CIA
Chapter 8
"You've got mail," Rick announced as he entered the condo. That brought Kate running. She grabbed the envelope from him and ripped it open.
"It's my check! One point four million dollars." Kate looked up at him. "What do I do now?"
"You take it to the bank and open an account," Rick said patiently. "Then you go see a CFP."
"CFP?" Kate didn't know what that was.
"Certified Financial Planner."
"Oh, can we go to the bank now?"
"Just need my keys and my wallet, and we can go. You'll need to bring your ID and passport."
"I'll get it." Kate hurried off with her check in hand.
~oo0oo~
Now that the check was in a bank, she needed a CFP. Rick made a call and got her an appointment for two days from now.
"You're officially rich. So what do you want to do first? Once you get your debit card, that is." She had to wait for that to show up in the mail. A different letter would show up telling her what her PIP number was; all that could take two or three days.
"Grocery shopping," Kate decided. She had to start somewhere, and it might as well be there.
~oo0oo~
"Mail, Kate!" Rick called out. Kate came running, and she found she had two letters.
She opened one of them and found her debit card. The other held the PIP number that she had to memorize.
"I want to go shopping," Kate informed him.
"Right after you meet with your CFP," Rick reminded her.
"Oh, that." Kate sighed. "Lead on." She deflated, sort of. What she had wanted to do was to spend some of her money doing something for them both.
~oo0oo~
Kate came away from her CFP with a plan in place. She finally got to go grocery shopping for both of them.
"Car keys, please." Kate held out her hand, waiting impatiently.
"Where are you going?" Rick asked as he put the keys in her hand.
"The gun range. I need to learn how to shoot. Back in about an hour." Kate kissed him and smiled all the way to the Jeep.
Rick had hoped she forgot about wanting to be his partner and learning how to shoot a gun. Apparently he was wrong. He should have know better. She was stubborn and when she got it in her brain to do something that was what she was going to do.
~oo0oo~
It was a week later. Rick and Kate were sitting on the deck, enjoying the view. She hadn't had a good week since she was on her period, which meant no sex. It was the no-sex part that Kate didn't like. She enjoyed making love to Rick.
Then they heard the burner phone ring. "I'll get it." Kate wasn't hovering over him any longer, but that didn't mean she would let him stress his leg. She ran for the phone, ran it back, and handed it to him.
Rick nodded his thanks and answered the call. "Hello."
"Just checking in to tell you what we learned. Raglan was willing to talk. He's presently in an FBI safe house. It seems the three of them, Montgomery, Raglan, and McCallister, were kidnapping gang members and then ransoming them back to the gang. By gang, I mean mobsters.
"Apparently, Bracken, then an assistant DA, learned about it, and instead of turning them in like he should have, blackmailed them into handing over the money they earned.
"He used that money to launch his political career."
"Nice guy," Rick said dryly.
"Oh, it gets better. Bracken was campaigning heavily, but he was losing. Suddenly, his competitor's little girl ended up in a wheelchair where she still lives her life today."
"OH, NO!" Horrified, Kate covered her mouth with both hands.
"Oh, yes. Bracken arranged an accident for her and took his competitor out of the race," Shaw said grimly.
"I really don't like that SOB," Rick snarled.
"Join the club, Castle. We're still talking to Raglan and may learn something more."
"I have a question for you. Bracken has to have burned through the ransom money by now. So how is he supporting himself?" Rick inquired. "It costs big money to run for Senator."
"We're still looking into that. It may sound to you like we have enough already, but we want to be sure, so we're taking our time," Shaw replied.
Rick heard a voice in the background. Then Shaw said, "I have to go. Talk to you later." After that, there was only dead air.
Kate shook her head. "That really sucks. He caused that little girl to end up in a wheelchair for life."
"Wrong place, wrong time, poor kid." Rick handed her the phone to put it back.
"First, that little girl and then my parents. What I don't understand is why my parents had to die."
"Hopefully, Shaw will find that out," Rick said.
"And why did I have to be sold into slavery and become a WHORE?" Kate really wanted to know that.
"He targeted your entire family," Rick told her. "My guess is that he had you taken to make your parents suffer before he had them killed. The question yet to be answered is why. Hopefully, Shaw will learn something."
"I hope so." Kate got up and put the phone back. She returned, took his hand in hers again, and looked at the view.
They couldn't use the pool because of his leg, so they were stuck right where they were.
~oo0oo~
They were four weeks into Rick's six weeks of time off. Kate went to the gun club every other day to practice. She was getting better, but she wasn't there yet.
They were coming home from the grocery store when Kate heard the burner phone ringing, so she dropped everything and ran to answer it. "Hello."
