Chapter 12
Kate is speechless. "Maybe he is still under the effects of those drugs." Taking a second to think about his question he interrupts her.
"Kate this is not a real difficult question to answer. Either you do or you don't." Rick says.
Kate looks directly into his eyes and for a second he thinks she will run or shut down her real feelings because of the weight of his question. When he looks back directly into her eyes he sees conflict and insecurity. It's then he knows that she does not feel the same way about him. In all honesty, he will love her until the wheels fall off. He unclasps her hand and turns his head away from her and closes his eyes.
Kate was just about to answer his question. Granted she was in a slight daydream mode. Then she noticed his head turning away from her.
"Rick...RICK!" She screams.
"Beckett what is it?" He answers her a bit too angrily. "So that's your answer for everything, right? Just ignore the other person in the room."
She does not respond but gets up off the bed and turns to leave. She gets nowhere fast due to his grasping her hand once more. Her motion jerks her backward when he doesn't let go of her hand.
"Kate turn around." He asks.
"No." Kate responds.
"Kate, please turn around?" Rick asks.
She wants to so badly. If she does it will lead down a road that could leave her heart being broken into so many little pieces. So many she would never be able to be put back together again. Seeing no other option she turns ever so slowly. He views her face first and sees that what he has asked her has been an overly emotional demand. Tears are now rolling freely down her cheeks and now he feels like an ass.
"Kate?" Rick asks with much compassion.
"Rick, you ask the damnedest questions at times. I needed a second to try to answer what you asked from the heart like you asked." Kate says.
Rick stays silent hoping she will continue.
"Rick we are partners in every sense of the word. You help me with cases and we always give the victims families the closure they need. Together we have caught serial killers, and solved so many other cases that I thought would never be solved on my own." She continues.
"Kate so is that all we are to each other...partners?" Rick asks disappointingly.
"Castle let me finish, please!" Kate states.
"As I was saying without you being by my side day in and day out I would be just a shell of a person. You are responsible for making me whole again, and I want to be so much more than your partner." Kate replies.
Rick's eyes widen and the hint of a smile forms on his face. He gently pulls her up to him. she is now lying next to him. He turns to face the most beautiful woman he has eves set his eyes upon. Gently brushes a stray wisp of hair that has fallen into her eye back behind her ear. Caressing her cheek he moves his hand behind her head and draws in her for a loving kiss. At first she is a little scared because if they start this she won't be able to stop anytime soon. The kiss is wonderful and erotic filled with passion and longing. Feeling the need for air they break apart and look at each other only gathering enough air in their lungs and they are right back at again but this kiss is very tender this time. It is not rushed like the first kiss.
They are oblivious to the sounds around them and when the nurse taps her on her shoulder. It's only then when they hear Rick's heart rate machine going through the roof. Rick still has his arm wrapped tightly around Kate. Just as she is going to get off the bed he leans into in her ear.
"Kate, I love you with all my heart." Rick whispers.
"Rick all I ask is that you don't break mine and I love you too." Kate whispers back.
Getting off the bed she lets the nurse check out Rick. She notices fresh blood from one of his gunshot wounds. The nurse quickly removes the gauze and checks the entry wound stitches. They are all torn. Pulling out her radio, she calls Leader. Kate is upset to see how much damage he has endured with being shot.
"Med Lab to Leader, come in." She says.
"Med Lab this is Leader resume transmission." He responds.
"You need to respond to the Med Lab ASAP." She says urgently.
"Responding in 2." He answers wondering what hell is wrong now.
Upon arriving Leader sees the damage and pulls the nurse over.
"Report, what is wrong?" Leader asks.
The stitches are all ripped on one gunshot wound. He is leaking blood." She reports.
"Get a medical team in here Stat!" Leader yells into the mic.
"Medical team rolling, be there in 5." The voice reports.
Kate and Rick look at each other and wonder what's being said.
The nurse moves Kate to get to the wound. She moves to stanch the blood leaking out.
"Keep direct pressure on the wound" she orders Kate.
Kate complies as the nurse addresses Rick.
"Mr. Castle, there is goods and bad news which would you rather first?"
"Bad news if you'll please." Rick replies with a worried look at Kate.
Kate was seeing the blood seeping through the gauze. Kate applies her first aid training to add more gauze.
"Okay well you are going to need an additional surgery to repair your larger wound. I am worried about the possibility of infection. We will need to replace the 12 stitches you tore up." She states.
"This can't be done with a local anesthetic?" Rick questions.
Kate squeezes his hand ever so kindly showing him that she is in this with him.
"No Mr. Castle while this could be done if the wound was relatively small this however is not the case. You need to get staples to pull this wound together. It can only happen with you under during surgery." She answers.
"Okay, if that is the bad news I need more surgery so then what's the good news?" Rick asks.
