The Long Game: Chapter 20
DISCLAIMER: None of these characters are mine, but they are memorable. Thank you Mr. Marlowe.
Richard Castle's Beach Home in the Hamptons, 3:45 p.m., Thursday afternoon, March 22, 2012
Roy Montgomery walks up to a clearly stunned Richard Castle, and wraps his old friend up in a soft embrace, knowing the injuries Castle still sports. Castle's arms never leave his side, as he is currently frozen in place, still trying to wrap his mind around the scene playing out in front of him. Finally, a few more seconds pass before the writer's arms make their way upward and around Montgomery's back. Genuine tears quickly form in both men's eyes, as Castle struggles not to break down completely.
"Roy," is all he can get out before his voice cracks.
"I'm sorry, Castle," Montgomery tells him as he holds on to the taller man. "I wish there had been another way, man, I really do."
"Roy," Castle repeats, as he tries - unsuccessfully - to put more than one cohesive thought together.
"Geesh, Castle, I leave for a little while and all of the sudden my favorite writer can't put a couple of sentences together?"
Both men chuckle, and then break into laughter as they disengage from their embrace. Castle pats his old friend on the back a couple of times while Roy makes sure to grip Castle's good shoulder.
"What the hell, Roy?" Castle suddenly asks. So yeah, the honeymoon reunion lasted less than a minute. Kate knew the two men would be glad to see each other, but she also knows Richard Castle. And right now, she knows the man is double-minded, for certain.
Roy Montgomery lifts his hands in surrender, as he addresses the room at large, and Richard Castle in particular.
"Castle, if there had been another way, you have to believe me, I would have chosen that option," Montgomery tells him. "If you think you're upset, I promise you, you have no idea how Evelyn reacted when I walked through the door."
Castle considers these words for a moment, immediately realizing from his old friend's words that whatever game Roy Montgomery was playing, evidently he kept it from Evelyn until it was fully in play. If his own wife wasn't clued in until her 'husband' had been buried in the ground, then he cannot begrudge the man for leaving him out of it as well.
"Things were getting dicey fast, and in those last few days, everything just kind of spiraled completely out of control," Roy states, matter-of-factly. "Mind if I grab a couple of grapes?" he asks, walking toward the bowl left on the island by Jackson Hunt. He grabs a few pieces of the fruit, hurling them into his mouth. It's a familiar motion that causes Castle to smile.
Hunt stays off to the side, smiling at the reunion and subsequent explanations playing out in front of him. He doesn't know Roy Montgomery, per se, but he does know of him. Sure, his own investigations revealed the ruse that the ex-captain of the 12th Precinct was playing. Hunt has known since last summer. But, as he will – in minutes - tell his son, this discovery was not his secret to reveal. As a man who lives undercover for a living, Jackson Hunt understands – better than most – the need for secrecy and the need to keep a secret. His life of gray is in stark contrast to the black and white that he knows his son is more comfortable with.
"What happened, Roy?" Castle asks, his thoughts now finally formulating in his mind, as he stares across the kitchen island at the detective who – once again – has proven to him that he doesn't really know her at all. Kate sees the look in Castle's eyes and wilts back from their unrelenting gaze.
"From her, I get it," Castle says, pointing to Kate, "I get it coming from her. I get all of her secrets. But you? Not you. Why would you do something like this?"
"Wait a second, son," Jackson Hunt interrupts, drawing all eyes to him. "You just faked two attempts on your life and allowed your best friends to think you murdered a man. Let's not be so quick to judge, eh?"
Kate Beckett finds herself surprised to find a supporter in Richard Castle's long-lost father, but she immediately puts two and two together. He's a spy. This is his world. An occasional – okay, probably more than an occasional lie – is probably a staple of this man's diet. Still, it feels good to have some support in this room right now. And yeah, it feels even better to have final, definitive proof that Richard Castle isn't a murderer. Deep down, she really didn't think he was. But deeper than that? She knows she wondered. Now she suspects that her wondering was probably necessary in whatever scheme his father is running.
