Page 132 of Ranger's Rise

Anton: “Roger, Boss. We ran in simulator.” Fucking little smartasses.

“Shultz, Anton has a flight plan. Follow it.” I’m not taking Lead. I want to see this.

He rogers laughing. Everyone is talking, but I’m watching out the door. Shultz is running us. Jester has the trainees. We cross the highway listening to Cort and Raid go back and forth about food, the Enforcers and where we’re stopping for lunch. Raid is pissed he can’t go to Colorado.

The car draws some attention and I understand why. It really looks like a magic car ride with the paint job and two guys looking like they’re holding on for dear life.

At the Sheriff Station, the car is lowered and cable is dropped right in front of the doors. Anton has Driver set us down in the lot behind the building.

Going over everything has me smiling. Even with the crazy shit, it ran perfect. The Crews, my Brothers and the As are awesome. I love the fucking Brotherhood.

I'm laughing with the Crew and Cort when we walk around the building. The Sheriff is looking at the car with a blank expression on his face. Cort stands next to him. Deputies are everywhere waiting for the Sheriff to talk.

Cort doesn’t make them wait long. “So, they shot windows, cars and at the PD in D. They hit an old building in C, but we kept them away from civilians. The car has the guns, weed and some pills in it. They’re breathing and only suffered broken middle fingers in the process of stopping them. We gave them a magic car ride they won’t forget and may stop the need for drugs to get them there.”

The Sheriff looks down. I smile. He’s trying not to laugh. “Flight Crew, get the chopper’s gear back and man your positions.”

They move. “You should come to lunch with us. There’s a good steakhouse close to Durango.”

The Sheriff looks up smiling. “Conflict of interest is wearing thin, Cort. I’m liking you more and more every day and saying no is getting harder, but I have to, Son.”

Cort nods. “I get it, but I had to ask. You got the two dickasses?”

The Sheriff laughs. “Yeah, we’ve got them.”

“Thank fuck, I’m starving.” Raid starts walking away. I’m hungry too so I follow.

~*~*~

We walk in the training door and Brothers are everywhere clapping. I look at Cort for a reason. He’s rolling his eyes. “Who got it this time?”

A new Brother is smiling standing right in front. “Spotters, Boss. They’re everywhere like paparazzi. They got the chopper up just as it was lifting off. They call you the Air Avengers.”

“Fuck. It was a magic car ride! Fucking Air Avengers is lame.”

My head is swinging. The Brothers are laughing. The new Brother looks stricken. “I can write in the comments. Maybe they’ll fix it.”

Cort starts walking. “Do that. Magic car ride, Badass style. The two toking dickasses should have kept their gun and drugs out of our yard.”

The new Brother is typing away. I’m laughing, the Flight Crew is telling the Brothers about Raid’s rant and Cort walks away.

Arms go around me and I look down into mylo’u alofa’s amused eyes. “Your fucking job rocks. I got a class. You can tell me what the fuck that was all about when your shift is done. You better get the other suit of armor on. There’s no telling what he’ll get you into next. Magic car ride.” She laughs.

I shrug. “I love my job.”

“I’m starting to see why. Go to work. I need to too. See you at home. Bend.”

I do and get a kiss.

She’s off to the locker room and I’m running toward the stairs. I need my other suit. I can’t wait for what’s next.

~*~*~

Freedom

He texts me. I’m smiling when I pull my phone. With all the shit he does during his normal day, he still texts me when he’s done. The man is a marshmallow when it comes to me. I’ll take it.

Where are you?