Path of Ranger: Volume 1

by RJ

  Since the lecture material was over, the professor decided to dismiss the class earlier.

  “The topic for the next lesson is ‘Staff management.' If anyone wants to make reports on the subject, please, register in the journal,” the professor explained while gathering his things into the bag. “Mr. Bridgers, please stay.”

  Some of the guys, who were sitting not far, exchanged looks with JB. They were obviously familiar. After a brief silent conversation, they got up and were dismissed.

  It was Friday. And the group was very excited to be released earlier. The noise filled the classroom. JB stayed at his desk watching the bustle, the crowd, but his thoughts were far away. There were three days ahead until Monday, and nothing to do. A year had passed since JB moved to Kiev. Still, he didn’t feel related to this city. With each day the urge to go back to LA grew, but he couldn’t. There was an open hunt open on him. On the other hand, sometimes he thought that if bullets wouldn't kill him, the boredom would.

  As soon as the students had left JB walked to the professor as he requested. The educator looked busy, reading a newspaper. JB purposely walked slowly to let the teacher notice him. On the other hand, the professor was reading just to make an appearance of being busy while the students were leaving. He didn’t care much about the content.

  Jerry came to the professor’s desk.

  “I’m here. Listening.”

  The professor put the paper away. He stood up and went around the desk to sit on it near JB. Then he removed his glasses to lay them on the desk.

  “Why are you here, Mr. Bridgers?”

  “Was passing by, why not visit...”

  “Please, drop the play. You know what I mean. You knew what this talk was going to be about all along.”

  “Dude, I can’t even believe myself that I’m having this conversation at all.”

  “It’s not your first time here, is it? I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen you before,” the professor’s intonation gained a judgmental angle. “I know a player when I see one. It never ends well.”

  “What, you think I’m slanging here?” JB took it as insult at first, but right after, he looked in the mirror on the wall where he saw the professor and himself. “Oh, I get it…”

  He was so used to his appearance that sometimes he forgot how others might react to it. The feeling of being insulted passed. Instead, he wondered why he had it in the first place since he had never paid attention to being treated as a criminal.

  On the contrary, seeing the young man’s genuine reaction, the professor was a bit ashamed of his assumption, even if he had a basis for it.

  “In that case, what are you doing here, JB?”

  “What do you think?” JB made a grimace as if he was stating something obvious. “The girl.”

  “Of course it is,” the professor smiled. “Your answer back there was quite surprising, I have to admit. Do you have an economics education?”

  “Oh, that… No, I don’t actually. I’m just good at these things, you know.”

  “So you don’t have any kind of degree?”

  “No, I dropped out when I was eleven.”

  “Never finished school even… Why don’t you study? You have a talent, as we’ve seen.”

  “Would it make me smarter?”

  “You’d be educated.”

  “But it can’t make me smarter.”

  “Maybe with an education you would find yourself a job, so you wouldn’t have to stray here?”

  “I already have a job,” JB smirked.

  “What kind of job is it?”

  “It’s my place in society.”

  “Your place? So what is this place?”

  “Right here. Between light and dark sides of the people.”

  “Hm… How interesting,” the professor smiled. “So you see yourself as some kind of a guardian?”

  JB’s facial expression changed in a moment. It became outcast and somewhat surprised. His brows jumped up, and his look froze for a brief moment. That very second he realized what a waste of time that dialog was. He had to start choosing the words more accurately to get away sooner.

  “Look, dude. You’re all philosophers here and shit, I get it. But I ain’t no talker, so… See you around.”

  The conversation was over, JB left. The professor went back to the other side of his desk to get his bag. Even if the last words were somewhat disrespectful, he didn’t feel offended. He looked at an open door to see a couple students having a good time. A thought flew through his mind involuntarily: “Why are you rushing to grow up…?”

  The professor left the classroom.

