Richard Castle had dressed and is ready when there is a knock at the front door. When he opens the door, he faces two very large NYPD officers.
"Mr. Castle? We are here to take you to the 12th"
"Let me get my coat "Rick responds while getting his overcoat from the closet beside the door
Castle and the two uniformed officers exit the building to the street where they enter the squad car. After they leave the curb, Castle questions the two "Do you know what is happening that I am being delivered to the station in a patrol car?"
"No Mr. Castle. We were only told to pick you up and get you to the station ASAP"
Castle leans back and waits for his ride to get him to the precinct.
When they arrive it is obvious that there is something happening different. The city of New York police command van is parked in the front and there are a number of officers out front. Rick exits the vehicle and starts to walk up the steps to the front door. He is challenged by a uniformed officer before he can even open the main doors.
"Sir, I am sorry, but the station is closed to civilians right now. You will have to come back at another time"
"I am Richard Castle and I was directed to be here and just picked up by officers"
"Well, I am sorry, but that is the rules today"
At that moment, Kevin Ryan sees Castle "Officer Klein, this man is cleared. He has not received his credentials yet. He is here as a civilian consultant. I will take him in with me"
The officer guarding the door lets the pair pass. When they get inside the building, Castle turns to Ryan "Kevin, what is going on?"
Ryan looks to see if anyone is listening. "Rick, there is a credible threat to the city. Homeland security has activated the EOC and the 12th has been assigned as the city's Emergency Operations Center. And Beckett is the Incident Commander"
Rick Castle has just been slapped in the face by this information. "Kevin, I need to see Kate as quickly as possible"
"I understand, but first I have to get you credentials. I need to take you to the check in area"
Ryan takes Castle to the 2nd floor of the precinct. This is a floor that Castle has not previously been on. This is where they have set up the check in area. Ryan takes Rick to the sign in desk. He looks at the officer "Sergeant, this is Richard Castle. He needs badging. He is cleared level 5"
The check in sergeant looks at his log book and then at Castle. "May I see some form of ID Mr. Castle?"
Rick presents his New York driver's license. The sergeant looks at the photograph and then types into his computer. Looks at the image that is present on the screen the looks back to Castle. "Very good, Mr. Castle. Please step in front of the screen and look at the camera."
The camera snaps as the photograph is taken. "Please wait over there Mr. Castle while we print your badge" The officer points to a row of chairs. Ryan follows Castle to the chairs.
"Kevin! What in the world is happening? Why all the security? Badges? Photographs?"
Ryan looks down the hall briefly "We have been told by homeland security that the dead body found in the shipping container last week was a DEA agent who was following up on a drug deal down in Texas. He was tracking a shipment of cocaine from Columbia. But the shipment had been intercepted by some terrorists and has been laced with what is believed to be Smallpox"
"Smallpox? That is deadly. No one has been immunized for smallpox in over 30 years"
"We know. If this gets out then the population of New York is in danger of an epidemic. In fact the entire country is in danger"
"Mr. Castle" the check-in desk announces
Castle and Ryan get up. Castle walks over and picks up his badge. He looks at the piece of plastic. It has the photograph that was just taken along with his name. On the top line it says New York Police Department. The next line says Department of Homeland Security. Then across the bottom in large red letters Level 5. He puts the badge on using the lanyard attached.
"Kevin, what is this Level 5 statement?"
"It means you have clearance to go anywhere you nee to go. No one will stop you now. Only Beckett, Lanie, Espo, I and now you have level 5 clearance. Well of course Fallon also has it"
"Fallon? Agent Fallon from Homeland Security? He's here?"
"Yeah! He is running the operation from their perspective. Of course you wife is in charge for the city. She is the big cheese today. Looks like you have to take orders from her right now. Oh wait, I bet you have been taking orders from her for awhile now"
"Funny, Kevin. Very funny"
When they get on the elevator to go up to the 4th floor, Castle notices that the elevator's floor buttons no longer work. Ryan takes Castle's badge and places it next to the card reader and then the buttons activate
"You have to use your badge now to get on any floor except 2. You cannot even enter the building without an ID now."
"I see that. So, what else can you tell me about what is happening?"
"Not a lot, yet. We are waiting for lab reports from Lanie on the container. They think that they will find traces of the drugs along with the virus"
"They really think that they will find smallpox?"
"That is the current concern"
The elevator exit on the 4th floor. Castle is visually taken back. The floor looks nothing like it did the last time he was here. It is obvious that the station is now some type of a command post. The last time he saw this level of deployment was when FBI agent Jordan Shaw set up her command post. But this time it is way more intense. Castle immediately starts looking for his wife. He sees Kate in the conference room. She is meeting with Gates, Esposito and two men in uniform. When he gets closer he sees that they are the Chief of Police and the Fire Chief.
He stops just outside the door as he would normally do when it was obvious that this was a high level city officials meeting. Kate looks out and sees her husband and motions him to come in
"Rick, this is Police Chief Dawson and Fire Chief O'Leary. Gentlemen this is Richard Castle. He is a civilian consultant to the NYPD"
Castle extends his hand to the two men and they exchange greetings Chief Dawson speaks first "Good to see you Rick. The last time we were together he took me for a couple of hundred dollars at that green table he keeps in the corner of his loft."
Castle chuckles "Yeah Chief. But the Mayor took both of us for a lot that night. After this is over I will set up a return match and we can both see if we can get some of our money back"
"That will be great Rick. Well I see that us letting you be involved in the NYPD homicide department has paid off in several ways."
"How so?"
"The case closure rate is way up here in this station and I see a very happy Detective Beckett here in front of me. Congratulations to the both of you"
Kate smiles briefly "Gentlemen, Thank you, but we need to focus on the current problem facing us. We have a credible threat that Homeland security believes is real. The container where we found DEA agent Charlie Jackson did show it had been used to ship cocaine. But more importantly, Dr. Parish also found a very small almost undetectable trace of Smallpox virus. The virus was dead and non viable, but is does show the container did contain a virus"
Rick is shocked by the cold hard facts he is hearing. "Who do we suspect is behind this?"
"We are not sure. The investigation is just beginning. We have officers bringing in the longshoremen that made the discovery. The first problem with them is they may be infected since they found the body. We do not know if the virus was alive or dead when they made their discovery. We are putting them into isolation as we speak. That is set up at the morgue. That way we have containment"
"Detective, what do you need from fire and police now?"
"Mobilize your squads and have them ready to deploy anywhere in the city in case there is an incident. Set up command centers strategically placed for quick response. If there is an outbreak, we want to isolate it fast to prevent spread. My team here at the12th will conduct investigations and try to locate the shipment before it gets cut. My fear is that the drugs are being cut right now into smaller sellable bags. Once the suppliers have started opening the bricks and cutting them into sellable packages, the virus can start spreading. It takes 10 days from exposure to outbreak. We need to stop it before it begins"
The police and fire chiefs leave the room leaving only Castle and Beckett
"Rick I have never been more scared in my life than I am today" She steps over and puts her arms around her husband
"I know. But I have a piece of news that might help"
Kate looks up to Ricks face
"I got a call from someone after you left. He said that someone needs our help and that this someone might help us right here"
"Who called you?"
"Mr. Smith."