The following morning, Stephanie and Carlos went to the bank branch where Hunter opened an account in their name for Rangeman Securities LLC. Brett Stevenson, the branch manager, greeted them. After introductions, they settled in Brett's office to handle the necessary paperwork.
"Do you want anyone else signing on behalf of Rangeman Securities?" Brett asked. He nervously ran his fingers through his dark hair. His grey eyes sparkled in interest. Brett thought the woman with short, curly hair was attractive. She wore dress pants and a blue wraparound blouse. He saw her cleavage peaking through the top, crossing her chest. Brett couldn't resist looking at the creamy flesh.
Stephanie noticed Brett's eyes flicking to her chest and knew Carlos wouldn't appreciate Brett ogling her. She remained professional as she replied, "Only Theodore Hawkins, the CEO of Smoke Signals. I hired him to oversee the financials whenever Carlos and I were unavailable. Can I transfer the funds today?"
"Of course, Ms. Plum. Do you have a certified cheque or bank draft?" Brett asked. He incorrectly assumed she wasn't married. Stephanie couldn't blame him because they didn't wear jewelry to indicate their marital status.
"It's Mrs. Manoso. My husband and I don't wear wedding bands. I have a certified cheque." Stephanie grabbed the envelope from her purse. "I wanted to manage this electronically, but it's too much to transfer in one lump sum."
Brett blushed when Stephanie corrected his assumption. He raised his brows when he saw the amount recorded on the cheque. It was more than he anticipated. The branch would earn a lot of money from the deposit. Brett wondered how he could invest it to increase profitability. Carlos leaned forward. "Is there a problem, Mr. Stevenson?"
"Carlos, should we take our money to another bank?" Stephanie asked, reaching for the cheque.
"No!" Stevenson snapped. "I never expected the amount. Our policy is to invest up to fifty percent of all deposits to generate revenue for the branch."
"Do you insure the deposits?" Stephanie asked.
"Of course. I'm wondering why you didn't leave the funds in your bank associated with Smoke Signals," Brett replied.
"This bank has branches in other states. My other one does not. We want to access the funds without paying exorbitant fees to move money between banks. Mr. Stevenson, I've asked Theodore Hawkins and Hunter Tanner to monitor my account. They will contact the FBI if anything seems wrong," Stephanie said.
Brett gulped at the barely veiled threat. He quickly realized Stephanie Manoso was not a woman to cross. "Your money is safe with me, Mrs. Manoso."
"Thank you. A large sum must be transferred within ninety days for the company's building purchase. Theodore or Hunter will contact you with the details if I'm unavailable. Have a great day, Mr. Stevenson," Stephanie said, standing from her seat. Carlos moved at the same instant. He placed a possessive hand on his wife's back and guided her from the bank. His hand remained on her back as they walked to the car.
Brett watched the attractive couple leave his bank. He was relieved the Manosos trusted his branch to secure their business funds. Brett decided to manage the Rangeman Securities account instead of passing it to one of the other financial representatives.
Stephanie and Carlos stopped at Smoke Signals before going home. Hunter thanked Stephanie for the banking information. He promised to monitor the account and ensure the funds got transferred to purchase the office building. "Theo asked me to give you these blueprints for your building. It should give you an idea of where to create the desired apartments and office spaces," Hunter said.
"Thank you," Stephanie and Carlos replied. They met the others in the conference room at Smoke Signals to get everything planned. Carlos didn't want to leave everything to Stephanie to organize. She had enough to manage.
The gang spent most of their time training and organizing the workings of Rangeman Securities LLC. Hector, Silvio and Rodriguez developed a comprehensive research program and database. The program accessed records readily available to the public, including names, addresses and phone numbers. To ensure you had the correct person, you needed access to their age, birth date, and last known residence.
Stephanie laughed when she researched herself. Her last known address was on Roosevelt in Trenton, New Jersey. "I never realized you could access this information on the internet. That's actually kind of scary," Stephanie joked. "What else can you find out about me?"
She was relieved when they couldn't connect her to Smoke Signals or her service in the Air Force. Hector quietly explained that he scrubbed those from the internet. It was the same for Carlos, Tank, Lester and Bobby. "I need to protect you," Hector explained. Carlos overheard Hector speaking to Stephanie in English. Stephanie grinned and stroked a finger across her lips, asking Carlos to remain quiet.
