Too Close

Chapter 82

Jared Stack steps out of a black SUV as Kate and Rick are leaving the Tanner house. "You don't give up, do you, Detective Beckett?"

"Considering that we got here first, no reason I should have," Kate retorts. "There was a murder within N.Y.P.D. jurisdiction, and the DHS is obviously not up to speed."

"We were aware of the identity of the victim, Detective. We've kept tabs on Mr. Tanner for some time."

"Then you should have had the grace to notify his widow. I had to leave her unsure of whether her husband is alive or not. Now I have to go back in there and drop the other shoe."

"I'll be doing that, Detective. I have serious questions for her concerning the relationship of her husband's activities to national security."

"Hardly what the poor woman needs at this moment," Castle remarks. "Look, Agent Stack, Detective Beckett has already built a rapport with Mrs. Tanner. At least take her with you to soften the blow."

Stack glances back to the curb as a second SUV arrives. "Those are my people. We're going to have to collect some of Tanner's belongings for analysis."

"Meaning his computer equipment," Kate concludes.

"Very good, Detective. If you would like to sit with Mrs. Tanner during the removal, it will make the process easier on everyone, but I'm going to have to ask Mr. Castle to stay outside."

"Go ahead, Beckett," Castle urges, locking gazes with Kate. "I still have some things to go through on my phone."

Kate gives him an almost imperceptible nod. "All right. Let's go, Agent Stack. The shorter we can make Mrs. Tanner's ordeal, the better."

"Stack's a sonofabitch," Castle snarls when Kate finally joins him in her unit.

"He wasn't quite as bad as I thought he'd be. He gave me time to confirm what she was already afraid of before he brought his people in. And it looked like they took things out as unobtrusively as they could. But Beth Tanner's still in a bad way. She has a son attending college. I called him to come. He'll be staying with her. It's always hardest to get through something like this at night."

Castle strokes her cheek. "You would know about that. Hey, there were a lot of postings about what hit Tanner's car. There were even some pictures. The thing must have been moving pretty fast because most of them were fuzzy. But there was one post from Amobug1259, probably an amateur photographer who can take high-speed pics. No blur. It was a drone, Kate. I got a screen capture. Good thing too, because when I went back to look at it again, it had disappeared."

"Sounds like Espo was right about a cover-up. Let's find out if he's got any more information for us, or can get some. And we can check on what Ryan's got too."

Ryan waves as Kate and Castle emerge from the elevator. "I've got something! Before Tanner drove to where his car was bombed, he was at a park a couple of miles away. The traffic cam caught him driving up, and a security cam captured him sitting on a bench with a woman. I pulled the DMV on his wife. It wasn't her, but they appeared to know each other. Tori is trying to run facial recognition now."

"He could have been having an affair," Castle considers.

"Or she might have been an informant on one of his exposés," Kate proposes. "But if he had a meeting in the park, what was he doing just sitting in his car on the street? We need more background on Dale Tanner."

Castle taps the screen of his phone. "We could have a hard time with that. Citations of Dale Tanner are disappearing as we speak."

"Not fast enough," Esposito calls from his desk. "I just got off the phone with a buddy I knew in special ops. He couldn't give me the details of anything classified, but he told me that the press has already been made aware that the military is testing defensive drones along both coasts. The Pentagon is putting the knowledge out there as a deterrent to any group considering launching an attack by sea."

"And they'd want to protect New York as a prime target," Kate surmises. "Maybe whoever was controlling a drone screwed up and lost control."

"Or decided that Dale Tanner was a threat to the country and went rogue," Castle suggests. "Either way, the DHS might be scrambling to help put a lid on whatever happened."

"If we let them succeed, Beth Tanner will never know how or why her husband died. And his son will never know what killed his father." Kate slams her hand against the wall. "I can't let that happen. Espo, what base would the pilot controlling that drone have been working out of?"

Esposito shakes his head. "Depending on the hardware, he could have been as far away as Nevada, but the closest one is Mitchell Field on Long Island."

"It's a place to start. Castle, you feel like a little road trip?"

"With the feds running the investigation, you might not make it past the gate," Esposito warns.

Castle wiggles his eyebrows. "I have an idea that just may get us through."

"I can't believe you got us in," Kate giggles as an MP waves them onto the base. "How did you know about Fortis?"

"He's posted a couple of times on the Richard Castle website, complimenting me on the depth of my research. I figured he'd welcome the chance to get involved as a consultant, so I had Black Pawn pave the way."

Colonel Fortis stands up from his desk chair and extends a hand as Rick and Kate enter his office. "Mr. Castle, Detective Beckett, a pleasure. The writer and his muse. I'll admit the Derrick Storm books have been a guilty pleasure of mine for many years, and I am enjoying Nikki Heat as well. Now, Mr. Castle, as I understand it, you are featuring a plotline involving drones in your next Storm adventure, and I appreciate that you would like to make it as accurate as possible. I can't reveal anything classified, of course, but I can give you a general overview of the drone program. Please, both of you have a seat."

"Colonel," Castle begins, "I'm particularly interested in the drone control systems. The software must be complex, and of course, it would have to be secure."

Fortis pales as he answers. "It is both, I can assure you. The DOD has some of the best coders in the world. The Air Force also ran extensive simulations and testing before we put the program into action."

"So, it would not be realistic for me to create a bad actor who could take control of one of our drones?"

"It would not be realistic at all, Mr. Castle. The protections are quite strong, and we upgrade them regularly."

"Good to know, Colonel," Castle acknowledges. "I'll plot my story accordingly."

"Did you see the look on Fortis' face when you brought up the software controlling the drones?" Kate asks as soon as she's driven clear of the base.

"I'd give up on playing poker if I missed it," Castle declares. "It sounds like whatever upgrades they did didn't happen soon enough. Could Tanner have known that there was a problem and been ready to post it on his website?"

"Castle, you really think our military would take out one of our own? They're probably going crazy trying to figure out what happened themselves. Wouldn't it be more likely that whoever discovered the potential for a breach found out that Tanner was going to reveal it and took him out before he could put it on the web?"

"Either way, it was death by drone, Kate, and whether Stack's people are trying to uncover the truth for themselves or suppress it, they're unlikely to let it see the light of day. We need to find the hacker."

"Easier said than done, Babe."