  Right after leaving the school building JB went to the parking lot. He walked through a group of students who were hanging in front of a silver Mercedes. Their voices lowered, some of the guys exchanged glances and followed Bridgers right away.

  The three other young men waited for JB near his Escalade. These ones he was familiar with.

  “You full of surprises, aren’t you, B?” the one of them said loudly.

  That guy was tall and strong. He walked towards the gangster. His name was Alex. The other man, Vladimir, kept with him. This one resembled an athlete also. Vitaliy, the last one of them, was somewhat shorter and weaker, but looked way more handsome. He stayed with the SUV.

  JB greeted all of them and they moved closer to his car for a talk. That conversation went quiet, almost in whispering.

  “What are you thinking? You can’t just visit my classes like that, B!” Alex complained.

  “That El girl is kinda hot,” JB said. “Besides, if you wouldn’t have been late, we would’ve met before the bell. I need a favor.”

  He put his satchel on the Escalade’s roof and took out the keys when he got kicked from the back. The punch was strong and unexpected. The keys dropped out of Bridgers' hand. After a bump on the car, he turned around to see four thugs in a soccer uniform. Eugene was their leader. All of them were somewhat shorter than JB. Eugene grabbed him by the t-shirt with both hands and pushed him against the SUV’s door. JB’s comrades stepped aside to let him handle the situation. Nevertheless, the attackers thought that they were just afraid of them. People started to gather around, some of them were from Alex's class. JB was sure of his strength to put Eugene on the ground instantly, but he didn’t rush it.

  “Something you wanna say to me?” Eugene asked with a high hand. The answer didn’t follow. “Something like an apology for what you did in class?

  The gangster’s silence just escalated the situation. If it were his old life, JB would probably watch the opponent be bleeding out by that time. But it wasn’t, it wasn’t his land, the hunt held was on him. He couldn’t go all the way there.

  “Jerry?” a woman’s voice sounded from aside.

  A beautiful young woman called for him out of the crowd. It was El. She had light blond hair, a well-shaped body and an even prettier face. JB knew her a long time ago, but he didn’t tell anyone about that.

  “What? You know her? Who are you?!” Eugene raged angrily.

  He was changing his focus between El and JB constantly. The thug's face gave out his intention. He hit JB with all his strength. But JB strained the abs to receive a punch. He never even flinched. Right after, another stroke went on JB’s jaw. He took another one, but this time his face changed. His patience was running out.

  The realization came to Eugene; he saw that his opponent was way harder to break. The thug loosened his grip and stepped back.

  “Keep away! From me and my girlfriend! You got me?” Eugene said pointing a finger in JB’s face.

  Instead of responding JB just shook up his t-shirt couple times to straighten out the folds. He never tore eye contact with Eugene though, to show him how miserable he seemed.

  “Fucking poser!” Eugene said right before leaving.

  The crowd dispersed. JB picked up the keys, unlocked the SUV, took a satchel from the roof, and got in. He turned on the engine. The car slowly moved backwards. Alex came to the
driver-side window.

  “Say a word, B, and I’ll have this clown for you in a trunk within an hour.”

  The former gangster snorted and shook his head hopelessly.

  “Trash like that ain’t worth ya time or money.”

  “So what is that favor?”

  “Let’s talk about it later. Too many eyes around.”

  “I have a party tonight. Why don’t you swing by? We can talk then.”

  The big guy nodded and switched back to operating the truck. Alex returned to the boys.

  “That’s the dean’s son,” Vitaliy said bringing up Eugene again.

  “A fucking douche,” Vladimir supplemented.

  Just out of the campus, JB pulled over. Sometime during the fight, Eugene stepped on JB’s shoe to leave a black mark on the white rubber. Since he had all day free, JB wanted to fix that right away. He pulled out a box with the supplies from under the seat and got on it.

  When the cleaning was done, Bridgers left the car to throw the used wipes in the nearest trash. He meant to return to the vehicle after, but something unexpected happened. El stood near the front door. She was waiting for him.

