Chapter 20 having Fun in LA
All I wanted to do was strangle him, but if I could pay to keep him away from the family or at least the safe houses I would do it.
"Do you mind if I go see my son today? It's only like an hour and a half by transit to San Bernadino. I can't be this close to him and not visit."
"Sure, but rent a car it will be easier than taking the transit."
"Thanks Bro." and I disconnected the call. At least he would be away from the family today, and we would see about the rest of the week. I handed the phone back to Oshanna and started to walk out of the room but my mama was on her feet hugging me.
"I know he is a trial for you me'jo, but you did the right thing. As much as he drives you loco he is your brother. We want to stay together as a family through all of this."
"I know mama." I told her as I hugged her back. I did it for her so she wouldn't get mad at me and drive me crazy on the rest of this trip. Whatever happens, I just have to make sure he doesn't put the family in danger again.
Wednesday May 20 08:00
At 08:00 I said goodbye to Stephanie and my family and got to work. I spent the day setting up a back-channel line for everyone to contact through and finalized the recruiting I had started yesterday. I studied more satellite images, downloaded all the business addresses and all property, buildings, planes, trucks, boats, ships and lands owned by them. I discovered all of his cocaine fields were located in the middle of his coffee plantations. Everywhere there were more than two acres of plants the middle was all cocaine.
Tank called me half way through the day. "I'm going."
"I'm not involving anyone from RangeMan."
"I've known you longer than you've had RangeMan. I am your friend, your brother in arms, we've been through hell together and an attack on you and your women is an attack on me. You're not doing this without me. Besides I know all the motherfuckers you've recruited to do this and I will call them all up and tell them to stand down until I'm involved. You're not going to go have all this fun without me."
I sighed internally. Tank was always a good man to have on your side and a very bad man to piss off. Sure, I could call up other men I know and try to leave him out of it, but I would still have to deal with him when I got back to RangeMan and as big as his heart is, his grudges were ten times bigger. He could make things miserable for me for years to come.
"Fine, but no one else. This is off the books. We are all ghosts on this one."
"Done."
"Meet up is Saturday 15:00 at Cable Airport in Upton. Warehouse 38. This is a full extermination exercise. We are going to take him apart."
"I'll bring a few friends."
"I already have eight guys. In forty-eight hours that should be enough."
"Come on, they want to come play too. There just aren't many opportunities to blow stuff up any more, I can't deny them."
"Fine. Pay is half a million to be paid two weeks after completing the operation."
"You don't have to pay them. They will come just for the fun of it."
"Still everyone signs a contract and everyone gets paid. This is technically a week-long private security detail in Palmsdale for unnamed celebrities."
"I'll bring the party favors."
"Actually, I have a party planner meeting us at 14:30, we need a lot more than small party favors. I'm bringing big guns. We are going to blow shit up spectacularly! If he owns it or makes money using it it's going up or being burned to the ground. Complete dissolution of everything."
"and you were going to leave me out of this." Tank scoffed.
"It's always CYA, nothing personal. Speaking of personal, have Hector hack and scrub all his accounts. I want to know where every dime he has is and where it is coming from. I don't want to miss anything." (Cover Your Ass)
"Done." He laughed to himself. "You're going to bleed him dry."
"I'm going to send a message that if you threaten what is mine, I will take or destroy everything you have. I have to make it too destructive, too expensive, and too deadly for anyone to come after Stephanie or my family ever again." My family might worry about what I am spending on this little vacation but it is nothing compared to the millions I am going to take Sergio for.
"I'll have Hector email you." And Tank disconnected.
By 16:00 I started packing away all of my maps and notes. Bones had done a great job researching every company owned by or affiliated with Sergio. He had a detailed diagram of all one hundred seventy two different businesses linked to him and showed how they were interwoven. He was the direct president or CEO of seven. Those seven owned eleven separate companies run by family and close associates. Those eleven each owned two or three separate companies, except in the case of the coffee conglomerate. Each coffee field, and separate production plant was owned by a different company with additional companies that were affiliated.
We had located twenty-five cocaine/coffee fields and twenty-nine warehouses and processing plants used to process the goods and each were owned by separate companies. There were ten more companies owned that were affiliated with the coffee fields but I wasn't sure what each did. However it was much more complicated than that. First each field, warehouse or plant was owned by a holding company that did nothing but own the property and any equipment on it and rent them out to another company that actually used the properties and paid all the labor. All these companies were managed by three management companies that were all run by two other companies, who were then owned and run by Sergio. Just his coffee fields and production plants were one hundred and twenty-three different companies.
The six trucking hubs and offices where his semis and trailers were stored were five different companies. Attached to this shipping conglomerate were two more companies that own and run the six cargo planes used to fly things out of the country. Five separate companies handle the twelve cargo ships, the shipping containers and what's inside them, and three separate companies manage the Uranium mine, the processing plant and the shipping of the caked uranium. Four more companies handled all the small fishing boats, the refrigerated trucks that delivered their daily catches, and the wholesale side of the business.
He had two companies where all they did was buy products to ship out of the country. The first bought items shipped to other South American countries and was split into two divisions. The second bought items being shipped internationally to North America and to every nation being shipped uranium, it was also split into two divisions.
He had several regular shipping routes through the country South America and six trucking hubs where most of his trucks and shipping containers were housed. Several airports were regularly used, but there was one main one near his Southern compound that often housed all eight of his airplanes.
