CH12
Kate woke up in the morning and found Alexis was still spooned into her chest and Kate's face was at her neck and she breathed in her own unique smell. It wasn't Rick but she found she was learning to like it.
Speaking of Rick, her back felt cold, and while she could smell him, it was a residual smell. Which told her he was no longer in bed.
Kate rolled over and left Alexis to sleep as Kate got up on the other side of the bed and went out into the living room, finding Rick in the kitchen.
"Hi." Kate shuffles her feet over to the kitchen and sits down.
"Morning, breakfast will be ready soon. … Coffee?" Rick asks.
"No thanks." Kate blushes a little and looks down at the counter.
"You're not hungry?" Rick asks. … And then slaps his head. "Of course you're not hungry. This is going to take some getting used to." Rick drops his cooking utensils.
"I'm sorry Rick." Kate knew he was trying to please her.
Rick reached a hand across and took one of hers. "Don't be sorry Kate, it's who you are. I'm the one that needs to adapt.
Since you don't want breakfast do you need to drink?" Rick was going to offer to let her bite him if she did.
Kate shook her head. "No I'm fine. … I'm going up to Alexis's room to change and then go home. Lanie and I have things we need to accomplish. Just now sure how yet." Kate tells him.
"Anything I can help you with?" Rick was willing to help.
"I don't think so. We are looking into getting into the local University, but we need proper ID's, social security numbers and maybe some other things." Kate tells him, getting up and start for the stairs.
"I know just the guy if that is all you need. It'll cost you though." Rick tells her.
"You know someone?" Rick had Kate's attention now.
"I know lots of people. He can get you a good driver's license, social security cards, passports, high school diploma, almost you name it." Rick tells her happy he can help.
"Today?" Kate asks, watching Rick nod his head.
"You go change and go home and come back with Lanie and after I drop off Alexis at school I can take you to him. We can find out from him the cost and how long it will take him." Rick offers.
Kate started smiling and stepped over to Rick and gave him a quick kiss and then ran upstairs.
By the time Kate came back downstairs, Alexis was sitting at the counter eating breakfast. "Are you eating Kate?" Alexis asks.
"I ate earlier Alexis, but thank you. You have a nice day at school." Kate steps over and kisses the side of her head and walks for the front door with both bags in hand. "Lanie and I will be back in a couple of hours." And Kate lets herself out.
"Kate's coming back?" Alexis asks her dad.
"Yup, Kate and her friend need some help with some paperwork, and I know just the guy to help them." Rick explains. "Now hurry up and finish and get changed or we're going to be late." Rick tells her. Grinning wide as Alexis starts inhaling her breakfast and then runs upstairs.
"Make sure you wash first." Rick calls after her.
Rick watched Alexis run into her school before going back home and wait for Kate and her friend to show up. Not that he has long to wait, since both of them are early.
Opening the front door Rick finds Kate and her friend. "You must be Lanie, it's a pleasure to meet you again. … You two ready?" Rick pulls out his keys.
Rick was driving them to his contact. "Have you two known each other long?" Rick was dying to ask if Lanie was a vampire too, but since they were obviously together the answer was yes.
"We met when I was 5." Lanie answers from the back seat. It got Rick to open his eyes wide. They had been together a lot longer than he thought.
"Where were you before coming to New York?" Guessing that they were somewhere else.
"We were in a mining city." Kate answers. Not yet ready to say on a mining moon in another system.
"A mining town." Rick was interested. "Moving to New York must have been quite a change. This city is a lot bigger than any mining town I know of." Rick comments.
"We wanted a change. There were more options in a big city." Lanie answers.
"And here we are." Rick points out as he stops the car. Rick goes inside without concern.
Inside Kate and Lanie come across someone who is likely their age, or there about. "Ladies, this is, … Bruce." Rick points him out. Rick puts his hand up next to his mouth. "Not his real name." Rick points out.
"Richard Castle. How much trouble is he in this time?" Bruce asks.
