Chapter 34

We started planning our next move. Mr Gazarra is right, we can't return to Trenton. Atlanta and Miami has Rangeman offices. Relocating to either office wouldn't be a hardship. We'll have to see which location would be best for our family to find our home.

"Home is where ever you are," Carlos wrapped his arms around me. "I love you Babe."

"I love you too. Where do you think we should live?" I asked.

"Miami," he quickly replied.

"Can we stay here until the new school year starts?" I wanted to stay close to Uncle Alex.

"Anything you want Babe." There was so much for us to plan. We just needed to figure out what we wanted to do. It would give us a few weeks to get ourselves situated.

"Rangeman should open an office in Boston. I've been researching the local bonds offices and they need Rangeman's help. All of our Trenton men are trained in bond apprehension. They could be the ones to train our new men."

"What do you suggest?" I could tell he liked my idea.

"Use Trenton to train the men before sending them to the Boston office. We could use Atlanta and Miami to train for other duties. When we finally open our Boston office, you'll have a fully trained team. You could ask the men which office they prefer," I explained.

"Several Trenton men would want to move with us," he reminded me.

"I know. We'll have to talk to the men to see what they want." We made several lists to see which members must move with us, the ones to remain in Trenton and the ones transferring to Boston. I wanted to be sure the men were completely on board.

Later that night we called the rest of the team in Trenton. We were planning to open a new office in Boston before relocating to Miami. The men loved our plans. Cal, Ram and Tank were assigned to find a suitable location. As CEO, Carlos would have final say. Our goal was to have the Boston office fully functional by July 1, 2013.

A few weeks later we left Georgia and moved to Boston. Julie was enrolled into another school. They offered a preschool program for children Robbie's age. I found an OB/Gyn to follow my pregnancy. She just finished writing her medical board examinations and opened her own practice. Cara Fraser has long blond hair, amber eyes and tall for a woman at six feet. I could see her and Hal together. Hal resembles Thor with dark blond hair and blue eyes. He's shy and has difficulty approaching women. Carlos was busy interviewing men so I took Hal to my appointment.

The reception area was fairly large. An attractive, muscular man sat at the reception desk to welcome the few patients. I approached the desk to say, "Hi. I'm Stephanie Manoso here for my 1300 appointment with Dr Fraser." He looked at me and smiled. Wow, he's built just like my Merry Men. I wonder if he's ex-military. He'll fit in at Rangeman. Why is he working here?

"Welcome Mrs Manoso. I'm a Navy Seal. Name is Neil Fraser. Dr Fraser is my younger sister and she's in the process of hiring a receptionist. What is Rangeman?" he asked while passing me the patient forms I needed to fill out.

I pulled a business card from my wallet to hand him. "Send an application to the email address on the card." My email address contains my military name. Hector changed it when I started receiving massive amounts of emails from both Morelli and Helen. He deactivated my old email account and set it to return all emails. Hector is probably saving a copy of every email to build a stalking case against them. They'll never find this new one.

He read the name and his eyes opened wide. "My buddy Mike just started a job at a security business in Trenton." I was wondering if he knew Mike was my personal security. Mike was sitting in his car in the lot. We only posted the job internally. The men were asked to talk to trusted ex-military men looking to retire. Rangeman was hiring through word of mouth instead of our standard job postings. Neil lowered his voice, "I've heard a lot about a badass woman named Fannie Parker."

"All good I hope. I should fill these out for you," I lifted the clipboard. I was called into the examination room as I handed Neil the clipboard. Hal followed close to my heels. He checked the examination room before he let us enter.

"I'm Dr Cara Fraser. It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs Manoso," the pretty blond introduced herself.

"Please call me Steph or Stephanie," I said shaking her hand.

"Ex-military?" she asked me.

"Yes," I replied.

Hal faced the wall when Cara examined me. From where I was lying on the bed, I could see his face turned bright red. "He's shy," I whispered, pointing in Hal's direction.

"He's very handsome," she whispered. She tapped her ring finger and raised an eyebrow.

"Not married and no children," I quietly told her. Cara went through my medical history and complications I had during my first pregnancy. Hal quietly left the room so she could properly examine me. When she was giving me advice about morning sickness, Hal returned to the room.

Hal started asking Cara about the baby's development. It was like a switch was flipped. I guess he doesn't have a problem talking to attractive, intelligent and stable women. Since he wasn't her patient, he accepted the prescription containing her personal number. He used his phone to send her a message. "Now you have my number," he said while blushing.

I scheduled another appointment for next month. Hal was talking quietly to Cara while Neil filled out the appointment card. When we were halfway home Hal said, "My sister's looking for a job."

"Rangeman?"

"No, the clinic," he replied. "Cara's looking for a receptionist to double as office manager."

"The office footprint is large enough to invite another practice," I suggested. "It would cut her overhead costs if she has someone sharing the expenses."

"You already have someone in mind," he stated. I had approached my old friend Stitch to offer him a medic position at Rangeman. He politely declined.

'My skills are best utilized helping more than a few men at work. I want to open my own practice, catering to men or women in the military,' Stitch said when I offered him the job.

"I do. He's originally from Boston and his contract should be over. Would Cara be interested in meeting him?" I asked.

"I'll ask when I talk to her later," he replied. I nodded my head and turned on the radio. We were singing along to Bon Jovi's Livin on a Prayer.

