Next instalment.

Chapter 12 - escape

9.20 pm – Day 3

There was complete silence in the warehouse when Kate sat up panting heavily in fear. Her heart raced. She wasn't sure what had startled her to wake up abruptly as all was quiet and dark about her. Her muscles painfully complained over the quick movement. She rode out the dizziness sitting up had also caused, by propping herself up using her long fingers on the floor for leverage. She gasped in shallow painful breaths and waited for her body and balance to adjust to being vertical. Her eyes were able to see relatively well in the dark warehouse. It was so cold she uncontrollably trembled. Maybe the temperature had aroused her but she could have sworn she heard a sudden bang. Her clothes were gone again but right now she didn't have any recollection of them attacking her.

Once her body had stabilised, she searched for her clothes that she spotted fairly close to the end of the mattress, piled on the floor.

"Move," she whispered. "Move and get the phone." She had to escape. She didn't want to die in a warehouse. She shifted her weight to her feet and stood up. Immediately, she searched for something to hold for support, feeling the onset of nausea in her stomach. Blood rushed from her head to her legs that brought on temporary light headedness. She stood still, clutched her abdomen and stubbornly fought back the urge to vomit and the desire to collapse back to the floor. There was nothing in her stomach to vomit and she refused to lie down for fear she wouldn't be able to stand up again. The nausea passed once her body adjusted to standing. She carefully stepped to the clothes, choosing to ignore the sharp pains in her hips and legs. She cautiously crouched to prevent falling over and picked up the clothes. She wanted the top on first. God she was so cold. Filled with the need to be warm, she quickly pulled on her top gritting her teeth against the pain it caused over her skin and in her muscles. Stepping into her jeans was harder but she managed. It wasn't the time to be hesitant over a bit of pain when she had the chance to run, to escape. The car was gone and all the lights were out. There weren't any human noises other than her own and the area was absent of cigarette smoke. She was really alone and they had been gone for awhile. She had to escape whilst they weren't there as she didn't have had the physical or mental strength to defend herself from them anymore.

Having become familiar with the layout of the warehouse, Kate walked bare footed to the wall the windows were on, in search of the doorway she had spotted earlier. At the wall, she slowed her progress and placed her left hand on the bricks for support whilst she pulled the cell phone from the hip pocket. It was a surprise it hadn't been taken from her and smashed to bits. She needed to turn it on and continue her escape whilst it found the service provider. She fumbled over it to find the on button at the top left hand side. Because Kate was certain she was alone in the warehouse, she could afford the seconds it took to turn the cell phone on. She wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as she could but she would need the phone to call for help outside, once it was on the network.

Gripping the phone in her left hand, Kate then continued to feel her way along the brick wall for the emergency exit until her sore fingers found a cold horizontal bar. It was the emergency door she had seen earlier that evening she guessed. She had seen the door when the car hadn't been there. She had always known the roller door was there but it was always locked.

The car not being there, caused her to remember what had happened earlier. The group had become dangerously dysfunctional and volatile after Castle had gone to air. They had been under pressure to make a decision. A raging fight between the men had ultimately led to the final time one of them had attacked her, solely because Castle had challenged them using the media as his communication platform. The male with the gold tooth and a dragon tattooed over his neck who had been the instigator to most of the attacks started the final assault. Kate had believed he was going the finish her. He had almost scared her to death, screamed at her to tell them where the files were. He had dragged her about the floor and several times she had thought he was going to kill her. The last thing she clearly remembered was staring down the barrel of a gun pointed at her forehead. The only thing that had stopped him from shooting her was a phone call he had received. She guessed it had been from Bracken. The second he was off the phone he had demanded once again she tell him the location of the file and they would release her to Castle. It must have been about that time she lost consciousness. Maybe they thought she had died of fright. She had to admit there had been a point where she had wanted to die.

Her instincts and the memories spurred her on to escape and she promptly pushed down on the bar. Surprisingly, the emergency door way swung out into an alley. She released a cry of relief, then stifled her noise. She looked to the left, then right, no one. She listened. Heard nothing. She checked the phone. It had a signal but minimum battery life. Quickly she found the last text she had received from Will. She hit reply and tapped in 911. She pressed on send. Kate looked up into the night sky to see if she recognised any building or heard any familiar sounds. She saw one building she thought she knew to her left.

