For starters, I do not own Castle or any of the characters from Castle. I'm just writing for fun, clean and simple.
First off, Thanks so much to everyone who's favorite-d/reviewed/read on purpose/accidentally clicked on this and read anyway/whatever. It's really cool to know people are reading and liking this okay So, thanks! In general I'm not a huge fan of this chapter. Well, this is getting posted a lot later than I originally planned. I don't even have a reason for it. I just suck. So. Here it is. Maybe two more chapters on this story then maybe some oneshots? I dunno but I hope you don't hate this chapter. I have a super hard time writing dialogue for bad people but… hope it works.
Anyway. PLEASE, leave me a review of your thoughts if you don't mind Hope you enjoy.
Thank :)
M
Part 16
The boys screamed up in their car just as I was exiting the ER doors, gumball flashing, siren blaring. I wasted no time in jumping into the back seat. Ryan was already waiting there, holding out a Kevlar vest to me.
I grabbed it and tossed it over my head. It thudded heavily against my chest which should have hurt like hell but I was so pumped full of adrenaline that it didn't matter. Esposito peeled out of the parking lot, updating me as we sped through traffic.
"He hasn't left the building yet. We've got two backup units coming in with us but they're a good two minutes behind. He was clutching his left side when he went in from where our man shot him." Ryan reached around me and secured the Velcro of my vest.
"That okay?" he asked, worriedly checking my reaction.
"It's fine," I brushed him off, "I can't feel anything right now, anyway."
Espo swore as a cab swerved in front of us and he jerked the wheel just in time to avoid hitting the oblivious cabbie.
"Gun?" I held out my hand. There was a flicker of a look between Ryan and Esposito but Ryan reached into the front seat and grabbed my holstered gun.
"I had to sneak this past Gates and she'll have my ass if you hit anything but our suspect. So…" I snatched the gun out of his hand and clipped it to my belt.
"Really? You wanna doubt me after like three weeks? Thanks for the confidence Ryan." I rolled my eyes but my quip earned a quirked half smile from my partners.
The boys' car whipped around corner after corner and we kept talking. Preparing for what lay ahead.
At last, we turned the final corner, as Esposito slowed to a crawl, killing the engine when we turned into a narrow alley.
"Okay," Esposito turned in his seat, "Ryan, you and I are gonna go in first. Beckett, you take inverted point. You stay behind us, you got that?"
"Yeah, fine, whatever, let's just go. We need to end this." I reached for the door handle and the boys followed suit.
"You're sure you're up for this?" Ryan whispered, as he, Esposito, and I trotted towards the door, guns drawn.
"Ryan, as nice as that is…" I started, and then paused to readjust my vest while I took the opposite side of the door from him.
"Yeah?" he asked impatiently.
"Shut up."
He rolled his eyes and Esposito piped up, "Well if you two are done being cute, I'd like to catch this bastard." He was more tense than usual. That should have been me. I should have been the tense one and I just felt strangely… floaty. Like I was weightless. No matter what we were going to finish this. No other options.
I rolled my eyes at him but clamped my mouth shut. He was right. It was time. The end was nigh (Oh god, I'd been spending too much time with Castle if I was even thinking the word 'nigh').
The boys and I all exchanged one last look. I tried my best to convey my gratitude and the love I felt for our team and maybe the got it, but the next second, Esposito was kicking in the door.
"NYPD!"
"NYPD!"
"NYPD!"
The room was empty. Dull, steel walls glinted in the dusty sunlight from the high windows set at either end of the main room. Three doors led off of it. Light shone from under two of the doors but the third and furthest room was dark. I signaled to the boys and they nodded, creeping up on it.
Blood was pounding in my ears and adrenaline was making me shakier than I had been earlier. If I didn't calm down we were going to have even more problems on our hands. Slowly, I sucked in a breath trying to calm myself. Suddenly, I was imagining Castle standing my by side, a hand in the small of my back or playing with the ends of my hair, "Almost there, Kate. We're almost there, this is almost over. You're doin' great." I saw myself slapping his chest, shushing him, telling him to shut up but I could feel the effects of his imaginary words. My shakes receded to slight, sporadic tremors.