"Actually there is none, I was just trying to sugar coat it. The surgery will take about 3 hours and now the recovery time will now need to be extended to 5 weeks to get you back up to operating at 100%." She replies.
Just as the nurse finishes giving him the bad news Smith walks back into the room.
"Kate, can I talk to you for a second?" he asks.
The nurse takes over pressing gauze to the wound area. Kate speaks.
"Rick, I'll be right out here." She says as Rick nods.
Walking out into the hallway, she waits for him to speak. She can tell that he is a little upset with what he wants to say, but she waits him out.
"Kate do you know two detectives by the names of Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan?" He asks surprising her.
"Sure I do they are members of my team, why do you ask?" She responds.
"Kate please try to keep a level head okay?" Smith asks which worries Kate.
'Okay, Smith I am ready…Why do you need to know?" Kate asks with trepidation of anticipating bad news.
"At 2100 hours last night they were at a location in the Bronx looking into a lead involving Rick's murder. They have not been seen or heard from since. The unmarked they were using was found on the corner of 233rd St. and Broadway. We think that the car was put there to hide their actual location. My team went over the car before the police arrived and tapped into the cars GPS unit, but it had been completely erased. Whoever this guy is he is very very good...but I am just a little better." Smith says.
Kate is infuriated at this news. She needs to tell Smith who Castle thinks is the person behind this but she won't put Kevin and Javi into a situation to get them killed.
"I see…so what's our next move?" she asks.
"Whoa, hold on a second, what makes you think you are going anywhere? Your role is this op is that of a non-tactical one. You are just a go-between with the NYPD and us. We need you on the inside to uncover the moles within the department. That's your only job." He states. "Let us professionals handle this. Besides I am sure you would not want to needlessly worry Rick?"
Kate is beyond pissed now.
"That's bullshit and you know it. Those are my friends out there somewhere. I'll be damned, but I'm going to get them back with or without your help." Kate says about to storm away.
"Kate, that's where your judgment gets the better of you. As you said they are your friends. Whoever took them knows this and is waiting for you. This makes you vulnerable. I don't have the time to get you up to speed for the tactical awareness you need to be in for this op. Let us handle this, please." Smith implores.
"I'm a homicide detective. I know how to take care of myself, I can do this." Kate asserts.
Smith admires her determination, but he can't take the risk of exposing the whole op to let her tag along. But still he wants to know her limits...
"Kate, follow me." He says walking away from Rick's immediate area.
He did not want his son to witness what he was about to do.
Walking down the hallway, they descend down a flight of stairs into a gym. Smith removes his jacket and his shoes and rolls up his sleeves and before Kate can realize what is happening he lunges at her and tries to grab her head and mid section. Natural instincts kick in and she moves to the right of his attack and as he brushes by her she wraps her arm around his neck and pulls him down to the mat. The whole maneuver takes less than 2 seconds. Letting him up he comes at her again but this time he does not hold back. Running at her with full speed he raises his knee into her abdomen. Using his momentum, she deflects his strike and hits his upper back and sends him flying in a heap.
Seeing that he wants to test her abilities she quickly moves to where he is on the mat and wraps her legs around his neck in a scissor grip and squeezes her legs tight. Grabbing his free arm she pulls it around her leg and twists it until it almost becomes dislocated. Smith is just about to turn blue from the lack of oxygen when he slaps the mat twice. Releasing him Kate gets up and attempts to help him up also. Seeing another opportunity Smith grabs Kate's hand and pulls her into him, but before he can set up his follow thru Kate cartwheels over him, jabs him in the chest and lands on her feet opposite him.
"Am I in now?" She breathlessly asks.
"You weren't lying when you said you could take care of yourself were you?" Smith laughs.
"No I wasn't" Kate says triumphantly.
"Can you handle automatic weapons?" Smith asks.
"I can, what did you have in mind?" Kate asks.
"Well, as good as you are on the mat I'd hate to see you with an UZI in your hands." He replies.
Kate snickers at his last comment. They gather their coats and Smith's shoes and head back up to the Med Lab.
Leader has returned with the medical team. They were wheeling Rick in for the surgery. The surgeons were prepped.
Kate stops the gurney for a moment.
"Rick, Kevin and Javi are in trouble. I love you and I will be waiting for you to awake up after your surgery." Kate says then kisses him on the forehead.
Smith signals the team to wheel him away and pulls Leader aside.
"Change of plans we are taking her with us." Smith says.
Leader thought to object, but one look at Smith made him shake his head.
"Good, I thought there would not be. Saddle up we have some NYPD detectives to rescue." He says.
