The Fallen Plum Society Meets Again
Diego’s POV
At 1700 Friday, I follow Bobby, Lester, and Tank down to Tank’s Escalade and get in the back seat. We return to the hotel, where Hector and Ranger are waiting.
“Diego.”
“Sir.” Being in front of Ranger is always nerve-racking. I look around and we’re alone.
“Sit.” I sit and Ranger disappears to the kitchen. He returns with a folder and two bottles of water. “I’ve heard about your performance this year.” He stares at me. “Impressive.”
I fight the grin.
“Not just the work you’ve been doing in Miami, which alone is notable, but your work in stabilizing RM-NYC. I heard about that not only from my partners but also from the CO. We’ve all been extremely impressed by your dedication and hard work.”
Yes! Fuck! I impressed Ranger! That’s not easy.
“I understand that the CO led you to believe that your willingness to take the RM-NYC job would lead her to place you at the head of her list when new opportunities arose. Is that correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Noted. You are at the head of that list and your performance in Miami and San Antonio has amazed the Leadership.” I’m getting drunk tonight! “I am formally offering you the position as XO of RangeMan San Antonio, if you’re interested.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
He stares at me then gives me a tiny smile. “This is the part when you show suppressed glee.”
I laugh. I can’t help it. I’m ready to dance in excitement! Fuck Yes! The other members of the Leadership Core enter the room.
“Congrats, Diggy,” Les says, pulling me to my feet and giving me a half-hug. “Shit, I’ll miss you as my strategist, but you’ve outgrown the position.”
“Thank you for the guidance and the mentorship, sir,” I reply. Hell, I’d never have made it without Les. He’s a brilliant fucker and he definitely took time with me when he was still in Miami.
“Yeah, well, sign your new contract and become Tank’s problem.” He grins.
Tank slaps the back of his head and I sit and open the folder. I read carefully, noting the increase in pay (Yes! Student loans are GONE!), and sign. I hear a bottle pop and Bobby’s got the champagne.
Bollinger La Grande Année Brut Rose 2004. I’ll look that up later.
The men toast me and my new position. There’s a knock at the door and every one of them grins evilly.
Hal Linden of RM Trenton walks in. He smiles.
“Now?”
“Now,” Tank answers.
I look around and they smile at me. I drain the champagne, put the glass down, and stand up in time to feel a slight pressure on my neck and I look up to see Bobby’s smiling at me.
It has to be Ranger. I never saw him move.
“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt . . .”
-oOo-
“Diggy? Come on, Diggy, walk into the light.”
Les. I struggle to open my eyes. I smell ammonia; my eyes fly open and I move away from it. “That stinks.”
Les snorts. “You’re telling me.” He lowers the window and tosses the small packet on top of the car. “Jesus, it would have been less painful if I’d just farted.”
I’m laughing mentally. One corrosive gas for another? Although Les might have a point. Les blasts the air. Thank god. I’m looking around, trying to catalog my surroundings. I’m in a car. A gorgeous car. An orgasm on wheels. It’s purring beneath us. I glance at the dash. A Vanquish!?
“Is this your car, sir?”
“Yup.” Les grins. “My new Vanquish.”
“Holy shit!” I look around. I’ve never been in one and this is sweet. Black leather interior, with accents of hunter green. This car is beautiful and it had to be upgraded.
“What color is it?”
“Green. Or, more correctly, Appletree Green. Usually that’s a six month special order but…” He shrugs. “Such is the power of Ranger that things just happen.” He grins. “I got my dream car in my favorite color.”
Shit. I wonder if Ranger can arrange for me to get a McLaren F1.
Les’s phone beeps and he types a quick message back.
“So, I’m sure you’re wondering what this is about, right?”
I look over and I’m nervous again. “Some sort of hazing for new XOs?”
He laughs. “Nope.”
“Then what?”
He looks at me and grins. “You’re about to hear all about it. Let me tell you about my membership.”
