Jack and Jill IV
Chapter 26
The flight back to the US had taken just as long as last time. They were fed, got to sleep, take showers, and change clothes. Rick had his new chair and was getting around a lot better now. Kate could see it in his face. He was more comfortable as well.
As requested they landed at a military base outside of DC. Everyone but them was going to go into DC. They were staying.
"This is where we part ways." Madam Secretary realized she was actually going to miss them. "Word of advice. Stay out of politics," Elizabeth offered and got all but Storm and Jayne to laugh a little.
"I don't envy your job," Rick told her.
"Some days neither do I. This is Captain Reynolds. He'll be flying you to Panama City as you requested. I do have a few things for you." She was holding a flight bag and opened it to take things out. "I've got three Apple cell phones for you and three satellite phones for you as well. Alexis, you can keep the laptop that I know you still have." Elizabeth told her as Alexis hid a grin.
"I've already taken the liberty of putting my cell phone number into each device. They're good for a year. After that you're on your own," she said.
"Thank you." Rick put his in his lap. "And for the chair and the trip and for not demanding that we hand over Jack and Jill." In his eyes they could have demanded it and maybe taken them from them easily enough.
She shook her head. "In five days it isn't going to matter. I have your phone numbers and I now know close to Panama City you'll be. I wish you all luck." She was ready to leave them.
"Is there a place we can do some shopping? We don't have much and going home sounds dangerous," Kate asked her.
"I would advice against going into the city. However the base does have a commissary and they may have what you are looking for. If it's medical there's a base hospital. If they balk have them call me. Captain Reynolds, find an SUV and drive them anywhere they wish on the base, then fly them where they wish.
"I'm sure we will be talking again." Elizabeth shook all of their hands and left them.
They stood right there till the SUV showed up and he drove them to the Commissary. It was a lot like a large convenience store and had almost virtually everything.
"Okay, spread out. If you even think we might need it grab it and don't forget sandwiches and drinks. Dad and I have credit cards so find one of us," Alexis told them and everyone went somewhere.
oOo
They ended up filling the back of the SUV with a lot of things including a cooler with ice and cold drinks. Medical supplies, clothes, canned goods, dry goods, personal needs. If they thought of it, the Commissary had it.
"Hospital, please," Kate told the driver.
"Hi, we need catheters, urine bags, bandages, what else?" Kate looked at the others.
"Antibiotics, field surgical kit, plasma, air splints, scalper kit, portable defibrillator, oxygen preferably an Inogen unit, what am I missing?" Storm looked at Jayne.
"Field medical kit, Chem lights, radios. Two at least, four would be better," Jayne added.
It took a call to Madam Secretary who had Dennis authorize literally anything they wanted and now people were sitting with stuff in their laps since they were out of space.
oOo
Now they were in a Gulfstream C-37A which the government had a fleet of to serve the needs of very high ranking military personnel. Which was a military version of the Gulfstream V.
Rick's chair barely fit through the door and sat right in front of the open access to the pilot. What little aisle there was was far too tight for his chair. So this time Kate had Storm pick him up and put him in a seat.
There were four seats facing each other, one love seat with a table in front of it. Way in the back was a tiny galley and the toilet. All their stuff pretty much blocked access to anywhere.
Alexis tested it once they were in the air and yes, they had WiFi so she could use her now permanently borrowed laptop. There was even a way to plug it in.
It was going to take close to five hours to fly to Panama City, Panama. However they had their sandwiches, chips and ice cold sodas.
"So what's the plan?" Kate inquired while she ate and fed Rick his since she wanted him to save his strength.
"Working on it." Alexis answered since she was on the love seat with her laptop on the table. "Trying to find two trucks we can purchase then find some freezers we can purchase. We may have to split up a bit because of all this stuff. Someone stays to guard it all while someone comes with me to find the trucks and drive them back," Alexis explained.
"I'll stay, Jayne can go with you. Still got your weapon?" Not that Storm didn't trust him. It was just that a lot had happened. Then Jayne showed it to him and put it back where it had been.
