Wrong Place Wrong Time

Chapter 29

Beckett yawned. "Castle, what are you yelling about? I still had, uh, five minutes of sleep left."

Castle pulled her face to his, kissing her firmly before swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Sorry about waking you but I know what C4121652 means."

"Okay, I'll bite," Beckett told him. "what does it mean?"

Castle wiggled his eyebrows. "We can save the biting for later, but it's a storage unit. Amir parked in the 1600 block of Nicholas Avenue. There's a storage facility at 1652 Nicholas Avenue. C412 is the unit."

Beckett's eyes cleared to brightness as she kissed him back. "You may just have something there. We have Amir's keys in evidence. We can swing by the precinct, get them, and go up to Nicholas Avenue and check."

In front of the storage facility, Castle watched Beckett remove bolt cutters from the trunk of her car. "What do you need those for?" he asked. "You got the keys."

"Just in case none of Amir's keys fit, it's good to have a tool," Beckett replied.

Castle drew a gulping breath. "For reasons too disturbing to mention, I find that hot."

Beckett grinned saucily. "Castle, I think you just like what I do with a tool."

Castle choked, as she turned to walked toward the building. "You're so right," he muttered, chasing after her.

The cutters proved unnecessary as a key from Amir's ring turned smoothly in the lock. The unit was unlit, with only the pale outline of a crate showing. Beckett pulled out her Mag Lite. "Doesn't seem likely someone would keep evidence of blackmail in a crate," she puzzled, shining her light inside.

"We may be back to my archaeologist. Ark of the Covenant, Dr. Jones?" Castle asked in a bad German accent.

Beckett continued to shine her light as they lifted the wooden lid to reveal white packets of a soft clay-like substance. "C-4?" Castle wondered. "What would Amir be doing with explosives?"

A device on Beckett's belt began to beep. "Castle get out! Get out now!" she shouted, pushing him toward the roll up door. Dropping her flashlight in her haste and running behind him, she pulled the door shut and pulled out her phone as she urged him down the hall. "This is Kate Beckett, badge number 0334. I've been exposed to high levels of radiation. Requesting emergency services at 1652 Nicholas Avenue.


Two men in radiation suits led Castle to the inside of a white plastic tent where Beckett already sat on a bench. Castle sat on the bench opposite her, taking her hand. Have they told you anything? Do they know what we were exposed to? How bad it is?"

Beckett shook her head. "I don't think they know. They'll be sending people in proper protective gear into the storage unit. I'm sure they'll tell us when they can."

"It's a bomb, a nuclear bomb!" Castle exclaimed, rising from the bench.

"Castle, you don't know that!' Beckett protested, her voice quavering.

Castle returned to sit beside her, his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, it's just the writer in me jumping to the worst case scenario. It could be anything. I read that a lot of metal, even silverware, is radioactive because it gets recycled from dumps outside this country, where they've also stored medical waste. It's a storage facility. It could have any kind of junk."

Beckett smiled wryly. "I don't know if that's better or worse. In a public storage facility a lot of people could have been exposed. The general public doesn't usually carry radiation detectors."

"Speaking of which," Castle asked, "does that thing have a scale, like from chest x-ray to Chernobyl?"

Beckett pressed herself into his shoulder. "Maxed out."

"Oh," Castle murmured softly, laying his head on top of hers to hold her closer.

There was a rasping sound as the door to the tent was unzipped. A man in a radiation suit entered, his helmet removed. "You're free to go," he told them.

"What about the radiation?" Castle questioned.

"We found residual traces of cobalt sixty in the storage unit," the tech informed them, "not enough to cause any health problems."

Castle and Beckett hugged as he kissed her neck. "Cobalt sixty. Hospitals use that for radiation treatment," Castle related happily. "No bomb, just storage junk."

"Oh there was a bomb," Captain Montgomery countered, coming through the door of the tent, "a dirty bomb. There was a second crate at the storage unit with large amounts of cobalt sixty. We found wires and crimp on connectors which lead us to believe that the crate was outfitted with explosives."

"Where's the crate now?" Beckett asked.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Montgomery replied. "If you two are up to it, we sure could use your help. There's also a complication. A guy named Fallon, an agent of Homeland Security, he's taken over running the investigation. He's really got a stick up his ass, so you two are going to have to behave, at least around him."

"Yes sir," Beckett agreed. "We'll be a the precinct in a little while. We just need to clean up."

"What are you two doing here?" Alexis asked as Beckett and Castle walked into the loft.

"We ran into a mess when we were investigating a scene, just wanted to catch a shower before we go back to the precinct. Mother what are you still doing here?" Castle asked Martha, who sat at the counter with Alexis.

"Just finishing my energizing juice before I go off to the Serenity retreat," Martha replied, "alone, due to your martinet behavior making Alexis stay home to study for a physics test."

"Thank you," Alexis mouthed, grinning at her father out of Martha's view.

"You know," Castle told Alexis, "I've changed my mind about that. Go! You've been too wound up about school. I think it will be better for you to relax a little."

"But my physics test! All my books are here." Alexis protested.

"Take them along," Castle urged.

"I haven't packed anything packed anything," Alexis desperately appealed. "I'll make Gram late."

"Darling," Martha assured her, "everything is provided. Let's just go."

"Go!" Castle added. "It will be good for you."

Alexis threw her father an angry glare before stomping upstairs to get her books. "C'mon Beckett," Castle invited, taking her hand. "Pulsating streams of hot water await."

"It's good you're getting them out of town," Beckett remarked, as they shed their clothes in the bedroom. "At least you know they'll be safe. Alexis will get over it."

"She'll find a way to get me back, but it will be worth it. What about your Dad?" Castle asked.

"He's at a conference in London," Beckett replied thankfully.

Castle turned the water on full blast. "You're really going at this," Beckett observed as they stood under the double nozzles in Castle's oversized shower stall.

Castle scrubbed at himself with a loofah and handed one to Beckett. "We might want to have a little Kate or Rick running around someday. I'm not taking any chances. How about you scrub my back and I'll scrub yours?"

Beckett smile as she flicked her finger at a water drop on his chest. "Deal."

A/N Some of you may be screaming that I got Beckett's badge number wrong. In this episode, that's what she gave it as. It changed later.