Guardian Angel

Chapter 35

"I've got something I need you to check out right away," Kate announces, walking into the Tech room off the bullpen.

"Anything I need to know besides what's on the evidence bag?" Tech Wong inquires.

"You might want to make sure that it's dry before you start working with it," Castle cautions.

"Uh-huh," Wong drawls. "Any idea what I'm looking for?"

"Names, dates," Kate responds.

"And run a character string search for uppercase B, lowercase r, a,c,k,e,n," Castle suggests.

Wong regards Kate, who nods. "Yeah, do that. And Wong, try to put it at the top of the queue."

"There's a case of Red Hots in it for you if you do," Castle adds.

Wong flashes an uncharacteristic grin. "On it right now."

Kate gives Castle a quizzical look as they return to her desk. "Red Hots, Castle?"

"Kate, I'm surprised the master detective hasn't noted our electronic sleuth's consumption of that particular spicy treat. He eats them constantly, probably because he can't take anything that would make crumbs into Tech with him. You can smell the cinnamon in the elevator after he's been there. The vendor I get my movie night candy from carries them. I can get them for him overnight."

"Castle, sometimes I wonder if you ever grew up and — oh! Montgomery's waving for us to come into his office."

"Think he's heard from Karnacki?" Castle wonders.

"I hope so."

Standing in front of his chair, Montgomery leans heavily on his desk. "Beckett, Coonan accepted Karnacki's deal, but I don't think you're going to like it much."

Kate's fingernails dig into her palms. "He's giving him WITSEC?"

Montgomery shakes his head. "Not quite that bad. He'll be going to prison, but on the charge of attempted homicide only. Karnacki will be recommending a medium-security facility. Coonan could be out in 20 years."

"Or serve life, right?" Kate demands.

"Life would be the maximum, but if Karnacki gets enough out of Coonan to convict Bracken, he'll recommend 20, which is the minimum. Kate, it still would be up to the judge. And if Coonan tries to shine Karnacki on, all the murders we can tie to his knife get added to the charges, and the sonofabitch spends the rest of his life in a hole."

"What about if we find evidence against Bracken that can convict him without help from Coonan?" Castle wonders.

"If anything you find contradicts Coonan's story in any way, Karnacki withdraws the deal, and Coonan gets what's coming to him."

Kate closes her eyes, shaking her head. "Coonan couldn't live long enough to get what's coming to him. But if what we suspect about our bombing victim pans out, we may have a chance at seeing he gets as much as the system can throw at him."


"Your shift is over. Ready to go?" Castle asks as he and Kate return to the bullpen.

Kate shrugs. "I guess. CSU is still running analyses on the knife, and Karnacki's people will be working through what Coonan tells them about Bracken. I suppose until Wong figures out what's on that drive, I'm done."

"You want to come to the loft with me?'

"Might as well. I'll go crazy sitting in my apartment."

"You might go a little crazy at the loft, too. Mother has some thespian hopefuls she's been ushering along coming over to work on a scene to showcase their skills."

Kate takes Rick's arm. "That sounds like it might be fun. My friend Maddie and I were in the drama club at Stuy. We worked on scenes together and had a good time. I did cosplay when I was at Stanford too."

Joyous crinkles fan from Rick's eyes. "I wouldn't have figured that. Who did you dress up as?"

Heat suffuses Kate's face. "Lieutenant Chloe."

"Lieutenant Chloe from Nebula Nine?"

Kate nods mutely.

"I never would have pictured that," Castle admits, "although you certainly have the legs for it. The skirts on Nebula Nine were even shorter than the ones on the original Star Trek. But I would have thought you would have chosen something with higher production values — and less cheesy dialogue."

Kate's eyes flash. "Higher production values? Castle, Star Trek used salt shakers for Dr. McCoy's instruments. Anyway, Nebula Nine was about youth having to step up and meet a challenge. I don't care if the dialogue was cheesy. Chloe could be a scientist, a warrior, anything she wanted, and she didn't care what anyone else thought — except maybe for Captain Max. Sometimes I cared way too much about what other people thought, and I needed to see that kind of independence. Then after my mom died, I needed it even more. I figured if the cadets on Nebula Nine could get through anything, I could do the same at the police academy and as a cop. I still have a couple of Lt. Chloe outfits in my closet."

"And I bet they look wonderful on you," Castle soothes. "We all have our needs. As I'm sure, do Mother's protégés. Tell you what. Let's stop at the deli on the way to the loft a pick up a spread we can share with the inevitably starving artists. Then we can be the world's most supportive audience. Mother might even want us to read a role or two. Sound good?"

The flush fades from Kate's features. "Yeah, it does."


"What do you mean, Maddox is dead?" Bracken explodes.

Sledge shrinks from the phone. "My sources tell me that he blew himself up. Probably trying to take out Coonan. And Coonan's made a deal with the D.A."

"Where is Coonan now?" Bracken demands.

"That's on need to know, and none of my sources are in the loop. Supposedly he pointed Karnacki toward some evidence he'll need to back up his story, but I haven't been able to pick up anything on that either."

Sledge's phone vibrates with the ire of Bracken's response. "Then what the f**k do I need you for?"

"Maybe to let you know when you're about to be arrested, which might be soon. If I were you, Bracken, I'd cut my losses and get the hell out of the country. And if they get too close to me, I may do the same. Most of my funds are offshore. I bought a place in Samoa a few years back. I've been renting it out as a getaway for the brass, but I might settle in there myself. No extradition."

"I'm on the foreign relations committee. I understand extradition treaties," Bracken snaps, "but I don't crack that easily. Karnacki's cut a few corners over the years, and I know what they are. I may be able to salvage this clusterf**k yet."

"Good luck with that," Sledge replies. "I'll be covering my own ass."


Karnacki stares at the text from a blocked number. "Mr. Clean isn't so clean, is he, Lou? When you go hunting human prey, you'd better have the bigger gun. You're pointing a pistol at a canon. Sometimes retreat is the only path forward."

The muscles on both sides of his jaw pop, as Karnacki's teeth clench. From what Coonan's revealed so far, the message has to be from Bracken. He could make Lou's life hell, but even if he tries, there are already enough people who know what Bracken did, to take him down. And once what's on Coonan's drive is on the record, whatever Bracken tries to hang on Lou, won't matter. Still, it might be time to start thinking about early retirement. No one cares about dirt on someone who is off the radar.