All characters belong to JE, the rest is just the crazy ramblings of a long-time JE fan.
This is NOT a Babe. This is a Ranger Tart HEA.
Amy Kendrick is the securities technology specialist(STS) for Rangeman Inc. in Trenton, New Jersey. Basically she is in charge of the computerized side of the security systems that Rangeman sells and maintains. Rangeman is a security company owned and operated by Ranger, aka Carlos Manoso. Amy's fancy title also puts her as third in command, second to Ranger's right-hand man Tank. And she loves every minute of it. Amy hadn't always worked in the Trenton office, she had actually started in the Miami office while she was working on her Master's degree. She transferred to the Trenton office when the STS spot opened up four and a half years earlier. Her reasons for taking the job and moving so far were simple; it was a hell of a pay raise and it put distance between her and her ex-husband Troy.
Moving had been the best thing for Amy, and her 6-year old daughter Lexi. They found a nice house, in a great neighborhood. And thanks to the amazing benefits of working at Rangeman, Amy finally had a stress-free life…Almost.
Amy was notorious for getting all of her work done at least twenty minutes before the end of her shift. That way she had at least twenty minutes to organize a to-do list for the next day and have everything ready. She'd organize the paperwork on her desk and be walking out of her office at precisely 5pm.
Tuesday was no different. It was four-thirty and Amy had a stack of files ready to be filed. She checked over her to-do list for the day. Only two things hadn't gotten done but they weren't due for another week. She pulled out her legal pad and started a new to-do list for the next day. One of the office paper pushers stuck her head in the office door and cleared her throat.
"Hey Marcy," She looked up and smiled. Marcy was in her mid-forties, had dark brown hair and hazel eyes, she was short but as with all Rangeman employees she was incredibly fit. They weren't friends outside of work, but Amy got along well with Marcy and they often chatted when they had a break.
"Those files done?" She pointed to the stack on the corner of Amy's desk.
"Yes. Please take them away. Thank You." She said as Marcy scooped them up.
"Not a problem." Marcy said as she walked out the door. "See you tomorrow!"
"See you."
Amy went back to her to-do list. She swiveled her chair around to her computer on the table behind her desk. She didn't like her computer sitting on her desk and blocking her view of her door. She had just started closing out of her email when she sensed someone walk in her office and approach her desk.
"Ranger, you're the only person I know who can move around so soundlessly." She turned around and smiled at him.
"You're the only person that I can't sneak up on." He had a half smile set on his naturally gorgeous face.
"What can I do for you?" She shuffled some paperwork around on her desk.
"I'm going to need your help on a skip." He gave her a serious look.
"Now?" She checked her watch. It was four forty-five.
"Yeah, Tank's on his way down to the garage to get the car ready. I know you have a daughter to pick up, I can have Hal or Lester take her to her grandparents or a family member."
"I don't have any family here." Amy couldn't help but smile a little, she was kind of surprised he'd remembered she had a daughter. "But I can call a friend, our daughters are friends so I'm sure she wouldn't mind keeping Lexi for the evening."
"Okay, just meet us down in the garage. I'll fill you in on the way." And he was gone.
Amy called Emma's mom Barb and was thankful she had no problems picking Lexi up from daycare and keeping her for the evening. After a quick call to the daycare to let them know someone else was picking Lexi up, she shut down her computer and double-checked that she had everything done and squared away for the next day before leaving her office.
A black Cadillac Escalade was waiting about a dozen feet from the elevator when she got to the garage. Tank was in the driver's seat and Hal was in the front seat. Amy walked over to the car and the back passenger door opened revealing Ranger sitting behind Tank.
"Everything taken care of?" Ranger asked as Amy climbed in and closed her door.
"Yeah, I'm good." She angled toward Ranger a little, "So what's the story?"
"We wrote a pretty big bond for Vinnie Moretti and the guy went AWOL. He avoided his court date because he knew his bond was going to get revoked for numerous probation violations." As he spoke, Ranger was pulling a bunch of equipment out of a hard black plastic case. "We've been trying to track him down for a couple of weeks. We finally figured out that his girlfriend has been lying to us and has had him hidden in her house the whole time. I've had guys watching the house 24/7 for the last four days and we finally have a break. The girlfriend left, so Vinnie is there alone."
