Chapter 77.5 Unpleasant Duties, Part II
Tank’s POV
This is probably the hardest apology I’m going to issue but I’m determined. I just wish I could get the nasty taste out of my mouth.
“Sir. Welcome to Boston.”
Mark has his blank face on but I detect confusion. Good. I nod and toss my bags in the back seat. I climb in and we travel to RM Boston in silence. We arrive and I note the silence on the floor. Everyone is confused. Good. I travel up to Les’s apartment, stash my bags, then head downstairs. I get off the elevator at 5 and walk to Mark’s office.
“Bring the results of Steph’s report with you.”
I see Mark hesitate before pulling the report and following me to Ranger’s office. We both sit and I stare at him for a moment. I’m really having problems giving this apology because he’s irritated me so fucking much.
“I’m here to talk to you about you.” I see Mark start. “Steph has already told us that she’s calling your report ‘Incomplete’.” Mark’s jaw clenches. OK, so they failed. Now I see why Little Girl won’t talk about it. “The management review is not intended to be used as a yardstick to hire or fire. She never meant it to take on that feeling, as if it was a punishment. It’s simply designed to give you an idea of where you and your branch can improve. We in the Leadership Core are definitely not using it in a punitive manner unless there’s something in your results that warrants further action.”
Mark’s eyes widen slightly. I nod.
“The management review is also giving us a yardstick to understand where we have or have not supported you as leaders and XOs within your branch. That’s why I’m here now, Mark. As Chief XO, you should always feel you have my support in addition to Ranger’s and Les’s. I’m your next step up in the chain of command.”
I sit back and sip my water. Mark is silent. Good. Maybe I can get this out.
“I’ve been able to take a critical look at our processes and procedures over the past few months, and what I’ve had to accept is that I’ve not done the job I thought I was doing supporting my XOs. That’s why I’m here to speak to you in person now. You and I will always have a difficult working relationship as long as you continue to believe you can replace the entire Leadership at Ranger’s side.” I lean forward and pin Mark with a glare. “It will not happen. Accept that.”
Mark nods and takes a deep breath. “I understand, sir. The CO made that crystal clear at the beach.”
I nod. Good. “Ranger is my partner and has been for over a decade. I know him as I know myself. Do you know me? Do you know how I think, what makes me tick?” Mark shakes his head. “Then what makes you think you can supplant me?”
Mark is silent. I sigh mentally.
“Regardless, the job of Chief XO is to be the man the XOs can turn to when they need help. When you need something, men, supplies, something, I’m the man you turn to. When you need help brainstorming ideas, I’m available to you.” I relax my jaw and look at Mark. He’s quiet and looking at his fingers, cheeks red. “I know I’m not a big talker. You and I have had a difficult relationship, which has made talking difficult. Well, I’m here now to say to you, face to face, that I’m ready to move forward and craft a new and different relationship with you. It’s time. I’m willing to talk to you as long as you are willing to talk to me. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you,” Mark says quietly.
I motion for the report and he hands it over. I begin reading and wincing at each point.
Mark’s failures in leadership here in Boston are also an indictment of my leadership. I abdicated responsibility for him to Ranger because he irritated the shit out of me and to avoid killing him. Here’s the result.
Ranger’s really going to take this report hard. What Hal is to me, Mark is to him.
Mark requests permission to leave. I check the time. 1255. Core team meeting. I wave him away. He returns with water and glasses. I’m just finishing the report.
“What instructions did the CO leave you?”
“She’s going to review us a second time to give me time to make corrections and address these issues.”
I nod. “I’ll say nothing to Les.” Mark sits back, relieved. “I’m willing to do that because I see what happened here as a failure of my leadership. I’ve said this to every other XO and now I’m saying it to you. I see what happened in NYC as a personal failure of my own.”
Mark looks stunned. I’m finding it easier than I expected to say this now. It doesn’t hurt any less, but I’m accepting the truth behind it.
