Manny’s POV

I’m beginning to think Wifey and Leadership Core think I’m smarter than I actually am. I’m grateful they have so much belief in me, but I’m not quite sure where to start here.

RangeMan NYC is a mess.

I’ve been here for three weeks, and I’ve been able to determine that Javier has some deficiencies. Not the kind that gets you fired but definitely the kind that make life difficult for him. Because of this, I’m not quite sure how I want to define him as a leader. At first, I wanted to term him ’timid’ but that wasn’t right. I’m thinking ‘cautious’. He sticks to his guns once he makes a decision, but he definitely moves slowly making up his mind.

Shane was definitely not suited for NYC. The man had no concept of anything outside being a bodyguard, and I’m wondering why he was named strategist. He was also one of the most unpleasant men I’ve had the displeasure of meeting. He looked at me as if I personally booted him out of his office, and I told him that if he continued to give me those looks, we could work it out on the mats.

I didn’t see him again. He left for Miami without another word to me.

Liam is going to get my foot broke off in his ass again. He’s working on it, he’s earning it daily. He thinks the word ‘dumbass’ is appropriate in all situations. Thankfully he’s kept to calling Javier that (again, you don’t take him to the mats for insubordination? Jesus, Hal would’ve broken his jaw a few times by now!) because I think he gets the idea that calling me a dumbass again will be the last few words he says for a while.

e’s also avoiding me, which is probably the smart move for him. A bruised jaw, broken nose, two bruised ribs, and a sprained ankle were all it took for him to understand that I don’t play the disrespect game. Try me if you want to.

Wifey was as good as her word. Soon after we arrived, Diego and I called her and said we needed XO level powers. We wanted to be able to poke into everywhere and everything with no interference. Thirty minutes later, the email went out to all RM-NYC that we were coming in as strategists, but with XO level powers and authority. Javier didn’t look surprised, and I confirmed with him that Wifey gave him the heads up before she sent the email so he wasn’t caught off guard.

Surprisingly, he’s been OK with it. At Wifey’s suggestion, he’s spent a lot of time on the phone with Danny and Ryan coming up with ways to restructure his group and finances to better suit his branch. I asked her why she suggested Danny and not Hal, and she said that Danny can tell Javier things in a way likely to gain Javier’s support so it was the better move.

OK. Whatever shores the man up.

It will take a miracle to convince Diego to stay here. He hates it already and having to deal with a broken pipeline is not making him a happy camper. This is a bunch of whiny, self-important RangeMen, and they’ve been allowed to get this way due to lack of Leadership. Because Leadership is considered a joke they don’t see the need to take anything seriously, so they don’t. I decide now: ‘disciplinary sessions’ start Monday. Get it together, boys, or get out. RangeMan has a reputation to uphold.

Every morning Diego and I meet at 6AM in the gym to work out. We follow the standard RangeMan workout: cardio, weights, martial arts one day, Yoga/Pilates (what? Yoga and Pilates is good for flexibility) and hand-to-hand the next day. The NYC men gape watching us work out; there are no shortcuts, no half measures. When we hit the mats to practice hand-to-hand, it’s serious.

I can see that this is an office that just barely passes medical review.

That’s where I can start. Medical review.

---

We quickly figured out why the branch was losing so many contracts: It was bugged. Smartest thing I did was grab a bug detector from Hector’s office before leaving Trenton. Shane’s entire office was covered in them, and Diego and I spent our first day documenting and removing the bugs. We went and surveyed the other offices. Javier’s office was also covered, including one in his phone. Liam’s was completely empty.

I think we’ve fixed our first problem.

We’ve also been holding ‘fake’ meetings with Javier and Liam to see how much each one would leak. We now know who the true gossip is and it wasn’t Javier. The entire job of the liaison is to be the official mouthpiece of the branch, but there’s an art to the job. Ram is great at it; he tells just enough to get you out of Trenton’s business, but not so little that you constantly have to call back and ask more questions. Liam can’t do the job. He either says too much or not enough. Actually, he talks too damn much.

Problem two identified and we have the fix ready.

