Chapter 22

Mistakes are mine, characters are not. Italics are internal thoughts.

SPOV

I knew Ranger would be airborne for another couple hours at least, so I didn't immediately call him after the meeting with Teddy. I also knew that there was no way another Interim Managing Director would call the CEO directly with info like that. I'd wait and see what else came out in the rest of today's meetings and request an urgent Core Update Meeting tomorrow over Video Conference. I was overall happy with the plan.

I had spent extra time talking to Teddy to try to fully understand what he knew. It turned out Teddy had noticed a couple of discrepancies in one of his file audits, noting that a couple HR files were altered after having been approved. Basically, Armando waited until things were approved and was then manually going in and adding additional records. In this case: employees who didn't exist. They were drawing a paycheck, which was being deposited into a bank account that Silvio had linked back to Armando. The 2 phantom employees were covered under the Rangeman Insurance Policy Benefits (along with Armando's legal wife). If Armando hadn't been a little more careful to cover his tracks with the bank, it might have taken Rangeman longer to catch on.

I slipped to the breakroom to refill my coffee cup before my next meeting. I realized then that one of the other reasons Bobby had suggested I use Armando's office was because it housed a private bathroom. I came out of the restroom to find my next appointment leaning against the door frame of the office.

"Hi," I said. "Come on in." I walked around the desk to greet him.

He entered and sat down in one of the club chairs in front of the desk. "Randy Olso," he said, extending his hand. Who the fuck taught this man to shake hands sitting down?

I shook his hand and took my place behind the desk. "I'm just going to take some notes while we talk, ok?" He nodded. "Tell me how long you've been with Rangeman and what department you're working with," I said.

"Oh, sure, yeah, I've been here about 4 years now I think. I mostly work patrol, and occasionally I'll sub in for the BEA team when they're a man down." Randy was not very animated when he spoke, and I got some huge introvert vibes from him. We finished the half hour that had been set aside for the meeting and I made notes that Randy was good where he was, but probably needed more training before he could be considered for any advancement opportunities.

I completed three more meetings before the day shift had mostly cleared out and my stomach was making very unladylike sounds. I glanced and my watch and noticed it was nearly 7pm. No wonder I was starving. I dialed Maribeth and asked her to bring dinner as soon as she could. Then I sent a quick email update to the Core Team and asked for a Teleconference, preferably tomorrow, to discuss a more about some of the things I'd learned. I made my way to the 7th floor and gave myself a tour. I'd never been in the Miami Penthouse with Ranger before. I'd actually never been to the Miami office yet. While I was glad to be on this assignment without CEO Ranger, I was definitely wishing Sexy Ranger was here tonight. I poked around in the kitchen and found some iced tea. I gave a tentative sip (I was in the south, afterall, and wasn't sure of the sugar content). As I suspected, since it was Ranger's lair, it was unsweet tea. I blew out a sigh and poured a glass anyway. Marybeth brought me a chicken and noodle casserole and a side salad which I ate at the bar in the kitchen, spending a little over an hour going over employee files so I could have more names memorized in the morning.

My phone rang, and I answered automatically, without looking at the readout, just assuming it would be Ranger calling to check in after finishing up his day. It was the Control Room downstairs.

"Um, Ms. Plum, Stephanie, Ma'am," the voice was distressed, but clearly not sure how to address me.

"What?" I barked.

"It's Mike in the Control Room, and we have a situation with an account, I think it would be good if you came down here." He said.

"On my way," I said, disconnecting as I slid my gun back into my thigh holster and pulling my shoes back on. I was glad I hadn't changed into PJs already. I jogged down the stairs, opting to not wait for the elevator. I walked onto the floor and made my way to the monitors.

"What's up, Mike?" I asked.

"We had a routine call to one of the commercial accounts, and Johnny and Bear responded. It's a highrise near the strip that houses condos and a few upper end offices. A woman entered the lobby and caused a scene when she wasn't on the approved visitor list, which made the on-site Rent a Cop tag us for backup. When Rangeman arrived, she pulled a weapon, and Bear took two slugs to the arm. He is in route to the ER. Johnny jumped in to attempt de-escalate the situation, but unfortunately a couple stepped off the elevator at the wrong time and we are now dealing with a hostage situation," Mike explained.

