Hunting Grounds

Chapter 14

It took nearly almost no time at all to reach the SOL system that held Earth.

"We're there already?" Kate didn't see how. Surely it would take longer to travel this kind of distance. Not that she really understood just how far away they were.

"Surprised me, too. Are there any ships in scanning range?" Rick wanted to know if they were alone. "So far so good." He liked what he was seeing.

"I don't plan to tax the engines again to reach Earth so this is going to take a little time." He was thinking he had abused them enough already. "We need to discuss where to hide this ship. What place makes sense for us? Close enough to get into civilization. Also close enough to get back to the ship when we want. Even islands that have nothing on them are all well known. Plus we don't have a boat or do we?" Rick looked at Kate for that.

As much sex as they had been having, as much time they had spent together it suddenly occurred to him that he didn't know all that much about her.

"Not me." Kate didn't have the money for any boat nor the need to own one.

"So where do we hide it? Keep in mind we have just the one door. So we can't put it at the bottom of a lake. Of course, I can swim pretty well and hold my breath for a while but with no airlock, this space will be flooded." Rick was willing to listen to her suggestions.

"We want to hide it so the middle of a desert is out. Death Valley, most of Arizona, Nevada, and the Southwest," Kate said to herself while trying to think.

"I'm not sure we can leave this cloaking device on 24 hours a day. We'll run out of power and not have a way to replenish it." Rick considered what to do. "Hiding the ship is all I can think of."

"I remember this program on TV. It was on HGTV. It's called Maine Cabin Masters, I think. It talks about Maine, that it has all these little hidden away cabins in the woods. I don't own one but maybe we can find a place with no cabin and lots of woods." She shrugged slightly since that was about all she had.

"Woods. Maybe when we land the trees will break and fall on us to help hide us. We could buy a very remote cabin and land and move it eventually." He took her idea and ran with it to see if it would work.

"I don't have the money for that, either." Kate wasn't broke but she wasn't rich by a long shot.

"I might, depending on how much it costs," Rick said. "I live on base. I don't have a home anywhere. Mother lives in New York City so I've been saving up money." He wasn't overly rich but he had money.

"Your mother lives in the city and you're only just telling me this now?" Kate couldn't believe it.

Rick defended not bringing his mother up sooner. "My mother is Martha Rodgers. She's a Broadway actress and talking about our families never came up. We were rather busy trying not to get killed."

Kate wanted to stay angry but he had a point. She hadn't said anything about her mom or dad yet either. It looked like they still had a lot to learn about each other.

"Dad's a lawyer in the city. Mom is dead."

"I'm sorry, Kate." He told her a little more. "I don't know who my dad is. I'm the result of a one-night stand. Still, Mother has never been sorry. As to our problem, somewhere in Maine might work. Hike out to a road. Hitchhike into a town. Get a trucker to take us to a bigger city like Portland, perhaps. Something far enough away that they won't search that area.

"We also need to come up with our story and our stories need to match." They had a broad area to search for a landing site. Now they needed a story to tell everyone.

"It needs to be simple. I've interrogated a lot of people for murder," Kate told him. "I try to find a weakness in their story. See if their alibi breaks down. If our story's too complicated they'll spot it."

"Simple. So let's work on it. There's one thing – do you still have your cell phone?" Rick questioned her.

Kate produced it from a pocket. "I turned it off since it was useless so the battery should be good."

"Smart idea. I want you to leave it off till we're ready to be found," Rick told her. "I don't want to give anyone an area to search and try to find where we were all this time."

"Got it." Kate left it off and put it back in her pocket. Now they needed to work on their story.

[_] /\ [_]

Someone was sure to see them on their radar but that all changed once Kate switched from the force field to the cloaking device. "Cloaking device active. Find us a place to land, please."

It was easy to see that Rick was taking them just above tree top level and had already passed over Interstate 95 and was headed west.

"Someplace remote but we can still access with a little work." Rick was scanning for a site. "This looks promising." He spotted an area that had a small pond surrounded by trees everywhere.

Rosie suddenly spoke up. "It is called Russell Pond in the State of Maine."

Rick looked down at her. "And how do you know that?"

"I have found something your planet calls the Internet. Accessing it was simple. Russell Pond Campground is located on the west side of the pond. The east side of the pond has no access. There are hiking trails on the west and north sides. You could consider hiking around the pond to the south and reach the campground."

"How far is the closest large city?" Kate asked her since she didn't know where this area was.

"Approximately 130 miles to Bangor, Maine, and another 130 miles to Portland, Maine."

"We might be able to bum a ride at the campground to somewhere. Then maybe hitch a ride to Bangor and again to Portland. That should be far enough away that no one would think to look this far." Rick was starting to like it. "Then buy a place in Maine with lots of acres and move the ship to that cabin. Easier to reach and easier to hide. We could build something to hide it better."

"More walking in the woods?" Kate didn't want to walk through woods anymore. She'd had enough already.

