The Break Down

Kate was pissed. She barked at Castle. "Get me my purse!"

He hurriedly retrieved her purse, not wanting to become the focus of her wrath. He set it down beside her. She yanked it open with one hand, dug around

for a few seconds and pulled out her map. She slapped it into Castle's chest.

"Here, navigate! Were on 167. We need to be on 169!"

He fully opened the map. It was upside down and backwards. He turned it around and flipped it over. The ensuing ruckus increased Beckett's ire.

"Sorry," he fumbled. "Gimme a minute."

A few minutes and what seemed to Beckett a hundred flips and folds later, he has shrunk the map to a manageable size.

"Ok," he said. "I got it."

Kate rolled her eyes.

"We go back the way we came," he spoke, "about twenty to twenty five miles. Once we get to the highway, take a right. Go about five miles and then take a left on 169."

"Great!" Beckett tightened her hands on the steering wheel. "Another friggin hour on the road!"

Castle was silent.

The palpable quiet went on forever. It made Castle squirm. He thought he could lighten her mood with a little music. He reached for the knob to the radio

and caught her glare out the corner of his eye. He covered his faux pas by adjusting the air vent nearest the radio. Ten minutes later, as they were coming to

a bend in the road; it happened. The quiet become quieter. No more churn of the engine. No hum from the fan blowing heat. Nothing. Castle noticed Beckett

trying to control the unresponsive steering wheel as she furiously pumped the brakes.

"Hold on!" She warned, as the Escalade went straight and the road went right. Their momentum had slowed but not enough to keep them on the road. Castle

braced one hand on the dash, the other gripped his door handle.

The front left wheel went off the road first. This caused the rear end to fishtail. The Escalade slid off the road to the left. It came to a jarring stop in a narrow depression, tilted up against an embankment than ran along the edge of the forest.

Kate exhaled the breath she had been holding, relieved it hadn't been worse. "Castle, you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah!" he replied. "What the hell just happened?"

"I don't know. Everything just cut out." She tried starting the Escalade. Nothing. She then tried the radio, then the interior lights. Nothing worked. Castle undid his seat belt.

"I'm going get out and see how bad it is."

He struggled with the door. The angle the vehicle came to rest made it almost impossible to keep the door open long enough to crawl out. He managed to get his torso past

the door but struggled to pull his legs out. Kate unbuckled and pushed herself into Castle's seat. She reached over and used her arms to help support the door. Castle had

been too busy to notice her coming to his aid. He pushed off to pull his legs through the same time she lifted up on the door. He pivoted backwards and landed on the ground

below. Kate saw his legs vanish and heard a crumpling thud, followed by Castle calling out.

"I'm ok!" His head appeared, hovering at the passenger side window.

"Give it another push," he instructed. She pushed up on the door. When a gap appeared, he was able to pull it fully open. "Come and join me," he said, offering his hand. With

her hand in his and her other hand on the door frame she was easily able to pull herself out. Once she was on the ground, she murmured a quick thanks to Castle and turned

her attentions to the vehicle.

"The way everything cut out it has to be something electrical."

As she spoke Castle walked to the front of the SUV, tilting his head to match its lean.

"Other than checking the battery and alternator connections," she continued, "there's not much we can do." She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and slid it open.

"No bars," she said waving her phone at Castle. "I think we're screwed."

"Oh…we're more than screwed," he interjected into her appraisal.

Something about the vehicle had his attention. She walked over to where he stood and followed his gaze. Looking down she saw that the left front tire was flat.

It was more than flat. Upon closer inspection she saw that the tire was completely off the rim. She could see a large rock between the tire and the embankment.

"Danm! Even if we did get it started, we could never get out. We're going to have to go for help."

"I agree…but not today." Castle commented.

"And why not? She asked, arching her brow.

"Well, it's late," he said. "The sun will be going down around four thirty, that's in…lets see," he glanced at his watch, "…about three hours.

Calculating the twenty minutes we just drove that leaves us about twelve miles to the highway. The average human walking speed is three miles per hour.

That means, it will be dark by the time we get to the highway and with our luck we'll be picked up by the psycho driver from the movie Jeepers Creepers.

And if we don't get picked up, we'll just die slowly…from exposure."

Kate stood with her mouth open. It always fascinated her, the way he could analyze and summate a situation in the time it took most people to take a breath.

"Ok," she said.

"Ok?" He couldn't believe she actually agreed with him.

"Yes…you're right. What you said makes sense…especially the psycho killer part," she added.

Castle smiled. "So, now what?"

"Now we wait. We might get lucky, someone might come by, or that trooper and the work crew may come back thru here." She tried to sound optimistic.

Castle looked around, rubbed his hands together and blew on them for warmth. "Then I think we should wait in the caddy. It's freezing out here."