It got Rick to smile. "None this time. These fine lovely ladies are in need of your fine services." Rick offers.
"And what do these lovely ladies require." Bruce gave both of them a predatory smile that told both of them that there were now standing there naked. At least in his mind.
"We need ID's and a background. Good enough to get us entrance into a college." Kate tells him.
"Hhhmm, the real thing or fake?" Bruce asks.
Kate knew they had fakes and stood likely no chance of getting anywhere. "Real, please."
"Okay.
US Driver's License is $3,000 each.
A Canadian Passport is $11,000, UK is $17,000 and US is $25,000 each.
Social security is incredibly easy so $1,000 each.
Birth Certificate for Canada is $9,000, UK is $11,000 and US is $19,000 each.
High School diploma for Canada is $75, UK is $90 and US is $120 each.
SP and SAT scores for Canada is $2,000, UK is $4,000 and the US is $7,000 each.
I'll even throw in an out of the States bank account that you can put your money into that the US government can't get to." Bruce tells them.
"School starts in 3 weeks however enrollment is in less than a week. Does that change anything?" Kate asks.
"I don't have any US passports at the present time. That may change tomorrow, but there are no guarantees." Bruce answers. "That leaves you with UK and Canadian passports, high school, AP and SAT scores and birth certificates."
Kate didn't understand the difference and was afraid to ask, however since one was more expensive than the other, …
"We'll take UK if you can be ready in 5 days." Kate offers.
"Half now and half on completion and come back in 5 days." Bruce tells them.
It got Kate to open her bag and start taking out the cash needed. Kate put down $36,000 in cash.
Bruce was smiling. "I think I like your friends Castle. Give me 5 days and I'll be ready." Bruce tells them, not bothering to count the money in front of them. He'll do it later. A few photos and some samples of their signatures, and they were gone.
"Just drop us off at home Rick." Kate tells him as they are driving back after meeting Bruce.
Now parked out in front of 50 Franklin, Kate leans across to Rick and gives him a quick kiss. "Thanks Rick." Rick had solved their major problem.
"Alexis is out of school Saturday (today was Wednesday), you want to come with us to the Zoo?" Rick asks her.
"Sure, what time?" Kate did want to spend time with them.
"11:00 am my place?" Rick offers.
"I'll be there." Kate tells him smiling and gives Rick another quick kiss before getting out of the car, and waving goodbye.
"Well your boyfriend has come in really handy." Lanie points out, teasing as she drops on the sofa.
"He's not my boyfriend." Kate counters.
"Uh huh, says the lady who had her first with him." Lanie teases countering her denial.
"That's different." Kate doesn't give in to her calling Rick her boyfriend. Getting Lanie to just smile at Kate. Teasing Kate in her denial mode was going to be fun.
The next day Lanie came out of her bedroom to find Kate sitting on the sofa with all of the NYU papers they had gathered yesterday. They didn't need ID's to talk to the staff and gather information.
In fact they had been very helpful about everything. The only thing they wouldn't help with was what to do with your life.
Lanie already knew she was going into medical to be an ME. All of her other courses on other planets had been about being an ME, plus she liked it and thought she was good at it.
Kate however looked to be struggling with her choice.
They had found out that tuition alone was $45,000 per year, so 4 years for both of them was going to cost in tuition alone $320,000 or roughly 1/3 of the cash they presently had. Plus they had to pay rent likely for those same 4 years. Which would be $326,160. Their just over $1 million was disappearing fast.
They had talked about it and decided to go out again back north to the same area tonight and look around again. They just needed to try and drink less this time, if they wanted to prevent another episode like last time.
"You look lost girlfriend." Lanie would have sat down but Kate had taken up all the space with all the papers they had.
"I don't know what to do Lanie." Kate moans and drops the papers she had in her hands and watches them fall in Kate's lap, sofa and floor.
"I thought you had this limited to just a few?" Lanie asks.
