Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight (Stephanie Plum #28)(51)

The door was open to Ranger’s office, and he was at his desk. He was dressed in the standard Rangeman uniform of black cargo pants and black long-sleeved dress shirt with the Rangeman logo on the sleeve. I pulled a chair up to his desk and unwrapped my sandwich.

“Do you want half?” I asked him.

“I had something earlier,” he said. “How’s Lula?”

“She’ll be okay. They took her to the medical center. Oswald Wednesday shot her twice. Both times in the leg.”

“Should I know Oswald Wednesday?”

I gave him the long, detailed version that included Diesel’s and Morelli’s involvement.

“I assume you want to get this guy before Diesel takes him away and you’re out the recovery fee,” Ranger said.

“I don’t care about the recovery fee. I want him stopped. No more hacking. No more killing. My problem right now is keeping Charlotte and Melvin alive. I can’t leave them with my parents. It’s too dangerous for them and for my parents and Grandma.”

“I can put them in one of my safe houses, or I can give them dorm rooms on the third floor. They have en suite baths and small sitting areas. They can eat here on the fifth floor.”

“Dorm rooms would be great. I’ll get Charlotte and Melvin packed up and bring them over.”

“Out of morbid curiosity, where is Diesel staying?”

“With me.”

“I’m sure Morelli loves that arrangement.”

“He doesn’t know,” I said. “It hasn’t come up in conversation.”

Ranger almost smiled. He walked me down to the garage, gave me a kiss that was slightly more than friendly, and watched me leave.

I called Connie on the way to my parents’ house to check on Lula.

“She’s in surgery to remove the two bullets,” Connie said. “If they discharge her today, I’ll take her home with me. I don’t think she’ll be able to manage the stairs to her apartment.”

“Let me know how it goes. I’m moving Charlotte and Melvin into Rangeman.”





CHAPTER NINETEEN


Charlotte, Melvin, and Grandma were all at the dining room table, working on their computers. My mother was in the kitchen, knitting.

“That’s a big thing,” I said to my mom. “How long is it?”

“I don’t know exactly,” she said.

“We measured it this morning,” Grandma yelled from the dining room. “It was fourteen feet long.”

“It’s pretty,” I said to my mom. “It’s colorful.”

“We’re gonna have to send her to Knitters Anonymous,” Grandma said. “It’s an addiction.”

My mom didn’t respond. She was concentrating on her knitting.

“I’m moving you out to stay with a friend of mine,” I said to Melvin and Charlotte. “You’ll be safer there. Pack up your things, and I’ll drive you over.”

“Where are you taking them?” Grandma asked.

“Rangeman.”

“Darn,” she said. “I wish I could go with them. I was just getting the hang of hacking.”

“It’s only for a couple days,” I said, “and then you can all get together again.”

“Will I be with Charlotte?” Melvin asked.

“You’ll have your own rooms, but you can be together as much as you want.”

“They’re like two peas in a pod,” Grandma said. “I don’t even know what they’re saying half the time when they’re talking about computers and codes and passwords.”

“We were in two classes together in high school and we didn’t even know each other,” Melvin said.

“And chess club and robotics club,” Charlotte said.

Melvin went upstairs to get his clothes and Charlotte stuffed her computer into her backpack.

“He’s very smart,” she said. “And he can be funny. I never saw that side of him as a Baked Potato.”

“He’s got a crush on you,” Grandma said. “I could tell by the way he looks at you.”

“No one’s ever had a crush on me before,” Charlotte said.

“You just had to wait for the right person to come along,” Grandma said.

“Do you think Melvin is the right person?”

“That’s something you have to figure out,” Grandma said.

Melvin came down with his laundry basket of clothes. “I’m all set,” he said.

I grabbed his backpack, yelled goodbye to my mom, and wasted no time getting Melvin and Charlotte into my car. I drove to Rangeman and was relieved when we were safe in the garage.

Ranger met us on the third floor.

“This is a residential floor for guests and employees who need a place to stay,” Ranger said to Charlotte and Melvin. “You will have complete privacy while you’re in your room, but the rest of the building is constantly under audio and video surveillance, including the elevators and stairwells. For your own security we ask that you don’t leave the building until your problem is resolved. We have laundry service and food is available on the fifth floor all day, every day. The control room is also housed on the fifth floor.” Ranger handed me two keys. “I’d like to talk to you after you get them settled in.”