Chapter Four: Rescue
Peter marked on the blueprint in front of him. "You have to approach it from this angle and shore up the walls as you dig down. The force you have to counter is here." He pointed and circled an area with his marking pen. "This hot spot has to be stabilized and we have to create a shaft where the oxygen can travel." He paused and looked at the skeptical faces of the men and women who had gathered around the plywood and sawhorse table.
With his rakish appearance and casual attire, he looked more like he'd spent a night out at the bars than studying blueprints with Homeland Security. His past was complicated, it included having a paper published while a tenured engineering professor at MIT, a position he had gained under fraudulent circumstances. He knew these dubious credentials rarely instigated confidence in others, but Olivia never doubted his brilliance and she went to Broyles, and he agreed, anything he had to offer was of value.
"Use the temporary fencing, secure it with stakes. It's a quick fix and will buy you more time. I'd be lying if I didn't say it was without risks, but it can work. The thermal imaging equipment DHS brought in tells us two warm bodies are still down there. If you want to save them, you have to do something, time is running out."
The engineers looked and listened, the lead finally spoke. "He's right, if we want to bring them out alive, this is the way."
Peter Bishop was a wild card, he had spent his life appearing unannounced, making a play and disappearing back into the fold. He lived on a temporary time line of his own making and his relationships were always fluid, until now. He walked away from the engineering team and towards Olivia, the little lines around his eyes, that instantly cheered her up, appeared when he smiled.
"It should work, the fire hazard was a sticking point, but their options have dwindled." He walked with her to a table that had been set up with bottled water and thermoses of hot coffee.
"Detective Beckett and Agent Booth reminded me there are people's lives at stake here, not just a weird and unexplainable cylinder of undetectable material and purpose." Olivia added, looking at Booth and Brennan.
"Liv, what does Broyles want to do about the cylinder?" He poured himself a cup of black coffee and raised it to his lips.
"He's hoping they'll get Dr. Brennan and Richard Castle out of there safely and the others are less likely to question it's removal from the site." Olivia looked over at the strange object, her subtle grace and quiet beauty manifested itself in an array of emotions and facial expressions.
"Whatever that thing is, it comes with a whole lot of questions, one of which is Walters reaction and attitude towards it." He took a deep breath and exhaled, clearing his thoughts. "But, you're right, the focus should be on saving those two missing people down there."
Olivia furrowed her brow and looked up at Peter. "There's one thing I wanted to talk to you about, it's the CBI consultant, Patrick Jane."
"You mean the 'I just pay attention, there's no such thing as a mind reader' guy with the blonde curls and soulful eyes?"
Olivia looked taken aback by his description.
"Believe it or not, Walter and I bonded over daytime talk shows and Patrick Jane has been on them all. It's really a tragedy, what happened to his wife and daughter. They've never caught their killer, Red John, and he's killed others since then. Jane must be filled with guilt and self-loathing."
"You are full of surprises, Peter Bishop… constantly full of them." Olivia remarked.
Peter gave her a half smile. "Of course I am."
She gave up a half smile herself, but the amused expression on her face quickly faded. "Peter, I don't know what's going on with him, but he knows something, I saw it in his face. I can't put my finger on it, but I know he…"
"...has acute observational skills, he may know more about you than you know about yourself."
"He and Agent Lisbon left to get cleaned up and get some rest, they'll be back and I want to talk to him, but I don't want this to become some kind of head game."
"Okay, Agent Dunham, I got your back." He gave her a cocky smile. "If you start clucking like a chicken, I'll shoot him" he quipped, but the lighthearted look on his face turned serious when he looked at her expression. He would never let her down or disappoint her if he could help it and she felt the same way. It wasn't necessary to verbalize this understanding, they just knew they would be there for each other.
Their thoughts were interrupted when they heard the beginnings of a heated discussion.
"Agent Broyles, these rescuers are exhausted, we need to bring in some relief workers for them." One of the rescue supervisors, a woman named Karen, demanded.
"I understand your situation, you can bring in as many workers as you need, but we have a national security risk here, they have to go through our screening process." Broyles countered.
