Not sure if I like this chapter or not, but not getting much peace from the kids this week. Please let me know what you think.
Usual stuff applies - it just ain't mine, not yet anyway!
Chapter 12
Ranger was sitting down at his desk when I entered. He closed the file he had been reading and sat back in his chair, elbows bent, hands behind his head. He looked at the chair in front of him and I assumed this was my cue to sit. I sat down, looking at my feet, and waited for the shouting to commence. After what seemed like hours but could only have been a couple of minutes, I found some courage to look at him. He just stared back at me, not saying a word. Okay so he was probably quite good at this, he must know quite a lot about interrogation techniques. I had watched enough American cop shows to know that if you keep quiet, the suspect feels the need to fill the silence and will more than likely admit to anything, even if innocent. And this was exactly what I was about to do!
"Look Ranger, I'm sorry okay" I said quietly "It's all my fault, I shouldn't have talked Steph into having a drink beforehand. I didn't realise she couldn't handle her alcohol. I'll take full responsibility for the screw up and your wasted evening and letting your target get away. I know you spent a lot of time and effort and probably a lot of money on last night" I blurted everything out in one breath and paused for a second to get another. I remembered the look on Steph's face as the doors of the elevator closed and suddenly got angry. "But no matter how much we fucked up, there was no need to make Steph cry" I said louder now. I remembered Lester saying her crying wasn't what I thought but there was no stopping me now. "If you want to shout at anyone Ranger shout at me, you won't make me cry as easy as Steph" I finished sitting glaring at Ranger, still waiting for the tirade that would surely follow.
We sat staring at each other for a few more moments. Ranger finally sat forward and picked up a remote from his desk and aimed it at a small flatscreen TV fixed to the far wall of the office.
"If you had both been sober enough last night then yes, I probably would have shouted at you then, I maybe would have even made you cry Carla" Ranger said narrowing his eyes at me. "But as it was I just had Lester and Tank take you both up to your apartment to let you sleep it off. I had fully intended on letting you both know exactly how I felt this morning. However on reviewing the security camera footage from last night I have seen things very differently. I have only two words to say to you this morning Carla" he said his eyes softening slightly.
"I'm fired!" I offered. "Go home, you're dead" I added some more suggestions.
"Thank you" Ranger said laughing at my suggestions. Yes Ranger was actually laughing!
"Thank you!" I gasped. "Thank you for fucking up your evening!"
"Just watch the screen please Carla then I will explain" Ranger said as the screen on the television came into life. There was no sound and the camera was obviously filming in night vision as there was a green tinge to the picture and we all looked a little odd. But it was clearly Steph and I dancing around a little crazily on the dance floor. I looked over at Ranger who was watching with just a hint of a smile playing on his lips and a soft gooey look around his eyes. He didn't look a scary boss man now, he looked like a man in love.
"Please keep watching the screen Carla" Ranger said without taking his eyes from the television. How did he do that!
I turned back and watched again. I had to fight back a wave of embarrassment watching myself dancing away on the screen, obviously a lot drunker than I had thought I was. Lester suddenly appeared on the screen and tried to put his arm around my waist to pull me in for a dance, but Steph walked over to him and slapped him away. She then pulled me further onto the dance floor and we did some kind of what I can only describe as a jive type move. I was turning Steph under my arm and then she would do the same to me. Lester just shrugged his shoulders then disappeared out the shot of the camera. A few moments later Ram appeared on the screen and this time tried to get Steph to dance. Again we managed to sidestep him and this time we started some kind of Dirty Dancing move. It was actually very funny to watch, but also very cringe worthy.
"What is your whole point here Ranger" I asked. "What do you need to thank me for?".
"Just watch the screen, just for a few more minutes please" Ranger replied.
I turned back just as the camera was zooming in on Steph's face. She looked so happy and so beautiful, as if she didn't have a care in the world as she twirled around the floor. Yes she looked really drunk but she also looked like she was having the time of her life. Obviously the 'no man' idea had worked its magic. She had lost her stressed out look she wore when she turned up at my apartment.