"That's right, Castle," Montgomery says, continuing Hunt's line of thinking. "But more than anything else, Castle, I want you to understand this. This was my secret, not Kate's. This was my plan, not hers. This was my game we were running. This was not Kate's secret to tell, Castle! This was about keeping me safe, keeping my family safe. This was about giving me the freedom to move and operate. Kate had no say in that. She would have no right to reveal something that could easily put my family back in the crosshairs."
Montgomery's impassioned and emotional outburst has its effect, as Castle quickly does a mental about-face, realizing that the man is right. There is no way he could expect Kate Beckett to betray such a trust. His immediate next thought is to realize how screwed up he and the detective are, how far they have fallen that he would make such a leap so quickly.
"You're right, Roy," Castle finally says, and glances back at Kate across the island. "I'm sorry Kate, for what I was thinking, for the road I was going down." He turns his attention back to Montgomery. "But my question still stands, Roy. Why? Why the ruse? Why fake your own death?"
"Why did you fake your own murder attempt, son?" Hunt interrupts, again, intrigued at his son's reaction, given the ruse his son has just executed.
Castle begins to open his mouth, and then closes it. He stares at his father, full revelation now – finally - settling in.
"It's not a hypothetical question, Richard," his father continues. "Answer the question. Why did we fake those attempts on your life?"
"To throw people off the scent, to show me as a victim and not a perpetrator," Castle answers without hesitation.
"And in the same manner," Hunt continues, "Roy needed to throw people off of his scent. He needed to be corpse in order to do what he needed to do."
"Wait a second," Alexis interrupts. Alexis had been at Roy's funeral. Alexis – like others – had been torn up about the captain's death. "How long have you known Captain Montgomery was alive?" she asks her grandfather. All eyes in the room turn to Jackson Hunt, while Elena Markov chuckles out loud, shaking her head.
"Since last summer, Alexis," he tells her, causing a mini-explosion in the room. Martha is beside herself, while Castle turns a quick shade of red – and not the blushing kind of red. His reaction, however, quickly fades as he looks at his father, and remembers the words his father has just shared with him.
"It wasn't your secret to betray," Castle finally says, after a few seconds. The knowing smile he receives from his father warms him more than he wants to admit. It's a smile of pride.
"No, Richard, it wasn't," Hunt tells him. Turning to Elena, Hunt continues. "I'm glad you find all of this so amusing, Elena."
"I do, indeed," Elena says between chuckles. Hunt cannot contain the smile that slowly spreads across his face.
"You are impossible," he tells his assassin partner.
"Not at all," Elena answers, but Kate notices that Elena's eyes are on one Richard Castle as she answers the question. The meaning is all too clear to Kate, and her heart – for a brief instant – sinks. She recognizes one woman fancying another man. And this is plain to see, as far as Kate is concerned. The most dangerous woman – hell, the most dangerous person, Kate has ever met in her life now fancies Richard Castle.
"Shit, can this day get any worse!" she thinks to herself, then mentally slaps herself. It is never a wise move to test fate.
"Anyway, Captain Montgomery – please continue with your story," Hunt tells him, and all eyes return to the resurrected man.
"Well, in a nutshell, some of the activities of Kate and the boys started getting them too close to the truth, the real truth about what had happened to Kate's mother. I had tried my best to keep Kate away from it, but back last spring, she – and you, Castle – were getting too close. I had held Bracken and his crew off of her back for as long as I could. Then it became clear I was losing that battle, so I took extreme measures."
"How so?" Castle asks, now his writer's nature truly curious. "What extreme measures?"
"He told me the truth," Kate interrupts for her ex-captain. "He sat me down – in The Old Haunt, no less, Castle," she says, gazing at the writer. "He told me his role in the mob shakedown, how someone had found out and blackmailed them, and how 'that someone' ordered the death of my mother."
