Hunting Grounds
Sorry about that! Don't know what happened. Here is the real chapter 22.
Chapter 22
Roy and Kate had four dead men on their hands; one was Lockwood. Kate spun around and saw Rick walking toward her, his weapon out. She surmised that the extra shot was his.
With Lockwood dead all Kate had now was Roy. "Name, Roy!" She wanted that name and she wanted it now.
"I can't do that, Kate. He will kill you." Roy knew Lockwood was just one; he had access to more.
"He can try. NAME!" Kate still had her weapon in her hand, but she needed him alive to talk.
"He's far too powerful, Kate. Maybe long ago before your mother was killed but not now." Roy wasn't going to do it. Rodgers hadn't done what he wanted, and now he might not know what to do, but he damn well wasn't giving her a name.
"NAME!" Kate screamed.
"You really don't get it, do you," Roy demanded in frustration. "He has the power to have Rodgers here reassigned. It might cost him a favor or two, but he can do it."
"Kate, my orders were signed by the Secretary of Defense. He answers to the President of the United States. If he can do that he has power and access to power. Real power." Now even Rick was worried. Suddenly he was involved in something big.
"You don't understand!" Kate looked at Rick. He had saved her, and she loved him, but she needed that name.
"Maybe I don't. Do you remember our talk after Royce? Don't do this again, Kate. Say Roy makes a deal with the FBI. They investigate because they have the power that you don't have. Even the President can't stop the FBI. Maybe try but not stop them.
"He makes a deal, they catch him and you get justice. Roy gets a year or even less in a minimum-security prison. Basically a resort for him. His family is disappointed in him, but they aren't wailing over his dead body.
"Or do I kill him here and now?" Rick raised his weapon and put it against Roy's temple. "Then I just up and disappear. You know I can. I'll take Rosie with me, and no one ever sees me again, including you.
"Justice or vengeance, Kate. I don't want to play this game with you again; once was bad enough. I love you, but this isn't the person that I love." Rick knew he was giving her a choice or an ultimatum if you prefer. Her dead mother or him. He really wasn't sure just what she was going to decide.
"Rick, please?" She needed that name and she needed to arrest him.
"Even with a name, and if Roy doesn't talk, what have you got? Can't arrest him, can't investigate him. You won't have the authority. You need the FBI for that.
"Please, Kate, be the person I met and fell in love with. Don't change yourself into something else," Rick begged her and lowers his weapon since it was just a bluff.
Kate wiped away her tears with her free hand since she still had her weapon in hand. She looked at Roy and then at Rick. "DAMN IT!" She turned away from both of them and before she could even blink, Rick's arms were around her.
"Be a cop, not a vengeful angel," Rick told her. Then he looked at Roy. "You know this is right, Roy. Don't turn your wife into a grieving widow. She'll be broken, man. Your kids will be broken. Do you honestly want that for them? I don't know what you had planned but if it was dying here today that was a really bad idea. Make a deal with the FBI. If he's as dangerous as you say, they're going to need you and what you know.
"It's the only way to save your family and Kate," Rick pleaded with him. He had withdrawn his weapon; even Roy knew Rick wasn't going to shoot him. If Kate thought about it so did she.
"You're going to do it, Roy, or so help me!" She didn't know what she would do, but she would think of something.
"Looks like I don't have a choice anymore." Without Lockwood alive as his only contact, Roy didn't know what else to do. His plan had died over there with Lockwood.
"No, you don't!" Kate growled at him since he had suddenly gone from her mentor, to nearly a father figure, to something she hadn't thought was possible.
[_] /\ [_]
Hours later, they were all still there, including Roy, though he was sitting in cuffs in the back of a jet-black SUV of the FBI. And there were police and a whole lot of police tape all over the place.
The FBI presence was amazingly small for the moment, but they all knew that would change. "Detective Beckett, Captain Rodgers. I need you two to come with me. We're going to have a nice long talk in a very safe place," Special Agent Kinley informed them. "Let's go."
"What about Roy?" Kate was still hoping to get a name. What she did with it was another issue, but at least she would know who.
"Captain Montgomery, soon to be ex-Captain Montgomery, is no longer your concern, Detective. I already have both of your weapons for testing." Kinley took each of them to a different jet-black SUV, sat them inside, and watched them all roll away. One SUV was going one place while the other two went to the same place.
[_] /\ [_]
Kate was expecting this, however, now she was on the other side of the interrogation table. She knew it was being not just audio recorded but video recorded and likely watched and listened to over and over again till they picked it apart. Still, there was a microphone on the table in front of her.
"Where's Rick?" She had gotten him into this and she hadn't meant to.
"Let's start at the beginning, Detective. Tell me about Lockwood and your involvement during his escape from his arraignment hearing. We're going to go over everything in great detail." Kate's question about where Rick was, was ignored.
"Captain Rodgers, let's discuss where you enter into this. A phone call from Captain Montgomery, I believe." He had his own interrogator. He, unlike Kate perhaps, was far more comfortable being on this side of the table. After coming back and being found in Maine, the Navy had questioned him for hours on end.