It got in Kate's internal dialogue that Sorenson would not understand the text she had sent. For several seconds she walked towards the end of the alley attracted to a street light, too afraid to head to the nearest street. She continually asked herself why would William would understand her text particularly if Castle hadn't contacted him for help. She needed to contact Castle or the boys but she could not remember numbers that were on auto dial on her iPhone. What the fuck was Castle's iPhone number? Kate thought about it. It was on a post it at her desk taped to her monitor in his neat handwriting for the occasions she used her desk phone. He had even signed it for her, being a wise ass at the time he'd done it. She concentrated as hard as she could to recall the number she sometimes stopped and stared at. She pressed the digits she believed made Castle's cell phone number and waited for the call to connect. It rang.

9.33 pm

The time Castle and Sorenson had spent together during that day had created a bond between the two men that in all honesty Castle, in his wildest dreams, had never imagined would happen. Over the day, Castle had increasingly appreciated why Kate liked the guy, why she had dated him and wanted him to remain a friend. Castle hated to admit it but two of them were similar in personality with the exception that Sorenson was far more serious. Under the circumstances however, with Castle being quite responsible and focussed on the case, the two of them had experienced a remarkable working relationship.

The four men, Gates and most of the detectives who worked on the floor remained at the Precinct into the evening filtering through the high number of phone calls they received because of Castle's appearance on TV. It had rapidly infiltrated TV and radio stations globally, his fan sites, the police website and the internet generally like a crazed virus. Castle had even received texts from friends overseas wishing him the best.

The phone call to set up the exchange from the male who had named himself George, had not stopped them from investigating every call they received. It was possible another caller could provide them with vital information. As time grew closer however, they had no choice but to proceed to the meeting with him. The detectives and Castle had the back pack of cash ready for the exchange which was to occur soon,

They were packing up ready to leave for the meet when Ryan's cell phone rang. Without a thought each of them picked up their own phones to check for calls or messages. Ryan answered his call.

Sorenson was first to check his phone. He had received a text. He unlocked his phone and immediately saw a name he hadn't expected at all. Kate's name was on the screen. Simultaneously he heard Rick's phone ring. Rick looked at his phone screen not recognising the number. He showed it to Sorenson who in turn flashed Castle the text message. It said, "911".

"Answer it," Sorenson said. "It's Kate's burner." He looked questioningly at the phone unsure how she had gained access to her burner after all the time that had passed.

Ryan chipped in. "Kate's burner has been turned on. They're tracing it now."

Rick hit accept and put the phone to his ear. "Kate?" He stood up, his anxiety levels peaking.

"Castle!" She cried, desperately frightened.

"Kate!" It was Kate. He put her on loud speaker. "Kate where are you?"

"I don't know," She cried, "Please find me!" They all heard her rapid breathing, the terror in her voice.

"What can you see around you?" He asked leaning in with the boys to the phone, listening for any background noises that would help them identify where she was.

"I'm in an alley." She panted. "I just escaped." They barely heard her say.

"How much power does your phone have Kate?" Sorenson asked.

"It's nearly flat."

Sorenson looked to Castle and made a hand signal across his own neck to cut the phone call. They needed to conserve the battery power of the phone to find her.

Richard swallowed, making a hard decision to obey Sorenson's instructions. He took a nervous breath, not wanting to let her go. "Kate, I want you to hang up. Leave your phone on and hide somewhere till we come and find you." He calmly told her.

"No!" She squealed in a panicked objection.

"Fuck!" Castle swore under his breath. He had to be hard in order to save her. "Hang up and hide Kate." He firmly ordered.

"No Castle! Please!"

"Kate, its Will." He paused, "Hang up so we can use the phone to find you."

"Will, no," everyone heard her plead.

"She's scared." Ryan whispered, wiping his face with his palms in anxiety and frustration. He then glanced to the time.

"We will find you with the phone." Castle followed softer than Sorenson. If they lost her phone they would not be able to find her. She cried no over and over.

Castle looked at his phone, agonised over the decision and hung it up. He looked at Ryan and Gates. "Find her." He ordered sharply and turned to Sorenson as though he had once again just sent Kate to her death.

Gates replied, "Go! Get to the car. We'll find her and call you the moment we have her location."

Ryan, Esposito, Castle and Sorenson ran to the elevator, grabbing their coats and weapons on the way out.