"I can imagine how that conversation went," Castle says, half under his breath, but watching Roy Montgomery as the words come out.
"Trust me, it was a tough talk," Montgomery says, recollecting Kate's almost violent response. "I had to pin her in the booth in the back of your bar, Castle," he says, now smiling at the memory. Surprisingly, Kate Beckett is smiling with him. It appears that time does heal all wounds.
"I then told her that I had kept them off of her back for years, but now she and you and the boys had gotten too close to the flame," Montgomery continues. "I knew they were coming for both of us then – both Kate and me. I couldn't let that happen. I knew they may or may not stop with me. They'd probably go after my family next, just in case I had said anything to Evelyn. That's just how these people operate."
"So we came up with the idea of faking Roy's death," Kate says, her eyes searching for Castle's once again.
"We?" Castle asks, surprise in his voice and his eyes.
"Yes, Rick. We," Kate tells him. "Roy, you, me – Javi and Kevin – we've investigated enough murders, enough crimes to know that sometimes the only way to get someone off your back is for them to think you are dead. Sometimes protective custody, or even witness protection by itself, isn't enough."
"No one searches for a dead man," Hunt muses out loud, and Castle nods his head in understanding.
"Exactly," Roy continues. "The only way to return to the status quo was for me to die. With me dead, the agreement would be put back in place. But the hardest thing in running a covert op like that is keeping everyone quiet."
"Because everyone tells one person," Hunt smiles in agreement.
"What? Wait a minute," Castle interrupts. What do you mean 'everyone tells one person'."
Jackson Hunt turns to his son, as he throws a couple more grapes into his mouth. If there is any future for his son, he needs to get this point.
"There is no such thing as a secret, Richard," Hunt tells him. "Everyone tells one person. You can tell someone that you have a secret, a secret than no one can ever, ever find out about. And I promise you, your friends or family will swear by all that is holy that they won't tell a soul. But 99 out of 100 people on this earth will tell one person, Richard. That's why there are no secrets. I tell you one thing-"
"And even though you are sworn to secrecy," Roy continues, "eventually, eventually you will tell one person."
"And that one person will – either sooner or later – tell one person," Hunt continues. "That is why, in the best covert operation, the participants don't even realize they are participants. They go about their normal day, doing their normal stuff, never knowing they are a piece of the puzzle."
"Was I a piece of this puzzle?" Castle asks, the hairs on his neck rising.
"Yes," Montgomery tells him. "Who do you think put Smith in touch with you?"
Castle thinks about his for a few seconds. Only one word escapes his lips.
"Wow."
"Smith found out about the Motherboard," Roy tells him.
"The what?" Castle asks, trying not to be irritated.
"That's the little name we gave it," Roy continues, smiling at the memory. "The high-tech murder board you kept in your loft with details about Kate's mother's murder. We called it the motherboard."
"Back up, Roy," Kate tells him. "You're getting ahead of yourself."
"True, true," he agrees, nodding his head in agreement with his ex-detective. "So, where were we? Oh yeah, Kate and I come up with this plan for me to die. The plan was for me to die, for Smith to send new documents to Bracken to get him to stay away from Kate. The message to Bracken was simple.
'You've won, you've sent your message, Roy is dead, now leave Kate alone. She's scared, and will stay away from the case.'
"With me dead, and the status quo returned, I could be free to roam. Kate and I could be free to truly take down the dragon right under his nose, and no one would be the wiser. And no one would be in danger."
"But the message didn't get from Smith to Bracken in time," Kate muses aloud. "And so I was shot at the funeral, which was their Plan B, since Roy didn't deliver me up to them at the hangar that night."
"But . . . but . . ."
"How did I survive, Castle?" Roy smiles. "That's what you're wondering?"
"Yeah. Yeah. I saw you die. I was there. I –"
"No, you were not there, Castle. You were in the area, yeah, but you weren't there."