"I did, … I have, …. I think." Kate leans back into the sofa, thinking she was in big trouble.
"Have you called your boyfriend and asked his opinion?" Lanie tried not to grin, but she failed badly. It only got Lanie a growl from Kate.
"Ok, let's start from scratch again." Lanie was ready to moan. "You are good with fixing the ship. Always have been actually." Lanie points out.
"Except this planet doesn't have space flight." Kate points out.
"Except with what you know would have them out there in no time." Lanie points out.
Being an Engineer didn't sound so bad, just she was better at working with her hands when it came to ships. Not so much designing them.
Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. There might be better schools for this, but NYU was a place to start. Besides she had to learn what this planet already knew about before taking them WAY past that.
Maybe if she got in deep enough, Kate could find out about that barrier that kept the storms out and what this planet knew about it. If anything at all, which so far looked like very little.
It was after midnight when Kate and Lanie started walking for Hell's Kitchen again. Not that they knew it was called that, yet. They both still had a lot to learn about New York City.
They walked near the previous bar that they had hit last time, and only smelled people and alcohol. Not the drugs or money that went with it. So they kept walking till they came across a building that had the smell of drugs inside.
Just that it had the smell of a lot more people inside so they decided to jump up onto the roof and wait. Spying down onto the building to see who came and who left.
The sun was going to be up in about an hour when a car arrived and flashed its lights, and Kate and Lanie could hear some kind of sound of metal rolling on metal. It was noisy and the car drove in after the noise stopped.
Then the same noise was repeated. There was no way to see inside from up on the roof, however Kate talked Lanie into staying on the roof to wait.
The sun was going to crest in a few minutes when that sound was repeated and the same car drove out and stopped. Then Kate and Lanie heard that sound yet again and the car drove off.
Kate and Lanie had taken in deep breathes and both found that the car was filled with drugs. "Drug warehouse?" Kate offers a guess.
"Unless they are getting their drugs from somewhere else, either they are storing it here or making it here." Lanie offers.
"In either case it does not bode well for there to be a lot of money here, just drugs." Kate points out, since they have little need for the drugs.
"Unless it is also a storage area for the money." Lanie offers being hopeful.
"Well we're here, lets walk the roof and see if we can determine how many and where." Kate offers.
Ten minutes later the sun has started to rise in the distance. "I've got 4 inside. One over there and the other three are together. … You?" Kate offers what she has found.
"The smell of them leaves the one diluted. He may be in a room away from the other 3." Lanie adds her opinion.
"We take the three together first and then blitz the one that is alone." Kate offers getting Lanie to nod her head.
Stepping off the roof they both land easily just outside one of the door. "We do this fast." Kate whispers. Getting Lanie to nod her head.
Kate twists the door knob and breaks it till it is spinning freely, then puts her shoulder into it breaking the dead bolt out of the door jam.
It was a warehouse of some type. Along the edge there were various sized crates stacked on metal shelving. In the middle looked like a larger version from last time. There was a method of taking the drugs out of large bags and putting it into smaller bags.
There was also a pair of machines that had metal forks stinking out the front down low.
Around this table were 3 guys who all turned to look their way when they heard the door open.
Kate rushed the first guy and grabbed him and spun in place and threw him to the other side of the room, hearing him slam hard into one of the stacked crates.
Kate then stepped over to another and grabbed his arm and bit him.
Lanie meanwhile as Kate launched her first guy across the floor grabbed the third guy by the arm and bit him. They both drank until their two were unconscious.
"You take him." Kate points to the guy lying on the floor at the far end. "I'll take the guy upstairs."
There was a wall of offices on the short side of the building. Kate knew now, with Lanie's suggestion, that the 4th guy was upstairs.
Lanie runs across the floor for the guy on the ground and bites him quickly.
Kate easily jumps up onto the second floor, landing on the walkway and kicks the door open.
Inside Kate finds a single guy who was standing in front of something big made of metal, that he had just finished closing and was spinning the wheel on the front of it.