0800 sees us in our temporary office trying to figure out what to do next. Our first three weeks were spent stabilizing the branch. Danny, Hal, and Mark all agreed to loan us some men on a short-term basis. We told Mark’s men that what they learn here is not to be leaked back to Boston; any leaks will be taken care of on the mats. After watching my bout with Liam, they got the picture. We’ve also managed to persuade some of our old clients to come back and started offering the Personal Investigations services here in NYC. That’s already giving Javier and Danny plenty to work with in stabilizing Javier’s budget. We can now support the branch at current levels, but to make up the deficit and grow the branch we need to eliminate a saboteur.

1700 Friday and I hit the 6th floor apartment I’m sharing with Diego. Again, major bug infestation that we had to remove before we could feel comfortable farting in the place, let alone speaking. Diego hits the apartment shortly after me and we share a beer.

“Opinion?” I ask.

Diego blinks. “Useable. Bring him in.”

I nod. We go back downstairs. Javier is packing for the day.

“Dinner out,” Diego says. “We need to talk.”

Javier looks surprised but nods. We hit the streets looking for a decent restaurant and find a little Mexican place four blocks down. We order and Diego and I look at each other. He nods, so I turn to Javier.

“We’ll level with you. You aren’t as shitty as we assumed you might be.”

Javier looks startled.

“Your reputation within RangeMan is mud. A year of losses, unwilling or unable to get rid of Shane, no one is quite sure who you are or why you’re in charge. You were sinking, and you did the best thing you could have ever done in coming clean to Steph. Ranger and Lester would’ve broken you on the mats.”

I mean this. He literally saved his ass by confessing to Wifey.

Javier nods solemnly. “How do I fix it?”

Diego sits back. I know what’s next, but I want to see how he broaches it.

“Alright, this is what I need to know,” Diego begins. “I’ve verified you aren’t as bad as your reputation would lead me to believe, but you aren’t my ideal sort of manager. I haven’t been able to come up with one positive to say about your leadership or potential to grow into your role. So right now, I need you to convince me that I shouldn’t slip a bug into the CO’s ear that you need to be replaced.”

We order and allow Javier to think about what we’ve said.

“OK, I’ll level with you. I have deficiencies. I’m well aware of what they are. First, I’m loyal, perhaps too loyal to my men. It’s hard to get men to join RangeMan NYC and the ones who do and stick around I’m grateful for. I’m already a fan of the CO because she managed to do what I couldn’t, which was push through that pay differential that was desperately needed here. I would get men then lose them because of pay, and it’s hard to keep a branch afloat like that.”

We nod. Understood.

“Second, I stopped listening to my own instincts. I allowed myself to stay in the weeds. I allowed myself to continue to tread water even when I knew what I needed to do. I’ve already put a stop to that. I’m not allowing anyone to convince me to do something that I think is stupid or unwise. That doesn’t mean I won’t listen to reason. I’ll listen to well crafted, well thought out arguments. But if my instincts are still shouting no, I’ll listen from now on.”

He has no idea how much of himself he just revealed in that statement.

”Third, I’m not creative. It’s the reason I was loyal to my Core. I’m an administrator. My original plan was to go into government, but I enjoyed this more. I’m not the man for big ideas but I am the man you want when it’s time to push them along. It’s the reason why, until this quarter, this branch was still limping along. If you have ideas, creative ideas, once you tell me what they are and how you want to accomplish them, I can help plan. I can plan and strategize and push it along and do my best to remove all roadblocks. I just need to know what the plans and the goals are.”

We nod. OK, that’s a selling point and a big one. Javier is quiet again, as if trying to think of something else to say, but I think we have enough.

I look at Diego and nod. I’ve already told him what I think, but this is his call. I want to see what he says.

Diego levels a cool gaze on Javier. “I rarely have respect for men like you. You allowed yourself to be bullied.” He takes a sip of water as Javier adopts his blank face. That had to hurt. “You allowed your own leadership core to bully you, thereby causing confusion in the ranks. The men were unsure of your leadership; therefore, discipline has broken down. Because no one fears or respects you as a leader the entire branch suffers.”

