New Beginnings

When Ric told Stephanie he was currently listed as inactive in the Army, she was a little crushed. What he didn't tell her was that the government could call him at a moments notice to help solve any 'problems' that may arise. He already regreted that agreement.

She didn't know how they were going to support themselves. He said he would go back to work at Wal-Mart until something better came along, but this also meant finding a new place to live.

They found a nice four bedroom house to rent near Ric's mom's house. They decided to used the fourth bed room for a play room for the kids.

Ric got hired back at Wal-Mart on the spot. Mr. Felix was so happy to see him sitting in his office that day, he gave Ric what ever he wanted. Ric worked 12 hour days 7AM-7PM, 4 days a week and did what ever was needed in store. Cahsier, Stocking, Maintence, even a cart pusher once again. He loved it, but he was now so over quailfied for any posistion in the store, besides Manager, but he respected Mr. Felix and wouldn't dream of taking his job.

The three days Ric were off he spent trying to come up with something to do long term. Stephanie's dad suggested working for the post office, but Ric couldn't see himself in the shorts and black socks. He wasn't mail man material. He thought about opening his own business, but he didn't know what he wanted to do.

One day while he was working at Wal-Mart, a guy came into the store and asked Ric about one of his co-workers. The guy had identified himself as Greg Black, he was a bond enforcement agent, also known as a bounty hunter.

Ric didn't have much info to give Greg about his co-worker, only he hadn't been here for about a four days. Greg thanked Ric for his assistance. Greg had noticed Ric wearing his Army t-shirt, his dog tag chain tucked into his shirt and the Army Ranger's ring he wore on his right hand.

"What are you doing pushing carts at Wal-Mart, man? I'm sure you could find a better job with your type of background." Greg said motioning to his shirt.

"Still looking into stuff, not sure what I want to do yet." Ric replied.

"Ever thought about skip tracing? Good money in it." Greg asked.

"How much money are we talking about?" Ric inquired.

"It depends on the amount of the bond", Greg started to explain, "If the bond is for $100,000, you get 10 percent, $10,000."

"$10,000 for finding one guy and dragging him back to jail?" Ric was a little skeptical.

"Yep," Greg reached in his shirt pocket, pulled out a business card and a pen. He circled a phone number.

"Call this number and ask for Vinnie, I'm sure he could use some one with your kind of skills."

"I'll do that. Thank you Mr. Black."

"Please call me Greg."

Ric nodded and Greg left. Ric thought about it and when he went on his lunch break he'd call Vinnie.

"Bail Bonds" a female voice answered on the second ring.

"Yes, My name is Ricardo Manoso, is Vinnie in?"

"Hold on please." It sounded like she tried to cover the phone reciever with her hand, but failed. Ric heard her yell. "Vinnie, you got a phone call!"

After a minute he heard another line pick up then a click of the one being hung up.

"This is Vinnie." the man said.

" Yes sir, my name is Ricardo Manoso, Greg asked me to call you about a bond enforcement job?"

"What kind of back ground you got?" Ric thought this guy sounded like a wannabe mob boss.

"Well sir, I am taking a extended leave from the Army. I was a Ranger for 5 years and decided to spend time with my family, but I need a good source of income, Greg told me I looked like I could do the job."

"Can you come by tomorrow for an interveiw?"

"Yes sir! Is 10 AM good for you, sir?"

"It's fine, but stop with the 'sir' shit!" Vinnie hung up.

Ric had lots of things to think about now. He finished up his shift and went home to tell Stephanie the great news.

They were sitting at the table at dinner when Ric brought it up.

"I got a job interview tomorrow with a bail bonds office for a bond enforcement position." Ric told her with a smile on his face.

"Bond enforcement, you mean a bounty hunter?" She asked sounding concerned.

"Yeah, there's good money in it, I figured I would work part-time at Wal-Mart and do the bounty hunter thing part-time."

"I dont know Ric, sounds kinda dangerous." She said cutting up Ricky's chicken.

"I want to try it. The guy I talked to said with my skills I could be good at it."

Stephanie put green beans on the twins plates,"Who do you have an interview with?"

"This guy named Vinnie."

Stephanie dropped the spoon and it clanked when it hit the floor.

