A Biker's Tale
Chapter 18- Confrontation
It is getting late and they had been hiking and pulling/pushing the storage trailer for about ten hours. Up ahead they see a small turnout which appears to be a perfect place to stop and camp for the night. They make it to the turnout and begin to set up. Kate was boiling long grain rice to which she would add some veggies, bits of beef jerky, some spices to make somewhat of a 'paella' which had all they needed for a meal.
"Kate, share a tent tonight?"
"Sure writer man, looking forward to doing just that", she says seductively.
Rick swallows hard, it had been such nights that cost them for the next day of travel. They would get some sleep but always awoke a bit drowsy and not rested for their long day of travel. But it was worth it.
"Hold that thought", he says on the comeback, "you may be too tired otherwise."
She gives him the Beckett eye roll.
"Just saying Kate!"
"Well, dinner is served. Not much, my American fusion of paella, but it's a complete meal."
After dinner, they sat by the fire.
"It been a couple days now and no one has shown up to help us."
"Well Kate, this tends to be a fairly low volume highway except for people like us seeking adventure on a bike safari, and some truckers delivering their goods."
"Except for the part where we run into some desperate drug dealer fleeing the police!"
"It is what it is Kate, but we can handle it."
"Yeah we can", she says as she enters Rick space and plants a passionate kiss to his lips with lots of tongue'
"Oh, I like that. You're so good at it Kate."
"Shut up Castle, actions not words, writer man!"
Rick pulls her in close and starts touching her intimately.
"How's that for action?"
They go for a round. There by the fire, out in the open, no one around to see them. Later that night they are in bed in the two man tent.
"Rick?"
"Yes Kate."
"How much longer do you think we got of hiking?"
"Well we've kept pace doing around 15mile a day. So four days now, about 60 miles and about 120 to go. About nine more days or so unless we make better mileage."
"Think our provisions will hold out?"
"We've made it stretch so far, but we may have to bag that small game you talked about."
"Map shows a lake up ahead. How are you at fishing?"
"Well, I guess we will see."
Kate turns to him and gives him a kiss, "Good night Castle, dream of me tonight."
"Don't have to, I got you here. All I have to do is reach out. But likewise, sweet dreams Kate."
They turn in for the night.
Awakened From Sleep
After several hours of sleep, they are wakened to the sound of motorcycles entering there site. Kate is first to wake and takes a looks through a opening in the window covers.
"What do you see Kate?"
"Two Bikers."
Then they hear two gun shots being fired.
"Hey you in the tent, how about you come out or we'll fire one into your tent."
Rick grabs the pellet gun he had placed under his camp pillow and slips it into his hiking boot which he had on having been too tired to take them off. Beckett like wise takes the flare gun and slips it in behind her back in her hiking pants, along with two more flares in her pockets. It was a good thing they were still in travel clothes having been too tired to don sleep ware.
"If I have to repeat again the next round goes into the tent", says Phil Lasky in a very threatening manner.
"Don't shoot, we coming out!", yells out Castle.
They exit their tent, hands in the air.
"Identify yourselves", screams out the younger Lasky, JJ.
"I'm Rick and this is Kate."
They both emerge from the tent slowly and cautiously.
"Well, well, look what we got here JJ. She's one foxy looking babe."
"Yeah she is."
With those words, Castle knows they're in trouble, particularly Kate. Kate gets a shiver up her spine upon seeing the two brothers. You could not get a more menacing look than what Kate sees in front of her.
"Over to me Kate", Phil says waving his gun at her. Kate comes into Phil Lasky's space.
"Okay, legs spread, missy. assume the position.
The older Lasky brother pats Kate down, a little more 'touchy' than it should be, and he is not gentle with his search, his hand lingering in places longer than it should, particularly making the most of feeling up Kate. He finds the flare gun and two additional flares.
"A flare gun? Who brings a flare gun camping?"
Kate looks over at Rick with an 'I told you so' glare.
"So what are you two doing out here and pushing that trailer?"
"We got carjacked and the guy left us the trailer for supplies."
"Well that's bad, but even worse you running into us."
Phil Lasky turns to Kate, "So is he your husband?", he asks.
"Boyfriend."
Rick beams at Kate's comment. She had acknowledged their new relationship.
"Lucky guy."
"So Rick", begins JJ, "is she good company at night."
It is a nasty question which the younger Lasky says not trying to hide the unspoken message he was conveying.
"What say we find out bro, tie Rick up and then we can entertain ourselves with Kate", Phil says and starts to 'touch' Kate with the barrel of his hand gun. He touches Kate all over again like he had done when he did his search, but this time it is his gun doing the probing.
Kate is repulsed by it all, she knows what this man wants and she gets herself ready.
JJ seeing Phil's intention with Kate produces a rope and hurriedly ties Rick up and then joins his brother. He was gonna get 'some' and not be push out by his brother so his haste in joining him.
'So here's the deal Kate, do what we say and maybe we let your boyfriend live. If you give us a good time, maybe you convince us to let you tag a long with us as a traveling companion."
Kate looks at Castle and sees he is working his bindings just like he had with Tyler. Again, like she had done with Tyler, she needs to distract her tormentors so they don't catch on to what Rick is doing.
On trying his constraints for the first time Rick had noticed the one brother, in his haste to join the other, had not done a strong tie and Rick could work them loose, but needed time. He sends a look to Kate and sees her give him a subtle nod letting him know she got his message. It is their mind meld working again for them, Kate will distract these two like she had done with Tyler their drug dealer carjacker.
