There were a few odd shuffling noises on the other side of the room. Castle was pretty sure it was the sound of a body being moved, and he was glad Joel was still out cold from whatever he'd been given to knock him out. The doorknob rattled, and he stood up, uncertainly, knowing there wasn't a whole lot he was going to be able to do against whoever it was out there. Especially since it was clear they had a gun and he had his hands tied. When the door opened he was standing at the edge of the bed, unconsciously placing himself once more between whoever was coming and Joel.
The man who opened the door was someone Castle had never met, but he knew who it was. Hadn't he told Theo Martin he'd heard the name Nemich before? The guy's face had plastered the newspapers and some TV news shows. Standing about Castle's height, thin to the point of almost being gaunt, with short hair that was greased straight back, the man was almost a caricature of the typical mobster. He was also holding a pistol, which he immediately pointed at Castle.
"Who are you?"
"Richard Castle."
"The writer…"
It wasn't a question, but he didn't know what else to say so Castle nodded.
"Yes."
Nemich frowned.
"How does a writer get mixed up in this kind of situation?"
Castle shrugged.
"I'm not sure."
"You writing a book about Theo Martin?"
"I hadn't planned on it, no."
Nemich looked over at the boy on the bed. He frowned again, and Castle figured it was because of the oddity that he was sleeping. It certainly wasn't natural.
"What's wrong with him?"
"The guy that grabbed us gave him a shot. He said it would knock him out."
Nemich walked over and gestured with the gun for Castle to move away from the bed. He hesitated, but did what he was told and watched as Nemich put his free hand on the boy's neck, checking his pulse. Satisfied, he straightened up again and sighed.
"ATF is after me, Castle."
"I heard."
"Theo Martin and I are good friends. We go back all the way to grade school. They wanted him to testify against me, but they couldn't make him. One of their people – an agent named Williams – really doesn't like me, and she was furious when Theo told her no." he smiled slightly. "I might have goaded her a bit when I gloated about it and dared her to try and come between the two of us."
"So she tried…" Castle said, wrapped up in the story despite himself – even though he already had been told some of it. Of course, the fact that Nemich was telling him this was almost certainly a bad sign, he knew. In his books the bad guys only tell the story to the people they're planning on killing in the end.
"Yeah. She tried." He looked over at Joel. "I'm his godfather, you know…"
"I didn't know that."
"Williams had one of her guys grab Joel. I don't know what the plan was exactly, but if they were ruthless enough to kill Marissa then I figured they were going to be able to make Theo testify."
"So what did you do?"
"Sent someone to kill them both."
"Your own godson?"
"Do you know what Theo Martin loves more than anything? Even me?"
That was an easy question. Castle had the exact same answer if someone had asked him that question.
"His child."
"Right. So say Theo finds out that ATF kidnapped and killed his son… what do you think he'd do?"
"Wage war on the ATF."
"And the agent that caused the problem to begin with. I wouldn't have to worry about Theo testifying against me, and chances were he'd send someone to kill Williams – which would be even better as far as I'm concerned."
"You'd kill a little boy to-"
"I'd kill anyone, Castle, if they were in my way. I worked hard to build what I have. I warned Theo not to get attached to that kid. I told him that having kids – or a wife – would make him vulnerable. And I was right. This would never have happened to me."
"Martin knows ATF doesn't have his son."
Nemich scowled and the gun moved slightly as his grip tightened on it.
"It would have worked perfectly. Now everything's messed up. Theo's looking for Joel again, and this time he knows it was one of my men who grabbed you two. He had guys outside the building you were hiding out in, and my man was supposed to kill them so we could make it look like ATF had done it."
"Just give him Joel. That's what he wants."
"I give him Joel and he'll kill me. I keep Joel and I have bait. I'll use him to bring Theo to me and then I'll kill them both. I won't have to worry about ATF getting Theo to testify and I won't have to worry about Joel being used against me in the future."
"You won't have to worry about either of those things again," said a cold voice from the doorway.
OOOOOOOOOOOO
Beckett couldn't stay beside Alexis and still do her job. Luckily, Alexis understood this and had been the one to pull away after a little while, gather her courage and had told Beckett that she'd be okay alone. Beckett wasn't going to leave her alone, of course, but before she had to try and figure out who to assign to her, Montgomery had taken that problem out of her hands by simply taking his office back from them and telling Alexis she needed to hang out with him and help him out. Since Castle played poker with the Captain he and Alexis were well acquainted with each other, so Beckett had to admit it was a good fit, as long as Montgomery was willing.
She left the two of them together and then gathered up Ryan and Esposito and headed out onto the street. They had sources of their own they could contact to look for Castle and Joel.
By the time they'd managed to hook up with the first guy they were looking for it was obvious that contacts were going to be scarce. The man they'd grabbed was a runner for one of the larger gangs that ran for Nemich, and when they collared him, he'd looked terrified.
"What's going on, Gerald?" Esposito asked as they pressed the man against a wall to make sure he wasn't carrying a weapon. "Why are you running from us?"
"I didn't know it was you guys," the man panted.
"Who else would it be?" Beckett asked.
"Word is out," Gerald told them. "Theo Martin is looking for people who work for Nemich."
The detectives exchanged a look. That hadn't taken long.
"Why?"
"Martin's looking for something."
"What?"
"I don't know! I wish I did."
"Yeah? If you did you'd tell us?" Esposito asked.
"Yeah. Yeah."
"Who would know where it is?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not! I swear!"
Esposito let the man go, and he stumbled but turned to face them.
"You guys need to arrest me or something…"
Beckett raised an eyebrow.
"Why would we do that?"
"Why would you want us to?" Ryan added.
"It's dangerous out here, tonight. You don't know how dangerous…"
Beckett shook her head.
"Find a rock to hide under for the night," she told him. "But if you hear anything you call me. Understood?"
"Yeah."
They turned and left the man, but he didn't stay there watching as they left. He was already heading for cover.
"Where to now?" Ryan asked.
Beckett shrugged.
"We keep looking."