Carlos was interviewing a man he liked for the job of client services. He was ex-Navy, tall, muscular, attractive and charismatic. We rented a fifth floor office in a building across town from our new Rangeman office. The purchase will close in a few weeks. Renovations will commence immediately. Our office will be move in ready in six weeks.

I entered the elevator as he exited. Something about him caused goosebumps to appear on my arms. He was not a nice man. I'll have to tell Carlos not to hire him. Carlos was interviewing a woman when I entered the office. She was obvious while flirting with him. I knew she liked exactly what she saw. He displayed his wedding band, but she wasn't deterred. She shifted her position on the chair, causing her skirt to slide up her thighs. We installed a row of small cameras in the desk to display the interviewee sitting in the chair. To the untrained eye, it would look like a decorative detail. The woman wasn't wearing panties. She was practically re-enacting the scene from Basic Instinct. Carlos looked furious. She was completely wasting his time. He didn't want what she was offering. This interview was about to be over.

After a few short knocks, I entered his office carrying a cup of black coffee and bottled water. "I thought you could use this," I said as I passed him the drinks. Her lewd behaviour had no effect on my husband. It didn't excite him in the least, which pleased me. "Ms..." I read the name from the resume, "Anderson, we'll contact you in a few days. Thank you." I motioned towards the door. She looked over my shoulder at Carlos and sucked on a finger before winking.

He shuddered before standing from his chair. "Thank you Babe," he whispered into my ear. "I was wondering how I could end the interview without being charged with sexual harassment. She will not be working at Rangeman."

"Not a problem Batman. Wonder Woman will always arrive to save the day," I said before kissing him. I pulled him back to his chair and opened the email program. Signing in as the human resources administrator. I sent her an email thanking her for her application but she didn't meet the criteria for Rangeman. Carlos shredded her application as I forwarded her rejection email to Hector for storage. We deleted the two emails and emptied the trash folder to remove her contact information. I attached the video and emailed it to Hector for evidence. Once he assured me it was received, I deleted both the email and video. Hector will save a copy of both.

"She's ex-military and was highly recommended," Carlos told me.

"I wonder how she managed to move through the ranks," I wondered. He flipped through a few more resumes and asked my opinion. "Not Cameron, Ellis or Chambers. Those three women were in basic the year after me. They slept their way through most of the men in their squad before they were dishonourably discharged."

"Did they finish their training?" he asked. Carlos was reading their resumes with fresh eyes. It was obvious they lied on the application.

"They did not. Have you set up an interview with Simpson, Dexter and Ashton?" I asked.

"Not yet. I wanted to see how the first highly recommended woman interviewed first," he confessed.

"Set up their interviews for tomorrow. Dexter is a shameless flirt. You need to watch out for her. I would like to attend the interviews," I suggested.

"Babe," he whispered and kissed me deeply. A knock on the door frame drew our attention. Bones was standing just inside the door frame wearing a huge smile.

"I was wondering if this was the dynamic duo's business," he stated.

I untangled myself from Carlos to greet Bones. "It's been a long time," I said as I gave him a hug. He noticed me rub my hand across my abdomen.

"I see you're expecting. How far along are you?" he asked.

"Around six weeks," I answered. "I'm due September 28, 2013."

"That's all? You look closer to twelve weeks."

"I know, but this is my third pregnancy. We have a daughter, Julie, she's turning five next month." Carlos listened to our conversation.

"Your other child?" he asked quietly as though he already knew the answer. I reflectively touched Stephan's tattoo. "I'm sorry for your loss. Is everything progressing well with this pregnancy?"

"It is, thank you for asking. We think this little one is a boy," I replied.

"Do you mind?" he asked approaching me.

"Go ahead." He approached me and directed me to the guest chair. Using two fingers, he felt my pulse as he looked at his watch.

"Fifty-two beats per minute," he said while pulling the stethoscope from under his shirt. He pressed it against my upper left breast to listen to my heartbeat. I took a few deep breaths as he moved it to my back. "Your heart rate is perfect and your lungs are clear."

I already knew all this because Dr Fraser told me the exact same things. Carlos raised an eyebrow when he caught my eye. Giving him a wink, he decided to start the interview. "Take a seat McCoy," he motioned to the empty seat beside me.

"Please call me Bones," he said with a smile.

Laughter erupted from me. "Please tell me your real name isn't Leonard McCoy like the Star Trek character."

"I really wish I could. My parents were huge Star Trek fans," he said with embarrassment.

"Your nickname makes total sense now. Is that why you became an Army medic?" Carlos asked.

"A mere coincidence."

"Tell me why you would make an acceptable addition to Rangeman?"

We listened as Bones described his military career and reason for leaving. He wanted to continue using his skills to help his military brothers. Like Bobby, he didn't have his doctorate but they were both practitioners through their military training. They could write prescriptions, administer vaccines, etcetera. In the field, they could perform surgeries to save the injured person's life. He could remove the occasional bullet, but if it requires surgery, they would have to visit a clinic or hospital. I've seen Bones work on several occasions and knew he would be an excellent fit.

"Are you willing to travel or move between Rangeman offices as required?" I asked.

"I am and I also know as a Rangeman medic, I'd be on call 24/7."

Ranger opened his desk drawer to remove a contract. "I would like you to start immediately. Read over this contract and we'll meet tomorrow at 1500 to discuss any changes."

"Thank you Major Manoso." Bones turned to me and said, "It's always a pleasure being in your company Major Palmer."

"It's Steph or Stephanie, Bones." He left with the promise of seeing us tomorrow.