Chapter 24 - Tour of Rangeman
/Stephanie's Point of View/
I woke to Ranger starting to stir beside me. I would have complained, but it was just before 0600, so he'd slept in. My alarm would be going off momentarily. I rolled over in his arms and they wrapped protectively around me.
Ranger placed a soft kiss on my lips. I wasn't sure what to think, but I decided to just go with it.
"Morning," I responded.
He smiled. Guess he was happy I hadn't pulled back. "Morning, Babe." We snuggled for a few minutes until I needed to roll over and turn off my alarm.
"What's your schedule, Babe? I told the guys I'd catch a ride to the office with you."
"Up at six, get ready, breakfast, and on the way to the office by 0630. At my desk by 0700. Should have a leadership meeting at 0900 and we have the all hands at 1300. I assume you'd be introduced there.
"No gym time?"
"I don't look forward to gym time, so no, not first thing. I start my day and hit the gym or pool sometime late morning or just before lunch. I find it breaks up the day. Same with the gun range, I often hit the gun range in the afternoon. Obviously, clients and field work sometimes rearrange my schedule."
Ranger nodded. I took that as a 'good for you'.
We rolled out of bed, had a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, and we headed to the garage by 0625.
"If you want to drive, we'll take the SUV. I've never let anyone drive my car," I said to Ranger.
"Let's take yours. I'm good at being chauffeured," he responded with a smile.
We climbed into the new to me car and hit the road.
"Why this car, Babe? Would have expected something either more utilitarian or more fun."
"Well, if I want utilitarian, I typically take one of the fleet vehicles. I looked around at all sorts of fun cars, but I still can't bring myself to pay much for a car."
"Unless I'm missing something, you should be making good money. You could buy any number of fun new cars," he countered.
"Can, yes. Want to, no. I've been saving. Between my bad luck with cars and the fact that I wasn't sure if I'd need to run again, I really didn't want to spend too much. Grayson turned me on to this vehicle at the police auction."
"Grayson?"
"One of my cop buddies. He's usually posted at the Rangeman substation. You should meet him this week sometime."
"Police auction?"
"Yeah, this car used to belong to some hoodlum. It's armor plated with bullet resistant glazing. I thought you'd approve," I said with a smile.
I took his "Babe" as approval.
It took about twenty minutes to arrive at the office and pull into my reserved parking spot.
"Babe, you going to give me the grand tour of this facility?" Ranger asked.
"Of course, boss man," I replied. He smirked at my sarcasm. As we got out of the vehicle, I continued, "let's start with the outdoor tour. Easiest will be to walk around the block." He nodded.
We hadn't got fifteen steps toward the street when Grayson called my name and came jogging up to us.
"Bombshell, everything okay?" Grayson asked.
"Yeah, what's up?" I replied.
"Are you sure?" Grayson countered.
"Grayson, what are you talking about? Is everything okay with you?"
"Yeah. You're sure you're fine? You're headed the wrong way this morning. We were concerned."
I looked up to see Mac standing just outside the lobby door providing backup to Grayson. Glad to see the two teams working together.
"Grayson, this is Carlos Manoso, aka Ranger, the owner of Rangeman. I was going to start with an outdoor tour of the facility before we headed inside," I offered. I turned to Ranger. "Ranger, the illustrious Grayson. As I stated before, he's local PD stationed here."
Grayson extended his hand to Ranger and apologized. "Sorry to interrupt. We were just concerned and wanted to make sure she hadn't found trouble. Mac couldn't leave his post without alerting the building, so I offered to come check on Steph. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you as well. I appreciate everyone looking out for Stephanie," Ranger countered.
I gave both men the side eye for talking about me as if I wasn't there and couldn't take care of myself. But I let it go.
"I gotta get back in. It was nice to meet you. See you later, Steph," Grayson stated before heading back inside.
Ranger and I continued on our tour.
"Grayson is headed back into the lobby, but the portion of the building to the right, with the second entry, is the police substation. This lot, here," I indicated to our left, " is gated for police vehicles only."
"It was built as a substation, right?" Ranger asked.
"Yes, it was initially a substation. It was a little small and outdated, but you'll see when we go inside that we actually extended their break area into our lobby. We keep it stocked and it creates interaction between the police and our employees."
"Nice."
We rounded the main security gate enclosing the Rangeman employee parking and turned towards the park and pool.
"We've leased the park, pool, and that parking across the main drive back to the City. They maintain and staff the facilities, but we secure the property 24-7. They opened to the community last month."
"How much is the lease for?"
"A dollar a year for the park, pool, and parking plus an additional dollar a year for the police facilities and parking. They are separate leases on purpose. In exchange for the low lease value, we do get a tax exemption, but that really wasn't the point. It's about building bridges to the community. The community sees Rangeman; we get in front of the City Council and the Police Chief for the leases."
"Babe, you are good at this. The core team couldn't have picked anyone better," Ranger said beaming at me.
I blushed and continued, "the leases are short terms allowing us to adjust if needed but also get us back in front of the City Council and Police Chief on a regular basis."
Ranger pulled me to his side and kissed my temple. I know we are on monitors, and pulled back slightly.
"Babe?"
"Sorry, not sure how to react to a PDA with the boss. We are on camera, and I know we are being watched." Ranger nodded in understanding but took my hand.
We moved onward. I pointed out various security features and where we were starting construction on the new residential tower.
"The recreation center had some basic dormitory rooms and dining areas, but they aren't apartments up to Rangeman standards. They function okay for now and will act as overflow for staff that have housing offsite, but the new tower will be an upgrade. It will be five stories. Two stories will be secure parking; one will be underground. Levels two through four above ground will be Rangeman apartments. The fifth story will be an apartment for Zulu, one for our Louis and Ella (otherwise known as Casey and Mira), and one for the boss man himself. We'd told the architect to leave your apartment unfinished until you were here to design it."
We headed inside to the lobby.
"Good morning, Mac," I said to the man now on reception duty. I turned to Ranger, "Ranger, this is Martin Crawford, but he goes by Mac. Mac, meet Ranger Manoso."
"Sorry about earlier, sir," Mac stated shaking Ranger's hand.
"No need to apologize, her safety comes first. I would expect nothing less," Ranger replied.
They exchanged a few pleasantries and discussed military careers before Zulu showed up in the lobby.
"Morning, boss," Zulu started before he and Ranger exchanged some sort of complicated man hug.
We didn't finish the tour. Ranger and I parted ways there. We crossed paths at the leadership debrief and then the all-hands introduction, but for the most part we were pulled in different directions. I did get a couple of staff stopping by trying to get more info on the big boss. I dealt with a couple of clients wanting modifications to contracts.
I got a text from Ranger about 1500 asking what time I planned to head out. He said we should leave the house at around 1815 this evening.
I replied asking if 4:30 was too early? He replied, '1630'. I took that as a confirmation versus a correction and continued my day.
At 1630, I looked up from my computer to see Ranger leaning against my door frame. I tried to hide my goofy grin, but I'm not sure how successful I was. That man is a work of art, and nothing is as satisfying as having his full attention.
"Babe." I took that to mean it was time to go, and began packing up.
