As promised here is the next chapter of the story; the cavalry has arrived. I have only one more chapter to go.

A bit of a warning; NO cliffhanger this time! But there a little violence.

Enjoy.

Chapter 25

Castle glared at the smiling Mr Smith. He clutched at his chest. As he had started to rise from the cot his hand brushed over the brick he had removed from the wall. For a moment he thought about grabbing hold of the brick and throwing it at the other man. He discarded the thought as quickly as it had popped into his head. He did not have the strength to throw the heavy brick much less have the accuracy to hit the intended target. Mr Smith was watching him carefully. Castle knew that the man could have the gun out and pointed at him before he could throw the brick.

Castle struggled to catch his breath. The pain in his chest had grown worse and he had to force himself to take slow breaths but even shallow breaths were not doing much to ease the pain in his chest. His heart was pounding rapidly causing more pain.

Mr Smith stood aside and motioned with his hand to the open door. Castle shuffled slowly towards the door. Castle wanted to get outside. Once out in the open he might have a chance, he thought to himself. It was a very slim chance if he was being realistic but it was still a chance.

Over the years there had been moments, times where he would wonder how his life would end. Usually it would be when he was at his laptop typing out another chapter of the latest book he was working on. Since meeting Beckett he had added a few more possibilities but never once did he think he would be killed in some dingy old warehouse in Mexico. This could have come out of the pages of one of his novels. That thought made him smile as he paused.

"Having second thoughts, Mr Castle?" Mr Smith asked as he came up behind him.

"Just trying to catch my breath." Castle replied.

"No time to dawdle." Mr Smith prodded Castle in the back with his gun.

"What's the hurry?" Castle said, glancing over his shoulder.

"I have other things to do, Mr Castle." Mr Smith said. "I am a busy man."

"I thought you wanted to discuss my books?" Castle said hurriedly. "I would be pleased to answer any questions you might have."

"Alas that is a pleasure I will have to forego."

"You really don't know what you're missing."

"I will have to live with the disappointment."

"And you haven't even asked me for my autograph." Castle whined.

"Enough, Mr Castle, keep moving." Mr Smith replied in an exasperated tone.

"I mean it's no trouble, I'd be happy to sign my autograph for you. I could sign autographs for the rest of the guys out there. It's no trouble really. Have you got some paper and a pen?"

The silence of the warehouse was shattered by the sound of screeching tyres and moments later by gunfire. Several loud explosion ripped through the warehouse followed by more gunfire. There were shouts and screams and more gunfire.

Mr Smith growled out a few choice expletives in Spanish. He grabbed Castle by his shirt and pushed him out the door of the cell into the corridor.

XXXXXXX

Kate stopped in her tracks and raised her gun. She stared at the two men standing a short distance away. The moment her eyes took in Castle, his battered and bruised face, the way he leaned forward and clutching at his chest her shock turned to anger. Someone was going to pay for doing that to Castle.

"Beltran, let him go!" Kate shouted.

Beltran seeing the armed woman confronting him hid behind Castle and shoved the gun into Castle's chest. Castle let out a sharp yelp of pain.

Despite the pain Castle's face lit up with a lopsided smile on seeing Kate before him. His jaw hurt but right now he did not care. His heart soared at the sight of her. For a moment he thought he must be dreaming again. Hope started burning brightly.

"Kate, you came." He called out.

"Ah, this is the famous Detective Kate Beckett?" Beltran said with some admiration in his voice as he spoke to Castle "She is even more attractive than I imagined. Photographs do not do her justice."

"Yeah, I agree." Castle said, smiling at Kate.

"My compliments, Mr Castle, you have quite the eye for beauty."

"Thanks, I like to think so." Castle chuckled.

Kate could not believe her ears. Here they were in the middle of a hostage situation, a situation which could turn deadly at any moment and here was the hostage and captor discussing her.

"Beltran I said let him go." Kate repeated.

Castle turned his head a little to look at the man behind him.

"Beltran, that's your real name?" He asked.

"It is."

"So why go with Mr Smith? Ashamed of it are you?"

Beltran poked Castle with the gun, making him hiss from the pain.

