Girl's night out
Gia slid into the booth at Scandal, the club Stephanie suggested they meet at. Next to her sat Pam, a college friend who was a recent law school grad, now living in the city where she was setting up her own practice. The two ordered drinks and were enjoying catching up when Stephanie approached the table, followed by three colorfully dressed women. While she enjoyed the urban areas in the northeast, Gia didn't know if she'd ever become accustomed to the way women in New Jersey dressed for a night out; the confidence with which they displayed their shapely bodies left her feeling a little envious and insecure about her more modest sense of style.
Introductions were made and Connie, Mary Lou and Lula slid into the circle booth as Stephanie went to order their first round. Spirits were high and the conversation flowed as freely as the alcohol, and the women quickly became comfortable with one another. They hit the dance floor together and enjoyed a few songs before retiring to their booth and ordering a fresh round.
Giana blew out a breath and said, "As fun as last night was, I'm glad there are no boys here tonight."
Steph quickly explained that Gia hosted a party so some of the Rangemen could enjoy the Rangers vs. Devils game last night, then nodded her agreement and said, "The guys are great, but all that testosterone can get a little…overwhelming sometimes."
Connie fanned herself with an exaggerated motion and said, "Honey, with that group, there's no such thing as 'too much' anything. Those men are fine."
Lula cast an approving nod at Connie gestured towards Stephanie. "White girl here done went and got herself Ranger's sweet Latino ass on permanent retainer, but there ain't one of those men Lula wouldn't climb like a tree."
Pam's interest perked up. She leaned forward on her elbows and said, "Do tell! All I've heard about from this one is Hector."
As the women started sharing their favorite Merry Men stories with Pam, Steph leaned towards Gia and said, "I'm so happy you came out; I really love Hector having someone in his life finally, and I think Vaughn is terrific."
Giana beamed at Stephanie and nodded quickly in agreement. "I'm so happy for them; I never thought he'd bring anyone around. I love the two of them together."
The two women nodded in solidarity, an unspoken respect for each other growing from their shared good opinion of the happy couple. Mary Lou, taking advantage of the fact that her children were currently being cared for by someone else, had been downing her drinks faster than the other women. She brazenly sat back in her seat and declared that Bobby Brown was, by far, the hottest of the Rangemen.
"I swear, Steph, it'd almost be worth blowing up a car if he's the one that showed up to kiss my boo-boos!" she giggled.
Lula took her man-watching seriously, so she nodded speculatively and drummed her freshly manicured nails on the table.
"Yeah, Bobby is fine, and he's a brother so that really increases the hotness creeping from his fine black ass, but I'm gonna have to overrule ML here and declare Lester the hottest Rangeman. Not only is he smokin', he's related to Batman so he's got the hotness in his DNA. Bobby's sexy, but maybe he got an ugly daddy and that face is gonna get all busted in a few years. Shit. Thinking of Bobby Brown being ugly just made me depressed. I'ma go get another one of these here mojitos, 'scuse me." And with that, Lula ended her speech and slid her spandex-clad body from the booth in search of their waitress, leaving the other women in gales of laughter.
Calming herself, Giana agreed that the Rangemen she'd met so far were very easy on the eyes. "I don't think Lester likes me much, though; he avoided me the entire night." She shrugged and finished her drink. Stephanie frowned and was about to delve further when Pam rolled her eyes and said, "Not like it matters; didn't you declare your libido D.O.A.?"
Gia huffed and glared at her friend. "I just have rotten luck dating so I'm taking a break. I've got a new job that I love, I just bought a house…I'm taking some time off from men." She nodded decisively, as though to reaffirm her decision.
"Who was your worst ex?" Connie was feeling no pain and in the mood to chat, apparently.
Gia sighed and said, "It's mostly been a string of dates that were dull or weird or they spent more time looking at their own reflections than at me. I've only really had three boyfriends; the last guy I dated, Ravi, worked in finance. He helped me with some good investment advice, then dumped me when the receptionist at his office got a new boob job. Before that was Barry; he dated me long enough to steal the pair of Blahnik's my brother bought me for our birthday, and before that was Chuck the womanizer. He was a fireman." Giana finished, waggling her eyebrows playfully.
"Chuck, Chuck, the Firetruck! I forgot about him. Legend has it his hose barely fit in the reel." Pam gave an exaggerated wink and the girls all squealed, delighted to be scandalized with this news. Gia blushed furiously but nodded in agreement.
"Wait, wait, wait…so you had a pair of Manolo Blahniks and some sonovabitch stole them? Is he full of holes, rotting in a ditch somewhere?" Connie demanded. She took her footwear seriously, as any proper Jersey girl would.
"No. I called the cops but I couldn't prove he stole them. So I only go to wear my pretty pumps once before they were kidnapped; they were the Loyalclo ankle-wrap heels, too." Gia wasn't much for fashion, but the shoes had been beautiful and the fact that her rat bastard ex-boyfriend stole them still pissed her off.
Mary Lou waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Shoes come and go; a man's fire hose is a memory that'll comfort you until your dying day. Now spill!"
Meanwhile, back at Rangeman…
Carlos Manoso entered the already full 4th floor conference room and walked to the head of the table. His men were seated and awaiting instruction; an impromptu meeting at Rangeman was rarely good news, and tonight was no exception.
"Gentlemen, thank you all for coming. I'll get straight to the point; Rangeman is being contracted by the Jersey state police, in conjunction with other state police departments, to address a steadily increasing problem with gang-related violence." He let this sink in a moment before continuing.
