Pete briefly told castle that Rose had left the conference at another hotel and had got a taxi to get changed for their evening out, saying they'd agreed to meet but her key was still on the hook in reception and no-one had seen her since they'd gone out that morning.
"So Pete, do you think she was meeting with anyone?" Rick asked him, turning to his wife at the bar.
Kate knew there was going to be trouble, he attracted it like a magnet.
"No Rick, she doesn't know anyone here, no-one at the conference had asked her out or anything and she would have told me anyway. I'm letting the limo driver go, I should call the police and report her missing."
"Pete, they don't take missing persons reports when someone's only been gone for less than an hour," his friend reminded him.
"They will when I say who she is."
"Pete, you're not at home now, Rose isn't as well known here and neither are you. Look, stay there and Kate and I will come over, where are you staying again?"
Pete gave him the name of the hotel and said he'd wait downstairs for him, there was nothing else he could do and he didn't want to worry Jackie just yet.
Castle put his phone away and turned to Kate. "Sorry but Rose has gone missing. Pete's worried and he can't report her yet, I said we'd go over."
"What are we supposed to do? I'm in homicide, not kidnapping. I can make some calls though, call in a few favours. Let's go."
Castle knew she wouldn't be able to resist it so they cancelled the reservation and went to wait for his car.
Meanwhile, across town, Rose was just finishing a rather large meal and was still trying to figure out what the Doctor's twin wanted with her. She knew she'd just have to go along with whatever it was and hope she could escape if he didn't lock her in the bedroom again. The waiting staff would have to leave so maybe he'd be that busy, he wouldn't notice.
"I hope you enjoyed your meal Rose?"
"Yeah, it was good, thanks. Can I ask why I'm here though?"
"Really? Oh well, you're here as my house guest so I want you to feel at home. Why don't you go back to your room and I'll get rid of the waiters?"
She knew she couldn't argue with him, he looked like he intended keeping her away from any outer doors.
"Maybe I can go look out over the balcony? I'd love to see New York all lit up."
"Fine, if you wish."
He called to one of the men who had kidnapped her.
"You, what's your name? Go out onto the balcony with her and if she tries to get out of the door while the staff are leaving, you are to go to the edge and jump off – got it?"
"Yes Sir. This way Miss."
Rose thought that was way overboard, who the hell was he? He obviously had some kind of power of suggestion that everyone else was compelled to go along with but it didn't work so well on her so she'd have to be very careful. If he'd just told this man something like that, she'd be responsible for killing someone and she wouldn't ever do that. This was going to be tough, she'd just have to give in a little, just enough to see what he wanted with her.
Rose went out onto the balcony after going to get a jacket from the bedroom, Kilgrave wasn't letting anyone out until he knew where she was. He smiled to himself, he was quite fascinated she had to be told twice to do something but pleased that even though she was a top Torchwood agent, she couldn't resist him completely. He was also pleased that since his unfortunate accident when he'd lost an argument with a bus, his powers were becoming more pronounced. He'd been practising it over the phone and it seemed to be working on simple things but now he'd got everything he wanted, clothes for his guest and a dinner to impress her, he had no real need of taking it further, well not yet anyway.
The view was quite spectacular Rose thought, a shame she was being held against her will. She thought back to when she and the Doctor had been in new New York and it would have been much better with him there and not his crazy double. The man of course would never know who he looked like, she would hardly be likely to inform him and when she got away, which she would, eventually, the man would be locked up where he couldn't make people do whatever he wanted.
She was outside maybe twenty minutes when Kilgrave joined her, waving the man watching her away.
"So, quite a view eh? Have you been to New York before?"
"No, never. So am I free to do as I wish, well except go outside?"
"You can go outside Rose, you're not a prisoner, I'll even take you out myself or one of my men can go with you but I will put safeguards in place, where necessary. You wouldn't want to see them come to any harm, would you?"
"No, of course not, I'll do as you say. Do I have to keep calling you Kilgrave?"
He laughed and stood beside her. "Not if you don't want to. Call me whatever you like, within reason."
She could think of a few names but he wouldn't like any of them.
"Can I have a drink?"
"Sure, help yourself or get one of them to pour it for you. Tomorrow, I'll get a housekeeper and cook in but you're free to roam the apartment and use the kitchen."
"Then what do you want with me?"
"Rose, there is no rush, just ask for anything you want and tomorrow, well if you want to go out, we'll go out. I'll have a car waiting for us to take you anywhere you want as long as you don't try to get away from me. Think of it as me rescuing you from your boring work."