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Tyson has heard enough from the precinct recordings. He finally has Beckett where he wants her. He thinks that some people are so predictable. Now he has uncovered her Achilles heel. He collects his tools of the trade then makes way back to the torture room. He is giddy right now. If his detainees don't talk this time he won't hesitate in killing them both very slowly. Again he listens for any noise before opening the door. He hears nothing. Opening the door he enters and turns on the lights then eyes his prisoners. They are right where he left them. He goes through the routine of checking their restraints and he is satisfied.
"We won't talk." A voice speaks. (Espo)
"Well, that's your choice but I will let you on a little secret if you don't talk the only way you are going to leave this room is in a body bag." He gleefully says.
A second voice is heard.
"Yeah, you're all talk and no action." (Ryan)
"Well, I really hate that you are wrong on so many levels. To me this is going to be so much fun watching you slowly die." He responds with a cackling laugh.
Tyson walks back to the entry door and retrieves his new bag of tricks. He unrolls the pouch containing the various devices. He looks carefully at what he wants. Finding it, he withdraws the blade out of its holder. It was a razor sharp hunting knife.
"Are you trying to scare us?" A Voice asks. (Ryan)
"My dear detectives we are so far past scaring. This is preparation." He responds as he walks over to Ryan.
He toys with his leg the blade dangerously close to his femoral artery then he cuts a gash about 4 inches long and about a quarter inch wide across his thigh. A blood-curdling scream fills the room. Then Tyson makes about 20 more cuts into his flesh in strategic locations all over his body. Ryan passes out.
Tyson then moves to his second victim and just as he is about to make his first cut he hawks up a large amount of saliva and spits directly into his face.
"Was that the best that you can come up with?" he asks laughing.
Before Espo can answer the first cut is administered and the same events take place the same way he cut Ryan. He cuts the same amount of wounds into the second detective and just for good measure his last cut is the deepest teaching him a lesson.
Tyson retrieves a small washcloth and cleans off his blade. He places it back into the pouch then rolls it up and leaves the room. Espo is still conscious, but he won't last long. He looks to Kevin then wonders if they ever thought they would ever go out like this. Kevin starts to come around.
"Kev, Bro are you with me?" Espo asks.
"Javi what the hell is going on?" Kevin asks looking at all the blood.
"Look Kevin he left the door wide open, maybe if I can get my zip ties loose we can get out of here." Espo says with a bit of hope.
"Bro I have no strength left to even breathe." Kevin replies under labored breath.
Espo knew that this was not a good sign. Kevin was giving up on the fight. He had to make him see that there was still a fight left to fight.
"KEVIN, just wake up….Think about how you will be with Jenny soon. She is your soul mate. You just can't give up now." Espo pleads.
"Javi, I am not giving up you need to look at what I'm seeing on the floor." Kevin states.
With that Espo looks at the floor. What he sees shakes him to the core. From both of their bodies, there is a river of blood streaming to the drain in the middle of the floor.
Without warning because they were both concentrating on the blood trail Tyson enters the room pushing a 55 gallon drum. Setting the drum upright he moves over to his prisoners.
"So gentlemen are we in a talking mood?" He asks hoping they would be once more defiant.
Then a whispered voice responds.
"It will be a cold day in hell when we tell you anything." Espo defiantly states.
"Ditto" the second voice agrees.
"Well, I am so sorry to hear that. Look I know that you two boys are lonely here left in this cold dark room. So I have invited some friends to accompany you." He says with a wicked smile.
The boys could hear the scratching and high-frequency peep coming from inside. They could imagine what awaits them inside that drum.
Tyson walks over to the 55 gallon drum and removes the lid. Tilting the drum for them to see what was inside. Their eyes get as large as half dollars. The sounds now fill the room.
"One last chance to spill the beans…?" Tyson asks hoping they would refuse.
All he is met with is silence. Tyson is ecstatic.
"Okay then let the feast begin!" Tyson gleefully states as he kicks over the drum.
It rolls towards them and stops when it bounces against the two chairs. When it does a swarm of rats leave the drum and head directly for the blood trails. Tyson knows they won't last long with all the cuts that are all over their bodies. He wouldn't be here for their grisly end. Tyson laughs as he turns off the light then exits the room to allow the rats to do their jobs.
"Kevin, I hate to say this but I think that this will be our last supper. We are the ones on the menu." Espo says spying the approaching rats
"Espo, what are you talking about? Five minutes ago you were telling me not to give up?" Kevin asks.
"Well, as I see it I don't really see a way out of this situation." Espo sadly says.
Espo tries to wiggle a rat off his pant leg it's trying to climb up, with little success.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh Get them off…" Kevin screams.
"Bro, what's wrong?" Javi desperately twists to look at his partner.
"Javi, the rats are feasting on my hands…get them off" Kevin wails.
"Bro, I have a rat problem of my own. This bugger has started on my leg," Javi laments.
"Man. I don't think we are meant to survive this…" Kevin says screaming again as Javi joined in the screams.