Hunting Grounds

Chapter 32

"Richard!" Martha was happy to see him. Even more intriguing was that he had brought someone with him. A very pretty someone.

"Mother, meet Katherine Beckett. Kate, this is my mother, Martha."

"So what gives me the honor of my son's visit?" Martha was dying to hear about it. She knew he was in the city and yet he didn't come see her often enough. Only this time, Richard wasn't alone.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate soon realized that Martha was more than happy to learn that her son was engaged to someone. She was asked if she knew he was in the Navy? Did she know how to cook? And a whole list of questions, most of which they could answer truthfully.

"I suggest you keep her, Richard, but your timing is terrible. I have an audition that I must get to. Parts for women of my age are getting fewer and fewer," Martha informed them since she had to cut their meeting short.

"You're not old, Martha," Kate told her. She looked to be about her dad's age and that wasn't old.

"Oh, I like her, Richard! Bring her back when I have more time. The two of us need to talk. But I have to run. I'm so happy for both of you." Martha hugged them and went out of the apartment building with them. Then she flagged down a cab and was gone.

"Well, that was fast." Rick had expected a little more.

"She seems nice. She kind of reminds me a bit of Lanie. As in not a lot of filter," Kate remarked.

"That's Mother." Rick glanced at his watch. "I have shopping to do. I need to build that power converter for Rosie. Two of them if I can find enough of the parts."

"I'll help," Kate volunteered, "even if it's just to carry the bags after you buy whatever it is you need." Soon they were in a taxi headed for their first stop on Rick's list.

[_] /\ [_]

Rick picked the telltale piece of paper off the floor by the entrance to their apartment and showed it to her. "Son of a… Damn it!" Why wouldn't they just give up? They weren't going to learn anything.

Once inside Rick headed over to what else he had built to check and see if it was still working while Kate took what she had to the kitchen. She gave him a few minutes and then watched him walk around looking for bugs until he was back beside her. "The lights say it's still working, and it's connected to the scanner. Maybe that has fooled them. There's the same number of bugs, but they've moved all of them."

"So, they knew we were gone and took the risk that we would be away long enough. They must have thought maybe it was the location, so they moved the bugs. If there's something else to try, they will eventually unless they finally give up, whoever the hell they are," Kate said.

"My money is still on your mystery man. Maybe the FBI, but doubtful. Just as doubtful is that it's the Navy. Do you have a spare weapon?" Rick was becoming increasingly concerned about what might come next.

Kate nodded. "I have a backup that I sometimes strap to my ankle."

"Good. I think you better wear it all the time from now on, Kate. I don't like what might be next."

"Kidnapping? They would have to be really stupid to try that. Kidnap a homicide detective and a Navy SEAL. Still it wouldn't hurt. I'll go get it." Kate left him, went to where she kept it, and immediately strapped it to her ankle.

When she came back in, she saw he was already distributing the parts so he could start work. "Any idea how long this will take you?"

"I should be finished today. We could maybe go get Rosie, and move her while you're still on suspension." Rick looked at her. "But do we dare do that?"

"If we plug her in here, they might take her thinking she's a hard drive or something. Something they can try and search." Kate then offered a few options. "Do we take her to Lanie? Or we could take her to my dad, or maybe Martha and just plug Rosie in. They will have questions, though. Lanie most of all."

"In that case I vote that your dad gets her. She just won't have access to the Internet any longer unless we figure out that problem, too."

"Dad has a laptop for work. And I'm pretty sure he has Internet access at home. Rosie can tap into that," Kate said. "Do you have a new cushion for my butt?" Kate knew she would be going with him, and it was at least another seven-hour trip one way. "We're going to need another hotel room, and we're going to need cash this time. It's too easy to check our credit cards."

"We can buy you a new one when we leave after I get this thing done and take it with us. I'm not leaving it behind. Does tomorrow work for you?"

"Tomorrow is fine. I'll still have two days of my suspension left. Time enough for one more date." Kate leaned down and kissed him. "Get to work while I get dinner out and warm it up if it needs it."

[_] /\ [_]

Kate was sitting on her old cushion while Rick drove to a store to get a new one.

Eventually, she selected one, and instead of just foam which was what the old one was, this one was a cool gel. It was supposed to be better and keep her butt cool. Kate grinned at Rick when he bought one for his butt as well.

"Ooo, this is different, babe." The old one was on the floor for her feet while she and Rick sat on the new ones.

He grinned. "I think I like it already. Got everything?" They needed more than just a few things for this trip.

"Let's see, we both have weapons. You have your power converter. We have water and we're wearing hiking boots since we have a hike ahead of us. We have our new cushions. The GPS knows where we're going. It will just need deleted from its from memory after we make this trip. And we have cash for the hotel and food." Kate smiled. "I think we're good."

"Then let's do this." Rick started the truck and made it out of the city before he stopped to top off the gas tank just to be safe.