"At least this time it will be on Earth instead of some distant moon," Rick reminded her.

Kate sighed since he had her there. "Fine, find a place to land us and we can rest for a few hours and then start hiking through the woods. AGAIN!"

"Deal." Rick stayed away from the pond itself in case there were boats, canoes, or whatever. Then he tried to find a spot not totally filled with trees and brought them in for a landing.

They were still a little big for the spot and Rick downed a couple of trees as he landed.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate and even Rick were happy. An hour or so of sex and both of them were sated and finally got some sleep.

They left behind all of their weapons and all of their equipment. They had been kidnapped, after all, so they had nothing but the clothes they were wearing.

"We can't risk you running out of power, Rosie, and we can't chance taking you with us. We also can't risk leaving the cloaking device active day after day. But we are going to place you on the charging plate so your battery's always charged." Kate moved her.

"I can access your Internet using your satellites and keep myself busy." She had an entire planet to learn about.

Kate's eyes lit up. "Perfect! Does that mean you can send and receive emails?"

"I believe so, yes. I will need to create an account first."

"Still perfect. This is my email address at home and the one at work." Kate told her both and looked at Rick.

Rick, however, couldn't risk it. The military took a dim view of individuals having personal computers. He used their system or he didn't use anything at all. "I don't have one. Looks like she only gets to talk to you."

[_] /\ [_]

Weaponless but wearing their vests and not carrying anything but her wallet – not even her cell phone – they exited the ship. They had managed to find her wallet but nothing else after being kidnapped. At least they did each have a canteen and Jetson food to eat. They would dump it all somewhere before they were found. Now they were going to do a lot of walking.

"Remind me why I agreed to this?" Kate was already tired of walking through heavy woods next to a pond.

He lifted one shoulder. "Could be worse."

"How?" Kate immediately kicked herself for asking that question. The answer was bound to be bad.

Rick grinned. "Could be raining."

"Remind me again why I like you?" she queried but kept on trudging through the woods.

[_] /\ [_]

There was one major difference between where they were now and where they had been. There was a sun and they both got to watch it go from low in the skyline to directly above them.

"People!" Rick saw tents, trucks, and even more than one small trailer. According to Kate's watch, they'd been walking for six hours more or less.

"Now we need to find a ride or two." It might be Earth but they weren't home yet and Kate had a lot of wants and needs.

[_] /\ [_]

It only took asking a few people to find someone that was leaving today and was willing to take them with them into the town they lived in.

They got a lot of looks. Kate was walking around with a vest that said POLICE on the front and Rick looked like he was in the military. Both of them were still wearing the very same clothes they'd been kidnapped in and thanks to being buried for that ambush, they were a mess. Plus that six hour walk hadn't helped any.

This family had two kids, a husband, and a wife who were towing a trailer using a pickup truck. So Kate and Rick were sitting in the bed of the truck along with bicycles and other things.

Rick knocked on the glass and got them to stop. The husband and wife weren't sure this was a good place to drop them off but Rick was insistent so they left them behind and drove home.

Kate saw the gas station. "I don't have any cash but I do still have my credit card. I could use something to drink." She wanted a Coke so bad she could taste it. "Damn it. Scratch that," she sighed. "They can look up my card and know we were here." They couldn't do anything till they reached Portland.

"So why here?" She looked at him since this was still pretty much nowhere.

"Him!" Rick pointed and Kate looked but didn't see that much.

For the first time Rick was pretty sure Kate wasn't thinking. "It's a gas tanker, Kate. He's filling that Quick Stop's tanks with gas. When he's done he'll be empty and need to go back for another load. I'm betting that will mean Bangor."

"OH!" She could kick herself for not thinking of that. Now all they had to do was talk that driver into a ride. This was where she was betting her vest saying POLICE and her badge would help them.

It was dark by the time they reached Bangor, Maine. Per Rick's request they got dropped off at a truck stop. "Where better to find another trucker for the trip to Portland," Rick told Kate who easily agreed.

[_] /\ [_]

They were in the parking lot of a mall in Portland, Maine. Rick had ridden in the passenger seat and Kate got the bed in the sleeper behind them. They had told the trucker their story who naturally couldn't believe what they had gone through. He couldn't dream of anyone who would do such a thing.

"You both do look like you've gone through a lot." He was going to need to strip his sheets and wash them but he was going to have to do that anyway.

"Good luck to you," their trucker said and drove off to his loading dock to unload what he had in his trailer.

Kate could see a small restaurant in the strip mall across the street. "CHINESE!"

"Motel!" Rick gestured to the one just down the road.

"A real shower and a real bed!" Kate was ready to cry. Now if she could just change her clothes. "Real food first. I'm sick of Jetson food."

"You're buying," Rick told her. He walked next to her as they went toward the intersection to cross the street.

With Chinese food in hand they walked down the road to a LaQuinta hotel. Soon with a pair of hotel keys, food, and drink from their little shop, they both sat down and began to devour their food of choice.

