Posted: 1/3/11

Family Bartowski goes in to Lockdown.

A/N: Again, thanks to P.J. Murphy for his beta work. Why he does it, I don't know. Maybe pity.

Nov. 26, 2010 - Black Friday - Late Afternoon - Castle

"Everybody, give me your phones." Casey looked at each person in the room as he addressed the group. These were the people he had to protect and never before did he perform that duty with such personal resolve. "We have no way of knowing if any of them are compromised, so, I raided the Buy More stock for enough burner replacements to go around. Morgan, are you and Alex finished setting up the contacts lists?"

"Yeah, Case. Like you asked, the contacts are first initial only; A, C, D, E, J, M, S and 9."

"The 9 is Beckman's priority number. As in 911. Please remember that before you use it," Casey added.

Sarah asked the obvious. "What if Chuck calls?

"I have all calls that would have gone to your old phones re-routed to Mortensen's station. He'll handle all tracking and re-routing of calls."

As if on cue, a knock was heard on the glass doors to the conference room. Mortensen tapped the glass with a hand-held radio and signaled to Casey to come over.

Casey released the lock and went to Mortensen. "Yeah?"

"Sir, I have been monitoring the local police call radio. They found Agent Roberts two hours ago, dead in a coffee shop. I am trying to tap into their systems to get more information right now."

"Very well. Keep me up to date." Casey returned to the conference room and locked the door behind him.

"What happens if the hospital calls?" Devon asked.

"Devon, the calls will be answered and you will be informed." He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Folks, this is not being done as punishment; it's to protect us. All of us. We're in Castle. And it's exactly that, a fortress. As a precaution, we are raising the drawbridge. But no one is in the dungeon."

Carina took a look at Casey. He was not one to give long explanations, so she continued the debriefing. "So, let's start figuring out who you need protection from. I'll start with the wrapping paper and see if there any fingerprints."

"Sarah, did you come across the herder Chuck borrowed?" Everybody turned to Morgan, but Sarah shook her head no in response. "I lent it to him from the pool last night as the CIA's pimped version is still in the 'shop'. I'd like to see what, if anything, got left behind." Morgan paused for a moment. "And I think I should get it back into the lot before too many people ask questions."

Casey's eyes brightened. "Good thinking, Grimes. We can back-track his movements and see if someone has a video feed." He made a mental note of the stores represented in Chuck's gifts.

Eager to do something, he got up to join Casey. "What are we waiting for, then?"

He leaned over to Alex and gave her a kiss. "Watch my buddy's girl, huh?" he whispered in Alex's ear while motioning with his head to Sarah.

She returned the kiss. "And keep an eye on my Dad." He smiled and turned his back, which allowed Alex to covertly signal her father. "Keep an eye on him."

The Room

Chuck slowly awoke as the glare from the bright halogen light above his head caused him to blink. He tried to discern shapes in the shadows but saw nothing beyond the circle of light around the chair. He heard the whir of gears as a screen lowered into his view. A very familiar piece of music started to play, but it was distorted and echoed. What appeared to be very grainy surveillance videos played on the screen. He saw himself, his family, and his friends.

Sarah. There she is. His Sarah, his Kid. He smiled.

There were pictures of babies and children he did not recognize. Funerals, weddings, deaths, babies. The pictures repeated. He had seen these pictures before. Where? He felt the heat in his arm as more drugs were pushed.

NO! The darkness was coming again. Sarah!

Casey's Vic

Casey brought up the GPS display and told Morgan to find Zale's.

"He went to Zale's?"

"Yeah, but not a word of it to Walker."

Morgan did a search on the GPS. "There we go, about a mile down the road. Are we going to ask for the video or take it?"

Casey's voice turned grim. "Morgan, we need to take the video surveillance. Otherwise it could be 'a tell' for whomever might be watching. But first, we need to know where to take them from. That's why we're looking for the Herder first. That will tell us where Chuck was grabbed. Then, after casing the place, we'll come back after dark. That is, if you are up to it."

Morgan looked determined. "If it gets us closer to finding Chuck, I'll…," he choked a bit. "I'd even take a red-test."

Casey scowled. "Do you even know what that means? This isn't one of your stupid video games." Grunt. I need to have a little chat with Chuck when he gets back about what the word 'secret' in' top secret' means.