Kate now looks at the two brothers whose backs are toward Rick.
"You know boys, I don't know if either of you are man enough for me", she says provocatively.
"Wohah, we got a wild one here JJ."
The looks from the two men is one of utter incredulity. They might be out of their league with this one.
"I'll show you who's man enough", boasts JJ.
"Well, shall we up the ante", Kate says starting with unbuttoning the top two buttons of her shirt to give a glimpse of what's underneath.
The two man are transfixed on Kate, they can't believe her reactions to their implied threats to intimately abuse her. She is going to give the two a ride to a place they have never been to ever.
Kate gets all her buttons undone and then suddenly stops, "So… what!?… are you two just going to stare. I'll show you mine if you show me yours."
The two bothers stare at each other in astonishment and then start to laugh. It is a primal laugh filled with animal lust and the two men do not hold back. They rush to undue the bottoms on their shirts.
"We got a hot one here bro", Phil says, the excitement in his voice apparent. The two remove their shirts as Kate sheds hers, now lying on the ground. She's in her bra. The two brothers are staring at Kate lasciviously. Eyeing her up and done and doing all sorts of nasty things to her in their thoughts. Kate then turns her back on them.
"Anyone want to undo the clasp to my bra!"
The two brothers nearly fall over each other trying to reach for Kate, but before they can come any closer, Kate calls out to them.
"Stop! Wait!"
The two brothers stop short and two just avoid crashing into each other.
"Let's make this easier", says Kate as she slips the one bra strap down off her shoulder and then works her arm thru it to free the bra from further obstructions, she does the same with the other strap.
The two men are now standing totally agape, not believing what is happening and their libidos are flaring. They stare at her for longer than it should have been.
"One of you has to stand in front of me to catch this thing when it falls off."
That does it, JJ rushes to face Kate, hands in position, like he is going to make sure to catch the falling item as a souvenir of this night. Just as JJ gets in place, she feels the other brother reaching for her bra clasp.
That's when Kate makes her move, she gives JJ a swift kick to his groin and he doubles over from it. Phil, whose fingers had just touched Kate's bra clasp, quickly goes for her neck and puts her in a strangle hold.
All the while, as this scene unfolded, Rick was able to work his bindings free. Just as the older Lasky got Kate in a strangle lock, Rick goes for the pellet gun in his hiking boot. He quickly fires three quick rounds at Phil. One hits him directly on the back of his skull and draws blood, the other hits him behind the neck and also draws blood, the third hits him directly on his bare back and also draws blood for yet a third time. Phil screams out in pain and releases Kate from his neck lock he had on her. The sharp stinging hits from the three pellets has him arching his back as he starts to fall. Once Kate is released from the neck hold, she gives a reverse round house kick to Phil, the back of her heel striking his temple. Phil goes down hard and is out cold.
JJ had recovered from the groin kick Kate gave him and starts running toward getting ready to strike. Rick fires several more pellets that hit JJ in different places as Kate seeing JJ coming after her gives him a flying kick to his chest. The second brother goes down, also out cold.
With the two men down for the count, Kate and Rick run to each other and embrace.
"You okay Kate?"
"Thanks for saving me Rick."
"No, thank you for reading my look correctly."
"After more than three years together we've tuned our mind meld skills to perfection."
"Couldn't have done it without you partner."
The two just look at each other. How bad could this Safari get? First a hijacking and now a near assault on Kate. Rick comes up to Kate and gets in her personal space.
"I thought I might have lost you to a fate worse than death. God I was so scared! But I saw what you were doing to turn the two men's intentions against them. Using those horrific and hideous intentions to distract them while I broke free. It was a big risk Kate. I may not have broken free in time!"
"I just knew you would Rick, so I put my faith in you, that you would come thru for me. You've been there for me each time I needed it."
"Always, Kate."
He uses their words again and with that remark the two kiss passionately.
"Kate I don't know how I could cope with it if it had not gone the way it did."
"But it did work out Rick and confirmed my trust in you."
"I love you Kate."
"I know, ….more than any man I have been with, ….and probably the only man who has confirmed that for me in so many ways. I will live with the guilt that I denied you for so long and hid my true feelings from you. I will spend a life time making it up to you. Those other men should never have happened had I been honest to myself and you. There is lingering shame for how it ended with Josh. That I used him to deny you, fooling myself in thinking Josh was my one, when it was you all along. But despite, here we are. Thru it all we are still Kate and Rick, a couple in progress. And my promise now to you is that I will be with you, always."
It is a raw emotional proclamation Kate makes and the moment is laden with so much strong emotions.
"Kate, don't beat yourself up on this. Yes, I left caused you showed me you didn't want me, but I too was not honest. Ellie Monroe, Natalie Rose, and Gina for a second try. I saw where you were coming from and part of that was on me. But this cycle of each of us rejecting the other with persons we chose to be with, had to end. So I chose to overlook my hurt, to forgive you, so that we could move on from there. Like you I wanted a do-over. This safari has shown me it has been the right choice."
There is seeming a long pause, then as the moment passed, the couple tie up the two men who had remained unconscious all the while. This adventure had turned into a watershed moment for the two, making them confront what they wanted from one another. The trip strengthening their resolve to become and remain a couple and all that it implied. They were going to make it happen, they were going to make them happen. This safari had made them closer than ever before.