Tuesday Morning

Ranger’s POV

My phone beeps at 0700.

“Hello?”

“Aguilar?”

Trent. I wonder what’s happened. Steph shifts on my chest and opens an eye. Moments later, she makes her dash for the bathroom. I sit up.

“Yes?”

“Any chance you can get back here? James White’s been found dead in Newark.”

I lean back and smile. I can’t wait to tell Les. “Is it crucial?”

“Yes. The FBI is in an uproar. He shouldn’t have gotten bail, in their opinion. As the gangs specialist, he should have been put in a segregated area. His family is here screaming too. Plus, we need to start debriefing your agents. Madam Secretary would appreciate your cooperation.”

In other words, move it. Fine. I was hoping to release the agents for Thanksgiving. I guess it is time for me to head back. Damn.

“Fine. Levy is still working with the agents, correct?”

“Yes. Arrests are mounting. The AG is happy.” Steph climbs back into bed and snuggles next to me.

“Fine. I’ll be there tomorrow.”

She looks up in alarm.

“Tomorrow?”

“I have things I need to handle today. I’ll catch the earliest flight I can, but there aren’t many flights from where I am to DC.”

“Fine. I’ll let my superiors know.” Click.

Steph is clenching her jaw. “So . . . I shouldn’t have to leave before you do wasn’t the truth, huh?”

I sigh. “I shouldn’t, Steph. Not I absolutely will not. I didn’t expect the principal in the case to be killed so fast or his body found so quickly. I’m being ordered back to officially close it out.” I smile. “The sooner I close it out, the sooner this truly is over.”

Her shoulders slump. “Fine.”

I pull my laptop and book myself onto the last flight of the day. I text the guys and tell them that we need to handle company business before I leave.

Time to put some new plans in play. Time to get things straight.

I lean back against the headboard and smile. If I get the agents processed as quickly as I’d like, I’ll have six weeks with Steph before I leave for Syria. Six weeks to romance her before I leave her again.

And this time, I won’t pop up at any point.

---

Bobby’s POV

I look at Les, who is pale and tired. We were up with the new recruits until 0300. “Are we sure about this?”

He nods. I look at Tank, who is resolute.

“Ranger needs a kick in the ass. It has to be done. Now.” Tank uses his key to enter Ranger’s hotel room and we set out the breakfast we picked up on the way over. Les pulls the couch and chairs into a circle and sets up the tape recorder for our ‘board’ meeting.

I grab my plate and head over. I consider how to open this discussion. This is a board meeting today, not a leadership or strategy meeting. High level topics only and I guess this will be “Exit Interview” style: hard, fast, and not allowing much of a comeback.

I pull out the agenda I prepped weeks ago and review. It covers everything we have to discuss with him so we wait for him to arrive. He finally walks in looking tired. He sits and we pass him a plate.

“OK, what’s on the agenda?”

I slide it forward and give him a few minutes to review. I can see he’s already putting the pieces together. The blank face is in place.

“Item one: New partners,” Tank says. He turns to Ranger. “We want to offer Hector a partnership, a full partnership. He’s been with us five years, he’s been a brother and friend and a great employee. We owe our independence to him. Time to reward that.”

Ranger nods. “In favor?” Unanimous. I record the decision.

“Item two: Partnership criteria. If we intend to start considering adding partners—”

“Which, clearly, you have,” Ranger says, amused.

“Yeah,” Les smirks. “We have, but we need some criteria. High on the list is a time in service requirement. We chose five years because, at the moment, Hec’s the only person we’re considering making a full partner. We need more criteria than that, though. I’m thinking absolute trust and faith in that person—”

“Which has never wavered,” I add.

“Right. Complete trust and essential skills. That’s Hector in a nutshell and that’s what I think we should offer him a partnership based on.”

Ranger is quiet for a few minutes before nodding. “Time in service, absolute trust, unanimous vote of current partners, essential skills. I’d add personal financial stability and good ideas of their own. However, we need to discuss the salary situations for partners vs. employees.

If we extend Hector a partnership, does he move from a salaried employee to an equity partner? If so, we need to extend him the partnership now, so he can figure out how he’s going to manage the tax implications of that at the end of the year. Plus, we need to do it before we take the company to C status.”

I groan. There’s always more shit to consider.

Ranger smirks. “Lucky for you I’ve thought about it.” He leaves and returns in minutes with a folio. He removes a piece of paper and slides a copy to each of us. Everything he just mentioned, plus a limit to the number of partners.

“What are you thinking of limiting the partners to?” I ask, leaning forward to snag another pear.

“I’ve always considered five the absolute limit. The more partners you have, the harder it is to control the business. As it is, we’ve always made unanimous decisions because the brotherhood was so tight. We rarely disagree. Five partners means everyone has an equal partnership stake.” Ranger looks at all of us. “Hector is about the most independent person I can take in our brotherhood.”

We laugh. True. Hector is uncontrollable by any force.

“He locked me out of the damn reports all year,” Ranger grouses. Classic Hector.

“We were considering offering partnerships to Hal and Danny, maybe a few others, like Ram,” Les says.

Ranger munches on his apple and thinks. “Well, we could have salaried, or non-equity, partners.”

“What’s the difference?”

Ranger smirks. “Do you want to give them a vote?”

I squirm. Hell no. Isn’t that the entire point of only having five people in the Leadership? I notice I’m not the only person uncomfortable with that idea.

“Thought not. So, five equity partners, as many non-equity as we want. Also known as ‘stationery partners’.”

“Huh?” Tank asks.

“They’re partners on the stationery. Otherwise, they don’t get a vote, they don’t share in the distributions, and they aren’t in the Leadership.”

“Who in the hell would choose that?” Les asks.

