Chapter Eight: History
He didn't doubt a connection existed but the common thread eluded him. Where was Olivia? What of the strange cylinder and its significance? Who would kidnap the two authors and their partners? And, what of Patrick Jane's encounter with the Observer? He quickened his pace, his thoughts overlapped one another as he walked down the busy concourse, searching the waiting areas and scanning the faces as they passed by. Finding Olivia was his priority, there had never been someone in his life who he could count on to watch his back, until now and he wouldn't let her down.
At the end of the terminal a lone man in a plain black suit with dark glasses motioned for him to stop. "Sir, may I see some I.D.?" The words were appropriate enough, but his tone was unforgiving and filled with disapproval.
"I've got DHS clearance." Peter had worn his credentials around his neck in plain site, hoping it would give him some credibility, he wished it were a shield instead of a plastic name tag with a bar code. He took another look at him and thought there was something vaguely familiar about him. "Who are you?"
"Are you here because of the incident? I understand that it's been contained and all victims rescued and recovered. May I ask where you are going and why you're in such a big hurry?"
"Look, I don't know who you are, or what you want but I was headed to Food Court, I was looking for my part.. my friend, we were separated, is that a problem?"
"No sir." He was calm and authoritative when he stepped forward and pressed the nuzzle of a gun into Peter's side, grabbing his arm and walking him forward. "Come with me, and we'll see if we can't clear this up.
Peter raised his hands slightly in a defensive posture. "You have no right to detain me, I work under Agent Broyles, let me call him." He started to reach into his pocket but the Man in Black gripped his arm.
"If anyone here gets hurt because of your actions… well I'm sure you wouldn't want that." He made his point by turning Peter toward a woman with three small children.
"I guess this means I'm not getting something to eat." Peter muttered under his breath. "Who the hell are you? Do I know you?"
The man lowered his dark glasses and Peter realized why he looked familiar. John Mosely. Peter had been tortured by this man and had led him to his grandfather's grave, where Walter had buried the cylinder for safe keeping. Peter had been there when Olivia had shot and killed him, he guessed that Shape Shifters live by their own set of rules, one that included not staying dead.
The vibration from the engine had lulled the exhausted captives into an unsettling trance, they had been airborne for over an hour when the sudden jerk of the helicopter sent them sprawling.
Booth and Brennan were flung against the interior wall, while Beckett was tossed painfully onto her bound wrists and Castle's gurney tugged at the restraints that secured him in place.
The helicopter shook and jostled its passengers before it landed, it's engine and the vibration from the rotation of the blades slowed before coming to a stop. Newton and his team of captors silently gathered their belongings and headed for the door, they ignored their prisoners and filed out one by one.
"You're not leaving us here!" Beckett called out after them, but their response was the thud of the door sliding closed. She made a face and rolled back onto her stomach and like an inchworm with her head on the ground, she managed to push herself up to her knees and with a huge breath, she struggled up onto her feet.
She swayed on wobbly legs and leaned against the wall and once she got her bearings, staggered over to Castle.
"Castle? You okay? Can you hear me?" Beckett was relieved to hear him groan.
"This has turned into a hell of a book tour…" He mumbled.
"Castle, I'm going to try and get your arms loose, when you're free you have to help untie me." She backed up next to the gurney, and felt along the edge until she found the restraint that wrapped over both his arms and torso. It took some doing, but she managed to find the end of the strap and worked it until it gave up some slack.
"Can you get your arms out? Castle, you still with us?"
"Yeah, I'm still here." He grunted pulling one arm free and than the other. They ached from the accident and now that the drugs were wearing off, he felt every sore muscle.
"Can you help me loose this inner tube around my neck?" He muttered.
Beckett felt around and she grabbed hold of it and together they pulled the inflatable neck brace off of him.
Castle took short puffs of breath, trying to control his pain and getting his circulation going, he started feeling better until he shifted his weight and was reminded he had two broken ribs.
"Kate, back up, you have to get a little closer I can't reach the knot with both hands."
Beckett leaned backward, but when that failed, she nudged him over with her hip. "I'm going to get up on the gurney next to you, okay?" Luckily his broken leg was on the other side and she leaned back and placed her hands on Castle's chest, being careful of his injuries.
"Can you get at the knot now?"
"Kate… careful… I think this is another one of those Nikki Heat moments." He was still sluggish from the drugs but worked at the knot diligently. "Nikki… ropes…. Bondage…"
"If you can get me out of this, I'll help you write the chapter." She said wincing as he picked at her bonds.
"Booth? Dr. Brennan? Are you all right?" Beckett called out.
"Yeah, I think so." Booth shouted back. They strained to right themselves and she flinched when the ropes cut into her wrists.
"Bones, you okay?" Booth stopped fighting against their restraints, not wanting to hurt her.
"The laceration on my arm hurts a little and when that sociopath grabbed me, he pulled the I.V. out of my hand, otherwise I'm all right."
"These knots won't budge, don't hurt yourself trying. Beckett? Can you get loose?"
"Almost… I almost got it." Castle continued to pick at the knot clumsily. He had broken out into a sweat, concentrating on the task and working it until he felt the rope give. "I think it's freeing up some… "
Beckett caught her breath when she felt the slack. "Nice work! You're almost there."
After a few more minutes, Beckett slid off the gurney, and with a quick tug, she managed to free herself. She rubbed the red raw marks around her wrists and rolled her shoulders with a moan of relief.
"Castle, you did it! How's the leg?" Beckett looked down at the writer with concern. "Are your ribs okay?"
"You make me sound like a dinner entrée, go and untie them." The morphine induced fog had mostly cleared judging from the overall pain he was experiencing.