"Ric, he is my cousin. Dad told me about Vinnie opening a bail bonds business. He is a slim ball."

"I want to try this, maybe since we are family he will hire me."

"If you want to try it I'm not going to stop you. But, I am warning you, he is disgusting. He once was caught..." She stopped talking realizing the kids were at the table. She walked around and whispered in Ric's ear, "Uncle Tony caught him trying to stick his dick in a goat when he was 15."

Ric pushed his plate away from him, "Thanks Babe, I just lost my appetite."

"Sorry, but its the truth." She said sitting down at the table.

Ric sat at the table helping the kids with dinner until his stomach felt strong enough to keep the food down. After dinner, the kids got their baths and they all watched a little TV before going to bed.

Ric came home around noon time all excited. "Babe! I got the job!"

She came out of the kitchen covered in flour, "Congratulations! I was trying to make a cake for dessert, but the kids had other ideas." He kissed her cheek.

"Mmmmmm." He licked his lips,"spice cake. Where are the kids now?" he asked.

"Penny and Celeste took the kids to the park so I could finish." she exlained walking in to the kitchen.

"So we are alone?" He asked. She nodded and licked her lips. He held her face in his hands and kissed her senseless.

"Let's get you cleaned up, Babe."

"But the cake?!" Stephanie exclaimed as Ric grabbed her hand and pulled her into the bathroom.

Ric's first week working skips went rather well, he brought in 3 guys. Stephanie was happy with the money he brought home in just a few days. Maybe this isn't so bad afterall, she thought. He came home with not so much as a scratch. He apparently had a nack for the job. She was proud of him, once again.

Ric bought a computer and a bunch of programs, set them up in the kids playroom, turning one half of the room into a home office. He would run searches on the skips he was looking for, go out and find them, and drag them back to jail. He made it look so easy. Pretty soon the number of skips increased and he was swamped. He had to quit Wal-Mart again, and do skip tracing full time. He let Stephanie help with some of the searches so he bought a second computer, a laptop for himself. When the number of skips went up again he had to find someone else to hire. He remembered a friend of his from the Ranger's, Bobby. Bobby had to leave after the second week because his mother had become deathly ill and he was an only child. He was obligated to take care of his mother, so he dropped out of Ranger Training. His other friends were still in the Army, and he wouldn't pull them away from their duty. So he looked up Bobby on the computer and found a phone number for him. He was living in Pittsburgh and had been working for a security contractor for the past 3 years. Ric placed that call.

"Brown" he answered on the 3rd ring.

"Buster!" Ric Yelled into the phone. They had nicknamed him Buster in Boot Camp.

"Manoso?" Bobby asked surprised.

"Yeah, what's up with you?"

"Nada, man. Sitting here watching a empty building and getting paid for it."

"I got a job offer for you, Buster. Wanna help with some bond enforcement jobs?"

"Holy shit man! Are you kinding, that is the best offer I have had in a long time. You got your self a partner!"

Ric discussed what had been going on in his life and Bobby returned in kind. His mother passed away at Christmas 3 years ago and he had been living in her house. He needed to get away permanently.

Bobby left Pittsburg and the security compnay he had been working for at the end of his shift that day and headed for Trenton.

Ric was feeling good about this, only he was going to need to get a real office. This was the starting point in getting his own business of the ground. He also thought about incorporating Bobby's security exprience into the business scheme. He was going to need a larger workforce before he could be completely satisfied with his idea. He got onto the internet and posted a help wanted ad with the local newspaper.

HELP WANTED:

New company needs 3-4 men

for security positions.

Must be able to pass phsyical fitness

test and background check.

Please e-mail resumes to :

(unfortunatly won't allow the email address)

Within three days he had his people. Calen Mitchell, Roy Harris, Erik Salvatora, & Vincent Evans were the only four out of 15 applicants that passed Ric's boot camp style physical fitness test. He introduced himself to all of them as Ranger. Bobby used his savings to rent a two room office for 6 months, and took care of all the licsensing and legalities needed to start up the business. We were in business. Stephanie came up with the name for the company, Rangeman.
I got one more chapter in me so don't fret! You know we can't leave out Tank, Lester, Hal and Ram.

Thanks for reading. You are so great with the reviews and comments. You are all wonderful. -Hollie