A/N : Hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer : The entertainment that is Castle comes from Andrew Marlowe, David Amann, ABC/Disney and all the others lucky enough to be employed writing for them. I just sit here in my WRITER hoody trying to come up with stuff half as good as theirs.
"KATE! KATE! Wake up!"
Beckett is jolted awake from the dreamless sleep she's been having on the break room couch by the excited voice of Castle. Before she can respond or even think a coherent thought she is grabbed by the wrist, pulled up and dragged out of the room by her arm.
Being literally dragged into wakefulness she finally responds to her over excited fiancé, "Castle, what is it?"
"I've found something you've got to see," he replies as he drags her into the tech room and leads her to a chair in front of a computer monitor. As she takes her seat she notices Ryan and Esposito, both obviously attracted by the commotion caused by Castle, enter the room behind them. Both of them looking as disturbed from a deep sleep as she felt.
Castle, in the seat next to Beckett, reaches for the computer mouse in front of him. As he starts clicking away he explains rapidly, "I tried getting some sleep but I just couldn't get comfortable in that chair so I went back to looking through the contents of the SD card. I found a folder of files that Sam had labelled "Accounts" but was locked with further encryption. I was able to use the RF chip to access the folder. It was like he was afraid that someone might hack his system so he added another level of security. Someone like...," and with his ever present flair for the dramatic he makes a final click of the mouse.
On the screen in front of her a photo appears. It is taken from a distance and is of a group of men. She can identify several of the gang of kidnappers, including Motarovich who is handing what looks like an envelope to, "Paul Sorizo!" she exclaims.
"What! That nerd?" exclaims Esposito as he and Ryan move closer to get look at the screen over Beckett's shoulder.
"Yes, that supposedly good college friend of our victim was in fact the tech support for the kidnapping gang. I found it all in these files. Photos of meetings and journal entries by Sam from about two weeks ago when he discovered that Sorizo was working with the gang. He also figured out that Sorizo was hacking into modelling agency sites for the gang and into DMV databases for the information to produce fake licence plates," as Castle describes what he found he clicks through a series of photos showing different meetings between the kidnappers and Sorizo.
"Was Sorizo working with the kidnappers the whole time?" asks Ryan.
"I don't think so. From Sam's journals he thought that it might have only been a recent thing but he became suspicious of Sorizo when none of the information he gave Sam led anywhere. Also, while Sam was mainly a hardware guy he was still able to find a trojan virus that Sorizo installed on one of his computers to monitor it. So he decided to start following Sorizo and he led him to the kidnappers," concluded Castle.
"OK! Ryan, central booking should still have him. Call them up and have him brought over for us. He's got some explaining to do," requests Beckett, looking over her shoulder.
They all follow Ryan out of the tech room as he goes to his desk and places the call. After making the request for the transfer of their suspect his face changes from confidence to confusion.
"What? When was that?...OK, thanks," and with an annoyed look he hangs up his phone. He immediately starts rifling through one of the trays on his desk until he comes up with a phone message slip that had been hidden under several files. He lets out a huff of frustration upon reading what is written there.
"Ryan? What is it?" asks a puzzled Beckett.
"My bad guys. Sorizo bailed himself out not soon after he was booked. Sorry, the message letting us know came in the afternoon of the shooting at the garage and it got buried under some other files here," admits Ryan with an apologetic look on his face.
"How was a guy who had to borrow money from our victim able to post bail so quickly?" asks Esposito.
"Probably from the money the trafficking gang was giving him," responds Castle.
"Not to worry, we'll just go pick him up. Espo, his licence said he has an address in Brooklyn right?" asks Beckett moving to her desk for her bag.
Castle answers before the burly detective can, "We may not find him there. It looks like Sorizo hasn't updated his DMV records or might even have altered them. Sam found out that he is now living in a house in Queens."
"Just in case Espo, you and Ryan check the address in Brooklyn while Castle and I check the one in Queens," orders Beckett as they all make their way out of the bullpen.
