Hi all. As ever, my gratitude for your reviews and encouragement. I really appreciate the support and feedback. Still plugging away, but my muse got stuck on the other story I am writing this week, so slow progress on Straight Up.
Amping Up
About half an hour later, Hector and Carlos emerged from his office and Hector politely gestured for me to stand up. He spent about another ten minutes looking over the equipment setup on my desk, nodding and commenting to Carlos occasionally in Spanish. Eventually, he stood, and, after another extended conversation in Spanish with Carlos, he turned to leave. He stopped beside me, took my hand, and brushed his lips gently over it, murmuring "Adios". He smirked in Carlos' direction, who just shook his head, and then left. I shot Carlos a quizzical look, and he answered the unspoken question.
"Hector is gay, babe, so he was just teasing me by flirting with you a little." I nodded in comprehension. At least that explained Carlos' lack of jealousy or possessiveness.
It was nearly two pm, and Carlos indicated that the phone meeting he had with Tank and Marco was at three, so we went into Carlos' office to go over the business plan I had begun to draft out. I worked through what I had outlined so far. I had done a short business description and indicated several places where I would need to add a fair bit more detail, since I only had a basic understanding of his business in Miami. I had been able to flesh out a lot more of the market analysis since I had been doing the research for Trenton, and this was the most detailed section I had been able to complete. I had done three versions of organisational and management structures; an initial structure based on a start-up model, a growth model for five years projection, and an exit model if Carlos wanted to move on from Trenton and begin expansion in another city. Again, I had only basic details on the services and products, since I needed Carlos to supply a lot more details. With marketing and sales, I had used my local knowledge to suggest several strategies to target business and personal clients for the security. I figured the market and clientele in Trenton would be markedly different from Miami, and I drew on the conversations with the police officers, Uncle Joe, and Michael DiStefano to provide a local context to the marketing and sales strategies. Finally, I had included three potential projected growth charts for the business; the first very conservative, the second middle-of-the-road, and the third an optimistic best-case scenario.
Carlos had been mostly silent through my explanation, but when I finished, he spoke. "Stephanie, I'm totally blown away. This is awesome. Especially given how long you have had to work on it." I blushed at his praise but felt a strong glow of pride and accomplishment. "This is exceptional, Steph, and I'm pretty sure it will be more than enough to convince Tank and Marco that this is viable. I still need to raise the funds, so that is where the bounty hunting will come in, but with you on board, I think I will be able to move more quickly to set up the security aspect of the business."
I felt elated at that thought. "And this," he indicated the draft plan, "is even more evidence that you earned that check. You worked even harder than I thought." I blushed slightly and smiled.
At three o'clock, Carlos locked the outer office door and led me into his office space. He set his phone up for a conference call on speaker and dialled a number. A deep voice with a Louisiana accent answered, "Yo, Ranger."
"Tank?" Carlos asked, "Where's Marco?"
"On his way. Lester took a knife to the arm from a skip this morning. It was shallow, not much more than a scratch, but it needed a couple stiches and a tetanus shot, so Marco has been at the hospital until he was discharged. He'll be here in five."
Carlos looked stern, "He get the skip?" he asked.
"Yup, bagged and tagged. Lupez delivered him to the cop shop."
Carlos nodded, even though Tank couldn't see him. "Tank, I'm here with Stephanie Plum, who prepared the research report I sent through. I've offered Steph a contract to work with me to help set up Rangeman here in Trenton, and I think it is going to be the best decision I've ever made."
I was glad Tank couldn't see my flaming pink cheeks. "Ms Plum," came the deep baritone in acknowledgement. "It was an excellent report. Marco and I were both highly impressed."
"Thank you, Tank," I replied.
At that moment, we heard the sound of a door opening and someone walking into the office. Tank spoke to say, "Marco, Ranger's on the call and Ms Plum."
"Report!" barked Carlos to my surprise.
Marco's smooth tones did not sound surprised, however. He just said, "Hello to you too, Primo. Lester's fine. He'll rest the remainder of the day. Just a deep scratch. Only three stitches and some antibiotics since the knife was dodgy. He'll be back on board by tomorrow."
Carlos grunted in acknowledgement and Marco continued, "Good afternoon, Ms Plum. Thank you for the excellent report. I'm so pleased that Carlos is offering you a position with Rangeman."
"Please call me Steph, both of you. Hello Marco, it's nice to meet you as well. I'm excited to be helping you."