I’ve learned Diego is blunt. The man has no sense of letting someone down easy.

“You owe your continued position to Manny. After one week here I was begging him to tell the CO to fire you.”

Thanks, Diego. I didn’t need that.

“However, he saw something in you that bore watching, and I’m glad he didn’t succumb to my pleas. I now see what he saw. You’ve found and reattached your balls. You’re demanding respect. You’re taking men to the mats, although it’s not much of a discipline session. You’re participating in strategy sessions with us to move this place forward, and it allowed me to see all the weaknesses you listed and your strengths. I lied; I came into this meeting knowing I would recommend you stay, and I’ll work with you to get this place up and running again.”

Javier breathes a sigh of relief. His ass is safe. The worst is over. The man relied on his Core, to his detriment. Time to show him how much of a mistake that was.

“Liam has to go,” Diego says. “You realize that fucker had you and Shane completely bugged?”

Javier is surprised. “No. I had no idea.”

“I grabbed one of Hector’s special bug detectors on the way out of Trenton,” I reply. “Your office, Shane’s office, and the apartment Diego and I are sharing had a total of 47 bugs. There was even a bug in the mouthpiece of your phone.”

Now he’s stunned.

“Essentially, what we’ve determined is that Liam was ruining your reputation because he felt he should’ve been named XO when the company transitioned to RangeMan. You have a reputation as a gossip, but now with the bugs gone we can see that it wasn’t exactly true. You talk to your fellow XOs and your Core, but no one else. Liam told everyone everything and pinned it on you,” I tell him. “Right now, he’s running around the office trying to determine why he can’t find out anything and he’s stumped. He knows there’s something major in the works, but since we removed all the bugs he’s out the loop.”

Javier smiles. “Where did you put them?”

“Shipped to Hector yesterday with a note. I’m sure when Hector reads the note, Liam won’t be so interested in finding them anymore.” We look at each other and laugh. Our entrees arrive and we take a few minutes to chow down.

“You have major work to do in order to repair both your reputation and the reputation of RangeMan NYC, but it’s not impossible,” Diego says. “Our ability to pull back as many contracts in the past three weeks as we have shows it’s not impossible. At a minimum, here’s what we want to do. Manny and I have some excellent new ideas for your pipeline, but Liam has to go before we execute any of them. I suspect that Liam is a mole, and Manny is following up on this.”

At this, Javier looks completely dumbfounded.

“Again, it’s a symptom of being pissed you were named XO. Shane and Liam were united in their contempt of you, but they weren’t friends; at best they were friendly rivals. As fast as Shane had ideas, Liam sunk ‘em to make both of you look bad, and he succeeded. Thing is, Shane didn’t have that many good ideas, so I predict he will fail in my place in Miami.”

“Explains why he insisted that we would be fired during that Sunday call but he didn’t think anything would happen to him,” Javier says softly .

Diego and I look at each other and nod. Liam really thought he’d sunk the XO and strategist with no reprisals to himself. If Javi hadn’t had the balls to call Wifey and confess everything going on at NYC, it might have worked.

“He should know that Lester subscribes to the ‘Jack Welch’ school of management.” Javi looks up with a smile but Diego looks confused. I look at him. “Step one: Fire the board. If they weren’t fucking up, he wouldn’t have been hired.”

We laugh. Liam has no idea how much he owes Javi. Javi has saved him from an even worse beating from Lester.

“So why should I trust you to do what’s right for me now?” Javier asks, looking at us. Good question. He really is relying on his instincts now, and there’s fire in his eyes.

Diego nods. Yes, Javier is learning to trust himself again. “Because I have no interest in being XO for NYC. If you haven’t noticed, I hate New York. It’s dirty, smoggy, the pay is still shit even though the CO pushed through the differential, and I need to be on the mats with your men 24-7 in order for them to understand that they can’t slack, that it won’t be allowed. I’m not interested in any of this. I’m already tied to you for a quarter, and I’m not stupid; if I’m successful here, the CO will leave me here until all your issues are resolved. Therefore, it’s in my interest to get you back in power at this branch as quickly as possible.”