"Don't moan like that, Kate. Please." The food was really good but not that good.

Kate simply grinned since after a shower she was thinking of putting this real bed to use for more than just sleeping.

[_] /\ [_]

Roy was just getting back from a meeting at 1PP. He had been forced to tell them he couldn't find his missing detective. CSU had almost literally broken down her car to individual parts in an attempt to find any blood to indicate she had been involved in a fight with who took her.

The captain was convinced that someone had taken her. Beckett wouldn't just up and disappear. But after all this time they didn't have any leads on where she was or who took her. He had to admit to himself that he needed to replace her with another detective. Ryan and Esposito were falling behind.

Roy walked off the elevator and saw Ryan race flat out at him. "Someone just used Beckett's credit card at a Chinese restaurant and rented a hotel room in Portland, Maine," he blurted. Ryan was so excited. Ever since she'd vanished this was the first real lead they'd had.

"Portland?" Roy couldn't think of a reason why she would be in Portland. Though it was more likely someone had her card and had been sitting on it or had sold it to someone who had just used it.

"Permission to go to Portland, Captain." Espo was right behind his partner.

"I'll make a call and get Portland Police to investigate. You two stay here for now. If it is Beckett then you get to go on a road trip to bring her back." Roy hurried to his office to make that call.

"Yes, sir." Espo was dejected. They had a lead and Portland wasn't that far away. They were cops; they would speed all the way there.

"Damn." Ryan was bummed. He wanted to go get her or at least get his hands on who had taken Beckett. "We can take Lanie with us. She could bring her bag."

Espo didn't get what he was thinking and looked at him for an explanation for that comment.

"They're going to need medical treatment after we get our hands on this guy," Ryan explained.

"Screw that! All we need is a shovel. No one will ever find this dude again." Espo knew what he was going to do with whoever had kidnapped Beckett.

[_] /\ [_]

The shower was cramped with the two of them in it but Kate wanted them both clean before sex and to be clean fast. And she got to help him get clean and even gave him a blow job while in the shower since he had developed an erection. His sperm was down her throat so now he could fuck her and have less of a risk of getting her pregnant.

They were both just leaving the bathroom after getting dry. They'd enjoyed their shower. It was with real hot water, real soap, and they had done it together.

Suddenly there was a knock on their door. "Portland Police! Open the door!" It didn't sound like they were asking; they were demanding.

"That was fast," Rick commented since they hadn't been there all that long.

"DAMN IT!" Kate had gotten two of her three most wanted things. Sex was going to be number three.

They hurriedly put on dirty shirts and dirty pants. Kate looked out the glass and in fact saw four police officers outside their door. She unlocked it and opened it. "Hi, guys." She smiled at them. She wasn't really happy to see them, but at least they weren't trying to kill them.

They got put into different cars. Taken to a Portland precinct. Placed in separate interrogation rooms and each was asked a lot of questions. Several of which were asked over and over again.

Kate never saw Rick again. She asked about him but wasn't told anything.

[_] /\ [_]

"Ryan, Espo, my office." Roy retreated to his desk to wait for them. "Beckett's been picked up by the Portland Police. She was with someone else. They're attempting to verify his identity."

"She's alive?" Ryan had feared the worst.

"Road trip for you two. Go get her and bring her right back here. I'll call her dad. He'll be waiting here along with the rest of us. Get going." Roy didn't think he was going to have a problem with this part.

"Yes, sir!" Espo was more than ready for a road trip. Plus they could both question her all the way back.

[_] /\ [_]

"I want to talk to Rick!" Kate was starting to lose her temper. They had gone through a lot together and he was her lover. She couldn't say boyfriend since they hadn't really done anything but live together and have a lot of sex.

"The military has taken over his disposition. Access to him is denied to everyone." Kate is informed and growls at him for that.

"Well, damn it!" Rick had warned her this might happen but she at least wanted to have at least a little contact.

"I'm told people from your precinct are coming up to get you and take you back to New York City. Till they arrive you will remain right here. Knock if you need something." Kate was left all alone in one of their interrogation rooms.

She sat there and stewed. She was ready to yell to see if Rick could at least hear her. Except she didn't want him to get into trouble with the military. So she sat there and wondered who was coming to get her.

Kate knew her captain was going to have questions. She was betting her dad would have even more questions. She also knew they had to keep to their story. None of them could ever know where they had been, how they got back, or anything. So far as everyone but herself and Rick knew, they had been kidnapped and left out in the woods together but all on their own. Why was all imagination. They had been walking, hunting, foraging, and trying to endure the elements ever since.

NO! They didn't know where they had been. They knew how they got to Portland but they didn't ask names or the names of any of the small towns they had traveled through to get here. They had just wanted to get here.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate didn't know who was coming till the door opened. In walked Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito. "Hi, guys." She was happy it was them. They were her teammates.