(Hello all! I hope some of you out there are still interested, even if I have no excuses good enough for the length of time it has been between updates. Grading essays does not make up for fan fiction writing, but it does have to be done first! Here is the next installment – better late than never I hope… I still don't own them. Let me know what you think!)
The Walls Fall Down
Chapter Nine: Knights to the Rescue
Girded at last with a place and a plan, Kate Beckett's team was heading into the dragon's lair. It was time for Tyson to reap what he had sown and to pay for the evil and pain he had gotten away with visiting on others. Seeing a quick moment before they set out, while Kate was briefing the tactical response team that would go in beside them and Ryan was checking all the equipment, Esposito stole down to the morgue to see Lanie. Granted, he really just wanted to see her before leaving, to steady himself in her face in a way he hated to even admit, but his excuse was that she would be wondering what had happened and deserved to be kept in the loop. She was part of their team too. No one else needed to know how her strength, capability, and cool intelligence grounded him in a way he couldn't quite grasp himself. Though she had a highly attractive, feisty spark in her that smoldered behind her deep, dark eyes and drew him in, she also had the amazing ability to remain quiet and calm when his fear or anger or frustration seemed most likely to bubble over and explode. They might finally be ready to rescue Castle's precious daughter – and he was more than ready to lay a smackdown on this monster who would hurt an innocent young girl, and had months before nearly taken his partner from him as well – but he needed to see Lanie for a moment first. He needed to be together and clear-headed when they went into this bust; there were so many ways it could go sideways instead of being the victory they were hoping for.
He knocked on the door twice before entering her quiet, cool, dimly-lit domain. She turned, a knowing smile in her sly-cat eyes that almost stopped him in his tracks, wondering – not for the first time – 'Does she know?' Shaking his head, and trying to tell himself it couldn't be, surely he wasn't that obvious, and clearing his throat to continue what he had been ready to tell her. "We're headed out – think we've got him this time," he said, voice rather husky with trying to conceal the emotion he feared he'd been showing.
"I knew that already, Javier," she replied cheekily, giving him a head shake as if she wondered what he was really up to. "Kate called me a minute ago."
"Oh, well then…" he shrugged, roaming around the sterilely clean, metallic-furnished room pretending to look at odd things instead of her as if it didn't matter, "I didn't know, and I figured you should know what was up."
He was halted in his progress around the room, however, when Lanie came around her autopsy table to stand before him. Looking up into his eyes, she reached out and caught hold of the 12th Precinct badge that he often wore on a lanyard around his neck. She pulled him toward her just the tiniest fraction and lowered her voice to what seemed a seductive murmur in his ears. "Thanks, Javi, I do appreciate being included – you never seem to forget, even if the others sometimes do…" She paused for a moment, like she had more to say, pursing the soft, pink lips that he found ridiculously tempting, as if debating whether to continue speaking or not. Then she added, "Why don't you do me one more favor though? Just make sure you get yourself back here in one piece, along with Alexis. Understood?"
He flashed her the fleeting hint of a quick, teasing grin, bright against his warm, tan skin and dark, determined eyes. "Yes, ma'am," he replied with a firm nod to her. Just before he turned on his heel to leave her and head back upstairs, he added a flirtatious wink and the promise, "I'll see you when we get back, Dr. Parrish. I don't think this conversation is quite finished."
Her eyes widened for a second, making him flush with pleasure at actually catching her off guard. Then she simply grinned evilly before responding, "You do that, Detective, because we certainly aren't finished."
CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~
A mere twenty minutes later, the SWAT team, led by Detectives Beckett, Ryan and Esposito, along with their resident mystery writer, were parked surrounding what seemed to be the likely site for Tyson to be holed up with Alexis. They were readying their weapons and preparing to split up so as to breach both entrances simultaneously and thwart any chance of escape, when Castle reached for his custom-made flak jacket and Kate Beckett caught his hand, giving him a peremptory shake of her head. "You're not going in this time, Castle," she stated, simply but firmly.
"What do you mean I'm not going in?" he questioned, disbelief and challenge both rising in his voice.
"Your daughter's in there," she explained quickly. "For obvious reasons, you're too emotionally invested to be smart in there. Besides, Jerry Tyson has an obvious personal vendetta against you. All of this could have been a trap to lure you in. You're staying out here. I can't try to save Alexis if half of my focus is being pulled to your safety."
He wanted badly to argue; she could see it in the quirk of his brow, the doubt in his eyes, and the exhaled breath he let out instead of the words he seemed to forcibly bite back. A moment of intense eye contact between them uttered volumes as the moment stretched to two, then three. Finally, he gave a silent nod, broke the look, and even took a step back, as if agreeing with her decision in action instead of words.
She finished her preparations, gave last orders to her people, and then signaled them to move out. Quickly, she hazarded one last glance back at Castle's face – a luxury she permitted herself too much for her own sanity lately – and was surprised by the trust and respect she found there. "Bring her back to me," his eyes pled silently, hope and belief shining in their hypnotic depths, "and yourself too."
Now she was the one to give a nod of assent without managing words, then she turned away quickly before he knocked her any more off kilter. 'Get Alexis,' she repeated her objective to herself like a mantra as she went into motion. 'Manage that – then you can finally see what is there with him.' By then, they had reached the door, and she thought only of her next move and threw herself into action.
CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~
Ryan and Esposito had led their team into the back of the abandoned building which – even in its former life – must have been a sorry excuse for a "home". Working like well-oiled machinery, a team that only time and deep understanding could form, they moved quickly, quietly, sweeping each empty room and moving on to the next down a dark, low-ceilinged hall. There was only one room left, and the two detectives exchanged a quick look before bursting in. They could hear on their ear radios that the other team with Beckett had come up empty as well, and they weren't sure what they would find in this last room left. It was hard to know which dread was worst: the fear of the condition they might find Alexis in, or the fear that they might hit another dead end and she wouldn't be behind the door at all.
Ryan gave him a hand signal, giving Esposito the go-ahead while letting him know he had his back. Esposito nodded in return and reached to turn the knob and push the door open. Unlike the other doors along this hall however, he met locked resistance from this entryway. Javier felt his heart rate quicken to jackhammer strength. This was it – not time to waste. Taking one step back, then powering forward, he kicked in the door and swept into the room – eyes alert and gun at the ready. His eyes covered the small space in seconds, sharp and cold as a bird of prey's, but they softened immediately to a gentler expression once he realized that all he saw within the space was a beat-up old mattress on which sat a very frightened but familiar-looking redhead.
"She's here!" he exclaimed needlessly to Ryan, who was right behind him and stepping forward to go to Castle's young daughter. "I'll radio Beckett," he added.
Ryan moved towards Alexis cautiously, noticing with quick concern that she did not give any sign of recognition, though he and Javier had both met her several times. She didn't even look up; her gaze was straight ahead and fuzzily unfocused. He walked to the edge of the mattress and crouched down to be on eye level with her. "Alexis?" he questioned, reaching out to tap her arm, hoping to break her out of the trance she seemed to be in. "Alexis, this is Kevin Ryan. Remember me? … Are you alright?"
She started at the contact with a gasp and tried to draw further away, even though she was already backed up against the grimy wall. She didn't speak, and she still didn't really seem to see him, or anything else around her. Her lip trembled and a single tear trekked down her pale, white cheek, but no other movement or response greeted his words.
"Jav," he said worriedly, getting his partner's attention as he turned to look over his shoulder into the former Ranger's eyes, "is she okay? What has he done to her?"
Esposito's eyes were dangerous dark and angry, clouded over with something Ryan couldn't quite define. The Hispanic detective's traditional, protective nature toward women and children especially seemed completely unable to accept whatever seemed to have been done to Alexis to put her in the state of shock she appeared to be suffering from. Ryan hated what this psycho had done to them all as well, but he truly feared what his partner might do if he got his bare hands on Tyson. Esposito only shook his head, "I don't know what's wrong, Kev. Let's just get her out of here."
Stooping to pick Castle's daughter up in his arms, Esposito wasn't looking when a shot rang out. Ryan whipped around, gun raised to cover them. Surprised, he realized that Tyson had materialized out of the small, dark closet in the room, where he had obviously been hiding and watching, rather than trying to escape, and enjoyed the havoc he'd wrecked.
"Go! Take her!" Ryan hissed to Esposito, who for once didn't argue or play tough guy and moved with Alexis out of harm's way. Turning, he bellowed "Drop it, Tyson!" as he put the Triple Killer in his sights.
Ignoring the order, Tyson got what seemed to be one more wild shot fired, before he fell dead with Ryan's bullet in his chest. All Kevin Ryan could feel was a draining of tension and fear as he hurried over to kick the gun from Tyson's hand and check for the pulse that he knew had fled. He was never happy to take a life, but he couldn't help being glad there would be no trial and chance of future release or parole; the Triple Killer had tortured his last victim, and New York was that much safer with him gone.
CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~
Ryan left the body to the rest of the team that was watching the hallway for any accomplices Tyson might have posted. Turning back, he hurried out of the room and back the way Esposito had gone to leave the wrecked old building. He was every bit as worried about Alexis as the rest of them, and he knew something was not right. She was either in shock, drugged, or more seriously injured than she had looked at first glance.
As he left the building, he could see the scene unfolding in front of him like something out of an action movie. Esposito seemed to be walking too slowly, or else he himself was going too fast, because he was rapidly catching up to his partner. Rick Castle was coming to meet them, from the moment he saw his daughter in Javier's arms there had been no holding him back. Ryan saw Beckett try since the perimeter was not yet secured. Then he saw her let Castle go, knowing that fight was one she would lose. Meeting in the middle, Castle took Alexis into his own arms, planting frantic kisses in her soft, auburn hair, trying to hold her as tight as he possibly could, whispering that she was okay, he was there, looking as if the weight of the world had finally stopped crushing him, even though she didn't respond. As Ryan and Kate reached them, Ryan's eyes were suddenly drawn from the Castles' emotional reunion to really see how pale his partner's usually ruddy complexion was. Esposito looked at him, meeting his eyes and holding them. Ryan reached a hand out, seeing that Esposito was sweating, and leaning forward as if weak or off-balance. Hoarsely, Esposito finally got out, "I'm hit…twice…" before sinking to one knee.
Ryan did not have long to marvel or wonder how Javier had continued to carry Alexis with two bullet in him. "Kate!" he burst out, interrupting her attempts to help Castle bring Alexis around. "Espo's hit! Tell me there's an ambulance en route!"
"They're already on their way," she answered, moving from Castle's side to Ryan's, her concern nearly as palpable as his. "Just hang in there, okay?" she added to Esposito, grit in her voice as if daring him to do otherwise.
Esposito nodded, but his eyes dropped closed and fought to reopen. Kevin Ryan couldn't help thinking that they had averted one tragedy and landed right at the bottom of another yawning cavern. Praying the ambulance hurried, he willed his partner to keep fighting. He was not going to be the one delivering somber news to his fellow officer's family, and he could only hope he would not be the one going to morgue to explain to Lanie why Javier had come back himself…