CH14

Sophia had left Coonan behind after their partial success of decimating the large community of polar bear shifters. She had sent Josh Davidson up to join him and together they had a lead on where some of them had escaped to. With that information she had sent 4 of their rookie members to learn from two of her best and most experienced members. She had arranged for trucks this time, two of them with snowmobiles loaded in the back.

Josh and Coonan were good with snowmobiles and they were riding into Alaska, each with a rookie behind them. Even with that neither of them spotted the polar bear that looked more like a snow drift than anything else. As a result they drove directly into an ambush. Josh was out front and didn't notice a thing until the rookie behind him was suddenly gone. He never heard a thing over the roar of the engine.

Coonan was a little behind him and off to one side, not that it did him any good as he suddenly found himself flying off his snowmobile and into the snow. He was good and had his weapon out in a heartbeat even as he hit the snow. His only problem was that just as he was doing that, the polar bear shifter was ripping his neck open with his teeth.

The polar bear moved on, leaving Coonan little more than a large red stain in the snow and ice. Josh started a wide turn and saw the other snowmobile lying in the snow with the rookie standing and shooting at anything and everything. Josh headed for him as fast as he could go. He was watching the rookie and trying to keep an eye out for more polar bears around him. Just as the rookie was slapping in a new clip a polar bear came up out of the snow and slapped a paw at him.

Josh watched the polar bear howl in pain while the rookie was knocked to the ground only to get back up quickly. "Good boy, you turned on your vest." Josh was each wore vests that discharged a high voltage electrical charge whenever flesh came into contact with it. It wasn't enough to kill any shifter. However, for a wolf, it might knock him unconscious...maybe. For a polar bear, all it did was cause some pain, causing it to back off for a moment.

As useful as the vest was it only had enough power to work twice, meaning the kid only had one more charge left. Josh was just beginning to approach him so he could at least slow down if not stop so the kid could get him behind him and they could get out of there. Just as Josh was thinking that, the very same bear that took the charge bit the rookie's right leg completely off. He was gone so Josh turned and charged back the way they had come.

"Snow home, please respond." Josh used his headset to talk to the two rookies left behind with the two trucks. "Snow home, go," was the response he got. "Three men gone, headed for home. Secure perimeter, advise unsafe condition," Josh told them and hoped they knew what to do.

What Josh didn't know was that the two polar bears that had watched them park and the other four leave, had watched them talking to no one and waited til they bears each charged one human and although each bear took a few rounds to their bodies, that didn't even slow them down. Two seconds later and both of the rookies had their heads attached to their bodies by a slender strip of skin.

Both polar bears waited for two of their women to walk up and hop in the cabs of each truck while the bears jumped in the back as the women drove off with their prize. They needed the trucks to help their people move deeper into Alaska. They had emergency lodge poles with skins to set up along with a few other things. What they also got was all the weapons that the humans had brought with them. What they now had was something that would form a deadly perimeter around wherever they stopped.

What they also had, but didn't know yet, were 4 cases of claymore mines that could be set using a trip wire or triggered by remote. They also had a case of WWII grenades but what they really got that would make all of them giddy were two of the Vulcan Sentry Gun Platforms.

Basically one of the Vulcan Sentry Gun Platforms consisted of a .50 cal army machine gun that was linked to a laptop computer which it turn was connected to motion detector sensors that also acted like a mini radar dish. The Vulcan would fire at whatever the motion sensor/radar units spotted. Each Vulcan came with a case that held 1,000 rounds and they had 8 of these cases on the truck. If set up properly, absolutely nothing could get past the Vulcan. In addition the rounds themselves were new.

CompBullet produces a series of bullets of the same name, which go faster than normal ammo, and produce less recoil. The secret? The bullets have go-faster holes in them.

Available in several calibers, the copper alloy bullets have a main cavity in the base, with multiple "vents" machined into their sides. These serve several purposes.

First of all, when the gun is fired, the vents supposedly allow the propellant gases to go through the sides of the bullet, providing lubrication between it and the inside of the gun's barrel.

