Moment in Time 3

Chapter 4

XX Part 1

Kate gazes out the window of her improvised hideout, the events of the day swirling in her brain. She knew Rick was disappointed that he wouldn't be at the precinct with her, making his gift even sweeter. "Always," she whispers, picturing the engraving on the bracelet. It might have been the shortest always on record. The jewelry slipped off somehow. She doesn't know when, but she didn't have it when she sewed herself up and changed clothes at the dry cleaners.

Maybe Rick found it. Somehow he picked up her trail, and that was the last thing she wanted. She hadn't recognized the voice on the early morning phone call, but when she went to work for the AG, the code had been burned into her brain. It meant a top-secret deadly crisis.

Making the demanded meet was an almost total catastrophe. If that bullet had gone any deeper …. She has the ache to remind her how close it came. She could have grabbed a painkiller when she stole the insulin Vikram needed. But she couldn't afford to compromise her reflexes. She still can't.

Vikram's hacking led her to Brooks' hideout, barely in time to save Rick. But Brooks and the others didn't act like the US military or even CIA. Kate's guess is that they're rogues or mercenaries. Either way, more of them could be on her tail.

Vikram explained that information that came in responding to Kate's old query touched off a chain of events she hadn't wanted to believe could happen. Within 24 hours, Rachel McCord, Hendricks, Richmond – all of Kate's former team members- were dead. Since he had seen the transmission, Vikram feared the dogs were loosed on him as well. And Kate was at the root of all of it.

Despite Villante's orders to drop the matter, she had continued investigating Defense Secretary Michael Reed. She couldn't stand the idea that the unscrupulous bastard would use the death of a loyal asset to ascend the political ladder. Somehow, the recording incriminating Reed mysteriously vanished from the AG's computer system. And any under-the-radar probes Kate made hit a wall of top secrecy.

Reed knew how to cover his tracks, or at least he did until Vikram came on the scene. But obviously, Reed knew he'd been found out. And if he sent one hit squad after Kate, he could send another one. She was f***ing lucky that Vikram tracked Brooks to his hideout. So until she could figure out how to get out from under, she couldn't risk Rick's life by pulling him in any further. He'd already been hurt enough. She had no idea who the woman with him was, but right now, she couldn't afford to care.

As far as Kate could tell, Rick had only been taken to get to her. If there is another pack of hounds, she'll play the fox that will keep them busy. The rumble of approaching vehicles jerks her back to the present. Damn! There is another team! "We've got to leave, now!" she shouts to Vikram.

Grabbing her gun and their warbag, she urges Vikram toward a hidden hatch. It leads to the basement tunnels constructed by flunkies of the former occupant, a drug dealer who worked for Vulcan Simmons. With any luck, she and Vikram can make their escape before their pursuers discover their route out.

Using a mag lite she lifted from an ambulance when she grabbed Vikram's insulin, Kate leads the way through dank air. Vikram covers his mouth to smother a cough. "How much further?"

"Not far." Kate's light reflects from metal. "That should be the exit up ahead."

Her beam finds a heavy-duty lock next to a keypad. "Do you know the code?" Vikram inquires.

Kate bites her lip in frustration. "No idea. Can you hack it?"

Vikram pulls out his phone and makes a quick scan. "It's not connected to anything. So there's nothing to hack. But I could try disassembling it. Do you have a screwdriver?"

"Yeah. I have a whole toolkit hidden in the heel of my boot. Oh, wait!" She pulls the Swiss Army knife Rick put in her Christmas stocking out of the pocket of her appropriated clothes. "I grabbed this when I transferred my cell phone."

Vikram examines the knife's assortment of blades and gadgets. "These could work." He begins to pry the cover off the pad.

Kate stares nervously down the tunnel behind them, alert for any movement. "Hurry up! They could find the trapdoor at any moment."

"Almost got it," Vikram pants. "All right. There's a backup battery in here. Hopefully, it has enough juice left to send a signal to the lock."

Kate hears a click. "That's it! You did it!" She peers out cautiously down an alley, hearing vehicles on the surrounding streets. A car pulls up at the end of the alley, and the woman Kate saw with Castle gestures frantically. "Get in! They'll be on you any second."

Kate and Vikram run for the vehicle, and Hayley floors the accelerator as the doors slam. "Who are you?" Kate demands as the car speeds away.

"I imagine you could call me a family friend," Hayley responds. "I was paying off a debt helping out your husband. Then you saved my ass, so now I owe you."

"Where are we going?" Kate asks.

"To let Castle know you're safe. After that, we'll have to figure it out."

"I can't pull Rick any deeper into this."

"Too late, sweetie," Hayley claims. "He's already in it up to his pretty blue eyeballs. Whether Castle's with you or not, those buggers will still come after him. They won't leave any loose ends. So we'll have to figure out how to take them all out – or cut off the head. With those types, if there's no one to pick up the tab, they just move on to the next job."

Vikram snorts. "That's going to be some trick."

"Which is why we can use some of Castle's creativity," Hayley suggests. "He comes by it honestly."

Vikram looks questioningly at Kate, but she shakes her head. "You're better off not knowing."

Hayley signals for Kate and Vikram to hang back as she approaches the door to Castle's PI office. "Castle? Are you here?"

Rick charges out of a hidden room. "Hayley! Thank God! Do you have any idea where Kate is?"

"Actually, I do."

Kate runs into Rick's arms, stretching up to meet his lips. Hayley gives them a moment before clearing her throat. "This reunion is touching, but we have work to do."

Kate reluctantly pulls away from Rick as he catches Vikram with a suspicious stare. "Are you the bastard who called my wife this morning and started this whole mess?"

Kate presses her palm against Rick's chest. "Babe, it's not his fault. It's mine."

"No," Rick argues, if my guess is correct, it's the fault of a very high-ranking federal official – one responsible for my near demise once before."

Vikram's mouth gapes. "How did you…?"

"I told you he's creative," Hayley quips.

Alexis emerges from hiding. "His creativity got him a concussion, and I promised the doctor I'd look after him."

Kate cups Rick's cheek. "I'm sorry, Babe."

"Hey, I'm alive," Rick points out. "And so are you. And as Hayley so rightly noted, we have to put together a plan to take that sonofabitch down."

Kate grabs his hand. "Then let's huddle up in your Castle-cave and get started."