Hide and Seek Affair

by degunther

A case of mistaken identity has the Castle's diving for cover and embroils them in the domestic side of a plot that has international complications.

Hide and Seek Affair

A case of mistaken identity has the Castle's diving for cover and embroils them in the domestic side of a plot that has international complications.

Preamble

Kate cleared the steps of the subway, turned left and walked a couple of steps to get out of the traffic flow and stared to re-assemble the stroller. When the re-assembly was complete she reached up, held up her hands and caught James, her son, who literally jumped from his Dad's to his Mother's arms.

"Got ya Tiger," grinned Kate. "You're definitely a Beckett," she cooed as she strapped him in and adjusted the New York Yankees hat on his head. With a practiced eye she checked her son over. He had got some sun, but not enough to burn. All three adults at the game had seen to that. Finished she looked up at her husband, defiantly wearing his Knicks hat and silently asked for a hand up. Kate wasn't disappointed when the hand up resulted in a hug and brief chaste kiss from Castle. She clung and hugged Castle hard for a moment before disengaging and holding his hand.

Looking back down at James and seeing his smiling face Kate felt like she was on top of the world. When she first looked at the Yankees schedule, this was the first date she circled. A call to her Dad and the day was highlighted on both of their calendars, James first baseball game. As the date neared she had to do some shift shuffling, but she had it, her first not on-call day in six weeks. She and her Dad had already attended several games this year, many with Castle, but none with James.

Kate had wanted her son's first game to be a non-weekend day game, and this game in mid-May fit the bill perfectly. It was the first weekend starter special for the Yankees and the second game of an important four game series with the league leading Orioles. The ticket stub could be used for discounts at a lot of restaurants and most Broadway shows. The one PM start was ideal, and the weather was perfect. Game time temperature was in the low eighties, with a light breeze blowing out to the short porch in right. The high sky was no problem for the fans but made it interesting for the outfielders on even the most routine plays.

After making the usual stop to buy Game Day Programs, the elder James hijacked the party and led them into the gift shop where he proceeded to buy his namesake a hat, jacket, sweat shirt and pants, a baseball jersey, and a rally towel. Kate put her foot down when her Dad tried to buy a bat, glove and ball combo. Kate took a picture of James's wide-eyed and full of wonder expression as Castle carried him to their seats, neither the noise nor the mass of strange people seemed to bother him, and by the end of the game the crowd and the noise bothered him not at all.

After the Anthem, James settled easily into his Mother's lap. And like the Yankees bats he fell asleep from the third inning on. He woke up at the start of the seven inning stretch and had a snack, feed to him by his Dad and was actually holding his rally towel when the Yanks won the game in the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off three run home run.

Chapter 1 Days off could be Hazardous to your Health

Kate latched onto Castle's arm and laid her head on his shoulder as they strolled towards the Loft. They had gotten off the subway a stop late, Spring Street instead of Canal. 'It's a little longer walk, but worth it,' thought Kate. They planned to stop at the ice cream place near the playground on Thompson Street before they went home. Kate thought today had been a perfect day. 'The weather's nice and the company…perfect,' she thought as they leisurely strolled down the street. She had spent the wonderful afternoon with the three men that meant the most to her. 'I mean what could be better than seeing a come from behind Yankees win in the ninth on a beautiful spring day with My Guys,' she thought? 'Well maybe getting a foul ball. You would think that considering all of the games my Dad and I have seen one of us would have caught a foul ball. Maybe James will be our good luck charm. She looked up at Castles profile and his Knicks hat and smiled at all of the good natured ribbing he took today. Their Yankee Stadium seat neighbors were true die-hard Yankee fans and for them another team or sport didn't exist during baseball season. When he turned his head and smiled Kate squeezed his arm. He didn't say a word. 'He doesn't need to,' thought Kate. 'We're together and walking with our son on a beautiful spring day. Nothing else matters or needs to be said.'

"Castle," said Kate pointing to the park coming up on the other side of the street. "Babe we need to cross."

The park was a shortcut to the ice cream store and was at the peak of its spring beauty. The green of the grass and the waving of the green leaves in the trees combined with the whites, reds, yellow, and blue of the flowers to form a colorful oasis in the city. In the distance they could hear the laughter of children at play. The sudden shade caused by the trees cooled them. The path they were on led to the central fountain and from there they would take the diagonal path to their left that bordered the kids play area and came out of the left side of the park. From there they only had to cross the street and ice cream would be theirs' for the having.

As they neared the fountain Kate heard her son start to fuss and bent down to see what was the matter. Kate flinched when she heard the distinctive sound of a high velocity round pass just over her head and ricochet on the walk behind her. Both she and Castle froze for a moment.

"Split-up," yelled Castle as he picked up the stroller and sprinted into the trees on the right. Kate looked after her guys hesitated then sprinted toward the trees on her left. Just before she hit the tree line she jogged to her left to increase the range and put on an additional burst of speed. She thought she saw a puff of dirt off to her right. Just as she went into a slide to slide down a small hill she heard a bullet hit a tree. A quick glance showed it hit about mid torso high and just to her right. Kate slid down the hill and rolled behind a tree. She was confident that the elevation change offered by the small hill hid her from the shooter.

After catching her breath she reached into her pocket, pulled her phone out and speed dialed Castle. Kate let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when a wonderful voice answered. "I know you hard core Yankees fans don't really like the Knicks during baseball season, but enough is enough."

"Babe," breathed Kate. Hearing Castle's voice was good enough but a joke. That meant he really was okay.

"Call it in Kate. I'm not going to name names but one of us is a little stinky. Outside of that were fine."

"Babe…"

"Game face Detective. We can compare notes when the cavalry arrives."

"I love you Babe."

"Ditto"

'Ditto,' thought Kate as she broke the connection and speed dialed dispatch. "No one says ditto anymore," she said out loud.

"Dispatch, I'm Sargent Kate Beckett badge number 41319 and I'm currently taking fire at the Thompson Street Playground in Soho. The nature of the fire is from a rifle so approach with caution." By the time Beckett had answered all of the questions she could hear sirens.

"Sargent," said one of the dispatchers, "Those sirens are for you, a couple of Blue and Whites and a SWAT unit. SWAT was heading back to their barn and was only a couple of blocks away. Captain Peterson says to stay put and don't come out of whatever rabbit hole you're in until his people get there. Also be advised that your Captain and several Detectives from the 12th are in route."

"Copy," replied Beckett, the euphoria of this perfect afternoon gone. Kate was suddenly glad that she and her family were still alive.
"All-le, all-le in free," yelled Castle a little bit later. "Kate we can stop playing Hide-and-Seek now. The cavalry is here."

'I'm going to kill that man,' thought Kate. 'Right after I hug and kiss him. Maybe I'll hug and kiss him to death.'

Captain Peterson watched Detective Beckett hug and kiss her family and as she turned towards him he saw her expression change. Gone was the Mother's gentle smile and touch. Gone was the playful twinkle in the eyes of a loving wife. These expressions were replaced by something harder, something colder, and something more primal. Detective Beckett's persona as a Huntress was firmly in place and the Captain was glad that he was on her side.

"Sir," said Beckett as she greeted the SWAT Captain. "Was anyone hurt?"

"No, thank God and your Captain made it pretty clear that her house was going to run this investigation. A couple of my boys think that the shots could only have come from one of those two buildings," he said pointing to the only two building that had a clear look of the fountain. "They took a couple of Uniforms a piece and went to look."

Beckett watched as the Captain scanned her appearance. She knew that he noticed her lack of credentials and her weapon. "My first not on-call day in six weeks Sir," she offered. "We just got back from the Yankees game and were just cutting through the park on our way for some ice cream."

"It's been my experience that the most dangerous times are days off," chuckled Captain Peterson. "The most dangerous activity is taking short cuts, and the most dangerous place is parking lots. Ah," he continued turning to face towards the street end of the walkway. "It looks like Captain Gates and her troops have arrived."

"I guess we're lucky our short-cut wasn't across a parking lot," quipped Beckett with a hint of a smile as she turned to face her Captain. "Two-out-of-three almost killed us."

Captain Peterson swallowed his laughter as Captain Gates approached.

"Captain, Detective," said Captain Gates.

"We're fine Sir," said Beckett answering the unasked question. "Captain Peterson said that no one was hurt so we were lucky."

"We know the drill," said Castle. "So who gets Kate and who gets James. I'm just here as his interpreter you know."

"Sometimes bro" grinned Esposito. "Kate we know you love the man, but sometimes we think he is one big trouble magnet. "

"Maybe, but this time Javier I think I was the target."

When Beckett finished walking through her observations with Ryan she looked to see Esposito talking with Greg Napierkowski and Tom Bankowski, Captain Peterson's shooters up near the fountain. The 'skis' were famous for their professionalism, competiveness, accuracy, and practical jokes. 'They must have found the perch,' thought Kate. 'Where's Castle?'

Beckett and Ryan headed back to the fountain from the hill that Kate had slid down. In addition to Esposito and the two 'skis' at the fountain were several Uniformed Officers and the two Captains. Turning her head to the left she spied Castle walking slowly toward them, apparently from the ice cream shop. The bag in his hand was ample evidence, but the telltale remains of chocolate on James face were just too much for Kate.

"Castle I can't believe you went without me."

"Well we came for ice cream. Here," he said as he opened the bag, pulled out the ice cream cup and fed Kate a spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

"…..we need to pull our cases for the last couple of years and see who has been release on parole," said Esposito.

"You can, but I don't think that's going to be of much help," said Castle as he fed Kate another spoonful of ice cream, this time from the strawberry side of the cup.

"Why do you say that," asked Ryan?
"Yeah Castle," asked Kate right before he fed her another spoonful of vanilla.

"Did you find the perch?"

"Yeah," said Greg. "It was on the far building."

"Field of view," said Castle feeding Kate another spoonful of strawberry.

"From about twenty yards in front of the fountain to the end of the street. Why?"

"Range?" Vanilla this time for Kate.

"Three hundred and forty-seven yards to the front edge of the fountain."

"How much time do you think he spent searching for it?" The spoon, this time, brought strawberry ice cream to Kate's lips.

"A couple of days probably."

"So those yellow streamers are range markers and the different lengths of blue streams are for wind." Strawberry again.

"Yeah"

"How long do you think it took to do this" asked Castle pointing at the streamers? Kate reached and grabbed the ice cream cup out of Castle's hand. His assertion about the cases not being germane and the point of his questions finally reached her.

"At least an hour."

"I will admit," said Castle, "That we come to this park quite often. Not quite every day but in fact pretty close. Kate when was the last time we used that entrance?"

"More than six months ago."

"And when did we decide to use it today?"

"On our way back from the Yankees game, I don't know maybe an hour ago now."

"You guys weren't the target," blurted Ryan.

Castle touched the tip of his noise with his finger.

"Another family is in danger," concluded Captain Gates.

Castle, again, touched the tip of his noise with his finger.

"We need to see if there are cameras covering that entry and pull the video for the past week or so," said Beckett. "Espo you and Ryan grab some Uniforms and do the right side. I'll do the left."

"Missus Castle aren't you forgetting something," asked Captain Gates in a quiet voice?

Kate stepped dead in her tracks. Captain Gates had only called her Missus Castle once. And that was right after they announced their marriage in the Bull-pen.

"You're on your day off," she gently supplied to Kate's puzzled expression. "Spend the time with your family. We can handle this."

"I forgot," Kate said apologetically to Castle.

"I understand. Getting shot at could drive a lot of things from your mind," Castle responded in a soft tone. "And there's another family that probably doesn't know it's been targeted. You want them out of harm's way, don't you?"

Kate looked at her husband and nodded.

"Castle you may be right about the previous cases, but we are going to look at them anyway," said Captain Gates.

"I'd appreciate it Sir," Castle said solemnly.

Kate looked at her Dad's watch, "We better head home. I got a felling we're going to busy tomorrow."

"Your solo tomorrow love," said Castle.

"Solo? Oh, that's right Amy is taking an extra shift at the hospital today so she can make the class tomorrow. Speaking of Amy, you promised to cook for us tonight. What are we having?"

"Tonight I'm teaching Amy how to use a wok, and the secret to a good ginger sauce."

Kate looked down at James. During the whole session he had remained silent and the expression on his face was one of concentration. "Come on Tiger," Kate said in a voice she reserved for James. Kate moved behind the stroller and started to push. "Something tells me you're going to need a bath before dinner."

The Agent in the Park

United States Marshal Edward Kellogg came up short when he saw members of the NYPD had blocked off the entrance to the Thompson Street Playground. He was a couple of minutes late and if his people were a couple of minutes early they could ….

He needed to know if his charges were involved. If so he needed to take charge of the situation immediately. On the other hand if he charged in and they weren't involved he would leave a trail and draw attention to him and the park, and that was something he didn't want to do. 'Low profile' meant 'No profile,' to Marshal Kellogg and that's what made him one of the best in the Witness Protection Business. But he still needed to know.

"Officer Timmins is it," he asked one of the Officers manning the barricade, "Why is the park blocked off?"

"A disturbance in the park Sir, nothing to be concerned about. We're just need to keep the public out until CSU finishes up. It shouldn't be too much of a wait." Marshal Carter saw the Officer give him the onceover and saw that his eyes linger on the bulge under his left armpit.

"U.S. Marshal," offered Ed slowly opening his jacket to make the weapon readily visible. "Same line of business different boss," he added. "Professional curiosity, I was wondering if I could be of service."

"Right now it is a local matter, some sniper took a pot shot at an off-duty Detective. Luckily neither she, her husband nor their baby son was injured."

The Marshal's heart stopped for a moment. 'That sounds like by people, the Duncan's,' he thought, Father, Mother and small child. 'Were the Duncan's targeted and did the Detective's family inadvertently spring the trap?'

"You could always display your badge walk on up and see if they need your help," offered the other Uniformed Officer manning the barricade.

"And be accused of trying to steal a case," said the Marshal shaking his head no. 'I'd rather eat dinner with my ex-wife, less painful even though I know I will be stuck with the check. If it's a local matter you guys can handle it. Looks like I take the long way around. "'I need to learn more,' he thought. 'I need to find a place where I can collect some intel before I go back to my supervisor's and the Duncan's. I need to find out if they've been compromised.'

'This is the place,' he thought once he spotted the SWAT vehicle, several Blue & Whites, and several unmarked Police cars. 'Those vultures make it official,' he thought noticing the two television news vans with uplink antennas deployed. The raised uplink antennas are as sure a sign of trouble as vultures overhead in the old west,' he concluded.

"Life is good," he verbalized when he noticed an empty park bench within eavesdropping distance of the unmarked vehicles and a street-vendor across the street. Returning with a hot dog, a large soft pretzel and a large bottle of water he settled in to perform his surveillance. 'Don't take too long,' he prayed. 'I may have to go to the bath room soon."

In a short while his patience was rewarded, as a group of people in civilian clothes, SWAT uniforms and other Uniformed Officers exited the park and headed toward the vehicles. 'The man is too tall and broad to be Alexander,' he thought. 'A child in a stroller is a child in a stroller,' he continued, 'and the woman is about the same height, same lean body type, but not a match for Tanya. My guys are safe.' He continued watching as Kate put her hair back into a pony tail, put on her New York Yankees baseball cap and put on her big sunglasses. 'Oh my GOD,' he thought. Dressed like that she could be mistaken for Tanya. I need to move by people now!'

"I know you guys live close by," said a medium height black woman, "and Mister Castle may be right about that the cases, but I'm not going to ignore a possible threat to one of my Detectives. Stevens could you and your partner give Detective Beckett and Castle a ride home. Detective I'm going to put a detail on you."

"Sure thing Captain," replied a female Officer.

"The detail's not necessary Sir."

"It stays, at least for tonight," she affirmed.

"Castle and Beckett," verbalized the Marshal, "I wonder…"

"Captain Gates," shouted a reporter. "Is there something you can tell us?"

"So you're Captain Gates," he verbalized as he watched the black woman who gave the instructions to the Officers move towards the knot of reports.

Pulling out his phone he texted 'Beckett, Castle and Gates' to his office phone, called his charges and suggested that they stay in for tonight, and the last call was to the Chief Inspector of Witness Protection requesting a meeting. There was sufficient evidence to conclude that his people had been compromised and they needed to be relocated immediately.

At the Loft

Castle was more than just a little worried about his wife. They both knew she had 'issues' with snipers and despite the therapy she had, Kate still needed Esposito's help to put it to bed. Kate had beaten it, but Castle was still worried. He was feverishly praying that Kate wouldn't have a relapse.

All through dinner prep, dinner with Amy and the reading ritual to put James to sleep Kate was acting like Kate and Castle's fears subsided. Still a night watching television and cuddling with Kate just to be on the safe side seemed in order. Just as the movie ended Kate shivered and recovered.

"Kate?"

"I'm okay, just remembered the worst and best time of my life."

Castle nodded his understanding. They had had this conversation before. The worst time for Kate was right after she had been shot and was lying on the ground thinking she might die. The best time was when the man she secretly loved had told her that he loved her. Kate had told him much much later that those three words,' I Love You' had given her the will to live.

"Come on Castle," said Kate as she got off of the couch and pulled Castle to his feet. "I think we have a duet to practice in the shower."

Halfway to the shower Castle stopped and spun Kate around and looked into her eyes. The only thing he saw was his Kate.

"Worried about me," she asked meekly? "The sniper?"

"No, I mean yes."

"Good, but I'm okay. I'm okay for two reasons. I KNOW that I'm not alone and I KNOW that I'm LOVED. With that knowledge I can face anything."

Castle pulled Kate into a gentle but meaningful kiss, and later that night, the duet was perfect.

Chapter 2 Saturday is for throwing Small Rocks that cause Big Ripples.

The next morning Beckett exited the front of their apartment building and waved to the detail across the street. She pointed back at the parking garage and pantomimed holding onto a steering wheel and driving to work. The lights on the detail's car flashed. Beckett waved and headed back into the foyer.

"Charades Missus C," asked Tom their doorman.

"It beats trying to cross the street this time of the morning," Beckett responded with a smile.

'Technology is a great thing," thought Becket. Using the NYPD data base they had been able to compile a list of those cases that Beckett worked on as a Detective. From those cases they were able to create a listing of people that had been convicted and sentenced to prison. Comparing that list to list of current inmates resulted in five names. They excluded Bracken, who they knew was still in federal prison, and did checks on the other four. None of them was of the hard core criminal type. All had been released early on good behavior and all of them were living on Manhattan.

The 'Boys' took two and Kate the other two. Beckett's first stop was a Florist Shop in Midtown. Beckett consulted the sheet, according to the paperwork Susan Dumfry, who had killed her roommate over a boyfriend, owned the place.

Beckett walked into the store and was impressed. It was fairly large shop and in an excellent location, and like most flower shops, the smell was wonderful.

"A read about it in the paper this morning," said a small lithe blond in her early thirties from behind the counter. "I didn't think you would be around though."

"I have to check. Where were you yesterday at the time of the shooting?"

"Here, my employees can vouch for me. Look Detective I don't own a gun and shooting someone isn't my style."

"It's not," Kate agreed. "You seem to be doing well."

"I am, and that's another reason why I wouldn't even think of doing it. Can I interest you in a fresh bouquet? "

"I'm not a fresh cut flower person, but if you have something alive and can thrive in my husband's office then we may have a deal." A few minutes late Beckett was walking out of the flower shop with a small Jade plant, plant food and tips on how to keep this hardy and beautiful plant alive.

Her next stop was in at a downtown law office where she was met by James Collins. Kate remembered the case vividly. James had killed a guy in a drunken bar fight over a trivia question.

"Good morning Detective," he called out. "When I read about the attack I figured you would be by. I told my boss and he told me to bring you right up."

James' boss was clear and unambiguous. He was happy to have James as a paralegal, and yesterday from two-thirty to four o'clock they both were in the same client meeting, and that fact was clearly shown on their time cards. Beckett considered the alibi to be rock solid. As a child she had heard much about the sacredness of a lawyer's time card from her Mother and Father.

After returning to her car, Beckett's call to Esposito and Ryan revealed they had the same result. After agreeing to meet them for lunch at 'Misty Blue, she called her guys. Satisfied they were behaving themselves in Amy's absence, Beckett headed for her lunch date convinced that a family was in jeopardy and she and the boys had an afternoon of video watching in front of them.

The trio of Detectives had barely made it back form lunch when a call came in. They had caught a case. Apparently a man had walked into a bank in Chelsea and dropped dead. The local security guard saw the bullet holes and had called it in. The video watching session to spot the family in peril would have to wait.

When Beckett arrived at the crime scene she did not see an ME vehicle and was absolutely shocked at the lack of a perimeter and people still entering and exiting the bank. After parking her cruiser she made sure her badge was properly displayed and approached the two Uniformed Officers standing near the door. "Get some tape and create a perimeter. We can't have civilians contaminating our crime scene. "

"But the manager …."

"Does not control the crime scene, we do," snapped Beckett.

"Yes Ma'am," they chirped and moved to comply.

After exiting the interior set of double doors Beckett veered to her left and walked toward the body. Apparently the victim had made it a good thirty feet inside the bank before collapsing. Beckett tried to keep her anger in check as she looked down at the blood splatters on the marble floor that had been already smeared by the shoes of the banks customers.

Beckett headed towards the four poles and red ropes the bank had used to protect the body. When she got near she saw the handkerchief someone had use to try to preserve the victims dignity by covering his face, and concluded that someone in the bank had tried to do something right. Protecting the body and trying to shoo away the onlookers was a heavy-set black man in his early fifties. To Beckett's eye he carried himself like he had been on the job. "Do I know you?"

"No Detective, I did my thirty at the 57th."

"Beckett," said Kate.

"Thomas," replied the guard.

"First or last, yours," asked Beckett pointing at the handkerchief as she put on her evidence gloves.

"Last, yeah," he shrugged.

Beckett undid the rope, moved the pole out of the way and knelt near the body. Four shots center mass; all of them near the heart were enough to convince Beckett that this was a murder. Beckett turned on her voice recorder and provided commentary as she emptied the victims' pockets and put the contents into the evidence bags.

"Officer Thomas, please take the poles and rope and move to provide more space around the body. None of the ME's like an audience when they work in the field."

"This one doesn't like an audience in her lab either, but that doesn't stop Castle. Speaking of the man, where is he and everyone else for that matter."

"Hey Lanie," said Kate as she turned back to look at her friend. "Castle's got Daddy duty today. Javier and Kevin had to make a fuel stop. So they'll be here in a couple of minutes."

Lanie put on her evidence gloves knelt down and joined Kate beside the body. "Unless something extremely interesting shows up when I get him on the table I would guess that he died as a result of the gunshots. I'd imagine that the Officer…."

"Thomas….Thirteen twenty-two, Doctor."

"….Could tell you the time of death."

"Good group," observed Beckett. "I don't see any burns or residue."

"I'll check, but I think you're right. This wasn't done at close range."

"Not a nine millimeter."

"Right," agreed Lanie." Either a ten or a forty-five. Anything in his pockets? "

"Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Satchel?"

"Haven't looked."

"What else do you see Detective."

Beckett looked at her friend and nodded. "He's slightly below average height, and appears to be in excellent shape. It looks like he carries a lot more mass than one would think. His hands have calluses in places normally consistent with a martial artist. He is very well dressed, high thread count cotton shirt, custom made shoes, designer suit, and a silk tie. The suit is a Dolce&Gabbana, and those appear to be handmade shoes" said Kate as she pulled back the jacket enough to read the label and pointed at the victims feet. "I know what Castle pays for a Dolce&Gabbana tuxedo and his shoes so this guy obviously has money."

"Anything else," said Lanie pointing at the victims hands.

"No signs of defensive wounds. So he was probably caught out in the open. Lanie with wounds like that, how far could he have walked?"

"No more than half a block would be my guess. But as you said this guy was in pretty good shape."

"So this guy was shot, silently, on the busy sidewalk outside stumbled in here after walking around for a bit and nobody saw a thing?"

"The killer did sweetie," offered Lanie. "All you need to do is find and ask him."

"Thanks," said Beckett as she pulled the satchel to her and opened it. To Beckett's eyes it was filled with paper, maybe three inches thick. "Lithuanian bearer bonds," Beckett said softly to Lanie as she freed one of the pieces of paper from the stack, "In the amount of two-hundred and fifty thousand litai issued by the National Bank of Lithuania. A whole lot of bearer bonds."

When Beckett stood up and turned around she was almost nose-to-nose with and angry man. "Is that really necessary, " he sputtered gesturing to the entryway that was marked with the 'Crime Scene' tape? "I'm the manager of this bank and will call the Mayor if I need to in order to get that removed."

"That is entirely necessary, ah Mister Greene," responded Beckett reading the well-dressed man's nametag. "That tape will stay in place until the ME removes the body. Is that clear?"

"I'm only going to need twenty more minutes' sweetie," chimed in Lanie.

"As far as the Mayor is concerned," Beckett continued in a level voice, "when you talk to him assuming of course you get past his Chief-of-Staff on a Saturday, please tell him that Kate Beckett say's 'Hi' and he should stop trying to fill and inside straight. You see Bob has been coming to my husband's place to play cards on the first Thursday night of the month since before he was Mayor."

"I…I…", sputtered Mister Greene.

"..am going to do everything I can to help with your investigation Detective. Right?"

"Okay….." he nodded. "What do you need."

"Just a couple of things, first the video covering this entry-way and the video covering the sidewalk."

"Okay, Officer Thomas?"

"I'll have it for you Detective."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. I need your help and placing a value on these," she said as she pulled out one of the bearer bonds.

"We need to go to my office."

"Sure, Lanie when the boys arrive."

"I'll send them back."

"Has she ever taken a prisoner," asked a chuckling Officer Thomas as he and Lanie watched Beckett follow Mister Greene to his office.

"Once," said Lanie with a smile. "And she ended up marring him."

While Mister Greene was doing his research Esposito and Ryan showed up. Beckett updated them on her theory of the crime and directed the guys to start the Uniforms on a canvass of the business on the street and pull any external video. She also asked them to get a Warrant and search the victims place.

"Detective," said Mister Greene, "Even though the litai has been replaced by the euro as the primary currency for Lithuania those bearer bonds are still valid and are pegged to the last exchange rate. Which means that each one of the bonds is worth in excess of twenty-five thousand U.S. Dollars. A stack that thick has to be worth well over two million dollars."

"Traceability?"

"Absolutely none."

"Mister Greene there is another thing you can do for me."

"Let me guess, does the deceased have accounts or a safe deposit box with us?"

"Yes. Just a yes or no answer. If he does I'll get a Warrant for the data and the contents. I need to keep everything clean. His name was John H. Carter." As she was spelling it out all she could think about was the Edgar Rice Burroughs character.

"Yes and yes Detective."

Beckett looked at her Dad's watch then back at Mister Greene. "We close at two-thirty on Saturday and that's …"

"… In less than ten minutes. So it looks like I will be seeing you on Monday."

"Yes, Detective I need to apologize for…."

"Accepted," said Beckett quickly. "You got a business to run and I've got a job to do. Sometimes they come in conflict."

"Thanks, and does the Mayor really?"

"Yes," laughed Kate. "All the guys sitting at the table are pretty well-off and the value of the chips they play for is penny, nickel, and dime. Ten bucks down is a huge loss, twenty bucks up a phenomenal night. They play for fun, to relax, to think and most importantly of all to exchange ideas without fear of reading about it in the press. They all know that while they're playing they do not have to be politically correct or weigh the effect of every word. They can speak their minds without attribution. You'd be surprised what types of business is resolved and plans hatched there. I just wish that they could hold that type of free discussion in the open and not have some analyst criticize and scrutinize every bad idea and statement made and rejected."

"Let me walk you out."

Officer Thomas got up from behind his desk as Beckett and Mister Greene approached. "Sargent Gipson is waiting for you at your vehicle Sargent. He has all the videos from the block for you, along with the brass one of the Officers found. "

"Thanks, it looks like I will be seeing you gentlemen on Monday, and that stuff," said Beckett pointing to the small bottle of cleaner that Lanie obviously had left behind, "will get the blood out of anything."

Just as Officer Thomas had said, two Officers were waiting in a Blue and White parked behind her vehicle. They got out as she approached. "Sargent Gipson thanks for taking charge and coordinating this video care package."

The Sargent nodded. The hash marks on his sleeve denotes his years of service were ample indication that this wasn't his first rodeo. "Hopeful there is something of value here."

"Let me guess, nobody saw or heard anything."

"Got it in one."

When Beckett arrived back at the 12th Esposito and Ryan were already there and annotating the murder board. "Anything at the victim's apartment?"

"Roses, daisies and tulips," quipped Esposito. "The address belongs to a park."

"The license?"

"Renewed earlier this year," said Ryan. "We checked that address was an apartment building five years ago. They had a fire and the owner didn't repair."

"He took the insurance money and ran," added Esposito.

"So the city took the property, demolished it and put a park in its place," said Kate. Eliminating neglected and abandoned buildings had been one of the Mayors principle campaign promises. "So this guy probably isn't Mister John H. Carter," offered Beckett.

The end of day case review was short and to the point.

At the Loft

Even though it was warm evening in late May the Castle's had the fireplace on in their conversation pit. Castle didn't care. The rest of the lights were out and he absolutely loved what the flickering light did for Kate's face and hair.

"We could ask Julie," said Castle as they gently swayed to the soft jazz.

"Let's stay in tonight," husked Kate. "I kind of like the way this night is heading. Besides its middle-school prom night and Julie is at a 'Left Behind' party. " She put a finger on Castle's lips as his face started to twitch. "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave that unsaid."

"How about I say this instead," he whispered as he leaned in to share a kiss.

"A dare you to say that again," Kate breathed in Castle's ear. Just as their lips meet the doorbell rang. Kate shook her head no to the unasked question. Hustling to Castle's office they activated the feed from the wireless camera Castle had installed to cover the doorway.

"Two men in suits," verbalized Castle. "They look like Fed types."

"Stall them till I get ready," said Kate as she ran towards the bedroom.

"I'm coming," said Castle when the doorbell rang the second time, even though he knew they couldn't hear him. Arriving at the door he slowly fumbled with the locks.

"Babe," Kate called out, under handing him his combat baton and reading her weapon. Castle stuffed the baton in his back pocket and opened to the door to the full width allowed by the chain.

"Gentlemen?"

"I'm U.S. Marshal Kellogg and this is Special Agent Lloyd of the FBI. May we come in?"

"Hand me your credentials please Gentlemen."

"Hopefully that won't be necessary," said a third voice. "Remember me Mister Castle?"

"Darnell Beach, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the NYC office. I remember you Sir. How well do you know these people?"

"I met them for the first time around sixteen hundred today when the Director called and said I should take the meeting,"

"What did you shot," asked Castle noticing the Special Agent was wearing a sport coat over a polo shirt.