Carlos approached Stephanie and asked, "Keeping secrets, Babe?"
"Always. It's an effective way to collect intel," Stephanie explained. "Did you know?"
"Yes," Carlos replied. Stephanie wasn't surprised Carlos knew Hector's secret.
Tank and Lester went to the computer store to purchase laptops for the company. Hector planned to build the servers required for Rangeman. The computer stores didn't have the ones with enough memory or storage space to satisfy Hector's specifications. Stephanie and Carlos listened as Hector explained why he wanted to build them.
"When I worked at E. E. Martin, Elmer had a removable drive. Is that something we should consider? For example, you could have everything backed up on that drive and lock it inside a vault when the daytime shift ends," Stephanie suggested.
"Speaking of vaults, where would we have it?" Silvio asked.
"Not in the IT room. That's too obvious," Stephanie replied. "It has to be somewhere Carlos or I can access it in an emergency. I've got it." Stephanie quietly told Hector, Silvio, Rodriguez and Carlos where they should hide it. Nobody would think to look inside the cabinet behind the false back for the vault. It was the perfect location. You would have to know it was there to find it. "We can adjust the location once we build more Rangeman branches."
"How do we get the space built during construction?" Silvio asked. "It would be obvious to the builder."
"We ask Vince, my cousin, to build it. He worked for a renovation company during high school. After the crew installs the walls and electrical outlets in the offices, we get Vince to hang the cabinets. He'll need some help," Stephanie replied. She hoped Hector and Rodriguez would assist, which they readily offered. They would hide the drive in Stephanie's office in the Miami branch. Stephanie checked her calendar and furrowed her brows when she realized it was already February. "Where has the time gone?"
"Is it passing too fast for you?" Carlos asked.
"I feel like we just celebrated Christmas and New Year's Eve. That was nearly eight weeks ago," Stephanie complained. "Okay, back to our task. What are you wanting to add to the control room floor?"
Carlos wanted lock boxes in the cubicles and other office spaces for the men to store their weapons while inside the building. He poured over design specifications for ideas to present to the construction crew. "We need to hire a designer," Carlos said.
Rodriguez grinned and raised his hand. "Part of my job in the Army was designing spaces to house the computers. I'm sure office design wouldn't be too challenging for me," Rodriguez offered. "You might need to hire an engineer to ensure we don't collapse the building."
Narrowing her eyes, Stephanie demanded, "Show me what you can do."
Using an engineering design program called AutoCAD, Rodriguez designed the spaces using measurements they received for the building beside Smoke Signals. He quickly created sizeable office spaces for the men. The largest office was for Stephanie and Carlos to share as co-CEOs of Rangeman. There was enough space for two desks, file cabinets, a table with six chairs and an area with a sofa, two chairs and a coffee table to relax. Rodriguez placed a bar fridge in the corner below a cabinet and countertop, making Stephanie giggle. "It's to hold bottled water and creamer for your coffee, Steph," Rodriguez teased.
"Where are the load-bearing walls on the floors?" Stephanie asked.
Carlos grabbed the blueprints and spread them across the table. Rodriguez, Hector and Carlos poured over the documents, floor by floor, before deciding to put the control room on the fifth floor, where the office space opened in the centre.
The apartments would go on the third and fourth floors. Carlos wanted the conference rooms on the first and second floors, but only using half the space available. "We should have this part of the first floor, closest to the main entry, as the lobby or reception area. These doors at the back need to be secured and opened only by the employees accessing the building from the parking lot," Carlos stated.
Stephanie took copious notes as Carlos indicated the best layout for each floor. "Since you're only using half the second floor for employee conference rooms, you should block off this side where the floor is reinforced to add the gym. Dad said it used to be one when the building first opened," Stephanie added.
Carlos raised a brow. "Babe?" He suspected Stephanie knew more about the office building than she let on. Carlos patiently waited for Stephanie to admit her dad previously owned the property Rangeman purchased.
"Fine! I guess I should tell you my secret. Dad, Theo and Uncle Joe owned the building we purchased. It's the reason we got it for a great deal. They planned to sell it next year anyway," Stephanie rambled. "Dad put it on the market when I told him our plan to open Rangeman in Miami."
