While the men started to clear the table, two older men walked into the dining room. Harry and Jimmy stared at us in shock. "I wasn't expecting to see you here", said Harry as he recovered from his shock first.

"Hi, Harry. Hi, Jimmy", said Ranger. "I'm not sure how much lunch is left, but it is in the kitchen and you are welcome to help yourself."

Harry smiled and led Jimmy into the kitchen. They dished up some food and came out again. I looked at the little ones. "Tia, Grace, Alix, this is Harry. When you were born, he gave you presents. Tia, Harry gave you Quacker, your quacking duck. Grace, Harry gave you Hoppy, your hopping bunny, and Alix, Harry gave you Croaker, your croaking frog." I turned to Harry. "Those stuffed animals are their favorites out of all their stuffed animals." Harry smiled in pleasure, and he smiled even more when each of the little ones gave him a hug and said 'thank you'. Grace showed him how she could twitch her nose like a rabbit, and Alix showed him how she could jump like a frog. Harry was charmed. When the kids had finished making Harry and Jimmy smile, Ranger turned to Julie and Kai. "Could you please take Helen and Frank and Edna and the girls into the ballroom to practice their sword dancing?"

"Absolutely", said Julie.

"I don't want to leave", said Edna.

"Edna", said Ranger. I could hear that he was striving for patience. "You're leaving if I have to carry you or not."

"You'd carry me?"

Kai smiled. "Actually, I will carry you, GG." Kai and Julie had started calling Grandma 'GG' for Great-Grandmother, and it was a name she liked. She said it had panache. The little ones had picked up the habit.

Grandma grinned. "Woo hoo!" she said. "That's great, because although Ranger is good looking, he's getting a little old for me. I like young, supple flesh." Kai coughed and turned red as he tried to contain his laughter. "Are you interested?" she said. "You seem young and supple enough."

Kai smiled. "I'm sorry, ma'am", he said. "It's tempting, but no matter how attractive you are, I'm a one-woman man, and my woman is Julie."

Grandma looked him up and down as she moved her dentures around her mouth in contemplation. "Pity", she said. "If you ever change your mind, you know where I am."

"I will certainly keep you in mind." He picked Grandma up from her chair and carried her out of the room, as Julie led my parents and the little ones. As they left, Harry looked at Ranger. "What are you doing here?" he said.

"I recently bought a company in Scotland that has offices throughout Europe. We are just finishing up the amalgamation process and will soon go home."

Harry turned to me. "Why are you in a wheelchair, Steph?"

"We have been here for about four months and, while we have been here, we have made many friends. One of those friends invited us to her college graduation two months ago and, when the ceremony was coming to a close, some terrorists lobbed a bomb into the auditorium. Ranger and I ran up to the front of the auditorium to help rescue victims. Only, I was wearing heels and there were only two people left when we got there – one person on the other side of the auditorium and one person with third-degree burns on the stage. I couldn't get up on the stage so Ranger hopped up and rescued that person, which meant the person left for me to rescue was on the other side of the auditorium. Unfortunately, the floor was on fire. I ran across the floor and dragged the man to safety – and gave myself a mixture of severe second-degree and third-degree burns from my toes to my knees in the process. I have been recovering from them ever since. Ranger bought me a wheelchair so that I have a little more independence, and we are working on having me be confident without a guard to protect me."

"Are you still having to take painkillers?"

"Yes, but I am trying to wean myself off them. I'm worried about becoming addicted to them."

"I remember what that is like", said Harry. "I was caught in a fire once and I got second-degree burns. They weren't severe, but they were incredibly painful. What made it harder was the fear that it would happen again, especially when you are too injured to protect yourself."

I smiled slightly. "You understand completely."

Harry sighed and looked at both of us. "We have a problem", he said softly. "Have you done the research on Steve?"

"We did some this morning", said Ranger.

"Steve put Vito's nephew in jail. Guido is a good kid, and Vito is pissed that Steve fingered him."

"I don't blame Vito."

"What's your connection to him?"

"Valerie is Steve's ex-wife. They broke up when he went into jail. With Steve getting out, he contacted Val and has been trying to settle down with her again. Unfortunately, this makes Steve our problem as Val is Steph's sister."

"You know that Vito wants us to off him."

Ranger sighed. "I don't blame him. I wouldn't mind doing that myself. The guy is an asshole, and so is Steph's sister. Unfortunately, though, they are family."

"Is this going to be a problem between us?"

Ranger smiled. "Harry? I really hope not. I have always gotten along well with you and that is a relationship that I would like to continue."

"If we leave you to things, will you off him?"

Ranger smiled. "Nothing would give me greater pleasure. This is the man who, when Steph was a teenager, he tried to rape twice. Val has regularly assaulted Steph, and the last assault has resulted in the need for Steph to have skin grafting done on her legs. I personally can't stand either of them. However, they are family and offing them will hurt family relations with the in-laws. Right now, I get along with the in-laws and, quite frankly, those little shits aren't worth jeopardizing it." Ranger smiled slightly. "Just like those little shits aren't worth jeopardizing my relations with you or with Vito."