We give Javier a moment to think about that. “OK, what can I do to help?”

“First, what’s your physical specialty?” I ask.

He blinks. “Huh?”

“Physical specialty, Javier. On the mats.”

He thinks for a moment. “I don’t really have one.”

“Thought not. Investigate some options and pick one. Doesn’t matter what you choose but you have to get one and fast. RangeMan leadership requires action and words. We don’t do PIPs and HR talks in this company. We work it out on the mats, and your inability to do so means you are unable to discipline your branch. They need to fear your response if they fuck up. You fear Ranger’s response if you fuck up, correct?”

Javier nods.

“Every man in this company does, which is why RangeMan as a whole doesn’t have a lot of discipline problems. Diego here is a boxer and martial artist. I kickbox, muy thai, and I box decently well. Don’t let your lack of military background be your excuse. I was FBI, and I can take anyone down except my own XO and the Leadership Core.”

Diego smiles, first one of the evening. “Who does Hal spar with?”

“It has to be a two man team. No one man at RMTrenton wants to face him on the mats unless it’s a discipline session, and even then,” I shudder, which makes the guys chuckle, “RangeMan Trenton does not have a lot of discipline problems.” We all laugh at that. Hal has developed a reputation for balls and mat skills without peer in the company.

“In the meantime, we’ll handle discipline in the branch,” Diego says. “Brace yourself for complaints. The men are in for a steady diet of thrashings until they get the idea that this ‘undisciplined’ shit they have going is not going to fly.”

Javier nods, takes out a notebook and writes a note. “What next?”

“From this moment on, the three of us are Core. Cut Liam out completely until Manny can verify if he’s a mole one way or another. What we’ll do is have fake meetings where we include him, and we’ll give him carefully constructed information designed to sink his ass. If it’s as bad as we think, it’ll get back to the CO and will become the basis for firing him.”

Javier adds this. “Ok, next?”

“Our true meetings will happen in restaurants like this, away from prying eyes. We’ll plot and plan and get things going that way,” I respond. “I’ve contacted Hector; Liam’s ability to see our calendars will be gone by morning. So as long as neither he nor anyone else gets their hands on our phones, our schedules are safe. I also asked him to transfer the tracking and audio monitoring from two SUVs to Trenton so we can come and go as we need to. I’ll continue to work on what’s necessary to clear or convict Liam. You two get started rebuilding the branch.”

“You’re slick,” Diego whistles. Javier nods. “I wouldn’t have thought about the SUVs.”

I decide to give them the truly good news. “Steph is scheduling her stop for three weeks from now, and it won’t be a management review. I asked for extra time to give us time to truly get started on rebuilding the branch. So she’s coming here as CO in power, to back up our orders, to shore up your standing, Javier, and to help us land contracts and plan. And don’t underestimate the CO; she’s wily and creative. We’ll be able to put her to good use.”

Diego looks relieved. “Thank god. I was wondering how she was going to review us when there’s nothing to review.”

I nod. “Yeah, she didn’t think it was fair either so the plan changed. The RangeMan NYC review will probably be the last one in order to give us time to show some improvement.”

We finish off our meals and beers in silence. Finally Javier speaks up.

“Look, I know the CO ordered you two to come save my ass, but I want to thank you for doing it. For agreeing to try to save the branch instead of torching it. For giving me a shot to prove I can do my job. I’ll do everything I can to help.”

Diego and I look at each other, and he nods at me. I consider how best to make Javi feel like a RangeMan again. “Look, I think every branch at RangeMan has some unofficial statement or truth that runs the branch, but no matter how we term it, it’s all the same thing: steadfast loyalty. Each RangeMan is a brother to another and we’ll face any enemy for a brother any day of the week. The example is the Leadership Core and it’s what every man strives to emulate. No matter what, I’ve never seen them argue. I’ve never seen them fight, and I’ve been around them for three years. The outward face to the world is brotherhood and loyalty to each other. That’s what we’re giving you. We are your RangeMan brothers, here to help you pull your ass out the fire.”

I sincerely hope he doesn’t cry.