After the Woods

Chapter 5

Richard Castle's foot was heavy on the accelerator of his Mercedes as he rushed to reach his Hamptons beach house. He had been waiting and searching his entire life, through Kyra, through Meredith, and through Gina. For six sometimes torturous years he had waited for Kate, but now the wait was almost over. She was already the perfect partner who now she would be his wife. Despite even the latest challenge, the fairy tale would finally have a happy ending. So caught up was he in the excitement of the moment that he almost missed the black SUV coming up too fast in his rear view mirror. He increased his already excessive speed, but the bigger vehicle pulled alongside him. He thought, he hoped, that it just wanted to pass, but it moved right, taking out his tail light and sending his car plummeting off the road. Stunned as the air bag exploded in his face, Castle was barely aware of two men dragging him out of the car and back up the hill to their attack car. He felt the sting of an injection, and then nothing.

Castle awoke in a motel room with two men with guns pointed at him. One of them handed him the satchel he'd had in the backseat of his car, containing the clothes he wore before putting on his tux for the wedding. "Get out of the monkey suit," the man commanded, "we have a little job for you to do." The man held up thick wads of bills Castle recognized as his honeymoon money. "You're going to make something disappear."

"What the hell is this about?" Castle asked. "Who are you people?"

"You might say we're friends of a very old friend," the man with the cash sneered. "But don't even think of trying to get away. We know where all your loved ones are gathered waiting for your wedding. You make the wrong move and the guns will be aimed at them. Now get out of that tux!"

When Castle did as instructed, his tuxedo was folded into his satchel and shoved, along with Castle, into another black SUV. Castle was driven to an alley where he was instructed to place his money in a dumpster and return to the car. After he grudgingly complied, one of his captors roughly pushed up Castle's sleeve and the world faded into darkness.

Castle struggled to breathe against the heat and humidity oppressing his lungs. Slowly he forced his eyes to open. The light was dim, but he could feel the press of bodies against him and the unyielding floor against his back as the stench of sweat assaulted his senses. Muscles protesting, he levered himself upward. He was surrounded by women. In another time, another place, he would have been ecstatic. But this situation was anything but arousing. So close together that barely an inch of floor was visible, the women moaned painfully in fitful sleep.

A metal door grated open, flooding the sleepers with bright sunlight, shocking them awake. A man stepped into the sudden illumination. "Ah Rick, or should I say Mr. Castle, you're awake."

Using his hand to try to shield his eyes from the glare, Castle searched for the source of the voice. The horrifying face gradually became clear. "Joshua!"

The sneering tones were like acid in Castle's face. "I see you remember me. Then you remember my promise. What better way for me to keep it than to bring you here, away from your family, your friends, and of course, your bride. Everything you had," Joshua bragged, holding Castle's satchel, "is mine. Here you will be forever surrounded by women, but you will never again see the one you desire most."

Joshua signaled to men outside the door. The nightmare Castle thought long banished had returned. Joshua still had his black shirts and this time they all carried Glock nines. He was herded along with the women, across a yard into a huge building. It was in every sense of the word, a sweat shop. The temperature and humidity were almost as high as in the room where Castle had regained consciousness, with work stations so close together that it was difficult to move between them. Castle couldn't determine what they were producing, only that they were set up for some sort of assembly that involved fitting small parts into plastic frameworks. The women quickly began work as soon as they reached their assigned places. Castle was shoved into a station at the end of a row, about the only position where his body, so much larger than that of his co-workers, would fit.

A woman who appeared to be some kind of supervisor was pushed by smirking black shirts toward Castle and attempted to explain his duties. The language she spoke sounded vaguely like Spanish, but Castle couldn't understand a word. His blank look was accompanied by the shrugging of his shoulders. She tried again, picking up a small part and shoving it quickly into its slot in a larger part and placing it in a bin on an unmoving conveyor belt. Pointing to Castle, she picked up another set of parts and handed them to him. His larger fingers fumbled, but eventually imitated what she had done. Staring into his eyes, she made a circular motion, similar to the one Castle had seen directors make to indicate that an interviewer should speed things up. Then she inclined her head toward the nearest black shirt and walked away. Castle just stood where he was until the black shirt approached and stuck the his Glock under Castle's chin. "Maybe you didn't understand what the lady showed you. You put the parts together or no one will be able to put you together. He brought the butt of the gun across Castle's cheek.

Stunned and bleeding, Castle struggled to comply, all the while scanning the room for any means of of escape. The day seemed endless, with only a short break for scarce food and the use of a room with primitive toilets. With no barrier, Castle turned his back trying to achieve some level of privacy for himself and the women, who helped by huddling to shield each other.

Castle noticed that at intervals the conveyors moved and workers replaced bins, each identified by number, with fresh ones. Several women, including Castle's instructor, examined the parts for errors, pulling any that were improperly assembled out of the bins. The bins were then placed on scales by blackshirts and the totals noted.

Castle couldn't determine when the workday ended, only that hours seemed interminable. The black shirts consulted their logs and most workers were allowed to return to the sleeping quarters. For some, their totals were found wanting and they were made to stay behind to make up for the shortage. Castle was kept back with them. The last to finish, he was allowed few hours of sleep before he was returned to his station.

At what Castle took to be mid-morning the door of the factory opened. Accompanied by several of his black shirts, Joshua strode in. Castle saw the women around him flinch. Joshua spoke in the language of Castle's fellow workers, but the threat was clear in his face. He pointed to the woman who had been the last to finish before Castle the night before. Her hair was grabbed by a black shirt and she was dragged out screaming.

Smiling, Joshua looked straight at Castle. "You're wondering why it wasn't you, the slowest of the group?" Joshua asked in English. "I have other punishments in mind for you, starting with, for every shortage you have, for every mistake you make, they," he said sweeping his hand toward the cowering women, "will suffer."

"It's not fair!" Castle protested. "Come at me, but leave them alone."

Joshua's eyes shone like pools of endless darkness. "You will find that here I decide what's fair, and everyone one of this pitiful throng serves only to fulfill my will. So work as if their lives depend on it. They do."