Chapter 32

The men talked among each other about everything I told them. Some were surprised I endured so much while I was in the Plum's care. I could see a few wondering what Mr Plum thought. He too was in special ops. Major Frank Plum retired after I broke my arm at age nine. I was always his favourite and he didn't like the punishment doled out by Helen. It was completely unfair. Personally I felt wearing a cast for the summer was punishment enough.

Carlos was arranging security detail for me which I expected. Several times Morelli had the opportunity to hurt me. Every time he hurt me, it was in a sexual manner. When will he learn his sexual advances will never be reciprocated? In fact, his actions are criminal. "Until Morelli is held accountable for his actions, my family will be living at Rangeman," Carlos announced. I didn't fight his decision, it was safest for my family.

Over the next week, Rangeman Trenton hired more men. I did a background check on a man from the Navy named Michael Thompson. He was in the same crew as Morelli. Mike went through SEAL training after he served his minimum time. He was having difficulty finding a civilian job after he finished his last contract. His record said he was willing to participate in the occasional op, but he didn't want to do that full time anymore. I really wanted this man as part of my personal security detail. Something about him made me feel safe.

I was sitting on the couch in Ranger's office to review the applications for the men I searched. From the stack of ten possible hires, we needed to hire six. "Read Mike's CV," I told Carlos while passing him the file. He raised an eyebrow when reading about his Navy career. "I want to interview him and Kyle Winston."

"Why Kyle?" he was curious. He removed my ponytail to run his fingers through my hair.

"Jeanne Ellen and I came across Kyle on our flight home from Newark after Christmas 2002," I explained. It was the only time I visited Mama and Papa for Christmas. He was protective of me when his partner made sexual advances.

"The rest?" he asked. I gave him another four files. "Why not these ones?"

"I'm not really sure, but I think you should hire them as contract workers. They would be great to have around in a pinch. These two men like to travel so they could float between the offices to work where needed."

"I never thought of hiring contract workers before."

"It would be in Rangman's best interest to hire contract workers. This man," I started and pointed to a file. "Has a background in accounting. This other one is a lawyer. Have you considered hiring our own accountant and lawyer?" I was curious why we didn't have our own resident accountant or lawyer. Both men couldn't find a civilian job in their field, so they applied to Rangeman as a backup plan.

I could see he was excited about the prospect. "Set up the interviews. I would like you to be present. See if you get any other read off them."

Kyle, Mike, Stu, Matt and Will have interviews the following morning. The other five men in the afternoon. I scheduled the interviews forty-five minutes apart. Kyle will be meeting with me, Tank and Carlos at 0800.

The following morning we were informed our first interview arrived. We made our way to the first floor conference room. Kyle was waiting at the reception desk for us to arrive. "What happened Fannie? Who do I have to kill?" Kyle quickly asked when he saw the tape across my nose and my matching black eyes.

Tank led him towards the conference room. Carlos whispered, "He's hired."

We went through our list of questions. Kyle answered without hesitation. I outlined possible job responsibilities and Rangeman departments. "What department could you see yourself working in?" I asked.

"BEA apprehension or personal security. Either department would allow me to protect the innocent," he replied.

"Thank you Kyle, we'll be in touch," Ranger said, ending the interview.

Mike's response when he saw me was identical to Kyle. He was furious someone hit a woman. Carlos liked him instantly. When I asked which department he wanted to work for and why, he said personal security. He told us the story of his younger sister who was brutally raped at fourteen. It was a story eerily similar to mine. She died several days later from her injuries. I already uncovered he had a deceased sister. Her records didn't say how she was injured, only that she didn't survive them.

Our next few interviews went well. It was going to be a difficult decision. We broke for lunch and quickly returned to the conference room to complete our interviews. Three of the men were in Ranger and Tank's basic training squad. The other two I realized were in mine. One was missing the lower part of his left leg. I spent my year in basic concentrating on my training. Jeanne Ellen and I stuck together and didn't socialize with our squad.

Tank, Ranger and I discussed each man and where they'd fit best into Rangeman. We originally planned to hire six men with four being contract workers, but we decided to hire them all. Kyle and Mike would be my personal security team. Matt Lambert would head our new accounting department. Stu Simmons is our in-house lawyer. Will Peters and Jon Pattinson would fill in at our Rangeman offices while men were on vacation or away on a mission. Eric Brown, Kent Moore, Rick Campbell and Aaron Culver is joining the Rangeman team. They would be rotated around the departments. Rick is proficient on computers. Hector could use someone to help manage the IT department. James Barker may be missing part of his leg, but that didn't make him useless. He was my first call.

"Hello, my name is Steph Guzman from Rangeman. May I please speak to James Barker?" I asked when a female answered. His file indicated he recently married his high school sweetheart.

"Honey, there's a Steph from Rangeman on the phone," she announced. I heard a muffled reply.

"Hi Steph," James greeted.

"I'm calling to offer you a position at Rangeman," I stated.

