Decisions and Dominoes Chapter 37
Delta team arrived back at base first, but they didn't head in. They had been unable to reach Whiskey by radio and knew that something was sideways.
"What are we waiting for? Kate's in there," Castle's voice betrayed his panic.
Hunt the asset responded to his team member and not his son, "With Whiskey dark, we wait for Alpha, Bravo and Charlie before we move on base."
"Can't we radio them to see how much longer they are going to be?" Castle's anxiety about what might have happened to Kate was clearly weighing on him.
Hunt appeared to be on high alert, "When Whiskey went dark the radio silence protocol went into effect."
The conscious recklessness that Kate was worried about surfaced, "You can stay here, but I'm going in there."
Hunt snagged Castle's arm with an iron grip before he could even begin reaching for the door handle, "You do that and you might as well put a bullet in her yourself."
The starkness of Hunt's warning reeled Castle back in, "We can't just sit here."
Hunt glanced in the rearview, "We don't have to; they're here."
Castle got out of the van following Hunt's lead. The three vans had parked in flanking positions behind theirs. They were far enough away from the plant to be out of range of the perimeter cameras and all interior lights on the vans had been killed, so any look outs wouldn't know they were back yet; but Hunt knew that anyone waiting would be expecting them.
"Target recon report!" Hunt sounded angry.
Esposito's voice was low and grim, "Alpha target negative."
"Bravo site a no go," X-ray reported.
Charlie team's faces said it all, but Yankee stated, "Charlie was a bust."
Hunt didn't look surprised and Castle didn't miss it, "Delta too."
"Orders, sir?" Zulu prompted.
"We breach," everyone but Castle had anticipated the directive and was moving toward their van to gear up for the assault.
"I guess there's no way you would be willing to stay here?" Hunt asked as he secured his night vision goggles and a SCAR-H.
"Whoa, what's that?" Castle asked eyeing the rifle Hunt was readying.
Hunt's eye took on a bit of a gleam, "This is the Special Forces Combat Assault Rifle heavy model; or the SCAR-H."
The other teams walked up packing the same weapon along with night vision, "Long or short barrels, boss?"
"Bravo you will clear the outside perimeter, so long barrels for you," Hunt's tactical decision making skills were on auto-pilot.
"Alpha and Charlie, short barrels for clearing the warehouse," Hunt's new orders sent the men scrambling to adjust.
Hunt stared down his son, "You will stick with your Sig. You will stay behind me and you will do exactly what I tell you. Do you understand Richard?"
A father son moment of epic proportions was playing out, "Yes, sir."
As each man returned appropriately geared for his assignment, Hunt gave Castle a final look, "Let's go get your girl."
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They approached the slaughter house on foot. Bravo team peeled off first to secure the perimeter. Each team had been assigned an entry point. Hunt figured that it was unlikely that Tyson, the kid or even both could deal with a triple breach.
With radio silence still in effect, everyone had three minutes to be in position and ready to force their way in when the last seconds of that three minutes ticked away.
Hunt and Castle would breach the bay doors the vans had gone through, Espo and Ryan had a side entrance that would allow them to clear the building all the way back to the base of operations, and Charlie team was coming through the front.
With gun at the ready, Castle's mind was racing with thoughts both bidden and errant. He tried clearing them only to be inundated with others driving him to distractions that ran through his brain like water through a sieve.
"Ten seconds; you wait ten seconds before you follow me in," Hunt ordered as he placed a small explosive on the part of the door where the lock was on the other side.
The moment the lock blew and Hunt disappeared through the door, a singular focus took hold of Castle, his mind cleared and on ten he went without hesitation through the door behind his father in search of the most important part of himself; Kate.
"Charlie clear!" the breach team hitting the front door called as they finished up their search of the tech room having arrived first.
Hunt and Castle arrived there quickly not having met any resistance upon entry, "Delta clear!"
The two teams remained on alert awaiting Alpha. When they walked through the door announcing that the building was clear, the grim expression on their faces kept everyone in stasis waiting for the rest. Exchanging glances with Ryan, Espo gave the report, "Whiskey is down; neck's broken."
Ryan added, "Looks like he was attacked from behind."
Castle registered the loss of Whiskey and fear gripped him, "Kate?"
Espo shook his head, "No sign of her, bro, or the kid."
Castle's face left nothing to anyone's imagination. The blow was crushing. He walked toward the briefing table trying to get some space and froze when he saw what had been left there for them; for him.
Ryan, who had been watching, approached asking, "Castle? You okay?"
Castle moved closer to the table to be sure of what he was seeing. In the middle of the briefing materials sat two chess pieces. The black rook that Castle had kept from Henry's crime scene was tipped over on its side and beside it was a black pawn sitting upright on its base. Castle didn't move toward the message or away from it physically, but his words stopped everyone in the room short, "The only way to stop a rook is to put one of its own pieces in the way."
No one was certain if Castle knew he had spoken out loud, "Tyson has her."
Hunt drew up beside his son, "I wouldn't be so sure about that."
Incredulity was written all over his face, "Who else but Tyson would leave that message for me?"
Hunt motioned to Zulu to man the tech station, "Something about this kid has bothered me from day one. OffKilter; this kid's hacker handle is more than that to him. It's his moniker; his calling card and autograph, just like his psychotic brother."
