Programmed

Chapter 11

As the NYPD was still waiting on data from the Canadians on the Rochet murder and in view of the wounding of her fiancé, Gates granted Beckett limited leave. Greatly relieved to keep Castle at her side until totally convinced that the threat to him was gone, Beckett sat on the bed next to him, going over the list of wedding guests. "Castle, do we really have to invite Alex Conrad?"

"I thought you liked him," Castle questioned, his voice tight with jealousy. "You certainly seemed to when he was picking your brains for his book."

Kate laughed. "I was just trying to drive you crazy, and admit it, I succeeded. But now that he uses Ryan and Esposito as muses it's a little creepy."

"Consider him scratched," Castle agreed. "So where does that leave us? We have your family, my family, the people we work with at the precinct, and my poker buddies. That gives us just under a hundred."

"Did you nail down Judge Markaway to officiate?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, he'll have to miss his tee time, but he's willing to make the sacrifice. He says he doesn't want to see me crying in my scotch at any more games because I win too much when I'm lovelorn," Castle explained.

"That's kind of him," Kate quipped. "Maddy says she's all set. She's got the brunch menu and enough of her staff willing to put in some extra hours. She says Jennifer Wong is going to have a special surprise for... Shhh! Wait, do you hear that? Sound's like someone's breaking in." Beckett grabbed her gun from the nightstand. "Castle, you stay put," she ordered, positioning herself beside the bedroom door as she heard footsteps approaching. A large but nondescript man came through the doorway making his way toward Castle. Beckett cocked her gun with an audible click. "Hold it right there. Hands behind your head." When he didn't comply fast enough for Beckett, the intruder was knocked to the floor with her knee in his back. "Handcuffs, Castle," she demanded.

Castle retrieved Beckett's handcuffs from where they had been stored next to her gun and handed them to her. Beckett applied the cuffs without mercy, cutting into the intruder's flesh. "Who are you?" Castle asked. The man remained stubbornly silent. Beckett searched the man's pockets and held up a syringe for Castle to see. "What do you bet," Castle asked, "that when CSU tests that syringe they'll find potassium chloride."

"I wouldn't take that bet," Beckett answered grimly. "Call the precinct and get some unis over here."

Castle sat awkwardly at the table in interrogation, his wounded leg less than comfortable against the hardness of the institutional chair. But he was more than willing to endure his discomfort to get some answers. Beckett sat hard-eyed beside him, opposite their prisoner, whom fingerprints from a juvenile crime spree had identified as Sean McGee. "So Sean," she began, "why did you want to murder Castle?"

"I want my lawyer," Sean requested with a smirk.

"Sure Sean," Beckett agreed. "But good luck with that. Your buddies in Canada, they can't help you. The network is down. The accounts are frozen. You're on your own."

Sean cleared his throat nervously. "I want to call him, now."

"Be my guest," Beckett said, handing him his cell phone, now in an evidence bag, its contents having been checked by Tory Ellis.

"I need privacy," Sean demanded.

"Fine," Beckett agreed, making a show of turning off the microphone, and helping Castle to his feet. "We'll be outside."

Beckett and Castle watched through the mirror as Sean tried, and as was apparent from the expression on his face, vainly, to reach his attorney. He appeared to unsuccessfully try several other calls before sitting with his face in his hands. Beckett's eyes glowed in satisfaction. "I think he's ready now, Castle."

Re-entering interrogation, Castle and Beckett retook their seats. "Ready to try again now, Sean?" Beckett asked. "We have you for attempted murder. When we finish investigating the murder of Guy Rochet, we'll probably have you for a lot more. Right now your only hope is to give us everything you know about the people you've been working for. Your clock is ticking. We've already seized the records from your bosses and they and their lapdogs are in custody. If you give us information that we already have, any deal is off the table. So I'll ask you again, why were you trying to kill Castle?"

Sean looked at Castle. "Nothing personal. I was just told that you had too much information."

"And when were you told this?" Beckett asked.

"A few days ago," Sean replied. "I haven't had any communication since then."

Castle and Beckett looked at each other, comforted in the knowledge that he attack on Castle had been ordered before the raids. Beckett pushed legal pad toward Sean. "Start writing," she ordered, "names, contacts, everything you know about the organization that employs you."

"You think we can actually get him for killing Rochet?" Castle asked when McGee had finally been taken to holding."

"I think we can, Castle. Even if the records from the hub in Canada don't show the Rochet Regimen ordering the killing, Lanie got some DNA off the body. She didn't have a match then. They didn't take DNA back when he was arrested as a kid, but she might have a match now. I hope we can get him for Michael Bellows too, then we'd know only one person has been sweeping up after the Rochet Regimen. Whether we can do that or not depends on what comes out of the records at the hub."

"I'd feel a lot more confident if Tory was working on that," Castle confided.

"I would too," Beckett confessed, "but the guys from the RCMP tell me that they have some great techs, so we'll just have to wait and see. You've had a long day for someone who was supposed to be in bed resting," Beckett noted as she observed Castle trying to rub the pain out of his leg.

"You've had a long day for someone who was supposed to be taking some time off," Castle responded. "Home?"

"Home," Kate repeated. Arms around each others' waists, they headed for the elevator.