Finding Richard Castle – Be Careful What You Wonder
Summary – AU 7x01 – Castle is kidnapped because of something from his past and, yes, this one involves the CIA, but he's not a spy. "… they're gonna sell us... I wonder what I'd be worth." Richard Castle, Cuffed. And I was thinking what would be bittersweet to me, so here it is.
Author's Notes – Okay, so I was watching Cuffed and this plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone. I am borrowing the Derek Storm book title I read in a spoiler. It's going to be one chapter and it is complete. And yeah, I'm a sucker for happy endings. I may expand it later, but my mother-in-law was just diagnosed with fast growing lung cancer so that will probably take up a fair amount of my time in the near future. Come on Monday!
Disclaimer – Don't own Castle – Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. The OCs came out of my imagination.
Be Careful What You Wonder
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"They're not gonna kill us, they're gonna sell us...I'm a bestselling author! I wonder what I'd be worth." Richard Castle, Cuffed.
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Castle wasn't sure how long he'd been here or even where 'here' was anymore. He would go to sleep some nights and then, when he would wake up, the room would be different. Based on the length of stubble on his chin, several days had passed.
And the atmosphere would be different – sometimes warmer, sometimes cooler, sometimes dryer, sometimes more humid.
But wherever 'here' was, it always seemed to be nice – a large suite with a fully stocked bathroom, a library with an excellent selection of books, a gym area, even a laptop with no internet access.
The only thing it didn't have was other people and he found that that put him on edge.
But apparently some faceless someone was watching him, monitoring him. Sometimes, at least once a day, when he went into the bathroom, the door would lock. It would unlock in about 30 minutes and the bed would have been made, clean clothes laying on it, the trash taken out.
He tried going into the bathroom one time without shutting the door, but the door closed automatically after him, so he had no choice in the matter.
Meals arrived 3 times daily via a slot in the wall. They weren't the best of meals, but they weren't the worst either.
When he woke up in the first room after being run off the road and the airbag exploded out at him, knocking him out, he had thought about not eating for a while, but that didn't last too long. If he wanted to get out of here, he needed to keep his strength up.
So he kept a log on the laptop that mainly consisted of "Who the hell are you and why are you keeping me here?"
Therefore, he was extremely shocked one morning (he assumed it was morning because he had just eaten breakfast), when the door opened and a man he had known back in the days when he shadowed the CIA walked in.
Castle stood up quickly, almost knocking the chair over. "Edmund!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Are you the rescue team?"
The man frowned at him slightly and shook his head. "No, not really. But today is auction day, so you won't be with us much longer."
"Auction day?" asked Castle in disbelief. "You're selling me?"
"Well, not you really – what's in your brain," Edmund replied.
"My stories?" Castle asked. "You're selling me for my stories? Hell, you could have bought them on Amazon or at a bookstore for a lot cheaper."
"Oh, don't be so cocky, asshole," said Edmund. "It's not always about you."
"Well, it sure looks that way to me," said Castle.
Edmund shook his head. "But it is about one of your books – Tropical Storm – I'm sure you remember that book."
Castle frowned. "Yeah, Black Pawn said it read too much like a cross between Dr. No and You Only Live Twice, so they dropped the project."
Edmund shrugged with a smirk on his face. "They were just doing what they were told by the company. Doesn't that just gall you? You put your heart and soul into something and it's yanked out from under you with no warning – taken away without justification."
"Wow – do I sense unresolved hostility there?" Castle remarked.
"Just getting what's due me," said Edmund.
Castle frowned and shook his head. "I don't understand what you want."
"It's simple really. That book had a little too much of a US secret base in the Caribbean in it," Edmund explained.
"So?" Castle asked and then thought. "But, then again, if you knew that, you know where the secret base was, so there's something else you want."
Edmund nodded. "Now the light starts to dawn on you. What interested parties will pay top dollar for is how you figured out where the secret base was and if they can use that to find other secret bases."
"So you're selling me to show someone how to do research?" Castle asked incredulously.
"Give the man a gold star," smirked Edmund. "And I can say that the preliminary interest has been very remarkable."
Edmund motioned behind him and two burly men stepped into the room.
"Now, if you'll be so kind to accompany us without any trouble."
Castle stared at the men and then back at Edmund. "You know I won't tell them anything."
Edmund shrugged. "I don't care. I just deliver the merchandise in good condition and get my cut. It's up to the purchaser to find out if the price is justified or not." He leered at Castle. "And some of them can be very persuasive."
The two men pounced on Castle, cuffing his hands in front and putting a burlap sack of his head.
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They didn't go far – to another room in wherever he was being held. Castle felt the handcuffs being attached to something and then the burlap sack was pulled off of his head.
The room he was in was dark – the stillness almost oppressing – and then the bright lights above him came on, momentarily blinding him.
He was in some sort of clear cage almost the size of a phone booth and the lights made it almost impossible to see what was on the outside. His hands were cuffed to the wall in front of him.
When he squinted just so, he could see into the dimly light room that the cage was in and see several shadowy figures standing around.
