The Long Game: Chapter 19
DISCLAIMER: None of these characters are mine, but they are memorable. Thank you Mr. Marlowe.
Richard Castle's Beach Home in the Hamptons, 3:05 p.m., Thursday afternoon, March 22, 2012
The fresh beach air – the smell of true freedom – has never smelled so sweet to Richard Castle. He stands on his porch, his hands in his pocket, watching the waves in the distance crash ashore. He closes his eyes for a moment, but then quickly blinks them open. This scene, this exact scene right here, was his primary point of escape while sitting in two different jail cells. This scene, exactly as he had pictured it, was his safety net while lying in pain in a hospital bed for three days. Today was his release from both the hospital and his safety net.
It could not have come at a better time, as the author was beginning to lose this safe place. It has been a long, long two weeks or so, and despite his best efforts, he just wants this to be over now.
Alexis stands next to him, one of her arms wrapped inside his, her head resting on his shoulder.
"You good, pumpkin?" he asks her.
"Getting there, dad," she tells him. "I promise, I'm getting there."
"That's good," he says softly, leaning to kiss the top of her head. "That's good. Getting there is moving forward."
"Richard," he hears Martha call from inside the house. "Richard, dear, Kate is here."
He stiffens momentarily before relaxing, and Alexis notes this. She tightens her grip on his arm, her head resting just slightly more heavily against him.
"It's okay, dad," the younger girl tells him. "She will understand. And she's been great to me these last few days. More than I expected from her."
He nods his head. It was the one thing he asked of the detective, and it pleases his heart to hear that she – in fact – kept her promise. He mentally chides himself for wondering if she actually would.
"Go to her," Alexis tells him, but he shakes his head.
"No," he tells her, "you are a big part of this, pumpkin, and you know it. We do this together."
He feels her smiling underneath him, and it causes his eyes to mist up. He will swear to Beckett that it is the wind if she asks, but just the idea that his daughter can find something – anything – to smile about after the past month is a joy, is a cause for celebration.
A few seconds later, Kate Beckett opens the door and steps out onto the porch with the novelist and his daughter. She stops short, not wanting to interrupt any moment. She knows every single moment together for these two is forever special now. Castle, however, waves her forward, and so she takes the final six or seven steps to the man and his daughter. Martha follows behind, and seconds later, the four of them stand on the porch, each staring ahead at the powerful display being put on by the Atlantic Ocean, each in his and her own thoughts. Finally, Castle interrupts the silence.
"Thanks for coming, Kate," he begins.
"Wild horses, Castle," she smiles, and they both chuckle. "Wild horses."
"Indeed, Detective," Martha chimes in, chuckling herself.
"How are you feeling today?" Kate asks him, stepping closer.
"About the same," he admits. "Wish I could say a lot better, but I'd be lying. But it is great to get out of that hospital," he tells them. "And out of jail."
"You still have to limit your movements, dad," Alexis reminds him. "Just for a few more days. Doctor's orders."
"Yeah, and then the masochistic therapy begins," he smiles.
"Yep," Alexis tells him, "and I'm the whipmaster."
He smiles, knowing that the exercise is good for his daughter, if for no other reason than it will give her something constructive to do, something constructive to keep her mind thinking.
It's those quiet moments, those non-thinking moments that still seem to grab Alexis Castle and shake her to her core. He knows that something significant, something very much out of the norm is going to be needed to help his daughter break through.
"You know, I could take that role as well," Kate leans in and whispers, and the novelist actually blushes, which draws a quick smile from the detective. The small talk continues between the four until Martha hears rustling in the kitchen.
"He's here, Richard," is all that Martha has to say. Quickly, Castle turns, retrieving his arm away from Alexis, and instead, places his large hand into her small hand. His other hand finds the detective's hand, drawing a nervous smile from her that he doesn't catch. She damns herself for her secret that she just knows will drive a wedge between them again. She quickly wonders exactly how many splits they can take before the break is irreversible.
Martha opens the door, and Castle holds it open, allowing all three women to enter, before he follows, shutting the door behind them. A salt-and-pepper haired man that Kate Beckett doesn't recognize is munching on grapes, making himself at home. Alexis half jogs around the island, greeting Jackson Hunt with a tight hug. Watching this small scene play out before her, Kate is both utterly shocked and not surprised at all when Castle makes the introduction.
"Kate, there is no other way of saying this. This is my father," he says simply. "Dad, this is –"
"Detective Kate Beckett, 12th Precinct for the NYPD," Jackson Hunt interrupts. "It is such a pleasure to finally – finally – meet you, Detective."
