Chapter 9 Ready to Leave
Thursday April 14
I pulled over at the next exit and my stomach rolled as she got a fried chicken breakfast biscuit, fried breakfast potatoes, and a large coke. I was going to have to work on her diet. I wouldn't try to change all of it, like donuts. That would be as impossible, as futile, as trying to hold the rain up in the clouds. But a few more vegetables and fried stuff only once a day. Little changes. She liked Ella's cooking, I would just have her eat it more. Simple solution.
Her phone rang and she answered on the first ring. "Hello."
"No, I'm doing fine this morning, still purple and blue. How are you? How is your arm?" A pause.
"Two weeks? You have to miss work for two weeks, but it is only your left arm not even your writing or gun hand!" She exclaimed in disbelief and then listened.
"That's too bad. Yeah I wish I could come over but these guys are still out there and so I have kinda agreed to go out of town till they are caught." She said.
"I'm kinda with him right now." Her voice quieter.
"Yes, well nothing happened. He was chasing bad guys when I went to bed and gone when I woke up so as far as I know he slept on the couch and I slept alone." She explained.
"I'm not going away with him I am going away with his family." She said defensively. "No, I don't know where we are going. It's a secret, nobody knows till we get there." A longer pause.
"Maybe, we haven't discussed it but you shouldn't worry about it, Joe, I'm with you. Nothing is going to change that. Besides, nothing is going to happen with his parents and Julie and all of his family around." She told him.
"We're just leaving to give the police and RangeMan time to find these guys. Then we'll be back, it probably won't even be two weeks. I'll probably be back before you have to go back to work." She sounded wistful.
"Yes, I promise." A short pause.
"I love you too. Just be glad that I am safe and not out doing my crazy job. I'll call you every night." She said.
"Ok, talk to you later." She wouldn't be talking to him later and she wouldn't be calling him every night. It's not that I want to make her break her promises to him but I need her off the grid and it will be easier to sway her if she isn't talking to him every day.
I wasn't worried about Stephanie meeting my family because she is always polite. But my brother and sisters can be less than accepting and there is all this stress on the family. I pulled up outside my parent's house and was glad that all my men were there waiting in their vehicles. I texted everyone to let them know that I was going inside for a few minutes and then I would call them all to join me.
I got out and opened up Stephanie's door and led her up to the porch. "Babe, don't worry about my parents they are going to love you. So, will some of my sisters. Some of my sisters are stuck up and I never know how they are going to react and my brother will be his usual pain. So just take my family in stride." I opened the door and let her in.
Chaos reigned worse than yesterday as parents were trying to calm crying kids, luggage was piled everywhere and the house was full of strung-out adults and children milling about unsure of what to do while they waited for this show to start. Oshanna and Julio were in the living room, Julio looking relaxed in jeans, a baby blue polo shirt and tennis shoes, while Oshanna was wearing a frilly tight button up white shirt with tan shorts and sparkling two-inch platform sandals, her blond hair pinned back from her face. She was complaining about the situation. I focused on my goal: to get everyone to safety and have as much fun as possible.
"Mama, Leyla, Isabella, can we get all the kids in the family room so the parents can have a few minutes for talking?" Mama was wearing jeans and a red button up short sleeve shirt and tennis shoes, her shoulder length, straight brown hair loose.
"Working on it, Carlos. Mikie's game broke and he is very upset about it." Leyla told me. Mikie was also wearing jean shorts and a red shirt with a monster truck on it with tennis shoes.
"We'll see about getting him another one. The plane can wait five minutes to put a smile on his face." I told her.
"Uncle Carlos will get you a new game before we get on the plane. Now go with your brother and play in the family room." She was squatted down in her jeans shorts, gray t-shirt that had a sunrise and some saying that ended with the word beautiful in large black letters, and gray sandals, her long brown hair in a ponytail, talking to him.
"Can't you put a movie or something on for them?" I asked.
"They are going to be plugged in enough on the plane, they need to play outside or with toys for a while before we leave." Isabella, wearing a pink tank top with white shorts and white crisscrossed sandals, her cropped brown hair in its normal loose face framing bob, explained. All the women it seemed were dressing for the Florida sun.
"Ok, as soon as you get the kids settled I need all the adults in the living room." I told everyone. I led Stephanie over to my mama.
"Stephanie this is my mama, Maria. Mama this is Stephanie Plum."
"Nice to finally meet you. So glad you could come with the family on this spontaneous vacation. Come," she said, taking Stephanie by the arm. "let me introduce you to the family."
"Mama, I am going to introduce Stephanie and my men to the family all at once. As soon as we can get everyone into the living room." Once my family was mostly assembled I let my men in and they made two lines in a semi-circle facing my family, my mother and father on the loveseat, Oshanna, Julio, Angelia and Grandma Rosa on the couch, Isabella in the chair with her husband Diego perched on the arm, and Leyla and Richard standing beside the chair. I stood with Stephanie in front of the TV.