Membership? I slouch in the seat (Midnight black leather interior. This is beautiful!) and get comfortable.
“My first encounter with Stephanie Plum was one for the record books,” he says, getting comfortable. “Ranger had been attempting to mentor this new bounty hunter for a few months and we were curious about her, but you know Ranger.” He snorts. “Rein in the curiosity. You’ll find out when he’s ready.”
I nod. Everyone knows Ranger’s a private man. You won’t know unless he wants you to know.
“So she joins us on a redecorating gig.” He grins. “If a woman could give off the scent of ‘scared newbie’ any harder, the skips and crackheads would have smelled us coming.”
I laugh.
“Anyway, that was our first encounter with her and we liked her from the beginning. We liked her enough that when Ranger asked us to do him a favor and protect her when he wasn’t around, that wasn’t a biggie. She was interesting, she was fun, and if you were prepared, backing her up in the field would definitely get you some action.” He grins. “I’ve never been pelted with so much trash in my life.”
I’m cracking up at this.
“So we’ve known her for about a year when her car is stolen. Now, if you know anything about Steph’s cars, you know that they’re less car, more junk. So the loss of this car wasn’t huge to society but it was huge for her. She’s now car-less.
She was working at RangeMan at the time, part-time, and she needed to go grocery shopping. I agreed to go with her, but at the last minute I got a tip about a skip we’d been chasing for months. I made her promise, solemn oath, that she would take someone with her, go to the grocery store and come right back.”
He looks at me. “Her designated backup was Lula.”
“The plot thickens,” I mutter.
He laughs. “So I toss her my keys and head out with the guys to grab this skip. I come back and Bobby’s laughing so hard he’s crying. Steph’s pleading with him to explain and he tells her, ‘I’ll stand with you when you tell him, but I’m not telling him. You have to.’ Want to guess?”
I shake my head. Les is doing a fabulous job of telling this story. Ranger comes over, looks at the two of us, and shakes his head. He taps his watch, Les flips him a finger, and he flips one back and walks off.
Miracles never cease.
Les turns to me. “Mistake one: I tossed her the keys to my perfectly restored, candy apple red, ’66 Pontiac GTO.”
I inhale sharply and wince. “Not the one you spent hours restoring in Miami?” He nods. “Damn! I mean, I brushed against that car once and you damn near ripped me a new one, sir!”
Les hangs his head and nods. I’m shocked and amused. Les spent hours restoring that car, looking for original parts, and reading magazines on it. He and Thomas were restoring their cars at the same time and they bonded over that. Thomas and Les talked cars all the time. He loved that GTO. He loved it. That had to hurt.
“Mistake two? Allowing Lula to be her backup. Mistake three? Not sending a RangeMan guard with them anyway. They walked out of the grocery store, no idea how long they were in there, and my car was gone.”
I chuckle mentally. Damn.
“All that was left were my keys. No fucking idea what happened. It was just gone.” He sighs. “The insurance meant I could buy the Range Rover and the BMW, but that car, the car I spent hours restoring, was gone.”
I’m trying not to laugh. Les sounds irritated.
“So you think I would have learned from that experience, right?”
“You didn’t, sir?” I gasp. He didn’t hand her another set of car keys!
“Oh, I did.”
I laugh out loud. This is gonna be great.
“I left the BMW back in Trenton. Now, I was joking when I told her that she could drive it. Well, I was joking but not. Steph’s car karma is the worst but I decided to tempt fate. After all, Ranger got a nice tax deduction every time she blew up one of his cars and when the fleet cars were ruined, that was a nice business loss we could deduct. Not a lot of deductions in this business.”
Yeah, but still . . .
“So the day after Steph passes standards, she and Lula are going to meet to pack Lula’s apartment and party. Ice cream, Tastykakes, fried chicken, they plan to have a blast. Steph drove my rental car when she was at the beach, remember?”
