Chapter 10
Kate is still looking into Rick's eyes when she suddenly slams him into a lovers embrace. Taking a hold of his jacket, she places a rough kiss onto his lips. Stunned at the hit she has given him, he returns the kiss with more aggression than she has shown. To their advantage the break room's doors are still locked and the blinds are still drawn. They stay like this for what feels like an hour. Then they both need to surface for air. He breaks the kiss first.
She gazes at his face lovingly and notices that his eyes are still closed. They need to exit the break room.
"Rick, come on, open your eyes, what...are you doing? Saving this moment for prosperity?" Kate huskily asks.
Rick slowly opens his eyes.
"Kate that was amazing." He says with much awe in his voice.
Kate starts to blush. She doesn't even understand how or why she has kept him waiting for so long. They have a lead and she will follow it until they would end this case. Then maybe she would actually give herself to him wholeheartedly.
His eyes dart across her face and lock on her eyes. It seems to her that he is trying to read her facial expressions. Though, he is coming up empty.
"Yeah, Kate w-we should get going." He shakily says.
They both re-open the blinds and unlock both doors. Making them both a cup of coffee Rick lets Kate leave first. She returns to her desk. She glances over at Ryan and Espo who are busy at their desks. They barely notice her return. Then Rick leaves the break room. That is a totally different story. Espo notices him first by stopping what he was doing. He gives Rick a dirty look. Ryan too has noticed Espo's look, then he turned to give Rick the same scowl. Rick hurriedly makes his way over to Kate's desk. Then he gives her the coffee as he sits down.
"Kate, what's up with those two?" Rick whispers as he looks back at the two detectives.
"Rick, you need to understand one thing even if it's the only thing you ever learn here." Kate says glancing at her boys.
"Oh, what's that?" Rick asks to be curious.
"To them, I'm their little sister. They watch out for me. Not only do they have my back, I have theirs. They do it for anything. Especially when it comes to matters of the heart." Kate sweetly says.
"Kate, that's not my intention. I will never hurt you." Rick protests as he thought back to last night's kiss.
"Rick, I know this. You have my heart and I hope I have yours. But these two lunkheads want to protect me. They are only trying to show you that they care about me." Kate says with laughing eyes.
"Really Kate, should I go over there and talk to them then try to explain?" Rick inquires.
"No Rick, leave that to me, I'll speak to them later." Kate says impressed that Rick would attempt something so foolhardy.
Kate takes the negatives that Rick has discovered last night then gets up from her desk. Walking away, she expects Rick to follow. When she feels he is not behind her, she turns.
"You coming, Castle?" Kate says with a twinkle in her eyes.
He catches up quickly, then steps in beside her.
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"Kate, where are we heading?" Rick asks not familiar with this new location.
Rick, I want to get a better look at these pictures. So we will get hard copies made then I want to head over to Federal Plaza to see how far back the FBI keeps their tape recordings." Kate responds.
They take the elevator to the tech floor. Kate reluctantly leaves the negatives with the senior lab technician. She wants to enter them as evidence. She changes her mind though after thinking better about it. The thought of explaining why there were negatives showing up 10 years since the case went cold would be hard to explain.
Kate looked over to Rick sitting in the passenger seat of her car. The look on his face already shows defeat. She lets it go for now as she parks the car in an 'On Official Business' parking spot right in front of 26 Federal Plaza. Walking up to the entrance they are both wondering if this might be a waste of time.
"Showing their proper ID they are issued FBI visitor badges. They are restricted to certain floors. That's okay because the archive room is the only room they need to visit. Their badges gave them access to that room.
They finally reach the archive room which is buried deep within the building. They are met with a very older looking agent. During his time as an agent, he must have been very active. Now he is in charge of a room where no one came to unless there is a reason. Kate presents her ID along with Rick's.
"Hello, Detective Beckett… What brings you here today?" He asks looking at her badge.
"Sir, I am wondering if you can access the archive recordings from about 10 years ago?" Kate sweetly asks.
"Detective Beckett..." the man starts to say though, she interrupts him
"Please, call me Kate." She requests.
"Okay, Kate, then you can call me Robert." He replies.
"Robert It's nice to meet you. This man beside me is Richard Castle the mystery writer." Kate says giving the introduction.