Amy took advantage of the pause, "So you want me to pretend I'm a friend of the girlfriend to get him to answer the door?"
"Yup." Ranger held up one of the things he'd gotten from the case, "Microphone. Turn," he motioned with a finger for her to turn, "I'm going to clip this so it sits inside your waistband at your hip, I'll let you feed the wire under your shirt. Clip the mic to your bra."
Amy turned her back to Ranger. "Just pretend your having guy problems. Tell him you work with Linda, the girlfriend, and you really need to talk to her."
"I can handle that." Then she took the small microphone and stuck one hand down the front of her v-neck black Rangeman shirt while she put her other hand holding the microphone up under the front hem. After a minute she had the microphone secured and her shirt straightened. Before she could even mention the fact that her shirt said Rangeman, Ranger handed her a women's black, grey, silver, and white plaid button-down shirt.
"You read my mind."
Ranger winked.
Amy smiled.
"Should we do a sound check?"
"We will in about ten minutes. We'll stop about a block away from the house and let you out so you can walk and so he doesn't see me or the guys." Ranger handed her a flesh-colored ear piece. "This fits right in your ear. He won't see it but you'll be connected with us and hear what we're doing the whole time."
Amy took it and positioned it in her ear. "This guy has guns doesn't he?" She watched Ranger for a reaction. Nothing.
"Probably."
"Fabulous." She said sarcastically.
"Are you carrying today?"
"No," all Rangeman employees were excellent marksmen and had permits to carry concealed, Amy just didn't find much need for her to carry. She did own a couple of hand guns, which were locked safely away at home.
"I've got a couple of options for you in a case in the back. We'll get you armed when we stop."
"What's the signal or code word if I see any guns, assuming I can get in the house?"
"Hot, say how hot the weather is or something."
"It is frickin' hotter than hell out today, I mean I realize it's August but holy balls." Amy noticed Tank's shoulders shake a little as he chuckled quietly to himself, the first movement or noise she'd noticed from Tank since she'd gotten in the car.
"Just talk to him long enough for us to get the house surrounded. We'll let you know when we're in position and when we're about to ruin his day."
"I can handle that."
The car stopped, Tank had parked in an apartment complex parking lot. "This is it."
"So I get hazard pay for this, right?" Amy asked before she opened her door.
Ranger's mouth lifted ever so slightly in what could possibly be interpreted as a smirk or a smile. "Yes, you'll get double overtime. I'll even give you tomorrow off, paid."
"Woohoo!" Amy said with faked enthusiasm.
"Step out and we'll do a quick mic check." Ranger turned on the transmitter and made sure Amy's mic was turned on before she left the car.
Amy stepped out and shut the door then stretched. "Man it's hot out here," she said slightly above a whisper.
"Or it's just you," Ranger's reply sounded in her ear piece. She felt her cheeks flush a little. In the two years she had worked directly with Ranger, he'd never made any obvious passes at her. They'd always gotten along great and seemed to always be professional. So the comment caught her off guard. "Let's get you armed." He said as he opened his door.
Amy met him at the back of the car. But she was still thinking about his comment. Last she knew he had his on-again/off-again thing with Stephanie.
Ranger already had the back lift gate open and had another hard black plastic case opened in the cargo area. "Are you comfortable with a Sig P220 compact? If not I have a M & P."
"The Sig is good. I'm proficient with that one. I've never actually shot the M & P before."
"Sig it is then. Just put it in the back waistband of your jeans, your shirts will cover it."
Amy took the gun and gripped it in her hands, pointing at the ground just to get a feel for it and practice aiming for a few seconds before tucking it into the back of her jeans. She straightened her shirts and then turned her back to Ranger.
"Can you see it? Or notice anything?"
Ranger looked then his gaze dropped to her butt, checking her out. He caught Tank's slightly lifted eyebrow and then noticed that Amy had looked over her shoulder wondering why everything had suddenly gotten so quiet.
"Your good." He replied. With a barely perceptible nod he signaled for Tank to get back in the car.
"What's the address and what does the house look like?"
Ranger told her the house number, "Go down to the corner there," he pointed to their East, "turn left and go a block and half. It's a shabby one-story with peeling blue paint and a solid brown door on the west side of the street."
"Okay." She noticed Hal trying unsuccessfully to not look obvious as he watched them through the car window. "I guess I'm off."