“Yes, sir.”
“She drove Hector’s Lexus when she was at the beach. She assumed the car karma had been broken and it was safe for her to drive my BMW.”
Les turns to me. “We’ve learned the car karma is location and car specific. Trenton is a requirement and, so far, her Miata hasn’t been affected.”
I nod. Good to know.
“So she takes my BMW to the grocery store and runs into an old skip. A skip who enjoys Molotov cocktails.”
I cringe. “Damn.”
“Exactly. Kaboom!”
I’m both horrified and fascinated. “Do her skips have radar for her? Do they just psychically know?”
“No fucking idea, but I’d lost car two.” He looks at me. “I cried. Tantrum tears. You tell anyone and I’ll kill you.”
I’m gonna laugh my ass off later but I nod. “No one will hear from me.”
“This Vanquish is a present from Ranger and a replacement for the BMW. I love this car and I have this and the Range Rover. Now, the chances of Steph getting in this car, as the driver or the passenger, are about the same as the chances of me having a go with the Duchess of Cambridge.”
“No fucking way?”
Les grins. “I’m charming but I think that’s pretty much out of the realm of possibility.” We both laugh. “So why did I tell you that story?”
I’m thinking. Les doesn’t waste time unless there’s a lesson to be learned. “Well, Hector told me, when he arrived, not to assume anything. Check and double check. Triple check if I have to.”
Les nods. “Good lesson, but not the one for today.”
I sober and listen carefully.
“The lesson for today is to pay attention and learn from the mistakes of others. Ranger’s lost how many cars to Steph’s car karma?” I shrug. I know about the Boxster and the Mercedes. “At the moment, we’re saying five fleet cars and three of Ranger’s personal vehicles.” My jaw hangs. “There’s more but we won’t go into that. Even at that rate, that’s two a year. That’s expensive and unsustainable, but it’s Steph. It’s a cost of business.”
He turns to me.
“The point is, I knew this. I’d watched it, seen it happen with my own eyes, but I offered up my BMW on a whim and she took it. Did she mean for it to get bombed? No, of course not. She never does, but it happened anyway.
I should have learned from Ranger’s example. I should have learned from my own mistake the first time. She has access to all the fleet vehicles she wants because it’s easier to replace a $25,000 Explorer than a $120,000 Boxster or my $105,000 BMW. If a car is going to be lost, let her lose something cheap or her own car, not mine. That’s why this Vanquish is off-limits. I love Steph, but her car karma means that my new baby might become a victim. I’m not chancing it.”
I nod. Right. The fleet vehicles are much cheaper.
“The lesson for you here is that you need to pay attention and learn from the mistakes of other, but also be aware of changing conditions. You missed the drinks getting spiked and the kidnapping because you got complacent. You thought you had enough firepower in the club that no one could kidnap her. You thought having Maria go with her was enough, even knowing she was a target.”
I wince mentally. He’s right. It’s was the ladies’ restroom. I didn’t think to check it out. Who arranges for an outside exit from the women’s restroom? That’s a good way to sneak women into a club, avoiding the entrance fees and in Miami, that’s a no-no.
“You can’t do that as an XO. That’s what happened to us at the top. We got complacent. Learn from the examples of the men around you, both tonight and in the future, and make your own mistakes. Trust, but verify. Make sure you know what’s going on.”
He leans back and blows a breath. “Is it hard to do? Yes. Is it time consuming and nerve-racking? Yes, but you’re joining a new brotherhood now. The XOs have welcomed you in, right?”
“Yes, sir.” They really have and Tank’s been calling me to check on both me and Miami.
Les smiles. “I’ll miss you as a strategist but you’re ready to be an XO. So be an XO but when you don’t know something, like the new scheduling procedures”—I grin. How did he know?—”call on the other XOs to help you. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now I need to air my car out. That damn ammonia packet stinks like hell.”