  For the second time, they met that afternoon, and the second time when Jerry felt that it wouldn’t end well. Nevertheless, he couldn’t stop staring into her brown eyes.

  “Hey,” he said pacing closer.

  “Hello, Jerry,” she responded. Her hands were locked against her chest, showing discomfort somewhat. “So, you’re back.”

  “And you’re still here…”

  “How long was it? Thirteen years?”

  “Yeah, sounds about right.”

  “What was all that about?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Back there, in class. And the fight after?”

  “I had to meet someone, so I came to your class. And I fought no one, you betta ask ya boyfriend about that.”

  “Did you know that I was going to be in that class?”

  “I didn’t. Before I saw you at least.”

  “Unbelievable,” she shook her head. “Thirteen years and this is how we met. I didn’t recognize you at first, you know.”

  Just as JB was going to respond, she continued.

  “You have bad company there, by the way. Alex and those other guys aren’t the best choices to hang out with.”

  JB smirked at her and gestured at himself for her to take another look at his appearance. His athletic body covered in ink seemed rather self-explanatory.

  “What happened to you?” she asked. “You look nothing like I remember you.”

  “You wanna know?”

  “Yes. I want to know what happened to the boy who was my best friend once.”

  At first, the moment Bridgers saw her, he was going to just 'say hello' and be on his way. But after that short conversation nostalgia woke up in him. The hunch was advising him to move on, to not attach to anything. After all, the original plan was to lay low for a while then go back to LA. And the woman never fit into that plan. Yet, JB looked at the front entrance of a coffee house that was next to them. It seemed like a nice place for a conversation.

  “Wanna go inside?” he asked.

  She silently smiled in response, for a second she looked down modestly, then she raised her eyes at him with a bit more confidence.

  “Let’s go. Just let me get my phone first,” the man insisted.

  Jerry felt right about that. At least he didn’t have to look for new adventures for the rest of the day. Spending time with such a girl was better than to getting into some trouble with the boys, anyway. He opened the car’s door to take a black smartphone that looked like iPhone 4S. Then he returned to her.

  The coffee house was lovely: soft interior colors, pleasant lighting and only about a dozen tables inside. It was just the place to spend some quality time for young people. JB opened the door for El to come in, as a gentleman was supposed to.

  The establishment was half empty, quiet. They went through the hall to sit at the small table near the window. El took off her spring jacket, hung it on the back of the chair, then they both sat. JB put his phone on the table closer to himself.

  El looked at the gadget, then at JB.

  “You don’t strike me as the type,” she smiled.

  “The type?”

  “You know, as a guy who is obsessed with his phone like a girl. Such guys usually look different. And yet, you pay so much attention to it.”

  The weirdest thing to El was that JB never used the phone itself, but consistently kept it close to him.

  “What do such guys look like?” JB asked.

  “Different,” she took a look at him from head to toe, implying his whole appearance.

  “Actually, my life depends on it.”

  “Like you’re waiting for a call or something?”

  “Like it is kinda the last resort of my security.”

  “It’s just an iPhone. An old one.”

  “It’s not iPhone actually. It was at some point, but then my boys and I made few adjustments. So formally it can’t be called so anymore,” seeing El’s confusion, JB thought that he had to get into a deeper explanation. “I turned to Apple’s legal department to clarify the terms. They made me sign a paper that obligated me to not call this one an ‘iPhone.’ Moreover, I have to explain it to anyone who calls it ‘iPhone.' So we call it ‘false-iPhone.'"

  After listening to the most ridiculous story of her life, as El thought of it, she gained even more questions about her companion.

  “And do you go through all that every time?”

  “Yes, as you can see. I have to.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I promised.”

  “No, why did you started all that in the first place?”

  “Oh, I have a lot of free time.”

  “May I?” El reached her hand to the gadget.

  “Be my guest,” JB nodded. “Just, please, don’t use that switch.”

