Author's Note: I'd like to thank phnxgrl, southerngirl1, and TORONTOSUN for their reviews. TORONTOSUN: I felt that was the only way to get the Brass to understand what they couldn't see on their own. I suppose I could have added Jerry Tyson into the mix, but that wasn't as personal for Beckett and I wasn't sure how to connect it in their minds with as varied as his murders/crimes have been. southerngirl1: glad you weren't bored with the autopsy report. phnxgrl: Having Lanie do the report in order seemed like the only logical way to do it. I'm just hoping she can get some sleep after all that. This chapter starts a couple hours after the last one ended. Enjoy!

Chapter 35

Two hours after they had arrived, Beckett and Castle had no idea how The Gentleman might have crossed paths with the AUSA. Robinson had kept journals on various cases and her life, but nothing indicated any point where she knew she was in trouble. There had to be some point where she felt she needed some protection though, because she had five body guards.

Beckett was about to close a drawer when she realized it a little shallower on the inside as opposed to the outside. "Hey, check this out."

Castle had been looking in the cupboards at the bottoms of the bookcases. "What is it?"

"There's a hidden compartment in this drawer." Beckett opened the compartment and pulled out a file. "This is on The Gentleman."

"We should take it back to the precinct. Just in case."

"You think he's listening?"

Castle looked grim. "We already know the walls have ears. How hard would it be to hack into the system?"

"Good point." Beckett grabbed a box. "Put anything we might need to look at in here. We'll sort it out later."

Castle threw in Robinson's copies of a few old court cases that had looked promising, along with an organizer from four years ago. Beckett had two other organizers and a couple journals. On top of the stack was the file on The Gentleman. Castle carried the box to the car while Beckett checked out of the crime scene. One of the officers replaced the yellow tape across the door and waved her out. Castle put the box on the backseat. Beckett grabbed the file on The Gentleman out of the box, put it on her seat, and then sat on it.

Castle waited until they were on their way to ask about that. "So, why are you sitting on the file?"

"If the walls have eyes and ears and The Gentleman has hacked the system, I don't want to lose this file."

Castle reached into the back and grabbed a journal. "Fair enough." He became quiet for a few minutes as he looked over the journal.

"Anything interesting?"

Castle shrugged. "Well, it's not related to this case… I think. This journal's about the Spolano case."

Beckett adjusted her grip in the steering wheel. "Case notes, interviews, that sort of thing?"

"Yeah."

"That's the same with the oth…"

Out of the corner of her eye, Beckett saw the truck headed right for them, but there was no time to do anything about it. The collision was fast and hard. Their car skidded sideways, glass cracked, and Beckett's head connected with the driver's side window. Castle was thrown forward against the seat belt as the airbags deployed and he dropped the journal. The truck didn't stop and their car was pushed sideways until it hit a lamppost.

Beckett was vaguely aware of what was happening. Two men had gotten out of the truck and rushed to the cruiser. They popped open the back window and reached into the backseat. They grabbed something off the seat and then one of the men pointed his gun at the detective.

The other pushed his hand up quickly. "Нет! Она сохранено для тень лисы (Net! Ona sokhraneno dlya ten' lisy)."

The statement shot fear into Beckett's heart. Another car pulled up and the two men got in, but Beckett wasn't paying much attention now. She was far too distracted by the information she'd just learned. Alex is supposed to kill me. That was the last thought she had as consciousness slipped away.

Castle woke slumped against his seat belt. The belt was cutting into his shoulder and he sat up, groaning as his muscles protested. He took stock of his injuries. It hurt a little to breathe, so there might be a couple broken ribs. He could also feel where the belt had stopped his forward momentum, most likely leaving a bruise across his chest and shoulder.

He glanced over at Beckett. She was sloping toward him, her eyes closed, blood running down the left side of her face. Castle undid his seat belt and reached over to check her pulse. Still strong, good. He grabbed the car's radio.

"Control, this is Richard Castle. I'm with Detective Kate Beckett, badge number 41319. We've been in an accident and need medical assistance."

"Copy Mr. Castle. Where is Detective Beckett?"

"She's unconscious. I don't know how long ago the accident was. I blacked out too."

"We've got reports of an accident at Putnam and Claver."

Castle looked around. "Yeah, that's us."

"Okay, hang tight Mr. Castle. Paramedics are on their way."

"Thank you." Beckett stirred and Castle took her hand. "Detective Beckett is coming to."

Dispatch turned their attention to Beckett. "Detective, are you okay?"

Beckett held out her hand and Castle gave her the microphone. "I'm alive." She turned to her fiancé. "You okay?"

Castle nodded. "Yeah." He pointed to her forehead. "You've got a cut."

"I know. The blood on my face was a dead giveaway." Sirens pierced the midmorning sounds in the city. "Dispatch, I can hear the sirens."

"Paramedics are headed to you. We'll notify Captain Gates for you."

"Thank you." Beckett returned the radio to its cradle and leaned back against her seat. "Those men were sent by The Gentleman. This wasn't an accident."

"You're sure?"

"Is the box still in the back?"

Castle carefully turned in his seat to look. "No, it's not."

"You were right about the walls having hacked ears." Beckett felt the seat under her. "The file is still here."

Castle reached down to the floor between his feet. "We also have one of the journals. Everything else is gone."

The paramedics arrived and helped them out of the car. Ryan, Esposito, and Gates arrived half an hour later while Beckett and Castle were getting checked out at the ambulance. Beckett was at the back of the ambulance; her face had been cleaned up for the most part and the cut was being bandaged. Castle was inside with his shirt off and his chest was being gently prodded to check for rib fractures.

Esposito was looking at the car. "You guys were in that?"