As Beckett and Castle make their way up the front path of Sorizo's Queens address Beckett signals to the two Queens uniforms that had met them there. Nodding in understanding the two officers make their way to the back of the house. Beckett, with Castle close behind her, mounts the steps at the front of the house, she moves her coat to one side and rests her hand on the grip of her gun. Upon reaching the front door she gives a final glance towards the serious face of Castle and then raises her other hand and knocks on the door.
"Paul Sorizo, NYPD, open the door!" she yells in her commanding voice.
She pauses to listen for any movement inside and then pounds on the door again and tries again, "Open up Sorizo!"
Just as she is about to try the door knob there is the sound of a door slamming inside the house. With a look to Castle she draws her gun, takes a step back and with all her strength and the assistance of her heavy high heeled boots Beckett kicks in the door. Gun raised she rushes through the door with Castle close on her heels. With a distinct feeling of deja vu she spots the receding black hoody wearing form of Sorizo running down the hall in front of her towards the rear of the house.
"NYPD! Stop Sorizo!" she demands as she moves quickly to follow.
Sorizo glances over his shoulder at Beckett as he rushes into the kitchen at the rear of the house and reaches for the back door. He wrenches the door open and barrels out, straight into the waiting arms of the two uniformed officers standing there. Beckett holsters her gun as she joins the officers and the struggling Sorizo. The uniforms handcuff Sorizo, who has a desperate look in his eyes and she announces, "Paul Sorizo you are under arrest as an accessory to kidnaping and the murder of Sam Carmody!" She looks at the uniforms, "Read him his rights and take him to my car."
Meanwhile inside the house Castle has fallen behind. Knowing that Sorizo was going to be captured by the waiting uniforms he has become interested in the swinging door that he surmised Sorizo had just appeared from. He thought that this was the source of the slamming sound he'd heard outside. The door is set into the side of the wooden panelled void under the stairs that lead to the upper floor of the house. Pushing the door inwards with his knuckle, so not to leave fingerprints, he peers inside. There, in the glow of a single bulb set into the wall, he sees a set of stairs leading down to what he assumes must be the basement. As he steps into the stairwell he hears the faint sound of movement from somewhere beneath him. He slowly makes his way down the steps into the darkness waiting at their end. Reaching bottom of the stairs he looks around. From the light in the stairwell he can just make out a sink, washer and dryer in front of him. To his right he sees a metal door, open slightly in a cinderblock wall that must lead to the rest of the basement. He hears again that faint sound of movement behind the door, something that almost sounds like chains. As he reaches for the handle of the door he has the simultaneous thoughts, maybe he should get Beckett and surely it can't be another tiger.
Beckett watches as the uniforms lead Sorizo away. She then looks behind her for Castle and upon not seeing him there goes back inside looking for him. Seeing an empty kitchen and hallway in front of her she is about to call out when she hears a muffled shout from ahead.
"BECKETT!"
"CASTLE?" she replies as she hurries, concerned, towards the sound of his voice. Reaching the hallway and the door under the stairs she hears, "KATE! DOWN HERE! QUICK!" coming from what she can now see is the stairwell leading to the basement.
Drawing her gun she rapidly makes her way down the stairs to the sound of his voice. Like Castle before her she sees the same sink, washer and dryer at the base of the stairs and the now wide open steel door to her right. Gun up, she calls, "Castle? Where are you?"
"In here Kate!" comes his desperate sounding voice from the open door.
She follows the sound of his voice and enters the room behind the door. The lack of windows in the room means that it is normally pitch black but the light from the torch app on Castle's phone on the ground next to him is illuminating a corner of the room. There she can see Castle crouched down on his knees in front of a shape there.
"Castle?" she asks again as she goes to him.
As she approaches he moves to one side and she can now see he is crouched over a body. The body of a woman with long blond hair chained to the wall. He turns, looks up at Beckett and in a voice that betrays that he can't believe what he's saying himself, "Kate, its Julie Carmody and she's alive!"
A/N : So hands up who saw that coming? Did I sign post it enough or too much? Hope it's not too much a Disney solution (even though they do own the show) yet it wouldn't be Castle without at least an attempt at a twist.