Still somewhat stunned, it takes a second or two for Kate to notice his outstretched arm and the hand he offers her. He chuckles as she quickly composes herself.
"Evidently I'm not the only one with a secret here," she tells herself and the thought is oddly comforting for her.
"I . . . I am stunned Mr . . . what do I call you?" Kate asks, not sure now how to address the man. She knows that Castle is his pseudo name for writing purposes, and Rodgers is Martha's maiden name.
"You can call me Jackson," Hunt tells her. "My name is Jackson Hunt."
Kate smiles, then chuckles, sharing a quick glance with Castle. He can tell her reaction mirrors his own, during his first meeting with his father.
"So, no offence Mr, Hunt –"
"Jackson," he corrects her.
"No offence, Jackson, but that's a spy name if I ever heard one," she chuckles.
"Right on the first guess, Detective," Hunt tells her, pleased as he sees the look of pure surprise paint the detective's face. She figured this was a stage name of some sort, but was only kidding when she threw out the spy comment.
"I work for the government, Detective," he tells her. "I'm in what you would call 'the business.'
She nods her head in understanding, and barely contains a shudder that shoots through her body. Suddenly, the events of the past two weeks begin to crystalize in her detective's mind. There are no coincidences, so the timing of this man's appearance into Richard Castle's life – after an entire lifetime of absence – cannot be overlooked.
"I can see your mind racing, Detective," he smiles.
"Why don't we all pull up a chair," Richard Castle states, grabbing a barstool for Kate, motioning her to sit at the island. He pulls one up for himself as well, while Alexis and Martha do the same. Kate sits, and quickly takes out her cell phone and types a quick text message.
"Important?" Castle asks her.
"Yeah, my ride here," she tells him.
"Who is it? Javier? Kevin?" he asks her. He's not sure he is ready for either to meet his father, and certainly neither of them can be brought into this discussion. Not yet. This is his father's plan – and he determines who and when new people are brought into the fold. That Kate has been invited has been a pleasant surprise.
"No, and let's just leave it at that for now, okay? Just for now," she asks, giving Castle somewhat of a pleading look.
"Okay, Kate, okay, no biggie," he says.
"I hope you still feel that way in a bit," Kate thinks to herself. Her thoughts are interrupted by Jackson Hunt.
"There is much to say, Detective," he begins, "so let me start out with the most important news. I am here because of the man behind your mother's murder, the man behind the murder of . . . your former captain. He has made an attempt on your life, and for reasons for which I believe you already know, he has held off on any future attempts against you. However, it came to my attention that something has changed the status quo, and he has decided to come gunning for you, and for my son."
Jackson lets this information sink in, noting the lack of response from the detective, and makes a mental note.
"This man's name is William Bracken, and he is a United States Senator," he finally says. "But judging from your reaction – or lack of one – I sense that much of this you already know, Detective."
Richard Castle gives a stunned look, first, to Kate Beckett and then to Jackson Hunt. It is almost comical watching his head snap between the two.
"Kate?" he asks quietly, searching her face, her expression. It would be like the detective to lie to him about this, so he searches deeply, trying to make up his own mind. She surprises him.
"Yes, much of this is not news to me, Mr. Hunt," she says, choosing to keep things formal with the man for now. If he has been able to ferret out this information, then perhaps he knows what she hides as well.
"How much, Kate?" Castle asks her, his head slightly spinning.
"I knew that the Senator was the mastermind behind all of this," she admits. "I found out almost a year ago, just around the beginning of summer," she says, noting Castle's dropped jaw.
"I also knew that he was at least considering going back on his word to leave me alone, to leave my family and friends alone."
"How in the world did you –"
"I will tell you everything, Castle," she interrupts and promises. "Everything, I promise you. But for now, I want to hear what your father has to say."
"How much do you know about Bracken, Detective?" Hunt asks her, a newfound respect for the detective growing by the minute.
"I know that he rose to power from the assistant DA position. I know that he stumbled across a police corruption ring that included . . ."
She pauses, gathering her thoughts and composure before continuing.
"He came across a police corruption ring that included my former boss. The captain was just an infant in the police department back then, and Bracken turned their little operation into a means of funding his political war chest. My mom got too close and he had her killed."
"All true," Hunt tells her in agreement. "Now this man stands on the precipice to become President of the United States," and she nods her head in agreement.
"Now here is the bad news, Detective" Hunt tells her. "We want him to be president. The people who I answer to have groomed him for this position for a long time. And by long time, I mean decades. We have planted people in the Senator's life to ensure he doesn't screw up too massively –"
"Murdering my mother isn't considered a massive screw-up?" Kate argues back, her anger threatening to erupt and spill over.
