Chapter Three

After an hour of research, I felt surer than ever that making arrangements to enter therapy was a good move. I had checked into my top three choices for the type I wanted to explore and since all three doctors checked out, I decided to call my first option. The impossibly perky receptionist booked an appointment for me for Friday morning two days from now. With that task done, I made the next call on my list.

"Yo."

"Tank?"

"Steph?"

"Hey, Big Guy. Can I come in sometime this afternoon to see you? Do you have any free time?"

"How about 4pm in my office?"

"Sounds good, I'll see you then," I affirmed.

"Yep." Click. I scowled at the dial tone; all the Rangemen have deplorable phone manners.

With a shrug, I crossed off that to-do item from my list. Since it was just about noon, I decided to have some lunch and made a grilled cheese sandwich. I broke off a bit of the corner and dropped it in his aquarium, and then I changed his water and gave him fresh hamster crunchies. He darted out of his soup can to grab the bit of sandwich, then burrowed back in and ignored me.

I had a few hours to kill before I had to meet Tank, so I went through all my clothes and started sorting them into different piles. I was pretty sure I'd need new workout clothes since I'm dedicated to work out in some form every day. I put some of the clothes I no longer wanted into a garbage bag. Most of it was still okay, so I'd donate those but I threw away some stuff that no one would want. I wondered aloud if I should sort through my shoes…but who am I kidding, I am not going to get rid of any of my shoes! In fact, I think a pair of new running shoes is in order.

With that decided, I looked up at the clock. One hour until my meeting with Tank. I suppose I might as well take my gun when I meet him. After all, I am going to have to start carrying it. I loaded it, dropped it in my purse and walked out the door. Time to head to the mall. If I don't get distracted by Macy's and Victoria's Secret, I can get new running shoes and still have time to head to Haywood to meet Tank.

After I picked out my new pair of running shoes, I was parking in the underground space under RangeMan. I'm pretty sure Ranger leaves this space for me since he has four spaces and only three cars.

With a little finger wave to the camera, I hurried into the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor. As I exited the elevator, I saw several men I know in the control room so I stuck my head in and said hello. I went to Tank's office and knocked. He barked "Enter!" so I turned the knob and poked my head in.

"Hey Bomber, come on in."

I came into his office and closed the door behind me. I said hello, but quickly asked, "how's Ranger? Have you heard anything?" I wasn't planning on asking about Ranger, but I couldn't help myself. I knew Tank would tell me if he heard anything bad, but I always have a bit of a heavy feeling in my chest when he's gone.

"He's made his latest check-ins but I haven't heard of anything bad. Is that why you wanted to meet with me today?" he asked.

"No, I just thought I'd ask while I was here. I came to ask you about training me with my gun," I told him.

His eyebrow shot back up as his face split with a wide grin. "You're going to start carrying, Bomber? That's great."

"I'm making some changes and one of them is to be more aware of my surroundings," I said with a smirk. "Carrying a gun at all times is part of that, even if I don't like them. I've been kidnapped and stalked and nearly killed so many times, I should have a bingo card to keep track. I'd also like to learn some apprehension techniques, and how to pick locks. So, I'd like to make you a deal."

"I'm so proud of you, Steph. I've been asking Ranger to get you trained for a while now, but he didn't want to push you," Tank told me. "I'd love to help you with self-defense and an exercise program too, if you want."

"Thanks, Tank, but I'm taking care of those two things on my own. But if I change my mind, I'll ask you," I replied with a smile.

"So, what's the deal you mentioned?"

"Well, you'd help me with those things I asked for, and I'll help you and RangeMan by pledging 10 hours a week to do searches or whatever else you'd like," I offered.

"Sold. I'd have done it for free, Steph. But I'm not going to turn down your help if you're offering," Tank said with a grin. He pulled out his phone and sent a text.

Ram, Lester and Bobby came into his office moments later. "Hey guys," I greeted.

