Disclaimer: I don't own Castle... the characters of this amazing show belong to the genius Andrew Marlowe and ABC. :P

A/N: All righty, first off, I'd like to apologize again about the discrepancies about medical terminology and/or the way the police business is conducted. I'm just going off of what I've seen on Castle and with no prior knowledge. I hope it doesn't take away from the general enjoyment of the story. And when/if I write another Castle story, I will keep everything in mind that you wonderful reviewers have told me. :) So, I thank you for letting me know for future reference... and on to the next chapter description:

I'm glad you all seem to still be enjoying this. :D I'm glad my twists have captured your interest and I hope to keep all of your interests piqued throughout the rest of the story! Chapter 8 is about 6 pages or so in MS Word. I'm not sure when I'll be posting Chapter 9, but there isn't too much of a cliffie at the end of this chapter. ;) Enjoy and please let me know what you think! :D

Previously in Habeas Corpses...

"Nick and Rick," Nick cocked his head to the side, trying to get Castle to reply. After another moment, it was apparent Nick was getting agitated and started waving his gun around in the air, "Look, if you don't start talking soon, I'm gonna have to persuade you to talk."

"What do you want from me?," Castle immediately spoke up.

"There," Nick put the gun down to rest on his leg, still in his hand, "That's better."

"You didn't answer my question," Castle repeated, "What do you want from me?"

"Not much," Nick pursed his lips, "Tell me what you know about Johanna Beckett's murder… and don't skip on any details, I know how you writers are with the details."

Now in Habeas Corpses...

Chapter 8

12th Precinct

"Detective Beckett? Are you okay?," Alexis asked when she saw Beckett come back to her desk, "Is there something wrong? Is it my dad?"

"There's nothing wrong," Beckett assured her, "It's just that Montgomery just told me that they're going to be assigning Special Agent Jordan Shaw from the FBI to work with us."

"Agent Shaw? Isn't that the name of the woman that worked with you guys when that serial killer was after you?," Alexis asked.

"Yeah," Beckett nodded, still staring blankly.

"But she was chasing after Dunn," Alexis was confused and started rambling off quickly, "She's like Homicide. Do they really think that they'll be needing her? You don't think my dad is hurt do you? Or are they just getting her to work on Mr. Sullivan's case? I-"

Kate cut her off, "Calm down, sweetie. Roy told me they're only getting her because she's one of the best agents they have. With the FBI's resources, we'll more than likely be able to find him quicker than by ourselves. Plus, they're probably sending her because she's worked with Castle before too."

"Good," Alexis let out a sigh of relief, "Is she going to be getting here soon?"

"Within a few hours," Kate replied.

"Hours? I thought Detective Ryan said that you guys were calling in the FBI because he's such a high-profile case," Alexis didn't understand, "Why won't she and her team be her for hours?"

"Because they're hours away," Beckett answered, "They just finished up a case on the west coast and are coming back to New York as soon as they can. While we're waiting for them to show, I think we should continue our investigation on Mr. Sullivan."

"I'd like to help," Alexis said, "Whenever I'm stressed out about something, my dad always tells me to focus on something else for awhile and then go back to it – it'll be clearer. He does the same thing when he gets writer's block. It's worked with me for homework, maybe it'll work for this situation too."

"All right," Beckett conceded, "Come on, we'll go down to the morgue and see if Lanie has anything new for us and while we're there, we'll see what info she dug up that she gave to your dad."

Morgue

"Before I say anything, I think you should know that the blood we found at the loft was indeed Castle's," Lanie mentioned as soon as she saw Beckett and Alexis enter the morgue.

"I figured," Kate sighed, "Did you get all the information together?"

"I got as much information as I could pull together after you called to tell me you were coming," Lanie replied with a nod.

"What exactly do you have for us?," Beckett asked as she approached Lanie's desk, Alexis at her side.

"Everything I told Castle," Lanie gestured to the files she spread out on her desk, "But I don't think that we'll find anything new. I've been over those things more than I care to say."

"Can you give us a Cliff Notes version then?," Alexis asked, looking at the large mound of papers and files on the desk.

