Family or Justice
Chapter 3: The Hollow Shot Part 3
2 Months after the disappearance of Kate Beckett.
As Castle opened his eyes on a new day without his wife, Katherine Beckett, and reached over to the other side of the bed to just feel like she was there but it was not the same.
"Hey gloomy guts, you look rough," said Martha to the depressed corpse that was Castle slugging himself towards the kitchen island.
"This is not the time to joke around, 2 months, it has been 2 months and nothing, no leads, no evidence and no sign that she is even still alive, I'm starting to lose hope" replied Castle.
"Don't say that, as long as there is hope anything is possible in this unfair world," replied Martha leaning over the kitchen island, stretching out her arms to give Castle a hug.
"I just don't know what to do, for the past two months all i have been doing is looking at that white board thinking if I can i work this out all on my own, considering Javier and Kevion were both instructed to stop working on this case, it's just me and i am not that clever," said Castle drooping his head down looking like he was just about to fall into tears.
"Oh come on, Richard, stop being so stupid, your never alone, you have got me and Alexis who has been working with you on the whole private investigating," shouted Martha, to get her point across to Castle without waking up the little devils that were sleeping upstairs.
"Yes, but that was way easier when we had a third recruit, ever since Haley went back to London a couple of years ago we have barely solved any investigations and i have been way too focused on this whole Beckett situation to go back to the office so i am paying Alexis to do it instead until i have resolved all of this," replied Castle.
"Aww, i am sure that everything will end up being fine, it always does, this time will not be any different, plus i am not a detective but i am sure that if people decided to take her whilst she was bleeding out and dying in the back of an ambulance, they did not want her dead," consulted Martha.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that, considering that virtually every news outlet in the country is saying that she is most likely dead at this point," replied Castle.
"That's not going to happen, just have something to eat and take your mind off it," ordered Martha.
"Not hungry," replied Castle leaving his seat and walking towards the door of his apartment.
"Where are you going?" asked Martha.
"To the precinct," answered Castle, leaving his apartment and shutting the door with a slam that echoed around the thin walls of the neighbouring apartments.
As he walked away from his apartment a sudden tear fell down his face thinking about his future if Beckett is in fact dead.
The precinct was a gloomy and dark place, Javier and Kevin barely even talking to each other.
"So guys, how are you doing?" asked Castle, leaning on Kevin's desk speaking like he is clearly hiding something from his close friends.
"Just say what we all know what you are going to ask so we can get over with it and move on with our jobs," said Ryan, in a miserable mode which unsurprisingly has been the case for the last two months.
"Has there been any new leads in Beckett's case?" questioned Castle.
In stereo, Kevin and Javier shouted "NO!".
"Alright, geez anyway is a new case then, that i can help you with or…" Castle was saying before he was interrupted by the sound of Captain Gates leaving her office and shouting out loud his own name for the whole to hear.
"Richard Castle!" shouted Gates so loud it made the whole room shake.
"Hey, Captain, how are you? Long time no see, you have been missed by me," Castle said awkwardly trying to give her a hug before being pushed away.
"How many times do I have to tell you that since Beckett is missing you are not welcome here as you are not an actual detective," said Gates getting into the face of Castle.
"Now this is what I missed, the absolute hatred of Castle from Gates is incredible," interrupted Javier inserting himself into this conservation.
"What, she does not hate me she just doesn't know how useful I am to this precinct," replied Castle, making everyone let out a laugh of disagreement.
"Oh, come on, given the current circumstances surely you can allow me to be here for a little while," said Castle.
"Fine," answered Gates, walking back into her office and closing the door.
"Oh what, Captain, there's the files you wanted," said Kevin Ryan running into her office just before she could close the door.
"Do you guys want to go back to my place for some drinks?" asked Castle.
"We are busy right now but maybe later," answered Javier.
"Yeah sure," said Castle deciding to leave and go back home as there was clearly nothing for him to do at the precinct.