Ranger shakes his head. “At some point, we’re all going to retire. If RangeMan is going to remain a going concern, the men need to see a career path. Elevation up to our roles is it. So having non-equity partners means we start grooming men to eventually join us here at the top. Non-equity partners means we give them more and more responsibility. They’re the men who would take over this company if all of us were killed at once.”

Ah! Tank, Les and I all nod. Good thinking. We halt the meeting to refill the plates. Les’s bottomless stomach is on display. He’s eating so many poached eggs the gas will kill him later. I catch his eye and grin. He flips me a finger, pulls a packet from his pocket and chews the tablet. He passes me the empty packet. Gas-X. I laugh silently.

Ranger has a grin on his face. “Plus, we start grooming them to take the company. If we ever decided to open it up to allow them to purchase a share through an ESOP-“

“What?” Les asks.

“Employee stock purchase plan. It dilutes our ownership of the company, but the closer we get to retirement the more attractive this might be. We allow the men to take over the company and create a mechanism to allow them to elect a new Leadership Core. Plus the men we choose to groom know to get their money together. We share the financials and the legal situation with them. They have full knowledge of what’s going on.

Right now, Steph’s the only person on the paperwork to take over in an emergency. We need to expand that and make sure we have enough people ready to step into our roles in a moment’s notice. Ergo, junior partners, non-equity partners, associates, whatever we choose to call them but no more than five equity partners.”

“So, a training program to get them up to our level?” I ask.

“Yeah. Plus, we’re creating depth in our positions. Say something happened to me—”

“Let’s not,” Les says, grimacing.

Ranger’s lips twitch. “Example only. Anyway, who would you elevate to replace me?”

“Steph,” I reply. Everyone looks at me. My devotion to the company is known, but I nod. “She’s proven herself. She’s earned the spot so far.”

Ranger smiles. “Who replaces her at her position and who becomes her second?”

We all purse our lips in a silent ‘hm’.

I nod. “Sounds like a good plan. All in favor?”

Unanimous decision.

“Who are you considering for non-equity partners?” Ranger asks.

“Well…” I’m thinking. “Hal, Diego, and Junior are the only ones who meet the time limit right now.” Les and Tank nod. “I’m thinking of putting Ram, Danny, Manny, and Steph in the pipeline.”

“Steph?” Ranger asks, surprised. His mouth is twitching, trying not to break into a smile.

We nod. “Her work this year has been outstanding,” Tank says. “She’s saved the company. She should be in the pipeline.” Tank laughs. “We’ve been frustrated and pissed with her a few times this year, but we’ve accepted that a lot of shit we were mad about is on us.” He looks at Ranger. “And you. We’ll discuss that later on.”

Ranger looks at the agenda. I can see the moment he picks out where that discussion is going to fall.

“Anyone else?”

Les sighs. “I need to know what happened with Mark. I want to elevate him but he’s been such a pain in the ass. I want to know what’s behind this turnaround. Otherwise, I mean, we put the company in his hands every damn time. We can’t say the trust isn’t there.”

We nod. True.

“I think we need to see the performance from Mark, Mando, and Javi before we elevate them. A lot of their performance is due to our hands-off management,” Tank says. “Let’s see how they perform when we’re back riding them.”

I make notes on all of this. Steph’s work with the XOs has saved them. They’re a tight group again and that’s important.

“Item three: Change in management structure.”

Ranger sits back, eyes hooded. This is the first shot over the bow.

Les leans forward. “This past year has taught us a lot of things. First, we have to stop operating this company like a startup. It’s not a startup. It has too many moving parts, too many complexities. Until recently, you’ve been the designated manager but that isn’t working.”

“You hate paperwork,” Tank says. “You hate being in the office. You’re an active work guy but we tried to force you to be the manager because you knew the most. Well, we’ve learned that this doesn’t work. We need someone who is willing to be a manager. Steph is working out as a great manager. We want to offer her the CO role permanently.”

We all sit back and wait on Ranger’s response. I’m expecting a flat refusal.

“I agree.”

We blink and stare. Ranger has a small smile. “I came to that same conclusion myself. I want to redefine my role. Mine and hers, not just personally, but professionally.” He looks at Tank. “Which means we need to look at your role too.” He leans forward. “I met up with Steph while she was in Miami both times and I saw her at Point Pleasant. I got a hint of what was going on and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

Steph showed me that the company was past the ‘start-up’ point. Hell, we’d been past it for years, but we were still running it like a startup. It’s been past time to make changes and a lot of that falls on me. You’re right: I hate being in the office unless I have to be. Steph’s good at it. Hell, 15%?” We grin. “I was hot!” We laugh. Ranger looks amused. “I’m ready to make a lot of changes in our corporate structure.”

“Such as?” I’m ready to take notes.

“I want to split off the black-ops work into its own unit and Les,”—he looks over at Les, who has a half-smile on his face—”I think it’s time for us to really expand that beyond ourselves. We have great men in this company who don’t get to do any of that work anymore unless they are on assignment with us. I’m ready to build that and spin it off into its own unit. You in?”

“Hell yeah!” Les grins, leaning forward. “I’ve been thinking about that too.” He looks over at me and Tank. “That’s the idea I had in mind for Manny. If I were to take on running a black-ops division, the company still needs an overall strategist.

I’d like to elevate Manny to Assistant Chief Strategist and allow him to take control of domestic strategy for the company. That’s also what’s behind the Special Assignments group. That’s the group I was thinking of as the start of our true black-ops group.” Les grins. “Hell, I was prepared to talk you into it, Ranger!”

Ranger laughs. “No need. I’m done with long-term assignments.”

“WHAT!” We’re all shocked.