"Thank you everyone for being prompt." I started.
"It's not like we had a choice. Your men in black loaded the car and dragged us out to it and threw us in so we could get here in time. I don't see why we had to be here so early anyway. It's a private flight it won't leave without us." Angelia whined crossing her arms. She was wearing a matching peach shorts and shirt striped outfit with peach three-inch cork wedges. Her red hair was done all up and she was the only one with full make-up on.
I ignored her and continued. "We have a lot to get through. Let's start with introductions and assignments. First of all, this is Stephanie Plum, she is coming on our little adventure. Julie and her family, and Abuela Sanja will be joining us in Miami tonight. Everyone, let me introduce my men," who were all wearing the standard RangeMan black, "and make assignments. The men I assign to you ladies today will be your permanent shadows as long as you are awake outside of your hotel room and cabana. When I call your name please raise your hand."
"Marc – Stephanie Plum, Erik – my mother Maria, Hal – Leyla, Woody – Angelia, Cal – Isabella, Manuel – Grandma Rosa. Eddie is assigned to Rachel, Junior to Julie, Vince to Grandma Sanja. Now, these are the rest of my men. Bobby Brown," I waved my hand to the handsome black man, "is our medic. If you have any problems from needing a band-aid to a stomach issue or something worse, please see him immediately. If he can't resolve the problem he will make arrangements for treatment. The rest of the day crew are Ram, Zero, and Zip. Our night crew is Chet, Chester, Gino, Mario, Ramon and Ryan. Now let me introduce my family."
I walked around the room putting a hand on the shoulder or pointing to the person I was talking about. "This stunning beauty is my dear mama Maria Manoso. This is my Papa, Javier Manoso." He was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt with a colorful display of tropical flowers, a parrot, and Margaritaville in large blue letters underneath. "This is my wonderful Grandma Rosa." She was wearing a dark maroon button up shirt and a long floral skirt. "She only speaks Spanish so if she doesn't respond to you that is why." I translated what I said for her and got a smile out of her.
"This is Leyla Gonzales my brilliant oldest sister, who works for my father. She is married to Richard." He was wearing jeans and a Point Pleasant t-shirt with a picture of the beach and waves on it. "They have four kids; Becky age 12, Maggie age 10, Ricky age 7, Mikie age 5. This is my next oldest sister Angelia White. Her husband is Jordan. He is a doctor and could not come on our little trip, they have two kids: Shanna age 5, Ricky age 3. This is my younger brother Julio Manoso. He is tagging along and supposed to be helping, so ask him for anything you need help with. This is my next youngest sister Isabella Diaz, she is a nurse, she is married to Diego," who was wearing blue Docker shorts and a stripped blue and green shirt, "and they have three kids; Chris age 8, Shylia age 6, Parker age 3. This is my youngest sister Oshanna Manoso, she is a fashion designer in New York and is missing showing some of her new outfits to come on this adventure. Men you are dismissed to prepare the luggage and vehicles."
"Does anyone have any questions?"
"Yeah, you didn't assign anyone to me." Oshanna pouted.
"I did, I was just saving the best for last. Oshanna I have personally asked Lester to be your bodyguard." She was squealing as soon as I said Lester and I knew this was going to be her reaction so I wanted to keep my men from knowing how much she liked Lester. "Now Oshanna, I know he is your cousin, but he is still your bodyguard. You have to promise to listen to him and do what he says."
"Of course, I will do anything he says." She gushed at me.
Stephanie looked urgently at me. "How am I supposed to remember all these names? There are so many with just your parents and siblings, not including all of their children."
"Babe. I have a digital family album that has everyone's name, relation, and picture. I will email you a copy. You can access your email on your phone."
She smiled brightly at me, and I pulled out my phone and with a few taps, sent it to her.
"Now if everyone will wait here for a minute I have to get stuff from the car." I came back a few minutes later with the fake ID's, credit cards and cell phones.
"Everything I do from here on out is for your protection. To get back from the island everyone needs a passport. Those who already have them brought their passports, and birth certificates for the kids, right?" I got a few head nods. Mama, Papa, Abuela Rosa, here are your passports. Leyla, Richard here are yours. They will get you back in the country with no problem."
"I'm still worried about using them." Leyla murmured.
"Leyla there is nothing to be worried about. You are not a suspicious person. You are returning from an island that is not suspicious, with a family group that is not suspicious. They are looking for people who are threats to the country, not people coming with their extended family back from a tropical vacation. You're with a group of forty-seven other people they are just going to wave you through."