“Every XO should feel they can call on me anytime for anything, and you should not hesitate to continue calling and harassing me until you get what you need. If I’m not providing you with the RangeMan brotherhood you need, I need to know. I’m noticing that only Hal and the CO have that comfort level with me and that bothers me. It means that at some point, you men concluded I either don’t care or I cannot or will not help.”
Mark smiles. “Colin Powell.” I lift an eyebrow and he reddens. ” ‘Leadership is solving problems. The day the soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.’ My favorite quote, sir.”
I stare at him in surprise then slowly smile. “Mine too. So you understand my feelings in this?”
“Yes, sir.” Mark smiles and for the first time in all the years I’ve known him, I understand what Ranger sees in him.
This is the soldier who cares.
I walk each floor in Boston. My Little Girl called this place right. Space is tight. The men are packed in tightly.
“The men are cramped. Why didn’t you inform us?” I ask Mark.
“I informed Ranger, sir. We’ve been looking for buildings but he didn’t find anything he really liked. He was contemplating constructing another building.”
A conversation I had with Ranger is niggling in the back of my brain and I head back to Ranger’s office and search my laptop. Shit. Mark’s right. We had that conversation shortly before he accepted this assignment. He wasn’t finding anything he liked and it was on my list to follow up on, but I dropped the ball on it.
“Call a realtor. Tell them to pull both land and buildings in Boston and start scouting. Search for two things.” I look up at him. He’s taking notes. “One: proximity to our clients in a new building. Something big enough for current capacity plus 75%.” Mark’s eyebrow rises and I nod. “Victor’s getting contracts for active work?” He nods. “Then you’ll need room a lot sooner than you expect. Second, look into a satellite office in a direction you want to grow. If the growth, right now, is toward Maine, look in that direction, but you know best. Meet with your management and look at the trends. Decide on space. If you find something, let me know. I’ll come back and negotiate for it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“This may give you three buildings in Boston, so be careful. Make sure you space them appropriately.”
I leave Boston three days later after meeting with the rest of management. I can see that Steph’s discussions with the entire branch made a difference. The men are working hard, trying to prove they want their crown back, but I’m seeing them reach out to the rest of the brotherhood and work collaboratively with everyone else. They’re having the best success with NYC and Atlanta, probably because Jorge and Danny were here, but Trenton is holding them at arm’s length. Hmmm …
“Hal?”
“Sir?”
“Why is Trenton giving Boston the cold shoulder?”
A sigh from Hal. “They swagged her.”
I grin. Hal’s irritation with the swag amuses me. It’s good to see that my Little Girl is being appreciated at each branch, but Hal sees it as a challenge. I don’t blame the boy.
“Any other reason?”
It’s silent for a few moments. “Boston has been a thorn in our sides, sir. In my side especially. I hesitate to trust them. I’m not sure if they’re looking for info, or if there’s something deeper . . . I refuse to allow them to hurt Steph.”
I sense his confusion and resolve. “What did Danny say?”
“The Boston men want back into the brotherhood.”
“Then tell the men to give them a chance.”
I’m standing outside Lula’s apartment, trying to rein in my anger before I walk in. I’m still steaming about the Stop and Shop incident. At the time, it was funny as hell because Les knew better. He set himself up for that, but when Steph mentioned Lula’s ‘cop allergy’, I stopped laughing.
My woman could not, would not, have left her best friend stranded. I know that. I simply knew that. Not after the discussions Bobby and I both had with her about her gun and the Slayers incident.
I texted Hal immediately and got confirmation of my suspicion. Lula had left Steph stranded at the Stop and Shop. Hal got the video and he sent it to me a few hours later. I watched in fury, disbelief, and hurt.
No, there had to be a damn good explanation for that. There had to be. I wouldn’t accept anything less.
Hal also mentioned that Steph intended to go talk to Lula about it because she was steamed. His actual words were ‘Sir, she’s pissed. I’d give them some time, sir. I don’t know if that friendship will survive this discussion.’
