for transport as soon as we were ready to remove Perducci from the property. Well, that and we couldn't fit little old me and five Merry Men in one vehicle, plus add a skip in the mix for the ride home. Although I'm sure it would be funny to watch us try. So Lester, Auggie and Bobby were in the second truck parked directly next to us, and I was in the backseat staring at the backs of Ranger and Tank's heads waiting for someone to say or do something.
The trip here had been surprisingly easy. As we were approaching the gate I expected we'd have to stop and let our inside guy know we were here, but by the time we got to the gates they were already raised and a very well built man who I assumed to be Jones was standing outside the guard booth with a smile on his face waving our two trucks straight through in the direction of the employee lot.
I jumped in my seat when Ranger's cell phone rang. Ranger however didn't seem surprised, he pulled his phone from his pocket, glanced at the screen and apparently hit speakerphone since I could suddenly hear lots of noise.
"Double confirmation achieved Sir. Denver confirms the skip is still in his room, and he is prepared to flip the switch the second he sees the team approaching the employee entrance directly ahead of where you should now be parked." I looked over the console and indeed there was a door in the wall of the resort maybe fifty feet in front of the truck. "Rolling camera blackouts will begin as soon as you're in camera range and follow your path until you reach the room door, phone access will also be cut from the room as soon as you set foot on the premises." The voice on the phone continued. "Pipe is in position out back, Tesla and Mick are providing the extra coverage you requested. Communications lines have been confirmed as well, all five members of the forward team are on-line and will be in touch as soon as you activate your gear. Good luck Sir, we'll all be waiting to hear the outcome." And with that the line went dead. Gee, he really must train those phone manners into them when he hires them.
Ranger looked across Tank and nodded to Bobby in the second truck. Lester and Auggie immediately got out of their truck and headed for ours, each taking a back door and squishing me in between them as they climbed in. While they were doing this Ranger had produced a thin black choker with an ear bud hanging from one side, and a small black metal circle in the center of it. He passed it to me as Auggie pulled a sheet of paper from his back pocket and passed it to Ranger.
"Room specs. Not much, but I figure every little bit helps. I actually did date a maid here once. All the rooms are the same, this one is on the fourth floor, on this side of the building. He's staying in a single occupancy efficiency. Two room unit, main room, here," Auggie said as Ranger held the paper up slightly for all of us to see and Auggie started pointing things out. "And the bathroom off here to the left. Small kitchen alcove on the right side of the main room, but nothing there to hide behind." I looked at the drawing and tried to memorize it just in case. "Should be simple enough, he's probably sitting in bed watching pay per view porn and eating room service. He won't be expecting us."
Ranger nodded and looked back to me, taking in the choker still dangling from my hand. "Throat mic Babe. Hands free communication. When you talk the microprocessor sewn into the front lining will translate your throats movements into speech and broadcast it to the rest of the team."
"Nifty." I said, looking to my left and seeing Lester's mic wrapped around his throat. I reached up and put mine on the same way, black spot facing forward and centered on my throat, then slipped the ear bud into my ear and pulled my hair back forward to conceal it. It may look great with the vest, but I was positive it was clashing with my earrings.
We all filed out of the truck and Ranger walked back towards me while the rest of the guys stood off to the side, double checking their equipment one last time. He stopped so close we were breathing the same air, then slid a hand up into my hair. A single finger gently traced the shell of my ear before dipping inside and tapping on the ear bud. "No good if you don't turn it on Babe." Then he dropped a kiss on my nose and turned back to the men, grabbing my hand and dragging me along for the ride. He sent the miniscule nod Bobby's way as we crossed the parking lot, and Bobby sent back a thumbs up. To an outsider, we probably looked like a terrorist contingent about to take over the resort. Let's hope there were no outsiders watching.
When we approached the door I watched Auggie step forward and start messing with the electronic keypad next to it. I have no idea what he did, or how he did it, but the door swung open in less then thirty seconds, I was impressed. We stepped into a long corridor, doors coming off both sides in intervals, the lone employee elevator stood at the end.
--------------
As we made our way to the elevator and up to the 4th floor I tried to psych myself up for what was about to come.