"I'm not sure why you even interviewed me. What could I do for Rangeman? I can't exactly go into the field like the other men," he sadly said.

"We have a reception desk in the lobby and monitors in the control room. You could man the reception desk part time, watch the monitors part time and help me with searches or background checks," I quickly replied.

"I could actually offer something to Rangeman?" he asked sounding hopeful.

"Of course you can. We wouldn't have offered you the job if you couldn't. Are you accepting the position?" I asked.

"Absolutely. When do I start?"

"January 2nd. We'll meet you at 0800 in the lobby."

"Thank you for hiring me."

"See you then," I said before hanging up.

I called Kyle and Mike next. Both men were happy to be my personal security. They would be starting work tomorrow. After placing all my calls, I was exhausted. Every man accepted the job. Most will begin in January but a few offered to cover shifts for Christmas and New Years. Will and Jon would be sent to Miami for a few weeks for training and covering the holidays.

The law firm representing Rangeman prepared the contracts for our new hires to sign. Our contact, Preston Myers, was getting close to retirement. He was ex-Army and knew how to write our contracts so they didn't interfere with any government ones our men held. Preston offered to assist Stu Simmons until we could hire more men for the law department. I talked to Preston to see what specialties he recommended.

"Carlos, do you have a few minutes? I was just talking to Preston," I began when he answered the phone.

"My office," he said before hanging up. I grabbed my list off my desk and walked to his office. Tank, Lester and Bobby were sitting in chairs across from Ranger's desk. Ranger moved his chair back so I could sit on his lap.

"Our in-house law department needs a contract attorney, criminal defence lawyer, estate lawyer, property lawyer and corporate lawyer. Preferably multiples of each, at least one of each type per Rangeman office. Stu Simmons has been hired as one of our corporate lawyers. When I completed my regular in house employee checks, I noticed several of our men in Miami, Atlanta and here also have various law degrees. We literally can hire in-house, if they're agreeable," I gave him the education record for each man. I watched Lester squirm in his seat.

Ranger looked through the papers and set his sight on Lester, "Is there something you need to tell me?"

"I still have to write the bar exam?" Lester posed as a question. I had researched when the bar exams are being held. He has an option to write it in January.

"Do you want to write the exam?" I was hoping he'd say yes.

"It was always the goal. Having an estate lawyer at Rangeman would come in handy," he replied honestly.

"The next exam is January 13, 2013 at Harvard university. Would you like me to register on your behalf?" I asked.

"Sure, but I'll need the next few weeks to study," he readily agreed. I used Ranger's computer to register Lester for the exam.

"We have extra men scheduled to start in January, I can have them begin training early," Ranger suggested.

"I'll contact them now," I stated. They waited patiently for me to contact the men. Lester's eyebrow raised when I asked one man about the bar exam. I put the call on speaker. "Kent, did you say you already registered to write the bar exam in January?"

"Yes ma'am. I've been studying but it would be helpful to have a partner," we heard him say. Lester pointed to the phone and back to him.

"Hey, it's Lester. Would you like a study partner? I'm writing the exam in January too."

"Sure, it would make studying easier. Thanks man."

"No problem. See you tomorrow?" Les asked.

"Will do. I'll report for duty at 0800," Kent said before hanging up the phone.

I used Ranger's computer to send emails to the other potential lawyers. Binkie quickly replied, "Sure. I'm just waiting for my exam results. Should arrive any day."

The last order of business was negotiating a salary adjustment for our new resident lawyers. "We'll need to revise our budget," Tank stated.

"Crunch the new salary ranges. I expect a report by Monday," Ranger ordered. We had a line for incidentals in our budget. It would typically cover replacement vehicles, weapons and other equipment costs.

"Tank, I've been thinking. We have the forensic lab next to our gun range. Could we get more men certified and expand our services to TPD and other private businesses?" I was trying to find ways to generate more revenue for Rangeman. If we offered this service, the results would be available faster. It's ridiculous to have such an expensive lab when only a few tests are run per month. Running multiple tests simultaneously would be more cost effective.

"That is an excellent idea," Tank replied.

"Babe. In the last few hours you reduced Rangeman's expenses and discovered a new way to generate revenue. I'm proud of you," he whispered. It wasn't the only way I increased our revenue. Our BEA department was thriving. Since September, we earned nearly five million dollars from FTAs captured.

"I have more ideas too. We could buy the old gym across the road and offer self defence courses. Free for abused women and children," I added.

"One change at a time Beautiful," Lester laughed. "Let's launch your other ideas first."

"Fine. I have to leave. My appointment is in half an hour. Are you coming this time?" I asked my husband.

"I am. We still need our security detail," he reminded me.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," I agreed.

We met Kyle and Mike in the garage. They took one of Rangeman's fleet vehicles. Carlos opened the passenger door to his Porsche 911 turbo. He leaned in to kiss me before closing the door. My appointment went quite well. The bandage was removed from my nose and I was advised to avoid flying fists. I guess I won't be sparring with anyone anytime soon.