"And the police?" I asked.

"Are on the scene, communicating through Johnny. We've just been told the woman is demanding to speak with Armando at Rangeman," Mike said.

"Well, shit."

"Agreed," Mike said. "I assume that is now you, now, Ma'am, as the senior most person at the branch."

"Call me Steph, and yes, it does mean me. Who's on deck to go?"

"I sent Juan, Pablo, and Chris down to the armory, and they'll meet you in the garage," he said.

"Great, call Bobby Brown and send him with a backup team ASAP, and send the resident Miami medic to the hospital to follow up with Bear if he isn't already in route," I said, heading for the stairs again. I pulled my hair back into a pony tail while I ran down to the garage.

Juan was standing outside an Explorer holding an extra kevlar vest, while Pablo and Chris were already in the backseat. I jogged over, grabbed the vest and strapped it on before I hopped in the car.

"How far away is the account? Did anyone recognize the unsub?" I asked.

Juan shook his head and Pablo spoke up from the backseat. "No, they were running her through facial recognition, but no one on deck recognized her. We should be there in less than 10."

"Any other trouble with this account, or has Armando ever been demanded on a scene like this before that you know of?" I asked.

"Not that we know of," Chris answered. "Thanks for jumping in. We weren't sure you'd be up for it. Armando never responded well when we tapped him outside of his scheduled shifts. I was afraid as the Night Supervisor I was going in alone," he said.

"Which one of the 3 of you have been here the longest?" I asked as Juan stopped for a red light.

"That would be me," said Chris. "I've been with Rangeman 10 years, and supervising the night shift for the past 5."

"Then you're my partner for the rest of the evening," I said. "Pablo, Juan, does that work for you?" They made noises of affirmation.

We pulled up behind several cop cars and made our way up to the makeshift command center. I introduced myself to the officer in charge, explaining as quickly as I could the management changes that went down not 10 hours earlier.

"We can't get a sniper anywhere to cover you," the officer said. "You'd be walking in at your own risk. We've breached the backdoor and we're working to move teams in place, but we'd still be 30 seconds out until we could subdue her if things go sideways." I nodded. There wasn't a choice.

"Chris and I are going in armed, it is what it is. Give me the comm and let's get this show on the road. Has she been agitated? Does she know it's not Armando coming?"

"No and no. We hope she doesn't get agitated when you show up. Was Armando's #2 not available?" the cop asked. He obviously had worked with Rangeman before and had of course never seen me.

"Not on such short notice at this time of night. But I'm the current Managing Director," I said, securing the comm unit in my left ear. "Let our man know that the man in charge has arrived."

I noticed another 2 Rangeman SUVs arrive, and figured I'd probably better get going before Bobby came over and tried to tell me I should stand down. I knew Ranger would be both proud and infuriated. Boss Ranger would be understanding because this was the job and proud that I was jumping in. Boyfriend Ranger was likely to jump back on the jet tonight and handcuff himself to me so I couldn't leave the penthouse.

"Let's Roll, Chris," I said. He nodded. We set off at a quick pace through the front doors of the building. When we were a few steps out, we could see Johnny in between a couple in their early 20s who were clinging to each other, standing by the elevators, positioned just a dozen feet from a door that led presumably to an office or stairwell. It wasn't marked. An aging security guard was positioned closer to the front doors. His hip holster was empty of a gun and cuffs, which were lying innocuously at the feet of the unsub. I didn't see Johnny's gun on the ground, but figured he carried concealed so he might have been able to re-holster it before she noticed it.

The unsub was a pretty girl, with dark brown hair, big brown eyes, skin that hinted at a Latina heritage, high cheek bones and lashes that I couldn't rival even after 4 coats of mascara. She was too short to be a model, I guessed about 5'5" but had a body that was thin and toned. She looked unconfident with the gun, but pissed off enough to use it. I spotted a blood splatter on the doors and realized when I saw a gun lying on the sidewalk outside the doors Bear probably took the slugs as soon as they opened the doors. Johnny had probably sacrificed himself as a distraction to make sure Bear could stay outside the building and get to the hospital. Noble.

