The Men of Rangeman

M rating

Thank you once again Margaret for reading ahead as my Beta. :) I much appreciate :) And thank you too for pushing me to write about some of the things we all wanted answers to :)

This takes place in current time. Books 1 through 19 may be referenced. The people you recognize belong to JE :)

Chapter 9

Slick's POV

Our flight was scheduled to take off at 10 am. Knowing Ranger, anyone who wasn't there by ten on the nose would have to figure out his own transportation. Because this was a given, we planned to meet our plane at Trenton/Mercer at 9:30. Junior, Hector and I had persuaded Hal to drive us.

We weren't sure how Steph was getting to the airport but we made the assumption that Ranger would take care of her transportation so we didn't include her in our plan. As we pulled up to corporate aviation I saw a Citation sitting on the tarmac and pointed it out to Hal. Chances were pretty good it was our NetJets flight.

As we drove towards it, I noticed Ranger's turbo at the gate. It looked like it was waiting for one of the guys to come, pick it up and flatbed it back to Rangeman. Obviously Ranger—and I assumed Steph—was already there.

Hal let us out and we sauntered over. We gave our bags to the solitary flight attendant and climbed the stairs into the corporate jet.

Ranger was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs that had been rotated to face forward and form a quasi-couch. His laptop was plugged in and running. My guess was he'd been here for at least an hour.

"Steph in the bathroom?" Junior asked once everyone got comfortable.

"She's not here yet. I thought she was coming with you."

Shit.

I saw Hector pull out his phone and start to text. I guessed he was trying to find out where Steph was.

"Chica's still waiting for a cab to come and get her. She said she just called again and they told her 'ten minutes'," he relayed to us.

"See if you can intercept Hal," Ranger said when he heard the news. "Instead of going back to Rangeman, ask him to head to Steph's and bring her here. And maybe someone can cancel that cab."

I pulled out my phone and placed a call to the main desk. Benny told me that he'd authorized The Yellow Taxi to pick her up. I looked over at Hector who gave me a heads up that he got through to Hal and then I asked Benny to cancel the car.

It would be interesting to see if Ranger would wait the plane or if he'd make Steph fly commercial. I knew if it were me, I wouldn't even be thinking about it. I'd be calling every airline in Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania trying to get on a flight. If he did that to Steph, he was a piece of shit in my book.

I tried to make myself look comfortable. I was watching the time closely on my iPhone. Like I figured, 10 am came and went and we were still on the ground. Obviously his by-the-book bullshit didn't hold true for Stephanie. It made me smile. Perhaps he wasn't as much of a hard ass as I took him to be. Well at least as far as Stephanie was concerned.

At twelve after ten I saw Hal's black Explorer pull up to he tarmac. In fact it drove right onto it. Steph got out in a hurry and Hal opened the driver's door to help her. He grabbed her bag from the back well and handed it over to her. I noticed the plane start to come alive even before she hit the stairs.

"Sorry," she said coming aboard breathlessly. "Hal was my savior. The cab company didn't have a car for an airport run. I was just about to call my dad when Hal showed up."

"Babe?" Ranger asked, getting up and walking over to her, "What happened?"

"What do you mean what happened? I was following Rangeman protocol. Benny gave me a voucher number and I called The Yellow Taxi at 8 am. They promised me a car by 9:15 for a 9:45 arrival time. No one ever showed."

He pulled her into his arms and held her, kissing her on the top of her head. I saw the tension leave her body and then she smiled at Ranger. Interesting dynamic, the Big Bad Wolf calms Little Red Riding Hood.

Junior's POV

I was pretending to be reading the New York Times on my iPad, but in reality I was watching Ranger and Stephanie. After he seemed to soothe her by pressing his lips to her head, he ushered her to the seat next to him and helped buckle her in for takeoff. I couldn't help but notice that he kept reaching over to touch her and whisper things in her ear that made her laugh. Was this really my boss?

I went back to reading the Times, but occasionally raised my eyes to see what they were up to. At one point I caught him bringing her hand to his lips and at another she had her head on his shoulder and they were leaning into each other. He either had really good seduction skills or they were already lovers despite what I'd heard to the contrary. Slick told me about his conversation with Hal and about the rings from Roebling's. It all seemed weird to me, especially the rings, and I sided with Eric in my evaluation of Ranger. Something was majorly off with him socially.