I sat back and rubbed my head. I was sick to my stomach. Lula loves Steph, and if Hal thought Steph might be mad enough to end that friendship, it would break Lula. I sank to my knees and prayed Steph didn’t end her friendship with Lula. I wasn’t sure I could console Lula through that loss and, hard as it was for me to admit it, I wouldn’t have been able to say shit to make her feel better about it. She screwed that one.
When Lula called me later and told me that she and Steph had made up, I sighed in relief but my fury reignited. I couldn’t say much over the phone except that we were going to have a very serious conversation about her gun, among other things. I realized I needed to get a handle on my anger because Lula asked me, in a tiny voice I’ve never heard my woman use, if I still loved her. Of course I loved her, and always will, and I realized that if I’d said anything more right then, I might not have a fiancée.
It’s been hard getting Bobby and Les to accept that Lula’s good qualities outweigh her impulsivity and lack of forethought. I finally managed it when I gave them a list of character traits and asked them to pick out Steph and Lula. Bobby called it right. I’ve always known that Bobby was damn good at reading people too. He’s just not as fast as me. Les pointed out both sets of traits applied to both women.
It was the same damn thing: neither woman had any real understanding of how their actions truly affected others. Lula might leave Steph stranded places, which is dangerous, but Steph used to go out bounty hunting without adequate backup or a plan all the time, which is how our current plan kicked off. That also used to irritate the shit out of them and it was dangerous for us and the men. Steph affected more people than just herself and we corrected that dangerous habit with training. Lula affects Steph and that could also be corrected with training.
That’s when they realized that they needed to try to be fair to my future wife. So they promised me that, when Lula came to visit me in San Antonio, they would put forth the effort to be fair to her and really get to know her. They gave Lula a chance and realized what I always knew: Lula was loyal, fierce, and funny. Directed correctly, she was unstoppable. They started to get to know the Lula I always knew and they really liked her.
Away from New Jersey (and Steph), Lula shone and the guys admitted that they found her just as captivating, in her own way, as Steph. Plus, they could see she was ride-or-die for me and that loyalty to me and my family tipped them into her camp. I was happy because, if forced to choose between my woman and my brothers, I’d choose my woman.
I owe Ranger an apology. I see why he was so pissed when we put the same ultimatum on him. If we forced him to choose between Steph and us, that would break the brotherhood but he’d choose her just as I’d choose Lula.
During the call, Ranger sent a message: Fix that fast. I sent a message back: Ahead of you. After the call, Les, Bobby, and Hector called. They were pissed about the Stop and Shop incident too. They expected better of Lula, and I’m sure they plan to have harsh talks with her when she reaches Texas.
“We gotta fix that fast,” Bobby said quietly.
“No shit,” Hector growled. “Tank, she’s your woman and I’ll accept her, but if she ever leaves my partner in the lurch like that again, I’ll have her ass.”
I really wanted to cuss Hector out for that, but I was certain that was the ‘nice’ version of what Ranger was thinking. “I know.”
“Need my help here?” Les said.
I thought about it. Honestly, yes, but again, I needed to know what was behind that.
“Formulate a plan, but I’ll get her to accept that she has to get training. I need to know what’s behind this.”
“OK—”
“You know what?” Bobby broke in. We waited. “I’m not jumping down Lula’s throat.”
“Why not?” Hector said, clearly pissed.
“Because this is Steph 2.0. Steph wouldn’t train, wouldn’t use her fucking gun, and was heedless of other people’s safety. Well, that’s Lula. Won’t train, pulls her gun all the damn time, and is heedless of other people’s safety.”
We were all silent. I was silent and smiling slightly. I loved Bobby for that. That bastard is quick to try to treat everyone equally, and Bobby truly hates being mad at anyone because he holds grudges worse than I do.
“I can’t fucking believe it,” we heard Hector grouse. “This asshole has me agreeing with him.” I heard Bobby and Les snicker and I smiled. “Under no fucking circumstances would I ever have believed that those two had any similarities, but he’s absolutely right. Fuck. No wonder they’re friends. They egged each other on.”
