Thanks to Susan who proofed this chapter, all remaining mistakes are mine. :)

Chapter 4

She arrived on Haywood in time for her appointment and entered the seven-story building through the main entrance. She was welcomed by a nice looking man, dressed in black like the men in Pino's, behind the front desk. Today she was dressed in an A-line mid thigh length light blue summer dress with spaghetti straps, topped with a darker blue little cardigan, and high heels in a matching color. She knew she looked well. The man's expression when he first saw her, told her he liked it too.

She gave the man her friendliest smile; he appreciated her hard work after all. "Hi I'm Mrs. Taylor and I have an appointment with Tank."

The man stammered some, probably not used to woman in the building as they were not at LHR before granny and she joined them she guessed. "Yes Ma'am, he will be down in a minute to get you."

She gave him another genuine smile and the poor soul blushed, so cute. "Thanks I'll wait for him."

"Yes Ma'am, thank you ma'am." Then he turned his attention to his computer on his desk.

A huge bald African American man exited the elevator and walked towards her. He had a blank facial expression. The same blank face her husband and Luca use, when not sure what to expect. Or he might use that mask permanently, many men she knew did. "Hi, you must be Tank; I'm Stephanie Taylor from Plum's bail bonds." She said smiling brightly." I have come to introduce myself; it's always nice to know the people one works with. Please call me Stephanie or Steph. You've met my husband and uncle, but I'm the one who you will be dealing with over the bonds business from now on. Sorry I haven't been here sooner, but I've been busy."

His blank face still in place, but a small uplift of the corners of his mouth told her he was trying not to smile. Most likely, because he thought it a bad idea, to deal with women in his field of work, especially dumb rich bitches in high heels. A man with his background should know how appearance could be deceiving. He would not know what hit him when she was finished with him. "No problem Ma'am, my name is Tank please follow me; we'll take this further in my office." He turned and led her to his office on the fifth floor of the building. They walked along a com room and cubicles filled with men dressed in black, in a large space. The men were curious but tried to hide it admirable, she threw them a bright smile too and gave them a finger wave. Which made them look at their computer quickly and she almost giggled.

Once seated in Tank's office, and she having had a cup of coffee, they pleasantly talked about the business they had with each other. They talked some more about what RangeMan did besides catching FTA's, when she told him they provided her home's security too. But of course, he knew that already, Hawk had asked Tank to keep a close eye on them, as if they did not have enough security already. She should have known. Then she broached the subject she really came for, "is there a possibility I can work with RangeMan, to learn what is involved to bring in a skip?" She asked brightly, knowing he would have a problem with it, but it would be hard for him to refuse outright.

"Uh well, it can be dangerous work for a woman; I don't think it's something for you to do." He stated hesitantly.

She gave him a look that told him undoubtedly she was not buying that. He did not even hear what she asked. She wanted to learn what was involved, not learn how to bring down a skip. Playtime! "Do you mean I'm not competent enough to do that? Or don't you want women to do your job?"

"No, no I wouldn't imply that. I know women who apprehend Skips but ..." then he stopped talking altogether looking a bit flushed, probably not wanting his foot in his mouth any further and she almost smiled because that was exactly what he was implying. A woman like her cannot want her hands dirty or her nails might be broken, oh dear what a disaster that would be. He resumed with what he thought would be his escape. "Besides I don't think your husband will be pleased if we endanger you by allowing you to do that."

"Do you think so? But I know he doesn't mind, he always let me have my way." Oh how she love to play these games. "He even told me to try a distraction job, well the FTA would have to be an easy one and not have too much of a rap sheet, but Hawk agreed." She sounded slightly whiny, as he might have expected her to. Now she not only wanted to know what was involved to bring in a skip, no, now she wanted to do a distraction too. Having heard stories about them, from some men who worked for LHR and RangeMan, she always fancied herself doing that if only for one time. That might teach Tank to listen to her, if not she will make his life a little more difficult.

