Page 27 of Ranger's Rise

The kids move close to her, some touch her, some just smile. “Thank you, Freedom.” Web moves in and the kids make room. He hugs her thanking her softly. I’m swallowing hard again. They’re fucking killing me.

He hugs me. “José talked. Thank you, Brother.”

I nod and hit his shoulder then collect the boxes and follow Freedom out. Holy fuck. I take a deep breath as As walk by us throwing chin or saying Boss. I throw them all chin and Freedom nods. We get down the stairs quickly.

In the hall, I drop the boxes and open the closet door with my thumb then pull Freedom in and hold her. “I don’t know if you need it, but I do.”

She laughs lifting her head off my chest. She’s got tears, but she’s smiling. “I do and I’m glad you do too. That was fucking awesome. I need to see VP. I’ll see you later.”

I nod and walk her out smiling. She got what she needed and is moving on. I am too. With a quick kiss to her lips, I leave her at my office door. Smiling, I walk to the picture on my closet door. It’s taped so it will never move making me laugh. I take a picture for Freedom and send it to her getting a smiling emoticon back.

I’m not even sitting and an Ops alert beeps on my phone. I call in walking out the door. “Ranger.”

“Pres needs you out front, readied for an Enforcer shift.”

“Roger, Ops.”

Fucking hell! VP is meeting with Freedom. I run to the locker room cursing him while calling for my bike. They have it under the portico. Pres said twelve-thirty. Slowing down I swipe off. I have some time. The gear is impressive and heavy. They order special for anyone over 6’4”. I thought it was a waste of money for custom made gear, but I’m happy they ordered it. As a trainer, I would go to Ops when I’m needed.

I swing my head pulling the pants on. Cort had me as Officer before I knew I would be staying. The fucking Brother is impressive with that insight.

I ran an Enforcer shift with Brinks and a trainee team, so I know everything feels right when I get it on, but I pull my guns once I’m sitting on my bike. It works so I slide them back in place and reach for the automatic that’s clipped to my back on the right. It feels right, so I stand ready to wait for Cort. He’s watching from the door.

I shrug. “Checking feel.”

“That’s good. I got a new jacket and had an issue once I was sitting. You can’t adjust anything alone on your back and need to know before you’re in the middle of chaos, Brother.”

I nod. “New jacket?”

“The plating was shot three times. They sent the old to get new plating and the holes fixed.” He starts his bike and rolls out.

Fucking hell. He was shot three times? They’ve only been open a little over a year. This ought to be interesting.

“We’re moving, Vick.”

“Roger, Boss. Boss, VP called to cancel his training with you.” Vick doesn’t sound like he wants to deliver that.

“I’ll train with Ranger, get his scheduled class covered. Tell VP he’s in the dish if this isn’t important.”

I’m laughing and note the lag in response. When Vick clicks on, we hear laughing in the background. “Roger, Boss.” He clicks right back off.

“I like the mic play.”

Cort laughs. “Me too. They know it will happen and I bet they’re picturing Raid on the dish.”

I’ve seen the dish and laugh. We go to a steakhouse for lunch and keep our pieces on but shut off our mics. Talking to Cort is different away from work. He’s relaxed like on VP’s porch. He tells me about being shot and not remembering so much of what had happened. Lightening the mood, I tell him about José, he’s smiling and I like that it matters to him.

The bill comes and he takes it. “The Officers take the bill and pay with the Club card. Banks will have it for you on Sunday. It comes in a whole packet of shit.”

I nod and throw a tip since he’s paying. Even with the Club card, he shouldn’t have to do everything. He throws chin and we walk to the front. The manager knows him and is surprised to see Cort reach for his card.

“Mendez, this is Ranger, an Inner Circle Officer and SAA filling in for Falcon. He doesn’t have a card yet.”

“Pres, Ranger. Pres, I can bill the Club monthly when you come in. I was going to ask Amos the next time I see him.”

“Do that. The Brothers are fucking crazy. If Raid isn’t with me, they all want to pay the bill.”

I look down keeping my laugh in. The manager gives him a ‘Roger, Boss,’ and I look up. He’s a Brother. I need to go through all the Brothers on the database. I’ll start that tonight. It would be good to call them by name when I see them. Like the alphabet soup, I think and smile as we walk out.