Steph’s POV

Ranger leaves for the airport at noon. The weather over DC is bad so he needs to make it in as fast as possible. He said he would be back this weekend, but the guys already had something planned. He might not see me before Monday, but I’ll be back in Trenton by then.

I agree to meet with the guys in Tank’s office after lunch. Les walks in last and waggles his eyebrows at me.

“Hey, Les. I thought you were headed to the East Coast with him.”

He hugs me. “Next week. I can do what I need to by phone for a while.” He moves to his seat, where Bobby takes his head and twists it back and forth.

“Still firmly attached. Good job, Lessie.”

Les’s ears turn red as Tank laughs. “Shut up, Roh-bear.”

Tank and I are cracking up as Les and Bobby continue to insult each other. Tank passes me a tray containing fruit, croissants and coffee and we each make a plate and get comfortable.

“OK, so normally I start by looking at contracts and examining your product offerings and going through with a fine tooth comb. I did that. Everything here is excellent.” The guys grin and high five each other.

“Whew! Talk about pressure off,” Bobby says, smiling. “Thanks, Steph. We’ve been nervous about what you might find here.”

“Why?” I’m confused.

“Because you’ve found the problems, micro and macro, everywhere else. Every man in this building will be glad to hear that the setup here passed inspection.”

The guys laugh and I smile. “Well, I’m in a tough spot. This branch is brand new, not even a year old. So the review of this branch will be different. I want to know more about where you intend to take this branch.”

They groan. Tank stares at me for a moment before shrugging and sliding the written plans for the branch forward. We talk about what they intend to roll out and in what order, their current capacity, and how they see this branch growing. The guys are excited and, honestly, I don’t have much to say. They know how to build a branch. Everything here is great.

“Honestly, we’ve been thinking about expansion,” Bobby says, kicking back in the chair. “You’ve been doing such a great job with the company overall that we’ve had a chance to really look at the company from a high level and determine what moves to make next.”

“Really?” I feel a nice happy warmth. The guys have been vocal with the praise for me this morning.

“Yeah. We have Memphis and Detroit remaining, but we’re starting to look at the interior,” Les says. “Cleveland, Chicago, and New Orleans.”

“Wow.” I’m glad I got the training program going. Clearly it’s going to be needed. I also think it’s time to put another one of my plans into action. I think the person I want to head that up will be ready soon.

“Yeah. We’re ready.” Tank grins. “We talked with Ranger about making your position permanent and he agreed. Having you there, someone we trust and who can do the job, we’ve realized how essential that role is. At the end of this year, if you choose to stay with us, we’d like to talk about how your role will change and become permanent.”

I’m shocked. I stare at Tank, then Les, then Bobby. They’re all smiling.

“Really?” I’m thrilled. I can’t believe it!

“Really, Beautiful,” Les says. “We’d like you to stay and remain with us. You’re a vital person in this company and in your role.”

“No joke, Steph,” Bobby says. “Let’s speak honestly about the company, overall, for a moment.”

“OK.” I get comfortable and start mentally unwrapping my pillowcase. I wonder if it will get some use.

“OK, so first, we want to thank you for taking the position and really running with it. I know we keep saying it, but it’s true: You’ve done an amazing job over the past nine months.”

“Hear, hear,” Les says, raising a bottle of water at me. Tank grins.

“True. We look forward to your reports. Being able to actually see what’s going on and have an independent assessment of the company is vital,” Tank says. “We’ve been able to take your reports and act on them. Intel from the field, so to speak, is making the job of management easier.”

“Having you in that position has really pointed out to us the strengths and weaknesses of the company,” Les says. “It’s also given us a chance to face some hard truths about ourselves, our management style and our structure here at the top. We’ve had numerous discussions about what we want to change and how we intend to restructure. Just thinking some things through, getting ready for the next phase.”

My pillowcase is shrinking. They’ve already accepted most of the stuff I was going to point out to them.

“Such as?” I pick up a pen and prepare to take notes but there’s silence. The blank faces are on display but they lift almost as fast. The guys chuckle.

“We’re waiting for Ranger’s op to be over to discuss that with him first,” Bobby says.

“Why? Why not right now?”

The guys all grin. “Remember what I said about not micromanaging?” Bobby asks. I nod. I’ll never forget. “We know Ranger. If we start talking about the company with him, he’ll want to dive in and dig when his attention needs to be on wrapping that op up and ensuring it’s closed out properly.”

