Just a little one shot that I was inspired to write not too long ago. I hope you enjoy it.
Castle awoke and smelled something odd. Odder still, was the hard surface he realized he was laying on. Cement, maybe, he wondered, or concrete. He tried to roll onto his side from his back, but his ribs screamed in pain from the beating he had taken. He managed to roll to his right and curl up into the fetal position. With his eyes clenched tight in pain, he smelled the air to get some sense of where he was.
Chlorine.
It smelled like the pool at his health club with the chlorine scent and steamy air from the constant water temperature of 80 degrees. He opened his eyes and his suspicions were confirmed. He was in a spacious indoor pool area looking down the pool's length rather than its width. There were no chairs, no towels, no lifeguard tower, no floatation devices, nothing that indicated that anyone spent much time relaxing at this pool. A large industrial lamp hung from the ceiling and was the only source of light. Outside he could see it was dark, but because of the steam on the glass panes that made up the walls, he couldn't make out any other forms that would give him a clue as to his location.
He tried to get his legs under him, but his muscles again lit up with pain. He felt like he'd filled in for a punching bag at a boxing ring, with every inch of his skin bruised and all his muscles aching with fatigue.
As he groaned, he heard a lock disengage and a door slide open behind him. The sound of solid footsteps came closer. A large hand gripped each of his armpits, hauling him into a standing position. He gasped in pain momentarily then controlled himself to try to present a strong front. Whoever these men were, they obviously weren't interested in his latest Nikki Heat book and he wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of knowing he was incapable of fighting back.
He knew that, once she found him, the fight would be a battle royal.
"The boss told you and that pig cop to keep your fat noses out of Johanna Beckett's murder case." The man holding him up growled into his ear from behind. Clever, Castle thought. I can't see him now, so I can't identify him later in a lineup. He also realized that, since he couldn't make out the bottom of the pool, he was facing the deep end.
"Funny. I've never been too big on following directions. Johanna's daughter will testify to that."
"Speaking of her daughter, she doesn't realize that we've honed into her location using a GPS tracker we snuck onto her phone. She's miles away from here, so don't be thinking she's gonna come to your rescue." The man lifted Castle to shift him so that his toes stood on the pool's edge.
"It doesn't matter if you kill me or not. You'll never outrun her. Never." Castle said defiantly.
"Once you're a wet heap at the bottom of that pool, we won't have to worry about outrunning her. Because she'll be right down there with you. See, Mr. Castle, you're our bait to get rid of her. Kill two birds with one stone, as they say. Why don't we get started."
The man leaned forward slightly as he released his hold on Castle's arms, which, due to the pain he knew would shoot through him, he let hang at his sides as his body pitched forward into the water.
Though his muscles were unbearably sore, he pushed for the surface. He looked around, but his captor was gone. He turned himself in the water, treading as best he could, and searched the rest of the glass enclosure. He saw nothing, except the concrete deck extending endlessly into the faint darkness.
He turned himself around again and almost went under, but fought to keep afloat. His legs were on fire now and for a brief moment he entertained the idea of letting himself sink to rest his aching limbs, but changed his mind. If he could find a ladder or some easy means of climbing out, he could rest on the deck. Hovering close to the wall from which he had fallen, he noticed what looked like recessed tiles just under the water line. He reached out and felt them, pushing gently in case they unlocked some secret escape, but nothing happened.
He inhaled deeply and let himself go under for a closer look. He tapped and pushed in various places, but the tiles stayed still as if to mock him. With his lungs screaming for air, he rose, but found he barely had the energy to lift his face out of the water. As a primal fear for survival gripped him, adrenaline gave him the boost he needed to throw his head backwards and gasp for breath.
As Castle's face barely hung above the water line, Castle's captor stood in a small control room just off the pool area watching Castle's struggles on a bank of video monitors fed by hidden camera strategically placed around the pool. He chuckled and smiled in satisfaction as the famous, cocky author lifted a hand above the surface, but gripping nothing but air, went under again.
As he floated and desperately tried to conceive of a plan to save himself, Castle saw what looked like a ladder mounted into the left wall midway between his end and the opposite end. Knowing it was his only chance, he kicked and paddled with his arms as best he could. His body rose to the surface and he swum clumsily, trying to find a balance between gentle paddling and desperate breathing. Finally, he flipped himself on his back and felt the top the top of his head gently strike the ladder.
"Uh, uh, uh," the Captor said to himself quietly in a sing-song voice. "Naughty, naughty, Mr. Castle." He pressed a button and saw a green light brighten on a small control panel in front of him.
Castle flipped himself over, fell under for a second or two, but managed to grip the curved steel sides of the ladder. He set his feet on the bottom rung, and pulled himself out, groaning with effort, as his wet clothes and injuries made him feel twenty pounds heavier. He relaxed as he lifted his left foot to step onto the top rung.
