Chapter 44
"I think we are in a chicken truck." Jim Beckett called out into the darkness, hoping this news would be of some help to his daughter. He was dismayed when no reply came. He called out his daughter's name several times before deciding that the call had been cut off. That was when he turned his attention to the two women who were in the container with him. By now his eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he could just barely make out their forms against it. He lowered his head so he was just inches from their faces and when he spoke it was in as soft a whisper as he could manage. "Don't talk above a whisper." He warned. "We now know they can hear us so don't say anything that contradicts our story. One of us needs to get free so Kate and Richard do not hand themselves over to these guys."
The two women nodded that they understood just as a painful bump jolted them all and caused then to go sliding across the hard metal floor. "That felt like a speed bump." Alexis observed.
"We may be getting off of the main road so they can get gas or check on us." Jim Beckett whispered as he put the pieces together. "Everyone remember the plan and be ready to move, and remember anyone who gets away does not turn back for any reason." He instructed gravely. Just as he finished the truck his another bump and they all three felt it begin to slow down.
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"What do you want?" Castle demanded tersely as he turned his chair so that he was facing the Special Agent in Charge and his men. The writer was in no mood for games, further problems, or federal agents.
"We need to talk privately, now!" Peterson ordered and he seemed angry, he shot a heated look in the direction of Sorrenson who had been standing quietly beside Beckett's desk before turning his attention to Beckett and Castle.
It was at this juncture that Gates stepped forward, she was done being ignored. "No one talks to my people like that. You have something to say to them, you go through me."
"This is a matter of national security, we are taking over." Peterson said trying to dismiss the woman who was standing between him and his prey.
"I don't think so." Gate said firmly, refusing to back down. "You want to take over you go through channels and get me an order in writing from the commissioner of police, until then everything that happens in this precinct goes through me. That would most likely take the rest of the day so if your business really is as urgent as you seem to think it is then stop fighting me on this and get down to it."
"Can we at least talk privately?" Peterson said with a peevish sigh.
"As long as I am in the room, we can use my office." Gates replied firmly, not backing down.
"Okay." Peterson conceded for the moment but there was something about the look in his eye that told Gates this was far from over. He then turned his attention back to Castle and Beckett. "Would you mind joining us?" Gates gave them both a look that told them arguing was pointless and for the moment she seemed to be on their side so despite their misgiving they slowly followed Gates and Peterson into the captain's office.
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It had been about five minutes since they had hit the speed bumps when the three hostages felt the truck lurch to a stop. They tried to brace themselves but they still went sliding across the floor. This was followed by what sounded like a truck door being open and shut.
"Okay, this is it." Jim Beckett whispered. "Martha lie on the floor. Alexis, get ready to make as much noise as you can." Martha followed his instructions as he and Alexis made their way over to what they assumed was the door. "You ready?" Jim asked the teenage girl standing beside him, he knew they were about to take their lives into their hands but he didn't see any other way out of this. He was sure that once they had served their purpose they would all be killed any way, so what did they really have to lose?
"I am ready." Alexis answered as she took in a nervous breath. Alexis and the older man then began banging on the door as hard as they could with their fists and shouting as loud as they could. "Let us out! We need help in here! She's not breathing!" After a few moments of this they heard what sounded like crates being moved, it sounded like the plan was working so they kept banging and yelling as they braced themselves for the next part.
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"Okay, now that we have privacy would you mind explaining to me why you just burst in here and began obstructing an active case?" Gates demanded as she walked behind her desk after shutting the door to her office and pulling the blinds shut.
"Don't get high and mighty with me!" Peterson fumed in a way that would cause anyone besides Gates to take a step back. "I have four agents down and these two are withholding information vital to the case and national security!" Peterson's face took on it's first hints of color as he said the last part and turned to face Castle and Beckett who were sitting and standing just behind him.
"We are withholding the information because right now it is the only thing keep us and our families alive." Beckett shot back, she had gotten over the shock of the phone call and was no longer willing to let other people speak for her.
"Not to mention that every time we have worked with your office on this case there has been a leak." Castle added becoming even more animated then he already was.
"Are you implying that someone in my office is working for the suspect in this case?" Peterson asked as his face tried to turn red but didn't quite make it, it was clear he spent most of his time in an office and rarely saw the sun.
"No, I am a writer and would never use the word imply incorrectly like that." Castle retorted and his face could turn red. "I am stating as a fact that someone in your office is working for this guy and now my mother and daughter are in danger because of the way this case has been handled!"
"Don't forget that three agents lost their lives protecting your family." Peterson shot back as his voice grew cold. This caused the whole room to become quiet for a minute as everyone reflected on the fact that three men would not be returning to their families after today, four if Cauldwell was included in the count.
