Chapter 12 – Don't go...

Kate should have been happy. They had caught the killer of the man in the alley. In the end it nearly always came down to money and this had been no different. Fortunately Ryan and Esposito had relieved her of a lot of the ground work and freed up a little extra time for her to spend with Rick. Despite revealing to her what had been troubling him the nightmares continued and he often talked in sleep mingling Elena's name with her own and Alexis'. He was still troubled and she knew it. One lunchtime she had come back to the loft and caught him on the phone. She had only caught the tail end of the conversation.

"... I can do this. You owe me that much. Let me finish what I started."

Kate had tried to talk to him about it but he had changed the subject and then Alexis had arrived excited about suddenly being invited to vacation with a friend and her family in Hawaii, and the opportunity to talk had been lost.

The case now closed, she was determined to confront him about that and the other little problem that had been following her around for the past ten days. She approached the door to the loft and let herself in. She dropped her keys in the bowl on the credenza and kicked off her shoes relishing the feel of the cool floor beneath her aching feet. As she walked into the living room she spotted Rick's suit-carrier thrown over the back of the couch and his favourite battered leather weekend bag sitting next to it. She frowned in concern. He hadn't mentioned having to go away. She could hear him on the phone in his office.

As she approached, he turned and ended the conversation. "Kate's here. I have to go." He stood and tucked the phone into his pocket and walked round from behind his desk but not before he pulled a large white envelope from it's surface, looked at her intently and dropped it into a drawer. "Hey!"

"Hey! What's going on?"

Rick walked up to her and took her hands, gently rubbing his thumb over her engagement ring. "Kate, there's something I need to do."

She had been dreading this moment. Kate's heart fell. "Rick! Please don't do this."

Rick gave her a half-smile. "I haven't even told you what it is I'm going to do."

"You don't need to. You're going after the arms-dealer, the man who killed Elena."

Rick laughed but there was no humour behind it. "I guess I can't keep any secrets from you can I?"

"You think he's going to come after you?" Rick nodded. "Is that why you manufactured a sudden vacation for Alexis and a request for a visit from an old friend of your mother's? Is that why there's been two guys in dark suits following me around since you made our engagement public?"

"Oh! You noticed them huh?" Rick gave her a rueful smile. "Guess that's what comes from having a police detective for a girlfriend!" Kate arched her eyebrow and Rick sighed. "Kate, I know that, after Paris, I made a promise to you that I would never do anything like this without you. But now, I'm asking you … No! I'm begging you … to release me from that promise."

Kate felt tears prickle at the back of her eyes. "Let me come with you."

"You know I can't"

"You don't have to do this on your own."

"I won't be on my own." Rick smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek. "I have the best back-up team in the world … er … apart from you, Ryan and Esposito that is. Kate I have to do this. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you or Alexis or my mom. I have to put an end to this and I have the opportunity to do just that. I'm only going to get one shot and this is it. So Kate, I'm begging you, please tell me you understand."

She wanted to scream at him, to force him to stay but she knew that if she was in his shoes she would do the same thing. He was right. Slowly, despite every fibre of her being telling her not to, she nodded. He tipped her face to his and kissed her tenderly. "I love you Kate Beckett. I always have and I always will."

Then suddenly he was gone and Kate had never felt so alone in her life.

It wouldn't be until several hours later when she was sitting at his desk surfing the Internet that she remembered the envelope he had slipped into the drawer, the one on which he had written : "To be opened in the event of my death."

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Rick stared out of the window as they passed a sign indicating the way to international departures. This time he didn't say anything to the driver as they turned off at an unmarked side-road, passed through a security barrier that raised automatically at their approach and drove down a plain unmarked asphalt strip that resembled a taxi-lane heading towards a large hangar.

Castle felt a now familiar knot of apprehension form in his stomach as the huge doors moved apart as if expecting them. The car rolled in through the gap and the doors closed behind them. As soon as they drew to a stop Rick got out and went round to the trunk to pull out his luggage and carry them onto the jet. Candy was waiting for him at the top of the steps.