Suddenly and instantaneously, all the nerves in his leg screamed, his already overtaxed muscles went taut and a burning sensation traveled quickly up his leg and into the rest of his body. He lost all control of his limbs and felt himself falling backwards. He heard a splash and was under water again, but this time his arms and legs wouldn't obey his brain's commands to push to the surface and save himself. He felt as if his hands and ankles were bound with heavy rope. Every move he tried to make upwards resulted in no progress. He finally held still, hoping that his body's natural buoyancy would help him rise. As his head broke the surface, he inhaled deeply and loudly, but found his limbs still paralyzed, so he sank again. As the feeling in his extremities began to return faintly, he fought to stay above water, alternately rising long enough to inhale then falling under. His hands flapped on the surface, searching for something to hold onto, but found nothing. He bobbed like a cork, thinking how ironic it was that he had survived drowning in a sinking car where the chances of escape were minimal, but wouldn't do the same in a swimming pool. Resigned to his fate, he closed his eyes and let the water cover him.
"Fight."
The single word echoed through his mind in a voice that wasn't his own. He opened his eyes as he hung limply in his wet, suffocating prison and his heart jumped as her face swam into his thoughts.
"Fight, Castle. I'm coming. You have to hold on. Keep fighting"
It was Kate, urging him not to give up. For a moment, he thought he saw her body swim up to him, take hold of his face in her hands, then disappear. With the last ounce of energy he had, he kicked to push himself upwards and found air. Before he could sink again, he rolled onto his back to float in the middle of the pool and rest himself as best he could. To wait for her.
"I'm here Kate. I won't give up." He muttered to himself.
His Captor was surprised as he watched the drama unfold before him, but far from defeated. He reached over to the control panel, pressed another button, and a yellow light blinked on.
As Castle lay on the water, he heard a faint whirring sound, as if machinery had been turned on, and felt the currents in the pool change. He fell out of his floating posture to tread water and noticed something at both ends of the pool pulsing back and forth out of the wall just under the water line. Then a shallow wave slapped him in the face. He spit out water as another hit him in his opposite side. Curious, he ducked under and saw the recessed tiles he had noted earlier moving back and forth, in and out.
Waves. The panels were creating a wave pool.
He fought harder than ever now to stay up. The waves began slowly increasing in size and the currents battered him as if he was a toy boat on the rough open sea. Treading water was useless. Just as he would gather a breath, the energy from what seemed like a wall of water would knock it out of him and the trough would pull him under.
As he floated, exhausted in the swirling currents, he heard a sharp pop from above, muffled yelling noises then another series of pops. He let himself rise on another wave. In the second or two he was above water, he saw his Captor sprint towards the sliding door through which he must have entered earlier, holding something in his hand. Another wave covered him and as he sank, he heard more pops.
A gun fight. The man was defending himself from someone. Castle's hopes soared at the thought that it could be the NYPD and Kate, but were dashed when he realized it could be the man's boss come to tie off a lose end.
Regardless, he stretched up a hand hoping someone would take notice of his predicament despite the flying bullets. Desperate for air, he clawed his way upwards only to have another large wave knock him down.
This was it. He was completely spent and felt that he only had enough energy left for one more push to the surface, one more look at the life he was about to leave. He kicked and rose, but could only keep his face above the swirling waterline. He gasped for breath, but only inhaled water. He tried to speak, but his words were doused and came out as gurgles. Through the splashes that hit his face, he saw the silhouette of a woman burst through the sliding door.
It was her. She stopped dead just inside and her eyes met his just before two large waves crashed together and washed over him.
She watched his head slowly disappear then a hand reach up. Then nothing.
She didn't remember tossing her gun aside or stripping off her coat. She just remembered running towards the pool and diving in head first. His waterlogged form hung in the middle far away from the walls that would have been his salvation. His eyes were closed and not a muscle of his twitched except that which was impacted by the currents. She took his face in her hands, covered his mouth with her own and pushed air into his lungs. His eyes blinked open and she pulled him up.
On the surface, she held him to keep him from going down. They stared into each other's eyes with relief, with surprise, with joy and with love. She helped him to the side of the pool, boosted herself out then helped him. He flopped down on the hard surface and she sat next to him, her face hovering over his. Both breathed heavily and glorified in the relief that they were both alive.
"He's dead. We found him and killed him, so don't worry." She explained.
Panic drained out of him. He nodded then looked deep into her eyes as he had when they had floated in the middle of the pool minutes before. Though it hurt his exhausted arms, he reached out and stroked her cheek tenderly.
"You're not a mirage are you?" He asked. "I saw a mirage of you earlier and if you're a mirage, you're not only the most timely, but the most beautiful mirage I've ever seen."
She turned her cheek into his hand and brought her own hand up to cover his. "I'm not a mirage, Castle. I'm the real thing."
"How do I know you're not a mirage telling me that?"
Her eyes lit up with playfulness and she made a split-second decision to ignore the possibility that her colleagues could be watching and would turn the moment into an everlasting source of amusement and embarrassment.
"Because mirages can't do this." She leaned down and sealed her lips to his, letting the currents of passion envelop them both.