Don't own this great show (Mr. Marlowe and ABC do) and all characters are fictional. Not try to infringe on any copyrights. Kayne Beckett is an original character.

You Cannot Go Against The Universe

Chapter 11

When ones reach exceeds their grasp…

He was doing everything he could, counting down from a hundred (in four separate languages) he was using finger knits and breathing exercises, he was even willing to offer a bribe to someone to get out of here. He knew Kate have tried to ring him about a… nope, make that an even dozen times now. Still the intel weenie was dithering on about proper protocol regarding orders given to field operatives. Finally he'd had enough and simply turned to leave.

"Where do you think you're going? I haven't-" the irate intel analyst was quickly cut off as Kayne rounded on him and backed him into a corner.

"Now you listen to me fucktard, I heard the order, but I wasn't going to let anything threaten my family. Unless you want to go through the headache of having a SOG team assigned to watch my apartment then you need to reevaluate R.O.E wording. Anytime there is a clear threat, I don't wait for the shit to hit the fan, I take out the threat." Kayne's voice was a low growl as he dressed down the near cowering analyst.

"Where did you learn that, action heroes anonymous?" he seemed to find his spine again, though the effect was ruined by his quivering voice.

"No, I was taught that when I became a Navy SEAL. Next stupid question?" he got a bit of a laugh as the intel puke nearly fainted as his statement.

"Captain Beckett, if you could do me the favor of not eviscerating my intel people, I'd greatly appreciate it." the head of the U.S. Marshals office in New York had spent the time it had taken their CSU teams to collect the evidence from the scene and bring their newest member back for a debrief being given some good news from the Departments of Justice and State. "I know you're eager to check on the well being of your cousin and daughter, why don't you head on home now?" he hoped this would defuse what could be a potential Mother of all Blowups (or beat-downs if the idiot put his hands on Kayne again). Thankfully Kayne left without further prompting.

"Itoko, tadaima." As Kayne came through the door his vision was obscured by a wave of brown curls.

"Dammit Kayne, don't you ever answer your phone?!" Kate releases her hug just long enough to slug her cousin on the arm.

"One: I was in the middle of a debrief with the ranking U.S. Marshal in NYC. Two: I was trying to not rip asunder an intel puke that tried to C-3PO me with protocol. Three: you hit like a girl." Kayne smirked as he duck away from Kate, narrowly avoiding another punch. "How's Mari holding up?"

"She's napping for the time being. I had trouble getting her to sleep for some reason." as much as she'd love to smack him again, Kate was glad that her cousin was unharmed.

"Yeah, she's used to being read a story before night-night." Kayne confessed.

"Rick called and I told him what happened. If you want, there's a spare room at the loft and the security detail in close by." Kate suggests. She'd really rather have Kayne there after tonight, maybe see if her father could be brought over as well.

Mari's loud cry broke Kate out of her train of thought as Kayne immediately made his way to the infants room. Upon seeing him Mari held her hands out and started cooing in her baby talk.

"Hey there baby girl, did you miss …me?" he had to stop himself from saying 'did you miss daddy?' He knew that this little girl was dependent on him for both protection and succor. A part of his mind couldn't help but think that if things had been different he'd have been married and have a child looking forward to high school now. Instead, he was a highly trained government sanctioned operator that took out threats wherever they presented themselves.

"Hey cuz, what happened with you bailing after calling the precinct and where can I get one of those new rifles?" Javier spoke up as Kayne changed Mari's diaper, then grabbed her favorite story book.

"I'll fill you all in after Mari's story time." Kayne's voice was low and gentle and Espo could already see her eyes drooping.

"And so the great dragon had found his pearl. In his boundless joy he vowed to cherish her for all the days the Heavens had allotted to him. Never again would he overvalue the baubles that so many seemed to covet, for he had found what was truly worth having." Kayne closed the book, he knew most people would find it odd that he spoke in English whilst reading a book that contained only Kanji characters. As he made his way to turn off the overhead light he saw Kate watching him with a warm smile on her face.

"And so the loving father has his little girl all settled in for the night?" Kate hoped that her cousin would take the words as they were meant, as a compliment. He'd always been more like a brother to her and dammit, Kayne deserved to be happy.

"Yeah, one of these days she'll make it to the end of the story." Kayne smiled, being able to get home for story time had actually been something he'd really needed. As Kate went back to the living room, Kayne turned to look once more on the peaceful sleeping form of Mari. Before he exited and closed the door he quietly whispered, "Oyasuminasai… waga musume."