"Only my third time out this year and I was at seventy-nine through sixteen. Seventeen was a par three and eighteen a par four."

"Nice. These guys?"

"Are who they say they are. I'm clueless about their handicap," he continued with a wry smile.

Castle closed the door unhooked the chain and reopened the door. "Before I invite you in, Marshal or should I say Inspector Kellogg could you please take your Star out of its holder and hand it to me?"

"What's the point," asked Special Agent Lloyd? "Special Agent Beach has confirmed our identities."

"The point is I'm still unconvinced, and should you barge uninvited into our home Kate, who is standing out of sight will probably shoot you dead."

"And he did say please," Kate chimed in.

"Patience," chuckled Special Agent Beach. "They have reason to be cautious. After all, this is Castle's…castle."

"It's there Mister Castle," said the Marshal as he watched Castle examine the back of the badge. "My only question is how do you know what to look for?"

"Ah Marshal, didn't you know I was a Marshal in a previous life? Love if this is a fake then they got all the details right," said Castle as he handed the Marshal his badge back. "Come in gentlemen."

As each of the agents walked in they glanced at Kate who was in the process of stowing her weapon.

"Is that how you treat all your guests," grossed Agent Lloyd.

"No," answered Kate. "Just those that I don't recognize and show up on my doorstep with concealed weapons."

"Point," said Agent Beach. No one dared to comment about the combat baton that was clearly visible in Castle's back pocket.

"Can I offer you guys something to drink'" said Castle as he lead them toward the counter top. "We don't do coffee after seven anymore so I would have to make that. I don't think this is a social call so anything in the alcohol domain is out. We do have bottled water, ice tea, lemonade, I'm pretty sure James wouldn't mind sharing his apple juice and the only soda we have is ginger ale."

"How about an Arnold Palmer," asked Agent Beach?

"Fifty-fifty?"

"Yeah."

"Guys?"

"The same."

"Yeah sure"

"Kate?"

"A bottle of water for me, I think an Arnold Palmer would clash with the wine we had with dinner." As Castle fixed the drinks Kate opened a can of mixed nuts, poured the contents into three bowls, distributed them to their guests and took her seat beside her husband.

"What's this all about," asked Castle once the drinks had been served and sampled.

"I'm here to perform a third party introduction," said Agent Beach. "I think I've done that. Ed, Pete your up."

"What have you discovered about the shooting in the park yesterday," asked Marshal Kellogg?

"Well," started Castle as he reached toward Kate who quickly snagged his hand. "The first shot occurred when we were almost adjacent to the three-hundred and sixty yard marker. It was the consensus of the SWAT shooters and Detective Esposito that if Kate hadn't dropped to a knee and moved to be in front of James then the shot probably would have stuck home. The next two shots were a different matter."

Castle paused, took a drink of his plain ice tea and continued. "Again the guys think that the shooter wasn't that experienced and explain the misses due to the shooter miss-dialing the wind."

"That could explain all of the wind socks," verbalized the Marshal.

"Yes," agreed Castle. "We don't know what he was aiming at, but it appeared that the last two shots were short and to the right. "

"Which means that he misgauged the crosswind component and didn't realize he had a headwind," said Agent Lloyd.

"Or he was unfamiliar with the ballastics," agreed Castle," and I'm not complaining."

"The most important thing that we learned," said Beckett in a clear and calm tone, "was that we weren't the planned target of the attack."

The two agents exchanged glances then looked at Agent Beach. "When did you determine that," asked Agent Beach.

"Yesterday, while we were still in the park," said Beckett. "That's why we collected the videos from the stores that had cameras covering that entrance to the park."

"I'm going to need the videos," blurted Marshal Kellogg.

"Only if you can assure me that the family is safe," replied Beckett.

Marshal Kellogg nodded his understanding, "The family is no longer in NYC."

"Good, do you really need the videos, or is my destroying them good enough?"

"That will work, but I also need to know who viewed them."

"Easy, no one, we caught a case before we started."

"Anything on the shooter," asked Agent Lloyd.

"Nothing, except the bullets he left in the tree and the dirt."

"The fact that the shooter mistook you for the family is why we are here," said Marshal Kellogg. "What we want is for you to take the family's place on their afternoon walks so that we can smoke out the shooter and find out who he's working for."
"Just Kate and me right," asked Castle?

"No we need the entire family. You two by your selves would not attract the shooters attention. It was obvious from the attack in the park."

"Are you sure we need to include James," asked Kate?

"Yes, he completes the image. I mean you guys are perfect," gushed Agent Lloyd. "We checked on your record. You've demonstrated that you can function in a crisis. You have numerous citations for valor, a lot of them with your husband by your side. You both know procedures. Will fit you with body armor and we'll…"

"No," said Kate who had locked eyes with Castle.

"Not going to happen," agreed Castle.

"…put you on the net…What?"

"No Deal," confirmed Kate.

"Detective you have no idea how important this is to this country."

"Always is," said Castle.

"Listen the President personally met them when they entered the country. And continues to take a personal interest in their well-being."

"And their safe," emphasized Kate, "Because you moved them out of the City, right?"

"We still need to find out who's behind this."

"Then investigate. Our answer is still no."

"I will go to the President if I have to," said Marshal Kellogg.

"Give our regards to the Admiral," said Kate. "Tell him that we enjoyed our stay over Christmas and we're looking forward to the Fourth-of-July barbecue and watching the fireworks from the White House lawn."

"Oh, and if you see the First Lady casually drop into the conversation that her two biggest fans in NYC are suffering from a severe case of fudge withdraw," added Castle.
The three agents exchanged glances. "Detective, Mister Castle, I can't emphasize enough how important this is to the nation."

"You've already said that," said Castle. "But you really haven't given us a compelling reason."

"Come on guys, you can guess it's classified. I would tell you if I could but I can't," complained Agent Lloyd.

"I don't understand your reluctance to do your duty," said the Marshal. "If the prospect of facing danger scares you then you should quit the force."

Kate slammed Castle's hand back down on the counter as he tried to bolt up. "Gentlemen you have overstayed your welcome. It's time you left."
"Detective I'm…"

"Leave," shouted an irate Castle!

"Kate, Rick," said Agent Beach softly. "Why?"

Kate looked at Castle. His face was still too contorted to speak. "You don't get it do you? You're asking us to do something we've never done before and something we're never going to do. You've asked as to intentionally put our son's life at risk."

"But you would be the principle target," added Marshal Kellogg.

"Shit happens," mumbled an angry Castle.

"It's the parent's duty," said Kate. "To protect and nourish their children, not endanger them. It's a sacred duty, and you are asking us to disregard that. We can't do it. We aren't going to do it."

"It's our job," said a noticeably calmer Castle," to protect our kids, and to educate them. We need to teach them morals, and give them the framework and the confidence so that they can make their own decisions. Who knows, ten years from now James may decide to join us in a situation like this. If he does I don't know what I'm going to do, but right now he can't talk. He can't make a conscious decision so we are making it for him. He's out! Now get out of my house," said Castle the anger in his voice still obvious!

Kate scurried to the front door and ushered her silent guests out. When she returned to the counter-area, Castle was still sitting. His eyes were open, but it was clear that he wasn't seeing anything.

"Babe?" No response. Kate moved behind her husband and hugged him from behind, hard. It took a while but finally Castle reached up and touched his wife's arm. "I guess we won't be exchanging Christmas cards with them anytime soon."
"Not that we were to begin with," commented Kate. "I think I'm the one who should be furious. The Marshal's comment was aimed at me."

"They wanted me to hazard my… our son. Then they insulted my wife, my partner my…Yeah I'm pissed." Castle let out a huge sigh, scooted his chair back and invited Kate to sit on his lap. A long moment later Kate looked down at the grim expression still on her husband's face. 'That wouldn't due. Not at all. Especially for a Saturday night.' She reached down and gently lifted Castle's chin.

"In the other room you started to say something before we got interrupted. Ah, now I remember. It was this", as Kate leaned down to share a kiss."

Kate quickly broke off the kiss and looked down at Castle. "Babe, what's wrong."

"Sorry love, I was thinking about James. About what I would do if he said he wanted to join us on something like this."

"If he's underage then no, he can't join us." Kate saw the look on Castle's face, "Oh my GOD you would let him."

"No, I don't know. Look, all this means is we need to be careful of the messages we send James as he's growing up."

"I'm not raising a pansy."

"Me either, but we need to guard against raising a gung-ho martyr."

"We will Babe, we will."

"I think I had the bad manners to ignore you," said Castle.

"Yes you did," said Kate as she leaned in to renew the kiss.

Chapter 3 Meeting in Quantico

The angry agents trooped silently to the elevator. "The nerve of some people," muttered the Marshal.

"Are any of you married," asked Agent Beach? "No? Well for the record I am and I have three kids. There is no way I would let the Bureau use one of them as bait."

"So you agree with the Castles?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Well I don't. I need to tell my boss that it's a NO-GO."

"You are going to need to answer that," said Marshal Kellogg after he had completed his call to his boss.

"Lloyd, Yes Sir. Of course Sir. I'll be there….What makes this so important that we have to meet on Sunday," he asked Beach and Kellogg?
"Yeah," said Marshal Kellogg." What type of manager sets the starting time at nine-fifteen?"

"Someone who values time," offered Agent Beach, "and someone I wouldn't want to piss off by showing up late."

"Well at least we can take the first shuttle flight in the morning," said the Marshal.

Marshal Kellogg and Agent Lloyd thanked their lucky stars that they decided to arrive early. They hadn't anticipated the comprehensive security check that was needed to would allow them to enter the area where the meeting would take place. After clearing security, the second time, they made a head call and then proceeded to the coffee bar.

"Now that we're all here," boomed a tall, fit. casually dressed man in his late forties, "Grab your coffee or whatever and move into the conference room. Remember only approved electronics."

"That's Deputy Director William Hamilton," whispered Agent Lloyd to the Marshal. "His portfolios include Black Ops and Intelligence. What have we gotten ourselves into?"

For the Marshal, it was a similar felling. The only person he recognized in the room was Marshal Dillon and the only reason he knew him was a couple of years ago he had interviewed for a slot in the Special Operations Group and Marshal Dillon was the number two in that organization. 'FBI Black Ops and US Marshal Service Special Ops in the same place at the same time, this can't be good.'

The conference room was medium to large size. The table had places for twenty, and they were completely filled. There were chairs for maybe thirty more on the side away from the door, and they were more than half filled. At the head of the room were a small podium and a display screen. On both walls were clean white boards. At the rear of the room was a glassed in room housing the room's computer. The room was currently manned.

"Before we begin," said Director Hamilton standing behind his chair. "I must emphasize approved electronics only. I don't mean turned off, or turned off and the battery removed, I mean no electronics at all. Anyone? Good. We are NOT going to do introductions, I have a tee time I want to meet and given the opportunity I know some of you will tell your whole life story. Also the security you went through to get here should be taken as an indication of the seriousness of the matter, the clearance level of the people around you and an affirmation of their need to know."

"I do ask that when you speak up for the first time you identify yourself and your organization. For example I'm Bill Hamilton and I am a Deputy Director for the FBI. Our primary purpose today is a pre-mission background brief for an operations team," he said nodding to a relatively attractive woman sitting at the middle of the table on the side nearest the door. "We will do a little bit of a history lesson to set the context and then describe the current task. We will also touch on two tangential matters. I don't know their importance, but the fact that they occurred warrants their inclusion here. I've asked Cathy Campbell to gives us the history lesson and describe the current mission. She is a carrier Foreign Service Officer out of State. Her area of responsibility will become apparent. CC you're up."

"Right, I'm Cathy Campbell out of State. I started by career in… Just kidding Bill. History first then. When Lithuania exited the Soviet Union they were a mess. Their economy was in shambles. It was ruled by corrupt businessmen with significant political cover, and graft was the norm instead of the exception. With the inflation rate that they were experiencing there was no way the other nations would allow them to join the European Union, and without that the prospect of them surviving as an independent nation was slim. The Government tried for over a year to get a handle on the problem without any success. "

Cathy stopped and took a pull form her water bottle. "They approached the previous Administration for help. They wanted the corrupt politicians and businessmen identified. The means and methods, short of murder, were up to the discretion of the Team. Need a wire-tap, do it, Video surveillance, go for it. Break-and enter do it, just don't get caught. And if they did a phone call would get them released and out of the country unharmed. "

Cathy paused, "What's in it for us you ask? Easy. Strengthening Lithuania would prevent them from collapsing back into the Soviet Union, secure the gratitude of a friendly nation and gain other diplomatic considerations. Domestically they offered to let us seize without much of a fight any Lithuania assets located in the U.S. engaged in a criminal activity, tied to or supporting the corruption in their country."

"The Team," Cathy continued with a nod toward the woman seated at the middle of the table, "Operated on and off in the country for two years without incident, and they were very successful. The data they collected was funneled to an analytical team and to Justice. The lawyers at Justice helped Lithuania prepare the cases. Removing the corruption added approximately fifteen per cent to their GDP. They lowered their inflation rate and were able to join the EU."

"On the domestic side, we were able to seize assets worth in excess of five hundred million dollars," said Director Hamilton. "With minor changes several of the companies were re-launched as U.S. government owned corporations, under the appropriate dummy corporation cover of course. Their profits feed the Operations budgets of several Agencies."

"I understand," said Cathy, "that half of the profits are fed back to Lithuania in the form of donations to charities, universities, and organizations supporting the arts."

"One of the keys to the success of the operation," said Marshal Dillon "was that the Team identified and convinced a woman, who was a CPA for one of the firms, and her husband, who ran the shipping department for another to testify. As part of the agreement, they are guests of the U.S. Government until they wish to return to their homeland. Oh, I'm U.S. Marshal Dillon."

"Now for the present mission," said Hamilton. "CC?"

"Right, ah, several weeks ago a State Department staffer was attending a music recital in the Austrian embassy. During an intermission she was approached be a member of the Lithuanian Embassy. To make a long story short their financial system is under cyber-attack. The victims have replaced their hardware and software with state of the art products. Their operational procedures have been reviewed by experts in the field and have found to be more than adequate. In spite of all that they are still getting hit."

"Which means its people," whispered a woman of obvious Asian descent.

"Right. That's your mission to find the people who have been compromised, build a case strong enough to get them convicted. The President has already authorized and is sending a Cyber-warfare team to help analyze and prevent the attacks," said the Director. "You have the same rules of operation as you did last time. You have a couple of weeks, if you need it, before you brief the President on your plan of attack. Like last time, if there is anything domestically that needs attention contact Marshal Dillon or me and between us we'll figure out how to get it done."

The woman nodded her acceptance.

"Other issues," asked an intense man seated two chairs to her left.

"Yes," said Marshal Dillon. "Apparently last week there was an attempt on the lives of the two people that the Team brought over from Lithuania. Details please Inspector Kellogg."

"Yes Sir, I'm Inspector Ed Kellogg and I operate out of the Witness Protection Section of the U.S. Marshal Service. Last Friday afternoon at around four PM a man, a woman and a small child came under fire from a sniper that was approximately three hundred and seventy-five yards away. The attack occurred in the Thompson Street Playground of SoHo. No one was injured in the attack. My people were not attacked. In fact the people attacked were an off duty NYPD Detective, her husband and their child."

Inspector Kellogg was surprised by the reaction of the Team when he mentioned the composition of the people who were attacked. "My people do utilize the park quite often and I or the other case workers routinely visit them there to check their pulse so to speak."

"The Detective, what was her name," asked the same intense man?

"Beckett, Sargent Kate Beckett."

"Detective Beckett, did you say. Now that's interesting. Oh, I'm sorry I'm Agent Lucy Gonzales and Detective Beckett is an integral element of my brief. Please continue."

"And the man's name was Castle right?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Continue please."

"Well the sniper took three shots and missed. The consensus of opinion of the NYPD SWAT snipers was that the shooter miss-dialed the wind. He failed to properly compensate for the strong cross and head wind."

"Good!"

"The NYPD is investigating, but the shooter left nothing behind and had an egress route that was apparently not covered by a camera. Knowing that, Agent Lloyd and I visited them in their home last night. We suggested that they take the place of my people so that we entice the shooter into taking another shot."

"What did they say?"

"They refused," said Agent Lloyd. "I think the first shooting attempt unnerved them."

"When we told them that the President takes a personal interest in the family you know what they said? They said to give their regards to the President and they were looking forward to the Fourth-of –July barbecue and the fireworks."

"They also suggested that the First Lady should send them some fudge," added Marshal Kellogg. "They just don't get it."

"Something funny Captain Harris," asked Director Hamilton?

"Yes and no Sir. I'm Captain Harris. I'm an aide to the Admiral aka the President. It's complicated, so don't ask. Gentlemen," the Marine continued looking at Marshal Kellogg and Agent Lloyd. "The Castle's WILL BE honored guests of the First Family at the Fourth-of-July barbecue this year, watch the fireworks with the First Family and probably will spend the night in the White House. As far as the fudge is concerned, the First Lady will be ecstatic to hear their request, and will probably raid the kitchen immediately to comply. Why, because she loves those guys. Her making fudge is a big deal. Because when she makes fudge for the Castle's she normally makes enough for, her family, the Oval Office, the Secret Service Command post as well as for the Marines that man the ID and pass checkpoint outside. Oh and the fudge is delicious. "

"When they refused, what did they say exactly," asked Marshal Dillon?

"I…I think they objected to including their son as part of the trap."

The explosion of voices from the Team side of the table startled and frightened Marshall Kellogg and Agent Lloyd.

"Of course they'd object… I ought to… Boss can I …James as bait no way….still alive…I can fix that." The woman held up her hand and the grumbling stopped, and the looks started. Not glares, exactly, but Marshall Kellogg and Agent Lloyd felt like they were being sized up as prey.

"Where are you on determining the cause of the compromise," asked Marshal Dillon."

"Ah, our investigation has just started and we're not very far."

"There's another issue involving Kate," said the intense man as the silence lengthened.

"Yes Sir. I'm Agent Lucy Gonzales I work out of the FBI field office in New York City. Early yesterday afternoon a murder occurred near the First Hudson Bank. The victim was John H. Carter, but what may make this case tie to your mission was the fact that he was carrying a little over two million dollars' worth of bearer bonds issued by the National Bank of Lithuania."

"Yes I can see that," said the man sitting next to the woman who was obviously the Team leader. "Any other details?"

"We checked Mister Carter out. No travel, no foreign contacts. There is absolutely no reason that we could find to indicate why he should have the bonds."
"How did you find out about the case?"

"Sergeant Beckett passed us a heads up, because of the international nature of the bearer bonds."

"Thank you," the woman said. "Open line people watch your conversations," as she dialed a number from memory using the secure conference room phone.

"Detective Beckett"

"Kate, Kelly where are you? Can you talk?"

"I'm at my desk at the 12th.

"Do you need me to call back on your land line?"

"Not if I can put you on speaker. Weekend staffing means we're light and Esposito and Ryan are out tracking down information on the John Doe from Saturday."

"Castle's not there?"

"He has Daddy duties today. This isn't a social call is it?"

"John Doe? I thought the victim had a name, John Carter?"

"That was the name on his driver's license, but I really doubt that is his real name."

"Why?"

"I'm convinced it's a legend, a good one with a lot of convincing details, military service record complete with fingerprints, too bad they don't all tie out. Seeing the quality of work that Arisu puts into a legend makes it easy for me to see the second-rate attempts."

"I have a performance review coming up. Can I have them call you?"

"Hey Arisu. What's up? Who else is there?"

"The whole Team plus some others so be discrete," said Kelly.

"Sorry"

"I should have warned you."

"I'll watch myself. What's up?"

"The bearer bonds."

"Should have known."

"Any theories?"

"About the bonds?"

"Yes"

"Just Castle's 'Payment for services.'"

"I thought you said he wasn't there?"

"He's not. We Skyped him and James in to the morning brief. I don't know why we didn't think of it before.," said Kate with a touch of pride. "Last night at home when I talked to Castle about the case he didn't like our theory of the crime, so we Skyped him in."

"Current theory?"
"You got time to listen?"

"Yeah."

"Our old theory of the crime was robbery, and Castle was right. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that robbery wasn't the motive. Now Castle has two theories. One theory is that John Doe claimed success for a kill that didn't occur and was killed for it. The other theory is that the contractor hit the guy who took the contract to break the link."

"What does he base that on?"

"You may not have heard, but last Friday some guy took a shot at us as we were walking home from a Yanks win."

"I've heard something about that."

"Well we have reason to believe that this John Doe is the guy."

"Really?"

"One of the things about legends is the more you use it the stronger it becomes. One of our fundamental questions about the murder was how did the victim get to the bank. So we checked to see if there was a car registered in his name and there was. An Audi R 8 Spyder."

"Nice ride. Did he do anything else with the legend?"

"Not that we've found so far. We're going to have to wait till tomorrow for our tax records and property search, but I don't think we need to do that."

"Why?"

"Well last night before the end of shift we released the description of the vehicle and the license plate number. Uniforms found it in a parking garage a couple of blocks away from the bank and had it towed for processing. This morning on the way to work, Detective Esposito stopped by the pound to pull the GPS tracking data from the car. Unfortunately the driver had disabled this feature, so Esposito came up empty."

"Tough luck."

"Yeah, but while he was sitting in the seat he noticed a receipt form a parking garage that was a block-and-a-half away from the perch. Also the entry and exit times bracketed the attack. Searching around he found a custom built storage compartment located behind the seats and just under where the convertible top is stored when it's down. In the compartment was a gun case. Needless to say the gun in the case was the same one used by the sniper on Friday, and we have the victim's prints on the weapon."

"Lemonade from lemons," offered one of the voices over the phone.

"What are you doing to find his home and to identify him," asked Marshal Dillon?

"Well the address on the car registration was the same as the one on his license, a park that was an apartment building in a previous life, so that gave us nothing. In the glove box we found his proof of insurance card. On a whim we called the insurance company to see if he had another policy. He did a place in Greenwich Village. Esposito and Ryan are tossing the place now."
"Identity?"

"From the clothes we think he is European."

"Clothes Labels? Dental Work?"

"I haven't had time to check with the ME on the dental work. She may note it in her report and not bring it to my attention, because as far as she knows we have a solid identification. Yes on the clothes labels. I do have a, ah, member of my staff that knows something about quality men's clothing," Beckett said tongue in cheek. "He helped us identify the markers mark for the shoes and pointed out the label in the Dolce&Gabbana suit does identify the store in which it was sold. The Italian shoes were made by a maker in Florence and the suit was sold in the same city. John Doe also wore a Hermes tie and the shirt maker, a French firm, used Egyptian cotton."

"Good pointers."

"I'm waiting for my FBI Liaison to return my call so I can update the Bureau on the identity status. And I must admit that while I've been talking to you I've been flipping through Interpol's 'Known' file."

"How does a NYPD Detective get an Interpol Log-in?"

"Director Hamilton is it?"

"Yes Detective."

"Well for the record Sir, Detective Beckett does not have an Interpol Log-in. And could you please refine from asking the next logical question?"

"It's Castle's Log-in isn't it," laughed the Deputy Director. "Wait, don't answer that. Let me guess he convinced someone to give him access so he could do 'Research'."

"That would be a most excellent guess Sir," laughed Beckett.

"Does he have an MI-5 or 6 Log-in? Wait, don't answer that either. Sometimes I think your husband could be a master spy."

"He does know some interesting people Sir, both high and low alike. But he's too horrible a liar to be a spy, and that's one of the things I love about him… Well hello."
"Detective," asked Kelly?

"I think I've found my guy."

"Name?"

"Ah, I'm not going to broadcast it until after I do some more due diligence."

"But were all law enforcement people here," said a female voice.

"That you Agent Gonzales?"

"Yes Detective."

"Well that explains you not returning my call. Was the bearer bonds the flag that did it?"

"That and the country on which they were drawn."

"Guys, the room maybe full of Law Enforcement people. You may know that, but I don't. So until I'm absolutely sure I'm going to keep the name of the guy close hold.

"Understood," said a male voice, "How about a country of origin."

Beckett hesitated for a long moment. "I guess that would be okay Max. The file says he was born in Donets'k in the Ukraine and has a place in Belfort France. If memory serves that's convenient to both the Germany and Swiss borders."

"Anything you care to share from the file?"

"Not currently wanted, known enforcer, went independent a couple of years ago, but still does most of his work for the Russian Mafia, liked for thirty-five plus homicides in Europe, no mention of his U.S. activities. When I pass the name to Agent Gonzales she can fill that part in. Wait that's interesting. It appears that his MO and specialty is accidental deaths, car accidents, allergic reactions, muggings, home invasion and robbery, radio falling into bath tubs, high voltage lines separating from a pole and touching the victim's car, and those sorts of things. It appears that he's very inventive. Only on one job did he use a gun."

"That would explain his prep work and the poor shooting."

"Right Tom, but not why he chose to deviate from his standard MO," added Kelly?

"Right," agreed Beckett, "Oh crap…Sorry I was just thinking about my next step."

"Care to share," asked Kelly.

"Well if this guy I've found is the killer, then I need to find out who put the hit out on the real target. The only way to find that out is to know who the family under the witness protection program is being protected from. And the only way I'm going to find that out is reach out to the ignorant asshole of a Marshal that paid us a visit in the Loft the day after the shooting."

"Talk to me Kate," said Marshal Dillon, his eyes locked onto his colleague.

"No names Tom, because I still need to work with him, but you need to update your playbook. One, he wanted Castle and me to take the place of the parents on their late afternoon walks through the park. This was fine with us by the way. Except that after the spectacular miss, no professional would hunt in the same field for a long time. He would quickly realize that he had shot at the wrong target and had alerted the protectors of his real prey. Any reasonable professional would think that the Marshal's would be all over the perches. So he would need to find another predictable action to exploit. We could take the early afternoon walks for a long time without seeing any action. The thing that really pissed us off was that he wanted us to include James in the walks. We asked him several times about the real need for that but he insisted. He didn't understand why we aren't keen on risking our son. Things were said that infuriated Castle so much I had to restrain him. ….Marshal he had his combat baton in his back pocket. We didn't know that the company would be composed of supposed friendlies."

"Oh shit," said Ted, the Team's Unarmed Combat specialist. "There would have been major league blood on the floor. Maybe bodies."

"Yeah. When I see the Marshal again I'm going to have to see him alone, or bring Castle along in handcuffs. The cuffs won't hold him for long. Over the years he's figured out how escape from them."

"Kate we need to talk to you and Castle as soon as possible," said Kelly with a touch of finality in her voice.

"Then join us for dinner tonight, seven-fifteen plus or minus a couple. It's early yet I figure you're close enough to an airport that you can get here by then. If you tell me the number of people coming I can pass that to Castle and he still has time to buy what he needs from the market."

"That's a plan. Okay guys show of hands, dinner at Castle's tonight." Kelly wasn't surprised when every member of her Team and Marshal Dillon put up their hand. "Kate I'm going to have to put you on hold for a moment. The whole crew volunteered and I need to thin it to a select few."

"Too many for Rock, Paper and Scissors?"

"Yeah," laughed Kelly. "Stand-by … Kate, four of us will be joining you for dinner."

"Great, look you don't have to be courteous guests. We have a pretty good wine cellar. And Castle fleeced four folks who came on an inter-agency tour out of some good stuff, twice. "

"That's fine, but what about us Tennessee whiskey girls?"
"I got us covered Arisu," said Kate with a laugh. "Castle isn't the only one who knows how to fleece a mark out of sipping whiskey."

"Twice," laughed Tom, the Team's resident shooter. "How did he manage to do that?"

"I was hosting one of those interagency tours. You know share updated methods and techniques. He came by to take me to lunch then kind of attached himself to the tour. Eventually we ended up at the gun range and …"

"A challenge was made, the bet agreed upon and Castle kicked their asses. I can see that," said Tom, "but the second time."

"He offered them a chance to go double or nothing. The second time he offered to use his off-hand."

"How'd he shoot?"

"One straddle, the rest of the shots were up to his standard."

"That's good to know, and another sucker bet I won't take."

"Great I'll see four of you guys for dinner."

Kate terminated the call. Called Castle, added contact Marshal Kellogg to her TODO list and started to update the murder board. 'Hopefully the Boys will find out something about the contract at this guy's place.'

"Open line is closed," announced Kelly as she terminated the call.

"Max, arrange transport please. I'm not flying commercial."

"I can get us a helicopter, let's say seventeen-fifteen local. That will get you in around eighteen hundred."

"That works."

"Agent Gonzales can you co-ordinate with your field office about the use of the helipad and the loan of an interagency car. It looks like we'll arrive around eighteen hundred and leave around twenty-two hundred."

"Certainly Ma'am."

"Marshal are you, again?"

"For Castle, yes the bunch we faced the first time was tough, disciplined and well-armed. I'm not going to let Castle cover Kate's back with only his combat baton. Kate is operating in an area where she has jurisdiction, but if we have to travel to get closure, I'll deputize her too. Sam can you," the Marshal continued addressing the Team's armorer?

"I'll have two lock boxes for you Sir. One will be a Glock 20. As you remember we made him use it last time to maintain cover. The other will be a M1911. At the range Castle said he liked the balance and feel of the M1911."

"Last time," asked Marshal Kellogg? It hadn't taken the Marshal long to realize that the lady commanded an elite strike team and if Beckett knew each one by name then questioning her courage was definitely a big mistake.

"They helped us out on several occasions," said Kelly. "The Marshal, even more."

"They're great investigators and can hold their own in the field against the best," added Susan, the Team's chameleon. "Anybody who underestimates them gets what they deserve. The first time, that included us. "

"And the FBI," added the Deputy Director. "What they did forced me to re-write some of our training curriculum for the advanced school-house."

"Marshal if Detective Beckett calls, I expect you to give her your complete co-operation."

"That won't be a problem Sir."

"Max I'm going to need, " said Kelly.

"A bug detector, I'll put one in the travel case."

Dinner at the Castles

Kate was in the living room reading to James and his eyes were fluttering closed when the doorbell rang and the 'Heroes' arrived. He perked up as everyone trouped by to say 'Hi" before Castle could round them up for drinks. James's eyes were fluttering closed when Ted Davis walked up with a bug detector in hand.

"May I," he whispered pointing to the bedroom door.

"Sure," she whispered. When Ted went in Kate let out a soft sigh glad that a certain painting, a nude of Kate that was done when she was in college, was gracing the wall of Castle's office in their Hampton's house instead of their bedroom. 'That's something I'll let you see when you're old enough to understand' thought Kate looking down at James. 'Maybe when you're fifty, I'm glad it's in the Hamptons.'

'Hampton's' thought Kate with a bit of alarm. 'Today's the … that means Memorial Day weekend is next weekend and we'll open the house for the season then. I've already got the days on the book already, but all I've got to wear is last year's fashion….When did I become such a clothes horse?…. When I became Mrs. Castle,' she said with a smile as she turned off her e-reader, carefully got up and took a sleeping James up to his bed.