We had located ten corporate offices that each housed a separate corporation. One at the main port most of his cargo ships sailed from. The second, for the emerald mine, was also attached to a jewelry store that he did a lot of business with. The third office managed selling emeralds to the jewelry store and buying crafted jewelry back then shipping it to stores around the world. The forth was a corporate office for his trucking and shipping company. The fifth handled the government shipping contracts.
The sixth was a corporate office for the coffee business that had smaller offices many under separate business names at each production plant. The seventh was an office for the company that bought local goods to sell internationally. The eighth was an office for the company that bought everything to be sold throughout South America. The ninth office was located on the same site as his plutonium mine but had a separate address and was registered to the same shipping company that managed his cargo ships.
The tenth office handled the four businesses that made up the local fishing conglomerate. There was an eleventh business that owned and managed all five of his compounds and seventeen properties, but it didn't have a public corporate office. One hundred fifty three businesses ran their products and money through these main eleven corporations and he owned the companies that owned these eleven businesses.
He could be anywhere. The eleventh corporation owned and managed twenty three different properties. Three main compounds in Colombia; his southern compound, a western compound, and an eastern compound. All three compounds had high walls and lots of security. The house in Venezuela and the family compound in Panama. Plus, there were seventeen other houses listed to his business that might be for his higher up employees or associates. In some of the information he used the alias Boris Hernandez as the president of several smaller businesses. So, Boris may not even be the real name of the guy in the US after the women.
I had drawn out plans to burn down all twenty-five fields. Blow up all twenty nine production plants. Blow up and burn down the trucking hubs and all the trucks and trailers we can find. Blow up all of his planes. Blow up and burn down all twenty three properties. I started considering having my lawyer draw up transfer of ownership contracts for several assets including the mines, the fishing group and and his shipping companies. Blowing up all his shipping freighters would be a problem. If we did it when they were out to sea it would kill everyone on board. Better to do it in port, but only three of them were in a Colombia port right now and they would probably be gone by the weekend. Not to mention blowing up a ship in port causes all kinds of other problems. Better to just blow up the shipping containers we can reach and transfer ownership of the ships.
More crippling would be to have him sign over his businesses and take all his money so he has nothing left. If I just take everything from him and he turns up dead, no one will think I took them legally. So maybe for the short term I need to leave him alive until I have transferred all of his businesses into my name. Threaten him and his entire family, like he has threatened mine.
….
Stephanie came home from the tour elated with five new outfits and three pairs of shoes. She had a killer red dress and shoes that I insisted she try on for me and I told her to wear them for dinner and that afterwards we were going out. I tried to get her to wear it with no underwear on underneath but she patently refused.
We had an hour before we had to leave to meet up with the family for dinner. Tonight, Skylar had made reservations at Badmaash, an Indian restaurant. I enjoy Indian food and as it can be made quite spicy and flavorful I hoped my family would love it too. My only concern was the children. Fortunately when we arrived they had their own children's menu with mac-n-cheese, grilled cheese and chicken tenders that everyone was happy with. They didn't have a back room; rather multiple tables in the back of the restaurant had been put side by side to seat everyone.
I had the 'Badass Chicken Tikka', which Stephanie teased was only because it was called badass. She ordered the fried chicken, and I had to laugh and grimace at the same time that we could come to a restaurant this healthy and she picks the one fried option. As dinner was winding down she leaned over my ear and whispered "Kakaju barfi".
I looked questioningly at her. "Kwaiji barfa" she whispered again.
"My dessert for tonight. I'm probably saying it wrong. K-a-j-u B-a-r-f-i." She spelled it for me. I smiled at her and signaled the waiter over. I let him know I wanted two orders of Kaju Ki Barfi wrapped to go with a fork and the bill.
When it was time to go, we split up the caravan differently. Stephanie and me, my parents and Oshanna with an entourage of 10 men were going to the Laugh Factory for the evening and then Oshanna and Stephanie out to The Conga Room. The Laugh Factory was quite funny. Even though the tables only sat four my parents pulled up an extra chair and we had a relaxing evening hanging out and laughing. With three tables of large men in black surrounding us. I didn't recognize any of the talent but they were all good.
When it was time to go my mama hugged me, kissed me and thanked me for the good night out on the town. Oshanna, in more of a partying mood after several drinks, rode in our SUV quoting some of the jokes she found funniest. I had been pleased that Stephanie had stuck to soda the entire night, knowing it was too early for her to start drinking.
"When a man opens the car door for his wife, you can be sure of one thing, either the car is new or the wife is." Oshanna quoted laughing out loud.
"Unless the man is a gentleman who likes to touch his wife." I whispered in Stephanie's ear.
"Two buddies were sharing drinks while discussing their wives. "Do you and your wife ever do it doggie style?" asked the one. "Well, not exactly." His friend replied, "She's more into the trick dog aspect of it." "Oh, I see, kinky, huh?" "Well, not exactly. I sit up and beg, and she rolls over and plays dead." Oshanna and Stephanie were laughing out loud and I kept my comments to myself. I had learned in my teens that if you were out to please yourself or get taken care of, it was an unfulfilling night. But if you focused on giving your partner an unforgettable time, pleasuring them first, you got totally satisfied in the end and they come back for more.
Oshanna continued with the jokes. "A 92-year-old man is walking through a park and sees a talking frog. He picks up the frog and the frogs says, "If you kiss me, I will turn into a beautiful princess and be yours for a week." The old man puts the frog in his pocket. The frog screams, "Hey if you kiss me, I will turn into a beautiful princess and make love to you for a whole month." The old man looks at the frog and says, "At my age I'd rather have a talking frog."