"If we weren't here, how would you handle it?"

"In all honesty, I am just starting to get an understanding of what is going on. My research team did the research this morning and I still need to review what it says. From what I understand, Steve went to California and was offered a job as a shady accountant. I don't know if any force was applied for that, but I do know that his father died in a fire around that time."

"That was actually an accident", said Harry, "and that was how I got burned. I was trying to pull his father out of the fire. His father was a good man and a good friend of mine. He was also an incredible accountant and was able to hide all sorts of stuff and never raise eyebrows."

"Was there pressure applied to Steve to join the mob?"

Harry snorted. "Not at all. Steve came to us to ask for the position. He had seen that it was lucrative for his father, so Vito did his father a favor and found Steve a placement. Steve jumped at the opportunity. His father's fire happened after he had accepted the job with Guido."

"Okay, so that in itself makes things different. Jail is part of doing business when you work for the mob, and if Steve chose to join the mob, he was also choosing the chance to go to jail. From what I understand, the mob in California was involved in some gang wars ten years ago and, while they were dealing with that, there was an increasing focus on the bookkeeping. Steve was found to be guilty of cooking the books, he tried to kill the investigator, and was caught and put in jail for fraud and attempted murder. He got resentful and angry that the mob didn't do more to protect him and after ten years he offered to make a deal with the FBI – Guido for his freedom. The feds offered him an alternate identity and he turned it down, and he fingered Guido for a life term. While he was going through this, he started calling Val to reestablish a relationship and, I suspect, to try to access the money and investments that he had put in her name. He then called Vito for? A job?" Harry nodded. "What an idiot. Okay, so Val's house was torched and there was a car bomb in Steve's car, and then he took off for Scotland to bring this whole fucking mess to my door."

"You've done your research well."

"Thank you. So what do you want to do about it?"

"What would you do?"

Ranger sighed. "Both Val and Steve are repulsive, self-entitled idiots. You don't need another death on your head though, and neither do I. And then there is the whole in-law issue that I have to work around." He sat back in his chair and steepled his hands in front of him. He thought for a moment. "What I would probably do is cut them loose."

"What do you mean?"

"Steve has just one million and it is all in Val's name. His wife spends money like it is water. She was having trouble making it on sixty thousand a year, tax-free. She spends more money a year than Steph and I do, put together. Assuming they don't let their expenses climb, their nest egg will cover them for sixteen years, less with inflation, and not enough to support them through their retirement. They want us to give them money and support them, and we have refused."

"Don't you donate a significant part of your salary?"

Ranger smiled. "Steph and I actually donate ninety-nine percent of our personal annual income, and an additional twenty percent of our corporate income. We don't see why we should have to reduce our donations because we are supporting those jackasses. Trenton is not a wealthy city. Most of our money goes into ASE, the program that works to keep kids off the streets. It gives a healthy snack to kids, lets them explore extracurricular activities in the interest area of their choice, teaches older kids first aid and practical tips that they can use now, including how to work with someone who is hopped up on drugs and how to work with someone who is drunk and how to manage someone who has OD'd and so on. It provides mentoring opportunities to kids and gives them a safe place to go after school. It is offered for free to all kids from grade one to grade twelve and has done great things to make our city safer. Unlike Steve and Val, the kids and parents who benefit from the ASE program appreciate the money we spend on it."

"I know the ASE program. Vito's grandson was going off the rails, and Vito's daughter enrolled him in the ASE program. It basically saved his life. He had been in a punk gang and it pulled him out, he started playing basketball each night after school, he made good friends, and he is now attending college on a basketball scholarship."

Ranger smiled. "Stories like that are all the reward that Steph and I want. It is precisely for kids like Vito's grandson that we started the program. They are good kids. They just need the opportunity to try new things and explore new opportunities, and to surround themselves with other kids who are determined to go places. I like to think that ASE is making a difference to the youth in our community."

"I didn't know you funded it", said Harry.

"Mostly", said Ranger. "We fund about eighty-five percent of the program, and the other fifteen percent is funded by outside donations. The program has come a long way. When I started it about eight years ago, we had one location and only about a hundred students. We now have a program running out of every school in Trenton, and five thousand students are regularly attending the program. That's five thousand kids that we are making an impression on their lives. Youth crime has gone down, youth mental health has improved, youth suicides have decreased, and grades in school have risen. The program is an incredible success."

"You started the program?"

Ranger smiled. "Yes, and I am very proud of everything the students are doing. They are doing incredible work and are helping each other in ways that they wouldn't without the program."

Harry looked at Ranger. "So what would you suggest for Steve?"

Ranger smiled. "What I would suggest might not be something Vito would go for. However, as I said before, I have to work around the in-law issue and, as much as Steph is mad at her sister and can't stand her brother-in-law, she might get a little perturbed if I killed them."

