Disclaimer: I still don't own Castle. If I did, there would have definitely been a new episode tonight.
A/N: Sorry everyone, I know it's been a lot longer since the last update than I normally take but this chapter has kicked by butt. It's by far the longest one I've written to date and was difficult to figure out how much to put in and where to end it. Going through the episode, I was at 1000 words before I was 5 minutes in, so I had to do more planning with this one than normal to keep it from being ridiculously long and having way to much information that would just detract from the story. On the bright side it's cold enough here that classes have been cancelled tomorrow and I know exactly where the next chapter is going so it should be much faster in coming than this one was. I hope you all enjoy it.
It had been nearly a month since the team had spent the weekend in the Hamptons and things had been going well for Castle and Beckett. Now that everyone knew, she was spending more and more time at the loft and Castle was considering asking her to move in with him. He just had to be sure it was the right time so he didn't scare her away by asking for too much commitment.
This particular Thursday morning found Beckett at the prison, waiting to meet with Lockwood once again. She wanted this case to be over with, she wanted to be able to move on with her life, with Castle, and to get justice for her mother. She released a sigh as she pulled her mother's ring by its chain out from under her shirt. Her past regrets and hopes for the future swirling in a confusing mass in her head just like the twirling of the ring on the chain.
The buzz of the door unlocking snapped her attention back to the present and she put the ring away again. She faked a laugh as Officer Riker tried to offer her today's special of a serial arsonist and declined as kindly as she could before getting back on task and asking to see Lockwood. She knew the officer meant well but she just wanted to see the man who had been hired by the mastermind behind her mother's murder. She wanted this to end so she no longer had to get up early out of the bed she had shared with Castle to go to the prison week after week. She wanted to live her life fully again.
She listened with disinterest as Officer Riker sent through the request to visit Lockwood, her attention only drawn to the man when he turned to speak to her directly.
"Lockwood's no longer in administrative segregation." He spoke, causing ice water to run through her veins. She knew in the back of her mind what was happening but had to ask anyways, "Where is he?"
Her fears were answered when he responded, "He was moved to general population about an hour ago."
"What?! He was in ad-seg for a reason, you've got to get him out of there now!" She demanded, even though she already knew in her gut that it was too late. She was too late. Again.
Impatiently, she continued explaining to Riker, "There's a prisoner in the general population, Gary McCallister, Lockwood is going to kill him the first chance he gets."
This finally got the man's attention and he picked up the phone again to make the call to the other guards to mobilize. After that it was a blur of action. Someone handed Kate a bullet proof vest and she drew her gun before following the guards through the prison to the general population section. As they arrived at McCallister's cell she realized that she had been right. They were too late. There stood Lockwood, a bloody knife in his hand and McAllister with his throat cut lying on the bed.
She stared into his eyes as the cuffed him once again, but this time, instead of the feeling of failure that one would expect to run through her veins, she felt victory. Finally, after all this time, they had new leads to follow. They had another chance.
After making sure Lockwood was dealt with properly, Beckett made her way back to the precinct to find Castle already there waiting for her. He gave her a questioning look at the expression on her face, so different from the usual disappointment.
Motioning for him to follow her, she made her way into the break room. He had already heard some parts of the story from the boys when she had called to get them started on tracing how Lockwood was transferred and who could have done it. She explained what had happened in its entirety while making herself a cup of coffee, answering his questions the best she could.
"I'm sorry" Castle said, taking a step forward and pulling her into his arms, breaking the no PDA rules that had been set in place early on in their relationship.
"For what?" she asked looking up at him, not pulling away from him as she enjoyed the feel of his arms around her.
"Lockwood kills Raglan, then he shanks McCallister, both of them ex-cops who had something to do with your mother's murder. He's cutting off all avenues of your investigation." He explained, sadness in his tone, as if accepting defeat.
She gave him another quick squeeze before pulling away, shaking her head as she did so. "Castle, he's not cutting them off. He's giving me new ones." She explained, a small smile gracing her features.
Seeing his look of confusion, she continued, "I've been going to that prison every week for the last four months to have a staring contest with the devil, and the devil just blinked. This is exactly what I've been looking for."
He still didn't seem entirely sure but before he could ask for clarification, Esposito and Ryan arrived with information from the prison. They informed her that only corrections officers or clerical staff could have forged the documents to get Lockwood a transfer. Once the group realized that it would have taken money or some kind of blackmail information to have gotten someone to go to that trouble.
