AN: Still just fixing up the chapters. I'm not changing anything essential to the plot, I'm just fixing the writing.
We sailed into the Bonds office the next day with both receipts. Connie was behind her desk, filing her nails and Lula was half reclined on the sofa, drinking a coffee and reading her horoscope in the paper.
"He in?" Meagan asked.
"Yup," Connie said, "Sounds like you had fun last night."
Meagan shrugged and walked into Vinnie's office, without knocking; which I thought was pretty brave, considering you had no idea what you might be walking in on.
I took a doughnut from the box on Connie's desk and flopped down on the sofa next to Lula.
"You know, I don't know if I like it better when it her or Ranger that comes in?" Lula said, "They say like almost exactly the same things and they can both make Vinnie squirm."
"He's hot, and she usually brings food, so it's a toss-up," I said and broke off a piece of my doughnut.
"Speaking of food; I thought you guys were off of sugar?" Connie raised an eyebrow at my pastry.
"There was a consensus around the office that it would be better for everyone if we quit," I said.
"I heard about what Tink did to Fiorelli," Connie said.
"Yeah well Bobby came and put Pop-Tarts in front of both of us this morning and kicked us out of the office until the sugar kicked in. He wouldn't say why but I heard him muttering something about Meagan and Ranger having impulse control issues due to sleep deprivation. Woody had a broken nose this morning, and, well, Fiorelli..."
"I thought she was aggressive due to lack of sugar?" Connie said.
"Nope. That's lack of sleep; lack of sugar apparently effects her the same way it does me. Lester looks like hell but had a huge smile on his face at the morning meeting."
"She don't look tired," Lula said skeptically.
"Good Makeup."
"Ah."
"Credit where it's due," Connie said, "Ranger hung in there; I mean besides his little nap yesterday."
"You should take him away on a boat or something where you got no doughnuts and he can't hurt anyone. See how long he can last; it'd be like a science experiment." Lula got up to get a doughnut and froze a little. Ranger had come in and he'd heard that.
I turned and the look he gave me was scorching.
"Meagan is already getting your skips," I said with a gulp, "She's in with Vinnie right now."
"Why?"
"She said something about strongly discouraging him from bonding Fiorelli out again," I said, "The word 'castration' was mentioned a couple of times in the car on the way over."
Ranger grinned. He and Meagan went waaaaay back; she was somewhere between a little sister, a best friend and first love for him. She wasn't the one who got away or anything; it was more like a mutual decision not to risk their friendship by complicating it with sex. Which was a smart decision considering Meagan could not have been more madly in love with his cousin, Lester.
"OH. MY. GOD. I just got the best idea. Like ever." Lula squealed and we all looked at her, "Man, you should go in there with them, Ranger; I wanna see what'll happen if you are both in the same room as Vinnie when she's being all scary and badass."
Ranger's grin transformed into a full on sadistic smile; then he blank-faced, strode across the room and opened the door. We heard a squeak and then a thunk followed by Meagan's rich throaty laughter and then they came out of the office together.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Vinnie fainted," Meagan said cheerfully.
My cousin Vinnie is slime so we all liked it when bad things happened to Vinnie. It was fun to watch him squirm; Vinnie fainting from pure straight up fear had an extremely high entertainment value.
"OH, I hope he wet himself," Connie said with a laugh, "We should take pictures; we might be able to convince him to give us paid vacation this year."
"Girl, if he hasn't peed himself we just gotta pour water on his lap; he'll never know the difference," Lula said, and they cackled as they went back into Vinnie's lair. Ranger was chuckling softly beside me.
"That was fun," he said with an evil grin, "Manita, Lester is coming to pick you up. We have two clients who want a woman's touch with the security systems. I'm taking Steph; you take Les we can meet back up in the office for lunch."
"You mean to tell me that I don't get the pleasure of your wife's company for the rest of the morning? I have to trade her in for Les?" Meagan sighed dramatically, "Damn, whatever will I do with myself? I hope my GPS doesn't die, and we don't get lost on a secluded section of road."
Ranger just shook his head; he had as much control over her as he did over me. Less in fact because he couldn't persuade her with his body. She only had eyes for his cousin and if Lester could get away with pissing Ranger off for sport, he did.
"By the way, your new cars have arrived," He said, "I appreciate that you didn't go with pink this time."
Meagan, on her 21st birthday, had purchased herself a Vintage Mustang Shelby; she had it painted a funky bright metallic pink and she babied it. About two months ago, and I swear I was nowhere in the vicinity at the time, it went to car Heaven. She and Lester had gone to the mall, I don't even want to know what bribe she used to get him there, and she parked it far away from the mall entrance where there were no cars to ding it.
