Chapter 29
Now back in Trenton after their visit to Miami, life was getting back to normal for Ranger and Stephanie.
Twelve men received a text on their phones.
'Gear Up. Garage. 5 minutes.'
There was an immediate race to their cubicles to get their gear and run as fast as they could down the stairs.
Had there been a major incident? Was there a threat that the monitoring station had received? Who had died?
Ranger stood by the garage stairway door as it repeatedly banged open as the men hit the drop bar coming through.
There was a 15 passenger van waiting with the doors open and he nodded that they pile in. The big men practically tore the sides off the van as they raced to get seated.
The door slammed shut and the garage door opened.
Tank was driving and the men were a bit disconcerted as they noticed an evil grin on his face.
They looked around at the passengers.
Hmmm. Les, Bobby, Maurice, Zero, Ted, Ben, Jerry, Zip, Caesar, Mike, Murray and last but not least, Hal.
Les spoke up.
"Uh, Tank, what's the emergency?"
Tank kept silent as he drove down the road.
A few of the men softly whispered that it looked like they were heading to the compound.
Tank fobbed the gate open and drove in, parking by one of the buildings.
He climbed out of the van and walked around to the side door, opening it and waving the men to get out.
He looked at them fully dressed in Kevlar, hand guns, handcuffs, and knives.
"Hand over your cell phones."
He accepted one from each man, checking that it was RangeMan issued. After checking them, he put them into a mesh bag and sealed it shut.
"Now, drop your gear on your vest. You won't need it."
The men carefully shed everything and set the items on top of their Kevlar now laying on the ground.
They looked at Tank for more information.
"Ranger has been keeping track of your cellphone use of that stupid game. He gave you multiple chances to have it erased, but it appears that you 12 don't take orders very well.
So," and he looked at all the men standing near him, "he's just changed the course and you are going to be the first ones to try it out. Lucky you, right? At the finish line is this bag. Complete it in the allotted time and you get your phone back. If you don't complete it, Hector has a number of freshly loaded ones for you to use on the job."
He smiled an evil grin and looked at his watch.
"You have one hour. GO"
There was a mad scramble to the gate and the men poured onto the course.
First up was the water pond and the men raced through that, splashing everyone and everything in their path.
Now that their boots were wet and muddy, four tree trunks with the bark removed were next on the course. Care had to be taken that they wouldn't slip because under there was another pond with mud.
One man fell in and had to crawl back to the start and try again.
Next came the wall climb and two men clambered up to the top and helped as the others raced to the wall and jumped up, catching the tops with their hands and with help from their teammates they pushed over and continued on.
There was the low wire entanglement obstacle, and the rope swing across more water.
By now the men were all completely covered in mud with foot and handholds becoming less sure.
A loudspeaker sounded.
"You have thirty minutes, men."
They put on another burst of speed, coming to the half way point and turning around. Well, if they'd done the first half in 30 minutes, the return trip would be easier, right?
Wrong. There were arrows and yellow tape directing them to the new section. In front of them was a wall, but with ropes hanging down.
Some of the men took a running start and jumped, putting one boot on the wall to give them more height, then grabbed the rope and began to climb. One man tried and his hands slipped and he fell face first into the wall. Bobby stepped up to him and looked at him but he waved him away.
Over the top they came.
The loudspeaker sounded again.
"Twenty minutes left, men, twenty minutes left."
More water, more logs, more ropes to swing over obstacles.
The end was in sight; but wait.
There was a drainage tube on the path. No way to go around it, or over it.
Unfortunately, there was only one and twelve men had to get through. Les and Bobby looked at each other and nodded.
They stood to the side and waved the men through, then Les waved Bobby through.
Tank was counting down the seconds as Les finally emerged from the pipe. He had no way to make it to the finish line before the allotted time was up.
Standing up, he began to walk to the finish line.
The others looked at each other and then almost as one, raced back to walk with him.
Tank counted down, "Five, four, three, two, one. Times up."
Twelve very dirty men stood around Tank and he tried to cover up his smile.
Loyalty.
He held the canvas bag with their new phones inside and each man looked around for something to wipe their hands on before accepting one. There was a bucket of water and a number of dark colored towels and they took turns washing their hands and drying them before reaching in the bag.
First, Hal reached in and pulled out one.
"Oh, shit, it's pink!"
Each man reached in and also pulled out their new phones. Pink, Pink, Pink. They were all pink, not just pink, but Hot Lips Pink. Names were taped to the phones and they passed them around getting theirs.
One started to laugh and they all began to grin.
Tank led them back to where the van was and they collected their gear, and prepared to leave.
Someone had covered the seats in sheets to protect the interior and they all piled back in.
