A Future Caskett
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: You know this by now, right? Rating: K Time: See below.
"Where were you born?" He asked.
"What?"
"Where were you born? I need to know all about Nikki Heat."
Kate swallowed hard. "Public Hospital Number Five. In Junktown." There. It was out. She looked at Castle but be didn't seem concerned.
"Tell me about your parents."
She took a deep breath, wondering how much she should tell about the life of a Junktown family. "My mother was a waitress at the best restaurant in Junktown. I know that wouldn't impress you, but she was able to bring food home almost every night, so unlike most families, we had meat almost every night. And she was well paid." Kate smiled at the memory that came to her. "She taught me how to cook."
"And your dad?"
"He worked in a bookstore. He would bring home books for me to read and then take them back to be sold."
"Um, you use the past tense." Castle said gently.
Kate forced herself not to cry. "Two customers got into a fight in the restaurant. My mom was caught in the middle. She was stabbed to death. My dad took it hard. He drank. One night as he headed for the local bar, he was rolled. He was hit over the head and his cash stolen. They hit him too hard. He died." All of that was true, if not complete.
"Neither party was ever caught?"
She shook her head. "I was in the police academy by then. No one cared about a couple from Junktown."
Castle changed the topic. "What about your schooling? It seems your dad instilled a love of reading in you."
She nodded and smiled at the memory of her dad bringing home a new book for her. "I was lucky. Three teachers in high school thought I had talent and helped me a lot." Again, true but incomplete. "I took the government placement test, hoping to be a teacher, but I was assigned to the Criminal Police Academy."
"Tell me about your time as a cop."
She told him about her training officer, Mike Royce, and her assignments as a patrol officer, then a detective in Robbery, then Vice and finally in Homicide. All true, but not complete.
"You were the youngest person to ever make detective and you always aimed for homicide. Did you want to find your parent's killers?"
She thought about it. "I suppose it crossed my mind. But I'm sure that those involved are dead or in jail. That's what happens to people like that in Junktown. Mostly I just wanted to get the hell out of Junktown."
Castle continued to ask her questions about her life and she continued to give true, if incomplete answers.
Then he glanced at his watch. "It's 8:30. I should get you home if you're going to keep going to work in the middle of the night."
Unsure of what to say, Kate stood, allowed him to get her coat and help her on with it. Then he took her out the front door.
"My car service is here. They'll get you home. Good night, Detective Beckett. Thanks for your help. I'll see you tomorrow."
The car was a huge limousine. Castle instructed the driver to make sure Kate got home safely.
Once back in her 600 square foot apartment, she moved her furniture and put out her exercise mat. She did calisthenics for an hour to work off the food she'd had that day, then practiced martial arts moves. Finally, she took a shower. When she was done, she examined herself as best she could in her mirror. She had a good face, she knew. Her boobs weren't that big, but while not as firm as they had been when she was a teenager, they still qualified as perky. Her legs and her ass were her best features.
Why didn't Castle do anything? She wondered. He was an Elite, after all. Did he have a performance problem? That seemed unlikely. Did he have some Elite girlfriend who'd be upset? That didn't seem to be the Elite way. She'd heard that some Elites considered anyone outside of their class to be beneath contempt. But Castle had gone out of his way to be nice to her.
She fell asleep wondering about Richard Castle.
The next day was anything but exciting. The first call they got was for two members of rival gangs who'd knifed each other to death. With no surviving criminals, there was no need for much police action. Next was a badly decomposed body pulled out of the river, near the commercial port. After a very brief examination, Dr. Parish said the body was too decomposed to identify and no cause of death could be determined. Kate ground her teeth in anger, but could do nothing.
Again, Kate ended up at Rick's mansion, having a wonderful dinner, with an excellent red wine and again found herself talking to Rick on his couch. She couldn't understand why he hadn't made a move on her, but had no wish to tempt fate.
He wanted to talk about criminal's weapons.
"So they all use knives?" He began.
"Some kind of edged weapon or blunt object."
"What are some of the odder weapons used?"
She thought for a second. "There was a gang called the Gentlemen Baggers a half a dozen years or so ago. They used sword canes with a heavy brass head. They'd dress up nicely and go to an upscale store. When they were alone with a customer, they'd hit him over the head with the cane, grab his wallet and valuables and hand it to a well dressed lady with a large handbag. Then they'd yell that a man had fallen over foaming at the mouth, another would scream "Plague!", and everyone in the store would run. If they got into trouble, they'd use their swords."
"No criminals use guns?" Castle asked.
"No….Well…" Kate stopped and blushed.
"Okay, Detective Beckett. Now you have to tell me." He said, smiling.
"Okay. About four years ago some blademan for a gang found several boxes of ammo that had fallen off of a transport. He was a machinist by trade and decided to build an exact copy of a police M&S 9mm automatic. He even put a phony serial number on it. And, he built various things for his house that looked like parts of a gun. For instance, he built a hanging lamp with fourteen hollow steel tubes to carry wiring to the lights. One was the barrel of the gun, the rest weren't, but they looked identical. The wooden handgrips were made to look like dividers in a jewelry drawer and so on. When he killed his first victim, the police were shocked. Every weapon made in the Protectorate is test fired and the bullets are kept and put into a database. For the first time ever, the Field Police had no idea where the gun came from. As the killer kept at it, the Field Police started going crazy. They "knew" the gun must have been made by M&S. The tore the plant apart looking for evidence that someone had made an extra gun. They interrogated every person that had ever worked at M&S."
"How did he get caught?" Castle asked, fascinated.
