All characters courtesy of JE, except Carly who is all mine!

Chapter 8

I got dropped off at Rangeman just before 3pm. I rushed into the building and into the elevator. I hit the button for the fifth floor and looked at the camera on the panel above the buttons. I had an uncontrollable urge to make a rude gesture at the camera but managed to contain it. How dare they spy on people! Especially people who they were supposed to care about. I was still a little nervous that they might have heard what I shouted into my bag. Although we hadn't found a bug I wasn't really sure what one looked like so I could possibly have missed it.

The elevator came to a halt at the fourth floor. Shit I was hoping I wouldn't have to be confronted with any Merry Men as I now knew them by. I was also running late for meeting Ella who was expecting me. The doors opened and Tank stood in front of me.

"Boss wants to see you" he said.

"I'm busy" I said reaching for the button panel. He wasn't my boss, he would have have to wait.

Tank put his very large foot in the elevator and held the doors open. "Ranger wants to see you now, Ella knows to expect you later". He gently took my arm and guided me into the control room. Lester was still sitting at his desk with an even bigger pile of files than he did this morning. He was looking weary but still looked up to give me a smile and the once over. He looked at the shopping bags I held in my hand.

"You going to show us your purchases then?" he asked with a glint in his eye.

"I didn't get anything too exciting" I said looking down at the bags. Fuck the Victoria's Secret bag had found its way to the front.

"Mmm" he said looking at the bag, he sighed and put his head back down to work. At least it seemed he hadn't heard anything he shouldn't have.

I marched along to Ranger's office. I intended to make this as quick as possible but I was intrigued as to why he wanted to see me. I knocked on his office door and entered.

"Carla take a seat" he said gesturing to the seat in front of his desk. He was all in Rangeman black as usual and looked as hot as he had yesterday. I could see why Steph was having problems not getting too attached to this man. He oozed sex appeal from every pore.

He waited until I was seated and I saw him quickly glance at my purchases. A small smile played on his lips but he didn't mention them. I decided just to start the conversation without the need to discuss my shopping trip.

"Tank says you wanted to see me" I said.

"Carla I was just wondering how long you were planning on staying in Trenton". Ella was unsure of when you were returning to the UK" Ranger asked. He was sitting back in his fancy chair with his fingers steepled under his chin.

"Have I out stayed my welcome already?" I asked. Fuck I hoped not!

"No but Ella gets the impression that you have some kind of problem back home, something you may be running away from" he leaned forward and placed his hands on his desk. "Now while thats none of my business I thought that possibly I could take advantage of the situation".

Now I was really intrigued. But I wasn't about to tell him my problems.

"I have some stuff going on at home but its nothing I can't handle. Its not anything I want to talk about though". I tried to put a hard face on my words to show that I was indeed handling my situation. "Why would this be to your advantage though?" I asked.

"I have a staff shortage at the moment. I've had to send a number of men to our office in Miami to sort out a few problem cases we have out there. I'm now having to ask my men here to carry out some mundane tasks when I could have them deployed in more important field jobs. I was wondering if you didn't have any plans to see the sights of Trenton, if you would consider doing a few hours work for me every day". I didn't know a Merry Man could speak for this length of time. But then Ranger wasn't a Merry Man. He was Batman!

I thought for a few seconds. "Trenton has sights?" I asked innocently.

Rangers mouth twitched again. He wasn't one for big facial expressions.

"What kind of work did you have in mind" I asked when he didn't answer my first question.

"Just some simple computer searches. Lester has been doing most of them over the last few days but he is one of my best men. I really need him out there rather than stuck at his desk. You may have noticed the files on his desk?" He asked.

I had done. And the pile was much bigger this afternoon than it had been this morning. Did I really want to be sitting working while on vacation? But then I really didn't have much else to do, and he did say it would only be for a few hours a day. There was also the fact I wasn't really on vacation either. I wasn't sure what to call this little break I was on.

"Sure I'll do it, anything to help pay my way" I said.

"I'll pay you of course" Ranger said.