As the bullet exits the gun, the gases symmetrically shoot sideways out of the vents. This creates a "muzzle brake" effect. A muzzle brake is a device fitted to the end of a gun's barrel, that redirects the gases as they leave the gun, to offset the recoil effect. The vents in the CompBullets serve the same purpose.

At the same time, the gases shooting out of the vents also create a rocket-like effect, increasing the bullet's velocity

Josh found two dead men when he arrived. They still had their head sets, their weapons, and what was in their backpacks - the same emergency supplies that he had in his backpack. He stopped and recovered everything he could from their bodies including their backpacks. Now he had food, water, and medical supplies for three people and half a tank of gas.

Unfortunately for him, the trucks had all of the long distance communication equipment. He was tempted to rip off his head set, but decided he needed everything he could carry, which got him to take the other two headsets off their heads. He used their cold weather gear to secure everything to the back of his snowmobile. Josh fired up his snowmobile and rode off.

Sophia never heard from any member of that team ever again.

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Rick had kept his distance and his bear had been just as silent. It had been two long days and he'd stayed away from both Kate and Johanna. He was, however, making some progress on his next book as well as spending a lot of time working off steam in the exercise room.

"Dad, can we go see Kate?" Alexis was missing both of them and her dad was moping around and hadn't been much fun lately. "I'm sorry Alexis, but they're probably still upset with me," he responded, knowing that Alexis had finished all the cookies Kate had given her last time. "Please? Kate said she wasn't angry." Alexis remembered that part. "I know pumpkin, but her mother is and they live in the same house. Oscar is coming tomorrow, you remember him don't you?" He offered some consolation. "I'd rather go see Kate," Alexis whispered and walked away dejected. His heart sank a little lower into the pit of despair. He had made Johanna angry, Kate was probably at least disappointed in him, and now his little girl was hurting all because of his actions.

Maybe tomorrow would be better. He went back to his writing and let Alexis find something to keep herself busy with in her room, which was where she had retreated to.

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Rick drove his truck right up next to Oscar who was standing at the curb of the Rapid City Airport. "Those are some really big wheels you've got here Castle," Oscar commented "It's Rodgers now Oscar and please go back to calling me Rick," he asked him. "Wow! Aren't we a bundle of fun, what happened to you? …Hi munchkin, how are you doing?" Oscar changed people, maybe Alexis was feeling better. "Fine." Alexis replied softly. "Okay, what's wrong with you two? This doesn't sound like either of you," he pointed out.

Rick spent part of the ride explaining his plan and how it had all blown up in his face and that Johanna hadn't talked to him since. "You really stuck your entire nose into this one didn't you?" Oscar said. "Nose, face, foot, an entire leg. I don't know what to do. I hate the thought that you came all the way out here for nothing." Rick was still depressed. "You two better snap out of this or you're going to make me depressed," Oscar stated. "Now take me to this lady you want to help open a restaurant, I have a few things I want to show her. Maybe it'll undo the damage you've done." Oscar patted the really large portfolio case he was holding. He had only brought it and his carry-on for the 3 days he was going to be here.

"Okay, but be ready to get yelled at or told to go away," Rick warned him. "We'll see, we'll see," was all Oscar said. "Let's get you settled first before we go meet our maker," Rick remarked getting him to chuckle a little.

"Okay. Are you ready? Because I can guarantee that there are two Dobermans who have long since figured out there is someone new on the other side of the door," Rick warned him. "Let'r rip." Oscar wasn't afraid. Sure enough Rick opened the door and Midas and Maggie had their noses all over him. He let them have their moment before he attempted to pet them. "I came prepared for you two," Oscar told them as he opened his carry-on and pulled out a Ziploc® bag that had both of them interested. "Yeah, I thought so." Oscar took out two strips of jerky that he had inside and fed one to each of them. "I think you're in! Let me show you your room and then you can see the kitchen," Rick said.

"This one is Alexis's, the one at the end of the hall is mine, and this one is yours. You'll be sharing a Jack-n-Jill bathroom with Alexis. There's another full bath in my room and there's one downstairs. A half bath is near the front door," Rick explained. Oscar simply dropped his bag having left his portfolio in the truck since he didn't need to bring it inside. "Okay show me this kitchen."