No disagreement there. “Oh. I thought you had a meeting with him this morning.”

“Macro stuff. Big items we needed to handle before he disappeared. Day to day stuff we’ll handle when he returns next week. That’s when the entire LC, plus you, will meet.”

“Oh.” I smile. “A full meeting?”

“Yup. Time to let you know about some of the new plans, get some company stuff straight, and give you the direction going forward,” Les says.

“If you choose to stay,” Tank says. “So I guess we’re also asking if you intend to stay, even though your time under this one-year contract isn’t up.”

I nod. Finally! A lot of anger and irritation disappears with those words from Les. I’ve had the feeling, ever since I arrived at RMSA, that they weren’t telling me stuff. I was right. “Hard truths?” I wonder what that’s about.

Les and Bobby squirm while Tank sighs. Loudly. He looks at the guys. “Who wants to go first?”

“Lead us off, big guy,” Les replies.

Tank snorts. “Thanks.” He looks at me. “We’ve talked. You know where my mind is.”

“True.”

“Exactly. I’d like to see your assessment of NYC first then I’m headed out on a tour of the company.”

“Good,” I murmur. I mentally fold Tank’s pillow case away. I didn’t think it would get any use.

“Honestly, we’ve been doing this since you told us what was going on here in NYC,” Les says. “For Bobby and me, the weeks at the beach were the clincher. Getting to spend time with them, having the ‘jam sessions’,”—we both grin—”and telling each one how proud I was of them made a difference. I gelled with them, they gelled with each other, and they’ve been rocking and rolling.

I realized I needed to spend more time with them and I have. That week at the beach was the start of a really good momentum in that group and Bobby and I are agreed that it needs to be a permanent feature. A yearly retreat with management. Tank’s ready to move the money around to a new line under your budget for it but again, gotta talk about it with Ranger.”

My jaw drops. “I’m getting more money in my budget?”

Tank grimaces. “I’m moving the money around now, but Ranger still has to sign off. Don’t spend it yet, Little Girl.”

We all laugh. I’m thrilled.

“But it couldn’t have happened without you shutting down gossip and reinstituting respect for management,” Bobby says. “That was good and everything you’ve done this year has been great. It’s hard to change a company culture, Steph, but you did it. You put Mark back in place—”

“What did you say to him?” Tank and Les ask, simultaneously. I laugh.

“Mark alluded to the fact that you told him that he’ll never be Ranger’s second,” Tanks says, leaning forward.

“OK, so I might have shrunk Mark’s ambitions down to a manageable size,” I reply.

“Yeah, we really will need an answer to that,” Bobby says, grinning. “Full story at some point. Anyway, the company culture has changed. The men across the company talk shit to each other, compete in RangeWorld, share information, hell, I can spend half of my day in RangeWorld if I’m not careful. Les calls it—”

“Facebook for mercenaries,” Les says, grinning. We all fall out laughing. “Plum Curve in action. Manny wanted to file paperwork. You mentioned you saw this as an outcome, but who expected what we got?”

We all sit back and laugh. RangeWorld is hilarious.

Les shrugs. “Anyway, we’ve had a chance to really take a look at our company and assess it neutrally. We’re ready to make changes and some of the things we just discussed are part of the discussion we want to have with Ranger—”

“This, again, is why I told you that you would learn things at the appropriate time. Quite frankly, we’re jumping the gun telling you because now we’ve left Ranger in a bad position,” Bobby says. “If he disagrees, then you’ll be disappointed, we blabbed too early, and his vote and opinion is not being given the equal weight that it should.”

I’m sure my face is red. I’ve been mad at Bobby, thinking the guys were holding out all kinds of things on me, without realizing that Ranger still needed to weigh in first. He’s right. Now I’m excited by the money and the possible weeks at the beach and Ranger might veto it. If he does, I will be pissed.

Damn. Sorry, Bobby.

Les sighs. “Anyway, a lot of things will change, including some of your duties, but first and foremost is making your position permanent and we hope you choose to stay with us and stay in that role.”

“Right. That’s why we’re thinking of a company restructure and the addition of some new positions,” Bobby says. “Like we said, we want to discuss it in a full management meeting first, but the one thing we’ve all agreed on is that your position needs to remain where it is and we’d like you to stay on in the company.”