The gunfire had stopped. In her headset Kate heard team members reporting that the bad guys were down and the warehouse was secured.

"Delta Two, I have a clear shot on the subject."

"Bravo Three, clear shot on subject."

"Charlie Two, I have a clear shot." Esposito reported.

"Everyone hold your fire." Kate ordered, almost shouting. "I repeat, hold your fire."

Kate continued to stare at Castle and Beltran. She knew that the soldiers were the best in the business but she had not come all the way down here to see Castle get shot by some stray bullet.

The soldiers who had Beltran in their sights appealed to the Colonel for permission to shoot.

"Hold your fire." Colonel Valentine ordered in firm voice. "Charlie One the play is yours."

Kate almost nodded her head in response. Taking a deep calming breath and exhaling slowly she continued to stare at Castle and the man holding him hostage. She remembered the briefing back at the base. Beltran was a dangerous man. Now he was dangerous and cornered. Faced with a situation like this he was liable to do anything.

"Beltran you're surrounded, let Castle go."

"I don't think so, Detective Beckett." Beltran said. "I am going to walk out of here with Mr Castle and you are not going to stop me."

"That's not going to happen." Kate shook her head firmly.

"I know it will, Detective." Beltran said with a humourless laugh.

Kate was not going to let Beltran walk out of the warehouse taking Castle with him. That would be a sure fire way to ensure Castle's death. She was not going to let that happen.

"It's not going to happen, Beltran."

"Then we have a stand off, Detective Beckett."

"Hey guys we have a real Mexican stand off." Castle piped up, grinning.

Kate rolled her eyes. Trust Castle to find humour in a tense life and death situation. Kate heard chuckling coming from behind her. She was not sure if it was Ryan or Esposito doing the chuckling but she was not about to turn around to find out.

"Hey, Kate do you know this reminds me of that Steven Segal movie we saw." Castle called out.

"Castle, you're not helping here." Kate said

"You should listen to Detective Beckett, Mr Castle." Beltran said, pressing the barrel of the gun against Castle's chest. Castle winced at the sudden pain but his eyes were focused on the woman standing a short distance in front of him. He hoped that his eyes conveyed the complete trust he had in her and what he was trying to tell with his words without his words giving it away.

"Oh, Kate I can't believe you can't remember it." Castle whined as if Beltran was not standing behind him poking a gun into his chest.

Kate remembered too well. She remembered what he was talking about like it was yesterday. For a moment she was back in the squad room at the 12th precinct on that fateful day. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Castle. Her whole body tensed as she waited for the next move, hoping and praying that the outcome would be the same like the last time.

She almost rolled her eyes when she saw Castle wink at her. Her finger curled around the trigger of her gun. She watched Castle intently. Her heart was pounding. She could hardly breathe.

"Order your people to back away or I will shoot, Mr Castle." Beltran said confidently.

"No."

"Perhaps I will shoot you instead Detective Beckett?"

Kate saw Beltran lift the gun he had on Castle and slowly turn his hand to point the weapon in her direction. She also saw Castle mouth the word 'no'.

Suddenly the writer leaned his head forward and then threw it back hard catching Beltran square on the nose. He heard a loud crack of cartilage. Pain blossomed in the back of his head making him gasp. Beltran let out an outraged howl of pain as blood poured out of his smashed nose but he released his hold on Castle as he staggered back from the impact of the blow. Castle stumbled away, falling to his knees.

Kate lifted her gun slightly and pulled on the trigger. Three bullets hit Beltran in the chest just as he was lifting his gun. The man stumbled back and crumpled to the ground.

Kate rushed over to Castle putting her arm around his shoulder trying to help him to his feet but her gun was still trained on the man she had shot. Ryan ran up and helped her with the writer.

Esposito ran to where Beltran's body lay and kicked away the pistol from his hand. Bending down he made sure the man was dead.

Kate stared at the body. Esposito looked up at her.

"Scratch one bad guy." He said with a grin.

Kate nodded her head. She turned her attention to Castle putting her arm around his waist to steady him. She then turned to look at the dead man again.

"No one kidnaps my..."

"Man?" Castle offered hopefully.