"You have to explain," Castle deadpans. "I'm not getting this."
"First, when we put this plan in place, I told Kate everything except the identity of the man behind all of this. I knew that I couldn't trust her – then, a year ago – I couldn't trust her to stay with the plan. I knew if I told her who it was, if she knew Bracken's identity, she'd go off half-cocked on a mission of revenge. She'd get all of us killed."
Kate hangs her head just a little lower as Roy speaks, knowing that he is right, knowing that she would have done just that. She would have – completely fixated on her mission and nothing else – likely gotten herself, Roy, Castle and only God knows who else killed.
"But I also knew that Kate was – and is – a fantastic detective. The best I have ever worked with. If I could keep her honed, if I could keep her focused, I knew she and I would figure this all out."
"Roy didn't tell me who it was – he didn't tell me that it was Bracken – until he visited me at dad's cabin," Kate tells them. "By then, after being shot, well – let's just say I had a greater appreciation for who we were up against, and how easily they could act against us."
"So – back to the story," Roy continues. "We arranged to meet with Lockwood and his crew. As you know, Castle, I had you there to get Beckett out of the way. But Beckett was always a part of the plan. For one, I needed her out of the way to make sure she didn't get shot. I needed her to see my body, so there would be a witness to see that I was dead."
"But how did you not die, Roy?" Castle asks. "I mean, you were outgunned by what? Five to one? Six to one? How did you-"
"Smith was there with me, hiding in the shadows," Roy tells him, smiling. "Smith was my wingman that night. All Lockwood and his assholes saw was one man – one solitary man protecting his people. They dropped their guard. They had no idea that Smith was there also. Smith took down three of them. Our agreement was that he took down anyone to the left of me, while I focused on those to the right."
"Smart," Hunts smiles with admiration, as does Elena Markov.
"They got a few shots off, but I was wearing a vest," Roy adds. "I was confident they wouldn't go for a head shot, because they wanted information from me. They would want to know where Kate was, what she knew. So I figured a vest would protect me. And it would get me close enough if I could fake being shot."
"Seems to be a lot of that going around," Martha comments from the back of the kitchen, a glass of scotch in her hand.
Elena nods appreciatively, risking a glance at Jackson Hunt who smiles at Martha's off-hand comment. He was right. He knew that Elena would like the feisty woman.
"So I went to the ground, knowing that Lockwood would come to me, and knowing that – if necessary – Smith would take him out, from the shadows. It let me get off the kill shot, killing Lockwood. And your role, Castle, was to keep Kate away from the gunfire."
"But the reason for you to keep me away wasn't just to keep me away. It was actually also to keep you away," Kate tells him. "We knew if you were busy with me, you would be safe, away from the firefight. So when the shooting stopped, I got away from you. It was important for me to get to Roy first. I knew he'd been on the ground. I knew he would be playing dead. I had to get to him first."
"Hardest thing was getting that damn vest off before the two of you got there," he laughs, and Kate laughs with him. "Hurled it next to one of the bodies. It was either that, or put it in the chopper, and I had no idea how much time I really had. I had to hope you wouldn't notice."
Castle is nodding his head, his mind reliving those moments. By the time Castle got there, it was, indeed, over. Kate was bent over Roy's body, weeping. Castle realizes he never gave a second glance to any of the gunmen lying on the ground. He figured they were dead, and so all of his attention was on Kate and Roy.
"Roy had already burst the patch of fake blood inside his shirt, so it looked realistic enough from a distance. I gave him a quick sedative that knocked him out, so he wouldn't have to 'play dead.' Then I called the ambulance."
"That's right," Castle remembers. "You called them, and maybe ten, fifteen minutes later an ambulance shows up. But how did they not realize he wasn't dead?"
