34. Betrayal

When Lil returned to her apartment with Tilde on Thursday, she was a tender ball of mush. The massage Bobby had administered was sweet, sweet torture. Though much easier to handle than the AIS. At certain times, she would feel a pins and needles sensation in her legs, which Bobby took as encouraging. Sadist. They were both hopeful this course of treatment would help in the long run. Now, all she needed to do was relax and wrap her head around spending the entire day tomorrow in Carlos's office. Oh Boy.

Ranger sat in his empty apartment, staring at the spot Lil had occupied on the couch the night before. Watching Bobby touch her, even for medical purposes, was absolute torture. By the time they had finished, Ranger had invented the most creative ways to kill his medic and hide what was left of the body. Of course, he really wasn't mad at Bobby. But damn. When he was finally able to pry his eyes off of the tablet, his shirt was soaked, his jaw ached, and his dick was screaming for release. Driving quickly back to Haywood, he dropped Magnus off with the men on five and went straight to seven. He had 'relieved' himself twice already, it only helped a little. He needed to find some measure of his legendary control, and fucking fast. Tomorrow was Friday, Lil would be in his office all damn day. At this rate, he was afraid he might snap and do something they would both regret. Something that could likely get him shot. Damn.

The morning meeting came to it's usual swift conclusion. Ranger went directly to his office, wanting a moment in private to center himself. Find some fucking zen. Lil entered a few minutes later with a happy Tilde. Good! The kid was a great diversion. Tilde ran to him, giving him hugs and kisses. She was talking a mile a minute about yesterday's tea party. Ranger chuckled. "I know Querida, I saw on the camera." Tilde clapped her hands. Lil raised her eyebrows, "Exactly how much time do you spend watching the building cameras Carlos?" He was so unprepared for her question that he froze, color infusing is dark cheeks. Lil's eyebrows rose higher "Does that mean you owe ME a free show now?" She wasn't mad exactly, but wanted to make sure he knew he'd been caught. Ranger sat Tilde down on his couch while recovering his calm. "I'll give you a free show whenever you want Dulce." It was Lil's turn to blush. Ugh, this was not a smart start to the day. Ranger gave Tilde the new books he had bought her. Seconds later she was so engrossed, the adults might as well have not been there. So much for the diversion.

Lil took a seat in the guest chair, "What do we have today? Office audits?" Ranger sat down and pinched the bridge of his nose. Lil was instantly aware that something was wrong. She had spent a good part of the last seven weeks studying his mannerisms, the minute changes in his facial features. "Carlos, what happened? What's the problem?" He looked at her and chuckled. "I think you're a mind reader." Lil laughed, "Crap I hope not. Can you imagine what's in Lester's head?!" He gave a small laugh this time. "Really sweetie, what's wrong? Is me being here making you uncomfortable?" Ranger's head shot up. "No. Not at all. I'm glad you're here today... It's business. Can I show you some reports from Boston? Maybe you can figure out what I seem to be missing." His voice was a growl by the end of his sentence. Uh oh. "Of course, I'll help any way I can." Ranger unlocked his desk drawer and pulled out a thick folder. He handed her the top three sheets from inside. Lil took them kindly. "Look at those and tell me what you know. Then I'll have an idea of how much explaining is needed."

Lil read each page carefully. She returned to the first one, double checking the information there against the last. Basic accounting, straight forward. "Well, this appears to be Boston's standard accounting records for the week of December 9th through the 15th, so last week. The top page is the record of transactions for their profit and loss statement, the next is their record of cash flow, and the last is the balance sheet… Did I pass the test?" She gave him a cheeky grin. Ranger's shoulders relaxed, damn she was smart. "It wasn't a test Dulce. But I'm glad you have a good understanding of accounting. For the past eight weeks I've been noticing discrepancies in Boston's ledgers. My accountant, Jose Garcia, has been looking into it. He hasn't had much luck pinpointing the problem. The amounts are small, easy to miss." Lil let out a sour breath, who in their right mind would steal from Rangeman? Someone with a death wish apparently. "I can't promise a miracle, but let me see the whole shebang there." He handed her the file and went to sit with Tilde. Even if she read fast, this would take a while.

An hour and a half later, Lil felt like she had visited the Boston office in person. She had read a brief synopsis of each employee, including the Branch Manager Ramon, who happened to be Lester's brother. When she discovered that Zip had a brother working in Boston's Client Services, called Zap, she nearly choked. Thankfully, they were just nicknames. The office was set up nearly identical to Trenton. Same number of employees, same core team structure. The only difference was that every office reported to Tank then Ranger as the CEO. Lil reread through the current weekly reports, then compared them to the ones Ranger had been accumulating. She knew he was right, something in the numbers was off. But it wasn't obvious. Whoever was doing this was being very careful.

While working for the Wynn, Lil got used to being around large sums of money. It was unavoidable in a casino of that scale. Seeing that the Boston office made an average of $350k a week still threw her for a loop. Yes, that wasn't pure profit, only gross earnings, but damn. Even IF half of that total went to overhead and liabilities, times fifty-two weeks and four offices… Rangeman was netting somewhere around thirty-six million dollars a year. Considering what she had seen already of the Trenton accounts, a better estimation would be more like fifty million. Sweet Cheezits.