Kate turned back to Castle. "I was going to say friend..." her face suddenly broke into a warm smile, " but my man, will do."

Castle returned her smile and wiggled his eyebrows.

Colonel Valentine emerged from the shadows. He paused by the body and looked down.

"Nice shooting Detective Beckett." Valentine said. A smile came to his lips. "Very nice shooting, heart shots, nice patten too."

"I was aiming for his head." Kate said simply. Colonel Valentine looked over to Kate and chuckled.

"Kate, I can't believe you came." Castle gasped as he stared at the woman wielding the submachine gun in her left hand and her other arm wrapped around him.

"I told you I'd get you out, Castle." Kate told him.

"I...I...thought it was just your seductive way of keeping me off balance?" Despite the pain he was in he still could smile.

Kate smiled at him. The deep worry of the past few days slowly ebbed away in that smile of his. He had no idea how relieved she was to find him alive.

"No Rick," She bent close to him. "It was a promise."

Castle gazed into those smouldering and intense green eyes. She held his gaze.

"And I always keep my promises." She added.

"Does that mean you're going to shoot me?" Castle asked with sudden alarm. "You've been promising that for years."

Kate rolled her eyes and shook her head but she continued to smile at him.

"You'll just have to stay on your toes then, wont you?"

Castle could only nod his head in agreement his smile deepening.

"Come on Castle let's get you home. You're probably been missing your own bed." She said.

Castle nodded his head again.

"I've been keeping it warm for you." She added in what she thought was a low voice.

A look of stunned disbelief chased away the smile from his face. He stared silently at her for some moments. Slowly a big grin swept across his face.

"What?" She said. She saw the looks on Esposito and Ryan's faces. They had heard what she had said. She could feel the heat rise to her cheeks.

"I knew I'd get you into my bed one of these days." He chuckled. "But part of the plan was for me to be there as well."

"Rick, not in front of the children." She chided gently.

Esposito and Ryan burst out laughing.

Colonel Valentine chose that moment to order every one back to the cars.

"Alpha One to all team members, play time's over." He announced. "Time to go home."

XXXXXX

Castle was taken to the van where Scotty quickly patched him up. He diagnosed a couple of cracked ribs. Being a medic in the Special Forces where guys trained hard to fight hard and played even harder, cracked or broken ribs was not an unusual affliction. He quickly taped up the ribs and gave him something for the pain. Then he dealt with the bruises and cuts.

Soon after that the van as well as the rest of the convoy were on the road heading for home. In the back of the van Castle was resting against Kate. Her arms were wrapped possessively around him but trying not to cause him any more pain than he was all ready in. It did not look like she would let him go any time soon. For the first couple of miles they had been silent. Castle being Castle couldn't keep quiet.

"Umm...Kate?" he said.

"Yes?"

"Kate can I say...you...and that gun...was disturbingly hot."

"Castle." She said as she rested her cheek against his.

"I had a dream about you, you know?" Castle said breaking the silence that had fallen between them. "Several, actually."

"Really?" Kate replied, an amused smile settling on her lips.

"Yeah...you were wearing an eye patch..."

Kate lifted up her head so that she could look at him. "You dreamt of me as a pirate?"

"Well, not exactly."

"Don't tell me it was one of your clothing optional dreams, me wearing an eyepatch and not much else?"

"Hey, now there's an idea!" Castle chuckled, warming to the suggestion.

"Castle!"

"No you were fully clothed, tight black leather pants and a figure hugging black tee shirt...and an eye patch." He informed her and then grinned and waggled his eyebrows.

Kate brought her lips close to his ear.

"Are you in pain, Castle?" She asked.

"At the moment, no."

"Well keep this up and you soon will be." She warned.

At the front of the van Colonel Valentine observed the scene between the writer and the detective. He turned to find Esposito and Ryan grinning. He had witnessed the banter and innuendo between Castle and Beckett after Beltran had been taken down and now it had started up again.

"Tell me are those two always like this?" He asked.

"Yes sir, Colonel." Esposito replied.

"And we wouldn't have any other way." Ryan added.

XXXXX

As always I really like to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Kindest regards

Con