Coming back down the steps she headed towards the sounds of voices. She wasn't surprised to see the Marshal on his phone in the dining area or Kelly on hers in Castles office. When she entered the conversation pit she saw Castle point to a light scotch he had poured for her and open his arm's invitingly.

'It's the little things,' Kate thought. 'That's why I love him. He knows I'm not a cocktail person. Oh I like my wine and have grown to appreciate a good brandy, but he knows I'm not much of a drinker. Admit it Kate it's the big things too,' as she flowed into his arms and give him a peek on the check.

"James is down for the night," she announced in response to the look in her man's eyes. "He did that burrowing thing."

"Good," said Castle the affection and pride in his voice obvious, "and now that we're all here I think a toast is in order."

Kate looked behind her. Apparently the Marshal and Kelly had followed her into the room.

"Allow me," said Kelly. When Castle nodded she continued. "When Brothers-in-Arms who are separated finally reunite, I always think the first toast should honor those who have gone before. Ladies and Gentlemen 'Absent Companions.'"

"Absent Companions," they chorused. Both Kate and Rick thought immediately of Captain Montgomery and the sacrifice he had made to preserve and safeguard the life of one Katherine Houghton Beckett. Later Kate's thoughts drifted to her Mother, Castle's drifted to his Dad.

Castles second toast of "Good friends and exciting times," was met with cheers and laughter.

As they approached the dining room table Castle spoke up. "Please seat your selves. That seat is mine," he said pointing to the chair at the head of the table. "And this chair is Kate's," he said touching the back of the chair to the immediate right of his chair, "because my Lady is always the most honored guest in my house."

"I thought tradition has the lady of the house sitting opposite the lord of the manor," said Arisu.

"Ah, Arisu if I'm sitting all the way down there, how can I smack Castle when he misbehaves? Now please be seated while this 'honored guest' helps serve dinner."

"Hey this is pretty good," said Ted as he sampled the egg-drop soup.

"It should be," smiled Kate. "Castle used me as his guinea pig. He locked me in the bed room and only feed me that stuff for three days straight. I mean morning, noon, and night, snacks too."

"Should I mention the fact that you were bedridden with whatever was going around last January?"

"Just details," Kate retorted with a wave of her hand and a smile. "Admit it. I was your captive guinea pig."

"And a beautiful one you were love," agreed Castle reaching out to briefly capture Kate's hand.

"Four Caesar salads for the commoners and two Waldorf's for the people with the more discerning tastes."

"You know they can hear you right," said Arisu?

"Does it matter," asked Castle? "They are so entangled in the belief of the superiority of their salad they won't acknowledge the truth even if they tasted it."

"True, but they do out number us."

"Really? Since when are we ever outnumbered?"

"Me never," affirmed Arisu. "But Kate's on the other side," she mock whispered.

"She's harmless," Castle mock whispered back.

"Harmless Buster," mock glared Kate

"Eat some more of that the delicious Caesar salad," said Castle. When Kate put another forkful into her mouth Castle continued in another mock whisper, "See how easily they're distracted."

"Salad first, you later Buster," said Kate threateningly. Then she spoiled it by gently reaching out and touching Castle's forearm and gifting him with a smile that let up the whole dining area.

After collecting the salad plates Kate returned with a basket of warm rolls and bowl of vegetables, and Castle with a bowl of scalloped potatoes and a platter of barbeque pork chops.

"I couldn't decide on which vegetable I wanted so a made a medley of all four. The pork chops could have used some more time in the marinade, but they turned out okay."

Dinner conversation was music to the ears of Chef Castle. It consisted of "…Hey this is delicious …" the sound of the cutlery and the occasional "… please pass the …"

When everyone had finished, Castle asked the question the well fed guests don't want to hear. "Did you save room for desert? I've got a Dutch apple, cherry, and a Key Lime pie available. They're store bought I'm afraid. I don't do deserts."
Arisu put down her fork after finishing off her slice of the Key Lime pie, and scooted back in her chair slightly. "Castle if you weren't already married to a gun-toting woman I'm sure we could reach an understanding."
"Arisu I barely have time for the three women in my life now. Adding a fourth, no matter how tempting, just won't work out."

"Three," said a startled Kate.

"Martha, Alexis and you, Katherine Houghton Beckett."

"Great recovery, but what happens if our next one is a girl?"

"Normal magic," said Castle softly. "When I see and touch our child for the first time, my heart instantly builds a new room. The room is immediately filled with love for her."

"Me too," said Kate, "but the room is built over a nine month period."

"Guys we still need to talk," said Kelly into the sudden silence.

Several minutes later the Heroes and the Castles were seated in the conversation pit with their drink of choice in hand. The Castles listened intently as Kelly described their first mission and the extraction of Alexander and Tanya Averin, the intended victims of the assassin.

"I've copied everything about the New York operation we took down on this," said the Marshal handing Kate a thumb drive. "It's FOUO so protect it accordingly. I checked with my people. Kate if you host this in your normal case files workspace that is sufficient protection. Sorry Castle I can't allow you to copy it to your laptop."

"What about to a laptop with no internet connections?"

"Still no. Someone could break in."

"When I don't use it it's stored in a safe."

"What's on that thing that you put it in a safe? Don't answer that. The answer is still no. I'm sure once you see the names and dates you'll be able to reconstruct most of the data from open sources. I can't help that."

"You brought two lock boxes. Why"
"Let Kelly tell you about the mission she just accepted first."
Kate felt Castle become increasingly more agitated as Kelly briefed the mission.

"Castle you seem like you're about to explode, out with it," said Kelly.

"This seems more like a CIA mission than a mission for you guys. I mean this is a low level investigation and HUMINT collection. Stuff they're pretty good at. Why you guys? And I get it. I mean why this is important. If they can do this to Lithuanian banks what's to stop them from going after U.S. Banks. But I still got to ask, why you guys?"

"Castle the attacks don't originate in country."

"If not then by the definition the United Nations passed a while back then these attacks constitute an act of war."
"Yes, but no one is willing to step up to the plate on Lithuania's behalf. No one wants to be the first to open that particular Pandora box. Think about it. What would happen if we did open it? What about all those attacks that the Pentagon deals with every day, let alone the corporations in the private sector. We would have to be very sure about what is an attack sponsored or facilitated by the State versus a trill seeking high school nerd of a foreign country."

"So your real mission is to track the attacks back to the source and eliminate it?"

"That's a good summary," confirmed Kelly. "Ah, Castle we've, ah, got some expert help with the endgame problem."

To both Kate and Rick the subtext was clear, Rick's Dad, the master assassin, would be involved. 'That makes perfect sense,' thought Castle. 'Since Dad has been labeled as rouge none of this can splash back on the U. S.'

"Do you know the country of origin," asked Kate? "Of course you do," said Kate reading the expression on Arisu's face.

"But why the lock boxes," asked Castle again looking at the Marshal.

"It's my intent to deputize you Rick. Kate is operating on her home turf so she doesn't need the coverage, but you do."
"Why?"

"Russian Mafia"

"Again why?"

"We believe the Russian Mafia has taken over all of the remaining Lithuanian interests and want to eliminate all the loose ends. Alexander, Tanya and their son David are definitely loose ends. If you investigate the murder attempt then you will become another loose thread that needs to be snipped."

"Calling them vicious is an understatement. It's like calling a Doberman a lap dog," said Ted.

"Why hit them at all, the Averin's I mean," asked Kate." Haven't they given you everything?"

"I don't know," said the Marshal. "Maybe we haven't asked all of the right questions? Maybe it's a matter of face. I don't know. But don't judge your opposition by the batched assignation attempt I've had time to make some calls. Originally the hit wasn't supposed to attract attention. Then someone higher up decided it should be loud."

"Wrong tool," said Kate.

"Yeah and when you go looking for the originator of the contract I'm sure you're going to find him. I'm not sure you live to tell about it if Castle is watching your back and only carrying a baton. I just want to try to level the playing field…. Castle, do you agree to be deputized?"

"Yes," rasped Castle, his throat suddenly dry.

Chapter 4 Monday mornings are for surprises, disappointments, and luck.

Amy rang the doorbell, counted to five and then entered her code for the cyber lock and turned the key in the old fashioned dead bolt lock. Even though she was expected, she still didn't like walking in unannounced. On several occasions she still had to wait for the Castle's to undo some of the other interior locks they had installed. She didn't think that to be the case today because the morning paper had been picked up, but still it had happened in the past.

"Morning guys," she called out as she entered the Loft and secured the door behind her. As she was moving toward the kitchen she heard Kate call out from the bedroom and Castle respond from his office. Looking in the sink she saw the breakfast dishes. 'That's not like them,' she thought as she opened the door of the dish washer only to find it full. 'They must have entertained last night. Let's see six plates, the Castle's, the Ryan's, Esposito and Lanie. No wait Esposito is dating someone new girl. I guess I'll ask later. 'Ah that's my boy,' smiled Amy as she heard James's happy babble coming from Castle's office. It's time to earn my pay.

As Amy looked into the office Castle had his back to the door and he was wearing…

"Richard Edgar Castle what in the hell are you doing wearing a weapon near James," shouted Amy, her Marine Officer Command voice definitely present.

"Easy son," said Castle trying to soothe the startled and suddenly crying James, "I'm pretty sure Amy's mad at me not you." Castle continued to soothe James as he turned to face Amy and the empty holster of his should rig became apparent. "I must admit that both of us being armed will make homecoming a little bit more difficult."

"A U.S. Marshal deputized him last night," said Kate who had ran toward the shout. "He did it because he thinks the guys we will be encountering on this case are the nastiest things we've ever faced. Now that Castle's carrying, I don't know whether to be relieved or scared."
"Mister Castle I…"

"Really care for James," said Castle.

"And that means a lot to us," added Kate.

"So thank you for caring," concluded Castle. James ended his crying spell with a hick-up and cautious looks at the three adults in the room.

"It's alright Hon," cooed Amy. "Your Dad just surprised me that's all.

"Castle we need to leave for work now. There are some things I want to do before the shift starts."

At the mention of work James looked up at his Dad and then reached out to Amy. Amy watched her two 'soldiers' leave to go out on patrol. 'They fight a different type of war' she thought. "Don't worry James they'll be back. Now what are we going to do today?"

At the Precinct

Once at her desk Kate gave Castle the thumb drive, stowed her purse, and sighed disgustedly as she grabbed their coffee cups and headed to the break room to pay off the bet. On the way to work Castle had bet her that they would make it to the Bull-pen before anyone would make a comment about him carrying a weapon.

They had walked through the lobby and were greeted by at least eight Uniformed Teams heading from the squad room to the police garage elevator. Outside of 'Hey Beckett,' or 'Mornin' Castle' not a peep about the gun was heard. Kate would have bet folding money that the Desk Sargent would have made some comment, but he just nodded them through as he and the Lt. continued to discuss something. 'Changes in patrol patterns,' is what I thought I heard. Anyway Kate was fetching coffee while Castle was uploading the files. Not that I mind fetching coffee for him, thought Kate. It's just that I hate losing bets.

Kate's first call was to the writing ADA to get the warrants for the bank information and access to the safe deposit box. Her next call went to Sue Burlington, the CSU Chief.

"Hey Sue I just called to see where you guys were on the processing of the phone and the laptop from the Hudson Bank homicide?"

"We just started Beckett. I pulled the items this morning and handed them to Tech myself. Things get hectic at the crime scene?"

"No why?"

"The inventory of the evidence bags didn't match. The inventory sheet said the phone was in one bag, but it was in another. It's not a big deal considering both were under seal."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Let me send you a couple of images."

"Okay Kate I got them. What am I looking at?"

"The first image should be the receipt. The second should be an image of the items in the bag. As you can see the phone is in the right bag."

"Son of a bitch, Detective send me all of the images."

"I'll send them two at a time, label and contents. Is that okay?"

"Fine, look Kate it does look like someone compromised the evidence bags. If you don't hear from me in an hour then do what the book says. I want some time to be sure."

"Sue, be careful. If someone is willing to muck with evidence in a police station they might be willing to do more."

"I'm just going to check schedules and logs, nothing that would attract attention. Beckett one question though."

"Shoot."

"When did you start taking pictures of the evidence bags?"

"Just started. Castle suggested it several months ago as a means to strengthen the evidence custody chain. In addition to the evidence under seal, we also have an image of the evidence under seal. The other benefit is that if I want to review the evidence I can use the images as a proxy to decide if I really need to handle the physical evidence again. It really doesn't take that much extra time considering all of the cell phones have cameras and the image quality has improved greatly. He also put it in his next book."

"It sounds like something we should be doing regularly. Remember if I don't call in an hour raise a flag from your end. If I do I'll call you."

"Deal"

Beckett's last call was to the gang task force to request a briefing on the current activities of the Russian Mafia.

"Castle, what did the Marshal give us?"

"I haven't been through all of the files yet, but what I've seen so far is a list and a description of the businesses they raided. Some of the entries have names and locations associated with the business others don't. Also some of the documents appear to be in Russian, or at least they use the Cyrillic alphabet. There appears to be translations for all of those types of documents but I'm not sure. Also I don't see any type of organization chart. It's really difficult to figure out who runs what."
"He probably left that out on purpose," said Beckett. " If we build an org chart, we'll understand the problem better and know where to look for the originator of the contract."

"I disagree. This is the 'was' organization. We need the 'now' organization."

"Maybe, that's something we can ask about when we meet the gang task force guy. Do you know what type of business they were in?"

"I would say at least smuggling, drugs, and money laundering. I mean they had warehouses near the docks, owned several freight forwarders, a messenger service, and a bank. The most innovative one I saw was a container and trailer refurbishment business."

"Container refurbishment?"

"Yeah, imagine designing and building in secret compartments into the shipping containers or truck trailers. You make them airtight and not even the best dog would be able to detect the drugs, or the explosives. "

"How big were the compartments?"

"The biggest one I saw was ten feet wide by twenty feet long and a foot and a half deep, so roughly three hundred cubic feet. Drugs weigh what; eighty pounds per cubic foot so that maybe twelve tons of drugs per truck shipment, or maybe ten tons of dynamite."

"Why the difference?"

"Dynamite is bulker."

"So after they unloaded the legitimate freight…"

"They backed the trailer up to the dock, pulled out a floor panel and unloaded the high paying cargo…."

"and moved it onto town delivery trucks for their retail outlets, vans for the messenger service," added Esposito who, like Ryan, had joined Beckett looking over Castle's shoulder. "I read about these guys last year. What's this have to do with us?"

"We have reason to suspect that the remnants of this organization were behind the shooting in the park and had the guy in the bank killed," replied Kate. "Look," she continued after checking her watch. "Let's refill our coffee cups or whatever and start the morning at the murder board."

When Castle returned from the break room with their coffees he noticed Beckett standing in his normal position beside the murder board. The 'I got this' expression on her face was easy to read. He placed her coffee cup within easy reach, nodded to Captain Gates and settled in his chair.

"Thanks to Esposito we now are sure that the victim on Saturday was Friday's shooter," began Beckett recovering some ground for Captain Gate's benefit. "Now we also know his real name is Demetri Mitin," continued Beckett as she placed a sticker with that name on the picture of John H. Carter. "We also know he's a Ukrainian, and has done work for the Russian Mafia in the past."

"Detective, I thought you had a good identification for the victim and his prints were in the system," asked Captain Gates.

"We did Sir. It's just that what we had felt like a legend, and due to his clothes we thought he was European. So we reached out to Inter-pol. Yesterday while Esposito and d Ryan were searching the victims place I worked through Inter-pols 'Known' file and found a match. I uploaded the fingerprints and this morning they confirmed the match. This time the time difference worked in our favor. They provided the name and a snapshot of the database entries they have for him. He is an assassin, but almost never uses a gun on a job."

"That would explain the prep work and the misses," remarked Esposito.

Captain Gates ignored, but agreed with Castle's loudly whispered, "Thank God."

"Over the weekend Castle and I have had several conversations with several Federal law enforcement personnel, including Special Agent in Charge Beach. They have confirmed our suspicion that we were not the intended targets of the attack. A family in the witness protection program was. They informed us that the family is no longer in NYC and have asked to destroy the video we collected. Consequently I have reassigned the video review priority to be the footage from Saturday's murder. Sir I have prepared a destruct order for Friday's video."

"Makes sense, they don't want us identifying the people their trying to protect, even if they have been relocated."

"In other conversations they have strongly hinted that they think the Russian Mafia was behind the assassination attempt and killed the assassin."

"When did the conversations occur," asked Ryan? "This is the first time I've heard about this."

"Last night at dinner," said Castle. "They also give us the files we were looking at prior to the start of this."

"Is that when they deputized you Mister or should I say Marshal Castle? What weapon are you carrying by the way," asked Captain Gates.

Kate watched the embarrassed expressions appear and fade from Esposito's and Ryan's faces as Castle answered.

"Yes Sir it was and I've selected an M1911. It just feels right."

Captain Gates nodded," Don't tell me you two didn't see that Castle was carrying?"

"No Captain we didn't notice. We just thought that Castle was you know Castle," replied Esposito with Ryan nodding his head vigorously.

"Sure," remarked the Captain with a certain air of smugness. She hadn't personally seen, but she had heard about Castle's prowess with a gun, and if a M1911 felt right in his hand then Kate's backside will be more than adequately covered.

"I see the Warrants and the request for a brief from the Gang Task Force. Is there anything else I need to be aware of?"

"Yes Sir there is one more thing. We may have a problem with…"

Kate looked at the caller Id on her phone. It was Sue Burlington.

"I should take this Sir."

"Beckett…Yeah I was just starting to talk to the Captain about that… Okay you're on speaker."

"Captain Gates I'm Sue Burlington."

"Sue, Detective Beckett was just starting to tell us about a problem. Does it concern CSU?"

"Afraid so Sir. Earlier this morning when the Detective inquired about 'Tech's' status we suspected that the evidence from the Hudson Bank murder had been tampered with. Now I'm sure. Kate in addition to the phone changing places in the evidence bags, the loose card with the magnetic strip that was in the bag with the victim's wallet has changed colors. Also it looks like a ticket stub of some kind was replaced with a ticket stub to Saturday night's showing of the Avengers. "
"Neat trick, catching a movie after you died," said Castle. "Do you have a name of a possible?"

"Yeah, he's with the guard now. IA is on his way to pick him up."

"How," blurted Castle, "between the guards and the swipe and code system you have. The CSU building is one of the most secure builds in the department."

"We are our own worst enemy you know," started Sue. "When we first put the system in place the smokers in the group thought they were being singled out, I mean the swipes show up on the attendance sheet and a couple of ten to fifteen minute absences really caught the eye of the auditor. He threatened to dock their pay for the time they spent smoking."
"How are they getting around it," asked the Captain?

"Now they disable the alarm on one of the south side doors and head to the picnic tables near the loading dock. When they leave they prop the door open with a rock. "

"So our guy waits and enters when he sees the door propped open?"

"Yeah, he can sit in the parking lot there and just wait. When he wants to leave he just disables the alarm and leaves. One of the smokers will think someone forgot and reinitiate the alarm."

"Cameras?"

"None, the only indication that I have is that several people mentioned seeing him in the building yesterday and he didn't swipe in."

"What about the evidence cage?"

"In this building the In Process Evidence Cage isn't manned on the weekends. The entrance has a cypher lock and is covered by a camera. Everyone knows the combination and I'd imagine that everyone in here knows how to muck with a camera. Oh and there are no timestamps for the cypher lock. You are supposed to sign in, but if you don't know one will know. The shit will be stinky and deep when it finally hits the fan."

"Well decide what you need to do to prevent it from happing again," said Castle. "Maybe the simplest fix is to make the evidence cage like your main entry way, a swipe and pin system."

"That covers that, maybe, but what about the smokers."

"Educate the auditor that smoking breaks is a cost of doing business, outside of that I'm clueless," said Castle. "I mean as long as they put the hours in the auditor shouldn't have a beef."

"Let me put you on hold,…IA just took him."

"Sorry about this Sue," said Kate.

"Yeah, Beckett your practice of taking pictures of the evidence bags as you seal them paid off. You ought to write something up, and Castle your suggestion about changing the lock type for the evidence cage has merit. Bye."

"Pictures of evidence bags," asked the Captain?

"Can I explain later Sir? Do you think IA will let us listen in? We need to know who put him up to the job and where the material swapped out is."

"Head on over and I will see what I can do."

"Guys, the bank, could you? "

"On it," said Ryan.

The ride over to IAvile was done in silence. Each one remembering the confrontation they had the last time they dealt with Internal Affairs.

"Interviews for the opening are to your left and all the way at the end of the hall," said a plain clothes officer after the Castles had been buzzed into the Internal Affairs spaces.

"We're not here for that," said Kate. "We're here to listen in on the Mike Wallace interrogation."

"Who?"
"Mike Wallace," replied Castle briskly. "You know the guy you just brought in from CSU."

"We don't allow anyone to 'listen in' on an IA investigation. I suggest you…"

"It's okay Joe they're with me."

"But Lieutenant the Policy clearly states that…"

"Policy is written for the guidance of commanders," replied the Lieutenant with a touch of irritation in his voice. "They aren't suspects in the investigation. In fact you can say they're the victims. What they could learn here could help them solve a homicide and prevent another killing. So I'm going let them listen in."

"Does the Captain know?"

"Even he listens to the Chief of Dees. Come on you two we can grab some coffee or water on the way."

The IA Officer in the observation room looked up in surprise when Beckett and Castle entered.

"It's okay Dave. They're here with the Captain's blessing."

"Ah, right Sir. He did compromise the Sargent's case."

Mike Wallace still had a CSU lab coat over a Henley style shirt and dark colored jeans. He's a nice looking young man thought Beckett. That haircut, chin and eyes give him something of a young Tom Cruise look. I don't think he has any problems getting laid on Saturday night so that's not the leverage point. Drugs? Alcohol? Considering the scrutiny we're all under I wouldn't think so, but we'll check just the same. With those two down, that leaves money or bailing out a family member.

Beckett wasn't surprised when Captain Roberts, the Commander of Internal Affairs, joined them in the observation room. Several minutes later she agreed with Castle's assessment of the situation as she saw him silently and angrily tap the tap the table with his fingers, just like when a revealed card weakens his hand in poker. They're fishing for information and floundering badly, thought Kate.

"Are the financials for Mister Wallace here yet?"

"No," replied the officer who was in the booth prior to the Castles. "They've been ordered but not yet delivered. Why? You think money is the key."

"Yeah, but it's just a hunch."

A half hour later the interviewing officers called a halt and joined the folks in the observation room. "Beckett, Castle," said Captain Roberts, "Officers Appleton and Johnson. They're running this investigation."

"You guys mind if Beckett and I talk to him," asked Castle? "Our information needs are different, so our approach will be too."

"Captain I object…"

"What makes you think…"

The Captain held up his hand to demand silence. During their last encounter, Detective Beckett had impressed him with how she handled the whole affair. Afterwards he had reread her record and determined she was probably one of the best officers on the force and when she turned her attention from 'doing' to 'managing those who do', she could end up running the place. On the other hand he had nothing but distain for Castle. The very idea that an untrained civilian could contribute to law enforcement in a meaningful fashion was anathema to his core beliefs. He had Captain Gates' inherent mistrust of people outside of his span of control, times ten. Still Captain Gates had told him many times that Beckett by herself is the best in the city, and that Beckett and Castle together are the best there is. Besides, he had absolutely nothing to lose.

"Be our quest."

"Hey Mike," said Castle as he was entering the room. "Do you think that Bruce and Nat will ever get together? I mean out of all of the subplots in that movie, I never saw that one coming."

"Bad pun Castle," snickered Beckett.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"The Avengers, you know the movie you went to see on Saturday night," said Beckett, "and the ticket stub you put in the evidence bag Sunday morning."

"Who did you take," asked Castle quickly, trying to get him off balance? "Someone from the office I bet." When Beckett saw Mike's eyes flash she knew her partner was on the right track. "Let me see…ah Karen looks like she would be fun to be around and Sarah seems ever willing, Nancy has the complete package, and then there's Mandy…"

"Who are you guys?"

"Sorry, I'm Detective Beckett. I'm the lead Detective on the case you're screwing with and this is United States Marshal Richard Castle," said Beckett as she watched Castle slowly and with some flair take his credential out of his inner jacket pocket and display it properly." Now then who did you see the movie with? Don't make me go to CSU and call all of the young ladies into the conference room at the same time and ask. That won't embarrass me in the slightest."

"Mandy, I went with Mandy. But what does a U. S. Marshal have to do with this?

"Look I already know you did this at the request of a member of the Russian Mafia," said Castle in an authoritative voice. "I'm here to determine if you did this willingly, in which case you get to spend the remainder of your life as a guest of the government. Or if you did it under duress, in which case it remains the jurisdiction of the NYPD. I don't care either way. I just need to know."

"I don't believe you."

"Are you familiar with ALL of the details of the Detective's case? No? Let me refresh your memory and introduce you to the big picture. First the victim was carrying a large amount of Bearer Bonds issued by the National Bank of Lithuania. These are legal instruments that hackers in Russia caused the bank to issue to them, and there is nothing the bank can do about it except pay them off. Things like this are technically acts of war, but who's going to fight for Lithuania?"

"Current INTEL has them running another test and then moving the entire operation to NYC under the protection of the Russian Mafia. This gets around the whole act of war thing. Let's face the facts even second generation Russian Mafia members still owe some loyalty to Mother Russia. So when they received an offer which virtual says that in exchange for the protection of and an operational facility they can have almost unlimited profits. They jumped all over it. Imagine the chaos in the banking system if the Mafia can cause the Bank to New York for example to cut them a check for a million dollars on demand. So help me if I think you are a willing participant to this I will see to it that you spend the rest of your life in Federal Prison."

"I don't know what was on the phone, what the key card was to or what the claim check was for," said Beckett. "But it was obviously important enough for them to activate an asset they had in the NYPD to fetch it for them."

"I'm not an asset," asserted Mike.

"Seriously," said Castle, the sarcasm in his voice unmistakable. "What do you call someone who uses his position to break into a facility and steal something at the request of a foreign power? No maybe you're right. Spy is a better term."

Beckett saw Mike pitch forward and his eyes glaze over. It was just like he had been hit by a tremendous body blow.

"Blackmail," offered Castle softly.

"Blackmail," confirmed Mike.

"Money?"

"Money"

"Gambling?"

"I thought I was pretty good you know. I thought I could hone my skills and win enough to become independent. I thought I would use some of my days and go to Atlantic City on a weekend when they're holding one of their million dollars poker championships and win it."

Kate shivered with the thoughts from a recent memory. She was two months pregnant when Castle announced that he needed to do some research on the card games in 'Little Russia'. 'Remember what happened last time,' Kate tried to remind him. 'I had to save your ass.' 'Yes, Castle responded that time I was playing for information to find murderers. This time I'm only playing for money. Don't worry I know when to cut my losses.' 'I know. I also worried about you getting mugged if you win.' 'Check your crime stats. I'll wager that the area around the clubs and from the subway to the taxi station to the north is one of the safest in NYC. Letting your customers get mugged is bad for business.'

Castle had been right, the area was safe, but that didn't stop her from worrying. He had done his research and won enough to buy Kate a diamond pendant and matching earrings. He called them her 'straight flush' ensemble; because that was his winning hand on the last pot he played on his last night of research.

"Let me guess your story," began Castle in his storyteller voice. "Atlantic City is too far away, the Department frowns on it, and besides they report your winnings to the IRS. Brighton Beach is just a subway ride away and offers all of the poker you can handle if you know where to look, and you don't have to look too hard."

"My guess is you started out at the Tsar's Palace, but you quickly grew tired of the place. Sure finishing the night a hundred up was great for the ego, but the stakes were low and the competition was composed of amateurs and want-a-bees. From there you graduated to someplace like the Cossack Reins. Here the pots are higher and the competition better but you still outclassed them."

"Next was someplace like the Lenin's Beard. Good size pots and pretty good players. In this place you heard rumors of no-limit games in other places, just slightly off the beaten track, but still in the safe zone. These are the places where the real players go to and your ego wouldn't let you resist. Where'd you go, the Green Tea Pavilion?"

"No, 'The Don' where they said the money flowed like the water in the famous river that the club was named after. "

"Ah yes, 'The Don'. Credit card buy ins and payments only right? The charge is for stuff from a novelty firm either in Seattle or San Francisco and your winnings as listed as credits for returned merchandise. "

"Yes, how did you know?"

Castle just touched his badge, "How deep are you?"

"They tore-up twenty-five k of my markers. I'm still into the club for over a hundred k plus and my credit cards."

"Who" asked Kate quietly.

"Boris Opokin, he's the manager of the Don. One of his lieutenants, I don't know his name. He gave me a pre-labeled U.S. mail box. I put the phone, a claim check, and the magnetic swap card in the envelope and placed the envelope in the box that is in front of CSU. The pickup time on Sunday's is three PM."

"Why couldn't they have given you a FedEx box, then we would have been able to track it," mumbled Kate. "Did you happen to notice the address?"

"No"

"Pity, one man job" she continued mindful of the people on the other side of the glass?

"Yeah, the smoker's door lets me in an out without going through the lobby; the camera is web accessible by anyone in the building so I paused it. I allowed myself to get rushed when I heard Sam Bates enter the area. If I had kept my cool I wouldn't be here right now. Marshal what's going to happen to me?"

"As far as I'm concerned it's the NYPD's case."

"But I'm going to need protection!"

"We aren't going to rush into 'The Don' after Boris. He's too low in the organization to order your activation," replied Beckett. "Let me guess, you got a call…"

"Burner phone," offered Castle.

"You meet in a public place and someone gave you the box and your instructions." When Kate saw Mike put his head in his hands she continued softly. "So we have no proof of Boris's involvement and we have bigger fish to fry."

"One thing for certain," added Castle. "You have to admire their tradecraft. Truth be known he's probably pissed. He took the time an effort to develop you as asset and then he gets none of the fruits of his labors."

"The IA guys will be back in shortly," said Kate. "I suggest you co-operate fully."

"A word of advice," said Castle as he pulled Beckett's chair out for her. "In clubs like 'The Don' you need to realize that at least one, if not two people at the table is playing for the house."

On their way out of the box they were almost run over by the IA guys rushing in. Neither was surprised to find Captain Roberts waiting for them. "My office you two," he announced.

The only difference between Captain Robert's office and Captain Gate's was that he had a window with a decent view of the city. Besides that there was his desk and a couple of chairs in front of the wall opposite. Behind the desk was a bookcase filled with binders' full of the operational procedures of the NYP, a couple of books on investigative technique, and a stack of unread periodicals, and to his right an American flag.

After waving them to the chairs he began, "Good job in there, but how did you know to attack the money trail and gambling? We just got his financials while you were in the box with him."

