Hunting Grounds

Chapter 25

Rick was still sitting next to Kate, waiting for the eruption and fireworks. Kate, though, was still worried.

The Captain's phone rang. "Gates." The caller introduced himself. "Sir. Yes, sir, I did." Gates listened. "But, sir…" Gates tried to cut in and explain. "Yes, sir, but if you would let me…" Gates tried again. "But, sir…" Gates tried yet again. "Yes, sir, I understand, sir. …No, sir." She listened to him hang up on her.

Gates sat there, and she was steaming. She just knew Rodgers had done something. Well, he may have gotten to the Commissioner, but she had contacts that were above both of them. So she picked up the phone.

"Elizabeth, I need a favor." Victoria proceeded to explain her problem with Rodgers.

"You know I still hate you, Victoria. Give me one good reason why I should try and help you." Elizabeth listened to her sister's reasoning.

Elizabeth sighed. She wasn't really sure why she was doing this. "I'll make one phone call, but that's it. After that he's your problem." Elizabeth hung up on her, cutting her off.

Gates had just used up what might be the only card she had to play with her sister, but it might be of use. She even looked out her glass and could see Rodgers only sitting there next to Detective Beckett's desk.

She would give her sister about 15 more minutes before she called to have an officer escort Rodgers to the front door and out into the curb.

[_] /\ [_]

Gates could still see Rodgers sitting there, and she was really starting to burn. She was all set to call for an officer to remove him when her phone rang. "Gates."

"Victoria! I don't know what you've done, but you had me stirring up a hornets' nest. I just had my ass handed to me. I'm counting myself lucky that I still have a job.

"I don't know who he is, but based on what I do know, he is well connected, very well connected. If you want to not only keep your job, but your US Citizenship and keep your family, I suggest you apologize and leave him alone, or you will find yourself in Haiti before the end of the day.

"Do not call me again, Victoria. This ends it for us." Elizabeth hung up on her for the second time in less than an hour.

Gates sat there stewing. The Commissioner had given her her orders, and her sister couldn't help her. She didn't know who this Rodgers was, but it looked like she was stuck with him till he gave her better cause to get rid of him.

Meanwhile, Kate had explained to Rick everything about her meeting with Gates, including that she wanted to be called Sir. Kate saw the look on his face after that and shrugged.

Gates stood at the door of her office, peering out. "Rodgers, my office!"

"Here we go. Do we have a medical unit in this building?" Rick wasn't joking. If she kept her threat to find someone to throw him out, that person was going to need medical attention.

"Ma'am?" Rick used that term even after what Kate had told him. Yes, he knew he was pissing her off, but she had it coming.

"I don't know who you think you are, Rodgers, but the Commissioner has said that you stay. But hear this. If you give me cause, I will have you thrown out of here so fast it will make your head spin. That or arrest you and throw the book at you."

"I see." Rick put both fists on the edge of her desk and leaned in a little. "My name is Captain Richard Rogers, United States Navy. I'm a Navy SEAL. My orders, Captain, and yours had you had bothered to search your desk for them, are for me to be a liaison between all of the NYPD and the United States Navy.

"My orders, and by extension your orders, are signed by the Secretary of Defense. He answers to the President of the United States. Had you bothered to search for those orders, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

"I'm not here to tell you how to run your precinct. My orders are to monitor all of the NYPD and generate reports that will go to Naval Intelligence. Should a naval officer be involved with the NYPD, I will be his liaison until a JAG officer can be assigned. My base is the 12th Precinct.

"By being here, I'm following my orders. I suggest you follow yours." Rick stood up straight after talking down to her. He had talked down to potential SEAL members, so he was used to it. She wasn't a SEAL, so she was even lower than he was.

"I'm a Navy SEAL and there is no one in this precinct that has the skill to escort me out of this building. I can out shoot anyone here. I can be very helpful if you let me, or I can be your worst enemy. What dance we do is up to you." Rick turned to leave. "One last thing. I'm Navy and not under your jurisdiction. Also, in the Navy, all female officers are referred to as Ma'am. It is not an insult. It is a recognition that she is a Naval Officer even if she is ranked above me. Men are called Sir. So I will be calling you Ma'am or Captain." Rick started to leave but stopped again.

