Sometimes I think I must sound like a broken record, but I am so sorry this update took so long. My work travel picked up the past few weeks, if that was even possible, and I had to travel on the Fourth of July. I am part of the way though the next chapter and hopefully it won't take as long to publish; but since my wife leaves for Europe this week I'm sure that I will have plenty of last minute chores to take care of for her.
Redemption Chapter 4
"Kate, we have problem." Castle retrieved his towel and covered himself. She was taken aback by the use of her first name. Other than her mother, no one had called her Kate in a very long time.
Deciding that if he was going to use her given name she could return the favor. "Rick, you have no idea."
"That's the second time you've told me that, but I don't think you mean it in the same sense as the last time. Now let me introduce you to someone."
Beckett groaned with the implications as to whom he wanted to introduce her to. There was no way she wanted to meet one of his conquests. And how did he have time for a conquest anyway? "Kate Beckett, meet Marie and Alexis Sinclair, wife and daughter of one John Sinclair. Mrs. Sinclair, let me introduce you to Captain Kate Beckett. Now if you will excuse me, ladies, I'd like to get dressed. I think this is going to be hard enough without me running around naked."
"Holy shit!" she thought. What were the odds that Sinclair's wife – and who knew John even had a wife – was here? There was nothing in his file to indicate that he was married.
Castle returned shortly dressed in black fatigue pants, a black tee shirt, and combat boots to find that Beckett had pulled the two men into one of the bedrooms and had used lamp cords to tie them up. He was pretty sure that he'd hit them hard enough to give each a substantial concussion preventing them from waking anytime soon.
"I found this on them." Beckett held up a picture of Marie. It was obviously older and had been taken at a distance but there was no doubt it was her. "I need to call this in."
"No, don't!" Marie all but screamed. "John said that Tariq had plants in the Army's antiterrorism teams as well as the CIA. He said that the only one I could trust was Rick Castle and I'm not risking my daughter's life on you or your army." She looked at Castle then back to Beckett. "But if Rick trusts you then so will I. However, that's all when it comes to your government. And if you get me and Alexis to safety I'll tell you about Project Nanos."
"Project Nanos?" Castle didn't believe what he was hearing.
"Project Nanos is, or was, Sadam Hussein's ultimate chemical weapon. It was basically weaponized small pox. I worked for the UN trying to track down what was left of it," Marie smiled. "That's where I met John. Anyway he found it six months ago. When he sent it up the chain of command that's when things got hairy."
"What do you mean, hairy?" Beckett asked.
"They sent him after Tariq with no backup. No way to really take him down if he found him. And since he isn't here I have to assume that he isn't going to meet us somewhere. Captain." The last word was full of venom and, for lack of a better word, hatred.
Beckett looked at the woman with bewilderment. Here was a woman had lost her husband, whether she knew it or not, and she was trying her best to defend her daughter. She looked at Castle who seemed just as lost as she was as to what to do. "So if we can get you to the French Embassy – with your accent I'm assuming you're French – would that work?"
Marie nodded, acknowledging Beckett's plan. "Okay. The Bangladesh military has a team outside. If we can get you to them we'll have them escort you to your embassy." Beckett continued, "We don't have any ties to the Bangladesh military so I think the chances of corruption are highly improbable."
Castle spoke up. "What are we going to tell Montgomery?"
"I'll tell him we have a French diplomat in here. I'll make him understand," Beckett said with some reservations, moving closer to Castle. "Are you sure about her? Are you sure about this?"
"I'm not sure about anything, Kate. But if she is who she says she is… Well, I owe John, and I'll protect them with my life if I have to. If you don't want to take this on just tell me and I'll get them out."
"I have no idea why I trust you, after all we just met, but I do. This is your call; I'll back your play." Beckett replied; hoping her smile would let him know he could trust her.
Castle picked up his earpiece and inserted it then performed a channel check with Beckett. "All right, I'll take point. Alexis is with me and Marie with you. If we get separated we are going to meet at the loading dock; have the extraction team meet us there."
"Yeah, that sounds good. I don't know how well the bad guys have it covered, but if it's like most hotels you have to go through the kitchen and laundry to get there. With the close quarters the likelihood of a bunch of them being there is slim. Especially if you factor in trying to find Marie," Beckett said as she picked up a weapon, then called into Montgomery to let him know what they were planning.
