A/N: LoL, no this story is not a one-shot. I would not do that to you all. I anticipate it running a total of 6 or 7 chapters. As a warning, this chapter has some violence.
Thanks for all the reviews and feedback!
A few hundred feet away on top of a neighboring building, Esposito sat looking through the scope of a rifle. It was not the best weapon for this type of work, but he had limited options on such short notice. Besides, Beckett's plan did not involve him shooting at all, only acting as a lookout in case things went south. He had brought the gun all on his own when she called him about Alexis.
"Espo, I need a favor," she had said, sounding more frantic than he had ever heard her.
"Yeah? What kind of favor?"
While he did not exactly resent her for what went down with the secret investigation and Gates suspending them, the fact that she had just thrown in her badge like it all meant nothing to her - that irritated him. Of course, what Ryan had done angered him more. The man was supposed to be his partner, to have his back, even when everything hit the fan.
Kate continued, "Maddox has Alexis. She spent the night at fa riend's house and he must have grabbed her off the street. I'm supposed to meet him in an hour or he'll kill her. No cops. No Castle."
He immediately understood why she had called him. While technically he was still a cop - a suspended cop, but still a cop - Beckett knew that she could count on him for anything. He took note of the address she gave him.
"And Espo... no matter what happens to me, you just get Alexis out of there."
"And what if he tries to kill you again? Do you really expect me to just stand by and watch?" he demanded.
"Yes." She was adamant. "We don't know if he is working with someone else or on his own. But I'm the one he's after. I just need you to get to Alexis if anything happens to me."
Understanding her need to protect the girl, Esposito grudgingly agreed, although he did not like it. He did not like any of it. After everything that had happened, Maddox had taken Alexis to get to Beckett. Geez. It wasn't bad enough the man had shot Kate in the chest or thrown her off a roof. Now he was pulling Castle's family into this?
Spying through the scope of the rifle, he watched Beckett's car pull up just as he got into position. There was no other movement around the warehouse, although he had not suspected there would be. The guy that got the drop on them was good, definitely professionally trained. But kidnapping Alexis? That smacked of sloppy desperation. Hopefully he would trip up, and when he did, the suspended detective would get him.
Esposito observed Beckett get out of her car and walk into the open. He wished she wouldn't expose herself like that, but he also knew she would do anything to get Castle's daughter back, including trade herself. She had been very clear about that point on the phone. He was only there to make sure Alexis got out.
Beckett must have heard something because she walked to some nearby crates and picked up an object - a cell phone. She talked on it for a moment, listened to the person on the other end of the line. And then she walked back out to the open area and very deliberately got down on her knees and, placing the phone on the ground, she put her hands behind her head.
Oh. Hell. No.
His grip on the rifle grew tighter as his eyes narrowed. There was no way he was letting this guy execute Beckett. No way.
Then the man appeared, walking out of a side entrance of the warehouse. Maddox had a gun in hand but he did not raise it. Esposito kept his sight on the guy, wishing he could just pull the trigger and be done with it. But there was no telling where Alexis was or if the man was alone.
They needed help. If Beckett and Castle's daughter were both going to make it out alive, he had to do something.
With a frustrated growl, Esposito took his hand off the trigger and picked up his cell phone. Without hesitation, his fingers hit one of his speed-dial numbers automatically and a moment later the person on the other end picked up.
"Ryan...? Yeah, no time. You know how you brought in the calvary for Beckett before? I need you to do it again -right now."
"Where is Alexis?" Kate demanded, although she remained in that kneeling position, her hands locked behind her head. Maddox walked towards her. She eyed the gun in his right hand, but he did not bother to point it at her.
His voice even and professional, he stated, "Give me what I want and I'll tell you where the girl is."
"I don't know where those files are," she repeated.
"I assume you know what's in them."
Remembering what little Castle had told her, she supplied, "Information damaging to the man who had my mother murdered."
This answer produced a partial laugh from the assassin. "Yes, something like that."