"Hey, Beautiful," responded Lester with a big smile.

Ram nodded, "hi, Bombshell."

"Bomber, good to see you, how you doing?" asked Bobby.

"I'm doing well, thank you. How are you all doing?" I asked to the room.

Tank cut in. "Men, Bomber here has asked for some training help. She'd like training with firearms, takedown procedures and lock-picking 101, in addition to anything else we think may be of use to her in her job. She's handling her own fitness regimen and self-defense."

Lester, Ram and Bobby broke out into wide grins. "It's about time, Beautiful!" Lester exclaimed. "I can't wait to get my hands on you," he said with his typical eyebrow waggle.

I laughed. "Santos, keep it in your pants."

For the next thirty minutes, we worked out a training schedule and the times I could spare for RangeMan business.

Since I was already here, I asked Tank if I could break in my new shoes in the gym. He chuckled and said, "Go to it, Bomber. The gym is probably not that busy right now, most of the men get their workouts in before the day starts."

I took the stairs up to Ranger's apartment on the seventh floor. Since I'm the only woman, other than Ella, to work at RangeMan, they don't have a ladies' changing room so I usually opt to change and shower there. It doesn't hurt that his bathroom is spa-like, and his shower gel gets me revved up to an embarrassing degree.

I quickly changed, grabbed a towel and water bottle and took the elevator down to the third floor. Entering the gym, I discovered that Tank was right and there was no one in there but me. I put my stuff down and walked over to the mats to do some of the stretches I had learned. At the Y, they told us how important stretching was before and after your workout, and I've been trying to do this right. After twenty minutes, I started a four-mile program on one of the treadmills. It took me just over half an hour to run the four miles and I was really proud of myself. Not that long ago, I couldn't run four miles. I could barely run two. And not long before that, running just one mile would have me throwing up. No wonder I couldn't catch most of my skips if they ran away from me. Feeling a little disgusted with my past self, I wiped down the treadmill when it stopped. I decided to push myself a bit further and started testing out the various weight machines scattered around the gym. Another forty-five minutes later, I was completely exhausted. I quickly went through my cooling down stretches and took the elevator up to the seventh floor. I stripped down on my way to the bathroom and I only debated a few minutes on whether I should use his shower gel or not. Normally, when he's gone on longer trips like this, I avoid it because it just makes me miss him more. But today, I wanted to feel that comfort around me, so I lathered up with the Bulgari and sniffed happily. An hour later, I was clean, blow-dried and I went home with a smile on my face.

The following day, I walked into the bonds office and was greeted by both Connie and Lula.

"Hey Steph. I have two files for you today, but it's only Mooner and Dougie. Not a lot of money but a little something," Connie said as I sat down and snagged a doughnut out of the box on her desk.

"Hey guys, I want to talk to you about some things," I started.

Both Connie and Lula turned to look at me with question marks in their faces.

I continued, "I've been taking some different types of cardio classes at the Y, and also in self-defense. Yesterday afternoon I talked to a couple of the guys at RangeMan to train me with my gun, and in apprehension techniques and stuff like lock-picking for when I get kidnapped." Even as I said that, I mentally cringed. The fact is that even with training, I will probably still be a magnet for crazies to come after me as long as I have this job. "I was wondering if you guys would want to join me at the Y."

Connie looked at me in horror. "Oh no, honey, I don't do the gym."

"I'll come. I've been thinking about this since the other day when you said you were tired of getting in trouble. I don't want to get into these messes anymore either," Lula declared.

"That's great. I brought a brochure of the types of classes they do and when they're scheduled," I enthused. I pulled out the schedule and we went over them while Connie looked on amusedly.

"No time like the present!" Lula exclaimed. "Look here, there's a spinning class in an hour. I bet we could do that, it's just riding a bike."

I agreed to meet Lula at the Y right before the class started so we could each go home and change. I arrived just in time and then one very long hour later, we left on jelly legs and totally exhausted. I headed home to take a shower, then hurried to meet Ram on the gun range at RangeMan.