"Orders, Captain. I suggest you find them and read them. Captain Montgomery didn't have a problem." This time Rick did leave; he went back to Kate's desk and sat down.

He left a stewing Captain Gates in his wake. She refused to search her desk for those orders immediately. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"I caught some of that, Rick. Did you have to talk down to her?" Kate was thinking Gates was just going to take it all out on her.

"I'm used to talking down to SEAL wannabes. She's nothing." Rick wasn't scared of her and waved his hand at her, indicating that Gates was nothing to him.

Kate put her elbow on her desk and put her head in her hand. "Yeah, but she's my boss now."

Rick thought about that. "OH!" He made an apologetic face. "Sorry."

Suddenly Espo and Ryan were close. "That was epic, Rodgers. If possible, that office would be on fire now." Espo held out his fist for Rodgers to bump with his. "SEAL, we still need to have drinks and talk." Espo retreated to his desk after Rick bumped his fist.

"He's right, but you should also maybe calm it down. She can take all that out on all of us," Ryan cautioned him and retreated to his desk.

Rick looked down and slowly shook his head. "Oops."

"It's done. Still, that was epic." Kate kinda enjoyed it. She just feared what was coming after all that. Now they waited for a case.

Rick's phone rang. "Rodgers." He listened intently to the other person.

"Yeah, she did. Don't really understand what her problem is. She has all the appearance of being power hungry, Lance." Rick listened to what he had to say. "Understood, and thanks." Rick hung up and saw Kate looking at him for an answer.

"Lance is a good friend of mine who's in Naval Intelligence. He got me this job. Apparently Gates called US Attorney Elizabeth Weston in an attempt to have me thrown out. Don't know who she is, but she failed."

"Great, now we have two people after us." Kate leaned in closer. "We don't need any more, Rick."

"Got it." Rick would try, but anyone that tried to take him from Kate was going to get his best, no matter who they were.

"We got a fresh one!" Ryan called out.

"Can't, Ryan. I still need to requalify which means going down to the gun range," Kate mentioned.

"Ooo, can I come?" Rick wasn't averse to getting in some practice.

"Sure." Kate got up and took him with her to the shooting range.

[_] /\ [_]

"Read it and weep." Kate held up her paper target for him to see.

"Not bad." Rick was still thankful that she knew how to shoot and had a head on her shoulders. She just needed to learn to control her emotions regarding her mother's case.

"Not bad? Alright then, show me what you've got," Kate challenged him. She watched him hook up a paper target and send it downrange, Except while she sent it the minimum distance he sent his the entire distance. Doubling hers followed by watching him checking his weapon and putting on his ear muffs. She was looking forward to mopping the floor with him.

Kate watched as he quickly emptied his clip, then rendered it safe, and pressed the button to bring the target back. Kate could see that he was whistling and could just about hear him.

Rick took down his target and showed it to her. He had ten shots in a perfect pattern dead center of the chest and three dead center of the head.

Kate gaped at him. "Damn, Rick!"

"I'm well trained," he reminded her.

"No shit!" Kate was still looking at his target. She was good, and she knew it, but he was better.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate knocked and entered Gates' office. "My requalification, sir." Kate handed over her target and the paperwork from the shooting range to prove that she had indeed done that.

Gates had to admit that she was good. Better than her yet again, which only pissed her off even more. Her day was not going well.

"Your weapon, Detective, now get to work." Gates handed over her service weapon and scowled when she saw Rodgers enter her office.

"My target." Rick handed it over for her to look at. "I already have my service weapon as issued by the Navy and my permit to carry it." Rick followed Kate out and over to her desk.

"You're rubbing it in, Rick," Kate warned him.

"Yeah, I am, aren't I." Rick smiled wide. "What? She has it coming."

"Just try and tone it down. She might not be able to make your life miserable, but she can make mine hell," Kate reminded him. "Let's catch up to Ryan and Espo." Now Kate had all she needed to do her job.