Oscar walked in smiling widely and started opening drawers that he knew should be there. He pulled out drawers inside the lower cases that held pots and pans. There was a tall but narrow spice rack and a massive three-cabinet-wide pantry. "What did you do, buy out the entire store?" Oscar knew he had asked for it and didn't really understand why, still he had given it to Rick. "We had just over 25 inches of snow last winter in New York City. The average here in Newcastle is 36 inches. So what happens when we get a blizzard that drops twice that much?" Rick defended himself. "You should see the two freezers downstairs in the laundry room," he added.

"I'll see the rest of the place tonight after dinner. Now take me to your restaurant owner wanna be," Oscar asked. "Just make sure you have your phone handy to call 911," Rick mentioned causing him to laugh a little.

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"Nice house. Is someone a gardener?" There were spring plants popping up all over. "That would be the previous owners. I'm not sure either of these two are gardeners." Rick remarked. "Well, if they want everything to live someone is going to need to be," Oscar stated.

After Rick had everyone out of the back seat, Alexis ran for the front door with the dogs right behind her. He took a deep breath and let it out. "Here we go," he said to himself.

The door was already open with Alexis and the dogs missing. Kate, however, was holding the door open. "Hi Rick," she all but purred, which had his bear awake and interested.

"Kate Beckett, this is Oscar Lehman. Oscar this is Kate, she's Johanna's daughter." Rick made introductions. "Mom is hiding out in her room, have a seat and I'll go get her." she shut the door and disappeared down the hall.

"Not a bad kitchen. Kind of looks like a builder upgrade, but still not bad," Oscar said as he looked it over. "I'd love to change out these countertops for a solid surface and maybe upgrade the flooring, but overall not bad."

"You must be the kitchen expert," Johanna remarked having heard almost every word Oscar had said. "Oscar Lehman at your service. It's a pleasure to meet you." He offered his hand that Johanna took.

"You want to change my kitchen?" she asked. "Just a couple of things. Otherwise it's a nice kitchen," Oscar told her. "We have another one upstairs," Kate mentioned. "Well we'll just have to take a look at it too before I leave and I'll offer some suggestions," he stated.

"I'm not sure I want to do this commercial kitchen," Johanna admitted, hating that he came out here for nothing. "Let me show you what I can do for you before you reject the entire idea." Oscar held up his case. He took out the first of 5 boards that he had brought and laid it on the dining room table for everyone to see. "The quickest and probably least expensive option is to take over an empty tenant space that's part of a mall. You will likely be forced into a lease from the landlord owner versus buying your space."

"Leases come in all forms and offers. The most common is called a 3 plus 3. You agree to be in the space for 3 years with another 3 years being an option for both of you using the same leasing terms. After the second 3 year term, you will have to sign a new lease with possibly new terms. Another is a full 7 or 10 year term where you agree to stay the full 7 or 10 years. Using this method means your lease will not go up in cost for the duration of your contract. The downside is obvious," he mentioned. "As you can see being in the middle gives you this type of look. It's rather common to have nothing but windows with glass doors. We would have to work with the landlord to find out what kind of sign is allowed."

"Now inside is another matter," he remarked, pointing out the interior scheme that he had put together. "Your menu will tell us how much kitchen you need to make what you plan of selling. Every restaurant owner wants as many parking spaces as he can get as well as many chairs he can have. Both mean money."

"As you can see, except for these two locations up front, everything else only seats 4 maximum. The majority of customers are couples who will only use 2 of your 4 seats. Having said that, you can always push tables together to accommodate larger groups," Oscar paused. "Your receptionist will take reservations and keep track of what tables are in use or available is always the first thing inside the front door."

"In this case the seating is lit by hanging lights while the rest of the space is mostly dark. It allows you to see your table and the food you are eating while being able to ignore all of the other tables. It gives the illusion that you are alone when you really aren't," Oscar explained.

He brought out another board. "Now this is using the same place except the place is well lit using much brighter décor. Everyone can see everyone else. They can also see what other people are eating while they are trying to make up their minds. For some people this is a benefit while others see it as a distraction," Oscar pointed out. "Or a combination of both, maybe using wood beams and wood ceiling to darken the place just a little. Not making it look like a well lit grocery store."