"I thought I recognized you. It's nice to meet the both of you. Now how can I help you?" Robert inquires.
"Robert I am looking into a case that we think that the FBI was working about 10 years ago. It happened in 1999, January 9th to be exact. In Lower Manhattan. I was wondering if there were any tape recordings from that night. The exact location would be the Palermo Club on 8th Ave and West 12th street." Kate says.
"Well, Kate this could take a little time. To begin, some of that old stuff will not be digitized. However, if you are willing to wait, I will see what I may locate. There is a vending machine at the end of the hallway." Robert pointed out as he turns to fulfill her request.
Rick and Kate take a slow walk over to the vending machines. They find a row of seats. Taking a seat they wait patiently.
It is about an hour before Robert returns. He sits at the counter that doubles as his desk. On it there are about 35 micro cassettes in a foam lined firebox. Each cassette has a thin protective red sheet of plastic covering them. Along with the fireproof box there is a small micro cassette player.
"Kate, would you please come here?" Robert asks.
Kate quickly moves to Robert's position with Rick in tow. She looks at the tapes, then wonders. What would they have recorded on them? There had to be something she could find to put this to rest.
"Okay, Kate here's the deal. You are able to make 1 recording of these tapes. The only catch is that you can only re-record 1 hour of these recordings. You can listen to them endlessly, but they will never leave this room and be aware that there might be some sections of these tapes that could be erased. This is to protect the identity of the agents in the field. All these tapes are from the surveillance op that happened on January 9th, 1999." Roberts says giving the ground rules.
"Robert, may I ask why we can only re-record 1 hour?" Kate wonders.
"Because Kate that's all I am willing to risk my retirement for. You are not actually allowed to re-record anything that is contained on these tapes. But you see I know about the case you are looking into. Can I venture a guess that it involves one Johanna Beckett?" Robert guesses correctly as Kate is surprised.
Kate got real quiet, real fast. She looks to Rick, who also is shocked as well. This is not something she was prepared for.
"Robert, what do you know?" Kate asks after the shock wore off.
Robert gave her a knowing smile.
"Kate, just listen to the tapes. I think you might find what you are searching for. We will talk after you are finished." Robert says cryptically then leaves them alone.
Kate and Rick open the firebox, then insert the first mini cassette into the player. They start to listen. They sit there listening to the tapes for what felt like an eternity. It is about 4 and a half hours into the tapes mid way through tape # 18 when they started hearing the exchange with Johanna and the hit man she had seen exiting the club. The recording is hard for Kate to hear. She grips Rick's hand under the table as she listens to the last moments of her mother's life.
Tears cascade down Kate's face as she is able to hear her mother's voice once again. Even though, it is under less than pleasant conditions. That's when everything changes. There is talking going on inside the surveillance post. It is the voices of the FBI agents assigned to the op talking with each other.
"John this will not end well for us."
"Justin what are you talking about?"
"Dick Coonan is going to kill us both. We should have taken care of that nosy bitch lawyer on our own. It's bad enough that we led her here to the club, but the fact that Jackie had to eliminate her will not sit well with Dick."
"Why, what do you think he'll do to us?"
"Let's put it this way Justin... Jackie's days are probably numbered. And then ours will be too."
"You think he will go that far?"
"Dick will do anything to protect the Dragon. Let's hope he is quick about taking us out.
The tape goes silent for about 1:42 minutes and then they hear...
"Justin, are you sure we should just leave without saying anything to the lead agent?"
"Listen John, while we might have set up that lawyer, but I'm not risking my ass to see if she might still be alive. This is still a covert op and we will stick to that order."
The tape fades a little but Kate can hear John say "whatever."
Kate removes the headphones and looks to Rick with a tear streaked face. Looking like she has lost her mother all over again. He tries to comfort her, but she would not be the one to break at this point. Looking at the pad on the desk she has made notes about what she needs Robert to re-record for her. Placing all the tapes back in the box she closes the box and walks back to where Robert sits waiting.
"So Kate, I'm sorry you had to find out this way." He says with much sorrow.
"Robert, what are you able to tell me about the agents that set my mother up that night?" Kate asks with righteous indignation.
"Well, I can tell you that they are no longer with FBI." Robert says.
"I need to know what happened to them." Kate implores.
"Kate how much time can you spare..." Robert asks.
A/N Sorry for the delay.