CH83

Alexis had decided on being a pirate so Kate went shopping for a pirate costume for herself. Even Rick was going to be a pirate. His costume like Kate's included a sword.

"Aarrrr mom, you look great." Alexis tells her.

"Aaarrr thanks matie, so do you." Kate tries to get into character.

Alexis has her burlap bag to put her candy in and was just waiting for them to leave.

"Are we all set?" Rick asks them, getting "Aaarrr matie." From Kate and Alexis.

"Then let's go, there be plunder to steal." As Rick heads for the Maserati to drive them to the mall.

Once at the mall and parked. "We'll go in first and start plundering the stores of all their candy. You can follow, just keep your distance. … Did you bring your gun?" Rick asks Kate.

"Funny Rick, really funny. All I have is a sword." Kate tells him.

"Then you can cut the offending hands offs when they get too close." Rick tells her.

"Let's just go Rick." Kate is convinced Rick is over reacting about what happens.

Rick and Alexis had just exited their third store after relieving them of their candy when Kate entered and went the opposite direction to get some distance between herself and Rick, so she could see better.

Rick and Alexis were exiting their fourth store but this time Rick had company. Some woman without a costume and her little ghost were with them. And the woman had Rick's arm inside of hers and went into the next store with him.

When they came back out Rick went over to sit down with Alexis on a bench only meant for two. The woman and her ghost hovered for a time before moving on.

After they were out of sight Rick and Alexis got up and went into the next store.

Kate could see adults and kids everywhere. All of the kids were in costume but only about a third of the adults had bothered.

Rick and Alexis came out of the store they just went in with yet another woman and a child with them.

This one however was shoving her boobs into Rick every chance she got. It was making Kate's blood boil. They hadn't even cleared half of the stores on the first floor yet.

They all went into the next store with this woman draped all over her husband. "Don't these women look for rings?"

However Rick and Alexis came back out alone. They must have lost the boob lady somewhere, somehow.

It was a few more stores before Rick and Alexis picked up still another woman and her child who followed them thru 3 more stores before Rick and Alexis came out alone.

Rick picked up still another woman with her child at the escalator to the upper floor that Kate was already on.

When they reached the top Rick and Alexis picked up still another woman and her child. This little group went into the next three stores together.

However from Kate's point of view the woman seemed to be talking more to each other than to Rick.

Jill however was keeping her apprised as to what most of the woman had been saying. These two it seemed were in a competition as to which of them was better at helping Rick and Alexis and getting candy, and the other should move on.

Then one of them grabbed Rick and dragged him into the next store with her child following closely.

When Rick came back out with this woman escorting him Kate was out front waiting for them.

"Hi mom!" Alexis was glad to see Kate. And went over to Kate.

"Hi sweetie how goes the plundering?" Kate asks her.

"Pretty good, a few more stores have chocolate this time." Alexis was happy.

Kate with Alexis in hand steps up to Rick. "Sorry I'm late babe, I ran into some British ships of war that I had to blow out of the water first." Kate tells them glaring at the woman who still had a hold of Rick's arm.

"This is the Captain of the clan Castle's pirate ship 'Curse of Atlantis'." Rick introduces Kate and steps forward to give her a kiss.

This manages to get the woman to detach herself from Castle's arm.

"Is this woman a spy for the British?" Kate asks Rick while pulling out her sword so she can run her thru.

"I think we should be going." The woman tells them and takes the hand of her child and walks off.

"The plank is this way, British spy." Kate waves her sword and calls after her.

"Good one mom." And Alexis starts laughing and gets Kate to join her.

Kate puts her sword away and hangs onto Rick for the remainder of plundering the stores of their candy. Kate had had more than enough of these women latching onto her husband.

They had just started after adding Kate to their band of plundering pirates. "What kept you? The British were everywhere." Rick asks her.

"I'm sorry Rick, I really thought you were exaggerating." Kate was trying to cool down.

"Come on Captain, we have more plundering to do." Rick offers his arm to Kate, who takes it and has no intention of letting go of him again.

Kate glared at all the women who came anywhere near their little group. Kate didn't bring her gun but all she had to do was imagine them being the punching bag at home.