Stephanie kept the jokes going.
A mother is in the kitchen one day, preparing dinner for the family.
Her teenage daughter walks in and asks her, "Mommy where do babies come from?"
The mother thinks for a while before deciding she ought to be honest with her daughter. She says, "Well honey, Mommy and Daddy fall in love and get married. One night they go into their bedroom, they kiss and hug, and then they have sex."
The daughter looks confused so the mother says, "That means that Daddy puts his penis in Mommy's vagina. That's how you get a baby."
The daughter thinks for a moment and then seems to understand. Then she says, "Oh I see. But the other night when I came into your room you had Daddy's penis in your mouth. What do you get when you do that?"
The mother replies, "Jewelry, my dear. Jewelry."
They both laughed hilariously. If I hadn't known better I would have thought Stephanie had already been drinking. Then Oshanna continued with a bunch of one-liners.
"What's the difference between the G-spot and a golf ball?
A guy will search for a golf ball!"
"What's the difference between your job and a dead hooker?
Your job still sucks."
"What's the difference between a hooker and a drug dealer?
A hooker can wash her crack and sell it again."
"I found a prostitute who said she'll do anything for $50.
Guess who got his front porch repainted?"
"What's six inches long, two inches wide and drives women wild?
A hundred dollar bill."
"I asked a Chinese girl for her number and she said, "Sex! Sex! Sex! Free sex tonight!
I said "Wow!"
Then her friend said, "She means 666-3629."
"What do boobs and toys have in common?
They were both originally made for kids, but daddies end up playing with them."
Then Stephanie starts on another longer one.
"A family is having dinner at the table one evening when the son asks the father, "Dad, how many kinds of boobs are there?"
The father is taken aback, but he ponders for a moment before answering, "Well my son, a woman goes through three phases in her life. In her 20's her breasts are like melons, round and firm. In her 30's and 40's, they become like pears. Still nice but hanging a bit. But after 50, her breasts become like onions."
The son is confused and asks, "Onions?"
The father replies, "Yes – you see them and they make you cry."
The wife and daughter are really annoyed by what their father has said, so the daughter asks, "Mom, how many different kinds of penises are there?"
The mother smiles and says, "Well honey, a man goes through three phases in life too. In his 20's, his willy is like an oak tree, mighty, strong and hard. In his 30's and 40's it becomes more like a birch – flexible but reliable. But after 50, it's like a Christmas tree."
The daughter laughs and asks, "A Christmas tree?"
The mother replies, "Yes dear. Dead from the root up and the balls are just for decoration."
I wanted to tell Stephanie that in my family the men are like Charlie Chaplin, lasting forever. He fathered his last child at 73 with his wife that was like twenty-five years younger or twenty-five years old I couldn't remember. We keep it strong and hard for many years.
The girls just kept on laughing and repeating jokes all the way to the club. I had picked The Conga Room to go to because it was Latin flavored and I wanted to teach Stephanie some of the dances I grew up with. Secondly, they had great screening and strict security and Skylar had, of course, gotten our names on the list. We had a little trouble getting our security through security because they were all wearing stun guns. But after ditching the weaponry they were welcomed into the club.
Lester sat at our table and half of the other eight guards, my mother's had reluctantly gone home with her, managed to get another table near ours with the rest taking up positions along the side wall. Part of the reason I wanted so many men along was because I wanted to dance and the only way I could let enough of my guard down to enjoy myself was if I had plenty of men watching my back.
The night went well. Some singer was being featured when we arrived and we all sat, watched the show and ordered drinks. Well, Oshanna and Stephanie ordered drinks, the rest of us just got water. Once Oshanna got far enough away from the men in black to look available, several men began to ask her to dance.
After a short while I led Stephanie out onto the dance floor and began showing her some of my favorite dances. We started with the Cha-Cha because that was what was playing but moved on to the Rumba, the Salsa she already knew, but then I taught her the Bachata.
Stephanie is naturally graceful on the dance floor thanks in part to 'burg' ballroom dance classes growing up. But when doing Latin dances, she is a marvel with smooth graceful delivery and hips that just won't quit. She was extremely good with all the dances and it didn't take us too long till we were hip to hip grinding together, practically having sex standing up on the dance floor.
When Stephanie ordered her third drink about midnight I knew that the night was soon going to be coming to a close and the horizontal Mumba that I so enjoy was not going to be on the menu by the time we got home.
I lost track of how many drinks Oshanna had but because Stephanie ordered her third I told Oshanna it was last call and that we were going to wrap the night up. She pouted at me and I knew she was still of an age to close the bars down. I reminded her that we had Universal Studios in the morning and if she was too tired and hungover she wouldn't enjoy the rides. We ducked out about 00:35 and made it back to the houses about 01:30.
Stephanie passed out on the way home and I had to carry her upstairs and put her to bed. I didn't mind it, when I get her ready for bed it means we sleep naked. At about midnight Hector had emailed me a list of accounts and where the money was coming from. I was grateful Stephanie was asleep because I wanted a chance to go over them before morning.
Thursday May 21 02:00
Sergio had three personal accounts. One checking and savings account in Colombia and one checking account in Panama that his ex-wife was on. His current wife had a credit card with no limit but no direct access to any of his money.
He had five investment accounts, all under one of his corporations that held over three point eight billion dollars. This money was invested around the world in the US markets, the European markets, China, the general Asian markets including India, and South American markets.