The living room of Kayne's apartment was now littered with files and photos. Kayne recognized the two men that were in the photographs, he'd been forced to bleed to two of them dry after they were stupid enough to try and ambush him. Esposito's low whistle as he finished reading the coroner's report was something Kayne didn't want to hear. He got up and collected a small rectangular device and placed it in the middle of the coffee table as he plugged it in.

"Damn bro, you took out guys that were instructors of advanced tactics for the military and elite PMCs. You practically decapitated a guy the taught close quarter tactics for the highest bidder. How the hell did you pull that one off?"

Kayne thought of telling them about the idiot going capture instead of kill, but he chose instead to activate the small white noise generator.

"What I'm about to reveal is a secret of the highest level. I don't want to have to tell you this, but now that John has made it known that he's back… I don't have a choice." the pause as Kayne sighed caused Kate to shift closer to her cousin.

"Kayne, what is it? I know your part of DEVGRU." her words were cut off.

"Holy shit! Baby Beckett's Six?!"

"Javi, what're you talking about?" Ryan seemed confused at his partners outburst.

"DEVGRU is the current name of the Navy's SEAL Team Six. These aren't the baddest motherfuckers in the valley, they killed those pussies and took up shop. Rumor has it that the best are guarded by aliases and covers so that there is no one that can betray them for any bounties on their heads." Esposito turned towards Kayne and got a nod to continue. "There were whispers before I got out about two guys that had started to make names for themselves. One, Iceman, was the best you could have in a firefight. Guy never let anything get between him and his target, or interfere with the mission and he always got his squad out. The other… he's one you don't want to meet. If you do, you don't survive crossing him. They called him…" Javi trailed off as Kayne set two items down on the table, a pair of bloodstained kerambits.

"The Grim Reaper, The Pale Rider, Death. A close quarters combat specialist that was know for never leaving a living enemy behind. Though I will admit, I made a point to never be near places where innocent civilians would be put in danger. The Killer Bee alias was one I let get perpetuated so as to not have someone looking where they shouldn't. Last person sniffing for that story got an up close tour of a top level detention facility. National Security threats and all that." Kayne hated this, he didn't want to have them know this… it put their safety in danger. The last thing he needed was putting Kate's family in the middle of this.

"Kayne, why didn't you ever mention any of this?" Kate couldn't even begin to fathom what her cousin could have gone through over the last decade plus.

"Same reason no one in your family knew that you have a cousin, or that ka-san went by her middle name." Kayne frowned, not being acknowledged by his family due to the 'Possible threat to National Security'. "I really don't think it's the best idea for me to be around your family Kate." no way in hell will he let these people near them.

"Kayne, come on. You can't be thinking of doing this all alone." Kate throws a stern glare at her boys as she hears them inhale to start calling her on the statement she just made. Just then Kayne's phone buzzed with a text from the office.

'Firearm was successfully traced. All gear from the alley is registered to Orantis Solutions.'

At a small privately run training airport in Jersey the one Kayne was hunting was waiting for a small private plane to finish landing procedures. Bill Sumner climbed down the steps, his face a mask of fury despite all the comforts the Learjet had afforded. As John looked behind the returned hacker he scoffed. 'Guys got a sweet Neapolitan as far as stewardesses and he still looks like he's just sucked ass.' If it had been him on the plane… maybe he could borrow it after he delivered the 'suggestion'.

"So, what tha fuck was so important that you cut my vacation short and where the hell is Louise at?" Bill curtly half shouted.

"In Federal custody. You have a choice to make here Billy boy. I can kill you like I was originally ordered to, or we can have a bit of fun and maybe even fit in some revenge. Your daughter is not in the system and her stepmother in in jail, what do you want to do about that?" John already knew what the answer would be, but he was having too much fun playing to the man in the shadows archetype. He held forth the photo he brought to help entice the hacker with a very violent past.

"Damn, that is one fine piece of ass." he leered at the woman in to photo.

"Yeah, we're going to grab her after work, then we make life very interesting for one Marshal Kayne Beckett." John knew he most likely wouldn't get the photo back, it didn't matter. In short order they would have her and Kayne would follow, Dr. Green would make sure of it.

Kate had tried for almost ten minutes to get Kayne to stay over, but it was to no avail. She recognized that this must have been how Castle felt all those times he's made such suggestions and she'd shut him down.

"Kayne, please. It's a secure building with great security. Both you and Mari would be safe. That's all I want is for my family to be safe." Kate eyes were filled with the straightforward conviction of her words.

"Kate… there is a side of me that you've never seen. It's something that I found out about myself in the time I've been with the SEALs. That is not something that I want to bring to your reality. Trust me when I say that, for the time being, you and you family are better off staying as far away from me as possible. Were we able to reschedule the video conference?" his change of subject was a clear sign that he was done talking on this matter.

