They're in her Crown Vic in less than ten minutes.
He doesn't ask to drive, but she's too hyped up to tease him about it. Her hands are trembling. Her whole body is vibrating, a switch flipped to shiver, and the gas pedal seems more sensitive than usual. She guns it out of the parking deck and hangs a right. They drive for a while, the silence pulsing between them. It's quicker to drive through a not-so-nice area of the city to get to the precinct. The case is solved and she wants it over, wants handcuffs on Kilgore now, so she doesn't think twice. She takes a left, notices an immediate change in surroundings. Graffiti, trash, rundown buildings, boarded up windows.
"Kate," Castle says, turning to face her. He's trembling too. It's the first thing either of them has said since the words she's been waiting to say for over a decade. Let's go get him. "We should call ahead."
She frowns, glances at him quickly before looking back at the road. "What?"
"Call ahead," he repeats. "To Esposito or Ryan or somebody. We should tell them we're coming and that we know who it is."
She takes a hard left, doesn't miss how his hand gropes for purchase on the handle above the door. "Why?" she asks. She's incapable of anything more than sharp and staccato words. She can't stop shaking.
"Well," he starts. Doesn't finish. He seems to be searching for the words. She's impatient.
"Spit it out," she orders.
"People involved in this case have a way of disappearing when they figure things out," he blurts out. His words hang in the air. She sees now why he was dithering for words.
"Oh," she says. "Yeah." She slows to a stop at a red light, her left leg bouncing anxiously. She bites her lip, knowing what she's about to say will be a fight. Doesn't matter, though. It's a battle she'd fight any day.
"I want you to stay at the precinct when we go get him."
She checks the light. It's still red. She looks over at him. He's staring at her. "You have to be kidding me."
"You said it," she points out. "I won't lose you. I can't."
"Not your choice."
"You're a civilian—"
"I'm your partner." She doesn't have an argument for that. He breaks eye contact, looks out the windshield resolutely. "Go ahead and try. But you can't keep me away. The light's green."
She's moving her foot from the brake to the gas pedal when the force of the collision sends her body slamming forward. The sound is deafening. Her head jerks forward then snaps back against the headrest, her body held painfully in place by her seatbelt. She gasps around the shock of it, the tight, suffocating ribbon squeezing across her chest.
Once her body stills from the impact, it takes a moment for her to get her bearings. She's in her car. Her hands have found their way back to the steering wheel. Her ears are ringing, her head pounding. Her neck hurts. She's having a hard time getting a deep breath.
"Castle," she gasps, looking over. He's slumped forward, but his seatbelt has him firmly in place.
He moans, lifts his head slowly. "Ow," he says.
Her training kicks in. They've been rear-ended. She unhooks her seatbelt, glances in her rearview mirror. She can't make out exactly what kind of vehicle has hit them because there's smoke wafting out of its hood. It's big, though. A truck most likely. Maybe an SUV or van. She turns toward Castle, brushes a hand over his forehead as she reaches into her pocket for her cell phone with her free hand.
"You okay?" she asks. "What hurts?"
He leans back against the headrest, winces. "My knee. Banged it on the dashboard I think."
She bends over him, wants to make sure he isn't bleeding. The sound of breaking glass interrupts and then the windshield explodes. Kate yanks Castle down toward her. A second later, a whoosh and a thump, and foam from the headrest sprays the back of her head.
"Fuck," she says, fumbling for her gun.
Castle struggles beneath her. She presses down on him, unyielding.
"Stop. Don't move."
He obeys. She listens for the sound of a car door opening, but it doesn't come. She lifts her head just enough to see out the passenger window. A warehouse twenty feet away. Large garage doors that receive shipments are open. His knee is hurt. They don't have a choice.
"Listen," she hisses in his ear. "When I say go, you're going to get out of the car and run to the warehouse on your right. Don't look back."
"You'll follow me?"
"I'll cover you."
"And then you'll follow. Or I'll come back."
She sighs. He will. "Yes. I'll follow."
She moves off of him but still stays spread low over the center console. He picks his head up to look at her. "I mean it."
"So do I." She releases the safety on her piece, reaches for her door handle. "Ready?"
He nods.
"Wait until I say."
She flings the driver's side door open. Two bullets careen into the open door, making the car rock.
"Go!"
Castle opens his door. She leans the front half of her body out of her side of the car, returns two shots at what she now sees is a navy F250 with tinted windows. The windshield of the truck splinters but doesn't break. She pulls herself back into the car. Castle darts into the warehouse as another bullet rockets into the open door where her body was a moment ago.