I brought both my guns with me inside, and Ram had a wide array of others for me to try too.

"I know you often leave the S&W in the cookie jar, Steph, I've heard the stories. I thought maybe one of the reasons is that it's not the right fit for you, so I'd like you to try some others to see if one of them feels a bit more comfortable to use," he explained.

I stepped up to the counter at the closer end of the range. Ram had already set up some silhouette-style targets at the other end.

"Steph, I know you've shot a gun before, but I want to take you back to the beginning and train you as if you've never picked up a gun in your life. Sound okay?"

I nodded. Ram walked me through performing a dominant eye test. At his instructions, I placed my my thumbs together, and then my index fingers to form a triangle in front of me. He asked me to center the target between the edges of the triangle, then close my left eye and tell him if the image shifted off-center.

After following his instructions, I said, "It stays in the center."

"Alright, Steph, that means your right eye is the dominant eye. I expected that because you're right-handed but it's still good to confirm," he replied.

Ram asked me to fully load my gun and walked me through the best techniques for proper breathing, aiming and firing.

One of the best things he told me helped me put my discomfort with guns into perspective. "Your goal, at the end of the day, is to live for tomorrow. If your having a gun is the only thing standing in the way of seeing tomorrow, then it's worth carrying it. It doesn't mean you have to like them or use it as a first response, but to not have one when you're a magnet for the weirdest shit imaginable…"

I laughed. "I guess, when you put it that way I'll make sure I always have it."

Ram had me try all the weapons on his table. It turns out that my little Smith & Wesson .38 is not the gun I was most comfortable with. I felt much more at ease with this compact pistol, a Sig P365. He said RangeMan would buy me one to use if I promised to always carry it, so I promised. It was something I had promised myself anyway, and now I get a free gun that I like better. The S&W will go back to my cookie jar. I can't get rid of it, it has too much sentimental value. Ranger got me that gun, I thought wistfully.

We finished up, and I met Bobby in the fifth-floor break room when I was foraging for some of Ella's food. I grabbed a turkey sandwich and a bottle of water and sat down at one of the table. Bobby was going to give me my first lesson on picking locks after I finished eating.

"Handcuffs would be an ideal place to start, Bomber, since you've been handcuffed so many times before," he smirked at me. Is he referring to the time Morelli cuffed me to my shower rod? I eyed him closely but he didn't let anything show on his face. His blank face rivals Ranger's, for sure.

I spent the next hour in handcuffs, but by the end of it I was getting out of them in about two minutes, which I thought was pretty good. He told me to practice at home because I could get my time down by a lot. He said on average, it takes him about 25 seconds when he's cuffed behind his back.

After he gave me my homework, he asked if I wanted to go to Shorty's with him and a few of the other guys who weren't on shift. It sounded like fun, so I agreed to meet them there. Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot at Shorty's and parked.

When I entered, I spotted Bobby, Lester, Tank, Ram, Woody, Binkie, Hal and Cal at the back table. "Hey guys!" I greeted as I walked back to their table and sat down. I snagged a piece of pizza from one of the six pizzas they had staggered around the table and munched on it happily as I listened to the guys tell stories and joke around. I told them a couple of classic Stephanie stories from before I knew them and they teased me mercilessly when I told them Mary Lou and I had stolen her dad's car one night, only to watch it get impounded when Mare parked it in front of a fire hydrant when we went into a dive pizza joint to get some food.

"Bomber, you and the Bossman are made for each other," Tank declared. I grinned sheepishly, remembering how Ranger had stolen a car when he was fourteen and had been sent to live with his abuela in Miami because of that incident.

After a couple of hours, my sides were splitting from all the laughing I was doing and I decided to head home. I said all my goodbyes and the guys elicited promises from me that this be a regular occurrence.

After changing into my pajamas and getting ready for bed, I set my alarm for 8:00 am and fell into a dreamless sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.