A couple driving into the lot in an RV were feeling frisky, and the lady of the RV decided that she couldn't wait to perform a certain service on her man. He became distracted, jerked the wheel violently, cornered too hard, and the RV tipped right over onto Meagan's car. She had been devastated for an entire day. She said it was the first thing from her old life that she got back, Hector had picked her up from the airport in it. To cheer her up, Lester found her a picture of not one, but two cars. Which cars they were, I have no idea, but she'd been stoked.
"Is he bringing one of them? Which one?" She said with a giant smile on her face.
"You will have to wait and see," Ranger said.
Lester pulled into the lot, a minute later, and Meagan flew out of the Bond's office like a kid sprinting for the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. She got to the SUV and wrenched open the door and tugged on Lester's shirt, pulling him out of the truck. He was laughing as he got out. They were a striking pair; he was tall, about six-four, two hundred pounds of solid muscle, with skin a few shades lighter than Rangers, and he was dressed in Rangeman Black. His t-shirt was painted on and I knew his windbreaker, like Ranger's, was there only to hide his guns.
Meagan was similarly dressed; only she didn't bother with the windbreaker and she carried a few more guns than he did (Meagan was basically Rambo in trapped in a Pixie's body). Her t-shirt, like mine, didn't quite reach the top of her cargos, but where mine was by design, Meagan's was because her cargos hung way lower on her hips than mine did. Probably because she walked around with her own personal armory, strapped to her legs. Lester picked her up by the waist and gave her quick kiss before he put her down in the driver's seat.
If ever an SUV looked badass it was this one. It was like someone had decided that Batman needed a 4x4 and created it. Meagan had naturally, opted for black to go with the rest of the Rangeman Vehicles, which only added to the illusion.
"What. The. Hell. Is. That?" I managed to get out.
"It's a Lamborghini that's not actually on the market yet," Ranger said, "And she had to pull some serious strings to get one. It's called an Urus."
"That's awesome," I said.
"Come on," Ranger said, holding the door for me, "We've got work to do."
I shouted a goodbye to the girls, and stepped out into the lot. Ranger was driving one of the big black Rangeman Ford trucks, and he'd not come alone. Bobby, was in the passenger seat, engaged in a serious conversation on the phone. He made eye contact with us as we approached and he got out. I tossed him the keys to the Explorer Meagan and I had been driving. He snagged them easily and winked at me, but didn't say "hi" as he ambled over to the SUV.
"What's up with him?"
"New York office is down with Strep," Ranger said, "He's trying to move medical supplies and personnel around, but we're having a staffing issue right now. We're going to have to do some recruiting soon."
"Fun," I said.
"Thank Christ Meagan is back," he said, "She can do this shit in her sleep."
Bobby drove off and I was about to climb into the truck when Ranger spun me around and pinned me up against it. "For the record Babe, I'm up for anything you can throw at me; Bobby is the one who called it off."
"But you were going to kill Lester last night," I protested.
"If," he nipped at the hollow of my throat, "I'd known, we'd have gone offline for the week, and I'd have spent that time making sure doughnuts were the last thing you were thinking about."
"Prove it," I challenged. He growled, and if it weren't for the audience pressed up against the Bonds Office window, I'm pretty sure the truck would have been rocking in short order.
"I have something in the works right now," he said in my ear, "Pick a place. As soon as this thing is over, I'm all yours, for as long as you think is necessary. Do your worst." He gave me another full body scan and pushed off the truck cab and walked around to the driver side. I did a quick check to make sure I was still dressed, and that all critical pieces of clothing were still in tact, and climbed into the truck.
A few minutes into the drive, when my brain started firing on all cylinders again, I broke the silence in the truck, "I'm going to buy a new car."
"Don't like the options in the garage, Babe?" he asked, the corners of his mouth tipped up.
"No, it's not that," I said, "It's just that we don't have a car. Rangeman has all kinds of SUV's and stuff but we have no personal car and I kind of miss the Turbo." .
He didn't say anything but looked like he was thinking about it. We turned onto Haywood before he came out of his zone and said, "We have to stop at the apartment before we go to our meeting; one of us needs to get out of the uniform and into a suit. Do you want to flip for it?" he asked.
Okay so here was a dilemma: Which Ranger was sexier? Badass Mercenary Ranger or Corporate Mega Bucks Ranger? After carefully considering my options I went for Corporate Ranger, as he could make the transformation from Batman to Bruce Wayne in like five minutes. I can't go from Bounty Hunter Barbie to Corporate Barbie in anything less than an hour. Minimum.