He unlocks the door and we get out. We walk over to a campfire and join Ranger, Bobby, Tank, and Hal. We’re in the middle of the woods and there’s a cabin behind them. The men are sitting around a campfire, eating grilled chicken and baked beans and drinking beer. Hal hands me a plate.
“We wondered what was taking so long,” Bobby says, handing me a beer. “We were about to rescue you, Diggy.”
“My car smells like shit. You could have warned me,” Les grumbles.
“Yeah, but why?” Bobby grins.
The bromance lives on.
The guys sit and Hal points to a special chair for me. I sit and wonder what’s coming next. The chicken is really good.
“Who cooked?”
“Ranger.”
I nod at him. “Thank you, sir.”
“You’re welcome.”
Tank stands. “I have the joy of making the citation this time.”
“Is it more than 10 words?” Les asks and everyone laughs.
Tank flips him off. “Yes. Diego Garcia, please stand.”
I put my plate in the chair and stand at attention. Everyone snickers.
“Gentlemen, we have a new member of the ‘Fallen Plum’ society,” Tank says, smiling.
Huh? ‘Fallen Plum’ Society? What’s this?
“Membership in the ‘Fallen Plum’ society is based on two criteria: One: Having done something which your training and common sense should have prevented, and Two: Having done it because you either fell for some innocent trick of Stephanie Michelle Plum or because you made assumptions about her fitness later proven to be disastrously false.”
I’m sure I’m red. The men are starting to laugh.
“Membership is being extended to one Diego ‘Diggy’ Garcia for falling for the ‘What could go wrong?’ routine.”
At this Bobby and Ranger start laughing and Hal cracks a smile. Great. Now Leadership and Hal are laughing at me. Well, at least they took me out into the woods to laugh at me.
“Diego Garcia looked into Stephanie Plum’s eyes and agreed with her assessment that a women’s restroom is not a dangerous place. After all, what do women do in there? Pee and leave. That’s why they don’t go in groups, like men do. After all, no one’s ever posted pictures or a video on the internet of a club cat fight that originated in the bathroom.”
Bobby and Lester are cracking up. Ranger is red trying not to laugh and so is Hal. Tank merely looks amused.
“One moment, sir.” I have to defend myself.
“Yes?”
“I didn’t fall for a trick and I didn’t make any assumptions about her fitness.”
Tank grins. “You fell for the ‘lightning can’t strike twice’ routine. What did you know about Steph’s luck when she arrived in Miami?”
I hang my head. “That it’s shit.”
I’d been warned by Mando, who’d heard from Danny, who heard from Hal. I was told she had shit luck and the FBI was after her. Even Mark called to say that she’d been confronted by an agent only to get away using a skip.
I should have known.
Every man breaks into laughs.
“Exactly. In agreeing with his CO’s assessment, against his better judgment, right?” He stares at me. I nod quickly. I hear Ranger start laughing. “In agreeing with the CO’s assessment, he had the unfortunate luck of being the first man this year to lose her to the enemy. This was further compounded by the fact that this was the first night of her assessment visit,”—I hear Hal start laughing—”it was his first night with the CO in house,”—Bobby and Les should have headaches now—”and he had the misfortune of allowing our CIO to find out about his lapse in judgment before he confessed.”
My head is hanging. There’s no coming back from this. Tank started laughing at the mention of Hector and now all the guys are cracking up. There are tears, actual tears, streaming down Ranger’s face.
I’ll never live this down.
“His momentary lapse in judgment led to the embarrassment of RangeMan losing their own member of senior management, at the branch with the highest bodyguard revenue”—my ears are red—”and the indignity of the CO being rescued by, as she termed him, ‘the friendly neighborhood gang leader’.”
I finally laugh. Danilo would crack up at that assessment of him before reminding her, in the most frightening way possible, that he’s a bad ass.