Esposito held up three fingers and Ryan and I flanked the door again. Espo dropped one finger and then a second before hauling back and kicking in the door, following it inside. That was when everything spiraled out of control.
"NY-" Esposito's identification was cut off by a metallic thunk which as followed immediately by a heavy thud. Esposito's body slumped to the floor. Ryan and I hurriedly stepped over him and suddenly there he was. Darling.
Bald with a huge, bushy, unkempt beard covering half of her face. Almost white-gray eyes stared coldly at Ryan and I, a heavy pipe hanging limply from his right hand and Javier's service piece in his left. The right side of his shirt was bunched up and deeply red from the drying blood.
I moved in front of Ryan out of habit, covering him and he dropped down, checking his partner's vitals.
"Drop the gun, Darling," It was the only thing I could think of to say but he barked a laugh, keeping his gun trained on my chest. The sight of it made panic bubble in my chest, constricting my chest, seeming to target my healing wound, setting it ablaze. The black of the gun… NO. focus on the boys, on ending this, on nailing this bastard.
"Detective. Lovely to see you again. You're on your feet much more quickly than I imagined you would be. Shame…" I kept my eyes trained on his left hand. For a fraction of a second it dipped down and then he quickly pulled it back up to its original position. I fought a smirk of triumph. It was a tell. His left hand wasn't dominant. That meant his aim would be off, he wouldn't be as strong. In my head, I ran over what he had to have done to get us all in this position.
Since he was injured, he would have taken a crack at Esposito with the pipe in his left hand (which was probably really lucky. If he'd been using his dominant right hand, Esposito might be dead. He still could be…) and then switched the pipe to his right really quickly and grabbed Esposito's gun. It was actually a pretty good plan, I thought grudgingly.
"How's the side doing, Darling? Feelin' good?" I was proud of my bravado. My voice didn't give away any of how I was feeling. Rage, euphoria, terror, sadness, hatred, but if I didn't look at the gun, I'd be okay, I could control it. If I did, I'd lose myself again and we couldn't afford that.
He grimaced, tightening his grip, "It'll be worth it in a moment, Detective, don't you worry."
Behind me, Ryan muttered, "He's breathing. Heart rate's slow, head's bleeding, but he's alive."
Momentary relief swept through me. Esposito would make it. He wouldn't become another body on the pile of this damn case.
I barely nodded in response to Ryan, keeping my eyes and gun trained on Darling. Sweat soaked my palms and the butt of my gun was slick from it. I wrapped my hand more securely around it, not quite putting my finger on the trigger but it was close enough. Darling noticed and smiled.
"Ah ah. You try to shoot me, and Pablo here gets another hole in his head and then leprechaun will be next." I shifted again, putting myself between them. He simply sneered at my efforts and shifted his aim to their legs (which weren't as vital but I wanted to keep my partners as intact as possible).
"Just slide those pretty little guns over here and I promise I won't hurt either of them."
Ryan swore behind me but I intervened before he could get anything else out, "Come on, Darling. I'm the one you want. No more third parties. You and me."
He laughed bitterly at that before breaking into a coughing fit. When it had subsided, he gave me a wondering look, "What, Detective, run out of bodies to hide behind?"
I ignored the barb. It was well placed and would cripple me later but at that moment I forced myself not to feel it. Show no weakness.
"Wasn't hiding. Waiting," I snarled in response.
"Oh you weren't hiding?" he mocked, "Well then tell me, how's Roy doin'?" I bit back the bile that rose in my throat at the mention of my mentor.
"And that writer monkey? I almost wish I'd shot him in the cemetery. Would have been much more fun with you chasing me then. But holing up in his loft with him? Nah, that's not hiding." He was pressing me, looking for chinks in my armor that I couldn't allow to show. I repressed the dreamt images of Castle, lifeless on the floor of the hanger.
"But come on, Detective," he continued, now with an air of confidence that he hadn't had when he was throwing the other at me, "Using a seventeen year old for a shield? Now that's just cold. What's her name again? Alexis?"
Anger rose in me again, "Don't you say a word about Alexis." I spit the words before I could stop them and then instantly regretted it. He had found his target now. I could see the gleam of triumph in his eyes. He was preparing to use my newfound weakness against me. Time for me to switch to a new tactic. Distraction.