We laughed. Hector sounded pissed but resigned.
We all laughed but Bobby continued. “Tank, we need to run a psyop on your Wifey just as we did on Steph. She has to truly accept that her gun is a last resort only. Besides, if she intends to go into Social Work, she’ll need the fucking gun in certain neighborhoods and if she gains a rep in Texas for pulling it for stupid shit, she’ll never get licensed.”
“Les, start planning.” I was smiling at that point. The brotherhood at work: I went from wondering if my wife would always be an issue between us to realizing my brothers will truly always have my back.
“Done.” Click.
I’ve given myself time to get over the anger and hurt and approach this calmly. I’m ready to talk now.
I let myself into the apartment and look around. She’s mostly packed and I’m surprised. I assumed there might be a few more things left. Even the furniture we’re not taking has been picked up. I walk back to her bedroom and find her on the bed, naked and asleep.
Sigh. Discussion now or sex now? Well, I am about to do a lot of talking.
I strip and slide into the bed next to her and wake her up in the best way possible. Two hours later I roll off her and wish for a cigar. That was great. Lula slides next to me and starts running her foot up and down my leg. I feel her looking at me.
“You’re still mad.”
“I’m disappointed.”
She sighs. “We made up. I apologized. I know I was wrong.”
I’m silent. I turn to look at her and see the tears in her eyes. “Why?”
She sighs heavily. “I can’t stand the Trenton cops.” I open my mouth and she shakes her head. “I’ve done most of them and not cuz I wanted to either.” Lula swallows hard. “Sometimes I didn’t have a choice. If I wasn’t a ‘ho, it woulda been rape.”
My eyes widen. She looks at my face and turns away from me, staring at the wall. “I hate to see them. I hate looking at them because it’s looking at every mistake I ever made. And they always walk up grinning, like some shit is funny, like they wondering what they can threaten to write me up on to get a free ride.” She swallows hard. “I always felt that, once the cops showed, she was safe. SuperCop was her man and those were his co-workers. They’d protect her. And she’s known most of them since she was a kid. Me? They’d arrest my ass for anything they could think of.”
I’m staring at the ceiling. Damn. That went much deeper than I expected. It’s quiet for a few moments. Lula slides out the bed and goes to the kitchen. She returns with a bottle of water and a cigar for me. I light it as she slides back in the bed with me and we cuddle.
“Would you have left me in the lurch like that?”
Lula looks over, eyes wide. I’m blowing the smoke up to the ceiling calmly. She still hasn’t answered and that is my answer.
“You love Steph but you left her. You love me but you would have left me. That’s hard for me to accept right now, Lula. Nothing on earth would convince me to leave your side if you needed me. How should I take that? What should I think right now?” I look at her and the tears are streaming down her face. “My wife, the woman I love, would leave me in a lurch rather than face her biggest fear.”
“Not true,” Lula cries. “I’d shoot every motherfucker in Trenton PD to have your back.”
“I don’t need you to shoot, Lula,” I reply, sitting up. “I can shoot. I can fuck ’em all up. I need you to protect my back. I need you to make sure no one sneaks up on me. That’s all I need. That’s all Steph needed. She needed you to trust and believe in her. You trust her ‘spidey sense’. Hell, you wished for it a few times in Texas, but the moment she asked you to believe in her, you put junk food over safety. You called her paranoid. She had to threaten to leave you before you’d leave.”
“How do you know that?”
“Hector. Believe me, she vented.”
“I thought Hector doesn’t understand English,” Lula said, looking suspicious.
“Hal does. Ram does. They all listened to her vent for two hours before she calmed down enough to go talk to you.” Lula pales. “Yeah, she was that mad. Lula, right now I’m not quite sure what to think.”
“I said I’d get the training.”
