Becks Takes A Vacation
CHAPTER EIGHT
Sue and Becks upon finding out that Joseph's outhouse was a two-holer, decided to go out to take care of business together. It wasn't that they were afraid of any of the wild animals that might be prowling about. They claimed it was because it was dark out already and they didn't want to run the risk of some miss-step in unfamiliar surroundings.
They quickly took care of their needs and came back in and did a wash cloth clean up using some water that Joseph had heated over the stove.
They then moved over to the bunk beds and stood in front of them. "Okay, so who gets the top bunk?" Becks asked while eyeing how high up the top bunk was.
Sue looked over at Becks and rolled her eyes. Then Becks felt a sudden breeze in the cabin and Sue gently floated up to the top bunk.
Becks glared at her. "I'll take the bottom bunk." She said as Sue laughed.
Becks had no sooner laid down when Jocko trotted over and laid down next to the bed. Becks reached over and scratched to big wolf's ears.
"Are you going to protect me while I sleep?" She gave him another few scratches. "You're a good boy, yes you are."
Content that she had her guardian, Becks rolled over and fell asleep surprisingly quick.
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Kate found herself up before the sun. She got out of bed and began wandering clueless through the loft. Minutes later Rick noticed Kate was missing and he got up to look for her.
"Kate? Where are you?" He called out when he couldn't see her in the living room or the kitchen.
"I'm upstairs."
Rick followed her voice until he found her standing in the former guest room which was not quite finished being turned into the nursery. Kate was just standing in the middle of the room staring at the new crib they had put together a few days ago.
Castle came up behind her, hugged her and kissed her neck. He really liked how her shorter hair allowed him access to her long sexy neck. "Is there anything wrong? Are you feeling okay?" He wasn't worried as much as concerned.
Kate didn't move. "I can't do this." She turned in his arms and looked him in the eyes. He could see genuine fear there. "I'm not a mother. I can't do this."
"Where is this coming from? You'll be a great mother." He kissed her forehead.
She was shaking her head. "No, my mother was a great mother. I can never live up to her example."
Rick chuckled. "Well, each mother is different. You've known my mother for years now, and know what she's like. Still I like to think I turned out alright."
Kate squirmed in his arms and glared at him. "I happen to know what your mother had to go through and how much she sacrificed for you growing up." She shook her head. "I'll never be as good a mother as either of them."
Kate pulled away and paced the room. "Maybe there's a place where babies born to unfit mothers can be fostered to proper homes."
That got Castle laughing out loud. Kate glared harder and punched him on the shoulder.
"Quit laughing. I'm serious."
Rick calmed his laughter. "No you aren't. You're hormonal." He led her over to a bench they brought in with storage under the seat. They sat and he put his arm around her shoulders. "Every mother has to have that first time. No one starts out experienced."
Kate stared at the floor. "My mother's gone. I don't have her to show me what to do."
Castle sighed. "No you don't. But you have me, and I raised a pretty good kid." He gave her a squeeze. "And you have the memories of your mother and how she helped you grow into the extraordinary person you are today." Castle chuckled. "And knowing our friends and family. We will be inundated with advice and suggestions until the kid finally leaves home."
A noticeable change comes over Kate's face. She turns to Castle. "We aren't going to ever let her leave home are we?"
Castle smirked. "Oh, so you've decided the baby is going to be a girl have you?"
Kate put on a smirk of her own as she looked up at the ceiling. "I just have a feeling. A mother's intuition about it."
Rick nods. "Uh huh. And do you know what the percentages say about mother's intuition on the baby's gender?" Kate shook her head. "About 50/50."
Kate frowned at him, then held out her hands. "I'm hungry. Feed me."
Rick got to his feet and while still chuckling, pulled Kate to her feet and with his arm around her waist they headed downstairs to the kitchen.
Once they made it to the kitchen, Kate sat on one of the stools and looked at Rick.
"I wonder how Becks is doing."
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Becks got herself out of bed carefully. She wanted to make sure she didn't step on Jocko if he was still by her bedside…which he was. She tip toed to where she laid out her clothes for the day. Jocko lifted his head and watched her.
Becks gave Jocko a mild glare. "So, you're a voyeur too?"
Soon Sue, floated down from the top bunk and copied Becks actions.
Once they were both dressed they, by silent agreement went out to the potty shack together again. By the time they returned, Joseph was up and puttering around the stove.
There were some eggs that he'd gotten from a lady across the lake who had chickens. And he had several slices of homemade bread ready on a plate.
The ladies got their stuff gathered together and joined Joseph at the table.