That's where the clarity ended, Sergio's business accounts were a massive web of lies. I had a five-page diagram showing two hundred fifty six different bank accounts all belonging to his many companies and subsidiaries totaling over one point four billion dollars. His companies' balance sheets were about the same. All his lands, buildings, trucks, planes, ships, and equipment were worth over one point two billion dollars.
I could drain his bank accounts dry tomorrow but he is making tens of millions of dollars a month with all his companies and it wouldn't take him long to have enough to come back after me again. He has created a lot of powerful allies and business partners that would come after anyone who would take him out.
I studied his accounts and the one-month cash flow that showed where money was coming from and how he moved it around his businesses. Several obvious ones right up front were for his legitimate business practices, but a lot of smaller ones funneled money from one business to another paying the fees and profits till they reached the top. His businesses were like one big pyramid scheme.
In the shipping companies, the actual company that made the money shipping the items had to turn around and pay the holding companies that technically 'owned' the trucks, planes, ships, shipping containers, etc monthly fees and a percent of the profits. Then they had to pay rent on all the buildings they used, again to the holding companies that actually owned the properties with a percent of the profits. Each of the shipping companies plus each of the holding companies then paid one of eleven corporate offices for managing the businesses with a higher percent of the profits. Then the eleven corporate offices paid one of the seven corporations he was CEO or president of fees for running their companies and a percent of the profits. The percent of profits grew each rung of the ladder so that ninety percent of the profits were being paid directly to the companies he was CEO of, then transferred to him as his salary and monthly bonuses.
Three businesses made the money, they paid two more businesses rent plus profits. Then all five businesses paid one business management fees plus profits. This business paid his corporation fees plus profits, which paid him salary plus bonus. It was confusing and brilliant. He could manufacture the rent and fees to soak up most of the money made every month, plus profits to take up the rest so that all of the money being made was passed to the top, while all one hundred fifty-three businesses that made up the bottom were scraping by, paying their people minimum wages and barely keeping the lights on. All of the holding companies that actually 'owned' the properties were deeply in debt having hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars in loans that they owed and paid each month to the eleven companies that were higher up.
Hector had simplified the whole scheme tremendously because each of the holding companies had a minimum of two accounts and each of the shipping companies had two accounts. In fact, all one hundred seventy two businesses managed two hundred fifty six different bank accounts that the money was shuffled through each month. Hector deserved a raise for this spreadsheet alone.
I wasn't sure by looking at the whole mess there was any direct way to get money out of him. I started to doubt that killing him outright was the best way to handle this. There were too many people involved that would avenge his death and continue to come after me. I needed to take enough from him to make him bleed and threaten his life and his children. Hector included a personal bio on each member of his family.
Sergio himself is forty nine. He has one brother that is married with seven children and is CEO of the cargo shipping company. His sister is married with three kids. Her husband is CEO of the coffee (and cocaine) conglomeration. His mother and grandmother are still alive and living on his western compound. His first wife was never able to have children and after many failed surgical attempts, twelve years into the marriage, died from a 'heart attack' under mysterious circumstances. She was only thirty-two and he was thirty-four.
He remarried that same year and his first child was born days after his thirty-sixth birthday. The second wife had two more girls, but had complications after that, miscarrying twice and he divorced her and moved her out of the country. He remarried at forty-five and has been married four years. She gave him another son and is rumored to be pregnant again.
His older children may not live with him but the rumors are he desperately loves them. His eldest, a thirteen-year-old son, is already being groomed to take over his empire. His two daughters are said to have him wrapped around their fingers.
His newest wife and three-year-old son are the ones he lives with daily and are said to be 'precious' to him. I don't know how precious the wife is when he already has a mistress. She is the daughter of a high powered, well connected politician that gives Sergio prestige, his businesses credibility, and lucrative government contracts. According to her bio she is twenty-six years old and they have been married four years. From her picture I can see that she is very beautiful.
He has been flying to Venezuela for eight months to see the mistress he has there. According to her picture and fact sheet she is the daughter of a cocaine farmer. He bought her and set her up with guards outside of the country so she can't get away. Her bio says that she is now fifteen years old and is a prisoner on that property. Fucking perverted pedophile! I want to cut off his dick. Forty-nine and she was fourteen. All I could imagine is that woman on the video and him drugging and doing the same things to my Jewels.
This is his third known young mistress. At least he waits until they hit puberty. Not that it makes it right but I've taken down men who abused girls much younger. Being his mistress however, brings a short life expectancy. His last two recorded mistresses died badly. One got pregnant and he disposed of her before she got to her second term. It seems he wants a lot of kids but only from his wives. When the other turned nineteen he discarded her for being too old, making her a slave on one of his cocaine production lines. He'd already gotten her addicted to cocaine and heroin and when she got caught trying to snort what she was supposed to be packaging she was killed.
I sent a text to Hector and Tank to bring in a team, that I needed full bio's on all his business partners and associates by Saturday morning. All of his partners, everyone high up in his current companies, and every company he has done more than a hundred million dollars worth of business within the last year or so. I went back to studying where his money was coming from and where it was going. If I cut the head off this snake I had to know whose bank accounts I would be hurting and who would want retribution.
The next time I looked at my watch it was 05:00 and I hadn't yet gone to bed. I realized I had instructed the families to be ready to leave by 07:30, meaning most would be getting up between 06:00 and 06:30. My mama would be up by 06:00 to cook for the family. Any other day I would have an extra cup of coffee and stay up, but all day with my family at a theme park called for at least two hours of sleep. The most I could get now was one and three-quarters so I climbed up the stairs past Mario, pulled Stephanie into my arms and set my alarm for 06:45.