"Why did you kill my mother?"
If he was surprised at the sudden topic change, he didn't show it, "I, my dear detective, did not kill your mother. You already shot him."
"Well he was working off of your orders. So why her?" I was suddenly cold. The motivation behind the crime that had robbed me of both parents, my sanity, my ability to let people in, 12 years of my life was finally about to be revealed.
Darling shrugged, "She learned too much, got too close. I sent her a warning, she didn't listen, I had her silenced. It was her own stupidity for getting killed."
"My mother worked for justice!" I snapped, "She tried to make the city a safer, more equal place."
"She was naïve. There is no justice. Power and money are the only things to get what you want. She stood in the way of what I want. I used my power and money to get it. Bada bing bada boom. That's the way of the world."
Faintly, I heard the sound of the outer most door banging open again. Back up had arrived.
"Well it seems as if we're about to have company, Detective Beckett, and you have yet to make your move. Interesting, very interesting. I assumed you wanted me dead."
My finger twitched to the trigger. The hatred that coursed through me screamed for me to squeeze, to send a bullet through his skull for all the lives he'd decimated. But I couldn't do it. Death was too easy for him.
"Oh. You have no idea how much I want you dead. But more than that, I want you to rot in a jail cell for the rest of your miserable life for everything you've done. I want you haunted by all the lives you destroyed and when you do die, I want you to sit in the fieriest pits of hell." (Again, Castle's wordiness was rubbing off on me, damn him.)
"I'm sorry to disappoint then, Detective." Before I could react any further, Darling swung the pipe, and it flew through the air, past my hand and collided with my chest. It knocked the wind out of me and I stumbled precisely as his gun went off.
Part of my brain went into overdrive, and I choked a little on the fear. It was so loud and a flood of memories suffocated me. Bang! Montgomery on the floor of the hanger. Bang! "Stay with me, Kate. I love you." Bang! Alexis barely conscious in the living room of the loft. Bang! Everything was whirling together and I was losing myself. No. I can't lose it now. Not when he's so close. I'm so close to ending this. Get yourself together Beckett.
I looked up and he was running as well as he could, still holding his side. Quickly, I reclaimed my balance and took aim. A second shot erupted through the warehouse and Darling collapsed, clutching his right leg which was gushing blood from a tiny hole his thigh. Hurriedly, I kicked the gun out of his limp hand and kept my own one pointed at his chest.
"Thomas Darling you are under arrest for murder, assault on a police officer, attempted murder and a whole host other crimes. Say goodbye jackass." At the words, it felt like a weight had lifted off my chest as I spoke to him. It was done. Over. We'd caught him and my mom had justice. I could breathe and I wasn't so scared anymore. It was a sudden shift to euphoria. It felt like flying.
The door behind me banged open and a SWAT team trooped in. a few stopped in the doorway, kneeling next to Ryan to check on Esposito who was stirring feebly, while the rest came over to me.
…
Twenty minutes later, Darling was handcuffed in an ambulance, off to a secure room at a hospital (not NY Pres. I'd made sure of that. I never wanted him anywhere near Castle or Alexis ever again) and I was finally coming down from my adrenaline high. Ryan and I were the only ones left, along with a handful of SWAT members.
"You did it." He sighed, sidling up to me, hands stuffed in his pockets. His vest was still on.
"No way. We did it. I couldn't have done it without you. And Espo. And Castle. God I'm glad he wasn't here."
Ryan raised his eyebrow at my tone and I avoided his gaze by un-strapping my bulletproof vest and tugging it off. My chest was starting to ache from where the pipe had hit me and as I moved my right arm out of the hole, it twinged. The vest slipped from between my fingers, Ryan gasped.
Blood soaked the front of my shirt and seeped from a small hole in the arm of my shirt. Bright red spread down my chest and I stared at it in horror. No. I couldn't be shot. Not again, I had the vest on this time. Shakily, I brought a hand up, brushing the front of my shirt, unsure if it was real. Cold, wet fabric met my fingers first, and when he pressure caused my shirt to brush my chest, pain erupted from the point of contact.
"Oh God Beckett, what?" he started but I didn't hear the rest of it. My vision was blurring, becoming darker. All the strength drained from my muscles and I crumpled into darkness.