“You’re a hard act to follow,” Tank says. Now that makes me feel good. Tank is good with praise too.

“Like the RMSA guys cry constantly: We accept no substitutes! We want you, the original, the real deal, to stay in this position.” Bobby laughs and the guys fall out laughing.

“Thanks, guys,” I tell them quietly. Again, I feel the support and encouragement and the guys are great at supporting me. I love it and I love them for it. “I realized, when you guys were in Trenton for my clearance, that I’d never had as much love and support as I have as a RangeWoman.”

BLT clear their throats and smile.

The company pillowcases have been packed neatly away. The guys already see where they screwed up and are fixing it. Now for the personal pillowcase.

“So, curiosity question.”

“Yeah, Bomber?”

“Whose idea was the psyop on me?”

Tank and Bobby freeze. Les stares at me. “There wasn’t a psyop.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Bobby says. “We simply came up with a plan to get you into the company that we hoped would work.”

“That’s not a psyop? Sounds like one to me.”

Les shrugs. “Fine. You looked up the definition?” I nod. “Did you note the part where it says ‘In order for a psyop to be successful, it must be based in reality. All messages must be consistent and must not contradict each other.’?”

I clench my jaw. “Yes.”

“OK then,” Les says. “Psyop, plan, call it what you will, but the truth remains. We came up with a plan to bring you into the company and it was my idea.”

I nod. “I thought so. It had all the hallmarks of a Les plan.”

“Really?”

“Deceptively simple but you herded me right into a trap and surrounded me with jailers who kept at me until I gave in.”

Les is solemn. “Are you mad at Ranger?”

“Nope.” I grin. “Of course, I’m repainting the apartment a gorgeous bubblegum pink and making him live with it for a year as a punishment, but I’m not mad at him.”

The guys groan. “That’s cruel, Bomber,” Bobby says.

“Maybe, but it’s at the same level of what you guys did to me. It’s passive-aggressive and manipulative.”

“No, that’s being vindictive against the wrong target,” Les says calmly. “Ranger had nothing to do with the plan and painting his apartment pink, and by the way he hates that color, is vindictive. If you want to take your anger out on someone, I’m prepared.”

“And Ranger didn’t know about it?”

“Ranger was informed after the fact.”

So he did deceive me. “So he knew?” It’s silent but Tank finally nods. “And he didn’t tell me. So while his best friends were manipulating me, he kept silent.”

“He knew we intended to convince you to take his job for a year,” Tank says. “You were already in his apartment by the time we informed him that we had a plan underway. We asked him to come home and convince you to accept the job—”

“Not that we had to work hard to convince him of that,” Les mutters. So he knew from the beginning!? “He was happy we were asking you to step into his role. We three just barely avoided mat time for not informing him we had a plan, though.”

Oh. So he was sincere when he said he wanted me to take the job. Wow . . . so was he involved in this plan or not?

“That was the extent of his participation,” Tank says. “How did we manipulate you, Steph?”

“You forced me from my apartment—”

“Did not,” Les says. “We simply pointed out how difficult it would be to get quality care there, but we never told you that you couldn’t stay there.”

“You didn’t encourage me to stay there!” I reply, exasperated.

“Of course not,” Bobby says. “You had a broken leg and you needed help. We sat there and went through each option. Of course we pushed RangeMan, but you had the right to say no. We were concerned about getting you the best care so your leg would heal properly.”

I stare at them, jaw gaping mentally.

All warfare is based on deception. . . He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated.

Ranger was right. They’d won the fight the moment they stepped into my apartment.

“You forced me to train—”

“Again, untrue,” Les says. He opens his bottle of water but doesn’t drink. “First, we offered you a job with RangeMan, a full-time position, in anticipation of the fact that Vinnie would fire you. He did. Second, no matter what, if you are a RangeMan, you have to meet physical standards, regardless of the position. We treated you the same—”

“Better,” Tank cuts in.

“Better than any other RangeMan recruit who had to meet physical standards and needed help.” Les downs half the water.

“Better?” I ask.

“We didn’t put you on probationary pay, for a start,” Bobby says. “Every new recruit who doesn’t meet standards is automatically put on probation pay, but we didn’t do that to you. And we got you a personal trainer slash physical therapist to work with you that you didn’t have to pay for and who was solely devoted to you.”

