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Chapter Eleven

"One foot in front of the other. Come on keep going. Keep running. Faster…faster….faster!" Kevin Ryan urged himself quietly, unaware he was actually speaking his words aloud, as he pushed his body past its' limits. Suddenly, the detective's knees gave out and he went rolling down a slight hillside slamming against a tree. His ribs screamed in agony where he impacted with the solid object, stealing his breath away. The edges of Kevin's vision turned black as he laid on the dirt struggling for hitched breath, fighting against overwhelming pain and exhaustion.

"Kev? Kevin, you need to get up. Open those beautiful blue eyes of yours' okay? Open your eyes, Kevin!"

The young detective didn't realized his eyes had slipped close until he opened them again to see the face of his beautiful wife Jenny hovering over him. Blinking in confusion Kevin's sight blurred with tears. "You're not real. Jen…you're just in my head."

Smiling sadly Jenny spoke again. "Kevin, I need you to keep fighting. You have to keep going. You've got to make it back home to me and Sarah Grace."

Choking on a sob the overly pale Irishman shook his head back and forth rapidly. Leaves from the forest floor tangling in his dark brown hair. "No…I…I can't, Jen. I don't have any strength left to fight. I'm sorry."

"Kevin Ryan! You know as well as I do that you will always fight for the people you love! Now get your ass up and fight!"

"You're not even really here." Detective Ryan whispered dejectedly.

Kevin's hallucination of Jenny reached out and started to brush the hair out his eyes in a way she always did. The memory of feeling her fingertips ghosting over his skin could almost convince the injured man this was really happening. "Do you remember when I told how I knew I was going to marry you? Do you remember when it was?"

Detective Ryan knew none of this was real, but it was better than reality at the moment, so he let himself relax against the cold ground and believe. "Yeah. You said…it was when I took you to my family's cabin for that weekend."

"A few months after we started dating. Do you remember it?" Jenny encouraged gently.

Kevin huffed out a pain-filled laugh. "Yeah. God, what a disaster that trip was. I thought for sure you were going to break up with me as soon as we got back."

Kevin's glazed blue eyes watched as a fond smile spread across his wife's face before continuing in an exhausted voice. "After being stuck on the side of the road for three hours with a flat tire, of which I didn't have a spare, we finally made it to the cabin only to have it turn out to be one of the coldest weekends that year. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem except there was no firewood anywhere in the cabin to keep the place warm."

After Kevin's words trailed off Jenny picked up the story easily. "So we loaded ourselves back into the car and made our way to that small general store ten miles out. With you apologizing profusely the entire drive."

"Yeah..." Kevin said quietly. "We made it back and midway through cooking you dinner the fuses went out. Nothing went right that trip."

"Oh I don't know. I really enjoyed that weekend. My favorite part was curling up on the couch together." Jenny smiled, bringing about the crinkles around her eyes.

"Jen, we had to sleep curled up on the couch because we couldn't warm up any other part of the cabin." Kevin chuckled, but hissed in pain only a second later.

Jenny frowned, "I watched you sleep for a while. I can still remember the way you looked in the fire's glow. I remember thinking about all the day's events and missteps, knowing right then and there that I wanted to marry you. I realized that I couldn't see a future that didn't involve you. Because even-though the trip was filled with road bumps you didn't stop trying…not for one second. I saw the determination that drove you and I knew you would do anything for someone you care about."

Kevin's throat burned with his overwhelming emotions. "Jenny, you already told me all of this. On our wedding night. Why?" The detective couldn't seem to find the strength to finish his question. So instead he blinked away the tears welling in his tired eyes.

"I'm not really here, Kev. You know that. It's why you're thinking of our conversation. You needed me to help you find the strength you and I both know you have to fight. To get back up. To make it home to me and our baby girl."

"I don't know if I can." He whispered brokenly.

Ryan's hallucination of Jenny started to drift in and out of focus. "I do. I know you can. Kevin? Can you smell that?"

The barely conscious man closed his eyes and breathed in as deeply as his abused ribs would allow. "Smoke? Like from the fire that night."