We pulled into the lot and I had every intention of staying in the truck until Ranger came back down stairs. The donuts hadn't fully hit my system and I was afraid I would pounce on him the minute I saw him in his suit and then we would be late. That plan was shot to hell when I saw three new cars in the lot. My jaw dropped. There were two brand new Porsches in the lot. One was a Black 911, the other a Deep Blue Boxter with a vanity plate that said, BABE. Parked next to it was a deep red, almost black, Lamborghini with a plate that said, TINK.
"She certainly put that government bonus to good use," Ranger said mildly as he put the truck in park and we got out to do a walk around of the new cars.
"She doesn't really do understated does she?" I commented as we took in the insane looking supercar. Ranger shook his head no.
Meagan liked to make a statement. Everyone would know who belonged to this vehicle, and nobody would dare touch it; my car, on the other hand, was begging to be blown up.
"You know Ranger," I said, "The vanity plate is cool and all, but don't you think you just painted a massive target on that car? I mean everyone is going to know that's my car."
"No, everyone is going to know that's my woman's car. They will leave it alone." I eyed him dubiously for a minute; nobody thought twice about blowing up his cars before. Then I realized that was when I was with Morelli. Meagan told me once that the seedier side of Trenton didn't really give a shit about cops, but were nursing a healthy terror of Ranger. She had a point; we had been married for six whole months and the only stalkers I had were acquired before I became Mrs. Manoso. The only car that had been totaled, besides the Shelby, had been the last Turbo and I am going with theory that it was because of my pre-marriage stalker karma, and technically Meagan had been driving it when it happened. While I couldn't exactly go walking naked down Stark without fear of molestation, the baddies did tend to think twice about throwing food at me because I was badass through marriage.
Ranger went upstairs to change, and I did some research on my phone to see what exactly she was driving. I nearly choked on my tongue when I saw how much the Veneno Roadster was worth. It was time to ask Ranger a question that had been driving me crazy for years.
He came back downstairs five minutes later in a new bespoke black suit and black shirt with a couple of top buttons undone. I momentarily forgot my question and he motioned for me to get into his new car instead of the truck.
"So uhh Ranger, you know how we're married and all that?" I asked once we were out of the lot.
"I seem to remember something happening in Vegas," he said.
"I know there are some things you can't tell me because you'd go to jail for it, but I was wondering if there were other secrets you might be willing to share now..."
"Babe," Ranger said.
"Where do all the cars come from? I mean shit, there are a few million dollars worth of shiny new vehicles in the garage and they are always brand new and Joe told me once that I don't want to ask where they came from, and that I shouldn't look too closely at the VINS."
Ranger came fully out of his driving zone and laughed. Like full on Ranger belly laugh. This is a rare occurrence; it's a joy to see, but in this case I wasn't sure if I should be offended or not. Ranger pulled over, unbuckled my seatbelt and dragged me into his lap and kissed me.
"How long have you been waiting to ask me that question?" He said once he got himself under control, though he was still smiling.
"Ummm since I squished the Boxter," I said.
"Babe, those missions I go on pay very well; I can afford them."
"So you just, bought the cars?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Well damn; that's kind of boring," I said.
"Would it make you feel better if I told you that Al runs a chop shop by night, and I use him for modifications because he doesn't ask questions?"
"Yes. Much better," I said, "So presumably, Meagan was able to drop a zillion dollars on two cars, for the same reason?"
"Yes and no. She's very expensive, her fee for mercenary work is not for the faint of heart, but Meagan also comes from very old money, and she's an only child of two only children. When her parents died, she inherited two family fortunes. She's never had to work a day in her life, but she's too smart and too energetic to sit around and be a bored rich kid, so she had to do something she was good at. She's good at this."
"And Santos?"
"Same as me Babe. Plus Meagan left him everything when she died; though I'm not sure he ever touched any of it," he said.
I should explain, Meagan was supposedly killed on a mission a few years ago. It was just after she and Lester got engaged and just before she was due to get out of the Army. What actually happened was that she managed to pull off an epic escape, and got back to their RV point only to find that nobody was coming for her. She made it to a not so nearby village where she was put in contact with her commanding officers, one of whom was a complete dick, and he ordered her to stay dead for a while. The effect had been devastating on most of the men involved in the startup of Rangeman.
