Knowing that he had blown the chance to take out Smitty he decided on doing something on a grander scale. He knew now that they would be looking at his car with a fine-tooth comb for any clues as to how the Semtex was placed there. He had heard about his father's brush with the law when he tried to take out Castle. And while he didn't exactly go after anyone in particular, he did cause chaos and destruction in his wake.
But it's the second brute that he finds interesting. Aashif Kazim. Now, this guy gave the BDU a run for their money. He could see where he went wrong though because he went for too much too fast. Trying to take out Castle at a medical office building by setting explosives inside the elevator shaft was ingenious. He just never took in the drive that Smitty had by disobeying orders and finding the trigger that would have killed the bastard and his wife on any other day.
He needed to find a way to take some heat of himself and it would be a couple of days before he could find the right plan to do this so in the meantime he would lay low. He had thought about a mass bombing that could take out many locations at once but then he himself would need to be at each location to see the damage being done so no that was not the way to go. He needed one location and since there was only one BDU unit in the city he knew that Castle would be the one responding to whatever threat that presented itself.
Xx
Rick had Smitty's car towed very carefully to the forensics lab in lower Manhattan. Once it had been delivered the lab personnel went over everything that was not stock on the car. What they found was something they never expected. Whoever planted the explosive material on Smitty's car was a sick son of a bitch. The Semtex was custom made, actually homemade. But what they really were curious about was the test blasting cap. It was activated or deactivated with an encrypted radio signal. And that is what they think caused the smoke to billow out from under his car. They had carefully removed the leads from the mercury switch to the Semtex and found that the insulation was burnt off and this was the cause for the black smoke. They put it in a secure container for further inspection. The unexploded Semtex was brought up to the Bronx where it was detonated safely.
The blasting cap and the mercury switch were brought to BDU for further analysis. What they didn't find on the items were fingerprints, DNA, or any other incriminating evidence that would lead to whoever and planted the bomb on Smitty's car. So now they know that this guy or girl is very careful in how they planted the bomb in his car. What they need to do now is review any security camera footage that might give them a clue as to who did this. But what they need to do first is complete a full canvas in the area around Smitty's house. Somebody had to see something.
Rick had just arrived at Smitty's neighborhood when his cell phone rang. Before he answered it he had instructed Dave, Herman, Charlie, and Smitty to conduct a quick canvas of the neighborhood within a half-mile radius of his house. Then he answered his phone.
"Castle."
"Captain this is Garrett down at the lab. I think you had better get back here. We found something that could be important to your investigation."
"Garrett can you just tell me this over the phone?" Rick asks.
"No Sir it is easier to show you then to explain what I found."
"Okay, I'll be there in thirty minutes." Rick wonders what could be so important as he hangs up the phone. He tells Dave that he is leaving and that he and the rest of his men do their best to get any information on who could have been near Smitty's house within the past couple of days.
The ride back to lower Manhattan takes longer than he expected. Traffic was the issue. He knows it's late because the sun is almost done setting so it's at least after five pm and he knows that no one will be there when he finally does arrive. He parks the BDU truck in an official spot across the street from the lab. He quickly hobbles across the street due to his limp and he enters the lab. He walks downstairs to the garage area where the car is being stored and the first person he sees is Garrett.
"So Garrett what did you find that's so important that you couldn't tell me over the phone?"
"Captain I need you to get on a creeper and then I'll show you what I found," Garrett told him.
Garrett gets on one of the two creepers that are at the back end of the car. Rick knows that whatever this is it's going to be big. So, he gets on the creeper that is next to Garrett and they both roll under Smitty's car which is resting on four jack stands. About halfway under the car, they both stop.
"Captain what I'm going to show you is something we never thought we would have seen. We thought that the Semtex and the way it was planted were the only threat. This car being as old as it is has an actual steel channel frame it measures 4 inches tall by 2 inches wide and extends from the front bumper to the back bumper. And if you notice it has tie-down holes all throughout the frame. They used these tie-down holes mostly when the cars were being transported after they were built. The railroad companies and the trucking companies used the front and rear holes to hold the car down with chains while it was being transported. What I have in my hand is a very strong magnet. Just watch what happens when I run it along the frame the bottom of the frame."
Garrett attaches the magnet to the frame and slides it along the bottom until he reaches the first set of tie-down holes. What Rick sees is unbelievable.
