Author's Note: I'd like to thank Quillcox and phnkgrl for their reviews. Here's the next chapter. We're starting with Alex this time. Enjoy!

Chapter 21

"Come here and tell me what you think."

Alex went over to Sloan's workspace. "Which profile is this?"

"The client. I've tried to leave enough detail out to make him seem a bit paranoid. Meet Perry Noyd Jacobi, an investment banker who lost a bit of money when another, younger investment banker made some bad decisions with his money."

"I see you're trying your hand at punny names."

"To obvious?"

"Maybe. The mark is the younger banker?"

"Yes. The mark is Parker Clint. He's 28, lives in SoHo and is a regular at the club. He likes shiny, fast cars, top-shelf booze and older women."

"Perfect mark for Viper. Do you have a picture?"

"Screen three. I morphed together features from three models who live and work in L.A. With any luck, no one in the bar will actually look like this."

Alex turned from the computer monitor to Sloan. "What do you mean, 'with any luck'? Viper isn't going to be there. She's still in London."

Sloan shook his head. "Unless someone else is trolling around using her profile, she's just popped back up in the area. She's looking for work."

"We'll need the mark to be irresistible. How quickly can you set up an account for Mr. Jacobi?"

"Give me a few hours, I'll set up a convincing paper trail. I was going to set the contract at half a million. Does that sound too good to be true?"

"For someone who's had a bad run in the market, yeah. Set it at 150." Alex looked down at screen six. "And we'll have to set it for tomorrow night."

Sloan stopped typing. "Why?"

Alex pointed to the computer screen. "She just took a job for tonight."

"She's in a hurry."

"It makes sense. If she had to get out of London in a hurry, she'd have to burn a lot of resources. She probably needs the money."

Sloan started typing again and then paused. "Is she the kind to check out a client before she takes the mark?"

"Not usually. Though having a paper trail for Jacobi wouldn't be a bad idea. How paranoid is he?"

"Very."

Alex nodded. "Then I guess making the paper trail hard to find would be a good idea."

Sloan smirked. "This isn't the first time I've done something like this, you know."

Alex smiled. "Sorry. I'm just stressed about all this. Do we know what Asendorf's up too?"

"A Directory who owed me a favor called this morning. Badger said Asendorf is still trying to locate you. He sounded scared; said he didn't want to get caught in a turf war."

"Did Badger tell you anything else?" Sloan shook his head. "That's too bad." She sighed. "Okay, I'm going to go work out and leave you to it. Holler if you need me."

"You got it."

That night, Beckett and Castle got to return to the loft. It had been released around noon, so Castle had hired a crime scene cleanup company to clean and fix whatever was bloody or had holes. They had finished ahead of schedule, allowing Beckett and Castle to check out of the Plaza and return home.

Rick set down his bag just inside the door. "Looks like they got everything. Want something to eat?"

Kate nodded and followed him to the kitchen. "Does this feel weird at all?"

"Why, because a man was killed in the other room?" He paused in the middle of grabbing a pot. "Not really. I've killed several people in my living room. Though cleanup was much easier; the bodies were all in my head."

"I guess when the redecorating is done, we won't think about that anymore."

Rick put the pot of water on the stove to boil. "Probably. I'm thinking the redecorating will be a bit more involved now though. I mean, it looks like cleanup did a good job, but I think I want to get the floors redone now. Just in case some blood dripped into the cracks at all."

"I hear you. What do you think? Similar pattern but a little lighter?"

"You want to go lighter?"

She nodded. "Maybe a deep mahogany color. Or a red walnut."

"Oh, I like that. A richer wood tone."

Kate got to work on the pasta sauce. "So, what's wrong with the Beaumont?"

He answered a little too quickly. "Nothing's wrong with it."

"Rick, I know you. You were hesitant while we were looking at it. Is it because Kyra got married there?"

He sighed. "Yeah. I mean, in the long run, I know Kyra and I never would have worked. But for years, I felt like she was the one that got away. Getting married in the same place she did would just feel weird."

"What if I said that's where I wanted to get married?"

Rick pulled her into his arms. "Then I would put aside my feelings toward the place and just marvel that I was getting to marry the most beautiful woman in the world in a majestic setting like that."

Kate smiled. "Good." She kissed him before pulling away and stirring the sauce.

Rick put the noodles in the boiling water. "Is that where you want to get married?"

Kate shrugged. "I haven't decided yet. Can you grab the basil for me?"

"Sure." He grabbed the basil and handed it to her. "So what are we going to do about Slaughter's case?"

Kate paused, thinking about how the case was going nowhere fast. "Gates won't like it, but it's probably going to end up in the pile of unsolved Shadow Fox cases on my desk. I mean, it's not like we're actually any closer to arresting Alex. We don't know where she went after she killed him, or where she's living right now."

"She's living in the shadows."

Kate nodded and grabbed the colander. "She's good at that. Let's eat." Rick helped Kate strain the water out of the noodles and they loaded up their plates. Dinner was served.

Alex came down the stairs wearing all black with a black backpack. "Is the packet ready?"

Sloan gestured to the manila envelope. "Right there. It's everything I could find to prove Asendorf was the man who hired Demon."

"Good." Alex slipped a paper into the back of the envelope, grabbed a pen and labeled the envelope, "For Detective Beckett, 12th precinct," before putting it in her bag and shrugging into a tan overcoat.

"That's a bit bright, don't you think?"