Meagan was 11 when her parents died in a car accident, and Ranger's Aunt Ella had been her housekeeper. Responsible for more or less raising a girl who completely grief stricken and caught in the anger stage of grieving, Ella had taken Meagan to meet Ranger while he was in Juvie. She had a feeling that they might be good for each other, and they were nearly inseparable from that point on. Through him, she met Hector and Lester's brother Julio, around the same time. She'd been unofficially adopted by Ranger's family but didn't meet Lester until she was doing black ops with Ranger and Tank, despite Julio's repeated attempts to set them up for years.
On a trip to Miami with Julio she slept in an absent Lester's bedroom and snooped through his things. It was on that visit that she started their flirtation by stealing something of Lester's -she refuses to say what- and that something got them exchanging messages. First through Ranger because Lester and Ranger were stationed together and when Ranger got sick of playing carrier pigeon, Meagan started hiding messages in Lester's bedroom. She almost always spent leave at his parent's place, where she would find the replies to her letters, sometimes months after they had been written.
They were ready to fall in love with each other long before they met, so when they did finally find themselves in the same room; they fell hard. When she died, it broke Lester and it took a long time to put the pieces back into some semblance of order. Then, six months ago, fate brought her to Trenton and one thing lead to another and she was reunited with Lester and everyone was deliriously happy.
I kissed Ranger one more time and climbed back over the console to my own seat. "Hey thanks for sharing man of mystery," I said.
He leaned across the car and kissed me again before restarting the engine and pulling back out onto the road. He slipped into his driving zone, and I slipped into mine. In my case, that translates into taking a sugar induced nap.
RSRSRSRSRSRSRSRS
"This asshole is a fucking Nimitz Class Douche Canoe! Like what the fuck does he think he's doing?"" Meagan shouted and gesticulated angrily at the Audi A4 straddling the lanes in front of her. Lester bit down hard on the inside of his cheek so he didn't laugh. Laughing was dangerous; laughing could get him hurt. Meagan looked like she was wishing she had rocket launchers installed in her car, and with Urus it looked like it could be a distinct possibility.
Meagan and Ranger were a lot alike. They did a lot of things alike. They did not share the driving zone and Meagan suffered from road rage when she was stuck in traffic. This was probably a result of being taught to drive in New York City by a friend of Hector's. Her Rage manifested itself in very creative swearing that often had her audience, like Lester was now, trying hard not to laugh for fear of her wrath being directed at them. Add to that the impulse control issues she had when she was tired and the drive was going to cause Lester to develop a hernia from forcing himself not to react.
"I'm FBI, am I allowed to arrest people for being giant ass spatulas?" Breathe Lester, he thought, just take deep breaths. The car in front had finally chosen a lane and Meagan was about to pass him when he cut her off and she slammed on the breaks. Meagan laid on the horn and Lester nearly jumped out of his seat. It had to have been custom because it sounded like it had come off of a fucking cruise ship.
The Ass Spatula flipped Meagan off, Oh shit. The Ass Spatula just flipped…Deep breaths.. Deep breaths… Meagan's reaction was to begin actively searching for the rocket launcher button. The driver ahead of her took one look at the car and the look on Meagan's face and wisely decided to get in his own lane. "Would fucking like to HALO drop him into an active fucking volcano," she muttered as she passed.
And now I'm dead. Lester made a strangled sound somewhere between a laugh and a choke and he fervently hoped that the rest of the drive would be uneventful and that traffic would let up soon. He wasn't sure he'd survive otherwise.
Twenty minutes later they pulled into the driveway of a large colonial style house in a gated community. Meagan got out of the car and composed herself. Lester had brought her a change of clothes for the meeting and she had changed in the car a few miles before they got there. She was dressed in business attire that flattered her almost to excess. The pants were wide legged and high waisted and cinched at the waist with a white belt, making her trim waist look improbably small. The fitted sleeveless white blouse that was tucked into the pants accentuated everything else while looking completely professional. Lester, dressed in full black SWAT, sat in the car attempting to bring his blood pressure back down after the harrowing ride. He hopped out of the SUV and slammed the door and walked around the car to where she was slipping her feet into a pair of bespoke, black patent leather stiletto pumps that brought her up a whole four inches.
"Want me to drive back?" He teased before brushing a quick kiss across her lips. She grinned at him and tossed him the keys. He walked in front of her to ring the doorbell, and she playfully swatted his ass.
He rang the bell and stepped back letting her lead. An attractive woman with bottle blonde hair, who was probably in her mid-fifties but had botoxed her way to 45, answered the door. She was wearing short white shorts with a button up fly she'd left open to reveal a hint of the bikini she was wearing underneath. The upper half of her body was encased in a sheer, powder blue blouse that hung loosely from her narrow frame.
