Hi again! A giant thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I really love reading all of the reviews. It's great to see what you guys think of my work. Also a huge thank you to everyone who added my story and me as an author to their alert/favorite lists! I absolutely appreciate the support. Enjoy!
Chapter Twelve
Richard Castle replayed the events of the last hour once again in his head. After months of searching and hoping for any sort of lead on the man that murdered his friend. To have caught him in under an hour? Something just didn't add up to the mystery writer. Everything just seemed far too easy. He raked his critical gaze over the muscular man sitting calming in the interrogation room through the two-way mirror. Damon Calder was flexing his fingers slowly, staring straight ahead, as if bored. And even-though the man was handcuffed to the metal table he radiated a dangerous energy that unsettled Castle.
The door on the other side of the interrogation room opened and Calder's face morphed from indifference into a wide smile as Javier and Kate walked in.
"Hey there, Kid. It's been awhile. You don't look so good. Have you not been sleeping well lately?" Damon asked smugly.
Javier glared fiercely at his old mentor, but didn't rise to the bait. Instead he took a seat calmly in front of the man from his past and let Kate take the lead.
"Mr. Calder, I'm sure that you're more than aware of the reason you're here." Kate started but was quickly interrupted.
"No…why don't you remind me? Or better yet; why don't you remind me, Javier?"
Esposito's jaw muscle jumped with strain, but it was Detective Beckett that lost her cool, slamming her hand loudly against the table. "You think all of this is a game; don't you?! You murdered our friend! Someone kind, and funny! One of the greatest people I've ever met. And let me tell you something, for that I'm going to personally make sure you burn!"
Damon shifted his gaze from a fuming Kate to Esposito and raise an eyebrow.
"Don't look at me. You'd be dead already if it were up to me." Javier snapped angrily.
Damon leaned closer to the two detectives, chest resting above his bound wrists. "I don't believe you. You're hiding it well, but you're probably relieved to be rid of Kevin. Now you don't have to carry his deadweight anymore. He won't be able to hold you back from reaching your true potential. The potential I saw in you all those years ago."
Enraged the Hispanic detective jumped up, his chair clattering to the ground, and lunged at Calder. Gripping the prisoner roughly around his neck Esposito brought his face barely a few inches from his old mentor's, seething with rage. "Don't talk about him like that!"
Stunned for a moment Beckett quickly shook herself and gripped Javier's upper arm tightly. "Javi, let him go. Stop!"
Javier trembled with furious anger. "How is it fair that you're still alive when Kevin isn't? All the pain and suffering you've caused. I should kill you right now. I'm going to kill you." The detective's voice was distraught and desperate. His eyes blurring with welling tears. Tears of frustration, pain, and complete sorrow. The detective was so lost in his emotions that Javier didn't even register the door to the interrogation room opening, or Castle running in to help Kate pull him off Damon.
As soon as Calder was released the man began to chuckle, his voice rough from being choked. "Now I don't think Kevin will like this very much. You're cracking, splitting at the seams, Kid. It wasn't even that hard to break you. I'm almost disappointed."
By now a few other officers entered the room to help restrain Javier, but even with the added muscle it was still a struggle to keep the fuming detective back as Esposito lunged again for the taunting man.
Suddenly, Castle stepped into the space between Calder and Javier, looking at the prisoner calculatingly. "What did you just say?"
"What does it matter?! Everything that comes out of his mouth is manipulative and vile." Javier spat in hate, still trying to loosen the grip holding him back.
Richard moved slowly closer to Calder, only stopping when his wife halted his steps with a gentle hand. "No…everything you've done...everything you've said has been incredibly deliberate."
Damon swept his amused grey eyes to the mystery writer's face, waiting for him to continue, but it was Kate's voice the sounded. "What are you getting at, Rick?"
Castle looked briefly at his wife. "Everything he has done has been planned with great attention to detail. Every move, even every word he's spoken." Looking back at Damon Richard pointed an accusing finger at the man. "You said you didn't think Kevin will like this. As if Kevin was still alive, and I don't think you'd make a mistake like that."
Javier stopped struggling as a small flicker of hope ignited in his chest. The room went deathly silent with everyone looking at their prisoner in anticipation of his reaction.
"And the point goes to the mystery writer. Really, Javier I thought I taught you better than this. Though it is true Detective Ryan is still alive he won't be in…oh I'd say four hours or so." Calder stated smugly.
Castle's eyebrows drew together. "What happens in four hours?"