Kate looks down at Alexis. "Did you hear about the pirate who took up boxing? … He had a killer left hook."

Alexis giggles. "Why couldn't the pirate watch Pirates of the Caribbean? …. He didn't have a VCRRRRRRRRR!"

Kate giggles. "Where is a pirate's favorite place to shop? …. Taaaarrrrrrget!"

Getting Alexis to giggle some more. "What did the pirate hit in golf? ….. Parrrrrr!"

Kate giggles some more. "Why did the trendy pirate need a new Blackberry? ….. He wore out the RRRRRRRRRRRR's!"

Now Alexis laughing. "Why was fishing the pirate's favorite pastime? ….. Aarrgh, because he was HOOKED!"

Now Kate is laughing with her.

Plundering of the stores of their candy was complete. When Rick offers up his own joke during the car ride home. "What do pirates do for fun? …... They play caaarrrrrds."

Kate and Alexis were already giggly so they both laugh.

"Can we play cards when we get home dad?" Now that her dad had brought it up.

Rick however was now discovering his little pirate joke maybe wasn't so funny. Kate was just grinning at him.

"No, we're going to divide up the plunder and then sacrifice it to our stomachs." Rick counters.

"Then can we play cards?" Alexis counters. Getting Kate to snort to keep from laughing out loud.

"Sure." Rick knew when he was beaten.

Later in their bedroom after putting Alexis to bed. "I don't understand. She's never played poker before and still I lost. And I lost all my plunder." Rick moans.

Kate steps up to him and kisses his cheek. "Just be thankful you still have your shirt. … Oh wait, you don't have that either." Kate teases since all he has on is boxers.

"Oh funny, I didn't see you winning." Rick reminds her that she lost too. "And I worked hard for that plunder. I put up with a lot to get that plunder." Rick moans.

"How about if I show you my treasure map so you can reap your own plunder?" Kate smiles mischievously at him, while grabbing his crotch.

Kate got up in the morning and knowing Alexis didn't have school she let her sleep in, only to find her downstairs already eating breakfast.

"Did you let Sparky out?" Kate asks her. Getting a nod since her mouth was full. Only to have Sparky come running into the kitchen and slide for a few feet as he goes past his water bowl, not intending to.

This was good for a quick laugh.

After Alexis was done with breakfast she took off running with Sparky in hot pursuit.

"I'm beginning to see why she wanted a dog so badly." Kate comments before taking a bite.

"Yea she's been pretty good with him. He has quickly become her new best friend." Rick agrees.

"Did I tell you about the other Sparky?" Kate asks him not remembering.

"A little, you think that's him?" Rick asks only remembering the devotion part of the story.

"I hope so, I really hope so." Kate agrees and not just because of the devotion. But Sparky was going to get a second chance at growing up with a child who loves him.

Rick gave her coffee to-go mug and her kiss at the door. "I'm going to call Bracken soon and arrange for our little talk. I'm going to see if I can arrange it for tomorrow evening, say around 9:00 pm, and remind the guys." Rick tells her.

"I'm sure Jill will keep me up to date. As soon as you know I'll tell the guys. I'll leave Captain Montgomery to you." Kate tells him and gives him a quick kiss and is off to work.

"Jack where is Bracken now?" Rick asks, he wanted the timing to be right.

"He is waiting in his room for the car service that is never going to show." Jack tells him.

"Let me know when he gets back from the airport after not making his flight again, we'll call him while he is still mad." Rick asks him.

"Understood."

Rick heads for his office to do some writing. He may not know who is going to publish it but he might as well get out in front of it.

Alexis came looking for lunch with Sparky right behind her. "You take Sparky outside and I'll start lunch." Rick tells her.

"Thanks dad." And Alexis is off with Sparky right behind her.

"Richard, Bracken is back in his hotel room after yelling at the airlines in the airport. Which was not easy for him with all the press camped outside the hotel." Jack tells him.

"One more thing for him to worry about to make it to our meeting. People who are mad tend not to think straight." Rick gets up and closes and locks his office door. "Ok, call Bracken using the cloned Wichita phone and use Dupree's voice. No reason to give him a new voice to listen to."