She completely overlooked Meagan and blatantly checked out Lester. Meagan resisted the urge to roll her eyes and let the woman stare at her husband for a moment or two; it might make her day and Meagan was all about spreading good cheer.
After a minute, she cleared her throat and introduced herself, "Hello I'm Meagan, and this is Lester; we are here representing Rangeman Securities," she said.
The woman snapped out of her trance and looked at Meagan.
"Hi yes, I'm Margaret Beals. Nice to meet you." She stuck her hand out, and Meagan took it, "Mr. Manoso said he was sending out two of his best; I assume you are it?"
"Yes Ma'am. What can we do for you?"
Margaret Beals lead them out to the back yard where her husband Anthony was waiting. On a large glass patio table, in preparation for the meeting, he had laid out blueprints of the house as well as maps and aerial photographs of the property.
They spent an hour taking a quick tour of the property and going over ideal camera placement and various security options. All of his questions were directed at Lester, and Lester, in turn, deferred to Meagan for every answer. Mrs. Beals and their daughter Linda were utterly charmed by the couple, but Anthony became increasingly agitated by Meagan's natural air of authority.
"Mr. Manoso said that you provide bodyguards?" Anthony asked Lester. Lester, who had spoken only to Meagan for the whole meeting, maintained his vow of silence and looked, once more at Meagan for the answer.
"To some extent, yes, Mr. Beals…" she answered.
"It's Captain, Miss."
"Excuse me, Captain," Meagan said with a respectful nod of her head, "If there is an active threat, then we will do temporary bodyguard work. If you are just looking for full-time muscle, then we are happy to help you find someone. For a fee, we will train them to our standards, but ultimately they are under your employ, and once they are finished their training, will no longer affiliated with Rangeman."
"How many female bodyguards do you have on staff?" Margaret asked.
'Currently just myself," Meagan said, "We have another woman who works as a Fugitive Apprehension Agent and has acted as a bodyguard before but she prefers to stick to investigations. Let me assure you though ma'am, that all of the men that work for us are trained to be discrete when necessary and..."
"Stand please Meagan," Anthony said. Meagan raised an eyebrow,at the abrupt command, but complied. Not many people gave her orders anymore and even fewer people interrupted her. Beals stood as well and positioned her so that he could get a better look at her. "You are what? Five feet, and 100 lbs? No offense Miss Harris, but we'll go with someone else for our female bodyguards. The point is for my wife and daughter to feel protected, not like they need to be taking care of you. I am, however, intrigued by your security systems."
Meagan shrugged as if it was no never mind to her. She caught the almost imperceptible nod from Lester and she took a step to her right just as someone came at her from behind. She used his momentum to help him over her shoulder, grabbing and twisting his arm up behind his back as he went down. Just a little more pressure with her left hand and she knew she could dislocate his elbow, a slight twist further with her right and she could break his arm. She wanted to; it would have been satisfying, but she suppressed the urge.
"If you wanted a demonstration of my skills, all you needed to do was ask for them; I'd have worn different shoes," She said mildly.
"I am impressed, Miss Harris," He said, "Mr. Manoso was rather vague about your qualifications; I wanted to see if you were overstating your abilities."
"There is a reason he was vague Captain, and that's because my resume has been redacted to the point of uselessness. As for the rest of my staff, many of them are former Special Forces; I'm like that too, but more," she said, "Wouldn't you say that Lester?"
"I'd go with that. You and Ranger are Special Forces but more; I like it," he said easily and patted a stunned Beals on the shoulder, "And if you want to get picky about salutations, Captain, she's either Colonel or Doctor; not Miss."
Meagan helped her assailant to his feet and addressed him, "Next time, make sure my partner isn't looking. He gave me a signal so I knew you were coming; if I didn't, you might have been able to touch me."
SPOV
"I said we had a female body guard on the team; I didn't say it was Stephanie. If you want a demonstration, you ask," Ranger ground out. He had a hired goon, face down on the ground with the jerk's arm twisted painfully up behind his back.
I thought I handled myself pretty well. I had been learning self-defense from Meagan for the last few months, so when the idiot grabbed me form behind, I was able to twist out of his grasp and knee him in the balls. Then Ranger took over and threw him to the ground, and it looked like he was thinking really hard about breaking my assailant's arm.
Mr and Mrs Dillon were looking on horrified.