He grins. “Yeah. I mean, I love it but an entire year? Hell, it means that in the end I come back to my company and don’t really have an idea what in the hell happened. I don’t know what’s happened in anyone’s life. I don’t know what the fuck is going on.

If Steph and I are going to make it, she has to come first. I need to start putting her first, so the long term assignments have to go. Nothing over six months ever again. Probably nothing over three months ever again.”

We’re staring at him in shock. Never thought I’d hear Ranger say that aloud. I laugh in delight. “Time to replace the sands of Pakistan with the sands of Texas? Or wherever?”

“Yeah. Time to work on my relationship with Steph and build the company up.” He looks at Tank. “Was a bit jealous of you this weekend. When did you and Lula learn to ESP?”

“No fucking idea,” Tank says, laughing. “Just clicked one day.”

Ranger nods, a half-smile on his face. “Yeah.” He sobers. “Besides, your mother reminded me I need to be Steph’s anchor. Everything in her life has changed. She’s made major sacrifices for me. Well, here’s my first one. The missions? No long term ones. Short ones. Maybe things like this Syria gig, in, out, info only. Nothing like this past year.”

We nod. “Nice to see you make the switch, RB,” Tank says quietly.

Ranger gives us a half-smile. “Yeah. Steph comes first but the company? What little I’ve seen all year showed me that it’s past time to move this company to the next level. Time for me to do what I need to for my men.”

“Agreed,” Tank cuts in. “We have to lead, to manage. We built this company and we have to keep it going. We need to get out of the day to day.”

We all nod. Total agreement in that.

“OK. I’m in favor of elevating Manny,” Tank says. “Manny’s proven he can handle that level of responsibility. Bobby?”

“Agreed. In favor?” Unanimous. I record the decision. “You and Les plan to work out the ‘Special Assignments’ Group?”

“Yeah. Let’s start bouncing the ideas around for that,” Ranger says.

Les grins. “I have a list.”

“Complete with the contracts, no doubt.”

“Do I ever leave things to chance?” Les waggles his eyebrows and we shake our heads.

“OK, so I’m noting that there’s a new business line in the works and a possible new division in the works.” I look up. “How’s that going to be managed?”

“If we get it going, Ranger and I need to manage that,” Les says. “You’re thinking about Steph?” I nod. “No. She doesn’t have the security clearance. We’d have to get her a security clearance to even look at the documents.”

I laugh. “She’s heard about the group.”

“Who told her?” Les demands, annoyed.

“Not sure. Probably one of the men.”

“Fuck!” Les says, pissed. “I told them to keep their mouths shut.”

“Steph’s management,” Tank points out. “They’d tell her. They were told to answer all her questions honestly and quickly.”

“Then we need to get that division going and going quickly. She doesn’t need to be involved in any of it until and unless she gets a security clearance. Otherwise, the government will refuse to work with us,” Les says firmly. “That division will be dead before it gets going.”

“Should I add that to the list for follow-up?” I ask.

“Yes,” Ranger says. “I think Steph’s the only member of management, besides anyone who is a con, who doesn’t have a security clearance. We need to get that done. Oh, add Candace. She’ll need the clearance also.”

Les smiles. “I started on it the moment I started thinking this group up. The paperwork is already in the works.”

“Good,” Ranger says approvingly. “I’ll push the contacts. Maybe we can get those in less than the usual ten minutes from never.”

“Umm . . . hate to be the voice of cold water here, but can she pass guidelines D-F?” I ask.

We’re silent. Guideline D is a complete strip search of your sexual history. Guideline E is an assessment of your personal conduct. Guideline F is an examination, with a fine tooth comb, of your financial stability.

If you’re going for a Top Secret clearance, the investigators will scour up to the past ten years. And they’ll talk to people in the Burg, not just RangeMen. The Burg will be the ones to ruin that for her. They’ll read the newspaper articles and ask Trenton PD about her investigative abilities. They’ll ask people in the Burg about her romantic history. They’ll get her bank records and look at her stability. If they can find anyone from EE Martin, they’ll talk to them. They’ll talk to Vinnie too. Steph’s college years might be up for examination, definitely her first marriage, and the way she conducts her life.

Everything about her entire life will be strip searched before they give her a clearance.

The number of people leaking classified secrets lately has stung the clearance community. Everyone wants to be Woodward and Bernstein these days, so they’re cracking down. ‘Benefit of the doubt’ dies a painful death every time someone with a security clearance leaks the information they have access to.

Ranger winces. “I’ll contact someone in DOD and see if we can get one of their examiners from DSS. If Steph gets an outside contractor, they’ll hesitate, especially with the current crackdown. They have egg on their faces right now.”

“Candace too,” Tank says. “Identity fraud victim because of her sister and a former stripper? You’ll need to clear the way for her too.” Tank frowns. “Hec needs one. Ryan too. They should skate through though.”

We shake our heads. Hector is the suspect in a bunch of murders but he’s also never been charged and has a clean record. He could fight it if denied and chances are he won’t be denied. His partnership in RangeMan will further insulate him from a lot of suspicion. Ryan’s background is completely clean.

Amazing. The two highest ranking women in this company will be judged far more harshly than any man. Then again, most of us got our security clearances in our 20s and are only required to keep them up. What trouble could we get into as teenagers?

I look at Tank and Ranger.

The military can cover a lot of sins if they want to.

“Yeah,” Les replies. “Probably Steph should not be involved with that division much, since she doesn’t have a military background, but she does need to be able to see the contracts and the paperwork. Otherwise, we’ll have to put a Chinese Wall between her and this division.”

“Another reason we need to know if she’s staying,” I point out. “Temp employee? They’ll deny it immediately.”

I note all of that. Lots of work for this division but the contracts should be very nice.

“Item four? C status.” I look up.

“It’s past time,” Ranger replies.

