Previously:
Ram's gaze bounced from the mug to Lester and back again a couple of times before settling on the scrap of fabric sticking out from under Lester's butt where his pants were torn.
"Okay, Santos," said Vince. "You've got our attention. What. The. Fuck?"
With a weary shake of his head, Lester said, "I dunno, man. I had a run of Beautiful's kind of luck and feel like I barely survived. Basically? I got Bombshelled."
CHAPTER 2: HOW IT STARTED
A Couple of Hours Earlier
Lester slouched in the passenger seat, eyes half closed, listening to Slick hum as he drove them back to Rangeman.
Normally, Les would drive but not when he was partnered with Slick. The man could be still and silent on surveillance but had a habit of singing along to the radio if he was riding in the front passenger seat. If the radio was off, he'd sing whatever came to mind even if he didn't know the was like listening to a Random Syllable Generator interspersed with nonsense like da, da, da. It made Lester crazy because his brain kept trying to make sense of the sounds. If Slick was driving he would hum instead of sing which was quieter and less annoying.
Giving up the wheel was worth the trade off, especially now when Les was bone tired at the end of his tenth day in a row of working 12 or more hours a day. With three men on the injured reserve, four out on assignment to other offices, two on vacation, and two in the wind, they'd been running short handed for a week and half. Everyone was picking up extra shifts. As a member of the Core Team, Lester was picking up the most. Today was shaping up to be a whopping 15 hours or more.
With 30 minutes left in their 12-hour shift, they had caught a call for an alarm in progress at a warehouse down by the docks. They were able to surprise the burglars mid-theft and after a brief chase and a bit of hide and seek, managed to round up all 4 of them. By then the cops were on the scene making the handover quick and easy.
Of course, Slick and Lester still had to clear and secure the entire 20,000 square foot warehouse (including 2 stories of office space) and mollify the client who had come racing in from home when the text alert sounded on his phone. You'd think that knowing it only took two Rangemen to prevent the theft and capture four armed burglars with no shots fired would impress the guy. Maybe even make him thankful. But no.
Instead he whined about it happening at all, like the security system was some kind of impenetrable force field that had somehow failed. While Slick reset the alarm, Lester poured on the charm. The guy settled down enough to toss a gruff sarcastic "Well, gee, thanks. I guess" at them and stomped off to his car, muttering to himself.
Lester took a deep breath, blew it out, and almost wished he'd gotten called up with Ranger and Tank. At least there he could shoot at people. Didn't even have to hit them. Just fire off a shot or two to remind them that things could always get worse. People usually shut the hell up pretty quickly after that.
Lester straightened up as they finally pulled into the garage and then rubbed his eyes. The second that Slick put the SUV in park, Lester flung his door open. He stretched as he got out then followed behind Slick to the main door. It would be locked but all personnel had a fob to open it. Besides, unless there was some dire emergency, the reception counter in the lobby was always staffed. Even if either he or Slick had lost or forgotten their fob, they weren't locked out.
Slick fobbed them in and greeted Binkie with a head nod as he passed. Lester slowed enough to ask if there was anything to report then joined Slick in the elevator when Binkie shook his head. Les checked his watch as the doors closed. 1:00 a.m. Hmmm. If he skipped the gym in the morning and went to bed right now, he'd get a whole five hours of sleep. Considering how many extra hours he'd been working, the gym could wait. Sleep was more important at the moment.
The doors dinged open on four. Slick stepped out then noticed Lester hadn't moved and turned back with one eyebrow raised.
"You coming?"
"Nah, man. I'm gonna check in with control first." Lester hit the button for 5. "Make sure it's all good like Binkie said."
Slick grunted in acknowledgement as the door closed.
Lester knew Slick was short on sleep too. They all were. At least the end was in sight. He stepped out into the control room, dimly lit for the late hour, and moved to the pool of light where the overnight crew was stationed. A quick glance showed Ram and Gene on phones and call response. Manny and Vince were on monitors but could back up phones if needed. And of course Binkie down in the lobby could run backup for phones and response.
Lester addressed the group in front of him. "I don't see any pandemonium, so it must be okay."
"We ran out of pandas," grinned Gene. His sense of humor was a little off but he never stopped trying.
Lester rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored the comment. "Who's on call?"
"Cal and Chet," said Ram.
Lester nodded. "Well, if you need me, I'll be - "
It was a sign of how stressed everyone was getting that Vince interrupted. "How much longer are we going to run short? Not that I mind the overtime in the paycheck but I think we're all getting sleep deprived."
Lester ran through the list in his head. Ranger and Tank would be out a month. Hector and Roy were up in Boston for at least another week, up to their elbows in hardware for a complete system upgrade. Junior and Brett were covering for a shortage in Atlanta, but should only be gone two more days. Victor was on vacation for five more days but Raphael was only out for three more.
"Three days from now we should have three more bodies to work with," he replied. "That's not counting the injured reserve. Starting tomorrow - well, today actually - Woody can do phones and monitors as long as he keeps his ankle elevated."
Manny finally piped up. "Sprained ankles take forever to get better. He's going to go crazy stuck in here for weeks."
"That's what he gets for tripping over a junkie on that redecorating job," said Ram. "Ramon will probably be out for a while."
"Not really," said Lester. "Bobby said he should be fit for light duty in a couple of days."
"That soon?" asked Gene. "Didn't he get stabbed?"
