Ranger unlocked the car and held the door as I got inside. He shut the door softly after me and, when he got in, I said, "what's the problem with Dickie?"

He put the car into drive. "Dickie has now gone through four babysitters – Hector, Jose, Ramon and now Cal. All are very patient men who were pushed to the extreme and all have volunteered to kill him personally. He has shown no remorse that you have been having problems because of him. I told him that the bookie had identified you, and the most that he was concerned about it was with the suspicion that the bookie could approach you at your apartment and find him instead. Cal said that he had told him that you could have been killed."

"My guess is that he didn't care."

"No, he didn't, which got Cal angry. It takes a lot to get Cal angry, but he was able to accomplish it in less than a day. I have to hand it to him. He is the most obnoxious person that I have ever met, and I've met some doozies. We have to get this case with him wrapped up soon though. I have to go out of town soon to train staff for PMC, and I want to make sure that Dickie is tied up nice and tight before I leave. I don't want to leave this problem for Tank."

"Why don't we sic the feds on him now?"

"That's an idea, and is one that might be our best option. I need to talk to Dickie first though. I wanted you there so that I could see what he says about you being in danger."

He drove into the parking lot and escorted me into my building. "Hello, Mr. Wolenski", I said as I saw the senior sitting on the bench in the lobby. His walker was to the side of him, and he looked up at me with a smile on his face. "It's a nice day out today, isn't it?"

"That's true. There have been all sorts of comings and goings in your apartment", said the elderly man. "You've had a number of strange men stay there, haven't you?"

"Yes, I have. The person who is supposed to be here that we are protecting isn't a very fair person, and he's whiny. It is a tough job protecting him because of that, and so we've had to switch out the bodyguards frequently. As one man said, he had faced down the enemy and had been captured and tortured as a soldier, but this was his most challenging assignment yet."

"Some people are just like that, chicky."

"I know", I said. "Because this man is my ex-husband, I know better than most that some people are just like that. I have the ultimate sympathy for the bodyguards."

"You'd have been better off marrying me", said the old man.

I bent over and kissed him on his cheek. "You're right. I would have", I said. "But when I was looking to get married, you weren't offering."

Mr. Wolenski turned red in embarrassment, but he smiled as well. "I'll keep an eye on your place", he said. "I stared down the enemy when I was facing the Germans, and I won't let a mere pipsqueak like your ex get to me."

"I know you won't", I said. I patted him on the shoulder and, with a final wave, I led Ranger to the elevator.

Mrs. Bestler wasn't on the elevator, so it was a quiet ride up to the second floor. We walked down the hall, hand in hand, until we got to my apartment. As we stood at the door and I dug out my keys, I could hear Dickie yelling at Cal. There was a thump and a shatter of something, and I froze. "Danger pay", I said to Ranger as I resumed looking in my purse and found my keys. Ranger didn't look happy.

I opened the door and walked into the apartment, and surprised Dickie when he was in the middle of throwing a glass against the wall. Cal was walking towards him to take the next glass out of his hand, and Dickie was prancing around in his tighty whities. He reminded me of Carl the monkey when the monkey knew that he had something you wanted in his hand. He wouldn't stay still. I looked at Cal's face. He had a similar 'not happy' look on his face as Ranger had on his.

"DICKIE!" I said. He stopped mid-throw and turned to look at me. Cal reached his side and wrenched the glass from his fingers. "You are behaving like a two-year old. No, I correct myself. Most two-year olds are better behaved than you."

"You don't know what it's like being stuck in this hellhole with thugs to protect you."

"First of all, this hellhole, as you call it, was my home and it was a good place to live. You are lucky that I am letting you stay here. Secondly, those thugs, as you call them, are all good people. They have saved my life many times and I can vouch for each of the people who have been sent to protect you. However, with the way you've behaved I would support them in telling the thugs where you are. With the way you've behaved, I would like to tell the thugs myself."

"You bitch!" said Dickie. He picked up another glass and threw it at me.

I jumped out of the way and the glass shattered on the wall. "I see your aim hasn't gotten any better since we were married."

