A sharp sound rung through the basement. "Oh god what is that?" Castle screamed trying to be heard above the noise.
"You think I know? I'm as clueless as you. Maybe it's a warning alarm," Kate yelled equally as loud.
"Get out! We're leaving now!" Nikolai screamed as he burst through the door. Nikolai ran into the room with several body guards and Peter. Nikolai unlocked the handcuffs not knowing Kate had already managed to free her and Castle from the restraints. In the meantime, two of the guards went to Castle and Kate and grabbed their arms and ushered them out of the room. As they were walking out Kate turned her head and saw Nikolai, Peter, and the other three guards were tossing the room.
"Kate, what are they doing?"
"I think they're tossing the room." Kate turned her head to the guard on her right, "what's going on?"
"I can no tell you," the guard said in a thick Russian accent.
"If it involves our well being we deserve to know. You wouldn't want us killed on YOUR watch, now, would you?" Kate asked trying to guilt information out of the guard.
"I can no tell you miss. You are prisoner. I not allowed." The guard spoke with such an accent and poor grammar that it sounded like her was just learning the language. Castle knew exactly how to use this as leverage.
"Excuse me sir? Your accent would like you haven't been in the U.S. very long. Do you have a family back in your home country? I have a family. I have a little girl. Her name's Alexis," Castle says as he reaches into his pocket.
"Hey! What are you doing? I must see your hand!" the guard quickly says.
"Relax, please, I'm just trying to show you a picture of my daughter," Castle takes his hand out of his pocket with a small folded paper. He unfolds the paper and shows the guard a picture of a red headed girl smiling up at a younger version of Castle. "I always keep a picture of Alexis with me. She's my pride and joy. I don't know what I would do without her. I couldn't imagine moving to a new country away from her. I don't know how you did it. Are you trying to get money to bring them here?" Castle genuinely asks.
"Yeah," the guard says as he reaches into his own pocket, "this is Sophia and Misha." He points to the two girls in the picture.
"They're beautiful. I bet you love them. And miss them. If you were in a situation like I am wouldn't you ask to know what is going on so you can try and stay alive for you little girls? I want to be there for the rest of Alexis's life and I bet you want to be there for your daughters too when they come to the U.S.
"The only reason I want to know what's going on is so I can't mentally prepare myself if I won't be with my daughter anymore. Or maybe protect myself for any threat that may cause me to miss watching my little girl grow up. Will you help me? Should I start preparing for that? Why are we being taken?" Castle tries his hardest to pull the emotional card
"I tell you only for your daughter. Police know we are here. We must move. Peter looks for how police know."
"Thank you. So there is no threat we are just moving, right?"
"Yes. And we must hurry. Car is this way." The burly guards usher Kate and Castle down several long dark hallways before entering a large metal door. Inside is a concrete room much like the one Beckett and Castle were situated minus the bed, refrigerator and toilet. There were three black SUV's all with tinted windows. Kate and Castle were luckily shoved into the same vehicle. They sat alone in the third row where they could stay in touch with Ryan. If Kate couldn't text him, she could keep her phone on so he can track it.
Peter and Nikolai were in the middle row of the SUV and the two body guards that escorted Castle and Beckett here from their room were in the driver's and passenger's seat. The car was completely silent, a very uncomfortable silence. In his usual Castle ways he tried to lessen the silence with some small talk. "So, how's the bomb coming along, Peter?"
"Oh, shut up. It's none of your business." Peter said harshly.
"Geez, I'm sorry I was just trying to start up some small talk. It's getting boring and lonely. No need to get all salty about it." Castle replied with a tiny bit of hurt in his voice.
"Salty? What is salty? I do not understand you Americans." Nikolai said jumping into the conversation.
"Salty. My daughter Alexis taught me it. She said that if I use it I'll be cool. It means... It means... Hmm... She described it as someone being mad for no reason or because they did something stupid. Can I borrow your phone? I want to ask Alexis for a definition." Castle looked from Peter to Nikolai then back to Peter. He put on his best puppy dog face and even batted his eyes for effect. Kate couldn't help but giggle. Peter looked at Nikolai who shrugged in a "whatever, sure" kind of way.
"Fine. Here. Text her because the call will drop and I really want to know what this word 'salty' means. God, you Americans are so strange. I want to stick you in a zoo." Peter handed Castle his iPhone.
Hey Lex. It's daddy. I'm going to send you two messages erase this once you see it. Beckett and I have been kidnapped and taken hostage. We are fine right now. I tricked the guy to give me his phone so I could ask you a question which will be my next text. Have Detective Ryan track this number. Okay love you.
"Are you done yet?" Peter asked.
"No. Sorry. I'm not used to a Russian keyboard or whatever language it was so I changed the keyboard to a more Castle friendly one."
Castle deleted the first message he sent Alexis.
Hey Lex. It's daddy. What does salty mean? I called the Russian it and he wants to know what it means and I'm obviously not cool enough to know.
"Okay. I'm just waiting for a reply now."
Castle took this time to search the phone. He found the tracking app and with his somewhat decent technological skills he was able to set the date back to when his father was killed. He got a location on not only his phone, but all of those registered to his account, meaning all of his guards, drivers, lab rats and even Nikolai. There were at least ten numbers. Castle's eyes grew wider than he thought possible. He needed to show Kate.
"Hey Peter. Can I move to the next seat over? My legs are really cramped. I think it would be better if I can stretch them out in the aisle."
"Sure, whatever," Peter said. He seemed preoccupied at the moment so Castle took this opportunity to show Kate the phone. He pointed to the screen. Kate looked and was immediately taken back. They two of them searched through the map to find where, relatively, Castle's father was. Both Kate and Castle's mouths dropped. Bingo. There were not one, not two, but three phones in the area Castle thinks his father was killed. Castle returned the map setting to figure out where they were currently headed so he could alert Ryan and Esposito even though they are supposed to be tracing the number currently.
Ping ping ping
The phone got a text.
"Oh hey Peter, Alexis texted me back," Castle read the text aloud, "Salty: when a person gets upset and angry when that person does something stupid or has something stupid done to them. I hope you expanded your vocabulary a little today." Castle grinned.
Castle leaned to Kate's ear and whispered, "we're headed northeast on Route 87 toward Newark. Can you let Ryan know somehow? And I was right Peter did hire someone to kill my father if not he did it himself." Castle scooted back into his seat.
Now Kate leaned over to Castle, kissed his cheek and whispered, "We'll get him when Ryan and Espo come. And we're a couple remember...act like it. We can't blow it. Not for you and not fit your dad. We've come this far we can't ruin it now." Kate stayed where she was, their bodies touching and plenty of space around them.
"Can I have my phone back? I want to play Angry Birds. We have a long drive ahead of us," Peter yawned.
Kate took that as an invitation for a nap. She rested her head on Castle's chest, curled into a ball and fell asleep with Castle following not too far behind.