Kate cried in absolute frustration at the phone after Castle hung up. As hard as it was, she understood why he had done it, even if she didn't like the fact he had. He was with Will Sorenson which was good. Kate pocketed the phone in her jeans.

Kate heard a car somewhere down the end of the alley from where she had come and turned about to see the car lights on the brick wall. She gasped. Her heart started to pound in fright they had come back. Terrified, she turned to continue in the same direction she been going and ran barefooted as fast as she was able. Adrenaline had been released. She broke into sprint of pure fright. She didn't care whether she cut or impaled her feet with stones or bits of glass. She no longer felt the pain raging in her pelvis, her ribs and from the muscles of her thighs. It was her last effort to escape, at the expense of what energy she did have. She fleetingly thanked years of martial arts training in which she had been taught to push through pain to fight.

At the end of the long alley, almost at the point of exhaustion Kate came upon a street filled with small industrial stores and a few parked cars. She slowed down to a jog, hearing her breathing was unusually laboured. She firstly searched for anyone to help but the stories were closed for the night and nobody was walking along the sidewalks. It was quite an isolated area. She spotted a public telephone against a brick wall under a street light and came to a halt contemplating what to do next.

Would she use that phone or keep running? She chose to get help. She cautiously crossed the street and made her way along the wall to the phone, all the time trying to remember Castle's phone number once again her mind having forgotten it was recorded on the cell phone she carried. At the phone she picked up the receiver and checked her pockets for change. No money. She cried, angrily smacking the receiver against the phone box several hard times. She was forced to stop that because it hurt her more than it damaged the phone. She checked the change slot on the phone for disregarded coins. No luck there. A thought crossed her mind. Reverse charge. She read the list of numbers available and reset the receiver. She dialled the reverse charge operator and a woman picked up the call within two rings.

Kate released a cry of pure relief. Another voice. She shakily but urgently spoke. "Please, I need a return call to Richard Castle from Kate Beckett." She gave the operator the phone number praying it was Richard's cell number. She waited an eternity, holding on to the phone for support as it was extremely painful to stand. All the time she checked for anyone who may have followed her. She felt her lips trembling with cold. It could have even been caused by pain or the adrenaline rush. All she felt was pain and cold. Her fingers were trembling and the receiver shook against her ear. Then she heard the call connecting to dial Castle's cell phone. She cried softly, hoping he would pick up, praying he would be able to find her and save her very soon. He picked up. She heard Richard's voice within seconds greet with, "Castle."

"Castle!" she cried hysterically,

" … will you accept a return call Mr Castle from Kate…" The call operated continued through Kate's panicked voice.

"Yes! Put her through. Kate?!" He urgently replied. "Please put her through. Now!" His voice was frantic.

Hearing his voice, Kate sobbed uncontrollably, "Castle. I'm at public phone number 324 1298. Help me!"

"We're on our way Kate. We are on our way babe." In the back seat of the Crown Vic, Castle smoothed Kate and scribbled the number she had said on a scrap of paper rested on his lap. He threw the pen on the seat between him and Sorenson, picked up the paper and passed over it to Ryan who was riding in the front seat. Ryan looked at it in question and turned to Castle. They listened momentarily to Kate's cries down the phone, Castle mouthed at Ryan "She is at that public telephone."

Ryan immediately turned about in his seat. He was straight on his cell phone dialling the telephone company to find the location of the phone.

They were still waiting on the trace of her cell phone. Esposito had driven the Unit out of the underground car park and was waiting for the call from Gates to give them a location.

They all silenced listening to Kate who was on loudspeaker. She cried desperately into the hand piece, her head falling against the side of the phone. "Please, I'm so scared!" She could hear the boy's voices. She wanted them with her.

Sorenson and Castle stared at each other. Sorenson whispered. "Where is the guy who rang?"
Castle shrugged his shoulders. "Is there anyone with you?" Castle asked confused as to why she wasn't with the guy who had phoned them to make the exchange. According to the time, he should have collected her by now.

"No. I'm alone. Please please please." She begged.

"You're completely alone?" Sorenson asked.

"Yes. Why?" Kate stopped her cries and looked about her suspicious by their questions.

"Is there a street sign?" Sorenson asked Castle but Kate must have heard him as she replied.

"No!"

"We're coming Kate." Castle reassured. "I promise we will find you."