Damon leaned back in his chair a smile spreading across his face, but didn't answer the question. Javier pulled himself free with a sudden yank and stomped toward his old mentor. "What the Hell happens in four hours, Damon?!"
"He runs out of air." The former military man said in a steady emotionless voice.
Javier's steps faltered abruptly with the confession and a shock of numbness shot through his entire body. Mind shuttering to a stop the Hispanic detective stood still with no idea of what to do or what to think. His best friend was still alive, but was trapped someplace with limited oxygen. It was cruel that he couldn't even relish in the joy that Kevin wasn't dead, that he could see him, talk to him, and joke with him once again. Because knowing their friend was alive wasn't enough when they could lose him all over again in a matter of hours.
After a moment words finally began to form and slip numbly passed Javier's lips. "What do you want?" He asked hoarsely.
The room's occupants watched the broken detective and dangerous prisoner warily. It was easy for Kate, a seasoned detective, to see the defeat in Javier. It wasn't just because of the way his shoulder suddenly slumped forward or the way his usually warm and vibrant brown eyes took on a dull and hollowed look. It was because she knew Javier. She knew how deeply he cared for people, especially for Kevin. Beckett had to watch as her friend fell completely to pieces when they all thought Ryan was lost to them and now looking at the shell of Esposito's former self she knew without a doubt he would do anything to bring his friend back. Even if that meant sacrificing himself, and it was her job to make sure that didn't happen.
Finally, Damon answered Detective Esposito's question, seeming to have found what he was looking through his silent scrutiny of him. "You. I want you, Kid."
Before Javier could respond Kate snapped, "Not gonna happen. Javier isn't going anywhere with you."
"You and me, Kid. We're going to walk out of here alone and I'll take you to your best friend, partner, brother, whatever you like to call him." Damon said ignoring Kate.
Getting angrier by the second Beckett stepped between Esposito and Calder. Her hand unconsciously moving to her sidearm still holstered at her hip. "I said that's not going to happen. You're going to jail, while we do our job to find Kevin. There isn't any possible scenario where you walk out of this precinct handcuff free."
That seemed to get Damon's attention as he shifted his gaze to Beckett. "Is that what you think? Seems you don't know Javier as well as I do. He's already made the decision to come with me. Nothing you do or say will stop him."
"Yeah. We'll see about that. Sam take him to holding, and have a couple of officers sit on him."
Samuel who had been quiet throughout the confrontation stepped forward flanked by two other officers and pulled Damon up. "You got it, Beckett."
After the prisoner was ushered out of the room Esposito began pacing furiously, breathing in and out heavily in an attempt to calm himself down. When that didn't work he threw his fist through the wall accompanied by a scream of frustration.
"Espo! You've got to get yourself under control!" Kate snapped, pulling Javier away from the wall and pushing him into one of the empty chairs.
Javier's breathing finally evened out and his voice cracked as he looked up at Beckett and asked, "What are we going to do?"
The holding cells were oddly empty, the newly made detective noted, as Samuel walked Damon through the door and towards the first cell. The young man's body buzzed with a nervous energy while his grip tightened on Calder's arm with each step that brought them closer to the metal bars.
"You know, sometimes things go exactly as you planned, and other times situations require a little readjustment here or there." Damon commented conversationally.
Sam squeezed the prisoner's arm even tighter. "Shut up."
"It's not your fault Detective Beckett sent them with you. That just means she's worried about your safety. I'd say that's a sign of success." The muscular man finished stopping to look at Samuel just outside of the open cell door.
Glaring with green eyes, Detective Whitmore sucked in a deep breath before turning away from the prisoner to face his backup officers. "I'm sorry." He mumbled while reaching for his weapon.
The two men didn't have a chance to react before Samuel pulled his pistol free from its holster, prompting each of them to raise their hands. Moving towards the officers Sam removed the keys to Damon's cuffs from his pocket and tossed them back to the man, keeping his aim trained the entire time.
Just as Calder unlocked the cuff around his first wrist one of the two officers lunged for Sam's weapon. The young detective was faster though and swiftly slammed the butt of his pistol against the man's head, knocking him unconscious.
Moving quickly Damon blocked the other officer from escaping through the doors, cutting him off at both ends.
Looking around frantically, the dark-skinned policeman did the only thing he could think of, jumping to the side he yanked down the fire alarm. The object blared to life only moments later followed almost immediately by a gunshot. The officer that pulled the alarm slid to the ground, gripping his side where Calder shot him, trying to slow the bleeding.