“That’s not the issue, Lula.” I look at her and remember not to clench my jaw. “The issue is that you’d leave the ones you love rather than face your fears. There’s nothing in the world that would keep me from your side. Steph’s been there for you when you needed her and you’d leave us in the lurch.” Lula starts crying again. “Why should I, right now, believe that you’d never leave me when I need you the most?”
It’s quiet in the bedroom. Lula’s crying silently and I pass her the Kleenex. Finally, I pull her to me and kiss the top of her head. “I love you so I choose to believe this will never happen again. You apologized to Steph?”
“Yeah.” She sniffs.
“Then Steph’s giving you another chance too. You’re going to have to convince a lot of people that you won’t do that again.”
“Like who?”
“Well, Ranger for a start.” Her shoulders slump. “Yeah. I promise you, he will find out about that. And Hector. That’s her partner and he was furious that you left her.”
“Right,” she says quietly. She looks at me. “I don’t like the Trenton men.”
“Why?”
“They hate me.”
I sigh. “No they don’t. They don’t like that you leave Steph in the lurch all the time. If you never did that, they’d like you. As long as you leave Steph stranded, they’ll dislike you but they don’t hate you.” I snort and look at Lula. “Plus, they know you’re nosy and RangeMan Trenton is more military than our other locations with the exception of San Antonio. Those men believe in following orders.” I look at her. “Is that why you resented RangeMan?”
She nods. “Steph always had access to the building and the men were clear they liked her. It just seemed that they tolerated me on a good day.”
Sigh. “They had a chance to get to know Steph because she worked there on occasion and she did distractions for us. They knew her. They didn’t really know you and what they knew about you wasn’t great.” I smile. “Give them a chance. They’ll get to know you and like you eventually. The Trenton men in San Antonio liked you after you got to know them, right?” She nods. “OK, so it just takes time. They didn’t particularly like Steph at first.”
“Really?” Lula’s eyes are wide. I stub the cigar and open my arms to her. She snuggles close to me.
“Really. It took time for them to like her. Now, let’s discuss Texas. First things first. The gun? Mine until you’re trained and licensed. You don’t respect guns and that’s a huge problem for me.” I tilt her face to me. “Bobby told you that Texas gun laws are strict, right?” She nods. “So let me tell you what he probably didn’t tell you.” I turn until I’m looking Lula square in the face. “If you’re arrested, I’ll do my damndest to get you out of it, but you could cost us the entire company.”
Lula pales. “What?”
“If you attempt to bounty hunt under the company’s name without training and you’re found liable for anything, you will cost both me and Ranger our bounty hunting and bail agent licenses. Every man at RangeMan practices under our licenses, and Les’s, Bobby’s and now Steph’s. You could cause all of us to lose our licenses.”
That’s not quite true, but I need her to understand why I’ll never allow her a gun again.
“You are a huge risk to the company every time you pull your gun. It can never happen again and when we walk out of this apartment, I’m retrieving your gun from Hal and I’m keeping it, Lula Bear. No more guns.”
Lula is staring at me. “What will I do for protection?” I see the beginnings of rhino and I’m prepared to wrestle that rhino to the ground.
“RangeMan wives training. We’ll teach you to defend yourself without the gun but, baby, I’m going to keep repeating this: no guns ever again. I will never hand you a gun unless there’s some reason for you to have one, like I get word that one of my enemies is nearby. I might hand you one then, but you see guns as toys. Guns are not toys and I’m not convinced you respect guns.”
“You don’t have the right to tell me I can’t have a gun! I’m a grown woman! I can choose to carry if I wanna,” Lula yells, livid.
“Fine. Carry. When you’re ready to act like an adult, we’ll talk about getting married again.” Lula stops and stares at me, stunned. I nod. “Yeah, it’s that serious for me. I’m putting our entire lives on the line here, Lula. You either put the gun away or you can hand me back my ring, because I love you but I refuse to spend the rest of my life visiting you in jail for some shit that didn’t have to happen.”
