Chapter 43
There were a large number of conflicting feelings Kate Beckett had expected to feel when the situation she had spent the past two hours dreading finally came. Much to her surprise the feeling that was currently working it's way through her body and spirit was the one she had not thought for a second she would ever feel. It was a feeling of complete and utter calm and she felt more in control of herself then she had in days. Maybe it was the fact that she had spent so much time thinking about what she would do when the worst happened that now that it had happened she was able to control herself and remember her training. She was in fact about to answer when she noticed a nervous looking Castle rolling his way over to her. She then saw Sorrenson whisper something to Castle quickly and Castle's face went white. Beckett then removed her phone from her ear, placing the phone on her desk she pressed the button for the speakerphone function.
"This is Beckett, who is this?" She asked, not really expecting an answer.
"I know you are trying to trace this call so let me be clear. I am making this call in a cellphone I paid cash for and as soon as I am done the phone will go in the trash and I will be in a crowd of thousands. Trying to keep me talking will not get you anywhere and I will not repeat my instructions." The voice on the other end sounded male and young but it also sounded calm and in command, this clearly disturbed Castle so Beckett knew she had to speak up before he had a chance.
"Why are you calling me?" Beckett asked, remembering her training and stalling anyway. By this point Gates along with Ryan and Esposito had gathered around her desk with Ryan indicating that he had started trying to trace the call. Beckett did not think this would do any good, she was sure the voice was telling the truth but they had to try.
"You know why I am calling and if you ever want to see your father, or Richard Castle's family again you will do exactly what I say." The voice instructed and this time it sounded firmer, this was someone who held all of the cards and he knew it.
"You Bastard!" Castle yelled before Beckett could stop him. "If you harm any of them I will spend every last dime I have, use every contact I have to hunt you all down. There will not be a place on earth you can hide, and when I find you I will make sure you go through so much pain that you will beg to die." Castle's eyes and voice had a coldness to them Beckett had never seen before and it scared her. So far she had managed to keep her emotions in check but this threatened to break her control. She could tell this was no idle threat and that Castle would follow through on it. If he did that she would lose him forever, it was yet one more reason why she had to make sure everyone got out of this situation unharmed.
"Do as I say and it will not come to that." The voice instructed, seemingly unworried by the threat.
Beckett knew she had to take control of the situation, she could tell without looking that Gates was just seconds from taking over the call and she could not have that. She could not lose the last vestige of control she had over the situation, not with her father's life at stake and after she had let Simmons get to her. She needed Castle to let her handle this, but she didn't have time to take him aside and ask him to calm down. Fortunately he still seemed to know her, even if she wasn't sure at that moment how well she knew him. All it took was a single pleading look from her directly into his eyes and he shut his mouth. She could tell he was holding something in that threatened to make him explode from the inside out, but he was holding it in and that gave her a chance.
"How do we know you even have them and that they are still alive and why should we make any kind of deal when we know you intend to kill us all anyway?" Beckett asked and on the outside her voice was just as cold as that as the one on the other end of the conversation but on the inside her blood ran cold as she finally put into words what she knew in her head the situation really was.
"To answer the second question, this is about you and the writer." The voice replied and now it was sounding a bit like a parent scolding a naughty child who did something they knew was wrong. "You brought this on yourselves." Beckett had to literally bite her tongue to keep from rising to this bait. "Your fates are sealed, but as long as you do as instructed so your families are no threat, there is no reason why they should have to pay the price for your misdeeds."
Beckett swallowed hard before the next words left her lips. "You still haven't given me any proof you have them."
"I am getting to that." The voice cut off Castle who was opening his mouth to speak but didn't get the chance. "The location they are being held his weird for cellphone calls, I will let you speak to them." This was followed that silence and then echoes that sounded like they were bouncing off of metal and the faint sound of voices. The sound of one caused Castle to speak up once again.
"Alexis, are you there?!" Castle gasped out in a panic.
"Dad, what is going on?" A confused and worried voice asked.
"The people who took you are letting use talk to you." Castle replied and even as he tried to keep his voice calm a single tear slid down his cheek.
"Is everyone alright?" Becket injected, she wanted to talk to her father at that moment but she had no idea when they would be cut off and she needed to get as much information as they could.