Harry looked at me and laughed. "Steph, you were always one of the nicest people that I ever worked with. Because you were so nice to the people you were taking in, we had scads of repeat customers. Now that Rangeman is picking up the skips, they have adopted your love of people and treat the skips well, and the skips appreciate that and use us again. Sometimes, I wasn't sure how you were making money."

I laughed. "Sometimes I didn't. However, skips are people who often have just landed in a bad situation. Doesn't mean they are bad people. It might mean that they are hungry or their kids are hungry, or that they have no money to pay for shelter or bus fare. There are a million and one reasons that people commit crimes, and they aren't always because they are bad people. And I never thought it was fair to treat someone who stole a can of beans to fill their hungry toddler's tummy the same as a serial killer who tries to strangle me as I pick them up. For the person who stole the can of beans, I might buy them a bag of groceries to feed their kids. I have actually had skips start crying when I help them out. And when they do? That's when you realize that people are just people, and it's just a twist of fate that the skip isn't you."

Harry smiled, then thought for a moment. "So, how would this work if you cut him free?"

"Vito advertises amongst all the chapters that Steve should not be given a job, and that he is a snitch. Tell Steve that any of the local chapters of the mob would be happy to kill him. That means that Steve must find a place where the mob isn't operating. He has his jail sentence associated with his name, which means that he will find it hard to get a job. He has also lost his Chartered Accountancy designation, which again will make it hard for him to get a job. It is highly unlikely that he'll be able to immigrate to Europe based on his jail sentence and, in fact, I don't know how Steve was able to leave the country this time around either. If he had taken the deal that the feds had given him to admit him to the WITSEC program, he wouldn't be having the problems that he is currently facing. And of course, let him fund himself without any supplementation by Steph or me."

"So, in other words, let him live on his one million, don't give him more money, close doors to him leaving the US, close doors to any large city in the States, know that he is no longer a CA, and let him boil in his own juices."

Ranger smiled. "Exactly. At first glance, that's my favorite option. They want to disappear. They won't be able to complain if we give them what they want – release and no further contact. There is nothing that we can be hung on and they should be happy. While at the same time, we are letting them boil in their own juices living the life they wanted. The mob will not offer a job and getting another job outside the mob will be challenging with a jail sentence and the loss of his CA designation. Yet, at the same time, they don't have enough money saved to support themselves and Steph and I will not support them. They have nowhere to live, especially now that Val's house was torched. Basically, it's what he wants, and we can't get in trouble for doing nothing...but at the same time, we are ruining his life, and he will have no one but himself to blame." He turned to me. "What do you think, babe? This is your sister and ex-brother-in-law."

"I like it", I said. "Val has caused me innumerable problems in the last year – and we honestly tried to help her by supporting her financially, getting her into counselling, paying for her to go back to school and so on. That didn't work, so the next thing to try is to release them on their own and let them live without support. To tell you the truth, I'm so done with them. I'd be happy if I never saw them again. Every time my sister comes near me, I tense up waiting for her to attack me. But I also don't want to break my mother's heart."

"Fair enough." Harry looked at Jimmy and smiled when Jimmy nodded his head. "Let me talk to Vito and see what he says."

Ranger smiled. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

Harry looked seriously at Ranger. "If Vito doesn't want to do this, do you want to call in a favor?"

"Christ, not for them. Harry, Jimmy, I like the two of you. I like Vito and have always gotten along with him and, quite frankly, Steve and Val are little shits who don't deserve me to change the feel of my relationship with the three of you."

Harry laughed. "I don't blame you." He thought about it for a few minutes. "Do you mind if I borrow one of your empty rooms to call Vito?"

"Help yourself", said Ranger. "In the meantime, do you have a place to stay or would you like to stay at the castle?"

Harry grinned. "We'd love to stay at the castle", he said. "That would be great. There are some enforcers coming from California and, when Vito and Jimmy and I have come to an agreement, I'll have to bring the Californian enforcers into line."

"Then we'll prepare for a party. Steph probably needs a sleep, and just so that you know, I put an appetizer or two out in the kitchen around four, and dinner is around six. We can't eat too late because of the little ones. Also, just so that you know, Steph's grandmother is suffering from a rare form of dementia. This means she says whatever she thinks, she has no empathy or sense of diplomacy, she loves to create stories and tell lies, she often takes her clothes off, and she looks for the shock factor in everything she does. Please don't take notice of anything she says."

Harry smiled. "Sounds like my kind of woman."

"Take her, take her!" I said. Harry laughed as I grinned. "Nah, as we said, we wouldn't do that to you. We like you."

Harry laughed again. He got up, gave me a hug, and gestured to Jimmy and, as Jimmy got up, Ranger looked at the rest of the men. "I'm going to help Steph into bed, and I will be back in a bit to talk strategy."