Ranger’s slipped from his chair and has his head back in the seat, laughing his fucking head off. Bobby and Les are laid out on the ground laughing. Tank’s shaking his head looking at me. I look to my left. Hal’s completely red and wiping his face.
Tank finally pulls himself together and clears his throat. Bobby, Ranger, Les and Hal all stand with smirks on their faces.
“For your actions, Diego Garcia, we present to you a pair of handcuffs,”—from Tank—”a new GPS signal and responder,”—from Ranger—”and a box of adult diapers.”
“Diapers?” I ask Bobby.
“For that ‘Oh, shit’ moment,” he replies, and the laughter starts anew.
“We also present you with a bottle of tequila and cigars.” From Les, a smile on his face.
I turn to Hal. “This is a list of all the possible answers I have for Steph’s questions. I’ve been keeping this list ever since she stunned me.” He hands me a small booklet.
“Learn from that,” Tank says. “He recently managed to get one over on her and she didn’t even realize it until I pointed it out.”
The guys look at Hal. “Linden! You managed to trick Steph?” Bobby says.
He smiles. “I’ll never be as sneaky as she is, but I’m learning. I’m getting a few defenses together.”
The guys laugh. “We need to get a plaster mold of his balls made,” Ranger says, and Hal blushes bright red.
Tank nods, looking at Hal. “Gotta get those bad boys bronzed.” Tank slaps me on the back. It hurts. “I broke my leg with Steph.” What?!
Bobby grimaces. “I managed to knock myself out with half a dozen syringes loaded with a sedative.”
Ok, that’s funny. I want to know how he did that.
Tank cuts his eyes at Bobby. “And how did you do that, Brown?”
Bobby glares at me. “Repeat it and you will never see pain relief again.” I nod. “I sat on the fucking syringes.”
Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh.
“Now you can tell him how you broke your leg.”
Tank looks at me. There’s no need; I won’t say anything. “I fell. Out a building.” There’s more to that story, I know. How does one fall out a building?
Ranger smiles. “I got shot my very first time out backing Steph up.”
I’m stunned. What? He got shot?! That’s doesn’t happen! That never happens!
Les grins. “Come on, Ranger, tell him the best part.”
Ranger sighs. “I was shot pretty high up on my thigh.” His face says I should figure it out.
I’m thinking and . . . I’m sure I’m pale. I don’t want to wonder how close . . .
“My apologies, sir.”
“Flesh wound to the thigh only, Diego.”
“I’m sure, sir.”
Everyone around us snorts. Ranger flips them all off.
I look at Hal then nod. “The stun gun?”
“And everyone knows.”
Everyone laughs and Ranger motions for me to sit back down. I grab my plate and sit in my chair.
“You should know that, in losing Steph from a crowded Miami club, you joined a very small and very influential club within RangeMan,” Ranger says. “It’s not a public one, nor is it one that is discussed, but you’ll spend time with the members this weekend.” He smiles. “Diego Garcia, welcome to the Fallen Plum Society.”
The guys all clap and cheer and I try to get over the embarrassment of how I obtained my membership in this society. They take the gifts from me and Les and Hal take them inside the cabin while I start eating again. Ranger did a great job. This meal is excellent.
Each man sits and tells me the full story behind his inclusion in this club. I am the second person not in Leadership to join and Hal whispers an assurance that this is not a chance to embarrass me. This is their way of telling me that I am forgiven. That they understand why it happened, because it happened to them too.
He and I are the only ones, so far, whose humiliations were public. The LC were all lucky enough to have it happen when no one, no other RangeMan, was around. We were the ones whose humiliation was public.
We’re all sharing the cabin this weekend. It was supposed to fit six, but only if they were children. Six grown men sharing that tiny space? Tank and Hal barely fit in there!
Hal and I decide to sleep in sleeping bags under the stars and he welcomes me to the XO club. He tells me what it was like when he truly took over.