She slithers over the center console. Silence rings in her ears. She takes stock, because she can't get back to her car once she leaves it. Phone in her back pocket. Piece in her hand. She doesn't have her backup. She opens the glove compartment, pulls out a Swiss army knife with an extra long blade. Slides it into her front pocket. Pulls the nylon first-aid kit out. Takes a deep breath.
She tosses the first-aid kit out the open driver's side door. It barely hits the ground before two bullets rip it to shreds. She dives out of the car on the passenger side, fires two shots at the windshield as she heads for the warehouse. The glass cracks again, but still doesn't break. Bullet-proofing is expensive. The windows are tinted, so she can't see who's in the car. Can't be Maddox.
She ducks into the warehouse, presses her back to the wall and exhales slowly. Adrenaline pumps through her veins. She listens for a car door, doesn't hear it. She takes a quick check, expects a bullet to follow. It doesn't.
She licks her lips. "Castle," she calls, just above a whisper.
"Here."
She turns, sees him materialize out of the darkness. He's limping. She has to hide him. She checks again. No one has exited the truck. She scans the inside of the warehouse, takes in her options. A metal staircase sits a few yards away, just beyond a battered delivery truck. She follows the length of it with her eyes, sees that it leads to an upper deck that lines the entirety of the warehouse and includes an office with windows. Probably where the foreman works. Perfect vantage point.
She starts for Castle, grabs his hand and leads him toward the stairs. She takes them two at a time, tugging on Castle so he'll hurry to follow. They sprint along the metal balcony, their feet making dull ping sounds that echo through the empty warehouse. When she gets to the office, she tries the door. Locked. She steps back, sends it crashing in with her foot. More noise than she'd like, but he'll be more protected from stray bullets.
She motions him into the room, presses on his shoulders so he's sitting on the floor. They won't see him. "Text Esposito, call 911."
He obeys, his fingers flying over his phone screen. She peers out the door. Castle's voice reaches her ears, describing their situation in a hushed voice to the 911 operator. She strains her ears, trying to hear over him. It doesn't matter. A moment later, a man enters the warehouse. Kate doesn't recognize him. She'd bet her badge it's Maddox's replacement.
"Hang up," she whispers to Castle, ducking back into the office.
He looks at her, bewildered. She plucks the phone from his hand and ends the call. She peers out the doorway again.
The hit man surveys his surroundings. It's obvious he's trained. It's also obvious he doesn't think much of her, because he's standing out in the open.
She lifts her gun, takes careful aim. Her index finger is inching toward the trigger when another man appears.
Edward Kilgore.
"The fuck?" she breathes, lowers her gun.
"What?" Castle whispers, scoots closer to her across the floor.
She waves her hand to silence him. "Stay there," she demands.
"Well what's wrong?"
"Kilgore is here."
She wants to see the look on Castle's face, but she's too busy staring at the senator.
"Why?" Castle hisses.
She wants to know the same thing. He must be insane. She understands he might feel the need to kill her himself. She wouldn't trust anyone to kill him for her. But the blackmail threat is still in place, and its suicide for him to think that he could—
"Armen's dead," she breathes in the same instant that Castle does. She finally looks at him.
"He wouldn't be here otherwise," Castle whispers. "We're the only link left."
And just when things can't get worse, they do.
Three more men enter the warehouse. All of them walk with the same authority that the new hit man does, the same fearlessness that Lockwood and Coonan had before they'd been killed. She'll just have to shoot the fearlessness out of them like she did to Coonan and Roy did to Lockwood.
And then it hits her. Castle. He doesn't have a gun, he isn't trained in combat. It's just her against four hit men, and all she's got is the nine bullets left in her Sig. She's got the element of surprise and a good vantage point, but that will only work once. She can't creep across the upper deck and pick them off one by one either, because that leaves Castle unprotected.
They're screwed.
"So what's the plan?" Castle whispers.
Kate swallows. Maybe if she leads them away from him? Esposito knows, 911 will send reinforcements, and it's best if Castle stays where they called from. She could pick off a few as she moves across the upper deck, go down one of the two staircases that leads up here or, better yet, jump onto the top of the delivery truck so she isn't a sitting duck as she goes down the stairs. Then she could lead the rest of them out into the street. They'll follow her because she's the one Kilgore wants, and he's here to direct traffic. He's here to make sure she dies because he's sick of the people he sends failing.
She can give him that if it means Castle will live.
She looks her partner right in the eye. "You have to do exactly what I tell you, Rick. We won't make it out otherwise."
He nods. "Yeah. Of course."
She doesn't plan to tell him that he's the only one who's going to make it out.