She raised her eyes to his on the couch. Tilde was happily perched in this lap. Smart kid. "I have a few questions." He nodded for her to continue. "Are the transactions recorded at the time of service or the time of payment?" "Payment, always." "OK, when did the accounting period rollover? Could that have had an effect?" Ranger shook his head, "We roll in mid-January. So, no." "Have there been any odd changes to the number of clients their signing? More or less than usual?" He thought about her question, "No, their running the same as the past year, normal for this time of the season." "What about the liabilities or account credits, anything showing up fraudulently? Or just off from usual?" Again he paused in thought, "No, expenses have been the same, overhead and payroll are running the average." "Good, so there haven't been any issues with missing equipment, screwed up orders, 'misplaced' product?" "No, it's all clear. Ramon just finished going over all of it himself. He's the only person in Boston who knows I'm on to this. But he can't determine the source either." Lil nodded, understanding the extreme need to keep this on the down low until it was flushed out. "Atlanta and Miami are doing fine?" "Yes, they are making more money than ever, their books are all balanced each week."

Lil turned to face him more directly. She could see why he was frustrated, there wasn't an honest mistake happening here. Someone didn't just accidentally count the beans wrong. "Carlos, have you had turnover in Boston? New hires?" He bristled, doing his best to contain his anger with Tilde so close. She caught on anyway and hugged him. "No Lil, no turnover in more than two years. Every one of those men has been with Rangeman at least that long." Oh shit, he wasn't only being robbed, he was being betrayed by someone who he trusted. "I see that last week they debited $91,260.00 on paper, between installs, redecorating, FTA's, and the corporate account deposit. But the actual bank ledger shows that only $87,260.00 was deposited. Can you find out which Bail-bondsman wrote the checks for the FTA's? There were five last week." Ranger pulled out his phone and texted Ramon. Seconds later his phone rang. They had a brief chat in a language that was not Spanish, but sounded pretty close. Lil raised her eyebrows. Ranger smirked and looked down at Tilde. Guess he didn't think about the pitfalls of starting to teach her daughter Spanish…

Ranger hung up and nodded his head to his computer, "Ramon is emailing the info to me now. Go ahead." Whoa, Boss-man wanted her to use his desk, look at his email. Weird. She pretended to not be shocked, poorly, and sat where instructed. In a blink the email icon popped up and she clicked it. Lil read the information. Without thinking, she sent a reply asking for scanned copies of the receipts. Thankfully, she didn't sign the email with her own name. Ranger sat with Tilde, trying not to laugh. She went from uncomfortable to taking over pretty damn quick. Lil gave him an innocent look with tinged cheeks while she waited. Tilde was falling asleep. Ramon sent the necessary documents and Lil printed them. She sat for a few minutes with the weekly record and the bond receipts. "Is $3000.00 a standard fee for redecorating?" Ranger shook his head, "It depends, but they're always a price point of one through three, depending on the danger. So that one should be right." Lil did some mental math, Ranger watched her closely. Her intelligence and quick thinking today was doing nothing to lessen his attraction to her.

"In Boston, would any other Core Team leader have access to another division's accounting? What about the floaters?" "Just like here, the only people who can touch specific financial data are the men in that department or those above him. The floaters don't have access, even if they work as part of a team for a certain job." Lil closed the folder and looked at him carefully. She had figured something out, and he wasn't going to like it. "The good news is, Tomas, Cody, Rivera, and the four floating Rangemen are clean. Snake and his Bond Enforcement guys are also clean, their FTA receipts for last week match the figures here to the penny… But, that means that Johnny, Tim, Zap, or Ramon are stealing from you. I'm sorry Carlos." The cold look of fury on his face was enthralling, a little terrifying. He delicately placed a snoozing Tilde on the other end of the couch. His movements were smooth but very controlled. He walked carefully to where Lil still sat behind his desk. She was currently in the presence of the trained mercenary, the man who could kill without thinking twice. This was Ranger, not Carlos.

He rolled her chair back, lifted her bodily out of it with a light touch, and sat himself down. He still hadn't said a word. Before she could walk back round the desk, he pulled her onto his lap and opened the folder. "Show me. I need to know how you came to that conclusion." Ranger's tone was clipped, but she knew she wasn't the target. She pointed everything out to him, her entire train of thought. He did the math himself. Fuck. He leaned back, turning her sideways so they could see each other. Lil was trying to not get comfortable. Too late. "You're right. But it's not Ramon, or Zap." She just watched him. "Ramon is my cousin, and he has more money than he would ever know what to do with. Zap worked here with his brother before going to Trenton. They're close, twins. I'd bet my life he wasn't involved." That meant that Johnny, the head of Client Services, or Tim were behind it. Both were men Ranger had served with overseas, two tours. Lil placed her head on his shoulder and squeezed him tight. "We'll figure it out Carlos. I promise."