American Crime Stories
Arc three, Chapter twenty four
CASTLE'S LOFT
FBI Deputy Director Bailey Malone walked into the loft. "Hey Rick, thanks for letting me come over."
"No problem, Bailey. I'm honestly a bit intrigued. When you called and asked whether you could talk to Jordan and me, it sounded more professional than personal."
"Yes, you're right." Bailey walked up to Jordan. "Agent Shaw," he greeted her.
"Director Malone."
"Call me, Bailey."
"Then, of course, it's Jordan."
"You want anything to drink, Bailey?" Rick asked.
"Some coffee would be nice."
"Sure. Sit down, I'll be right up."
While Castle was making coffee for everybody, Bailey and Jordan were making small-talk. A few minutes later, Castle had brought the coffee to the table. "So, Bailey, what's this meeting about? Something wrong with the Bracken investigation?"
"No, we have that pretty much wrapped up. When they realized that the higher echelons of their enterprise has been identified or arrested, many of the lower lever decided to cut deals. So, it won't be long until we have everyone involved in custody. At least those who haven't fled to non-extradition countries."
"I'm glad to hear that, Bailey. I truly am," Castle said relieved.
"I'm sure you are. Anyway, the reason I'm here is that I have a proposition for you."
"A proposition?"
"Well, a job offer to be exact."
"For us?"
"Yes."
"Both of us?" Castle asked surprised. He turned to Jordan and saw that she shared his surprise.
"Yes, both of you. As you both know, I once headed the Violent Crimes Task Force. Against my wishes, the VCTF was shut down shortly after 9/11 for financial reason, shifting the budget to anti-terrorism. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't convince the brass or the politicians to re-form the VCTF. That was until now."
Castle looked unsure to Jordan, not really comprehending what that had to do with him. "What does that have to do with us? I mean especially me? I can understand you telling that to Jordan, but why me?"
"Because as you have correctly surmised, I want Jordan here to be part for the VCTF, but not only her, Rick, you too."
"ME?" Castle exclaimed.
"Rick, instead of interrupting Bailey after every sentence, why don't you let Bailey finish his explanations first," Shaw said far more calmly as she was really feeling.
"Uh, sure," Castle said sheepishly.
"Thanks," Bailey said drily. "I've been in talks with the AG and Director Fickler for a few months now. But they wouldn't agree for one reason or another. It took a while before I could convince them. Then the investigation into Bracken took precedence. But now that we're in the last stages of investigations and are about to handle that over to the lawyers, I got the green light to re-form the task force. And I want you, Jordan, to head it as the Special Agent in Charge. And I want you, Rick, to be an official member." Both Jordan and Rick were shocked into silence.
"Let me tell you a bit more before I answer any of your question." Jordan and Rick nodded. "Unlike before, the VCTF won't be stationed in Atlanta, but here in New York. However, while the task force is stationed here, its jurisdiction would be the whole U.S. I know that you, Jordan, have decline various offers to transfer to the BAU in Washington because you wanted to limit your time away from your daughter. In addition, unlike the BAU, who according to regulation and guidelines have to be invited to consult on a case, the VCTF will have full investigatory rights. As long as the set of parameters for the VCTF met, you will lead any case you decide to investigate."
"Wow…" Jordan exclaimed, stunned. "I have to tell you, Bailey, that I'm very interested. Lacey is old enough that it shouldn't be too much of a problem if I'm away for longer terms. But I'd like to talk to her about it."
"Absolutely, you don't have to decide right now, but you don't have too much time either."
Jordan nodded. "Who will be part of this task force or better yet, who will select its members? Who will it answer to?" she asked.
"The core group of the task force should be between four to six investigators. If we can prove ourselves, we'll probably get more funding. I'd like to add up the personal to eight investigators, so that it would be possible to split the team if we had too in case of parallel cases. Not included in that number is the support staff like computer specialists. You will always have support from either the local precincts or FBI offices. Also, we plan to select a forensic pathologist who will work the cases with us. We had good experiences back when I headed the VCTF. Dr. Grace Alvarez accompanied us on most of our investigations. Not only was she excellent in her job, she also knew exactly what we were looking for and gave us the relevant information. As for your other questions: the task force will report strictly to me. I will also select all members of the task force. However, I'd be open to suggestion from the eventual SAC."