My face is flaming red.

“And you chose to accept the position offered. We offered you three different positions. You chose to take Ranger’s job. That came with a certain level of responsibility. Your choice and you chose it,” Tank says.

“I never had any freedom! I need to be by myself sometimes.”

“And as I said, we are not mind readers,” Tank says. “If you need something, you need to tell us. Bluntly. Once we were aware, we made it happen, but you also need to remember that when we’re operating under lockdown procedures, everyone’s ability to move is limited.”

I can see that no matter what I say, they’re going to have a slick answer that comes back around to the same thing: Not our fault. Your decisions, your choices. Quit blaming us.

Les finishes the water and looks straight at me. “What you call a psyop, I call good planning. We simply provided you with lots of options, gave you the pros and cons of each option, and left you to make a decision.”

“And you made sure only a few of them were good ones,” I shoot back.

Les shrugs. “I never promised not to stack the deck and I never said that you weren’t free to present us options. Now that it’s all over you want to blame us. Well, no dice, Steph. We won’t accept that.”

Les and I are staring at each other. I have anger on my side but Les has years of training. I roll my eyes first.

“So you thought manipulating me was a good idea?”

“Talking never worked.”

“You never talked!” Are they fucking kidding me? “Did anyone ever consider just talking to me?” I ask quietly. They shift. “Just telling me that you were concerned about my life? That—”

“We have, Bomber,” Bobby says. “We said it to you time and time again. We’ve offered you training. We’ve offered you backup. Ranger offered you training and backup. We’ve offered you help, assistance, cars, whatever you needed. My medical records for you are three times thicker than everyone else’s. Every time we did that, what did you think that was? ‘Here Steph, take this because we really don’t care if you get your head blown off but we would like to be there when it happens’?”

I cringe. “You didn’t! Not one of you opened your mouths and said—”

“We did.” Tank’s eyes are hard. “We finally realized that talking does nothing but putting evidence in front of your face does, so that’s what we did.”

“Ranger’s said it. Tank’s said it. Les’s said it. I’ve prevented you from being carted to the hospital and provided you with top-notch medical care that you didn’t have to pay for. What more did you want us to do? Did I not come to you, two days after Abruzzi burned you, to check your burn and offer to give you some basic training on how to escape holds and handcuffs?” Bobby looks both bored and angry with this conversation.

I cringe. “That was bad timing! I’d just been burned. I was in shock—”

“You were well enough to take Bob to go take a massive shit on Con Stiva’s front lawn but too frail to take me up on my offer of training on takedown procedures a week later,” Les says drily. He’s playing with his pen now, tossing it up in the air. “You were always well enough to do some vindictive shit to whoever had wronged you but not well enough to actually do something to get better at the physical part of being a BEA.”

The room is quiet. “You’ve told me that I needed to get training but you never told me how it was affecting you. I never knew that my actions in Trenton were affecting the company like this. Why didn’t you tell me?”

The guys all have their blank faces in places. “Because you constantly turned down our offers of help when your own life was at stake. Why on earth would we think you cared about our company, Steph?” Bobby says.

Ouch.

“Let’s be clear,” Tank says, leaning forward. “It’s not your fault we lost our focus and we aren’t blaming you. Responsibility for the company lies with us. Honestly, you aren’t responsible for Trenton either.”

I blink. “What?”

The guys all snort or chuckle. “Yeah,” Bobby says. “We’ve accepted that, ultimately, responsibility for what happened has to be shared at the top. So we apologize to you for asking you to accept responsibility for Trenton. That wasn’t your fault. That was us, just like the entire company was us.”

I smile and the guys smile back at me. Well, I never expected that.

Les chuckles. “Now, knowing mi primo like I do, I’ll wager you didn’t want to use company resources because you didn’t want him to think you were using him, right?” I nod. Thank you for going in this direction, Les. “Yeah, I thought so.” He laughs but stops abruptly. “Here’s the difference, Steph. When Ranger offers you help, we acknowledge that, due to the relationship between the two of you, you might not want to accept. What’s your excuse when we offered you help and assistance?”

“I thought you only did it because he ordered you to,” I reply quietly.

The room is silent. “So, you assumed we were unthinking robots, parroting Ranger’s orders because he didn’t have any success?” Tank asks.