This man had talked shit about the Merry Men and Ranger. He had trashed every scrap of clothing I had, and tore apart the bed where Ranger had ruined me for all other men. The little black dress Ranger had told me to lock myself in my room over. The big black Rangeman hoodie I had confiscated from him during the Slayer incident. The sexy black satin negligee Ranger bought me after we'd officially gotten together had been hanging on that satin hanger. The pillow that still smelled like Bulgari. It was all gone now. All because one stupid little shit thought all of his problems were my fault. Grrrr.
I was definitely psyched by the time the elevator doors opened on the 4th floor. We stepped off the elevator, and through my red haze I heard Ranger tell Lester to stay at the end of the hall with the elevator and make sure we didn't have any unexpected visitors. The rest of the team made our way halfway down the hall before stopping in front of the door to room 420. We were still within shouting distance of Lester, but the public elevator was on the opposite end of the hall. Ranger locked eyes with Tank and nodded in the direction of the other elevator. Tank nodded back and took up his station against the wall halfway between us and the other elevator. Close enough to come running if we needed him, but far enough to distract anyone that came out of the elevator before they took any notice to our business.
Ranger looked down at me and the almost smile was there on his face. "Alright Babe, this is your capture, how do you wanna play it?"
"Back me up?" I gave him my own mischievous smile in return.
"Always Babe."
"Good, I'm thinking I could use a little crazy. Just follow my lead."
I knocked on the door, standing directly in front of it like I knew I shouldn't while Ranger stood to my left and Auggie to my right. We unholstered our weapons and readied ourselves as we waited for a reply from inside.
"Who the hell is it?" A slurred shout comes from somewhere inside the room.
I put on my best fake ass perky cheerleader voice. "Maid service sir. I've got fresh towels and sheets out here." No sound comes from the room for a minute and I worry I might have to figure out another way to get him to open the door. Another idea hits me and I turn to my left and lock eyes with Ranger as I say, "I'd also like to restock the mini bar while I'm here."
It must have worked. There's a loud grunt followed by the same slur yelling. "Well what are ya waitin for, the door's unlocked, I ain't gettin up." I smile up at Ranger and take a step back so him and Auggie can enter first and secure the room.
When the door slammed back against the wall and the three of us entered, I think it's safe to say he definitely wasn't expecting us, if the girlish squeal that came out of him is any indication. Auggie had unfortunately been exactly right. There sat Greg Perducci in the center of the bed, and he was still wearing the pink terrycloth bathrobe, and, ewwww, he wasn't wearing anything underneath it. There were things peeking out from underneath that robe that I never needed to see. And surprise surprise, there was a blatantly fake breasted bottle blonde on the television across the room, moaning the fakest moan I'd ever heard while bad porn music made that 'bomp chicka' noise in the background. Why can't they make porn with women who at least look real? Oh right.. Cuz then they'd be no fun to watch.
Auggie secured the bathroom while I looked behind the couch to make sure no one was hiding there, and Ranger kept his gun trained on Greg's head. I stepped up next to Ranger and sent a glare down the barrel of his gun to Greg.
"Remember me Mr. Perducci?" I asked, still using the cheerleader voice. He pulled his eyes from Ranger's gun and looked hard at my face, it took a moment, but I saw realization dawn across his features.
"That's right Mr. Perducci. I'm here to take you in." I couldn't keep the smile off my face as I said it, and I'm sure what had started out as the fake ass peppy cheerleader voice, was now sounding quite a bit more malevolent.
"You! You Bitch!"
I snorted at that. He thought that was something new? "Damn Skippy. Just call me Karma."
"And you!" He shouted, pointing at Ranger this time. Uh oh. "I've heard about you and your thugs, you three are the criminals! Not me! All I did was try to make my wife happy. You walk around Trenton like you own the place, scaring people and pointing guns. You should be the one going to jail not me! You're all nothing but a bunch of lowlife scum trying to make a living off of other people's misfortune. I was only trying to keep my family together!" He hadn't tried to move since we walked through the door, but at the end of the rant he reached down to the bed between his knees. I saw Ranger's finger twitch on the trigger, but fortunately he didn't pull it, since Greg was merely retrieving a mini bottle of Scotch from the pile on the bed. That's fine though, if Ranger doesn't want to shoot him, I certainly will.