"You know what I do then?"
"It's my business to know and I also know your stepfather will be looking for you but he'll never find you, I can handle anyone who comes looking for you."
Rose thought he didn't know that much then, did he?
Pete was pacing the hotel lobby when Beckett and Castle walked in, Kate going up to him to greet him with a hug, even though they hadn't met properly, she felt sorry for him.
"What can we do to help?"
"I'm going to get a team out here, to help look for her, she can't be far away. Can you call the right department Kate?"
"Sure, I'll do it now. Maybe you should back off calling for outside help and let the NYPD do their job?"
"Ok but I'll still let them know, I've been holding off telling them, thinking she'll walk through the front door and ask what the fuss is about. Someone is going to let me in her room, are you coming?"
Pete nodded to the night manager and they rode up in the lift to their floor and he opened the door. Kate instinctively took over, checking through Rose's things for any signs of a struggle.
"What was she wearing?" Kate asked Pete.
"What she was wearing earlier, since it's not here and no-one saw her come back in. I thought maybe one of the cleaners had let her in but she had a black velvet jacket and a white blouse with a pair of black trousers and black ankle boots. I have photos of her on my phone."
"Good, choose the clearest most recent one of her, I'll get someone round here," Kate told him.
Rick patted Pete on the shoulder. "We'll find her Pete, don't worry."
Pete was worried, Castle did not have to tell Rose's mother in the morning. He thought of calling Jackie now but it was the early hours of the morning back home and while she may go crazy for waking her up, he didn't want to worry her if Rose had just met someone in a bar on the way back to the hotel and came back a few hours later with a man on her arm, not that Rose actually did that but there was a first time for everything and it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility she would stop mourning the Doctor and date someone.
Kate was on the phone to the 12th precinct, some other detective she knew in another department, trying to persuade them that Rose was a very important person back in England but she was getting nowhere fast.
"Sorry Beckett," she was being told by Detective Ralph Myers. "You know it's 24 hours before we can act, she might just be playing hookey from all that glitter and glamour you claim she's used to. Look, if she doesn't turn up by midday tomorrow, give me another call, ok?"
Kate pulled a face down the phone, making Rick smile at his wife.
"No luck?"
"Moron, anything could have happened to Rose and he's following protocol. I tried telling him she's a guest in our city and she's connected to Torchwood but all he said was 'What's Torchwood?' Really?"
"Thanks Kate but I'm gonna call Jake and Mickey, get them on the next flight out here and have them get a load of missing persons flyers printed," Pete told her.
"We're not giving up Pete, as soon as I get to the precinct in the morning, I'll go see my captain, explain it to her how important it is we find Rose and if we have no luck with Myers, we might call in the FBI."
"Will they get involved with Rose being a foreign national?"
"We can try, she's a VIP. Castle, maybe you can call the mayor in the morning? Light a rocket under Myer's department?"
"Sure, of course. Go get something to eat or you'll make yourself ill Pete," Rick suggested.
"I'll try but I'm really worried now, she wouldn't just go off like that."
He knew his stepdaughter, she wasn't interested in men unless they had some resemblance to the Doctor and the only two he'd ever heard about were that actor she liked who was married and the detective who had solved that boy's murder a while back in that seaside town but Rose hadn't liked the fact the man had a beard back then and when she'd seen him at the trial of the man accused of the crime, he'd grown it even thicker and had put her off completely plus she wasn't too happy with the thought he'd maybe had an affair with the accused's wife.
Rose had gone back to her room and put the TV on, not that there would be any news bulletins about her yet, she'd only been gone a few hours but Pete would have contacted his friend and also maybe Jake and Mickey. There was a knock at her door so she shouted for Kilgrave to come in.
"Comfortable?" he asked, looking around.
"Yeah thanks. I think that stuff your clowns gave me is wearing off now."
It had worn off a good while back but she had to keep up the pretence of why she wasn't completely complying with his wishes.
"They must have given you the full dose, I'll have to let them go then."
Rose knew he'd make them do something to themselves, he hadn't been kidding earlier, that much she knew about him. Why had Torchwood never heard of such a dangerous man before, let alone his looks.
"Maybe I just reacted differently to the drugs?"
