What's next?
Ranger's POV
After Lula left and Babe walked into my office, I pulled her onto my lap and kissed her. I hadn't seen her in 12 hours and I put all that love and desire into the kiss. It actually surprised me when Babe pulled away first and managed to squeak out, "Whoa there Batman, I have a few questions for you before we get sidetracked again."
Babe wiggled and I let her get up and go sit in the chair across my desk from me. Similarly to Lula, she pulled out a list of questions, but I could see that her list was significantly shorter than Lula's. She cleared her throat, looked at me and said, "RangeMan uniforms are all in black. Would you ever consider introducing other colours for when we're office bound?"
I smiled because I realised that Lula and Babe talked about this beforehand. I said, "As I said to Lula, I'll think about it. RangeMan black is still required when you're out of the office on RangeMan time, unless you're in your business attire."
She looked down at her list and said, "Fair enough. Next question, will you start treating me differently if our dates do or don't go well?"
"Babe. I want you to work at RangeMan because you'll make a good addition to the company, not because I'm in love with you. I promise you that I'll never do anything to intentionally hurt you, but I won't treat you with kid gloves either. RangeMan has rules and I expect you to follow them just like the other employees. You will not get special treatment, with the exception of office nookie if you so desire. I don't do that with anyone else."
I laughed at that answer and moved on to my last and final question. "What did Lula say?"
"Well, I think we should find out where her and Tank got to and then invite them to join us when they're done. That way we can talk about the job offers, put them in writing, and then figure out if or when you ladies will be joining us."
"I like the sound of that."
I picked up my phone and called the control room to get a location on Tank and Lula. I was told that they are currently in the gun range and Tank is showing Lula how to disassemble and reassemble a gun. I figured they'd be at least another 30 minutes so I stood and locked my office door. As soon as Babe saw that, her eyes widened in shock and I laughed.
"Tank and Lula are down in the gun range. They'll likely be another 30 minutes and I can think of a really great way to kill some of those minutes."
Babe turned red as I walked slowly towards her. I reached out my hand and pulled her to her feet and then wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her tightly to my chest. I held her in my arms and whispered, "I've missed you today Babe."
She leaned her head back and looked up at me and said, "I've missed you too Batman."
We stood together for a long time, swaying as if there was music playing. We were finally interrupted by a knock on the door. I leaned over letting go of my Babe and opened the door to find a beaming Lula and a grinning Tank at the door.
"Come in you two, it looks like you have some fun down in the gun range."
"I sure did. Tank taught me loads. I can take a Glock 17 apart and put it back together and I can even empty a clip and mostly hit the target. I'm sure to get better with practice, or at least that's what Tank says."
I looked over at Tank and he nodded. "She's right, she done good."
"I'm glad to hear it. Why don't we move into the conference room? There's a bit more space and you two ladies can look over the paperwork that goes along with joining RangeMan. If you do decide to go forward, I'll call in both Bobby and Leister so the six of us can go over your schedule for the first couple of weeks."
The ladies agreed and we moved to the conference room. Once we were all seated, I slid a folder across the table. One for Lula and another for Steph, but they were pretty similar in wording, all but the names. They each looked through the folder and when they got to the third page they looked at each other with open mouths.
Lula looked at me and said, "Is this some sort of a joke? Why on earth would you pay us this much money for chasing low level skips?"
I laughed at this and said, "I'm not hiring you to chase low-level skips. That will only be part of your job. Besides, that is the typical starting salary for every RangeMan employee who works for my company. We pay for the skills we want and teach you the ones you'll need."
Lula looked a little guilty and said, "Still, I don't have the same skills that any of your men have, I would feel more comfortable with a lower starting salary."
I knew this might come up so I said, "You may not have the physical skills or the firearms skills that my men have, but you have plenty of other skills that they lack. You and Stephanie have a very important skill that is severely lacking at RangeMan. You are a people person and you both have access to contacts that we could never dream of having. People see RangeMan as a bunch of thugs and if you two ladies work with us, I'm hoping our reputation will soften and change for the better."
Lula sighed and said, "Alright Ranger, if you want to pay me this amount of money, I won't complain. After all, it will increase my shoe budget significantly."
Babe smiled at this comment and said, "Yes, I agree. We'll definitely need to go shopping soon."
Lula kept reading her contract and stopped on the last page. She looked up at me and then at Steph, who hadn't gotten that far. She patiently waited for Steph to catch up and when she finally finished the last page, she too looked up and stared at me.
She said, "What is this about moving into RangeMan? I don't think you ever mentioned that before now."
I struggled to maintain my blank face and said, "It is standard RangeMan procedure for new hires to live on the premises. Ella prepares your meals so it is easier to stick with your diet. She will take good care of the two of you. We've never had two women living here before and as luck would have it, the large two bedroom apartment is free at the moment. We'd like to offer that to the two of you for the first 6 months you are at RangeMan.
"If you wish to keep your current apartments, you can. The RangeMan apartment is a perk of your job, so you won't have to pay rent for two apartments. After the 6 month period, you'll be free to go back to your old apartments, stay on at RangeMan, move to one of the other RangeMan apartments around town, or move somewhere else altogether."
Lula looked excited while Babe looked annoyed. Lula said, "Can we see the apartment?"
I nodded and stood, motioning for the ladies to follow me. I stopped by my office to get the keys and then headed to the stairs and walked down one flight. I knew that Babe had never been in this apartment. It hasn't been occupied in a while because of a water leak. Luis finished the building work a few weeks before I left on my last mission and I left instructions with Ella to decorate it as she saw fit.
I unlocked the door and stood aside letting both Lula and Babe enter. I left them alone for a few minutes while Tank and I stood out in the hall. "So what do you think Tank, do you think they'll take the jobs?"
Tank nodded and said, "I think they will and if I'm honest, I think they'll both be great. I couldn't believe how quickly Lula was able to learn how to disassemble and reassemble a Glock. It was pretty impressive."
Babe opened the apartment door and ushered us in. She said, "Why have I never seen this apartment before? I would definitely have remembered this place."
"There was a water leak in here a couple of years ago. We never had a huge requirement for this apartment so Luis worked on it in his spare time. He finished a few months ago and Ella finished the decorating about 2 weeks ago. When I saw it, I thought it would be perfect for you two ladies."
Lula nodded and said, "It's really nice. Either bedroom is larger than my whole apartment. I'd give it up in a heartbeat to live here. In fact, I think I'll call Jackie tonight and offer her the sublet because the place she's living in is pretty dangerous. "
I thought that was typical of Lula. She passed on her good fortune to another who was in need. Jackie could probably use a safe place to sleep when she wasn't working her corner. Now I looked at Babe and wondered what she would do. I could tell that she really liked the apartment. It was a mirror opposite of my apartment, but instead of an office, there was a second bedroom with its own bathroom. Its dimensions were slightly smaller, but the layout was pretty much the same. It was decorated similar and I hoped she'd agree to live here.
More to come.