"From what I understood, a man named Smith had them," Kate said, hoping to push the man's attention away from her and the Castle family.
"He may have had them at one time, but not any more." The words were succinct, and Kate suspected that if she survived this confrontation she would be reading about a murder of the elusive 'Mr. Smith' in the newspaper. "I want those files, detective."
"I don't have them. If I did, I would give them to you."
"Are you sure about that?" Maddox asked. "Cause I think you'd take them to the police, try and be a hero and get justice for your dead mother."
Ignoring the way his words made her blood boil, Kate shook her head. "Not while you have Alexis."
"Is she that important to you?"
"She's innocent. She doesn't deserve to be pulled into this."
Maddox declared, "No one is innocent, Detective."
"Stop calling me that," Kate snapped. "I told you before, I quit the force. I stopped investigating this case. I'm not a threat to you or your employer."
His hand holding the gun twitched a bit as he argued, "You know too much."
Kate nearly shouted in response, "I don't know anything. You were the last lead in this case. You are a bigger threat to your employer right now than I am."
He was close enough to hit her, and the blow to her face came as no surprise. A second hit from the butt of the gun knocked her off balance. Wanting to fight back but afraid to jeopardize Alexis, wherever she was, Kate just let herself fall to the asphalt ground. She had already learned that she was no match for this guy physically. What if she fought back only to lose again and thereby endanger the person she had come to save?
Then came the kicks, hard and fast - to her stomach, her side, her back, her legs - wherever he could reach. Maddox aimed with the knowledge of exactly where to target the human body to inflict maximum damage.
She curled into a ball with her arms shielding her head, angry at being so impotent to protect herself. Pain blossomed all over her body as the man's foot continued to make contact, and it especially hurt when he managed to land a blow on an older bruise. After a while, she wondered if this was really how it was going to end. Rather than use a bullet again, he was simply going to kick her to death.
But finally, a moment later, Maddox took a step back, leaving her lying there on the ground, blood trickling from her mouth as every other part of her body screamed with pain.
"I'm going to find those files, Detective," he informed her, and the way he said it, she realized that whatever information they contained was the only thing keeping her alive at that moment. "If I find out you have them and lied to me... If I find out you are even looking for them... I will not only kill you, but everyone close to you. Your father. Richard Castle, his daughter, his mother. Everyone. Do you understand?"
Kate nodded mutely, her spirit completely broken by the threat. She had been willing enough to carry on the fight when it was just her life at stake, but her close encounter with the ledge of a roof had dampened that ardor. Dying for her cause would not bring her mother back. It would not even give her justice. And now, confronted with this other consequence of her vendetta, Kate could think of nothing more important than protecting those she loved.
"Do you understand?" he repeated, the words breaking his calm facade. He kicked her again, angrily.
Gasping, Kate managed, "I understand."
Her words were almost drowned out by the sound of sirens in the distance. The man looked up, then back at her in fury. "You were told what would happen if you called the police."
"I didn't call them!" she protested. Then, gripped by panic, she called out, "Where is she?"
But Maddox was already moving, taking off in a dead run in the opposite direction from the warehouse. Within seconds, he had disappeared around a corner.
Kate pushed herself into a sitting position, but she had trouble getting to her feet. As the sound of the sirens drew nearer, she forced herself onto her hands and knees, gritting through the pain as she ignored whatever injuries she may have sustained. She crawled awkwardly to the stack of crates and used them to haul herself to her feet. Limping heavily and leaning on whatever she could, Kate moved towards the warehouse.
Her heartbeat racing, Kate struggled to hold onto hope as she approached the warehouse door the man had exited from. The inside was dark and smelled of old machinery, but she forced herself to enter, warry of any accomplices Maddox may have left behind.
As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she saw a figure about twenty feet away - a body tied to a support beam but slumped to one side.
Kate moved without thinking as she recognized the red hair. It was Alexis.
tbc
