Decisions and Dominoes Chapter 38
Kate had a plan. It wasn't a very good one, but it was all she had at the moment. The van had turned onto an unpaved road and traveled at least a couple of miles. Her stomach churned internalizing what that meant for her chances of escape. When the engine was finally cut and the kid came to get her, she would make her bid. At the back of her mind, she knew she wasn't just fighting for her own life; she had to save Castle from Tyson and possibly even himself.
The side door to the van slid open, "Detective, you removed your hood, but I guess it doesn't really matter now, does it?"
Kate took in her surroundings as Kilter tried to yank her through the door and get her to her feet. The best she could determine was that they were at an old farmhouse outside the city and that the closest lights appeared to be to her right maybe a mile away. If she got free, she needed to break left into the woods and circle around before heading toward the lights if she hoped to have any shot at survival.
Kate collapsed at his feet, "Get the fuck up!" Anger incited him as he pulled on her bound arms dragging her back to standing.
"My feet are tied together jackass," Kate hissed unable to cover her own rage.
The kid threw Kate back down on the ground, "Don't call me that, bitch."
"Tyson! I'm sorry!" he was screaming like a wounded animal at the house. "I brought her for you! Come and get her! Tyson!"
Kate kept waiting for Tyson to show his face and help Kilter drag her into the single story wood frame building.
Minutes passed and no one came. The kid looked back at Kate, but he didn't look anything like the teen hacker that she interviewed. The pupils of his eyes were coal black and had lost all light and color. The blackness she saw in them was horrifying. The only thing that tore her eyes from his was the knife he pulled from his pocket. Kate tried to push herself away from him backing toward the van door.
"Be still," he told her harshly cutting the ties on her ankles. He pulled her to her feet again and held her tightly by one arm, his nails cutting into her through her shirt.
When he started yelling at the house again, he was waving the knife around wildly, Kate flinched, "Tyson! Don't you want her? I did this for you! Everything can be like it was!"
For a split second he was distracted and Kate made her move. The spinning back kick that she used to connect her boot with his skull didn't carry the force it usually did since her hands were tied, but it was enough to knock him off his feet and the knife free from his hand. She bolted for the woods, not looking back but listening for footsteps behind her. Cover was only a few feet away and she put her head down straining to reach it. Her lungs pulled in the cool night air fueling her forward; lunging for the protection of the dark when blinding light shot across the yard from every possible direction creating a faux daylight. The cover that had only been inches from her reach was gone; wiped out by a series of flood lights set up for a situation just like this one. He had been a step ahead again. Kate stopped running, closed her eyes and whispered, "I'm sorry, Castle."
Knowing she had nowhere to go; she turned back to face her captor. What she saw made her blood run cold. The brothers were standing by the door of the van watching her; reveling in her failure and abject fear. Their smiles were macabre and menacing as they approached; Tyson's gun trained on her head.
"Where is he, Kate?" Tyson grabbed her by her hair and began dragging her toward the house. He stopped, looked her in the eyes and asked again, "Where is your boyfriend? He and I have some unfinished business."
"Screw you, Tyson," Kate cursed him, "I want you to know that I'm going to be the one who puts you down tonight."
Tyson laughed, "Is that right?" He started dragging her again; still laughing, "Good to know."
"What about me?" the kid was groveling for scraps from Tyson like a dog whose been chained in the yard all his life and it made Kate sick after what she had just seen in his eyes. There was no way he was what he seemed; one minute a sniveling suck up and the next staring through a set of malevolent eyes the likes of which she had never seen before.
"Hide the van and then you can come inside," Tyson didn't even look at him; just gave him orders and dismissed him. Kate wondered if this was what it had been like all of the kid's life.
Kate fought against him, she knew if he got her in the house her chances of survival dropped to single digits. "Stop fighting me, Kate, you don't want me to mess you up before your guy gets here."
Kate managed to look back toward the van and saw Kilter staring after them, "I told you to hide the damn van, jackass!" Kate saw the kid's face transform with outrage; she was glad she couldn't see his eyes. No wonder he got so upset when she called him that; jackass was apparently his brother's pet name for him.
Tyson pushed open the front door and shoved Kate hard into the middle of the room sending her crashing to the floor, "What do you think of the place? I hope you like it since you and lover boy will have your last date here. Did he tell you that I've watched you two make love?"
Kate glared defiantly at him, but didn't respond, "How should we get him here? Maybe I should call him. No, you should call him."
He crossed to her and yanked her hair back forcing her to look at him, "I know. Let's send him a video invite."
The front door opened and the lights from the front of the house streamed in behind Kilter, "I moved the van."
Tyson dropped Kate's hair but kept an eye on her, "Turn the lights off, stupid. Do I have to tell you everything?"
Kilter didn't speak or move, "Bring me some zip ties too; I need to be sure Detective Beckett doesn't get any ideas about leaving before the party really gets started."
"Turn them off yourself, asshole," when the kid finally spoke, Kate had no doubt what he truly was; a killer just like his brother.