"They decided to wait for the reports to fully come back on the guys you took out in the alley. Was there any reason that they chose that particular location?" Kate was seething under the surface about her cousin being attacked in the same place her mother had been murdered.

"Yeah, the little bastard I'm gonna be skinning in short order has a very twisted sense of humor." Kayne was growling now. He was decidedly NOT pleased.

"Skin him," Ryan spoke up, he looked a bit nonplussed at Kayne's fury. "what, you planning to make a jacket out of him?"

"Who knows Ryan, the leather might be very supple." Kayne gave that half smirk, but there was no light in his eyes as he spoke. Ryan paled as he looked over at Beckett with a face that clearly screamed: HELP!

As she made her way to her car Dr. Green was thinking about what she'd told her friend about Kayne. She had blushed badly when Charity joked about giving him a physical, which resulted in some teasing. Yes, they'd talked at length about a lot of things… he was just so easy to have a normal conversation with. Through the time they knew each other they had become friends, he helped her get out of an almost abusive relationship and she found out why he'd joined the military.

"Hello Dr. Green." she panicked. More from the pinch in her neck than from the voice. (She had a stun gun and more than a passing knowledge in self defense.)

"Yur gunna regret thissss…" her words were badly slurred as darkness began to encroach on the edges of her vision.

"Much as I'd like to continue this, you have an appointment as live bait for a certain mutual acquaintance of ours." the voice was smug and condescending as her vision faded into nothingness. John placed her in the passenger seat of her car and calmly took a seat on the drivers side. To anyone they passed on the street they must have looked like a boyfriend/husband giving their significant other a ride home after a long day at work. Now he just needed to set the stage and his plans would be in motion. He'd get revenge on Kayne for selling him out all those years ago, he'd be in good with the future President, and he'd get to collect on that sweet bounty he'd found was available for that 'persona' Kayne had cultivated.

It had been three days. Three days that had the same repeated frustrations, she couldn't get her cousin to stay where she had the extra security. Now she couldn't even get him into the safety of a car, he'd had his bike brought down from D.C. and he always used it if he wasn't taking Mari out for any reasons.

"Kate, are you sure everything's okay?" Rick was, thankfully, there for her with his welcome dose of love and understanding (as well as some adorable foreshadowing as he was helping to baby-sit Mari).

"Not really, I hate knowing that Kayne is out there with a threat like this hanging over his head. Why can't he just stay here were he can be protected. Why does he have to be so damn stubborn?" hearing a strangled snicker she looked at Rick. He was red in the face trying to neither laugh, nor point out that her cousin had 'out Becketted' Beckett. "Shut up."

"Ah, the Universe has a sense of humor, with a heavy dose of irony." Castle practically crowed.

"Don't make me come over there writer boy." Kate growled adding a glare for good measure.

"Oooh, auntie Kate is cranky. Uncle Rick better get her another cup of coffee." he teased, his voice purposefully pitched higher to make Mari giggle.

"Keep that up and I'll pull a Lanie on you Castle." Kate threatened, but the humor she couldn't hide from her features showed the snark to be false.

"Where's Captain Commando today? It's not that I don't enjoy babysitting, but he usually tells us where he's headed." Castle was finishing putting a bib on Mari to give her the bottle Kayne had prepped before he left after getting an odd phone call.

"Mr. Mom had to go to the hospital to check on something, though he did say it wasn't anything medically troublesome." she had to admit that she was a bit concerned with how Kayne had practically flown out of his apartment after asking Kate to watch Mari for him.

"Was this related to the case that you can't tell me about and Kayne threatened to make me disappear over?" Castle teased.

"He was only joking! Besides, I told him not yet. I'm still working on getting the wording right on your will." Kate fired back.

Kayne seemed to radiate an aura of malice as he strode through the hospital halls. A few of the security guards tried to move forward to question him, but Kayne had removed his sunglasses and the look in his eyes had them going in the opposite direction. He reached the nurses station on the floor that held Pediatrics and gave the usual greeting, which caused the head nurses gaze to snap to him.

"Oh thank God Kayne, I didn't know what else to do. It said I had to call you." she was half sobbing as she spoke.

"Charity I need you to calm down for me, okay? Take a deep breath… and another." he'd seen panic like this on missions and had a good bit of experience talking down those affected by it. "Now, what happened with Dev. You told me on the phone that she hadn't been here for a few days?"

"She hasn't been seen since Tuesday. Normally we have a set date on every other Friday where we have a ladies night and go for a few drinks. I hadn't seen her and wanted to make sure she was feeling alright, so I went over to her apartment." the look in her eyes tipped Kayne off to what was coming next.