"You're making this harder than it needs to be, just what are your priorities, anyway?" She sniped. "I need three workers, now, not after you've fooled around with your data bases."
"My priorities are the same as yours, and they include doing my job." Broyles said harshly, chasing thoughts of shape shifters out of his mind.
"Agent Broyles." Booth stepped forward, he and Beckett had heard them arguing. "Let us down there, we can help. Beckett and I are both law enforcement and have disaster training."
"Same here." Rigsby added from among the gathering crowd.
Broyles crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. "You don't need my permission."
A hint of doubt mixed with relief crossed the woman's face. "Okay, anyone who goes down there, follows my instructions, and everyone wears protective gear."
Peter, Cho and Van Pelt agreed to monitor the stability of the site and spot the rescuers, while Olivia and Broyles oversaw the security clearances and quietly made arrangements to move the cylinder.
"You need to be cautious, the earth is unstable and what's left of the building keeps shifting." Peter told them. "The generator is pumping oxygen down to them and we're still getting pictures that show their warm, but anything can happen, so hurry."
Booth, Beckett and Rigsby had been outfitted with harnesses and hard hats. Karen went first, and the others followed, they were lowered into the massive hole one at a time, first Rigsby, than Booth and finally Beckett. She unhooked the cable from the harness she wore and handed it to one of the tired workers.
The worker's face was smudged with dirt and fatigue. "Karen's in charge, so you listen to her."
Rigsby turned to Booth and Beckett, "Understood?" They nodded in agreement. They watched as one of the workers was brought out, while the other three waited for their turn.
"Okay, let's get to work." Karen ordered, her dark curly hair peeked out from under her helmet. "Every piece we move has to be treated with kid gloves. No sudden movements, that last cave in set us back in hours of rescue time." She looked over at Booth, "You can be my partner - Agent Rigsby, Detective Beckett, you're on the other side."
They positioned themselves and began removing pieces of wallboard, splintered wood, and chunks of concrete with exposed rebar. Glass and wires intermixed with dirt covered everything and they worked tirelessly next to Karen, removing the collapsed building piece by piece. The debris was painstakingly cleared away and dumped into large containers, where they were hauled up and disposed of just outside of the rescue area.
It seemed they had been at it for hours and their work barely made a dent, until they slid a piece of wallboard over.
Beckett was the first to see her. "Booth, look, she's there!"
Brennan's legs came into view as they struggled to move the piece of ceiling off of her, she lay amidst the broken shards of glass and crumbled pieces of sheet rock, one of her arms was extended out and next to her hand, lay another hand, one that belonged to Richard Castle.
Booth carefully brushed aside the dirt and debris from her head and face, he shook off his work glove and felt her neck, and found a faint pulse. He looked at the others with pure relief, she was alive. He barely heard the workers cheer when Karen gave the thumbs up, he could only hear his own heart hammering in his chest as he took her hand in his.
His touch was like a lifeline for Brennan, she could feel the warmth from his hand and responded by twitching her fingers. Booth felt it, and part of the fear that had gripped him since the moment he had first taken her phone call more than 48 hours ago, shifted from dread to hope.
"Bones, it's okay…" he said to her in a soothing voice. "We're going to get you out. I'm here."
He felt along the length of her arms and shoulders, while Karen checked her legs for broken bones. She helped turn her over slowly, while Booth supported her head. Brennan winced but opened her eyes and the faintest of smiles crossed her face as she saw Booth looking down at her.
In the meantime, Beckett and Rigsby pitched away pieces of rubble in an effort to uncover Castle. They discovered his situation was much more dire when the metal beam that lay across him wouldn't budge. Beckett knelt beside him, she could see he was still breathing, his chest rising ever so slowly.
"Castle? It's me, Kate. We're going to get this thing off of you, just hang on, okay?" She held his hand and when he squeezed it, tears spilled from her eyes.
"What are we going to do? How are we going to move this?" Beckett barked. She looked up at Peter and Cho, they were lowering down the cable that was used to pull up the containers they filled with debris.
"Wrap this around it." Peter yelled down. "Secure it and we'll pull it off."
