Erosion
Chapter 25 - Arrest

Castle texted Esposito to let him know they were five minutes out, while Beckett wove expertly through the relatively light mid-afternoon traffic.

Instead of a message in reply, Castle's phone rang.

Esposito started talking as soon as he answered, "Yo, tell Beckett not to waste any time with the sight-seeing. We've got movement here."

He sounded tense.

Castle relayed his comment to Beckett and then asked, "Where are you?"

"One of the furniture restoration places they were hooked up with. Come to the back of the laneway, drive straight down, but make sure you're saddled up ready to go, bro."

Castle could hear yelling in the background and he strained to hear what was being said. "What's going on?" he asked Espo, and turned sideways in his seat to look at his partner. He was glad they'd had the foresight to don their flak vests before getting in the car.

"Turner's here and he's not alone. Either it was left to him to make good on the drop you two busted up, or, with his boss out of the loop, he's trying to wheedle his way in. It's not going his way though. He hasn't got the goods and there's two guys here trying to persuade him to look harder."

"Who's with you and Ryan?"

Beckett caught the urgency in his tone and the tight line around his eyes and she started driving a little more aggressively.

"No one man, you're our backup and so far you're taking your sweet time getting here," he said gruffly, "We were already inside the front of the shop talking to staff when our boys arrived out back for their chat. We've got six employees that don't seem to have any connection to Turner's extra-curriculars and we could be looking at a hostage situation if things get ugly in there."

"Okay, we are..." he leaned to look out the window for landmarks, "We're only a block away."

Beckett swung the vehicle around the corner as the light changed to red, and Castle gripped the seat hard with his free hand.

He gave a rapid-fire recap of Espo's situation to his partner while keeping his phone to his ear in case of an update. They saw the boys' Crown Vic several car lengths ahead and the narrow laneway just beyond it. Castle scanned the shop windows and placards for the business name.

"We're about to turn into the laneway," Castle told Esposito.

"The big double-doors at the end – one's open – straight in twenty yards; you'll have some cover if you go left. All three are armed. We're in position here and Ryan's got the folks settled up front."

Castle was practically speaking over Espo as he repeated the details for Beckett to hear. She had her seat belt off before the car even came to a stop and Castle hurried to follow.

They exited the vehicle together, clicking the doors shut so as not to announce themselves with unnecessary noise. Beckett freed her weapon from its holster and moved in front of Castle. It was several yards from the car to the rear door of the building and she covered the distance in long hurried strides. She took a moment to lean against the wall, listening, before glancing back at Castle and nodding.

"Go," Castle whispered into the phone.

Beckett was already rounding the corner. In front of her she saw the two young men, barely in their twenties, their tattoos proudly displayed in muscle-shirts despite temperatures hovering around sixty.

She announced their presence, and her call of 'NYPD, drop your weapons' reverberated in the long open workshop. Following Esposito's suggestion she stepped to her left, and took cover behind one of several racks of timber stacked end on end.

Almost immediately Espo's yell rang out from the other side of the work bay. She felt, more than saw, Castle's solid presence behind her as she watched the attention of the assailants flick between threats. One of them levelled a back-handed fist to Turner's head and the man stumbled to his knees. The other had his gun up as if prepared to fight, though his indecision was clear by the way his arm swung wildly back and forth across the room.

They needed Turner in custody and Beckett wasn't willing to risk the two newcomers deciding to silence their murder suspect. She stepped forward, weapon raised, and called out again for them to lower their guns.

Esposito's approach matched her own, and the two detectives slowly closed the distance to their suspects with measured steps. At the corner of her vision she noticed Ryan, his back to the wall by the door; keeping an eye on both his colleagues and the workers currently hiding in the front of the shop.

Turner's face blanched white when his gaze fell on Beckett and she had to assume he had no idea she'd survived her abduction; clearly being on the run from dissatisfied drugs and arms smugglers left little time for perusing the papers.

He started to shuffle to his feet, reaching behind himself for the gun visible at the waistband of his jeans. His movement caused the two young men to panic further and they started shouting; frantic yells to back off, followed by assertions that they weren't afraid to shoot.

Beckett sensed their rising panic and she paused, wanting to defuse the tension, "So far you boys are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. We're here for him," she said, nodding towards Turner, "I suggest you put your weapons on the floor and get on your knees."

Ryan stepped forward, gun raised in a show of superior force, emphasising their lack of options. The slow footfalls behind her told her that her own partner was doing the same, sans weapon.

