My Grandmother was a Witch
Chapter 27
Rick, Kate, and Jordan were sitting side by side. Castle was in the middle and their backs were up against the fountain. The fountain itself was huge and there was even a lake or pond not far away. It was a little cold since the cold spell was deepening so they all had coats. While it was a little cold they weren't totally alone. There were real citizens. Families walking around. Because of the weather there was no one in boats on the lake.
Each of them had two weapons on them. Kate's second weapon was her wand. If she was forced to use it she would and then try and explain it all later.
Kate looked down and could just barely see her dad's watch. "He's late." All of two minutes.
"It's to be expected," Jordan noted. "Part of a power play. He keeps us waiting so he thinks he has power and control. Pay attention." Jordan had just gotten alert in her ear from one of her team. "Here we go." Jordan was told where to look but Rick and Kate were still looking everywhere.
Jordan watched an older man separate from two that were clearly younger and likely had small, full auto weapons under those coats.
"You wanted to talk. Walk with me." Lance began walking past them and started a long walk around the fountain.
"You're working illegally within the United States," Jordan pointed out.
"I have my reasons. It's a National Security issue. If necessary I can take this over all our heads," Lance informed them.
"So is it worth losing four of your men?" Kate inquired.
"If you'd been easier to obtain no one would be dead and we wouldn't be here. However, you will be leaving with me today," Lance announced.
Kate bristled. "Guess. Again."
Lance glared at her. "I have men watching all of us so yes he is."
"I have over 100 uniform officers that are presently moving to lock down this entire area and that includes that little lake over there. And a number of detectives in plain clothes that are all around us," Kate countered.
"Not to mention my entire team. Ask your people. You're wearing a mic and an ear piece." Jordan told him what he already knew.
"Make no mistake, Section Chief, if something goes wrong you will be the first to die," Kate warned him.
"Homicide detective a murderer. Interesting," Lance commented.
"You're armed as are those two watching us plus any others. Self-defense. So why don't you tell us why you have three dead and one missing a leg." Kate was done playing this game.
Lance still needed Castle. "Does the name Abd al-Rahman mean anything to you, Mr. Castle?"
"Abd al-Rahman. …Can't say that it does." It wasn't a name that Rick recognized.
Lance tried again. "You may have known him as Abdul Rhaman or Abdurrahman."
Rick ran those two names in his memory. "Rhaman, I was in one of the boarding schools Mother sent me to. Didn't like any of them. He was in one of my classes. We talked a little. I was trying to be a writer. He was a transfer student from a Middle East country. I'm not sure I remember just which one. His father was in oil or something. I know he had money.
"I haven't been in contact with him since I left that school for the next one. I know he knew some of the best places to eat. Little Mom and Pop places that really knew how to cook. He's why I try and look for places just like that. Good prices and the best food."
"Correct." Lance proceeded to explain why they needed Castle. "He has access to information about a group that's planning a strike against our country. We have attempted to obtain this information. Everyone we sent has died. We finally got word that he will only talk to you. Apparently you left an impression on him."
Since it was cold out all of them were walking around with hands in their pockets.
"You want me to talk to him so you can get your information? Fine, give me his number," Rick told him.
Lance shook his head. "Only in person, in Thailand. We suspect deep in the jungle."
"And this was worth kidnapping me with the intent to force me to do this? Worth three dead and one on crutches for life?" Rick demanded.
"Four more men versus one million Americans? Yes. That's why you will be coming with me."
Kate saw his pocket move a little. "Try it. Please try it," she told him.
Lance stared at them. "I don't need you two, just Castle."
Jordan was getting tired of his attitude. "Murder a NYPD homicide detective and a Special Agent of the FBI and you think you're getting out of here alive?"
"As a matter of fact, yes." Lance was sure of it.
"You couldn't just explain and ask me? You decided on something far more dangerous?" Rick didn't believe this shit.
"No, too much is at stake. Get over here," Lance called out.
"Like hell!" Kate had her hand wrapped around her wand. She would blow a hole in this guy if he forced her to.
"Not you. …Her." Lance nodded his head proving that yes indeed he had a mic and an ear piece.
"Hello, Richard. Long time no see," she said as she stepped up next to Lance.
Rick recognized her. "Sophia." She had her hands in her pockets like everyone else.
Sophia smiled at him. "Is this your new bed partner? You were pretty good."
Kate was no fool, she was being baited to make her angry and do something stupid. But she could feel something else and she was trying to place it.
"Be a good boy and let's go, Castle. I've wasted enough time with you and cost me more than I had anticipated." Lance was done here.