"I am fine and your dad is with me and he is okay." Alexis replied and Beckett saw Castle suck in a breath as he noticed what she did, that one person was not included in that report. "But Grams is having trouble breathing, I think it's her heart." Alexis' voice started to panic now. "Remember that her doctor said she should avoid sedatives, I think whatever they knocked us out with is causing some kind of reaction."
"Is anyone there with you who can help?" Castle asked in a panic.
"I am doing my best to keep her breathing but she doesn't look good." The voice of Jim Beckett reported, sounding more calm then Alexis had.
"Dad?!" Beckett gasped out and she felt her heart drop into her stomach.
"Hey Katie, I am fine and I think we are in a chi" Then Jim Beckett's voice was cut off and second later was replaced with the cold male voice once again.
"I think that is enough proof for you to know we are not lying." The voice said. "Are you ready to receive your instructions."
"You do know that if anything happens to my mother, we don't have a deal." Castle said as his mouth went dry.
"Don't worry, we will not let anything happen to your mother." The voice reassured the writer.
"Also I can not stop this investigation, so at this point getting rid of me will not solve your problems." Beckett added, grasping at straws for anything to give her some sort of control.
"The official investigation is already dead." The voice said smugly. "All we require from you is that you bring everything you have from your personal investigation, along with what your mother left you to a place of our choosing along with the writer and your friend who has made so much trouble."
"You can have me but leave Castle out of this, I promise he will not make trouble!" Becket objected sharply.
"Sorry, your word is not good enough. The writer is part of the deal or everyone dies. If you care about any of these people you will follow the instructions that we will text you later. This is your only chance to save your families, Don't screw with us." The voice instructed firmly and then the line went dead.
"Tell me you got a location!" Beckett barked turning to Ryan.
"Sorry, all I got was that the call came from DC, so it could be anyone there." Ryan replied with a guilty look in his eyes.
"That's okay, once we have the location of the meet we can have decoys set in along with SWAT." Gates spoke up taking control of the situation.
"Assuming they don't run us around first to make sure it is us and we are not followed." Castle said grimly.
"They could do that, yes." Gates confirmed, seeing no point in lying.
"We still have Anderson and Simmons." Esposito injected. "If we can break them before the exchange we can bring Bracken down."
"That is what I came out here to talk to you about." Gates said taking in a breath and despite the fact that she had not known the woman long Beckett could tell that the news was not going to be good.
"All of Anderson's contacts were go betweens, so we can't make a case on them alone." Gates explained calmly.
"What about Simmons?" Beckett asked, she wasn't sure how that could go wrong but she knew that it had.
"His lawyer got here and talked to the DA and then to him and he is now invoking the Fifth." Gates said gravely.
"What does that mean?" Castle asked desperately.
Gates sucked in another breath before answering. "It means that he is now claiming he was behind everything."
"They got to him!" Esposito exclaimed as he banged his fist down on the desk in front of him.
"It looks that way, Yes." Gates responded gravely.
"So unless the hostage crisis at the bank is resolved with a confession from Marks, the investigation is dead." Beckett observed unable to look at anyone in the room.
"I will not let it die, we will find a way to bring down this guy." Gates insisted.
"No." Castle injected firmly and this drew shocked looks from Beckett and everyone else in the room. "I saw the pictures on your desk. You have kids, don't put them in danger."
"You don't get to make that call Mr. Castle." Gates stated firmly.
"No, but it is my mother's case." Beckett said brokenly and then she looked from the captain to her two friend with a pleading look before she continued. "If it comes down to it we make the deal and all of you promise me you will go with the official story, don't throw your lives away."
Gates was about to speak when she was interrupted by a harsh male voice. "Detective Becket, Mr. Castle?" The voice asked and everyone in the room turned to see that it was coming from a tall bald man in suit who looked like he could use a blood donation from Dracula. He was flanked by half a dozen other men in suits. Gate started to step forward but the man ignored her and instead turned his attention to the writer in the wheelchair. "Special agent Eric Peterson, FBI." The man introduced himself and then added with an almost angry look in his eyes. "I would like a word with you regarding a matter of national security."
Sorry this chapter wasn't longer and it is so late but this seemed like a good place to break off.
As for the chapter being so late, well everyone in my house got very sick last week and we have spent the whole week running from one doctor's office to another and since I don't have a laptop I just didn't have a chance to write. Sorry. Everyone is better now so updates will resume and if all goes well the story should be over by the end of the month.
Thanks for putting up with my delays and for all of your support.
Thanks again to Caskettfan5 for help and support with this chapter.
