Chapter 34

At almost the exact moment Beckett hit the ground detectives Ryan and Esposito rushed out of the lobby and to her and Castle. Esposito began dragging Beckett inside while Ryan quickly turned Castle's wheelchair around and began pushing it inside, as if he could some how will the chair to go faster. It was about this time that a second shot rang out and this one hit the place Castle had been sitting just a second before. Screams could be heard from the street as all four entered the lobby careful to stay well away from the windows. Esposito began checking Beckett.

"It's okay, it just caught my vest." Beckett reported with a painful cough as she sat up.

"Yeah well it is a good thing you both were wearing them, and that sniper didn't go for a head shot." Esposito observed grimly.

"Well I am fine, How is Castle doing?" Beckett asked and when she looked over at him what she saw took her breath away. Castle was not making a sound, instead his hands were clutched around the armrests of his wheelchair and he was looking dead ahead with an expression of absolute terror on his face.

Beckett quickly ran over to the writer and placed her hand on his and began rubbing it soothingly. "It's okay, we are all fine. You are not hurt and neither am I." She said in a gentle tone but this didn't get a response from him. "Quick, get some blankets from the loft!" She barked at Ryan and Esposito without looking away from Castle's dead eyes. "He's in shock!"

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Within moments of detective Beckett being shot senator Bracken was on the special prepaid cellphone that he kept for emergencies talking to his chief of staff.

"What was that fool Maddox thinking?!" He bellowed into the cheap phone. "This makes me look more guilty, how does this fix anything?!"

"I know, it's a problem we will have to deal with." The man on the other end reported calmly. "The orders I gave Maddox were to observe only, not to go in for the kill."

"Well he doesn't take orders very well!" Bracken fumed. "Either get him under control or eliminate him."

"Don't worry, it will be taken care of." The man on the other end reported.

"It had better be. I am so close to getting everything I need, it can't all fall apart now, not when everything I have worked so hard for is within my grasp." Bracken stated a little calmer but if anyone could see his face they would know that he was worried.

"Yes WE, have worked hard." The man on the other end agreed and he made sure Bracken knew he was including himself in the equation. "I don't want to go to prison any more then you do so this will be cleaned up."

"Well to that end we are going to have to work fast, it doesn't matter what it looks like that bank and all records linking me to that account need to be destroyed today." Bracken ordered.

"I agree but it will draw a lot of attention." The man on the other end agreed. "Still we have to do it before the feds or anyone else looks to closely at it."

"Then all that is left is the tape, that tape that has been hanging over my head for almost two decades. Then I will be free." Bracken said and for a split second a look of longing passed over his face, but it was quickly brushed aside. He had trained himself to be cold as ice and that is what was needed now.

"If we can get rid of Beckett, Castle and their team the tape becomes far less urgent." The man pointed out.

"Yes it would but it has to be done quietly." Brackett agreed coldly. "Until we can do that we have to eliminate anything they can find that can be traced back to me."

"Along those lines, what do you want done with Simmons?" The man on the other end asked.

"Kill him." Bracken replied simply.

There was a moment of silence on the other end and then the man spoke carefully. "I am not sure that is a good idea, we need his money and contacts at the moment."

"Okay." Bracken said with a sigh. "Stash him somewhere safe, but make sure he stays there and if anyone gets too close to him, kill him!" Bracken ordered.

"Alright." The man accepted the order.

"Also tell our people at the FBI to delay things until we can take care of that account." Bracken ordered as he became more calm, the situation was bad but he was seeing now that it could be handled.

"I will but they may not be able to delay things for long, I just got a message telling me that the President has called the Attorney General to a special meeting at the White House. My guess is that by the end of the day this will be out of the FBI's hands." The man reported gravely.

"Well then we are on the clock." Bracken said after giving the matter a moment of thought. "You take care of as much as you can and I will talk to the President and try to convince him that without proof taking the case away from the FBI shows a lock of respect for the men and woman who work there."

"Okay, I get started on my part." The man reported and then hung up, leaving Bracken with some phone calls to make and a speech to prepare. He wasn't licked yet, not by a long shot.