Kate quickly stepped up to him and took his arm and bit him and started drinking. Letting him fall after she was convinced he was unconscious.
Lanie was soon back. "What do you think this thing is?" Kate asks, looking at the big metal box that obviously had a door on the front. It had that big wheel he was turning and a little one.
Lanie stepped up and looked at the little one first. "This one has numbers on." Then Lanie looks at the bigger one and tries to turn it. "It's locked in place."
"Sounds like the perfect place to put something you want to keep." Kate points out.
"I don't know how it locks, shall we just pull and see what happens." Kate shrugs her shoulders.
Kate plants herself and grabs the big wheel with both hands and starts pulling. "Hhmmm, stubborn." Nothing like a challenge.
Kate rubs her hands and plants her feet against the base of it, grabs the wheel again and starts pulling. Kate is soon squeezing her eyes closed and pulling for all she's worth.
Getting nowhere, Kate stops. "A little help please." Kate turns to Lanie.
Kate moves over to give Lanie some room and grabs one side of the wheel while Lanie takes the other. "On three?" Kate offers. "1, … 2, ….3, …." Kate and Lanie start pulling.
Kate is soon groaning as she puts everything she can into it. Then there is this loud breaking sound and the big metal box suddenly tips forward. However all it does is get Kate to double her efforts.
When suddenly the wheel they were holding onto breaks off sending both of them flying backwards, out the door and stumbling over the railing falling to the floor below.
They are both lying of the concrete floor, and Kate throws the wheel that was now in her hand across the room and ends up embedding itself into one of the crates. "This thing is pissing me off."
Kate stands back up and jumps back up onto the walkway and walks back inside, followed quickly by Lanie.
"Well at least it has a hole in it now." Lanie chuckles. Watching Kate slide her hand into the hole and feel around.
Then they both hear metal sliding on metal. "I found something." Kate takes both hands and puts her fingers in the holes and starts pulling again and is soon groaning again, when suddenly the door swings open, causing Kate to lose her balance and land on her butt.
"This damn thing better be worth it." Kate gets up and brushes her hands over her pants, paying attention to her butt.
Then watches Lanie finish opening the door, getting Kate to whistle.
IT WAS MONEY! Lots and lots of money! It left Kate and Lanie standing there gawking at all of it.
"We need bigger bags." Kate was still standing there gawking at it. Not seeing Lanie nod her head agreeing, silently.
Lanie pulled her little duffel bag around and started filling it with bundle after bundle, with Kate finally snapping out of it and joining her.
Their two bags were soon full, and they hadn't even half emptied it. "Look around, see if there is something else we can put the money into and carry with us." Kate offers and starts searching the desk, while Lanie went outside.
Kate found a slim suitcase on the floor leaning up against the desk. Opening it she found it was filled with papers and a book. Kate dumped the contents onto the desk, barely noticing that the book landed open.
The pages were a light green in color and they were filled with lines that had information and numbers on most of the lines.
Kate put as much as she could into it and then closed it. Lanie was at the door, having just jumped up there. "Kate there is another car just outside."
"Crap!" It got Kate to pick up the suitcase and her duffel bag and step outside of the room onto the walkway.
"There." Kate points for a far door. "Jump and run." Kate tells Lanie.
Lanie jumps first with Kate right behind her. As Kate runs she can just make out that the car outside has flashed its lights.
Lanie has crashed through the door and stops just outside to get her bearings.
Kate pulls up right behind her. "Roof." Kate points. "Then roof to roof until we can't anymore, then run for home."
They are both soon inside their apartment having had to slow down and walk normally not long after exiting the roofs. There were just too many people up and around for them to keep up their speed.
Kate dumped the money out of the suitcase, re-closed it and went out onto the deck and threw it as far as she could. Maybe it would land in the Hudson River and maybe it wouldn't.
Giving what they had a quick look, it was mostly 10's, 20's and 100's. So they got busy counting what each had in their respective bags.