Wednesday 4:03 pm

Warehouse District

The team gathered around the back of Beckett's car on the 2nd floor of an old parking garage. Esposito took a piece of paper out of a a spiral notebook and laid it on the trunk. He drew a big rectangle twice as tall as it was wide. "Ok, this is the building." He added to the right side of the rectangle, drawing what looked like a 4 rung ladder. "There are two floors of offices on the right, or east, side." He then darkened two spots on the bottom of the square. "The front has both the main door and the truck entrance. There is a camera above the entrance, but I don't know if it's working." He then drew a short, squat, backwards question mark in the top 2/3rds of the rectangle. "This is what's left of an assembly line. There are also machines and pallets of boxes all along the assembly line." He then drew a two inch line parallel to the top of the rectangle but down an inch, which put it halfway between the top wall and the top of the backwards question mark. "Here's the armored car. It's still on the trailer, which still looks hooked to the tractor. The tarp still covers most of the armored car."

Esposito continued. "We managed to see all this using a fiber optic camera attached to a stick and held up near a 2nd story window on the north wall." He pointed to the top of the rectangle. "Three important points. The first is, they unloaded a lot of the stolen guns and ammo out of the white van, and it's all sitting between the truck and the north wall. It was practically right under the window."

"The second point is the white van itself. It's on the other side of the armored car, between it and the top of the assembly line."

Castle commented, "Well, that makes perfect sense. They probably need the room for the money in the van."

Beckett asked, "How much room do you need for forty million plus?"

"Depends. Denomination and packaging make a big difference. One suitcase per million, so half of the van."

"Esposito, what's the third point?"

"Three people identified. None of them appear to be our cops. We watched for about three minutes. There's a compressor going and a hose running into the back of the armored car, so they're drilling or cutting or sawing. Whatever they are doing, it's hot in there, because they all came out for air at least twice."

Beckett looked over at Demming, who was listening to his cell phone. "Any word?"

Demming shook his head. "Hostage situation and gang fights still happening. Our old Captain thinks we might get some SWAT help in three or four hours."

"Ryan?"

"Warrant has been signed. We'll get an electronic copy any minute."

"Esposito, if we breached through the main entrance, what would happen?"

The Latino shook his head. "Nothing good. We'd be backlit by the open door or picture window, and would have to all squeeze left behind the assembly line or cover ninety open feet fully exposed against superior firepower."

"Espo, are there any other entrances?"

"Yeah, there's one off the alley near the back". He pointed to the right side of his sketch, almost at the top even with the armored car. "I don't know where it goes. Office? Hallway? Basement?"

"Castle?"

Castle refreshed his phone screen, where he had the floor plan. "Okay. Fire door goes into short hallway. Bathrooms on the right. Another fire door enters into the main room, and should be right behind the tractor trailer. Looks like an employee entrance."

"Esposito, can we get eyes in there?"

"Under the door only, if the camera fits. If one of those guys is using the bathroom at the wrong time, it'll ruin our day."

Ryan suggested, "Why don't we just surround the building and keep tabs on them? If they leave we'll pursue. That might be better than going in blind."

Beckett shook her head. "Then we end up with bad guys with lots of firepower out on the streets of New York City. That's the stuff of nightmares. Also, there's still a small chance that King or Ennis are alive. Esposito, no sign of them?"

He responded, "No, but if they ARE alive they would probably keep them restrained in one of the offices or the bathrooms." By his tone of voice, he didn't believe it.

"Wait!" Castle stepped forward. "We don't have to go in blind. We can keep our eyes on the camera screen, and know the three bad guys are still working in the armored car."

Esposito shook his head. "Cord's only twenty feet long."

"Yea, I know, but the camera's set up as Wi-fi ready. If I can get a signal, I can stream it to a website, then dial into the website from my phone. It would be like a one or two second delay."

Beckett asked, "Esposito?"

"Oh yeah, I like it. Good intel always wins. If we can access the main room through the employee entrance and surprise these three guys from behind, it should be easy."

"Ryan?"

"I'm with you, boss."

"Demming?"

"Wow. You guys really ARE cowboys. What if we can't get a signal or can't breach the fire door?"

"Then we back out and we're no worse off."

Demming asked, "How do we go in?"

"Boys, jump in if you have corrections or comments". She then turned back to Demming. "Obviously, we kit up with vests. Everybody brings extra magazines. I'll keep Hernandez on the camera on the north wall, because he has zero tactical training. He can monitor us and yell for help if we run into something. We stay stealthy when we breach the outside door. The five of us move in. You and I clear the bathrooms, because Ryan and Esposito will have the riot guns. Once cleared, we meet at the inner door. We wait for the right time, then breech the inner door, still stealthy. We'll go in a diamond formation, because we're used to each other and you need to see us. So, Javi in front, Ryan to the right, I've got left flank. As tail end Charlie, you come up and support whoever needs it and cover our rear. Once we've secured the three known perps, we clear the vehicles, and then we clear the offices. Questions?"

Ryan said, "Warrants in."

"Okay, let's do it." They all went to put on their vests, check their weapons, and grab the extra magazines. Beckett checked Castle's vest, and he checked hers. She gave him a hug and brushed his lips with hers, then looked him in the eye and scolded him, "You'll keep your head down in there, right?" At his nod, she turned for the stairs. They all followed Beckett down the steps of the garage, across the street and down an alley to the next block. They waved Hernandez over from his doorway where he'd had the building staked out, and informed him of the plan. They continued down the next alley, and paused while Castle took the camera and signed into his website. He started the stream, and then checked his phone. Beckett peaked at his screen. "Is that…?" she whispered.

Castle nodded. "The Nikki Heat website. It's the only one I have administrative rights to."

She shook her head. "I am so getting fired for this."

Soon, Castle's phone was filled with the same image as the camera, but a couple of beats later. The five left Hernandez, who had retrieved his stick and was raising the camera lens. They gathered outside the employee entrance and eyed Castle's screen. The faint noise of the compressor motor could be heard through the door. Demming handed Espo the extra camera, which he managed to squeeze under the door after a couple of tries. He spun the cable around, but every angle showed an empty, dimly lit hallway. He backed the camera out. Castle handed his phone to Beckett, then pulled out a small but very powerful cordless drill. He slapped it into Esposito's outstretched hand, who proceeded to drill and punch out the door's lock. As he handed the drill back to Castle, Castle's left hand grabbed the doorknob and turned it. Castle returned the drill to his back pocket while keeping his eyes on Beckett, who was watching the tiny phone screen. At her nod, he swung the door to him, so he was behind the door and the four cops were free to enter. Castle put his hand out and Beckett handed him the phone back as she followed Esposito in.

By the time Castle was in the hallway, Demming and Beckett were already clearing the bathrooms to the right. Ryan and Esposito had their police shotguns trained on the next door. First Beckett, then Demming emerged from their respective rooms and nodded. Castle handed his phone back to Beckett. They all arranged themselves the same way as they had been seconds ago when they entered the outer door.

This time, instead of punching the lock, they tested the door and found it unlocked. They were all looking at Beckett when they heard the compressor engine stop. Beckett raised her index finger in a wait gesture. After about two very nervous minutes, she smiled and flashed the phone around. The small image, looking from above and to the right of the armored car, showed 3 men manhandle big wrapped packages out of the armored car and down on to the bed of the trailer. She turned the phone so the orientation was the same, and showed the four men. She then handed the phone to Castle, and nodded her head. Castle swung the door open.