A/N: I've been watching Dr. Horrible recently, and I love it entirely too much. Nathan Fillion is my hero! But, business: Ryan suffers a tiny medical issue, and the ransom exchange goes down. How do you think it'll turn out? And for all those who are confused about 3xk, there's another clue in this chapter. r&r and have a happy holiday! Yours 'till the wheels fall off ;)
"Consider this the hint of the century. Consider this the slip that brought me to my knees, failed. What if all these fantasies, come flailing around? Now I've said too much. I thought that I heard you laughing, I thought that I heard you sing, I think I thought I saw you try...But that was just a dream. That was just a dream."-R.E.M.
Day broke on Friday morning, and Kevin Ryan still hadn't found sleep. He'd only dozed off once or twice since Jenny and Riley had gone missing, but it had only been for small periods of time. But now, especially now, he couldn't allow himself to be distracted. He would be meeting the kidnappers face to face in less than eight hours. He poured himself another cup of coffee and stared it down for a few moments before he picked it up and took a tentative sip. He hadn't eaten anything in the past forty-eight hours. He wasn't sure that he would be able to. He wandered into the kitchen and flipped on the lights. Esposito was watching the coverage on tv, and he shut if off when Kevin walked in.
"Anything new?" Javier shook his head and scrubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands.
"No, just the same stuff. The ransom not hasn't hit yet." Kevin took a look at his watch and set the coffee down.
"We have to go. Gates wants to see me. And so does Beckett." Javier raised an eyebrow.
"What does Beckett have to say?' Ryan shrugged without emotion and went to go find his keys.
"I don't know. Hopefully it's good news." But already, he knew that it wasn't.
Beckett was waiting for them in Gates' office. Javier watched as Beckett embraced his partner.
"Detective Esposito, may we have a moment?" He shook his head.
"I'm staying."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm staying," he repeated deliberately. Gates opened her mouth to respond, and Beckett jumped in.
"We're wasting time here. Can we move on, please?" Just then, Castle opened the door and took a place next to Javier. Gates rolled her eyes and sat down behind her desk.
"This has obviously become a free for all."
"Anyway," Kate cut in, "Ryan, we know the ransom exchange is in a couple of hours, so we're going to prep you for that in a couple of minutes. Castle and I didn't actually want to suggest this, because we think it's just a theory, but-"
"Detective Beckett, we're wasting everyone's time here dancing around the subject. Either you tell Detective Ryan, or I will." Kevin looked around, obviously confused.
"Tell me...tell me what?" He looked unsteady, and Javier stood ready to hold him up. Ryan waved him away.
"Well, Ryan, we got a case the other day..." Wordlessly, Kate handed him a case file. Esposito stood behind him and read over his shoulder.
"What does this have to do with-Oh, Jesus-" His knees buckled, and Javier's arm shot out to grab him. The two of them say on the floor, ignorant to everyone else.
"Hey, breathe," Esposito murmured, brushing the side of Ryan's face with the back of his hand, "Bro, breathe. It's okay." Kevin's eyes were closed, and his breath seemed to come in shallow gasps.
"3XK...it can't-I can't-" he stammered, trembling.
"Don't even think about that now. Doesn't matter, bro. Doesn't matter. Just breathe," he told his partner. Then he turned to Castle.
"Get him some water." Faintly, he heard Beckett say, "I told you we shouldn't bring this up unless we're absolutely sure. And we weren't." Gates didn't reply.
When Ryan came to, he was sitting in an empty interrogation room. Esposito had been pacing in front of the door, and he turned around when he heard his partner shift.
"You're awake." Kevin was confused.
"Did I-" And then it came back to him. He could feel the shortness of breath and panic return, and it was all that he could do to not lose it again.
"Javi, it can't be..." Javier shook his head and handed Kevin a package of pretzels.
"Eat these. Seriously, if you don't, Gates won't let you make the exchange. And don't even think about Tyson right now. He doesn't have Riley and Jenny." He said this with an air of certainty, one that Ryan wasn't sure he could agree with. Slowly, he pulled open the package and toyed with it before he began to eat.
"How do you know?"
"If it's him, and I don't think it is, he's only killed once-"
"There's still time-"
"Why would he have taken Riley too? That's completely out of his MO, bro." Ryan shrugged, swallowing several times before attempting to speak.
"I dunno. It's personal, maybe. Castle and I were the last ones to see him." Esposito sat down across from him and folded his hands.
"No," he said flatly, "All of this screams copycat. Especially the ransom note. It's some inexperienced jackass-"
"They're smart," Kevin said quietly, "He didn't leave any prints. He didn't even deliver the note directly; he knew that she would come over and give the note to me so that he wouldn't have to risk being seen. Face it, whoever it is, they're a genius." Esposito got up again and finger combed Ryan's hair back into place.
"Prep starts whenever you're ready."
Vinny slammed the door shut and got into the front seat beside Scarface.
"They in there?"
"Yeah." He put the key in the ignition and dialed AK on his burner. It only took half a ring for him to pick up.
"You ready?"
"Get set up. The cops are gonna get out there. Don't get caught," Vinny warned, steering with one hand.
"One bullet to the chest."
"Don't screw up." They disconnected, and Vinny parked around the corner from the facility.
"The kid there?" Scarface asked, straining to see the parking lot.
"No. It's almost time." Scarface handed him the key, and Vinny palmed it, driving right up to the door. He wasn't concerned about someone seeing; Scarface owned it, and the only camera they had was a dummy. Working quickly, Vinny shoved the doors open and approached the woman and the kid. She was already asleep, so knocking her out was easier than he had been expecting. She hadn't made much noise on the way out, so the kid was still sleeping when he was finished. He walked back out, opened the back door to the van, and picked up the black plastic tub with ease. He handled it as if it was full of clothes, and not two bodies. When he was back inside, he peeled open the lid and dumped the corpses. Thinking nothing of it, he grabbed the woman and folded her in, placing the box with the baby on top. He carried the lid under his arm and hefted the tub, shoving it into the van. He threw the lid in after it and closed the door. Vinny locked the storage door and climbed back into the van.
"It's time."