It was almost as if she could feel the finish line in front of them sending her, and in turn her team, into action. It was times like these that it seemed almost as if Kate Beckett was an unstoppable force that no one else could match.
"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked her, carefully scrutinizing her features as she parked the Crown Vic in the garage near the courthouse.
"Really, I'm fine Castle." She answered him with a reassuring smile. "I'm in control and I'm ready for this, so let's go get the bastard."
The couple made their way into the courthouse to where Lockwood was being arraigned. Beckett put a hand on Castle's arm to signal him to stop before walking purposefully towards the front of the courtroom, thinking to herself that it was appropriate for the assassin to be locked up in a cage.
"First Raglan, and now McCallister. What are you doing, collecting the whole set?" she all but spit at him as she stood inches away from the man. "You're a real badass, Lockwood, shanking an old man in his bunk. I don't know what you think you accomplished, but this doesn't change a thing. You hear me?" she continued, "Whoever hired you, he can't hide from me."
"No Sweetheart, you got it ass backwards. You can't hide from him." The man responds, in the same soft, threatening tone.
The two stared at each other for another long moment, both refusing to back down, until the bailiff signaled that it was time for the proceedings to begin. Slowly, she turned away from him and returned to take her seat next to Castle.
As the bailiff continued to speak, three men in uniform entered the courtroom simultaneously and sat together in the middle of the front row. She couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was, but something just didn't seem right about them, about the way they were acting.
Castle, attentive as always, picked up on her distraction. "What is it?" he asked, his eyes also drawn to the uniforms she was watching closely.
"I don't know." She admitted, her eyes flashing towards Lockwood as he turned and looked back at the men. At this point, she knew something was wrong, but what was it?
Finally it clicked, "They're wearing chrome collar pins…" she mused aloud "NYPD's are brass." Before she could act, Lockwood turned again and motioned to the men. "Now." He ordered. She just had time to push herself and Castle to the ground as the flash-bangs went off.
It took precious seconds before her eyesight returned enough to see one of the guards escorting Lockwood out of the courtroom, but as important as it was for her to follow them, her instincts were shouting even more loudly for her to check on Castle.
"Are you ok?" she yelled over the ringing in her ears, turning to look at him. "Yeah" he answered, meeting her eyes convincingly before she turned and rushed out of the courtroom.
She fell, headlong, through the double doors to find the chains of his shackles in her hands. "Where?" she yelled, demanding that someone point her in the right direction.
"Downstairs" A woman answered, pointing towards the stairwell down the hallway. Wasting no time, Kate stood and took off at a sprint to where she had directed. Hearing voices below her, she looked down through the railing around the stairwell and saw Lockwood and his thugs several floors below her.
She took the stairs at a sprint, with no sense of her own wellbeing, until she found herself bursting through a door that led to the helicopter pad. She looked up in time to see Lockwood shut the door as the chopper readied for take-off.
She knew it was futile, but she was desperate to wipe that smirk from the hit man's face, so she emptied her clip, firing shot after shot at the retreating machine.
She stood there, breathing heavily, staring at the shrinking lights that were carrying away the only lead they had to her mother's case.
"Kate!" she heard Castle's voice from behind, filled with relief, as the doors to the roof burst open once again.
"Are you ok?" he asked, quieter, as he approached her.
Without thinking, she turned into him, bowing her head against his chest as he brought his arms around her, folding her into his embrace.
"I'll be alright." She finally responds taking several deep, relaxing breaths and pulling away from him again. He watches as she visibly pulls her defenses back up around her and squares her shoulders.
"Let's go. We need to get back to the precinct." She orders, turning back towards the stairwell with purpose in her step.
"Where are we on Lockwood's known associates?" she asked stepping out of the conference room.
"Courthouse security personnel were so used to seeing cops come and go nobody gave him a second look." Esposito answered, handing her the file so she could review it herself.
"They didn't care about anybody seeing their faces." Castle pointed out, watching his girlfriend carefully.
"Did FBI run them through facial recognition?" she asked, not able to keep the smallest note of hope from creeping into her tone.
"No hits, guys are ghosts" Espo answered again.
"Well, what about the chopper?" she asked, feeling that hope start to dive downwards.
"FAA says they flew below the thousand foot radar ceiling."
