Yes, I like having Sorenson in the story. Thanks for all the encouragement and reviews. Thanks to those who have provided inspiration to continue and to the person who is constantly reading and rereading the writing to make sure I get it right. This story is hard to write and there have been many times I have nearly abandoned it. But I want her to kick some ass, so I keep going.

Chapter 11

5.43 pm Day 3

The increased volume of voices and general activity in the warehouse aroused Kate from drowsiness to lucid consciousness in a matter of a minute mainly because she feared they were going to come after her. She opened her eyes, momentarily startled, to see the blue material of the old soiled mattress she had spent the better part of a day on now. She soon realised the noises were distant and forced herself to calm down. Her initial thought once she knew she was being left alone, was she could really do with a drink, as in a gallon of water. Then she focused on where she was. Experience kept her dead still, with the exception of her eyes that glanced about the dimly lit warehouse in an attempt to pinpoint exactly where the men's voices were coming from.

A quick assessment of her own state of well being told Kate her body was deteriorating at a rapid pace. In a nutshell, she knew that her vision and hearing were good, her entire body suffering pain at various levels and she was completely starved for food and water. They had denied her nourishment and very little water for the better part of three days which had rendered her lethargic and drowsy. Lack of sustenance had made it hard to remain conscious for long or to think with clarity. The only water she had been able to drink was captured mouthfuls during the minutes they had hosed her with cold tap water to wake her and had then left her wet and freezing cold.

Kate was aware she was almost down to preservation of herself only, and as much as she hated to do it, she had forced herself to let go of the hope she was still pregnant. The delicious memories of the first evening they knew she was carrying their future baby tried hard to invade her conscious thoughts, but she pushed harder to suppress them, no longer strong enough to deal with the emotions that came with them. Flashes of herself when she had excitedly bounced and hopped between the bathroom and Rick to tell him each test was positive, or the way he had treated her that entire night, poked at her but she shut those memories out, suppressed them and thought about nothing other than which one of them she was going to kill first.

The activity hub of the warehouse was always a small office in the back corner. From the office, she heard cell phones constantly sounding with their various ringtones more frequently than they had been and the conversations in broken Russian indicated there was a big problem. So busy were they with their problem they had forgotten to handcuff her to the down pipe.

Kate slowly rolled to her back so she could generally get a better view of where the men were and what they were up to. She kept her eyes partially closed and moved as though she were just restless in her sleep. She was aware it was late afternoon, maybe early evening, by the degree of light that streamed through the windows she looked toward. The poor light in the warehouse conveniently favoured her to conceal the fact she was more conscious than usual even though she drifted between different states of full and semi consciousness. She mainly felt incredibly drowsy but wasn't nauseas anymore.

It was impossible to estimate how long ago their problem had arisen but she figured out fast the core of their problem was a single person. Someone had the men in a fluster but the untimely interruptions to her state of consciousness prevented her from consistently receiving information of what troubled them in a short time. Every time she dozed off their raised voices brought her back to consciousness at which time she would once again listen to them and pick up more bits and pieces until she was able to use her detective skills to fill the blanks herself.

The arguments of four male individuals present at the warehouse were focused around what someone had done as a consequence of what one of them hadn't done. She was sure she heard them refer to Richard Castle as a smart assed American bastard and she hummed in satisfaction to herself when she frequently recognised the sound of his name spoken with thick accents thereon after. Although they spoke in Russian, their conversation was littered with English words which conveniently assisted her to understand them, particularly when they argued shouting rapidly and crudely at each other.

She understood from what they fought over, that they had contacted Castle earlier in the day as she had suggested they do. They had demanded a ransom in exchange for her being returned to him alive. Castle had taken the bait. She had hoped he would.

It seemed that none of them had rung Castle to set up an exchange place after their initial ransom demand. They blamed each other for not taking the responsibility to make the call as planned at 3.00 pm. It had been due to poor communications between them. Three of them singled out the individual who had made the initial call to Castle as the person who had failed to continue progress for the group. They were extremely aggressive towards him.

Once Castle had not received the expected call within a given time frame, he must have brazenly and publicly offered a million dollars cash for Kate's safe return. His reward doubled what she had told the captors to ransom her for and it was well over the original bounty for them to kill her. Rick's reward had caused them to consider dumping her in exchange for the cash. They weren't concerned at all whether she heard them discuss it.

Kate laid still, almost relieved to hear that someone had leverage on them to keep her alive and viable as a bargaining tool. All day she had hoped that her knowledge of Castle and his behaviour would work in her favour. She didn't know whether he had figured out that she had set the Russians up to make him pay a ransom for her return but he had responded as she had guessed he would. He simply wanted her back and had the resources to do it. He had been challenged, they had failed to commit to their own plan, and now Castle seemed hell bent on playing the game his way. Regardless of what her extremely intelligent partner had concluded and consequently planned, his character had typically decided to boldly take them on. She wanted to believe he had received and understood her communication and was doing his best to rescue her alive.