“The fear and nervousness that you’ll have? And you will have it. That’s normal,” he says quietly. “You’ll realize exactly how many people are counting on you and your ability to keep the ship going and it’ll be overwhelming. Right now you have an established branch that had Mando’s leadership for years.” He turns to me. “Don’t be afraid to reach out to us.”
“I do.”
He smiles. “Not enough. You’re an XO but you don’t participate in our calls. You still think of yourself as a strategist. You signed your contract?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“The best advice I got when I took this job came from Danny. He told us we had to let go of our old jobs. Otherwise, we’d burn out faster. I was still trying to run the security installs unit instead of allowing Junior to handle that. I’ve let it go. Manny was still trying to run bonds enforcement. Ram was still trying to run monitoring. Let it go. You aren’t a strategist anymore.”
I fall asleep thinking over Hal’s words.
-oOo-
“Diggy? Come on, Diggy, walk into the light.”
There’s a light shining in my eyes. I twist and turn and finally open my eyes. The sun isn’t up yet, but Les is in my face with a flashlight.
“Isn’t he supposed to walk away from the light, sir?” Hal.
“Well, given that I’m shining a light into his face right now, Hal, I’d rather he walk toward my light.” Les sounds amused. “Have you lost your fear of us, Hal?”
“No, sir.” Healthy amount of respect in his reply and I hear a few chuckles. “You’re awake and your limbs are free. Besides, I hear Javi’s losing his mind in NYC. You’re still capable of damage.”
That gets outright laughs and I finally open my eyes fully. All the members of LC, plus Hal, are standing around me grinning. Les looks at Tank.
“We need to get a plaster mold of his balls made.”
Tank nods, looking at Hal. Hal groans. “What is with this obsession with my balls?”
“We’ve discovered you have them, Hal!” Bobby says, grinning. “You’re swinging them in everyone’s faces lately! Tricking Steph, holding onto the crown—”
“The new woman,” Les says, and they all whistle. Hal blushes.
“Even I’m jealous of the woman, Hal.” I moan and sit up. “Where did you find her?”
Hal’s beet red and everyone grins.
“Hal?” Tank says, amused.
“Strip club,” Hal mutters.
“What?!” I get up and start rolling up my sleeping blanket.
“She was the featured dancer at my congratulations party,” Hal says, glaring at me.
I look around at the other members of the LC. They’re grinning. “If there’s a party that will introduce me to Candy’s twin, when do we leave?”
The guys laugh. “Diggy, you think we’re going to let you beat us to this mythical woman?” Les says, handing me the strap to keep my bedroll together. “However, when you meet her, tell us where.”
Hal shakes his head and walks off into the cabin. I change into my PT gear and go for a run. Ranger catches me five minutes in.
“Congrats.”
“Thank you, sir.”
We keep running for another hour. Finally, Ranger stops and motions for me to stop. We’re close to the cabin.
“You know why you earned the reprieve?” He pants.
“No, sir,” I gasp. “Because Hector had already damn near killed me?”
Ranger exhales heavily and snorts. “No. Because you can’t account for everything.” He looks at me. “Les calls it the ‘Plum Curve’. That 10% chance of something going completely haywire. The possibility that no matter how carefully you plan, something’s going to get fucked up anyway.”
I nod and listen.
Ranger stops and stares at the cabin. “All my life, I’ve trusted Les. My job to lead, his job to think up the plan. Unbeatable combination.” He grins. “But when we’re separate, we can both do both jobs brilliantly. We both won the highest award for Ranger graduates.”
I nod. They’re both brilliant men but Ranger? Ranger can inspire you to walk into hell. Les will inspire you to walk into hell, but you wonder how many legs you’ll walk out with. With Ranger, you know you’ll walk out with both or none at all.
Having Ranger lead the plan makes it easier to trust Les’s plans. I admire and respect Les, deeply. As a boss, he’s top notch with developing a line of business. But in the field? I was in their ‘special group’ at the end of my Marine career. I watched. Ranger was the final arbiter on the plan. Bobby picked off the insane pieces, Ranger agreed, and Tank made sure we had everything we needed to succeed.