"When you got there, was the door forced?" a wave of anger was welling up in him, it was bad enough this case they were currently working had him feeling like they were spinning their wheels. Now one of his few friends outside the teams was in trouble. When Kayne found out who was responsible for this, that person would be stuck in traction for quite a while. (The part of his psyche that he kept securely locked in the back of his mind whispered to start on their fingers and work inwards.)

"This was taped to the door. It's addressed to you." Charity handed him a plain manila envelope that bore the words Captain Kayne Beckett USN; U.S. Marshal.

"Do you recognize the handwriting on this?" Kayne knew that Devon had an ex that had had issues letting go, but as far as he knew that little putz was still in jail. Kayne opened the letter and poured out the contents. The startled gasp from the head nurse was lost in the background as he looked at the picture of Devon, tied to a cot and seemingly unconscious. Today's copy of the Ledger was on her abdomen. Turning the photo over he saw a message written on the back:

Hello Lawman,

Got a bit of bad news for you to make up for the shit you put me through. I've got your pretty little doctor bitch here, as you can see, and I want a few things from you. You took my girlfriend and I want her back with all charges dropped and the evidence collected gone. You bring her to the coordinates provided at a later date and we'll make a trade. You fuck with me and try to pull a fast one and I'll take your punishment out on her. Trust me, I look forward to getting to know her a lot better. It's not everyday a man gets to be around this fine a piece of ass and doesn't enjoy it. I'll be quick with the location, you be quick with the response. If your too slow I'll take my time entertaining my guest.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon,

Billy 'The Kid' Sumner.

Kayne shoved the photo back into the envelope and felt it bend a bit. He upended it and another small snapshot fell out. This one showed John Doe grinning up at him as he leaned against Devon's car. His arm was around her shoulders in a sick parody of a traveling couple and he had a smug smile on his face. As Kayne scanned the picture for anything he could use he found a few promising things before his eyes fell on the small message at the bottom of the picture: For whom will the bell toll? Guess we'll find out. See ya soon brother.

"What's going on Kayne? Who took Dr. Green?" Charity seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack over her friend and colleague.

"A pair of dead men. Charity, I swear to you, I will bring Dev home safe. You have my word of honor on that." Kayne placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes as he spoke.

"Okay, we'll be waiting for you to keep that promise." she seemed a little taken aback at his eyes. They held the conviction of his promise, but there was also a darkness that spoke of the fact that these were dead men, they just didn't realize their sentence was already passed.

Outside the hospital Kayne pulled off the gloves he'd put on before opening the envelope and hit the speed dial for Kate's cell.

"Hey cuz, what's up?" Kate seemed glad to hear his voice, he hated that this wouldn't be a good call.

"I need you to meet me at the 12th as soon as possible." Kayne growled.

"What's wrong, was there bad news?" Kate now had an edge of alertness in her voice.

"Devon's been kidnapped by our other suspect. I need to let the NYPD know that I'm taking over this case as it's related to our current investigation." Kayne fired up has bike and tore into traffic.

"Oh God… I'll meet you there. I'm also alerting the security to have them bring Alexis and Martha back to the loft for their protection." he could hear Kate gathering her things to make the trip over to the 12th as quickly as she could. "Babe, stay here with Mari. Alexis and Martha will be here soon with the additional security I have for them."

The call into the U.S. Marshals office was put through very quickly and Kayne got a pleasant surprise as he was collecting what he needed to take to the precinct.

"Well, it's been a while hasn't my friend?" the voice on the line had a smile in it.

"Son of a bitch, Jack Frost. It's been too long old friend. What are doing stateside?" Kayne really hoped he could use this asset for the case, he was the only person in the Agency that he really trusted.

"Got told that I have one more assignment to do before I get put out to pasture. Got briefed by my boss and the Joint Chiefs that I'm helping you out with tac-prep and intel. Apparently my predecessor seemed to have… disappeared." his tone was slightly teasing.

"I have no idea in regards to that which you are referring to." Kayne shot back reflexively.

"I didn't believe that when you went after the terrorist camp on that botched courier op and I don't buy it now. For the protection of the rest of these intel wienies I'll be handling direct contact with you." his tone went right back to serious.

"Solid copy, I'm headed to the 12th to take over the missing person case related to this SNAFU of a case." Kayne reported.

"Already brought up to speed. I'll head over there to get those photos you picked up to have them analyzed." he relayed.

"Good, see you there. Be safe Jack, this wont be a walk in the park. John's involved." Kayne was back to growling as he spoke.

"Don't worry about it. We'll get this taken care of. I'm looking forward to working with you again… Iceman." Jackson Hunt grinned as he ended the phone call.