Tagged: RangeMan Back Stories

Before they were RangeMen

The New Boys Get a Clue

A/N: One Shot Prompt from mcrmyrangerbabe. It’s a long one. I’m covering almost seven months here. Enjoy!

Month 1

SA RangeMen Recruits—Military Vet’s POV

RangeMan is no joke.

Every man hired so far has been intimidated by his new colleagues. Even the vets hitting the gym are astonished by the veteran RangeMen. They are, without a doubt, some of the most intimidating men we’ve ever seen.

They don’t play. They don’t joke. They have cliques, location based, but they’re quick to remind everyone that they’re brothers. You might be from Miami or Trenton or Atlanta but at the end of the day, you’re a RangeMan and that’s all that matters. Continue reading →

Chapter 87.5: Unpleasant Duties, Part III

Piman’s POV
Friday Afternoon (the day of the firing)

“We have an interesting dilemma,” Thomas says, eyeing the rock garden.

“Interesting dilemma?” I’m contemplating the patterns. We’re at the Morikami Gardens in Boca Raton. I prefer this area. Who expects hoods to do business at a Japanese garden? Boca is a retiree haven, not a gang hotspot.

Looks are deceiving.

“We have five disloyal RangeMen that are being fired”—he glances at his watch—”right now.”

I stare at him. “I’ve heard nothing of disloyalty from Pedro.”

“He’s one of them.” Continue reading →

The War at Home

A/N: You guys asked for this one. One Shot Prompts from Lyllyn, babesrus2, and Meyzen. It took me a long time to get the Muse working on this one and it’s a long one.
Keep the Kleenex (or the RangeMan hankies) handy. Those of you who are mothers, get two boxes.

There’s nothing wrong with narcissists that reasoning with them won’t aggravate.

There was never any equality in the fight.

From the moment Armando Rafael Cortes was born, he was always behind the eight-ball. Never the front-runner. Never the winner.

He started off wrong by being six days late. Not his fault. He had no idea that the doctor had assigned him a birth date and that, by being late, he’d disrupted his mother’s careful plan. Armando should have been first, so Connie could smile smugly at her sister and congratulate herself for having a beautiful baby boy first. Armando came when nature decided it was his time, but this was held against him for years. Continue reading →

I Live in His Glow

“. . . but I never have and I do not now. I live in his glow.”

Lester’s POV

We’re tied down under heavy gunfire. Ram is doing his best to pick them off, but he can’t move much without giving away his position. Ric will never allow Ram to take fire. We allow Ram to do his thing because he’s a fucking genius with a rifle, and Ric’s adamant about ensuring Ram’s protected.

We need a plan.

We’ve been successful in the objective, which was to completely eliminate an insurgent cell, hiding place and all, but we’re in urban fire now, exactly what we didn’t want. I think about where everyone is and I realize that if we don’t move soon, Ram will take fire. This is where he set up in order to cover us while we took out the cell, and now they’re closing in on him. They’ll stumble on his ass and our best sniper will die. Teigs was enough. Bobby and Ric love Ram. I can’t allow Ram to take fire. Continue reading →

I Live in His Shadow

A/N: Because Les has gotten so little love from me, his one-shot will have two parts!
All conversations among the family are in Spanish.

“Being his real brother I could feel I live in his shadows . . . “

Les’s POV—Age 6

“It’s easy, Ric. I’ll sneak in and put the forks in the fridge. Then I’ll grab the flan from the countertop and come back here. You go grab Kool-Aid for both of us and get the forks from the fridge and come back.”

Ric is looking at me in confusion. “And this will work because?”

“Because Papa comes home every day at 5 :00. Mamí and Abuela will be more interested in talking to him than paying attention to us . The flan will be ours. All they’ll remember is that we both got something from the fridge.”

“Dinner’s at 6 :00,” Ric points out. “We could just wait until then.” Continue reading →

Chapter 76.7 Unpleasant Duties, Part I

A/N: Bobby POV take place during Steph’s Boston trip.