[_] /\ [_]
It was late again. The sun was down, and Kate was finally going home. She had answered all of the FBI's questions. She was betting that even Espo and Kevin had been in the building since they were involved in this too. Not to mention everyone associated with this case. There were people she didn't even know about that were.
She was tired, she was hungry, and she felt so defeated, even betrayed. How could Roy have done that? Was he the one altering records to protect whoever this person was? She was even replaying what Rick had told her about who had signed his orders. She didn't know who had the power to have his orders changed.
Standing in front of the apartment door, Kate fumbled her keys and dropped them by accident. She was so tired she couldn't think straight any longer. And then the door suddenly opened, and fear swept through her. Someone was in her apartment and was here to kill her! She didn't even have a weapon on her. The FBI had that.
"RICK!" Kate felt her heart start beating again. Damn, but he had scared her. He stepped aside and let her enter but didn't say a word. At that her whole body sagged. "You're still angry at me," Kate said since it had to be true.
Rick closed the door and locked it. "I don't hate you, Kate. The opposite actually, but I am disappointed in you. I thought you had learned a lesson with Royce, that it would be fresh in your mind.
"Come on, you need to eat something. I don't know about you, but they didn't give me so much as a power bar." Rick took her over to the sofa, made sure she was comfortable, and then planted a carton of Chinese take-out in front of her along with a pair of chopsticks. He knew she knew how to use those. He wasn't any good at it but she was.
"No." Kate meant no, they hadn't given her anything, either. She did pick up both and wasn't all that surprised to find her favorite food inside. Rick certainly knew her.
Rick sat down next to her, picked up his container, and stuck a fork in it. He was close, but they weren't touching, and she craved that closeness. She needed his forgiveness.
They sat there and ate in silence. Finally, they finished eating, and neither of them had said a word. Rick gathered up the empty containers and put them in the trash, and Kate was sitting there drinking the last of her water.
"Rick." She needed to talk. She didn't want to, but they had a deal. After Royce, they had a deal.
"Don't say a word, just go to bed and get some sleep." Rick put a finger to his lips, walked over to the floor lamp, and motioned for Kate to join him.
Kate didn't get it but went over to him and watched as he exposed something. Kate clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from saying something. IT WAS A BUG! Someone had finally bugged them. Now they couldn't talk.
He beckoned and she followed him into the bedroom where she watched him show her another one.
"Get some sleep, Kate. You want to talk? We can do it in the morning."
"Alright." Kate couldn't take her eyes off that bug. The one in the living room was one thing, but this one was in their bedroom. First, Roy betrayed her, and now someone was violating her. What if they had made love to each other as in make-up sex?
Kate had cleaned herself up, was naked, and in bed and watched Rick come out of the bathroom equally naked. At least this was normal for them.
Kate moved over to snuggle in close like always and was satisfied when Rick put an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Sleep, Kate, just sleep. We both need it." He wasn't lying, either. They did both need sleep. That incident had been last night, and they had both been awake ever since.
[_] /\ [_]
They had both gotten up, had their showers, and gotten dressed. Kate found Rick in the kitchen. "Coffee?" Rick held up a cup for her.
"Thanks." She so could really use this. Her nerves were still a bit shot. She was still feeling it all after all this time and what sleep she had managed to get.
"Any idea what they will do?" Rick asked her and nodded in the direction of the bug in the living room to remind her.
She shrugged a shoulder. "Probably more questions. And I expect that Internal Affairs will be next. We discharged our weapons and someone's dead. After dealing with IA, there will probable be a suspension for me. I don't know about you since you're not NYPD.
"Odds-on that there will be yet another FBI team in the precinct questioning everyone yet again. They're involved, so they'll have jurisdiction even over Internal Affairs, I think."
"The FBI versus Internal Affairs. Can I bring popcorn?" Rick made a joke out of it, and Kate honestly snorted out a laugh. Since he was joking with her she was hoping that meant he wasn't still angry at her.
"Time to face the music, I guess. I wonder if the Navy will be there as well?" He answered to the Navy, not Internal Affairs or the NYPD. "Will I need a JAG lawyer?" Rick wasn't really expecting an answer.
[_] /\ [_]
They were taking the subway to reach the precinct as always and were standing right in front of each other. They were close enough that they were finally touching, and Kate ached to have him wrap his arms around her.
"Internal Affairs will be waiting for us. I wasn't lying about that. How did you get there anyway?" Kate was still very curious about that.
"I was almost to the real estate agent when Roy called me and told me to meet him at that hangar. Beyond that he didn't tell me much, just that it was life and death. Yours or his apparently," Rick said. "Ever driven as fast as a '53 army truck will allow? I don't recommend it."
That had Kate snorting out another laugh. "Are you still angry at me?"
"I'm still disappointed in you. And trust me, we are going to talk about your mother's case and just exactly what it means to you," Rick told her.
Kate watched as his lips got closer and closer to hers. She thought he was going to kiss her; she so wanted him to kiss her.
"I love you, Kate, I really do, but we're talking somewhere that it's nice and safe to talk, a place either really private or really noisy," Rick told her instead of kissing her, and then he pulled away from her.