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A few minutes latter Castle slowly returned to life, he was shaking as if he was in a blizzard but he was alive and responding when Kate talked to him.

"It's alright, I am okay." Beckett repeated over and over as she hugged him.

"I'll say you are." Castle said with a smirk and it was then that Beckett noticed that because of the way she was bending over to hug him he could see down her top.

"Really, Casttle?! At a time like this." She said annoyed as she stood up.

"Sorry, I can't help it if you are so hot." Castle said with a shrug and like that the old Castle was back.

"You had me scared." Beckett admitted as she helped Castle remove the blankets.

"Sorry." Castle said and there was shame all over his face.

"Don't be." Beckett said firmly. "What you are going through is normal, and you will get over it."

"Yeah, I guess so." Castle said doubtfully.

"You will, understand!" Beckett commanded somewhat harshly.

This snapped Castle out of his depression and he looked up at her again. "Yes, Ma'am." He replied.

"The question is what do we do now. It seems like Bracken didn't take the deal." Beckett said gravely.

'We don't know that." Esposito said as he stepped forward from the corner he and Ryan had been standing in. They had decided to give Castle and Beckett a few moments to themselves. "The shooter could have had old orders."

"He's right." Castle agreed. "I think we are going to have to be patient and give it a few days before we will know if the deal is holding or not."

"That is something I am running low on these past few days." Beckett said with a sigh.

"You mean you had some before?" Castle quipped.

"Well I did before I met you. I guess you are just a bad influence on me." Beckett replied, Castle nodded that he agreed with this statement.

"Hey, an armored truck just showed up at the service parking lot out back." Ryan reported. "Gates wants both of you back at the 12th right away."

"Well this should be fun." Castle said sarcasticly.

"You don't know the half of it." Beckett said rolling her eyes but then added. "Still we may as well get it over with."

The four of them had just begun to head to the service entrance when Beckett's cellphone began to ring. She saw that it was Will's number and even though he was the last person she wanted to speak to at the moment she picked up the phone and answered. She had barely time to get her hello out before Will was speaking quickly and he sounded almost panicked. "Kate thank god you are alright."

"Yeah, I am fine. The bullet just got my vest." Kate reported.

"Good, good." Will said and he sounded distracted. "I need to talk to Rick, can you hand him the phone?" Will asked urgently. This was odd, not just Will wanted to talk to Castle but his calling the writer by his first name. Still Beckett agreed and handed the phone to a very confused looking Castle.

"Rick, you have to use your money and move your family out of protection now!" Sorenson ordered.

"Why?" Castle asked clearly confused and worried.

"Because the FBI just fired me and made the agents I had working for me report in on your family's location." Sorenson explained and the fact that he had mentioned losing his job as an afterthought showed just how worried he was.

"What?!" Castle barked clearly shocked.

"My boss said I screwed everything up but that is not important right now, the important thing is that your family's location is known to a lot of people at the FBI now so if Bracken does have people there they will know about it. I don't know if my boss is in on it but before all he and the rest of the FBI knew was that I was using several decoy safe houses and you and your family would be moved the moment there was trouble at any one of them. Now they know which house they are staying in." Sorrenson explained quickly.

"Okay." Castle said and he was just barely holding down the panic. "I have some calls to make." Then he added a little more kindly. "Will, I'm sorry."

"Me too." Will replied with a depressed sigh but then he added. "But that isn't what is important right now, just focus on keeping your family safe."

"Thank you." Was all Castle was able to say before the line went dead.

All eyes were on Castle as he hung up the phone. "We have a big problem." He said.

Hey sorry about monday and tuesday. Once in a while I will have a day or two where even with my meds my brain will feel like a confused mess and abstract tasks like writing just can't be completed, that is what happened on monday and tuesday. I am really sorry about that.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck with this story despite my problems. Thank you all for reading and leaving such kind reviews.

Oh and I added a rather nice scene to the last chapter so you may want to go back and reread that.

As always thank you all for your support.

Thanks once again to Caskettfan5 for help with this chapter and for pointing out something I had not clearly explained so I could fix it.