"Kate, is Castle there?"
"He's getting the rest of the groceries out of the car, Shaw. He'll be here in a minute."
"I'll wait."
Rick came in, and Kate handed the burner phone to him. "Hello, Shaw."
Shaw didn't waste any time. She had a lot to tell him. "Raglan is still talking to us, and he's still in the FBI safe house. He'll likely be there for the rest of his life. We now know Kate's parents were targeted.
"It seems one of their ransom attempts involved an undercover FBI agent. The agent was killed in the attempt. Montgomery shot him. Whether it was on purpose or by accident, we don't know.
"However, they chose the mobster to take the fall. He, in turn, decided to fight it and sent out a letter that your mother answered. Together they started to look into it. That's what got her parents killed and very likely why Kate was sold into slavery."
"Interesting," Rick tells her. "Any news on how he's supplying himself with money?"
"Nothing yet. Probably, Raglan doesn't know, but we're still looking into it," Shaw assured them. "Any questions for me?"
"Just pump Raglan for all you can," Rick urged her.
"Oh, we will. Gotta go, I'll be in touch." Shaw ended the call.
Rick shook his head. "A ransom attempt gone bad."
"At least now I know why," Kate told him.
They finished putting away their groceries, and Rick brought up a new subject. "Have you selected a weapon of preference yet?"
"I have," she told him. "I've chosen a 357 Magnum with a 4-inch barrel that holds seven shots. It's not too big that it won't fit in my hand. The recoil is less, and the 357 has stopping power."
Rick nodded. "That it does. I'll order one for you to use along with the ammunition."
"Yes, please. Thank you." Kate kissed him for it.
"One Taurus 627 Tracker 357 Magnum 4-inch Matte Stainless Revolver – 7 Rounds coming right up," Rick told her. Kate kissed him again. "And," he continued, "you need to show me your shooting results."
~oo0oo~
It was two days later, and Kate was back from the gun range with her paper target to show Rick and prove to him how far she had come. She handed it to him. "I accept kisses," she informed him as she passed by on her way to the kitchen.
Rick unfolded the paper target and took a look. He raised an eyebrow. She had two groupings, one in the red range, and one on the border. "Not bad," he murmured. He folded the paper target back up and joined her in the kitchen, where he kissed her. "Not bad, Kate."
"Thanks. I'm rather proud of it myself. That's 50 rounds, by the way." Kate saw a look of satisfaction on Rick's face for a moment, and she kissed him again.
"You'll have to keep it up, and I'll be impressed."
"Oh, I will, I will," Kate assured him. "Now, what's for lunch?"
~oo0oo~
Kate went to the gun range every other day for two weeks. She always came home with the results, telling Rick, "I still accept kisses."
Each time Rick unfolded the target, he was equally impressed with her score. Little by little, she was getting more and more shots in the red zone. Rick kissed her and told her, "Keep it up."
Still, he was worried that when the time came for him to go on a mission, she would want to come with him. He needed to come up with an excuse for why she couldn't.
Around week five, Kate decided to take him on a tour of Oahu. She took him to the Arizona Memorial and walked the Missouri Battleship, as well as the Bowfin submarine. Then she took him to the North Shore, where they spent time on the beach with sunscreen and did some swimming. Later, they went to the Aloha Tower. They did some shopping there and had lunch at the Marketplace.
Rick's leg seemed to be holding up just fine, and Kate was happy with that.
~oo0oo~
"Kate, package," Rick yelled.
Kate came walking to find out what it was. She hefted it in her hands. "Heavy." She carried it into the kitchen and picked up a knife to open it. It was a box of Styrofoam. Kate took the top off. "My gun!" She took it out and checked its weight before going through the rest of the box.
"Ammunition. What's this thing?" She held it up for Rick to see.
"Shoulder holster," Rick replied.
"Oh." Kate set it aside and pulled out something else. "And this?"
"Silencer."
"That makes sense." She looked it over. "How does it attach?"
"Let me see it." She handed it to Rick, and he looked at it. "It's snap on." He picked up her weapon and demonstrated how it snapped on and off.
"I get it now." Kate tried it and realized she had to apply some pressure. She left it attached.
She carried all of it to her bedroom and found a place to put it.
~oo0oo~
It was later in the day, and Kate found Rick in front of the computer. "Whatcha doing?"
"I got an assignment."
"But it hasn't been six weeks yet!"
Rick shrugged. "What can I tell you."
"I'm going with you!"
"No, you're not."
"The hell I'm not! I'm your partner and girlfriend, and I'm going. End of discussion."
"You haven't been trained. You can shoot, yes, but You. Are. Not. Trained," Rick repeated.
