Kate frowned as she surveyed the empty apartment. The boy had cleared out by the looks of things, leaving nothing behind. Everything had been wiped down, and she shook her head at Castle despairingly. Ryan and Esposito walked in with their pads with similar looks on their faces.

"No one even realised the kid was here." Ryan muttered, flicking through his notepad. "There's a family two doors down, a man three doors away and the woman next door who we managed to reach via mobile, all of whom thought that the apartment was still empty. And the owner of the building can't be reached either to find out whether he knew about the kid."

Esposito looked round the room carefully. "I don't think the kid was even meant to be here. If something's going on, we're not suppose to know about it."

"Ten bodies and we have nothing." She muttered, moving to the window. Pulling at the blind, she gazed out into the street, catching sight of a shadow across the road in the dark of an alley. "Esposito, someone's watching the building."

The man appeared beside her and gazed at the shape carefully. "Whoever it is, it's not the kid. Do you want us to grab him?"

The man took a heavy drag of his cigarette, watching as the cops pushed open the front door of the building. The man and the woman he was obviously sleeping with stood for a moment, before turning and walking away from the apartments.

He paused, waiting, before frowning. Where were the other-

"Hands up where I can see them." A deep voice demanded, a gun's safety clicking off behind his head. The man sighed and dropped the cigarette, turning slowly to face the two.

The white boy had his cuffs in one hand, watching almost nervously as the more trained man waited for him to move. He smiled. Not trained well enough.

With out faltering, he brought his hands up and twisted, pulling the tanned man into his back with his gun forwards, twisting his wrist and causing him to release the gun. He elbowed the cop in the stomach, and spun out, foot snapping against the chest of the other man. The two doubled over, the white boy crashing into the corner of a skip and falling to one knee. His partner straightened and retaliated, throwing a punch and ending up with two to the chest and one to the chin. He flew into the other man, landing sprawled on the floor.

The attacker looked at the two, and shrugged, lifting the gun to point at the two of them. There was a second where the two stared down the barrel of the gun, before it dropped, the man crushed by something that had fallen from above.

There was the sounds of a small scuffle, before there was a cry and the attacker collapsed, unconscious.

Alex stood up, and sighed, hands on his hips. "You know, you're making this a lot more difficult for me."

Esposito blinked, pushing himself to his feet, and ignoring the yelp Ryan made. His ribs ached, and he put a hand to them subconsciously, before moving his hand away as though to fight.

Alex shook his head, flipping the gun so he was holding the barrel, offering it to the man. Esposito stared, before accepting it.

"Well, that was fun, but if you'll excuse me." Alex muttered, walking past the two. With a jump, he kicked off the wall and leapt upward, hands clasping the black ladder that was hanging. Without a sound, he pulled himself up, and climbed, to the metal grey rest that was at the top.

"Wait!" Ryan called out, pulling himself the his feet as well. "How did you know we needed help? Not that we're not grateful or anything, because we are, but-"

He looked down through the gaps of the metal at the two, pausing as though the think of his answer. "Something bigger than anything you've ever seen before, is going on. And it starts here, in New York. With those dead bodies. Be careful; things are starting to get serious."

With that he vanished, silently, up the ladders and over the buildings. Esposito looked over at Ryan, disbelieving.

"'Not that we're not grateful or anything'" He imitated. "What's got you so upset?"

"Did you see him? He took that guy out in less than 10 seconds! That's scary. I'd rather not have him kill us because we said something-"

"Damn it! We weren't supposed to let him get away!" Esposito exclaimed, rubbing his forehead. "Beckett's going to kill us."

Ryan, swallowed, looking over the mans shoulder. "Speaking of which."

Beckett scowled, arms crossed as the two shifted nervously beside the murder board. The two had pretty much hightailed it from the alleyway after having told her what happened, in the pretense of taking the man back to the station. They'd then gone to see Lanie, who had looked at Esposito and deemed him fit enough to carry on work, despite the bruising that was beginning to appear.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

Castle coughed, standing not far from the two men. "I don't think they had much choice in letting the kid go. After all, he did a ninja on the guy- heck, he's still out cold."

"Castle!"

"What? I'm only saying." He muttered into his mug, watching the woman carefully. "He's a ninja."

The woman rolled her eyes before pushing herself to her feet to stand closer to the board. "At least we still have the guy. Any idea who he is yet?"

"He's not in the system." Ryan said, looking at her carefully as though she'd turn on them in a second.

