Lovely Rita, Meter Maid
Summary: What if Rita isn't who she says she is? I told myself I wasn't going to write a season 8 story but this idea just popped in my head.
Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews, favs, and follows. Don't own Castle; just writing to mess with the characters. And maybe I should add some angst now…hmm….And yes, several other people have used some of the ideas I'm using in my story in their fanfics. Great minds think alike.
Chapter 2 Hitting the Wall
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Definition – To becomesuddenlyandextremelyfatigued,especiallywhenparticipating in an endurancesport,such as running, orto loseeffectivenesssuddenly or come to an end.
"It felt like an elephant had jumped out of a tree onto my shoulders and was making me carry it the rest of the way in."—Dick Beardsley, speaking of hitting "The Wall" at the second marathon of his career, the 1977 City of Lakes Marathon.
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Rita's call was a simple "Tonight's a go." that put a plan of destruction into motion.
By midnight, LOCKSAT would have 3 less problems.
Richard Castle would be dead, killed when the plane he was in exploded over the Atlantic and his books would be worth a lot more than they were now.
Kate Becket would be a wealthy widow but she would never reap the benefits of her estranged husband's money. The planted evidence would show that she and her lover Vikram Singh had conspired to murder her estranged husband by planting a bomb in his suitcase, with no regard to the fact that they also murdered 250 innocent people in the process.
Rita took the battery and SIM card out of the burner phone and crushed the SIM card into the ground with her heel, and then carefully disposed of all pieces.
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Castle stood at the 12th precinct reception desk, feeling like he was waiting to see the principal for some misbegotten deed he had done. Most of the time, he knew why he was in trouble, but this time, he had no clue as to why.
And since he was no longer a consultant, he had to wait for them to verify his identity, even though they knew him on sight, and to make sure he was approved to be there.
He then had to wait for someone to come take him up to the homicide floor.
"Here you go, Mr. Castle," said Evie, the receptionist, as she handed him a visitor badge. "LT will be down in a minute to escort you up."
A couple of years ago, he would have made some pithy and inappropriate remark about an escort in a police department, but now he just said, "Thank you, Evie."
A few moments later, the elevators dinged and LT walked out, looking around for Castle.
"Morning, LT," said Castle, shaking the man's hand. "Thanks for coming down. I really appreciate it."
"Good to see you," LT replied and then paused trying to decide on a safe topic. "So how's the PI business?"
"Really good. Alexis is closing a lot of cases. But then again, we only take cases that can be solved quickly," Castle joked as they rode up the elevator.
"That's good," LT responded.
"Yeah," Castle replied as he watched the floors tick off.
The doors opened and they walked into the bullpen, where Espo and Ryan sat at their desks, working files. Beckett sat in her office, going through a stack of paper on her desk.
"Hey, Castle," Ryan said, standing when he saw Castle and shaking hands. "We haven't seen you in a couple of weeks."
"Yeah," echoed Espo, fisting bumping with the writer. "What bring you by? Got a case you need help with?"
"No, that's actually going pretty good," Castle said. "I was just in the neighborhood and needed to talk to Ka – Captain Beckett for a minute."
He wasn't about to tell them that he had no clue how to get ahold of his wife, where she was staying, why she wasn't returning his calls.
"Sure," said Ryan, with a slight frown.
Castle walked towards the Captain's office and then paused, looking back at the detectives who were watching him. "I'm going to be out of the country for a couple of weeks. I know she's all grown now, but can you keep an eye on Alexis for me?"
Ryan and Espo nodded as one. "Sure, bro." "Yeah, we'll be glad to."
"Thanks," said Castle as he turned around and walked back to Beckett's office door.
He paused for a moment. Time to rip off the band aid, he thought as he knocked on the door.
"Come i-" Beckett started to say and then looked up, the words dying in her throat when she saw who was standing there.
"I called a couple of times, but you didn't answer, so I thought I'd catch you here," Castle said.
"Yeah," said Beckett, nodding slightly as she pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. "It's just that I'm really busy now – with work."
"Right," Castle nodded in return. "Anyway, I'll be out of the country for the next couple of weeks so you can stop by the loft to get whatever you need. You didn't take much with you."
"You're leaving?" Beckett asked, slightly surprised.
"Paula and Gina scheduled a book tour to England to promote the last Nikki Heat book—"
"I thought you had several more planned," Beckett broke in.
Castle shrugged. "I thought I'd end it before it overstayed its welcome. And Paula has managed to get me that offer again for writing a certain British secret agent. I'll be finalizing the paperwork while I'm there."
"Look, Rick, I know it doesn't make any sense now, but you have to trust me—"
Castle interrupted her by holding up his hand. "No, Beckett," Castle said, taking a breath. "I've come to accept that's who you are – who you always will be. There will always be this wall that I can't scratch and claw my way over."
"Castle, babe—" Beckett pleaded.
Castle's phone chirped. "That's the car service. They're waiting for me downstairs." He paused. "We'll talk when I get back."
He walked over to where she sat and brushed his lips against the top of her head. "I love you, Kate, but I don't know if that's enough anymore."
With that, he walked out of her office without looking back.
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DEA Agent Taylor Bickham pulled out his phone and dialed a number, looking at the warrant that the judge had just given him.