At the sound of my alarm I woke disoriented which never happens to me. I was caught up in the throes of a dream; of men hunting Stephanie and I was hunting the men. My mind cleared instantly and I dragged Stephanie up and into the shower concerned that what she was really going to need this morning was The Cure. Once in the shower she dropped her head onto my chest and practically fell back asleep right there. I washed her hair and declared her good enough.
I tried to get her dressed but she barely cracked open her bloodshot eyes, vetoed everything I picked out, flopped back on the bed and fell asleep. I sent Mario out for The Cure, got myself ready to go in cargo shorts with one of Ella's black tank tops, and went downstairs. I quickly ate a blueberry yogurt and fruit as cold cereal was the breakfast being served for speed this morning. I was wishing that I could have brought Ella to feed the masses, but knew that my mother would take it as a personal insult and challenge that her cooking wasn't good enough. Then instead of relaxing with the family, she and my sisters would spend all day in the kitchen trying to outdo Ella.
Ella was my mother's younger sister. Personally, they really liked each other, send them shopping and they will joyfully spend all day together, wearing out your credit card. But several years after my mother was married she was really sick for Thanksgiving and somehow Ella volunteered to do the cooking for the family. She got rave reviews and even my father told her the turkey was the best he had ever had. That started her cooking for every holiday at my grandparent's house, inviting all the family there for the celebrations.
She got named in the family as the 'best cook' and to this day my mother takes every opportunity to try to outdo her and prove that she is really the best cook. When I hired Ella and Louis to take care of my building it made the rivalry worse. Even though Ella goes to visit her kids on most holidays and isn't there to cook for us, my mother insists on me coming home to have some of her home cooked meals and always wants to know how it rates.
I just shake my head because the truth is that before RangeMan, Ella never had a career. She stayed home and raised her children. But there is no denying she is a naturally gifted chef. She can take the most mundane recipe or ingredients and make them burst with delight on the tongue. More amazingly she can take the healthiest foods and make them so good Stephanie eats them up moaning her way through every meal. Not that I would ever tell my mother this, but this twenty-five plus year debate over who is better in the kitchen needs to be buried. My mother should be proud of the career she has and the six children she raised and let the matter go.
I was standing in the kitchen, loading my dishes in the dishwasher, debating on the bad feelings I was having and trying to determine their origin when Mario returned. I finished my second cup of coffee and accepted the bag of golden food. A while ago I had decided that there was some kind of science behind 'The Cure'. French fries had grease to get the alcohol moving through the liver, salt to restore some electrolytes, and the coke had sugar and caffeine to get the brain going again. And somehow the magical combination made her headache and hangover go away. It was somewhat of a mystery but I climbed the stairs with my treasure and 20 minutes to get Stephanie out the door.
I didn't pussyfoot around. I didn't wake her gently. From a dead sleep I picked her up and propped her against the headboard. Her bleary bloodshot eyes popped open and I put the bag of fries in one hand and the coke in the other. "Eat, you have 5 minutes." Then I asked her quickfire questions.
"Jeans or shorts?"
"Shorts"
"What color shorts?"
"My jeans shorts." I lifted the folded pair out of the dresser. I walked to the closet.
"What color shirt?"
"Red t-shirt."
"That red one." She pointed as I lifted two hanging shirts from the closet.
"What color sandals?"
"Brown" I picked up two pairs and she pointed to the pair on the left. She was more awake now, shoving handfuls of fries in her mouth between answers. Once clothes were laid out on the bed I leaned her forward scooting her down a little so I could get behind her and do her hair. I squirted too much Mr. Alexander's curly hair goo into my hand and worked it through her hair. I quickly brushed it back, put it into a ponytail and pushed her towards the clothes. "Five minutes Babe. Eat while you dress."
She dragged herself off the bed and managed to dress while never setting her coke down. I walked her to the bathroom, her purse in one hand. "I have your sunscreen. Just pack your makeup. We have an hour's drive you can put it on in the car." She looked in the mirror a bit more coherent and packed her concealer, mascara, light blue eye color, light pink blush, lip gloss and her compact.
"Can you eat breakfast? There is cold cereal downstairs." I asked her and she nodded. I took her hand and led her down the stairs and sat her in a dining room chair. I looked at my watch 07:25. Quite a few of the children were downstairs excitedly eating and chattering about the day. I put a bowl of frosted flakes in front of her and got a weak smile. Good step. She would make it now.
As I stood back to watch her I had a growing dread in the pit of my stomach. I don't know if it was from a lack of sleep or if taking my whole family to a theme park was too much for me today. I shook it off. Maybe it was just the worry of being so exposed. Maybe it was just the dread of trying to stay cheerful with my family driving me nuts on less than two hours of sleep. I didn't know but I had to let it go and get on with this day.
I looked around to see Oshanna up, dressed and mainlining coffee as she stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, pouring it into her cup adding milk and sugar. Blowing on it for a few minutes and then drinking it down. Refilling the cup and repeating the doctoring process. Blowing to cool it and drinking it down. My men were trickling in and congregating in the living room. Within minutes most of my family had arrived.
"Good morning everyone. Just pass along what I'm telling you to anyone that is not here." I addressed them. "Steph and I are leaving in the next few minutes. Once there I'm going to get the tickets for everyone. These will be VIP express tickets as arranged by my travel agent, there are special VIP entrances and you will skip the line and be able to get straight on the rides." A ripple of excited conversation went up through the crowd so I raised my voice.