Oscar pulled out another board. "Now this one uses the same space but this time the restaurant is a buffet where you make and serve a limited number of items for people to choose from. This makes it easy on the people making the food since all they have to do is keep up with what is being eaten. The downside is that it is a buffet. What if the people in this town don't want a buffet and want a home cooked meal?" Oscar pointed out another question Johanna had to answer.

The next two boards showed what they could do if they built a building and what they could do if they took over an abandoned standalone building. "I also brought a number of color schemes for you to look at so you can get an idea of what's possible. Most depend on the type of food you want to serve. Mexican, Chinese, Mediterranean, Turkish, Italian, American? Are you a burger place, mom's homemade cooking like Cracker Barrel for example. Do you have a specialty that you want to be known for? Steaks, pork, lamb. Does everything have bacon in it? The options are endless. Is every day Thanksgiving day and all you serve is the traditional Thanksgiving meal?" Oscar was actually smothering her with options, most of which she hadn't even thought about.

"I've got you on overload don't I?" He could see the overwhelmed look on her face."Pretty much. I'm not even sure I want to do this," Johanna admitted. "I'm going to need to go on a diet if Mom doesn't decide something soon," Kate joked getting her mother to glare at her. "Guinea pig I take it?" Oscar asked. "An overweight, fat one yes," Kate admitted. "Mom is a good cook though," she added. "I second that." Rick spoke for the first time, just happy that Johanna hadn't shot him yet.

"Have you made any decisions?" Oscar asked only to watch Johanna shuffle through his boards and shake her head. "Well, let's start with the thing we need to know first. Where is your restaurant going to be? After that we can work out how big a kitchen you need to cook what you want to sell. Part of that is finding out how many chairs we can get into the space. Too little space for chairs with too big a kitchen is a bad mix."

"Go grab your keys and take me into town and let's go looking. The rest of you can follow for moral support if you like," Oscar offered. "I'll drive Kate and Alexis if we can leave the dogs here?" Rick asked.

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"Looks like your typical small town. Eagle Hardware, Dogie Theater for new release movies. Standard store fronts," Oscar mentioned as they drive through a part of town."THERE! Stop there," he pointed and Johanna parked at an angle like all the other cars. Rick parked right next to them. Soon everyone was on the sidewalk looking at it.

"It's in the middle with probably what are, or could be, apartments on the second floor. You could own a restaurant and be a landlord to renters if you can buy the space instead of having a lease." Oscar said and walked up to look inside. "Long and skinny and we would need to work with what is above us to get grease exhaust up to the roof from kitchen hoods. Maybe not enough seating depending on how many you were hoping for or how many meals you are interested in cooking. Unless there is parking in the back, parking here is limited," he commented. "I vote we keep looking," he proclaimed which got everyone back in their respective vehicles.

They saw several types of stores, all one after the other like one long continuous strip mall. "There, pull over there." Oscar pointed and got Johanna to pull up to a wooden building. It had parking which was all gravel. The entrance had a porch. "It looks like it used to be a restaurant that closed," he commented. "Which isn't automatically a bad thing. They may have failed because the food was bad. The owner may have thrown in the towel. It may be a bad location for a restaurant. The parking lot needs work." Oscar started walking around. "The front porch has wood rot and likely needs to be replaced." He and the rest kept walking. "Single pane windows which is bad for you in winter," he pointed out, tapping one of them with his finger. "The walk-in's are located outside and might be big enough provided they are operational."

He looked in through some windows as did everyone else. "The décor of this place is disgusting. We were going to replace it anyway so who cares. Likely the rooftop units need to be replaced." Oscar thought he could work with it. He just needed to figure out if it was a good location. He looked at Johanna for a sign. She finally shook her head. "We'll keep looking then," he announced and everyone got back on the road.