"DJ, it's me. I just got the warrant. Send a unit to pick up Mr. Castle. I'm catching the red eye and will be there in the morning."
"I'll get right on it." There was a pause. "His name just popped on TSA watch list. He's on the 8 pm flight to London."
"Damn," swore Bickham. "He's probably already boarded by now." He thought for a moment. "Get TSA to stop the flight and have the air marshals pick him up. And keep him under lock and key. We don't want this one getting away from us."
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Beckett stared at the paperwork that she kept shuffling on her desk, her mind not really on the task at hand, wanting to be somewhere else – maybe on the plane with Castle or chasing the big bad so she could go back to Castle, anywhere but here stuck behind a desk.
"It's not as much fun as it looks, is it?" said Deputy Commissioner Gates.
Beckett shot to her feet. "Sir, I didn't hear you knock."
"That's because I didn't," said Gates. "Please sit down, Beckett. This isn't a social call."
Beckett sat, her back stiff as Gates sat in the visitor's chair across from her and watched her for several minutes without speaking, the same tactic Beckett used to soften up suspects.
By the time Gates spoke, Beckett felt her pulse racing, waiting for the shoe to drop.
"Captain Beckett, your 90 day review is in a few weeks and frankly, 1PP isn't pleased with your performance up to this point."
"I can explain, sir," Beckett said.
"Oh, I'm sure you can," said Gates. "So, let's start with that stunt you pulled on your first day as Captain."
"It wasn't a stunt, sir," Beckett said carefully. "An AG analyst called me with a code 7; I had to help him."
"And I'm sure you felt like you did," Gates responded. "But once again, you went off on your own with no back up. You're an NYPD captain now, Kate. You have resources that you could have used, but you didn't. However, the Attorney General himself called and interceded on your behalf, so there will be no disciplinary action taken for that.
"The problem is that the NYPD can't have people who bat for different teams, so that will be a consideration. In addition, your numbers are down and you're not turning paperwork in on time."
Beckett nodded. "I've been busy."
"With what, Kate, or should I say with whom? Certainly not your husband if you believe the stories on page 6," Gates said. "And you've been leaving the precinct every night around 7 pm."
"Sir?" Beckett asked. She never read the gossip page anyway even when she did have time.
"Here," said Gates, laying page 6 down on her desk.
Beckett frowned as she picked it up and saw the picture of herself and Singh at a street vendor, getting an order to go. The headline read 'Is there a new boy toy in Nikki Heat's life now?'
Beckett shook her head as she looked at Gates. "This isn't what it looks like."
"Then what is it, Kate? He was the AG analyst, wasn't he? And it's no secret that he works here now – that he was hired on your request. And it's no secret that you left Castle almost 2 months ago. These blurbs have been popping up for the last couple of weeks and 1PP doesn't like this kind of press. It gives the department a bad reputation."
"I'm sorry, sir," Beckett responded quietly.
"Kate, whatever this is – if it's a mid-life crisis or you didn't marry the right person – you need to decide what's important and you need to do it sooner rather than later. I recommended you for the job and I don't do that lightly. Don't make me apologize that I did."
"Yes, sir," said Beckett.
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Feeling like all eyes were on her, Beckett left the precinct using the loading dock door and took the subway, rather than her company issued vehicle.
She switched routes several times just to be sure she wasn't being followed and then made her way to the warehouse where Singh had set up shop.
Beckett quietly let herself in, listening to make sure that everything sounded normal, or as near normal as it could sound when you were tracking a hostile secret agency.
She stopped when she saw Singh sitting in the chair, not facing a computer, his face pale and sweaty, his hands zip-tied behind his back.
Beckett carefully slid her gun out of her holster and brought it up shoulder height as she carefully scanned the area.
"That won't be necessary," said a voice that she recognized. "So glad you could join us, Kate, or should I call you Captain Beckett now?"
"Cross," she said as she holstered her gun and walked into the room. "What are you doing here?"
"I was in town and thought I'd say 'congratulations' to the newlyweds," Cross replied. "Imagine my surprise when I find out that they aren't and that you've taken up with him instead of Richard," he said, motioning to Singh.
Beckett walked over to Singh and released his hands. "Are you okay?"
Singh nodded. "Yeah – who's he?"
"My father-in-law," Beckett said simply. She turned to face Cross. "Look, it's not that simple."
"It rarely is," Cross responded. "So enlighten me."
"When I was with the AG's office, I ran a search on Bracken and illegal activities. Nothing happened – or at least, nothing happened then. About two months ago, the search returned a memo and everyone who has seen the memo has died."
"Except you and lover boy here?" Cross asked.
Beckett nodded. "Yeah. My AG team was taken out but Singh got away and called me. I helped him and we took out the mercenaries that were trying to kill us."
"So?"
"Have you ever heard of LOCKSAT?" Beckett asked.
Cross frowned and nodded. "Yeah, we've been hunting them for years, but any time we get close, they've already disappeared."
Beckett nodded. "That's what your wife said."
"My wife?" Cross asked.
"Rita – she saved us from some of the mercenaries. She said that she had been looking for them for years," Beckett responded.
"Kate, I don't know who you met, but I'm not married. I don't have a wife," Cross responded to Beckett's utter horror.
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