Opening his eyelids Kevin felt a surge of sadness when his wife's face was no longer hovering above him. It took him longer than it should to understand that the scent of smoke still lingering in the air wasn't from his distant memory, but was in fact from a real fire nearby.

Sluggishly, Ryan pulled himself up against the rough tree next to him. It took him several tries but finally the injured man made it to his unsteady feet. Stumbling he set his sights toward the sprawling dark plumes of smoke just over the other side of the hill, hoping to find salvation.


Samuel angrily pushed his disconnected phone back in his pant pocket then ran both of his hands through his light brown hair, slightly disrupting the neatly put together look. Breathing deeply in and out the newly made detective lifted his green eyes to the ceiling in frustration. Racking his brain for what to do, an idea began to form. Pushing off the wall Sam slipped silently over to an unattended computer and typing feverishly, setup everything he needed to make this plan work.

Once he had everything lined up Samuel sent a quick text back to Calder giving him the details and rearranged his face to a bright and cheerful expression. Without pause, the detective moved over to his team members who were fast at work.

Kate looked over from the whiteboard as Detective Whitmore approached. "Hey Sam. Everything go alright?"

Samuel stretched his lips into a wide smile. "I'm going to have a boy! Becca said the doctor told her everything is moving beautifully. I…I still can't believe it."

Castle joined the group, handing a coffee to his wife. "Congratulations, Samuel! That's great news."

"Yeah. Thanks, Castle." Sam let his eyes drift to Javier, whose full attention seemed to be on the security footage of Calder they got from the robbery. "I should get back to work. Calder is our main priority…then baby talk." Sam finished with a smile.

Javier glanced up as Whitmore sat down at the desk across from him and felt a heavily feeling settle in his gut. Kevin was supposed to be the person at that desk, not some young kid. Not some twenty-something trying to climb the ladder. Shaking his head from those thoughts Javier internally chastised himself for his unjust anger towards Sam. He didn't deserve it. Sam was just the person chosen to replace his dead partner and best friend, but Whitmore didn't do anything wrong.

Javier was broken from his thoughts by Samuel's unexpected voice. "No way. Beckett! I think I may have found something on Calder's possible whereabouts!"

In less the ten seconds Samuel had Rick, Kate, and Javier flanking him and his computer screen. "What do you have?" Beckett asked, her tone all business.

Samuel took a steadying breath. "After looking over the footage from the robbery I started to think maybe Calder wanted us to know he was still around. That made he think that he must be staying somewhere nearby. Otherwise, what would be the point?"

Castle gave Samuel an odd look. "Makes sense."

"Right. So I have been putting calls into all the apartment buildings and hotels in a ten mile radius, looking through their records. As well as scanning hours or traffic cameras in the general area of the store the day of the robbery, just trying to find anything. I found a temporary lease agreement at the Lily View Apartments under the name Darin Carter. Here's a picture of the license on file."

Samuel clicked the mouse once and a picture of Damon Calder popped up on the screen. Growling lowly in his throat, Javier pushed himself away from the screen and looked directly at Beckett.

"I need my gun back." He said firmly.

Kate bit her lip with uncertainty. "Javi, I don't think you should come with us."

"Like Hell I'm not! Come on, Beckett!" Esposito raised his voice.

Kate looked at Javier then to Castle, but frowned slightly when she noticed her husband's scrutinizing gaze sweeping over Samuel. "Okay Javier, but you listen to orders. You got me? We are bring him in alive."


Ryan felt his left knee starting to give away again, so he reached out to steady himself against a nearby tree. He was almost there. The smell of smoke becoming stronger with each struggled step. He just had to push a bit more. Gritting his teeth, the NYPD detective shoved off the tree and stumbled the last few steps, finally making his way to the top of the small hill he had been traversing.

Kevin's breath caught in his throat as tears of hope sprang to his eyes at the sight that greeted him. Just down the hill and across a tiny stream was a quaint log cabin, complete with front porch, and smoke spitting chimney. In the front of the cabin a young girl no older than five was playing with what an outsider would assume was her younger brother. The boy, only a few years younger than his sister, was barreling on slightly unsteady legs, zigzagging around with no real direction in mind as his sister chased him with glee. The children's high-pitched laughter danced on the air, lifting Kevin's spirits further.

