Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or the recognizable characters who appear in this story. Any other names, for characters or businesses, are fictional, uncompensated, or are in the public domain.
oo0oo
October 30
An unfamiliar beeping noise roused a bleary-eyed Castle, who reached out several times to swat the source of the racket. After doing so several times to no avail, he grunted an opened his eyes, groggily taking in his surroundings.
The sad little cot he'd acquired proved too short and too uncomfortable, so he'd abandoned it during the night. The concrete floor wasn't much better, but at least it supported all of him, unlike the cot. Untangling himself from his sleeping bag finally drew him fully awake, at which point he panicked about the beeping noise.
Crawling to the desk on which his laptop sat, Castle focused on the screen to see which alarm had sounded. There, he said, calming down. In the lower-left quadrant of his screen, he saw Captain Gates at the rear door of the warehouse he'd appropriated for this adventure. Stumbling to his feet and dragging his fingers through his hair, Castle hustled to the door to admit Gates.
"I have news," she mentioned as she walked in, her raised eyebrow the only comment on Castle's disheveled appearance.
Castle blushed, pointed her towards his makeshift command center, and followed. Once in the office he'd set up as their fallback position, he motioned her to speak while he set about the task of shaking out and rolling up his sleeping back.
"Eight people purchased tickets for flights out of LaGuardia within an hour of takeoff this morning. Of those, eight passed through TSA security but only seven boarded flights. The eighth, one…," she paused to look at a small notebook, "Madison Landis, failed to board his flight."
"To Toronto?" Castle asked, wondering if they were talking about the flight that was taking Ryan to Toronto for the rendezvous with Fitz at the Consulate.
"No, Raleigh-Durham. But I don't think that matters," Gates continued. "Mr. Landis is a United flight attendant. Even if he were flying as a passenger, I doubt he'd purchase the ticket directly, especially on a competing airline. And certainly not for a flight scheduled to be in the air while he was working the flight to Miami."
"So, you think it was Cole? That he followed Garr and Ryan to the airport, saw Ryan going through security and grabbed a ticket to get him through TSA courtesy of a clueless Mr. Landis?" Castle asked, wile rubbing the stubble on his jaw in an effort to get his brain moving.
"Just so. I've only seen general security footage, but it could've been Cole. I think he got through the security checkpoint, bumped into Ryan, and then realized Toronto was a dead end."
Castle nodded, thinking the scenario likely. If Cole was spooked, he would've bailed out just as he did at the NYPL. But he took a risk in following Ryan through security, opting for an opportune cover even with the risk that TSA personnel might have known the person whose identity Cole borrowed to secure his ticket. But even if that was true, then there was still an open question. "So, now it depends on whether he picked up on the Lockwood connection or not. How do we get a read on that?"
"We wait in case he shows up," Gates instructed. "Just like any other stakeout."
Castle sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, already getting fidgety with the prospect of a long wait ahead of him.
Recognizing his distress, Gates tried to calm him down, if only to salvage her own sanity during the oncoming hours. "You've done this before, right? How do you and Detective Beckett pass the time during stakeouts?"
"Telling stories or playing Truth or Dare," he answered with a small grin.
"I dare you to be silent."
"That's how Beckett plays, too," Castle grumped.
oo0oo
Back at the precinct, Beckett caught Espo's eye and nodded toward the coffee machine. She waited a few minutes after he ambled over, allowing him to get the drinks moving before she drifted in his direction.
"Did you notice Gates' office?" she asked as Espo handed her a cup, which she immediately lifted to her lips. She took a quick sip, but left the cup raised to enjoy the aroma and to obscure her lips as if that would increase their privacy.
At Espo's head shake, Beckett explained. "Things are rearranged since she called me in the day before yesterday. I think she bunked here last night."
"Makes sense, I guess, with Cole out there. She probably doesn't want him reading her again, especially about how we're trying to find him."
"So where is she now?" Beckett pressed. "I checked the gym and locker rooms. Unless 1PP called her in, she should be here now, especially after reaming us all about being in on time. But she's gone."
"What're you thinking, Beckett? You think she caught a lead and is following it herself?"
"No," Beckett thought aloud, "or not really 'caught a lead' so much as created one. If Cole is out there, waiting to read one of us, why did she send us out to check an option Castle was unlikely to use?"
Espo groaned and set his coffee down. "So, you think it wasn't just scut-work, that she sent us out as a distraction?"
"As bait," Beckett corrected quietly. "I think she wanted us out where Cole could get a glancing touch to figure things out."
"But we don't know anything!"
"Actually, I've been wondering about that," Beckett continued, suddenly feeling a bit like Castle in suggesting a bit of an off-the-wall hypothesis that she thinks is true. "If we were bait, she couldn't tell us or Cole would know it was a setup. So, she'd have to get us thinking about something without making it obvious. What do the attorneys say? She 'refreshed our recollection' before she sent us out."
"Shit," Espo growled in reply. "Lockwood, right? Has to be. So, why get us thinking about him? He died at the airfield."