"Now is going to be the hard part for some of you. I told you that not counting your passports to get back in the country you can't use your IDs or debit and credit cards. So, keep your IDs on you but hidden, I am going to collect all debit and credit cards and issue you IDs and credit cards to use while we are gone."
I took all the IDs out of the box and made a pile of them on the coffee table. Immediately Oshanna leaned forward and started going through them. I picked them back up and put them back in the box. "Mom and Dad, you first, I need your debit cards and any credit cards," I took the cards they gave me and wrapped them together with a rubber band. "and here are your temporary ID's for this trip and a credit card for each of you that has a two-thousand-dollar limit."
"Next Leyla and Richard, let me get your cards from you," I took them and wrapped them in a rubber band. "You each a have a credit limit of twenty-five hundred. If for some reason, you need more let me know. Here are birth certificates for each of your kids just in case you need them for some reason."
"Angelia, let me get your cards from you." She just stood there glaring at me.
"I don't understand why I have to give you my cards." She exclaimed.
"You can't use them under any circumstances while we are gone. I am giving you a card you can use that has a two-thousand-dollar limit on it. That is free money for you to use so you won't need any cards."
"But I don't understand why I have to give you mine." She questioned.
"To remove all temptation. If you don't have them you can't use them."
"What about emergencies?" She qualified.
"That is what this card I am giving you is for. I am paying for all of the traveling costs, what emergency are you going to have that you need more than two-thousand dollars for?" I knew that every card already had a five-thousand-dollar limit, but if I told everyone that, several of my siblings would take it as a challenge and spend it before we ever got to the island.
"I don't know, that is why it is called an emergency." She said sarcastically.
"Let me know and I will cover it. Whatever emergency you have I will cover it." I held out my hand to take her cards. I wrapped them in a rubber band, she had eight of them, and handed her the new ID and card. I was smirking to myself, then laughing hysterically, practically rolling on my mental floor because I looked at her ID and Bones had given her an impossible Chinese name to pronounce. I hope he had done the same for Oshanna. I moved on.
"Julio, cards." I held out my hand and took his from him and handed him and ID and credit card. "Your card has a thousand-dollar limit."
"Why do I only get one thousand dollars? Everyone else got two thousand or more."
"Everyone else has kids going on the trip."
"But what if I need to buy stuff for my nieces and nephews?" Julio insisted.
"If you are having a problem let me know and we can handle it." I told him and moved on.
"Isabella and Diego, cards please." I held out my hand and received several cards from each of them and I handed them their new cards. "Your cards have two-thousand dollar limits each."
"Oh, my name is Jasmine." Isabella said "and you are David. Nice, I always wanted to be with a David." She winked flirtatiously at her husband.
"Abuela Rosa, aquí tienes tu nueva identificación y tarjeta de crédito por dos mil dólares. Si necesitas más, dímelo." I told her. ("Grandma Rosa, here is your new ID and credit card for two-thousand dollars. If you need more you let me know.")
"Carlos, tengo todo lo que necesito y mis bisnietos están todos mimados. Estoy feliz de estar llegando a pasar tiempo con todos." she smiled at me. (Carlos, I have all I need and my great grandchildren are all spoiled. I am just happy to come and spend time with everyone.)
"Oshanna, I need your cards please." I held out my hand to her. She reluctantly handed me three cards and I gave her the new ID and credit card. "Your card has a thousand-dollar limit on it."
She pouted at me. "Xiaolan my name is Cassandra Xiaolan? How do you even pronounce that? And who in their right mind would think I am Chinese?"
"It is actually very pretty, it is pronounced 'shau-o-lan'. Practice it and learn how to spell it." I turned to Stephanie.
"Stephanie," I held out my hand to her and I think on some level she didn't include herself in this little exercise. She opened up her wallet and handed me several cards. I took them all, banded them together and handed her the new ID and credit card. I stepped close to her and whispered you have a twenty-five-hundred-dollar limit. Let me know if you need more." I slipped my own ID's into my wallet, not wanting Stephanie to see that we are married.
"I hope you can all tolerate your new names. Practice signing them a few times so you know them and can spell them. You only need to use them for purchases. You are not changing your name." At this point, everyone was looking at their and each other's IDs, talking to each other and no longer listening to me.
Marc came into the room, nodded to me and stood just inside the doorway. He was a handsome guy dark brown almost black hair and light blue eyes, six-foot-two and 220 pounds of tall lean muscle. By the average guy's measure, he was bulked up but compared to the other RangeMan guys like Hal and Cal he was sinewy and strong like tightly wound steel bands. I walked over to him. "Report."
"We found five trackers. Three in suitcases, two in shoes."
"Whose?"