"Murdering your mother was not a popular event, don't get me wrong, Detective. But that in itself – for the bigger picture – is something that we deal with every day. I know, I know, hold your thoughts for a moment," he tells her, watching her emotions bubbling.
"When your mother came across what was happening, the Senator actually didn't want to hurt her. He wanted to threaten her, scare her, and then pay her off. It's the Washington way, and it is a continual thing. But Elizabeth had other ideas."
"Elizabeth? As in his wife?" Kate asks, incredulously.
"One and the same, Kate," Jackson Hunt tells her. "She opted to cut all loose ends, and had Johanna Beckett killed. It was Elizabeth who gave the order. He merely agreed and fell in line. And since that time, she has ordered many other hits, and he has slowly fallen in line. Nowadays, he orders most of the hits himself. But he was not always like this."
Before Kate can comment, Alexis chimes in. The young girl has been listening in, and given her recent brush with reality, she is surprisingly calm during this full disclosure. Martha, however, sits wide-eyed and closed mouthed.
"But grandfather, if you know all of this, and . . . and given what you do, given who you are . . . why haven't you just taken him out before all of this? I mean, if you know who he is and what he has done, and what he might be getting ready to do, why wouldn't –"
"Because," he interrupts, "despite the imaginative written musings of your father over there, we don't just go around killing United States senators. And we certainly don't knock off Presidents."
"But he's not president right now," Alexis argues.
"You're not listening, Alexis," he tells her. "We – the people I work with – we want him to be president. We have been grooming him for this.
"I have to agree with Alexis, dad," Castle interrupts, drawing a raised eye brow from Kate Beckett. "The likely future President of the United States is a ruthless murderer? I don't see it."
"See it, and believe it, son," Hunt tells him. "Trust me, you don't want choir boys running this country. It's not a job for weak or feint of heart. I am the strong arm of kingmakers, Richard. I am their oversight, their fail safe. But the only way I can act on a person at that level is under the orders of the others. I have full autonomy except for this one point. No one can be above the law," he finishes, glancing at his son and granddaughter.
"What law is that?" Kate asks derisively.
"Our law," he responds. "This is my life, Richard. This is how I live, this is what my life is like. I don't win wars. I fight battles. The wars take care of themselves."
"I fight battles," Kate thinks to herself. The words take her back to another strong and complicated man she has known and worked for during her career. She nods her head. She doesn't like this, but she understands. Better than any of them realize.
"But Kate," Castle asks, "How could you possibly know any of this? I told you that a mysterious man had reached out to me, to keep you off the case. From your reaction, you were clearly pissed with me. You bit my head off for stepping in and trying to keep you safe, when clearly you already knew that . . . hell, you already knew it was Bracken, and you knew he was after you?"
"Yes," she admits, glancing downward for a minute, but quickly raising her eyes to meet his head-on. No more lies, no more hiding. She has to do this.
"How in the world did you know?"
"She can answer that in a few minutes, son," Hunt tells him. "For now, she needs to hear the rest of the story. The part I know she knows nothing about."
"There's more?" she asks, searching his eyes for herself, now.
"He nods his head, and then turns his head toward the den. "Elena?" he calls out.
Seconds later, Kate Beckett falls backwards off her stool. Yeah, this surprises her. More than that, this scares the life out of her.
"Hello, again, Detective," Elena Markov greets her, smiling seductively. Kate's reaction is something that Jackson Hunt and Elena Markov will remember fondly for years to come.
"Castle!" Kate screams, pushing him off the stool and placing herself between the assassin and the writer. Castle, for his part, is no stranger to Elena Markov. He has seen her up close and personal from his hospital bed. Besides, he is with his father, and in the presence of his father, he really fears no person, man or woman.
"Elena Markov is a friend, Detective," Hunt tells her. "More than that, she is a long-time, trusted friend of mine," and his words draw a genuine smile from the beautiful assassin.
"And Mr. Castle and I have met," Elena purrs, walking toward Castle. She brushes past Kate Beckett with a short sideways glance, and then places a kiss on the cheek of the novelist. For the second time this afternoon, Castle blushes bright red.
Yeah, now Kate is truly surprised . . . along with his daughter and mother.
"How do you know Castle?" Kate asks, her eyes following the assassin's movements.
"Because she shot me," Castle answers, surprisingly. Kate takes another step backward, reeling from this new information.
"And I tried to suffocate him," Elena adds seemingly with pride, but then quickly amends her statement. "No, actually I only pretended to suffocate him. I think we both know, Detective, that had that been my intention, we would not all be standing here this afternoon."