Rigsby grabbed the cable and he and Booth did their best to tie it around the beam.
Peter and Cho exchanged a worried look before turning the switch on, the weight of the beam concerned them. As the cable grew taut, the beam lifted off of Castle, his crumpled body lay askew at an awkward angle, Beckett wanted to pull him away but feared she would make his injuries worse, instead she leaned down and spoke to him.
"Castle, Alexis and Martha are waiting to see you. I told them we were going to bring you out. I told them you loved them." She kept her voice steady and dabbed at the tears on her face with the back of her hand.
"Kate... I knew you'd come..." he mumbled.
A medical team were readying themselves to be lowered down, but before they could proceed, the ground began to rumble and vibrate. The beam swayed precariously and almost hit Beckett, but she managed to dodge it.
"We have to hurry, this may not hold!" Rigsby yelled, he could see cracks forming in and around the edge of the hole they were in.
"We have to get them out of here NOW! It's going to cave!" Karen shouted. She saw Booth's dark and grim expression as he picked Brennan up in his arms and stumbled over to the cable that Cho and Van Pelt had dropped down.
Beckett looked at Rigsby and he moved quickly, pulling Castle out from under the suspended metal beam and picking him up in a fireman's hold, they all staggered toward Booth and Karen.
The light from the cylinder grew brighter and it started to hum, the ground continued to rumble and vibrate with more intensity.
"Wayne!" Van Pelt shouted. "We can lower a rescue basket down!" Her words were muffled as the ground began to roll and debris scattered about, as if it were being shaken in a pan.
"There's no time! Booth! We have to latch your harness to the cable, you're going to have to carry her while they bring you up!" Rigsby shouted above the noise from the cylinder, it had gone from a hum to a high pitched whine.
He nodded and hoisted Brennan over his shoulder while Beckett and Karen fought to open the carabiner and attach it to his harness. The two women signaled to Peter and Cho and the cable slowly brought Booth and Brennan up, the ground shook and they swung back and forth as if they were on the end of a rope swing, but Peter and Cho reached out and grabbed them and lowered them to the ground. Van Pelt rushed over and helped Booth with Brennan, and the medical team descended on them.
"Beckett! Here!" Peter cried out. They had lowered another cable down, this time Rigsby had Castle over his shoulder and Beckett worked on getting the carabiner latched onto his harness. Once attached, she let go and watched as they slowly rose up. She felt relief wash over her, when Van Pelt and Cho reached over and grabbed Rigsby and lowered him onto the ground, the medics helped lay Castle down and went to work on him.
"Karen! Beckett!" Peter cried out again. "Here!" He lowered another cable down and Beckett grabbed it and latched it to Karen's harness. She piggybacked herself on Karen's back and held on.
"GO!" Beckett shouted. "NOW!" Peter turned the switch and they started their ascent out of the hole. The cylinder was humming at a deafening frequency and the ground above them and under their feet started to crumble. The cable swayed, wrenching Beckett away from Karen. She felt herself falling but suddenly her body jerked as Karen grabbed her arm. Beckett dangled by one arm, she looked down and saw the hole below them implode, and she hung on and prayed.
"Christ!" Cho yelled, he and Peter reached out for the two women, but the flashing lights from the cylinder blinded them. On their second try, they caught Beckett legs and the two women landed on the ground with a thud. They scrambled to their feet and everyone ran toward the other end of the terminal.
"Grace!" Rigsby called out. Van Pelt came running toward him and he embraced her in his arms. The display of human emotion was humbling to the others as they realized what could have been lost.
Booth and Beckett hovered over their partners, attempting to keep themselves together as the medical team continued to work on them.
Peter felt as though he had held his breath for the last hour and the adrenalin that coursed through him started to subside. He looked out amongst the crowd of rescue workers for Olivia. He couldn't find her but he spotted Broyles.
He was sitting on the ground, slouched against a wall, holding a a blood soaked bandage to his temple, he looked up at Peter and they made eye contact. No words needed to be exchanged, Peter knew something seriously wrong had happened, and it had happened to Olivia.