Chapter 115: Another Hobbs
Ron stood up and glared at the gawkers. "What are you staring at? Never seen a breakup before?"
The menacing aura radiating from Ron made everyone immediately return to their meals, heads down like obedient school kids.
"Hey, as an experienced ladies' man, it's a real shame to dump a girl like that without hitting a home run at least once," Earl patted Ron's shoulder.
"Nah, with a woman like that, it's better to cut your losses early," Ron disagreed. "I'm just wondering if you can refund the untouched food in your restaurant. I guarantee that princess didn't take a single bite. Of course, I'll pay for the drink she threw at me."
"Hell no, but you can use this food to treat your African-American buddy here. He wouldn't mind a freebie from his white boss," Earl casually picked up Emma's untouched meal and headed back to the register, wolfing it down with gusto.
Ron couldn't help but grin. It was refreshing to be around people who were so laid-back and straight-shooting.
Ron was about to dig into his meal when the diner door opened again. Thinking Emma had come crawling back, Ron turned around, only to find it wasn't her, but someone he recognized.
It was the same massive, muscle-bound guy he'd just met: Hobbs. Reluctantly, Ron put down his fork and stood up to greet him.
"Hobbs, if you've got something to say, just spit it out. Even if you want to duke it out over that helicopter incident, we can set a time. Could you please stop tailing me?"
"I have no clue what you're talking about," Hobbs said, acting like he'd never met him before. "I'm not following you, and my name isn't Hobbs. I'm Bob Stone, and I've got a meeting here."
"Bob Stone?" Ron laughed. "Why not just call yourself Dwayne Johnson while you're at it?"
"No, I'm really Bob."
"Hobbs" scanned the diner, his gaze immediately locking onto a short, scrawny black guy at the table behind the still-nursing woman.
The guy was intensely staring at Caroline's backside, completely oblivious to the tension in the air.
Hobbs pushed past Ron, snuck up behind the guy, and smacked him hard like a playful kid. "Kevin!"
"AHHHHHHH!" The black guy jumped up in shock, flailing around with dramatic karate moves. "What the hell! Who are you? Do I know you?"
Ron crossed his arms, waiting to see how "Hobbs" would handle this.
"Kevin, it's me, Bob!" Hobbs grabbed the guy's wildly swinging hands.
"Sorry, do I know you?" the black guy looked totally confused.
Hobbs gestured with his hands to indicate a much larger figure: "Bob Stone, we went to high school together."
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Kevin, the black guy, was completely blown away. "You're Bob? Holy shit! Look at you! You must've lost like two hundred pounds! And you're absolutely jacked now! Holy crap! Holy crap!"
Kevin dropped three "Holy craps!"
Ron was suspicious. Neither of them seemed to be acting, especially the black guy. Could he have really been mistaken?
Absolutely not! Ron immediately dismissed the thought. Hobbs's hardcore military bearing was something no civilian could fake. That was a demeanor you only developed after countless life-or-death situations.
"Paige, look up Hobbs's high school background for me. The Hobbs I used to work cases with," Ron texted on his phone and got an instant reply. Paige sent a photo of an obese guy Ron didn't recognize, along with details.
"Luke Hobbs, formerly Bob Stone, changed his name when his mother remarried. Attended Central High School in Parker County, Wyoming. Weighed over 300 pounds in high school."
"Nice work on the breakup, by the way."
Ron looked at the uploaded photo and compared it to "Hobbs" now chatting with his old classmate. The transformation was incredible. He wondered how the guy had shed all that weight. Ron couldn't help but smirk. This photo was definitely embarrassing blackmail material.
But then Ron noticed something odd. Although "Hobbs," or Bob as he was calling himself now, appeared relaxed while catching up with his friend, his muscles remained coiled and ready.
He was in a constant state of alertness, prepared to explode into action at any second. Ron was certain that at the first sign of trouble, this guy would react with lightning speed. With Ron's sharp instincts, he immediately sensed a major operation in play.
The FBI was definitely working a big case!
"Sorry man, I'm just blown away. You used to be Fat Bob," Kevin said, giving Hobbs an awkward bro-hug. "Look at you, you're a complete transformation! You look like a damn superhero now. What the hell did you do?"
"Ha, I really didn't do much," Hobbs said modestly.
"Yeah, he really didn't do much," Ron said, pulling up a chair between them. "He just did one little thing: worked out six hours a day, non-stop, for the past twenty years.
Right? Should I call you Bob, or Hobbs? Or maybe Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson? You're really wasting your talent not being in Hollywood. You almost had me fooled."
Ron held up his phone to Hobbs's face with a knowing smile.
"Huh?" Kevin's mouth hung open in confusion, and Hobbs's eye twitched when he saw the phone, but he recovered instantly and patted the short black guy: "This dude seems to have something important to discuss with me. Let's step outside for a minute, be right back."
"No problem."
Hobbs pulled Ron toward the door: "Hey! What's your game here!"
"Nothing, I just want to know what kind of operation you're running. If it sounds fun, can I get in on it?"
Hobbs shook his head: "No way! This is a classified mission!"
"Oh really~" Ron was even more intrigued now, pulling out the photo of fat Hobbs being dumped naked in the school gym: "Are you absolutely sure you can't add one more person to the team? Well, if you don't want to, no worries. Maybe I'll just send this photo to Ellie later and tell her this is what her daddy looked like in high school. Now she'll definitely know where she got those genes that make her pack on pounds whenever she looks at food."
Turns out this seemingly tough-as-nails FBI agent was actually a total daddy's girl in private.
"NO! Absolutely not!" Ron's leverage was definitely effective. Hobbs sighed: "Alright, you're in, but you have to help me get my classmate drunk later. He's a crucial part of my plan."
"So your master plan is to get your high school buddy wasted and then what, take advantage of him? You could obviously just use brute force. Trust me, with his scrawny build, he couldn't fight off a determined squirrel."
"Screw you!" Hobbs said angrily: "I just need a complete outsider to help me pull this off. Our FBI has more leaks than the Titanic right now. There's definitely a mole among my people."
Author's note: Guess what movie this is referencing!
(End of chapter)