"Castle?" Kate asks. She can't find the words for this. "It was all . . . it was . . . none of this was real?"
"Sit back down, Kate," Hunt tells her suddenly, and there is something about his tone, and the glance she receives from Elena Markov that tells her that she should quickly comply with his request.
"Thank you, Kate," he tells her as she sits. Castle returns to his stool as well. "Here is the short story. I apologize Richard, I know you'd prefer to wax on poetically –"
"Not at all, Dad," Castle tells him.
"Good. Short story. Here we go. Senator Bracken somehow found out that someone was asking questions, probing, searching. I thought it might be something you did, son, but now I'm not quite so sure," he says, glancing at Kate, and nodding when he sees her reaction.
"So, Detective, somehow you got their attention again," Hunt begins, and notices the look of surprise on his son's face. He raises his hand, waving Castle off. "In due time, Richard, I know you have questions."
Castle simply nods his head, allowing the conversation to continue.
"Again. Short story. Kate, you started fumbling around again, and he noticed. More specifically, I suspect Elizabeth noticed. Either way, now you are a problem to them again. They thought they had an agreement in place, but somehow your probing altered the agreement. So they decide to eliminate you. But here's the rub, Kate. Here's what you didn't consider. The deal they had wasn't with you, Kate. It was with my son. And because you broke the deal, these people hold everyone accountable. So now not only are you a problem, but so is Richard. And since they don't know who Richard has spoken to, well now Alexis and Martha fall into that category as well."
He notes her wide-eyed expression, and pauses to allow this information to sink in before continuing.
"Obviously, someone even considering killing my son or his family . . . my family . . . well, that is unacceptable," he chuckles, and Elena joins in.
"So I came here, and introduced myself to my family. And then I realized the best way for me to attack the Senator was to threaten him. The Senator doesn't know me, but he knows of me. He knows I am not a man to be trifled with. So I got him to agree to back off, away from you, away from Richard. A few fingers from a known serial killer will have that effect."
He chuckles – actually chuckles thinking back to Scott Dunn. Kate glances back and forth between Hunt and Elena and – this time – cannot stifle the shudder that overtakes her.
"Then I had Elena shoot Richard, to create the ruse that Bracken had gone back on his word."
"You have your own son shot to . . . to . . ."
"Yes, Detective."
"What if she missed?" Kate asks, her emotions threatening again. "What if she had actually –"
"I trust Elena with my life, Detective. So I trusted her with his."
"Wait a minute," Kate argues, still trying to wrap her head around this. "Why would her shooting Castle be laid at Bracken's feet?"
"Because I am Bracken's assassin," Elena states calmly. She chuckles as Kate merely puts her face in her hands, and then runs her hands through her hair.
"This is my life, Detective. This is how my world operates. And I had been able to stay out of sight for over four decades. But because of you, Detective, I had to drop a lifetime cover, and risk a lot of lives to intervene, to make sure my son and my family stay safe."
"I didn't know," Kate says, softly. "I didn't-"
"Of course you didn't, Detective," he tells her. "Because you have never once considered how your quest would impact anyone else, have you? You have never once –"
He stops himself, staring at the detective, when a smile crosses his face.
"I'm sorry, Kate, that is not fair. That is not fair at all. In fact, you have done much to insulate Richard, haven't you? You have done much to keep him out of this, haven't you?"
These aren't questions he is asking. In fact, he's not asking her. He is telling her. They are statements of fact. She knows she is blown now, and so she takes out her phone, and sends a quick text message.
"Do you mind if I unlock the door?" she asks, standing up and walking toward the front door.
"Not at all, Kate," Hunt tells her, and then smiles at his son who, once again, looks back and forth between his father and the detective, clearly confused and clearly wondering why his father is giving Kate permission with who enters his home.
Seconds later, Kate opens the door, and stands in the doorway. It is obvious she is waiting for someone,
"Her ride," Castle thinks to himself. She was texting him or her earlier. Seconds later, Richard Castle experiences his first truly heart-stopping moment in his life. He falters in pain, grabbing his chest, as he feels the sudden pounding threatening to burst his stitches – yet again.
"Hello Castle," the low, familiar voice calls to him, so easily. Seconds later, Kate closes the front door, as she and Roy Montgomery walk toward the kitchen island for what she knows will be a very difficult discussion.
A/N: I've been anxious to get this chapter posted, as bringing Roy Montgomery back was one of three strategic reasons for this new AU created by the Magic storyline. Thanks to all for reading so far.