Dickie picked up another glass, and Ranger took two steps forward and snatched the glass out of his hand. I could tell by the tenseness in his shoulders that he was angry but controlled. He slammed the glass down on the counter, grabbed Dickie's arm and twisted it up behind his back. He frog-marched him out of the kitchen and into the living room and thrust him down on the sofa. "Sit", he said, and he disappeared into the bedroom.

"Ranger", said Dickie after him. "Your men are shit."

Ranger came out of the bedroom and threw some clothes at Dickie. "Get dressed before I hit you."

Dickie looked at him and ignored the clothes. "I hired you because I heard that you're the best. But the men that you've been sending are shit. They couldn't protect a plant if their lives depended upon it."

Ranger looked at me. "Are you okay?" he said.

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?" he said to Cal.

"Just pissed."

Ranger gave a terse nod. He turned to Dickie. "You have a choice. You can either continue your protection, or you can leave. But if you choose to continue your protection, you are going to act as though you are taking this protection seriously. Because the way you are currently acting is appalling."

"You don't know what it's like to spend time with your men. They have no class."

"Yet it wasn't my men who were throwing glasses against a wall. That was not classy. It wasn't my men who were throwing things at my staff. That was all you, and I'm here to tell you that this behavior is going to stop now."

"I'm not doing anything that you wouldn't do."

Ranger turned still. "I have more self-respect than to act in the manner that you are acting in. We said that we'd protect you against the bookie's thugs. You have hired the best people for the job. Now you have to let us do that job, and trying to hamper us by being an asshole isn't helping us get the job done."

"I was just having a little fun."

"Now you can have fun cleaning up the glass."

"Stephanie is here. She can clean up the glass. As she said, it is her apartment."

Ranger didn't say anything and went to the front cupboard where I kept my broom. He removed the broom and the dustpan, walked over to Dickie, hauled him to his feet, and handed him the broom.

"No way. I shouldn't have to clean it up", said Dickie. "I'm paying you a bomb to look after me. I shouldn't have to clean up my messes as well."

Ranger again didn't say anything. He took Dickie's hand, wrapped his fingers around the broom handle, and proceeded to force Dickie to sweep up the glass. When he got it swept into a pile, he handed Dickie the dustpan and said, "if you hold the dustpan, I will help you by sweeping the glass into it."

"No way", said Dickie. "I'm not doing that shit."

Ranger glared at him. Very quietly he said, "I don't think you understand. Hold the fucking dustpan, and I will sweep the fucking glass into it. It isn't optional."

With me, Ranger was a kind and loving person. With his staff, Ranger was a fair and strict leader. But with skips and other people that displeased him, Ranger was a total badass, and working with Dickie brought out his badass qualities. Dickie must have heard the deadly intent in Ranger's voice, because he bent down and held the dustpan still. Ranger swept up the glass and stood back. "When you have put it in the garbage, you can come back here and we will talk."

Dickie, for the first time cowed since I had ever known him, emptied the broken glass into the garbage. He returned to the living room, and Ranger pointed at the clothes. "Cover yourself up. You are as pale as a cotton ball and have the physique of a toothpick. You have no reason to strut your stuff, and you are turning my stomach looking at you."

Dickie angrily jerked his clothing up from where Ranger had thrown it on the sofa and pulled a shirt over his head. He yanked on his track pants and glared at Ranger.

"That's better", said Ranger. "Now, what seems to be the problem with my men?"

"They don't like to talk."

"You aren't paying for them to be chatterboxes. You aren't paying for them to be your buddy. You are paying for them to be your bodyguards."

"It would be nice if they talked as well."

"My men are better at listening. It is often the listening that keeps you alive. Talking could get you killed. Is that the only complaint that you have against my men?"

"They don't know how to cook."

"Let me get this straight. You're complaining because my men are doing their job and they aren't cooking for you?" He had an impassive look on his face, but I could see the disgust and the anger in his eyes.

"They are being paid to take care of me."

"They are being paid to keep you safe. They are not being paid to be your servants. They are not chefs and they are not housekeepers. They are bodyguards and should be respected as such. They are doing a good job and, if it had been up to me, I would have killed you a long time ago."

"How can you say that? I'm such a lovable person."