"Leyla's kid's suitcase. Angelia's suitcase and sandals. Stephanie's suitcase and tennis shoes." I held out my hand and he dumped five devices into it. "Load it all up. Prepare to wand everyone. I still have to distribute the phones then we will be ready to go." I set the trackers on the coffee table and continued preparing everyone to be off-line.
I stood waiting for a few moments to let my family settle down. Knowing this was going to be even harder than giving up their cards. I got out the box of phones.
"I need your attention. We are not ready to go yet. Now everything I am doing right now is preparing you to be off line electronically. If you use the cards in your name you could be tracked. If you use your phone even one time you can be tracked. So, I have new phones for everyone. They are the brand-new Samsung S8 Galaxy Edge. They take excellent pictures and have a twenty-gig memory. Plus, these are the new ones that are waterproof so you don't have to worry about getting them wet. You can take underwater pictures with them." Excited chatter went up through my family.
"When this is all over you can keep these phones, just transfer your old number to them. But for today I need your current phone in exchange for the new ones. Turn your current phones off and get ready to hand them to me." I walked around, starting with my parents, and working my way through my siblings, collecting phones and issuing new ones. Each phone had a sticky on it with the name of the recipient and the phone number for the new phone.
"These phones," I tried to tell them but there was too much talking. I whistled to get everyone's attention. "The phones are only to be used to contact people going on this trip. No one outside this house. No one back home. You will find that each phone has an address book with everybody's phone numbers already programed in including all my men. You are to contact no one that is not on that list. Does everyone understand? Oshanna do you understand?" She looked at me with a well duh look.
"Angelia, you understand? No husband, no friends." She nodded to me. This was going a lot easier than I had expected. No one was pitching a fit, most of them were happily exploring their new phones. "Everyone just got exactly the same phone. I have a bunch of cases so everyone can tell theirs apart." I unloaded the cases on to the coffee table. Oshanna and Angelia immediately dove in picking through the pile.
I turned to Stephanie. "Here is your phone. I need your old one."
"You didn't tell me I can't call Joe while we are gone. You heard me tell him I would call him every night."
"It's the way it is for everyone. Text him from your old phone and tell him you will be out of touch while you are gone."
"I can't text him. I have to call him, he's not going to believe me otherwise." I handed her the old phone back and she went over to the corner of the room.
I walked over to my dad, "Here is the satellite phone for you. You can use it as much as you want, even on the ship." I waited for everyone to pick out a case and start putting them on their phones. Stephanie came back over to me and handed me her phone.
"What color case do you want Babe?"
"Something multi-color. I don't know, I will look through them in a minute." She turned to me, "He is mad. He thinks this is a trick to steal me away. He doesn't understand why I can't call him."
"Babe, if they want to find out where you are the first thing they are going to do is listen to your parents and his phones for you to call and then trace the call. Even if you don't tell him where you are they can find the cell tower the call is originating from and then they will have our location. It would take them less than a day for them to find us and everything we are doing to keep everyone safe will be worthless."
"Oh, I just thought you were trying to keep me away from him." Well I am but that is not the main purpose.
"Not at all. No one can call home not Angelia, not Oshanna. It's for your protection everyone is going completely off-line. Besides I know your routine. You two only stay together for a few months before you break up and I get my chance. You two have never lasted and I have waited this long, I am a patient man I can wait a little while longer." She gave me a shocked stare as realization dawned on her that I am serious about a relationship and I will bide my time.
"But we always get back together. Eventually we are supposed to get married." She explained.
I grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the corner. I was going to let her have the truth and my family didn't need to hear this. "If you two really wanted a long term permanent relationship you would have figured it out by now and at least be living together. If he really wanted you long term there would be a ring on your finger. You need to realize that while you may have a comfortable relationship when it is working, neither of you are dying for the other, burning up with the need to be together forever. In fact, when you get too close, you sabotage the relationship because neither of you really want to be together long term. He is looking for a homemaker who is going to stay home with the kids and have a home cooked meal on the table every night at 6:00. You are very independent and need to live your life on your own terms and have a man that supports you, not one that has constant acid reflux, or waves his arms and yells at you. I know you have made a commitment to him and I'm willing to wait, but long term the two of you would never be happy together. You will never be a happy stay at home mommy and he is not flexible and relaxed enough to take you as you are."
"And you are?" She questioned me.
"Yes I am. I love you how you are. I never expect you to change for me, or cook for me, or do my laundry."
"Well you have Ella for all that." She interrupted.