"Witch!" Kate whispered and didn't hesitate. She now knew what a Dark Witch felt like thanks to Gina. She fired her wand. It ripped a hole in her coat and this little white ball with sparks behind it streaked out and blew a massive hole in Sophia.
While everyone was expecting to either see a weapon or hear the sound of a weapon that didn't have a silencer, they certainly weren't expecting this. So everyone but one person was slow.
Lance jerked backwards as a sniper round hit him just above the vest he was wearing and damn near blew his head off. That was followed a second later by his two buddies that had been following, falling as their hips were shattered to pieces by one round each.
Jordan jumped and forced both of them to the ground. That was when the shooting really started and erupted all over the place. The public did two different things depending on who they were. They either fell to the concrete in fear or started running for their lives.
The first three rounds no one heard. The ones after that everyone heard.
_/\_
Jordan was still lying on top of these two with her weapon out, listening to what her team was telling her and everyone else. Actually the shooting only lasted for a minute.
The CIA team was a team of eight not including Lance and Sophia. So when those eight quickly lost two followed by two more just as fast, the remaining four surrendered rather than die.
Jordan was up watching Kate search Sophia and not Lance. As she watched Kate came away with something really strange. It was dark, looked like metal, and had something large on the tip that looked like a gem of some kind.
"Hold this, Rick." Kate held it out for him to take. The second he did it very quickly began to turn to dust and in seconds his hands were empty.
"Was that…?" Rick had done this before but with Kate's wand.
Kate nodded.
"That means she was a..." He chose not to finish that question.
"Care to explain, Kate?" She had suddenly not just shot the woman but had somehow blown a hole in her chest and Jordan had questions.
"Not really, no. Not until no one can hear me," Kate said. "Later please, if you trust me."
Jordan thought about that. "Fine, but we are talking. Now where did the shot that hit Lance come from? Avery, you copy?" Jordan needed information. She listened to what she was told.
"Sounds like we'll be setting up in the 12th again. Bring them and let's clean up this mess before the press gets here," Jordan told her team.
"So far it looks like no private citizens were injured. They'll pick up these two. We're meeting at the 12th. God what a mess." She was going to be questioned by her superiors and she wasn't sure just what she was going to say about this.
_/\_
The 12th Precinct was a hive of activity and Roy had his hands full as well. His phone refused to stop ringing.
Jordan was still in charge for now. She and Avery were individually questioning the living CIA agents about what they knew and what their orders were.
The dead bodies, all six of them since those six were the only ones dead or even injured for that matter, were taking up space in the morgue. Lanie had orders to start with Lance. Jordan wanted to know what had killed him since she hadn't heard or seen anything.
Two hours later Rick, Kate, Jordan, and Avery were talking to Roy in the conference room since it had more space.
"Our living CIA agents only know what Lance Anderson told them. It was his story about there being a person who says he knows something about a plot to hit the United States but they don't have a name or a location. So for now I can't confirm that what he said is the truth.
"I do have everything he and the woman said recorded and copies have already left this office. This is eventually going to be above me and straight to my Director. He in turn will be talking to the Director of the CIA. Of that you can be assured," Jordan said.
"Do we know if what he wanted Castle for is even the truth?" Kate queried.
"No. At least not yet if ever. If it is a National Security matter it's going to end up above all our heads. If, and this might be a big if, but if it was the truth, you can expect to be contacted by someone, Castle. Hopefully they'll actually ask you to agree instead of kidnapping you and forcing you to do it.
"It isn't over yet and maybe just started," Jordan told them all. Just then a knock on the door had their attention.
Roy answered it. "Police Commissioner," he said and had to leave and try to answer his questions.
"Go find out what the medical examiner learned about what killed Lance," Jordan told Avery who promptly left. Jordan walked over and closed the door.
"All right, we're alone, Kate, so what happened?" Jordan didn't know of anything that could make a hole like that and Kate had fired first.
Kate looked at Rick. Thankfully it was Jordan but was it going to stop with her?
"I'm a witch," Kate revealed and pulled out her wand. "And this is the wand that I used to kill her. A witch can channel her powers through her wand. There are White Witches – that's me – and Dark Witches. Good versus evil if that helps.
"I can make potions for all kinds of things. One is a potion that forces a person to tell the truth and do what I tell them to do. I used a potion on that man whose leg I blew off. So he's where we found out about that Section Chief. I used my wand on him, too.
"They were after Rick so I had to and I would do it again. I love him, Jordan." Kate saw Jordan hold out her hand so she put her wand in it. She watched Jordan examine it.
"You took something off of Sophia, handed it to Rick, and he turned it into dust," Jordan said; she wasn't blind.