"Oops wrong place. Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche." Not what they needed.
"Sounds like the right place to me," Kate called out. "We left the Aston Martin behind, you know." She loved that car.
"It's still there." Alexis didn't know that for a fact but she was betting it and the Ferrari were still right where they left them.
"It's not a truck but I've got a Ford Escape," Alexis mentioned and kept looking.
"I've got a van. It's made by Peugeot." Not really what she wanted so she left that place.
"Finally! It's a truck. Brand new, crew cab, it has a bed liner and it's a Nissan. Will that work, Dad? We could just buy two new ones. Jayne drives one back and I drive the other."
"Drivers license? I don't have one for Panama," Jayne pointed out in case they got picky.
"Dad does, take his. Just put your finger over the picture when you show it to them. Use company insurance and it should be easy," Alexis assured him.
"Works for me. Any color will do," Rick replied.
"Twenty six thousand each in US dollars plus other charges. Sounds cheap to me." Alexis liked it.
"We could go back and get that Ferrari. I volunteer to drive it," Kate called out but there was silence. "A girl can dream."
"They clearly have more than one and they're all white. What is it with white? That looks to be it for trucks. Let's see, no printer so no map. No GPS to get back with or out to the house. So where can we get GPS units?" Alexis went back to typing again.
"Let's see, the airport is way outside of town and Automarket with the truck is on the far side of Panama City. Wonderful. Anyone see a pencil or pen and paper?" Alexis asked. "I need to start making maps for all this. At least until we have GPS units."
Kate was up and looking through their stuff because for some strange reason she had bought notebooks with paper and a packet of pens. "Here, have fun." Kate put it all on the table for her to use and sat back down.
"Okay, everyone pull out your cell phone if you have one. You want to download an App called Waze. Apparently it's kind of like Google maps for directions." Alexis began looking for freezers to purchase and wrote down an address now that they had three GPS units on their iPhones.
Alexis closed her laptop for now. "We have two trucks or will have. We have GPS on our iPhones and I have an address for freezers. We're all set." She sat back happy with herself.
oOo
They still had to go through Customs and everybody was pushing a cart mostly meant for suitcases but they were making do save for Rick who was in his wheelchair.
Out front they found a covered spot in case it rained. "I hope they speak English since I don't speak Spanish," Alexis commented since it looked like they were ready for a taxi to get to the dealership to get the trucks.
"I do," Jayne told her.
"And you didn't think to bring this up till now?" Alexis stared daggers at him and watched him shrug a shoulder. She glared at him just like Kate had taught her without meaning to. "Well let's find a taxi. Don't get bored. This is going to take a while," Alexis warned them and began walking, looking for a taxi stand.
"Cell phone?" Kate called out and watched Alexis wave hers.
oOo
Two Nissan NP300s and both were indeed white. One was listed for US$26,298 and the other was US$24,998. Alexis paid in cash and let Jayne do all the haggling and talking. Alexis looped her arm into his. "Thanks for the help. I'm pretty sure they would have charged me more if I was alone."
"It was a pleasure. You lead since you have the phone. Which white truck do you want?" He had two keys in each hand. Alexis snatched one set, pressed unlock, and found out which one was hers.
oOo
"You okay, babe? You need anything? A swirly maybe?" Kate spun her finger to simulate a tornado.
"I'm good for now. But that sandwich is starting to get to me," Rick admitted.
"You good here, Storm?" Kate inquired. "Rick needs a restroom."
"I'm good." He didn't see anyone or any group he couldn't take if he had to.
"I said I was fine!" Rick grumbled as Kate was actually pushing and not allowing him to do it himself.
"Fine now, yes. But I don't know how long Alexis is going to be gone and even when they're back we have to stop, get freezers, and there's still an hour from here to the house. So now or you suffer and I'm not letting that happen. I've admitted that I love you and it's still my job to take care of you."