"Half a mile away, we had stashed an ambulance," Roy replies. "Smith was the driver and the lone medical person in the vehicle. We couldn't risk bringing anyone else into it. Not too far a walk for the old man to get to the ambulance and come and pick me up," Roy recalls, smiling.
"That's right!" Castle exclaims, remembering the scene again. "I remember wondering – just for a second – why only one person was in the back of the ambulance. I figured the driver stayed in the front seat because Kate had called it in as an officer down, dead at the scene. I didn't give it a second thought because I was . . . I was so –"
"Gee, Castle, I'm touched," Roy laughs, trying to bring levity to the room.
"There was already a dead body in the back, stuffed in a compartment. We had doctored a body to strongly resemble Roy," Kate continues. "That was just for anyone getting a glimpse. We got Roy's body onto the gurney and –"
"And you rode in the back with the ambulance!" Castle now realizes. "Because I drove back alone, by myself."
"You played your role," Roy tells him. "I'm sorry Castle, but it was necessary. You were the witness that saw me dead, that saw Kate grieving, and that saw Kate get into the ambulance with my dead body."
"The unknowing participant," Castle muses, jotting the information down mentally for a future reference. Ever the writer, even now his mind can't help but take notes.
"Then I convinced Lanie not to do the autopsy," Kate reminds him. "I told her that I didn't want her to remember him like that – dead eyes, dead body. Not Roy," and even though she knows everything is fake, it's all a ruse, her eyes still mist at the memory.
"She agreed, thankfully," Roy continues, "which allowed us to ensure someone else handled the body, signed for the body."
"That would have been Mr. Smith yet again, I assume?" Castle wonders aloud.
"Exactly. Again, the fewer players, the better," says Roy. "Smith signed the autopsy papers, and then that left only one more dilemma."
"That was telling Evelyn," Kate tells the room, "and convincing her to go with a closed casket. Convincing her not to view his body. I had to tell her that there were two shots to the head and face area. That you were unrecognizable," she says, looking at Roy with her final words.
"I know, I know, I owe you for that one," he tells her.
"Toughest conversation ever, lying to someone's face like that," she says. Then she glances at Castle and amends her words. "Okay, toughest conversation ever," she says, and Castle knowingly nods his head. Things are starting to make a little more sense now.
"I didn't meet with Evelyn until after the funeral. I had to make sure her reaction, and the reaction of the girls looked authentic. We never knew who would be watching. And sure enough, someone was watching, but with a scope instead of binoculars," Roy says, his voice cracking and the pain showing on his face. "I really thought we had time, time to get the documents to Bracken, time to get the damn agreement back into place. I didn't think they'd come after Kate so quickly."
"So there I am in the hospital, dreading to see you Rick," Kate continues, "because I had heard what you said while I was on the ground. I had heard you tell me you loved me. And I thought it was the most selfish, thoughtless, romantic, wonderful thing you'd ever done," she laughs. "But I didn't know how to handle it. I don't mean your words, or your thoughts. But I was alive, and that meant the plan Roy and I had was still in play. I wasn't sure how Roy and I were going to play it, because theoretically Roy was dead. So he couldn't come visit me."
"I thought about a couple of disguises to visit her in the hospital, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to pull it off," he reflects sadly. "I knew, from reports, she survived. So I bided my time, knowing I would connect with her once she got out of the hospital."
"So I lied to you, Castle," Kate continues. "I told you I didn't remember, when I did remember, and it was only supposed to be a placeholder, something to buy me a few days, a week at the most until I got out and consulted with Roy. I was going to ask him to bring you into it, so you'd be a part of it, so I could come clean with you. I'd just broken up with Josh, and I wanted to try to see if you and I could work. I wanted to see if there was something for us beyond all the banter and innuendo."