Morgan held up his right hand in the shape of a gun, aimed out the front window, and pretended to fire by snapping his thumb down. "I have never wanted to kill anyone before. But when it comes to my family and with what I've seen in the past year, I would. And no disrespect Case, but not even you could stop me."

"It will change you in ways you can't imagine."

"True, I can't imagine that. But if it came down to it, I would do it and worry about my feelings later.

Casey pulled up to a red light and put the car in park. "If you draw your weapon, it must be with the expectation that you are going to use it." He looked right into Morgan's eyes. "When the time comes, you can't hesitate; it could mean the difference between you and them. And I don't want to have that conversation with Alex."

Morgan looked down as the light turned green and Casey started again. He knew Casey didn't want to have that conversation with Alex, and he knew he didn't want to do anything to make Casey have that conversation with Alex. But the past year made him realize how much he had on the line these days. In a way, he felt a bit silly that the biggest problem he had before this was trying to get Devon back his $2500 for the DeLorean.

"You have reached your destination," chirped the GPS unit a few moments later.

"Thank God they didn't use Beckman's voice," Morgan softly quipped. Casey gave a slight smile. There were a lot of things he wanted to see change on the bearded troll, but his sense of humor wasn't one of them. From a psychological standpoint, it was a helpful thing to have in this business.

Casey turned into the parking lot in front of Zale's. He began a methodical, slow drive, looking for the errant Herder. With no luck, they headed to their next stop.

Morgan punched in Nordstrom's and found three. "The first one is just down the road."

"Can't believe I forgot about this," Casey chided himself as he pointed to the address on the screen. "This has to be the one; we passed it earlier on the way to where we tracked Chuck's watch."

They pulled into the lot and saw thousands of cars. He exhaled in frustration. "This is going to take a while."

Morgan glued his eyes to the right side window as Casey did the same on the left. They rolled down aisle after aisle for forty tedious minutes.

"There we go!" Morgan exclaimed as he pointed at the Nerd Herder.

Casey pulled over, and they both got out. Morgan lay down on his stomach and checked under the car, behind the tires, and inside the wheel wells. Casey looked inside the vehicle.

"No key," he reported.

"Nothing down here," Morgan yelled up to Casey. He got up, dusted himself off, and produced a key from his pocket. "I took the spare, just in case." He was about to insert the key when he looked at Casey. "You don't think there are nasty surprises inside?"

"Good thinking, but I doubt it. I'd play it strictly as a snatch and grab." He gave a slight smile. "I have to say, you are making good progress. You still screw around. A lot. But you have been paying attention."

Morgan beamed. "Actually, Alex said something about that earlier, when she broke out the firearms. She said we did everything like you taught us. She has your stuff, big guy."

Morgan turned back towards the car, started to put the key in the lock, and hesitated. "In case there is something, back away."

Casey took a few steps back towards the Vic.

"Casey?"

He rolled his eyes. "Kill them all?"

"And let God sort them out?" He smiled briefly. His voice was a whisper. "Tell…Alex…I…" he closed his eyes and turned the key. "Whew!"

Morgan slid behind the wheel. He started to put the key in the ignition when a very terrifying thought entered his mind. "Casey?"

"Now what?" Casey asked in annoyance as he approached Morgan.

"These cars have an alarm that self-arms after ten minutes."

"And?"

"Uh, I never disarmed it."

"DON'T MOVE!" Casey stuck his head under Morgan's legs and rooted around under the seat. "Stay put." He backed out and headed to the Vic, popping the trunk. Casey returned with some tools and poked his head back down under the seat. When he came back up, he was holding a pack of C-4 and electronics.

"I bet this thing was hooked up to the car alarm. If you had disarmed it, it probably would have triggered this."

Morgan shook his head and tried to calm himself. "Whoah! Give me a few…seconds…for my heart to slow down."

"As long as you need. But make it quick." He put a hand on Morgan's shoulder. "These guys are playing for keeps."

"Casey?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Casey nodded. "Like I said, I don't want to have that conversation with Alex." Casey glanced over the rest of the car. "Hold on; I want to check under the hood. Better paranoid than dead."

He reached in and released the latch. "I'll be right back. Hold this," he replied as he handed the bomb to Morgan with a smirk.

Morgan's heart wasn't slowing down. Actually, it was going in the opposite direction. "Are you crazy?"