"Dialing." Jack tells him.

"Where the hell have you been?" Bracken all but screams into the phone.

"I'm afraid Wichita can't come to the phone right now, he is all tied up at the moment. … Aren't you General Wichita?" Rick tells him.

Jack is quick on the uptake and adds the sound of someone speaking with a gag in his mouth, getting Rick to grin.

"What do you want?" Bracken growls out.

"I have a question for you, didn't I warn you to be careful what you drink Senator?" Rick asks him.

Bracken is instantly mad. "Why you F….." And Rick has Jack hang up on him.

"Let's give him about 30 seconds to yell into a dead phone, and then call him back using one of the cloned phones off of the FBI guys who went after Alexis." Rick tells Jack.

"Ready, dialing." Jack tells him.

"Report, did you pick up the child like you were told?" Bracken asks him.

"I'm afraid you're goons were unsuccessful Senator, you really should learn to send people you can count on or spend your money more wisely." Rick teases him.

"Damn you! What the hell do you F...ing want? You will gain nothing by this. I still have the power to crush you." Bracken does not back down.

"I believe it is time we had a nice chat Senator. Just you and me. Be at this address (and Rick gives him one, slowly so he can write it down) at 9:00 pm tomorrow. Unless you want the Piranhas that are camped outside your hotel to skin and eat you alive while the rest of the country watches." And has Jack end the call.

"Jack, choose a reporters voice at random and call Bracken using the other cloned FBI phone." Rick asks him as soon as he hung up.

"Ready, dialing."

"What?" Bracken yells into the phone. His nerves still a little frayed from earlier already.

"This is Bill Young with KRAP TV, do you have a comment about your sending corrupt FBI men to an elementary school to kidnap a young child Senator Bracken?" Rick asks him.

"The call has ended Richard. I believe he threw the phone and broke it. He was not on the phone any of those times long enough to verify his position. However his mic/homer still places him in his room at the hotel." Jack explains.

"It's not important. What is important is that we know every word he says and know everywhere he goes. Just keep your ears open Jack, and make sure Jill got all of that." Rick tells him.

"Jill was given it word for word as it was happening. ….. Kate says she loves you." Jack tells him.

"Have Kate tell the guys we want to be there and in position not later than 3:00 PM tomorrow. I need to go shopping for a couple of junkers for us to use." Rick tells Jack.

After getting Martha to watch Alexis Rick was off on his search. He parked his Maserati downtown and took a cab for his car search.

1997 Chevrolet Tahoe 4x4 $1300

1993 Dodge Dakota 4x4 Club Cab $1050

Both of them were nothing to look at and Rick was afraid he was going to catch some one of a kind disease when he drove them to where he was going to store them for later. But at least they ran relatively good and they started each time he tried.

Though he left his clothes in the garage and went in and took a shower before he did anything else.

"Ok I'm spoiled and I admit it, but DAMN!" Rick talks to himself.

He would give Kate the keys to them so she could give them to the guys in the morning and tell them where they were.

Then he made sure Martha could take care of Alexis most of the day tomorrow until very late.

The FBI had found that their hired pro that used poison was also wanted overseas. Scotland Yard was very interested in him. They were flying one of their inspectors out tomorrow to coordinate with them.

Kate made it home and found Rick in the kitchen cooking. "Rick, how do you think up this stuff?" Kate was baffled.

"Stuff?" Rick stopped and turned to look at her.

"What to say on the phone. The idea to buy used pieces of junk to get to the meet site." Those were just 2 things on Kate's plate at the moment.

"Oh that, …. I'm a writer. It's my job to dream of weird shit like that. Besides how am I ever going to write about the perfect murder if I don't use my imagination along with all the research I've done writing all those Derek Storm novels." It seemed simple to Rick. Writers write. He was a murder mystery type writer. He had to think like a bad guy just as easily as he did a good guy.

"If you murdered somebody you'd tell me, right?" Kate asks him.

"Of course. I'd need your help to hide the body." Rick answers back smiling before turning back to fixing dinner.

Getting Kate to grin wide while shaking her head. Of all the people to fall in love with, I had to pick him.