He woke to screaming and shouting three or four cells down from him. He could tell that while it sounded real, something about the fight was for the benefit of a distraction and this raised red flags in his mind as his defenses rose up. As he listened to the anger between the two men who were fighting, he could tell that they were not being serious about what they were fighting about. He stayed in his rack and waited. He knew that whoever was going to come to his cell would be here soon. But he had the advantage of knowing who it was because the cell door was still secured. Whoever it was coming for him would need to unlock the door to get in. He took a calming breath and waited. He heard the fight start to fade from his senses as his eyes lightly closed once again. He was awake and conscious but he never heard the cell door open. In the position he was in, lying on his rack he had a direct view of the cell door. That is if his eyes were open. He has no time to react from the position he is in lying on the rack when a rag is thrust over his face covered with chloroform. The second he starts to defend himself he takes in a large amount of it in by foolishly inhaling to fill his lungs with air to ward off his attackers and soon everything goes black. His last thought as he fell to unconsciousness is that he should have been ready for this.

Xx

"We appreciate your cooperation warden."

"What was I going to do other than cooperate. You're holding my family hostage in my own home no less threatening to kill them if I didn't cooperate."

"All the same we appreciate it"

The warden is hit hard on the back of the head with the butt of a handgun. He slumped forward onto his desk and is out for the count. The group of four masked men make their way out of his office. Its 2 a.m. and they will meet up with their two partners who took Castle. They make it to the laundry loading bay area, the only area with an accessible location to park their vehicle for a quick escape but they don't have to wait long for the second team who has Castle to show up.

"Everything go according to the plan?"

"Like clockwork. Let's get out if here, I don't want to be exposed any longer than we need to be."

"I understand. Load him into the van and zip tie his hands and feet, then we'll go."

This is done and Rick is thrown into the cargo area of the minivan without care and a blanket is thrown over him. The crew leave the prison compound without the sentries even raising an eyebrow. Money well spent.

Xx

Kate thinks back to her lunch with the two redheads. Martha told her that she could have some old mission documents that her son had given her years ago and these might possibly be of some help. She'd call her later. Kate takes a look at her captain's office from her desk. It's dark and empty. It seems that the second she left for her lunch date yesterday with Martha and Alexis he had conveniently left right after she did. He hasn't been in yet this morning and it's close to 10 am. She takes one last look at the office and then starts to work on the file for Rick's case. She's neck deep in the file for about an hour when Demming strides up to her desk.

"Are you trying to get him out, Beckett?" He asks with a grin.

"I'm working with the DA to clear him of the charges that the ADA had filed against him in error." She told him, even though it seemed that he already knew this already.

"Good luck with that detective! And just remember some things are not always what they seem."

Without another word he turned and left, grinning as he did. She felt there was something evil in the way he told her good luck but she just shrugged it off and went back to reviewing his file.

Xx

"Roy, he's gone! And this can't be a coincidence. This was planned with the efficiency of a military operation. The guards were paid off and the warden was compromised and the wing he was on had the power shut down, giving them carte blanche to do just about anything they wanted." Bob told his best friend.

"I'll bet you there is not one foot of usable footage from the video surveillance showing who did this is there?"

"None at all. There needs to be a swift response to this it can't end the way I'm thinking it will in my head!"

Roy needs to tell him what he found out and had been looking into this morning spending the last five hours confirming. But this would reach well into the highest ranks within the NYPD and the outcome would unquestionably bring in the FBI to clean house. He looked to his boss and friend and said,

"Bob, Demming is on the take, he's a dirty cop."

"Roy do you know want this means? What position this puts Rick in?"

"God dammit Bob don't you think I realize what's involved. But we have bigger problems than Rick at the moment!"

"BIGGER PROBLEMS! Have you lost your fucking mind Roy? If Demming has Rick, which I know is not a remote possibility anymore he's going to kill him. There will be no coming back from this Roy this will be a clusterfuck on the highest level. Even though this happened years ago, it's the now that counts. Ex-CIA operative who has more successful completed missions than any other agent then or now, saved the world more times than I can count, world famous author, consultant with the NYPD, has an impressive closure rate, has fallen for his muse, and then the ADA screws up and files charges that clearly shows that this incident was self-defense throwing an additional bogus charge on top of the one that Demming trumped up."

"Listen Bob, this will be more than a black eye for the NYPD. I can assure you that once the FBI gets wind of this, they will step in and they will do what is necessary to stop all the back-door dealings and the corruption."

"Why Roy are you worried about your job? You're not a part of any of this, are you?"

The mayor just looks at his friend hoping that he's not a part of this corruption. But when Roy stays silent a little bit too long he wonders if it's true.

"Bob, I'm as clean as they come. I would never dishonor my shield. But there are units and men in the high ranks that are involved in this. When the FBI comes in, and they will come in, more than 45 % of the department will be brought up on charges ranging from extortion, murder for hire, and embezzlement to money laundering. And that's only what I found out this morning! This runs so deep that it makes Serpico, Dowd and Eurell from the 75th, and thirty-three officers that were arrested out of the 30th in the 90's look like boy scouts."

"I don't know what else to tell you, Roy. I only have one thing on my mind and that's to get Rick back before he ends up dead. You know the saying from that Star Trek flick that says "logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?"

As Roy nods his head he adds "or the one."

"Not in this case Roy. Spend whatever resources you need to in finding him."

Roy was going to say something but the mayor stopped him from saying it.

"Just get it done Roy! I want him found and unharmed."

Knowing that the conversation has come to an end Roy gets up from the chair to leave the mayor's office. Before he can walk out he stops at the doorway with his hand on the door knob. He turns and asks Bob,

"Should I tell her?" He hopes he will spare him the task of telling Beckett, because all hell will break loose in the 12th if he does.

"Roy she has the right to know. She'll be pissed at first but you need to tell her."

Roy twists the door knob and leaves without another word. In his head, he's trying to think of a way he can tell Kate that Rick has been taken. None of the solutions end well in his head.

Xx

Karpowski walks over to Kate's desk after getting back from a transport of a suspect over to Rikers. From what she can see of her friend she seems to be alright…emotionally. But then she realizes that she has not heard the news yet. She really doesn't want to be the one to tell her, but she needs to know what happened earlier this morning. She sees that Kate is reading Ricks file with intent.

"Hey, Kate did you find a way to clear the charges against Rick? Roslyn starts off hoping to lessen the blow that she's about to deliver by talking about him.

"I'm still going through all this bullshit, starting with the ADA's charges. Do you know that on top of murder charges that he filed, the family of Lockwood's associate has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Rick."

"You don't say! Wow, that's weird."

"Roz, what's going on? Why are you acting like this, you are usually laid back and calm, our conversations flow pretty well. But this? You are acting like you have a stick shoved up your ass! What's wrong?"

"Damn, she is a great detective. I thought I could get away without her knowing. I'm in too deep to back out now."

"Kate, I have some news, and it's not good news."

"Oh?"

"It's about Rick." Roz cringes when she mentions his name and Beckett picks up on it immediately.

"Roz, what happened? Kate asked hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

"He was taken last night."