[_] /\ [_]

They had made it into Maine when Rick pulled into a convenience store. He wanted snacks and some Gatorade. His truck had some heat, but the only air conditioning was the wind, and he was feeling dehydrated.

"Why does my cushion suddenly feel better?" Kate asked after she got in and sat down with her choice of snack and a drink.

"You got up and let it breathe, maybe?" Rick really had no idea, but his felt better too.

"You can stop and do that again if you want." Kate smiled at him. "I wonder if the car next door has moved yet?" Kate was still smiling. They had found yet another bug to replace the old one on the truck, and they had moved it as well.

"Is there anyone behind us?" It was Kate's job to make sure.

"I haven't seen anyone. We're not exactly the fastest thing on the road, so matching our speed is sort of a dead giveaway. You actually drove this thing flat out after Roy called you?" Kate was either impressed or thought her future husband had a death wish.

"Yup and I so do not want to do that again." Rick glanced down at the truck's gauges. "But there is something we need to do at the next town, and that's to buy some antifreeze and put it in the radiator. It looks to be running a little hot."

"Oh, great." Kate could just see them broken down on the side of the road with an overheated engine and only their little water bottles to fill it back up. "We can buy a case of bottled water and put it in the bed in back. Are you sure this was a good idea?" A more modern truck would have been better, was what she was thinking.

"Have a little faith, Kate."

"I do have faith. I have faith that we're going to be broken down on the side of the road one of these days. At least we have a spare." Kate turned to look and make sure the spare tire was indeed still there. She had also seen the digging tools strapped to the back of the truck.

They stopped later, and Kate watched Rick drop a big case of bottled water onto the bed of the truck. He got back behind the wheel and eventually took the Gatorade Kate handed him.

"Thank you, Rick." She felt better now.

[_] /\ [_]

Considering their speed, it took just about as long as Rick had anticipated to reach the campsite and then find a place to park. Now, all they had to do was walk to the ship, gain access and gather up Rosie, then walk back after closing it again.

They started out early the next morning. They were both pretty sure they were going the right way but weren't entirely positive till they practically stumbled onto the ship. "It's still here. Of course, Rosie is still here, so it had to be as well." Rick walked over to the pod and exposed the controls; they watched as the door opened and the ramp came down.

"Hi Rosie, we came to get you." Kate walked right up to her and looked her over. She was right where they had left her.

"Katherine, Richard. It is actually good to see you." She was just a computer interface, but these two meant something to her.

"It's good to see you, too, Rosie. We're going to take you to my dad's apartment and plug you in. Our place still has bugs, and someone came to move them earlier, so we can't risk taking you home with us."

"I do not see the purpose behind leaving listening devices in your apartment. No one can suspect that you have access to a spaceship." Rosie didn't see the reasoning.

"We don't think it has anything to do with the ship or us being gone. It's a long story, but since I'll be holding you all the way home I can explain it to you."

"Excellent." Rosie would listen.

"Are we taking those as well?" Kate spotted Rick picking up the weapons they had gotten off of Rosie's first ship. The one with the Jetsons' food.

"We either take them now, or we take them after we decide that sending this ship into the sun is the right thing to do. Or do you think these weapons should go with the ship? We only have just so many clips for these, and we don't know how to make more." Rick wanted her opinion. He was becoming used to asking her instead of thinking like a SEAL team leader and making decisions for all of them.

"I don't know. Where do we hide them if we take them? They'll be back in our apartment again and just take them from us," Kate cautioned him.

"Good point." Rick dropped the one he had over his shoulder and didn't pick up the other one. "Then I guess we can leave and find a hotel. We could plug Rosie in when we get there and test out the device. Find out if I screwed up somewhere."

"Lead the way, future husband."

Rosie could still hear them. "You are getting married?"

Kate smiled wide. "Rick proposed a couple of days ago, and I said yes. He even bought me a ring." Kate held her hand over Rosie so she could see it.

"White gold and rose gold with diamonds. I have noticed your planet likes diamonds," Rosie commented. Kate adjusted her hold on Rosie.

"They're a girl's best friend." Kate was still smiling wide.

[_] /\ [_]

It took them two hours to find a hotel, go to their room, and plug in Rosie to make sure Rick's device worked. And after that, to find something to eat and bring it back to the hotel room.

"Please explain to me why your apartment is being monitored," Rosie requested. She didn't have to create an email and possibly wait hours to get an answer.

"Oh boy, where should I start." Kate tried to think about what Rosie needed to know to understand it all and began explaining, letting Rick add bits and pieces here and there.

[_] /\ [_]

"And this Captain Gates is really that bad?" Rosie questioned. Humans were such strange creatures.

"She's the absolute worst. I don't understand what she's trying to achieve. It might be that she likes being critical of everyone. It's in her nature to be mean. It's just I thought she was married and had a family." Kate still didn't understand Gate's motivation.

"I do not believe I can help you. I am sorry." Rosie suddenly found something she couldn't do.

"It's okay, Rosie. We have an idea," Kate assured her.