"As we all know, the Slayers were mostly obliterated in this area some time back and the Sureños that used to be the prevalent threat have migrated further south; easier access to ports near Mexico. The DEA has been tightening down surveillance in an attempt to stem the drug import business but, as we know, the numbers are against them. The most immediate threat in the area in recent months has been Mara 18." Here, he nodded in Hector's direction.
"As most of you know, Hector Gutierrez is a former M-18 member and has been instrumental in maintaining open lines of communication with M-18.
"There's a new threat, a more dangerous threat, entering the area. I've invited the lead detective of the TPD gang task force here to educate us on this new gang infiltration." With that, he nodded at Tank, who brought in Detective Joseph Morelli.
Joe Morelli had changed quite a bit in the year or so that he and Stephanie Plum had ended things permanently. The shame at being caught cheating on her hit him doubly; not only was he that much closer to turning into what he feared the most – a stereotypical Morelli man – he lost a lot of credibility at work because of his dalliance while on the city's dime. Joe had buckled down, accepted responsibility for his actions and had been taking advantage of the therapist his department used for counseling services. The appointment to the Task force had been unexpected and Morelli had every intention of being successful at stemming the flow of gang-related activity near Trenton. Now he stood before a room full of men dressed in black and took a deep breath – it was Go Time.
"Good evening, gentlemen. We've had several sources reporting an influx of military-grade artillery being sold to the dregs of Trenton society. Teflon-coated bullets, AR-15s, M-16s, the really nasty stuff." He handed each man a small pamphlet of information detailing what weapons they'd already confiscated, where they were found and any identifying information available. "We've been able to trace a lot of these weapons to the Korean Dragon Crew – the KDC. It's a small presence but a solid threat that we're trying to quash before it gets out of hand. These are bad guys, supplying other bad guys with big fucking guns. We need to stop this before the civilian casualties start, and since the TPD put me in charge of this Task force, I'm coming to you because you're the best at what you do." Morelli finished his speech and stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
Rangeman, collectively, wore their carefully constructed blank faces. A myriad of emotions flew beneath the surface of each man; concern for the people of New Jersey who would fall victim to this surge of criminal activity and determination to collect the intelligence necessary for TPD to do their part in stopping it. There were also quite a few men in the room who were surprised to see Joe Morelli freely admit that they were the best choice for this undertaking.
Joe took the silence to mean they were following him, so he continued. "Ranger tells me you've got an 'in' with the Maras." Hector silently raised one hand while staring at Morelli, his mouth set in a tight line.
"We need to know what the word on the street is. I've exhausted all my contacts, and all anyone knows is that the KDC is selling big guns to anyone with enough cash to buy one. No names, no leads on where they're holding them. We have no idea when the next shipment will come in. We've got I.C.E. working to watch exports from South Korea, but we all know there are no guarantees the guns are even coming out of the KDC's 'motherland'." Joe spit the last word out with disgust; this whole thing disgusted him, made him feel helpless. He was counting on Ranger to make this right.
Tank was the first Rangeman to break the silence. "So, basically, you've got fuck-all to go on and we're supposed to walk out there blind and start asking questions." He challenged.
Morelli sighed and tugged on his hair. "There's no nicer way to say this… but yeah. We've got fuck-all to go on and we need Rangeman to find out what we can't before a lot of uninvolved people get a serious case of death from this bullshit."
Tank's grin was grim and not at all happy. "Well, why didn't you say so?" He turned to Hector and gave him a long look. Hector nodded, reluctantly, and stood to leave without a word. A few minutes passed before Joe broke the silence.
"What the hell was that?"
Ranger folded his massive arms across his chest and answered. "That was Hector doing your job for you, detective. He'll be back; we'll let you know when we've got something." With a nod at the men at the table, Joe turned on his heel and exited the conference room.
Tank closed the door behind Morelli and addressed the room. "Men, this is a legitimate threat. If the junkie down the street can buy cop-killers, those stylish lead vests you get to wear ain't gonna protect you from shit. Let's pool our resources and work our angle while Hector's doing the heavy lifting. Dismissed."
The room emptied of everyone but the four members of the Core Team. Bobby, Tank, Lester, and Ranger eyed each other wearily. This was bad news all around, and the fact that state agencies were contracting for information spoke volumes of the severity of the situation. Ranger spoke first.
"We need to find out everything TPD didn't tell us. There's no chance they came to the first meeting and shared all the intel they've gathered. We need to proceed with the assumption that we know nothing. I also want to make sure all trackers and weapons are fully functional. I want panic buttons in every vehicle and on every man." He sat back and pinched the bridge of his nose while squeezing his eyes shut. Fucking bangers, trying to make a name for themselves. This shit was giving him a serious headache.
Bobby interjected. "You know this is only the start. They're selling weapons to the drug runners; they'll be recruiting soon, initiating new members. They're also going to start collecting trophies to up their street cred. We need to research what that entails for KDC and watch out for signs that it's happening." The men shared a somber look before pushing back from the table to leave.
"One more thing." Ranger said heavily. "She's not involved in much of the bounty hunting side of Rangeman anymore, but you all know Stephanie has a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm going to want some inventive ways to track her and maybe encourage her to keep a panic button on her at all times. I'd appreciate any ideas." The Core Team, his brothers in arms, nodded gravely. Each of them knew what losing Stephanie to violence would do to Ranger, and they were determined to end this quickly. Standing as one, the four exited the room and set off to begin the process of hunting the KDC.