"Yes, right now I have Ella, but I didn't used to have Ella and I don't always expect to have Ella. But I can take care of myself. I'm not looking for a woman to do it for me and I'm not looking for a woman to produce 2.5 kids and run the household. My life is infinitely more complex and what I am looking for was something I never expected to find and is one of a kind. You do things in my life that no one on this planet can do. You make me smile. You make me laugh. When I hold you, I find a measure of peace that I never thought I would have in my life. You make me whole in a way that can't be measured. Babe you are like my own personal sun bringing light and life back to my soul. I know that sounds deep but there it is. It is why you are so precious to me and why I would do anything, including sacrifice myself, for you. There is nothing I would not give in my life for you. But I have held you at arms-length for a long time, not getting too close because I didn't want to put you in danger and I believed that I wasn't worthy of having someone as special as you. The other night changed all of that.
"First, I realized that I have already gotten too close. That you are in danger and will never be out of danger again. That is the price you have to pay to be with me. I don't know if you can live with that. Second, I realized that I can protect you better than anyone else out there. That you can be safer staying with me than if I let you go. Third I promised myself if I got you back I would always be there for you and always take care of you. Forever. Till the end of time. There is no expiration date on my feelings for you. I understand that you are currently with him and that this is all unexpected and you are not ready for it. So take your time. I am patient and I am a permanent fixture in your life. I am never going away again. I am never going to leave you again. I will protect you always. Your heart as well as your body. So, do what you have to do, I will still be here when you are done."
She looked astonished, like she didn't believe all she was hearing. Like it didn't add up in her head. I took her in my arms and just held her close to me. "I love you, I will always love you. Nothing that you can ever do will make me stop loving you, wanting you, needing you." I whispered.
She stiffened, put her hand up against my chest and pushed me away. Then she just walked away, phone in hand and went to go look at the phone cases. I knew I had said too much, too fast. She wasn't ready but I wanted, no I needed, her to know how I really felt and what she means to me.
I walked back over to my family and just stood there for several long minutes watching them pick out cases and get ready to go.
Surprisingly Stephanie stood up and came over to me. She gave me a look like she was proud of me. "You are being very generous with your family. New credit cards, New phones."
"Got to keep the masses happy or I would have a revolution before we got this whole thing off the ground." I told her unsure of this new attitude of hers.
Marc interrupted, coming to tell me that all the luggage was being loaded and the men were outside lining up waiting for their targets to leave. I waited to get everyone's attention again as I could hear my men hauling all the luggage back out to the SUV's.
I pulled myself together and walked over to Leyla with two phones. "Leyla and Richard, Julie has her own phone. I wasn't sure if Becky or Maggie did and since Becky was the same age I got a phone for her and Maggie; but it is up to you if you think they are old enough to have their own phones, can use them responsibly, and keep track of them."
"Neither of them have phones yet, but if they see Julie with one they will be upset. So yeah, we will take both phones for them. If nothing else, they are both big into taking pictures and will want to use them for that." Leyla said holding out her hand. I handed her the phones and gave her a smile.
"Hard to believe they are growing up so fast. It seems like only yesterday they were in diapers and then starting school."
"I am enjoying this new age. Becky just completed her babysitting course and now I can leave them home alone with her occasionally and have a date night. She has been bugging us for a phone so if you don't mind after this is all over we would like to keep it for her."
"Of course, that's what I got them for." I turned back to the group.
"Ok we are now ready to go." I told everyone. "All of your phones and cards will be locked in the safe at RangeMan so they will be protected until your return." I handed the box to Jacob with specific instructions that these were not to leave his sight till he was handing them over to Tank.
"I need everyone's attention." I raised my voice to be heard over the crowd. "Your luggage was scanned and five bugs were found in bags and shoes." I told everyone. "As we get loaded up every person will be scanned for trackers."
"I thought because we were on a private jet we didn't need to go through scanning." Isabella said.
"Security scans at the airport look for weapons. We are looking for trackers." I put the five trackers back on the coffee table. "These have already been found in the luggage and we need to scan everyone to make sure there are no trackers on everyone. Isabella, Leyla, Angelia if you will get your kids lined up my men will start scanning everyone as they head out to the SUV's. Everyone ride in the SUV you got here in." Eddie and Junior were standing in the front hall, holding Pro-G10 scanners. Little black devices slightly bigger and three times as thick as a cell phone, with light readings on the front that go from green to red and beep loudly when a bug is scanned.
"Mama, Papa, Abuela if you will please go first, you will ride with Erik and Manuel" "Abuela, si quieres ir primero, viajarás con Erik y Manuel." I asked them holding my arm out. They lined up, were scanned, and walked out to their SUV. "Julio and Oshanna, you two are next. Julio, ride to the airport with Oshanna and Lester." Angelia came around the corner with Shanna and Kendrick in each hand.
"Leyla," I called her over. "What store carries the toy that was broken?"
"Toys R Us." She told me. I Google mapped it. There was one only a little out of the way to the airport.