I stepped around Ranger, placing myself between him and Greg. The red haze that had covered my mind when I stepped out of the elevator returned in full force. I pointed my own gun at his head. "Listen here you sonofabitch. We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. I'd much prefer the hard way, it's more fun for me."
"What are ya gonna do? Shoot me?" He laughed a bit too crazily for my taste. " Go ahead, be much better then getting taken in by a piece of snatch like you and the criminals you whore yourself out to."
Before I could even think about what I was doing, my body had launched itself over the end of the bed, and I found myself on top of Greg Perducci. My left arm pressed across his throat shoving his head down into the mattress, one knee on the bed, the other grinding into what I'm pretty sure were his balls and the barrel of my .38 pressed to his temple.
"Listen here you weasely little prick." I growled out through clenched teeth. "You should consider yourself lucky to be taken in by this 'piece of snatch'. Or didn't you know I'm famous?" I tried to do Ranger's one eyebrow move, but I can't be certain I'd pulled it off. "And them," I said, nodding my head backwards in Ranger and Auggie's direction, "You are so low on the scum scale you shouldn't even be allowed in the same room as them. Each and every one of them has risked his life for this country, and continues to risk it everyday to protect families like yours from idiots like you who can't get their heads out of their asses long enough to realize the impact their actions have on our society. Every single one of them is a far better man then you can ever hope to be." Just for the sake of being a sick and spiteful bitch, (gotta live up to the reputation sometimes or it starts to fade) I glanced down at what my knee was crushing, to make sure my next comment would hit home. "And they're all much more well equipped to handle the world then you are. I think I see now why your wife really left." His face turned a few shades redder then it already had been, and he looked like he was about to take the short bus to stupid town, and actually open his mouth and get smart back while I've got his balls under my kneecap and a gun to his temple. One last thing I wanted to cover before I wrapped this up. I ground my kneecap down into the bed and twisted back and forth, enjoying the strangled sob it ripped loose from Greg. "And that, little man, is for fucking with my wardrobe. You never fuck with a woman's friends, and you Never fuck with her wardrobe!" That was the last thing Greg heard before I pulled my gun back and cold cocked him in the side of the head, sending him spinning off into La La Land.
"And for cripes sake, will one of you shut of the damn moaning machine before I really do put a bullet in something." I yelled back over my shoulder while I launched myself off of the bed before my brain could register what I'd actually just been touching. When I turned around to face them again, Auggie was standing in front of the now silent TV, wearing a look of shock and humor on his face. Ranger looked like he was thinking about smiling again. "Could one of you maybe put some clothes on him? I've already seen more then I want to see, I wouldn't want anything popping out on the way downstairs, that just wouldn't be fair to anyone."
Auggie finally broke from his stupor and stepped forward to do just that. I figured since it was covered, now would be a safe time to bury my head in Ranger's chest and try to slowly work the adrenaline out of my system. When he felt the little tremors running through my body he wrapped his arms securely around me, pulling me tight against him while I did the deep breathing, in through my mouth, out through my nose, just liked Bobby had taught me the last time this happened. The shortness of breath had nearly sent me into a panic attack and the guys decided it would be best if I had some techniques to try and keep my body from mutinying against me. When the shivers subsided Ranger kissed the top of my head, and I heard him quietly say Tank's name. I didn't think anything of it until I saw Tank step through the doorway into the room. That's when I remembered the throat mic's. Every single word I'd just said to that rat had been broadcast down the comm. lines to all of the Rangemen, both outside the hotel, and back in the comm. room. I buried my head back in Ranger's chest, shaking it back and forth, wondering why it was that I was never capable of restraining myself when there was an audience. I felt my face heat up at the knowledge that I was going to have to face every one of those men in a very short time. Suck it up Steph, time to get this show on the road. I told myself, hoping the pep talk would remove the blush before I raised my head.
