Chapter 21: New Partners
Steph’s POV
You should never assume you know anything about anyone because Hector was a complete surprise. After the guys left Saturday morning for Texas, Hector joined me in my office and closed the door.
“Hola.”
“Hola.” Well, with the exception of gracias, taco, burrito, and enchilada, we’ve just exhausted the extent of my Spanish.
“Yes, I know and that’s a damn shame, chica. We gotta work on that.”
I’m sure I have a bruise on my chin from the way it just slammed into the desk. Hector speaks English? Perfect English? Jersey-accented English?
“Of course I speak English. I was born and raised in this country, in South Orange, as a matter of fact. I’m just more comfortable in Spanish.”
“Why don’t you ever speak English around anyone?”
Hector raises an eyebrow. Can everyone except me do that? “Mystique, Angelita. No one believes I can speak English and no one expects me to speak English so they assume I must not understand it either.” Hector smiles. “My advantage over everyone. You wouldn’t believe the shit people say around me simply because they don’t think I understand them.”
“How long have you been getting away with this?” I still can’t believe I’m sitting here having a conversation with Hector. He’s right; I never thought he spoke or understood English.
“At least twenty years. Not even my college professors thought I spoke English but since I could program it really didn’t matter.”
“You went to college? Where?”
“Started at Essex, finished at NJ Tech.”
Holy shit. There’s so much more to Hector than I ever realized. “So why tell me your big secret?”
“Because you are now my partner and this is something you should know. If we are ever in a clutch situation you shouldn’t hesitate to say things to me just because you think I won’t understand.”
That’s great. I am glad he told me because that was my biggest worry. I didn’t want a partner that I didn’t understand and who couldn’t understand me.
“And for the next year, you are the CO,” Hector adds. “You should be aware of everyone’s little quirks, their strengths and weaknesses. Ranger certainly was and it helped him to know who to send where in certain situations.”
I nod. Ranger does seem to know everything about everyone.
“So, I will watch your back for the next year but I want to teach you Spanish, in secret. You need to be able to understand what’s being said around you without having to rely on someone else’s interpretation. Plus, about 95% of the men in this company speak Spanish. It’s damn near a requirement.”
I think about what Hector said and nod. He’s right but that’s not why I want to know Spanish. I want to know what Ranger is moaning when he’s inside me because I have a feeling he’s expressing deeper emotions than he’s willing to say to me. The last words he spoke before he left were in Spanish and I’ve always wished I knew what he was saying.
“Can you help me with sentence?” Hector nods. “I’m going to mangle it but I remember te amo, my name, siempre, corazón, mí hasta and yo vuelva.” My pronunciation is all off but I’m trying to get as close as I can.
Hector cringes and shakes his head. “Lessons start tomorrow. You mangled a beautiful sentence. If I’m guessing right, that was Te amo, Stephanie, por siempre. Toma mi corazón para mí hasta que yo vuelva,” Hector waits and I nod, that sounds about right, “which means ‘I love you, Stephanie, forever. Take, or hold, my heart for me until I return’.”
I think my brain just froze. If Hector’s right (of course he’s right. He speaks the language!), I need to learn Spanish now. Right now. This very minute. I blink and try to put my emotions back in order. I need another question to distract me from Ranger’s declaration. His sneaky declaration. In another language. How long has he been saying stuff like that to me, knowing I didn’t understand, that I don’t speak Spanish? How long has he been telling me he loves me?
I’ve heard him whisper te amo under his breath before but I had no idea what it meant. I thought it was a curse. You know, like ‘oh God’.
“What’s God is Spanish?”
Hector raises an eyebrow. “Dios.”
Yeah, I’ve heard that word before too. In bed and out.
“Do the guys speak any other languages?” Took me long enough to come up with that question.
“Here it’s mostly Spanish. Zero and Vince speak Italian.”
I nod, remembering dinner with my parents and Zero’s conversations with Dad.
Te amo means ‘I love you’. I’m still stuck on this.