"I am going to have your SUV follow me and we will go there first and meet everyone on the tarmac." I sent a quick text to all my men. 'Head to the tarmac and start getting everyone and all luggage loaded up. Layla's SUV will follow mine. I am taking Layla and Mikie to get a new toy and we will join you.'
Becky and Maggy were on their knees at the coffee table going through the rest of the phone cases, both complaining.
"Uncle Carlos, all of these are ugly." Maggie said.
"Yeah, I don't like any of them." Becky said.
I walked over to the two and looked at the eight cases that were left. "This one has a cute doggy on it and that one has a cool pink, red and black swirly design. Surely there is one there that you can like a little."
"I want zebra stripes." Maggie declared.
"I want Justin Beber." Becky said.
"Look, girls, when we get back we can get the perfect cases for you, but I just handed everyone the same model of phone, these cases are just so you can differentiate your phone from everyone else's and so it can protect the phones while we are gone."
"Everyone got this phone, even Ricky and Mikie?" Becky asked.
"No, all the adults. You two and Julie are the only kids that get to have a phone. Now you both have to take care of the phones and you can only contact people on this trip with them. There are phone numbers preprogramed into your phone for the whole family and all the men, you can call or text any of them. You can't contact any of your friends or anyone back home once we leave. Do you understand?" They both nodded at me and started going through the cases again.
Five minutes later there was a bottleneck at the front door, as multiple kids' shoes scanned positive for trackers. I herded all positive scans back into the family room and started searching the shoes. Tennis shoes are easy to plant, because you just cut the rubber and slide the tracker in and the pressure from the rubber holds it in place.
Everyone had to get rescanned and Maggie was still broadcasting from her other tennis shoe so everyone but Leyla and Maggie headed out the door to get loaded up. "Babe," I noticed that she had a light blue case with dandelions blowing away on it. "Go ahead out to the Cayenne, stay with Marc. He is going to ride with us."
"Hey, why did you assign me someone else for my protection detail. I thought you would take me." Her voice got a little wobbly but aloof as she talked and she looked down not meeting my eyes. I lifted her head to look at me.
"Babe I AM your protection detail, but anytime I can't be there, like right now, I need to have someone as my backup. Marc's a former Ranger too, he's the best Babe, or I wouldn't have assigned him to you." She nodded and headed out the door. I helped find the last tracker and everyone got loaded up.
Finally, it was 10:43 and we were heading out into the partly cloudy smog that hung over the city. I would feel relieved when everyone was on that plane, when everyone was on the island. I went in to Toys R Us with Leyla and Mikie. We found the handheld game that got broken and got him a replacement and another one that he saw for him to share with his brother.
"Leyla, it's ok to get him that one too. What else can we get for the kids going on this trip?" I was ready to buy out the store to have a peaceful plane trip with all the kids actively engaged.
"Honestly Carlos, I think all the kids have enough electronics. If we need anything it is beach toys." She explained. We headed over to an outdoor toy aisle. There were twelve kids coming, ages three to twelve. I bought four big pre-made beach sets that had multiple kinds of buckets, scoops, shovels, rakes, and other sand toys. Then I filled the basket with three beach balls, two little nerf footballs, and a large game system that had everything for volley ball and badminton, two soccer balls, several Frisbees and four large carry all mesh bags, in different colors with over the shoulder straps that Leyla said was needed to carry all the toys to and from the beach.
We checked out and loaded all the toys onto the folded down backseat of the Cayenne and got back on the road. Fifteen minutes later we were pulling through the guard gate and heading towards the tarmac. Mass numbers of men, lined up like ants, carted piles of luggage to the plane.
"That? We're flying in that?" Stephanie sounded amazed and scared all at the same time.
"Yes, Babe. It is a Concorde. A special jet that goes twice as fast as a regular airliner."
"It looks like the shuttle with low back wings. Where are the large side wings that are going to keep us airborn? Why are the engines coming out of the back of the wings? How does it fly and stay in the air?" She asked.
"Babe they have been flying them for over thirty years, they are perfectly safe." I told her.
"Thirty years and they are still flying? Isn't that too old to be flying?" I could see she was working herself up and if I didn't nip this in the bud I would be dragging her to get her on the plane.
"This one was recently refurbished. All new engines, hydraulics and electronics. It has been upgraded with Wi-Fi and USB ports at every seat. It is perfectly safe. It has hardly been used since it was refurbished and just flew in last night from its hanger in France."
"France, like across the ocean France." She repeated.
"Yes, like across the ocean. It is perfectly safe. You have to know I would never put my whole family, everyone I love, on a plane that wasn't completely safe."
"Ok." She said. I got out and opened her door and started to lead her to the plane. I knew that Marc and my men would make sure everything was loaded onto the plane. When we got to the stairs, she froze again. This model has stairs underneath it, coming down from its belly, behind it's front wheel, approximately where the wings began, so while it wasn't that far up, the stairs were small and steep.