Chris and I held our hands up and approached the doors. Johnny gave a nod and the girl with the gun gave us a "come in" motion with her left hand. The gun was trained on us in her right hand. I opened the door myself and walked in with Chris hot on my heels.

"Where's Armando? Who are you?" she asked. She wasn't yelling, but she definitely didn't have a calm voice.

"I'm Stephanie. I'm the Managing Director of Rangeman Miami, as of noon today," I said. "Who are you and how can I help you?" I kept my hands raised and looked her straight in the eye using my kind Bounty Hunter "Rescheduling Speech" voice.

"I'm Nadine. I don't understand what happened to Armando. He hasn't answered his phone all day. I came to get answers as soon as I got off work and my key card won't work to get into the apartment!" She ran her left hand through her hair, brushing her long bangs off her forhead and out of her eyes. A shiny diamond solitaire sparkled on her 3rd finger. "What's going on, and where's my fiancé? I know you guys provide security here, so tell them to fix my keycard." She was starting to escalate a little now.

"Nadine. Yes. We can get this all cleared up. Would you let these other tenants get on with their evening? It looks like they're on their way to a late dinner," I tried in an agreeable tone, gesturing vaguely towards the couple.

She kept the gun trained on me. Well that's better than the innocent people by the elevator.

"I promise I won't leave until we've worked this all out," I said, keeping my hands up, palms facing her.

"I didn't know Rangeman hired girls," she said, looking suddenly wary. "How do I know you're in charge?"

"She's the one and only woman on staff who works in the field. She's been a contract employee for several years, and just became a full-time employee a few months ago. She normally works in Trenton, which is where our Home Office is located. She's also in a relationship with the CEO of Rangeman," Chris said from the corner. "I'm the Night Supervisor, I'm sure you've heard of me. But Stephanie's the real deal. You have the 2nd most powerful person in the company," he said. I appreciated his sentiment, even if it was far from the truth. 2nd person in the company. Hah!

"You're Manoso's woman?" she sounded and looked doubtful. Thanks, Bitch. So much for woman supporting women. At the end of the day it still boils down to who someone is fucking.

"I am. But I'm also the highest-ranking person in Rangeman Miami tonight, so let's get this figured out. Can we send the Bachelor and Bachelorette on their way? Things will go easier if they're not here," I said, keeping my voice light and my blank face in place.

"I guess. The rest of you are all staying though."

I nodded, "Of course. I woudn't think otherwise. Wayne," I said, addressing the building security guard by the name sewn onto his lapel. "Can you please escort them out?" I turned my head to look at him and hoped he could read in my eyes the message that he should leave with them. He moved away from the door to meet them at the elevators. The young man was holding his woman tight to his chest, with both arms wrapped around her head. She shook with silent sobs. Wayne took the young man by the elbow and opened the doors and swiftly moved all 3 of them out the door. They took five normal steps and then all three took off running.

Nadine was still staring and me and hadn't noticed Wayne was missing too. Good deal. Johnny stayed where he was, inching his way into a better position behind her while Chris took a step closer to my right side. We were nearly touching, in identical positions with our hands raised.

"You live here, Nadine?" I asked, hoping for clarity on the situation.

"Not technically. I'm not on the lease or anything but last night when Armando proposed, I brought over a bunch of my things. We left this morning for work at the same time, and then I get back here tonight, my key doesn't work, and the guard wouldn't give me access. Armando hadn't answered his phone today, but that's not abnormal since he often works 24-48 hours straight," she said. Guess that's how he was explaining his random absences to be with the other women. "There's no way he would just leave me, even if he finally left Rangeman and opened his own business."

"Nadine." She looked at me and I dropped my blank face, letting all the honesty and pity show in my eyes. Every woman I know can read that look.