Hector continues. “I think Woody and Junior speak enough French to get by. Hal speaks French and a little German, I think. The office with the most language skills is Miami. Everyone there speaks Spanish, a requirement to work there since the town is bilingual, but an extra language looks good there. You’ll get everything from Haitian Creole to Brazilian Portuguese down there.” Yikes!
Corazón means heart. Well, I’ve learned one phrase and two new words today. I’ll never forget them either.
“Anyway, since we will be partners and you can’t get out in the field yet, I say we spend some time together each day and I’ll teach you Spanish so you can understand what’s being said around you. I definitely want you to know some Spanish before you travel to Miami.”
I agree; the office of Neanderthals doesn’t need to know that their CO understands them. And the next time Ranger and I are together, I want to know what he’s whispering to me. I know what Dios, corazón and te amomean now. What else has he been saying?
Hector and I review my calendar and carve out some time in my busy schedule every day to meet. It’s on my calendar as “Training time with partner,” true even if it is a bit misleading. The guys look concerned but since it’s Hector no one is going to stop us.
I’m going to Barnes and Nobles for a Spanish/English dictionary. Time to start learning some new words.
Next Tuesday
The phone rings.
“Hello?” For god’s sake, it’s 8:20. My workshop starts in 40 minutes and I need to get a handle on my notes. Yesterday didn’t start so great, so today has to go perfectly. It’s Miami’s turn to work their bond files.
“Hey Steph, it’s Eddie. You, um. . . you have a package on the first floor. Were you expecting anything?”
“No,” I reply. I wonder what this could be.
“OK. Well, umm. . . we’re going to check it according to SOPs before we deliver it up.”
There are SOPs for my packages?
“Yes, Bombshell. Tank and Lester updated the SOPs before they left. You need a new copy?”
I’m really irritated. More change in my life that concerns me that no one made me aware of. “Yes, I need them in my office ASAP.” The irritation in my tone must have given Eddie a warning because he promises to have them in my office before my workshop begins.
I head down to the 5thfloor to find every man in the building watching the Trenton guys. The Trenton men are staring at a long flat box and they are clearly jumpy. Hal has taken point in examining the box, staring at what appears to be the inside of the lid, so I’m wondering if the resident explosives expert has found something.
“Uh. . . Ram?” Javier asks. Ram looks over at him. “What’s going on?”
“UO for CO. Following SOPs before delivery.” Now every man from the other offices looks completely confused and so am I. Ram notices me. I raise an eyebrow and he hides a smile.
“Not quite, but almost.” He smiles. “Since you weren’t expecting a delivery, we’ve termed this an Unidentified Object. SOPs are to strip it for any possible explosives, contaminants, incendiaries, etc. We don’t want a road-kill incident.”
Ah. OK. I get it. I don’t bother to remind anyone that the roadkill was not my fault.
Ram looks over at the other XOs. “Because the CO is a magnet for crazies, stalkers, kidnappers, and other assorted ‘unfriendlies’, there’s a set of SOPs at this branch in regards to her. Not her fault. They just seem to love her.” The Trenton men all look in my direction and smile. I attempt an angry face, but I can’t hold it and that just makes them laugh.
“Can we get a copy of those SOPs?” Armando asks. Gene walks forward with five copies, one for each XO and one for me.
Finally, Hal looks over at me. “I’ve cleared it, Steph. All yours.”
I roll forward and take the box. I can see the contents through the Lucite window and I gasp.
The roses and pink tiger lilies are beautiful. There is a small spray of baby’s breath in the included vase, a beautiful pink and white vase. It brings tears to my eyes. I can’t remember the last time I received flowers out the blue that weren’t related to a stalker. My wedding, maybe? The card has been opened and I can see Ram looking at me oddly. I retrieve the card.
From Hector.
That’s all it says but I immediately take off for my office and, once inside, start to cry. They’re beautiful and this was unexpected. After yesterday’s shaky start and the morning torture session with Sarah, this is the perfect pick-me-up. Beautiful roses and lilies. I hear a knock at the door and Ella pokes her head in.