Dillon bore a striking resemblance to my brother-in-law Albert Kloughn, in that he was small and kind of doughy. He had a similar personality as well, "S-s-s sorry Mr. Manoso," He stuttered, "M-m-m-my brother-in-law said we'd get a better idea of her skills if she wasn't prepared."
"You must not have heard me when I told you that Stephanie was not a bodyguard? That she was an investigator? That we use another woman as muscle?" Ranger's composure was back, "If you had there is no way you would have been dumb enough to have someone lay a hand on her."
"He said you might say that but that we should test her skills anyway. I'm sorry," he said.
"We will consider the contract," Ranger said as he stood up, "and if we decide to provide you with personal security, I will send you a quote."
We let ourselves out of the house and went for the car. I had a feeling this quote would be well above our regular rates.
I waited until we were in the car before I started talking. I could see the tension still in his shoulders and around his mouth.
"Ranger, I'm fine; I don't think he would have hurt me," I said and got no response. I wasn't really expecting one; he was pretty pissed. "There was a time you would have been amused by my takedown method. I won't have you treating me like I'm helpless Ranger; I'm not. You have guys on me all of the time and I get that; I don't have to like it but I get it. I carry a panic button, Two actually, and..."
"Babe," he interrupted before I could get myself really worked up, "I'm actually impressed; normally when attacked you are an animal. You were in control back there, and that's going to make you more effective when protecting yourself." He took his hand off the wheel and took mine so he could give it a quick kiss.
"So why are you so pissed then?"
"Babe, he waited until my back was turned and then he had his goon grab you. I reacted. You have never had a problem with it before. Why now?"
"I don't have a problem with it I-"
"Babe," he said and I sighed.
"I had it under control. I don't like feeling like I always need rescuing. If it had been Les and Meagan instead of you and me, he would have let her handle it."
"The only reason that's the case is because Meagan could kill the guy before Lester could react. If she weren't so fucking fast he would have done exactly what I did," He said, "Face it, I love you. Someone lays a hand on you and I'm going to fuck them up. That's never going to change."
We were interrupted by the ring of Ranger's phone through the Hands free.
"Yo."
"She's been swearing since we got on the interstate, there is no traffic and I'm driving," Lester's voice came through the speakers, "The bastard tried to have someone attack her. She's pissed. I'm pissed. I'm just sorry she kicked his ass before I had a chance to do anything."
"How far out are you?"
"About five minutes," He said and then made a noise that sounded like a suppressed snicker, "She is running out of insults. She just called him a fucking Stupid Head."
"Tell her to switch to German. We'll be back in ten. Meet us for lunch on Seven." Ranger hung up.
"I thought she had like legendary control like you do?" I asked.
"She does; I just do my swearing in my head."
"Ah. What language are you on? Spanish?"
"I'm well past the Romance languages; I'm on fucking Cantonese now."
The car was quiet for the rest of the drive back to Rangeman and we went straight up to seven. Lester rolled in a few minutes behind us.
"Where's Tink?" I asked as we sat down to lunch.
"Changing out of her suit. I think she's going to go blow off some steam after lunch," Lester said, "Is there anyone you want to kick the shit out of? Might go faster if her punching bag fights back."
"I'll go; I have some issues I need to work out too," Ranger said. Shit he was really pissed about this morning. There has to be more to this, and I would get it out of him later. Right now, I had bigger fish to fry. I'd been simmering all morning well before Dillon fucked up.
"Hey, can I ask you guys something?" I got identical eyebrow raises in response. Sometimes the family resemblance was startling, "I was just wondering what you thought about maybe finding something here for Connie and Lula?"
"Connie yes; Lula I'd have to think about," Ranger stretched and put an arm around the back of my chair, "Why the sudden interest?"
"I feel bad for Connie and responsible for Lula. I was pissed off this morning when they were talking about blackmailing Vinnie for paid vacation. That business wouldn't exist if it weren't for Connie, and Lula took a pay cut because I got married and am doing skip tracing for Rangeman. She got a cut of whatever I brought in; now she doesn't, and I feel bad. I was just wondering if maybe we had something here that she could do."
"I'll think about it and get back to you," he said. He liked to say yes to me because I didn't ask for things very often. He'd take the question seriously.
RSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRS
"When is Tank back from Miami?" Meagan asked; she and Ranger had finished their sparring and were running on treadmills.
"Later today; I'd like to have more information by then," Ranger said, "He thinks he's done everything he can in Florida. Where's Morelli's head at? He ready for this?"
"He's ready. We hauled in Saunders last night, and got the final pieces in place. He'll go undercover tomorrow and he's happy that we're the ones calling the shots."