Now she came to her first decision. Did she push him into the men's restroom and take care of him or did she push him into the women to do this? "Men's it is." Kate pushed and headed for the handicap stall. Then she got him out of his chair, pants down, and did her job. Then reversed everything and smiled at the guy next to her as she washed her hands.
Kate stepped back while Rick drove his own chair all the way back to Storm where they sat and waited a bit impatiently.
Till two white Brand new Nissan trucks stop in front of them. "Piece of cake, thanks to Jayne here." Alexis gave him most of the credit.
Everything went into the bed of one truck and filled it. They put Rick's chair into it first and found a lot of the stuff they had went into the crew cab area of both trucks.
"Looks like just one freezer," Alexis noted since her dad's chair took up most of the bed of that truck.
oOo
One chest freezer later and Alexis called Maria. She told her they would be there in about one hour. Alexis used Jack to translate this time since Storm and Jayne were looking it over to make sure it wouldn't fall out the back of the truck. They didn't yet have any straps to hold it in place.
Alexis was driving one truck and Kate was driving the other. Kate got Rick and Storm while she got Jayne. Alexis made sure Kate's cell phone said what hers did so they could get there in case they got separated which shouldn't happen.
oOo
They were on Route One the entire way and went though a number of smaller towns. It took them closer to two hours to make the trip. However Maria had been running late so she had only been there waiting for about thirty minutes. Thankfully it all worked out.
The site looked a lot bigger in person and the kitchen they had been so worried about because of the pictures turned out to be not so much of a problem. Apparently they had two kitchens. One was in the main house. It was big and had a massive side by side fridge. The other one was in a guest house that had a thatch roof. That was the one they had seen a picture of and had made them worried.
The stable came with two horses and they already had a fair amount of hay and oats for them. They had their own enclosed pasture to roam around in and turned out to be very friendly.
"This one is Mysti." She was all white but not an Arabian. Just all white. "And this one is Freya. She is the younger of the two." She was all brown and Storm started looking them over and did his best to look at their teeth.
Storm rubbed Freya's neck. "They look healthy to me."
"Nine total bedrooms and eight total bathrooms." She handed over all the keys she had. "The previous owners became too old to run this place and they had no children so they are leaving everything behind. You will even find food in the refrigerator and freezers. The pantry is also full."
She made sure they saw all the outbuildings that were basically mini apartments. Then they saw the hydroponics section and the greenhouse. And all the fruit trees and all the teak trees.
They were shown the well and the location of the septic tank which was just one really big concrete box buried in the ground and she waved her hand at where the drain field was located.
Then the pool equipment and what pool supplies that were still there. "We're going to need more. They didn't have too many chlorine tablets, hardness, Phos free or anything else," Alexis pointed out.
Maria told them where the closest store for all that was located as well as the closest store for more food. It meant they didn't have to drive all the way back to Panama City if they didn't want to.
If they had or wanted a boat the marina was just a little ways back up Route One. They couldn't miss it. Actually just about anything they might want like more hay or oats or a vet was just off of Route One, mostly back toward Panama City.
"So pick a bedroom or your own little apartment and move in." Alexis began looking over the various apartments that so far all had thatch roofs. Two she would learn had clay tile roofs just like the main house.
Alexis chose an outbuilding that had red clay tile roof and that small kitchen they saw a picture of. It had a lot of windows, a bedroom, bathroom, and it was all hers. What she didn't get was why next to the side by side refrigerator and freezer that had a door ice dispenser in it was a washer dryer hookup with no washer and dryer.
It didn't matter. The main building had a washer and dryer. "This one is mine. Go find your own." Alexis shooed Storm back out.
They did need to unload the truck and find space for it all including their extra freezer.
oOo
"I'm going back to Panama City and taking Jayne with me since he speaks Spanish," Alexis informed everyone including Jayne who didn't know anything about this. "There's something I want and that's where it is."
Rick looked at Alexis but didn't say anything. Storm trusted him to keep Alexis safe so said nothing. "Let's go, big guy." Alexis was ready to get started.
oOo
About fifteen minutes into their trip, Jayne asked, "So what are we getting?"