Kilgrave thought about it. Maybe if he started killing off everyone around her, he'd never get her to fully comply with his wishes and get him into Torchwood eventually. All he needed to do was gather all their top people in New York and give them an ultimatum – Torchwood's compliance for the safe return of Rose Tyler. His plan was just so simple and even their top minds wouldn't be able to resist him despite all their so-called training against mind control, Rose had already partly given in.
He'd had time to think about it. Maybe the drug at first was still having some effects on her not fully complying with him but now, he had some control over her, even she wasn't that good at fooling him.
"Oh very well then, I'd just got used to them. Join me for breakfast on the balcony at nine in the morning."
"Yeah, I'll join you for breakfast at nine but I'll need a wake-up call."
"Use the alarm on the radio then."
Rose smiled. "Oh yeah, never thought of that, my head's still scrambled."
It was worth a try she told herself, maybe she'd be able to persuade one of his men to help her but he might retaliate anyway and she'd be responsible. She'd taken a lot on since coming to this universe, come a long way in Torchwood and the first thing she'd learned was her responsibilities to everyone on the planet. This mind controller, if left to walk around the city could put everyone in New York in danger and she was the only one who could stop him by complying with his wishes to a certain extent but he'd surely know she wasn't fully under his influence?
"I'll let you off then, this once. Now come here and kiss me goodnight."
Rose got up and faced him, kissing his cheek. This was so creepy, another man who looked like the Doctor only the other two she knew of weren't wanting to control her mind.
"Not like that," he said annoyingly.
Rose smiled again and gave him a quick peck on his lips, she wasn't going to wallow in regret that both his men would go jump off the balcony.
"Goodnight then, see you in the morning."
"That's better but I'm not going to hurt you Rose and since you just got here, I'll let it go but I expect better from you from tomorrow my dear or your friends out there may have an unfortunate accident, beyond my control. You see Rose, their safety and everyone in the city's safety is now dependant on you, including your stepfather's. I know who you are, Rose Tyler, don't think that I chose you at random but I'll keep my little plan a secret for a bit longer, until we get to know each other better."
Rose wanted to scream but it wouldn't do her any good, it would just make him mad. What was it with 'friendly' kidnappers? She'd had training in this but the training had never included semi-friendly megalomaniac and charming Doctor look-a likes and it was creepy to say the very least, looking at him. He gave her a peck on the lips back and turned around again, not locking the door this time which meant the main door out of the apartment was secure and she'd nothing to pick the lock with.
She so wanted to slap his face and tell him to get lost. If she could just get to a phone, to warn Pete, he could get a team over to look for her but she'd seen no fixed telephones and Kilgrave would have made sure the two men didn't have mobiles on them either but he must have a phone in his room or a mobile on him somewhere, to have arranged the dinner and the vast wardrobe she'd been presented with.
She went into the bathroom and decided she'd just have to see the whole situation as yet another diplomatic mission only this time, everyone's lives depended on her co-operating with this man because he could potentially kill anyone at random on a whim if she didn't go along with him and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it because she wouldn't know who he'd picked to die or worse, torment and if he got really angry, he could hurt her or make her stay here very unpleasant.
So it was all down to how she played this, to go along to a certain extent. It was clear he was going to try to take over Torchwood, without any bloodshed and without leaving New York because he'd never travel outside the city and he could run the whole thing from here. It had been Pete and Jake's idea to take the organisation to the USA and expend their operations and the dinner with Castle tonight was supposed to ensure he would talk to his friend, the mayor of the city and pave the way. A lot of local businessmen had been very interested in backing the idea and they'd intended coming back in a few weeks after the mayor had thought about it and meet with several police chiefs across the city.
It had been quite an exciting prospect because Rose was going to volunteer to start things off with Mickey's help and she'd been looking forward to seeing the sights instead of being in meetings all day and just seeing them from a cab window. Now, Pete would be really worried about her not returning to the hotel and Rick Castle would surely have got his wife involved by now. She didn't know much about either of them but Pete had said how fine a homicide detective she was and the two of them had met while he was writing a novel and had based some on her.
Rose got into the rather luxuriously sheeted bed and felt a shiver run down her spine. This was going to be the most dangerous of all the missions and assignments she'd ever conducted. She'd faced worse enemies but compared to the Cybermen and Daleks, Kilgrave really scared her because of what he was capable of and it was down to her to make him eventually sorry for ever kidnapping her but until then, she had to play happy families with him. She wished she could find him repulsive but looking how he did, she couldn't even though she should hate him with everything within her, constantly looking at that face and hearing that voice was not going to make things easy.