"Armando didn't leave Rangeman today. He was terminated for violation of several company policies and federal laws." She shook her head but maintained eye contact, and I knew she knew I wasn't lying. "And as the person who has access to all the personnel files, I can unequivocally tell you something that you might not know is that he has been legally married to a woman for the past 5 years." It was the truth, and I figured it might be easier to swallow than the whole ugly ball of truth that we were still unraveling.

"No! Fuck! That asshole bastard!" she said, dropping her hands to her side.

"I don't disagree," I said. "And I'm sorry you had to find out like this. Where do you work?" I went with distraction now. Chris shifted beside me. I had no doubt he'd never been a part of any type of hostage situation like this.

"I'm an LPN at Miami General," she said. "I'm working on my RN."

"That's great! So, let's not make things any worse for you. Is your weapon licensed?" I gestured at the gun. She nodded.

"Ok, so the worst you're looking at is assault with a deadly weapon but given the circumstances you can probably get a plea down to community service because it's your first offense. I'm sure your good standing at the hospital will help, too." I had no idea if she was an innocent as she looked or in good standing with the hospital, but when in doubt a fib is always the way to go.

She didn't say anything, so I plowed on. "And if you let us take you in now, I promise I'll do my best to talk to the building owner and try to get any of your stuff upstairs out of the apartment."

I had begun slowly making my way toward her. She was crying in earnest now, and Johnny had worked his way behind her and drawn his weapon. Chris stayed put, with his hands in the air.

"Nadine. Hand me the weapon. We'll just walk out of here together." You'll be in handcuffs, but I will walk out with you. I held out my hand and maintained eye contact.

She sighed heavily and raised the gun toward me, offering me the handle. "I'm sorry," she said, as Johnny immediately came up behind her and cuffed her. I took the gun and unloaded it. Chris and I walked out first with our hands raised, and Johnny followed leading Nadine by the elbow of the arms cuffed behind her.

Nadine was taken into custody, and it took nearly 4 hours to complete the paperwork and give our statements to the Miami PD. Pablo and Juan oversaw the building clean-up, which didn't appear to be much in the way of actual damage, just biohazard. It was almost 2:30 in the morning when Chris, Johnny and I finally pulled back into the Rangeman garage.

"I am so done," I said as we got in the elevator. I checked my phone and saw an update from Bobby that Bear had come through surgery to remove the bullets without complications. There were also a couple texts from Ranger one just checking in, and the second a confirmation of a Core Meeting debrief at 11 the following morning.

"Do me a favor, Chris, and reschedule any meetings I have on the calendar before 11am." The elevator doors opened on the 5th floor. "I'll pick up with the Core Debrief in the morning. I've gotta get some sleep." He nodded and the doors slid closed. I shot Ranger a quick text as I rode the elevator up to the penthouse.

"Sorry I missed you. We had an excitement filled night in Miami, but everyone came thru mostly unscathed. I'm fine. I'll debrief this and more at 11. Need cake and sleep." The timestamp was 2:49am so I wasn't surprised when I didn't get a response. I tossed my keys in the dish, dropped my phone on the wireless charging port in the bedroom and stripped. I debated a quick shower but ended up sliding into bed in one of Ranger's t-shirts and my panties. I didn't open my eyes again until 9am. I couldn't remember the last time I'd slept that late, but then again, I'd only gotten barely 6 hours of sleep. I hauled myself out of bed and into workout clothes. I'd skip sparring with Bobby today but still bang out a run on the treadmill before the Core Team Debrief.

Ranger had replied to my text at 5:02am. "Babe. Glad you're safe. The bed feels too big without you." I finished my workout, took and shower and got dressed and ready for the day. I had decided I'd only bother Maribeth for dinner, so breakfast and lunch I'd pick up from the breakroom. I made myself a dish of oatmeal with dried cranberries, orange juice and coffee and headed to my office to settle in. I had 15 minutes before the debrief began, so I ate quickly and made notes of the order I wanted to address things.

