The Other Path Chapter 81
One of Kate's adventures with her high school friend Maddie Quellar flashes into her mind. They were exploring a park on Rockaway Beach and encountered an old hospital. New York is full of buildings that outlived their purpose. Many of them have been turned into tourist attractions, complete with guided tours. But the hospital was merely abandoned. Built on a section of what became a park, the grounds weren't overgrown, but the building was completely empty. Kate and Maddie poked around for a while but found nothing to spark their imaginations. Then Maddie saw a mouse. That was the end of their explorations.
As far as Kate knows, the hospital is still empty. And it even has a loading dock. It would be the perfect place to transfer the contents of a vehicle completely unseen. She checks with the unit closest to the Larking truck. It's on the road to the park. She can almost hear Rick's "Booyah!" in her head and hopes it isn't premature.
"What's wrong with you?" Arseny demands as Ivan gives a slight shudder.
"Nothing. It's just that hospitals, as the Americans say, give me the creeps."
"The reward for what we're delivering will wipe that from your mind," Arseny assures his lieutenant. "Our buyer should be arriving any moment." Before Arseny can say any more, a truck labeled "Two Guys will Move You" approaches the dock. The man in the passenger side holds up a blue and yellow striped placard. "That's the signal. These are our buyers."
Kate watches the second truck arrive. "Lowell, Farrow, take the inside and get to the loading dock. Barkin, Meadows, prepare to box in those trucks."
The new arrival pulls up next to the Larking truck at the dock, and the driver cautiously steps to the cement drive. He nods to Areseny. "You have the items?"
"We have them," Areseny confirms. "Show me our payment."
"We inspect the items first," the buyer insists.
Arseny signals Ivan to open the back of the truck. "There, everything is as promised." Arseny pulls his cell out of his jacket. "I want to see the transfer as we agreed."
The would-be purchaser holds up his phone. "Initiating now."
"Move in!" Kate shouts into her radio. Three units fill the dock's drive, blocking any exit from the loading area. Two cops holding rifles pop out of their vehicles. Shielding herself behind her car door, Kate raises her weapon. "Down on your knees, hands on your heads. You're under arrest."
The passenger from the second truck reaches into his coat. "I wouldn't do that," Kate warns. "Check behind you. We can take you down before you can get off a shot. On the ground now!"
As the suspects sink to their knees, Kate and the other cops below the dock keep them covered while Lowell and Farrow snap on cuffs and seize weapons. "I'll call in more units to secure the scene," Kate announces. "Let's get these guys back to the 12th."
"Detective Beckett," Gates calls as Kate enters the bullpen, "I contacted the FBI. They're sending a liaison."
"Sir, it's our homicide," Kate argues.
"Which so far, you haven't charged. But you collared your suspects with materiel connected to national security. So it was either the FBI or DHS. Given your connections with the FBI, I thought that would be a friendlier call."
"Yes, Sir. Captain Montgomery was here for our last major operation with DHS. Agent Fallon was not exactly open-minded."
"I read the case file. You and Mr. Castle almost died because Fallon ignored the evidence you uncovered. We don't need that kind of a repeat, especially in your present condition."
"Sir, I appreciate you keeping that to yourself."
"I've done that, Kate. But you work in a bullpen full of detectives trained to observe. I overheard Ryan and Esposito talking about stubborn pregnant women."
"They could have been referring to Jenny," Kate suggests.
Gates shakes her head. "I caught the word cop. I believe the cat's out of the bag, Detective."
"Damn! Sorry, Sir, I didn't mean…."
"I understand, Kate. You don't want the men getting overprotective."
"I get enough of that from Castle," Kate confides.
Gates nods knowingly. "My husband was the same way when I was pregnant. I think it comes with the equipment. But there's no reason your pregnancy should interfere with your work, either with teaching or interrogation training. And I want all my cops taking care of themselves on the street, pregnant or not. Just make sure that as you go along, if you are out there, you have a vest that fits. I have a feeling that husband of yours would have one custom made."
"He'd have an armor-plated unit custom-built if I let him. But I will observe every precaution, Sir."
"Glad to hear it," Detective. Now see what you can get out of your suspects before the FBI shows up."
"Yes, Sir."
Kate takes a seat opposite Arseny and Ivan. "You two refused to identify yourselves. That gives us three John Does, those in this room plus one on a slab in the morgue."
"We don't know anything about him," Arseny claims.
Kate passes an 8 X 10 of Vasily across the table. "You know him now?"
Arseny shrugs. "One corpse is much like another. But we had nothing to do with this one."
"Really?" Kate queries. She pulls the evidence bag containing the tracker from a canvas tote beside her. We found this at an airfield on Long Island, along with the remains of a stolen aircraft. And a chip removed from John Doe number 3 is linked to this detector. That means you're connected to John Doe."
"You have no evidence that we were ever at that airfield," Arseny claims.
"Really? The parts in the back of your truck match what was removed from that plane."
"We found those parts," Arseny claims. "And our truck has never been near an airfield.
Kate smiles. "Now, I can prove that isn't true. You may have disguised the truck and changed the plates, but you didn't change the tires. Unfortunately for you, the right rear tire on your truck has a very distinctive gouge in it. I don't imagine it was enough to lose any air. You would have noticed that. But it showed up in the tracks at the airfield.
"You gentlemen may not be familiar with the precepts of our justice system. But judges instruct juries all the time of this: 'If you find that any witness has intentionally testified falsely as to any material fact, you may disregard that witness's entire testimony.' I just caught you testifying falsely to a material fact, which means anything else you've said is suspect."
"We need a lawyer," Ivan whispers in Russian to Arseny.
"Yes," Kate agrees, revealing her understanding of the language. "Getting a lawyer would be an excellent idea. But chances are you'll have to tell your counsel your names, and how you'll pay the bill."
"I want to call my consulate," Arseny demands.
"You can do that," Kate allows. "And there's an FBI Agent on his way over here now. If your consulate sends a representative, I'm sure the two of them can have a fascinating chat about the parts stolen from that plane. I'm a homicide cop. So my captain can fight it out with the FBI about who will get to charge you with murder."
Grinning as he watches the end of the interrogation video, Rick closes the lid of his laptop. "That was beautiful, Kate. One of the best I've seen you do. You really pulled what you needed out of those guys."
"When it comes to extracting information, maybe you can tell me how Ryan and Esposito found out I'm pregnant," Kate proposes. "Gates didn't tell them, and she's the only one at the precinct who knew."
"Good guess?" Rick suggests.
"Really?"
Rick stares at the floor. "No. I thought they already knew, and I let it slip. I'm sorry."
"Well, you know I'm going to have to punish you."
"Ooh. Are you going to make me do extra reps?"
Kate runs her finger down his thigh. "Maybe something like that. We'll figure it out."