The intercom sparked to life and the surreal auction began. He had half expected to see a room for full people, sitting, holding up paddles in a civilized manner, or see the room full of curious onlookers, milling about and gawking at him through the glass.
But there was only a large monitor on the wall, with avatars representing whoever was on the other end. The background for the avatar that was currently the highest bidder was shown in white, while all of the backgrounds of all of the others were in black. It was like a strange version of a video game.
"Hey," he tried yelling, pulling against the handcuffs. "You can't do this!"
Finally, one avatar started blinking and he knew that the auction was over.
He stilled, waiting for what was next, but all Edmund did was walk over to the front of the cage and push a button.
Castle started to panic as the cage filled with a white cloud, trying to hold his breath, but to no avail, as he felt the room spin about him. His legs finally gave out and he slumped to the floor, unconscious.
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Castle woke up, back in the same room he had been in, and sat up quickly, looking around in an almost wild panic, ready to try to take out whomever was in the room with him. He definitely wasn't going to go down without a fight.
But the only thing he saw was a note taped to the mirror over the dresser, the items that he had had in his tuxedo jacket on the top.
He stood, walked over to the mirror, and pulled the note off.
'Rick – can't thank you enough for your contribution. The auction made quite a bit of money and It will make life easier for me now that I've retired from the business. Just so you know, the buyer postponed delivery – said you were too radioactive for now – and that he'll take delivery later on. Edmund.'
Castle frowned at what he read and then stuffed the note into his pocket. He picked up his wallet and glanced inside before stuffing it into his pocket also – it still had all of his money it in and his identification. The box with Kate's wedding ring went into the other pocket. He pulled on his watch. It was 5:30, but 5:30 morning or afternoon – and where?
What did it mean? They were going to keep him here indefinitely? Or had this all been some elaborate hoax?
He walked over to the door and slowly tried it, surprised as the handle turned and the door slowly opened.
It was quiet, death fully quiet. He hadn't been aware of it before, but during his time there, he could hear noises in the distance, like being in a hotel, that told him he was not alone.
He slowly walked down the hallway, half expecting someone to jump out from one of the closed doors. He came to a flight of stairs and gingerly walked down them, sticking to the side, heart hammering.
There – across from the stairwell landing – that could be a front door. He carefully leaned forward to see if anyone else was in the area and then, not seeing anyone, took a leap of faith and dashed towards the door.
He was surprised to find that it wasn't locked and quickly opened it and stepped outside into the sunlight for the first time in months.
Castle put a hand up to shield his eyes, glancing around, looking down the long driveway.
Definitely afternoon by the looks of the sun. He stepped off the porch, half expecting to hear guard dogs barking at him and started walking down the driveway and then running.
The mile-long driveway ended onto a street and he assumed that there were other houses in the area, set back just as far.
But what should he do now?
Definitely get away from here as far as possible, his mind yelled at him.
His first instinct was to call the police to come get him, since he knew where the house was, but he also knew by this time that they wouldn't find anything other than his fingerprints. Edmund had packed up his operation and left.
What had the note said – the buyer would take delivery later? Would he be a liability, a danger, to anyone around him when they did?
The bigger, more powerful, overriding instinct was to protect his family – Kate, Martha, and Alexis – at all costs, even if that meant not being with them a while longer.
He knew a guy who knew a guy who contact the CIA – it started with them and he was sure, sort of, probably, that they would help him.
Castle walked out to the main road and then started walking, hitching rides until he came to the first place with a phone where he could make a call.
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Beckett sat at her desk, reading a report, when her phone beeped, indicating that she had gotten a text. She thumbed the phone on, thinking the text was from Martha or Alexis about being late for dinner again and then gasped and almost dropped the phone when she read it.
'Kate, I'm safe. I'm sorry but I can't come back yet. I'm radioactive but I promised I wouldn't do it again without you. Be out front in 5 minutes. Always, RC.'
"Beckett, everything okay?" asked Espo as he looked at her from his desk.
"It's from him – from Castle," she said, looking up at Espo in astonishment. "He said be out front in 5 minutes."
"You are so not doing that – you don't know it's from him," responded Espo.
Beckett smiled softly as she stood and pulled her purse out of her drawer. "But it is."
"Then I'm going with you," said Espo.
She rushed to the elevator, punching the button several times, and then turning to race to the stairwell.
"How do you know it's from Castle?" Espo interrogated as they clunked down to the first floor.
"The things he said – only Castle would say them – would know they meant something special," Beckett replied as they reached the bottom.
She pushed the door open and then race-walked to the front door, stepping out into the light of the setting sun.
Becket scanned the area, not sure what she was searching for, and then finally saw the dark sedan parked across the street, Danberg standing there with a dark bag in his hand.
Beckett laughed at the site and then turned back to Espo, giving him a quick hug. "I'm okay, Javi. We're okay. I don't know when I'll be back, but I'll call you."
Beaming, she walked across the street and got into the waiting car.
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The End