The rest of the week passed uneventfully, other than lots and lots of sex, wild nasty dirty sex. Jake and Mark found out from Valerie they were no longer the big men in the house. "Twelve inches," she said, smiling happily. They were sitting around the patio, it was an unseasonably warm Friday evening, drinking beer. Valerie was a little tipsy, and it took a lot of beer to get a woman that size tipsy. "See this can," she said, waving her half-empty beer, "it ain't got nothing on my man."

Jake just shook his head, laughing; it would take a woman her size to handle a man that big. Harvey blushed, but didn't dispute her any. Mary looked kind of scared, and then turned to Judy.

"Any chance you could exclude him from the 'Mary make yourself available for all sponsors rule' Judy?" she asked. Judy grinned while shaking her head no.

"Relax Mary, I doubt he has time for anyone else right now, Valerie's going to be catching up on the last twenty years or so."

Harvey grinned, slapping Valerie on the bare ass as she walked by headed for the cooler, the pop loud enough to make everyone else wince. Valerie just smiled and grabbed another beer. Seeing Mark's raised eyebrow she shrugged.

"Hey, I hear beer is almost impossible to get up there, so I'm going to get mine while I can."

Mark nodded; he couldn't argue with her, he just hoped she was a happy drunk. Harvey seemed to read his mind, winking at him.

"Don't worry about it Chief, she gets out of hand I'll spank her ass good." Valerie looked terrified, but couldn't hold it long. She soon fell apart, giggling like an elementary school girl.

"While we're all here, I want to bring something up," Jake said. "I've been doing some research, (his family groaned), and I think I've found a pattern to the pickups." This got everyone's attention. Mark sat up straight, if Jake could find a pattern, someone else might also.

"Can you predict when and where the next pickup will be?" he asked, a little worried.

"No, nothing like that Dad, just I've noticed that when the news starts reporting an increase in pickups, there are also small groups of people going missing, I assume in pre-packs. See, the media isn't reporting it as such, I mean, the newspapers are reporting disappearances here and there, but no one seems to have put it together that these are private pickups."

"It doesn't seem like a lot of people when you read each individual story, but take all of them in an area, and it's a big chunk. It probably helps that many of the people are from different towns, yet all are within thirty minutes of a common point."

Harvey looked at Jake like he had grown a second head. This boy, whom he already liked a lot sounded like a military analyst or something.

"You're telling me that by checking news stories and online reports that you can pinpoint where a pre-pack pickup took place."

"Well, I can tell you the general area, like the town in most cases, but in two cases I think I narrowed it down to a building." Seeing the looks he was receiving he shrugged. "I checked Google Earth, in both cases there's only one building in the area involved that would house that many people. One's an old roadhouse, closed down now but it's a large building, perfect for a pickup. The other's an old airport, same deal, it's no longer in use, except by kids who use the runway for a drag strip."

"Jake, did they ever use the same location twice?" Mark asked.

"I think so, judging on the neighborhoods where the people who went missing were from, I think they used the airport about six months ago, and then again last week."

"Is it in this area?" Harvey asked.

"No they aren't doing any pickups, well pre-packs, in our area at the moment, from what I can tell. The random pickups, those that take place at your local mall or 7-11 are truly random. The AI's are in charge of scheduling them, so predicting one of them is impossible. The pre-packs, on the other hand, can be noticed after the fact, basically too late to do the anti-Confederacy nuts any good, if that's what you're worried about. That is as long as they don't become predictable. Using the old airport twice, that's the start of a pattern, and if it happens again I would say they're taking a big chance." Mark looked thoughtful, but Jake had more.

"We kind of got sidetracked from my point," he said. "I've also noticed an overall pattern, it seems to start on the East Coast and work its way west. Of course, CNN reports anytime a colony ship arrives in orbit, and one arrived a week ago. The last time the same ship was here, they left a trail of unexplained disappearances across the US, starting on the East Coast. It looks like its happening again. I mean, people are disappearing again, starting on the East Coast."

"What do you mean, disappearing?" Judy cut in. "Don't the Marines notify family when someone is picked up?"

"Judy, think about it," Mark said, "if it's a pre-pack, especially if children are involved, it's usually going to include all or a large part of a family. Even with the need to keep the location and time secret, other members of a family are going to know ahead of time and therefore not be as quick to report the disappearance."

He turned to Jake, beginning to catch on to the boy's logic. "I bet most of the missing persons reports are generated by mailmen, or paperboys, probably even some jobs, if an employee is high enough ranking or reliable enough for it to be strange when they stop coming in to work."