"Not where he died," Beckett murmured in reply, lips still hidden by the coffee cup. "Where we caught him. Or, I should say, where Castle caught him."
"So, you think Castle's behind this and recruited Gates?" Espo thought about this for a few long moments before nodding. "Not a bad tactical call. Lockwood picked the place for a reason, and Castle's probably trying to ambush Cole just like Lockwood ambushed Ryan and me. I can't believe I'm saying this, but if this is Castle's play – luring Cole in to an isolated, controlled situation – it's actually pretty smart."
"Smart to take on Cole with only Gates as backup?" Beckett replied fiercely.
"Hell, no," Espo laughed. "Gates did her bit and we must've too, or Ryan did. Because I don't think she'd have left her office unless things were getting ready to go down."
Privately happy that Espo remembered to include his partner and hadn't sneered Ryan's name, Beckett placed her mug in the sink and nodded toward the exit with a raised brow. "In which case being nearby would make it easier for us to provide proper backup, right?"
They carefully maneuvered to Beckett's car, keeping a wide berth from anyone who might brush against them. It was surprisingly taxing, worrying that their hypothesis could be plucked from their heads with a single stray touch. Finally, once ensconced in the protective bulk of Beckett's cruiser, they sighed in relief and headed out, never contemplating that their focus on Cole's unusual abilities made then less attentive to standard forms of surveillance.
oo0oo
Castle was bored.
Mortally bored.
Boredy boreditty bored bored.
Gates had tired of him long ago, banishing him to the main area of the warehouse, while she remained in the CCC – the "Castle Command Center," which was a cool appellation despite Gates' disdainful sniff. What had been a shabby back office now hosted a door as reinforced as Castle could make it on the fly, a small video setup, his stash of snacks, and the extra tasers. Yet, despite it bearing his name, Gates still banished him from the CCC to do a "perimeter check." That's a euphemism he'd not yet from Beckett, at least. And she barely let him leave with one taser, convinced that he'd be more likely to knock himself out than Cole.
He'd already made the rounds multiple times, but he couldn't really begrudge the effort. They didn't have as many cameras as he'd like, given the rush they were in to set this up, and several of those had to be pointed at the two entry doors and the door between the CCC and the warehouse proper. He'd say he gained insight into how to write a guard's tedious routine, but he already had paperwork days at the precinct to inspire his fictional depictions of boredom.
He'd also cleared the list of things he'd set aside to think about during this stake-out. Proper gifts for his mother and daughter to apologize for suddenly uprooting their lives. Potential plotlines that might actually work for the Heat books and plotlines and character names he could trot out to tease or enrage Beckett. Emails to poke at Patterson and the others in an attempt to woo them back to the poker table. Whom to approach about finding those Gemini dolls that Cole mentioned when Gates was interrogating him. How to coerce the condo board into looking the other way so he could expand on last year's Christmas decoration extravaganza. Potential costume themes for this Thanksgiving…
He paused in his musings for a reason he couldn't quite articulate. It wasn't a sound that caught his attention, but maybe the lack of a sound? He considered calling out to Gates but decided to speak to a different target instead.
"So, I guess I shouldn't be surprised the locks weren't much of a challenge?"
A grim chuckle preceded Cole materializing from the gloom. "Nor the cameras," he confirmed. "No offense, but I've dealt with much worse than this."
"None taken," Castle replied amiably, trying to play it cool in the hopes that Gates would hear them and be ready to act. Forcing himself to avoid thinking about that possibility and cursing the taser tucked away in his pocket, he stood and extended an uncovered and toward Cole as if offering to shake hands.
"I still don't know where Mother and Alexis are," he admitted. "Go ahead," he added while nodding to his hand, resorting to a naked bluff. "'Trust, but verify,' right?"
Cole smirked in reply, raised an eyebrow at Castle's extended hand, but seemed wary of getting within reach of the writer.
Curious, Castle thought. He seems cautious about getting too close to me. Either he suspects a taser or he really did get a hand on Ryan, who must have some lingering thoughts about my tussle here with Lockwood, even if he didn't see it himself. I doubt Espo's musings would have been so complementary…
"Contrary to the impressions you might've gotten from my partner or her colleagues, I can learn. I can't keep you out of here," Castle said while using his extended hand to tap his head, "so I had to create a situation I couldn't control to protect them."
"A situation you couldn't control," Cole chuckled again. "Story of your life, eh, Writer Boy?"
"Yeah, but maybe not just mine?" he replied while nodding in the direction of the CCC as if inviting Cole to a more comfortable place to talk. Castle started walking that direction, trying to casually guide them in a way that Gates might see if she were monitoring the cameras, and Cole followed while maintaining a small distance from the writer. "From what I read, you were controlling your own situation pretty well until the Feds turned up."
"Come now, Ricky," Cole parried in response. "If we're trading questions again, you'll need something to barter. I read my fill a few days ago and I'm not convinced there's anything of interest left up there," he smirked as he repeated Castle's earlier gesture and pointed to his head.
