A/N : Back to the case after an interlude at the loft. Many thanks again to all that have viewed, reviewed, faved and followed this story.
Disclaimer : AWM, ABC and the writers room own the characters of Castle. I'm just one of many that are obsessed with this show and what they came up with.
The next morning Beckett and Castle exit the elevator of the 12th each carrying their usual take-out cups of coffee. As they walk up to Beckett's desk and take their seats Esposito and Ryan approach and Esposito welcomes them, "Mornin' you two, sleep well?"
Beckett and Castle share a look and Beckett replies, "Yeah, you could say that. Any news on those computers of Carmody's? Have the techs been able to crack them yet?"
Ryan shares his own look with Esposito at the look between their friends and Beckett's opening comment before responding, "No luck yet. They're still trying but they've hit a firewall they can't crack. Looks like there's some form of hardware that's missing that will allow access. They'll keep trying and let us know. But, we have heard back from the Fitchburg PD about that van."
Esposito takes up the story, "According to our Fitchburg brethren the van in question has not left the owner's sight and at the time of the murder it was parked outside the front of his house. It was still there when he went out for an early call at 4am to fix a busted toilet. The Fitchburg cops confirmed that there was no damage to the van consistent with our murder plus the van is coloured white and looks like it's been that colour for a long time."
"So if that's right the plates on our van must be fake, but who would go to the trouble of making fake plates?" asks Beckett.
"A gang of international human traffickers would. They'd have the resources to fake plates. It's ingenious really, they steal a van and then put plates on it from a van that isn't stolen so that the number plate scanning cameras in police patrol units don't pick it up," responds Castle.
"Any word on any abandoned vans matching the description? I'm thinking that they'll dump it now it's so hot," surmises Beckett.
"Nothing yet but units are keeping a lookout," replies Ryan.
At that moment a tall, pale, dark haired man in his early forties and an equally dark suit, walks up and interrupts them holding up a badge, "Special Agent Trent FBI, I'm looking for a Detective Beckett?"
Beckett stands and holds out her hand to shake the agent's hand, "That would be me Agent Trent," after shaking hands she indicates to her team, "These are Detective's Ryan and Esposito and Mr Castle."
"Ah yes, Mr Castle. You've been a regular name on our call sheets wanting information on trafficking operations in the city," responds Trent after nodding to the other detectives.
"Yes, and after I called Agent Harris, who helped me and my daughter last year, I found you a bit more cooperative," gives back Castle with a small smile.
Beckett intervenes before things get too side tracked, "So Agent Trent, what can you tell us about Gregori Motaravich and his associates?"
Trent walks over to the murder board where the picture of Motaravich is displayed and taps it with a finger, "Gregori Motaravich, a very bad guy. He's part of a trafficking gang from Bulgaria that we think is working in the boroughs. From what we could tell Motaravich was a mid-level guy in the gang, mostly muscle. They're a close knit group, a lot of family ties, just like the mob. We caught one of their gang during an undercover operation at a night club once. He was one of their spotters but even though he's been in federal lock-up for the last three months he won't talk. We've been looking for this gang for over a year but hadn't been able to get a handle on them. As you can imagine they kidnap young women, usually ones that are alone or from out of town and then smuggle them to various points around the world. We've had some success curtailing their smuggling routes but they still seem to find new ones somehow."
"Anything more specific on where in the city we might find this gang?" asks Beckett.
"Only vague reports of them working out of some old warehouses in the docks or that they could be working out of the Hamilton Heights area," Beckett and Castle share a look at that revelation, "Your being attacked by Motaravich in that area was not a coincidence. As for the other members of the gang I understand you're already running down his known associates."
"Yeah, we've heard from the teams from the other precincts and so far none of them are at the addresses we have for them," adds Esposito.
"After you bagged Motaravich they've probably gone to ground. They could even be thinking of relocating to another city," supplies Trent.
"What about our victim, Sam Carmody, had he been in contact with you about his sister Julie?" asks Castle as he gets up and indicates to the picture of the victim on the murder board.
"I looked into our records and he did contact us when his sister first went missing but we were unable to help him. While her disappearance was consistent with an abduction by a trafficking gang there was no direct evidence that would indicate that," informs Trent.
"Until now," counters Castle.
Trent looks at Castle with an expression of slight embarrassment, "Yes, his murder and the attack on you and Detective Beckett would indicate that she was taken by Motaravich's trafficking gang. Your victim must have gotten too close to them or had information on their operation so they took him out."
"So now that there IS evidence that Julie Carmody was kidnapped by this gang are you going to investigate?" pushes Castle.