"Basically, every victim's cause of death had something to do with their liver whether they were shot, stabbed, or any number of things," Lanie started, "And all of their occupations involved helping the people: lawyer, cop, etc."

"But didn't they catch the killers?," Beckett asked.

Lanie let out a small smile at that. Castle asked the same thing when she told him the same information. They were more in tuned with each other than either of them would care to admit, "The cases were closed and were attributed to gang violence."

"That sounds familiar," Beckett didn't mean to sound bitter, but it came out that way. It struck a chord in her, "And I think it's a safe bet that whoever killed Mr. Sullivan killed these people as well."

"Either that or there's some sort of organization out there that has a lot of hired hit men to do the same thing," Alexis theorized.

"Looks like you might have a new hire coming up in the future," Lanie gave Alexis a wink and Beckett gave a proud smile at the young girl, "That's what I said to Castle, but I mentioned that it might be somebody carrying around the old calling card of Dick Coonan."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Beckett muttered.

"Any word yet on who that is in the sketch?," Lanie asked.

"Yeah, we got a name. Sorry, with all the chaos, I forgot to call you," Beckett apologized. Lanie just waved her off and motioned for her to continue, "His name is Nick King."

"Detective Esposito said he couldn't find anything on him in their files, but they're bringing the FBI on the case to speed things along," Alexis provided.

"Who they bringing over?," Lanie asked.

"Agent Shaw," Beckett replied.

"Shaw? The woman you worked with on the Scott Dunn case?," Lanie asked. Beckett had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. Everybody was bringing that up, "Yes, the one in the same. They're bringing her in because she's one of the best they have and with her and our team, we'll be able to bring Castle home safe quicker."

"When is she coming?," Lanie looked to Kate or Alexis for an answer. Alexis was the one to speak up, "She's a couple hours away, but she's coming right now. They just finished up a case over on the west coast."

"She feed you any info on this Nick King, yet?," Lanie asked.

"Not yet," Kate shook her head, "They're probably still compiling all his transgressions. I'm pretty sure his track record consists of felonies a lot deeper than parking tickets."

"You should call her and see what she's dug up so far," Lanie suggested, "That way you'll be that much more ahead by the time she and her team get here."

"I was going to do that as soon as we were done with our trip here," Beckett nodded.

"Good, I'm coming with you back to the precinct. I'm all done with my other bodies right now and this is way more important than anything else I've got going on," Lanie said and ushered Beckett and Alexis out of the morgue, "Come on."

12th Precinct

"I think we may have something on the tapes from Castle's loft," Esposito greeted the three women back in the precinct.

"They were running?," Alexis grew a little more hopeful.

"Thankfully, yes," Ryan said and double-clicked the video window on his computer, "Though since Castle has more than one camera alternating to film, each angle we can only see Castle's face and not his abductor."

"Do you think he knew where the cameras were?," Beckett asked.

"It's unlikely," Ryan said and pointed to the screen, "He wasn't purposely avoiding it. You can tell by his movements. I think it was just luck on his part."

"Have you been able to zoom in at all? Try to get a good picture of his profile?," Lanie joined the conversation.

"This is about as close as we can get for right now," Esposito said, "without the picture getting too grainy. Hopefully the FBI's equipment will be able to help."

"One thing is for sure though," Ryan looked away from the monitor to everyone crowded around his desk, "That's not Nick King. This guy's build is different."

"Doesn't mean he's not working for him," Beckett reminded him, "Has Jordan called in yet? They any closer to New York?"

"Not yet," Esposito shook his head. Not a moment later, Beckett's desk phone rang. She walked briskly over to it and answered eagerly, "Beckett."

"Beckett, it's Jordan Shaw," Shaw was on the line, "We're not too far from your precinct. I just thought I'd call and let you know I've got some info on our boy Nick King. He's quite the Mr. Universe."

"How so?," Beckett asked. Ryan, Esposito, Lanie, and Alexis were in rapt attention, hoping to hear a little of the conversation.

"He's got a list of felonies longer than my arm and the severity of each are too numerous to mention… yet we've never been able to touch him," Shaw replied, "Are you sure this guy is involved in Castle's abduction?"