"Relax, it's not armed." Casey walked to the front of the Herder and lifted the hood. He searched carefully throughout the engine and then slammed the hood back down.

"All clear, Grimes. Start her up."

Morgan turned the key. The car started. No explosions. He exhaled sharply. "Oh boy! I'll meet you back at Castle."

He backed up the Herder and headed out. Casey carried the bomb back to the Vic and put a hand on the roof to steady himself. "Damn. I'm getting to old for this." He took in a deep breath. "No I ain't." He shook his head and got behind the wheel, gently putting the bomb on the seat next to him, and took off after Morgan.

Castle

"Hey Walker, who's Hannah?" Carina yelled out.

Sarah turned to Carina and her mouth dropped open. It took her a second to recover. "Hannah?"

"Yeah, Hannah. Apart from Chuck's prints, the only prints I could identify are hers. All the database says is 'acquaintance'."

She sighed heavily and shook her head. "About a year ago, Chuck was dating her. He decided to break it off because of all the lies he had to tell her in order to protect our covers. She had arranged for him to meet her parents and things didn't go well. It was a very bad time. For both of us."

"Wait a second. I thought you two were… sheesh… in a relationship…or some weird thing. All I remember was you two were miserable. You need to tell me what the heck is/was going on between you two."

"It's complicated, Carina. It WAS complicated." She hung her head. "It was all so stupid. We hurt each badly, but I'll give you all the details some other time. OK? Please?"

"Seriously Walker, you always have to do things the hard way. OK, another time."

"Thank you. But I will tell you this much: it got very ugly and very public. She left town. The other herders were not happy with Chuck. He tried to find her. We offered to help him, but he wanted the spy world to stay out of his personal life. He felt he handled it wrong, and then I made matters worse with Shaw. Then he had issues with his Intersect. He couldn't flash."

"Shaw? Seriously? OK. Again, another time. But you will tell me the story. That guy had a nasty creepiness to him. I know you always have a thing for your coworkers, but even that's pushing it."

Sarah exhaled and shut her eyes for a moment to deal with the stress of Chuck's disappearance. Carina's barbs about her love life were not helping. "Back to the fingerprints… please."

"Yeah, they're all over the wrapping paper, but not on any of the gifts. I'd say she had something to do with all this. By the way, he got something really nice for Casey."

Mortensen was knocking at the door again. Carina unlocked the door. "The hell with it, come in. We can't hide in a cave. What's up?"

"The local ME has established Roberts was poisoned. They are still running tests to determine what agent was used."

They heard the airlock cycling at the top of the stairs. Sarah stood, and all three of them put their hands on their sidearms. They relaxed slightly when they saw who it was.

"They're baaaaaackk," Carina said with a smirk. "Well, Johnny, did you find the Herder?"

"Yeah, at Nordstrom's. Just around the corner from where we found his stuff. I suspect someone has been trailing Chuck for a while." He handed the C-4 to Carina.

She shook her head as she looked at the plastic explosives. "Johnny, don't you know anything? You buy a girl jewelry, not explosives."

"You're a riot, Carina. We found that in the Herder."

"Shhhh!" Morgan's eyes widened as he darted his head around. "Can we please not tell Alex about this? Wait, where is Alex?"

Casey looked at him oddly. "Grimes, you're more afraid of my daughter than you are of C-4? I'm impressed. And quite relieved, too."

"She's minding the agents in quarantine," Carina told Morgan before turning to Casey. "Agent Mortensen has been monitoring local law enforcement's progress with Roberts. He was poisoned."

Bastard got off easy, Casey thought while grunting in acknowledgement and headed towards a terminal. After a few moments he slammed the mouse on the desk. "Chuck could do this in a second," he growled.

Carina walked over. "What are you looking for?"

"Anything in the logs that might tell us what that traitor Roberts was doing this morning."

Mortensen walked up to him. "Agent Casey? Sir?"

"Yeah?" Casey replied with his eyes still glued to the monitor.

"He did only one thing. He looked up the number for Agent Carmichael's CIA issued phone."

"That bitch." Sarah shook her head. "I am going to kill her. Very slowly."

"Her? Her who?" Casey asked in confusion.

"Hannah!"

"Say what?"

Carina interceded. "Johnny, we found her fingerprints all over the wrapping paper."

"Walker, stay focused," Casey told her in his most unyielding voice. "We get Chuck back first. After that, you can draw and quarter her for all I care."

