House of Cards
Summary: What if the events that Castle remembered in Sleeper were a lie? What really happened to him during the 2 months he was missing? And what are the consequences now? SPOILER WARNING – This story will go into season 8. And yeah, I chose wisely on a couple of things as it turns out.
AN: Once again, thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites. And thanks for those of you who are following/favoriting my earlier stories now too. That really means a lot. Sorry this is taking so long – I'm being distracted by the sneak peeks, spoilers, real life, and work, of course. This chapter contains spoilers too and then it will go totally AU. I put actual lines from the show in italics. And yeah, less than 2 weeks to go! Hopefully I can finish this by then.
And sadly, I do not own Castle – Marlowe and ABC do. Just playing for the fun of it.
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Chapter 10 That's Convenient
The sun hadn't even thought about rising yet when Maxine Grayson pushed the green button on the treadmill to start her 5-mile run, a task she could accomplish in less than 40 minutes, thus setting the tone for her day.
She didn't necessarily enjoy exercise – one might say that she didn't enjoy much in life in her line of work. But she could beat running into submission, a necessary evil to stay in top shape, and as she pounded the belt, she could focus on more important things, such as planning which fires to put out first, thus accomplishing two goals at one time.
Legs churning on automatic, she skimmed through the reports her subordinates had sent her. Not much here that required her attention so far – she could easily delegate them to less experienced agents.
Her running slowed slightly as she read the brief on the man known as Jackson Hunt and then she picked up the pace again. Hunt had disappeared more than a year ago and no one had seen him since. Ellison assured her that the former black ops agent had gone off to die in some corner of the world and he was no longer a threat. Still, she'd be more reassured if they had an identifiable body. Black ops ghosts had a habit of coming back to bite you in the rear unless they were properly exorcised.
The next reports were also minor, something she could sluff off, but the final report made her hit the pause button as she read it more closely and frown. Two miles would have to wait until tomorrow.
Yes, this might be a problem, something worthy of her attention, she thought as she wiped the sweat from her neck.
While the end result of last year's operation Moby D had been achieved, they weren't the ones who had done it and that left unfinished business.
Richard Castle hadn't made it to the Maldives, hadn't met Dr. Yuri, but those chances were increasing now that Black Pawn was publishing the Derrick Storm graphic novel, Tropical Storm.
No, this didn't bode well at all and they had to find a way to stop it.
Grayson stepped off the treadmill and picked up her phone. She knew Randy would be up already.
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Although he knew his time on this earth was running out quickly, Ilya Golovkin waited patiently in the alley next to the 12th precinct. He had been there most of the night, fighting the chills racking his body, not from the cold, but from whatever poison they had finally gotten him with. He pulled his ragged coat tighter around him.
After Hunt disbanded the team when Powers had been killed, Golovkin had been off the radar until something had given him away and they found him and killed him, discretely of course. But maybe they had been watching the whole time, just biding their time until they could pick them off one by one to finish the job.
But he was determined not to go gently into the night, not to give up without a fight. It was too late for him, that he was certain about, but not too late for him to bring those bs down. And he intended to do that with his dying breath.
Vengeance is mine, not the Lord's, he thought as he stumbled out of the shadows towards the front of the precinct when he saw the car he had been waiting for drive up and park.
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"You know, man, I'm just saying," said Ryan, as Espo pulled into his assigned spot at the precinct and parked the car as they started their shift. "Beckett's moved up – this is her first day as Captain."
"So we should throw her a party?" retorted Espo, making a slight face.
Ryan shook his head as he got out of the car and then paused. "Well, maybe," he frowned. He was certain that Castle would have free drinks on the house tonight at the Old Haunt as a way of celebration and then smiled wistfully. He couldn't stay long now that Jenny was expecting their second child. "Nah, what I'm saying is that maybe we should think about that too – moving up in the ranks. I mean, where do you want to be in 5 years?"
Espo frowned slightly as he closed his door. While he wasn't normally a deep thinker, he did have the occasional moment where he thought about the future – his future – and what he wanted. But this was something he was prone ponder in private for a while before deciding what to do.
"On a tropical beach with this good-looking—" Espo started to reply with a smirk and then was rudely interrupted as a man stumbled into him.
Golovkin clutched at Espo with trembling hands as his knees gave way. "They know…it was Castle, not Yuri—" the man wheezed out as he struggled to hold himself upright. "Warn him…not to trust anyone – Hunt—Hunt…"
The man grimaced in pain and then went slack, almost pulling Espo down with him as he crumpled to the ground.
"Javi, Javi! You okay!?" yelled Ryan as he raced around the car with his gun drawn, looking at his partner who knelt beside the man on the ground.
"Yeah," said Espo as he felt for a pulse and then looked up at Ryan and shook his head. "Got nothing."