"Dumb luck. He dropped one of his gang's enemies and two CrimPo uniforms walked around the corner. He shot, they shot and he ended up dead."
"What did the Field Police do?"
"They saw the serial number and went after the man who had been issued that pistol, intending to hang him. But, it was some senior Security Police officer and he had the gun. Very embarrassing."
Castle looked at her. "Something tells me there's more to the story."
"The Field Police were desperate to find out where he'd hidden the gun. They were afraid he had made more weapons and were so desperate that they had Criminal Police involved."
"Including a certain Detective Kate Beckett, I assume?"
She nodded. "I saw scratches on the weapon that looked like it had been assembled and disassembled a lot. I suggested to the Field Police lieutenant that instead of looking for some fiendishly clever hiding place that he had probably taken it apart and hidden the parts in plain sight."
"And what happened."
"He laughed and told me not to worry my pretty little head about it." Kate didn't mention that he'd squeezed her ass and told her to make him a cup of coffee.
"And?" Castle smirked.
"They spent months tearing apart his apartment and everyplace connected with his gang, looking for some fiendishly clever hiding place. It took the Field Police seven more months to find out that he'd hidden the gun in plain sight in his place, just as I said."
"Did you get credit for it?"
She laughed. "The Field Police give credit to me? A lowly Criminal Police investigator? And a woman? That'll never happen."
"So, the moral of the story is to keep your guns safe."
"Castle, no one but the police and the military are allowed to have firearms. It's the death penalty if you're caught with one."
"I have authorization for firearms. I have three, in fact."
Kate had never heard of such a thing. "Mr. Castle, that's not possible. No one, repeat, no one, is allowed to have firearms other than the police and military."
He stood. "Come into my office."
She followed him and watched as he opened a wall safe.
"Here we are, Detective. I have a M&S 9mm like you do, a Spoletto 6mm, like Derrick Storm carries, and because it was the most bad assed gun around, I have a Spencer .50 caliber. And here are my authorizations for them. "
Kate looked the cards over. They were just like her firearms authorization cards, except Castle was described as working for the Ministry of Culture and the card was signed by a Major General in the Security Service.
She was confused. She had never heard of such a thing. "Castle, are you sure these are legitimate? They haven't been cancelled or something?"
"I shoot every couple of weeks at the range at the Ministry of State Security Headquarters. So far no one has tried to have me executed."
"But why?"
"Derrick Storm. He knows firearms inside and out. To write about him, I have to understand firearms. Not just these pistols. I've fired just about every weapon the Ministry of State Security has. I'm pretty good, actually."
"Oh, really?" She said, challengingly.
"Care to try me out, Detective? The 12th Precinct range tomorrow?"
"Deal."
Later Kate worried that if she badly outshot an Elite, he might not be too happy about it and she had no idea what that might involve. She decided to do her best and worry about the consequences later.
She arrived at work extra early and found that Roy Montgomery was also in early. She told him that Castle owned three pistols and that she was afraid that his permits might not be legitimate or expired, or something.
Roy made a quick call to a contact at the Ministry of State Security. His contact grumpily told him, "Dammit, Roy, everyone in MSS knows Castle has those guns. As long as he keeps writing about Derrick Storm, we'll give him a damned tank if he wants one. Now don't bother me with crap like this again." He slammed down the phone.
Roy looked relieved. "I guess you're okay, Detective."
Kate noticed that this was apparently her problem for bringing it to Montgomery's attention. She said nothing.
A half an hour later, Castle came in, carrying a large, locked case.
"I see you brought your pistol."
"Why, Detective Beckett, I brought all three."
Kate rolled her eyes. "The firing range is in the basement. Follow me."
In addition to his weapons, Castle had shooting glasses, gloves and ear protection. Kate put cotton balls in her ears.
"The targets are thirty yards away. Scores are kept by a computer and the best score you can get is 100. Ready?"
Castle nodded and they began shooting. When done, they put down their weapons and waited for the score. Castle's was first.
"And Richard Castle gets….Yes! I scored 97 out of a 100. And Detective Kate Beckett gets…." Castle stopped as Kate's score flashed on the screen.
"It looks like I get 100 out of 100." Kate tried not to gloat.
"You are very good, Detective. Very good indeed."
"You have no idea." She said coyly.
"Um, would you like to try my 6mm Spoletto. I know that Derrick Storm is supposed to be able to shoot the eyelashes off of a gnat at a hundred yards, but the best I've ever done is 78 out of 100."
Kate looked at the pistol. "It's a small gun and your hands are big, maybe that's the problem. I'll try."
Kate set up a target and fired the smaller pistol. Then she got her score. "96 out of 100. But, I'm not really used to the weapon."
"Way to make me feel better, Beckett."
She blushed and began to apologize, then she saw his grin. "Do you want me to try your other pistol?"
"My portable cannon? Every time I've shot the thing, it's knocked me on my butt."
Kate shrugged. "I've never shot one. Can I?"
Castle shrugged and handed her the big weapon. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Like Castle, Kate had also fired every weapon that the Ministry of State Security had, and a few that only the military had. She had a good idea how to fire the massive .50 caliber handgun. She leaned forward and squeezed of a shot. She was pushed back, but she didn't lose her balance. Knowing the recoil, she began to take shot after shot.
"And Detective Kate Beckett gets…." Castle did something resembling a drum roll "….91 out of 100. You know what this means, Detective."
Kate was afraid she had gone too far in outshooting the Elite. "What?" She asked, trying to stay calm.
"I'm taking you to lunch at La Finca."
Kate was stunned. "Castle, I can't go to La Finca."