  He pointed at ‘silence mode’ control. It looked weird to her, yet it was nothing in comparison to the story that she heard earlier. She turned the screen on, it unlocked instantly. There was a screensaver with Neytiri from ‘Avatar.’

  “This alien chick? Really?” El reacted a bit surprised and excited. “You like girls like that?”

  As a response JB at first just moved up his left brow (he did that whenever he didn’t want to answer directly).

  “Blue, 4 meters tall, with a tail… What’s not to like?” he said sarcastically. El laid the phone down. JB continued. “So, you wanted to ask me something.”

  “Oh, really? What is it?” she smiled.

  “You tell me.”

  “Okay,” she said thoughtfully. “What do you do for a living? I mean, the car, jewels… I know for sure that you don’t come from money.”

  “I’m a criminal,” JB responded. “Or rather, almost a criminal. Frankly, not one, but… My crew’s activity involved some commitment to hard crimes. It’s complicated. You can think of me as a ‘semi-criminal’ or ‘almost criminal,'” just as JB noticed her confused look again, he stopped. “Nothing like ya boyfriend.”

  “What an answer. Did you just make it up? ‘False-iPhone,' ‘semi-criminal...’ Is there anything whole about you? If you don’t want to tell, just don’t,” she said. “And he’s not my boyfriend by the way.”

  “Ya girlfriend?” JB smirked.

  “You’re terrible,” she pushed him on a shoulder and laughed.

  As a response, El got his usual face with the left brow up.

  A waitress came to their table. She was a seasoned woman. Looked nice and had a good spirit.

  “Hello. What would you like to have?” she asked holding a notebook and a pen ready.

  JB switched focus from the waitress to El, who was carefully studying the menu. He hadn’t given much thought about the order beforehand, so he looked a bit lost. The waitress smiled.

  “Anything you like?” he asked El.

  “I’m not sure
yet,” she lingered modestly.

  “Pick anything you want, it’s on me.”

  “Okay, I’ll have a Greek salad and soda.”

  Of course, she knew what she wanted, even before she got the menu. JB had never seen a woman in his life that didn’t know what to order in a restaurant. That all was a part of a play. She didn’t just order a coffee and dessert, so she wanted to spend some time with him there. JB recognized such signals with ease.

  “What would you like, young man?” the waitress asked.

  “The biggest burger you have, a large cola and ‘M&Ms’ perhaps,” he said without even looking at the menu.

  The waitress wrote down the order and returned to the bar, where two other waitresses were. She sat down like there was nothing to rush about. The others noticed how their co-worker kept looking at JB and El’s table.

  “Do you need any help with an order, ma’am?” a younger waitress asked.

  “Don’t rush it, my dear. They need some time.”

  “You’re impossible,” the third waitress (also in her older years) said smiling.

  Meanwhile, JB and El kept chatting. It felt somewhat new for him. El wasn’t any random girl for that former gangster, whom he might want just to seduce. His previous life didn’t have much place for feelings, love especially. No doubt he wanted El to like him, although he didn’t know yet what he would do with that sympathy. At some point, his appearance made him a bit uncomfortable. A street gangster style was a part of him for years and he got used to it, so as he got used to that he was a ‘white crow’ among regular people. But for the first time in years he desired to change something about that.

  “So Jerry, would you tell me where have you been all those years?” after a good hour of chatting El came closer to the main subject of her interest.

  “The most part of that time I spent in LA. Traveled a bit. Not much. Visited Russia several times.”

  “Russia?” El asked. It was a sensitive subject at the time, considering the war. “Business or leisure?”

  “Business? No,” JB responded. “And who goes to Russia for leisure?” he added sarcastically. “Helping out someone I know, more likely.”

  “A friend?”

  “Actually, I’m not sure,” JB lingered for a second in thought. “It doesn’t matter. Why don’t you tell me something about yourself?”