"Only woman can be witches. If a man touches our wand he turns it into dust. If Rick touches my wand or any wand it will turn into dust," Kate explained.
Jordan kept Kate's wand for now. "And Sophia?"
"I've killed one Dark Witch already. I felt her even then. However, she was brewing a potion to put Rick under her control so that was a clue. When Sophia showed up I could feel her. I'm pretty sure she felt me at the same time. I found her wand in her hand in her pocket. If I hadn't killed her right that minute she would have killed me and my baby. I had to, Jordan."
"Don't think Wizard of Oz," Rick said.
Kate continued to explain. "Witches can look like anyone. White or Dark. Dark Witches seek power as far as I know. White simply want to help."
They heard a knock. Jordan pocketed the wand and answered the door.
"The medical examiner found the round that struck him. She's still working on what it did to him. It was a 7.62 x 51mm Nato," Avery reported.
"Military!" Jordan wasn't sure what had done it but this just got even more complicated.
"Keep on it," Jordan told him and closed and locked the door again.
"Military sniper. That mean anything to you two?" Jordan questioned them.
Kate spoke up. "Dad's a lawyer, so was Mom. All of my grandparents are dead. And I have no connection to the military."
"Mother is an actress and I don't know who my father is. He and Mother had a one-night stand. As for grandparents, I don't know of any. I haven't had any contact with the military for any of my books. A lot of others including CIA but not that," Rick said.
"Looks like they might be involved now." Jordan needed to make a decision.
"I can't explain the hole in Sophia." Jordan took out Kate's wand and looked at it since Kate had handed it to her. "Hold this thing, Castle." She held it out to him.
"My wand?" She had already lost one. It took a lot to figure out what it took to make another one that worked. Kate saw Jordan looking at her. Kate opened her mouth to say something and tried to figure out what to do. She closed her eyes and relaxed her muscles. "Take it, Rick." She didn't want to see her wand being turned into dust again.
Jordan watched Rick take it and sure enough just like the one taken off of Sophia, it turned into dust and fell to the floor.
"I don't know what killed Sophia and neither do you two. Now let's go find out what happens next. This has only just started." Jordan unlocked the door and went out into the bullpen which was still a mess.
"I'm sorry, Kate." He had turned another one of her wands into dust.
"It's okay. I can make another one later." Dejected, Kate exited the conference room, headed to her desk, and saw Rick sit down in his chair.
_/\_
Jordan was reading to Roy only what the medical examiner had found how and what had killed Lance Anderson, the CIA Section Chief.
"Isn't that caliber new? Just came out in 2011. Military only." Roy wasn't stupid.
"Correct on all counts. So how is the military involved in this?" Jordan asked him since maybe he had an answer. Only to see him shake his head.
Roy thought for minute. "Jordan, the Commissioner was in the process of removing my ass when he looked at his cell phone that wouldn't stop ringing. Then he just suddenly left after taking that call."
Jordan was expecting a call from her boss any second now but so far nothing.
"We can both look forward to someone showing up," Jordan commented.
"As if my life wasn't complicated enough." Roy leaned back in his chair. "Our one saving grace is that no civilians were hurt. You think he was telling the truth about wanting Castle?"
"Some kid he met years ago in a boarding school that he barely remembers? I'm not CIA. If they really do want Castle someone will show up. They'll talk him into it this time or simply try to take him again." Jordan decided this conversation was over and left his office. She had other things to do.
Kate and Rick watched where Jordan went and eventually she met up with Avery again.
"The same medical examiner is done with the CIA Section Chief. She's moved on to the woman with the hole in her chest. We all saw the hole form but not how. It was too fast. We didn't think to video record everything. All we have are eye witnesses and what they did or didn't see," Avery told her.
"I was expecting the Section Chief to do something and wasn't really watching Sophia. It looked like she was there because of Castle. Speaking of which." Jordan walked over to Castle. She hated to do this but she had to.
"You're with me, Castle." Jordan led him to an interrogation room. "Take a seat, I'll be right back." She needed a recorder first.
Rick sat down, waited, and looked at the mirror. He knew someone was on the other side and could only guess that Kate was back there now.
Then he watched Jordan come back and set a little recorder on the table. She sat down across from him and turned it on. "We are going to talk about everything you know about Sophia Turner. Absolutely everything. You have a right to have a lawyer present for this unless you waive this."
Rick looked at the mirror again. He wondered what he was going to be asked and if what he was expected to say was going to hurt Kate. That hurt him more than he had words for.
"I waive my right to a lawyer. I'll answer your questions. Just remember this was years ago. Alexis was really little back then," Rick told her and the recorder. "My very first Derek Storm book. I never really expected to be allowed access into the CIA building but I was."