"They had to know NYPD would have helicopters searching for them so they would want to ditch their copter as soon as they could." Montgomery reminded everyone and Esposito had an answer for that too, "We got locals on the ground checking every small airfield in the tri-state area. I got nothin' so far."
That last spark was quickly dying in her eyes and Castle could tell she wasn't sure they would be able to catch these guys.
"Hey Beckett, we got something. Check your inbox." Ryan called from across the bullpen.
Once they were all seated around her desk, he continued, "So phone calls to the prison are recorded and every inmate has to make collect calls. Apparently, Lockwood made weekly calls to the same number, but week after week the person at the end of the call refused to accept the charges. Until four days ago."
With some of the determination that fueled her day and in and day out coming back to her, she played the recording of the call.
"How's the family?" the man's voice came flowing out of the computer's speakers.
"Same," an unfamiliar male voice answers in a clipped tone. "how are Charlie and Mike?" the mystery man continued.
"Good" Lockwood answered before the call ended.
The group all glanced up at each other, a million questions running through their collective minds, but Castle was the first to voice any of them, "Anything on the phone number?"
"Burner cell. Untraceable" Ryan answered disappointedly.
"Alright, check known associates named Charlie or Mike" Beckett decided.
"They're not talking about people" Esposito interrupted, "That's phonetic alphabet, military jargon. Charlie and Mike means continue mission." he continued on explaining. When Beckett didn't respond right away, Castle continued for her, "Well we know the mission wasn't McCallister. He was just a means to escape. They could have paid off anyone in general population to kill McCallister but it had to be Lockwood because they had to get him out." He theorized out loud.
"Which means Lockwood was after someone else." Beckett continued, easily catching on to his line of thought.
"Who's left?" Ryan asked, confused.
"Me" Beckett pointed out, causing Castle's head to fly around to look at her, but she wouldn't meet his eyes.
"Lockwood could have killed you in the courthouse." Montgomery reminded them, "You're not a threat. You don't know anything."
"I think I know who he's after" Castle stated and she easily recognized that look he gets when he thinks he's solved the case.
She watches him closely as he stands and goes to the murder board.
"We know that your mom was killed because she was working to free a mobster who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of an undercover Federal officer Bob Armen. We know that the real killers were renegade cops who were practicing their own form of street justice by kidnapping mobsters for ransom. These guys were also working for somebody. Somebody big. Somebody who would stop at nothing to keep his identity a secret."
"Which means there's still one loose thread out there." She continued for him as he uncapped an Expo marker and made space on the board where he wrote '3rd cop' in blocky capital letters.
"The third cop," Castle picked up the story again, "the man Joe Pulgatti saw in the ally with John Raglan and Gary McCallister the night that Bob Armen was killed. Whoever this guy is, if he's still around, he knows who's behind this whole thing."
"Which makes him Lockwood's next target." She finished.
"But we looked through the reports. There's no mention of any third cop." Esposito reminded the pair.
"Just because he's not mentioned in it doesn't mean he wasn't there." Beckett points out as she retrieves her ringing phone from her desk.
She hears Montgomery say something about putting a detail on her as she walks away, but before she can focus too much on that thought there's an officer speaking on the other end of the line saying that he is part of the Jersey State Police and that they've found a helicopter that fits their description. She turns back to let the rest of the group know and they all head towards the elevator together, eager to follow a new lead.
"Yours?" Castle asks as he examines the bullet holes in the side of the chopper.
"Yeah" she answers easily, stepping out of where she had been investigating inside the cockpit.
"That smell. Is that-" he begins but she cuts him off, "Bleach. In the cabin. They're destroying DNA evidence." She confirms for him. The boys return with information about who owns the helicopter but it doesn't seem as if that is going to lead anywhere. The chopper must have been stolen. She orders them to check out the mechanics and anyone else who had access to the hangar but isn't feeling hopeful that anything will come from it.
"Why now?" she asked as the boys walked away, desperately wanting him to come up with a theory that would make everything make sense. "Lockwood was in prison for months. Why would he make a move now?"
"Well, they had him transferred. And they broke him out of a courtroom. That takes time, planning, resources." He answered, wishing he could do more to help her but knowing that she wouldn't appreciate it if he swept her up in his arm right there in front of everyone.