"Trained-shmained. I'm going," Kate insisted. "When are you leaving?"
"Tomorrow," Rick told her. That told Kate what she was going to do.
~oo0oo~
Rick woke up that morning. He should have known something was up when she didn't want to make love the night before. His second chance was waking up in bed alone. Running his hand over the sheets, he found them cold, meaning she had been gone a while.
Still, he took a shower, packed and picked up a second bag along the way, and headed for the door. There only was one door. When he reached it, he found Kate sitting there, her back against the door and a bag at her feet.
"What do you think you're doing?" Rick demanded.
"I'm going with you, like it or not. I packed my gun and a change of clothes, all black, including my shoes."
"You've been watching too many spy movies. This isn't To Catch a Thief,Kate."
"John Roby or Cary Grant. I think it's Cary Grant, right? Anyway, he had a partner."
Rick looked at her funny. "No, he didn't."
"Yes, he did. Her name was Grace Kelly."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm not getting out the door without you, am I?"
"No, you're not. Not a chance in hell. I told you I'm going with you. I'm your partner and your girlfriend."
He sighed heavily. "Fine, let's go."
"Yeah, I knew you would see it my way." Kate got to her feet and picked up her bag. Kissing him quickly, she made sure he didn't get away.
~oo0oo~
Kate didn't say a thing until they were in the plane and up in the air when she asked her first question. "Where are we going?"
"We're flying to Tokyo and take on fuel. Then it's down to the Philippines, where we will take on more fuel and spend the night. After that, on to an airstrip in Malaysia, where we will get a car and drive to Bangkok."
"BANGKOK!" Kate was stunned when she heard that. That was the one place she never wanted to see again.
Rick turned his head to look at her. "Are you sorry you came now?"
"Yes… No, maybe. What the hell is in Bangkok?"
"We're going to infiltrate a house where I will take some pictures of some sensitive material. Hopefully, no one will know I was even there. So there will be no shooting this time unless absolutely necessary."
"Got it – no shooting," Kate repeated back to him. "Bangkok." She shivered at the thought of being back there again.
"I warned you not to come," Rick reminded her. "Scared?"
"I won't lie, a little, yes. We're not bringing anyone home with us." Kate pointed at him. "One girlfriend is enough." Rick just laughed at her.
"So why all black?" Rick asked.
"I brought a pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt too. That and some tampons in case this takes too long. Oh, and some condoms."
That had Rick laughing again. She brought condoms with her!
"We're making love, mister. Come hell or high water!"
~oo0oo~
They stopped in Tokyo long enough to refuel while Kate hurried into the terminal looking for food. She was hungry and guessed Rick was too.
Then it was on to the Philippines, where they spent the night. RedDoorz Manila Airport Hotel was their hotel of choice.
Yang Chow restaurant was within walking distance. They even saw a KFC along the way. They ate dinner at Yang Chow and stopped at KFC to pick up take-out for later. They could eat KFC while they drove to Bangkok.
They made love that night, and Kate ended up using two of her condoms. It was a good thing she brought a lot of them with her.
~oo0oo~
They landed at a dirt airstrip where a car was waiting for them. It was a black Audi. Kate watched as Rick loaded an extra bag into the car.
"What's in the bag?" She was curious.
"A rifle, specifically a sniper rifle. I can tell you the make and model if you want to know more."
"No, that's okay." Kate didn't need to know that much detail.
She got into the passenger seat and watched where they were going. "There was a car waiting for us?"
"Company car."
"AH!" That made sense to her. "You've done this before."
"I landed and used the same car when I found you," Rick said, and Kate remained silent. It was all just a little too personal for her. Here she was, going to Bangkok, the very last place she wanted to go. Even worse, she was in the same car and had landed at the same dirt airport.
The closer they came to being in Bangkok, the darker it got, which made sense to her. Do this in the dark.
They seemed to be going straight through town. "You know where you're going?"
"I do. We're going to park close to the target." Eventually, Rick parked and turned the car off.
"Change into your dark outfit." Rick was already wearing dark pants and dark shoes. He just needed to change shirts.
Kate wasn't bashful and got out of the car and changed next to it, throwing everything she was wearing into the bag. Then she put on her shoulder holster and checked her weapon. She loaded it and put some extra ammunition in her pocket.
She understood there was to be no shooting unless absolutely necessary. She was satisfied that her holster allowed for the silencer to remain attached. "Ready."
"You have to go where I go and do what I tell you."
"Got it."
Rick pressed the matter. "I mean it, Kate. Do what I tell you to do when I tell you."
"I understand," Kate confirmed. She was still ready.