I just happened to look over again and he put his hand to her chin to bring her face closer to his. Shit. I'd never even attempt that with a woman I wasn't going to try to kiss. Then I turned my head away as his lips came crashing down on hers. Oh shit. I felt like I was interfering with a private moment.

"Ranger?" I heard her say.

"Shh, Babe, want to go in the back and talk?"

Talk? Fucking shit they were going to talk.

She nodded to him and he took her hand and led her into the back, um, private area of the plane. I am not a voyeur. And I do not get off on watching other people, but the two of them bring out something in me that just makes me want to know a little more.

"Junior," Slick stage-whispered to me after they left. I looked up and he gave me one of those 'see what I mean' looks.

Hector looked up from his laptop at Slick's call for my attention. His eyes scanned the plane quickly.

"It's not that private back there," he said nodding towards the back, "but it looks like we won't have to execute Santos' plan after all. Too bad…I was looking forward to trying out the apps I downloaded. I wonder what happened to change her mind?"

"He's what happened," I said. "He's got some style. Were you watching?"

"No, I was too busy aging this photo of Darcy McCall. I spent the night on the CIA's intranet and borrowed a few programs. I think I have some good composites to show us a number of possibilities of how she may look now."

"You were working this whole time?" I asked.

"Isn't that what we get paid to do?"

Hector's POV

I gathered Junior and Slick spent the plane ride ogling Ranger's style. Not something I would do, but hey, to each his own. And if I had to go there, I'd probably be ogling Ranger instead. He has a beautiful body and knows how to put himself together. Shit, I needed to get my mind out of the gutter or I wouldn't have a job anymore. This is why I put all my efforts into work.

I've been gay my whole life. I knew you didn't go after straight men, well unless they were heteroflexible, which I assumed a couple of the guys at Rangeman were. Ranger did not appear to be one of them.

I went back to the CIA program I had been fucking around with to take another look at aging the McCall kid. Let Slick and Junior play out their fantasies, if that's what they were doing.

I couldn't keep my mind on the program. Why did I have to listen to Slick and lose my concentration?

I got up and went to the bathroom, then I stuck my head into the cockpit to say hello to Argo. He was one of our regular pilots and I'd seen him at one or two of the clubs I frequent in Manhattan. If he was staying on in Miami for a few days, maybe we could have dinner together one night.

"Staying on man?" I asked, seemingly innocently.

"Yeah. I have a few days off. Thought I'd check out the clubs. Jim will take the plane back to Trenton and I'll fly commercial on Saturday. You here on business?"

"I am. But I've been working while the other guys have been checking out our boss, so I should have some downtime. You up for some dinner?"

"Checking out your boss? He's not gay." As I said, it takes a gay guy to really know another.

"No, he's not, but they seem to like his seduction techniques. He and Stephanie went back to the baggage stow and they seem to be fantasizing about what they are doing in there."

"If you really want to know, I can turn the camera on."

"I don't want to know. Leave them alone," I said giving Argo my Rangeman business card. It was less of an afterthought than I made it seem. "My cell's on here. Call me when you figure out your schedule."

I left the cockpit pleased. I had been hoping for an opportunity to see Argo on a more personal level. I wasn't sure if our dinner would lead to anything, but we could always go clubbing afterwards and pick up other men. That is, if nothing sparked between us.

That taken care of, I went back to my laptop. Hopefully this time I could concentrate on the task at hand.

When I got back to my seat Ranger and Steph were buckled in. Neither looked overly flushed, but Steph's lips were a little puffy. Obviously they'd spent some of their time in the back kissing. Good. Maybe that would lead to other things. Ranger needed a release. He was just too wired lately. Not that he'd ever taken it out on me, but I'd seen first-hand with Lester just what he was capable of doing when provoked.

Ok, enough about them. A missing kid needed my skills and I needed to focus. I lost myself in the CIA program for the rest of the flight and had another variation to add to the mix.