The young Irishman's vivid blue eyes shifted from the children to a young black-haired woman sitting comfortably on a bench swing on the porch, watching the two with an attentive gaze. Detective Ryan felt himself smile in utter relief and pulled in as much air into his lungs as his damaged ribs could handle. Taking a wobbly step forward Kevin cleared his throat and called out. "Hey!"

The injured man's voice came out in a wheeze much too quiet to even carry on the wind to his salvation. Groaning in frustration, Kevin pushed himself off the tree he was using for support to make the demanding trek closer to the small family when a calloused hand clasped tightly over his parched lips and harshly yanked him backwards.

The detective immediately lost his footing and scrambling wildly to find any sort of purchase on the ground. To Kevin's complete dismay the cabin slowly began to shrink in size as he was forcefully dragged away. Heart pounding deafeningly in his ears the young man knew he had to do something…anything to stop them. In a last ditch effort, Ryan used his last bit of energy to dig his heels deeply into the dirt, effectively slowly his captor down, and unexpectedly threw his body sideways to knock them both off balance. It worked and they fell to the ground and tumbled down the hillside. Disappointingly, on the opposite side of where the cabin stood.

Kevin rolled to a stop and clutching his screaming ribs scurried backwards away from the already approaching and enraged Damon Calder. The ex-military man reached out as soon as he was close enough and caught Kevin's ankle, dragging his prey back towards him. The Irishman yelped in pain, and quickly sucked in a breath to yell for help only to have Calder's hand once again silencing him.

Kevin began frantically shoving at the massive body above him, hitting the man's chest and face as forcefully as he could. When none of his weak attacks seemed to do anything other than sap more and more of his dwindling energy the young detective turned his attention to the hand covering his mouth. Ryan latched both of his pale hands to Damon's forearm, nails digging into his flesh hard enough to draw blood, and tried to dislodge the offending object silencing him. Throughout the fight, Kevin continued screaming and shouting with muffled cries, hoping someone at the cabin would somehow hear him.

Fed up, Calder took his free hand, balling it into a fist and slammed the side of Kevin's head, momentarily stunning the already vastly injured man. The monster of a man didn't waste any time as he took his captive's arms and pin them down with his legs, sitting himself atop Kevin's heaving chest.

The feeling of being completely trapped sent Detective Ryan into a full blown panic. The dark-haired man thrashed his head trying desperately to get his mouth free as the burning of tears stung in his blue eyes. His muffled cries picking up in a more hurried frequency.

Damon reached behind his back and revealed his large knife before leaning down, his face stopping only inches from his captive's. "Go on, Kevin. Do it. Call out to that poor defenseless family. Bring them over here so I can teach you a lesson about disobeying me."

Kevin stilled, eyes going wide, as Damon continued his taunting. "I'll make sure to take care of the mother and father first right in front of their children's eyes. But do you know what I'll do? I'll save the little girl for last. Is that what you want?"

The injured detective swallowed with difficulty and squeezed his eyelids closed, a line of tears slipping down his pale cheek. Calder watched the man with cold indifference and remove his hand from Ryan's mouth. Leaning even closer Damon spoke directly into his hostage's ear. "Go on Kev. Murder an entire family. I'm itching to release my frustrations right about now."

"I'm sorry. Please…don't hurt them. They have nothing to do with any of this. I…I won't try to run again. I swear…just don't." Kevin pleaded in a distraught whisper.

Damon sat back and a cruel smile spread across his face. "You know I can't let this go unpunished Kevin."

Ryan knew what was coming but that didn't stop his heart from leaping into his throat with Calder's next words. "Maybe a few more days in 'the box' will remind you who you belong to."

"No, Damon…please don't." The extremely pale detective mumbled desperately, shaking his head rapidly in disbelief.

A near silent ding sounded, prompting Calder to check his phone. The ex-military man read a text message, paying his now controlled hostage no mind. "Looks like we have to cut this little forest drama short. I've got an appointment with an old friend."


We're nearing the end everyone. Only a few more chapters left! Review and let me know what you thought of this new chapter and what you hope to see happen in the end. As always thank you all so very much for reading! Until next time…