Author's Note: Alright, this is the chapter before the last. Sorry if it's a bit rushed, but I'm trying to tie everything up and I have idea how to write through a whole network of corruption that surrounded the man who murdered her mother, so this is my feeble attempt. Sorry if it's weak in some places, once again I was trying to wrap everything up.

As said before, the next chapter will be the last and serve as a sort of epilogue to completely tie everything up.

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle in any way, shape, or form. That goes to the writers and Marlow. If I owned Castle, the latest season finale would have ended a lot happier.

The days passed by in a slow stream of endless hours. She didn't know if it had been days or weeks since she had woke up on her fourth day with Gates and her crew and she was no closer to knowing who had set this up than she had been when this began. Every time she would ask Josh or one of the other associates if they could tell her anything, bribing them with a free ride for helping a police officer, but they just laughed in her face.

Rick hadn't woken up since the first time they had woken up and it wasn't for injury. Well, maybe it was. Every time he would wake up even the slightest bit, Josh would be right back with them and hit him upside his head with the butt of the gun or inject him with something, and he would be right back to sleep. It scared her a little; she didn't want to be alone with these people though she tried to retain her tough-ass Detective Beckett image. She wanted Rick awake and reassuring her that everything would be fine.

About the fourth time she woke up, they would knock her out too when Gates got wind of her asking to many questions, she wasn't alone. She couldn't see the person, they were hidden in the shadows, but she felt their eyes on her. And it wasn't a pleasant feeling. It felt like ice was crawling steadily through her veins, chilling her from the inside out, "Who's there?" she called, looking around to see if any of the others were around.

The person stepped into the light and Beckett couldn't help the gasp that came out of her mouth. "Good evening , Detective Beckett. I figured it was about time we met after you've been looking for me for so long," the man explained, pulling up a chair and sitting down, a grin on his face that was anything but the kind smile she as well as the other residents of New York had seen.

Sitting in front of her was New York state senator William Bracken.

LINE BREAK

The shock at seeing Captain Roy Montgomery back from the dead was quickly pushed aside with the search for Kate and Rick. There were officers from this precinct as well as two others going through the streets of New York, every abandoned apartment complex, every back alley street that led to some shady back alley businesses, the harbor, storage units, everything. But they kept coming up empty. The detective and the civilian writer were no where to be found.

"Boys!" Montgomery called from Gates' office, though he had taken over it temporarily.

Ryan and Esposito both went into the office and shut the door behind them, "What's up, Cap?" Ran asked.

"Do you have an update for me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and lowering his voice, even though there was no one around.

The boys nodded and Ryan went to his desk to get a file before taking it to the captain. Captain Montgomery opened the file and went through the contents. His frown deepened with each image he passed and all the information the boys had found on them. "All of them?" Montgomery asked, his eyes looking defeated and his frown so deep the boys worried his face would freeze like that. The boys nodded and he looked back at the file, spreading them across his desk. All the images showed different cops in the precinct that the boys guessed to be anything but in it for the justice. It was a list of dirty cops.

"These were the ones that looked around the harbor and surrounding areas?" Montgomery asked, the boys nodding an affirmative. "Then I want you two to go back there, bring a group of the ones you can trust, and look around again. I have a feeling we'll find them there," he said, standing up and grabbing his gun from the second drawer of the desk.

"You going with us?" Esposito asked, barely able to stifle his smile.

Montgomery smiled, "Of course," he said, shrugging as they exited the office, gathered the group of cops and left. It was now two weeks and three days since Beckett and Castle had gone missing. They knew it was too long of a time to hope, but Montgomery had a feeling they weren't dead yet. There was one piece of the puzzle that they were missing and Montgomery worried they'd only find out when it was too late.

LINE BREAK

"You…you're behind all of this?" Kate whispered, feeling her gut wrench as she felt in the depths of her gut that this was the man behind it all. This, she was totally sure, was the man who was behind her mother's death.

Senator Bracken smiled, "What? Are you disappointed Detective?" he asked, looking put off.

Kate just glared at him and bit her lip to keep from biting back at him. Right now, she was sure that if she said something, it would cause the deliverance of her and Rick's death.

Senator Bracken frowned at her lack of response, "I have to say, for a woman who's been looking for me for the entirety of your career so far you sure are not saying much. What? No biting words about how you're going to kill me to avenge your mother? No threat of the system? Come on, a little feedback here, Detective. You're making things very boring for me."

Kate turned away from him and looked at Rick who was still sleeping. She tried to push down her rising anger at the senator and focus on keeping herself and Rick alive. That was all she wanted right now, knowing she could focus on going after the senator later. "I have nothing to say to you," she whispered.

And that, it seemed, was the wrong thing to say to him. He stood up and pushed the chair to the side, pulling out a gun that he had hidden. She heard the gun click into place and point between herself and the mystery writer. "Now, the way I see it, you've figured out too much, you've dug too deeply into this. And, to stop you from going any further, I had to send someone to kill you. But, like the stubborn bitch you are, you had to wake up. So, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to shoot both you and your writer boy and cover it up like I did your mothers."

Kate felt her anger rise at his words, "What if I promise to not go anywhere near the case again?" she offered, her eyes going slightly wide.

The senator laughed and smirked, pointing the gun straight at her head, "You and I both know you're not going to do that, Detective," he smiled.

At that point, all the others, Gates, Josh, the two who had kidnapped them, a group of cops from the 12th and other precincts, lawyers, and various others all gathered. She knew what this was. It was only a portion of his vast network watching the execution of the one who stood to ruin everything they had grown to be comfortable with. Kate looked at Gates, seeing the cold hardness in her eyes, "You always were a bitch," she growled and then turned to Josh, "And you were just second best." She knew it was petty, a weak way to get them angry and maybe buy them a little time if they acted, but they didn't act. She saw the anger flash in their eyes, but they did nothing about it. "Goodbye, Detective Beckett," Gates said, a twisted smile curling her lips.

Kate closed her eyes, wishing that she could reach for Rick, and waited. And then….a shot was taken.