Gates watched them leave, and only then did she pick up Rodgers' target. What she saw had her raising an eyebrow. Damn, but he knew how to shoot. He was going to be a bigger problem than she thought.

[_] /\ [_]

"Victim is Sonya Gilbert, 27, and this is her place," Lanie told Espo and Ryan and looked for Kate, but didn't see her.

"Popular party girl." Ryan had heard of her.

"Multiple GSWs to the chest. He used a pillow as a poor man's suppressor." Lanie held up the pillow.

"Party girl and heavy metal drummer boyfriend." Ryan and Espo were on their way out when suddenly Kate and Rodgers entered. "You made it."

"Yeah, what have we got?" Kate inquired and could see Lanie behind them. Oh, boy, maybe she shouldn't have come. Lanie was going to grill her for answers, but perhaps she would wait till after work.

Back at the precinct about an hour later, "Does he have a motive?" Rick questioned as they all stood at the white board.

Ryan pointed at each photograph. "The usual, he was in love and she wanted out."

Rick shook his head. "Emptying a clip into her doesn't say love to me."

[_] /\ [_]

"Maybe the killer was in the apartment the entire time," Kate suggested; she couldn't think of anything else. "Security shows that no one entered between 10:00 pm and 9:00 am."

The next thing they knew, they were all back in the apartment, but the dead body was long gone and CSU had swept through this room.

Rick was looking under the bed. "Guys, give me a hand." He was back up, and together they lifted the mattress and box springs.

"The blood went through the mattress, but there's almost none on the floor," Rick pointed out.

"Fingerprints." Ryan was using blue light to show them on the frame.

"A killer's hiding place." Kate was smiling. Rick turned out to be useful yet again.

[_] /\ [_]

"One more down. People really do kill people for all kinds of reasons, don't they?" Rick muttered. A band member was going to prison for life.

"Welcome to my job. Love gone wrong, money, drugs, the list is endless," Kate admitted.

"How do you feel?"

"It's not enough. I still want him. But it's enough for now," Kate told him. "Rick, what are we going to do about our apartment?" She meant their apartment was still under electronic surveillance. She still wasn't comfortable making love to him and having someone record it and listen to it over and over again. It was sick.

"I have an idea about that. We can talk on the way home," he assured her. Kate nodded. "I suppose paperwork is next." Rick made a disgusted face.

"We need coffee," Kate said and went over to her desk.

Kate soon saw a cup of coffee show up on her desk. She hummed as she took a sip and then handed over papers and a pen for him to use. "The sooner we can get it done, the sooner we can go home." Kate grinned at him and bit her lower lip since she was thinking still more sex.

[_] /\ [_]

Once again, Kate was standing in front of Rick. She looked up at him as he told her his plan for the bug in the bedroom for today. They could do the same for the one in the living room later. Just close the bedroom door.

Kate was a bit skeptical about this plan. After all, her bedroom was only so big. There was just so much room to put furniture. Between the lone window, the closet door, and bathroom door, that didn't leave a lot of wall space. Still, it might work.

[_] /\ [_]

Rick needed to get started with his plan. "You're sure you want to try this?" It did, after all, mean he was going to be the muscle in this plan of his.

"Yes, please." Kate walked up to him and slipped her arms around his neck. "I'll make it up to you. I promise." She purred at him since that was her part of this plan.

"It better include a massage for my sore muscles," Rick added and they both went into the bedroom. That was where Kate was supposed to issue orders.

"Move the dresser there for now." Kate pointed and pointed again just for effect. As far as they knew, no one was actually looking. These were audio-only bugs.

"Alright." Rick tried to make it sound like he was grumbling. "We're going to need something to clean out the cobwebs and get the dust bunnies."

"I'll get it. You just put those muscles to use." Kate actually did move since the bug might be sensitive enough to pick that up.

However, this bug never heard anything ever again after that. Rick had only just started to move the dresser when it died. Kate had the door closed so the other bug couldn't hear them.

"You're sure it's dead?" Kate questioned him and watched him hold out his hand to show her the broken pieces. Kate even poked it with her finger to move the pieces around a little.

"There's one drawback to this plan," Rick said briefly.