The men complained and argued constantly because Castle's broadcast was repeated on newsbreaks on every TV channel and had gone viral on the internet. The fact he had shown surveillance video of them had also caused their anxiety levels to spike. Even Kate hadn't expected his counter response to be so assertive.

As the intensity of their arguments escalated she in turn felt increasingly vulnerable that she was at risk of being the object to vent their frustrations on, in revenge for what Castle had done. She chanted to herself that a million dollars was enough money to almost guarantee they would return her to him still breathing. She remained quiet, curled up in a tight ball to keep as warm as possible on the smelly bare mattress. She pretended to be asleep, but listened and waited for her captors to take action.

She was completely aware that her body was at the end of its ability to survive another day, even another session of the brutal treatment it had already suffered. She had made a pledge to herself that if she survived the ordeal she would take revenge into her own hands. It would be a personal vendetta, gloves off and ruthless. She already had her first target in mind. He would never see her come at him. Tonight she just needed Castle, Ryan and Esposito, any one of them, to find her within the next few hours as she lacked belief she would be strong enough to survive the exposure of another cold night. Her body was already cold dressed in her jeans and top, and the night was only going to cause the temperature to drop further.

Regardless of whether they would accept Castle's offer, Kate decided that the best thing she could do was let them think she was on the brink of death. It would hopefully prompt them to react sooner if they wanted her to be alive if and when she was handed over for the money. She tried not to dwell on the fact they could come after her any second so she could control the anxiety within her and relax. She slowed her respiration to begin with. She needed to be calm to enable her heart rate to drop as low as she could manage, to preserve her energy. An instinct nagged at her she was going to need energy soon.

She succeeded in lowering her vitals to the point she drifted into unconsciousness. It was too easy for her to sleep now and being so exhausted, it was all she wanted to do.

8.47 pm

The call they hoped for occurred just as they were beginning to give up.

At first, they had considered him to be a hoax, but then he had described events that hadn't been released to the public. The male who called himself George had stated he knew Kate Beckett had been snatched from a safe house. Sorenson had pushed George to provide proof that Beckett was alive but the male had said he wasn't at the place she was being kept. Instead he had described Kate's body with details so specific that Rick had plugged his ears with his fingers unable to tolerate hearing him anymore. Will had continued to listen on as the only other person who could positively confirm or deny what the caller described. Freckles, moles, blemishes, scars that all proved he had seen Kate's body. He jotted down everything George said, whilst Esposito noted on his pad any sounds they heard in the background. Ryan was kept busy trying to obtain a trace on the call.

Sorenson had stretched the call as long as he could manager and had arranged a time and place to meet to make the exchange. They had agreed to move fast because George had said several times the others were in a panic to get rid of her and to end the situation.

At the end of the call, Sorenson hung up the desk phone and sunk into the chair at the table. They waited in silence for Ryan to hear whether the call had been long enough to trace. In the meantime, Will stared silently at Richard Castle who had his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. He sighed heavily, in an attempt to control his personal feelings and keep them out of the situation especially. He could see how much the problem was affecting Castle tonight who had worn down within the past hour.

His fingers continued to tap lightly the table, his mind taking a bit of time to absorb the conversation they had just had. He cast his eyes over the table to Ryan who hung up.

"No luck." Ryan stated and sat back in his seat. Esposito slumped in subdued silence, also tired from the long days they had spent on the case. Sorenson sighed, and returned his eyes to Castle who still had his face in his hands.

"Well Castle, you fucking pulled it off," Sorenson said to the writer, still in a state of total disbelief the bluff had worked. He glanced to the detectives who remained motionless and silent. "I don't believe it." He sat up. They would have to prepare themselves to depart for the exchange soon.

Castle sat up straight, inhaled a huge amount of air. He fidgeted in his chair. He looked to Sorenson, his face dead pale and clammy. He stood up and took several deep panicked breaths of air and walked around the table in an effort to burn off some of the stress and frustration. He punched the air, he gripped his head and growled. He looked to each of the guys in disbelief. He was full of anxiety and relief.

"Oh God, I thought I had killed her doing that jackass, cocky move." Richard exclaimed seriously between deep breaths.

"Me too." Esposito replied, sinking further down in his chair trying to calm his own nerves.

"Oh fuck!" He held his head. "I really thought I had killed her," he confessed.

"Castle, she's alive." Ryan reassured, not able to believe they had just received confirmation she was still living, even if barely. One of them, and it was all they had needed, had taken the bait Castle had put out to the public.

They watched Castle leave the room and pace the bull pen in an attempt to wear down his state of anxiety. He stopped at Kate's desk and leaned on it, inhaling and exhaling very deeply, still trying to calm himself.

"We have ninety seven minutes to make the half million look like a million." Esposito reminded them.

"Easy." Sorenson replied."We still have the marked money." He pointed over his shoulder in the direction of Castle. "I'm going take him outside for some fresh air. He's losing it." He stood. "He's going to need all the strength he can source if we find her alive. She's going to need him to be strong for her." He followed Castle out of the room

"Do you think he will be ok?" Ryan asked and looked to Esposito in concern for Castle who was obviously wearing down mentally.