"Sue runs a tight ship," said Beckett. "So anything that affects performance like alcohol or drugs would have been spotted. He's unmarried so he's unlikely to be bothered by pictures of him with another woman so that left money or helping out a family member. Of the two I thought the money trail was the most probable."

"At crime scenes he's always babbling on about last night's big score or chucking this job and joining the World Poker Tour," added Castle. "So it was easy to guess that poker was the cause of his financial troubles."

"Little Russia?"

"He's White. If he was Asian, we would have discussed the high stakes cakes in Chinatown," said Castle.

"How do you know about such things?"

"Research," replied Castle with a smile.

"How much about what you said in there was true? I mean the bank stuff."

"About Lithuania, everything," said Kate. "The rest is speculation, but could happen."

"I know the likelihood of something like that happening is causing a lot of people to lose sleep in DC," added Castle. "The ease in which they fleeced Lithuania out of those Bearer Bonds was frightening. "
"But that's Lithuania," retorted the Captain."

"And they are using the best equipment and firewalls that money can buy," retorted Castle. "Look Captain the threat is real and the banks, the government, and other organizations fight battles every day. We've all read about some of the more spectacular and costly failures. Those were executed by small, talented groups of individuals whose motive was money. Imagine the damage a state sponsored attack could do, and if profit is not the sole motive."

The Captain looked shocked as Castle wound down is monologue. "Is that real," asked the Captain pointing to Castle's star.

"Yes," said Beckett. "The Russian Mafia took a shot at us the other day. Folks in Washington want us to find out who did it."

Chapter 5 Monday afternoons are for car chases and unexpected picnics in the park

"Anything in the safe deposit box," Beckett asked Esposito over the phone before getting into her cruiser?

"We haven't got there yet," said an exasperated Esposito. "We're on our third attempt at a Warrant."

"They misspelled his name twice," said Ryan over the speaker. "That also applies to the data from his other accounts."

"Mr. Greene is willing to co-operate but our own ADAs are killing us," added Esposito. "Anything on your end?"

"IA has the guy who tampered with the evidence in custody. He was blackmailed, and unless we can find the evidence it's not going to go anywhere."

"Pity"

"Yeah, remember we have the gang brief right after lunch."

"Yeah, will be there, if our ADAs ever learn how to write a warrant."

"So," said Kate icily sometime after she had pulled the cruiser into traffic, "Playful Karen, willing Sarah, complete package Nancy and Mandy. Care to explain yourself Buster?"

"Before I throw myself on the mercy of the court I request the Vulcan right of self-statement."
"I knew I shouldn't have let you binge on the original Star Trek TV shows," mumbled Kate.

Castle looked at Kate and hoped for a moment that he wasn't in as much trouble as Kate's voice promised.

"For the record I am a one-hundred percent American male, and we males notice things especially like attractive females. It's in the DNA. I point out for your consideration that noticing is not the same thing as interacting with. For this male, no matter how beautiful, how complete a package, or willing the woman I would consider any time I spent with them to be wasted. None of them are in the same ballpark, the same league or even the same universe as the extraordinary woman who said yes. I…"

In the box Kate had been a little miffed with Castle being able to spout without prompting the names of four of the 'hottest babes' in Tech and CSU. She knew her guy was 'her guy', but still the chance to remind him of that was too good to pass up. 'But after that' thought Kate. 'Who can stay mad?'

Driving in the heavy traffic gave her a chance to formulate her reply. Once she stopped at the light Kate began in her light and cool voice. "The court recognizes that the accused is indeed a one-hundred percent American male and should not be unduly punished for his genetic shortcomings. The court further stipulates that for his own mental and physical well-being, he should be remanded to the care of the woman who loves him without question, the woman who is the Mother of his son and if the Lord is willing will be the Mother of his other children. For their mutual safety the court instructs the woman who said yes never to leave the side of the man she loves."

Kate watched the smile on Castle's face fade and the twinkle in his eyes leave as his gaze shifted to something outside of the cruiser.

"I wonder what that's all about," said Castle. "I mean he just turned on his lights."

Beckett followed is gaze and watched as one of the Uniformed Officers approached the left rear of the black Audi 5 in front of them ….Bang, Bang… The sound of a Glock being fired was clearly heard. Beckett watched the Uniformed Officer fall and the Audi make the left turn on Bowery and start to speed away before she reacted.

"Call it in Castle," Beckett said as she turned on the lights, siren stomped on the accelerator and sped in pursuit. The near lunch time traffic made thirty miles an hour seem like an incredible dangerous speed as the two cars wove their way north.

"Dispatch this is One-Mary-Fourteen in pursuit of a black Audi five with a New Jersey Plate NCC 1709," come on now, he's a Star Trek fan' thought Castle? "Also be advised that an Officer appears to be shot at Bowery and Division."

"Roger One-Mary-Fourteen, EMT's are already on their way to that location. Please provide locational updates."

Beckett knew that she didn't have to run the Audi off of the road or anything like that. Once she closed close enough for Castle to read the license plate she backed off. Someone else would plan the part of the operation where this vehicle was forced into a box and stopped. All she needed to do was be close enough to be a nuisance and not cause accidents. Inwardly she smirked. The Audi was the better car, but whoever was driving wasn't a better driver.

Castle sat in his seat with a white knuckled grip on the microphone giving positional updates as Kate wove through the dense traffic in pursuit of the people who had just shot a Uniformed Officer. During a brief lull in the weaving Castle stole a glance at his partner. The lines around her eyes showed that she was concentrating, but the grin on her face told another story.

"One-Mary-Fourteen positional updates are no longer necessary. We have a good read on your transponder and your targets GPS. Please contact Lieutenant Adams in Air-Two on TAC-Two. He's ramrodding the operation."

"Roger, changing frequencies."

"One-Mary-Fourteen is on TAC-Two."

"Copy One-Mary-Fourteen. My complements to whoever is driving. I have you both in sight. Here's the play. We're going to turn him east on Delancey toward the Williamsburg Bridge. Then we're going to make him get off onto Delancey Street South and then make him stop near the Luther Gulick Playground. Once the target is on Delancey Street South I need you to close the distance. I don't want him even thinking about doubling back."

"One-Mary-Fourteen copies," said Castle.

Beckett continued to weave through the traffic closing the distance between her and the target. Once the Audi hit the clear stretch of Delancey it flew away fast. The Audi continued to gain ground until it came to a screeching halt beside the park. The passenger flew out of the door and fired two shots at Beckett's cruiser before he entered the park and ran south.

Castle was out of the door with a cry of 'Halt U.S. Marshal' before the Cruiser had come to a complete stop. Kate exited with a cry of 'NYPD 'and followed the driver, who had ran the other way, toward the underpass. 'How is she running in those three inch stiletto heels,' Beckett asked herself? In the distance she could see two Uniforms moving to cut the driver off.

Finally the driver crossed the street and started to run on the rain softened dirt and grass area near the underpass. On her third step her heel sunk into the ground snapped off and she sprawled forward on the grass. She stumbled as she tried to scramble to her feet and fell again.

"NYPD stay down," shouted Beckett as she heard a distant Glock bark a couple of times. "Show me your hands!"

In a moment the two Uniformed Officers were beside the driver. "You cuff I'll cover," shouted Beckett.

"Roger that Detective," shouted one of the Uniforms.

Kate flinched, but did not waver when she heard a distant Glock bark a couple of more times.

"Prisoner secure," shouted one of the Officers.

Kate stowed her weapon, and turned toward the south to look for her partner. By the fence she could see the guy who flew out of the Audi's passenger door. Beckett could see two Uniforms' closing in on him, but no Castle. Fearing the worst she started across the street at a dead run. In slow motion she heard the Glock bark twice as the guy near the fence turned toward the Officers. A moment later she a figure miraculously rises up from behind a rock and Kate heard the deeper bark of the M1911. Castle!

Beckett slowed to walk, and started to breathe again. She could tell by the way Castle was walking that he was fine. 'We're both fine,' she thought. She watched the Uniforms move in to cuff the man.

"Hey Sarge," cried a familiar voice, "is this mess yours or mine?"

"Hey Hank," cried Beckett with delight, "Is that really you? And if you're asking? If there's a dead body then it's mine. Else it's yours. That is unless you pull rank on me. For this one I'm more like the guest," she looked back at her cruiser and the Audi, "car herder."

"How you doing," asked Beckett as she closed with Sargent Henry Davies and give him a big hug. "I keep looking for the invitation to your retirement party, but I can see why I've not gotten it yet. You look great." Sargent Henry Davies had been an NCO in the station house where Kate was first assigned. He helped her more than he knew.

"You will be getting an invitation in about six months. That's when I hit the mandatory. You look pretty good yourself. That writer guy must be treating you okay."

"Sometimes better than I deserve," replied Kate with a smile and a look toward Castle. "What are you still doing on the streets?"

"Teaching the youngsters, what else. If what I'm thinking is in the car then this mess won't belong to either one of us."

"Warrant?"

"Right here," he said holding up his phone. "Shall we?"

Beckett opened the rear door and took a picture of the four boxes that were located there. After slicing the tape she opened the box and showed her old friend what appeared to be bricks of cocaine.

"Could you take a picture of that and send it to me? This is our, I'm not filling out the paper work picture."

Kate laughed and complied. Afterwards she looked at her Dad's watch. Even if Narcotics took over it would a couple of hours before they would clear her to leave. Beckett nodded, texted Esposito to explain the situation and called Captain Gates who agreed to call and move the Gang brief to tomorrow. As she was on the phone to Captain Gates, Inspector O'Malley arrived. And when she hung up she heard the voices of the Officers returning with their prisoner. Looking at Castle she saw the hugest grin she had ever seen on his face.

"I'm here to interview the Officer that fired his weapon, "announced the Inspector.

"No one from the NYPD Sir, just the Marshal over there and I must say Sir it was one heck of a shot!"

"Who?"

"The Marshal, he's standing next to the Detective."
"You mean Castle?"

"If that's his name and it was one heck of a shot."

"Son of a bitch," bellowed Sargent Davis. "You can't be serious. ...Okay I'll pass the word," he said in a somber voice.

"Guys," the Sargent said softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. "Officer Jim Donnelly died on the way to the hospital from gunshot wounds he received, probably from that gun," he said pointing to the weapon that one of the officers had in an evidence bag. "Do you know why he died? Let me show you," he said as he walked to the left rear of the Audi. "He died because he was trying to be a Good Samaritan. He had his partner flash the lights to hold the Audi in place so he would have time to close the goddam door over the gas cap before the light changed." The Sargent emphasized the point by slamming the panel closed. "He died because of a gas cap cover. "

Beckett turned from the sad expression on her husband's face to the look of controlled and sad fury on the face of her mentor. "Sargent Davies this looks like my mess after all."

"Yes Ma'am. Orders?"

"Read them their rights again and make sure they understand it includes a murder charge. Take them to the 12th please."

After a moment of silence, the Inspector asked. "Marshal Castle, please tell me about the shot you took."

"When the suspect and I left our cars we both headed toward the fence," said Castle pointing to the fence over a hundred yards away to the south. "He zigzagged all over the place, me I didn't chase him. I headed toward the gate to cut him off. I figured sooner or later he would head my way. Also those two Officers whose names I should remember but don't…"

"Abbott and Jones Marshal," offered an Officer who looked incredibly young.

"…were also heading toward the fence to cut him off. I made it to the fence first. So I started to head towards him. I was a little over forty yards away, right beside the rock," said Castle pointing at the rock next to the fence, "when he stopped maybe ten feet away from the fence. I thought he was going to do one of the Marine obstacle course things, you know run up and over the fence. I went down on one knee to be more stable for my shot."

'That's why I didn't see him,' thought Kate.

"He started towards the fence slowly and I guess we both saw the pair of Blue and Whites turn on the street at the same time because he stopped short of the fence. I identified myself and yelled for him to stop."

"I will attest to that Inspector," said Officer Jones the young looking Officer.

"Me too," said his partner. "We saw him shoot at the Marshal, twice, and start to turn toward us. When the Marshal returned fire we saw the gun go flying out of the suspect's hand. As my partner has already said, it was 'one heck of a shot'."

"After that we rushed in and cuffed him," finished Officer Jones.

"Forty plus yards," asked the Inspector?
"More like fifty Inspector," said Officer Abbott.

"Fifty? What in the hell were you thinking about Castle," said the Marshal in a tone of voice that absolutely wiped the smile off-of Castle's face. "You risked the lives of two of NYPD's finest so you could take a circus shot. "

"I…" started Castle and then stopped when the Inspector held up his hand.

"I know you are a great shot," he said in a gentler but still stern voice. "I also know you don't like to kill. Mister Castle you need to accept that this is the real world not one of your novels. Here if you miss a shot like that people could get hurt or maybe even killed. The next time could you please me a bit more pedestrian and drop the bad guy. I mean in a situation like this where the bad guy has a gun and is shooting at you; nobody and I mean absolutely nobody will fault you for using deadly force. You're an author so I know you have a good imagination so imagine this. You missed your circus shot and the bad guy gets off two shots and drops both Abbott and Jones how in the hell do you think you'd feel?"

Kate watched Castle's shoulders slump and his head drop, "Awful I guess," he said in a small voice.

"Learn from this," said the Inspector as he locked eyes with Beckett. "I'm not blood thirsty. I just hate going to Police Officers funerals." He continued to gaze at Beckett for a moment longer before turning and walking away.

Kate nodded her understanding. Her partner had stumbled and fallen. She would pick him up, dust him off and get him back on his feet in no time. He was her partner, and the best one she ever had.

"It still was a heck of a shot," whispered Officer Jones.

Kate saw Castle's head come up, "but the Inspector was right. If I …"

"Don't play the 'What If' game," Kate said quickly and sharply. "It kills your confidence, causes you to hesitate..."

"And both of those kill," finished Castle with a grim expression. She locked eyes with her partner for a moment and saw the understanding and hard won knowledge in his eyes. 'He's up and on his feet. I can get back to work now,' she thought as she reached for her phone and started to make the calls she needed to make.

The first call was to Lieutenant Adams who agreed to write the pursuit portion of the report. 'I quarterbacked the operation, I might as well write about it,' he remarked. 'From my perspective it went flawlessly, we caught the bad guys and no private or police units were damaged in the operation.'

Her next two calls were uneventful, arranging transport for the car and a tech team for a special project. Her last call was to Esposito. He relayed that the prisoners were in 'In Processing' and the safe deposit box had no surprises or revelations.

When Beckett finished she looked around. All of the Blue and Whites had left the area with one exception. Sergeant Davies was talking with Castle. Kate shook her head and started to walk in that direction. She was sure that Castle was busy collecting 'old', or rather 'young' Beckett stories. Beckett stopped and headed back to the drug laden Audi when she saw three police cruisers head in her direction.

'Let's hope they sent adults,' thought Beckett. She stood by the vehicle and awaited their arrival. A few seconds later she felt the familiar presence of her partner standing behind her. They watched the Officers flow out of their cars and walk in their direction.

"I'm Lieutenant Stevens out of the Drug Task Force. Who's in charge here and where are my prisoners," he asked testily?

"This is now a homicide investigation Sir," replied Beckett calmly. "I'm Sergeant Kate Beckett, Homicide out of the 12th. This is," Kate snuck a quick peek at Castle. "United States Marshal Richard Castle."

"The passenger of this vehicle killed NYPD Officer Jim Donnelly," offered Castle softly.

"The prisoners are currently being in processed at the 12th. I've arranged for Detectives Esposito and Ryan to take any statement they care to make. We have them dead nuts for the killing so I'm not expecting anything from them," added Beckett.

"Roy, Tom," said the Lieutenant?

"On it LT. 12th precinct Detectives Esposito and Ryan."

"If you can please be done by fifteen thirty, the Captain tries not to keep people overnight in holding. If we leave by a quarter to four we can make it time for the last arraignment, assuming of course that the ADA is ready."

"No Captain likes to keep prisoners overnight so we'll do our best," acknowledged the Lieutenant. " I've got to ask," said the Lieutenant?

"Happenstance, I was the ah, car herder," replied Beckett as she waved to her vehicle presently parked behind the Audi.

"One other thing, Mister Castle, I wasn't aware you were a U. S. Marshal."

"Deputized yesterday for another reason and believe me Lieutenant unless something completely unexpected pops-up, I have absolutely no interest at all in this case."

Lieutenant Stevens nodded his understanding. "How are we going to work this? If we go by the book we both know it will be the end of the week before I get access to this stuff, and frankly I can't afford to wait that long."
"I've been thinking about that Sir," replied Beckett quickly. "I suggest we open all eight boxes, photograph the contents and verify that they contain objects that look like drug bricks. We seal the boxes back up and mark them as evidence. Then you sign a hand receipt for the eight boxes. In my report I state that I hand receipted them to you to facilitate the drug related portion of this investigation."

"Nice, expedient and definitely not by the book. Everything we discover is admissible because the chain of evidence has not been broken. I like it. Let's do it."

"I'm going to need a couple of things in return," Kate said. After she watched everyone tighten up she continued," Probably a poor choice of words on my part, but, at a minimum, I'm going to need the weight of the drugs in each box and the identification of what type of drug it is, and any other details that you can release."

"That we can most definitely provide you," said an obviously relieved Stevens.

While Beckett was busy with inspecting, sealing, and marking the drug evidence boxes, Castle worked with the tow truck driver to get the Audi on its way to the car pound.

The Tech Team arrived as Beckett was finishing up with Lieutenant Stevens. For a moment there was an awkward silence between Beckett and the Tech Team.

"Sorry about this morning Detective," gushed one of the Team members.

"Someone made a couple of poor life choices and did something stupid," Beckett replied. "I hope they don't make Sue the scape goat."

"Talk about reading someone the riot act. Today it's been more like yelling the riot act."

"I would hope they be more professional than that."

"Oh, it's not the volume, but who's doing the talking."

"My husband would appreciate the phraseology." Kate said as she looked around and discovered that Castle was nowhere in sight. 'It's like he's playing hide and go seek with me all day,' she thought.

"Who's been counselling Sue?"

"Both the Chief and the Commissioner."

"Ouch"

"They put her on administrative leave while they investigate the situation and evaluate her list of recommended changes. I think her having a list of recommendations changed her punishment from a suspension to administrative leave. "

"You're probably right….Sue will be okay," Beckett said. "Administrative leave means they want to keep her around and won't fire her. Some of her people aren't going to be too happy with the changes she needs to make…."

"They'll get over it and find something else to grouse about," said one of the Team members

"Here's what I need you to do," said Kate. "When the suspect exited his car he shot twice at Castle. Those two holes look like where the bullets hit the ground. What I would like you guys to do is find the bullets for me. I'm hedging a bet. When we took him down Castle disarmed him by shooting the gun out of his hand."

"And you don't know if the barrel was too damaged to allow a ballistics test, got it."

"Yeah," 'Now where is that man of mine,' thought Kate as she searched with her eyes and came up empty?

"Got them both," said the Tech Team a scant minute later. "Good eyes to spot the holes."

"Thanks guys," said Beckett as she walked toward her cruiser. Now where is …Kate looked up when she saw movement near the fence gate on the south side of the park. Kate waved and Castle lifted a bag in acknowledgement. "I hope that's lunch," whispered Kate as her stomach grumbled.

Kate waved again, pointed to and headed toward the area with the picnic tables.

"Thinking with your stomach again I see," teased Kate.

"There's more to covering your back then…" said Castle as he sat down beside his wife and placed the bags on the table.

Kate shall Castle's shoulders droop and his head slump forward. 'The Inspector's words are still bothering him,' thought Kate, "Babe." When Castle didn't respond she gently reached out, grabbed Castle's chin and gently turned his face toward hers. "Babe," she repeated. When he finally looked at her she smiled and continued.

"On many occasions you have told me to follow my instincts. Now I'm going to tell you the same thing, FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCTS," Kate said dramatically and emphasizing the point by gently tapping his forearm as she said each word.

"You have great instincts use them. Do what the situation allows you to do."

"But it would have been safer if …"
"Castle we both know that sometimes 'safer' isn't the correct play. Trust your instincts. I do. After all they persuaded you to propose to me right?"

Castle took a deep breath and nodded. "For the next couple of minutes can we just be…?"

"Yes, let's" agreed Kate immediately! "What'd you buy me?"

Castle folded back the aluminum foil to reveal a three layer grilled cheese sandwich. In addition to cheese, the top layer contained bacon and some thinly sliced tomato. "I thought we'd share some fries," said Castle as he unwrapped another package and placed it between them. For himself he had selected his standard, a double cheeseburger with everything.

Out of the other bag be placed a strawberry milkshake and a bottle of water for Kate and a bottled ice tea for him. For lunch, only the Castle's existed. The Marshal and the NYPD Detective were forgotten. The primary topic concentrated on the logistics of opening their house in the Hamptons for the season, and deciding where James was going to sleep.

As Castle was opening the door to the cruiser he remarked, "I may have said this before, if this police thing doesn't last…"

"You can get be a gig as a NASCAR driver," added Kate with a laugh.

"Or I could buy you a Medallion and let you support me as a cab driver."

Kate threw her head back and laughed. When she stopped she came up on her tiptoes and gave Castle a brief kiss. "It's time we headed back."

Castle nodded his understanding. Kate and Rick were being replaced by Beckett and Castle.

At the precinct, Esposito and Ryan were out pursuing a lead on another case. Beckett and Castle looked through the material 'the Boys' had brought back from the safe deposit box and a brief note left by Ryan.

According to the inventory sheet Demetri Mitin aka John H. Carter had almost one-hundred and fifty thousand dollars American and seventy-five thousand euros in the box. In addition he had six passports, five of them active. All of them had his picture but different names and all drawn on different countries. One other small tidbit was a username and password. Kevin's note stated that they were to an account in Gibraltar and the assassin had almost fifty million British Pounds in the account.

As he worked through the passports he saw that the American one appeared to be a renewal of a passport that had expired last year. Also he noticed that the Canadian passport had seen heavy use. 'I'm missing something here,' he thought as he returned the items and resealed the evidence bag.

Castle looked around, Esposito and Ryan were still gone, and Kate had dove into the paper work of the car chase case. She wanted enough done to support the arraignment hearing now, and she wanted to complete it before the end of shift. She didn't want it hanging over her head if this case starts to develop some legs. Castle looked at the 'TO DO' list nodded to himself and headed toward the video review room in search of someone who could queue up the video from the stores near the bank.

After almost two and a half hours of mind-numbing nothingness, Castle pitched forward in his chair.

"Troy could you play that segment again? What I'm looking at is the reflection in the open car door."

"Wait one, here we go. ….Is that a woman with a gun?"

"Looks like it," said Castle as a gray shape appears momentarily and then stumble away. Castle checked the address of the source of the video. "The brass was found in front of the story to the right of this place."

"That makes the geometry work," said Troy the video operator. "Let me print a couple of the car door frames. Mister Castle and you queue up the video from the store next door. Maybe will get lucky."

Castle queued the video and advanced the time registry until it was a minute before the action on the other video. The saw a woman wearing a blue windbreaker step up onto the sidewalk from the street and bend down to apparently tie her shoe. She had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing a dark blue baseball cap. When she looked up and shot the assassin, the camera caught the top of her sunglasses, nothing more. They watched the woman look back down spin around to face the curb and stand up with her back to the camera and turn her head side-to-side as if to gauge the traffic, "Got you," both Troy and Castle yelled at once. For clearly depicted in the right rear window of the car parked on the curb was the reflection of the woman's face. After printing the image of the woman's reflected face the pair watched the remaining two videos and called it quits for the afternoon.

Castle posted the images on the Murder Board and stepped back. 'So what,' he thought. 'Odds are that the NYPD can do nothing with these. Maybe the gang guy tomorrow. Maybe not.' He looked down and saw the star on his chest. 'I am a United States Marshal. It's only fair that I ask them for help.' Castle went over to the evidence box pulled out the American and Canadian passports, sat down in his chair by Beckett's desk and dialed a number from memory.

"Marshal Dillon"

"It's Richard Castle Sir."

"Funny that's what my caller ID says too," laughed the Marshal. "How can I help you son," he said in an undisguised Texas drawl.

"How do I request tech support?"

"What do you need?"

"I have an image of a woman I think knocked off the assassin, Demetri Mitin. I was wondering if…"

"Sure we can run her image against the facial recognition database. Just don't get your hopes up. The technology is good, but not great. And there's the one huge point that most people overlook…"

"You need a reference image," added Castle.

"Yep, anything else?"

"Yeah, we emptied Mister Mitin's safe deposit box we discovered only the usual stuff, money and passports. He had another American passport in the box and it seemed to be a renewal of an older passport. I was wondering. If I sent you a copy of the front page of his passport could you see if he used that name to establish a residence someplace?"

"Needle in a haystack son."

"It's the only haystack I got Sir."

"We'll run it. Anything else?"

"Well the Canadian passport looks well used, I was wondering if…?"

"I'll ask our northern cousins."

When Castle terminated the call Becket looked up. "We missed the passport thing."

"It's unusually enough it would have popped out of your subconscious eventually."

Beckett nodded toward the Murder Board. "Update"
"Yes Sir Boss," Castle replied, his voice full of sarcasm.

Kate responded with the first thing that came to her mind, she stuck out her tongue at him. Laughing Castle got up and did what he was asked.

The end of day case review was short and to the point. Unless the Feds came back with something, or Tech came through with something from the victim's laptop, they had no real leads on the assassin's killer.

Dinner was severed later than normal that night in the Castle household. When the Castles arrived home Kate found James to be and very happy and playful, and that seemed to infect her big kid big time. As a consequence the dinner preparation was left solely up to Kate. She didn't mind. Since they started dating they had always shared the dinner preparation. Normally they talked about things other than the case, it was nice, and tonight she missed him. Of course the sounds of a healthy laughing baby and a healthy husband made her smile and think that everything was alright in her world. Eventually husband and son came into view and Kate took the opportunity to swap places with her husband.

While Castle finished the dinner prep, Kate played with James and eventually got him to eat his dinner. After a wash cloth bath, a diaper change, and clean jammies, James was on his Mother's lap, listening to her read and batting at her lose hair with his hand. All the play had taken it out of the little guy. It took Kate less than two pages before James was fast asleep in her arms and wearing his adorable sleeping face that, not surprisingly, looked like his Father's.

With James in bed, the couple ate a relatively quiet dinner. After the after dinner chores had been completed Castle retreated to his office and Kate headed to the living room to watch the Yankees play and work through her snail and email. A commercial about 'The Biggest Memorial Day's Sale Ever' galvanized Kate into action.

Dialing a number from memory, she waited and grimaced when it went into voice mail. "Hey Martha, its Kate. No emergencies or anything. I was just wondering if you were joining us in the Hampton's this weekend. Call when you know, Love you, bye."

Her next call went to voice mail too. "Hey Dad, it's your little girl Kattie. I was just wondering if you were going to join us in the Hamptons this weekend. Don't work too hard. Call me when you can. Love you, bye."

Kate had just hung-up when Martha called back. "Of course I'm coming kiddo. I wouldn't miss it for the world. The only problem is I have to wait to Sunday. I've switched performances with my understudy. I'm taking her matinee and she's taking my evening performance."

"Fantastic, how about I have a town car pick up at your place at…."

"Four-thirty. I understand you called your Dad too. He's right here. Let me put you on speaker."

"Hey Katie."

"Dad! Your with Martha?"

"Just dinner Katie."

"Kind of a mutual protection arrangement," laughed Martha. "Apparently last week your Dad ate out with Partners or Clients. Tonight he wanted a dinner out where that was no chance of talk about the office creeping into the conversation."

"And Martha wanted a dinner out where she could be just Martha Rodgers. So here we are at Q3 and it hasn't quite worked out. Martha has signed more autographs tonight than I do legal documents in a month."

"Jim has promised me a carriage ride through Central Park. We had better not be interrupted there," laughed Martha.

"Of course I want to come up. How about I ride up with Martha on Sunday?"

"Town car, her place four-thirty."

"I'll be there. Love you Katie."

"Bye kiddo," added Martha.

Kate's next call was picked up on the second ring. "Hey Sweetie, you joining us in the Hamptons this weekend?"

"I've got other plans Kate," said Alexis in a very strange voice.

"Well unless your plans involve your internship, which I thought started on Tuesday, congratulations by the way, or a new boyfriend, who you haven't introduced me to yet, is there any I can persuade you to change them? The house opening has always been a family affair. I mean how could pass up seeing that silly expression on your Dad's face during the fireworks show, or not want to eat too much at the barbeque Monday afternoon. Let alone the sun, sea, and sand."

"Kate I …."

"What's wrong Alexis," asked Kate gently.

"It's just … It's just that since you had James I don't feel like part of the family anymore. All you guys ever talk about is James. It…"

"Hurts the ego probably," agreed Kate. "Look neither of us ever had a sibling so we probably don't know what you are feeling. But know this, you are your Father's little girl. He will never stop loving you. Ever, period, until the end of time no matter what you do or how many other children we have. Your Dad had a good explanation for this. He said that when he saw and touched James for the first time, his heart grew a new room. That means that the room called Alexis is still there and still full of his love for you, and if there is one thing I'm absolute sure about your Dad is that he most definitely has a heart."

Kate waited and heard a small sob over the phone. "Sweetie you're my daughter too and I love you. I haven't pressed too much, because from where I sit Alexis Castle is a beautiful, intelligent, young woman with a good head on her shoulders. I know you need your space so that you can learn from the little mistakes you make and take full credit from your triumphs, like your internship. I hope you understand that I'm here if you need to talk. The one thing I will always ask of you is to never forget that we are family and we love you."

"But where is James going to sleep. I don't want to lose my room in the Hampton house too," asked Alexis in a childlike voice?

'Ah the point,' thought Kate. 'When we put James in her old room we symbolically replaced her. How could we have been so stupid?'

"Eventually we'll turn one of the quest rooms into a room for James," said Kate. "But this year he's sleeping with us. I've asked the Housekeeper to buy a crib. We are going to put it in our bedroom and use one of the room dividers to provide some privacy."

"What happens if you wake him up when you and Dad you know," asked a suddenly laughing Alexis?

"I'll put something on and read him back to sleep while your Dad fixes us some hot chocolate," laughed Kate.

"What time does the bus leave?"

"You got a couple of choices. Castle is picking me up at the precinct on Friday. So you can cab it to the Loft. Meet me at the precinct or we can swing by and pick you up on our way. The other option is come up on Sunday with Martha and my Dad."

"The Loft," said Alexis in a voice that finally sounded like hers. "I need to hug my Dad and apologize to my Bro for all of the bad thoughts. Kate I…"

"Just never forget that your parents will always love you."

"I won't and I love you guys too."

Chapter Six Tuesday mornings are for good news, advice and complications

Beckett looked at her Dad's watch, just under ten minutes till her morning case planning session. It was Tuesday so Captain Gates would be at the twice weekly Commanders Meeting downtown so it would be just the Team. Not much new but some things needed to be discussed.