It turned out they had been in the older part of town. Now they were making their way into the newer section of town. "Wow, it's like night and day. You'd think you had two different towns side by side." Oscar was a little taken back

"Pull in there." Oscar pointed and Johanna worked at getting to the parking lot. "Access is a pain but lots of parking," he commented. "It's a Wendy's®," Johanna pointed out. "No, it used to be a Wendy's®. This place is closed, let's take a look." Oscar suggested and had everyone outside walking the perimeter while looking inside.

"The benches and tables are still here, sort of." Several looked damaged. "Looks like the owner left all of the kitchen equipment. Meaning I'll bet the place is filled with grease. The oil in the fryers is probably solid by now," he commented. "GROSS!" Kate loudly declared she was swearing off burgers from now on causing Oscar to chuckle.

"Likely the rooftop units are newer and in good shape, we might be able to re-use them. Most burger kitchens are too small for a full food restaurant though. Hm." Oscar was thinking of something. "Care to share with the class?" Rick asked as Kate smiled since it felt like Oscar was taking all of them to school.

"This is probably for sale meaning we have a boundary line that is ours. A certain amount of parking is ours and yet the strip mall could be our overflow parking. If we pull this front wall all the way out here with no parking directly out front and leave just a drive thru to satisfy the Fire Department..."

"Pull the seating all the way out to here and we could easily extend the kitchen to make it as large as we need. If the walk-ins are too small we just add one or two out back. The site will already have a grease interceptor that will need to be cleaned out quarterly minimum." Oscar was thinking out loud.

"Sounds like money," Johanna pointed out. "The expansion, yes a little. We could possibly get away with just needing to add an A/C unit to serve the addition. We would need to gut the entire place. Need a bigger natural gas entrance. Replace the electrical entrance which won't be cheap. However, we won't need to build our own building and I'm betting this place already has a fire riser so your place won't burn down and it will lower your insurance rates." He was still liking the place. "Keep the restrooms in the same general area reducing costs though we would likely need to expand them by one stall each depending on how many seats this place has now and how many you will have."

"It's closed so it failed," Johanna remarked, which to her meant this location was a bust. "It's a bad spot for fast food. The entrance and exit to this place sucks. People who want fast food want in and out with little trouble. They want to drive in, get their food, and drive back out. You, on the other hand, want people to come in, park and stay. This place has that in spades. Plus the main road, if I'm correct, is right out there." He pointed. "We can make this place work, we just need to gut it and build an addition, go through permits, get it designed inside and out, and you could have yourself a very nice restaurant."

"It's not way outside of town so people don't have far to go. Replace the sign and get it as high as code will allow and people from the highway might see it. We could add an advertisement sign out on the road telling them you're here and where to get off," he said, his brain running at high speed.

"You mean those blue information signs? Food, gas, lodging," Rick asked. "That too." Oscar was actually thinking a billboard out on 85 and maybe another on 16.

"First we need to find out who owns it, what the price is, and get the price down. Talk to the city or county first before we spend money needlessly. We need their building codes and ordinances to find out what we can and cannot do," Oscar stated.

"And who do we get to do that?" Johanna questioned since it all sounded like a lot of work. "You leave that to me. Before I leave on Saturday, I'll know what the city and/or county expects, who owns it, and what it costs to buy it. After that we decide what you are going to sell sin the way of food o I can figure out how much kitchen you need. Design the floor plan, get electrical, mechanical, and plumbing out here to do a site visit and find out what we have and what we need to change," he said.

"Can we do some of that before I buy it?" Johanna asked. "Absolutely! There was no way I was going to let you buy it without knowing what was already here so we can decide if we can keep it or replace it. We just need the keys." Oscar answered her question. "And who is going to do all that?" Johanna questioned. "I am, or more accurately, my company is," Oscar told her. "And you cost what?" He wasn't going to do all that for free.

"That, my future restaurant owner, has already been taken care of. You simply need to pay to buy it, pay for the remodel, pay for the kitchen equipment and the tables, chairs, paint, menus, table cloths, pictures, other décor items. etcetera," Oscar told her.

"Rick?" Kate questioned softly. Rick simply placed a finger over his lips "Shh." Her response was to grab his face and kiss him which had her internal voice humming with contentment and Alexis smiling since she was watching.