Author's notes: Again, thanks for all the reviews – you guys are awesome. And real life stays strange right now.
This chapter has a warning about Castle endangerment, language, and violence.
Disclaimer – don't owe Castle; Marlowe and ABC do. All characters are fictional.
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Pain – thirst – hunger.
The first time Castle awoke, his head was throbbing and his back hurt. He slowly blinked his eyes open, coughing at the acrid smell of smoke that hung heavy in the air. He tried to cover his nose and mouth with his hands only to find that they were shackled over his head. He gave the chain a heavy yank, but that just resulted in a painful back spasm.
Castle frowned as he surveyed his surroundings, a charred cabin barely discernible by the dim light from the fire in the fireplace. Where in the hell was he and how did he get here?
"Well, look who's awake – Mr. Richard Castle," drawled a voice menacingly from the shadows. "Mr. rich New York City. You think you're all fancy, comin' down here in your expensive car and throwin' your money around? Well, you know what we do to rich New Yorkers down here?"
The man was suddenly in Castle's face, pressing a knife into his throat just enough to break the skin and slowly dragging it down. "We—" And then the words were just as suddenly cut off as the man yelped and was dragged away from Castle by his hair.
"Ass hole – what don't you understand about not letting him see your face?" hissed a second man who had just come inside.
"But, Clyde," whined the first man. "It's not like it's gonna do him any good."
"Oh, great – and now he knows my name. Why don't you just give him my address too, Billy?" Clyde walked over and squatted next to Castle, fingering his driver's license. "So, Mr. rich New Yorker – how much do you think we can get for you? I'm thinking at least $250,000."
Castle nodded. "At least that," he quickly agreed.
"Good – now who do I call to ask for all this money? Your cell phone doesn't have a call log or any contacts, so who's gonna pay to get you back?"
"Well," said Castle, "you could try my ex-wife, but she gets all of my money anyway so she may not be very helpful."
"Women," said Clyde, smiling. "They just be bitches sometimes." Suddenly he grabbed Castle by the throat, slowly squeezing, cutting off his air. "But she may not want you back in pieces. What's her name and number?"
Castle finally nodded slightly as the edges of his vision were turning black. He spent several moments gasping in air and coughing before he answered hoarsely. "Gina at 212-555-7296."
"Good boy," said Clyde, patting his face and then standing. "Hey, you want somethin' to drink? We've got some good stuff here that will really put hair on your chest." He pulled out a jug and then took a swig before walking back to Castle. He yanked Castle's head back and poured the liquid fire down his throat. He kept pouring until Castle finally gagged and brought back up everything that had gone down.
Clyde stood, laughing. "You city folks – can't keep liquor down either." He swiftly kicked Castle in the side before walking back to the fireplace and sitting down on a stump.
Eyes squeezed shut, Castle leaned back against the wall and waited for the room to stop spinning and his stomach to settle. Had all his bad karma decided to visit him now? He could just hear the other writers in the poker group.
"So she turned you down – big deal," said Connelly, shrugging, looking at his cards. "And you left town like some mongrel with its tail tucked between its legs, telling people that you needed time and went off grid. Grow a pair, Castle – and come up with new characters. We all know who Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook are. It's just weird reading about you and Becket, especially the sex scenes."
"And then you stop to buy gas at a station that looks like it's from The Cabin in the Woods – hell, it could be the station from The Cabin in the Woods," said Patterson. "Along with two weirdoes from Deliverance. That's usually when the suspenseful music starts so the audience knows what's coming. Don't you have a clue, Castle?"
Cannell shook his head, studying his hand and chips. "And then you believed their story that they could only take cash because their credit card machine was down? Haven't we taught you any better than that? Get your head in the game." He pushed all of his chips forward. "Well, Castle – are you in or out? I'm calling your bluff."
No, wait, thought Castle suddenly – Cannell was dead. And that's what he was going to be unless he was very careful. He had definitely been played.
Castle opened his eyes slightly and took stock of his situation as he studied the two men by the fire as they guzzled from the jug and then spat in the fire and guffawed at their dirty jokes. They weren't Bracken caliber or even spies out to get his father, but they had a dangerous look about them – at least Clyde did. Billy just looked pathetic and a little too eager to please.
He knew that he couldn't overpower them physically, and they had a gun and a rifle. He did however have his brain and his words, although he wasn't sure how much use they would be with the Darwin twins. But this time, he was going to be all-in, no holding back.
The first thing was to find out when and where he was. "Hey, Darwin," he called out. "I need to take a leak."
Billy snickered as he took a swig on the jug. "Looks like he don't remember your name."
Clyde watched Castle for a moment and then grabbed the gun and the keys off of a table. "No funny stuff; otherwise, pow," he said, aiming the gun at Castle.
"Best behavior, I promise" said Castle.
Clyde unlocked the manacles and Castle slowly lowered his arms, gritting against the stiffness in his shoulders and back.
"Up, pretty boy," Clyde shoved Castle out the door towards a small shed. "And make it quick. Uh – leave the door open."
Castle nodded and turned his back on the man, quickly unzipping his pants. When he finished, he simply closed his eyes and listened for a moment, the same thing he taught Alexis to do while they were camping since the sounds were so different than in the city that never slept.
There was no traffic noise and no airplanes, but the nocturnal animals and birds were just starting to stir – the screech of an owl in the distance, the flutter of wings, the sound of running water, the baying of dogs.