"Oh, Castle," said Beckett sweetly holding up her coffee cup. She smiled as she watched her husband's back after he had collected her cup and headed to the Break Room. This morning on the way to work she had upped the bet from fetching the first coffee of the day to fetching coffee all day. Sure enough they had made it past numerous Uniformed Teams on their way to their patrol vehicles and none had made a comment. The last line of defense, Sergeant Harris, the Desk Sergeant had made a comment about the bulge under Castle's jacket. Earlier this morning, Beckett had called the Sergeant and asked him to make a comment to Castle about him carrying a gun. After all he didn't want to be known as the Desk Sergeant who let armed civilians into the building two days in a row.

The ADA's problem with the spelling of the assassin's name had delayed the receipt of the bank and credit card data. Beckett had opted for the bank data, and with Esposito and Ryan working some things on another case, that left the credit card data for Castle.

Beckett sighed. There was nothing here. This was a checking account in which the account holder had not written a single check. The account had debts and credits to be sure. But none of them contained any information.

The credits occurred on the first and the fifteenth of every month, a transfer from the money market section of an existing domestic brokerage account. Beckett had seen this before. The domestic account was fed from another brokerage account in another country with strong privacy laws. That account was fed by a bank in another country. The money transfer was one of thousand legitimate actions taken by a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) that was incorporated in yet another country. Bottom line, following the money trail would be a long and time consuming process, with no guarantee of success. Considering the assassin was already dead, getting resources to follow the trail would be a major problem.

The debits were a work of art. Without exception, the debits were either calendar based entries that John Carter had set up once for rent, and the annual dues for the apartment association or direct pulls by the service provider for the utilities, mail box rental etc. Bottom line there was nothing that John Carter needed to do in order to pay his bills and look like he was living in the apartment. 'Heck' thought Beckett, 'He even hired a cleaning service to pick up his mail and restock his fridge.'

In short he had a perfect hide in plain sight lair.

The credit card usage had Castle bubbling about the discipline and tradecraft. The credit card charge pattern was unique. There would be several weeks of hard use followed by absolutely nothing. Castle theorized that the assassin had multiple legends and credit cards associated with each legend. When Demetri became John Carter he only used this set of credit cards. All of John Carter's charges were in the NYC metropolitan area, and they were for things you would normally expect, restaurants, dry cleaning, parking, groceries etc. Castle said he recognized the names of some the restaurants near the park.

All in all the financials had been a bust. One of the things that Beckett was desperately searching for was an indication of how Demetri was hired. With no permanently established phone, checking phone records was out. Maybe they found something on his laptop. If only we would have processed the phone Saturday instead of waiting till Monday. 'I know it's a budget think but,…'

Beckett saved the file she was working on and frowned when she saw the caller id display screen on her ringing phone say 'Blocked'.

"Beckett"

"Good morning Darling, how's my favorite NYC Detective," said a male voice with a pronounced Texas draw.

"Good morning Marshal, I take it you have news for us?"

"Mixed bag, but first I need to give that Deputy of mind a talking to."

"He's in the Break Room paying of a bet a rigged."

"You rigged a bet," laughed Marshal Dillon?

"Yeah, the payment is nothing onerous, just fetching coffee for the day. I'll fess up and make it up to him tonight so don't worry. Is the talking too related to the gun play yesterday?"

"Yeah, how did …never mind. Did someone else already chew his ass about the riskiness of his shot?"
"Yes. The Inspector who reviewed the shooting for the NYPD read him the riot act."

"Good. How did he take it?"

"Severe ego hit, as you can imagine, but I think he heard the message."

"Next time?"

"I don't know. I think it will depend on the situation. The one thing you have to grant him Marshal is that he knows how to use a gun."

"Yes, shooting targets is one thing. Experience in combat is something else altogether."

Kate took the comment to heart and looked up and saw 'The Boys' hovering around and Castle maybe three steps away. "I take it you have no objections to me putting you on speaker or identifying you."

"Go ahead Darlin'"

"Guys I have Castle's ah boss on the line, Marshal Tom Dillon. If I had to guess his rank it would be Chief Inspector. Sir the other two voices you will hear belong to Detectives Esposito and Ryan. Captain Gates is at another meeting."

"Marshal", Esposito and Ryan said in turn.

"Castle's boss? Does he cause you as much heartburn as he does us," added Esposito with a soft grin?

"Nope, actually I'm quite proud of both Rick and Kate. Last time out they embarrassed the FBI so much that they went back and rewrote some of their training syllabus and their operational procedures. And what we recovered last night makes be look good, which brings me to the point of the phone call."

"We're ready Sir," offered Beckett.

"The picture was an absolute bust, but the passport data was a gem."

"You found another residence for him," exclaimed Castle.

"Yes, he had a ten-acre or so homestead between Denver and Boulder."

"I didn't know the Russian Mafia had ties in Colorado," said Beckett.

"This was his private North American retreat, and he kept records. In his records he lists every hit and how much he earned for it. What's routinely missing is the client."
"You said routinely Sir," said Castle.

"Yes, on several occasions, like the last one a client is hinted at."

"Great," exclaimed Esposito!

"Don't get your hopes up. Justice has looked at the data and determined it is insufficient to get a Warrant and it will carry no weight at all in a court of law unless we can tie him to the murders."

"If we could do that, then he'd already be in custody," observed Ryan.

"However, it does give you a name to look at. The only problem is the name is being held for releasability issues. The Feds, that's everybody, want to be absolutely sure no operation is compromised should someone start to gently poke around. So it's going to be a couple of weeks before I can release it to a non-Fed unit such as the NYPD."

Castle looked puzzled when his phone started to buzz. Not his phone of record, but the burner phone that he swore only two people in the world knew the number to, Kate and Alexis. He smiled went to the Murder Board and calmly wrote down Georgy Pankov.

"The material we discovered so far is of great interest to our FBI and Homeland Security friends," added the Marshal. "I've relayed that we hit pay dirt to our Northern Cousins and they promised to take the request more seriously."

"Let's hope," said Castle.

"That's all I got. Before I hang up I need a word alone with my Deputy."

"I'm on the handset Sir," said Castle. Two minutes later he hung up without saying a word.

"What was that about," asked Esposito.

"Yesterday and tomorrow," replied Castle evenly.

"What…" started and stopped Ryan when he saw the expression on Beckett's face.

"Let's begin shall we," said Beckett. "I don't have much new. We just heard the results of the Fed Tech request. Our Tech services have found encrypted documents in the laptops waste can. They are going to try to recover them. The financials and credit cards were a bust and the Russian Mafia brief is in the small conference room in about fifteen minutes."

Kate looked at Castle and was concerned when he wouldn't meet her eyes. "Castle?"

"Same sermon, different minister," said Castle in a grim tone. "I'm Castle fine," he continued with a wan grin.

Kate smiled at the reference. They both agreed with the definition of fine from the movie 'The Italian Job' where fine meat 'Freaked-out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional.' Kate didn't know what 'Castle fine' meant, but the attempt at humor let her know that her partner was alright.

Officer Steve Jenkins was built like the proverbial fireplug. He was short, maybe five-eight and stocky, very very stocky. His sharp chip, high cheekbones, dark eyes, short black hair and thick black mustache marked him as being of Eurasian descent. He carried himself with the compact grace of someone who spent a lot of time studying the martial arts.

"I must admit," began Officer Jenkins after the introductions had been made, "your request caused a minor shit-storm to hit our place. We have a new leader, Inspector Todd. We'll he asked to see the briefing before I came down here. The problem is that we have nothing formal. Everyone has a working knowledge and we keep the cork walls in the 'Russian Room' up to date, but we've not created anything formal for outside consumption in over two years now."

"Didn't you regularly brief us on the organization and situation," asked Captain Gates.

"Yes Sir and our new Inspector reminded us that the obligation is still on the books, but as I said we haven't briefed to an outside organization in over two years. We stopped briefing when the word of several of our operations leaked. We lost several valuable assets. By lost I mean they were killed. We also lost the intelligence we were collecting at several sites. The bad guys destroyed the bugs. In one instance they used the bug to feed us bad information."

"So you stopped talking," said Esposito.

"That seemed to be the best course of action. Having said that, we recognize that investigations occasionally run into a Russian Mafia element and people like you ask for our help. So how can I help? But before you answer that, you need to know that you have a lot of people thoroughly ticked with you Detective Beckett and Mister Castle. They are ticked in a professional jealousy sort of way."

"I don't understand," said Castle.

"Yesterday you bagged Eliana Duncan and Alexi Evanoff. They're Ivan Nemtsov's number one transport and hit team. They're cousins you know. Nemtsov runs the drug operation for the Russian Mafia. We've been trying to get the pair of them for years, and you snag them."

"Officer James Donnelly paid the price," replied Beckett soft but firmly. "I don't understand," continued Beckett. "They weren't that good. I mean she was barely an average driver."

"We don't understand why she was driving either. Alexi is a demon behind the wheel of anything. He has experience in more martial arts than I have fingers and toes. His weapon of choice is a knife and inside of ten yards he is quicker, deadly and more accurate than most people are with a gun, for him not to be driving and using a gun just doesn't pass the common sense test."
"She's a hitter too," asked Castle?

"She's a MAJOR LEAGUE hitter. We like her for over forty hits, but we have absolutely no proof."

"MO," asked Beckett.

"She uses the fact that she's an attractive woman to get close and relax the mark, and then she uses whatever is handy. She is very inventive. With a hand gun she has few peers."

"Do you have a picture," asked Castle?

"Not with me, why?"

"The reason we called. We're pretty sure that the Russian Mafia contracted with Demetri Mitin aka John H. Carter to hit a family that is in the witness protection program. Last Thursday he tried to hit us instead," said Beckett.

"We are also reasonably sure that the Russian Mafia had him killed," said Castle, "and our suspect is a black haired woman. We caught her reflection in a car window."

"Send what you have over and we'll try to match it up."

"Or you just could get her 'In-Processing' picture," said Ryan.

"Or we could do that," agreed Beckett with a small laugh.

"How do you know that the Russian Mafia ordered the hit?"

"Boris Opokin activated an asset he created to steal some evidence out of the lock-up," replied Beckett. "One of the other things we want to know is who in the organization could order Boris to use his asset in this manner."

"Boris runs the gambling and prostitution in 'Little Russia.' For him to do something like that….The order must have originated high up on the food chain."

"Yeah, we'd like to know who."

"Got it. It looks like I have a couple of pieces of homework. A list, with pictures, of the female hitters in the organization and a guess or two on who could have put the pressure on Boris to use an asset. Is there anything else?"

"Keep an eye on Boris," said Beckett. "We are going to be talking with him in a day or two."

"Noted, anything else?"

"What can you tell me about Georgy Pankov," asked Castle in a flat voice.

Beckett saw Officer Jenkins flinch, go noticeably pale, step back and wet his lips before answering. "How…how do you know that name?"

"Research," said Castle with a smile that would have done 'The Cheshire Cat' proud.

"Some research department," quipped the Officer. "Then you know he, ah, manages all of the wet-work for the entire organization," Officer Jenkins said with a touch of awe. "No one outside of a select few knows his true name. Normally they use his alias, the Gardener. We've been trying to get a picture of him for years. He only answers to the boss, Anton Marinin. He is a very dangerous man. Just knowing his name could get you killed…. How did you say you heard about him?"

"I didn't," said Castle. "And if what you said is true I need to keep it that way."

"Yeah, you probably do," said a recovering Officer Jenkins. "If Georgy asked Boris to use the asset, he would do it in a heartbeat. Otherwise he'd be dead."

"Marshal Castle," said Captain Gates as the meeting was breaking up. "Could you accompany me to my office?"

When Castle arrived back at his chair, Esposito and Ryan where gone. A bottle of water and a sandwich was waiting for him. A picture of Eliana Duncan was on the Murder Board and Beckett was talking on the phone.

Castle grabbed the sandwich and headed toward the board to look at the two pictures. Ever since Amy, James' nanny, had suggested it; the Castles had fueled up and hydrated before their lunchtime workouts. The results had been great. Initially they had lost some weight and managed to keep it off. Lately Castle had added a little muscle mass and that was completely unexpected. Kate was within a pound of her pre-James weight and Castle had to admit his wife looked better than ever.

"Why could it not have been that easy," asked Castle between bites of the sandwich?

"We've never had easy Castle," chided Kate between bites of her own sandwich. "Ron and Elsa caught the case," she continued, naming two ADAs who were neighbors as well as friends. "We're meeting them at Rikers around two. They're meeting with Eliana Duncan and her attorney then and I thought we would listen in and ask a few ah, unrelated questions. After that I thought we would pay Boris our respects."

"Too bad she's not our girl," said Castle. "There does seem to be a family resemblance. Like our suspect is Eliana's …"

"…Sister or cousin," they said simultaneously. The hunt was on.

The regulars checked the clock on the wall and pretended to stretch, use the machines or lift. Any minute now and they would know if there would be a show today. As Beckett walked into the gym, quarterstaff in hand and proceeded to her normal stretching area, the regulars got back to work. They wanted to be done so they could watch Beckett and Castle spar.

LT watched Kate stretch for a moment and looked at those that were watching her. 'There is something to be said about watching a beautiful woman stretch,' thought LT, as Kate worked through her routine oblivious to the onlookers. 'Some of our younger female officers actually pose when they stretch. I wish they didn't, but so far nothing reportable has happened. Let's hope it stays that way.'

'She's taken guys,' LT wanted to shout. 'And only a fool could ignore the smile she gave Castle, her husband, when he came out to start his own stretching routine. After stretching they hit the machines and some of the free weights. Their workout was designed to build lasting strength and flexibility. It featured a lot of repetitions using light weight.

From there they progressed to performing their individual staff exercises. They stood side by each performed the same routine in complete sync. The only sounds that they made were the stomp of their right foot when they moved and the swish of the staff cutting the air. Next they donned gloves and helmets and began the strike and block exercises.

After almost a half an hour of the stead 'clack-clack' of staff-on-staff, of the Castles stopped. They took a sip of water, dried off their staffs and faced each other for the main event, sparring.

Even though the gym was crowded, the center mat was clear of people, gym bags, backpacks, and people. After formally bowing Kate assumed the classic high guard stance, which made he look long tall and deadly. Castle started out in the low guard position and then flowed into a right guard position.

As Kate slipped forward to shorten the distance between them Castle attacked. Beckett was not prepared for the brute force behind Castles strikes. The power kept forcing Kate's hands down and to the right. Castle's attacks were so frequent and so strong that Kate never saw an opportunity to counter attack and every time she tried to step back or side step Castle would close the distance and maintain the attack. Eventually Kate acknowledged the non-touch on her right shoulder.

Round two started the same way with Castle's power overcoming Kate's defenses. After a long minute Kate had an idea. She stepped in close, should to shoulder, and pushed him away to gain some space. When they reengaged Kate closed the distance a couple of inches. Additionally, she counterstriked to deflect Castle's blows, instead of trying to absorb their power. This offered some limited counterstrike opportunities. They didn't land, but they disrupted Castle's attacks enough to give Kate a chance to catch her breath. Castle eventually won the point when a desperate Kate lunged in an attempt to hit Castle. Kate didn't recover her balance in time and she became an easy point.

The third round was over quickly. Castle started out with a finesse attack, and when Kate overcorrected, he switched to his power game. He easily beat down her hands and scored quickly.

Round four lasted over eight minutes and was an absolute beauty to watch. A thoroughly frustrated and pissed-off Kate attacked with a vengeance. Castle defended well and counterattacked when he had the chance. Eventually Kate paused and Castle swung into attack mode. He tried to repeat his early strategy of alternating power and finesse attack sequences, but Kate was equal to the task, and her counterattacks came very close to scoring.

Castle scored the final point by closing with Kate chest to chest. He took one hand off his staff and grabbed Kate's staff. Keeping Kate's staff pinned against her chest he spun until they were side by side and lightly swatted Kate's backside with a one hand strike.

Castle was startled by the look of pure fury on Kate's face. When it was replaced by a wan smile he knew he was forgiven.

"You cheated Babe," Kate whispered.

"Had too," gasped Castle. "I'm tired and you would have clobbered me in the next round."

Castle waited for Kate to retrieve their water bottles and arm-in-arm they left the gym.

Chapter 7 Tuesday afternoons are for lectures

"What did Captain Gates want? Another lecture about gunplay?" Asked Beckett as they headed towards Rikers in the Cruiser.

"Yes and it's not gunplay. You don't play with guns. It's… Gun's are… ."

Beckett understood where the power came from at the gym. Her husband was pissed and was letting off some steam. A lot of steam in fact, she guessed. 'Good,' she thought. 'I got it out of his system. He also taught me I can't go toe-to-toe in a power game. As for the swat, that's just say he will get an appropriate payback.'

"Castle I've said this before and I mean it. When you're watching my back use your instincts. I don't want to die, but I don't want you to become a killer either."

"Kate you know I've already killed someone."

"And you did it to survive. By killer you know what I mean, someone who likes it. I know you. If you think you need to kill to save me or Alexis or James you will. If you don't think you need to, then you won't. I can live with that. There have been several situations where you have chosen not to kill. I respect you for that. You may have your Father's skills with a gun, but you have Martha's upbringing. Remember that. "

"How are we playing this?"

"We treat her like she is the number one suspect. The picture didn't quite match, so we came to see her in person. We don't let her know that we know about her cousin."

The rest of the trip to Rikers was spent in silence.

At Rikers

"I didn't think you had a concealed carry permit or that the NYPD allowed you to carry when you're accompanying the Detective," said the Correction's Officer at the visitor control desk where they checked in their weapons.

"I don't, and you're right," replied Castle with a grin.

"But Special United States Marshal Castle can and does," supplied Beckett with a grin of her own.

"Seriously, Mister Castle… can you?… I mean I've never seen a United States Marshals badge before."

"The U.S. Marshals can still deputize someone to accomplish a particular task," said Castle as he handed the Officer his credential.

"Just like in the Old West," said the Officer with an infectious grin. "If I may ask," said the officer handing the star back to Castle. "What did they deputize you to do?"
"Keep Beckett alive."

The Officer suppressed a gulp when he heard the truth in Castle's voice and when he saw the grin that was on Castle's face fade into an expression of grim determination. A quick glance showed the same expression mirrored on Detective Beckett's face as well. "Well then," he said in a shaky voice. "See that you do."

As they headed back toward the meeting room Kate watched Castle look at everything with his eyes wide open in wonder, but without the look of joy of discovery on his face. "Oh my God Castle, you've never been to Rickers?"

"No, the two times I was in holding was as close as I want to get."

"Look, right after this I can give you a tour. It will take less than an hour. We've got the time."

"No thanks."

"Look isn't it you who is always saying learn everything you can. You never know when you'll need it."

"Yeah, but there are some things I don't want to know about," replied Castle testily.

"Come on Castle let me further your education."

"No," replied Castle in a steely voice full of anger that caused Kate to do a double take.

'I touched a nerve. Some hidden fear perhaps? I need to proceed cautiously. But for his sake and mine I need to know' thought Kate. Kate's musings of how to approach Castle on this subject was cut short by the arrival of Elsa Medina. The moderately attractive honey blonde woman was the second chair to ADA Ron Davis.

"Detective, Mister Castle, Ron caught a phone call right as we were checking in," she provided in greeting. "He was unclear as to why you guys are with us today."

"We want to talk to Eliana about another murder."

"Oh, which one?"

"The First Hudson Bank job last Saturday, Demetri Mitin aka John H. Carter," replied Beckett.

"We have some pictures that bare a remarkable resemblance to Eliana," offered Castle.

"Sorry I'm late guys," said Ron Davis a solidly built six-footer with sandy hair and dark eyes. "When the boss calls, you take the call. How are we going to play this?"

"You take care of your business first, and then we'll take care of ours" offered Beckett. "We just need to do an interrogation and you being here just seems like too good an opportunity to pass up."

With six people the Lawyer-client conference room was crowded. It was an interior room with no outside lighting, and had the typical gun-metal gray table and four chairs that had seen heavy use. Waiting for them was a very beautiful black-haired woman who looked great even in the orange of the prison uniform. Making the room seem even smaller was the sartorially clad Attorney, Samuel K. Collins. At six-eight and a solid two-hundred and seventy-five pounds he was an intimidating presence. He dressed and acted like a Senior Partner in one of the most prodigious criminal law firms in the State of New York.

"Counselors you're two minutes late, and you didn't inform me you were bringing guests," he boomed.

"Our apologies Sir," replied Ron without offering an explanation for their tardiness. "This is Detective Beckett and Mister Castle. They wish to speak to your client on a different matter. I'm sure you would want to be present for that discussion."

"Well I think our portion of the meeting will be brief. The answer to your plea bargain offer is no. You can't connect her to the drugs, and she got scared when her cousin threatened her. He forced her to drive off. "

"So she was a hostage," blurted Elsa?

"Yes, and Alexi will testify to his behavior."

"You expect the jury to believe that? Especially after we show her ties to the Russian Mafia?"

"What ties? She has never been convicted of anything. Mister Castle has committed more crimes than my client. Just look at his rap sheet."

"She is still an accessory to murder."

"Since when is a hostage responsible for the crimes of her captor? We don't need your plea bargain deal. My client will be out of her by noon tomorrow, here's my Motion to revisit the issue of bail, and my Motion to enjoin the two trials. We meet with the Judge at four. At trail when the jury hears Alexi's testimony Eliana will walk."

Ron sat back in his chair and thought. There was a good chance that Eliana could walk. He needed to connect her to the drugs. The actions in the car that resulted in the death of Officer Donnelly are only known by the two defendants. The gun had had the serial number expertly removed. Also Alexi's fingerprints were the only ones found on the weapon.

"Off the record," Ron heard himself say. "Alexi?"

"He panicked and will pay the price," offered Counselor Collins. "It's hard to overcome the video from the police officers car and the dumb sob didn't have the brains to ditch the gun on their getaway attempt."

"Beckett, Castle you're up."

"What's this all about," asked the Counselor.

"Well Sir," offered Beckett. "We like your client for the murder of Demetri Mitin aka John H. Carter."

"Never heard of either one of them," said Eliana speaking for the first time. "When did I allegedly do this?" Her words did not cover the surprise in her eyes.

"Sure you do," offered Castle. "Demetri was hired to take out a family in Witness Protection. He blew it and shot at us instead."

"And Georgy Pankov ordered you to kill him because he failed and he need to break the tie to the Russian Mafia," added Beckett.

"That's preposterous," boomed her lawyer. "What proof do you have? Like my client asked before, when did this occur?"

Both Castle and Beckett noticed that Elianna flinched when Georgy Pankov's name was mentioned. "We have surveillance footage of a black haired woman wearing a baseball cap and blue windbreaker kill Demetri. Unfortunately the video doesn't show the murder weapon, but the face we caught reflected in the window of a parked car looks a lot like yours," said Beckett staring at Elianna. "As to when it was around one PM last Saturday afternoon."

"Last Saturday," laughed Elinna. "Last Saturday I was down in Baltimore. I went to the Pimlico Race Course to watch the Preakness."

"And you can prove this?"

"Oh yes. I'm a pretty good judge of horses, must be my Cossack blood. Anyway you know what happens when you when a lot of money at the Racetrack? They keep a portion to prepay your taxes. It doesn't seem fair but they do it anyway. I was good enough that they had to do four withholdings. They probably haven't hit my tax statement yet but they will. Oh and another thing if you look at the footage from the Racetrack, I bet using the windows in the Club."

"We'll certainly check."

"If there's nothing else," said Counselor Collins. "I do have a Motions meeting to prepare for."

"Wait if this isn't you then perhaps you know who it is. If you co-operate perhaps something could be done for Alexi," offered Beckett.

"I wouldn't know who would do such a thing," said Eliana un-convincedly. Both Beckett and Castle had seen two emotions wash across her face. The first one might have been hope. The last one was definitely fear.

The conversation in the cruiser on the trip from Rickers to Little Russia started out with a recap of the conversation with Eliana, flowed into the logistics for opening the house in the Hamptons and ended up with a plan for framing the confrontation with Boris.

The play they decide on was a direct show of force. Beckett parked in the loading zone, placed the police placard in the window and accompanied Castle into 'The Don'. The club was located just slightly off-of the main tourist area, but still convenient to public transportation for the locals. As expected the décor in the dining area and the bar featured a river motif and it paid homage to the major cites 'The Don' flowed through and of course the Cossacks. The gift shop offered 'authentic' Cossack clothing. Authentic until you looked at the country of origin on the manufacturers tag. The real money was made behind the door labeled 'Private Club'. Behind that door were six gaming rooms and another bar for the players. The rooms were named after tributaries of 'The Don.'

None of this mattered to Beckett as she headed unerringly towards the Mangers Office.

"May I help you," said a stylish woman in her late forties, dressed in a business suit that 'Kate Castle' would wear, but Detective Beckett could not afford.

"Joan we need to speak with Boris," said Beckett in an overly loud voice that she knew carry. 'I'm Detective Beckett and this is United States Marshal Castle. We know Mister Opokin is in and counting receipts in preparation for a bank deposit run. He can either talk to us here or the Marshal here will get a Warrant and we'll talk in the FBI Building for a while. Then maybe, who knows an overnight stay as the guest of New York City."

One thing she admired about her husband was the depth of his research. Beckett knew that Joan was the manager of the 'upfront and legal' part of the business and Boris managed the backrooms. Her husband also knew the patterns of the boss and the room bosses. Sometimes she fantasized that with Castle's excellent research and her ability to organize and lead a team, they could become a master criminal team or help those in trouble just like on TV.

"What's this all about," asked Joan in a soft voice hoping that Beckett would follow suit.

"We're here about Mike Wallace and the task Boris, ah, asked him to do," continued Beckett in her loud voice.

"Mike Wallace, I don't know anyone by that name," said Joan.

The door opened and a fashionably dressed man in his early thirties appeared. "I'll handle this Joan. Come in Detective and Marshal Castle now. That's a change from the last time you were in here."

"Yeah," said Castle. "Things happen when people try to kill you. Look Boris you might as well acknowledge what we both know."

"And what's that."

"Mike Wallace is into you for a lot of money," supplied Beckett.

"Mike Wallace?"

"Don't be coy," replied Castle. "It's the credit card charges. You need to find a better way to hide your gambling debits and credits. Merchandise return is a little lame. I would have suggested coins until their site got hacked and the coins stolen."

"Okay, okay, Mike is into the club for some serious money. So what we'll collect over time."

"My concern is that you asked him do you a favor which involves the theft of police evidence. Evidence that was part of a murder investigation, my investigation. That makes you chargeable under the law," added Beckett.

"And I know you didn't want to use Mike to do this," added Castle in a hushed tone. "After all you developed the asset and had to spend him on something that didn't directly benefit your operation."

"Now what we want to know is who told you to do it, and where the phone and the other material went to," demanded Beckett.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't Boris. Look," continued Kate. 'I'm Homicide I don't care about the gambling side of the business here, and truth be told I'm not really interested in who ordered it. I do want the material back unaltered. I do care that you are screwing with my case. I take that personally. Tell the person who the material went to, to return it unmodified. Otherwise I'll continue to look and I will find them."

"I still don't know what you are talking about. Now if you'll excuse me a do have a bank deposit to make."

"Think about it Boris," added Castle. "It's not just a NYPD matter," as he casually touched his United States Marshal's badge.

On their way back to the precinct they stopped at an apartment in Tribeca. The apartment belonged to one Mary J. Fisher. She was born Masha Brantov. She was Alexi's brother and Elianna's cousin. She also looked a lot like the woman whose face was reflected by the car window at the murder scene.

When their knocks went unanswered, they checked with the Doorman for the building. After checking his computer the doorman informed them that she swiped out of the garage around three o'clock that afternoon. On a whim Beckett asked about last Saturday. "Out at eleven seventeen and back at two forty-five," was the reply.

"The timing of her departure was…"

"Convenient," finished Castle as they headed back to the precinct. "That lets Boris off of the hook. Too bad we don't have enough to get a warrant for her phone records."

"We'll get the records from Rickers easy enough," replied Beckett. "I don't know what they'll tell us."

After sending Castle off on the final coffee fetch of the day, Beckett ordered this afternoon's phone records for Rikers and started to look through her e-mail. Lanie's final ME report held no new usable information. She laughed when she read that the victim had had chili-dogs and a milkshake for lunch. The ballistic report was no surprise. The gun was probably a Glock-20 and wasn't in the system.

Just as Beckett was getting up to annotate the murder board, her cell phone rang. Once again the caller ID screen displayed 'Blocked'

"Beckett"

"Are you and Castle okay," asked a voice with the Texas drawl almost completely suppressed.

"We're fine Marshal. We tried to knock over a couple of hornet's nests today but we're fine. Why? Did something happen?"

"One of my people was hurt when they took another shot at the family."

"Sorry…I'm glad the family is okay. .. Has the business elsewhere started yet?"

"No…maybe…It's my understanding that our friend briefed her plan yesterday. I don't think she is where she needs to be yet. "

"One other question, any common baby-sitters?"

"Just one, Oh. Right! That won't happen again. How are you guys coming?"

"We have an idea of who killed the assassin, but absolutely no proof."

"It will come. You guys take care now."

"You too Sir."

At the murder board Beckett erased Marshal Kellogg from the TODO list and added Rickers phones and Gang Data. Beckett annotated the Tech Support entry with 'NJ' for 'No Joy' and crossed through the entries for the ME's report and Ballistics. Stepping back from the board she reviewed it objectively and sighed. All they really had was a medium quality picture of a reflection taken by a low resolution security camera. The resemblance to Mary J. Fisher was striking but probably not enough to go forward Warrant-wise. It wouldn't stop her from trying but she would be surprised if anything was granted.

The end of day meeting was short. 'The Boys' were out pursuing another case and Captain Gates was in Robbery working with the Detective who had caught a major art theft from a private collector.

"Tech Services," asked Castle?
"They only were able to decrypt one of the emails. When they did they saw four blocks of letters. Each block contained exactly two-hundred twenty-five letters."

"A block code, big deal."

"They used the Cyrillic alphabet."

"No one in Tech reads Russian or any of the Slavic languages so they don't know what techniques to apply. They've reached out for some help, but it could be a while."

"Early night?"

"Let me make a phone call to the writing ADA. Maybe we'll get a sympathetic Judge." To her surprise they were granted and the data would be available tomorrow.

After kissing their son goodnight Castle scampered back to his office to write and Kate to the living room to watch the Yankees and catch up on her professional reading. During the seventh inning stretch, Kate got up to get something to drink and stuck her nose into Castle's office. She still wanted to talk about Rickers. Castle had his chair turned around to face the wall and was trying out dialogue. Kate listened for a moment then retreated. It needed work, but she didn't have any suggestions. She would ask him about Rickers later. The Yankees won the game in the bottom of the ninth when their catcher hit a double with the bases loaded scoring all three.