Many hours had passed, Castle just staring at the whiteboard in his apartment, which had a picture of Beckett on it in the middle that he would kiss goodnight every night, and it was surrounded by everyone in Beckett's life that might want to do this to her, most of whom were dead.
2:00am.
As Castle was lying on his bed trying his best to sleep, there was a sudden knock on the door. He went to see what it was, sluggishly all he wanted to do right now was to sleep. As he opened the door he saw that there was a young man, maybe in his mid 20's, holding a brown package, not that thick, virtually just an envelope.
"Richard Castle?" asked the young man.
"Yes," Castle answered, sceptical to what the young man might be holding in his hands.
"What is it?" Castle asked.
"I don't know what is in it, all i was told was to deliver this to Richard Castle at approximately 2:00am," answered the young man starting to walk away.
Castle waited until the man was gone to open the package. It was a picture of Beckett with the eyes crossed out. On the back, the words I'm back in big capital letters and under it saying signed, W.B.
I'M BACK
Signed, W.B
Castle knew what W.B stood for.
"It's not possible, he's dead," whispered Castle to himself.
Castle ran out of his apartment to go see Kevin and Javier to tell them what he just got, it was probably the fastest that he has ever ran in his life.
Getting to Kevin's house he knocked loudly on the door, assuming that he was fast asleep.
"What do you want, Castle? I have two kids and I got just to sleep," said Kevin, looking like a corpse in his pants.
"I am sorry to wake you but I have just got an important new lead on the Beckett case and I know who took her," replied Castle.
"Oh come in, come in, I'll get Javier to come over here quickly," said Kevin, feeling more awake after the news he just received from Castle hurrying Castle into his house.
"Kevin, what's happening, Why is Rick here?" asked Jenny, walking down the stairs wiping her eyes every second from how tired she was.
"Honey, go back to bed you look exhausted, Castle is here because he has apparently found a new lead in the disappearance of Kate," said Kevin trying to get his wife back to bed.
"Well if he has found something to help i want to hear, Kate is important to me as well," whispered Jenny to make sure that she does not wake up her kids.
It had been an hour since Kevin phoned up Javier telling him that he was needed at Kevin's house but he hasn't shown up. Kevin rang Javier one more time to see if he was on the way. Someone answered but it definitely was not Javier, instead it was a man with a deep, african voice.
"Javier, now we have two of your friends, hurry up or next it will be your wife," said the african man through the phone.
Time was running out, they had Beckett and now they also have Javier.
"Castle, what is your lead? We need to figure out what is happening," said Kevin.
Kevin's heart was beating faster than a ferrari, this bad situation had just turned even worse, he could not let anything happen to Javier as Lanie would never forgive him.
"Okay, so earlier a young man turned up at my door and gave me this brown envelope, apparently he was told by somebody to give this to me at a certain time which in this case was 2:00am, I opened it and found that it was a picture of Beckett with her eyes crossed out and on the back, there were the words I'm back in all caps and signed by W.B," said Castle, now out of breathe from speaking so fast.
"W.B, what's that supposed to be, someone's name?" asked Jenny.
"Well, yes it is probably someone's initials but who's," said Kevin.
"William Bracken," said Castle.
"No, no, no that is not possible, he has been dead for years, there is no way he is still alive, maybe this is just a trick and it is someone else," said Kevin standing up from his couch and now nervously pacing back and forth.
William Bracken, the person who killed Beckett's mother and someone who has caused the four of them - Kevin, Castle, Beckett and Javier - lots of trouble and trauma over the years and ever since they found out that Bracken was killed in prison by LokSat they felt relieved and like that horrible part of their lives were behind them.
"Anyway if it is him we need to be quick if they went through the effort of crossing her eyes out on the picture then maybe they are planning on killing her or she is already dead," said Kevin.
"So we know who got her abducted but where are they?" asked Jenny.
"Well we know that if you get people, especially cops and famous people abducted you don't set up shop in a public place or a place that is being used for anything so we should look for abandoned or underground locations," said Castle.