"But I told her – well, I asked her not to go down that road," Roy jumps in. "I told her we couldn't bring you in for the same reason that I didn't tell her the identity of the main man before that time. Because I couldn't trust you to stay with our plan. I told her about your motherboard, about how you were working her mother's case all along behind her back. The final nail in the coffin – bad choice of words I know – was me telling her I wasn't sure if it was her efforts or your efforts, Castle, that finally caused Bracken to act against us. That got her shot. It was easy for Kate to see this, since I told her that – even at that moment - you and the boys were still working hard, trying to track down Kate's shooter. I told her that you kept pushing and pushing until the new captain kicked you to the curb. I told her that you'd never stop, not now, not knowing that Kate had been shot. There was only one way to keep you from opening up another can of worms-"
"And that was to keep me busy, by keeping Kate busy when she got back," Castle nods.
"Yep. Hence the call from Smith to you. Kate was already working with me, but you didn't know that. You didn't need to know that. All you needed to know was that she was safe, as long as you kept her safe. As long as you kept her away from the case."
"And by me keeping her away from the case, it also kept me away from the case," Castle thinks aloud, yet another piece falling into place.
"Roy spent much of the summer with me, at the cabin, once dad left. Dad stuck around for less than a week, and then I sent him away. That gave me time to heal up, time to reflect. Time to plan with Roy. And like I said, getting shot had given me a new perspective on our enemy, so I was much more cautious after that."
"That's when I told her who it was that was behind it all," Roy states, concluding the story. "Since that time, Kate and I – but really more me – have been secretly looking for opportunities to set Bracken up, to take Bracken down, to take him out."
"And we've been successful in finding out what he has been up to," Kate continues. "We have a much better idea of what his behind-the-scenes operation looks like."
"But – at the same time - you've also drawn him back into the open," Hunt argues. "Somehow, you left a trail, and Bracken realized that someone was back on the case. And since you, Captain Montgomery, are dead, that only leaves Kate or Richard. He didn't know which, so he opted to take both of you out. Again."
"We didn't know –"
"I know you didn't know," Hunt says. "Nevertheless, the end result was still Bracken, once again, gunning for my son. Because of her," he says, staring at Kate. Those words cause Elena to clear her throat, drawing attention back to the beautiful assassin. Kate, for a second time, shudders.
"So I sent my own message to Senator Bracken, in a way that was not clear whether the message itself was directly from me, or from me through Richard, here," Hunt continues. "That's why, Richard, it was so very important for Bracken to believe that Kate thought you were guilty."
"He needed to see me as someone with nothing to lose," Castle says.
"And even though we all have something or someone to lose – in your case, Richard, it is Alexis and Martha – we had to portray you – just for a few days – as someone who had reached the end of his rope."
"And I didn't want you spending too much time with Castle in prison," Roy adds, "because I knew, I just knew that seeing him in prison would break you, Kate. The two of you had just gone through Round 2 with Scott Dunn, and Richard had just found out about your little lie last summer. I knew all of these things would conspire to break you. You'd want to do something to reaffirm his trust in you. You'd end up telling him that you'd get him out of there, that I was still alive, that we finally knew who was behind your mother's murder."
For a minute or so, the room goes silent, each person in their own thoughts. Richard Castle isn't quite sure how he feels. This afternoon has presented both the best possible and worst possible news. Suddenly, remembering Roy's words from a few minutes ago, Castle speaks up again.
"What did you mean when you said you and Beckett wanted to 'take him out'?" Castle asks.
"I meant what it sounds like, Castle," Roy tells him. He's a criminal. You see him as a Senator," he tells Hunt, and risking a quick look at who he knows is Hunt's strong arm. "I see him for who he is - a ruthless murderer. All we needed was for him to get caught in the middle of a crime . . . and well, whatever happens then just happens."
"Which means," Jackson Hunt states softly, "that you and Kate are in direct opposition to my overall mission. I mean to protect my son and his family, at all costs, and until otherwise directed, keep William Bracken alive to be elected President of the United States."
"And so . . . what do you Americans say . . . the worm turns," Elena Markov comments, her beautiful smile not hiding the implied menace in the least.