Gates took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. She had a massive headache brewing and a feeling it was only going to get much worse with things to come. How her best detective, who was currently on long term disability, and her partner/husband, had managed to get involved in another conspiracy was beyond her comprehension. Were they even in the country? She had no idea, but she'd bet those two clowns out there, pretending to work, would know. She got up, walked to the door and called out into the bullpen.

"Ryan, Esposito, my office now."

The boys scurried into to the office.

"Sir." Ryan addressed.

"Sit," she commanded from behind her desk. The boys did as they were told.

"What do you know about Vikram Singh?" she demanded wasting no time. It appeared that the question had caught the two detectives off guard.

"Sir?" Ryan asked.

"Vikram Singh," she repeated patiently. "I assume you're familiar with that name?" She looked down at her notes and then back up at the two men, who were trying their best not to squirm in their seats. "What do you know about him?"

The boys looked at each other, silently agreeing for Esposito to take the lead.

"Nothing."

"Detective Esposito, you mean to tell me you two have never heard of that name before?"

"No."

"No?"

"No, I mean. We've heard the name but we don't know the dude."

"Other than he worked as a tech analyst at the same AG office Beckett did," Ryan added, earning a sharp glare from his partner. Unperturbed by Espo's expression, Ryan forged ahead. He knew this Vikram guy was going to be trouble.

"Sir, for transparency sake, Beckett called a couple days ago, said she had some missed calls and a cryptic message from someone she thought might be from the AG's office," Ryan continued.

"But she didn't recognize the voice. Ryan traced the number and turned up Singh's name. We did a quick background check, confirmed he worked at the AG's office and passed on the information to the Feds," Espo quickly finished.

"What's going on, Sir?"

"I just got off the phone with Attorney General himself. He informed me that Mr. Singh's body turned up this morning at the Hill Theater. Local units found the body after a homeless man stumbled upon it. It appears Mr. Singh ran into some trouble, of the 32. Caliber type." Gates paused letting her detectives absorb the information. "Once he was identified, the AG's office got the hit on their APB." Gates leaned forward hands clasped on her desk. She knew she was potentially crossing the line by disclosing the next piece of information, but felt in this case, the need to know was justified.

"It appears Mr. Singh isn't the first, or even the second, victim associated with Detective Beckett's past employer. In fact, her whole team has been wiped out." Gates noticed the look of shock and surprise flash across their faces.

"When the AG's office looked into what Vikram was working on, they discovered a heavily redacted dossier. Scribbled on the corner was the word LokSat. Are you two familiar with that term?"

"No, sir," they responded in tandem.

"Neither are the Feds. But they were able to determine that the document contained the results of a search on William Bracken and any known associates. A search that was initiated by an Agent Katherine Beckett."

The boys visibly gulped at the implications.

"Vikram was trying to warn Beckett." Esposito concluded.

"Yes, I agree and so does the AG. He was pretty determined to talk with Detective Beckett, but it appears she's currently unreachable. I tried Mr. Castle's phones but it appears to be turned off as well. Do you know where we can reach them?"

"No, but I bet Alexis does."

"Yeah, Castle would never let himself be unreachable for her." Ryan agreed.

"Ok, you boys reach out to Ms. Castle and see if you can get a number. I've got some important calls to make. I want to put the local authorities on alert, you never know where this is going to lead. Let's say we reconvene in the conference room in half hour." The boys nodded their agreement.

"Good. Dismissed. And, gentlemen," Gates started before they could exist the office. "I don't think I have to remind you to keep this topic of conversation to yourselves."

"No sir," They confirmed as they went out in search of Castle's contact information.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Richard Castle stepped out onto the balcony that extend the length of the bedroom and living room in their suite. The rain and wind were starting to pick up due to the passing hurricane, but he didn't mind getting a little wet. He'd always enjoyed a good storm. In fact, he had very good memories of one particular thunderstorm. With a dreamy expression, he turned back into the bedroom and looked at the time. Beckett's yoga class was just about finished, perhaps she'd be willing to recreate that particular scenario when she got back.