Once we touched down in Miami I half-expected us to go to Rangeman and regroup for another briefing where I'd be asked to hand out my aging sketches. Obviously that wasn't the plan. I saw four cars sitting by the tarmac as we taxied to a stop. The Cayenne was obviously for Ranger and Explorers were for us. We were all staying, well except for Ranger and Stephanie, in motels around the Miami area so transportation was imperative. My motel was in Tamiami and I had directions to it from Rangeman, not that I couldn't figure out how to get there from the airport. As I like to say, even the best-laid plans aren't fail safe.

Before we were even out of the plane I had altered my course to the motel using my phone's GPS. If these were Rangeman issued cars, which I assumed they were, they'd all come equipped with the built in apps I'd created so all I had to do was drop my phone into the well on the dash and all information would automatically be transferred to the vehicle. Sometimes it paid to be the tech guy.

"Let's meet back at Rangeman at 1500 hours. That should give you enough time to check into your motels and get a general feeling for the roads here," Ranger said as we walked from the plane to the parked vehicles. "Keys should be under your visors."

It didn't matter to me which car I took, they were all the same anyway, so I let Slick and Junior choose first. While I was waiting for them to get into their vehicles so I could get to mine, which was parked behind them, Ranger jogged over.

"Hector, can you meet with Steph and I for about fifteen minutes before the three o'clock? I'd like Silvio to join us too."

"Sure boss. I'll be there by two-thirty." Obviously there was more than one thing on his mind.

Ranger's POV

Seeing Stephanie come aboard, obviously agitated, made me angry. I knew I had the ability to calm her, so I got up, wrapped my arms around her and held my lips to her head until her rate of breathing matched mine. When I was satisfied that she was feeling better, I kissed her head once more and ushered her over to the seat next to me.

I realized some of my men were watching. There was nothing I could do about that right now.

After I got her to breathe with me, we were pretty much on the same plane. There were things I hadn't said to her last night that were still bothering me. When I brought my lips down on hers in a kiss I couldn't deny myself, I felt her body tighten. I knew she enjoyed the chemistry that happened between us, but I wasn't sure if she'd stick around for anything else. I'd have to bare my soul for more. Shit. Yes. I wanted it that badly.

"Let's go in the back and talk Babe," I suggested so my life wouldn't be on full display to a handful of my men. I also wanted Stephanie to be at ease and right now she was tensing up again.

"Ok," she nodded.

I took her by her hand and led her to the back of the plane. The baggage stow wasn't very full and the suitcases that were there made decent makeshift chairs. I wanted to calm her again by getting her to breathe with me, but she seemed to want to keep some distance. Obviously I had some explaining to do. We sat down on top of Steph's suitcase but then she squirmed a little, as if in pain.

"Babe, what's the matter?"

"It's nothing."

"Nothing doesn't hurt; what's up?"

"I got my legs and bikini area waxed yesterday and I guess I'm still a little irritated. My jeans just um, rubbed against me when I sat down. Like I said, it's nothing."

She moved again and winced.

"Babe, do you need me to put some aloe gel on you?"

"No I'm good. Maybe Cal was a little over enthusiastic," she mumbled the end of her sentence.

"Cal?" I asked, only one Cal coming to mind.

"It's nothing, Ranger. Drop it."

I didn't want to have a disagreement with her, but if the only Cal I could think of hurt her in any way, he was a dead man.

"Our Cal?" I asked again.

I knew she wouldn't purposely lie to me, but she might withhold information if it meant a friend of hers being saved either embarrassment or pain.

It took her a few seconds to decide whether to come clean or not.

"It's like this Ranger," she started, finally telling me the whole story. "Don't hurt him," she said in conclusion, "he was only being a good friend."

"A good friend doesn't subject you to pain."

"I'm not in pain."

Well what do you call that then?"

"Discomfort."

"A good friend doesn't cause discomfort."

"Ranger, drop it, ok? If you hurt Cal, I'm out of here. Got that?"

I stopped short. I knew she meant it and that was the last thing I wanted right now.

"Sorry Babe, I didn't..."

"It was just a waxing Ranger. No harm meant, now can we go back to the others?"

"Two minutes. I have something to say."

"Clock's ticking."

"If I only have two minutes, I have three words. I love you Babe,"

"That's four."

"Stephanie, please," I added knowing the power of that word. "No bullshit. No qualifiers. Just four words: I love you."

"That's three."

And then she looked at me. "I love you too Ranger."

My lips met hers.