"Alright. That's a lot to think about, Bailey."
"I know, Jordan."
"Why me, Bailey?" Castle asked.
"There are several reasons, Rick. The short explanation is that between the theoretical applications of your education and writing you have gained a lot of different practical experiences. You possess a variability of skills that will be helpful," Bailey said and looked straight at Castle like he wanted to convey a message.
Jordan looked between the two of them. She instantly realized that the two mean were having a silent conversation. "Alright, does anybody want to explain to me what that look means? Rick, what skills is he talking about?"
"How much does she know?" Bailey asked Rick, ignoring Jordan.
"Well, how much do you know, Bailey?"
"Uh, hello. I'm sitting right here," Jordan said.
Castle thought rapidly. After a short silence, he decided that Jordan should know more about his past if they were really going to work together. "Go on, Bailey."
Bailey nodded and turned to Jordan. "Alright, first to the theoretical knowledge. You do know that he has graduated with a master's degree in both criminology and literature?"
Jordan nodded. "Yes, he told me once. I also read his file."
"What file?" Castle asked.
"Well, I had my team check you and the others during the Dunn case, and re-checked it to asses your threat level before I went to meet you in the Library."
"Yeah, that makes sense."
"Let's move on. As you may have guessed, Rick and I know each other pretty well," Bailey said and Jordan nodded.
"Has he told you how we met?"
"No, we haven't actually talked about that."
"Well, I'm sure you know Samantha Waters." Jordan nodded. "She is married to Harmon Rabb, an employee…"
"…At SSI. He was one of the members that investigated Bracken."
"Exactly."
Jordan turned to Rick. "You know Samantha Waters? And didn't tell me about that?" Jordan asked Rick accusingly.
"Uh…I know a lot of people…"
"Rick, not too sound arrogant, but I am a very good profiler. But Dr. Waters is one of the best ever, if not THE best ever."
"Oh, do I hear a bit hero worship in your voice?" Castle asked in a teasing voice. Jordan just looked at him and Rick smiled. "If you really want to meet her, we could invite them to dinner."
Jordan smiled. "Yes, please."
"Anyway," Bailey interjected. "When Sam left the FBI she decided to leave that life behind for good and concentrate on her art. She moved to New York where she eventually met and fell in love with Harm. Through him, she eventually got to know Rick here, too. As Castle knew who she was, you can imagine, how that ended."
"With a lot of questions," Jordan stated.
"Exactly. Sam told me once that she had to answer more of his questions than in any inquiry she'd been part of."
"Hey, I wasn't that bad," Castle half-heartedly tried to defend him and the others chuckled. "It's true, why else would she work with me?"
"What do you mean 'work with you'?" Jordan asked with narrow eyes.
"He's right. It wasn't really that bad. In fact Sam had been pretty impressed with Castle and his knowledge of profiling," Bailey said.
"Yeah, at that time I'd already done some courses of profiling."
"You've done courses profiling?" Jordan asked surprised only to answer her own question. "That does explain some things."
"Yes, it did help me with my writing," Castle said nonchalantly.
"Yeah, apparently Sam had seen something in him. Something that made her decide to work with Rick here for a while…"
"Wait, wait. Are you telling me that Rick here is trained by one the best profilers in the U.S., probably in the world?" Jordan exclaimed surprised, and a little hurt that Rick hadn't told her before. She was also a bit envy.
"Uh, yeah. But it was more informal than anything else. She helped me create my own technic that built on the theoretical knowledge of my studies and the courses I attended."
"Wow, Rick. I don't know what to say…"
"Uh…"
"Could you two may wait until later to have that discussion, please?" Bailey asked a bit uncomfortably.
"Sorry, Bailey," Jordan said.
"I'm pretty sure he took classes in other disciplines that I don't know of and don't need to know right now," Bailey said. Jordan turned to Rick who looked as innocently as he could.