Carina started gathering the gifts and wrapping paper. "We've done everything we can with Chuck's stuff for now. I am going to bag it all and lock it up."

He moved towards the large table and stood next to Carina to check out what she had. Carina turned to him and kept her voice to a whisper.

"Let me handle Hannah. You take care of the family. Sarah's a loose cannon right now."

"Agreed," Casey said with a nod before addressing everybody. "Guys, can we talk a minute?" He motioned for Sarah and Morgan to join Carina and him at the table. He waited as each took a seat.

Casey turned to Carina. "I hate to ask this of you, but we need someone on the outside that can move freely and make on-site evaluations of our intel."

"Sure. When do you want me to head out?"

"Tomorrow morning." Casey then addressed the others, "I'd feel a lot better if we all stayed here tonight. At least don't stray too far from Castle unescorted." Nobody protested the idea, not even Sarah. "Morgan, you and I have a date with Nordstrom's. We might get lucky and get something useful out of their surveillance videos."

Nov 28, 2010 - Building Under Renovation

Perfect.

She raised the field glasses to her eyes and watched the Bitch get into her Porsche. "Every move you make, I'll be watching you." She had to smile a bit; there were still so many people who thought that was a love song.

"Hannah, are you going to stand there all day and watch these people?"

She lowered the glasses and looked at the man behind her. She then reached for her cigar, which was still burning and resting on the windowsill. She brought it to her mouth, ran her tongue over the tip, and drew in a little smoke. She took her time blowing the heavy smoke into the man's face. "I'm waiting. She has to pay. I'm going to hurt her and then I am going to hurt her again. I promised."

The heat was unbearable as the building was undergoing renovations and had no air conditioning. Somehow he still felt cold. This girl is insane and I am taking orders from her?

"What did she do to you?"

Her body stiffened as she remembered that time with something resembling abhorrence. "She lied to him and she hurt him badly. I saw what she did; she just couldn't stand seeing him with someone else. She twisted his head around so hard, he couldn't see straight."

Her face contorted with hatred. "I tried, but she had to keep coming back. Then he lied to me, all because of her."

"Yeah, yeah, he done you wrong," the man replied without bothering to be sympathetic. "But let's get on with it."

She dropped the cigar to the floor and mashed it out with her heel. "The rifle is over there. You know her route. Just after she gets on the freeway, she'll speed up. That's when you will shoot out the tire."

"Right, the tire."

"You make sure it's the rear tire. She'll need the front end to steer. I want her disabled. You do NOT kill her." That pleasure will be mine, she thought. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good. The balance will be wired to your account upon completion."

"It'll be taken care of tomorrow morning. Just as you instructed."

She waved him away. He started to walk towards the rifle and the door, but he eyed her warily as he did.

What a shame. Really gorgeous, but completely off her rocker. He turned and picked up the rifle; a 50 BMG Colt AR15. He examined it, satisfied himself that it was functional and returned it to its case. He snapped the clasps shut and picked up the case. He took a final look at Hannah, grabbed the ammo boxes and walked out.

Hannah turned back to the window, and put the field glasses back to her face. There was one loose end in all of this. The majority of the team was wannabe agents. She could outsmart any of them without breaking a sweat. But not him.

"That bastard will ruin everything if he puts this together," she muttered through clenched teeth. She needed a plan to deal with Casey.

The Room

The room was pitch black, and all Chuck could hear was his own breathing. He was held by so many restraints, he couldn't move.

"My ass is killing me, people. Could someone let me go for a walk?"

He listened for a response but none came. "We really don't have to do all this torture stuff. I'm not very good at torture, so why don't you just ask and I will tell you everything I know."

A garbled piece of music was the only response. It was very familiar, but he couldn't place it.

He heard the whir of gears as a screen lowered into his view. "How about some popcorn? No salt, please."

Still no response.

The show began. He knew he had seen these pictures before. But where?

The show ended. The screen disappeared upwards. Then the lights went out.

"Oh, come on. Is this supposed to scare me?"

There was still no response.

Nov 29, 2010 – Morning - Outdoors, by the Freeway

The prone gunman was well concealed, lying in the tall grass on a rise overlooking the freeway. His phone rang in his ear. "Yes. I'm ready." He hung up. He watched as she reached the entrance ramp, merged left, and headed up the freeway. A few more seconds. He took his time, heard her upshift, followed her in the rifle sight, and lined up his shot with the rear wheel. He squeezed the trigger right before her next upshift.