I snorted. "Dickie, even your own mother didn't like you", I said. "When we divorced, she told me that she had cried at our wedding out of the sheer joy in knowing that you would no longer irritate the hell out of her, and she was crying at our divorce knowing that you'd be returning to her."

Dickie flew up off the sofa, his fist in the air, and Ranger jumped between Dickie and me. He grabbed Dickie's fist and pulled it down to Dickie's side, and muscled him back onto the sofa again. "That is one example of not acting appropriately", he said. "I will not allow you to do that sort of thing any longer. No one on my staff deserves that."

"For the price I'm paying you, you should be licking my fucking boots and kissing my fucking ass."

"You have paid us to be bodyguards and only bodyguards and, as far as I can tell, my staff has been doing a good job. They haven't killed you yet, and they haven't let anyone else kill you either. I consider that a miracle. If this is the way that you act, I'm surprised that more people don't want to see you dead than just the bookie's thugs."

"Do you know if they have been looking for me?"

"Yes, they have. Cal told you this. They have approached Stephanie twice now asking her for the money and, when they didn't get it, they incapacitated her car. The first time they shot it full of about a hundred bullet holes. The second time they thought Morelli's car was Stephanie's car since it had rental plates on it, and when Stephanie wouldn't give you up, they shot a flamethrower at Morelli's car until the car caught on fire. The resulting fire made Morelli's car explode, which meant that Stephanie's car that was parked beside his then exploded as well. She has lost two cars in the last two days because of you. And you have the audacity to throw a glass at her? You're a disgusting piece of slime, you know that?"

"So the thugs might come after me here?"

"I tell you that a woman's car was destroyed twice in the last two days and that the thugs threatened her, and your reaction was a concern that the same people who destroyed those cars would come back and hurt you? What about a concern that people might come after Stephanie?"

"Stephanie isn't important. I'm not paying you to worry about Stephanie. I'm paying you to worry about me and, because you are Stephanie's boss, I'm paying Stephanie to worry about me as well."

Ranger pulled out his phone and sent a text. "This obviously isn't working with Cal here protecting you", he said. "I am bringing another guard in to protect you but this will be the last guard that I will sacrifice to you. If you do not behave, then our association is over."

"I paid you for a job, to look after me until you find the thugs and neutralize the threat."

"You paid us to protect someone who was mature and respectful. You paid a retainer and are under a contract that you will pay two thousand dollars a day for guarding services. If you had read the fine print, you would know that the protection could be stopped at any time by either side of the party for any reason. However, the retainer of fifty thousand would be forfeited upon the disbanding of the protection services. You're a lawyer. Are you telling me that you didn't read the fine print?"

"I read it after the fact and had hoped that you hadn't read it."

Ranger smiled. "Did you think that a dumb security guard like myself didn't know how to write a contract?" Dickie turned white. "Ah", said Ranger. "I see you remember that the clause about the aggravation fee was that it wouldn't be returned to you if you failed to do what the Rangeman staff said. You are failing to do what we tell you, are you not?"

"I can't afford to not have that hundred thousand returned to me. I had to take money out of my line of credit to come up with that money to pay you."

"That isn't our problem. It's yours."

"Your job isn't yet done, Ranger."

"If I give you another bodyguard, the man I give you will need to be treated well and with respect. He will not be treated like you were treating Cal when we got into the apartment a few minutes ago. This is your last chance."

"Thank you", said Dickie. He looked abashed, and he bit his lip as he looked down at the floor.

Ranger shook his head and looked at Cal. "Raphael has been informed that you will be replacing him at the monitoring station so that he can pack and come here to guard Dickie. I have let Tank know to add you back into the rotation tomorrow. While you are driving back to the office and Raphael is coming here, I will guard Dickie. I'd like you to take Stephanie with you. She doesn't need to waste her time hanging around here this afternoon for an hour."

"Thanks, Ranger", said Dickie.

Cal looked at Ranger worriedly, and Ranger smiled at him. The tension in Cal's shoulders disappeared as Ranger stood, clapped Cal on his back, and said, "you did a great job under difficult circumstances. You should be proud of yourself. I know that I am."

Cal smiled, then got to his feet and walked into the hallway. He closed his travel bag, came back and wished Dickie well. I had never known that Cal was as good an actor as he was. He had even sounded serious when he had said it.