"I'm proud of you," Carlos said, pulling Stephanie into his arms. He kissed her with so much passion it made her skin hot. She wanted to push everyone from the room to make love to her husband. "Later," he whispered, reading her mind.
Rodriguez removed the floor plans for the fifth floor while Carlos and Stephanie were distracted. He drew the perimeter and added the load-bearing walls to the model. It took him a few hours to illustrate the basic floor plan. Carlos drew a crude layout on paper and gave it to Rodriguez to design. They prioritized designing the control room and apartments.
It took Carlos and Rodriguez two weeks to get the layout of the eight floors drawn and entered into the AutoCAD program. Stephanie let the men sort out the control room floor and the meeting rooms. She didn't offer advice until Carlos designed their apartment on the eighth floor.
"You know some of the apartment design might change once we send it to the engineer," Stephanie warned when they got home.
"Yes," Carlos replied. "I want our apartment to have everything we need for our family."
"With an escape route?" Stephanie teased.
Carlos brushed the loose curl behind Stephanie's ear. He rubbed his nose against hers before pressing their lips together. After kissing her chastely, he used his finger to raise her chin. Looking into her eyes, Carlos replied, "I need you to be safe. I need our children to be safe."
"We don't have children," Stephanie argued.
"I know you're disappointed, Babe. It will happen when it's supposed to," Carlos kindly said. "We have our whole lives ahead of us to procreate."
"Okay. Are we installing an escape hatch or a ladder system?" Stephanie asked.
"I love you," Carlos replied.
"Dinner," Abuela Rosa interrupted. "You can love your wife later, Carlito."
Rosa smiled at Carlos and Stephanie. She could see the love and affection they had for each other. It warmed her heart to see her grandson in love. Rosa carried the food to the table. She placed the hot dishes on trivets to protect her solid oak table from the heat.
Carlos and Stephanie grabbed plates and cutlery from the kitchen to set the table. Lester and the others arrived when Rosa placed the last dish in the centre. She removed her apron to hang in the kitchen. Rosa took her spot at the head of the table. Carlos sat at the other end, with Lester and Stephanie on either side.
Tank, Bobby, Ram, Zip and Hector sat along the sides. Rodriguez and Silvio didn't want to impose and went to the local Mexican restaurant for dinner. "Where are Silvio and Manuel?" Rosa asked.
"They're grabbing Mexican food," Stephanie replied. "Silvio and Rodriguez didn't want to impose."
"Nonsense," Rosa claimed. "They are welcome anytime." Rosa figured they should be at dinner since they contributed to the grocery fund. She knew it was too late to call them for supper.
The following morning, Carlos and his team had to leave for the two-month previously delayed mission. Stephanie and Carlos spent quality time together before they drove to the Air Force base for their flight to Colombia.
Zip prepared the ropes and clips for the guys. He raised a brow when Stephanie didn't acknowledge Carlos when he boarded the plane. She focused on her job. "Are you?" Zip asked while sitting in the copilot's seat.
"No," Stephanie replied. "Bones took a sample, and it was negative. It was a waste of a test. I already knew."
"Bones was being thorough," Zip said. He used the clipboard to read the list of preflight checks. Zip told everyone to fasten their belts.
Stephanie felt the electricity when the plane reached cruising altitude. "I love you, Babe," Carlos said. He already said goodbye but wanted to see her before briefing the men for the mission.
"I love you too. Don't get shot," Stephanie replied.
"Don't go crazy." Carlos kissed her cheek before returning to the cabin. Stephanie knew the protocol. She wasn't supposed to learn the details of the deployment. Her job was to fly over Colombia and drop the men close to their landing coordinates.
"We're almost there," Stephanie told Zip. He exited the cockpit to prepare the men for jumping. Lester wanted to go first. They had to jump in quick succession to prevent Stephanie from having to fly a second pass. She heard Zip yell, "Go," every thirty seconds. Stephanie felt when Carlos jumped from the plane. Her heart flew through the door, plummeting to the earth with her husband while he relied on the parachute to land safely. Every day, Stephanie fell more in love with Carlos Manoso.
Ranger blew Stephanie a kiss before deploying his parachute. He floated to the ground, using the ropes to guide him to the landing target. The men quickly shoved the parachutes into the packs. They would fold them properly once they arrived at a safe location. Silently, Ranger prayed, "Please keep us safe and protect my wife." Carlos loved Stephanie more than ever.