One of the cornered men growled, the whites of his eyes flashing as he hesitated.

"Don't do anything stupid, man, just lay down the gun," Esposito said calmly.

Beckett took another half step forward and for the first time noticed the open cardboard boxes on the floor at their feet. There was every possibility that those boxes were part payment for the lost shipment and the two men knew they were going in for more than just weapons charges.

She risked a look over her shoulder to Esposito. His expression told her he'd followed her gaze and he was already aware of what was at play.

"This is going down one way or the other. It's up to you how hard you want to make it on yourselves," Esposito spoke again.

The guy in front was clearly wavering and Beckett held her position, waiting him out. The silence stretched out around them and, although it lasted no more than five seconds, it was all it took for him look over his shoulder at his friend.

"This is bullshit, man, it's not worth it," he cursed, and the two men came to their decision together. Their arms dropped and they both lowered themselves to the ground, and surrendered their weapons

Turner's face turned angry; teeth barred and his nose wrinkled in fury.

Esposito moved sideways to circle around the trio; he kept the two kneeling men between himself and their main suspect and kicked their weapons away. Ryan joined him, preparing to cuff them. Beckett kept her weapon and her eyes trained on Turner, and waited until the others were restrained and only one threat remained.

She didn't rush it. Despite the cold fury in his eyes she knew defeat when she saw it; Turner was done and he knew it.

Castle must have recognised it too, he stepped up beside her just Ryan and Esposito moved to flank their suspect from behind; all four acting in concert. That was all she had been waiting for.

"Rufus Turner, you are under arrest for the murder of Samir Aras, Hassan Al-Hassani, and Adam Madihi…"

###

They left Turner downstairs to be booked and processed, and to wait for his lawyer to arrive, and stepped into the elevator together. Castle hit the button to take them up to homicide, and Beckett brushed past him to lean into the corner as the doors closed.

Castle was so busy congratulating himself on staying out of trouble and getting through the majority of their first day after the night before that the light pressure against his wrist didn't immediately register. The glide of smooth fingers sent a tingle straight from his wrist to his belly and he gaped at his partner in surprise.

Beckett was angled back against the wall – all knowing smiles and bedroom eyes – and she tugged him to her. He would have come willingly if he'd had time to process the idea, as it was his astonishment at any kind of physical overture while at work, let alone in the elevator (Beckett fantasy #3), had him unable to think.

Her arms came around his neck in an instant and she was tugging him into her, desperate and hot against him. She kissed him, open mouthed and frenetic, her fingers clawing at his scalp. He wrapped his hands around her hips; fingers curling at the base of her back, threatening to dip lower, while his thumbs dug into the soft skin at the edge of her stomach.

The jolt of the elevator gave them barely a second's warning and she broke the kiss noisily, held him to her until the last possible instant, and as the doors opened she stepped around him and marched with long strides along the corridor.

Castle stood breathless in the elevator. The mechanical jolt of the doors preparing to close again startled him and he managed to shoot his hand out to the hold-door button in time to stop it closing fully. He'd thought he'd had ample practice over the years handling the effect she had on him but this was well and truly testing his self control. He took a deep breath, scruffed his hand over his face, and thought about the mountain of paperwork still to be done, or at least observed, and followed his partner.

She was already seated at her desk and shuffling papers when he finally made it along the hallway. She looked up at him through the curtain of her lashes, and her smile was a dare.

"Not playing fair, detective," he chastised her, before removing his coat and dropping into his seat.

"Who said anything about fair?" she picked up her pen, but instead of getting back to work she bought the pen to her mouth tracing the end along her bottom lip, "Actually, I think I may have left something down in the holding cells, you want to ride the elevator with me and check?"

"Kaaaate," Castle growled at her, "Are you serious? Because I'm trying to be on my best behaviour here."

She was quiet for a moment, and the teasing curve of her mouth morphed into something more serious, "We're a good team, Castle, and that's really not going to change, is it." There was no hint of a question in her voice.

"No, I don't believe it will."

She was forced to wait while two detectives arrived at the next desk over and proceeded to talk amongst themselves. After a minute, realising they weren't going anywhere, she looked over her shoulder at the break room. It appeared to be empty.

"Let's get coffee," she told him, needing to escape the watchful eyes of her colleagues.

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A/N- i know what you all think she's going into the break room for! Can i just say, sometimes when a woman says "do you want to come in for coffee?" she actually means, "do you want to come in for coffee?" ;o