"Come on Babe, do you want me to carry you up?" I teased, knowing that would spur her into motion.
She grabbed hold of the railing on one side and started up. Holding on for dear life she climbed to the top of the stairs and went inside. We were met with sheer bedlam, parents trying to assign seats and get their children to sit down. While the children didn't mind sitting beside someone else, none of the kids wanted to sit next to a sibling. Instead they all wanted to sit next to a window.
The inside was designed in grey with grey carpet with two red stripes going up each side of the isle and two first class grey seats on either side of it. Above the seats were the usual overhead signs to buckle up and air vents but when it was upgraded, small video screens were installed in front of each seat that can be lowered so a movie can be shown on them.
"Look, Isabella, Diego, Angelia, Richard there are 50 seats next to windows, certainly there are enough windows for the kids to each have one." I told them hoping to stop some of the arguing. "Just tell them that they might have to sit next to my men.
"Well Oshanna, Julio and I were going to sit in the same row so we could catch up." Angelia said.
"Look there are nine kids. Put Kendrick in the fifth row and all three of you can sit in that row with him. Isabella and Diego can sit between Shylia and Parker. Chris and Shanna can sit in the same row. Rebecca and Maggie can sit in the same row. Richard and Michael can sit in the same row and Leyla and Richard can sit with them. Or parents you can decide who should sit with what kids." I suddenly shut my mouth, realizing I was stepping on toes. I was making my decisions based on age, but the parents would decide based on who needed the most help and supervision. My parents stepped up and volunteered to sit with some of the kids.
I took Stephanie's hand and prepared to wait patiently, this is why they load families first on planes so they have a chance to get settled. "Babe, I didn't mark your suitcase as a carry on. Is there anything you are going to need in the next two hours from any of your bags?"
"I didn't bring my laptop but I have the new cell you gave me. Can I download some games onto it? I have started playing games on airplanes."
"Sure Babe, just start downloading them now. Once we are in the air you will have to use the inflight Wi-Fi." She pulled out her phone and started frantically pushing buttons on it calling up the PlayStore and selecting games to download.
Several minutes later, Leyla and Mikie came on board. I didn't know what was taking them so long until I saw she had three carry-on bags she had lugged up the stairs.
"Leyla, just help get the kids settled. My men can load the luggage."
"Well they were putting them all in the back and we need these inside the cabin." She explained. I climbed halfway down the stairs. I called to Hal, who was the nearest man to come over. I instructed him to load all carry-on sized luggage inside the plane. He pointed to a pile that was forming between two SUV's and said they were loading the back first and they would load these when they boarded the plane, and that it was a cool plane and he couldn't wait to see how fast it can go.
I smiled to myself, as usual my men had everything under control. Finally, most of the people on board were seated and I led Stephanie several rows back from my family and sat her next to the window. I know she never sleeps on a plane so I wanted to give her something to look at. She was still busy downloading games.
The flight attendants, Emile and Sabine, started coming around to see what everyone needed to get settled. They told Layla that they could play a movie, if she had one for the children. She had several and the children couldn't decide between The Incredibles, Big Hero 6, and Black Beauty. They were busy trying to get the children to decide on one when Sabine explained they could play up to five movies at once. That she had ear buds to give each kid and they could each watch their own movie.
My men were starting to board the plane with all of the carry-on luggage. As they entered the cabin, they held up the luggage and asked who's each was and then loaded it in the storage above them. Once Angelia got her kids' bags, she rummaged through them and pulled out a DVD. She stopped Emile and asked her to put it on for her kids. It was Fern Gulley and currently their favorite movie.
Eventually everyone was seated and Captain Mullbanks came back into the cabin to survey the situation. "All the cars are off the tarmac and when everyone is ready I will signal the tower that we are ready to leave. Then we get into the lineup of planes taking off. If you have never flown on a Concorde before you are in for a treat, because the Concorde takes off more like a rocket, launching upwards into the sky. Rather than the long slow ascent of a regular airliner. Don't worry, I have been flying Concords for over fifteen years and never had a problem with one yet."
The children and my men looked excited. The women, including Stephanie looked worried. "Don't worry Babe. I promise you this is safe. It is a little different, but it is safe." She nodded to me and turned back to her phone, where she was now installing some of the games she had downloaded including Solitaire, Bubble witch, , Bubble Shooter, Cookie Crush 3, FlowFree, Candy Crush Saga, Uno, Hangman, Tetrus, and Fruit Ninja.
I was pretty sure she was going to have to log onto the airplane Wi-Fi to play some of these but I would tell her about it once she started playing. The captain came over the speaker.