Castle, after picking up the other weapon the subdued terrorists had brought with them, turned to Alexis. "Hey pretty girl, I want you to hold onto my belt and don't let go. Okay?"
The little girl looked at her mother who nodded in affirmation. Upon receiving that she turned back to
Castle. "Okay, Mr. Castle."
"Then let's go."
Castle made his way to the door and crouched down leaning out to check to make sure there were no other bad guys waiting for them. Kate took the other side of the door standing and doing the same thing. She checked down the hall in the direction that she had come from earlier.
Castle turned to Alexis. "Sweetheart, I want you to hold onto my belt. When we stop I want you to close your eyes, there's no need for you to see the bad men. Can you do that for me, honey?"
"'kay," the little girl answered shyly.
"Ready Beckett?" he asked, looking over Marie and Alexis's shoulders.
"As I'll ever be," she replied. Never in her life had she ceded so much control to anyone. She was literally risking her life as well as her career solely on Richard Castle's judgment.
"Wait a second." Castle ran back to the bedroom and grabbed a handful of toilet paper. "Here Alexis, put some of this in your ears. In case I have to use this I don't want it to hurt your hearing." He raised the AK-47 and winked at the little girl. "Now let's go." With that he exited the room with Alexis on his hip followed by Marie with Beckett bringing up the rear, making sure that no one sneaked up on them from behind.
They made their way slowly down the hall checking each room as they went. When they found an occupied room they tried convince the occupants to hide within the room. Both Castle and Beckett knew that it wasn't the best option but it was the only one they had.
When they reached the second room the family inside refused to hide, insisting that they were going with Castle. Upon hearing the ruckus that the family was making, other hotel guests spilled into the hallway.
"Castle, we can't take all of these people with us," Beckett hissed.
"Everyone back into your rooms," he ordered. "It's safer there than with us." He made a shooing movement with his rifle.
"No matter what happens you stay with me, Alexis. Do you understand?" he asked the little girl in what Beckett could only describe as a plea. Then they moved to the end of the hallway where the dead combatants lay. They stopped as Castle searched the bodies for weapons and ammunition. In the breast pockets of both men they found photos of Marie.
While Castle conducted the search, Beckett called in the plan to Montgomery. Once they had the details in order and Beckett was sure that Kazi and his men would be helping, they headed into the stairwell.
"Castle, Espo and Hastings are going to meet us at the loading dock with the Bangladesh military. I would feel better with my team there."
"Copy that." Castle swept the stairwell while slowly making his way down the flights. "By the way, I think next time you should be the one to get naked."
"I'm not so sure that would be a good idea," she purred back into the com.
"Oh, and why is that?" he answered with as sinful a sounding voice he could muster while peering through the glass in the door that lead to the tenth floor. "Afraid I won't enjoy the ride?"
"Oh, I'm quite sure YOU will enjoy the ride; I'm just not sure your heart could endure it. You are a little older than me," she replied with an equally sexy voice.
"Target's two floors down," he called out breaking them out of their little bubble. "You ready, Alexis?" Taking a quick look to see her answering nod, he drew up his weapon. "Stay close, little one."
"Contact three floors up," Beckett called then leaned out hoping to get a better view. "Five, I think."
"Do you want to take them here on in the hallway of this floor?" Castle asked.
"There isn't a defensible position here, but I'm not so sure there's one on the floor, either. We could end up trapped in a room," she surmised.
"I agree, so let's just make our play here." He turned and looked at her then grinned. "Besides you get excited and start with the sex talk in stairwells." He winked then returned his gaze to the stairs below him knowing it wouldn't be but a few seconds before his prey came into view.
Just as soon as the men appeared in his sights he pulled back the trigger, unleashing 7.62mm rounds upon his targets. Three seconds later his adversaries were lying in pools of blood. "Okay, Marie get behind me." Castle motioned for Marie to leave Beckett's side and move behind him. He wanted to provide covering fire for Kate and didn't want Marie to get caught in the crossfire.
They could hear the rush of boots down the stairs, the men calling out in Arabic. Once they rounded into view both he and Beckett unleashed hell upon them; cutting them down before they could get off a shot.
"Beckett, get their ammo."