Tank slammed the door shut and climbed into the drivers' seat.
He hadn't even started the van when there were groans and cursing coming from the back.
Maurice groaned, "there's no spell check."
Zip moaned, "How the hell do I take a picture on this again?"
Ted swore, "I can't remember any phone numbers. I always contact dialed."
Les looked at his phone and shook his head sadly. Little Les was going to be very lonely.
Tank drove back to RangeMan and they all emerged from the van.
"These are your assigned phones for one week. Take care of them or you'll answer to Hector. Shifts over for today."
The men took off their boots and socks and with their phone in one hand and their footwear in the other, they headed upstairs to the gym showers. Why mess up twelve showers when they would only mess up one and everyone could pitch in together to clean it afterwards. Also, they all had gym gear in their lockers and would change into that.
The washing machines would be busy but well, they could talk and re-learn how these archaic excuses for a phone worked while the washing machines did their jobs.
Teamwork.
Tank headed up to five and walking into Rangers' office he noticed that he was watching the video already on his monitor.
~~~o0o~~~
Tank was standing in front of Ranger's desk. He had a file folder in his hand.
"Ranger, I'd like you to do a client call with me."
Ranger looked up at his friend then down at the pile of file folders on his desk.
"I checked my calendar and I don't see one. Every time you want me to take you on a client call, it's a disaster in the making. If it turns out the same way as the last time, I could use some more personnel trying out the course."
Tank laughed. If he went, well so was Ranger. It's just that he didn't know that, yet.
"Naw, I think this is a good one. We need to get out of the office for an hour or so."
Ranger sighed and stood up. He checked that he was properly dressed and followed Tank out the door.
"This better be good," he muttered.
They headed to the Hummer that Tank was driving and climbed in. Looking at the preliminary information, they drove to their appointment.
This one felt right even as they walked into the main office. A receptionist was in the midst of unpacking office supplies and she smiled at them a bit self-consciously.
"Oh, I'm so sorry that you gentlemen had to see me in my mess. I wanted to get it organized a trifle more before you came."
She walked around her desk, picked up her phone and pressed a button.
"Mr. Carlton, your appointment is here to see you."
She nodded and put down her phone.
"Please follow me, gentlemen."
She walked to a door, knocked and turned the handle.
Walking in, she held the door for Ranger and Tank, then quickly walked back out, closing the door softly behind her.
Ranger and Tank walked to the desk and with their hands outstretched, they shook hands with the tall man standing with boxes all over his desk.
Mr. Carlton smiled. "As you can see we are in the midst of moving in, but I would like to discuss with you my security requirements."
Ranger and Tank nodded. Talk about night and day between the two calls.
They sat down in the offered easy chairs in front of the desk and Mr. Carlton pushed aside the boxes so he could see them clearly as he also sat down.
"I am a broker specializing in arranging transport of medical supplies out of our country. As such, we don't have the materials in this office, but our warehouse requires very specialized security measures, and the information held in this office is extremely sensitive. We are still in set-up mode right now, but our shipments are slated to start leaving within the next month to six weeks."
Ranger nodded his head.
"Mr. Carlton, we do have a very strong monitoring service and our personnel are trained for either video monitoring, or physical protection right in the building. I note that you have another location out of state being handled by another company. Have you been in contact with them to include this location or are they based only where your original warehouse is situated?"
Mr. Carlton spoke. "First of all, please call me Charlie. Mr. Carlton is my dad."
They all chuckled at the very old line.
Charlie continued. "Our other office is in Tampa and while we are happy with their security, they do not have any offices this far north. As a matter of fact, speaking with them about our new location, they recommended your company very highly."
Tank looked at Ranger and spoke softly. "LifeLine works out of Tampa."
Ranger nodded. He knew some of the men who were employed there, having been with RangeMan Miami when they left to start up their own company in Tampa, Florida. They specialized in shipments and security in the dock area, and had made a very good name for themselves. Ranger had wished them the very best upon their start-up and he had fielded a number of calls from them at the beginning to answer some questions they had.
He and Tank laid out their prospectus and listened as Charlie explained his unique requirements. Ranger mentioned that he would have his installation specialist and one of the Core Team contact them to do a walk-through and identify the best system for their needs.
Standing up, they all shook hands, and Ranger promised to contact him soon with their results.
Walking out, they climbed in the Hummer and headed to their next call. This one was a one month appointment to identify any problems with the installation and to iron out any misunderstandings that may have arisen since the installation. After receiving positive feedback on the installation and monitoring contract, they headed back to the building. Both had a desk full of paperwork to process before the day was out and they were anxious to get to it.
OK, so don't hate me. Last chapter tomorrow.
Myrna