"He will be right when he needs to be." Esposito replied. "He's pretty tough. Right now he's a mess. Better now than later."

Sorenson approached Castle and patted him on the shoulder. "Come on man, walk with me." He ordered and took another few steps before he stopped and turned to ensure Rick was going to follow. The writer looked to Sorenson. Castle was worn out, tired and emotionally drained. Will concluded the light hearted conversations he had periodically engaged Castle in during the course of day to keep his spirits up were not going to keep Castle's head in the game now. Gummy bear conversations would not be of any benefit at this point in time, at the business end of the deal. Sorenson smiled. "Come," he ordered and waved his hand to encourage Castle to follow.

Rick stood up straight and ran a hand though his hair. "I can do sit and rollover too," he replied, with a crooked smile and caught up with Sorenson.

"Yeah?" Sorenson inquired surprised he had received a humorous response. "I will try it out one day and see how obedient you actually are," he commented and hit the elevator button.

The elevator arrived seconds later and they stepped inside it. "Where are we going?" Castle asked as the elevator doors closed on them.

"Get some fresh air." Will replied. They stayed silent for the rest of the trip to the ground floor. They walked outside and stopped at the bottom of the stairs to the entrance of the Precinct. They looked up and down the street, and pulled their coats closed over their chests. It was cold tonight.

"Wanna a hot dog?" Sorenson asked pointing to the hot dog stand still operating, a short distance down the road. "Because I sure do."

"I do." Castle replied and fell in beside Sorenson. The thought of eating did not particularly appeal to him but the moment he smelt the hot dogs his stomach grumbled with hunger.

They bought a couple of hot dogs each and returned to the Precinct to sit on the steps at the entrance. Between bites they mentioned how dark and cold it was already. Winter was really setting in early this year. They ate with a bit of small talk. Castle had discovered he was bloody hungry and ate the hot dogs fast. He chased it with a bottle of soda he had also bought. After he was finished eating, Rick zipped his coat up and peered up and down the street. New York never slept.

"Listen Rick." Sorenson started. "We need to talk about what is going to happen when the exchange takes place." He looked to Rick who remained silent so he continued. He opted to keep straight to the point as Rick would appreciate him being direct rather than dancing around the truth. "Kate is going to be a mess if and when we get her back alive. You will need you to be like a brick wall for her."

"How bad will it be?" Castle had to ask.

"You heard the guy. He said she was nearly dead already, and it had been two hours since he said they had all left where she is." Sorenson rubbed his hands together brushing the crumbs from his hot dogs off his clothes and wiped his mouth with the back of a hand.

"I know." Rick swallowed finding that hard to hear again. He stared over the road at one of the black and white police cars that a uniformed officer attempted to park. Whoever it was, the driver was doing a shit job at parking. He returned his focus to Will. "How do you think she will be?" He bravely asked not actually sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"Based on my experience and how long she's been held, she's not going to come out of this too well. Tonight, be prepared for the worst," Will warned, "No matter what, this guy is gonna get caught. We will have so many police around us."

"We'll get him." Castle replied. He sat quietly for awhile, listening to his body, taking a moment to feel the rawness of the emotions he had suppressed all day. Sorenson had been his brick wall the entire day since they had met at the cafe. Will had stepped up and proven he was an excellent FBI agent. On a personal level there had been many times when Sorenson had engaged him in superficial conversations just to keep Castle's over imaginative mind from taking over. He swallowed and pushed away the urge to lose control of his emotions. He was so afraid for Kate even if they did know she was alive. He was afraid for her now, for her tomorrow and in the future. This ordeal had the potential to not only affect Kate for the rest of her life but could potentially have a great impact on them as a couple. He took a deep breath and murmured, "I am very afraid Will on so many layers."

Sorenson thought about Castle's remark for a moment or two. In a single stressful day, he had grown to admire the writer a lot and now understood why Kate liked him, well loved him. Underneath all the jokes and boyish behaviour there was a genuine, strong, honest man who thought the world of his friends, his family and his girlfriend all of which he generously put before himself. Castle exhibited values that Sorenson would be proud to have himself. He gave Rick's knee a healthy pat. "I know Rick. I am too, but we will get her back alive."

"What if she's so messed up she would better off dead?"

"She's not better off dead." Sorenson strongly objected. "She's young and she has plenty of years of life ahead of her, hopefully with you. We will just have to wait to find out how she comes out of this Castle." Sorenson took a deep breath of the cold night air feeling it fill his lungs. "I just hope we find her before it gets too cold."

"Same here. The elements are not in her favour." Castle looked up to the clear starry night. It was going to get cold tonight.

"You ok?" Sorenson asked.

"As ok as I can be." Castle replied.

"Just be there for her. We will do the rest."

"Let's go inside. It's freezing out here." Castle suggested and stood. "We need to go get her back."