"Bobby will be watching you, he's parked across the street a little to the northeast."
"Got it." Amy turned and started walking.
Ranger got back in the Escalade, Tank waited until they couldn't see Amy anymore before they headed the opposite way to meet up with a couple of the guys covering the back of the house.
Tank switched off his mic and signaled for Ranger to do the same. "Looks like the ones you've been giving Amy could kill."
Ranger gave Tank his signature smirk then turned his mic back on. "We're getting in position." Tank parked and the three of them got out and met up with Miguel and Lester.
"I'm walking up to the front door." Amy sounded cool and confident. She waited a second before knocking.
The door opened a crack and a scruffy unshaven man peeked through, "Who're you?"
Amy had made sure she looked upset and distraught before she knocked, "I'm a friend of Linda's. We work together. I just had an awful fight with my boyfriend and I wanted to talk to her." She finished up with a sniffle.
"She ain't here." He replied gruffly.
Amy feigned a disappointed look. "Oh jeeze." Her eyes started to well, "Do you know when she'll be back?"
He paused for a minute, "I dunno. Should be soon. You can come back."
"I don't have a car, the bus dropped me a couple blocks away. Can I just sit and wait for her?"
He stared at her and considered for a minute before he finally unchained the door and opened it wider, but only enough for her to get through. He quickly shut it behind her as soon as she was inside.
"What did you say your name was?"
"Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I'm Sarah Jensen." Amy sat down on the edge of a mostly clean-looking chair. "Would you mind getting me something to drink? It's just so hot out today."
"Sure." He went though a doorway to what Amy assumed was the kitchen. She had seen the butt of a rifle under the couch as soon as she'd walked into the house. But now sitting down she could see the business end of a pistol next to the rifle. He came back in and handed her a can of Pepsi.
"Thank you so much" She pretended like she was balancing the can on her knee to open it as she heard Ranger in her ear say "breach!" She put the can on the coffee table and drew her Sig just as the front door came crashing in.
Ranger was the first through with Tank right behind him, both yelling out "Bond enforcement!" Ranger knocked the guy to the ground and Tank rolled him to his stomach and had his hands cuffed behind his back in less than thirty seconds.
"Vinnie," Ranger said as Tank hauled their guy off the floor. "I told you there wasn't anywhere you could hide that I wouldn't find you." With that Tank, now accompanied by Lester ushered him out the front door.
Ranger and Amy followed, both holstering their weapons. Hal had pulled the Escalade around to the front of the house and met them with the door open and waiting for Vinnie.
"You can ride back to Rangeman with me." Ranger said as he pulled his earpiece out and took his mic off while he walked to the back of the Escalade. Lester drove the Cayenne but he's escorting Vinnie to the PD with Tank and Hal." He opened the lift gate and started putting all of his equipment away. Amy followed suit and gave him her earpiece and microphone. "And the Sig," he reminded her.
"Oh yeah," she pulled it out of the back of her jeans and handed it to him.
He closed the case and then shut the liftgate. He led the way down the street to his Cayenne.
"We can do dinner, if you're hungry." Ranger asked as he opened her door for her.
Amy checked her watch, it was six o'clock. "Sure, I've got time." He closed her door then circled around got in and started the car. So he must definitely be off with Stephanie. Once she really thought about it, Amy realized she hadn't seen Steph around Rangeman in at least a couple months.
"Where do you want to eat?"
"I'm not too picky. But I know you're a pretty big health nut so you choose."
"Do you like Sushi?"
"Yeah," for the first time she noticed her purse by her feet, Ranger must have had it moved from the Escalade. She pulled her phone out, no missed calls.
"Expecting a call?"
"No. Just a habit. I wanted to make sure my friend Barb hadn't called about my daughter."
"Alexa, right?"
"Yeah," Amy smiled, surprised that he knew. "I call her Lexi."
Ranger nodded. "How old is she?"
"Six going on sixteen." Amy laughed at herself and shook her head, "I take that back, she isn't quite that bad most of the time."
"Isn't that a girl thing?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"There's a Japanese place over on the east side, they have really good sushi. Or the hibachi if you prefer that."
"I've been there before, they have the best Philadelphia and hot night rolls."
"Their hot night roll is one of my favorites as well." Ranger shot her a quick look out of the corner of his eye before going back to the road. She had good taste in sushi, they were starting off on the right foot.