A/N: I took some liberties with ages and time periods here, so let me know if I messed something up.
CHAPTER FIVE
We had dinner at a nice little Thai restaurant, a rare find within 100 miles of the burg, and I didn't think we were that far out. The food was fantastic, that is when I wasn't laughing and could actually take a bite of my food. I was entertained by stories of little Michael and David's first steps and first tastes, pretty much first everything's.
"We get Isabella to baby-sit whenever she comes up from Miami. She loves it." Lester and Tank looked at Suzie like she'd said something wrong, and I thought I knew what it was.
"Is that Ranger's daughter?" Now all three looked at me like I had sprouted a second head.
"How did you know Rick had a daughter?" Suzie asked.
"He told me." It seemed like a simple enough answer.
"When?" This from Lester.
"A year or so ago."
"Why?" Tank asked, I felt like this was something significant, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
"I asked." They all looked at each other again and I decided I'd had enough.
"Okay, look. I'm tired of being the outsider here. So let me in on what's so significant about this, or stop giving each other those looks." Suzie was the first to speak.
"Ric doesn't just tell anyone about his life. Most of his own men don't even know he was married, let alone that he has a daughter. That information could be very dangerous if the wrong people knew."
"That sounded like a line from a bad movie. How could anyone have enemies like that?" Right, because I don't have enemies like that. Oh, wait . . .
"Stolle was willing to use you to get Ranger." Lester added.
"Yeah, I still don't get that. What would make him think that Ranger would risk his life to rescue me?"
"Ric is fiercely protective of those he cares about."
"Are you saying he cares about me?" Just then the waitress came with the check. Everyone except me seemed very willing to move on to another subject. I would just have to wheedle it out of someone later.
I made the rest of them stop off at the grocery store for some edible food. You know, Ice cream, popcorn, some red meat, real bacon, and a few other things. I decided to grill Suzie for information, since the guys had stayed in the car.
"You know, you guys never answered my question earlier. Does Ranger care about me?"
"Has he said so?"
"Once or twice, but I can never tell whether he means friendship, or something more."
"Ric's like that sometimes."
"Do you know where he is?"
"In Miami."
"I thought as much. Is that where he goes all the time?"
"Not all the time, but most of the shorter trips, yeah."
"Oh." So Ranger cared about me and was visiting his daughter, what else did I want to know?
"So how did Ranger and Tank meet?"
"They were in the Army together."
"Were you guys already married?"
"No, we met later. When Ric and Tom got out of the Army their first business venture was in Miami. They set up a security company there. Tom and I met on the beach. He was doing surveillance and I wouldn't leave him alone." That got a questioning look from me. She laughed. "I thought he was cute so I went up and started talking to him. He said he was working, but I wouldn't let him go until he agreed to have dinner with me. Anything else you want to know?"
"How much time do you have?"
"C'mon, this is fun. I'll tell you everything, on one condition."
"What?"
"You let me see the look on Ric's face when he finds out he isn't the man of mystery anymore."
"Deal. Just start at the beginning. I want to know everything."
Apparently Ranger was born two months before me in Miami, Florida to Clara and Carlos Manoso. He has two brothers and three sisters. Elena is the oldest at 36, then Marcus 34, Ricardo 32, Maria 29, Daniel 27, and Cecilia 24. When he was 17 his parents moved up here. Suzie wasn't clear on the why. Marcus and Elena were already at College in Miami, so when it was Ranger's turn, he decided to stick close to his family. He attended Rutgers roughly the same time I did. I searched my memory trying to remember if I'd seen him around town during the two years he was there but I couldn't remember him. He met a young girl who was only a year younger than him. They dated and finally decided to get married. The relationship deteriorated from there. Ric wasn't a good husband and Angela wasn't a good wife. They thought, being young, that a child was the way to solve that. Unfortunately that only made things worse. They fought almost constantly after Isabella's birth and after a few months he decided that it was time to run away from home.
He joined the Army, and somehow it was decided that he was good enough for the Rangers. That's where he met Tank, or Thomas, as he was known back then. Suzie was unclear about all that happened in the Army and none of the men really liked to talk about it. He served Six years before leaving with an honorable discharge. By this time his family, including Angela and Isabella, had moved back to Miami and he convinced Tank to come with him and start their own business. Tank, having been discharged for failing eyesight (this was before Lasic surgery) decided it was going to be the best offer he got. The security business was booming, unfortunately Rangeman Enterprises had to start out at the bottom, mostly private detective work, and some skip tracing. They were even forced to take one or two government contracts. Then they caught a couple of good cases and their names spread like wildfire. Rangeman was one of the hottest security firms in Florida.
Unfortunately Angela and Ranger still couldn't get along. They divorced and she sued for custody. Because of the nature of his job, it was granted. He was allowed weekend visitations every two weeks. Unfortunately Angela's schedule conveniently prohibited him from being able to see her. He took her to court again, but nothing was done. He couldn't stand being that close to his daughter and not seeing her. He decided to move back to Jersey. California would've been a better place, but for some unknown reason he was drawn here. He left his brother Marcus in charge of the firm in Miami and came down here. He opened Rangeman headquarters but decided that he would work for Vinnie as a Bounty Hunter also. Suzie couldn't tell why he chose Vinnie instead of Les considering Les had the bigger business. That was almost four years ago.
He'd been here for a little over a year when he began teaching me. Suzie said he'd never done this for anyone, not even Jean Ellen. Lester taught her everything. This story, with only a few interruptions by me lasted till we got back to the house and even a few minutes of talking outside. The guys didn't seem to happy with her but they wisely didn't say anything.
I had a lot to think about and it was only 10 o'clock so after the good- byes were said, I went inside and checked the alarm, and I put away my groceries. Then I went straight to the game room I'd seen this morning and sure enough I found what I was looking for. The movie collection was extensive but luckily right up in front, still in its packaging was my favorite: "Ghostbusters". I popped some popcorn, took my pills, set the alarm clock, and sat down to watch the movie. I don't remember seeing the end.