Chapter 4
I awoke to my alarm buzzing in my ear around 7:30 this morning, I was not to happy about that so I took the alarm clock and threw it at the wall. It shut the damn thing up, but now I was awake. I guess I should get my day started, after all this is a new beginning for me. I broke things off with Joe and have a new job, maybe things are going to start looking up in the world of Stephanie Plum. I hopped in the shower so I could tame my hair, I knew I should have never went to bed with my hair wet. When I got out I couldn't decide what to wear. I went through my closet and came up with a pair of black jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. I put my boots on and got all of my stuff together from yesterday, first stop this morning is going to be the bank and then I am going to treat myself to an egg mcmuffin from McDonald's. Next stop would be the bond's office, I had a lot of time to kill before I had to meet Ranger at Pino's.
"Morning Connie, Lula. So what is on tap for today?"
"Nothing yet Steph, but this afternoon looks promising. It has been a while since we have talked, why don't you sit down and tell me what has been going on with you. I hear you and Morelli have been dating."
"You mean the hot cop with the nice ass?" Lula asked
"Yeah, that's him. But we are no longer together, I broke it off with him for good last night."
I was waiting for them to both respond but then both got really quiet and their eyes glazed over, I couldn't imagine what happened until I heard the door open. I turned and saw Ranger and Tank standing there.
"Morning ladies, he in?"
"No Ranger, he called out sick today. He probably has the bird flu."
With that we all busted out laughing. Once under control Ranger turned to me.
"Babe, since it seems to be a quiet morning why don't we talk now."
"Babe?" I asked him
"It fits." He told me giving me the most gorgeous smile I have ever seen.
"OK, where do you want to do this?"
"Why don't we go back to the office, I have a business deal I would like to talk to you about. You can leave your car here or you can follow us over."
"I guess I will follow you guys over. I will be back this afternoon to check for files."
I got in my car and followed Ranger, I was thinking about that smile and him calling me Babe. When he said it, it kind of gave me chills, I was also curious about the business deal he mentioned. I followed them to Haywood street and into the garage of a very non-descript building.
"Welcome to Rangeman Ms. Plum."
"Tank, just call me Steph. Ms. Plum reminds me of my mother, and right now I would rather not think of my mother."
"OK then Steph, welcome to Rangeman."
"Come on we can go up to my office and talk."
I followed them up on the elevator to the 5th floor, on the way up Ranger told me that the 5th floor was the offices for himself, Tank, Lester and Bobby. It was also the control room, where most of the work was done.
"Can I get you anything to drink?"
"Coffee would be great if you have it."
"Yeah we will just make a stop in the break room, this way you can fix it the way you like."
After getting my coffee we settled in Ranger's office.
"OK so what is this business deal you were talking about?"
Ranger spoke up first. "Right to the point, I like that. Rangeman does all kinds of security jobs and we handle bonds for Vinnie as well. Some of our jobs require a female, and currently we have none on staff. We have interviewed several women but non have worked out, I have a feeling you may be just what we are looking for."
"What would I have to do?"
"Some of the higher bonds we handle would be better dealt with if we had a distraction to get them out of places..."
I cut him off "And you want me to be that distraction?"
"Yes. There are other times when our security jobs would go a lot better with a female on the team. We sometimes have to guard women and as men it doesn't really cut it having us go into the ladies room."
"That's it?"
"Well we are really short handed now, and If I could get you trained enough to handle some of the higher bonds it would help us out a great deal. You would have training and a partner, I have a new guy starting Monday and I like to start the guys out with picking up skips. You wouldn't always be doing skip tracing, I have different surveillance jobs I could always use help on and some researching that always needs to be done. You would get a base salary of 100,000 a year plus benefits and you have to keep up with your training at least three times a week."
"Wow, that is a generous offer."
"It is what we start most of our new hires at, it is a dangerous job."
Tank decided to speak up. "Look we know this seems a like it is coming from out of left field, but I really think you would be perfect for the job. Lula has been training for a couple of weeks. We could set you up with her and you two could do your workouts together. She has been doing OK for the last couple of weeks but I don't trust Vinnie, he could put her in a situation that she might not be able to deal with. I know her job is filing but she kind of likes bringing in the skips, if she gets something that is to much for her to handle you could always help her out."
"Who would my partner be?"
"His name is Ram..."
"Are you kidding me?" I started to laugh.
There was a knock on the door and another gorgeous guy came in. "Boss sorry to interrupt by Ram is here."
"Thanks Hal. Hal I would like you to meet Stephanie Plum. We are trying to get her to come and work for us."
"Nice to meet you Ms. Plum, Connie told me that you started at Vinnie's yesterday."
"Call me Steph please, and it is a pleasure to meet you Hal."
"Just tell Ram to come to my office."
Hal left and a few minutes later Ram walked in.
"What are you doing here?" He asked me. Tank and Ranger both looked shocked that we knew each other.
"Well it looks like I just got myself a new job?"
"This is a record even for you, your mom hated the thought that you would be chasing skips for Vinnie now you are going to be working here. Can I be there when you tell her?" Ram said laughing at me.
"Sure smart ass, right after I tell her you are my new partner." Ram stopped laughing.
TBC