Page 43 of Booked for Theft

ELEVEN

“Why don’t we have a fancy litter box for Ajani? I want one.”

Without knowledge, we couldn’t do much more than make tentative plans, book our cruise for late October so we would be out of the country for the election, and wonder how far we would have to go to save our country from itself. Within ten minutes of beginning our booking adventure, we discovered how the government kept most Americans from going abroad.

Somehow, Bradley’s father had arranged for an entire ship to be available for our booking pleasures; in a week, the ship would be opened up for any cabins we didn’t take. According to Mr. Hampton, he knew a line operator, the bigwig of a company, who had three new ships coming into service and was willing to do a pair of transatlantic cruises.

That also explained how we were getting away with bringing our animals.

The cruise ship had a full animal transport facility, and we would be going on a group ride with our horses, participating in a breeding session with our goats, and enjoying the company of our cat in our fancy suite.

Every last one of us had to pay out a ten thousand dollar deposit as return security, money that we would get back on our tax return the following year, assuming we returned to the United States. I spluttered over that, pointing at the laptop screen. “What the hell, Bradley?”

“This policy does a good job of preventing most Americans from leaving the country. Because the funds are used to control illegal immigrations, Americans voted for it with unrepentant glee.” Bradley grabbed his phone, tapped at the screen, and offered it to me.

The article showed limited protest to the removal of international travel for most Americans.

I spewed curses, gave him his phone back, and glared at the booking. “And since we’re doing this as part of our wedding celebrations, the government will believe we aren’t trying to bail if the going gets tough.”

“That’s correct.” Bradley pressed the booking button, which set us back more money than I cared to think about, as our ticket included every unusual animal we intended to bring on board.

Anyone could bring a dog or cat on board, much to my relief.

As we were booking the best suite on the entire ship, we had the most options, including the ability to transport my mother’s ducks, chickens, and geese.

We would be able to enjoy fresh eggs daily, and the cruise was equipped to handle even milking cows.

“This is insanity,” I muttered.

“Mickey and Beatrice, you’re next,” Bradley announced. “Were you able to get in touch with your family members?”

“Mine won’t go,” Mickey replied in a subdued tone. “They have a strong dislike for anyone and anything un-American.”

Beatrice sighed, reached over, and gave his hand a squeeze. “My parents are willing to come on the cruise, as are my sister and her husband. No kids, no pets.”

Within five minutes, Bradley finished their booking, made use of my mother’s printer, and handed over their confirmation number, tax slips, and everything else needed to make plans for the trip.

While it took over an hour, we’d handled our portion of the booking, which left Bradley’s parents to book out the rest of ship for the security employees who would be making the venture. Bradley’s father would need to take care with his approach, and he expected most of his employees would return to the United States as scheduled despite being given a way out through his expansion efforts.

I expected he would need a second ship to make certain everyone could go.

“All right. The first of our plans has been established.” Bradley rubbed his hands together. “Now it’s time for us to put on a show. Janette, I will need you to buy several ball gowns for the cruise. We will be having several fancy parties and dinners on board, and that will give you a chance to spread rumors that we will be planning some festivities as part of our courtship. This is to be expected, and because I’m sentimental, everyone is expecting us to do something elaborate. Taking our friends and family on a cruise to Europe, where we’ll spend over a month going horseback riding and seeing the sights, is absolutely the sort of elaborate expected. Honestly, the cruise is going to be an excellent cover for a lot of our activities moving forward.”

While nobody else knew what we were angling for, I understood how the cruise would benefit us.

The government would never believe that someone running for office would ever leave the country during the final push of the election. By leaving on a ship a week prior, when the final campaign efforts were in full swing, we sent an important message: we were not actually running for office.

In reality, if I were going to be a runaway write-in, my fate would be determined long before election day rolled around. By August or September, I suspected we’d know if we would be making use of the return cruise that cost a small fortune per person.

“Are we handling the bookings for our lodgings in Europe?” I asked, eyeing the laptop as though it might rise up and bite us.

“That is a problem for next week. Should we not be aboard our return cruise, we have accommodations for a while in Spain.”

Dr. Castor.

“What’s next, then?”

“We go shopping, work on the case as we are supposed to as a cell, and put on a damned good show for the government.” Bradley closed the lid. “And that means starting at the beginning, from the first murders, and trying to learn everything we can about the killers and their ploy to bring attention to the government’s machinations.”