When I did it was just in time to see Tank throwing our now unconscious skip over his shoulder like a 5lb sack of potatoes. Ranger wrapped his arm around my waist and led me from the room, following Tank down the hall and into the elevator that Lester had waiting and ready for us. The elevator ride was painfully silent, and I just knew they were all thinking about what I'd said. I looked around the cramped space, trying to take my mind off my own humiliation, and happened to spot the camera up in the corner of the ceiling. The little LED light in the bottom corner was a solid black. Well good, at least there wouldn't be any physical evidence of my little explosion today. That was good, right? I shook my head sadly and resigned myself to the embarrassment my outburst would no doubt cause.
-----------
The sun burned my eyes like a damn laser beam when we stepped through the door from the dimly lit hallway. Ranger and I stepped to the side to allow Tank through to throw Greg in the backseat of Bobby's truck. He was parked 5' in front of the employee entrance, the back door open and the motor running. Tank tossed the skip in on the seat, sent Ranger a mock salute with a grin tipping the corners of his mouth and climbed in behind. The last thing we saw was him pulling cuffs from his belt as he pulled the door shut. I'd hate to be that guy if he wakes up before we get to Rangeman. Just imagine having your ass beaten by a girl and then waking up in a backseat with Tank? Ok, I realize if your female that might not be such a scary prospect, but still. For Greg I hoped it was the second most frightening thing he ever sees. Right behind my evil grin as I made pudding out of his testes.
Ranger guided me to the other truck, opened the door, and handed me up into the passenger seat. As soon as he was seated next to me I yanked the choker off my neck and tossed it in his lap. I watched him stuff it into a pocket on his cargoes, removing his own and adding it to the pocket before the back doors slammed shut and Lester and Auggie settled into place.
I turned and stared out my window as the truck rolled out of the lot. Not seeing the anything we were passing, only the scenery in my head.
I never used to be such a violent person. Then again, people didn't try to kill me on a daily basis back then either. I guess over time, I've just adapted. Thickened up my skin I guess. The Stephanie in my head snorted at that. Boy wouldn't Ranger get a kick out of hearing that. I guess Eliza Doolittle has actually learned something over the years.
I didn't do anything back there that Greg Perducci hadn't deserved, and brought on himself. He had broken the law and fled the state. He needed to be brought back into the system and made to pay for his crimes. I may have jumped on him and roughed him up a bit. He had already made it clear though that he wasn't going to go back unless I shot him, so really I went with the much less violent means of subduing him. If I happened to be defending my friends, and my own honor in the process, well that's no one's concern but my own.
By the time we were pulling into the garage back at the office I had managed to calm my post-takedown nerves. I was starting to feel a little tired, and could feel myself starting to get hungry. After working with Ranger and the guys, I always seemed to want to pig out, and then pass out. All the ups and downs we always go through just burn my system out. The large quantities of chocolate had done a good job though, I'd managed to stay focused and aware of everything that had gone on today. I think I was actually kind of proud of myself. I'd come a long way since I walked into that diner and came face to face with Ricardo Carlos Manoso. Even further in the last few months since he's been firmly planted at my side.
Ranger reached a hand in my door, and I unbuckled myself and let him help me down from the cab. When we were squeezed into the elevator making our way up my stomach let out a growl that was horror movie worthy, and I felt the blush rush up my cheeks. Ranger's hand tightened around my own, and the guys behind us only chuckled a little. I smelled something good coming through the doors as we passed by the floors, but when it stopped and the doors opened, it was obvious the smell wasn't coming from the comm. Room. It was filled with Merry Men hustling back and forth doing their jobs, but the beautiful buffet table was nowhere to be seen.
We followed Ranger out onto the floor, and back to the conference room. Tank was already inside, as well as the rest of the men from earlier. We took our seats and Ranger started the debriefing. I tuned most of it out, choosing instead to spend my time imagining a large Pino's pie with extra cheese, a six pack of beer, and a pineapple upside down cake. Georgia is nice and all, but hunger makes me miss home. As the room cleared out I turned to Ranger, wondering what the plan was from here on out. "So what next?" I asked.