"Positive," Beckett replied, "We've got an eyewitness account and a very reliable source told me the name of the man."

"This guy has been untouchable so far," Shaw said, "Hopefully his ability to remain that way is coming to an end… especially with us on the case."

"I hear you," Beckett agreed.

"We should be at the twelfth within a few minutes," Shaw said, "Make sure you and your boys have everything we'll need to try and track this SOB down."

Without another word, they both hung up. Everybody was still looking at Beckett expectantly. Lanie broke the silence, "So, what's going on?"

"Jordan and her team will be here in a few minutes," Beckett started giving orders, "Ryan, Esposito, wrap up all the info we've got so far on Sullivan's case and Castle being kidnapped. Lanie, be ready to brief Shaw on everything you know about this guy's MO, and Alexis…"

"Yeah?," Alexis looked just as eager to help as the rest of their friends who jumped to do as they were told.

"I know you want to be involved in this, sweetie, but I think your grandmother may need you more than what you can do here," Beckett looked sorry.

Alexis let out a sigh of resignation, "You know, I had a bad feeling about this case from the start."

"What do you mean?," Beckett tilted her head to the side.

"I don't know," Alexis didn't know how to explain it, "It was just something about this case that didn't sit well with me."

"You've got good intuition, Alexis," Kate praised her, "And I know I speak for everyone when I say that we appreciate your help, but I think you should go back to Martha."

"I understand, but will you promise to let me know the second you get more information? Updating me as often as you can? Even if it's just a quick text?," Alexis asked.

"You can count on it," Beckett nodded. Instead of expressing gratitude verbally, Alexis wrapped Kate up in the same bear-hug she gave Castle the previous day, "Bring him home safe soon, Detective."

"I will," Beckett said, "Now get back to you gram. We can take things from here."

Alexis nodded and let herself out, passing the FBI team and Agent Shaw on the way. Shaw's team went to go set up their 'war room' once again as Shaw came right up to Beckett with a nod back to the door, "Who was the young girl you were just hugging? A concerned citizen about Castle?"

"That was Castle's daughter Alexis," Beckett told her, "She's going back home to give her grandmother some comfort. She was very helpful with our investigation thus far."

"How's she taking it?," Shaw folded her arms, she was genuinely concerned.

"As well as can be expected," Beckett shrugged, "I promised her I'd give her updates every once in awhile on what we find."

"What do your boys have for me?," Shaw nodded towards Ryan and Esposito making their way toward them.

"Some video footage from Castle's loft when he was kidnapped," Beckett replied, "Our equipment isn't advanced enough to get a clear picture on the guy, not to mention that he never really faces the camera to get a clear view in the first place."

"If he's on record, we'll be able to find him," Shaw nodded. As soon as Esposito and Ryan made it over to the two women, Shaw didn't even let them speak, she just immediately gave them an order, "Go into my people's war room and give them that footage to see if we can't clear it up at all."

"Right," Esposito nodded and left to do as he was told with Ryan, as always, on his tail.

"I've got some other information for you too," Lanie spoke up.

"Tell me all about it," Shaw led Lanie into the war room.

Beckett remained frozen by her desk and turned her head to Castle's empty chair. She let out a long sigh and whispered to no one, "Where are you, Castle?"

TBC

Enter Agent Jordan Shaw. 8-) With her help, all should go well... sooooo, what do you guys think? You still enjoying the story as much as when you first started reading? Don't worry, we'll get back to Castle in the next chapter. And just so you all are aware, what's left of this story are chapters 9-15 and an epilogue, so there's still a bit to go. ;) Please comment and tell me what you think! I hope to post chapter 9 within the next couple of days. I love reading what you all have to say, it brightens my smile each time I see a review alert, story alert, author alert, favorite story, or favorite author message in my inbox. It truly means a lot to me, everybody. :) So, if you have a moment, please leave a comment on your thoughts of the story thus far. ;) :D

Thanks to those of you who are just reading. I appreciate you too! :D

Clois and Caskett Forever! :D