Kate had already thought of it. "We can't keep moving furniture every single day." She had no illusions that once this bug died and they went into the precinct, that someone wouldn't just come and plant a new one somewhere.

"We need a new plan," Rick agreed. "But the bedroom is safe for now." He dropped the pieces into a plastic grocery bag that Kate had brought with her, tied it up, and tossed it into the trash can in the bathroom. He had thought about just flushing it down the toilet. But this was New York City, and this apartment wasn't all that new. The old toilet and old plumbing were just waiting for something to give it a reason to break.

"Rick, what about Rosie? If they have done something to her!" Kate was going to lose it.

"Rosie's in the ship, remember, Kate? All we have is your laptop."

"Yeah, sorry." Kate stepped into his arms. "This shit is tiring. We need to buy the house, figure out how to get to the ship, and make sure it only takes one of us to fly it. Figure out where to land and then get back here.

"And since we'll be using your truck, it sounds like you're driving and I'm flying." His old truck had extra gear shifts to play with. "And I need a new cushion for that seat." That had Rick chuckling.

"I'll see what I can come up with." Rick liked holding her close. She fit his body perfectly.

[_] /\ [_]

Since the bedroom was clear, the sex that night and a little in the morning had been fantastic as usual for them. There was their banter over coffee in the morning and how Rick would stop and find breakfast to eat at her desk. Maybe she didn't want anything, but he did. He was thinking a breakfast burrito this time. He could wolf it down fast and no one would notice.

"Just don't let Gates catch you eating at my desk." They had enough trouble with her already.

They were just outside the apartment door and Kate was watching him close the door so she could lock it, but he was down in his knees. "Close it slowly for me," Rick said just above a whisper.

"What did you do?" Kate hadn't locked the door yet, but it was closed.

"See that tiny piece of paper near the floor?" Rick pointed to it. It was easy to miss. "If someone opens the door, it'll fall, and we'll know before we even go inside that someone's been here. I saw this in a movie once. It worked then, so it should work now."

"Not bad." Kate liked it. It didn't solve the problem, though. There would still be a bug to deal with. This would just tell them that now they had more than one, once more.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate found herself standing in front of Rick again in the subway car. It was turning out to be the safest place to talk. "I'm betting the truck will be bugged again soon. Right after the neighbor drives his car away," Rick said.

"They've got to have an endless supply of those things. Pretty soon, it won't be just two and the truck. We need a reason to get them to stop. I just don't have one short of handing over the ship, and maybe Rosie, which we can't do." She was with him on that.

"My God, Kate, just think what would happen if one nation got its hands on technology that advanced." Let alone what would happen to the two of them since they had lied about it. They would never see the light of day again.

"I need a burner phone, and I have to get Rosie to do something for me. I don't have an answer, but maybe Lance does. He gave me that device for a reason. Maybe he has another one just as useful. All he can do is say no."

"No, and lock us up. You need to be very sure about him, Rick. Absolutely damn sure." He might be his friend and he trusted him, but she didn't know him from Adam. She had no real reason to trust him.

"We can't keep moving furniture. They're going to catch on eventually if they aren't already suspicious," Rick countered. "But I do have a question for you to think about." He hated to bring that up, but he believed it was just too much of a coincidence.

"What if Gates is in on this? Think about it. She came from Internal Affairs, and the very first thing she does is try and get rid of me. She even calls in a favor from someone to help her." Rick saw the look of shock on her face.

Kate decided to bury her face against his chest and hold him. "But Roy said he might have the power to reassign you. Why get her to do it?"

"He might need to call in a couple of favors or expose himself." Rick shrugged. "He doesn't want to use those yet and certainly doesn't want to expose himself. So he arranges to have Gates made Captain. It might be easy for him to do. A teeny tiny favor, and she's in.

"I'm willing to give her a little credit. Say she wanted the job, so she jumps at it. She doesn't know she is being played. Perfectly willing to rat us out to him. She thinks it's her duty. And she doesn't realize just who he is and how he is playing her."

"We need Rosie. Boy, do we need Rosie," Kate said to his chest.