Sue spoke up. "After we eat, we'll put our stuff in the car. Then we'll get the bikes down and head out and see what we can find." Sue grabbed Joseph's hand. "Will it be okay to leave me jeep here while we're out?"
"Oh course." He grinned. "Just leave me the keys in case I have the urge to go joy riding."
Sue smirked while Becks just shook her head. "I'll be sure to do that."
After their breakfast the gals gathered their stuff together and headed toward the front door. Before Becks was able reach the handle on the door she had a large black wolf standing between her and the door.
Becks dropped to her knees in front of Jocko. "Hey buddy." She rubbed his ears. "We're just going out sight-seeing for a while." It was like she was talking to a young child. "I'll be back soon, I promise."
Becks stood up. Jocko's eyes followed.
They all said their goodbyes, knowing they'd be back by the end of day.
The sun was above the horizon and the day promised to be a nice one. Very little wind and a bright sun held promise for their dirt riding adventures.
Becks wasn't sure what to expect for the day, but she planned to put one of those bikes through its paces.
Guy was standing next to the jeep when Sue and Becks reached him. He'd started unlatching the dirt bikes from the carrier. Sue stuck her head into the jeep and grabbed the two portable extra gas cans. They were made especially for these bikes. Her tanks, which were full, would give her several hours of riding, but they had no way of knowing where they were going, and it paid to have the extra gas so they could be sure they'd get back.
With the bikes leaning against the jeep, Sue pulled out her map.
"Okay, here's where we are right now." She pointed to an X she had put on the map. "Here's roughly where the Red Lake Band reservation is located." She pointed out a rectangle scrawled on her map west of their current position.
Sue looked up toward the west. "Joseph says it's less than 75 miles from here. According to his friend. The ATV activity was mostly coming from the north and west of the res."
Sue pats Guy on the shoulder. "Our spiritual friend here will act as our scout and check out the route as we follow. If or when we run across any traffic, we'll discuss what we want to do. We can either follow the vehicles, or we can try to backtrack their route to see if we can stumble across their origin."
Becks was ready to start the bike and was looking forward tearing through the forest. Sue put a hand on her arm. "I think we'll be able to find deer paths, and enough distances between trees where we won't be blocked very often and have to move around a tightly bunched copse of trees." Sue stared at both of her companions. "Now you both have to remember. We are looking into a story. We are not cops, we have no legal jurisdiction to do anything except gathering evidence, like photos. If we find something we have to note the location as best we can so we can inform the proper authorities where they are."
Sue threw her leg over the seat of the bike. "Remember, if we find illegal activity we are not here to shut them down. We are here to find and provide information to those who can shut them down."
Becks rolled her eyes as 'mom' Sue gave her lecture. If it was drugs, and if she had a chance, she was certainly going to do what she could to 'F' them up.
With everything buckled down they started up their engines and pointed themselves toward the northwest. Guy transformed himself into the pony sized coyote and led the way into the pine forest.
They had been riding for about an hour and a half. Becks was thoroughly enjoying herself. It had been some time since she'd been out on a bike of any kind. With Coyote's guidance they were able to make good time.
They were fortunate that the undergrowth was sparse and they were spared the whiplash of small branches as they pushed their way forward. Also, Coyote was very adept at finding well-worn deer trails.
As they reached the second hour of their journey they pulled up in a small clearing to drink some water and have a candy bar for energy. They hadn't seen anyone along their route. Sue had purposely avoided getting too close to the Red Lake Band reservation.
After a couple hits off the canteen and a Milky Way bar Becks looked off toward the northwest. Something was registering in the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite bring it forward.
Sue spoke up. "Okay, we have to figure out which direction we should take now. Do we keep going westward, or should we veer more to the north? I'm a little surprised we haven't run across any ATV tracks as of yet."
That was it, Becks screamed in her mind. "Hurry up, we have to get behind some cover."
Sue and Guy, as he had changed, looked at her.
"Don't you hear it?" Becks implored. "I hear a motor. I think someone is coming."
After mentioning it, both Sue and Guy picked up the sound of an engine. They quickly rolled their bikes behind a tightly grouped stand of trees. The sound became louder as they waited for the source of the noise to make itself known.
They all looked north, toward a rise in the land. Suddenly a large ATV crested the hill and came roaring downslope a few yards in front of them.
Becks could see it was a machine very similar to the ones she'd seen the other day. It also was pulling a fair sized trailer of sorts. Luckily the driver was concentrating on his destination rather than admiring the scenery so he never glanced their way.
Once the sound of the engine waned enough, the trio came out of hiding.
"Well, we have a choice to make. Should we follow him and see where he goes, and maybe even confront him for information?" Sue waved her hand in the rider's direction. "Or should we investigate the direction he came from?"