We slump and roll our eyes. We did the math and it will benefit the company but that will be a pain in the neck. “In favor?” Unanimous.

“Item five: New branches,” I announce. “We still have Memphis and Detroit in front of us.

“I’d add Chicago and St. Louis also,” Ranger says.

We grin. “Those were the additions we were considering. We’re also considering New Orleans, Cleveland and Baltimore,” Les says. Ranger frowns and Les nods. “We need something in the middle of the East Coast, Ranger,” Les says. “We need to have a branch closer to Washington, especially if we intend to have a true black-ops division. Where were you thinking of basing that branch? Trenton?”

Ranger stares at Les then nods. “Fine. Baltimore.”

“Let’s vote on each new location individually,” I suggest. I call each new location and each one gets a unanimous vote.

“Now, the difficult part. Building branches.” Tank settles in his seat and grins. “Steph’s proven that, with the right men in charge, we don’t have to be in charge of building the branches ourselves. She built Charlotte with Atlanta’s help and she rebuilt NYC. She’s proven that, if we give the men the right info, they can do the job. Now, I’m not sure what’s going on with Steph and Mark. I really want to know what’s up there.”

Les and I nod. So do we.

“But, for the first time in years, I actually want to keep his annoying ass.” We snicker, even Ranger. “I think that, if you and Les choose to retain him, we should put him in charge of building the new branches. He needs a new challenge and I think, in talking to him, he’s outgrown being in charge of a branch. I think that’s where part of his frustration has come from.”

Les and I stare at Tank. That’s new, but Ranger is nodding.

“I agree. That’s the thought I had, but it will be contingent on finding out what happened between them.” He sighs. “I know he got into some shit and Steph caught him.”

“WHAT!” We all yell.

He smirks and shakes his head. “Taking a guess here, Mark tried to test her, see if she was paying attention. The hospitality stuff Atlanta and Trenton are doing?”

“Yeah?” I grab my laptop and surf into RangeWorld. I’m checking this theory now. I see I’m not the only one. Tank’s grabbed his.

“I saw contracts for it in Boston.”

“Dead man,” Les hisses.

Ranger nods. “The money’s not being counted. That’s what killed him in the rankings. She caught his ass and that’s his punishment.”

I’m searching and he’s right. I see the contracts. Healthy contracts for Boston. And they’re hidden under another contract category type. Last person to access them: Steph. I see Tank looking at me. I give him the total revenue amount and he shakes his head. It’s not on Boston’s books. Tank starts searching. Meanwhile, Les is up and pacing.

“She kept this from us. Why?” Les is pacing and furious, nostrils flared. “And Pat and Rod are lying because it’s not in their reports. So Steph’s hidden this from us and gotten all of Boston leadership to lie to us about it. Why?” He whirls around. “What else is she keeping from us? What else do we not know about?” He looks at me and I nod, grim.

This is the problem with that position. Too much power and it’s a single point of failure. Les and I are unsure. One person should not have that much power in any company. If something happens to Steph, the power structure devolves again. The position would work perfectly if Steph and Tank worked in sync, with a few direct reports directly under Steph, but not if we can’t trust her.

We haven’t questioned her business moves all year because she’s been brilliant, but this is Ranger all over again. We gave our manager our trust and we’ve been stung. What’s the point of having someone managing if we have to question their every decision?

“The money is going straight to her budget line, then being transferred to the reserves almost immediately. So, is she hiding it so we won’t see that it’s going straight to the reserves?” Tank asks. He looks up. “Now that shakes my faith in her. She’s hiding money, not giving us the straight story on Boston, and she has Boston leadership working in collusion with her to lie to us.” Tank sets his laptop aside. “There had better be a damn good reason for that, RB.”

Ranger has a half-smile on his face. “I have a theory.”

“What?” We’re all pissed.

“What would you have done if you learned that back in August?” He glances at Les and raises an eyebrow. Les is cold. “Yeah. Exactly. She slammed him, won’t let him count it in his revenue, and is working with him to get his shit together.” He looks at Tank. “Opinion of him lately?”

Tank’s lips twitch. “Improving. Humbled.”

“Exactly. She took his main source of pride from him. He can no longer say he has the best run branch in the company. She chopped his ego better than I ever did.”

We’re quiet. Yeah, but why hide it from us? No matter how angry we’ve been, we’ve trusted her decisions. We haven’t questioned her moves. We would have allowed her to run her plan as she wanted to if she’d told us.

And we would’ve planned Mark’s death. Fuck. Still, fear of our reaction does not give her the right to lie to us. Or hide money. Technically, that’s . . .

“Embezzlement,” Tank says, coldly. “SOPs. That’s fireable. Zero tolerance.” Tank does not play with the money.

Les snorts. “And I bet, I just bet, that we’re about to tolerate it. Aren’t we?”

We all wince. Ranger’s jaw clenches. I look at him. “She had better have an excellent, and I do mean excellent reason for it.”

Ranger nods. “I’ll guess.”

“Please do.” Les’s jaw is clenched. He’s furious.

“She’s trying to save his ass with us. Why? No idea. But if she wanted to fire him, she would have.” Ranger sighs. “She told me she wouldn’t fire Mando because he did the same thing in Miami that I did in Trenton. I put her before RangeMan. Mando put his sanity before firing Tony.” He shrugs. “She must have found something in Mark worth saving, some reason to give him another chance like she did Mando.” He looks at Tank. “Humbled? Improving? Anything else?”

Tank sighs. “Helpful. He’s trying hard. Hal says he’s apologized to him about trying to snoop in Trenton. Shocked him. He’s become a source of good ideas in the XO calls.”

Ranger’s makes a face: Well, there you go.