Carlos spoke up, "Men, I'm faxing through another document that Steph has been working on and it is in draft format. We have been discussing it. Tank, make copies and come back with them please." Carlos went out to the fax machine and faxed through the draft business plan. He came back in and told Tank he had sent it. Tank presumably left to collect the fax and make a copy for Marco, and Carlos and Marco discussed a couple of issues for Rangeman Miami.
Tank came back in a few minutes later and handed Marco a copy. They both took a few minutes to look through and then Marco's voice came through, sounding puzzled and awed, "Wow, Ranger. Did you ask Steph to prepare this? It looks so comprehensive already."
Carlos smiled at me, "No, Steph did this at her own initiative. She has indicated where there are gaps. Tank, I would like you to work with Steph on starting to fill in those gaps next week. There's information about our services and pricing and returns, as well as the business background and organisational charts. I'd like you to help her incorporate equipment costs and setup in the planning as well. Marco, I think you and I should pay particular attention to the marketing and sales sections, as there are strategies and ideas that I believe would work for Miami as well. I'm also going to start doing some detailed investigation of real estate in Trenton. I'm looking for a building that we could adapt and renovate for our purposes. Questions?"
I was a bit awed by the commanding presence Carlos was projecting. He was very much the CEO and in charge in this situation. Marco asked some clarifying questions, two of which I was able to answer, and the rest Carlos fielded. The dynamics of the three men was interesting to listen to, as well. Tank clearly deferred to both men as leaders but interjected several brief but pertinent observations and questions. His business acumen and technical knowledge was clear. Marco didn't defer to Carlos, or Ranger as they both called him, and they treated each other as equals, partners. But there was still an edge of command to Carlos, and I got the impression he was acknowledged as the overall leader of the team.
It was a team I was keen to join; the business looked to be exciting and challenging. But I couldn't help but wonder how our personal relationship would fit into the evolving dynamic?
Over the next three weeks, I began to feel like the relationships, both professional and personal, were going to work; at least I had hope. On a professional level, Carlos was splitting his time between Newark and Trenton. He still had the office in Newark, although he had given notice and the lease would expire in four more weeks. After that, he was planning to spend more time in Trenton. His apartment lease still had several more months to run, but he had not mentioned giving it up or moving to Trenton. Carlos would come to Trenton to work with me in the Trenton office, and to pick up FTAs for Vinnie. He had met with Les Sebring, who had seemed to be cautious about employing us for some reason. Sebring had yet to offer him any work.
Carlos had offered me a ridiculous amount of money to work for him as an Office Manager and Research Assistant. I had balked at the salary he was trying to offer me but had caved when he told me it was based on the salaries of his staff in Miami. Or maybe I caved when he gave me one of his smouldering looks and said, "Babe." I mean, how do I resist that? I was happily working on finalising the business plan, talking to Tank several times, and faxing documents back and forth. Marco had also come into one of the meetings and heaped praise on me for my marketing strategies and ideas. He was going to try two of them immediately in Miami.
Carlos and I had researched Vinnie's first skip; Carlos had shown me the techniques and strategies he used to search for information. He had spent several hours explaining the types of information that were useful and how to find that information. Sometimes it meant searching for information on the computer. Other times, it meant phone calls and seeking contacts. That was where my network of people came in. I had contacts at several local banks and a cousin on my father's side who worked at the phone company. Stella did not give out any confidential information, but she was happy to confirm current addresses and tell me if accounts were being paid. I was also becoming adept at spinning tales to relatives and friends of the FTAs to get more information; telling tall tales had always been one of my talents, just ask my mother! Carlos also told me he would build 'street' contacts, but he already had some through Hector.
Carlos had picked up Elon Harlan within three days. I had found out he had a sister-in-law living nearby, and the grapevine said she was 'inappropriately involved' with Harlan, as well as his brother. I had also confirmed that she had been seen at the local grocery buying nearly double her usual amount of weekly shopping. Carlos had staked out the sister-in-law's house for a day and we believed Harlon was staying there. Carlos called in Hector to help with the pickup, since the house had a side door and back door. Harlon had tried to rabbit out the back, but Hector had subdued him easily and he was back in lockup within an hour. To my shock, Carlos had tried to pay me a percentage of the bond, as well as Hector, for my research and contribution. I argued that I was just doing my job. We had come to an uneasy stalemate until Carlos suggested I get an annual bonus, based on how many FTAs were brought in successfully due to my research. In the end I caved on that too.