"This means you will be able to get through the park faster, but the reason for it is safety. I can't have you standing around in line after line, for an hour at a time like sitting ducks in a shooting gallery. The goal today is to have fun, but safety is paramount. Keep your guys in sight at all times and make sure they have their eyes on you. They will stand in line with you, they will go on the rides with you, they will eat with you. They are your shadow, do not lose them in the crowds. Hourly check-ins will be by text. The park closes at 8:00 pm. Call me if anyone needs to leave before then. Don't forget sunscreen and to drink plenty of water today. Stay safe and have lots of fun."
I nodded to Tiger and Marc and went to collect Stephanie's bowl but she wrapped her arm protectively around it. "Almost done." she murmured. Leyla and Isabella approached me, "How long should we wait till we follow you?"
"Give me fifteen minutes. It shouldn't take me long to get everything taken care of."
Stephanie stood and took her bowl to the sink, rinsed it and loaded it in the stainless-steel dishwasher. She looked mostly awake. I took her hand and led her out to the waiting SUV. She leaned her head against my shoulder and almost immediately fell back asleep. Damn, she had drunk the coke but I never got any coffee into her.
"Stephanie needs coffee. Find a drive thru and get her some." Ten minutes later they pulled into a Starbucks and I couldn't help but smile. I knew that Marc liked their expensive flavored coffee, but fancy coffee was lost on people like me that drank it black. Regardless, I got a large plain one for me, an order that they had to repeat twice because no one could believe that I wanted a plain black coffee with nothing in it, and a Venti Mocha Latte for Steph with lots of sugar to go.
Julio texted saying he was up and getting ready for the day and needed to know where to meet up. I let him know we were thirty minutes out and to wait out front of his hotel, that my men would get him. I texted Ram, Zip and Zero to pick up Julio at his hotel and make sure he wasn't followed. The dread was back. Was something bad going to happen for real or was my subconscious trying to warn me again about bringing my whole family together to a theme park? This could be a recipe for melt-downs and personal disasters.
I let Stephanie sleep for ten more minutes, knowing we had thirty before arriving at the theme park. Then I shook her slowly awake and handed her the coffee I had already sweetened. She blinked her eyes open and said thanks as she lifted off of me and took it.
"Babe, if you want to put make-up on you have twenty minutes before we arrive." Her eyes popped open, becoming more awake and she handed me back the coffee as she got her bag out and started putting on her make-up. Her bruises were greatly reduced and down to the green and yellow stage but I was sure she would want them covered for another few days. I realized that this was a two-handed operation and occasionally handed her the coffee in between applications.
When we arrived, and found the ticket counter we were sent to the VIP customer service station. They already had all fifty-one tickets printed and in lanyards, but wanted picture IDs before they would release each one. I got Skyler on the phone and she worked her magic on the manager. Getting him to check my ID and since the credit card paying for the rest was in my name releasing all of the VIP tickets for me to distribute.
I was feeling better about us divided up into groups, as everyone got their tickets and spread out going their own way. The dread was there but it was lower on the scale than it had been this morning. Before leaving the house, the families divided up much like they had on the ship. Rachel, Ron and Leyla were following the older girls and Cassie; Richard and Diego took all the middle-aged boys; Isabella and Angelia took the younger girls and both three-year olds, with my parents and grandparents in tow to help out. Every group had their entourage of big, bulky men in black following them devotedly around.
The morning passed by quickly for our group of Oshanna, Julio, Lester, Stephanie and me with Bobby, Mark, and Tiger following dutifully behind. A morning of family and fun had Lester sticking with us as part of the group and I appreciated having his eyes so closely on Oshanna as she would let him go with her on the rides instead of just riding in the next car back. Oshanna had downloaded the app onto her phone and led the way through the park.
When we got to the first attraction – The Walking Dead – Stephanie steadfastly refused and Oshanna finally skipped it. We then walked the park to find the Despicable Me ride, where the ride entrance looked like the house from the movie with his giant car in the garage that people waited to have a turn, to take their picture with, as well as a giant sized Gru and several minions in costume loitering about.
We entered the house to find a huge maze of lines and got handed a pair of 3-D glasses. Then hustled into a room where we were all 'interviewed' to work in Gru's lab and be turned into Minions. The "ride" was a large auditorium of seats that moved up and down, and back and forth in rows while you watched a movie "adventure" on a large screen.
We had our VIP passes so they let us in first but I was insisting on our group being put in two rows together as a whole and not split up throughout the large room. I don't even know how they can call this a ride. All you got was being shaken and stirred while watching a 3-D movie. I was just thankful we didn't have to stand in a long line before being so disappointed.
Once we got outside into the bright sunlight, we wandered through the parks the crowds being less than normal. As it was several weeks before the end of the school year for most schools the number of school aged children was really low and the park attendance was low leaving smaller crowds to fight through and smaller lines.
When we left Oshanna led the way across the park to Springfield, the mock up of the Simpson's home town. Stephanie and Oshanna were enjoying seeing the colorfully costume cast, constantly stopping to take pictures with them as we moved throughout the park. She led us onto the Simpson's "ride" and again it was just seats that moved in front of a huge movie screen. Yet I could hear people laughing, screaming and shrieking as if they were scared and reacting as if it was real. Maybe if you didn't have a life this was thrilling. I've done too many real "thrilling" things like jumping out of airplanes, being in firefights and trying not to get blown up to think this was a thrill. But Stephanie and Oshanna had big smiles on their faces so they were obviously enjoying it.