Tyson seemed to forget Kate for a minute as he lunged at his brother pointing the gun at his face, "You do as I say, or there will be two bullet holes where those fucked up eyes of yours are."
Kate searched the room for an exit. She didn't see one she could reach before Tyson would be on her.
"Go ahead, brother," Kilter had lost all fear and grabbed the barrel of the gun and put it against his own eye socket, "You thought you already put two in my back at that garage. Here's your chance to finish it."
Tyson smiled ghoulishly, "True. I did do that, but I had good reason. You're a worthless screw up. If it wasn't for your computer skills, I'd of done away with you years ago; drowned you in a burlap sack like an unwanted mongrel puppy."
The kid's rage grew exponentially, "Shoot me, Tyson! Shoot me you psycho fuck!"
Tyson's smile faded and his face blanked out. The double tap to the face took out OffKilter's eyes as promised and he was dead before he hit the floor. 3XK had dropped by after all.
Tyson swung around to face Kate, "Now where the fuck were we?"
Tyson had started to close on her when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye in the back of the room, "Something about an invitation for my son," Hunt's voice split the air.
Tyson's confusion was twisted with surprise, "You," his voice was barely above a whisper as realization set in; his eyes screaming epithets. "You're his father?"
Castle stepped out of the darkness still outfitted from the earlier recon op, his Sig aimed at Tyson's head, "Family reunions all around it would seem."
Tyson's face contorted with hatred, "Look who's here, Kate!"
Castle tried to keep Tyson focused on him. "Family squabble?" Castle asked Tyson sarcastically as he signaled toward Kilter's crumbled body.
"Families can be a bitch, huh, Castle?" Tyson sneered through a caustic laugh, "Never would have guessed that the ghost tracking me was your old man."
"You good here, son?" Hunt never let his eyes leave Tyson.
Kate's worst case scenario began playing out in front of her, "Castle, no."
Castle's response was void of emotion and definitive, "Get her out of here."
Looking at the two men, it dawned on Kate what was about to happen, "Castle, no!" She tried to reach for him, but her hands were still bound.
"Get her out of here now!" Castle ordered vehemently while taking three steps toward Tyson which offered Kate and Hunt some protection now that he was in front of them.
Hunt backed over to Kate. Tears were streaming down her face, "Please don't do this!" Hunt holstered his weapon and wrapped both of his arms around Kate's waist, lifted her up kicking and begging and backed into the darkness from which he had come.
Tyson leveled his gun at Castle, he didn't flinch, "How the hell did you find me? Did that jackass bring you here?"
"In a manner of speaking," Castle's Sig was pointed at Tyson's head equalizing the standoff. "No body shots this time, Tyson, so unless your skull is made of fucking Kevlar, I suggest you put the gun down."
"Daddy may have gotten your girl out of here, but you aren't going to be so lucky," Tyson laughed. "How's the shoulder by the way?"
Castle's anger flared just like Tyson intended, but he wouldn't let it force him into a mistake, "Ever been shot before, asshole? It sucks."
Tyson's eyes blazed from some deep dark well inside, "You ready for how taking a life, even mine, will change you?"
"I am if it means I stopped you from ever having the opportunity to come near my family again," Castle took another step forward and Tyson tightened his grip on his weapon and adjusted his aim for what would be a head shot.
"Then I guess we go out together, Castle. In a blaze of glory; just like in the movies," Tyson's madness animated his face.
"Is that your last word?" Castle's confidence shook Tyson's; his smile fading somewhat from his face.
"I go, you go," Tyson had made his final decision.
"Checkmate, jackass," Castle gave the signal and it seemed to him that the glass from the window shattered, his father's sniper round tore through Jerry Tyson's skull, and 3XK ceased to exist simultaneously.
Esposito and Ryan broke through the back door and Charlie team through the front followed closely by Kate.
She threw herself into Castle's arms. After a moment he whispered softly in her ear, "I'm okay, Beckett."
"I thought I'd lost you," Kate whispered back letting her hands go to his face as he kissed her.
"Never," he assured her.
"I love you, Rick," the words came from a place so deep within her that tears came with them.
Without hesitation or uncertainty he answered her, "I love you too, Kate."
Their eyes met and held; each of them seeing the same thing; finally.
"Everyone okay?" Espo asked as Ryan checked Tyson's body.
"Yeah, we're good," Kate kept staring at Castle to assure herself that he was really all right; her fear for him still with her.
"He's dead," Kevin announced as he kicked Tyson's body a little harder than necessary to check for signs of life.
"Bro, we know. Look at him; he's missing half his face and his brain is like; everywhere," Espo gave him a look that said he needed to stop kicking the dead guy.
The last man in was Hunt. He handed Espo the sniper rifle he had used and crossed to Tyson's body to check for himself that the threat to his family had been extinguished. When he was satisfied he crossed to Kate and Richard, "You two okay?"
They glanced at Tyson's body knowing that the night had played out in the only way that would truly put an end to 3XK's game; Beckett and Castle exchanged knowing looks and answered in unison, "Never better."