"That is true and I think we all need to calm down." Gates stated firmly, stepping in and taking control of the situation. "The facts can not be ignored, we have two hostage situations that need to be resolved and there is more then enough reason to believe that the person behind both of them has a contact in the local FBI office."
Peterson seemed to consider this a moment before he next spoke and when he did there was less emotion in his voice. "If that is true then there is more reason to tell me who is behind this since we need to find this contact and we can shut down the two hostage situations if we arrest him. I need to know who you are talking about and see your proof."
"How do we know it is not you?" Beckett asked coldly and Peterson seemed to be taken aback by this accusation.
"As I already said I am not doing anything that puts my family in danger." Castle stated firmly.
"Did it ever cross your mind that this person can't be trusted?" Peterson said with sarcasm dripping from every word. "You have no way of knowing that this suspect will let your family go, or that he will leave them alone in the future and you are talking about handing over the only leverage you have on him. He has no reason to keep his word after that."
"Well what else can I do?!" Castle shot back.
"We can take him down." Beckett stated quietly but there was a coldness and determination in her eyes that drew the attention of everyone in the room to her. When she next spoke her voice was full of emotion, but it was also soft and firm. "This man killed my mother and he took my father and even if the deal holds he will still kill other people in the future. We have no choice we have to take him down."
"Kate, we agreed that we would make the deal." Castle objected and for the first time his angry gaze fell on Beckett, he would not let anyone even her put Alexis or his mother in danger.
"Now I have had time to think about it calmly and I don't think the deal will work.." Beckett replied not letting Castle's anger cause her to raise her voice. "Peterson is right we have no way to enforce the deal and I do not intend to let some family in the future go through what mine did."
"Kate, please." Castle pleaded and despite his anger there were tears in his eyes. "He will have no reason to kill anyone else. We have to save Alexis, my mother, and your father."
"This will not save them." Beckett stated, still refusing to raise her voice. "We need another plan besides just giving in."
"Beckett you can't just ask me to ignore my heart." Castle pleaded one last time. "I will not make it if Alexis and my mother don't."
"I know that Castle." Kate stated to try and comfort him and then a thought crossed her mind. "Wait a second, what did you say about your heart?" She asked quickly.
"I said I couldn't go against it, why?" Castle asked puzzled and there were still tears on her face.
"Alexis said Martha's heart was effected by whatever drugs were used to knock them out. Castle, you didn't tell me your mother had a heart condition." Beckett explained quickly.
"She doesn't." Castle stated and then he slowly put the pieces together and when he did he started to panic. "We have find them before they do something stupid and get themselves killed!"
"They left by helicopter, they could be anywhere." Gates said as she sprung into action pulling up some information on her computer.
"Maybe not." Peterson stated and it seemed he was trying to be helpful for the first time. "The choppers were stolen from a local airfield and found returned to the field about twenty miles away. The security cameras were down so we didn't get a look at the kidnappers but that would indicate that the hostages were moved to a car of some kind."
"Hostages." Castle said thoughtfully and then he reached into one of the pockets of the chair and pulled out the four photos his father had given him and handed them to Gates. "These are photos of the four guys who have taken the hostages at the bank."
"Where did you get those?" Peterson asked cautiously.
"It doesn't matter. The point is you have to use them to find out who these men are and not let them leave that bank. We need a person who can provide a direct link to the mastermind now that Simmons has fallen through." Castle insisted.
Gates took the photos and went to her office door and barked out orders to an officer, by the time she returned Beckett was looking at a map on her computer. "Look at this." She said pointing to the map onscreen so that Castle and Peterson could see what she was pointing at. "There is a chicken packing plant just over a mile from the airfield and when my father tried to tell me where they were the only sound he got out before being cut off was the letter C. They could be in the back of a chicken truck."
"If they are that limits the number of routes they could take into New York and it means that they can not have gotten far." Castle said finishing the thought.
"I'll see about getting state and local police between here and Delaware on this." Peterson stated as he pulled out his cellphone. He didn't really care about the writer or the detective, he was far too cold for that, but he did know a chance to get leverage on someone when he saw it.
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In the bullpen Ryan and Esposito had not been idle, in fact the Irish detective was running up to his partner's desk at that moment. "Look at this." He said as he handed over a piece of paper he was holding. "I think I know how they turned Simmons."
"How?" Epsosito asked.
"Meet Clancy Simmons, his younger brother." Ryan began to explain as he took a seat across from his partner. "Their father did every petty thug job there was and they never knew who their mother was, after their father got life for murder, Simmons became a big time drug dealer. Clancy seems to have kept his nose clean and did well in school and is in NYU getting a business degree. He had some money troubles but they went away and then last year he was caught selling drugs. His big brother bailed him out and now he is out on parole."