Next thing I know I was dragged into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter where we ran into Julie and crew. We spent the rest of the morning following around the pre-teen trio, as they explored the fifth of the park completely devoted to Harry Potter fans. Julie had made me watch several of the movies with her when she was ten and I was impressed that everything looked just like the movies.
The girls led us through the village towards the Harry Potter themed rides. As soon as I was handed the 3-D glasses I expected another stadium movie. But the Harry Potter ride was an actual moving roller coaster that only sat four to a row and each row moved independently through the ride. The girls were all in a huddle deciding who was going to ride with who and I grabbed Stephanie's hand to guarantee I was seated with her. I still had that feeling in my gut that we shouldn't be here today and I'll be damned if I let her get separated from me.
The ride was better than expected. I had never been on a 4-D ride where you get blasted with heat and cold air to simulate what was going on during the ride. It made it more real and when we got off and the girls announced they had to ride it again I didn't have any problem agreeing. The third time they announced they were going to ride it I was thinking of just waiting at the end of the ride until they announced that this time they wanted to go through the castle, not take the VIP shortcut that shuttles you to the front of the line.
Several workers had told them they were missing out and so we walked back through the endless waving maze of metal poles that long lines of people in the summer would normally be waiting in to get to the castle entrance where two times before we had been split off and ushered to the front of the line – all ten people and twelve guards that were constantly surrounding them. This time though we went left and soon were in rooms full of 'live talking portraits' where the girls stayed till they had run through the whole show twice.
Then more rooms of the castle with more talking portraits, the singing lady who guards the entrance to Gryffindor's room in the movie. A short bit of Harry Ron and Hermione hiding under their invisibility cloak and Dumbledore talking to us, the sorting hat was cute and just like it looked in the movies, then finally we were back to taking the ride. Once again I rode with Stephanie because with this bad feeling in my gut I really didn't want to let her out of my sight.
Finally, the girls turned in their glasses and led the way to the next rollercoaster the Flight of the Hippogriff. This was a real live "old fashion" roller coaster on metal rails. Half my men were leading the way through to the front of the ride and started to be put in lines to get on the roller coaster cutting our group in half. Lester and Hal objected and quickly explained that we all rode together and to finish loading that coaster ahead of us.
I counted seats and these coasters had twenty-two seats so our whole crew could fit on at one time. It was good if not a little fast and the girls tumbled out and started running around, racing each other to the entrance again. While ten men in black shot to attention, several practically running over Rachel, Ron and Leyla trying to catch up with Julie.
We had to ride this ride three times so all the girls and then Stephanie and Oshanna got a turn riding in the front seats. Then the girls were happy to wander around the village some more, with four big men in black leading the way, fighting to stay in front of the exuberant teens. Finally they turned into Olivander's to see the wand show where Julie got picked to get fitted with her own wand. After two duds that caused craziness in the room when she waved it and chanted the magic words requested she got lit up by light just like Harry in the movie and it was the "right" wand.
Then the whole group of us were ushered out of the room into the wand shop where the parents of the picked child have to pay for the "right" wand. Well of course all the girls had to have a wand and eager employees were there encouraging children to pick out the wand they wanted from a huge selection. When they were finally satisfied I took them outside to a huge barrel that was five feet across and as high as the local buildings and I ordered them all Butterbeers. We walked through the village of Hogsmeade while the girls practiced spells. Left to their devices I think they would have spent most of their day just in this part of the park.
Finally Stephanie's stomach gave a growl, and though we had stopped for small snacks along the way, by the sound of the monster it was lunch time. We were looking for something good to eat. After many debates, looking at the map, and texting feverishly with other members of the family everyone decided to meet up back in Springfield to eat. Stephanie assured me this was a good idea because most of the family was on this side of the park and everyone wanted to hear what everybody else was doing or had done.
When we arrived back in Springfield Stephanie wasn't sure what she wanted, roaming from restaurant to restaurant to see what all was available, stopping in at the Kwik-E-Mart to see what touristy items were sold there. To my dismay all of the restaurants in Springfield were fast food and fast fried, no salad in sight. I knew we were 'on vacation' but after several days of eating differently than normal my body needed lean fuel, a large salad preferably with chicken breast.
As we walked out of Krusty Burger I noticed my family was congregating in the large open space between restaurants and it looked like open season on the Manoso family. Or like geese congregating in the winter around a large pond just waiting for the hunters to find them, surrounded by twenty four large black pit bulls. I sent a text to my men to stay alert and always surround the targets. The dread was back, with the hair on my arms almost standing on end and my skin wanting to crawl away from the danger.
I kept looking around but couldn't find any danger to Stephanie or anyone in my family. Maybe getting all of the family together for lunch wasn't such a great idea and I was being warned away from having everyone in one restaurant as one large target. I texted my men to split their groups back off and not let them all stay together out in the open. I led Stephanie away from the family and followed her as she explored all the options.
After walking the area, I was even more disappointed as the food options were oversized burgers at Krusty Burger, fried chicken of some kind at Cletus Chicken Shack, different kinds of drinks at Duff Brewery Beer Garden, personal pizzas at Luigi's Pizza, fried seafood at The Frying Dutchman, tacos at Bumblebee Man Taco Truck, hotdogs at Suds McGruff Hotdogs and for dessert donuts from Lard Lad Donuts or ice cream from Phineas Q Butterfat's Ice Cream.