Beckett pulled herself together and went over to Booth and Brennan, kneeling down, she picked at the knots impatiently. They were twice as thick as hers and would be twice as hard to undo. She looked about for something to use, Newton and his cronies had taken most everything, except for the medical kit attached to the wall.
"Hang on a minute." The box was locked, but she grabbed the fire extinguisher that was next to it and bashed at it twice before it crumpled. She pulled it open and inside she found a small pair of medical scissors and snatched them up.
"You are very resourceful!" Brennan complimented her while Beckett used the scissors to saw at the ropes.
"Fire extinguishers, what would we do without them." Booth gritted teeth.
"Thank Castles and his magical fingers… I almost got it…" It was slow going, but eventually the rope snapped and they were able to break apart.
Beckett sat back, tired from the intensity of the task. "I could use a good idea right about now." She scrambled up to her feet and lent her hand to Booth and in turn he helped Brennan up.
Brennan stretched and checked the cut on her arm. "Who are these people? What do they want with us?" She rummaged through the broken medical kit, finding a tube of antiseptic cream to use on her wrists. She handed it to Beckett.
"He said we were linked to something important. What the hell does that mean?" Beckett squeezed a bit of cream into her hand and handed it to Booth.
"I wish I knew." Booth looked out of the window, the exterior was coated with a thin layer of dust. "Looks like we're in the desert."
"How can you be sure?" Beckett walked back to Castle. She hovered over him, wanting to make him more comfortable, but not knowing what to do.
"Booth was a soldier in Iraq. He knows a desert when he sees one." Brennan stated, she searched her pockets, and smiled holding her cell phone, but her glee was short lived. "No signal and the battery is almost out of power."
"Keep it handy" Booth strained to open the door, it wouldn't budge and he kicked it with frustration.
"Kicking doors isn't the answer, you're going to injure yourself." Brennan picked through the remains of the medical kit.
"There's got to be a way out of here." Beckett circled their prison with her eyes.
From his gurney, Castle propped himself on his forearms and asked. "Has anyone else flown a helicopter besides me?"
The Observer stared at Olivia, his intensity bore into her and compelled her to look up and meet his gaze.
Who are you? She thought to herself, but she might as well screamed it, because she knew the Observer had heard her thoughts clearly.
"Agent Dunham, Dr. Bishop's actions caused severe consequences here, and over there."
She looked at him suspiciously. "What are you saying? Walter has altered the course of history?" Her confusion masked the reality she had yet to fully understand. She looked down at the book in front of her. History is the foundation for the future, she thought to herself.
"One man's actions should not change the course of two worlds. I cannot say more, but I can show you." He looked down at the opened book in front of her.
She turned the page and immediately more questions circled around her. Olivia and Peter had both become reluctant recruits into the Fringe Unit and somehow, she knew Broyles had manipulated her, but she was still unsure why. She in turn had lied to Peter, coercing him into helping her, and after the first few months of working together they both knew too much to ever turn back. The Observer and his book had made sure that she could never walk away, he had given her a responsibility, but now the question remained if it was a gift or a threat to her well being.
Three images presented themselves in front of her. The child who she saw grow into a man in the previous pages, had his arms wrapped around his wife, and her figure showed she was in the late stages of pregnancy. The happy looks on their faces gave Olivia hope and she couldn't control the emotions that bubbled up in her heart. She looked at the image below it and the happy couple had become a family. Each parent held a sleeping baby and the proud and tired expressions that have graced parents faces for centuries, graced theirs. Olivia wondered to herself, will this be part of my reality?
The Observer broke the silence between them with a simple "yes."
The next image showed the twin toddlers sitting next to each other. The boy was earnestly looking at the pictures in his book and the girl was chewing on the corner of hers. They were beautiful children with dark hair and bright eyes. Their small bodies sat on a comfortable looking armchair with a side table next to it filled with an array of photos and a stack of books. Olivia's eyes roamed over the photos, one was of the family of four, another of Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan and yet another of Olivia and Peter, all of them had aged well, but none the less, they were years older. She leaned down to take a better look and was surprised to make out a photo of Richard Castle and Detective Kate Beckett. Her focus switched to the stack of books. Castle Publishing was on the end of the spine and the thickest book was entitled: Parallel Lives by Dr. Christine Booth-Bishop.
"Where could he have gone to? Great… now DHS has two missing agents. I'm not telling Broyles, I'm letting Van Pelt do it!" The frustrated look on Lisbon's face was all too familiar.
"Now getting cranky isn't going to help." Jane uttered the words under his breath.
"Cranky? If you want to see Cranky, than screw up my order at McDonald's… This has turned into something else. I feel like I'm at the movies, but trapped in it instead of in the audience looking at it.
"Nice analogy." Jane look amused. "There's the triplet's, maybe they'll want to get something to eat." He waved to Rigsby, Cho and Van Pelt, they looked tired and Jane thought, hungry.
"Hey Boss, Agent Broyles was arguing with some NSA Agents, we thought it was a good time to escape." Cho saw the annoyed expression on Lisbon's face, he looked over at Jane. "What did you do this time?"
"I'm innocent, I have nothing to feel bad about." Jane shrugged. "But, I am hungry."
"That makes two of us!" Rigsby looked hopeful.
"You want to join us?" Jane looked at Cho and Van Pelt. "Lisbon here, would rather search for the DHS Agent and her consultant."
"You guys are going to have to wait to get some food because I think we just found one of them."
Author's Note: I originally published this as a crossover Bones/Fringe. I changed it to Bones/Castle to see if I couldn't get some interest from Castle fans. Now, I'm trying Bones/The Mentalist. So please look for the next chapter there. Thank you!