Ranger looked amused again. If I were anyone else I'm pretty sure he wouldn't find it funny that I tuned out for a whole meeting. "Perducci is downstairs in a holding cell until tomorrow morning when we'll fly back out. Other then that, you really didn't miss anything you didn't witness firsthand." He ended on a cheeky grin that left me positive I'd been caught. Oh well, if he didn't care that I was occasionally oblivious I wasn't going to complain. "For now, food." he pulled me up from my seat and proceeded to divest both of us of our gear before we headed towards the doors.
"Hey Boss, Bombshell. I'm headed down to the mess hall. The guys ordered a whole bunch of pizza's and stuff if you wanna join us." Auggie said as we stepped out of the conference room. Well that explains the heavenly smell when we were coming up in the elevator. I batted my eyelashes up at Ranger, fully knowing that something as easy as batting my eyelashes wasn't going to get him to do something he didn't want to do, but at least it would get my message across.
"Alright Babe. Pizza it is."
I thought about what Auggie had said as we crossed to the elevator, and decided to risk looking like a fool and ask Ranger what was on my mind. I looked up at him and tried the eyebrow thing again, I'd get it yet. "Mess hall?"
"Yeah Babe. Most of the men who end up at this office are fresh out of the service. They're used to most things being done as a group or unit. A lot of them also live up on the 5th and 6th floors. So we turned part of the 3rd floor into something like a big cafeteria, and they have most of their meals there together. It's easier on Annabelle that way too. She has a kitchen there to cook in and doesn't have to drag food all over the building to different apartments. There are still kitchens in each of the apartments though, and some of the guys take care of their own cooking." Wow. All those words at once from Ranger. You can always tell when Ranger's proud of something, it's the only time he talks at any length. The elevator doors opened on the 3rd floor and my eyes fluttered closed for a second as the smell of freshly baked pizza assaulted my nostrils. When I opened them and stepped off the elevator the rest of my senses suddenly went under an assault of their own.
There was more then a dozen cafeteria tables spread out throughout the room, and each of them was chock full o' Merry Men.
Were it not for Ranger continuing to walk further into the room I probably would have stayed glued to the spot. He stopped next to the single round table in the center of the room and pulled out a chair for me across from Tank. Bobby and Lester were sitting at the table as well as a couple of guys I didn't recognize, and one who might have waved to us from the gatehouse at the resort earlier.
Ranger and Auggie sat down on either side of me, and Auggie nudged my side, gesturing towards the far wall. Hanging floor to ceiling on the wall was a picture of…. ME! It looked like it must have been taken earlier as we crossed the employee parking lot to enter the resort. At the time I had been thinking that anyone who would have seen us would have thought we were terrorists invading, but I looked… Hot! I may have been wearing a bullet proof vest, but it was so thin, and had been strapped so tight that it highlighted my shape perfectly. My old worn jeans were hugging my legs, and somehow, even the gun strapped to my leg looked good. My hair had caught a slight breeze and curls were ruffling around my face but the blue of my eyes came clear through the hair, deep and intense. If I weren't me, I'd do me. In big print at the bottom of the banner were the words 'Karma's a bitch'. It started as a giggle, that got caught up in a snort, and in no time at all I was pounding my fist on the table, tears pouring from my eyes as I was wracked with uncontrollable laughter. The rest of the room joined in, even Ranger and Tank seemed to be enjoying themselves. When I could finally get myself under control again, and the volume in the room had returned to normal, I threw my head back and shouted at the top of my lungs, "You guys are the best!" It was returned from around the room in whoops and war calls for a minute before Lester pounded his fist down on the table and yelled "All right, let's get this party started.!"
Pizza boxes started passing from table to table and I grabbed a plate off the stack in the middle of the table and loaded it down with three slices. The first slice was just about to pass my lips when I heard a speaker crackle, and music was suddenly piping through the loudspeakers into the mess hall. I dropped my slice and instantly started singing along to the Green Day song I knew well.