"That is why you wanted me to find you a new job. You want to get away from Gates. I think I understand your motivation now. Have you decided on a location yet?" Rosie inquired.

"New Orleans is at the top of my list. Though if Key West or the Virgin Islands offer me a job I'm going to suggest they hire Kevin. Give them my recommendation. Of course, if both of them offer, then I don't know what I'll do. Wait for New Orleans or Seattle to respond, maybe. We'll see. None of them are going to hire anyone immediately." Kate thought there might be an interview in about a month from now.

"Then I will think good thoughts as they say on this planet," Rosie offered.

[_] /\ [_]

Thankfully, Jim hadn't questioned why they needed to plug something into one of his outlets. He had just let them and listened to his daughter say, "Thanks, Dad."

"You are still getting married?" Jim knew his daughter. She didn't do this. She dumped every boyfriend before they could dump her. But somehow Rick was different.

"Yes, I am. Bye, Dad." Kate gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and was back with Rick. "So, where are we going for our date?"

"We're going on a dinner cruise in the harbor. It's on a big three level boat, so get ready to be surrounded by people," Rick warned her.

"It'll be all couples, so I'm not worried." And she had her ring to help ward off any unwanted advances from either men or women.

[_] /\ [_]

Espo spotted them. "Beckett, Rodgers! Welcome back." He got up and met them at her desk.

"Where's Gates?" Kate was praying she was on vacation or something.

"Downstairs somewhere, where she can stay," Espo responded.

"Where are we on The Fist?" Kate asked him since that was where she left off.

Espo broke it to her. "We actually found The Fist, and Serena didn't have anything to do with it after all."

"What!? I thought sure she was good for that." Kate was absolutely stunned.

"You'll never guess. We even found the Falcon. His name is William Holt. She paid him a cool 200k to have him disable the security system," Espo told them just as Ryan joined them.

Ryan gave them a quick nod. "Beckett, Rodgers."

"She?" Rick queried.

"Yeah, big surprise. The owner stole The Fist and killed Hayes." Kevin was all smiles. They had managed to solve the case and didn't want to admit that Serena had actually been helpful.

"She really didn't want to give it to her husband, so she stole it and got caught, and she killed Hayes. She actually said, 'What was I supposed to do?'"

Kate shook her head at what she was hearing. That was just nuts. "Her husband didn't even want the damn thing," she pointed out.

"That came as a shock to her. She can think about that while she spends the rest of her life in prison," Ryan added. "So, what did you two do while you were gone?" He smiled at them.

"Wouldn't you like to know? What about the Ghost Hunter case?" Kate knew about that one.

"Solved that one yesterday," Espo said. "Took forever. Would you believe there was a secret room above the one where Jackson Sinclair was killed that had a dead body in it? He used something like an EMP device to kill all the lights and then hung Sinclair from above."

"So it wasn't a ghost?" Rick questioned.

Espo shook his head. "Nope, just another killer."

Rick snapped his fingers. "Darn."

"It's good to have you back, Beckett," Espo told her.

"What about you, Kev?" Kate asked. "Have you heard anything?"

Kevin sighed. "Not a thing. I've got my two-day vacation request form at the ready. Jenny desperately wants out of this city. I never even knew that till she found those two jobs," Kevin admitted. He thought he knew her but apparently not that well.

"Javi?" Kate looked his way.

"As soon as he puts in his resignation letter, then I'll hand in my transfer request."

"She's really breaking us up." Kate shook her head. So much had changed so fast.

"You think that's her goal?" Rick questioned them. Since Gates wasn't there, they could speak with relative freedom.

"If it is, she's doing the entire precinct. I know of eleven that have already put in transfer requests," Kevin disclosed. They both saw Kate's mouth drop open at that.

"He's not kidding. Narcotics, Robbery, you name it. Fraser wants out. It's not confirmed, but he has already resigned. It's believed he moved to Baltimore. It might not have anything to do with Gates, but you can't discount it."

"What is her problem?" Kate didn't get it. Then abruptly, both Javi and Kevin left and went to their desks.

"Beckett, my office." Gates kept walking past them and into her office. Kate followed her. "Close the door." Of course, Gates didn't ask; everything was an order with her.

"I won't permit another act of insubordination from you again. Do it again, and . ."

"I don't think that will be a problem, sir." Especially since all she needed was a job proposal and she was gone, taking Rick with her.

"I see Rodgers is back again. What are you waiting for? Get to work, Beckett." Since Beckett wasn't a detective so far as Gates was concerned, she used her last name instead. Kate didn't say anything else and just left.

"And?" Rick was sitting in his chair.

Kate sat down and whispered, "She wants to fire me."

"You won't be able to get hired somewhere else if you get fired, will you?" Rick was in the Navy so what did he know.

"No, I won't. So, I'm going to have to do my job as best I can under the circumstances, and take what Gates gives me. This is going to suck." Kate was under no illusion that Gates would let up on her.