"Got it, Rick. Make for the kitchen. There's no way that the entire hotel didn't hear that." She tossed a grenade, taken off one of the bodies into the tenth floor hallway and the hallway exploded in a wave of debris. "With that explosion down that hall, and these bodies maybe they will think we went that way. It might by us some time."
"Good thinking." Castle resumed their descent.
"Beckett, are you okay?" Gates asked over her com. "Esposito reported gunshots."
"We're good, but there are…" she looked around, "seven less hostiles to deal with."
After the gunfight they quickly made their way to the kitchen encountering no other hostiles along the way. When they got to the entryway Castle stopped and looked through the door. "I can't see anyone."
"What do you think?" Beckett kept a watch on their rear.
"I think we're close enough that any gunfire will draw the whole lot of them," Castle asserted.
"I agree, so what's the play?" Again she never took her eyes off their rear, guarding them.
Castle handed her his weapon and pushed open the door, stopping to say, "Alexis, you stay with your mom. Kate, if this goes wrong, get them to safety."
She nodded. "I promise." She didn't know why she was making this promise or why she had a feeling in her gut that she would do anything to make his vow to this woman and little girl a reality. But she would.
He crept to the prep table making sure he didn't accidentally cause a disturbance that would draw the track-suited men's attention. He slowly reached up and pulled two, ten inch boning knives from the spot on the magnetic bar used to store them.
Castle inspected the knives to insure they would work to his satisfaction. When the sharpness of the blades passed inspection he continued to the loading dock doors where his unsuspecting adversaries awaited. When he reached the point of no return, as luck would have it, one of the men stepped around the corner leaving just one for Castle to deal with at a time.
Castle quickly pounced. He drove one of the knives into the man's lower back and the other he drew across his throat ending one terrorist's reign of terror. He lowered the man to the ground as gouts of blood escaped from the wounds.
He turned and entered the alcove to find the other guard smoking a cigarette, his weapon resting against the wall. Although the man was much larger than Castle it was no contest. He dispatched of the man in much the same manner he had used earlier.
He returned to Beckett. "Why don't you turn them over to the military. I'll stand guard here. It would suck if we got lax and they got caught." He pointed to their two charges.
"Sure thing, I've got it." Beckett herded women to the dock.
"Thank you, Richard. John was right about you. He said you would be gruff and a ladies' man, but I could trust you." Marie hugged Castle and placing a small innocent kiss to his cheek.
"You're welcome, Mrs. Sinclair. I would do anything for him." He leaned down and kissed Alexis. "You take care of your mom, okay? You're a Sinclair and that means you're pretty special."
Beckett made the hand off and returned with six Bangladeshi soldiers while Esposito and Hastings provided cover for Kazi and his wards.
The makeshift rescue team made it to the door that lead to the lobby when something caught her eye. "Do you remember what Lando Calrissian did to Han Solo in Cloud City?" she asked.
Startled by her question and the timing, it took Castle a moment to understand she wasn't fooling with him. "Yeah, he double crossed Han." He looked at her still confused as they stood stacked on both sides of the door ready to make entry. When her eyes grew larger he followed her sight line to see the edge of a photo sticking out of the breast pocket of one of the soldiers. "Motherfucker!" Castle let out as both he and Beckett opened fire on the turncoat soldiers.
Beckett screamed into her com, "Espo, stop Kazi! He's dirty and so are his men!" Castle took off for the loading dock.
"It's too late, Beckett! They're already gone. Hastings and I will go after them."
"Castle, get your ass back here." She exchanged gunfire with what remained of the terrorists. "I need your help."
She turned to see an enraged Castle returning. "Let's…" she started to say only to have Castle walk right past her position, firing at the remaining terrorists as he went. In a matter of seconds they were all down. When Castle was sure they were staying down he turned and headed for the dock.
"Don't, just… don't!" he said bitterly as Beckett tried to comfort him.
Xx
They were sitting in the makeshift command post going over what little intel they had on what had happened. Castle was seated to Beckett's right barely registering the conversation when the photo of Kazi appeared on the screen. "What the fuck – that's Tariq!"
"What!" Montgomery bellowed.
"That's Kazi," Gates insisted.
"No, that's Tariq, and now he has Marie and Alexis! God help you all if anything happens to them."