"You are telling me Hawk is in agreement of you learning the ropes of going after a FTA?" The man sounded incredulous, looking her over in disbelieve.

She got her phone and pressed speed deal number one, when Hawk answered she put it on speaker. "Hi Sweet thing," she said as that was the code they agreed on a long time ago, for him to play along. "Hi Honey." he answered. "How's your day?"

"Well hot stuff, all was going well, but Mr. Tank here at RangeMan doesn't believe you approve of me learning the necessary knowledge of bounty hunting." She pouted.

"Oh sweetheart, you can't blame the man, he doesn't know you dear. Do you want me to talk to him?" he asked indulgently, as if he was speaking to a child.

"Yes will you?" her voice cheery again.

"Okay my little dove; give him the phone will you. Maybe I can change his mind." He cooed. She had a hard time keeping a serious face; damn he is good she thought.

Tank was listening to their exchange with wonder in his eyes and his eyebrows raised high up where his hairline should have been. He must think they were crazy and she had to agree. She had never been a bounty hunter but she was confident she had all the skills necessary to be one, if that was what she wanted, however, it was not her plan to become a BEA, but she wanted to know what it entailed. So she knew what she could expect or not from the BEA's working for their office. Yet, Mr. Tank had prejudices and difficulty to see beyond his experiences, but she loved to teach him. She gave him her phone and he took it with visible trepidation.

"Hawk." he said.

"Tank, I hear you think I want to restrict my woman to the office. You told me you're not married but let me give you some advice before you ever take that step. My woman does what she wants, whenever she wants to. If I curb her, in anything, she will be unhappy and an unhappy wife makes us husbands unhappy. And I hate to be unhappy, do you understand so far?" Hawk told him in a clear and merry voice.

Tank looked at her as if he was ready to run. He cleared his throat and replied. "Yes Sir."

"Okay son, now listen she can handle a gun and handcuffs, but she prefers zip ties to cuffs because they are lighter to carry around. You know, all that shit she would need makes her handbag heavy, gun, handcuffs, pepper spray, stun gun, and such, that could be a problem, but I don't think so. So think zip tie to get the picture. If you still don't dare to take her, I will find someone else. No problem for me. The only thing she wants is to learn what it requires to apprehend a skip. It's not that she wants to be a bounty hunter."

Stephanie spoke up loud, so Hawk could hear, in her patent pouty voice. "Honey I want to try a distraction too," Hawk reacted immediately. "Sure sweetie I'll ask, but if you do, please be careful we have a child at home, we can't lose you. You heard her Tank, can you accommodate her, or do I have to ask somebody else? If you can't do any of this for any reason, there is no harm done."

Sweat was gathering on the poor man's forehead. When she saw his indecision, she knew he still had not heard what they were asking. She wondered if he was going to take a bimbo along, showing her the tricks of the trade or not. She saw he was leaning to not, but he relented. "Okay Hawk if that is what you both wants, I will give it a try to teach her the ropes." She almost jumped up to hug the big man but thought better of it. He gave her back the phone and she spoke to Hawk in her normal tone of voice. "Bye Hawk thanks, I'll see you later."

She turned her attention back to Tank. "See that wasn't too difficult was it? You should really learn to listen Mr. Tank, I do not want to catch a skip myself, and I only want to learn what is required to catch one."

He looked at her with concentrated scrutiny for a few seconds, "you were playing me, weren't you?"

She gave him an all-innocent look back, batting her eyelashes. "Why, Mr. Tank I wouldn't dare."

"Yes you'd dare, you just did." Then, he started laughing so hard, tears were running down his face when his office door, was abruptly opened by two stunned looking men. One was an African-American and the other a spiked haired Latino. Both good looking must be a requirement to work here she thought absentmindedly. They probably did not see her from where they stood in the doorway, because the Latino said loudly. "What the fuck Tank, what's going on in here?"

Please review it is my only feedback. :)