"The outside looks worse that it was." The last strip of tape was put in place and Beckett stood up. "The Gentleman was behind this."

Gates turned from the wreck. "How do you know?"

"The cameras in Robinson's house had microphones too. While we were in her house, I found this." Beckett grabbed the folder off the back of the ambulance. "It's a file Robinson had on The Gentleman. Castle and I put together a box of things we wanted to take a closer look at when we returned to the precinct."

Castle turned his head to look at them. "That box is gone now."

Beckett nodded. "In the house, I put this folder in the box. Once we got to the car, I moved it to my seat and sat on it. That's why we still have it."

Castle grimaced. "I took a journal out of the box while we were driving and dropped it during the accident. We also have that."

Ryan took the folder from Beckett. "So what happened?"

"The truck came out of nowhere, right at my door. They hit us and kept going; that's how we ended up over there. I hit my head, so some of the details are fuzzy."

"I had a face full of airbag and blacked out, so I've got nothing."

Gates ignored Castle. "Tell us what you know."

"I remember the window behind me popping; the glass was hit a couple times with something. That's when they must have grabbed the box. One of them pointed a gun at me, the other knocked it away. Then he said 'Нет! Она сохранено для тень лисы (Net! Ona sokhraneno dlya ten' lisy)'."

Esposito shrugged. "What does that mean?"

Beckett turned to her partner. "It means 'She's reserved for the Shadow Fox'. Alex has been contracted to kill me."

The group was silent. One of their own was a target. The paramedic was done examining Castle and Beckett climbed into the ambulance to help Castle put his shirt back on. Their conversation was a series of looks and gestures. Castle was worried for Beckett and she was trying to reassure him. Gates issued a couple quick orders to the boys and they split to carry out their assignments, leaving the folder with the captain.

Gates climbed into the ambulance and sat across from the couple. "With this information, perhaps you should consider hiring some protection."

Beckett shook her head. "It wouldn't matter. Robinson had five bodyguards and Alex went through them like they were rookies in the academy. I don't want to put anyone else in harm's way."

Castle looked at the Captain. "We'll make sure we're wearing our vests. It'll be harder to stab us that way."

Gates nodded. "At least have my number on speed dial and call me if anything seems suspicious. I don't want to lose either of you."

The two goons who stole the box from Beckett's car returned to The Gentleman's with the getaway driver a few minutes after the paramedics arrived at the accident. They were rookies to The Gentleman's crew and seemed really pleased with themselves when they placed the box on the table in front of him. Volkert stood and looked in the box, his grin slowly turning into a scowl as he dug deeper in the box without finding what he was looking for.

"Where's the folder?"

The goons looked at each other. "What folder?"

"The folder I saw them set on the top of this box. Where is it?"

"We didn't see a folder, sir. I grabbed everything that was on the back seat. I even got cut grabbing one of the items."

"If the folder wasn't in the box, you won't be getting it now." Alex was sitting at a table cleaning her knife.

The Gentleman turned to her. "What do you mean?"

Alex looked up. "If the folder wasn't in the box, Beckett or Castle probably moved it when they got to the car. That means it was still in the car when your men drove off. Cops will be all over that scene by now. You're not getting to that folder."

The Gentleman's scowl deepened and turned back to the goons. "Did anything else go wrong?"

The goon with the cut on his arm sold out the other. "Vlad tried to kill Detective Beckett."

The Gentleman nodded once and the head of The Gentleman's guards grabbed Vlad in a Nelson hold. "Alex, would you mind disposing of this moron for me?"

Alex looked at the struggling goon. "He's facing the wrong way."

The Gentleman turned back to the struggle. "Expose his back."

"No! It was a mistake! I'd heard you wanted her dead! I thought I was doing you a favor! I'm sorry!"

Alex stood while the man's position changed to expose his back to her. The man continued to plead as she approached. She waited until he had started to sob and then lunged forward, plunging the knife deep in his back. He tensed up, a strangled cry escaping his lips. She twisted the knife and then pulled it out and stabbed twice more. The man slumped between the two holding him up and they dropped him. Alex wiped off her knife on the dying man's clothes and then, as if nothing had happened, she returned to her table to begin the cleaning process again.

When the goon stopped breathing, The Gentleman signaled that Vlad's body should be taken care of. "Clean this up."

While the two who'd held Vlad took care of cleaning and disposing of the evidence, The Gentleman went to his computer setup. Alex cleaned her knife for the second time that day, a little irritated. She'd almost been done cleaning it and The Gentleman had made her dirty it again. She wished the blood on the knife had been Volkert's and not Vlad's. At least then the task of cleaning wouldn't be so annoying.

The Gentleman stood up and approached Alex. "I need you to take care of the other two as well. They didn't listen to me and left a trail. One left his blood and DNA on the window glass of the car and the other exposed his face to cameras in the area. I cannot allow them to live."

Alex set down her WingWalk and stood. The driver and cut goon stood by the hood of a car with their backs to Alex. She opened her bag and took out two throwing knives. She walked to a spot where the flightpath of the knives would be clear and took her stance, testing the weight and balance of the knives as she prepped for the throw.

Alex put her left arm across her body and flung the first knife at the man standing on the right. The knife's momentum buried the blade deep in his upper back. Before the first knife had even found its target, Alex had thrown the other at the man on the left. It too buried the blade deep in his back. Both knives had found the hearts of the men and they dropped as each was punctured, killing them almost instantly.

The Gentleman stood watching with his hands behind his back. "Why did you kill them that way?"

"I didn't want to clean my knife again." Alex sat at her table and resumed her task. "Your men can take care of cleanup, right?"

A/N: What is Alex up to? What will Beckett and the team find in Robinson's hidden file? Leave a comment with your predictions and stay tuned!