They waited till morning and went to the precinct to get Tori and Gates to help them track down where Javier and Kate might be being held.
"What the hell, Castle, once again do I have to tell you that you are not allowed to be here and on top of that you come into my precinct looking like you just got dug up from the ground," shouted Gates.
Castle and Ryan did not get any sleep last night, they spent the entire time trying to see if they could get any further in the case but they were too washed up and tired to focus on it.
"Please don't shout, we didn't get any sleep last night," replied Kevin falling and collapsing onto his desk chair.
"Why not?" asked Gates whilst Castle put up his hand to take the blame for it.
"I'm sorry, but it was for a good reason and a bad one at the same time," replied Castle.
"Go on, I guess," said Gates sitting down on Kevin's desk so she could listen to Castle and his story.
"Last night I got a new lead on Beckett's case, there it is, have a look on the back," said Castle.
"I'm back, signed W.B, what does that mean?" asked Gates.
"W.B, William Bracken, he's back and somehow he is not dead," replied Castle.
"But we saw his body," said Gates, confused at what Castle was telling her.
"My biggest theory is that it might have been switched out for a fake and that one of the prison guards or staff was in on it or this is just a trick and Bracken is actually still dead," said Kevin.
"Well let's get Tori to see if she can track down Bracken but one final question from me is, Where is Javier?" asked Captain Gates.
"Oh, I was waiting for that, last night whilst over the phone with him, he was taken by someone, most likely the same person/people who took Beckett," answered Kevin.
"Do you have a description or anything about this person who took him?" questioned Gates.
"Well we only heard his voice, but it was a man with a deep african voice probably middle aged i would say," replied Kevin, nervous that they have already taken too long.
"Umm guys, there is a letter for you guys," said a uniformed officer coming into the room.
They opened the envelope that it came in , it was a folded up map. There was a location on it marked with the words 'find them here'.
"They want us to find them," said Castle, starting to get cheered up as they were this close to getting his wife back.
"Or it is a trick and a trap," said Kevin, thinking of all of the possibilities that might happen.
Gates rounded up everyone that could and they all went to the location.
As they all went inside and peered around every corner to find Beckett and Javier. There they were tied up to back to back chairs on the third floor of an abandoned parking lot due to the murder that occured there many years ago that also involved William Bracken.
"We've found them, be prepared to take out anyone that looks like they are with Bracken if he is even here," said Kevin to instruct the snipers to get into position if anything goes wrong.
Kevin, Gates and Castle slowly and quietly approached the chairs that had Beckett and Javier tied tight into.
"Not so quick," said the sound of the mysterious and shadowy figure.
As the figure turned into figures and Bracken showed himself all guns were pointed to him.
"You're alive, but how?" wondered Castle, who was trying to prolong the conversation so Kevin and Gates could untie Beckett and Javier.
"Ah, Richard Castle, how long have I wanted to see you again so i could do this…"
As he finished the sentence he quickdrawed his gun and let out a shot. The Wail of 'Castle' coming from Captain Gates, Castle unable to move almost like he was frozen in time waiting for it to be over. Gates ran and jumped in front just before the bullet penetrated.
Kevin let out a shot from his gun and shot Bracken down, the snipers took care of the rest.
Castle standing above the prone body of Gates not moving the shot gone right through, A Hollow Shot.
Richard, angrily stormed over to Bracken laying on the ground, still moving.
"How could you, why did you have to take my wife away from me for two months?" asked Castle, holding his foot on top of the bullet wound in the stomach of William Bracken.
Bracken only could get out one word 'Payback'. But that was not all.
Just before he passed Bracken reached into his pocket and pulled out a switch.
"BOMB!" screamed Castle.
The bomb went off, Kevin pushing over the chairs so Beckett and Javier can get some protection.
The parking lot went up in flames. Debris everywhere. Everyone was down.
To be continued.
The End of Chapter 3.