Esposito, who had already started to drive towards the industrial areas in the south east on a hunch that's where she was, passed his ringing phone to Sorenson who picked up the call. It was Gates. She gave Sorenson the address where the cell phone was stationary. Sorenson grabbed the notepad from Castle and found the pen he'd tossed aside. He wrote the address Gates gave him and hung up.

"Here." Sorenson gave the paper to Ryan. "Hang up Ryan, we have her location."

"Where am I going?" Esposito asked Ryan. In perfect sync with his partner, Ryan slapped the bubble on the roof and started giving Esposito the directions.

In the back seat, Castle closed his eyes and blocked his left ear to drown out the noises of the siren and the guys talking so he could focus on Kate who was going crazy at the other end of the line. He had taken he off loudspeaker. He soothed her between each time she fell silent, "We are coming Kate. I have the guys with me. Stay with me Kate." He begged desperate not to lose her again. "Don't go anywhere."

"Castle, Castle… Keep talking to me." Is all he heard coming down the line as Esposito pushed the police unit towards her as fast as he was able. Sorenson and Ryan checked their guns ensuring they were loaded.

"I'm coming baby. We are on our way." Castle lowered the phone. "Ryan, get an ambulance over to her. She needs an ambulance."

Ryan contacted dispatch to ensure an ambulance had been requested. Captain Gates already had one dispatched.

Castle continued to listen to Kate and put the phone back on loud speaker, "Please … please …." She continued to cry, begged him to find her as fast as he could. He was catapulted back to the day she had almost been shot by Maddox and had screamed at him to close his eyes. This time she pleaded him to find her. She was more afraid this time. He sat up and rested his head against the back of the seat, listened to her cries. He felt he was living minutes of his life delivered straight from hell.

Esposito told Castle to tell Kate to get off the phone and to hide, that they would find her. Castle told her but she cried harder, told him she wanted to hear his voice. The men could hear acutely how terrified she was. Castle sat forward and dropped his head between his knees. He felt re, crying in relief she was alive and because he could hear the terror in her voice and in her cries. Not quite their worst case scenario had occurred, but he could hear what she had lived through. He could also hear her hunger to survive, to be alive when they found her. He grasped at the hope they would get to her in time.

In the back of the unmarked police car Castle and Sorenson heard Kate release a scream of absolute terror that was subdued quickly. Castle thought he heard her hit the ground.

"What the hell was that about?" Sorenson asked. They waited for further sounds, for her to return but seconds later the call dropped out.

"I think she passed out." Castle suggested. "But I'm not sure it was that either."

It took them just on five minutes to get to the address Gates had told them, all of them pissed off about the fact Kate had been held captive reasonably close to them the entire time. The Crown Vic came to a quiet and smooth halt nearby the phone and the four men cautiously stepped out of the vehicle, three of them with the guns ready. Esposito unclipped his spare hand gun from his ankle and passed the baby Glock to Castle. "The extra piece." He murmured.

Castle popped the magazine, checked it was loaded, swept his finger over the extractor, felt it protrude so he knew there was a round in the chamber and grabbed it in his right hand. He looked in Espo's direction, received a nod of approval, and the men began their search.

"Beckett." Esposito called loud and clear as they walked to the phone. The handle was hanging but she wasn't there. He hung up the receiver. "Where the fuck is she?"

"This is weird." Sorenson commented.

"Be on guard. She's either hidden like Castle told her to, or worse." Esposito murmured.

"Worse?" Castle asked, "Can it get worse?" He shined his Maglite towards Esposito who didn't respond for fear he might get shot by Castle.

The searched for Kate her using their mini Maglites and the available street lamps. They kept reasonably close, guns poised, and had only Castle call her name. The others listened for her. They spoke to each other only when necessary keeping in low tones whilst they searched the area surrounding the phone. They continued beyond the phone and searched every doorway, any stairs or behind any trash cans. She wasn't there.

The four men walked over the street and checked under and in every parked car for her on their way to sweep the alley. Kate could make herself small enough to fit in tight spaces so they thoroughly searched believing she had passed out. As they reached the sidewalk by the alley Sorenson stopped and held up his hand.

"Shhhhh." He sounded.

The others stopped and fell quiet to listen. Within seconds they heard what Will had. Kate was squealing to gain their attention but the sound was muffled. They held their guns up and silently progressed into the alley. All of them had their Maglites rapidly scanning about them searching for the woman they had definitely heard.

It was Ryan's flashlight that caught sight of the white faces looking back at him in the alley.