Lula’s frozen. I sigh. I didn’t want to go there, but I mean it. I’m prepared to walk out of here with my ring in hand. Finally Lula’s shoulders slump. “Les is gonna make me live in the range, isn’t he?”
“Oh yeah. Get ready.” I breathe a mental sigh of relief. “Lula Bear, give me one legitimate reason why you need the gun in Texas.” I kiss the top of her head and walk into the kitchen. I grab two bottles of water from the cooler and return to the bedroom. “Nothing?” She shakes her head. “Then you don’t need one. You’ll go through the RangeMan wives training, but the gun is history. You don’t need it and you can’t carry it onto a college campus anyway. You’d be arrested if they found it on you at college, so no guns.” I hand her the bottle of water. “Next, the training is serious. Requires a serious commitment and you’ll have to take it seriously.”
“I will. I promise.”
I nod. “Good. Third, classes start ed two weeks ago. You’ve already been in touch with your instructors, right?”
“Yeah. I’ve been doing my homework and reading. They’re irritated I’m not in class in person, but when I told them I was moving from Jersey, most seemed to respect the fact that I was still trying to get my education while moving.”
“Good.” I grin at her. “I got a pretty little co-ed as my sweet thang.” Lula falls back onto her pillow laughing. I slide back in the bed and tweak her nipple, making her shiver. “Concentrate on school for a while. What you did here in Jersey, that’s not going to be your life in Texas, Lula Bear.”
“I know.” We stare into each other’s eyes, smiling, but I’m not quite done yet.
“I’m starting to get the feeling that there are a lot of things you haven’t leveled with me about.” Lula bites her lip and looks at me teary eyed. “Tell me now. The moment we leave New Jersey, we’re leaving this shit behind. The men at RMSA know you were once a prostitute, but no one knows how long and why and quite frankly, those men don’t give a damn. You’ll have a fresh start and you’ll be Lula Jackson, soon to be Lula Jackson-LaPierre, my wife, the fierce and funny woman beloved at RM SA . So level with me now. Tell me what I need to know.”
Lula swallows hard. “OK. I called my momma a few weeks ago. She’s willing to speak to me now that I’m not a ‘ho anymore.”
“Why wasn’t she speaking to you before?”
Lula snorts. “What? The high and mighty Evangelist Teresa Jackson? She was embarrassed to have a ‘ho as a daughter.”
“You’re a PK?”
“Yeah.”
“You wanna talk to her?”
“No. None of my family was there when I needed ’em. I’m done with ’em.”
“Then why’d you call?”
“To let her know I was getting married and moving to Texas and I wasn’t a ‘ho no more. She got all excited, started talking about the prodigal son and shit. No. I’m not some ministry for her to throw in everyone’s face. I only called her so she’d know I was still alive. I call once a year and that’s it.”
I nod. “And you say I hold a grudge.” I snort.
Lula glares at me. “I’m not holding a grudge. I cut my family from my life because, time and time again, when I needed them they didn’t come through for me. They treated me like I was diseased and dirty.” Lula releases a shuddering breath and I sit up and hug her close. “I called them after Ramirez raped me,” she whispers against my chest, and I immediately bury my face in her hair and start rubbing her back. “I called them, told them I was in the hospital and my sister hung up the phone in my face, telling me ‘you reap as you sow’.”
I’m shocked and I can’t believe Lula’s family is that fucking callous. “Fine. You never need to speak to them again if you don’t want to. Anything else?”
Lula thinks hard and finally shakes her head. “I took care of almost everything else.” She pulls back and looks at me with a small smile on her face. “I went to RangeMan yesterday and talked to Ram.” I raise an eyebrow. “We went to Sunny’s and got me a smaller gun. He said Steph was right, my gun was too big for me. I went to the range and practiced and I went from couldn’t hit shit to damn near hitting everything when I aim.”
I laugh. Goddamn. Les’s gonna love hearing that.
PK = Preacher’s Kid The Texas Legislature voted to allow guns on campus as long as they were kept in the vehicle. Author has no comment.