"Good Afternoon everyone. This is your Captain speaking. We are very glad to have you on board the Concorde A17. Today we are scheduled to fly to Miami. Weather seems rather gloomy here with cloudy skies and possible showers, but it is expected to be sunny and 93 degrees in Miami. This flight will take one hour and thirty-four minutes."
The seat belt signs flashed on.
"We have received clearance from the tower. Everyone must remain seated with their seatbelt fastened until we reach our cruising altitude of 60,000 feet and I will turn the seatbelt sign off. Parents please double check that all children are properly seat belted in, all electronics are properly stowed, the table in front of you is up and your chair is in its full upright and locked position. We will now taxi out to the runway. On board, we take safety very seriously and we would ask you to pay attention to our cabin crew who will carry out the safety demonstrations. Cabin crew prepare for safety demonstrations please."
There was no card in the back pocket of the seat in front of you. Instead the flight attendants went through the seat belt fastening, oxygen bag drop, where the two emergency exits were, the life vests in case of a water landing and where the boats were, how to tuck in your seat in case of an emergency landing, and to always listen to the pilot in case of emergency. Then they went through the cabin and made sure everyone had their seatbelts on and electronics stowed. Stephanie hastily stashed her phone into the pocket of the seat in front of her.
A few minutes later the pilot came back on. "We have received clearance from the tower for take-off, we are taxiing to our final runway. This plane has a very vertical take-off and once a route is established and we are over the ocean, we will climb to 60,000 feet where we can go supersonic and reach our top cruising speed of over 1300 mph. Your flight attendants have gum to help you equalize ear pressure, get some now before take-off."
Emile and Sabine quickly walked down the aisle passing out sticks of gum to everyone that wanted some. Stephanie got some and I debated it. Whether diving or flying I didn't usually have a problem with equalizing my ear pressure. I skipped it for now. They quickly took their seats in the back of the plane and signaled the pilot that everyone was secure. A few minutes later you could hear the engines ramping up and suddenly we were going down the runway for several long seconds until we just jumped vertically into the sky.
Some of the adults gasped, some of the boys squealed. We continued that vertical climb for about thirty seconds. Out Stephanie's window I could see the ground peeling away from us, buildings shrinking at an incredible rate. Several minutes later we were over water and it was as if the engines caught their second wind. They launched us forward at a steeper rate than before and it sounded like liftoff, we were blasting straight up into the sky.
It took almost ten more minutes before we leveled off and started flying straight. The captain came back on, "Congratulations you have just had your first ever supersonic take off. Now you can sit back and relax we have reached our cruising altitude and I am turning off the seatbelt sign. You are free to get up and move about the cabin. In a few minutes, Emile and Sabine will start passing out lunch."
To be continued…
A/N: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you all for your reviews! They are all loved and appreciated. I have three more chapters this week then it is going to go to weekly updates.
As always big THANK YOU to my beta Sassysaint who makes my story's more readable. You are AWESOME! THANK YOU! If you haven't read her stories they are worth your time and will give you something to read while waiting for the next chapter to post = )
Second Big THANK YOU to my sister, Jonelle. Who is giving my stories a thorough technical analysis (ie deep proof reading) and fixing all my commas, apostrophes, making great suggestions and fixing all my many other mistakes. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Family album below again. In reality, today the Concordes are no longer operating, several of them are now in museums. But they were very nice luxurious planes that are the only supersonic commercial plane ever built. I could just see this as the type of plane Ranger would choose to have and fly his family on so I took some creative license and restored several. How are you liking the story so far? Please read and review.
Ranger's Family Album
Mother's Mother – Abuela Rosa, Father's Mother – Abuela Sanja Manoso
Mother – Maria Father – Javier
Siblings and family in age order
Leyla (35) & Richard Gonzales– Rebecca (Becky) 12, Margaret (Maggie) 10, Richard (Ricky) 7, Michael (Mikie) 5
Angelia (34) & Jordan White – Shanna 5 – Kendrick (Ricky) 3
Ricardo Carlos Manoso (32)– Ranger
Julio Manoso (30) Ex Allysa – Jacob 2
Isabella (27) & Diego Diaz – Chris 8, Shylia 6, Parker 3
Oshanna Manoso (22)
Rachel & Ron – Julie 12, Fredrico (Freddie) 9, Cassandra (Cassie)6
Trenton Merry Men Assignments (20 Men)
Abuela Sanja – Vince
Abuela Rosa – Manuel
Maria – Erik
Leyla – Hal
Angelia – Woody
Isabella – Cal
Oshanna – Lester
Rachel – Eddie
Julie – Junior
Stephanie – Ranger, Marc
Extra's – Bobby, Ram, Zero, Zip
Night's – Chet, Chester, Gino, Mario, Ryan, Ramon