"Yeah, but only a little," said Vince. "Gino might be out longer than him. I warned him about buying sushi from a gas station."
"Bobby said it was the worst case of food poisoning he's ever seen," said Manny. "That's why they called in the hazmat team to clean the apartment. Nobody else wanted to touch it."
"I asked him why he always bought that stuff and he said it was tasty enough to be worth the risk. Personally," added Vince, "I wouldn't risk my health for anything. Except maybe pastry. The Speedy Gas has great apple fritters."
With that, the conversation turned to a discussion of favorite foods. Lester let the words wash over him while he watched the guys. Just thinking about those tasty treats put a spark back in their eyes. Maybe they could use a little something to perk up their spirits after all the overtime had ground them down.
Lester jumped back into the conversation. "Tell you what. How about I run down to that diner on Broad Street in Hamilton township, the one open 24 hours, and pick up coffee and snacks for you guys. As a kind of thank you for putting up with the crazy hours. This time of night I can be there and back in 30 minutes or less."
"Count me in," said Manny. "I could go for some cheese fries."
"Make that two," said Ram.
Gene tipped his head side to side, considering his choices. "I could go for mozzarella sticks."
"I want one of their almond bear claws," said Vince.
Ram frowned at him. "That diner doesn't have bear claws. You must be thinking of the place over by Snyder Field but they're closed this time of night."
Lester let Ram and Vince bicker over the possible existence of almond bear claws at the diner on Broad for a minute but cut it short when voices and tempers started to rise.
"HEY! Settle down, ladies, and get your panties unbunched." Lester stared at Vince who stared back, lips pressed into a hard frown. Apparently, the man really wanted that pastry. "No point arguing when we'll all find out once I get there."
"I'm telling you they absolutely DO have them!" Vince insisted heatedly.
"Whatever, Myrtle." Lester rolled his eyes and waved a hand dismissively. "So, coffee all around, two cheese fries, one mozzarella sticks, and one Schrodinger's Bear Claw for Vince. I'll have them toss in a couple of handfuls of those little creamers and some sugar packets and you can doctor up your coffee yourselves."
Lester turned on his heel and ambled to the elevator. As the doors closed, he could hear the guys say thanks. Once in the lobby, he let Binkie know the plan. Binkie asked for bread pudding.
Lester didn't recall seeing any bread pudding on the menu, but mindful of the recent crankiness upstairs, he just said, "Okay, one Schrodinger's bread pudding it is."
"Oh, that's not what it says on the menu," Binkie said earnestly. "I think it's called Grandma's Bread Pudding and it really is like my grandma's. It's got raisins and everything."
"Right," drawled Lester, as he tried to decide if Binkie was putting him on. "Well. Gotta go!"
Lester clicked the car fob to see which of the many identical solid black SUVs lit up. As he drove to the diner, he thought about how this was cutting into his precious sleep time. But the gesture meant something to the guys. It was a way to show appreciation without getting all sappy about it. He really ought to do something similar for the day shift. Maybe bring in pizza for lunch.
Yeah, Ranger considered all of this contraband but Ranger wasn't here which was part of the problem. Besides, Lester, Lord help them all, was in charge anytime Ranger and Tank were both out. This was an executive decision well within his purview and one he could feel good about making because it boosted morale which was a crucial component for keeping a tight knit crew, well, tightly knit. Right?
Lester pulled into the parking lot at the diner. Huh. Nearly deserted. There was only one other car here, with a woman driver and no passengers. The diner was lit up as usual, but he didn't see anyone through the windows. If this was an op, he'd be questioning his intel about now. As he got to the door of the diner, he heard a car door shut. Apparently the driver of the other vehicle was also heading inside.
Or not.
He read the note taped to the door. He turned to face the person coming up behind him. She was good looking, dressed in scrubs, and looked familiar. Maybe he'd seen her here before?
"Closed due to a water pipe break," he told her.
Up close and in the light of the doorway, he could see her much clearer. He was pretty sure they'd hooked up at least once. He tried to picture her in clothes more suited to a dance club. Sheila? Sharon? She was pretty but not outstanding. Her figure was nice but wouldn't turn heads. He had enjoyed talking to her and had thought of asking her out but had stupidly lost her number.
She frowned on one side of her mouth. "Well, damn. I was looking forward to an omelet."
"I know what you mean," he said. "I'm on a coffee run for the guys in the office. I wasn't planning on driving around looking for it." Lester smiled warmly at her. "It's good to see you again, Cheryl."
She looked pleased and surprised. "It's good to see you, too. It's Lester, right?" She looked at him consideringly. "You know, if you need a good cup of coffee, I live just a few blocks away. Maybe we could chat while the pot is brewing." A flirty smile graced her lips.
Hmmm…. Technically, he was off duty. He could get some coffee for the guys AND chat with her some more to see if they had the right chemistry for dating. Win-win there. He'd worry about snacks once he had the coffee.
"Thank you." He touched her shoulder very briefly, wanting to emphasize his thanks without coming across as pervy. "Sounds good, but we'll probably need two pots. These are big guys and there's five of them. And I'll need something to put it in."
"Oh, we'll find something to put it in, all right," Cheryl smiled at him, the very tip of her tongue darting out for a split second to touch her lip. "Just follow my lead." She walked off to her car hips swaying way more than on her walk to the diner.
"Yes, ma'am." Lester grinned and went to his car.