"In a way we already have been. This gang is already on our hit list and her disappearance will now be another in a long list of missing girls that we're pursuing them over," at the Beckett like roll of eyes he gets from Castle at this he continues earnestly, "Look I know that's not what you want to hear but we have to be realistic. You think I want these guys kidnapping young women with impunity? I've got two daughters myself and the last thing I want is more young women being subjected to the horror of these people."
Castle is mollified a little by Trent's sincerity, looks away, sits back down and ponders the murder board.
"Is there any assistance your taskforce could give us on this? Our techs are having problems accessing some computers belonging to our victim. We think they might have information on his sister's kidnaping and on the kidnappers. Do you think your techs could try cracking them?" asks Beckett.
"Sure, I'll have…," Trent is interrupted by Castle whose gaze had become fixed on a point on the murder board.
"We might not need them," with a look of inspiration on Castle's face he gets up and snatches an evidence bag that had been hanging on the murder board. Turning to Ryan he asks, "Are Carmody's computers in the tech room?"
"Yeah, they're...," replies Ryan indicating over his shoulder but before he can say anything more Castle is off holding up the evidence bag up as he strides away. Everyone left behind looks at each other in surprise and curiosity as they all set off in pursuit of Castle.
"Castle?" calls Beckett as everyone follows in the wake of the excited writer into the tech room.
In the room, where Tori and a young male tech are hunched in front of the equipment recovered from the garage, Castle pauses, looks at Beckett, holding up a finger as if to say, "One minute," and opens the evidence bag. He takes out the RF chip that had been in Carmody's arm and starts looking over the array of equipment in front of him.
Almost to himself he says, "Ryan, you said that there was a piece of hardware that was stopping the techs accessing the computers and Sorizo said Sam was a hardware guy. If a hardware guy wanted to make sure no one could access his computer he would build something that would give only him access. We saw at the garage that Sam made this chip himself and if I'm right….Ah! Excuse me," he apologises to the male tech as he leans over his shoulder towards the laptop that the tech is working on.
Castle holds the chip over a small indentation in the bottom right hand corner of the keyboard. An indentation that looks like one of those fingerprint scanners that some laptops have on them for security purposes. After a few seconds there is a distinct beep from the laptop and its screen and the corresponding plasma screen on the wall above them starts showing a start-up screen soon followed by a window with a long list of folder icons.
"And we're in," says Castle as he stands back up and looks at Beckett in triumph.
Giving Castle a smile, Beckett moves forward to look closer at the information on the plasma. She indicates to one of the file folders on the screen and to Tori says, "That one. The one that says "Julie". Open that one."
Tori complies and the screen is soon full of file icons of various types.
"Sam gathered a lot of information," comments Castle.
"That video file. The one that says "Hamilton Heights Gang #1". Open that one," asks Trent as he joins Castle and Beckett in front of the plasma. After Tori clicks on the file icon the screen is filled with a shaky video taken from a distance of a group of men getting out of a dark blue van and walking into a nearby warehouse.
"There's our van!" exclaims Beckett, pointing at the screen. The video was finished and the screen went black. "Take it back to where we see them going into the warehouse."
The video image returns and moves backward until the image of the men in front of the warehouse reappears where it freezes. Beckett leans closer to peer at the image, "I can't see anything that might identify where that warehouse might be." She turns to the boys, "There's a lot of stuff here and we need to go through it all. There's got to be more here to indicate where these guys are."
Trent chimes in, "Detective Beckett, if you could send me a copy of this information I have the manpower to go through this all and hopefully cut down the time it will take to find them. If we find anything we'll let you know and likewise if you do could you let me know what you find? My team could help you with getting these guys when the time comes."
"Sure, we'd welcome the help. Just remember this is a NYPD operation and we are concerned with catching Carmody's killers. After that you are more than welcome to have whatever is left for human trafficking," responds Beckett assertively.
"What about that SD card have you got that? We might be able to see what's on it," asks Castle.
Tori reaches to one side and picks up an evidence bag, "Yeah, here it is." She opens the bag and puts it into an adaptor and then into a slot in the side of the laptop. There is another beep from the laptop and another window opens with more file folders.
"Great, more stuff to go through!" exclaims Esposito.
"There are over a thousand files here. This is going to take all day," comments Ryan.
"The sooner we get started the sooner we find these guys," responds Beckett.
Trent hands Beckett a business card, "Detective, get your techs to call this number and they can liaise with mine about transmitting the information to us and then they can help going through it all. I'll be in touch," and with that he take his leave.
Beckett turns to the techs, "OK, send a copy of everything to Agent Trent's people and then divide the files evenly and send them to mine, Esposito's and Ryan's terminals."
"Kate, give me a terminal. I can help go through this stuff. I can concentrate on the files from the SD card," asks Castle.
"OK, you can go through it on the computers in here."
As Castle takes a seat next to Tori, to start going through his share, the others leave to go to their own desks and start what Ryan had rightly said would be a long day.