I pull up next week’s management agenda and put this issue on the list. It will be addressed. I see Tank add an alert to tell him the moment any money is moved around in Steph’s accounts.

“Any other business?” Ranger asks. Everyone is silent. “OK. Meeting over.”

“Good. Now to address an entirely separate discussion,” Tank says.

“Steph?”

“Glad you saw it coming,” Les says.

Ranger’s jaw clenches. “OK. What?”

“Get your shit straight with her,” I tell him. His eyes widen. “Right now, we are in the worst possible position.”

“How?”

“We want to employ her as the CO permanently, depending on the outcome of this Boston thing. We just voted to offer her the position permanently and put her in the partner pipeline. But there has to be a separation between you two at work.”

“If she joins this company permanently, she’ll report to me, not you,” Tank says. “Conflict of interest.”

“And you and she have to come to an understanding involving authority and power within this company,” Les says. “We love her, but we will not allow her to use you as a way to get around decisions she doesn’t like.”

“In other words, you permanently abstain from any decisions and measures taken for or against her if she joins us permanently,” I state.

“And this is necessary because?”

“Because she has, historically, used you as a shield against doing anything she didn’t want to do,” Tank says. “This year she hasn’t had you to hide behind, which made it easier to get her trained. She stepped up and took responsibility for her role because we told her that she was you. She was doing your job and she’s good at it. However, we don’t know if she’ll try using you as a shield when you return full-time but we’re putting this out to you now: She cannot.”

“We want her to stay but decisions about her have to be separate from you,” I state firmly. “You cannot intervene on her behalf and if she comes running to you, we won’t allow you to overrule joint decisions.”

Ranger is silent. “As long as they are joint decisions, made by the full LC, minus my vote, and I’m informed, I agree.”

I exhale silently. Strike one: success.

“Second—” Les begins.

“There’s more?” Ranger looks amused.

“We’ve had time to think,” I reply. “If she leaves, we will not allow her to use company assets anymore.”

Ranger’s blank face slams into place. “Explain.”

Tank swallows his mouthful of coffee and turns to Ranger. “We’ve had time to think about how this company went off the rails. What it boils down to is we all lost the plot. None of us were managing. We got involved in the day to day, just like we said earlier, because it’s fun. We have to get out of that. What we’ve learned is that we can be involved in active work,”—Les grins—”but we don’t have to and we can’t be involved in the day to day minutiae of a branch. The company is too big now.”

“So this is the moment where we help you help yourself, primo,” Les says. “Doing these high-risk missions should not be a necessity. If you choose to do one, it should be solely because you either believe in the mission or the money’s that good. It should not be to shore up the bank accounts because your . . . hell, you had no status with Steph beyond friend! It should not be because you feel you need to make up a deficit caused by her. So, like Bobby said, get a status with her. Figure out if you two are in a relationship.”

“She told me yes, but this past weekend . . .” Tank shakes his head.

“We’re working through it,” Ranger growls. “So, is what you three are dancing so delicately around that you won’t save her life if she’s in danger?”

“Nope,” I reply quickly. “We’ll save her life. We still love and care for her. But if she chooses to leave this company and bounty hunt solo—”

Les breaks in. “We’re not handing her company assets—”

“Like men, cars or guns,” Tank says.

“And we will bill her. Like Jeanne Ellen,” I finish.

Ranger is staring at all of us in shock, well, what passes for shock with Ranger. I shrug. “Her shit luck has a cost, Ranger. Our insurance is sky-high. Without Steph on it, Candy says our insurance would be one-third the cost.” He winces. “Yeah. Not to mention the cars, the worker’s comp, all of that.”

“Her performance as CO has meant that we can cover the cost—” Tank begins.

“And we’re hoping the costs go down the longer she goes without incident,” Les says.

“Taking the company to C status means it all becomes deductible,” Tank says, smiling.

“But overall, it’s insane. And costly. And it cannot continue,” I finish. “As the man reviewing medical records, I’ve calculated that Steph’s medical costs are equal to the entire Miami branch. Candy’s shopping for cheaper insurance but it’s not looking good.”

Everyone winces.

“And her automobile costs are equal to that of every branch combined,” Tank says. Tank passes Ranger the workup we had done detailing the impact of Steph on the company budget. Ranger is flipping through and getting paler.

“Damn,” Les mutters. He goes to the kitchen and grabs the carton of OJ. We refill our glasses and sit back.

“I contacted an independent actuary,” Tank says. “In order to bring Steph’s insurance costs in line with everyone else in this company, she can’t have any auto incidents, personal or company related, for seven years and she needs to stay uninjured for ten.”

Each of us inhales with a hiss.

“Now, we know that’s not going to happen. She’s trained and it’s a beautiful thing.” Les grins. “Did you see the videos Binkie and Zip posted?”

“No. What videos?” Ranger looks intrigued.

I turn to my laptop and surf into RangeWorld. We watch as Steph takes down a skip using a rake. Ranger smiles. We watch her stun the hell out of someone (“Dickie Orr seems to be a flashpoint for her,” Tank says jokingly. Ranger grins.), and we watch the way Steph took down the late Drew Stefanic. At the end, we’re all grinning.

“We bought her a rake,” Les says. Ranger has a tiny smile. “We want to take her skip chasing with us while she’s here. That was beautiful.”

Ranger laughs and shakes his head.

“Now, Tank says she gets it. We’re moving forward on that understanding. But the fact remains—”

“She’s an expensive employee.” I finish Les’s statement and push my laptop to the side. Everyone retakes their seats. “And now that she’s healed and trained, she’s back in the field. We’re holding our breath. What we see looks great—”

“And actually seeing that the Trenton guys underpraised her performance helps,” Les adds. “But the fact remains. If she stays within the company, she’ll have her partner to help her. If she leaves, we can’t sustain it. She wouldn’t be an employee and we can’t carry her. That’s treating her differently based on her relationship to you.