"Oh you don't have to do that" I gasped. "I'm not sure I'm allowed to earn money while I'm here anyway" I added.

"We have ways of working around those rules" Ranger said with a slight smile. I didn't doubt that for a minute.

"You can start on Monday then" he said. I started to get up when he added "There's one more thing Carla".

"Yes" I said sitting back down. What else could he want?

"I have a security job going down tonight. While we are carrying this out we need someone to distract the target we are after. Stephanie has already agreed to help out as has Hal's girlfriend Tina. I was wondering if you would maybe be interested in taking part?"

"What would I have to do?" I asked. This sounded really interesting.

"Nothing much, just dress up and go clubbing. You just need to be alert and look out for the target. Once he has been suitably distracted we move in. You will be in no danger at any time" he said.

"When you say dress up . . ." I paused "do we have to dress in any particular way. Its just I have seen Steph's shoes for tonight and she says they have to go with a black slut dress she has at home".

I watched as Rangers eyed widened briefly then darkened. Obviously thinking of Steph in her slut dress. Again interesting.

"You have to dress to impress yes" he said composing himself. "Do you have anything with you or will you have to go shopping again?"

"Oh no I have a suitable slut dress with me" I said getting up "And a perfect pair of shoes to match". I headed to the door feeling this conversation was over and also to hide the blush that I could feel creeping up my face. "What time do we leave?"

"Nine sharp from the control room, no point leaving too early the club won't liven up until late" he started reading through a file on his desk so I was obviously free to go. "Steph has the file so will fill you in on the way, you can ask her any questions you may have".

I shut his office door behind me and headed for the elevator. I was actually really excited about this evening, especially the clubbing part. I loved a good club night and I'm sure I wasn't going to have to play too big a part in it all. I could maybe just kick back and relax and have a good boogie.

Lester was standing talking to Hal and Tank as I passed the control room monitors.

"I hear you're joining us tonight Carla" he said stepping out in front of me to halt my progress. "You gonna give me a dance later? he asked with a wink.

"If you play your cards right" I said and gave a wink back all of my own. There's nothing like the promise of a night out to bring out my inner minx!

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I went back up to my apartment and put away my purchases. I unpacked my new DMs, my new underwear which would come in really handy for tonight now that I could glam up, my Ravishing perfume and my last purchases - some clothes to work out in, and a bottle of Jack Daniels. I had decided that I was going to make full use of the gym and facilities so I had bought a couple of sports bras and some spandex shorts. Whether I actually worked up the courage to go down there was another thing. I thought I may find that courage in the bottle of Jack Daniels I had bought in a 7-11 I had Lula take me to.

I would certainly need some before tonight!

I was just about to leave to see Ella when I noticed a box on the coffee table. On closer inspection it turned out to be a new mobile phone, or cell phone as I would have to get used to calling it for a while. A small handwritten note told me it was from Lester. "For when you're feeling lonely!" he had scrawled on the paper along with a x at the end and a happy smiley face. I switched the phone on and found his number and most of Rangeman employees various numbers already programmed in. I raked through my bag and found the numbers I had been given for Steph and Lula and added them too. Then I had a flash of inspiration.

I looked for Steph's number and hit the call button.

"Hello" Steph said obviously wondering who's the number was coming up on her cell phone screen.

"Hi Steph its Carla" I said.

"Hi Carla what's up?" she asked "You needing to escape the Batcave again?" she said with a laugh.

"No I was just calling to invite you up for a drink later" I explained. "Ranger has asked me along to help tonight so I thought it would be fun to get together beforehand".

"Oh I don't know, Ranger doesn't like any of us drinking alcohol on these jobs" she said with a worried tone. "He wants us to keep a clear head".

"Come on Steph one drink won't hurt" I said. "It is my first night out in Trenton after all, even if I am working".

There was a pause on the end of the line as Steph thought over my suggestion. "Okay" she said eventually. "I'll be over around seven. Will I invite Tina too?" she asked.

"The more the merrier" I said. We said our goodbyes and I headed off to see Ella.

This was going to be fun! Sod you Mr Manoso and your no drinking rule!