"You're late. We've been here ten minutes already."

"Sorry Frost, had to get ready."

Korsak laughed. "Were you naked when he called?"

"Yeah."

"Told ya."

Frost cleared his throat and tried to dismiss the images coming into his head. "Well, we have a body."

"You don't say?" Jane asked. "Any I.D.?"

"Jane."

"What?" Jane glared at her partner.

"It's Mr. Byrne."

"Fuck!" Jane slammed her fist on her desk. The kidnapping of Mrs. Byrne was all so the killer could get to her husband. Jane felt the heavy weight of the blame rest on her shoulders.

"Jane…"

"Who was supposed to be on shift?" Jane growled.

Frost shifted in his seat. "It was me and Beckett. I slipped out for a coffee and Kate hadn't gotten to her shift yet. It didn't look like anything changed, 'cept I left for a moment."

"Where is she now?"

Korsak answered from across the room. "Not picking up her cell. Castle isn't either."

Jane hit her desk again. "Where are those two?"

"Castle? Why are you stopping?"

"Stopping…to…catch…my…breath."

"Come on!" Kate yelled, pulling on her partner's sleeve. "They can smell us!"

"You don't know that. They could be nose less."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, a bunch of nose less guard dogs. Perfectly logical."

"Okay," Castle said. "I'm ready to go."

"Then let's go." The two stumbled along in the dim light and came across a surprise. There was a hole in the path about five feet deep. Inside, there were very alive, writhing snakes.

"Oh shit."

Castle leaned over the edge. "Got that right."

"C'mon," Kate said, turning around.

"Are we just supposed to walk into the path of those dogs?"

"Are we supposed to get killed by snakes?"

Castle looked back at the hole. "We don't even know if they're poisonous. Can't we… Can't we jump over the hole?"

"I will if you go first." Kate winked.

The writer groaned. He shuffled his way to the edge. Why were they even in this situation? What happened?

Castle leaned over the hole. "H-how about we jump together?"

"Fine. Grab my hand." They held hands as they stepped to the edge. Beckett's skin was surprisingly soft. Castle remembered when Kate had grabbed his hand at his mother's play. They counted to three and jumped, and landed safely. A few snakes hissed which made Castle shiver.

"Wasn't that fun."

"Anything on the body?" Jane circled Mr. Byrne, shaking her head.

"Just this. We haven't opened it yet." Frost handed his partner an envelope. On the back written in elegant handwriting was 'Detective Jane Rizzoli.' She ripped it open and read the letter out loud.

"Dear Detectives following me around, or rather, the detectives that I'm following around. I don't appreciate you trying to keep Mr. Byrne away from me, which is why I felt the need to kidnap his wife. Mrs. Byrne is still alive I assure you. I'm actually planning on returning her quite soon. I wouldn't want to leave the children as orphans. You probably don't know this, but I myself am an orphan. Mrs. Byrne will be without her left hand, which you already know. I mailed it to Detective Beckett because, honestly, I wanted to creep her out-."

Frost cleared his throat. "Creeped me out."

Jane chuckled, and then continued. "Speaking of Kate, I have included a picture of her and her dearest Richard. I sure do hope that you noticed their absence. If not, let me assure you I'm quite certain that they will make it through my death maze."

Jane stopped reading.

"Beckett and Castle were kidnapped?" Korsak asked.

Jane re-read the line. "Seems so."

"Keep reading," Frost interjected.

"By death maze, I mean a maze that has many opportunities for the two of them to die. Mrs. Byrne is at the end of the maze. If the two of them fail to find her, I'm afraid she won't last long. Please give everyone my regards."

The room was silent. All five detectives in the room shuffled their feet nervously. Esposito spoke, "So that's it? Where should we being to look for them?"

"I don't know… Fuck." Jane swore under her breath. Everyone turned when they heard the click of heels. The M.E.'s honey-blonde hair bounced in waves. Jane thought she looked amazing, as always. Maura came and sat on Jane's desk, which reminded Jane of the day the New York Detectives had come in. She looked up at Maura, who was assessing the detectives' somber expressions, wondering what was wrong.

She was confused. "What's happened?"

Jane's hand found Maura's soft supple one. "Detective Beckett and Rick Castle have been kidnapped by our killer."

Maura's eyes became vacant. "Oh my gosh. What… Why?"

Ryan answered. "I think he wants to have us occupied with finding them so he can find his next victim."

"Yeah, maybe," Jane answered, still keeping her eyes on Maura. "He said he hopes Castle and Beckett make it out alive. Why?"

Maura looked up thoughtfully. "I don't like theories being thrown out."

Jane ignored her. "Well, if he thinks they'll make it out then we'll have to believe it, too. He knows more than me do."

"So what?" Esposito yelled. "Do we just sit by and let them deal with it themselves?"

Frost piped up from behind his computer screen. "There's activity on Beckett's cell. 10th and O'Ryan."

Jane grabbed her coat. "Let's go!"

Authors Note: I tried several times to type this out, but my computer crashed. Sorry for the late upload. Reviews please! :)