Ranger froze the screen just as Steph was looking almost directly into the camera. She wore a serene smile and her arms were up in the air as she was dancing to whatever song had been playing at the time.
"That is what I want to thank you for Carla" Ranger explained. "In all the time I have known Stephanie, I have never seen her so happy and relaxed, even when she is not bounty hunting or doing distraction jobs for me. Whatever magic it was you worked on her, and I'm not just talking the bottle of Jack Daniels you both consumed beforehand, you found a way to let the real Stephanie shine through. I don't even think myself or her . . . . . boyfriend Morelli" he spat the last two words "have seen this side of Steph before. And it's all down to you Carla" he smiled as he sat forward to lean his arms on the desk. "Thank you again Carla" he finished.
"Well, your welcome" I said shocked at what had transpired. " Are you going to shout at me now though?" I asked.
Ranger laughed and shook his head but didn't answer. But why had Steph been crying as she left?
"Steph received some bad news this morning while she was here to see me" Ranger said reading my mind. Did they all have this ESP thing going on here at Rangeman?
"Her grandmother has been rushed to hospital, it doesn't sound too good" he continued. "Steph is very close to her Grandma Mazur so was very upset. Sasha was here to see Bobby so offered to run her to the hospital. I can assure you at no time did I shout at her" he added "In fact I was just about to show her this footage and maybe explain and few things to her" he said.
"What things?" I asked.
No answer. Ranger picked up the file he had been reading and handed it to me.
"If you are still interested Carla, we have very good intel that our target Andreas Belivanis will be back at Club Ice Blue this evening. He was obviously very interested in you last night, so I would appreciate if you would consider helping us out again tonight?" he asked "Possibly without the help of Jack Daniels this time" he said with a slight twitch of his mouth which I took to be a hint of a smile.
"I take it Steph won't be there this time?" I asked.
"No she won't" Ranger replied "I'm not going to bother Steph while she has personal problems, as I think she would probably still be willing to work for me even under the circumstances". He sat back in his seat again and did the steepling of the fingers under the chin he does so well. "Steph was supposed to leave with Belivanis if he showed any interest in her, so he would lead us to where he goes with his . . . . victims" he said.
"Victims!" I said narrowing my eyes at him "What victims would that be then?" I asked. I wasn't about to volunteer to be a victim of a man mad.
"I'll let you read the file but in brief, Belivanis is suspected to be behind the disappearance of quite a few girls from the Club Ice Blue and other clubs too. All have the same thing in common, they are all white, mid to late twenties, and all from respectable backgrounds. The few that have turned up alive all have the same thing in common again, they are all addicted to crack, and all working as prostitutes for known associates of Belivanis. The girls are all so drug addled that they don't really know who they are or what they have become" he finished. I thought Ranger was a man of few words but I was clearly wrong about that one.
I thought about what he had said for a second, my mind reeling about what he was asking me to do.
"You said a few of these victims have turned up alive, what about the others?" I asked already dreading his answer.
Ranger looked at me for a second before replying, maybe weighing up if I really could handle this or not. "The other girls have turned up dead. Or they haven't turned up at all" he said bluntly.
"And you want me to find him, charm him, then leave with him?" I asked.
"Yes" Ranger replied.
"Okay then" I said taking the file from him and looking at the photograph clipped to the inside. I couldn't recollect him at all from last night, but I couldn't recollect much at all.
"Are you sure?" Ranger asked. "I don't want to pressure you into doing something you don't feel comfortable about. Ella has told me a little about what you do for a living back home, and I don't recall her mentioning any covert operations with big scary men" he said making me laugh.
"No this is all new to me" I replied "But I have to admit I do find it all quite exciting. I won't be in any real danger though will I, I mean you will be following me if I leave the club with him?" I asked suddenly wondering how this was going to work.