"Anyway, during your briefing on Bracken, I got the impression that it wasn't the first time that you had worked with SSI, so I went to talk with Marcus Steel."
Castle's looked at Bailey surprised. Marcus hadn't told him anything.
"Yes, I got the same feeling," Jordan agreed. "What did he say?"
"Steel was very reluctant to talk about Rick. He told me that Castle missed his calling as a cop or even a Fed. Then he told me to talk to Rick if I wanted to know more." Both Bailey and Jordan turned to Rick, putting him on the spot.
"Uh, it's possible that I have been training and working with SSI for a few years now," Castle said sheepishly. The others looked at him dumbfounded. And why shouldn't they? SSI was one of the premier private security and private investigations agency in the country. They were notorious for hiring the best and only on reference. You could not simply apply for a job at SSI. Everybody who worked there was a highly trained professional and expert in one more disciplines. For Castle to have worked and trained with them showed him in a completely new light.
"What exactly have you done for SSI?" Jordan asked.
"Uh, as we have determined a few minutes ago, I have some expertise in profiling. So, I would from time to time help them profile a client or a possible perpetrator."
The others nodded, that sounded reasonable.
"Well, not to sound too arrogant, but I am somewhat famous. That means that I get many invitations for parties. Sometimes those invitations intersect with cases SSI is working on – either security or other investigations. So they sometimes use me as additional eyes and ears on the floor."
The others looked at him silently for a moment. "Why haven't I heard about that?" Bailey asked and Jordan nodded.
Castle sighed. "Well, it'd defeat the purpose if people knew about it. That's why we try to keep my professional association with SSI as secret as possible."
Not to mention that it would probably end his other extracurricular work. He did occasionally use the invitations to those events to do some job or another for a certain agency, too. And you never knew what information you could gather throughout such events. As far as he knew there were less than a dozen people alive who knew that he was working with the CIA from time to time. It had started back when the Steel's had still worked there. It was the reason why he was allowed to follow Sophia Turner for a period of time. It wasn't his father's influence that allowed him to have such unprecedented access.
"Alright, so you have even more practical experience than I thought, Rick. I just thought about the past four years you were working as a consultant for the NYPD. Look you're too good at finding killers to not be in law enforcement, Rick, and I think you working together with Jordan could be great. Not only for the FBI, but for you personally. You once told me that you have always wanted to become a cop."
"Yeah, I will never regret becoming a writer. It has provided me and my family a good life. My daughter has never needed for anything. But you're right, there is a part of me that regrets not choosing that path. However, like Jordan, before I make that decision, I have to talk to Alexis. She may be an adult now and soon off to college, but I need to know what she thinks about it."
"As I said before, I don't need to know your answers immediately. Think about it and talk to your daughters."
"Uh, one more think, Bailey. What about regulations? You do know that Rick and I are seeing each other?"
"Yeah, I know. I saw the press article." Bailey was referring to the article that had been published a few weeks ago. It showed Rick and Jordan at a restaurant and walking down a street laughing. The article contained the typical speculation about his possible new flame and whether his relationship with the real Nikki Heat had gone up in flames.
"I talked with the Director and we decided that we would suspend the regulation of not dating a co-worker. As long as you keep it professional during work hours and don't let your relationship interfere with your work. I'd do your performance reviews myself, so that there won't be any way for others to complain about preferential treatment." The pair nodded, relieved that their relationship wouldn't a deal breaker. The trio chatted for a little while longer before Bailey decided to go home to his own family.
A/N: A short chapter to start off the third and final arc of this story.
This arc was always supposed to be the main focus of the story. I had so many plans for it to fill dozens chapters. However, after three years of working on this fic, I'm looking forward to finish this story. I still have many ideas and plans for other stories and I'd really like to concentrate on those for a while. But, unlike other authors, I don't like working on separate fics. Therefore, I have decided to cut this fic at an appropriate place, take some of my ideas and put them into a sequel I plan to write in the future.
So, I hope you'll enjoy this arc, unofficially called 'Consultant Castle', in which I will focus mostly on parts of TheBlackHand724 original trilogy and give them my own twist.