"A thought clearly stolen from more than one of my NYPD colleagues," Castle grumbled as they approached the door to the CCC. Hoping to capitalize on Cole's wariness to come within reach, Castle made a sweeping gesture towards the door. "After you."
"If this is how you bluff, I've got to meet these poker buddies of yours. My 'minders,' as you call them, aren't very generous and cash always makes life easier. But for now, I'll let you lead where I can see you."
Castle affected a nonchalant shrug, hoping it looked as put-upon as his mother often accused. Praying that Gates was prepared, Castle slowly ambled trough the CCC doorway, lurching sideways at the last minute as Gates, who'd positioned herself behind the door, slammed it shut and threw both the deadbolt and the security bar.
Their panicked eyes sought each other's immediately, conveying a look of relief and surprise that things might not've gone exactly to plan, but at least they'd gained their fallback position – Cole in the warehouse proper with Castle and Gates protected in the CCC. Castle reached for the trigger that activated the additional locks on the external doors and turned to Gates. They'd have to call for back-up now, which entailed other risks, but at least Cole had been located and was relatively contained. Tentative smiles were just taking root when they curdled at the sound of Cole's laughter.
oo0oo
"Another challenge!" Cole laughed while looking directly into the camera above the CCC door. "But maybe not much of one. Standard entering protocol is to cut the phone lines on entry, and I doubt your cell phones work from in there. How long will it take for your backup to arrive?"
"No bars!" Castle called through the door in reply, feigning dismay. "No backup! Feel free to take all the monologuing time you'd like!"
As if I wouldn't have checked if my phone worked when setting this up, Castle grumped to himself. I guess I should be offended that someone who read my mind thinks so little of me…
"I like that about you, Writer Boy, always looking for humor. So," he continued while smiling at the cameral, "what would be funnier, me slipping from this half-assed trap or me turning it on you by starting a fire with you stuck in a room with no other exit?"
"If you want a challenge, you should try to get through the door," Castle suggested as an alternative.
"Are you insane?" Gates whispered fiercely in Castle's ear, talking quietly so as to not disclose who was in the CCC with Castle, not that it was likely they could be overheard. She'd startled him as he thought she was still on the phone to the NYPD, but she must've had things ready to roll.
"The longer he focuses on this door, the more time we have for others to arrive," Castle whispered in reply. "Oh, no."
"What's do you mean, 'oh, no'?" Gates hissed. "You said this door was hardened against entry, that we could hold out here for at least an hour!"
"This door is fine," Castle replied grimly. "But that one's not," he says while pointing to the portion of his laptop's screen that shows one of the external doors.
oo0oo
"Door's locked," Espo reported after jiggling the handle of the door to the back of the warehouse. "And no sign of vehicles for Gates or Castle. You think they're somewhere else?"
"I would've expected the doors to be locked. We still need to figure out how to check if they're inside."
"Okay," Espo replied amiably, happy to be doing something active rather than sitting in a care staking out the warehouse. Beckett might be good about ignoring what she heard from Cole in Interrogation, but he's not anxious to be stuck in a quiet car with her anytime soon. "We'll just do whatever you and Castle did to get in last time."
"No, we certainly will not!" Beckett denied hotly enough for Espo to wonder what happened back then.
Realizing her mistake, Beckett offered a different solution. "I've got my lockpicks. We'll go in that way."
oo0oo
"Oh, this gets better and better!" Cole cackled from inside the warehouse while speaking to the camera above the CCC door. "Sounds like someone else is trying to join our party. But I think this next part should be a surprise."
With that pronouncement, Cole reached into his pocked and extracted a handgun that he pointed at the camera. Apparently, it was just for show as rather than shoot the camera he instead jumped up and used the weapon as a bludgeon to shatter the camera and leave Castle and Gates blind as to what was happening just outside their door.
"What are they doing here?!" Gates lamented from inside the CCC. She was glued to the monitor that showed Beckett and Espo working on the locked exterior door. Castle, meanwhile, tried fruitlessly to call either detective to warn them off.
"They're not answering," he reported in dismay. "My guess is that Beckett figured out the ruse and realized your reference to Lockwood was intentional. I told you she's brilliant."
"I could've done with her being slower in this instance."
"She's often worryingly insightful. But, speaking of 'being slower,' how much longer until the actual backup arrives?" Castle inquired, wondering how long it'll take the detectives to breach the door.
"At least ten minutes," Gates answered tensely. "I'd be surprised if they can open the door that quickly."
"Unless Cole can undo the locks on the inside and help them in."
"Damnit," Gates growled. "So, we have to choose – either we wait in here and risk the detectives, or we leave to provide support and risk that Cole is standing outside our door waiting for us."
"Good thing there are two of us."
A/N: Very close to the end now! The next chapter will probably bring us home. I'm writing the last scene now, so I have hopes it'll go up tomorrow or Wednesday. On a different note, this chapter pushes me over the goal I had for myself of 1 million published words. (If you were wondering why "alarm" was bolded above, that's the word that put me over.) Sure, I have friends who hit that total with a small handful of stories, but it's still a bit of a thrill. Thanks for reading them!