I apologize for disappearing for a while, work has been crazy. Hoping to wrap this one up in the next couple of days. Thanks for reading!
Beckett felt the sweat on her neck and forehead build up, the cold temperatures seeping into her bones as she pressed her lean body against the doorframe, seeking as much cover as possible.
The sweetness of gunpowder filled the immediate area after the deadly shot had rung out, followed by the unmistakable thud of a body dropping lifelessly to the ground.
With her finger still curled around the trigger, ready to fire again, she carefully left the safety of the doorframe behind to peek into the darkened room, grateful to see a figure on the ground, a second one hesitating, then slowly raising his hands in defeat.
"NYPD!", she yelled, hearing her voice echo in the warehouse below, completely aware and thankful for Castle's presence behind her as she stormed in, along with half a dozen unis in tow.
Much to her relief, she saw Ryan stand against the inside wall, the young detective a mere shadow of himself, visibly confused after what just happened.
"This one's dead...", one of the first uni's announced as he bent over O'Donnell, carefully removing the gun from his limp hand.
Nodding in acknowledgment, she pointed at the kid still standing close to the body, the metal rod in one of his raised hands.
"Cuff and search him.", she ordered sternly and watched him being dragged off to the side, before putting away her gun to check on Kevin.
"My God, I am so glad to see you alive, I was worried sick."
And justifiably so, her keen senses told her as she took in his injuries, seeing his bent-over stance and the dreadful and crippling fear in his eyes she hated the most. Blood and grime covered the sides of his face, along with an assortment of bruises that had begun to form below the dirt.
With a relieved sigh, she hugged her detective tightly, feeling him shiver under her grasp, his cheek ice cold against her touch.
"Check on Javi…please…O'Donnell…shot him.", Kevin muttered in her ear as she drew back, his voice quivering with terror.
"I will.", Beckett reassured, feeling the weight of dread making her heart sink.
She wondered whether or not Richie's words had been true, that O'Donnell had simply kidnapped her detectives to play a sick game with her; show his superiority by having her arrive at the warehouse just to find their bodies waiting?
But what kind of fight had Kevin put up to look like this? Or had she stumbled across a completely different scenario; that of another viscious beating on a police officer that hadn't been finalized yet with the killing shot?
Had her boys just been another target for the disgraced cop?
Oh God, where the hell was Esposito?
Her heart began to hammer, her frantic senses wanting to break out of the prison of self-control she had so carefully built over the years. With a scolding internal voice, Beckett told herself to settle down, questions could wait until everyone was safely accounted for.
Next to her, Castle gently wrapped a strong arm around Ryan's shoulders, keeping the battered detective upright while she looked around.
With her jaws clenched, she took in the eerie room, finally seeing the silouhette of her missing detective several feet away from from what seemed to be a gathering area.
Fighting area, she corrected herself when she saw the streaks and drops of blood covering the walls top to bottom, then extending toward the linoleum floors.
Handcuffed to a rusty pipe, Esposito was lying on his side, his back toward them, scaringly unmoving despite the commotion of their arrival.
Sharing a worried glance with Castle, Beckett rushed toward the detective, feeling the lump in her throat growing.
"Come on now, don't do this. Not after everything that's happened…", she mumbled under her breath as she crouched down, putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking him slightly, "Espo? Can you hear me?"
The lack of a response made her heart sink in an instant.
Painfully aware of the two sets of eyes following her every move; Beckett leaned closer to reach into the detective's collar, having to fight a chain in her way before her fingertips made contact with the cool skin along his jawline.
Several tense seconds passed before she lowered her chin to her chest, drawing in a deep breath as she ran her hand through his hair.
"He's still alive, Kevin, he made it. You both did."
The good news seemed to have drained the last of Ryan's resources when the detective's knees began to buckle, making it harder and harder for Castle to keep him upright.
"We better get those EMTs up here…", the writer suggested worriedly and reached over to hold onto the detective tighter as Kevin muttered something she couldn't hear from her spot.
Nodding as she drew in a deep breath of damp air, Beckett reached for the keys to the handcuffs before getting on one knee and sliding her slim fingers past Esposito's wrists to release the detective.
"Just…hold on. We'll get you out of here in…no time.", she promised when the single strands opened with a quiet click, causing the detective's hands to drop to the ground lifelessly.
"Sergeant Ferris, the scene is secured. Let's get those paramedics up here now…", she ordered and carefully rolled Esposito onto his back, hating to see the side of his face covered in blood.
Fighting the emotions that were beginning to well up with newfound intensity, she reached inside his jacket to squeeze his shoulder tightly, relieved to feel him take a shallow breath beneath the thin fabric of his dress shirt.
Her moment of quiet reflection was interrupted when another voice echoed through the busy room, taking them all by surprise.
"Well, if that isn't a damn shame. I'd hoped at least one of them would die at our hands…", Derek sneered from the other end of the room, staring over at them expectantly while a uni read him his rights.
"Oh yeah? And why is that?", Beckett challenged and stood back up, before marching over to the disturbed youth, "Because you allowed yourself to get brainwashed by some derailed lunatic? Because somehow you think that taking a human life furthers your cause? Let me tell you something right now. Death is death. It has no colors, no…no ethnicity. It's as final as it is precious."
"Maybe in your world. But in reality, their deaths would have made no difference at all. If anything, it would have been a great example for our mission, show our desperate followers that there is hope, that others see things just like they do."
Letting the despicable comment sit out there for a long time while she tried to control her temper, Beckett let out a slow breath through her nostrils, never taking her fierece gaze off the teenager even when she saw paramedics arrive in her peripheral vision.
"Those two men have saved more lives that you can ever wish to destroy.", she finally growled and took another step closer to the defiant teenager, then pointed at her detectives as they were tended to by the EMT's, "And just to be clear, your life is worth no more than that of mine, or my men, or anybody else in this town. You arrogantly took it upon yourself to choose who gets to live and who gets to die and by doing so, you just put yourself amongst the same ranks of criminals that await death row. I hope you'll enjoy spending the rest of your life in a tiny, filthy prison cell because you forfeited your right to be treated as a decent human being when you chose to murder in the name of a false idol. And I will be sitting in court the day of your sentencing to make sure you pay that debt."
Much to her surprise, the kid didn't reply. Instead, he pursed his lips and glared back at her, hoping his stern demeanor would intinmidate the seasoned Captain.
"Sergeant, could you come over here for a second?", Beckett ordered without breaking eye contact with her suspect, "Why don't you tie Junior here to that pipe that's running along the floor while we take care of my guys and process the scene. And I think I'll want the lab crew going through this place as well, plus we need to call in Lanie if you haven't already. That should take what, three or four hours altogether? Have him enjoy some of his own medicine before we take him in for booking."