"You will be fitted with the same tracking device Steph had last night" He explained. "It was obvious that Belivanis had noticed you and not Steph but we wouldn't have let you leave with him last night. It would have been too risky without having a trace on you, plus the fact you were . . . . "
"Pished oot ma brain, as we would say back home" I said in my best Scottish dialect.
"Couldn't have put it better myself" Ranger laughed warmly. I could see again why Steph was so attracted to this man. Her boyfriend Joe must be something else if she was having difficulty choosing between the two.
"Would Sasha not be better qualified for this, she said she had done a couple of these jobs with Steph before" I asked.
"Sasha is not the type Belivanis goes for, for a start she isn't white, and she also isn't as . . . . " he pondered as if looking for the right word "she isn't as ample as you are" he finished.
"You mean she isn't as fat as me?" I said narrowing my eyes at him.
"No I don't mean that at all" Ranger replied with some amusement in his eyes. "Lets just say that Sasha lacks the assets that you carry with you Carla" he said as his eyes strayed to my 'ample' cleavage.
"Oh" was all I could say. Well my assets had definitely been out there for everyone to see over the last 24 hours. Some had seen more than their fair share.
"You will be briefed again on the way Carla, you will be travelling with myself tonight so no trying to escape down the fire escape this time" he said with a straight face. "We will be travelling with Tank, Lester and Bobby. Take this file and read through it thoroughly. I'll answer any questions you have tonight. We leave at 2100 hours exactly" he said. I got the feeling this conversation was now at an end so stood up to leave.
"I take it I need to dress appropriately again?" I asked. "I mean I take it I need to show my 'assets' to their full glory" I said.
"Yes Carla, your dress last night was just perfect for your assets" he said eyes glinting. I started to feel a bit hot and bothered that he was thinking about my assets and wished I hadn't been quite so bold with him. But I wasn't going to back down now.
"Oh I can't wear the same dress to the same club two nights in a row!" I said. "I'll have to go shopping I'm afraid, I have only packed one slut dress with me this trip" I said innocently.
Ranger sighed and opened a drawer in his desk. He pulled out a credit card and handed it to me.
"Oh no I didn't mean I wanted you to pay " I blurted out "I have money I can buy myself something" I said.
"Take it, buy what you need" Ranger said "Get yourself a new pair of heels to go with the outfit. Take Lester with you, he can authorise the company credit card".
"What" I said taken aback. "You want me to take Lester shopping? Is he not really busy just now?" I asked.
"I can spare him for a couple of hours, but if you would rather take someone else . . . " Ranger said with a deadpan face.
"No it's fine I'll ask Lester. Thank you Ranger" I said gratefully.
"Just call it payment for the job you are doing for Rangeman tonight, and thank you again Carla". I was dismissed.
I walked out of his office and walked over to Lester, who was up to his eyes, literally, in brown folders. "Hey Lester" I said sitting in the chair opposite his desk.
"Carla, you're smiling" Lester said smiling back at me "I take it your didn't get the grilling you expected".
"No actually it was . . . . interesting I think is the best way to put it" I leaned over his desk and picked up the folder he was working on and put it back in his In Tray "You have a couple of hours off work now to chauffeur me about" I said to him.
"I do?" he said eyebrows raised in surprise. "Where I am taking you. I take it you cleared it with the boss man"? he asked.
"Oh yes, in fact it was Ranger's idea" I said. "You, Lester Santos, are taking me shopping!" I stated.
A big grin spread over Lester's face as he stood up "Well I better go and change into something more casual then, wouldn't want to scare any old ladies at the mall. I'll meet you back here in ten" he winked and headed for the elevator.
This was just too good to be true I thought as I remembered Lula's challenge. I, Carla Macrae, was going to win my challenge, and get a Merry Man to go into Victoria's Secret with me. And it was going to be fun!
My hangover was completely forgotten about as I sat back and waited for the lamb heading to the slaughter!
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