"Hello again Mr Castle."

"Hello Candy."

"Everyone else is on board. We can take off as soon as you're ready sir." She opened a locker behind her for Rick to stow his luggage.

"Thanks Candy. I'm good to go."

Rick moved past her and into the cabin. The seven men, all dressed in a variety of casual wear, turned around the minute he stepped on.

"Ah here's our boy!"

Rick grinned. "Hey there Blowfish! How you doing?"

The huge man leaned back in his seat and grinned indicating that life was just peachy. "Sure as hell beats our usual form of transport. I could get used to this."

Demon stretched himself out playing with the buttons set into the arm-rest to recline the chair. "You guys really know how to travel in style." Wolf and Minefield nodded in agreement then all three twisted in their seats to follow Candy's progress down the gangway.

"Eyes front and centre gentlemen!" Digger glanced apologetically at Candy who merely giggled flattered by the attention. He rose from his seat opposite Spike who flipped a salute at Castle. "Hello Rick." He stuck out a hand which Castle took.

"Commander, I want to thank you boys for joining us on this."

"Noronov is way up there on our most wanted list and has been for some time. It is us who should be thanking you."

Candy put her head through the curtain. "Wheels up in twenty Mr Castle." Rick nodded his thanks and slipped into his seat. He arched an eyebrow as he read the title on the book the man opposite him was reading.

"They obviously didn't have much choice in the airport gift shop."

Cho looked at Rick over the top of his copy of Storm's Break. "Oh! It's not so bad. Guy's quite talented." They looked at one another for a moment then burst out laughing. "Good to see you again Rick," he said stretching out a hand.

"You too Cho. A little birdie tells me you were quite busy during your vacation." Cho smiled. "Thank you. I appreciate what you did."

Cho nodded. "The least I could do." His face creased into a frown. "You should have seen the stuff that little weasel had. He even had dirt on the prince ..."

Castle's eyes almost popped from his head. "What? You mean … the prince … the one I ..." He mimed shaking hands. Cho nodded. "Man, is nobody safe from this guy?" Cho shot him a look that told him clearly what he thought of the piranha paparazzi.

Digger leaned across the aisle. "Is there any news from our man on the ground?"

Cho nodded. "Preparations are under way." Cho glanced at Rick. "He's not happy about your involvement."

Rick grimaced. "That doesn't surprise me."

Minefield didn't look happy either. "I don't like going in there without my kit."

Digger glared at him. "We can hardly fly into Russia armed to the hilt. Customs might have something to say about that."

Cho leaned forwards. "He knows what you need and everything should be in place by the time we get there."

Wolf looked a little nervous. "Aren't the authorities going to be a little suspicious?"

Digger shook his head "Shouldn't be. We're there on legitimate business. We have all the necessary paperwork. We just have to make it look good. A couple of days play-acting then we hit Noronov and hit him hard. And we get out."

Demon grimaced "That's the bit I'm worried about. When the proverbial hits the fan won't they be all over us?"

Cho shook his head. "Even if they suspect we had anything to do with it, our contact on the ground says they're not likely to try too hard to find the culprits. It seems that Noronov is becoming a bit of an embarrassment that they would rather be rid of but he has too much clout in the Kremlin for them to take direct action. I think they'll probably be glad to see the back of him."

Digger nodded grimly. "Like I said, we get in, hit him so hard he can't get back up and get out."

"Seems to me ..." Wolf began, as usual getting straight to the heart of the matter. "...that getting into that fortress of Noronov's is going to be the hard part."

Digger looked round at the members of Seal Team Nine before facing Rick. "Well that's where our good friend Rick comes into play. Think you can do it?"

Rick Castle took a deep breath. "I did it once before. I can do it again." The knot in his stomach formed once more. He desperately hoped that what he said was true.

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