Becks glanced both ways. "I think we should do both."
Sue shook her head. "No, we aren't splitting up."
Becks frowned. "I think this is the opportunity we've needed." She waved toward the direction of the ATV. "You and Guy can follow the rider. Guy's Coyote form could easily protect you if things turned nasty. Maybe you could witness a delivery. That could give you more information to add to our needed evidence."
"And you?" Sue's tone was wary.
"I can follow his tracks back the way he came." Becks pointed north. "I'll be careful not to be seen if I come across any more of them. Best case scenario would be I come across some sort of facility, or warehouse that they are working from."
Sue shook her head. "No, that could be too dangerous."
Becks waved off her concern. "Look, I know how to surveil a scene. I won't get too close. I won't leave the cover of the forest. If there is anything to see, I'll snap a few pictures with my phone and hightail it back."
Sue chewed her lip, Becks rolled her eyes. "Come on, times a wasting."
Sue glared at Becks. "Okay, we do as you say. But we only follow for an hour. Then, no matter what, we turn around and meet back here." Sue pulled out her phone. "Do you have a signal?"
Becks pulled out her phone. "Yeah, but it's pretty weak."
Sue nodded. "Mine too, but it should be enough if needed. Okay, we meet back here in no more than two hours. If anything looks too dangerous, or just too weird, try to call and get back to this spot as fast as you can."
Becks nodded. "You'd better hurry, you're prey is getting away."
Guy grinned at her, then transformed. Sue gave Becks a dirty look, but spun her bike around and sped off in the direction of the rider with Coyote leading the way.
Becks just smiled as she turned her bike toward the direction the rider had come from. Since he hadn't traveled on a hard path, it was easy to see the tracks he'd left behind. It should be easy to follow the trail he'd left behind.
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Becks had been following the tracks that the rider had left behind. It was obvious that he was used to not worrying about anyone being interested in where he was going and where he'd been. She wasn't sure, because there was no indicator of where she actually was, but just from the miles she'd had traveled she thought she might have passed into Manitoba, Canada.
Coming from New York, Becks knew that all the roadways into and out of the two countries had some sort of checkpoint. A place where some modest check of your vehicle would be instigated before you were allowed into the country. The same happened going the other direction. In fact, the few times she'd crossed the border she found that getting back into the States was always a more rigorous process than passing into Canada.
Becks figured that obviously since there wasn't some sort of fence along the border between the countries, and there was no natural feature such as a lake or river for demarcation, she could've easily passed between over open land. After all, the U.S. and Canada shared the world's longest undefended border.
Her basic surroundings were the same. She was still in a forested area and didn't see anything that indicated any sort of town or community.
After glancing at her phone for the time, she decided she'd follow the tracks up one more hill and over, before turning back. She was disappointed that she hadn't been able to come across something interesting.
As she approached the crest of another hill, she heard the sounds of an engine again. She quickly pulled away from the trail she'd been following and parked herself behind a couple of large trees which also had a bit of scrubby ground growth around them.
She had hidden herself just in time as a powerful ATV just like the others came zooming over the hill top and sped along the same basic trail that she'd been backtracking from the other machine.
She waited until the sound of his engine had faded to the barest whisper before she pushed her bike back toward the top of that hill.
She reached the crest and was surprised by what she saw. Instead of just the expected more trees and brush, she was looking down at an open stretch of land that easily covered an acre.
Becks pulled her bike back to the place where she had hid previously. She also pulled up some shrub branches to better cover the bike from casual eyes. Then she moved back toward the crest of the hill. She was careful to keep herself out of direct sight as she moved closer.
Once back at the crest she looked down over clearing. Of course the first thing that stood out was the huge building squatting down in the middle of the treeless area. It was easily the dimensions of a football field, or even larger. Much of the compound was a prefabbed metal building with a high ceiling not unlike a warehouse of some kind.
There was a smaller log built building sitting next to the metal one. Next to that building were a couple of cars. She also saw a couple of somethings parked next to the cars, but it was hard to tell exactly what as they were covered with protective tarps. She assumed they must be the ATVs used for the deliveries. Being as it was getting late, she assumed she'd seen the last delivery go past her.
The huge expanse of the warehouse roof was painted a flat green which kind of blended into the color of the surrounding grasses. But there was also letters painted on the roof. The letters read; McKinney Tractor Co.
Becks wondered if the signage was there for the occasional plane that might fly over. There definitely wasn't any sign of population as far as the eye could see. There was a single dirt drive that lead into the property from the north. If it joined up with some road somewhere, she couldn't see it for the hilliness of the surrounding landscape.