"That's exactly right, but the point I'm trying to make is this, I think they'll be taking pre-packs in our area within two weeks, three at the outside. Dad, do me a favor, I would like the Marines to know I figured this out. The point is, if I can do it, granted its taken three weeks and a lot of work, but what could someone with a powerful search engine and a program that is designed to look for specific patterns do?"

"I mean, maybe they need to schedule a pre-pack and a regular pickup in the same general area around the same time. Then when people go missing, it'll just be assumed they were involved in the pickup. It might help break up the pattern a little, and confuse the terrorists. So could you get in contact with the Colonel that you spoke with earlier, and let him know about our concerns?"

"I'll email him tonight," Mark said somberly. "I just hope they take this seriously, some of these nut jobs are becoming a real threat. The President is issuing an announcement tomorrow that anyone who has a high enough CAP and has volunteered is allowed to carry a concealed weapon. They are expected to use discretion, especially during an actual pickup, but their lives are in enough danger that this has become necessary."

"Should we start to carry guns?" Jake asked. "I mean, what about the laws that prohibit guns at school and other places?"

"Under the new rule, there are no prohibited places if you are a volunteer. I see the reasoning behind it; I just hope we don't end up having shootouts in the middle of town."

"Oh, you would rather the idiots shoot up the town and no one shoot back, and don't start that 'It's a job for the police' crap either," Judy cut in. "You've lost twenty percent of your force in the last 18 months, either as sponsors or concubines. Your department, and others all over the US, are stretched too thin to be able to respond to something like that in sufficient numbers to handle the situation. Having a few more people who are obviously bright enough to use their heads and obviously willing to kill in defense of their home available might make the difference."

This was an old argument in their home. Judy was a staunch defender of her Second Amendment rights, and Jake shook his head.

"Hey, let's not get into that tonight; I also wanted to bring up another point if I may." His parents looked at him; he was beginning to develop quite a backbone.

"All right Jake, we wouldn't change each others' minds anyway, we haven't in 20 years, and it won't happen tonight. What else is on your mind?" Judy asked.

"Well, I hate to bring it up, but if there is a possibility of a pickup for us soon, shouldn't a few certain people finish picking their concubines. Not to brag or anything, but I've got all mine lined up and ready to go. I know you have more to pick than I do Mom, but Dad and Harvey still have a slot each, I mean, I picked six in the same amount of time as Dad has gotten one, and she was brought to him."

Jake was half teasing, half serious. He parents looked at each other, knowing he was right. They had to step up and get the job done for all their sakes.

"Can I suggest something," Della spoke up. "I mean, maybe it's none of my business, but Mom, you've got prime territory for finding women, usually with several children, and they most likely would be more than willing to escape the situation they are in."

"The Shelter," Judy exclaimed, "why didn't I think of that?" At Harvey's blank look she explained. "I volunteer some time every month to a shelter for battered women. The women there are hiding out from abusive husbands and boyfriends. Della is right, they would be more than happy to get away from here, and most do have children."

"Don't let her be so humble," Mark said, pride in his wife evident in his voice. "Judy may be a stay-at-home Mom, but that's only because we can afford it. She's a doctor, although she doesn't advertise it. She is a licensed shrink, hell she's written three best sellers and consulted on several TV shows. She opened that shelter and still funds about half of their operating cost."

"You're THAT Judy Whitman," Harvey said. "Damn, here I've known your husband since he was a beat cop and didn't know that. Funny ain't it, I mean, you're a celebrity, and we didn't even know it."

Judy blushed, shooting her husband a dirty look. "Yes, that's me. I go to the center every month and visit with the women there. Many have psychiatric problems due to their abusive relationships; I try to help them as best I can. That's beside the point though, Della is right, I should be checking with the girls there, I could probably find more than enough to fill my remaining slots."

"Fill mine too," Harvey said. "I got no idea who else to ask and neither does Val. If it would help out a woman in need, then I'm all for it. Plus it would give us some kids to start practicing our parenting skills on, as soon as the medical people on the ship say it's safe, Val here is going to get knocked up."

The group sat making plans for a while longer, until the cooling air finally drove them inside. Plans were made to visit the Shelter the next day and see about filling the remaining vacancies.

It was also decided to have the concubines start wearing clothing similar to the shifts that the Confederacy provided to concubines. Elle's kids would be joining them before long, along with the children of any women they selected the following day. Jake was disappointed, but saw the wisdom behind the rule for now. Once everyone was on the ship, his concubines weren't wearing clothing in their rooms, but in public he would allow it.