Humming to himself, he went back to his open computer where the results of his current search were displayed. She had wanted him to write, insisting that he take advantage of her absence to do so. But the edits for Johanne's book were done, the final draft at the publishers and he didn't have another Nikki Heat deadline for several months still. So, all things considered, he was actually ahead of the game. With that rationale, he'd given into the temptation and started to Google reviews on possible vacation destinations. Kate hadn't given him any guidelines to work with, had left the decision on their next trip completing up to him, and he had every intention of taking complete advantage of that freedom.

The ringing phone on the desk shook him out of him contemplations. Thinking it could only be his daughter calling, he answered the call cheerfully.

"Pumpkin," he responded as he picked up the receiver.

"Not quite, Castle."

"Espo? Why are you calling on this line?" Rick asked surprise evident in his tone.

"Hey, Castle," Ryan interrupted before Esposito could answer the question. "Where's Beckett?"

"At yoga. Why?"

"When is she getting back?"

"Why?" Castle repeated. "What's wrong?" He felt his hackles rise, something was up.

"Mr. Castle." It was Gates this time, letting her presences in the room known.

"Sir, what's going on?" Castle was beginning to worry for the boys and Gates to be calling something was seriously wrong.

"We need to speak with Detective Beckett right away," she offered by way of explanation. "When is she expected back?"

"Any minute," Castle confirmed. "In fact, I think I hear her now," he turned to towards the door. "One sec." Castle engaged the speaker phone, cradled the receiver, and contemplated muting the line. He wanted a chance to warn Kate before surprising her with call. But before he could complete the task, he was startled by the scuffle at the door. He exited the room to see what the commotion was only to see that Kate was being manhandled through the door.

"That's close enough Mr. Castle. Stop right there."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Earlier….

Kate Beckett felt fantastic. For the first time since the accident, she was relatively pain free and she'd been able to complete the yoga class with almost the same ease as before her injuries. Thinking her new fond limberness could also be attributed to other recent activities, she laughed to herself. Castle would definitely get a kick out of that.

She walked out of the hotel banquet hall, which had hosted the lesson due to the inclement weather, with a skip to her step. She bid her goodbyes to the instructor and some of the other students just outside the doors and made her way to the bank of elevators on the far side of the room. She strode in and pressed the button for her floor. The left over adrenaline had her bouncing on the balls of her feet. She smiled to herself, imagining how Castle could help her burn the excess energy. Distracted, she didn't notice the group approaching the elevator. Before the doors could close, a hand reached in and the doors parted again.

In walked two burly looking men and a third slight of a man. While the look of trouble was obvious in the two husky men, which Kate mentally catalogued as Henchman 1 and Henchman 2, it was the look in the third man's eyes that that was truly frightening. Smaller man appeared to be in charge as the two other took silent directions from his nod.

Henchman 1 turned his back to her as if guarding the door, the other walked straight up to Kate. She took a step back, only to be met the by the elevator rail. She was trapped, with nowhere to go.

"There's nowhere to go." The diminutive man addressed as if reading her mind. "So, I suggest that for once you do as you're told, and come with us nicely."

"Who are you and what do you want?" She demanded taking a step forward. She refused to back down. Henchman 2 didn't budge and she was met with the expanse of his chest in her path. He took another step forward and she was forced back into the corner.

"You're really are an obstinate creature, aren't you? Trust me, my name is the least consequential thing for you to know right now. But for operational purposes you can call me Mr. Flynn." His gaze took Kate in from head to toe as if sizing her up. "As to what I want, I've been in trusted with your interrogation. You're going to tell me everything you know about LokSat, or I'll have my friends here take turns breaking each one of your writer's fingers, while you watch. And if that doesn't do the trick, well let's just say, I've got some other tricks up my sleeve," he finished patting the satchel he had strewn across his front.

"I'm not telling you anything." Kate growled. The small man just threw his head back and laughed, in what her husband would describe as a maniacal tone. Then he stopped, smiled and nodded, "challenge accepted."