Espo and Ryan stepped up beside them as Hunt gave Zulu orders, "Pull up the surveillance program. Search Echo-Lima-Kilo-Niner-Fife-Niner."
Seconds later, "We have position on Echo-Lima-Kilo-Niner-Fife-Niner, sir."
"What the…?" Espo broke into a grin.
Hunt explained, "An asset is always just that; an asset, never anything more or less. And a costly lesson I learned a long time ago is that an asset is on your side until he isn't."
Castle thought he was beginning to understand, "You tagged him."
Hunt allowed himself a brief smile, "Let's just say that when I gave him something to help him get some sleep, I thought it prudent to be sure we could find him if he somehow got misplaced."
Kevin pushed to where he could see the screen, "You really think this kid took out one of your guys and got the drop on Beckett?"
"I do. The only other possibility is that Tyson found this place. If that were true, he would have been waiting for us. It would have been best case scenario for him," Hunt had obviously thought this through before now.
Castle interrupted, "So we follow this blip on the screen and we find Beckett?"
Hunt wasn't making any promises, "It's our best shot."
Espo grabbed Castle's gaze, "It's her only shot."
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When Kate woke up she had a pretty good idea where she was; the back of the white van from the slaughter house. Her hands and feet were bound with zip ties and her head was covered with a dark hood. She didn't have any idea how long she had been out, but was pretty certain the culprit was a blow to the head since the buzzing in her ears was making it hard to hear anything else.
The van was in motion and the driver was in a hurry. Every turn was erratic and sent her rolling from one side of the floor to the other. Now and then she even slid forward when the brakes were applied suddenly and with force. Each time she moved, she felt around for anything that might help her get free; but had found nothing helpful.
After a few minutes the buzzing in her head retreated enough to allow her to more effectively determine what was going on around her. From the sound of it, there was only one other person in the van and from the way he was driving, she was willing to bet that her captor was not Tyson at all, but the kid.
Kate mentally kicked herself, she knew the rules. You may have a gut feeling that someone is telling the truth, but it's your job to operate as if they are not.
Kate's suspicion regarding the identity of her captor was confirmed when she heard the kid on the phone, "Obviously I'm not dead. I know I screwed up when I got collared in the park, but I have something for you; something that could square things."
Kate had a feeling she knew what that something was.
"Check the site. I sent you a picture," the kid's voice was plaintive.
Over a minute passed before he spoke again, "Did you see it? I know it's not the writer, but it's the next best thing, right? You use her to get to him."
A cold chill ran through Kate as she realized that she was a just a pawn; a means to an end. The kid intended to use her to get back in the good graces of his brother and Tyson would use her to lure Castle into a trap where he would undoubtedly kill him. She had to get free. The Sig carrying, fatigue wearing, PTSD suffering, consciously reckless Castle he was now wouldn't hesitate to bring the war right to Tyson's door even if it ended up killing him.
"Tell me where you are," she heard the kid say. "I'll bring her to you. The rest of them are off chasing their tails."
There was silence in the van for a minute and the brakes squealed as he pulled over and parked. Once the engine was off, Kate tried to focus on every sound and movement, "Fine, if you don't want her…" He'd obviously been cut off on the other end of the line.
Another long silence filled the van, Kate still hoping to find a means of escape. "Send the address or don't. You have five minutes to decide," OffKilter's unctuous tone set off an alarm in Kate. Something wasn't right.
The van engine made a repetitive popping noise as the engine cooled down. Kate found herself counting the seconds between each one to keep herself calm. They were clearly parked somewhere isolated as there was no other traffic around them that Kate could hear.
The kid, still sitting in the front seat, tapped his fingers nervously against the steering wheel waiting to see if his offering was going to be enough to get readmitted to Tyson's inner circle.
After what had to be almost the full five minutes, Kate heard the tell-tale buzzing of a cell. Seconds later, the van started up and pulled away.
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Jerry Tyson and 3XK were one and not the same. The 3XK persona was one of a ruthless serial killer who found no value in personal connections and lived only to play inhumane games with those luckless enough to draw his attention or in the case of Richard Castle, his ire. He was a master planner; nothing was ever left to chance. He needed to always be at least five steps ahead. His end game never changed; and someone always died.
Jerry Tyson, the other side of the same demented coin, had somehow managed in his mind to elevate his personal attacks on Castle to relationship status making those closest to him part of the liaison. The emotions that he did have about what linked them had crossed into obsession and were destructive and cancerous and could only end one way; with Richard Castle dead. Any collateral damage among his family and friends would be superfluous but gratifying.
A catalyst in the form of Kate Beckett had miraculously presented itself through a framework provided by his brother; the same brother who got himself snagged by the cops and was supposed to be dead. Both personas; however, found the allure of Kate Beckett as bait for Richard Castle almost too substantial to resist. The risk versus reward analysis of this plan shook out at about 50/50. 3XK was swayed by the possibility of taking Beckett's life in front of Castle and Jerry Tyson was enamored by the idea of slaughtering Castle only after he knew that he had failed to save the woman he loved. Having landed on the same side of the argument, no matter which killer showed himself tonight, all were in agreement, death was coming.