Bombshell

Chapter 1

I awoke disorientated and confused. I'd been dreaming and something had pulled me from sleep. It had been an odd dream. Someone had been pulling out all my teeth but I hadn't been upset about it. The subconscious is a weird thing.

I blinked a bit and sat up, reaching for the water by my nightstand. I had a sip and looked to the chair I knew Ranger would be sitting in.

It was dark, and I could just make out his outline.

"Hey," I said conversationally, like it was normal for him to break in at all hours. Because it was. Totally normal. "You ok?" I asked.

He got up out of the chair and sat on the bed next to me instead.

"Gotta go in the wind." He said.

Normally when he came to say goodbye there was always a buzz around Ranger, an energy. It was missing tonight.

"You don't want to do the mission?"

He gave a slight shrug and a small head shake. "Not my normal parameters. This job will be 6 months at least. They had someone else ready to go but there was an incident with him, so they're drafting me in instead. No refusal on this one, but technically its outside my contract. I don't have time though to get the lawyers to cut me out of it. I've got to go today."

He was really unhappy about it. 6 months was a long time to be in the wind, away from his company, his daughter, me. His normal in the wind missions were 3 to 4 weeks. This definitely was not his normal parameters.

"What else?" I asked, "you're worried, why?"

He blew out a breath and rubbed a hand over his face. "Don't like the team they are sending me with." He shook his head a little. 6 months with a team he didn't trust.

"So change the team." I said, "Bobby and Tank and Santos are all still on contract, right? Can't you take them?"

He sighed, "Tank said the same. Heck, they all did. But who is going to run Rangeman with all of us gone? That's the whole management team gone. I've built Rangeman from the ground. I don't want to see it fall because I'm feeling edgy."

Ranger didn't do edgy. If he was feeling off then something was off. He needed men he could trust. I was going to regret this, I'm sure, but…

"I'll do it. I know skip tracing, I know investigation. I've helped out with private security. I have a business degree. I've done HR as well at E R Martin. I can handle drawing up shifts and stuff. I'll have to learn about the commercial accounts. But Hector and Hal can bring me up to speed. Take your men. I promise Rangeman will be standing when you get back."

He looked at me for a long moment. Then he pulled out his cell. "You were right." He said to the other person on the line, I'm guessing Tank. "She volunteered. Get your gear together, Get Santos and Brown ready too. Extraction in 4 hours."

He hung up and looked at me. "Tank suggested you. No one person in Rangeman could pick up the reins for this and I can't leave a team in charge when no one has ever led before. But you, you know facets of much of the companies work. I said I wouldn't ask you, it's too much to ask. But I agreed if you volunteered that I would accept your help. So I'm accepting. I'm sorry to ask this of you."

I rolled my eyes, "if you didn't notice, you very specifically didn't ask this of me. I volunteered. We've got 4 hours." I said, hopping it out of bed, "Let's see what you can teach me in that time."

I hauled on clothes, not bothering with makeup or hair. Within 2 minutes we were out of my apartment and heading to haywood. We went straight to 5 and into Ranger's office. He pulled up another chair next to his computer. He passed me a pad and some paper. He told me where the 5 year business plan was but left it for me to read when I had time. He showed me the confidential personnel files were on his computer and he told me the passcode to read them. He told me all of his logins and passcodes. He set up an email re-direct to my email address.

He showed me how bonuses were calculated and showed me the spreadsheet to add everything into it. Then he showed me how to process payroll. All the essentials. He showed me the monthly budgets and ran through regular acquisitions. We had a yearly contract with a weapons supplier that was due to expire in 1 month. We needed to either renew the contract or find someone new. He supplied me with contact details for various different types of lawyers that Rangeman used. My brain was buzzing.

Ranger left me for a bit and Tank came in. He told me how he set up shift patterns and showed me the spreadsheet he used to keep track of it all. He showed me where to keep track of overtime and he advised that he lets the men swop shift as long as it meant that the men didn't pull double back to back shifts. They were allowed to have a morning shift and an evening shift if they wanted, as long as there was a 4 hour break in between and they were off the following morning.

Bobby came in next. He showed me the various medical supplies that were kept as standard in his cupboards. He also explained that every man was required to have 3 gym sessions per week, lasting at least one hour. What the men did in that time was up to them, there wasn't a program to follow per se. Bobby explained that without him there as the company medic we would need to look at hiring someone else to fill that void quickly. There were injuries that we didn't always want to go to the hospital for.

Finally, I saw Lester. He explained where all 3 Rangeman safe houses were for the Trenton Branch. He explained that the other Rangeman branches all had similar set ups and I could tag them if I felt a safe house further from home was needed. He explained he was the face of the less conventional Rangeman jobs; redecorating works, distraction jobs. Ram would take point on these jobs while he was away, he often ran them while Lester was off rota.

Ranger came back in then and he started running through our main commercial clients. He explained the level of security we provided was on a sliding scale and he ran through basic costs with me. Ranger explained that he took point on most of the commercial contracts and he was the point of contact. He would change his voicemail advising that I was now the point of contact but he suggested that I work through all of the commercial contracts across the next few weeks, introducing myself with the excuse that I was checking to see if everything was being run to their satisfaction. He advised not to worry about brining in any more work, but just to maintain the current contracts, if I could. He also gave me an HR file of potential new employees that he kept and told me I had full power to hire or fire anyone. He gave me a file of contract workers he trusted and regularly used.

I kept nodding all night until I felt like a nodding dog. My eyes were grainy and my head was full of new knowledge.

"It's go-time." Tank said, "Our ride is here."

Ranger nodded. "One minute." He promised.

Tank nodded and drew the door closed.

Ranger blew out another breath. "Look, there's no pressure here. Just do your best to keep Rangeman a float. The men like you, but you'll need to be firm with them, you need to gain their respect as their leader. You can't be too friendly with them, they will take advantage of your good nature." He leaned forward, "Thank you for doing this for me. I know this will complicate things for you with Morelli."

My mind went blank, I hadn't even thought of Joe.

Ranger was continuing "Rangeman will handle all of your skips so Vinnie isn't stuck and you can always go back to that work after we return, if you want to. 6 months here might make you change your mind about working for Vinnie." He paused, "I've already processed a wage for you on the level that Tank and I pull down. I've paid you for 6 months. If we're gone longer, process more pay for you. I've also paid for your apartment for 6 months but I want you staying here on 7."

I opened my mouth to protest.

"Babe, I don't have time to argue. You are taking on the work of 4 men, even if you learn to delegate well, you're going to be spending a lot more time here. 7 will make life easier. I've already told Ella to feed you anything you like." He ran a hand through his hair, "I'm sorry. I don't have anymore time. I've got to go."

He was feeling worried about what he was putting on me. "Relax," I reassured him, "Rangeman will still be standing when you get back, and so will I." I leaned forward and gave him a very thorough goodbye kiss. "I'll stay on 7." I promised. "Don't get shot."

He kissed me one more time. "Don't go crazy," he whispered. Then he left, shutting the door behind him. I looked around Ranger's office. What had I gotten myself in to?