"Did you check internationally?" Castle asked, head tilted slightly. "The kid's British, so maybe this guy is too."

Ryan paused, his mouth open, before turning on his heel and walking out. Beckett rolled her eyes, before crossing her arms and looking avidly at the board. "But what are we missing?"

"Motive? Evidence? An actual live suspect who doesn't disappear from right in front of us?"

"Castle, that's not helping."

"But it's true!"

She rubbed her forehead, and pushed herself to her feet. "I'm going to see Lanie. Aren't you supposed to be picking up Alexis and Martha from the school?"

"Crap!" Castle grabbed his jacket and ran towards the elevator, only pausing to turn back around and put the cup on the desk. He slipped into between the elevator doors and vanished out of sight. The two stared at the doors for a minute, half expecting him to reappear, before turning back to each other.

"I'll put an APB out on the kid, see if anyone spots him."

Beckett nodded before heading to the stairs. Esposito turned as Ryan reappeared, holding a more promising looking folder.

"I found it! The guy was on the Canadian watch list, so I think someone will be calling to ask what we want with him. But nothing on the bodies in the morgue yet." Ryan glanced round the room, confused. "Where is everyone?"

"Beckett's downstairs. Why's he on the watch list?"

He flicked open the file and twisted it to show him. "He's a contract killer. Ex-Canadian Army, he disappeared six years ago, only to reappear when he assassinated three members of the political party that were loosing, caught on camera. Canada have been after him for years, but they think he left and hasn't come back."

Will Csima sat, stock straight, staring at the mirror opposite him which was no doubt, watching him with just as much interest. The cuffs on his wrist did nothing to placate him, rattling quietly each time he moved.

Someone had been clever enough to remove anything he could use as a lock pick from him.

There was a click as the door opened, to reveal one of the men he had attacked, and a woman. The dark-skinned guy stood next the mirror beside the door, and stared at him, obviously still upset. The brunette, however, appeared indifferent, sitting opposite him.

Csima allowed himself a sly smile, leaning forward almost threateningly. Beckett stared at him, before opening the folder and lying it flat. She watched as his attention shifted, and he froze, reading the information there quickly.

"So, William Csima. Are you going to tell us-"

"Where did you get this?" He asked, with barely an accent discernible. He glanced up at her, before continuing to read. "There is no way you could have this."

"Well, we've got it. So what were you doing at-"

"Where did you get this?" He growled, eyes narrowed.

Beckett paused and leaned back, closing the file and pulling it out of his reach before he could try to take it. "I'm not going to tell you anything until you answer my question."

"You mean the apartment? Simple. The guy staying there is causing trouble for my bosses. They wanted me to make sure he had no idea what they were doing."

"And what are they doing?"

Csima shrugged. "How would I know. I just do what I'm told."

"You're an assassin, Mr Csima."

"Contract killer, if you would." He replied, smiling. "You got it from the kid, didn't you?"

"Kid? What kid?"

He smiled, leaning back. "You were at his apartment, you tell me."

"We didn't get this from the apartment; you were watching. We came out with nothing from the building." Beckett replied, confused. "Why would he have your file?"

"You have no idea who he is, do you?" He muttered, staring at her. "You have no idea. But if you didn't get it from him-"

"You were identified from a BOLO put out by the Canadian police. They gave us your file."

"Canadian- but that's impossible. That file doesn't exist! I've never been to Canada in my whole life!"

"But you are Canadian, aren't-"

"My parents, yes, but I grew up in Venice. I've never seen Canada besides in pictures from-"

"You assassinated three members of a political party in Canada."

"Sure I killed them, but they weren't in Canada at the time. They were killed in Finland, and it was they who held the investigation, and it was inconclusive. There was no evidence that I was the killer! The only ones who knew were-" He paused, before sighing and shaking his head. "I'm not the only one the kid is pulling a fast one on. That file was planted for you to find."

"What do you mean?" Beckett stood up as the man collapsed, convulsing. His mouth twisted up into a grimace of a grin, before freezing and disappearing as the muscles relaxed. The two officers dived over, and Esposito sniffed at his mouth carefully, before shaking his head.

"Cyanide. He planned on dying here." He muttered, glancing at her as more officers piled into the room. Beckett stood up and grabbed the folder from the desk, storming out of the room with a face like thunder.

(A/N) Sorry it took so long! Here's a New Year present to make up for it though :D