"You know, I think I saw a surveillance camera outside the building. Pull the surveillance, look for a vehicle, maybe get an APB." She speaks as she turns away from him, almost as if she's talking to herself, and he knows she's having difficulty holding it together.
"Let me take you home, Kate." He speaks quietly, coming up behind her. "It's getting late, there isn't anything else you can do tonight. We can start looking through the employees tomorrow but it's too late to talk to any of them tonight. Let me make you a nice supper and we can get some sleep." He offered.
"Yeah, ok." She answered lost in thought and although he was glad she had agreed, he was more worried about her than ever that she hadn't even made an effort to fight an offer she never would agree to normally.
Castle sat upright in his bed and looked around trying to figure out what had woken him up. A glance at the clock showed that it was still the early hours of the morning and another to the other side of the bed showed that Kate was no longer lying beside him.
He threw back the bedcovers and quickly jumped out of bed, grabbing the baseball bat from underneath the edge of it. A memory of Kate stating 'me' when asked who could be left running through his mind. What if she had been taken, what if she was in trouble? He wondered in the seconds it took him to reach his bedroom door, but upon entering the living room, all the steam was taken out of him.
There she stood, in front of the window overlooking New York, a statue in the dark. He put the bat down quietly and pieced together the clues. She had allowed him to take her home from the precinct and order them Chinese. She had even eaten a decent portion. They had decided to go to bed early and, after changing into sleep clothes, had curled up together where he had drifted to sleep to the sound of her even breathing.
She must have woken up at some point and come out here to watch over her city, assuming she had slept at all. A wave of sympathy broke over him thinking about her not being able to sleep for all of the unanswered questions that must be flooding her brain.
"Hey" he whispered as he approached her, alerting her to his presence.
She didn't even turn so she must have known he was there the entire time.
"Go back to sleep, I'm alright." She replied, her arms crossed tightly across her small frame.
Ignoring her as he reached her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and looked out the window over her shoulder. "What's going on in that head of yours?" he asked quietly in her ear.
"I just couldn't stop going over all of the case details, trying to find something I could have missed." She admitted, finally turning to slip her arms around his waist, returning his embrace.
"Well then we'll go over it together." He responded, "Come on, go sit on the couch and I'll make us some hot chocolate."
"Castle, you don't have to do that. You can go back to sleep, I'll be fine on my own." She protested even as she allowed him to guide her over to the sofa.
"If you think that I'm going to be able to sleep in there," pointing, "with you out here, then you need sleep even more than I do." He argued back, placing his hands on her shoulders to lower her into the seat.
"Mmm" she murmured back in concession, settling back into the couch.
When he returned a few minutes later, two mugs of hot chocolate in hand, she was in the same position as when he had left her, seemingly lost in her own thoughts.
She snapped out of it when he approached and smiled gratefully as she took the mug he held out in offering.
"Wow, Castle, this is great." She hummed appreciatively after taking her first sip of the warm drink, wrapping both hands around the heated ceramic of the mug.
"Thanks" he smiled back at her and taking a seat next to the detective on the couch.
"So, let's walk through this again. Arman told us he was in the ally when…"
The next morning found them both sitting at her desk in the bullpen, methodically working through the list of airfield employees who could have had access to the helicopter when Ryan practically ran towards them, excitement shining from his eyes.
"So we ran financials on everyone associated with the prison; guards, civilians, medical staff. We found a guard named Riker. He's underwater on his mortgage, maxed out his credit cards, and he was about to lose his condo." He went on to inform them that he had traced a payment to Riker the day before Lockwood was broken out and he hadn't shown up to work yet that day.
The group mobilized and rushed to find the guard with a new sense of purpose. Upon arriving at the guard's home, they found him sitting in a chair in front of the black television with a bullet hole in his head.
It was with a heavy heart that Kate called in Lanie and CSU. They had lost a good lead to these people but there was still a possibility that they would find something in his home or on his computer.
Once the ME had arrived and finished her evaluation, they were able to piece together some of what had happened. Riker had been killed the night before after completing the job. His phone records showed that he too had called the burner phone that Lockwood had been contacting during his stay in prison, presumably to negotiate prices for transferring the assassin. They also found that the money was untraceable as it had been bounced through banks in countries like the United Arab Emirates.
They continued investigating the guard and his life to see what they could find but it was clear that this was a very sophisticated operation and the man had no idea what he was getting into.