The next thing that caught her eye was the fact that there were armed guards around the building. A crew of three tended to wander around the grounds. One stayed near the large doors that faced the second building. The other two just occasionally circled the large building.
Now why would a tractor company need guards, armed ones at that. Becks was convinced that she had found what they were looking for. Now, what was she going to do about it?
She pulled out her phone and took several pictures of the grounds, and the guards, but she knew that she needed more. She knew she really had nothing unless she was able to get pictures of what was going on inside of the big building.
She tried to call Sue, but she didn't connect. She sent a quick text message, not knowing if that would go through or not. She wanted Sue to know that she'd be late for the meet and would hook up with her back at Joseph's place.
She crept up as close to the edge of the trees as she dared. It didn't seem like they were overly concerned about their security way out here in the middle of nowhere, but they were carrying guns and she wasn't.
She watched the rotation of the guards for several minutes and wasn't able to discern any pattern. Except for the guy at the main door. There didn't seem to be any specific routine. It had all the hallmarks of a lax security team, but it also made it more difficult to figure out how to get close. You couldn't time their routes and check points when they didn't have any.
Just then motion at the back of the building caught her eye. A small door at the back of the big prefab building opened and a Native Indian woman stepped out with a sack of something, probably garbage of some sort, and moved over to a dumpster a few feet away. She dropped her bag in the dumpster and walked back to the door and went inside.
A slight smile cracked Becks' lips. That was interesting. That back door wasn't kept locked. At least not during working hours, whatever they were. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.
The only windows she could see were up high, just under the roof's small overhang. They were at least twelve to fifteen feet up so that meant she wasn't going to be able to peek through windows to see what was happening in that building.
She almost laughed out loud when a quick flash of a picture drifted through her mind. She saw herself slipping through that back door, only to find several large tractors on a concrete floor."
That thought had settled it or Becks. Now there was no option but to steal down there and use that back door to slip into the building and see for herself what was going on in that big warehouse-sized building.
She glanced up. The sun hadn't set yet, but it was behind the trees in the forest to the west of the building. So, while it wasn't dark yet, the light level had been lowered to a dusky grey twilight. It wasn't dark enough to cover you from being seen if someone saw you moving across their sight line. But if you moved with care, and kept the guards in your vision, then she felt she would be safe if she made it to the back of the building before they might chance to see her. None of them had bothered with the back of the building in the last fifteen minutes she'd watched them.
Becks slipped a little farther over in the trees until she was directly behind the back of the building. She gauged that she had about twenty to twenty five yards down slope to cross before she'd be up against the building.
She took a couple of deep breaths, then moved swiftly, and hopefully quietly, down the hill's back slope. She hide herself next to the dumpster. Using the big can to shield her from sight should someone choose that time to come out the door.
She took the time to calm her breathing and listen for any telltale signs of movement, or overhearing a conversation. After getting her heartbeat normalized, she tip-toed around the dumpster and moved toward the door.
She was about to grasp the door knob when it suddenly flung open. She was pushed back and squashed up again the wall of the building. She was behind the door and against the wall so she wasn't seen. It was sheer luck that whoever opened the door was just standing there, letting the door bump into her.
She then heard the telltale sound of a match being struck and the inhaling breath indicating the first draw on a newly lit cigarette. Apparently even the bad guys forced their employees to smoke outside.
Becks endured the smoke coming at her from around the door. She hated cigarette smoke, but fortunately she didn't feel a need to sneeze. After a couple of minutes, the smoker had finished their need to satisfy their nicotine addiction and went back inside. Becks had to wonder if the fact that the back door was unlocked was because the smokers had unlocked it to make their cigarette breaks easier.
Becks stood still in place against the wall while she counted to one hundred in her head. Satisfied the smoker had gone back to where ever they were supposed to be, she turned toward the door.
Just as her hand reached for the door, her peripheral vision noted movement coming toward her. She turned and was confronted by one of the armed guards trotting toward her, his rifle at waist level as he approached her.
"Hold it right there, Missy. This is private property, you don't belong here." He was an ugly man with an ugly smirk on his face. "Since you don't have permission to be here, I have the right to shoot you for trespassing." He let the barrel of his rifle drop as he pulled a hand gun from a side holster and pointed it at her.
Becks eyes went wide. "Shit."
He pulled the trigger.
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A/N: Fun Fact; Minnesota (the 13th largest state in the Union) has 10 Native Indian Reservations within her borders. There are six Ojibwa/Chippewa reservations in northern Minnesota, and four Sioux reservations in southern Minnesota. Now I have to admit that my only contact with any of these reservations has been frequent visits to the multiple Casinos that they have. (There are 19 of them)
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