Chapter 21 - Berta's been shot
/T-Bone's Point of View/
I was chatting in the lobby with a couple of the police and another Rangeman employee enjoying a donut, when the lobby door opened. It wasn't loud but something about the energy made me turn immediately on high alert.
Bombshell came backing into the lobby, gun in hand. She appeared calm but also zoned out, or perhaps zoned in.
Mac and I immediately reached for our side arm's instinctively, but Bombshell secured her weapon and turned to the office. Everything screamed wrong. She'd come in hot, she didn't acknowledge us in the lobby, she didn't badge in per protocol, and she made a beeline for her office.
Mac placed a call to Zulu interrupting a meeting and relayed, "something's wrong with Bombshell."
Mac turned to me and said, "Zulu said to send back up to her office. He'll meet you there. Don't engage unless you have to." Shit, that didn't sound good.
It took me a few minutes to find her. I actually found Zulu first as we both headed to her office, but Mac pinged us that she'd hit the gym. We found her, in her full tactical gear beating a punching bag.
Zulu attempted to get her attention and failed, and ultimately he had to enter the range of her flying fists before she even acknowledged him.
"They shot Berta," was all she said before collapsing to her knees. Zulu's spine snapped and his whole body went tense before morphing into contained rage. What the hell? Who's Berta? My body went from full alert to mission mode.
Zulu turned to Crash, who had at some point entered the room. "Check her for injuries. Try not to sedate her, but be gentle." I knew the signs, she'd been on an adrenaline high and was crashing. Unfortunately, we'd need intel only she could give. Zulu didn't seem confused though.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and hit speed dial. "Conference room one in 15. Get any core team member available on a conference call." He snapped the phone shut and I could only assume he'd been barking at Gilpin.
"With me," he barked before hightailing it to the parking lot. Bombers car was haphazardly parked in her assigned spot and the door was ajar. There were several distinctive bullet holes on the passenger side. Shit! But there was no sign of a passenger, no blood, no real answers I could see.
Lacking any seniority, I wasn't in on the meetings that followed, but I kept my ears open. Fortunately, this office has an active gossip chain. Unfortunately, that wasn't on my side this time.
Over the next week, there were several meetings and changes. Bombshell was given a full time security detail on top of Tank who flew in to personally provide protection.
Apparently, there was a local gang that had taken exception to our operation in the area and Bombshell being part of clearing some dealers of the nearby street corner as well as a local boarding house. Seems they targeted her looking for the weak link.
What the gang saw was an aggressive response. I'm not sure if they figured out that she's actually the glue that binds us. For her sake, I hope not.
With the help of local PD, dash cams, our building surveillance, and Bombshell's amazing memory, we were able to catch the gang members involved and they were already making their way through the court system. Bombshell had made some powerful allies in this town.
At the following week's all hands, senior leadership presented a debrief. After the overall presentation concerning some increased protocols which would include dash cams in privately owned vehicles, they opened the floor to questions.
I should have kept my mouth shut, but I was curious. "What ever happened to the lady that got shot?" I asked.
Zulu and Stephanie looked at me quizzically. "What do you mean?"
"Berta, what happened to her? Is she okay?"
About half the room erupted in laughter; the other half looked just as confused as I was.
Mac, who was sitting beside me, finally offered some clarity. "Berta's getting patched up. Berta is Bombshell's car."
I flushed bright red. I wasn't the only one that didn't know, but I'd been stupid enough to voice the question.
