Chapter 25: Tell Us What You Know

I won't relieve this love

"Kate," Castle says softly. He had woken up moments before to find himself bound to a chair, his mouth now free and his head still a little foggy from the drugs, with Beckett in much the same situation in a chair across from him. "Beckett?"

She blinks rapidly as she tries to adjust to the light and her surroundings. Pain shoots through her body when she tries to take a deep breath, and she can't help the wince and small cry that she lets out.

"Kate, are you okay? How bad is it? What can I do?"

"I… It's okay, Castle."

He studies the pained expression that has taken over her face. "Where, Kate? What's hurt?"

"Ribs," she bites her lip to keep from crying out. "I can't tell if they're just cracked or broken."

"Where?"

"Middle. Right side."

"Are you having trouble breathing at all?"

"No, it just hurts."

"Okay. You just hang in there, and I'll find a way out for us," he looks around the warehouse for the first time and notices that there is only one door. He pulls as his binding, trying to loosen it so he could get free and go to her. The tape doesn't budge at all. "It might take longer than I thought. You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah… I'll get over it."

"Anything else at all, Kate? You took a bad fall."

"I think I've got a bump on my head; I think I hit the same spot on the stairs as I did when I fell off the couch. But I don't really think anything's wrong there. It's all just a little fuzzy; it might be the drugs though."

"I'm a little fuzzy too; it's probably the drugs. And I'm sure they gave you way too much for your size. That's not helping anything."

"Rick?"

"Yes?"

"I'm really sorry I got you into this. They shouldn't have come after you; they should have just taken me and left you alone. If anything happens to you… I can't forgive myself."

"Everything is going to be fine, Kate. They're going to realize we're missing, and they're going to come looking for us. You have a decent building; I'm sure there were cameras and people who saw them. There will be a trail somewhere."

"I don't know, Rick. They won't know we're missing until morning when we don't show up for work. And by then it might be too late," she says quietly, trying her hardest to keep her breathing even and shallow so as not to stress her ribs.

"Alexis knows we were going out. I told her I'd be home tonight; I promised that I'd text her if I was going to be staying at your place for some reason. She's probably tried to reach us by now, and she's probably alerted the department that we're missing. They're looking, Kate."

"Maybe she thinks we got caught up in the moment, that we forgot to let her know. Or maybe she fell asleep waiting for you to get home."

"She didn't," he assures her. "She's always up until I get back unless I tell her I won't be there."

She nods, hoping he is right.

"Kate?" he asks timidly.

"Yeah?"

"How'd they get in? Your door wasn't kicked in or anything. No signs of a struggle from the outside."

"I… It was stupid of me, Castle. I just assumed it was you, and I didn't even check. They had guns and drugs, and they just overpowered me because I wasn't expecting it."

"Hey, it's not your fault, Kate. You made a mistake; I'm sure they've made plenty of them, and the boys are going to find them and rescue us."

She looks over at him, taking in his appearance. "Are you okay, Castle?"

"Yeah. I'm not hurt or anything. Don't worry about me."

"You're not lying to me to make me feel better, are you?"

"Of course not. I swear they haven't done anything to me but tie me up."

"It better stay that way."

Castle watches her as she refuses to meet his eyes, wishing she would stop blaming herself for this. He isn't going to blame her for anything that happens, and no one else would either. "Kate, I just want you to know that you look beautiful. I was really looking forward to our date tonight, and when we get out of here, I want to try this first date thing with you again, hopefully with better results."

"Well… you've been with a lot of women, Castle, but I think this is one first date that you've never had before."

"No, I can't say I've ever been kidnapped and tied up on a first date before. That's more second or third date material…"

Before she can comment on this, two of the men walk into the warehouse and approach them. They look from the detective to the writer, trying to decide who they wanted to address. One of them pulls out a knife and steps closer to Kate while the other keeps his eyes on Castle. "We want to know how much you know about us."

"We don't know anything," Beckett says before the writer can speak up.

"I doubt that. Now start talking."

"Dick Coonan and Hal Lockwood. That's all we know," Castle tells him, not looking at her. "We have no other names, nothing to identify anyone else in this by. We just knew there were more of you out there, especially since you kept sending her death threats."

"We will make good on those threats if you don't give up what you know."

"We don't know anything else," Beckett insists, trying to hide the pain from her face so that they don't know that she is already hurt.

The man presses his knife to her throat. Castle begins to squirm. "Don't hurt her. I swear we're telling you the truth. We don't know who you are or who's at the top of this thing."

"Okay… maybe you don't know anything about who we are. But who else knows that Hal Lockwood was not the end of this? Who knows that there are more of us to find? Tell us, and we'll make it painless for you."

"The whole NYPD knows," Kate answers.

"You'll never get away with this. You may kill us, but there are still plenty of others out there who will find you. You can't possibly kill them all without getting caught," Castle glances at her, still trying to loosen his bindings in hopes of breaking free and rescuing her.

"We want names. Who specifically has been working on this case?"

Both Castle and Beckett stare at him silently, not daring to look at each other.

"Go ahead," the leader tells the other man, his eyes still fixed on Castle.

The second man removes the knife from her neck only to run the edge of it along her bare upper arm, slowly adding pressure until her skin breaks. The writer watches in horror as blood begins to drip from her arm. He looks to her face, trying to figure what he should do. He doesn't want to give Ryan and Esposito away, but he can't stand the thought of her being hurt. She, however, has her gaze fixed on the floor off to the side.

"Give me their names and we'll put her out of her misery. Keep your mouth shut and things will get much worse for her."

He hesitates, unsure of what to do.

She looks up at him and sees that he is conflicted. "Keep your mouth shut, Castle. Don't give them anything."

The knife travels up to her face, making a knick in her cheek. He cringes, both because he can't stand her being hurt and because he knows she's going to hurt him for giving in. "Detectives Ryan and Esposito," Rick says, dragging his eyes away from her and up to his face.

The leader lifts the gun he had been holding in his hand and aims it at Castle. The writer's eyes widen in horror.

"No," Beckett yells, pulling at the tape and completely blocking out the pain in her ribs.

"Say goodbye to your friend, Detective. We'll be back for you later," the man tells her, not even looking at her.

The second man uses his knife to cut the tape on her wrists a second before the first pulls the trigger of his gun, the bullet headed straight for Castle.

A/N: And now you're probably all mad at me. Do you want another chapter? I'm leaving Saturday morning, but if you really want another, I'd be willing to post tomorrow sometime. But I don't think next chapter ends much better than this one; you'd still be mad that you have to wait until Wednesday for an update. Well... five more chapters to go. Keep the reviews coming please.