Vinnie had been ecstatic that Carlos, Ranger, had brought Harlan in so easily. He had handed Ranger two more skips, with bonds totalling ninety thousand dollars. Ranger had negotiated up to 15% of the bond. Vinnie tried to object, but Ranger had fixed him with a glare that nearly made my cousin wet himself. On the way out, we ran into an overweight man with thinning hair who glared at Ranger and sneered at me. I looked at Connie who mouthed 'Morty Beyers' to me. Ahh. He was pissed about losing his skip to Ranger. I was so excited to get researching for our new skips! Carlos also had me help him a couple times with surveillance. This was not one of my preferred information-gathering activities since it seemed to consist of sitting motionless outside of people's workplaces and homes for hours on end with absolutely nothing to do. Carlos became a stone statue on surveillance! He could sit for hours unmoving and silent. I could manage maybe twenty minutes. Ok, fifteen. Ugh. I didn't think surveillance was going to be one of my strengths.
Carlos had been searching for a building for future purchase and setup of the branch. He had narrowed it down to two options at the moment; a building on Haywood Street that had been a textile manufacturing concern, with seven stories above ground and two below. It was only about ten minutes from the Chambersburg neighbourhood and close to the seedier parts of town. I guess that would be good for chasing FTAs. It had open, echoing spaces on the first four floors and a warren of offices on the fifth and sixth floors. The top floor had been executive offices and meeting rooms. Carlos also liked that it had a basement garage and a sub-basement that had been used for storage. The other option was a four-story building on building on East State Street. Although it was not as tall, it had a much bigger footprint than the Haywood Street building and been a mix of commercial businesses and offices. It was closer to the courts and business centre of Trenton, but it did not have any underground levels, but rather a small parking lot beside the building. It was also located on a very busy street. I think he was leaning toward the Haywood building, but he was still in talks with the realtors and building owners.
If he wanted to go ahead and get set up in Trenton soon, he was either going to need a partner or investors, since he did not have the capital to buy the building outright. Carlos was not keen to take on another business partner, but he was talking to some of his contacts about investors. He had mentioned that he had a contract coming up that would take him overseas. That frightened me. I knew, he had told me, that he still contracted for the government. And he couldn't talk about the contracts since they were mostly confidential or protected by secrecy. I also knew, or guessed, that they were dangerous. Carlos reassured me that he was 'the best' with a cocky grin that weakened my knees. But it didn't stop me from being scared.
Carlos was also planning to go to Miami next week for several days to lead a pickup there worth two million dollars. Carlos and Lester had been planning it and seemed very confident it would all go smoothly. I really hoped so. Someone who merited a two-million-dollar bond had to be both elusive and dangerous. Carlos said Rangeman would get twenty percent of this bond. I guess earning four hundred thousand dollars was worth a bit of risk. We needed skips like that to fund the building in Trenton.
On a personal level, Carlos was staying at my apartment at least three nights each week. He would bring an overnight bag and mostly he took me out to eat, plus we went to see another movie. This time, we went to see The Rock with Sean Connery. It was exciting and very well done, and I could tell that Carlos really enjoyed it. Although he could not help pointing out a couple of things, he said were unrealistic for how they were depicted. Eyeroll. I also had been up to stay overnight in Newark with Carlos twice. The first time I stayed he cooked for me, a Cuban dish called Ropa Vieja which was delicious. After dinner, I helped clean up and we danced to Latin music for more than an hour before we took things more horizontal.
Carlos danced us into his bedroom and slowly stripped off our clothes. I was feeling emboldened, so I gently held Carlos' hands to his sides as I moved up to start kissing his chest and shoulders with soft, warm kisses. I moved around his body and my hands traced his well-defined muscles and stroked his warm, mocha skin. Making love with Carlos was incredible every time. He was sensual and attentive, and my pleasure was his priority. I tried to make his pleasure my priority in return. He only let me have my way for about five minutes, before he swept me up to deposit me onto the bed. We gave each other pleasure and my shouts echoing off his walls made me want to give him equal joy. From the way he shouted my name and kissed me as we held each other and fell asleep, I'm pretty sure I succeeded.
I love to hear from you. I have the next few chapters planned out and half written. Anything you are dying to see as they progress together?