You love her so it’s hard for us to sit here now and say this, but we have to. We’ll make the adjustment. We’ll save her life but we will bill her.”

Ranger is silent. Tank pours and passes him a glass of water to make swallowing those facts a little easier. Ranger has put the ultra-inscrutable face in place. He’s highly pissed and, if I’m reading him right, a bit embarrassed. We’re telling him that he will no longer be allowed to affect the company with her personal decisions.

Better make that crystal clear to him.

“One partner and his needs and decisions cannot take precedence over the others,” I tell him, looking him directly in the eyes. Yup, he’s furious. We caught him off guard with this. “Company assets weren’t yours to hand out. We allowed it because we simply did not question your decisions and, hell, we understood. We want her to have backup. We want her to have a car that’s more car than rust. We want her to have bullets in the gun. Now she understands the importance of these things. Good—”

“But we have reattached our balls,” Les says, shifting forward. “We would prefer she stay within the company. Her performance this year has been excellent. But unfortunately for her, we’re also going to manage from our level—”

“And as the man watching the money, I’m telling you that this is unsustainable,” Tank says. “So, do I get the joy of discussing this with her or will you?” Ranger shoots him a look and Tank shrugs. “If she leaves, it’s your discussion. If she stays, it’s mine.”

Ranger sighs and puts the papers down. “Table it until I find out if she’s staying.” A vein in his jaw is throbbing.

Furious. Oh well.

We nod. Discussion over.

---

Ranger’s POV

Discussions in Spanish once Hector joins

What the fuck was that?

I feel like I just took multiple body blows from the men who have always had my back. And because they’ve always had my back, I’ll have to sit and think on it tonight.

Steph getting hurt is not in my game plan but letting the company go down the tubes is not in theirs. I see Tank’s point, even if I don’t like it: I forced him to make sure Lula got it. He accomplished that by convincing her to give up her guns, but she officially ‘retired’ as a so-called ‘bounty hunter’.

He’s telling me to make sure Steph understands that if she leaves she’s not going to have access to RangeMan resources, but I’m also being warned: This company is not mine alone. My decisions affect them. They haven’t said anything because they trusted me.

I’ve never betrayed their trust but I abused it in Trenton. I didn’t do what was right for the company. I did what was right for me and for Steph and they’ve paid for it.

They’re angry, they’re bitter, and they’re going to have a hard time trusting both me and Steph for a while because they put both of us in positions of trust and both of us abused it.

We’re also going to manage from our level.

We love her, but we will not allow her to use you as a way to get around decisions she doesn’t like.

She has, historically, used you as a shield against doing anything she didn’t want to do.

You cannot intervene on her behalf and if she comes running to you, we won’t allow you to overrule joint decisions.

In other words, we’re going to watch you both like hawks for a while. No more unilateral decision making without our involvement.

Right. If I were in their positions, I would be making the exact same argument. This emperor is butt naked and waving his dick. Gotta make that up to them, but right now, let’s get the easy stuff out of the way.

“In the meantime, let’s offer the nosy little shit his partnership.”

That breaks the ice and we all laugh. We call Ryan to get a valuation of the business and choke.

“RangeMan is worth how much?” Tank asks, shocked.

“$300 million sir, give or take a few million.” We hear Ryan tapping. “Yes, $300 million. NYC and Atlanta have been booming. They’re both up 1200%”

“Thanks.” Click. We stare at each other in silence.

“Shit!” We laugh. That was simultaneous.

“How is Trenton holding on?” I ask.

“Less men,” Tank replies, shaking his head.

I’m looking at my legal pad. “To become a full partner, we would each sell Hector enough shares of the business for him to own 20%. He would need to pay us, collectively, $60 million to join as a full partner.”

“Fuck,” Les says, pale. “There’s no way Hec can come off $60 million in one shot.”

“Call Ryan back and ask him what this year’s distribution looks like.”

Les dials and asks.

“Well, I’m estimating about $15 million,” Ryan says.

“Normal distribution is around six,” Bobby says, frowning.

“Yes, but the company’s value has nearly doubled. Between NYC, Trenton, Atlanta, Charlotte, and RMSA, the growth has been phenomenal. Add in the $60 million in profit from Ranger’s op and the growth we’re already seeing in Boston, and it’s simply amazing. I can’t wait to see how Miami’s going to come out.”

“Ryan, are you getting hot and bothered down there?” Les asks, laughing.

“You better believe it.”

The guys crack up but I nod to disconnect.

“Shit! Bonuses are going to be beautiful this year,” Les says. “The men won’t believe their bonus checks.”

I do some quick math. “On average, $3,200 per man.”

We gape. “Shit!“

“The next RangeMan class is going to be ridiculous,” Les says. “They’ll beat down the door to join!”

“Yes, and we need to consider a good ‘thank you’ gift for Steph,” Bobby says. He’s smiling. “A lot of that is due to her work. Gotta make sure we reward that.”

We nod. We’ll start thinking of an appropriate gift.

Les grins. “Rangers season tickets.”

Tank whistles. “Good seats. At a minimum. She’ll like that.”

She’ll love that. I’m still making notes about how to bring Hec in.

“OK, so here’s what we do. Incremental buy-in. We’ll structure Hector’s partnership agreement so he has five years to pay us the required amount and we’ll loan him the money, on paper, to do it. That way, we offer him his partnership, let him get his financials straight, and he can use his end of the year distribution, or what would have been his distribution, to pay us for his equity stake. Combined with the fact that we have to take salaries when we move the company to C status, that’s how we do it.”