I cringe. “I didn’t know you were his partners, not his employees. That might have made a difference.”

“Even as his employees, if we’re offering to help you get trained in our spare time, why would you reject it?” Bobby asks softly. “Our help didn’t come with strings attached. We wanted to help Stephanie, our friend, the plucky bounty hunter who kept getting hurt. Why continue to turn us down?”

Because I’ve never had friends who did something without wanting something in return. Even Ranger. Only person I have like that in my life is ML. And Lula. And Connie. Men always want something in return, usually my body or my silence. Sold a cannoli, was asked to keep my mouth shut over certain ‘indiscretions’, made a deal-sex is usually the currency with men. I had no idea what you three might want.

And I’m tired of being the one to pay for it in the end.

The guys look thoughtful. I’m thinking about how to make this point. These guys are my oldest, closest friends, but I intend to give them a wakeup call. It’s getting harder and harder to maintain my position though, because they don’t see themselves as having manipulated me.

“OK, right now I’m separating business from personal. Agree?” They nod. I bite my lip and think. “OK, gloves off. Here’s what I know. So far, I’ve been to every branch except Charlotte and I’m in Trenton. Trenton? I take full responsibility for that because I was the cause of what was going on there. I know you say I wasn’t but I was. You were determined to keep me alive. I get it.

Trenton’s review will be easy because I see how Hal is rebuilding everything and he’s doing a great job. His biggest advantage? I’m not really in the field anymore. I’m too busy to chase Trenton skips.”

The guys laugh.

“Yeah, so he’s doing a great job. Now, Miami? NYC? Atlanta? Boston?” I look at all three of them. “Fuck you.”

They each blink. The blank faces drop into place.

“I’m not taking responsibility for that. This is your company, not mine. The problems in those branches were there because you weren’t paying attention—”

“And we’ve already admitted that. Now exactly what point are you trying to make?” Les asks softly. His voice is quiet and every spidey sense I have goes on full alert. I remember what Tank said, what Ranger said, and I’m frightened of the same man I used to think was my best friend in the company.

“Ok, so you weren’t paying attention in Trenton because of me. I get that—”

“Do you really?” Tank asks quietly. He shifts forward to stare at me. “Right now, you’re reminding me of my little sister, who doesn’t really get it. Do you really understand what you’re saying?” I’m silent and Tank nods. “You say we didn’t ask you? We say we did. OK, perhaps we had communication issue here. What did we need to say in order for you to take the training offer seriously?”

My face is completely red and my mind is blank. I have no answer for this.

The heat comes on. The clock ticks. Cars honk outside. BLT does not move, blink or shift. All six eyes are focused with laser precision on me. Bobby eventually breaks eye contact, pulls his phone and types.

“The definition of manipulate is ‘to change by artful or unfair means so as to serve one’s purpose’.” He looks up. “What did we change unfairly to serve our purposes?”

Again, silence descends. I’m thinking fast and I have nothing. They didn’t change anything. They just took advantage of the situation. I pull my phone and look up the definition of manipulate. Bobby’s right but I finally have an answer.

“The definition also says ‘play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one’s own advantage’.” I look up. “You played upon my feelings for you and for Ranger, telling me that I could be Ranger for a year, to convince me to take this job. And since I’m Ranger for a year, I had to keep up his grueling schedule. I did his job to the best of my ability because all of you said you believed in me.” I put my phone down. “You played on my feelings and my love for you to manipulate me. That’s how.”

The guys are quiet. Finally, Les smiles. It’s not a really happy smile. “True.”

I nod. Finally! Acknowledgement that I was manipulated. Now, for the apology.

“Now, give us the circumstances under which you would have gotten the training you needed to survive without our tricking you into it,” Bobby says coolly. I wince. Bobby’s face is a study in contained fury.

“I would have done it if I’d known the company was at stake,” I reply. “That’s different. I helped the company before.”

All three snort.

“Yes, we know, which is why we decided to see if you would help again. That was pure detective work but you still refused the training,” Les says. “You refused to train, which was a company policy when you ran searches, unless Ranger dragged you to the range. We can only go with the evidence in front of us. If you won’t submit to training to save your life against your own low-level hoods, Steph, why would we think you’d do it for Ranger’s enemies or our company?”

The pauses are getting longer. Tank gets up and pours glasses of water for everyone.

