Lean Mean Thirteen (Stephanie Plum 13)

“Out the window.”

Our drinks were delivered and a new dancer popped up in front of Ranger. “Hey sweetie,” she said. “How's it going?” And before Ranger had a chance to answer, she had her huge breasts in his face and her leg over his lap.

“Not tonight,” Ranger said. He handed her a twenty, and she left.

“I'm seeing a pattern here,” I said to Ranger. “How often do you come here?”

“Too often. I thought you were going to run interference.” “It’s like they come out of nowhere. Before I know it, they're on top of you.”

A woman in rhinestone pasties and a rhinestone G-string stopped by, and Ranger handed her a twenty before she got her leg over him.

“You could go through a lot of money fast this way,” I said to Ranger.

“All for you, babe. Small price to pay to keep you out of jail.”

He dumped his vodka onto the floor behind him. The waitress swooped in, took his glass, and gave him a fresh vodka.

Rufus rolled in at five minutes to ten. He took a seat at a table by the bar and ordered a drink. One of the girls approached him and was allowed to do her thing. Guess the room in the back was closed on Monday, and the action came out front.

Ranger and I watched her gyrate and bounce and rub against Rufus.

“I know men like this sort of thing,” I said to Ranger, “but personally, I prefer a shoe sale at Macy s. On the plus side, we'll be in good shape if we have to follow him. She's shedding so much body glitter, he's going to glow in the dark.”

The dancer slithered up Rufus, and his entire face got smushed into her breasts.

“She's going to kill him,” I said to Ranger. “He's going to suffocate. Do something.”

“He's okay. His color still looks good,” Ranger said.

“His color is terrible. He's purple.”

“Its the lights.”

“Do men have… you know, reactions to this rubbing and writhing stuff in public?” I asked Ranger.

“I guess, but this is the first time I've seen someone turn purple.”

At ten after ten, the big blond muscle guy with the stapled nuts came into the bar and sat across from Rufus. He said something to the dancer, and she abruptly got up and left. Rufus called for the check and finished his drink. He paid his bill and left with the muscle guy.

“Give them time to get out of the building,” Ranger said. “We don't want to ruin this by getting recognized.”

“Aren't you afraid of losing them?”

“Tank is in the lot, and Hal is on the street.”

Ranger took a call from Tank.

“They're moving,” Ranger said, snapping his phone closed.

He signaled the waitress and dropped a hundred dollars on the table. We left the club and followed Tank's directions through town. We turned into the projects, and I guessed where we were headed. The law firm's apartment building.

There was only on-street parking on Jewel Street, and at this time of the night, every parking place was taken.

“Rufus went in the car with the muscle,” Tank said over speakerphone. “He got dropped off in front of the building and the muscle kept driving. Hal followed the car to Stark Street and lost it in traffic. I'm double-parked across the street from the building. Rufus went in and hasn't come out. No one else has gone in since I've been here. Only a few minutes.”

Ranger called Hal. “Look at the back of the building and make sure it's secure.”

“Yessir,” Hal said. “I'm a couple blocks away. I'll get right to it.”