I motion for Tank’s laptop and start searching online but I think that’s correct. The guys look relieved.

“On paper, it will appear that he’s buying 1% from each of us every year until he gets the full 20%. In reality, he’s simply not taking his distribution for five years or less until he’s paid the full amount to buy in. We treat him as our brother and he has an equal vote.”

“Is that fair, though?” Les asks.

“It’s the best way to manage it that I see. What were you estimating for salary?”

“$450,000,” Tank replies.

“Up that. That’s too low. I’d say $650,000. So Hec’s salary just went from $125,000 to $650,000. 420% increase. I don’t think Hec’s going to complain too much. Oddly enough, I think he’ll manage to slum it off that.”

We laugh.

“Agreed,” Tank says. Les and Bobby nod and Bobby records that in the minutes while Tank calls Hec. Hector arrives minutes later, coffee in hand. He programmed all night. He has that wired look.

“‘Sup?” Hec sits, looking curious. We all turn to him.

“We’ve been talking about the future of the company this morning and we’ve decided to retire,” Les says.

Hector rolls his eyes. “Yeah, right. I’ll believe that if you’ll believe that Victoria’s Secret models get me hot.”

We smirk. “Well, they are close to your type, Hec,” I tease.

“Fuckers. What do you really want?”

“To make you a partner.”

Hec opens his mouth then closes it with a snap. His eyes have gone wide. “Try me again.”

“We would like to formally offer you a partnership in RangeMan and we’d like you to join the Leadership Core.”

Hec is silent. “April Fools is months away.”

“I’m beginning to feel insulted, Hec,” Bobby says. “Would you rather not join? We’re OK if you don’t.”

“Although we will sulk for a few days and think of ways to lock you out of the reports,” Les says. We all laugh, even Hec. We die down and wait for him to say something. Finally, he looks up at us.

“Thank you,” he says quietly. “I accept.”

“Alright!” Les yells. “Time to pop bottles!” He leaves the room and returns with a bottle of Bollinger.

“Les, you had no idea . . . ” I roll my eyes. “Assumed?”

“Hey, we’ve been discussing this for months. I hoped we’d do this today.”

“You’ve been discussing making me a partner for months?” Hec says, mystified.

“Of course,” Tank replies. “It seemed stupid that the only member of our brotherhood was not here with us at the top. We owe our independence to you. Time to make sure that’s recognized and rewarded.”

Hec grins and sits the coffee down. “Well, pop bottles! I can’t wait to tell Mijo!“

-oOo-

We sip champagne while outlining the partnership stake to Hec. He goes pale when he realizes he has to pay us $60 million to get in, but calms when we explain how we plan to help him accomplish it. We tell him to hire a lawyer to protect his interests, but we want to get this squared away before the end of the year.

We plan to announce once everything is signed.

“Great.” He grins. “So what’s my role?”

“The same as it is now,” Bobby says, laughing. “Completely uncontrollable thorn in our sides.”

Hector flips him a finger.

“Yeah, yeah, I get that, but . . . I’m not a strategist, I’m not the communications guy—”

“Thank god. I’m not ready for unemployment,” Les says.

“You’re the tech guy,” I tell him, refilling his champagne. “You have good ideas of your own, your work has kept us independent, and everything you’re doing now is supporting and expanding the business. This business doesn’t operate without tech.”

“Angelita?”

“Will be informed next week during the full management meeting,” I reply. “I’m sure she’ll be thrilled for you.”

Hector snorts. “I doubt that.”

We look at each other. “Why?”

Hector looks at us and laughs. “Sometimes, you guys are really obtuse. Have you not noticed that she hasn’t been happy at all this trip?”

“Of course we noticed,” I set my glass down. “Why? What do you think is wrong?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Hec says, getting comfortable. “I could start with the fact that this trip to RMSA is the first time she hasn’t been able to get close to the men during a branch review. No dancing, no parties, nothing special planned. She misses that.”

We stare. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Tank says. “We’re supposed to entertain her? Why? She has her friends. Ranger’s here. We kept the schedule open so she could spend time with them! You said she missed them so I didn’t plan anything.”

Hec shakes his head. “But the other branches took her out dancing with the men at least once. It broke the ice and gave them a chance to know her. You guys ignored any opportunity to help her get to know the men.”

I raise an eyebrow, amused. “Wanted to put on a tie, Hec?”

He flips a finger. “Yes, but for Steph it was more important. You, and now me, the entire LC, is remote from the men. We’re intimidating and they look up to you. Respect you. Are afraid of disappointing all of you. When Steph breaks the ice with them, they start to like her. They feel comfortable with her. They talk to her and she learns more.”

“She learned about my new division. I think they’re talking to her enough,” Les grouses. We smirk.

Hector shrugs. “This time, she’s getting all her info from Diego. The Miami men talk to him and they broke the ice for him with the other men. He’s the important man doing the review at RMSA. She’s playing second to a strategist.” He smiles at Les. “The difference in the way she thinks and the way you think. There’s no challenge here, no problems to root out and because the men treat her with more respect than friendliness, she isn’t learning anything new.”

“So she expected us to plan a party?” Tank asks, eyebrow raised.

“No, but she did expect you to give her some sort of opportunity for an ice breaker. And please don’t say you didn’t know. Every branch did it. You knew.”

We’re all staring at Hec, who is smiling and shaking his head.

“Fuck,” Bobby murmurs. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

We all laugh.

“Honestly! I gotta agree with Bobby here,” Les says. “We’re bringing in a new class, double the usual number and trying to guide them through! We’re working 18 hours days right now, just as we were when we first moved here.” Les rolls his eyes in frustration. “Shit! A fucking night out in the clubs versus getting some sleep? Hell, we all slept during that trip to Mrs. Carol Jean’s! That’s why you drove, Hec. Bobby was laid out on the floor! I took over the guest bedroom when Tank wasn’t in there!”

