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Castle sprung around. Door? Move. Now. He left the room and locked the door behind him. He realized that he was exiting one of four separate garages to an open parking lot. Ahead stood the warehouse. He hesitated. Would she be in there or held in a garage as well? A slight rush of panic overflowed his body. Focus Castle!, he heard her voice say in his head. It was imprinted in his mind, as her touch was imprinted on his skin. He looked at the tire marks left in the dirt. Two cars, the ones that had ambushed them and fired into Castle's town car. Those cars were the last thing he remembered seeing before he was hit. He applied pressure on his wound. He refused to look at it, to recognize it as real. He convinced himself he was glad it had stopped bleeding. He was fine. One trail stopped right there. Drops of blood followed into the garage. The other set of tire tracks pulled over closer to the main building. He decided she was in there. The man on the phone had said he needed help finding her. It made sense, he nodded. As he made his way across the yard running, his eyes frenetically tried to see if there was also a trail of Kate's blood. He had only heard her scream to get down. His heart begged his eyes not to find blood. He didn't. He shook his head and tried to shake the thought of Kate bleeding, of Kate hurt. Again. This time it is different, he thought as he approached an entrance to the building, this time he had the gun in his hand and it felt good.
He looked at the heavy door and feared the noise it would make if opened. in spite his best efforts it made a wrenching sound. This guy's expecting his men. Just go for it,. He pulled with his right arm, feeling the tug at his wound. Great. Just go on. Castle entered a small front office space, he was just following the hall into the main cargo area when he heard The Sound. Compounded memories surfaced of that same sound yanking him from his sleep, in an uproar of screams and sweat. Not a week went by without it making an appearance in his nightmares. Flashes of the glare behind the tombstone. Kate's blood. His eyes adjusted to the sudden flow of the overhead lights. No bullet, lights.
He heard the man's voice cut the surprisingly short distance between them "Glad you guys decided to join the party. "
He heard me come in, but thinks it's his own men, Castle thought. He hid behind the steel staircase to the over head walkway. Castle had to see before being seen.
"Light is a funny thing you know." The man continued his speech, intending to be heard by Kate. "You go a long time without it and bugs and rodents just assume that they are free to roam. You turn it on, and you can hear the arrogant fools SCATTER for cover." His footsteps stopped. He was listening. He continued his rattle after kicking a pile of boxes down. His voice bared a slight disappointment "You see, they can only hide in the places they can find darkness. So, light is funny that way. It does half of my work for me."
Castle focused on the sound of footsteps. How close is this guy and how do I turn those damn lights off.