Kate hated talking about her heart. She hated looking weak; it just wasn't her. But she also didn't want to lose him. He was the best thing to ever happen to her, and she knew it.
"Yeah, we do. Just go easy on me," Kate asked him. "I'm not good at this."
"I'll bring the vodka," Rick offered.
Kate smiled at him since he was being nice to her. "That might help. Is it the good stuff?"
He nodded. "I should be able to find some Grey Goose."
"Good enough. Real glass cups or plastic?" Kate inquired since it was important.
"Dixie cups. I'm not giving you a weapon to throw at me." Rick smiled at her and now Kate was chuckling.
"Fair enough." Kate could agree to that.
[_] /\ [_]
Kate had been proven correct. The 4th floor of the precinct was nuts, completely nuts. There were people from Internal Affairs everywhere, along with FBI agents, and she didn't know who else. As expected, they were both questioned by seemingly everyone. Kate even got a glimpse of Espo and Ryan, but that was all. Neither she nor Rick got to talk to them all day.
Lunch was little subway sandwiches and tap water for just about all of them. Who ordered that neither of them knew. Kate and Rick only ate one and both of them refused to drink the precinct coffee. They were thankful that they'd had coffee at home first.
Even here they didn't get much of a chance to say anything to each other.
Rick had been proven correct; the Navy was here. It was someone he didn't know, not that it mattered. He didn't know nearly as much as Kate did. He mostly talked about his involvement in the matter.
Kate got close enough to Rick to ask him one question. "Roy?" It was just one word but he knew what she was talking about. Kate watched him shake his head. He had nothing.
[_] /\ [_]
It was late and they were finally allowed to go home. Kate wasn't suspended just yet, though since the FBI still had her service weapon, essentially she was. If there was a murder somewhere in their jurisdiction she wasn't going to it.
Kate found herself resting against Rick as they rode the metro home. "Our place is still bugged," he reminded her.
"I know." Kate hadn't forgotten that. She was willing to be a bit of an exhibitionist but having her love-making recorded and then listened to by who knew how many people wasn't something she was willing to do.
Kate tilted her head to look up at him. "A motel room, maybe?" She was also asking if he was wiling to make love to her. Just how angry at her was he?
"Day after day?" Rick asked her. If they removed them themselves they, whoever they were, would know.
Kate buried her face against his chest. "SHIT!" He had a point. Kate looked up at him again. "If I get suspended, and I probably will, we can go look at that house you didn't make it to. And find a hotel room somewhere. Unless your truck's already bugged."
"If it is, I'll just move it to the car next to it. Maybe they'll blame it on the idiot that put it there. Can't get good help these days, you know!" Rick made a joke of it and Kate chuckled softly.
They stopped for pizza this time. It still wasn't Terrific Nicks, or Authentic Terrific Nicks, or any other Nicks. Neither of them were ready for that yet, even if none of the owners were named Nick.
"Where are you going?" Kate asked since she had the pizza.
"Beer, DUH!" Rick went inside to find some beer he was willing to drink. Kate grinned and waited for him.
[_] /\ [_]
They were finally back in their apartment. Rick held up a bottle. "Beer?"
"Thanks." Kate took it and opened it.
"Hawaiian? Really, Kate?" To Rick that wasn't pizza.
She defended her taste buds. "I like Hawaiian, so shoot me."
"I can't. They took my weapon." Rick listened to Kate laugh. It was a good sound to hear. A better sound than what she'd been doing lately.
"Was the Navy hard on you?" Kate thought they would expect them to talk about it.
"Not as much as the last time." Rick couldn't say too much. Neither of them knew who had planted the bugs. FBI, Navy, someone working for the unknown man whose name Kate wanted desperately? Or someone else entirely? It was, after all, possible.
"So if you're suspended, where do you want to go on vacation?" Rick asked her since that was a safe topic.
"Not Maine, thank you very much." Kate listened to Rick laugh this time. She liked hearing him laugh.
"So, beach instead of a forest?" Rick joked with her.
"Definitely." Then she narrowed her eyes and stared at him. "Are you trying to get me into a bikini, mister?"
"Most definitely," he said and winked at her. "So shoot me."
Kate stayed with the same joke. "I can't; they took my weapon, too."
"Alright, then. Water pistols at ten paces or Nerf gun?" He waited expectantly for her answer.
"Hmm, one gets you wet, yet the other one will hit you with something. How about a paint ball gun?" Kate suggested instead.
"OUCH! Don't those things hurt when they hit you?" Rick saw Kate smile at him. "I didn't know you were such a sadist."
Kate changed the game. "I could just tie you to the bed."
He rolled his eyes. "Pfff! I'd like to see you try."
"I don't try, mister. I succeed." Kate was even thinking of doing just that now.
"I call that bold talk from an unarmed detective," Rick said in his best John Wayne voice.
"Who was that? Mr. Rodgers?" Kate teased him and laughed at him. They might be giving whoever was listening and recording them an earful, but this was turning out to be fun.
"Sounds like I know who's getting tied to the bed," Rick countered.
"Bring it on, frogman." No one had tied her to the bed before, so this might be fun.