They all knew that the vital part in cracking this case was figuring out who the third cop was. Either he was the next target, or he was the one who was behind it all, but either way he would be able to answer all the questions floating around this investigation.
The boys were ordered to go back through all of Raglan and McCallister's reports and any other information that could be found about them from when they were on the force. Tensions were running high and everyone was feeling the effects of a sleepless night, causing Beckett to be more short tempered with everyone around her than she would normally be, including Castle.
Unable to take it any longer, she grabbed what case files she could take with her and decided she would go back to her apartment to look at them in peace. Castle had offered to accompany her, but she had declined. She hated hurting him, and knew he just wanted to help, but this was one of those times that she needed time to herself before she said something that she would regret. This case was playing havoc with her emotions and she had to get a handle over it, now.
Meanwhile, back at the precinct, Castle had remained to help the boys look through the old records. Without thinking he placed his drink down on one of the sheets of paper and left a wet ring on it. This turned out to be the break we needed as he realized that the striations on the paper didn't match and that the file had been altered.
Castle decided to go check in on how Kate was doing while Ryan and Esposito went to look through the records and see who could have altered the old files.
He paused with his hand raised to knock on her door, apprehension causing him to stop. He knew she wanted time, that she was having a hard time controlling herself on this case, but he also wanted her to know that she could lean on him and that he wasn't going anywhere.
With new resolve he knocked on the door and listened for her soft footsteps to approach.
When she did open the door, he could see that her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. She had clearly been crying.
"Oh Kate" he murmured, pulling her into his arms, glad that she went willingly into the comfort he offered.
"I just want this to be over with." She mumbled, holding him tighter.
Castle didn't know what he could say to comfort her. He didn't have the answers that she was looking for, so he just held her tightly, supporting her in silence for once.
They stayed that way, just inside the door, until her phone beeped with an incoming text. She pulled away from him to retrieve her phone.
"They're going to talk to a Mike Yanavich. He was in charge of the records room and graduated from the academy with Raglan and McCallister and owns a bar over on Fulton" She summarized after reading the text from Ryan.
"He would be the perfect person to be our third cop!" he theorized excitedly, "Should we go with them?"
Before she could answer, her phone chimed again, but this time it was with an incoming call. Castle read 'Montgomery' on the screen over her shoulder.
"Beckett" she answered the phone, hazel eyes locking with his blue ones.
He could hear the captain speaking on the other end of the line but couldn't understand what was being said.
"What did you find?" she asked before clicking the phone onto speaker so Castle could hear what was going on.
"Meet me in the hangar where we found the stolen chopper and I'll explain everything." The man's voice echoed out of the speakers clearly now.
"Ok, we're on our way." She spoke before hanging up the phone and turning to grab her coat off the back of the couch and walking towards the door without a word.
The silence continued during the drive to New Jersey, going unbroken until Castle's phone began to ring.
"Hello?" he answered, confused as to why Montgomery would be calling him instead of Beckett.
"Castle, Hi. I'm at the hangar where we found the chopper, can you meet me there as soon as possible?" the man requested, only confusing him further.
"Yes sir, I'm on my way." He answered before Montgomery ended the call without another word.
"That was strange." Castle commented, looking at his phone as if it would answer his questions.
"What was?" Kate asked, speaking for the first time since leaving her apartment.
"Montgomery just called to ask me to meet him at the hangar too." He explained, looking over at her.
"Hmm" she hummed, her brow furrowed in thought. "Maybe he called the whole team in, if he found something big enough." She suggested.
"Yeah, maybe.." he conceded, allowing silence to fill the car once again.
They pulled in to the hangar and parked the Crown Vic.
"Listen Castle. I want to thank you for coming to see me tonight-" she started before getting out of the car but he quickly cut her off.
"Kate, I'd do anything for you. You should know that by now." He answered, reaching over to take her hand in his own, giving it a comforting squeeze.
She just smiled softly back at him and got out of the car, knowing that he would be following her like he always did.
"Captain?" she calls as she walks into the hangar, approaching the helicopter that still bore her bullet wounds.
A door at the far end of the hangar opened, drawing their attention just as Montgomery stepped out of it and her phone chimed simultaneously.
She stopped, Castle right behind her, and looked down at her phone to find it was another text from Ryan. The blood drained from her face and she nearly dropped the phone before Castle took it from her to see what it said.
3rd Cop- It's Montgomery