She's a rebel She's a rebel From Chicago
to Toronto She's
the symbol
She's a saint
She's salt of the
earth
And she's dangerous
Vigilante
Missing link on the brink
Of destruction
She's the one that they
Call old whatsername
Of resistance
And she's holding on my
Heart like
a hand grenade
As I sang the last two lines of the verse I swung my eyes to Ranger, and a barely perceptible nod of his head told me Billy Joe was right as far as he was concerned. I continued singing, not bothering to move my eyes from Rangers.
Is she
dreaming Is she trouble She sings the
revolution She's
a rebel She's a rebel She's a rebel,
What I'm thinking
Is she the mother of all bombs
Gonna
detonate
Like I'm trouble
Make it a
double
Twist of fate
Or a melody that
The dawning of our lives
She brings this
liberation
That I just cant define
Nothing comes to mind
She's a saint
She's salt of the earth
And she's
dangerous
Vigilante
Missing link on the
brink
Of destruction
She's a rebel,
She's a rebel,
And she's dangerous
She's a rebel,
She's
a rebel,
She's a rebel,
And she's dangerous
When the song ended and I finally stilled in my seat, no longer bouncing my head back and forth or thrashing around, I looked from Ranger around the rest of our table and every one of the guys was grinning like an idiot.
"Whaaaat?" I whined. "I loooove that song." The volume of the music dropped drastically, fading into the background as the next song kicked on.
"Hey Whatsername!" Lester shouted across the table to catch my attention. I grinned at him and batted my eyelashes again. Gotta be careful or I'll give myself a twitch doing too much of that.
"Yes Lester dear?" I dripped out in the cheerleader voice from earlier. Lester flinched but started talking again anyway.
"I, uh, just wanted you to meet my buddy Pipe." He jerked his thumb in the general direction of the guy sitting next to him and I took a moment to take him in. Looked like he was tall, hard to tell sitting down though. Long sunny blonde ponytail hanging down his back, bright green eyes shooting back and forth from Lester to me.
I decided to take pity on the guy and put my hand out across the table. "Nice to meet ya Pipe, I won't hold the fact that your Les's friend against you." I smiled out as he reached out and tentatively shook my hand. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but where on earth did you get that nickname from? Please tell me it's a nickname and your parents didn't actually name you Pipe." The boys around the table chuckled, Pipe included.
"I don't mind, actually I.." He started but Lester cut him off.
"He used to surf Bombshell. Won the Pipe Masters tournament before he was 20. The name stuck when he joined the service, and now Rangeman has it's own resident surfer boy."
I glared at Lester for cutting him off, but since he didn't stop I turned back to Pipe and smiled and nodded my head like I had half a clue what a pipe masters was. Sounds like a plumbing competition to me.
After that conversations broke out around the table and everyone was talking. I sat back and enjoyed my pizza, grinning and nodding with a full mouth when a random Merry Man walking past the table held a beer up to me. Aaaah, sweet Heaven. I just might not leave Georgia if they'll keep waiting on me and showering me in chocolate.
As I swallowed the last bite of my pizza I could feel my eyelids starting to get heavier. I glanced up at the clock and sighed, it was only 10:30. Even Grandma Mazur could stay up later then this. Then again, she didn't see nearly as much action as I did, and I mean that in every way. I caught Ranger's eye as he finished talking to Tank about something and tried to ESP my tiredness to him. Either it worked, or it was written all over my face. He picked my hand up from the table and kissed the back of it before rising smoothly and pulling me up out of my seat along with him. We said our goodbyes and stepped back into the elevator.
"Ready to go home after we get a good night's sleep Babe?" Ranger asked as he hit the button for the 7th floor and the doors slid shut.
"Yeah, Home. Sounds good." I said. I'd be going home with a lot more confidence in myself then I had thanks to the Merry Men here, and I'd never forget them for that. I would like to forget the rest of the ordeal though. Well, everything but the moon pies, they were going home with me, and maybe I could get my hands on a copy of that picture. I closed my eyes against the world, leaning my head on Ranger's shoulder and relaxing for the rest of the trip up.
"Proud of you Babe." Ranger whispered into my hair, and I smiled, it was always nice to hear him say that.
Thank Tastykake it was all over and I could get back to my normal life again. Normal? Pffffft, I even make myself laugh sometimes.
The End