Ryan surveyed the area to make sure the danger had passed as Espo stood, opened the car door, and thumbed on his radio. "Officer needs assistance – uh – in front of the 12th precinct."
"I'll call Beckett," Ryan said as the front doors of the precinct opened and several officers rushed out.
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As Beckett finished dressing for her first day as Captain, Castle quietly slipped out of the bedroom to put the finishing touches on the celebration he had been planning since they had received word of her promotion.
After nixing the idea of having flowers and balloons delivered to her office – go large or go home certainly didn't apply here and he was sure Beckett would kill him if he did that – he finally decided on something low-key – a large cupcake from her favorite bakery and something personal to commemorate the day.
Castle carefully took the cupcake out of the box he had hidden yesterday and placed it on the plate, and then carefully positioned the sign on top. He then put the case that held a silver bracelet with Always inscribed on it next to the plate. Yes, this was perfect.
When he heard the bedroom door open, he lit the sparklers and turned to face her with a big smile, holding the cupcake in front of him. "Congratulations, Captain Beckett," he said, quoting what was on the sign.
Beckett's smile widened as she saw what he had done and she quickly walked over to kiss him. "Thank you," she whispered.
"You deserve it," Castle said simply. "And there's more," he said, putting the cupcake on the counter and picking up the jewelry box and opening it.
Beckett gasped slightly. "It's beautiful, babe," she said, admiring the simple silver bracelet.
"To keep me with you even when I'm not there," Castle said as he took the bracelet out of the box and fastened it around Beckett's wrist. "So are you ready for this? How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Exhilarated and excited and everything in between," Beckett replied as she swiped her finger through the icing and licked it off.
"You've got this," said Castle, reaching to pull her into a hug when her phone rang. "Wow, that was quick," he commented as Beckett answered her phone.
Beckett nodded as she answered. "We'll be right there."
"Body drop?" Castle asked.
"Yeah," Beckett nodded, frowning slightly. "At the precinct."
That got Castle's attention. "An officer?" he asked urgently.
Beckett shook her head. "No, apparently some homeless guy. Ryan and Espo had just gotten to the precinct when the man bumped into Espo and then died."
"That's convenient," Castle replied. "They're delivering the bodies to your front door now."
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Perlmutter was finishing his preliminary observations and had just zipped up the body bag when Beckett and Castle pulled up to the precinct.
Ryan and Espo stood off to the side, making sure they gave the ME plenty of room to work, and then motioned Beckett and Castle over.
"Morning, Captain," Espo and Ryan said at the same time, racing to see who could say it first so that Beckett would be required to buy that person a drink (overlooking the fact that her husband owned a bar and gave them free drinks all the time).
"Really, guys?" Beckett replied with an eye roll. "You're doing that now when we have a body?"
"And not just any body," said Ryan as they walked over to the body bag and Espo knelt down to unzip it so they could see the man's face. "It took us a while to figure out who it was since he shaved his head and his face is yellow, but it's—"
"Ilya Golovkin," finished Beckett, looking at the body and then at Castle who shook his head.
"No – no – that's not possible. It can't be Golovkin – Jenkins killed him in the alley," Castle said as he knelt down to take a closer look. The yellow face niggled something deep in his soul.
He stood suddenly and swore, running his hands through his hair. He had been played – all along, they had been playing him and he had swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.
"Yeah, and that's not all," said Espo in a low voice so that only they could hear. "Before he died, he said that they knew it was Castle, not Yuri, and not to trust anyone and then something about a hunt."
Before any one could say anything else, they were rudely interrupted again as a black SUV squealed to stop in front of the precinct and several men in dark suits got out.
The man in front approached the group. "Captain Beckett, I'm Harlan Ellison, CIA. Rick, it's good to see you again," he said as he offered his right hand to Castle, "although I'd prefer it under different circumstances."
Castle and Ellison shook hands. "Harlan, it's been a while."
"So why's the CIA here?" asked Beckett, going into Captain mode.
Now all business, Ellison motioned to the body bag. "The deceased is one of ours – or rather, he was until he went rouge a couple of years ago. We've been looking for him since then."
"You sure?" asked Espo.
Ellison nodded. "Ilya Golovkin. We almost caught him earlier this year when he killed Jeff Powers, who was also one of ours. I believe your team worked that case?" he asked Beckett.
Beckett nodded in response. "So how can we help you?"
Ellison nodded. "It's really more of a request. I'm sure that Dr. Perlmutter will find that Golovkin was poisoned. We need to find whoever did that."
"And you can't legally operate on American soil," Castle supplied.
Ellison nodded. "No, we can't. But we need to know if Golovkin was the only target, so we need to know whatever you know about Golovkin."
Beckett nodded impassively as if considering what he said.
"Interagency cooperation between the NYPD and the CIA," Ellison added with a slight smile, hoping to seal the deal. "Just think of how good this will look to 1PP especially on the first day of your new job, Captain Beckett."
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