“I heard you received beautiful flowers,” Ella says, smiling. She reads the card and smiles, eyebrows raised. “Need some help arranging them?”
I nod, overwhelmed.
“Oh goodie! I couldn’t wait to see them. The men are all in an uproar. First they thought they were stalker related then, when they realized who they were from, they started wondering if they’d missed your birthday or some other major date. You should see them right now. They’re back in the ‘Bomber file’ trying to determine if this is some major date for you.” Ella giggles as we arrange the flowers in the vase. It looks gorgeous when complete.
“What do you know about the language of flowers, Stephanie?” Ella asks.
I shake my head. Absolutely nothing.
Ella smiles. “Well, this is very meaningful bouquet. Pink roses for joy and perfect happiness, tiger lilies for Pride, and I can’t quite remember baby’s breath. I think it might be purity or innocence . . . “ Ella trails off, looking concerned. Finally she shrugs. “Oh well, in any case it looks like Hector is trying to say he’s proud and happy to be partnered with you.”
I’m admiring my beautiful bouquet. The idea of a man like Hector taking the time to try to find a meaningful floral gift doesn’t exactly square with his reputation, but this is my new partner. I have to trust him with my life. I’ll assume Ella is right. She usually is.
Ella disappears for a moment and reappears with a warm face towel and my mascara. “Here, dry your face. It’s almost time for your workshop to begin.”
I received flowers. I can’t remember the last time I received flowers. I wheel myself outside and catch Hector right before he hits the stairwell. In full view of every man in the RM Trenton building, I throw myself at my partner and kiss him full on the mouth. He looks shocked then he grins big. Hector sent me flowers. He’s made my day.
“Flores.”
“Flowers?”
Hector nods. I smile and repeat the word, then cast around for one of my Spanish words. “Gracias.”
Hector smiles big. “De nada.” He kisses me on the top of my head and disappears down the stairs. I turn around and face the men. They’re completely shocked.
“Well, what are all of you staring at? 9AM! Let’s get started.”
Hal and I finally resolve the office issue when I wheel into Tank’s office on Wednesday, right before my workshop begins, and discover that Hal has completely moved in. He didn’t say anything, just waits for me to start yelling. I think about creative payback but he’s right.
I move, reluctantly, into Ranger’s office, but I take Tank’s chair and ask Ella to buy him another one. He steals his chair back Friday but leaves me flowers, yellow roses, next to my pink bouquet. I look it up; yellow roses mean friendship so I’ll consider us even.
The Trenton men are learning that flowers forgive all sins.
My mornings with Sarah are not getting any better. It’s just torture. Thankfully, there’s no treadmill but there’s no fun either. This is traditional boring training, exactly what I was afraid of.
Three weeks into her hell regime, I go downstairs to find three more wheelchairs sitting there and Hector smiling in a scary way at a visibly nervous Sarah. Cal looks amused.
“Good morning, Stephanie.”
An actual greeting? Yup, Hector has frightened her for some reason. Already my day is looking up. I really like my partner; a beautiful bouquet of flowers every Wednesday will do that.
“I thought we would try something new for the cardio workout. You get the cast off tomorrow, right?” she asks.
I shake my head. “The surgeon did an MRI, said I needed 2 full months in this thing. We switch to a different kind of cast tomorrow, well, a walking boot really.”
I have another reason to hate Thomas Mann. I’ll be in the wheelchair for 6 more weeks. Zero had the brunt of my irritation for that diagnosis but when he suggested having the doctors do a bone-density test of all my limbs I got over it. I’d rather not.
I’m wondering what is going on. Her eyes keep darting at Hector and Cal has moved out of her line of sight.
“Ok, I’ll keep that in mind. Now, have you ever tried wheelchair racing?” Sarah asks.
Huh? Until I broke my leg, I’d never been in a wheelchair. Well, not since I broke my arm.