As the only other Marine there, Mando told me to watch my head and trust the Rangers. They were insane, but they were unbeatable. I trusted Mando and Ranger in the field. I respected everyone else.
“You worked under Les for years. I know the brilliance is there. Now you’re going to work under Tank.” He looks at me and smiles. “Don’t underestimate my RB. Les is known for fucking with people’s heads but Tank is a master at it.”
I blink. What!?
He nods. “You’re about to learn another level of leadership. Tank’s quiet but he’s just as powerful as the rest of us. When in doubt, I lean on his opinion, his assessment.”
My estimation of Tank just zoomed. I’ll keep that in mind.
“When Tank’s finished with you, I’ll begin.” Ranger starts jogging to the cabin. I stare at him before catching up.
When Tank’s finished with you, I’ll begin.
Talk about something to look forward to.
-oOo-
I’m in the Vanquish with Les again. We’re headed back to the hotels because we’re leaving in the morning.
This was the best weekend I’ve had away in a long time. We sat around, bullshitted with each other and I got to see the LC in downtime.
They’re a bunch of fools! Les and Bobby played practical jokes on everyone. Ranger and Tank dunked them both into the nearby river, and Hal grabbed me and we ran to a safe distance and watched them carry out retribution on each other for an hour.
“Are they adults or children?” I whispered.
He snorted. “When they get together? Adult children.” He grinned. “This is my induction all over again only they did this in the Jersey woods. They’ll stop when they get hungry. Les will be the first to get hungry, so when he drops, they’ll all stop.”
Sure enough, Les dropped to the ground 15 minutes later rubbing his belly. Hal said we should stroll in looking as if we just went for a walk.
“Not fooled, Hal,” Bobby said. “We know you and Diggy hid like two little kids over in the brush.”
“Did not,” Hal said.
“So if we go check the brush, it’ll be undisturbed, right?” Ranger asked, raising an eyebrow.
Hal and I looked at each other. “OK, so maybe we decided that distance was the better part of valor,” I replied.
The LC laughed. We cleaned up and went to the Pancake Haus for breakfast. We told stories about our military careers, a few about our childhoods (well, Hal, Les and Bobby did. Tank and Ranger were silent), and we toasted Tank’s engagement and came up with mock speeches for the rehearsal dinner and the reception.
It was great and I’m feeling exhausted. I run my finger along the leather and Les smiles.
“I know. I was ready to strip naked and make love to this car.”
“What stopped you?”
“Bobby’s a prude.”
I laugh.
Les pulls up outside of the hotel and hands me an envelope. “You can open that when you get back to Miami.” He holds his hand out and I shake. “Welcome to the Fallen Plum Society and congratulations on the new job, Diggy.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Les’s mouth tilts up and we bump fists. I get out and he zooms away.
-oOo-
I kick back at my apartment in Miami and open the envelope.
Four separate envelopes inside.
I open the first one.
‘Diego,
Congratulations. I expect great things.
Bobby’
$10,000 check. Nice.
-oOo-
‘Diego,
Proud of you. Remember: confess your sins first. Don’t get caught slipping.
Tank’
$10,000 check. Appropriate message from my new boss.
-oOo-
‘Diego,
Congratulations. Remember: Learn from the mistakes of others and follow your instincts.
Lester’
$15,000 check and a reminder. Thank you, sir.
Ranger’s message is last.
-oOo-
‘Diego,
Congratulations.
‘Pressure is on us by the nature of the job. Performance releases pressure.’
Ranger’
The check is for $15,000.
-oOo-
I stare at the personal checks in front of me.
The LC just paid off my student loans and started a down payment on a house.
‘Pressure is on us by the nature of the job. Performance releases pressure.’
Time to relieve some pressure.
