Hope you all have a productive weekend. I'm posting this in hopes someone might just read it and review. it's hot and humid and I'm stopping for a while and taking a nap (okay, in deference to my locale, a siesta).

Edgar, you and JayToyz owe me big-time.

OM

17 Chapter 45

"Internal Affairs, Gates." Victoria Gates was burning the midnight oil instead of being home with her husband. It was easier than sitting in their living room watching television as they quietly grew further and further apart and the silences soon became corrosive.

"Vicki, it's Roy Montgomery from the 12th. I need to talk to someone and it needs to be now, not in the morning, now, right fuckin' now!"

"Where are you, Roy?" She was gathering up her purse microrecorder and notebook.

"At the precinct. I can be there in – "

"No! From your tone, it's not really something you want to talk about in the confines of 1PP, right? Carbona's, on 10th and Lex. Twenty minutes."

Carbona's Tavern

"Thanks for seeing me, Vicki. How's it going?" Roy Montgomery was glad she'd picked someplace as far away from being a cop bar as possible.

"Been a while. So, what's got you so upset?" She flicked on her micro-recorder and set it on the table in the booth in the back of the bar. She expected him to recoil or object or just get up and leave but instead he just looked at it and started talking. And kept talking until Victoria Gates told him to stop.

"Wait, I need another tape, Roy. Are your wife and kids safe? Do you need a safe house for them – and you?" She put in a new tape and held the full one in her hand. Maybe it was her imagination but it felt hot to the touch.

"They're being watched. If IA shows up or they suddenly go see her mother or something, he'll know about it and I'm dead and so are they."

"Who's this 'he' you keep mentioning? Have you met him, this 'Dragon'?"

He toyed with his half-empty bottle of beer and then said, "Yeah, I've met him. So have you. He's – oh, shit!" He'd looked over and seen someone at the bar – someone he knew worked for the Dragon.

"Roy?" Gates turned and looked over her shoulder and saw two white men in suit coats standing at the bar, their backs to them, but she knew Roy had recognized one or both of them. She turned back but Montgomery was just disappearing down the corridor to the men's room. She'd met a few CI's here before and knew the layout. There was an exit just past the men's room.

She gathered her things and dumped them in her purse and stood but suddenly felt a burning pain in her lower back and she sat back down, unable to do more than gasp for breath. Someone took her purse and looked at her ID and cursed and then shoved her back out of sight into the corner of the booth.

She still clutched the full tape in her hand.

North Dakota

It was nearly midnight, local time, when the old Aeritalia G.222 touched down on the runway. Castle reversed the engines and the lumbering variant of the C123 slowed and he turned off to a taxiway and followed the tower's directions to a spot in front of the REXploration LTD hangar.

Beckett had been startled awake when the wheels kissed the runway and she glanced over and saw that Rick was intently speaking to someone in the tower. She leaned over and put her hand on his but he shook it off and turned the bogie wheel between the seats to steer the aircraft onto the taxiway.

He powered down the left engine and used the right to delicately nudge them into a well-lit hangar that was fairly crowded with men and forklifts unloading another RCAF cargo plane. He keyed the intercom and made the announcement he was sure his passengers expected and were anticipating.

"Attention: This is your captain speaking." He paused for effect and then continued. 'Ever the performer', Beckett thought, a smile breaking out over her weary face. "We've reached our destination. The local time is 12:40am and the temperature is 36F so bundle up if you haven't already. Transportation is waiting for us at the rear of the hangar. Thank you for flying RCAF."

Rick closed out his flight plan and signed the clipboard and handed it out the cockpit window to someone on scaffolding. He unbuckled his belts and reached over and helped Kate unbuckle hers. A crew was already tearing off the cowling on the port engine.

Beckett shot him a look and he frowned. "The engine started running rough over Ohio and I nursed it along but I want the bird airworthy in case we have to get out of here in a hurry."

Beckett started to ask him a question unrelated to their current situation but he cut her off with a quick peck to her lips and then got serious.

"Kate, I need you to be patient a little while longer and then you can ask any question that flits through your mind and I'll answer it but please, please, hold off until I'm sure we're safe, okay?"

She nodded but the look on her face told him that patience was not her long suit. Still, she leaned over and kissed him soundly and whispered, "Thanks for the ride, Castle. Next time though, tell me the damned thing can fly itself! I almost peed my pants when you got up and left! Speaking of which…" She raised an eyebrow and he snickered.

"Alexis told you to go before we took off, didn't she? It's at the back of the hangar. I'm sure you can cut in line if it's urgent."

He snickered and then put an arm around her shoulders and helped her down the ladder to the cargo deck. He was stiff and getting too old for this shit, that was for damned sure.

The group gathered around the raised cargo ramp and Castle pushed a button and a horn sounded, startling the group and causing Kate to jump. He stifled a smile knowing that any sign of weakness shown was inadvertent. She was still 'Precinct Kate' but he hoped that she would mellow with time. And not pee her pants in the interim.