"It'll help me not look like a burglar heading to a job in SoHo. I'll just look like someone heading home from a day out." Alex shouldered her bag. "Did Viper bite?"

"Yes. I'm going with a fifty-fifty."

"So you've already wired her some of the money?"

"Thought she should get something for us putting her life in danger."

Alex nodded. "That's fair. I'm off. When does her 'mark' arrive?"

Sloan smirked. "He likes to arrive about midnight."

"She'll get there around eleven. Asendorf will probably get there around nine. I've got two hours. Wish me luck."

Sloan stood and gave her a hug. "Good luck." He hesitated a moment and then kissed her cheek.

"You missed."

"What?"

Alex gave him a peck on the lips. "I said, you missed." She headed for the door. "I'll call you when he's dead."

Sloan grabbed a coat and his Ipad. "Actually, I think I'll come with you. You might need a set of eyes on the ground."

Alex cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"While you were changing, I was checking for cameras near or at the club and I couldn't find very many that operate on a wireless network. If Viper shows up early, you won't know about it because I won't see it."

"Does your Ipad let you hack into the cameras in the area?"

"It connects me to my network, which yes, has hacked into the cameras. I will literally be your eyes in the area."

Alex sighed and grabbed a Bluetooth. "Fine. But radio silence unless I need to know something."

Sloan put on his coat with a grin. "Excellent. Let's go kill a bad guy."

Alex arrived at the alleyway about 8:15. She slipped into the shadows of the dark alley and shed her coat, shoving it into her bag. She then removed the weighted rope from a side pocket and quickly pulled down the ladder, scaling it and climbing the stairs until she arrived at the right floor. The window still wasn't latched, so Alex opened it and slipped through, making sure to close it behind her.

The stack of drywall was still under her perch. Alex opened her bag again and pulled out three folded pieces of construction sheeting and a soft hand broom. She draped one sheet over a stack of drywall across the room from the window and another was draped around a pile of support beams that were leaning against the wall. She then tucked her gun and loaded magazine into a spot near her perch before stashing her bag behind the support beams, making sure that the sheeting covered it from view. Once she was sure the bag couldn't be seen unless someone was looking for it, Alex used the soft broom to erase all of her footprints.

"You prepped yet?"

Alex took a look at her surroundings from on top of her stack of drywall. "Yeah. And didn't I say I would call you?"

"No, you said radio silence unless you needed to know something. Listen, I can see Asendorf on the traffic cameras. He's a few blocks away with a large, ridged case you'd carry canvases in. Not out of place in the artistic area of town, but I'm fairly certain he doesn't have self-portraits in there."

Alex carefully laid out the last piece of sheeting before swinging herself up into the rafters. "You're probably right. A little quiet would be really good right about now."

"Copy that."

She slammed the magazine home and took off the safety before settling in for the wait. After what seemed like an hour, the window at the fire escape creaked open. Alex resisted the urge to turn and check who was entering the room. Sounds from the outside were cut off again as the window closed. A man entered Alex's line of sight. He was in his late forties or early fifties carrying a large, ridged canvas case. Asendorf.

He set down the case and opened it, pulling out several items wrapped in fabric. Asendorf unwrapped the items and carefully assembled the gun, his skilled hands never making a mistake. Once his baby was put together, he turned the case upside down; the magazine tumbled out. Setting the clip down next to his gun, he shoved all the rags back into the case and set it aside. Alex was holding her breath. So far, Asendorf had done exactly what she thought he would, right down to when he would arrive. At the moment, he was opening the windows along the front of the building, checking the angles. He settled on the one Alex had determined best two days earlier. He then selected a crate from a stack against the wall and used it to set up his perch.

Sloan broke his silence, but this time in a whisper. "Alex, Viper is in line for the club. If you're gonna kill him, I'd suggest you do it sooner rather than later."

She's early. Alex slowly retrieved her gun from where she'd tucked it. Asendorf turned his head as though he had heard something and Alex froze. Eventually Asendorf must have decided that the noise came from outside or on a different floor, because he turned his attention back to what he could see through the scope. Alex freed the gun from its hiding space and carefully took aim.

The first shot hit him in the back of his right shoulder and he jerked, dropping Vera in the process. He drew a handgun from his waistband as he stood up and turned around. Alex shot him again, hitting him in the abdomen. He dropped to his knees and Alex shot again, hitting him in the chest. With a final grunt, he keeled over backwards.

Alex waited for a few moments before she lowered herself from the rafters and slowly approached Asendorf, gun pointed at him just in case he was trying to fool her. His chest wasn't moving as she kicked his gun away from him.

"He's dead."

"Are you sure?"

Alex fired once more, point blank to the center of his chest. "Pretty darn."

"Well, you'd better get out of there. People heard your shots and have called the cops. The police scanner is going nuts."

Alex retrieved her bag and left the manila envelope on the covered stack of drywall. "Where are they coming from?"

Sloan grunted. "Does it matter? Get down here, I've got the manhole cover up."

Alex opened the window to the fire escape and closed it behind her. "The sewers again. Fun."

"It's better than jail."

"That's true." Alex rode the ladder down to the street and Sloan took her bag. "You're right. Having you here is useful."

"Less talking, more running."

Alex smirked and climbed down the ladder into the underground highway. Sloan threw her bag down to her and followed, closing the manhole cover behind him.

A/N: One more bad guy down. Leave me a review; I'd love to hear what you guys thought of this chapter.