"Babe," whispered a happy Kate once they were cuddling in bed. "Talk to me about Rickers." She felt her husband stiffen for a moment and then relax. She heard him take in a deep breath and then sigh.

"You're going to think I'm crazy or delusional."

"I know you're crazy," said Kate as she shifted so she could see and touch her husband's face. "You did propose to a certifiable workaholic."

"She's done better."

"Yes, I think she has. Stop changing the subject."

"It's probably nothing, but when I was in Rickers I was afraid. I was afraid that if I was ever behind bars again I would die."

Kate didn't laugh. "Then let's make sure that never happens," she said solemnly. "Sometimes I wonder about you. I know this is strong and true," Kate said as she put her hand over his heart. "Sometimes I wonder how this works," she continued as she gently touched his forehead with the tip of her index finger, "but it always seems to come up with an idea when we need one. Tonight Old Man," she husked as she reached down lower on Castle's body. "I wonder if this works."

Several minutes later Kate had the answer she desired. In the afterglow that followed Kate admitted to rigging the bet. After Castle realized the futility of trying to swat Kate through the covers, he brought his arm and hand under the covers and gently grabbed Kate's ass. Round two ended as spectacularly as round one.

Chapter 8 Wednesday is for data shifting

When the Castle's arrived at the Bull-pen Captain Gates was already in her office and 'The Boys' had not yet arrived. Beckett didn't expect them to midmorning. Last night, or to be more accurate early this morning, they finally picked up the guy they've been hunting for months now.

"The Rikers phone log was a bust," Beckett said out loud. "Only seven calls were made during our window and they all went to lawyers, and none of the calls was made by Eliana or Alexi."

"Her calls are unspectacular, calls for take-out, hairdressers, car servicing, the occasional taxi, and of course a lot of incoming calls from tele-marketers," joked Castle.

"That's what we would expect. Her real business would be conducted word of mouth or on disposable phones. Do you want the bank or the credit card stuff?"

"Credit card. Somehow I don't envision her as a Debit Card girl."

"She's paid bi-weekly from some company named Brookside Enterprises LLC," offered Beckett.

"What do they do?"

"Give me a moment. …It's a holding company...Let me see… One of its subsidiaries is a Personal Security Company."

"The Russian Mafia providing Personal Security," joked Castle.

"It's not a laughing matter Mister Castle," said Captain Gates. "It provides a very legal reason for them to carry weapons."

"Doesn't that mean they have to register their weapons," asked Castle.

"Yeah they register a Glock 17 and use something else," said Kate. 'I'm surprised you haven't discovered this scam."

"Haven't looked," admitted Castle.

"Where are we on the First Hudson homicide," asked Captain Gates.

"The only thing we really have is a reflected image," said Kate pointing to the murder board. "As you can see the reflected image and the picture of Mary Fisher bare a striking resemblance. "

"She is also Eliana Duncan's cousin and Alexi Brantov's sister," added Castle.

"So you think they're all part of the same family business. That picture's not going to be worth much in court. Do you have anything to tie her to the murder?"

"Nothing yet Sir," replied Beckett disgustedly. "As expected her phone records revealed nothing. We now know where she is employed, and we just started looking at her financials. Maybe we'll find something else."

"Keep digging."

"Yes Sir."

When Captain Gates left they returned to their data mining tasks. "How much is she paid, because she shops at NICE places," remarked Castle?

"What are you talking about? The checks she writes to pay her credit card bills don't seem that bad."

"She has two credit cards. On the card that I'm looking at, it appears that she buys a new outfit every other week. At places I have to force Missus Castle to shop. Martha and my ex-wives would be envious."

"I only see her paying her VISA card with the checking account. What credit card is she charging those things on," said Kate in a neutral tone. Even though she had been married to Castle for several years now, she still had not grown comfortable with the idea that she was 'rich'. Kate had not abandoned the shopping habits honed on trying to look good on a cops pay.

"American Express."

"Give me," Beckett demanded. "The payment number is there and I'll backtrack."

"Okay, I work through the VISA stuff."

Minutes later Beckett felt rather than heard Castle gasp. "Castle," she asked softly?

"We need to go back out to the crime scene and pull some more video. … Two credit card charges. One is for the same parking garage on the same day as our victim. The other is at a café which I think is across the street from the bank."

"I thought all assassins were taught to pay cash," quipped Beckett. "Sorry Babe," Kate whispered when she saw the hurt expression on her husband's face.

"My Dad would agree with you," he whispered as a smile returned to his lips.

"Save the transaction number for the Parking Garage. Let's call them and see if they can give us her in and out times," said Beckett. Forty-five minutes later they had the answers to their questions, and a fax for the murder board. Mary Fisher had arrived at twelve twenty-three and left at thirteen thirty-two.

Just as Beckett and Castle were just leaving the Bull-Pen when Officer Jenkins and another Officer in a suit exited the elevator and headed in their direction. "Inspector Todd," they both whispered at once.

"Detective Beckett, Marshal Castle," said Officer Jenkins. "This is Inspector Todd. He runs the unit and wanted to talk with you guys today."

"Glad to meet you two," said the Inspector offering his hand. "Is your Captain around," he asked glancing toward the Captain's empty office.

"She's where she needs to be," replied Beckett with a wan smile.

"Good answer Sergeant," smiled the Inspector. "Is there someplace we can talk?"

"This way Sir."

"This will be a short meeting," said the Inspector after everyone had settled into their chairs. "I have some bad news. Steve cannot provide the information you asked for on the female hitters in the Russian Mafia in a timely fashion. We have it, but it's spread out in several places. Even if you came to our spaces I couldn't show it to you. I wanted to apologize to you and your Captain personally for our lack of support. I am working to correct this deficiency," he said with a meaningful glance at Steve.

"I… ah….Understood Sir," said Beckett. "One of the things that we were hoping for is validation of our suspect."
"You have one," asked an overly excited Officer Jenkins?

"Yeah," said Castle. "Alexi Brantov's little sister, Mary Fisher."

"I don't remember her name ever being mentioned," said Steve. "I don't think she is on any org chart. What do you have?"

"Not much," said a suddenly cautious Beckett. "A reflected image and a couple of credit card charges we need to investigate."

"We tried here at her apartment yesterday. She wasn't there. Does she pop up in your surveillance?"

"I don't recognize her name," said Officer Jenkins, "So I don't think so."

"Maybe we're barking up the wrong tree," said Beckett. "If the credit card lead doesn't pan out then were out of suspects."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," said the Inspector. "That's all I have to say. It looked like you two were headed out?"

"Yes Sir," replied Beckett. "Back out to the crime scene to investigate the credit card charges and do some directed canvasing."

"You can walk us out then."

"Officer Jenkins," asked Castle once the pair of them was in Beckett's cruiser and headed toward the crime scene. "I could tell from your expression that you didn't want to say anything, but you had to because most everything was on the murder board."

"Yeah. I don't know. Something just doesn't seem quite right there. And you're right about the murder board. This was the first time I wished we weren't so open with our information."

"There is a J. Michael Straczynski quote 'Understanding is a Three Edged Sword'. I think that applies to the information we share on our murder board as well. Our board shows what we know, by inference what we don't know, and directs us to those things we should be working to know, and it's all there for everyone to see."

"Yeah, maybe," agreed Beckett half-heatedly. "The beauty and the bane of our boards is that everything is there for everyone to see. I mean everyone. Not just the people working the case, but anyone who comes into our area."

"Ideas?"

"If I get one I'll let you know."

"I have some three-in-one oil and some gerbil food if you…"

"Castle," Beckett growled. "Just for that you can buy me lunch ."

"What else is new," mumbled a smiling Castle.

"….At least make it a hamster," a smiling Kate replied a minute later.

The attendant at the Parking Garage was polite and very helpful. Within ten minutes they had a copy of Saturday's video.

When the Castle's arrived, the outdoor tables in front of the 'Amber Unicorn' were almost completely filled.

"Two please," said Beckett to 'Amber' their hostess when she returned from seating the party in front of them. She saw Amber's eyes grow wide and her body stiffen when she saw Castle's gun. "Marshal," Beckett said as she causally and purposely positioned her own credential in plain view. "What do you think of the Yankees chances this year?"

"Detective, it depends on their bull-pen Detective, and of course timely hitting." Both of them saw their hostess relax as she reached for the menus and lead them toward their table.

"Amber," said Beckett as Castle helped her into her chair. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett. I work Homicide out of the 12th. This is Special United States Marshal Richard Castle. I'm sorry we startled you."

"After what happened across the street last Saturday, I'm still a little nervous."

"Besides lunch," said Castle. "That's why we are here."

"We would like to talk to any of the wait staff that worked that Saturday afternoon," said Beckett.

"Probably just the people who worked the outside tables," added Castle.

"I was on that day. I'll help all that I can."

"Do you remember seeing this person," asked Beckett, showing Mary Fisher's DMV photo.

"No I don't think so."

"She was wearing a blue METS baseball cap, sunglasses, and a blue wind breaker. She probably looked more like this," offered Castle as Beckett displayed one of the images taken by the security camera.

"Oh her."

"I take it she made an impression," said Castle tongue-in-cheek.

"Yeah, she was pushy and a bit arrogant. She said she was in a hurry. She got here around a quarter to one, ordered quickly. When the food came, she wolfed it down like she hasn't eaten in a week and then just lingered at the table. Jimmy, her waiter, tried to get her to move on but she ignored him and just kept drinking ice tea. I mean it was like she was waiting for someone... Did she?"

"We don't know. Is Jimmy around?"

"Yes, I'll have him take care of you guys. Look I need to get back to my station."

"Thanks Amber and do you?"

"No I don't own the place," she said with a dimply smile. "I wish though. Business has been pretty good. Even in winter."

A minute later a handsome young man in his early twenties approached their table carrying a water pitcher. "Good afternoon Officers I'm Jimmy and I will be taking care of you today. Our specials are," he announced as he filled their water glasses, "the soup and salad combo, meat loaf Manhattan and of course information about by reluctant customer last Saturday."

Beckett smiled at his attempt to be humorous. To her, from his appearance, posture, and diction, she surmised that he was an out of work actor. 'Acting is a tough business,' she thought. "I'm going to go with a lunch sized Caesar salad and some ice-tea," said Kate. "And the Marshal will have a lunch sized portion of your cranberry chicken almond salad and ice tea," she said quickly before Castle could blow his diet by ordering the meat loaf Manhattan or the double-cheeseburger platter.

"Marshal," asked Jimmy?

"She's my wife, and she's carrying a gun," said Castle with a huge smile, "So what she says goes."

Jimmy laughed," That was easy," he said putting the order pad and pen back into his apron pocket. "About my customer?"

"Just to be sure we are talking about this woman," said Beckett as she displayed the two pictures.

"Yes, and the DMV photo doesn't do her justice. She has a gorgeous face and a knock-out body. She was wearing blue shorts and a tight, ah, well fitted Grateful Dead tee shirt."

"Anything unusual? Amber said she did the hurry up and wait game."

"Just that. I tried to make small talk, hoping to, you know, most of the time I get at least a polite smile or two. From her, nothing. It was like she was waiting for something and I didn't exist."

"Was she carrying anything? A purse maybe, a fanny pack?"

"She had one of those huge over the shoulder bags. You know the type that most women take to the beach. You know big enough for a beach and a regular towel, sun block, magazine, ipod… She made a huge fuss when I tried to move it."

"Can you describe it?"

"Big beach bag with alternating sea-foam green, twilight blue and white strips. What can I say? I used to work in a hardware store selling paint. I know my colors. If there's nothing else I'll get this order in for you."

"Two things," said Castle. "Does the surveillance camera cover these tables?"

"Yes, I'll have the Manager come out and talk with you. The other thing?"

"How good a tipper was she?"

"Lousy," responded Jimmy with a smile as he rushed off to place their order.

Walking back to her cruiser after lunch Beckett was starting to feel good about the case. If the video showed what she expected then they should be able to get a warrant to search her apartment. If we're lucky she hasn't disposed of the gun yet, or we find something else incriminating.

After Beckett had the cruiser headed back to the precinct she turned to Castle and said, "Our son will never be a Jimmy, you got that!"

"You man the name or like our waiter?"
"The name!"

"Okay," Castle said gently. "Why?"

"I don't know….It's….It's just something I feel. …Jimmy is …childish, and not fit for our son. After all I bet no one ever called James T. Kirk Jimmy?"

"You're probably right." 'Maybe one of the 'Mudd' episodes' thought Castle. 'Where did this come from?' He asked himself. His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of Beckett's phone.

"Beckett,…Yes he's with me…. Forty-minutes max. …Meet you there Agent Gonzales."

"FBI land," asked Castle?

"Yeah, how'd you guess?"

"Luck, sure luck," replied Castle.

Agent Lucy Gonzales was waiting for them in the reception area. "They're mine," she announced as the agents worked to verify Beckett's and Castle's identities.

"They clear. Sign them in please."

"Come on guys. No need for the metal detectors everyone knows you're carrying. I'm set-up in a conference room on the second floor….What you are about to hear is an abstract of an audio surveillance tape. Oh, this is Special Agent Butler he'll explain further."

"As Agent Gonzales said this is an abstract of an audio surveillance tap. Deputy Director Hamilton directed us to pass along to you anything that concerns you without delay. And he meant without delay. This event occurred last night at…"

"Don't tell us," exclaimed Beckett and Castle simultaneously.

"I was going to say at an undisclosed location."

"Good," said an obviously relived Beckett. "If somehow we discover this place using our own sources and walk-in, I don't want to be accused of ruining your surveillance."

"Understood. At this point I'm supposed to ask you to leave Detective. Even with the Deputy Director signing off on this I still can't release this to local PD."

"You know Castle's going to tell me everything right?"

"Yeah," he laughed. "Everyone knows that. But if he tells you then we didn't release it. So listen to the tape and pretend Castle is relating this to you later."

"Bureaucratic shenanigans," mumbled Castle.

"The Best, "replied the agent as he pressed 'Enter' and the audio file began playing.

In the background were the sounds of light classical music playing, the sounds of cutlery being used, and a low murmur of background voices.

'Upscale Restaurant' they both thought.

"Boris" said a strange voice?

"Anton Marinin" whispered Butler.

"I took some steps to eliminate a small problem. It may get noisy for a little while but should dissipate."

"We know Boris's voice," whispered Beckett.

"Detective Beckett came to 'The Don' and asked for the return of the phone, swipe card and the other material undamaged. If not she threatened to look for them. She is very good at her job."

"They've been incinerated," said Anton. "So wish her good luck."

"I thought as much," said Boris. "I've reassigned the person who met with the man that stole the material for us to one of our Florida operations. That breaks the link to my operation. We're going to have to remove him from the workforce file."

"I'll take care of it," said a woman's voice.

"Clueless," said Butler.

"Nice, he's out of the way with no trace. If things start to heat up, well that is what alligator alley is for," said Anton.

"Beckett," said the female voice. "She came to my apartment this afternoon."

"Why?"

"The only thing I can think of is Demetri."

"Tracks?"

"Georgy Pankov," said Butler.

"None Sir"

"Then you were with us in Baltimore on Saturday. I'll make the necessary arrangements," said Anton. "How much do you want to win my dear? Never mind. I'll just have them duplicate your cousins' winnings. "

"I'll make sure that Eliana and Alexi get the word," said another voice.
The agent hit 'Enter' to stop the playback. "The rest of the conversation doesn't concern you so…"

"A Russian Mafia staff meeting over dinner in a public restaurant, nice! A couple of things," said Castle. "First of all the woman is Mary J. Fisher. We like her for the murder of Demetri Mitin aka John H. Carter. The last man's voice is Samuel K. Collins he's the lawyer for Eliana and Alexi."

"I think you can guess the reason why we've upped our surveillance on the Russian Mafia," said Special Agent Butler.

"Yeah," said Beckett. "I'm pretty sure we do. Who in the NYPD are you coordinating with?...You think they're compromised?"

"I'm pretty sure the 'Russian House' as they call themselves is, but I can't prove it. Look if you deal with them I would watch my back…. Look Detective about this tape…."

"I know it doesn't exist," said Beckett, "and I learned everything I know from listening to my husband. We appreciate the Deputy Director looking out for us."

After logging in the video and arranging for someone to help with the review first thing in the morning Beckett and looked at her Dad's watch and smiled. "Come on Castle we can still make it."

When Castle saw the crowd at the gun range, he concluded that he wouldn't get to shoot today so he grabbed a bottle of water and headed back outside to enjoy the late spring afternoon.

Beckett checked in, and then scurried over to where Esposito and Ryan were having a conversation with four Officers from the 57th.

"To bad you don't have a fourth," said Tony Rush, Esposito's classmate, friend, and rival from the Academy. "We'd enjoy having a few beers on your tab."

"How about just the aggregate scores of the top three," offered Esposito. "I'm confident in my guys, and the fourth guy gives you an advantage."

"Nah, when we win I don't want you have any excuse."

"I can get us a fourth," said Beckett. "He's not NYPD, but he is Law Enforcement. He's a United States Marshal. He's been following me around this week." Beckett stole a quick glance at Esposito and Ryan. Their poker faces were in place, but their eyes were shining at the prospect of easy money.

"U.S. Marshal? Nah don't think so," said Tony." I'll tell you what. We all know Castle is your shadow we'll let him shoot."

"You want to saddle us with a civilian," protested Esposito.

"He's part of your Team so yeah."

"We can carry Castle against these guys," affirmed Beckett with a ghost of a smile. "Excuse me, what is the bet again?"

I didn't take Beckett long to restructure the terms of the bet into something affordable and memorable.

"Hey Babe," Beckett purred over the phone. "A spot has opened up and you can shoot after all."

The competition would be accomplished in two flights. In the first flight consisted of Esposito and Ryan and they would shoot against Rush and another Officer from the 57th. Beckett and Castle would shoot against the other two Officers in the second flight.

When the second flight arrived at the desk to have their targets scored the grin on Officer Rush's face was huge. At the end of the first flight his Team was ahead by two points, and with a civilian shooting he was confident his Team was going to win. Esposito and Ryan accepted the insults gracefully. They knew that Beckett consistently shot at the Master Level and Castle was the best they had ever seen.

Officer Rush's smile faded when Beckett's score beat his Teammate's by two and evened the match. It was restored when his final Teammate's score graded out as a high sharpshooter. "Who the hell are you man," he almost shouted when Castle placed his perfect target on the table to be scored.

"Beckett's shadow," replied Castle dryly.

"I wish there was a way I could sneak you on the combat range," Beckett said to know one in particular after the outcome of the match had been decided.

"Sargent," said the Range Officer. "We typically allow guests from other Law Enforcement Agencies to use our facilities."

"Is anybody there?"

"Tim, Officer Daniels, he'll meet you there in a half-an-hour?"

"We'll be there. Come on Castle it's time to further your education."

Castle qualified on his first time through the course. On his third run his scores were equal to Beckett's. After his fifth run, if he were a cop, he would we be a slightly less than an even money bet to win the combined pistol completion.

"Laser tag," replied Castle to Beckett's complement's on his scores. "And Alexis would absolutely kill that course."

Chapter 9 Thursday is for paying bridge tolls

Knowing when to look made it easy to extract images of Mary and her vehicle entering and leaving the parking garage. The parking garage gave them some bonus footage of Mary exiting the garage on foot and heading toward the Amber Unicorn.

The footage from the Amber Unicorn was just as clear. They had her arriving, eating lunch, lingering, and departing quickly. Prominent in the pictures was her big beach bag. Beckett had the video operator call up the images from the shooting. Sure enough the woman had carried the bag onto this side of the street, and after the shooting left with it.

Beckett waited until after Captain Beckett returned from her twice weekly early morning meetings downtown to conduct the case review. Also present was the pair of ADAs, Ron Davis and Elsa Medina. They would take the case to trial should an arrest be made. The last pair, Inspector Todd and Officer Steve Jenkins was there at Captain Gates request.

"We like Mary J. Fisher," said Beckett pointing to her picture on the murder board, "for the murder of Demetri Mitin aka John H. Carter last Saturday. "

"Know," mumbled Castle loud for all to hear.

Beckett acknowledged her partners statement with a nod of her head and continued. "We need your help in getting a search warrant."

"If what you got is good enough I'll go to Judge Callahan," said ADA and Castle's friend Ron Davis. "She's reasonable and trusts your judgment. Show me watch you got."

"We have no indication that she is a member of the Russian Mafia," interjected Officer Jenkins."

"Maybe she's not," conceded Beckett, "but we still like her for the killing."

"Precede," said Captain Gates.

Everyone listened as Beckett used the pictures to tell the story of Mary's travels last Saturday afternoon.

"If the last picture showed more there would be no question," agreed the ADA. 'I'll call the Judge myself. Can I take that set of pictures with me?"

"Sure," said Beckett. "We'll print another set for the board."

All through Beckett's narrative with the pictures Captain Gate's noticed that Castle was fidgeting uncharacteristically. "Does the Marshal have anything he would care to add?"

"No Sir."

"Have the Feds shared anything with you Marshal," asked the Inspector?

"Yes, but I can't reveal it."

"That's bullshit Castle and you know it," retorted a heated Officer Jenkins, his eyes boring into Castle.

"Look, they just confirmed our suspicion, but we still have to make the case. The rest is 'Means and Methods' and I'm sure you and the Inspector appreciate why those need to be preserved."

"How extensive is their investigation? Who are they looking at? Where are they looking? Why haven't they coordinated their activity with us," continued the irate Officer.

"I don't know the answers to any of those questions, and frankly gathering Intel on the Russian Mafia is not my assignment."

"Well go get the answers!"

"No," said Castle softly. "You have a Federal liaison right? Then I suggest you talk to him."

"Counselor. There must be something you can do."
"No," replied ADA Davis. "My hands are tied, he's a Federal Marshal. I'm sure Beckett and Castle are already using the information they received. If there was any way they could tell us what they've heard Beckett would have figured out a way to do so."

"Beckett. She knows. She's not a Federal Agent. Tell us."

"No," replied Beckett with a hint of a smile and a glance at Castle. "I only know what my HUSBAND told me."

"Since ALL husband and wife communication is privileged, that makes that approach DOA," said ADA Medina.

"Captain is there a quiet place where I …" asked ADA Davis holding up his phone?
"Use my office."

"Elsa," asked the ADA ad he moved towards the Captain's office?

"Officer Jenkins," said Beckett. "Perhaps you would care to join us when we conduct the search of the Fisher place?"

"I ah…"
"That's a great idea," said the Inspector. "I was hoping you would ask."

"Yeah sure," said the Officer looking at his boss with an expression Beckett couldn't identify.

"Espo, Ryan could you guys ramrod the search?"

"Yeah, sure. Why? Where are you going to be?"

"I thought the Marshal and I would pay a visit to her workplace."

"That way, if she's there, we will be in a position to act if you call us with some good news," added Castle.

"Good idea," offered the Captain.

A couple of minutes later the ADA's bounded into view. "You guys are good to go. The Warrants have been signed and are being routed to your phones and the printer. We need to head back to the office. Good luck."

The announcement caused a splurge of activity to erupt. 'The Boys' went to the phones to arrange for Uniformed and Technical support and the Castles moved quickly toward the elevator. In the rush no one notice the look of rage on Officer Jenkins's face.

At the apartment

After having the Super open the door, the Team walked in and looked at the task before them. Mary Wilson's place in Tribeca was easily bigger than Castle's loft. At first glance the apartment was gorgeous. The southern exposure made the apartment bright and the sparse but elegantly furnishings made the place feel light and airy.

'The lady must have some green thumb,' thought Ryan as live plants were everywhere. 'Jenny would be envious."

"Spread out," Esposito commanded his small team. "We're looking specifically for weapons, a multi-color beach bag and any documentation that would make her a member of the Russian Mob. Remember be through but be neat. If we leave a mess Captain Gates will have our collective asses."

It only took them five minutes to find the beach bag. When it tested positive for gunshot residue, the hunt resumed with a purpose. The safe was in the closet in the quest room and after passing the make and model number, Tech Services promised to have a man there within a half-hour.

Five minutes later Officer Shelia Bean shirked with joy when she slid open a panel in the rear of the closet under the stairs to reveal a small armory. In it were several recently fired Glock20's and 21's plus several other weapons. Directly inside the armory was a 'go' bag with various passports, cash, and a weapon.

"We have her on gun possession charges at least," said Ryan, after he confirmed that the only weapon Mary Fisher had been issued a permit for was the Glock 17.

The half dozen or so burner phones stored in the cabinet above the refrigerator just added to the feeling that this was a dangerous woman. The team was not pleased when they started to find small caliber hand guns stowed in easily accessible places. The guns were placed in very strategic places, like in the cushions of the love seat, under the kitchen table and in each of the bathrooms. It seemed like she was never more than five steps from another gun.

In the office there was absolutely no indication that Mary was a member of the Russian Mafia, no documents, no pictures, nothing. Perhaps a thorough examination of the laptop would reveal some clues. Esposito thought not, but it was worth a shot. The only thing of interest was a complete set of Castles books in one of the bookcases.

Fifteen minutes after entry Esposito texted Beckett. 'Bingo-Bag-&-Guns'

At Brookside Security

Brookside Security offices were located on the 5th floor in an office building on Third Avenue near East 73rd in Lenox Hill. "Nice digs," Castle whispered as they got off of the elevator and entered the plush carpeted and wood paneled reception area of the business.

"May I help you," offered the attractive mid-twenties blond that was manning the desk?

"I'm Detective Beckett and this is Mi…Marshal Castle," said Beckett as she glanced at the credential hanging from Castle's jacket pocket. "We're here to see Mary Fisher."

"Do you have an appointment? She's with a new client now and booked for most of the morning."

"No, this is an official visit. Now which way is her office."

"I can't let you go back there," pleaded the receptionist.

"You really have no choice," replied Beckett. "Your alternative is to be arrested and booked for obstructing an officer in the conduct of an investigation. Not much jail time, but the fine would most definitely hurt your wallet."

"Through there," she said as the door to their left started to buzz. "I think she's in the last conference room on the right."

"Thanks," said Castle.

'The company may be a dodge to legally get weapons into the hands of their employers, but the front they were putting on wasn't a front,' thought Castle. 'Maybe it's a legitimate profitable enterprise. Providing physical security for celebrates and such would also allow them to learn some intimate things and set them up as blackmail targets later. Not a bad scam!'

The sound of voices was easy to follow. Just outside the conference room door Beckett paused, took a quick look at Castle, knocked on the door and walked in. "Mary Fisher I'm Detective Beckett and this is United States Marshal Castle. We need a few minutes of your time."

The conference room could seat ten at the table comfortably. Mary was sitting at the table facing the door with a laptop to her right. The two potential clients were right in front of the Castle's and all were looking at the display on the screen to their left.

"What's this about? Can't you see I'm with a client?"

"Folks," said Beckett turning to address the other people in the room. "I'm going to have to ask you to wait in the reception area. I apologize for the inconvenience, but this is a homicide investigation. It should only take five minutes, no more than ten. That is unless," said Beckett as she turned to face Mary. "Miss Fisher forces us to take her downtown. Then it could be a while."

"The FBI spaces are closer," Castle offered.

"But this is a NYPD investigation."

"Not entirely, besides we'd let you question her, eventually."

"The NYPD has jurisdiction," replied Beckett irritably, catching on and running with Castle's attempt at distraction.

"Folks you really need to move along," said Castle addressing the potential clients still seated at the table. "Now Mary what is it going to be? Are we going to have a nice friendly talk here or maybe not so friendly talk in an FBI interrogation room?"

"NYPD," whispered Beckett as the potential clients finally got the hint, got up and headed toward the door.

Mary was frozen in place. Castle a Marshal? Impossible! He was one of her favorite authors and Beckett's shadow. Beckett! As good a homicide detective as there is. They can't be here about Demetri. "You know you haven't told me what this is all about."

"I was waiting for the civilians to clear the area," said Beckett patronizingly as everyone watched the potential clients leave the room and head down the hall. "It concerns the death of Demetri Mitin aka John H. Carter," said Beckett her Russian pronunciation of the name flawless.

"Who? I don't know anyone by that name."

"Of course you do," said Castle. "He's the one what's his name told you to hit either because he failed on his hit attempt or to break the connection to the Russian Mafia."

"Georgy Pankov," said Beckett flawlessly again. "Except you screwed up and left…tracks," continued Beckett deliberately using the word 'tracks'. Both of them saw her flinch when she heard Pankov's name and again when Beckett said 'tracks'.

"I still don't know what you're talking about. When did I allegedly do this this?"

"Last Saturday around one-thirty."

"Ah, there's the problem. On Saturday I was down at the race track in Baltimore watching the Preakness."

"Funny," said Castle. "When we talked to your cousin and brother in jail the other day, they said they were at the Preakness on Saturday too and they didn't mention you at all."

"You probably didn't ask the right question. Look I had a great day at the track. I was so good that that the racetrack forced me to fill out one of those income tax withholding forms. It's back at my apartment and you can check with the IRS."

"We will," said Castle. "How did you get there," he followed up quickly?

"Excuse me?"

"Plane, train, or automobile," supplied Beckett quickly and confrontationally.

"I drove myself."

"In that nice canary yellow Mustang GT," asked Castle?

"Yes. After the race I had a light supper in the Club. When I left the traffic had thinned down and the drive home was actually pleasant."

"Then how do you explain this," demanded Beckett aggressively as she pulled out the photo showing Mary in her car reaching for a Parking ticket and placed it on the table in from of Mary. "That's you in your car," said Beckett this time in a whisper as she felt Castle flow away from her side and down to the foot of the table nearest the door. "Notice the time tag."

"I'd," began Mary. She stopped and looked at her phone. "I'd really like to stay and …," she said as she flung her phone at Castle catching him in the throat. Kate watched her husband start to fall and shrieked as Mary pushed the table into her sending her flying backwards. As Beckett was trying to back away her feet got entangled in a chair and she fell. A second later she was fighting full defensively from the prone position as Mary had hurdled the table and was trying to kick Beckett unconscious.

Being prone made it hard for Kate to get her arms up to block or deflect the kicks, and they hurt like the blazes. Finally she was able to use her legs and scot a chair into Mary's way. Beckett used the time she bought to roll all of the way under the table to the other side. As she was starting to get to her feet Beckett had to content with a jumping Fisher that from somewhere has drawn a knife.

After the first few feints and slashes Beckett knew she was overmatched and if she stayed on the defensive it was only a matter of time before she would be fatally cut. After a forehand and backhand sweep combination that missed Kate jumped in close, threw a right cross that connected with the side of Mary's face. Reaching down Kate grabbed the knife hand with her left hand and let her momentum carry her forward and slightly to Mary's right. Stepping through, Kate kicked back and took the legs out from under her opponent. Grabbing her blouse Beckett tried to slam Mary through the floor. It took two attempts to dislodge the knife. Before Beckett could follow-up Mary kicked Beckett in the head momentarily stunning her. As the two antagonists rolled to their feet a man appeared in the doorway.