Bobby sits and closes his eyes. “And of course, she didn’t say anything.” He opens his eyes. “Honestly, if she wanted to know if we’d planned some after-hours entertainment, why didn’t she ask?” He leans forward. “Did she ask the other XOs if they planned anything?”

Hec thinks for a moment before nodding. “Yeah.”

“So she arrived at their branches and asked if they’d planned special events for her? But she didn’t ask us, which might have given us an opportunity to plan something. Meanwhile, we left her schedule open so she’d have time to spend with her friends and with Ranger and away from RangeMan. Booked hotel rooms so she didn’t have to stay inside RangeMan.

If she’d stayed at RangeMan, then she would have been there and Connie, ML, and Candy would have been here having fun without her. She wouldn’t have been able to see Ranger without questions being raised about her whereabouts.” He shakes his head and refills his champagne. “Can’t fucking win.”

We’re all quiet. Hec shrugs.

“Better question.” Everyone looks at me. “When did this communication breakdown between her and you take place?”

Everyone is quiet, thinking. We look over at Hector, who is thinking hard. Finally, he looks up. “No idea. I think after she slammed Mrs. Morelli and her parents.”

Tank nods. “I have the same calls with her. She listens in on the XO call and we talk. Nothing’s changed on my side.” Les and Bobby agree.

“Well, she doesn’t feel she can talk to you for some reason.”

“Yeah. But the question is why?”

A slow smile spreads across Bobby’s face. “You don’t think she arrived here thinking she was going to slam us, do you?”

Everyone is quiet. Les’s eyes widen.

“Yes.” He grins. “That’s exactly what she expected. If not the branch then for the psyop.” He shakes his head. “She thinks she’s gonna slam us for the psyop.”

“Good fucking luck,” Tank murmurs. “I’m not prepared to apologize for convincing her to do something that was for her own good.”

Bobby and Les nod. I look at Hec. He has a half smile on his face. “Hec?”

He shrugs. “I see why you don’t want to. Hell, I didn’t want her as my partner because she didn’t take her life seriously. But was there any way to convince her to get the training without the psyop?”

“No,” Les replies, setting his champagne down. “I’ve tried, we’ve tried, for four years to convince her to do it and she always refused. She was Vinnie’s employee and he didn’t give a damn about her life so he didn’t force her to train or learn to defend herself. Ranger could only force her to train when she worked for us and she did her best to avoid the requirements then. If Ranger didn’t drag her to the range or the gym, she didn’t go. My plan worked. She got the training and, quite frankly, the beauty of the plan was that I simply offered her lots of choices and let her decide.”

Tank nods. “Beauty in simplicity. We went from “One may know how to conquer without being able to do it’, Ranger’s predicament, to ‘In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory’ simply by bringing her into the company.”

We’re all quiet. Sun Tzu applies in all things.

Hec sighs. “Honestly, this trip is my fault. I should have told you to plan at least one night out on the town for her to get to know the men. Plus, ML, Candy, Connie and Lula could probably use a break from wedding planning at least one night.”

“Sidetracked, Hec?” Bobby smirks. Hector flips him off.

“Yeah, I heard,” I tease. “Peña, right?”

“He’s a recruit,” Hec growls.

“We know. We’re keeping an eye on him,” Les says, smiling. “Handsome. You pick can ’em, Hec.”

Hector rolls his eyes and smiles.

Tank sighs. “Fine. If that’s what the problem’s been, we’ll try to book something. But when?” He looks at me. “You know we have something planned this weekend.”

I close my eyes. Fuck! Yeah, I have to make it back this weekend.

“Thursday night,” Bobby says. “That’s about all we have open right now.”

“Better question.” Hec says. We look at him. “How, exactly, is her role going to work when Ranger returns to the company?”

I raise an eyebrow. “The way it works right now. Steph managing the XOs and making sure they have what they need. Manny as her assistant for strategy, Mark as the head of Training and Development. Les and I will work on this new division, which will take all of our time and energy, Tank will lead the Leadership Core, you have the server farm, and Bobby making sure communication flows.”

Hec nods. “And when the new division is up and going? What is it, by the way?”

“Can’t tell you yet. You need a security clearance and that’s not the only division I have in mind,” I reply. “There will be plenty for the CO to do.”

“OK.” Hec drains his champagne and glances at his coffee. “Is it safe to drink both?”

“Yeah. One’s a depressant, the other a stimulant,” Bobby says. “You’ll feel energetically tired for a while.” We laugh. Bobby grins. “Actually, leave the coffee alone. Alcohol plus caffeine is deadly.”

Les leaves and returns with another bottle. He refills everyone’s glass. “Anyway, we didn’t actually toast.” We all stand and raise our glasses. Hec smiles.

“To Hector Manuel Gutierrez, our Chief Information Officer, now Chief Technology Officer and the newest member of the Leadership Core Team for RangeMan, LLC. Hip hip-“

“Hooray!” We all down the champagne in one go and Hec stands.

“Thank you. To the men who saved my life, in more ways than one.” We smile. “Thank you.”

“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think the fact that you think Steph won’t be happy with your elevation is sad,” Bobby says. “Damn shame when your partner isn’t happy when something good happens in your life. I hope you’re wrong about that.”

Hector’s smile fades.

“Yeah. Me too.”

---

A/N: As someone who has been put through the wringer of the security clearance process twice (by contractors), it’s not a joke. They contacted ex-boyfriends, found W-2s from jobs I forgot I had, talked to damn near everyone on my college campus, and basically strip searched me. I was fully into my current career before they were done and by then I’d forgotten what job I’d originally applied for.