Bobby’s POV

I’m not known as a cold, vindictive person. That’s good. It means I’m constantly underestimated. I have my moments. I feel rage and anger like the next person, but my default is peace and happy. I’ve seen enough blood, guts, and gore in the world. I don’t need to live in that. I usually rid myself of those feelings quickly and return to my normal state of calm amusement.

Unfortunately, I’m also capable of holding a grudge. A long, detailed, unforgiving one. A harsh one if you piss me off.

I’m pissed off. I have a former subordinate still walking the face of this earth without proper punishment. Continue reading →

I Resist the Pressure

A/N: All errors are mine. One shot prompt from Yllyn and Carol. Hope I did it justice. A special thanks to taniadanoff for providing the French translations used in this one-shot.

I want to wake up every day and do whatever comes in my mind and not feel pressure or obligations to do anything else in my life.—Michael Jordan

Bobby’s POV—Age 17

“And, of course, once Robert finishes Morehouse, he’ll continue to Wharton to obtain an MBA. We expect him to take over Wall Street before he’s thirty.”

I’m slumped in the chair. Fuck that. Are you kidding me? So I can work the same ridiculous hours you and Dad do? I’d actually like to attend my son’s birthday parties. His basketball games. Have some fucking time for him.

I’m stuck in the house with Jacqueline and Geneviève while Mom has her monthly Links committee meeting. My sisters are reading quietly, poking each other on occasion. Each time it’s about to spiral out of control, I clear my throat and glare. They stop poking each other and resume reading. The meeting is over and these biddies still haven’t left. I wish they’d go. I need to talk to the folks and they’re holding up progress. Continue reading →

Observation

A/N: One-Shot Prompts from Yllyn and molly9429. Thanks!

‘If you make listening and observation your occupation,
you will gain much more than you can by talk.’

Ram’s POV

Steady.

Steady hands, soldier.

I check the scope. Windage. Barometric pressure. Range. Check. Air temperature. Check.

Target is 1500 yards away. Chatting with other insurgents. I’ve been watching for days. They’ll leave, he’ll stay.

They leave.

I pull the trigger.

Next target. Continue reading →

I Don’t Fight for Me

A/N: Assume all conversations among the LC are in Spanish

“It gives me strength to have somebody to fight for;
I can never fight for myself, but, for others, I can kill.”

Trenton, 4 years ago

I’m outside of the restaurant watching him. I’ve been waiting on his arrival for an hour and I’m still uncertain. I’m thinking of trusting my life to this man and I cannot read him. This is a first. I look east. I spotted the first lookout 30 minutes ago. There’s no reason for a well-dressed black man to be in this area, so he’s deliberate. 15 minutes later I spotted a Hispanic, but I know him.

Lester Santos. I recognize him from childhood. He went inside and spoke to the man but left again. He’s sitting in the car.

I haven’t spotted the black man I’m told is his partner, and I’m not moving until I do. I like to know where possible enemies are before I move. It keeps me alive. He should be easy to spot. He’s supposed to be huge.

I check my watch. I’m now five minutes late and I’m told he never waits. I must be interesting. He’s waiting.

“He’s getting pissed about waiting.”

Continue reading →

One-Shot: Singles Ministry

A/N: One-Shot Prompt from molly9429. 🙂 I hope I did it justice. Thanks!

This starts a year before Lula’s visit to San Antonio.

Mrs. CJ’s POV

Marquise mentions that the young people of the church want to start a singles ministry. I laugh and encourage him to encourage them in that. He grins.

“They want you to join the committee.”

Huh. “Why?”

“You single.”

“I’m widowed.”

“You ain’t married.”

And I never wanna be again. No thank you. I had enough struggle in my life with men. The only men in my life now are my boys and grandsons. That’s enough.

Continue reading →