"So you think Simmons has a soft spot for his younger brother and Bracken is threatening to mess him up?" Epsosito asked but he seemed to already know the answer.
"Either that or Simmons wants to use his brother for something when he gets his degree, so he doesn't want anything to screw it up." Ryan nodded in reply and then added. "Either way it is a pressure point but could be exploited to get Simmons to change his story and I have Clancy's address."
"Feel like taking a ride and maybe getting into some trouble?" Epsosito asked as he stood up from his desk.
"Do I ever." Ryan replied and with that the two detectives made their way to the elevator to find some trouble and maybe the answer to all of their problems.
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When the doors to the shipping container finally swung outwards and open at first the brightness of the light blinded the three prisoners and they could only hear the voices of their two captors, the voice were angry and yelling at them to get back. As their eye adjusted they could see the two men were in working cloths and had wool masks on. As they advanced Martha did her best impression of a dying woman, something she had a lot of practice with. At her age she played a lot of characters who died on stage, a fact that she was none too happy about. For someone as alive as her being reminded of her own mortality was not welcome in any form. She didn't get depressed but she did tend to throw a bit of a fit every time her agent brought her a part with yet another death scene in it.
As for a Alexis she cried and screamed for help, putting on quite a good act herself while she screwed up her courage and waited for a chance to make a break for it. She felt more alive in that moment then she had ever felt before in her life, as her body readied itself to either fight or run. It both excited and scared the teenage girl in a way that made her want to throw up but she worked hard to keep these feelings under control while she tried to remember the plan and what she had learned at the self defense classes she had once taken at school. She knew she was the most likely to get free and that if she did it was her duty to get help for the others, but she didn't like it. She didn't like the thought of leaving anyone behind, still she knew that if she was going to save her father's life she may have to take that chance. She couldn't let any of these conflicting thoughts show on her face so she focused on remembering what her grandmother had tried to teach her about acting and using that to convince the two thugs that her grandmother was really dying. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do in her life but knowing what was at stake she forced herself to do it any way.
Jim Beckett was readying himself to fight, it had been a long time since he had been in a real fight but he still knew a thing or two, he just needed to wait for his chance. Still he knew better then to try anything while both men were focusing their attention and their guns on the three of them. A moment later Martha made a big show of seeming to stop breathing. This got the attention of both men and the shorter of the two took a few steps ahead of his partner and tucking his gun in the waistband of his jeans, bent down and started searching for Martha's pulse. Jim Beckett was no fool and he knew in a second the jig would be up, as soon as these men discovered that Martha's heart beat was normal they would not get another chance to make a break for it, so he sprung into action. With a shout of "Run!" He leaped forward and punched the taller of the two men right on the jaw, he clearly wasn't expecting this and he stumbled back.
Alexis Castle was too shocked to really be aware of what was happening around her, all she knew was that there was a flurry of movement and the next thing she knew she was jumping off the back of the truck and into the open. She found herself on deserted stretch of country road with the chicken crates scattered about and corn fields on either side. She next became aware of the sound of movement and angry yells right behind her. Again her fight or flight instincts took over and she ran to the right and into one of the corn fields. She didn't have any idea what caused her to be thinking of old movies at a t time like that but she remembered one did what the characters did in it. After she had gone about fifty yards she threw herself to the ground and tried to remain as quiet as possible. One of the thugs had run after her but a minute later she heard him give up searching and make his way back to the truck. Finally having time to think she could only shake with fear and hope her grandmother had made it out too.
Alexis felt like she had lain there in the dirt for a lifetime but really it was only a minute. Then she heard a sound she had been dreading, it was a gruff male voice. "You have ten seconds to stand up or we shoot your dear old grandmother!" The voice called out and then it started a relentless count down to ten.
With tears in her eyes Alexis was about to stand up when she heard her Grandmother's voice call out. "Alexis don't do it, remember the plan!" The voice commanded, only to be silenced a moment later. For a moment Alexis was conflicted. After all her Grandmother was a hostage and these men needed her alive and she knew what the plan was. On the other hand they were heartless killers and if they shot her Grandmother the teenager knew she wasn't going to be able to live with herself.
It was as Alexis was debating all these facts that she heard the male voice return. "One!" It called out and then that was followed by unmistakable sound of a gunshot. Alexis Castle threw her head down into the dirt and began to cry.
Well I hope you liked this chapter.
Thanks again for your support and reviews.
Thanks again to Caskettfan5 for help with edits to this chapter.