"You'll see and then I'm going to need your muscles to load the back of the truck with fifty pound bags." Alexis gave him a tiny clue which really didn't help him much.
oOo
"Tell her we're here to see the puppies she has for sale," Alexis told Jayne.
"Puppies?" Jayne stared at Alexis but eventually told her in Spanish. Soon they were looking at a litter of nine puppies. All of them were ready to go home. The females had pink collars and the males had blue collars.
Jayne was now curious so he asked her a question. "Chocolate Labradors." Jayne watched as Alexis was having fun playing with every puppy that paid any attention to her.
The breeder began telling Jayne everything about them since he was the one talking to her. The girl apparently only spoke Spanish and she knew nothing about English save that it existed.
Eventually Alexis settled on one male and one female. "Why two?" Jayne asked her.
"We have the space, fifteen hectares of space and they need a playmate besides us." Alexis replied. She was all smiles and held one in each arm.
Nine hundred US dollars for each and they had two little puppies, a list of shots they'd had, a little bit of food and that was all.
They didn't like being in the back seat so they were now in Jayne's lap as Alexis drove where her cell phone told her to go.
"Pet store." Now Jayne understood why she had mentioned his muscles and fifty pound bags.
Alexis was carrying the puppies and pointed at things she wanted and Jayne picked them up. She paid for them and he took them out to the truck and put them inside. Then back inside they went.
They ended up buying every bag of dry puppy food they had. Jayne piled them up in the bed of the truck then they went back inside to buy more adult dog food including case after case of canned food.
This time the puppies were happy to be in a doggie bed in the back seat and went to sleep for the drive home.
"Just where are we putting all this?" Jayne questioned her.
"My place. I don't really plan on using the kitchen much so it can all go in there," Alexis answered.
"Everyone else is going to be surprised," Jayne mentioned.
"Yeah, isn't it great!" Alexis's face lit up. "But if Storm tries turning them into attack dogs I just might actually decide to shoot him." That had Jayne chuckling.
"To him that would be Dobermans, German Shepards, or maybe Rottweilers. I think your little guys are safe." Jayne turned around to look at them and saw they were still sleeping soundly.
He had one last question. "What's your dad going to say?"
"They're staying with me so he doesn't need to worry." She was sure her dad would have something to say. But this wasn't a high rise in New York City.
oOo
Kate heard the truck and left Rick behind. He could either stay or follow her. It wasn't hard to see what was in the bed of the truck. It was filled with bag after bag. "Dog food?" They didn't have dogs.
Then Jayne opened the back door and picked up the doggie bed that had still sleeping puppies in it. "PUPPIES!" Kate smiled and was ready to pick one up and hold it but resisted for a moment since they were both sleeping. But then she gave in and picked one up. It had a pink collar.
"What kind?" It looked familiar but she couldn't place it.
"Chocolate Labs," Jayne told her.
"Aren't they cute?" Alexis came around to join them and picked up the other one. Now both of them were awake and interested in what was going on.
"Do they have names yet?" Kate put her nose in her puppy's face. She didn't know how but she was in love all over again. A heart that didn't have love was now filled with it.
"The breeder named them but she only spoke Spanish so I guess you're free to name them what you want in English," Jayne told both of them.
"I'll think of something." Alexis did what Kate had just done. She rubbed her nose over her puppy.
"Puppies!" Rick was out and noticed what Alexis had done.
"Isn't she cute!?" Kate took hers over to Rick and put her in his lap. "They're Labradors."
Rick now had a live wire in his lap since both of them were wide awake, eager to learn, and eager to please. Rick might have questioned at first but his heart melted as this puppy was trying to figure out just who he was.
"I'm keeping them at my place so you don't have to worry," Alexis told them.
"Really?" Kate was willing to keep one in the main building. "Did they have more?" Kate asked her. Alexis was keeping all the fun to herself and that just wasn't fair.