"That's a surprise."
"Not really. He knows us; he knows we are aware of what he's capable of and won't have to worry about us second guessing his actions."
The treadmills beeped and they jumped off to begin stretching.
"Not that I didn't love the quality time with him this morning, thanks for that by the way, but you should have sent Lester with Stephanie. Seemed kind of ridiculous to put both of your profilers on one team."
"I wanted Stephanie to get a feel for them; her Spidey Sense is good. I wanted to see if it went off."
"Anything?"
"Mostly she looked like she was sleeping with her eyes open," He replied with an almost smirk and Meagan grinned, "What's happening on your end?"
"I've pulled every string I have and then some to push her clearance through. She'll have it by close of business," Meagan replied with a smile, "We can read the team in Saturday morning."
"Besides destroying one of his men…"
"I winded him, and maybe wounded his pride at most," she said with a roll of her eyes.
"How did it go?"
"Well we got the account; we knew we would though. I pressed all of the buttons I could think of, and Lester fucking leaned on one. We have his attention, but he plays a long game Carlos, this is going to take a while."
When they left the gym everyone was staring at them. They were used to seeing them spar. They were used to the fact that Ranger actually engaged in real conversations with his oldest friend; it was common place now. It was how they had done it that had everyone gawking. When they were younger, they learned they both had a facility for languages, and they began having private conversations, in public, by slipping into a new language. When they were in their twenties, they developed a technique for using several languages at once. When they were in the Army, a subordinate dubbed it Ranger Bell. Neither of them had used it for years, but they'd slipped into it naturally.
"Fuck, how smart are they exactly?" Hal asked from his place at the weights.
"Off the fucking charts." Ram replied.
SPOV
Meagan decided that we needed a girls night out, so together with Connie, Lula, and Mary Lou, we were going to a bar called Surprise. Meagan and I worked there on a case not long ago, and we loved the vibe. The bar did something different every night, and you never knew what you were going to get when you walked in; that night was Karaoke night and Meagan and Lula were up on stage belting out Raining Men. Meagan and Lula couldn't be more different. About the only thing they had in common was blonde hair, and that could change when Lula got bored. Meagan was petite and if she had an ounce of fat on her, her build would have run towards Jessica Rabbit. Because she has no body fat she looked like her nickname. Tonight she was rocking a pair of leather pants and a white lace halter top. Her hair was down and she had spectacular black eye makeup on. She was drawing looks from every man at the bar.
Lula was drawing looks as well but I suspected for different reasons. Her blonde hair was piled up on top of her head like a firework; she was in a red pleather catsuit that was about two sizes too small, and didn't zip up all the way in the front so she had about a mile of boob exposed.
Meagan genuinely liked Lula, liked what she had done with herself, and liked her strength. Lula was still on the fence about Meagan. She tended towards jealousy and Tink got a lot of attention, but at the same time Meagan was so affable most of the time that it was hard not to like her. Part of tonight was to see if they could bond a bit more. They started the evening by bickering the entire ride over, trying to figure out what song to sing first and now they were rocking their choice. Meagan, who was annoyingly perfect, had talent, and what Lula lacked in talent, she made up for in enthusiasm.
Connie and Mary Lou had gone to the bar for drinks, so it was just me at the table to cheer them on. Neither of them were shy, and both of them could actually dance, so the crowd was eating them up.
"Hey Cupcake," Joe said in my ear, scaring the crap out of me. I punched him in the arm in retaliation.
"What are you doing here?" I asked with a laugh.
"Ranger sold you out; he told me where you were," he said and handed me a beer. His whiskey brown eyes were warm and so was his smile, "I like the outfit; you look hot tonight Cupcake."
I knew I looked good. I was wearing a faded cut off jean skirt and tight baby pink tank top and a pair of 3 inch blue pumps. My hair was behaving, thanks to a trip to Mr. Alexander's that afternoon, and it was softly falling around my shoulders. My make up was natural, so basically I was the girl next door. Ranger barely let me out the door; that Joe liked it too was a little uncomfortable. I'd probably always be attracted to Joe, and we would always have chemistry, but I didn't want to encourage him in so I needed to nip any flirting in the bud. ASAP.
"Yeah, Ranger liked the outfit too; especially the shoes," That was like a bucket of ice water on his libido. His expression cooled and he took a step back. He'd been hitting on me out of habit and I could tell he was a little embarrassed.
"Listen, I'm going out of town for a couple of weeks; would your parents take Bob?" He asked.
"Probably, but what about Mooch or your mother?"