She gets me buckled into my wheelchair as Hector settles into one. This isn’t a normal wheelchair; it has one small wheel out front and two big wheels in back. It’s like a low slung tricycle. She belts herself into the last one and we all wheel over to a line. The gym is filling up with amused RangeMen.
“So I thought perhaps we could race around the gym three times, see who is the fastest?”
“And this is going to be a cardio workout?” I’m suspicious. It sounds more like fun and disaster all together at once.
Sarah smiles. “Like you wouldn’t believe. Cal is going to time us and keep track of the laps. Ready?” Hector’s grin is positively evil and Sarah looks nervous again.
“GO!!!!” Cal yells.
And we’re off, racing around the gym like a bunch of drunken monkeys in a bad skit. Sarah obviously decided to up the difficulty factor by placing objects in the path of the track. Hector nearly loses control of his chair once and the RangeMen are having a good time laughing. Hector growled something in Spanish and they all sobered up slowly, grins still on their faces.
I’m holding my own close behind them both but I’m not tipping over which is all I’m concerned about. As we get to the straight portions, I’m able to really dig down into my seat and catch Sarah. I smile. I’ve been stuck in this thing for two weeks; I know how to move it.
The guys on the sidelines are taking bets and I’m hurt; clearly I’m not going to win, so why bet on it?
The three laps are over quickly and I’m surprised by how much fun it was. Until it stops. Now I see what she means. I feel the burn in my arms, in my middle and my heart is still pumping. I can’t believe it. I sat on my ass the entire time and got a complete cardio workout!
“I won!” Caesar crows. Hector looks visibly angry and Caesar doesn’t look so happy anymore. “No hombre, no estábamos apostando en contra de ella. Nos apuestas para ver quién se acercan más a su tiempo. ¿Ven? Mire Héctor, fue muerto. 20 minutos, 25 segundos. Hombre, sabes que no apuesta contra ella.” (No man, we weren’t betting against her. We were betting to see who would come closest to her time. See? Look Hector, I was dead on. 20 minutes, 25 seconds. Man, you know we don’t bet against her.)
Hector calms and smiles at me slightly. Caesar still looks nervous and turns to me. “Steph, we weren’t betting on who would win the race. We were betting on your time, that’s all. Nothing against you.”
I look at the sheet they had going and am surprised to see that most of the times are within 4-5 minutes of my actual time. OK, they weren’t betting against me. I smile and Caesar looks relieved. The guys crowd around me to tease me on my time and technique.
The next round is me, Hal, and Ram. The guys think it’s hilarious that the Trenton leadership is racing around in wheelchairs. Again, I come in last but I was close behind Ram. My stomach and arms are on fire now but that was just too much fun not to do twice. I smile and turn to Sarah.
“Can we do that more often? It was fun. How was that exercise?”
“Well, it worked your biceps, triceps, shoulders and abs. Feel the pressure in your abdomen?” I nod. “Well, you basically did 40 straight minutes worth of crunches and push-ups.”
I’m stunned. But . . . but it was FUN! “What’s a good time for that exercise?”
She looks relieved that I liked it. A few of the RangeMen have commandeered the wheelchairs and are zooming around the tracks themselves while the others heckle them.
“Well, I’m not going to concern myself with timing you on this exercise. It’s just a fun way for us to get the hated cardio workout out of the way.”
I nod happily and submit to the rest of the torture regime. Knowing that wheelchair racing will be added to the list of hated exercises makes the morning run much more smoothly.
Later I ask Cal, “What was Sarah so nervous about?”
“Your partner is frightening.” He smiles at me. “He ‘suggested’ to Sarah that it would be in her best interest to try making it fun sooner rather than later. And that common courtesy wouldn’t go amiss, especially since he intended to oversee your training from time to time.”
I raise an eyebrow. Well, not quite and Cal smirks. “And that scared her?”
“Well, since he was saying it while flipping his switchblades, it had a scary vibe. I warned her later to take all of Hector’s ‘suggestions’ very seriously.” Cal said.
I’m trying not to cry. Hector intervened? I had a fun morning because of him?
I love my partner.