"Hey, you got a bladder problem or somethin'? Hurry up," hissed Clyde as he grabbed Castle by the neck of his shirt and hurried him back inside.
He quickly chained Castle to the wall and then kicked dirt on the fire so that only small embers were left glowing.
Castle leaned his head back between his arms and closed his eyes, feigning sleep, but his mind was racing. He could tell from the noises that they were in a forest near a river. He glimpsed the moon through the trees and it was slightly less than one-quarter, almost the same as it had been last night. He couldn't have been out for more than a few hours and they were probably only a couple of hundred miles from the gas station, which wasn't far from Ashleyville, VA. That could come in handy.
More importantly, the barking dogs bothered Clyde and he had quickly put out the fire. He didn't want anyone to know that they were here, so someone else out there in the forest.
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Castle's head was still throbbing the next morning when Billy undid the shackles around his wrists while Clyde held a gun on him. "Get up, pretty boy – time to call your ex-wife."
"You better hope she answers," whispered Billy as he yanked Castle's arms behind him and then hand-cuffed him. "Otherwise, that's just gonna piss us off."
Castle studied the two men as they herded him out the door and then into the back of the cab of a run-down pickup truck. They were much younger than he thought the previous evening – possibly 20 or 21.
"Cover his eyes," said Clyde, handing Billy a piece of fabric and then hopping into the driver's seat.
The ride was fast and bouncy. When they stopped, Castle could hear sounds of traffic near them. So the cabin wasn't far from a road.
Clyde pulled out a phone. "Hey, rich guy, what was that number again?"
"212-555-7296," Castle replied.
Clyde dialed the number and waited for it to ring. "Yeah, let me talk to Gina – yeah, Richard Castle, her ex." There was a pause and then a "Yeah, I'll wait – hey, babe, you sound really cute – you want to get together sometime," and then he started a litany of what they could do when they got together. "What the..?" Clyde said suddenly. "She hung up on me. Why did she do that?"
Castle opened his mouth to say something and then thought better of it. Definitely not Bracken material or spies.
Clyde quickly dialed the number again and then stared at the phone. "What the hell? She blocked my number?"
"Now what are we going to do?" whispered Billy. "We can't keep him."
"Hey, pretty boy," said Clyde, leaning over the seat and holding the gun against Castle's temple. "Who else would pay for you?"
Castle played his first bluff. "My mother would – but she's on a cruise in the Mediterranean for two months, so I doubt she'd take your call."
"Real funny, smart guy. We know where you live, so why don't we just go there and see what you've got?" Clyde threatened.
"No good," Castle replied carefully. "I rented my apartment to a couple for the summer and put everything in storage. The doorman would know something was wrong if I showed up there before I'm supposed to be back."
"Would they pay for you?" Billy asked quickly.
"They wouldn't, but they could get you in touch with people who would," Castle said.
"So what's their number?"
"I don't know – everything was done through a leasing agency and they have all of the information."
"And what good does that do us, smart guy?" demanded Clyde, hitting Castle in the head with the gun just hard enough to make his ears ring.
"Well, you could write them," Castle said innocently after a moment. "Maybe send them a phone with the ransom demands so they could call you?"
He could almost hear the cogs in Clyde's head turning. "Abe'll be here in a minute, so we're just gonna sit tight and see what he wants to do."
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Castle felt the heavy rumble before he heard something pull up beside them. From the sound, he guessed it was a large truck – possibly an 18-wheeler. A door slammed and Castle could hear someone walk over to the truck.
"Hey, dude, how's it hangin'?" said another voice.
"We got a problem," said Clyde as he got out of the truck. "Mr. rich guy back here – his ex-wife won't pay, his mom is out of the country, and he has folks staying at his place."
"Will those people pay?"
"No, but they know people who will. Only mr. rich guy doesn't have their number." Clyde paused for a moment. "I was thinkin' we could mail them a phone with the ransom demands so they could call us. Turn off the GPS first so they can't track us."
"Hmm," said the other voice. "And folks said you weren't smart enough to graduate from high school, little bro – I'm impressed. I'll pick two up and meet you back here in 30 minutes. You got his driver's license with you? And what are the names of the folks at his place?"
"Hey, rich guy – who's staying at your place?" Clyde asked.
"Obadiah and Abigail Van Bickingham," Castle said quickly.
After a few minutes, Castle felt Clyde get back in the truck and slam the door. "You better hope they pay up," he growled.
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The back of the cab was getting stuffy when Abe finally returned. He handed one call phone to Clyde. "The GPS is turned off and I put the number of the other cell phone in this one, so don't lose it. Give me 5 days and then come back here to make the call. Do not use your phone to make the call."
He turned to Billy and slapped him on the side of the head. "Don't use this phone for anything else, idiot. And make sure Mr. New Yorker doesn't get away."
Castle could hear the 18-wheeler rumble off as Clyde started the pick-up truck.
Castle let out a slow breath and created a mental timeline. Alexis had already been gone a week, so she would be back in 5 weeks. His mother wasn't sure if she'd come home between performances – it just depended on how well everything was going.
That meant he'd had to stall them for at least 5 weeks before someone opened the package. They obviously didn't know who he was – in fact, he doubted they had ever read a book in their life by choice. He hated that it would be Alexis opening the packages after what they went through in France, but she would call the 12th and they could take it from there. They would call Beckett and she would know where to start to find him.