“You didn’t accept training after Jimmy Alpha shot you in the ass,” Bobby says. “Not after Eddie DeChooch tried to kill you. Morris Munson tried to set you on fire. You found Martin Paulson time and time again and he kept evading you. You wouldn’t accept training after Maxine Nowicki handcuffed you to the fridge—”

“Which led to the indignity of Joyce Barnhardt stealing your FTA,” Tank adds. “I thought Joyce Barnhardt besting you would be the clincher but I was wrong.”

I groan and sink in the seat.

“Don’t forget Kenny Mancuso and his multiple attacks. Hell, the man stabbed your grandma with an ice pick,” Bobby adds. “He was carrying an ice pick, which means he targeted and premeditated that attack!”

“And I was furious about that attack! You have no idea how angry and upset I was. I even moved home to protect her and I hated that, but I’d do anything to protect her.”

“Except do what would have really protected her,” Bobby says. “Which is get the training that would have made you a force to be reckoned with.” Bobby takes a few deep breaths.

“You see, Steph, that’s what we faced. Now you’re trained. You’re going after deadly FTAs and doing it beautifully, with skill and confidence. You’re taking on the biggest and baddest with ease-“

“We saw the video. Nice use of a rake,” Les says, smirking. I blush and slide down in the seat. “But you did that how? With training to back up your natural instincts,” he says. I swallow hard and nod. “That’s what we wanted. So again, how and when would you ever have gotten the training without us ‘manipulating’ you into it?”

I’m hoping for anything, anything, to save me from this conversation. As usual, God has me on hold and is taking another call. God needs call waiting.

Bobby nods. “Exactly. You wanna go gloves off? OK, let’s go gloves off, Steph.” Bobby leans forward. “You wanna know why we assumed you wouldn’t give a damn about the company? Well, here’s why.

Your mother committed a hit-and-run to save your life. Did that convince you to get training? No. Your sister is abducted and used as bait to force you to go with your enemies quietly. Did that convince you to get training? No. Your grandmother is stabbed by your FTA. Did that convince you to get training? No. Your grandmother, the woman you love, is put in a mortuary box alive. Did that convince you to get training? No. Lula and Albert Kloughn are kidnapped by Clyde Cone. Not your fault, but did that convince you to get training? No. Sally Sweet mowed down a playground full of gang members in order to save your life. Did that convince you to get training? No. The men of RangeMan Trenton have all been injured once, some twice, in the field with you. Did that convince you to get training? No.

So where, exactly, in those instances, involving people you love and care about, your own family no less, should we pick up a clue that you’d give a damn about RangeMan, a company, an inanimate object, a thing? RangeMan is not a person. You didn’t love RangeMan but you think we should have come to you, hat in hand, and said, ‘Stephanie, if you got some training that would really help us and our company?'”

Lula opens the door and sticks her head in. “Hey-“

“Not right now, baby,” Tank says tightly.

Lula takes one look at his face and nods. “OK,” she says softly and leaves.

“You got an answer, Steph?” Tank asks.

I swallow hard and shake my head.

The guys are staring at me coldly. “At some point, you get tired of telling people the same shit over and over again,” Bobby says softly. “You simply accept that they aren’t going to do what has to be done and you learn to work around it. We did. It cost us in time, energy, manpower and focus but we kept you alive.

That’s what mattered to us. You. You matter to us. Your life means something to us because we all love you. So for you to sit here now and tell us ‘Fuck us’? No no no, Stephanie Plum. You need to get a grip.”

And there’s the line and Bobby crossed it. I stand and walk out of Tank’s office. I don’t care where I end up. I just have to get out of there.

---

Tank’s POV

Bobby is steamed. I can tell he plans to leave and not return for a few hours.

“Well, that went well,” Les says. He’s amused. Bobby glares at him but Les merely smiles. “Don’t, bro. I agree with you. The fucked up part of this entire situation is that she still wants someone to blame. OK, we manipulated her. We acknowledge that-“

“Which was a fucking miracle because we had no intentions of doing that,” Tank mutters.

“True. We gave her options, we gave her choices, everything was what she wanted and it’s still our fault,” Les says, pouring another glass of water.

“I know. I get that,” Bobby says, teeth grinding. “What pisses me off is that she has the nerve to sit there and act so fucking superior without acknowledging that she was the architect of her own fucking misery but other people were required to live in it with her.