I made my way to the Teleconference Room at 10:59 and found Bobby was already there. We connected to the remaining 6 guys in Trenton and said our hellos. Everyone had, of course, already heard the cliffnotes version of the situation the night before, so I filled in the gaps and gave the details. As I expected, even with his blank face on, I could tell Ranger was equal parts proud and pissed at me. It was always surprising how well I could read him now, and I was glad for the presence of the Core Team to avoid the full discussion of that just now. I went on to update them on what I had learned about Armando's polygamous lifestyle. There wasn't a single blank face in sight; that just shocked the shit out of them all!

"So, Teddy had made his discovery a few months ago, and at each bi-weekly check-in he had reported it. Unfortunately, since he was doing Annual Maintenance and not just his day job, his check-ins were with the Managing Director instead of his supervisor. So, it was being reported to Armando, who obviously didn't find the need to investigate further. Teddy had not been able to let it go and started researching the phantom employees. He violated what I assumed were a few dozen HIPPA policies and was able to get information from the Insurance Company about past claims. The supposed "male" Rangeman employees were receiving medical care under an OBGYN. Teddy talked to Silvio and got Hector on a Video Conference while Armando was on vacation and shared his concerns, which is how the Core Team became aware of the need to step in. I'm also not sure if we'll need to report this as insurance fraud. If we self-report they'd probably be less likely to come after us for the repayment of anything that's been covered this past year. You should have legal look into it." I said.

The guys were all nodding in agreement. I took a breath and went on.

"And we definitely needed to tighten up some policies around dual approvals on some things in the future. Teddy is finalizing some programming to add a safeguard in place for the manual adjustments like the ones Armando was making. Since there are actual times that things need to be adjusted, we don't want to take away the capability. However, any manual adjustments that are entered after finalization will be immediately escalated to a member of the Core Team for approval. I'd recommend we assign one Core Team member to each branch, so no one is getting blown up with alerts. Hector, I've asked Teddy to contact you directly once he's finished so you and Silvio can check things together."

"Steph," Tank said. "I'm blown away. This was a hell of a first day for you, but you've already made huge progress. I think I speak for everyone when I say, we definitely made the right choice picking you."

"You did. I agree," Ranger said. The others were all nodding.

Bobby reached over and squeezed my knee. "Good work, Bomber," he said quietly.

"So now I just have to get through the rest of the staff meetings and get the show on the road with some hiring."

There was a knock on the door and Silvio poked his head in. "I was hoping I'd catch all of you," he said. "Permission to enter?" I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or not, since I was definitely not the most senior person in the room. Before I could say anything, Bobby waved him forward.

He gave waves to the guys in Trenton and took a seat. "I just got back the report from Teddy on Armando's phantom employees. And we have a small problem with one of them. When we followed the data and pulled the medical charts associated with the claims we paid, we found Anna Kemp, one of the FTAs we've been running after for weeks."

"So, Armando is involved with an FTA, and not only didn't tell us, but likely is a fucking accessory?!" Lester was incredulous. "Man, that guy really fucked us over."

Ranger had his blank face in place, but I could see the anger seeping out from under it.

Silvio continued. "Best intelligence has her in Arizona. I'd like to prep a team for next week, but I'd highly recommend a couple of you come down. I am hesitant to send the guys here, there's just too much familiarity."

"Yes, make the plans for next week. We'll let you know by end of day who will be on it," Ranger said.

"Oh, there's one more little detail as you're making your decision that you might want to consider," Silvio said.

"The place she's staying is in a town well known for the polyamorous lifestyle. A bunch of guys showing up on their own will immediately send the entire on alert. They're known to take care of their own," Silvio said.

"Where the fuck can we find that many female contractors on such short notice?" Cal asked.

"I wasn't thinking a bunch of women," Silvio said. There was a beat of silence. He cleared this throat. "Well, polyamory goes both ways, you know."

Ranger looked slightly amused and Tank was grinning full out. I watched as realization slowly dawned on the rest of the men's faces.

"What the hell," I said. "I've already been married to a woman this month, why the fuck shouldn't I have a handful of husbands?"