"How large are those ball bearings Garrett?" Rick asks.
"They measure a quarter inch in diameter. Now if you slide out from under the car, I'll show you how many of them they were."
They both get out from under the car and walk over to the container that holds all the ball bearings. About they weigh about 68 pounds and if he were to guess Rick would think there'd be about 8000 of them.
"Sitting in that container on the scale are 10,473 quarter-inch ball bearings. If that Semtex would have detonated on that day in the park where the car show was you would be looking at a minimum of 500 to 1000 people losing their lives just from the ball bearings alone. The concussion from the Semtex being detonated would have probably taken out anywhere from another 60 to 100 people." Garrett explains.
"So could this guy be a serial bomber Garrett?" Rick asks.
"Hard to say Cap. He could just be doing this for kicks or he has a hard-on for BDU. Either way would I very seriously think about watching my back if I were you. Because what I think is that he is going to do is something that is on a larger scale. The car show was mere peanuts to this guy he's going to strike at something very public and it will be very deadly."
"Damn. Thanks, Garrett."
Rick is up and out of the lab and almost to his truck. He has his phone to his ear and Smitty's phone is ringing on the other end.
"Smitty any luck with the canvas?" Rick asks when he answers.
"Rick Charlie had one kid who was home sick from school on that day and the only thing he saw was a white minivan across the street from my house. He didn't get a plate number or description of the guy who was driving it, only that it was a small white van."
"Alright. I need you to return back to headquarters. We have a big problem."
"Okay, Rick. It's 6:40 pm now there should be minimal traffic so we should be back in forty minutes."
"I'm leaving the lab now so I will be there before you. Bye Smitty."
"Bye Rick."
Xx
Kate had everything under control. For once Faith and Hope had been nursed, changed and put down for a nap. Now that this was done, she was able to take a little time for herself. But instead of doing that she knew that somebody was after her BDU family. She only had so much time left before she had to go back to work from maternity leave and if she was going to do anything it would have to be now. She knows that her investigation into Rick's past is what made her love him that much more. But at the time when she did look into his past, she only gathered enough information to solve the issue that was going on in their lives at the time. She never did go any further than she had to try to figure out who was after him. And then she did have her daughter who also helped her out. She doesn't really want to involve her anymore because number one she just lost her husband and number two she has two very precious lives to care for now.
She's going to have to start an investigation on her own and behind his back because she knows that if he ever finds out what she's doing he will probably end up disowning her. It's one of the stipulations he put forth before they were married that if he ever found out she was doing something without his knowledge it wouldn't end well.
She knows that the car bomb that was intended to explode on Saturday's car show on Staten Island was a way to take out the whole BDU unit. But something must've gone wrong and that is what makes her believe this is bigger than just taking out a group of city employees. She doesn't know if the person who was going to detonate the Semtex had a change of heart or he decided that the conditions were not right and ditched the whole plan or there was an underlying problem. She thinks it is going to be the latter. She guesses that whoever this person was he or she had a specific target in mind and since everybody was there, she has no way of knowing who the intended target was. What she's going to need to do is to go see a very old and dear friend of theirs and hopefully she might have some answers for her.
She calls Alexis out from the upstairs room that she had lived in for most of their marriage. It was easier for them to knock down a wall between Alexis' old room and the spare guest room and make it one whole room. She still had some work to do to make it her own but she was making progress.
"Yeah, mom? Did you need me?"
"I do. I need to know if your babies are sleeping."
"They just went down about ten minutes ago."
"God it's like they are in tune with each other. Hope and Faith just went down too."
Alexis had made her way to the living room and sat down on the couch waiting for her mom to continue.
"Listen to me baby, I need to look into something and I'll be gone for about three hours can you watch your sisters for me until I return?"
"Mom? What's going on? Where are you going?" Alexis asked.
"Alexis I promise I will tell you if I can find out anything."
"Wait a second you're going to do something that dad told you not to do aren't you?
"Not at all baby I'm just going to see an old friend. I should be back before too long. Just keep an eye on your sisters and your two sons and everything will be fine." Kate said as she gathered up her purse and her keys heading for the door.
"But mom…" Alexis called out but she had already left through the front door. Now she was worried about her mother. She knew whatever she was up to it would have a terrible outcome.