I turned to Stephanie. "What do you want Babe?"
"I can't decide. I want to try them all. I want to know how a Krusty Burger compares to Mc Donald's. Or how Cletus Chicken compares to Cluck-n-a-Bucket, or how Luigi's compares to Pino's. Scrap that last one, they don't have meatball subs or large pizzas to share. So how about some fried chicken for lunch?"
"Babe." This was coupled with a seriously I'm not eating fried chicken look but I waved my arm in that direction for her to lead the way.
I was pleased that the guards were continuing to split up automatically as they had been doing all morning. Some were going in the front of the lines to order first and some were staying in the back of the lines so that the women were always protected. Finally, Stephanie had her fried chicken sandwich with fries and I had a grilled chicken sandwich hold the mayo. Tiger had led the way through the line and secured us a table against the back wall, but Stephanie got her tray and walked right out of the restaurant.
"Babe, where are you going?" I asked as I followed closely behind, grabbing her arm to bring her to a halt.
"Everyone else is getting burgers. I don't want a silent lunch alone with you and your non-talking men. I told Oshanna I would meet up with them. She said she would save us a seat." She told me as she pulled out of my grasp and started walking again. I followed her unquestioningly, tilting my head to Tiger, Marc and Bobby to follow.
Krusty Burger was busy but they had an upper level and Stephanie led us up the stairs. True to her word, Oshanna lit up as soon as Stephanie walked into the room and waved her over. While she had saved a seat for Stephanie and me she hadn't saved seats for Stephanie's guards and they had to sit several tables over. It looked like half of my family was there with the exception of the boys who went for hotdogs and Rachel, Leyla and the teenaged girls whom I was told went for pizza.
Lunch was a loud and messy fourteen-person, family affair as we had Angelia and Isabella and all the kids six and under. Fortunately, they had specialty plates for the small kids. Not surprisingly, within the first five minutes Shanna had spilled ketchup all over herself and Ricky had dumped his whole tray on the floor. This required Angelia, who sat on the other side of Oshanna trying to talk about the day, to go through the food line all over again.
I ate quickly as did my men who were on high alert in such a large place with so many targets. Angelia left her kids sitting with my parents to finish their meals, while she sat again with Oshanna and Stephanie to gossip about all they had done this morning and complain about all the rides she couldn't go on with the small kids in tow.
When most everyone was done eating Oshanna declared that she had to go to the bathroom and Stephanie agreed. Angelia got her kids to take with them and a whole traveling troupe with only three guards made their way to the bathroom in the back of the restaurant. Minutes later the whole group was making their way down the stairs and I was up with the other guards to follow them.
"Where are we going Babe?" I asked as I caught up to Stephanie.
"There are only three stalls in there and a long line. We are going to the large public bathroom that is right around the corner. There are like twelve stalls and a line of sinks and we can all get washed up together." I nodded my head at her and followed behind. Signaling for my men to take turns watching the two entrances of the bathroom while the rest took turns using the facilities themselves.
I stood outside the bathroom with my men for many minutes knowing that the women could be in there easily for fifteen to twenty minutes. Especially Angelia, who has to help each of her kids go to the bathroom and wash their hands. Then they have to clean up, re-fix their hair and refresh their make-up. Maybe this pit of dread gnawing at my stomach was the dread of standing out here for an hour waiting for all the women to finish in the bathroom.
Rachel, Julie, Becky, Maggie, Cassie and Leyla soon joined the group. Now there were five of us standing outside the restroom on this side and six on the other. I knew it was time for me to use the facilities myself and take a break from the constant high alert of guarding targets in such an open arena.
I was standing at the sink washing my hands when I heard my name being shouted and the code 'red alert'. I ran out of the bathroom, warning bells going off in my head, my heart pounding, wiping my wet hands on my pants wondering what was happening to have yelling and alerts with four or more men guarding the bathroom.
I was shocked to find Junior, Sport, and Lester on the ground outside the woman's bathroom surrounded by huge rolls of toilet paper, paper towels and several bags of trash. Laying several feet apart as if they were ambushed and were trying to fight when they got taken out. I ran inside the bathroom to find Becky unconscious on the floor, purses and day bags strewn all over the counters and spilled out on the floor, while Cassandra, Shanna and Ricky were standing around in shock, crying.
"Stephanie!" came out of my mouth as I opened every stall finding all but one empty.
To be continued…
A/N: Here is a bonus chapter. Regular posting will be on Friday.
Thank you all for your reviews! Thank you to www dot thelaughfactory dot com and laffgaff dot com for all the funnies.I just enjoyed adding them too much. The bad guys found them again and grabbed the women, what is Ranger going to do now? Please read and review.
As always big THANK YOU to my beta Sassysaint who adds so much to my stories. Thank you!
Second Big THANK YOU to my sister, Jonelle. Who is giving my stories a thorough technical analysis (ie deep proof reading). Thank you for fixing all my many little mistakes.
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 & Miami Merry Men Assignments (33 Men)
Abuela Sanja – Vince, Ian
Abuela Rosa – Manuel, Gavin
Maria – Erik, Francis
Leyla – Hal, Tony
Angelia – Woody, Dillion
Isabella – Cal, Red
Oshanna – Lester, Sport
Rachel – Eddie, Pace
Julie – Junior, Scott
Stephanie – Ranger, Marc, Tiger
Extra's – Bobby, Ram, Zero, Zip
Night's – Chet, Chester, Gino, Mario, Ryan, Ramon, Billy, Cade, Simon