"What the Hell are you doing?!" Sam shouted in a craze. Starting towards the fallen officer for a moment before freezing in his stride as the realization that it was his fault slammed into him. He should have sent them away or something…anything other than this. Heart hammering in his chest the young detective looked into the indifferent expression on Damon's face in fear.
"Well they can't just find you here without a scratch." Calder's southern accented voice stated and he pulled the trigger once more.
Kate bit her lip nervously. "Are we sure this is a good idea? I mean it's Castle's idea. That can't be good."
Richard's head turned sharply to Beckett. "Hey! You're the one that decided to marry me. How great could your judgement be?"
Esposito smirked lightly. "As cute as this is we have my best friend to save. I'm going to go talk to Damon, and we'll go from there."
However, before the Hispanic detective had a chance to stand from his chair the fire alarm began screaming loudly. Javier's heart clenched painfully with terror as he looked into the matching fear in Kate and Rick's eyes. Bursting from the interrogation room Javier sprinted for the holding cells as fast as he could. Beckett and Castle just a step behind him. When he broke through the doors Javier lost his breath and stumbled slightly as his sight landed on the scene that greeted him. Samuel was laying in a pool of his own blood, a gunshot wound in his shoulder, skin sweaty and pale, shaking. The other two officers that Beckett sent with Sam also lay stretched across the cement floor, one with a head wound while the other was clearly trying to slow the blood leaking lazily from an open wound, barely holding on to consciousness.
Javier dropped beside Samuel while Beckett rushed to the other bleeding officer's side, shouting for Castle to find some help. "What happened here, Whitmore?!"
Breathing heavily the young detective answered back with a voice filled with pain. "Calder…he got the drop on us. I had to…" He trailed off, shaking his head and swallowed with difficulty before continuing. "If you hurry you can catch him. Go to the north stairwell that leads directly into the morgue. He's…he's going to use the loading entrance there."
Javier searched the injured man's eyes for any sign of a lie, and when he saw none jumped to his feet and raced out the door. He ignored Beckett's commanding shout to wait and moved with purpose down the stairwell to where he hoped Damon would be.
Crashing easily through the morgue's doubled doors Javier swept the room with his pistol raised, stepping with measured steps across the cold floor.
"Javi?" Lanie's voice shook from around the corner only a moment before the woman appeared. The barrel of Calder's pistol digging harshly into her temple.
The Hispanic detective narrowed his eyes at his former mentor and a tremor of fear ripped down his spine. "Let her go, Damon. She's got nothing to do with this."
The muscular man chuckled softly, running the cold metal of his gun down the side of Lanie's face. "Everyone you love is involved, Javier. Why don't you understand that? She is beautiful, an absolutely catch."
Esposito took two swift steps forward desperate to get the woman, he never expected to fall in love with, away from the danger. "Why do you think I'm here?! Alone and without backup. Huh? Let her go so we can leave…together. Like you wanted. You can take me to Kevin, but I'm not going anywhere if you hurt her right now. Your game will be over."
A lone tear rolled down Lanie's soft cheek. "No…Javi…please don't go with him." The woman pleaded brokenly.
"Throw your weapon away. Then I'll release her."
Esposito's firearm went clattering across the tile floor without even a moment's hesitation. His hands then lifted in surrender even-though his eyes held a flame of defiance as he stared down the dirty-blonde. Roughly the tall man shoved Lanie towards Javier, making her stumble, dark heels clicking, as she fell into his arms.
Detective Esposito swiped the coroner's dark locks away from her tear stained face. Placing a soft kiss on Lanie's forehead Esposito whispered with lips brushing against her skin with each word. "Trust me. Everything is going to be fine, but you have to go find Beckett. I have to do this."
Lanie shook her head feverishly. "There is no way I'm letting leave with this psycho Javier Esposito. No way!"
"Look at you worrying about me." The detective teased before his voice grew serious. "I'm going to be fine, Chica. I'm going to bring our boy back, and then we're going to go out on the town to your favorite restaurant. You can wear that green dress." Javier chuckled softly. "You know which one I'm talking about."
Lanie's plush lips lifted at the corners into a slight smile. "You better come back or I'll borrow Kate's gun and shoot you myself. You know she's my girl and she'll let me. Just…be careful."
The shaking woman pulled the detective to her lips, kissing him desperately. When they parted she turned from his arms and ran out of the room towards the stairwell Esposito came from. Leaving Javier alone with a smirking and armed Damon Calder.
Dun dun DUN! Sorry for the cliffhanger...oh wait, no I'm not! Haha! The story is coming to a close. Only one chapter left. Please review to let me know what you thought of this chapter. Are you excited for the final showdown? Until next time...
