Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination. Kallie and Raven are my own creation and I take credit for creating them.
Spoilers: Possibly any book from 1-18.
Chapter 29: Oh What Fun
Raven's POV:
I can't believe that idiot Digger would be stupid enough to talk trash about the boss's wife within hearing distance of both of them. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that both of them had heard his comments. Then to top that off, instead of waiting to see where Stephanie was headed, he cut in front of her and went back to his cubby. Alex and I exchanged amused glances. We waited for her to head out and then we followed her. She by-passed the cubicles and headed for the elevator. Alex and I followed her down to the garage and scrambled to our cars when she got in the Cayenne and took off.
I was seconds behind her and she had no more than parked when a spot opened up right in front of the bonds office. I pulled in and was getting out as she reached my car. I turned to see her glaring at me with her hands on her hips. I could swear she was muttering something about even new Rangemen having parking karma but that made no sense. She stalked over to the door and pulled it open and I stepped in behind her. A couple seconds later Alex entered and joined us. I stood with my legs slightly apart and my hands at my side as I watched her go over to the desk and leaf through some folders there. She motioned to another stack and asked the aging Betty Boop look alike if those were the Rangeman folders. She got a yes. Stephanie turned to Alex and motioned to the stack of folders. She told him to grab those to take back to Rangeman.
Alex had just grabbed the folders when Digger came barreling into the room. His eyes narrowed and he had a pissed off look on his face. I couldn't believe the jackass had the nerve to say, "I have no intention of taking a backseat to a female. Listen up cookie because the next time you take off without me I'm going to handcuff you to your desk."
Stephanie smiled sweetly and turned to the heavyset black woman sitting on the sofa. She motioned with her head and the black woman smiled and hauled herself to her feet. Stephanie walked over to where I was standing and told Digger, "Why don't you have a seat. We'll be here a while."
Digger just dug a deeper hole by giving her a sneer and saying, "More dawdling so you don't have to work?"
Digger sat down and suddenly the black woman was on his lap and the door was opened and she was out. I was on her tail and I knew Alex had made it out, but there was no sign of Digger in the rear-view mirror. We made it back to Rangeman and when we got off on the 5th floor, Stephanie told Alex to give the files to Tank. Then we went to our work stations and sat at our desks. Stephanie gave Alex and I each a file and told us to do the search and outline what we would do to catch the skip. While we did this she worked on her own searches. We had been working for about 15 minutes when Ranger came to stand near her.
She looked up and smiled. Ranger lifted an eyebrow and asked, "Didn't Digger find you at the bonds office?"
"He did. He got tied up when we left. I'm sure he'll be along soon."
I narrowed my eyes and wondered why she didn't tell Ranger about Digger's behavior. When Ranger walked away shaking his head she turned her head back to her computer and met my gaze. She grimaced, "Ranger would beat him bloody for how he treats me. He deserves a fair chance to show he has what it takes. However, I'm beginning to wonder."
I nodded my head to let her know I heard. I don't like women as a rule, oh I have no issue of making use of their bodies, but that's all it ever is. However, I was beginning to think there was something special about the woman sitting at the desk close to mine. About the time Alex and I finished our searches, Digger came storming back to his cubicle near where we were seated. He stopped to lean his hands on the desk in front of Stephanie and snarled, "Do that again bitch and I don't care who your husband is I'm going to give you a bloody face."
Stephanie's eyes narrowed and she leaned in closer to Digger, "Talk to me like that again and I will ram your balls so far up they'll have to surgically remove them from your throat." She handed him a folder and continued, "Now, you have exactly 20 minutes to finish this search before we head to the conference room to devise a game plan in going after these four guys."
Digger snatched the folder out of her hand and gave her a vicious look before he got to work.
Okay, in case you haven't caught on, Digger is a little on the SLOW side. I know you are probably saying fire his ass or let Ranger beat him bloody….but that would spoil ALL the fun. Digger is one of those people that has to have a house fall on him before he gets the message. We need to keep him around till Rambo and the girls show up. You'll see why….