"I don't want them to know I'm going out of town. I figure if I send the dog to your parents' place you could just say that you missed him, or that your mom asked to borrow him for a couple of weeks because of some break-ins in the area."
"I'll call in the morning," I said with a nod, "I take it you are going undercover?"
"Yeah; could be for a while too, if things go as planned over the next few days," he said.
I kissed his cheek, "Be safe Joe."
"He'll be fine!" Meagan exclaimed and hugged Morelli around the waist, "I've got his back, don't I Joey?"
"God help me but yes," He said and draped an arm around her shoulders.
"Hey what are you doing here Officer Hottie? This here is ladies night so no men allowed!" Lula yelled over the noise. Mary Lou and Connie were back with our drinks now too.
"Actually that would be Special Agent Hottie; he's not a cop anymore, remember? He's a Fed!" Connie corrected.
"That deserves a toast!" Mare shouted. We might have already been a bit drunk.
"SPECIAL AGENT HOTTIE!" We shouted. Joe laughed and shook his head.
"You are all nuts; I'm outta here before things get weirder," He said.
"No you can't go!" Meagan said as she hastily put her drink down, "I have someone for you to meet. Come!" She dragged him excitedly towards the bar.
"Okay Steph! Come on our turn. What are we singing?" Mary Lou asked and dragged me towards the stage.
RSRSRSRSRSRSRSRS
"Nice fake drunk you got going on there Princess," Joe said.
"Why thanks," she said with a little bow. She'd been drinking, but not as heavily as the others, and he saw her drinking water between shots. "Hector is back at Haywood monitoring everything you say and I've got an earwig in, so I can hear you, and act as your wingman if you need it. Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Joe said.
"Well here she comes. You are her type and from what I could tell this afternoon, she's sweet; even if her parents are nut cases."
"Well her father is at any rate," Morelli said.
"Mom too," Meagan said, "I met them today. Her mother looked like she was going to seduce Lester right in front of me."
"Easy there Princess," he teased. Meagan didn't do jealous but she despised women like Margaret Beals. Lester told Margaret several times that he was married, but that hadn't stopped her from putting her hand on his thigh under the table, or trying to convince him that one time wouldn't hurt anyone.
"Yeah yeah. Let's get this show on the road," Meagan said.
Linda Beals, was a 27 year old nurse and the apple of her father's eye. She was 5'7" of long legs and athletic body. She had medium brown hair that had been ruthlessly put through a straightening iron. She was wearing a black bandage dress that showed off her few curves to perfection, and she was new in town. Meagan sauntered next to Linda at the bar and accidentally jostled her slightly as she flagged the bartender. Meagan flirted with the bartender a bit and ordered a Cranberry and Soda in a martini glass and pretended not to notice Linda as she turned back to Joe.
Linda tapped her shoulder and she turned to look, her black eyes widening slightly in recognition when she saw Linda.
"Meagan right?" Linda said, "I'm Linda, you were helping figure out the security for the house right?" She said.
"Oh right, Hi! Yeah that was me! Hope your bodyguard is okay? I didn't hurt anything did I?"
"Just his pride. He yelled at daddy for a good hour for not telling him about your credentials. He assumed your partner was there to act as muscle and wanted to see how he reacted."
Joe watched this exchange with amusement, "Having fun today were you Princess?" He teased.
"Oh sorry, Joe forgot you were here," She winked at him, "Joe, this is Linda Beals. Linda is a nurse, and I'm handling security on her father's estate. Linda this is Joe. He's a cop, an excellent kisser, and very single, and very lonely."
Linda looked Joe up and down. He was movie star handsome and suffered from an excessive amount of testosterone. Essentially he was sex clad in faded blue denim and a t-shirt and with Meagan's introduction, Linda was instantly smitten.
"Hey Meagan! Connie wants to sing Spice Girls! We need a Scary Spice! You're it girlfriend!" Lula yelled as she came barreling up to them, "White Girl is gonna be Posh Spice on account of she can't really sing, I'm obviously Sporty Spice."
"Naturally," Joe said laughing.
"Connie is Ginger; Lou is gonna be Baby Spice, on account of she's got babies. So that leaves you to be Scary,"
"Again, Naturally," Joe said.
"Oh fuck off Morelli," Meagan said with a laugh.
"We need our Talent out front girl!" Lula said, taking her hand and propelling her towards the stage, "We need our talent out front, girl!"
"My public awaits me," Meagan did a little slightly drunken bow as Lula dragged her.
"Damn skippy," Lula said and they staggered off together, leaving a laughing Joe and Linda to get better acquainted.