"Okay, folks, next stop the Redoubt. There are two vehicles waiting for us and Ryan, if you could drive the second one and follow me, we'll soon be sound asleep in our beds. Oh, and the restrooms are in the rear of the hangar next to the exit. Ladies first, guys."

The ramp lowered and struck the concrete flooring of the hangar with a thud and the group of refugees walked off. All the girls headed for the restrooms with various looks of discomfort on their faces.

When everyone had had their shot at the 'facilities' six men in REXploration coveralls took the three crates off the plane and carried them out to the waiting vehicles. Alexis started to laugh and Kate turned and saw her pointing at the logos on the back of the coveralls. It was a stylized T-Rex wearing a oil field wildcatter's steel hat and looking down holding a magnifying glass.

"Dad, you used my drawing! Hey, how much do you owe me in royalties?" Alexis always got a thrill when she saw her artwork incorporated into some of his companies' logos. So far she figured he owed her at least a 4-year degree at an Ivy League school and she was looking at Brown and Yale. It wasn't as if they couldn't afford a good education; it was the way she figured she'd earned it that made it so much fun.

"Well, kid, if I subtract tuition, room and board, clothing, fencing lessons, gymnastics, piano lessons, ballet and – "

"Chiseler! Cheap-Charlie! You'll be hearing from my attorneys!" Her outrage was faked but everyone else seemed to enjoy the banter between father and daughter. There was nothing fake about the affection shown.

"Bring it on, Red. I've dealt with divorce attorneys, entertainment lawyers, Gina! I'll chew them up and spit them out. Or maybe I'll be merciful and let Kate have a whack at them!"

The banter stopped when the group walked out into the frigid North Dakota early winter wind. They hurried into the two crew vans but Castle stopped Ryan and told him to drive and follow him. "It's about 15 miles and the roads aren't the best so we'll keep it under 50mph once it gets really bad. Just don't lose sight of us or you'll end up in Canada, okay?"

The crew had turned on the heaters and the two vans were warmer than the plane had been and scarves and heavy coats and gloves soon were piled on the floor in front of the passengers.

"Kate, stay awake and talk to me, honey. I'm dead tired and I need to be careful on these roads. The heavy trucks have made them mostly potholes and we don't need a blown tire."

She felt guilty. He'd been up since 6am and hadn't stopped running around since. She'd slept on the plane as had the others and he'd stayed awake and she wondered how he failed to succumb to the hypnotic hum of the engines just as they'd all done.

"No problem. Maybe I should drive and let you sleep."

"Good idea. Wake me up when we get where we're going." It wasn't snarky, exactly, but it was a pointed comment. She had no idea where they were going and if he were sleeping…

"Sorry, Rick. Guess I'm not thinking straight. So, you own REXploration, too?" She wanted to keep him talking and figured if he was explaining things, he'd have to stay alert and awake.

"Yeah, another company I forgot to mention. Started it up with another guy but he passed away so I hired an exploration crew, put in an air terminal and it works hand in glove with RCAF. We're on the northern fringe of the Bakken fields, and we're doing okay, financially."

He slowed down when he turned off onto a poorly paved road. He watched as Ryan turned his van and slowed and breathed a sigh of relief. They were on leased land and their nearest neighbor was six miles away at an unmanned gas well. No one would see the vans and that was important.

Thirty minutes after turning off the main road and slowing down to almost 10mph, Castle pulled into a gravel driveway that ended at a closed chain link fence and gate. He got out and opened the gate and walked back and told Ryan to park in front of the small building and stay in the van.

Rick parked in front of the house-like structure and got out and opened up a mailbox on the side of the covered porch and fiddled with something inside. He motioned for them to get out of the van and follow him inside.

Kate was worried. She'd seen the REXploration sign on the 10' high fence but it was the other weathered sign that had caught her attention. It read 'No unauthorized personnel beyond this point. Violators will be met with deadly force'. The faded wording 'US Air Force' could still be made out.

'Castle, what the hell are you up to now?' She trusted him but she realized that there was a lot about Rick that she hadn't begun to learn about and she was already putting together a list of questions for their Q&A he'd promised.

Once they were inside the small structure, Rick motioned them all to join him inside a circle painted on the concrete floor.

"Hold on." He stepped off to the side and pulled a lever on a junction box and then hurried back inside the circle. The floor gave a jolt and suddenly they were sinking into the floor.

"Next floor will be women's lingerie and accessories, then sporting goods and then housing. Please keep your hands inside and try not to worry. Alexis will take you on a guided tour while Ryan and I go topside again to retrieve anything left in the vans and the crates. Javi, have Lanie look at your arm. Alexis will show you the surgery."

Javier was looking around, taking everything in. He'd also seen the sign that Kate was worried about but he just grinned now that his suspicions were confirmed.

"So, Castle, did they leave the missile behind when you bought the place?"