I’m an asshole for caring, huh? I was an asshole every time I patched her up after one of her little ‘adventures’? I was an asshole for wanting to burn Abruzzi alive after he burned her? I was an asshole every time she winced as I treated a fucking second-degree burn? Shit! There should be more assholes like me, who get pissed off but still care!

Lots of people who love and care about her and she’s still walking around thinking that she should be able to blame someone else for her choices! No! Personal fucking responsibility. She needs some. Quit blaming everyone else for the decisions you make in life. I don’t blame anyone for my decisions, good or bad. I made ’em. I have to live with them.”

Can’t disagree there. That’s what I’m trying to teach Chenae now. Live with your choices. Don’t blame someone else.

“Then, to add insult to the injury, we’d just finished telling her how having her in the company had humbled us and changed the company culture. Jumped ahead of ourselves and gave her a sneak peek at some of the plans we’re trying to bring down the pike. Told her we wanted her to remain as the CO and that we’re calling a full leadership meeting next week that includes her. Gave her total credit for the company turnaround, which she deserved, praised what she’d done and she thinks she has a right to tell me ‘Fuck you’?”

Bobby’s getting more pissed by the moment. I lean back and close my eyes. FUCK! Bobby’s temper is fucking explosive. I hope he’s not about to blow.

“Sorry, but there’s also a little something called respect to be acknowledged here. Not just for her friends, who expended a great deal of time, money, and effort into helping her grow the fuck up. How about some respect for her bosses? I’d like to see her go into another company, tell her bosses ‘Fuck you’, and not be fired on the spot. She should be glad I held myself back.”

“What stopped you?” Les asks. “Because it was on the tip of my tongue and dying to be let out.”

“The fact that she said gloves off and we agreed,” Bobby said. “It was still a business discussion though. There was still a need to remember that respect needed to be maintained. We asked her, Ric asked her, repeatedly, to get training. We did it seriously, lightheartedly, jokingly, every fucking combination but she never had time. Never had any interest.

Fucking brilliant skip chaser. Can think like her targets. Has a mind like a steel trap and is good on her feet, but no sense of personal responsibility and that’s what’s always pissed me off about Stephanie Michelle Plum. She always wants someone to blame for her shit decisions. She can’t simply be told something. She has to experience it herself, a few times, before she accepts it.”

Bobby snorts. And Lula says I have verbal diarrhea. She needs to be around a pissed off Bobby. Les and I are sober and staring at our fingers.

Bobby stands and walks to the door. “If she wants to pick this little discussion up, we’ll do it tomorrow because I’ll be damned if I allow any employee to sit in front of me and say ‘Fuck you’ to me. She lost all rights to my respect when she said that.”

He laughs disbelievingly. Les smiles. “You did a good job with her.”

“I primed myself for that discussion,” Bobby replies. “I remembered that morning in her apartment and remembered that I needed to be encouraging instead of hammering her over the head with her mistakes and fuckups. Especially if I want her to remain in this company.”

“Good job,” Les says. “‘You’re going after deadly FTAs and doing it beautifully, with skill and confidence. You’re taking on the biggest and baddest with ease’,” he mimics, and Bobby gives a pained smile.

“Yeah, well, I still fucked up. I still hit her over the head with her shit but hell, how else could you make the point? ‘You should have told me.’ Are you fucking kidding me? You won’t accept training even after your entire fucking family has been attacked! What will it take, huh? MA or Angie getting hurt? Is that what it would’ve taken for her to get the point?” Bobby exhales hard and shakes his head.

Les stands and looks at me. “Between the possible embezzlement and this insubordination, I’m wondering why the fuck we tried. Write her up for the insubordination. Otherwise, I’m taking her to the mats in the morning, like we would do for any other employee.”

He shakes his head. “You asked us to blank slate her? Well, I’m blank slating her right now, yet again, because what I’d really like to do is fire her for insubordination. That’s supposed to be the new thing, right? Traditional HR methods for handling misconduct? Well, write her up and make sure Ric knows it was done. We’ve never allowed that and I refuse to allow her to slide on that. Otherwise, my vote is to fire her and I’ll dig in my heels until it’s done.”