"Ah, Kevin good. Kill them both, but not here, and Kevin enjoy yourself. "

Beckett backed up as Mary escaped and the man approached with his weapon drawn.

"You really don't want to do this," Kate half shouted. "He's a United States Marshal and I'm a NYPD Detective. The amount of heat that would be focused here would burn you to ciders."

"Take your cuffs out and cuff yourself," he said.

"No," Beckett replied loudly and defiantly as she backed against the wall. She had seen Castle stir and rise to one knee. If she could just keep his attention a little bit longer. "There is no way I'm going to allow you to cuff me," Beckett continued loudly.

"Listen bitch, if I come over there I'm going to beat you silly, and I would hate to spoil such a beautiful face. Because I have plans for that face and the rest of you later. If you promise to be nice, I'll kill him first. If not I'll let him watch you being screwed by a real man. "

"Not going to happen tiny," rasped a voice that was beautiful to Kate's ears. The spruk of the combat baton deploying to its full length, the thunk of the baton on the wrist holding the gun and sending the weapon flying and the grunt of pain occurred almost simultaneously, Castle followed up with a blow to the back of the knee that spun Beckett's attacker around and completely unbalanced him. The blow to the abdomen folded Kevin in half and the kidney shot drove the man face first to the floor. Castle wound up to deliver the last blow.

"No," pleaded Kate.

Castle stopped the blow a half inch away from Kevin's temple. Both of them knew it would have been a killing blow.

"Let me cuff him," said Kate as she moved gingerly away from the wall.

"You okay," rasped Castle.

"Yeah, in a couple of days I will have the bruises to show for it."

"The people in the Hampton's are going to think I'm a wife beater," said Castle without a touch of humor.

"That's okay. As long as I'm not too stiff to swim, dance, and other things," replied Kate with a grin and a gleam in her eye that made Castle forget about his extremely sore throat.

It was midafternoon before the Castles returned to the 12th. "Do you know what was on her phone that caused her to attack us," asked Beckett as they entered the elevator. Wait, don't answer that."

"Yeah," said Castle. "One word 'Run'."

"Maybe the Tech's will be able to identify the person who sent it."

"Water," rasped Castle as they passed near the Break Room?

"Yes please. Are you so stupid or is it you don't understand English. The Doctors said you were not to speak until the swelling went down in a couple of days. So I don't want to hear another word from you Buster! Got it," commanded Kate? The gentleness of her touch on his cheek and the look of concern in her eyes completely removed the sting from the harshness of her words.

Castle nodded and kissed Kate's hand and headed toward the vending machine. Kate smiled at his retreating back and headed into the Bull-pen.

"You guys okay," asked Esposito with a look of concern on his face.

"She got away," replied Beckett disgustedly. "She took Castle down with her phone and she kicked my ass. We'll heal. I 'm going to have some nice bruises to show off over the weekend and Castle has a swollen larynx, so he can't say much for the next couple of days. She kicked my ass and nearly killed Castle with her phone Javier."

"We heard there was another guy too," said Ryan.

"He showed up later. He covered me as she escaped."

"They said he was in sad shape."

"Castle was behind the guy and he never saw or heard Rick get up. He also made the mistake of threatening to pistol whip and rape me. "

"Castle heard that," asked an incredulous Esposito? "He's lucky to be alive."

"He almost wasn't," replied Beckett maintaining eye contact with Esposito for a long moment. They broke eye contact when they saw Castle enter the Bull-pen.

Castle nodded to 'The Boys' as he neared the group looked at Kate and pointed to her chair. She sat. After setting one of the bottles of waters down on Beckett's desk near his chair he opened the other one, screwed the cap back on and handed it to Kate.

'I'm not that much of an invalid Castle," Beckett chided him.

"Depends who you ask," said Captain Beckett who had approached them apparently unseen. "Sit back down Detective," she told Beckett who had risen to her feet when she heard her Captain's voice.

"According to the Doctor's report in addition to the general beating you took you have a pair of bruised ribs, a bruised spleen and a bruised kidney."

"Kate," screamed an anguished Castle, the love, hurt, and pain easily recognizable in his voice.

"You, hush," responded Kate in a commanding voice. "Remember what the doctor told YOU. I didn't tell you everything because I didn't want to be mothered to death," Beckett said with a sigh, holding up the water bottle as proof. "Your standard 'kid glove' treatment should be enough. Besides tomorrow I'm doing everything they suggested. I will be taking it easy and drinking plenty of fluids. She suggested lemonade instead of ice tea so we need to add lemons to our shopping list. She did say swimming in the pool would be okay and sun in moderation. She also cleared me to dance. Just the slow ones and only if I had a strong partner I could grab onto in case I lost my balance and started to fall. I told her that wouldn't be a problem."

"About that," said Captain Gates.

"Are you cancelling my days off Sir?"

"No. I'm placing you on Medical Leave from now unto your days start."

"Please don't Sir. I want to finish the paperwork so when we find the bitch assuming…"
"We found the murder weapon complete with her prints in her armory," said Esposito with a huge smile. "Along with a lot of other material in the safe that will be make Inspector Todd's people smile."

"So when we find the bitch there's nothing holding up her indictment."

"It looks like I'm going to get my ass chewed by the Chief tomorrow morning after he reads our Morning Report. Okay finish up the paperwork, but if you're here after noon I'm going to kill you on the proficiency section of your upcoming review. "

"Noted Sir," said a smiling Beckett.

"I just came by to tell your Captain," injected Inspector Todd. "That the events that occurred at Brookside allowed us to get a more comprehensive warrant written. The results have been outstanding. We have names, photos, business names, assignments and the name of their data archival service."

"If you pull an archive copy from early last week," said Becket. "And compare the workforce at 'The Don' then and now you will find a name missing. I'm pretty sure that the missing guy is currently in Florida and working for another part of the organization. This is the guy who physically contacted Mike Wallace and told him to steal the material from the Evidence Lock-Up. "

"You know this how?"

"Let's just say my husband told me, and I'm pretty sure he heard it from one of his Uncles."

They all watched the Inspector's face as the information and what he could do with it washed over it.

"You know Sergeant. If I wasn't standing in the 12th with your Captain at my back I would probably be offering you a job in my organization. I have a Command position open that I could slot you into and I'm pretty sure that the Chief of Detectives wouldn't even blink an eye at my doing so."

"I appreciate the thought but right now I'm not interested."

"Thought not."

"You do realize I travel with a lot of baggage?"

"Yeah I noticed," he said nodding in Castle's direction. "But it appears to be a matched set and not much of an encumbrance …Well thanks for the information about the staffing anomaly at 'The Don.'"

Chapter 10 Thursday nights are for walking in the Park

"Thanks," said Amy as she hung up the phone. Operation Castle Watch had been successful. The doorman had called to say that Beckett had just pulled into the parking garage. On several occasions Amy had called down and asked the Doorman to give her a call when he spotted the Castles. Normally she asked when the Castle's called and said they would be late or if the TV news mentioned them. Today was no exception. The news on the TV was mixed, but the call she got from the ER nurse describing Beckett's and Castle's injuries and how lucky they were to still be in one piece confirmed her opinion that she was working for good, courageous and lucky people.

"Come on sweetie," she cooed to James. "Your Mom and Dad will be here in a couple of minutes and I know they are going to want to see you."

As usual James perked up when he the noise on the other side of the door and the key turn. "None of you say a word," admonished Amy as Kate's and Rick's faces appeared in the open doorway.

"That only applies to him," said a laughing Kate. "Hi"ya Tiger," Kate cooed to her smiling son.

Castle was puzzled when Amy wouldn't let James jump into his open arms. "Oh…" he stopped when Kate put a finger quickly to his lips. They exchanged smiles as she deftly disarmed him and scampered into the bedroom to store their weapons.

Castle's antics both horrified and amused Amy. After a minute she couldn't tell whose smile was the biggest Castle's or his son's, and their laughter was infectious. Amy smile widened as Kate rushed in to rescue her laughing son from the madman that was his father. 'Understandable,' thought Amy when she noticed Kate was still in her 'office' clothes and had not changed into her 'house' clothes as was her habit. After today's events nothing is more important than her son and her husband.

"Listen up," commanded Amy in a voice that even got James attention. "You", she said gently stabbing Castle with the index finger of her right hand, "are lucky to be alive. If she would have thrown it a little harder or if it would have it just a little bit more to the right you would have choked to death. And you missy," she continued turning her attention to Kate, "are just as lucky. When the pain reliever they gave you wears off you are going to feel like you had your ass kicked by an expert and you did. The bruised ribs aren't too bad, but the bruised kidney and spleen could result in serious issues if you don't slow down.

"How?…Never mind," said Kate.

"The old nurse's network," rasped Castle.

"Old man," warned Kate with a glare he never wanted to see again. "Be quiet."

"Don't call me old," retorted Amy with a mild slap to Castle's chest, "but your right. The ER nurse knows I work for you guys and called to tell me your injuries and try to get you to slow down long enough to heal."

"You," she said once again gently poking Castle with her finger. "Gargle like they told you. I made some honey sweet tea. It's very sweet so use it over a lot of ice and let it melt down some. It should you're your throat, stay away from the lemonade. Kate, stay away from the tea for a couple of days," she continued her attention now on Kate. "You can either drink the lemonade or the water. That no alcohol instruction is more like guidance. Skip the wine with dinner tonight, but there's no reason why you shouldn't end the night with a nightcap of that marvelous brandy. It will both sooth your throat Castle, and Kate as I pain reliever it has few peers. A beer or two tomorrow night would be okay and Saturday, just be your sensible selves."

Amy looked from Castle to Kate and back. Finally she reached out and gently touched James. "Both of you guys were on the edge and almost fell off. Don't scare me like that again. He's eaten and has had his bath," said Amy abruptly changing the subject "and waiting for his Mom and Dad. …There's chicken and noodles in the crockpot. The potatoes are ready to be mashed, and the oven is ready for the biscuits."

"Amy you didn't have to do this."

"Family does what family does," replied Amy.

"Speaking of family," said Kate with a glance at Castle. "It appears we forgot to invite one to the Hamptons this weekend. I know its short notice. Can you make it Amy? The place is gorgeous. Come enjoy the sun, sand and sea, no nanny strings attached."

"Can't," laughed Amy. "Hospital shifts."

"Then block out Labor Day Weekend," rasped Castle. "We always go up that weekend too."

"Shush," said Kate gently. "But do block it off Amy," she continued gently.

Amy looked from Kate to Castle and back. "I wouldn't miss it for the world. You call your M…," she said looking at Castle.

"Scratch that. You," she said looking at Kate, "call his Mother, and your Father."

"and Alexis," added Kate without prompting.

"One more thing," said Amy pulling a medium size tube out of her apron pocket. "This is the best cream for sore muscles that money can't buy. So I would recommend a nice long shower and then have Castle apply this liberally everywhere. It has a smell, but the heat is worth it. Castle, normal warnings about eyes, nose and mouth, but try not touch ah, any sensitive areas. Yours or Kate's. It won't cause any damage but it will burn like the dickens. So be careful, and whatever you do don't use plain water to wash it off. You just spread it. You need the soap to bind with the oil."

Castle nodded and then moved in, scooped Amy up in hug and kissed her forehead. "If you need anything else just call," said Amy as Castle walked her to the door.

After dinner and a shower Castle carefully applied the muscle cream. Amy was right, the cream had a smell, but the heat and the relief it provided was delicious. Kate was in her bed clothes, and lying with Castle's arm protectively over her on the couch. The movie that they had been watching had ended a half-hour ago. The brandy they had shared had put Kate asleep and Castle's gentle snore confirmed that he still was. Kate knew she should get up and get them both into a proper bed or else she would be stiffer and sorer tomorrow, but being in Castle's arms like this, just felt right. Just five more minutes she promised herself.

'What's that annoying noise' Kate asked herself as she strived to become conscious. 'My Phone!' She groaned loudly as she set-up. Partly from sleeping on the couch, but mostly from the impact of the beating finally taking hold. Kate heard Castle stir as she moved as quickly as she could to her phone.

"Detective Beckett," she said finally. Kate didn't have to look to know that Castle was in the doorway listening. "Yes…..Say again…. Got it…That's thirty minutes away, maybe twenty five this time of night and I use lights and the siren to get through intersections. …. Alone." She looked at Castle who was vigorously shaking his head no. "Sure, he's sleeping like a log," said Beckett holding up a hand to stop Castle's expected outburst. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"That was Officer Jenkins. It appears he has a snitch that knows the whereabouts of Mary and she only wants to talk to me, alone. And we both know that's not going to happen."

Castle pinched his nose between his right thumb and index finger.

"Yeah it does stink." She watched as Castle shook his head no and pointed at her.

"You," Kate said an exasperated voice as she gave her husband her best glare, followed by a wan smile. "I do smell kind of ripe." She watched in wonder as Castle came close took the phone out of her hand, punched a number and handed it back to her.

"Amy" said a sleep fogged voice. "Amy its Kate. We have a call do you mind coming up? Or we could bring James down if that's what you want."

"Don't you dare week him up!" Amy's response was loud enough for Castle to hear even though Kate was on speaker. "I'll be up in a few."

"That's taken care of is there…" Kate handed her phone to Castle and watched him punch another button. She saw the number and smiled. "Hey Javier you up for a late night walk in the park?"

After passing the details and her suspicions about the meeting Beckett called Kevin.

"Right, anything else," Beckett asked looking at Castle. "Dispatch," he croaked "let them…."

"I got it. We don't want a patrol spooking people away, but we want them close if this goes the way we think it's going to."

"FBI duty officer, Russian task force," hissed Castle when Beckett had finished with Dispatch.

"Right, the whereabouts of the big boys tonight will be important."

"Ready Castle," Beckett called five minutes later. Kate wasn't surprised when Castle met her at the doorway to the bedroom and enfolded her in a hug, but the frown on his face was something she didn't expect or ever want to see. Castle made a fist and rapped himself on his chest. The thump of his fist on the body armor echoed in the room.

Kate's eyes widen. Then she hung her head. Looking back up at her husband she went up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, turned and hurried back in to finish dressing. 'What was Castle's line in the book a while ago,' Kate asked herself, 'something about never showing up at a gunfight underdressed.'

'I know I should say something about women and accessories,' thought Castle. 'It's safer if I don't because Kate would probably slap me for talking and my comment would probably rate another slap.' Turning he hurried to the front door to let Amy in.

Amy noted the quilt and pillows on the couch and thought she would have some fun with that later. "Be safe," she called out as she casually touched Kate on the back as they headed toward the door. "This isn't a normal call is it," she asked when she felt Kate's body armor.

"No," answered Kate. "It's round two from this morning."

"No third round," exclaimed Amy. "Bad things always happen in the third round."
"We'll be back," Kate affirmed. "I've got three glorious days off and I'm not going to let anything prevent me from spending them with my two guys."

"Make it so," Amy whispered after the door had closed behind the Castles.

Beckett was secretly glad that she and Castle were the last to arrive at the meeting point in Riverbank State Park.

"I can understand Castle," said an irate Officer Jenkins. "But what are these two doing here?"

"Captain's orders," lied Beckett easily. "I informed Dispatch of the meeting place and time so that they could adjust patrol schedules if needed and they must have informed Captain Gates. Next thing I know I'm being told to call them. What's the set-up?"

Any doubts that Beckett and Castle had about this being a trap were confirmed when the Officer explained the Tactical Situation.

"We're here in the Park. My informant wants us to walk down the park road over their under the Hudson Parkway and meet him on the other side. This way he can watch our approach to be sure he would not be rushed from that direction. The road-net behind him is pretty robust and offers a lot of avenues of escape, and this is a cell-phone dead zone."

The underpass was seventy to eight yards long, maybe thirty yards wide unlit and very very dark. The only light that filtered in was through the small break between the north and southbound sections of the Hudson Parkway. The only other light was from the lone light in the parking lot on the other side. The Parkway was between thirty and thirty-five feet above the park road. Directly underneath the road it was pitch black and nothing could be seen.

'You could have a whole recon platoon hanging from the rafters and no one would even notice," thought Esposito.

"Whose," asked Ryan pointing to the two cars that were parked at the end of the road and prevented anyone from this side of driving through and into the parking lot beyond?

"My informant and mine," said Jenkins.

"How about going back over there and driving him here," asked Esposito? "He can stay in the car."

"He doesn't work like that."

'He,' thought Beckett. 'Over the phone it was a she.'

Everyone saw Castle turn on his heal and head for the trunk of Kate's cruiser. 'The Boys' looked at each other and headed for the truck of their vehicle. A couple of minutes later the Marshall and three Detectives were wearing their blue vests and slowly heading toward the throat of the road.

"We ready now," asked an irritated Jenkins?

"Wait," croaked Castle. He turned on his flashlight and played it about the squats of the homeless. "Where are they?"

"The homeless," blurted Officer Jenkins. "Who knows? Maybe the park police kicked them out. Maybe they're playing hide-and-go seek. Who cares?"

'The Boys 'exchanged glances. Esposito turned, made eye contact with Castle and nodded. They knew that when predators show up the prey leaves, or dies.

Five steps down the road Kate felt Castle tug on her right shoulder. Turning she saw Castle turned to his right with his head cocked to one side. He appeared to be straining to listen to something. Beckett looked in that direction and heard …something, pigeons perhaps?

Castle turned on his flashlight and pointed it toward the rafters to his right near the top of the concrete pylons supporting the bridge. At the edge of the beam was the silhouette of a man dressed in blacks and he had a

"Gun," yelled Beckett as loud as she could. For Beckett the next few moments seemed to flow in super slow-motion. As she was drawing her weapon she heard Castle's gun go off and the muzzle flash was temporally blinding, When the after image cleared, Beckett saw the assassin hanging in the rafters in some kind of swing and the gun that was in his hand was sliding down the concrete ramp that was part of the bridge support structure.

At the other end of the road all hell seemed to break lose. The car lights flipped on at least eight people with guns opened up. Beckett fired in that direction out of reflex and hurried after Castle who was running toward the weapon that was sliding down the ramp and the cover provided by the squats.

"Don't shoot," yelled Jenkins in Russian. "I'm one of you," he yelled repeatedly as he ran toward the car lights with his hands in the area. "I'm one of you."

Beckett stifled the urge to shot him in the back and snapped another shot at the car lights instead. 'What am I thinking,' she thought. 'Those things are at least seventy yards away at least. The only way I'm going to hit anything is by luck. Get out of the street stupid,' she admonished herself as she saw the flash of a bullet skip off of the road in front of her. 'The only way they can hit you is by luck so why make it easy?' Once behind the cover provided by one of the squats Beckett turned and ran out from under the bridge and into the park. 'He said it was a cell phone dead area. Let's hope the tactical radio works. '

"Dispatch this is Sargent Kate Beckett, badge number 41319. Shots fired, officers need assistance. Do you read me over?"

"Loud and clear Sargent. Location and situation."

Castle's flashlight clicking on caused both Esposito and Ryan to pause and look. They reacted the same way as Beckett to the threat but were slower off of the mark. When the shooting from the end of the road started they snapped a couple of shots in that direction and scurried to the cover on their left. With no bullets falling in their immediate vicinity they improved their position by moving toward the cars. They stopped right before the cover ran out.

"We're still better than fifty-yards away," said Esposito. "The bullets will travel that far and much farther, but aiming them is the problem."

"And if we shoot we give our position away," said Ryan.

"The only person that can consistently hit at that range is 'Dirty Harry'," joked Esposito, "and he's in San Francisco."

"Not an acceptable response time," Ryan agreed. "What's our play?"

"Dispatch this is Sargent Kate Beckett, badge number 41319. Shots fired, officers need assistance. Do you read me over," barked their radios?

"Esposito, Ryan status and did you copy."

"We're both green and we copy," replied Ryan. "Castle?"

"Not with me," came the immediate reply.

"We have a plan now," said Esposito. "I wish we went right instead of left."

"Why."

"The man Castle shot appeared to drop a rifle. If I could find it and it was undamaged, they'd be the one's running for cover."

"Can Castle handle a rifle," asked Ryan? They both knew the issues Beckett might have.

"I don't know. Pistols and rifles are two entirely different beasts. I don't know why they just are."

Both Ryan and Esposito turned and looked in the direction of the cars as the shooting suddenly stopped.

"They're about to deploy Plan B," joked Ryan.

"As soon as the light from his flashlight touched the figure in the rafters Castle knew it was the woman who almost killed him with her phone earlier that morning. He drew his gun and fired on pure reflex. Castle paused for a moment, and then the shooting from the other end of the road goaded him into action. 'At this range our handguns are almost worthless,' thought Castle as he sprinted to get behind the visual cover provided by the squats.' And with the amount of lead they're throwing our way it's only a matter of time before they get lucky. I need to get that rifle.'

After an eternity of searching, Castle found the rifle. 'An antique,' thought Castle as he picked up the World War II era M1 Garand. 'If it was good enough for her, then it's good enough for you,' he concluded. 'What do I know? Ah, Eight shot reusable clip, it uses a 30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge, accurate to at least three hundred yards, and very reliable' he concluded as he examined the weapon. It looks like I have a low power scope and a flash suppressor. 'I wonder what that does to the ballistics.' Ah, five full spare clips and a pouch of lose shells, he muttered as he examined the ammo bandolier that had been attached to the sling. 'Now all I need is a good perch.'

FBI Agents Carlson and Montrose looked up and readied for action as a vehicle without lights approached from the rear. They relaxed when they saw the NYPD markings. Making sure their badges were clearly visible, both agents opened the car doors and headed toward the cruiser with their hands at their sides and away from their bodies.

"FBI, Agents Carlson and Montrose," said the agent that exited from the driver's side of the car and approved the driver of the NYPD vehicle.

"NYPD," was the response from the cruiser. "Why are you guys here?"

"Surveillance. Do you know what's happening?"

"I don't know all of the details, but it seems a Detective was meeting a snitch and it went south. The Detectives got out before the trap really closed. They probably could get clear, but they want these guys. So they've turtled up an asked that the escape path be blocked off, that's us, and a couple of other units on the way. They suggested that a SWAT or a heavy weapons team engage them from a distance. I don't have an ETA for them."

"Not a bad plan. What frequency you guys using for the operation? You see we've also called for backup and there's no sense in stepping on each other's toes especially since all that gunfire is bound to make people edgy."

"Tach three agent."

"Sam," asked the drive with a look at his fellow agent, who nodded and walked back toward their car.

"Who are you following," asked the driver of the NYPD Blue and White.

Agent Carlson glanced at the back of his retreating partner and shrugged. Secrecy was one thing, firefights something else completely different. "Down there you have the head of the east coast branch of the Russian Mafia, his chief of assassins, and enough solders and firepower to make me wish for a company of US Marines and a platoon of tanks, not necessarily in that order."

"No gunships," quipped the other NYPD officer.

"They keep denying my requisition," said the FBI agent in a level voice.

"Esposito, Ryan status and did you copy."

"We're both green and we copy," replied Ryan. "Castle?"

"Not with me," came the immediate reply. "I need to find him," Beckett muttered after she had released the radio transmit key.

Mindful of her silhouette, and surprised by the lack of gunfire, Beckett moved into the underpass and sticking to the left side. Twenty yards in she spotted Castle holding a rifle. He looked up as she approached.

"Kate, good. I'm going there," he said pointing to a spot on the concrete ramp where one of the supports for the bridge was anchored. "Do we need to announce ourselves or something?"

"I'll do that from down here," she whispered. "You know how to use that thing?"

"Nothing like OJT. I wish Esposito was here, but he's not and our pistols are worthless under these conditions."

"I know," said Beckett quickly looking away from the rifle in her husband's hands. She watched as Castle ascend to and configure his perch. After moving into a place that provided real cover and a view she shouted at the top of her lungs, "NYPD, throw down your weapons and move to in front of the headlights with your hands in the air."

The response was quick and immediate, and composed entirely of lead. From her viewpoint Beckett counted thirteen separate and distinct muzzle flashes, even though the glare of the car lights.

Castle had no idea of the winds or the effect of the flash suppressor as he lined up his shot. He squeezed the trigger. Two inches low and one to the left, still good enough to take out the divers' side light of the car on the left. Castle fired two shots through the radiator grill hoping to disable the engine, popped the other light and then repeated the process for the other car.

Castle snagged the empty clip out of the trash bag he had configured to catch his brass and break-up his silhouette. He inserted a fresh clip into the rifle and placed the empty clip into the bandolier. After carefully re-zeroing his weapon he spotted his first target in the scope. After squeezing the trigger and watching the man fall he moved on the next. Five shoots later no one was moving and the firing from the people using the cars as cover had stopped. Castle ejected the nearly spent clip and replaced it with a full one. Opening the pouch with the loose cartridges he started to refill the clip.

"NYPD," Beckett shouted again. She stopped when she saw another car's lights flash, head toward the other two cars and the people at the other end of the road flee toward the oncoming car. Beckett exited her hideaway and sprinted toward the far end of the road, the fleeing figures clearly in sight. A grim smile appeared on her face when she heard the rifle bark six times and the lead car stop dead in its tracks. She watched the people adjust their route and head toward the other three waiting cars. When Castle's rifle went silent she guessed that Castle didn't have line-of-sight and couldn't provide over watch. That thought chilled her and she went prone in an effort to become invisible. 'I hope the blockade's in place,' thought Kate as she watched the cars 'rescue' their attackers. As the first car turned and headed for the exit its lights flashed over the rear window on the driver's side of the last car. Kate clearly saw the face of the man as he leaned his head slightly out of the window, gun in hand and shoot one of the men desperately trying to get in the back seat of the second car.

The lead vehicle of the rescue convoy came to a screeching when it rounded the bend in the road and found its way solidly blocked by two NYPD Blue and Whites and two FBI cruisers. A moment later a massive amount of firepower shredded the tires of the last two vehicles and left their engines a smoking wreck. The people in the vehicles did the smart thing, they surrendered. That precipitated the biggest firefight of all, who had jurisdiction.

At had been many hours since the last shot had been fired and the people taken downtown for processing, but Beckett and Castle were still required to be on the crime scene. They had confirmed that the assassin that Castle had killed was Mary Fisher, and the man that the man in the car had killed was Officer Jenkins. The jurisdictional dispute was resolved with a verbal handshake between the DA and Justice. NYC would get first crack on the murder and attempted murder charges. They would share the data from the Brookside affair and the FBI surveillance and let the Feds run with everything that crossed the county boundary. The Commander's Incident Response Team had declared the shooting to be 'good' and yet they were still there.

Kate looked to the east and the sky was definitely brighter. If I'm going to watch the sun rise it's going to be in my husband's arms she vowed. She looked back at the crowd around Castle and sighed. Who are all these people? Kate looked at her Dad's watch and her phone. Well I need to make this call because Castle can't.

"Dillon," said a sleepy voice that had lots of experience of waking up to early morning phone calls.

"Sir, its Kate Beckett and I need to pass on some news about Castle."
"Okay Darling, let me move into another room so I don't disturb the boss," he whispered the Texas drawl very evident. "Okay Kate what did my Deputy do this time. I'm assuming that this isn't bad news because you would have called when it happened or good news, because that could have waited like a well-aged bottle of scotch and consumed at the proper time."

"He was in another gunfight Sir. He killed six people and three cars," Kate said followed by a short hysterical laugh that the Marshal recognized immediately as the result of fatigue.

"Long day," he said soothingly.

"Very long Sir."

"How's he taking it?"

"He looks haunted."

"You can work with that. Just grab him and let him know you're by his side. He'll respond."

"Bacon, eggs, toast and grits," said a female voice.

"Yes please."

"Sounds like the boss is taking care of you."
"Yes she does, and I try to take care of her. You take care of Castle darling."

"I will as soon as I can get him away from these people I will. We're spending the weekend at his place in the Hamptons."

"Just the ticket. Don't let him forget he's a US Marshal."

"I won't thank you Sir."

Kate had crashed and rebounded. She knew that the next time she crashed it would be for a long count. She wasn't worried about herself. She was worried about Castle. He had killed before, but that was up-close and personal to save his own life. Killing like this, from a distance, was something else. What worried Kate the most was the haunted expression on her husband's face. The more times he recited the events the more haunted he looked.

"Don't worry Babe. Late at night when the demons come they'll find me waiting for them. None will pass to disturb your sleep."

"Amen," said a quiet and friendly voice.

"Thanks Lanie," said Beckett.

"Your demons?"

Kate turned and looked at her oldest, dearest and best friend.

"They haven't reared their ugly head since I said 'I do'."

"Castle got your back?"

"And everything else," Kate said with a huge smile. "What are you still doing here?"

"AHIS"

"AHIS? I don't understand."

"Ass Holes In Suits. They wanted a preliminary report on how many times each person was shot and where."

"Why?"

"I'm clueless, they would get that as part of the standard autopsy report. Why they 'needed' it now is beyond me. But since they convinced my boss that it was absolutely necessary…I'll say one thing that you probably don't want to hear. Your lug of a husband is one heck of a shot. All of his shots were one hit kills. The person probably died instantly."
"Almost like a trained assassin?"

"Yeah, how's he taking it?"

"He looks haunted. Those demons keep making him relive it. I need to help him accept that it was necessary and move on. "

"What's this about Demons?"

"Those Demons keep grabbing Castle Sir. I think we're done but he doesn't seem to be able to break free."

"That's the guy from the State Parks Commission who wants to be involved because this is a State Park. Look Detective, we have all the information we need. Marshal Castle has co-operated fully and completely. The shot was declared a good shot and no charges of any kind will be filled. And frankly right now your husband IS a United States Marshal if he wants to leave no one here can stop him. Have you called his boss yet?"

"Just did. He told us to enjoy our days off, and to take care of his Deputy."

"Speaking of that, I don't expect to see you again until Tuesday. Clear?"

"Yes Sir."
"Now go fetch your husband."

Kate reached into her pocket and pulled out her personal phone and speed dialed the only number on it. She watched the surprise register on Castle's face as he turned to find and face Kate.

"Castle you are reminded that you are a United States Marshal. No one here is in your chain of command. You are not obligated to answer their questions. I have it from a very good source that the NYPD is happy with the completeness of your co-operation and your actions today. So tell that windbag good day and take me home before I collapse completely."

Kate heard the line go dead, saw Castle say something, turn and then head in her direction.

"Thank you Sir," whispered Beckett.

"No sooner than Tuesday, and you can thank me by making sure your husband doesn't shoot up one of my cruisers.

"Wait Mister Castle you can't leave yet. I'm not through with you," shouted the man from the State Parks Commission.

"It's United States Marshal Castle," said Castle as he walked away. "And we are through. I have other duties to attend to."