“And I join him,” Bobby says. “Employees have been fired for less and no way does she ever act that way with us. No way does she ever sit in front of us again and tell us, in a business discussion, fuck you.” He chuckles in disbelief. “If she wants to tell me fuck you at any other time, she’s welcome to. I’ll assume she’s teasing and I’ll tease her back. But not about business. Never about business. And never when I’ve just finished telling her what a great job she’s done.”

He turns to Les. “Wanna race?”

“Hell yeah. Your Mercedes doesn’t have shit on my car,” Les says, jogging to the door.

“Fuck you.”

Les and Bobby leave, slamming the door behind them. I wince. Steph and Les on the mats? Steph and Bobby on the mats? Before either calms down?

Ranger always leaves me with the difficult messes.

-oOo-

I head upstairs to my apartment. It’s quiet and I need quiet to think.

That entire discussion went off the rails. I don’t even know how to salvage it.

Yes I do.

“Yo.”

“Linden, send me a full list of the CO’s thwarted threats.”

“Including the CCO’s?”

“Yes.”

“It’s in RangeWorld, sir. I scanned it in. Password on the file is alpha.” Click.

I head back down to my office and pull the list of training offers and her responses. We’ve been keeping this list for years, pulling it out when we’re pissed or when we need a reminder that we’re lucky to be alive. I make a copy and check RangeWorld, pull the threat list and I print that off.

Cb sp asap. ywiNOTfine. I’m reprimanding.

Ten minutes? I’m right.

“Start from the beginning and don’t leave out any details.”

I repeat the entire conversation to Ranger and hear a heavy sigh at the end.

“OK, how do you want me to respond? Boss or RB?”

“Boss, but my text was for information. Not for permission.”

“HUA. You’re in charge, not me, and I agree. Write her up for insubordination.”

I blink at my phone. Whoa. I fully intended to, but that’s his woman. I was giving him a heads up. “Nice to see you back the brotherhood there.”

“Yeah. I want to protect her here, but I can’t. Bobby’s right. She crossed a line. Second. You guys need to acknowledge that you manipulated her.”

“We did.”

“You did?”

“Yeah.”

Ranger is silent.

“Let me be clear, RB. We came through for your woman as we always have. We patched her up on our insurance. We were in her apartment the next morning trying to get her to accept our help without breaking her pride and without knowing if you would be able to talk her into it. We’ve supported and cheered for her ever since you left.

We didn’t have to do any of that. We could have left her with that broken leg. We could have patched her up and let her sit on her ass running searches for three months. Nope, we thought that was a waste of her skills and abilities so we let her leapfrog over all our existing employees into your position. And she just had the nerve to tell us fuck you.

Bobby is not going to move and neither is Les. For them, this is getting slapped in the face all over again. You need to talk to your woman this time. The LC is three on one right now and holding. This can never happen again.”

“HUA.” Ranger is silent again. I can hear his flight being called. “Steph was looking for an apology.”

“She wasn’t going to get it.”

“And I don’t think you should offer one now, but you should have and could have acknowledged her feelings without everyone blowing up at her.”

“We acknowledged she was manipulated, but what she wanted was an apology that we told you wasn’t going to happen.”

Again, he’s quiet. “Did you apologize to Lula?”

“What?” What does Lula have to do with this?

“Lula. You threatened to call off the wedding if she didn’t give up her guns. Was that right? You manipulated her into doing something for her own good. You realized it later and apologized, right?”

Fuck. “Yes.”

“Same situation. It might have been for Steph’s own good, but you manipulated her into feeling she had no other option. What she wanted was an acknowledgement that (a) she figured it out and (b) that you regretted being forced to do it. You could’ve done that without apologizing.”

Click.

I stare at my phone. Hector was right. He’s made changes.

-oOo-

I text everyone to reassemble in two hours. Bobby sends me a rude message. I smile then tell him to stuff it and quit wasting gas. Bring his offended ass back to RangeMan.

Les sends me a pic of his finger. I reply and ask him if he wants to keep it.

I set the compilation of the thwarted threats in front of Steph’s seat. I also place our annotated list of her FTAs, and our offers of help, in front of her seat. I’m not going to comment on them. I’m just going to leave them there.

Finally, I place the formal reprimand in front of her seat. She signs, she stays. Otherwise, I’ll walk her out today.

I text her to join me now. Attempt two. Let’s see what happens.