"Hey wait! Don't make me…."

"Sir," said FBI Agent Lucy Gonzales who was still present to work out the details for the sharing of the forensic workload and distribution of the results. "I'm Agent Gonzales, FBI. He IS a United States Marshal. From where I sit there is not one person here who could order Marshal Castle to do anything period. My boss is Special Agent Beach and he is the head of the New York Office," she said nodding toward a group of men by one of the cars, "and he is talking to the NYPD Chief of Detectives. Both of them may ASK the Marshal for something and he might do it, but they can't order him to do it, and if he doesn't do it tough rocks. So I would be very careful in what I demanded from him. "

They watched as Castle walked toward Kate and Captain Gates. They saw what appeared to be a polite greeting and Sargent Beckett take Castles' arm and together they headed back through the tunnel to the other side of the park.

"Yeah," said Agent Gonzales. "That is the ONLY person on the planet who can give Mister Castle an order and expect it to be obeyed. Sargent Beckett is his wife." Agent Gonzales heard chuckles and looked behind her. A pair of Uniformed Officers, from the 12th, where looking at her, nodding their heads in agreement and quietly laughing. The Castles were their people and they knew them well.

Chapter 11 The Last Days of Indian Summer

Sargent Beckett shivered involuntarily as a gust of wind gently rattled the hallway window in the Courthouse. In the sky she could see the fast moving thin wisps of clouds that the weather people said was the herald of the storm that would bring an end to this glorious Indian summer they had been experiencing. The storm was supposed to arrive this afternoon, linger for a couple of days and then clear out by Friday. 'Good' thought Kate, 'as long as the weather is nice for our last weekend at the house.'

Kate looked at her reflection in the mirror and reflected on the summer that had been and the fall that still is. James and Castle were happy and healthy. James seemed to growing at a rate of an inch a week and Castle was growing in ways that astonished Kate. She was delighted at his growth and happy to be part of his everyday life. He made things wondrous and exciting for her. She couldn't have found a better life-mate.

She and 'The Boys' had had a great stretch, no unsolved cases and a hundred percent conviction rate on those cases that went to trail. Even her beloved Yankees had done well. True they lost in the Fall Classic to that 'Team from Cincinnati' as the New York media called them. 'The Cincinnati Reds deserved to win the World Series,' conceded Kate. 'Any Team that can come into Yankee Stadium and win two elimination games deserves the crown. And the way they won, Game Six set the record for the most runs scored in a World Series game. In Game Seven the Reds were held hitless, but they still managed to score in the top of the thirteenth on a walk, sacrifice, stolen base and a perfectly executed two-strike suicide squeeze. After that game both she and her Dad was drained, disappointed, and hoarse, but they wouldn't have traded the experience for the world.

The last lingering piece of business was the trail of the Russian Mafia boss. Kate was ecstatic that 'The Trial ', as the media was hyping it was finally beginning. She was tired of the preparation work that had to be repeated over and over when the Defense filled for yet another Continuance and a new trial date was set. Even though, she admitted, that when Castle was doing the cross-examination things got interesting. In the mock trail he had Lanie in tears and he had tripped Kate up so many times it was ridiculous. When Castle had one of his art friends turn the evidence into poster boards the ADA was furious. Now they were at Revision Level three and formed an integral part of the case.

Kate laughed at the expression on Castle's face when the DA himself asked Castle to be the opposing counsel for another ADA. Rumor had it that he blew up the ADA's case in less than three minutes. Castle had admitted that he enjoyed the game of wits.

Sargent Beckett turned away from the window and watched the people moving in the hallway of the Courthouse. ADA Ron Davis had been right. Most of the morning had been spent in the last round of position posturing and the only person to take the stand was Lanie. After lunch it was her turn and the last time they had timed it, it had taken over three hours. With a real adversary, it would take at least four maybe four and a half. 'No matter,' shrugged Kate, 'this guy is going down for killing Officer Jenkins, even though he was bent.'

Kate answered her phone without looking at the caller id window. In her heart she knew it was Castle calling her to steady her nerves, not like she needed it she snorted. To her surprise it was a picture of Castle and James at play in their park the Thompson Street Playground. The next phone call arrived thirty seconds later.

"Have you seen the picture," asked a voice that was electronically disguised.

"Yes," replied Kate her heart suddenly in her throat.

"Good, this is what you are going to do. You are going to have amnesia at a certain point in your testimony and you are going to be unable to identify a certain individual. Failure to do so will mean that this is the last picture of them you will ever see. Is that clear?"

It took a moment for Kate's panic to subside and be replaced by her Huntress persona. Beckett placed her phone in Speaker mode and gently set it down on the window's ledge. Extracting her digital recorder she turned it on and placed it next to the phone. In the back of her mind she hoped the background noise wouldn't ruin what she was planning to do.

"...Is that clear?" The voice repeated.

"You know," said Beckett in perfect Russian. "That voice disguise thing is really working and I didn't understand half of what you said. You're going to have to tell me again."

"In English you dolt," exclaimed Beckett when the voice started to explain the situation again in Russian.

"...Is that clear?" The voice repeated.

"Dah," Kate replied and quickly broke the connection.

"Babe," said a distraught Kate. "Someone sent me a picture of you and James in the Park and said if I testify you die."
"Babe," Kate said again.

"Kate you have to testify. It's your duty to testify."

"But I don't want to lose you and James."

"You won't. Trust me?"

"Always."

"Good. Buy me some time to scout the opposition. Hey James, it looks like you about to play your first game of hide-and-go-seek."

"I want to find you," said a breathless Kate.

"I'll find you. Now be good in Court and put that Son-of-a-Bitch away."

"Love you."

"Ditto"

"Again with the ditto thing," grumbled Kate as she dialed the precinct and explained the situation to Ryan.

Beckett remained standing after the oath had been administered. "Bailiff on my authority please close the Courtroom and prevent people leaving for the duration of my testimony."

"Belay that," growled Judge Freemen as he tried to gavel the room to silence.

Sergeant Beckett nodded and took her seat in the witness box.

"You will please provide the Court with an explanation for your behavior Detective," demanded the Judge.

"Yes Your Honor. Immediately before entering this Courtroom I received a picture of my husband and son at play in the Thompson Street Playground. Less than a minute after that, I received a phone call stating that unless I had a case of amnesia my husband and son would be killed. I figured that the only people who would know if I testified or not are in this room and if I could prevent them from leaving and making a phone call Castle and James would be save."

"Any proof," asked the Judge.

"I have a picture and a recording. Even so it still could be a bluff."

"Even if the threat is real I, in good conscious, can't impose that restriction on all of these innocent people."
"Thought not, but I had to try."

The Judge looked at Beckett and minutely nodded his head. He was a regular at the 'Major's" poker night and had seen Kate pull off many a bluff, and this was one of the biggest. In effect she HAD closed the Courtroom. Given her announcement anybody who left the Courtroom would be 'noticed' to say the least. 'Well done Kate,' thought the Judge.

"Your Honor I suggest we discuss this in your chambers," suggested the Defense attorney.

"Please Your Honor no," pleaded Kate. "This situation, this perceived leverage only exits until my testimony becomes part of the Trial Record. After that any hold they think they have on me and my family is gone. Please continue to uphold your oath of office and provide a level playing field for the two opposing counsels and please let me fulfill my oath. Please let me testify."

"But Castle and James," said the ADA.

"My husband and son aren't the only things at risk here," said Kate quickly and confidently. "It's our system of justice. If witnesses are afraid to testify then crimes will go unpublished. If a NYPD Officer doesn't testify because of threats to her family, what message does that send to the general public?"

"I must consider the welfare of your husband and son," said the Judge.

"Castle has accepted the risk Your Honor. He told me to testify and to trust him with his and the life of our son. And I do. When most people think about my husband they think of him as only an author. He is that and more. We've been hunted by and have hunted hit squads in this city, Baltimore and overseas. They're lucky James is with Castle and not me. If not we would be hunting them. He asked me to buy him some time to scout the opposition. I think I've bought enough. Because once he escapes the initial box he's in, he's free to play-hide-and-go-seek in NYC. This is his city and if he needs to disappear for the afternoon or long enough to find a safe place then he will."

"I believe she's your witness Counselor," said the Judge with a wave toward ADA Davis.

"Your Honor," said the Defense Counsel. " I would like to examine the photo and hear the recording."

"Your Honor that is a different subject altogether and has no bearing on this murder trial," objected the ADA. "I'm sure the Detective will be willing to share after she completes her testimony."

"Agreed. Detective?"

"Absolutely Your Honor.

"Continue Mr. Davis."

"Permission to approach the witness Your Honor?"

Kate's testimony had begun. The question and answer session went as expected with the Defense Attorney objecting and being overruled at the expected places.

"Now then Detective," said ADA Davis perhaps an hour and a half into Beckett's testimony, "in your own words take us through the events of that day. Start with the confrontation at Brookside and end with the murder of Officer Jenkins."

"Your Honor may I leave the witness chair and continue my testimony in front of the jury box? If I'm able to freely move from poster board to poster board my narrative will go quicker and be easier for all to understand."

"Any Objections, …remember your still under oath."

"Yes Your Honor." 'Story time,' thought Kate as she moved in front of the jury, 'and I've practiced with the master.'

Hide and seek

"…Hey James, it looks like you about to play your first game of hide-and-go-seek."

Castle delighted in James' squeal of joy as he spun around several times with James at arms before drawing him close and heading toward the swings. Court won't start for another ten minutes, thought Castle after he had looked at his watch. If there is a Team here they're clueless as to the length of Kate's testimony so they'll try to kill me after she starts or when I leave for home. If Kate first says she doesn't recognize him and later recants because of our death her creditability will be blown and the bad guy will walk.

"Well James we need to determine if there is a threat and who comprises it." James looked at his Father with a grin on his face and seemed to nod.

It took less than a minute to determine who was out of place. Castle and James had been regulars in the kids playground area since early spring. Castle knew all of the nannies and their charges by sight. The woman sitting on the park bench, probably playing a game on her phone, was definitely out of place. Casually and tastefully dressed and wearing dark glasses and a baseball cap the woman had been in that position for at least an-half-an hour. She was minding no children and hadn't brought a lunch. So either she was waiting for someone or she was the point person for the Team.

Castle watched as the woman took over her dark glasses and positioned them on the bill of the cap. "Thanks Darling," he muttered in a bad impersonation of Marshal Dillon as he took the woman's picture with his cell phone. You just made my life interesting.

"Okay if she's the point person, where are the hitters," he asked James? "Probably on each of the three major paths out of this place," Castle answered himself. "Given that, how do I avoid them?"

Castle was no stranger to the 'adult' sections of the park. He had walked the paths thousands of times, first with his daughter Alexis and later with Kate. He still remembered the first kiss he stole from Kate after they had decided to date. 'Admit it Castle. You stole nothing. If Kate didn't want to be kissed she would have decked you. …Back on point! You need to determine if there is a trap, identify the trappers and beat it. "Today is not a good day to die, and we're not." Castle whispered to James as a course of action surged forth in his mind. Castle had decided to use one of the first counter-surveillance tricks his first muse had taught him. Too bad she was a traitor.

Castle bundled James up in his stroller exited the playground and headed down the path toward the ice cream shop. As soon as he saw the man on the bench answer his phone, look in his direction and stand up Castle knew that the trap had been sprung, now to get out of it. Castle causally took a picture of the man as he moved forward and leaned down to look at James. "Seriously, again," he said overly loud.

Castle spun the stroller around and headed, almost at a run, toward the rest room and the babies changing station. The look of surprise, puzzlement and fury on the face of the woman who had started to follow him down the path toward the ice cream shop convinced Castle that they would make their move now. 'Ah the old rubber band maneuvers,' thought Castle. 'It never fails to uncover a tail. Today it had sprung a trap and helped positively mark the point person. Let's hope my trap works,' prayed Castle.

Castle deliberately left the stroller in front of the door, hurried into the rest room, changed James' diaper out of habit, deployed his combat baton and waited. He didn't have long to wait. The sounds of the stroller being moved and the door being opened were unmistakable. The first thing that Castle saw was the tip of the elbow as the hit-man rounded the corner with his gun held in the vertical position. The tip of the baton struck and broke the fingers holding the gun as the man lowered the gun intoa shooting position. The momentum smashed the gun hand into the cider-block wall. Castle heard the silenced weapon fire right before it was knocked from his opponent's hand. The follow-up strike was a downward blow to the inside of the right knee that forced the hit-man down to one knee. Castle did a tight spin and lashed out again. This blow landed squarely on the upper arm, and inch or so under the point of the shoulder. The blow knocked the head of the unbalanced assassin into the steel bathroom fixture, hard. The last blow landed on his opponents ribs. The crunch was loud enough to convince Castle that he had struck true. When the man didn't move, Castle cautiously checked him. He was unconscious, a huge bump on his head, a bloody nose, a good pulse and steady breathing.

Castle looked at the gun on the floor and decided against picking it up. Panicking, he remembered the shot and hurried toward his suddenly silent son. James looked up at his Father with an expression that seemed to say 'what kept you.' Castle enjoyed the sight of his unharmed son for a second, looked at the diaper bag and concluded he couldn't afford the encumbrance. After extracting a couple of diapers and of course Snoopy for James, he picked up his son and headed outside. Castle buckled James into the stroller confident that the privacy fence shielded him from the eyes of the woman and not enough time had elapsed for reinforcements to arrive.

Castle cut left and walked on the grass behind the restroom building, in a few steps he made it to the relative safety of the thin tree line. He carefully shielded James as he pushed his way through the hedges and ran through the flower bed, trying disparately not to step on a flower. Castle put the stroller down on the sidewalk and couldn't believe his luck. Flying across Broome Street, mid-block he paused when he reached the other side and looked behind him. The traffic would prevent anybody from crossing for at least ninety seconds. On the other side he saw a man with a phone to his face point at Castle and gesture frantically. One man was hurrying in the direction of the Spring Street Subway station and the other moving down Broome to prevent from returning home. Turning left on Sullivan Castle saw a beautiful sight, a NYC bus. Castle climbed aboard, overpaid the fare, sat down unhooked James from the stroller and tried to make himself small. For one of the few times in his life he was glad that the sidewalks were relatively crowded. The bad guys couldn't easily see that he wasn't on the street. That would give him time to get away.

Four stops later, Castle and James left the bus and hailed a taxi. On a whim he had the taxi driver drop them off at the Four Seasons. After booking the Honeymoon suite for tonight Castle went back out to the Taxi Stand and caught a cab for his second NYC home, the 12th precinct.

When the point-woman heard the 'Castle sighting' on her phone she deployed her troops for the chase, implemented contingency plan c, and went into the men's bathroom to recover her hitter. After reviving him, they walked arm-in-arm down the path that lead to the Loft. Plan C was to kill them as they entered the Loft. The woman looked up and smiled. The presence of the two uniformed officers heading her way didn't frighten her. Their presence was expected. They expected the woman to call her Captain and tell her about the threat. That's why they had planned to kill Castle quickly anyway.' Even if the bitch testifies,' thought the point-woman, a message will have been sent. "Straighten up, Claude," she whispered to the hitter Castle had fought. "Let's try not to attract too much attention."

Sargent Stevens and Officer Hastings had walked this park many times in the past and had seen many strange things. This time the thing they didn't want to see was Castle's and James' bodies.

"Has anyone seen Richard Castle," Stevens asked a group of the playground regulars?

"Maybe twenty minutes ago," said one of the nannies as she handed a boxed drink to her charge.

"He and James were heading for the restroom. Castle was hurrying like his life depended on it."

"Thanks," said Hastings as they started to move in that direction.

The men's side of the restroom was empty and silent, but the scene told the experienced Officers plenty.

"Fresh blood," pointed out Stevens.

"Not much," committed Hastings. "Bullet impact," she said pointing to the wall above the changing station.

"Yeah, but we don't know when. Castle's you think," Steven's commented pointing at the diaper bag still on the station.

"We can ask. I don't see a stroller, so maybe he decided to ditch the bag when he scrammed out of here."

"Maybe, but how do you explain the blood?"

Hastings thought for a second. "Role play time. You play the bad guy and come in here I'll play Castle."

The re-enacted ambush went off without a hitch. "A pissed off Castle with his combat baton protecting James," said Hastings, "his attacker didn't have a chance."

"Yeah, but where is he?"

"Son-of-a-bitch," shouted Stevens. "I think we passed them on our way here."

Hastings thought for a moment, "The man and the woman. I just thought he was just drunk."

"Me too."

It took thirty seconds for the regulars to identify the diaper bag as belonging to Castle. "May I," asked one of the nannies. After a quick examination she handed the bag back to Hastings. "Rick most definitely left this bag behind. It looks like he took a couple of diapers and Snoopy. There's no way James would let him leave his favorite toy behind."

"Thanks," said Stevens. "Will take this bag down to the precinct and give it to Kate."

"I don't who or what's chasing Castle," said another of the nannies, "but they had better hope they don't catch him, especially with James around."

'Agreed' thought Hastings as she and her partner headed back toward their Blue and White.

Court room

Beckett acknowledged that she understood that she was still under oath and settled back down in the witness chair. After her narrative, which Beckett thought went fantastic. The Judge had called for a fifteen minute recess. Kate had used the time for the normal things. She wasn't concerned about the lack of 'Castle sightings'. Hastings' text about the Snoopy-less diaper bag only confirmed her faith in her husband's ability to recognize and escape the trap. 'He'll show up when it's time,' she convinced herself. 'Now I need to prepare for a long and probably hostile cross-examination.'

Beckett couldn't see ADA's Davis face when the defense attorney asked the first question, but she was sure he wasn't smiling. Castle had given long odds that this would be the first question and the ADA accepted the bet. Beckett didn't feel sorry for him. He could afford the bottle of scotch and besides as a frequent visitor to the Loft he would probably have many a drink from that very bottle or another just like it. One thing that she loved about Castle is that he always shared the good stuff with his friends.

Beckett looked at the clock on the back wall of the Courtroom as the Defense Attorney elegantly stomped his way toward the jury box. It had been only thirty minutes and to Kate if had seemed like thirty hours. She admired and did not underestimate her opponents' skills as an integrator. He had finished a line of questioning and finding no new string to pull he went back to the beginning and restarted the whole line, from a slightly different perspective, forcing Kate to really pay attention to the question and answer what she heard instead of what she thought she heard.

In addition to his skill with the questions, Beckett was convinced that Defense Attorney had spent many hours in acting class. His movements and facial expressions, while well-rehearsed to her eyes, clearly emphasized the serious of the question and his reaction, disbelief, surprise etc. to the answer. So good was he that Kate seriously considered giving his name to Martha and recommending she hire him as the 'Physical Presence' coach for her acting students.

The defense attorney was positioned maybe five feet in front of the rail marking the witness box, and turned so that he was mostly facing the jury box. Typically he would start a question facing Beckett and finish the question looking at the jury so he could study the impact of the answer. Beckett was so focused on the defense attorney and the jury that she did not see the medium height black woman opening displaying her police credential enter the Courtroom and slowly walk toward the ADA's. The Judges' gavel caught Beckett completely by surprise.

"Captain Gates," started the Judge. "The Court is reasonably sure it knows why you are here. Do you need a moment alone with your Detective?"

'Captain Gates,' screamed Kate's mind as her heart suddenly leaped into her throat. 'Commanders always deliver bad news in person,' her intellect told her. 'Oh Castle! Oh James!'

"No Your Honor. Thank God that won't be necessary."

"I take it you have good news to share?"

"Yes Your Honor. Both Castle and James are safe at the 12th and unharmed. Furthermore, the people who tried to kill Castle are in custody and have confessed."

After the Judge gaveled the room to silence, Captain Gates continued seemingly unaware that she was in a Courtroom.

"We issued a city-wide APB to put Castle and James into protective custody immediately after Sargent Beckett notified us of the situation. I asked to be personally informed when Castle was found. Can you imagine my surprise when I return to my office after dealing with another matter to find Castle, with James on his lap, sitting at Beckett's desk and calming going through an image database. After being reassured by my Desk Sargent that Castle was NOT in the building I told him to cancel the APB because I had Castle in custody. To cut to the chase, we had just received warrants for the three people Castle had positively identified from the park when the Doorman from the Castle's apartment building called and asked if we had a detail on the Castle's and if not then there were seven people in three vehicles paying very close attention to the people entering and leaving his building. The description of the female convinced us this was the strike team. We responded in ah, overwhelming force and captured them without incident. "

"Ah, one other note. When we returned we discovered a very sticky face and the remains of two ice cream bar wrappers near the people we left behind to look after James."

"God damn it Sir," exclaimed Kate. "I guess I'm going to have to accept that James won't be able to eat a proper supper tonight, but so help me if he complains of an upset stomach caused by junk food I'll…."

Kate stopped her tirade when she heard the Judge gaveling furiously. "Young lady you will be mindful of where you are and your language."

"Sorry Your Honor," said a contrite but still infuriated Beckett. "I apologize to the Court for my outburst and to everyone for my offensive language."

ADA took a quick look at the Jury to access the impact and think about damage control. From what he could read from their body language no one was offended. All of the mothers and fathers were smiling and nodding their heads in approval. Even the single people were grinning.

"Permission to withdraw Your Honor. I feel compelled to inform those people under my command that Mama Bear has growled both threateningly and convincingly."

"Granted and thanks for the good news."

"Thank you Your Honor, and Kate, for the record Papa Bear literally roared."

The Judge allowed another fifteen minute recess for a bio break and to allow everyone to regain their focus and perspective about the job before them. It had been an hour and fifteen minutes since they had reconvened. Beckett watched the Defense Attorney dramatically 'consult' his notes prior to firing his next question at her. She felt like a piñata at a backyard birthday party about to burst under the beating it was receiving. 'Hang in there. You are not alone,' said a voice in her mind that was immediately squashed by the next question and the question after that and the...

Everyone was so engrossed with the drama going on between the Defense Attorney and the witness that no one noticed a well-dressed, ruggedly-handsome man wearing dark glasses enter the Courtroom. 'Am I friend of the bride or the groom,' quipped Castle as he entered the Courtroom and looked at the seating arrangements. 'I'm a friend of the empty seat,' he thought as he quickly made his way down towards the front of the Courtroom on the Defense side of the room. The seating in the room was what you would expect. Those that wanted to be there were upfront. Those that had to be occupied the back of the room. That left the middle for the rest. Castle did a quick survey and outside of the Prosecutors and the Judge he didn't recognize anyone else. Kate was currently eclipsed by the Defense Attorney, and he didn't like the sound of her voice. Way to raspy, like she had been talking all day.

Castle kept his dark glasses on and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. He used his hands to cover the lower portion of his face and listened to the questions. 'Conspiracy theory?' No facts there but maybe enough smoke there to cover the crime.'

When the Defense Attorney once again glided and settled directly in front of the Jury, that reassuring voice popped into Beckett's mind again. Beckett scanned the people seating in the Courtroom. Her eyes settled on a man, hunched forward and for no reason wearing dark glasses. 'Take off those glasses and look at me she commanded.'

Slowly, as if on command, the man straightened up and removed his glasses. 'Castle' Kate wanted to yell. 'Where's James? Of course you wouldn't bring him to Court, not proper. That means he's safe and in a place with people that you trust. 'Thanks for coming Babe,' she thought. Beckett reached down, finished off the water that was in her glass and sat back comfortably in the witness chair. The confident smile that had dominated her face most of the day was back. The Defense Attorney seemed disconcerted when Kate made a 'move along' motion with her hands.

"Can't be the water," mumbled ADA Medina.

"So Detective Beckett, you've testified that Marshal Castle was with you throughout the day's events and part of the previous investigation. "

"Yes."

"Isn't it true that Marshal Castle had meetings and phone calls with various Government Law Enforcement Officials?"

"One meeting and a couple of phone calls, yes."

"Isn't it true that they told him to 'get' my client?"

"Look I don't know what the phone conversations were about. He never told me. And if he did I wouldn't be obligated to tell you."

"Your Honor," pleaded the Defense Attorney.

With ADA Davis rising to object Beckett attacked. "I guess you were absent the day in law school when they explained that ALL communications between a husband and a wife are privileged. Either that or you didn't do your homework. For you see Mister Castle is my husband. I'll bet event the jury knew that. As far as what Castle knew, why don't you call him as a witness and ask him. I don't think the ADA would mind you adding him to your witness list. If fact I bet he would love to testify. Wouldn't you Babe?"

"Yes I would love too," standing and waving to his wife. "I've been waiting for an invite to this party all summer."
"Mister Castle," gabled the Judge. "Sit down and keep your mouth shut or I will have you removed from the Courtroom."

"Your Honor I was just answering Kate….I ah, Yes Your Honor." Castle sat down and tried to look repentant. His smiling eyes boosted Kate's sprit even higher.

"Young lady you are reminded to only answer the questions put in front of you. All questions about the law are my domain and you will absolutely positively refrain from addressing anyone in the gallery or I will hold you in Contempt. Clear?"

"Yes Your Honor."

"And Counselor the Castles are married and of course all communication is privileged. If you do wish to find out what former Marshal Castles' duties were and the extent of his knowledge I suggest you take the Detective's suggestion and add him to your witness list and ask him."

"That wouldn't be necessary Your Honor."

"Mr. Davis you were about to say something?"

"Your Honor, I was about to rise to the defense of my witness, but once again she proved she can take care of herself."

"Your Honor," plead the Defense Attorney. "The ADAs remarks…."

"I asked the question so they stay," replied the Judge. "Please continue Sir."

Kate couldn't help but smile as she saw Castle continually make the hurry up motion with his hands as the Defense Attorney's litany of essentially the same line questioning droned on and on. Finally even ADA Davis had had enough.

"Your Honor, I don't want to arbitrarily limit Defense Counsel's time with this witness, but I haven't heard a new question in some time now. I do wish to thank him for allowing Sargent to continually confirm her testimony. I will make my closing remarks easier."

"Your Honor," complained the Defense Attorney.

"The Jury will disregard the Prosecutors remarks. Mr. Davis it's late, no more editorials today, and Counselor," said the Judge fixing the Defense Attorney with his gaze. "The Prosecutor has a point, and you are rapidly consuming all of the leeway I'm willing to grant. Please move us into new ground or release this witness."
Five minutes later Beckett heard the words she'd been longing to hear all day, "The witness is excused."

Postscript

The media scrum outside the Courthouse had taken a lot longer than it needed to, and Beckett had insisted that they return to the precinct so that she could gist her notes from the trial. Kate was secretly proud how Castle had deflected his involvement in this afternoon's drama and had made their Doorman the real hero. When Castle said, 'If it wasn't for him being aware of the environment, caring about the people in the building, and willingness to be involved, things could have ended tragically,' she knew her husband had the Press eating out his hand.

As a consequence the Castle's arrived home well after their normal dinner hour. On the drive home Kate was surprised that Castle turned down the idea of a quick dinner out. What she wasn't expecting was the crowd of people in her home. She barely greeted Martha, her Dad, Alexis and her new boyfriend as she rushed up the stairs and into James' room. She stopped a foot and a half a way from his crib and stared down at her sleeping son. He had burrowed under his blanket, like he had done so many other times in the past, and his sleepy boy face, so much like his fathers, was, in Kate's opinion, the most beautiful face on the planet. She sighed when Castle came up from behind and captured her in his arms. She leaned into him, closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment. In effect she was surrounded by the guys she loved and she wouldn't trade this feeling for anything. Her mind wandered and she remembered a dream where he job didn't put the people she loved at risk. That decision day is coming, her intuition told her. She would embrace the uncertainty and the change because she knew the man behind her would always be there no matter what the obstacle.

She slowly turned in his arms, encircled his neck with her arms and slowly and softly kissed him. After breaking the kiss she led her husband by the hand out of their son's room and down the stairs. She had to find out what all these people were doing in her home!

"Martha, a pleasure as always," began Kate.

"Grand and I are your babysitters," offered Alexis with a huge smile. Kate wondered what the sight of Alexis holding hands with her young man was doing to Castle's stomach.

"How many did you call," she asked turning to face her husband, "and why do we need a baby-sitter?"

"When James and I were touring New York, it occurred to me that you might be a little stressed out from your day on the witness stand and could use a little pampering so we stopped at a hotel downtown and I booked a suite for tonight."

"Let me get this straight," said Kate her voice getting louder and higher as she spoke. "You had just beaten up the guy who tried to kill you in the bathroom in the park. You broke containment and where evading for your lives from at least three teams of people and you took the time to book a room?" 'Of course he did,' she thought. 'He's Castle.'

"I was cutting through the lobby to be sure we didn't have a tail. We didn't. You know it's always crowded and the people provide such a good screen. The alcoves and such provide such good places to pop into and observe your back trail. When the Concierge said 'Hi' , the desk was there and it seemed like a good idea."
"Castle," exclaimed Kate as she moved to stand close by his side. "What am I going to do with you?"

"So," continued Castle with a small grin. "After we were in the cab and heading for the 12th I realized we needed a sitter so I called Martha and when that went to voice mail I didn't want to be shutout so I called Alexis too. I didn't know that they both said they could until after we left the Courtroom. By then it was too late to ask them to stand down so I thought we'd figure it out here."

"That's alright Dad," said Alexis "I wanted you to meet Scott before this weekend anyway. Dad I know we're closing the House in the Hamptons this weekend and I was wondering if I could bring Scott as my guest?"

"I don't know. Do you think he can handle the mosquitoes, black flies, wasps, and hornets?"

"Of course he can come up sweetie," said Kate as she lightly thumped Castle on his chest. She reached up and slowly turned Castle's face to face her. "The only real PEST you're going to encounter is my 'Old Man' who is also your loving and sometimes overprotective Father. I promise I will do my best to keep him occupied and under control," she continued with a hint of a smile. "But, that means there will be times when you will have to play the part of a dutiful daughter. Can you handle that?"

"Yes Ma'am," said Alexis with a smile and a curtsy. "Tonight I'll have Grand give me a brush up lesson."

Laughing Kate looked at her Dad. "That explains those three, Dad?"

"Well Martha and I have a standing date for an early supper on Monday Night. It is Monday Night. You know Monday Night Football and the Giants ARE playing."

"Jim I…"

"I get it Castle; you'd rather spend time with your wife then watch football with your father-in-law. I get it." The twinkle in Jim's eye easily masked the apparent harshness of his words.

"Well Yes"

"Well kiss her and then get out of her."

Castle eagerly complied with Jim's first instruction and as he was leading Kate to the bedroom to pack an overnight bag Kate remarked. "You never did tell me where were going."

"I booked the Honeymoon Suite at the Four Seasons."

"The Honeymoon Suite! Mister Castle what Are your intentions."

Martha and Jim exchanged glances and smiled to each other. They had just seen Castle whisper into Kate's ear and she flow into his arms. They were confident that their kids knew what they were doing and they would be together forever.