Oh shit! A blowout. Sarah stayed calm as the car scraped on the tire's rim, dragging the rear slightly to the right. She kept her foot steady on the gas, gradually letting up to slow the car, and holding the front end straight. The man in the car to her right saw the blowout and panicked. He tried swerving a bit to the right to avoid her but bounced off his neighbor and banged back into her Porsche. The Porsche hit the banked wall too hard and rolled up onto it, eventually hitting the top and flipping over. The car behind her was going too fast and slammed into her rear, sending the Porsche spinning on its roof.

The gunman watched in horror as his fee disappeared. He was supposed to disable the car only. Soon there would be police and emergency workers covering the scene. Hannah's men would never get there in time. He rolled on his back and cursed his bad luck. That psycho bitch would kill him. He looked for the shell casing but there was no time. He slid back down the other side of the rise towards his car on the access road. He threw the gun into the back seat in disgust and sped off.

Castle

Mortensen continued monitoring the police channels as well as any intel chatter. "Sir, I think you'll want to take a look at this."

Casey walked over to the man's station and looked over his shoulder at the information. "Overturned car on freeway. EMT Unit 12 en route. That's it?"

"No, sir. The police are reporting it as a dark, late model Porsche with a single female occupant. There were three other cars involved with no fatalities."

Saying "S" into his disposable mobile, he tried to call Sarah but got no answer. "D" was next. "Devon, yeah. We have a report of an accident on the freeway by the house. It sounds like it might be Sarah." He listened for a moment. "Relax, I get no answer on her phone, but the police reported only mild injuries. Thanks." He was about to hang up, but he had one last order. "Devon. Take your sidearm."

He ended the call and turned back to Mortensen. "Get a cleaner crew out there. I want that Porsche in our possession right now. Have them make a sweep of every pebble on that road if they have to, but I want to know what's going on. I'm heading out."

"On it, sir."

Casey took the stairs out of Castle two at a time. The airlock opened as he got to the top. "Thanks, Mortensen!"

Buy More

Casey spotted Jeffster by the Nerd Herd counter and changed direction. Morgan was talking with an irate customer, presumably made upset by some other Buy Moron. Casey gave him a high sign to follow.

Morgan held up a finger to request a moment. Another hefty customer giveaway in the name of his cover, he seethed inside. Good thing this branch doesn't need to turn a profit. He finished with the customer and headed over to Casey.

"What's up, Case?" he asked as they continued walking towards the front door.

"There's been an accident on the freeway, and it sounds like it's Walker. She doesn't answer her phone, so I am going to check it out. Devon is already on the way."

Morgan shook his head and felt a chill go through him. "Should I man Castle or come with?"

"Come with; Mortensen has Castle. I want you with me. Remember, no one goes out alone. That includes me."

Morgan hesitated. "I checked my sidearm back in with Alex."

Casey gave a scowl when he heard that information. "The team is on high alert for the duration, Grimes."

"Ah, yeah. There's that, but I couldn't pack heat around the children," he replied as he pointed to Jeffster.

"Some days this place really sucks the life out of you," Casey said in frustration. Morgan did have a point about those two. "We'll break something out in the Vic."

"Morgan, where are you off to now?" Big Mike intercepted them by the entrance. "You're the manager now; you can't just sneak off all the time."

Casey gave a grunt. For some reason, fishing suddenly came to Morgan's mind.

"I thought I'd go fishing with John," Morgan told Big Mike with a smile. "So, I'll have to delegate running the store to your capable hands."

Big Mike was stunned, but then he nodded in agreement. "It's not like I haven't done that myself, my boy."

Morgan looked at Casey as Big Mike departed. Did I just understand that grunt? They both shook their heads and breathed a sigh of relief as they headed out to the parking lot and Casey's Vic.

"Between the Buy More and Spy International, I have no life to get sucked. I haven't spoken to Alex since yesterday," Morgan said in a funk.

"She understands, Grimes. We all feel the pressure. Sarah made her promise to go back to school, so she'll be a little busy herself." He opened the trunk. Morgan's eyes threatened to pop out of his head when he saw the contents.

"Good Lord, John! You could arm a third world country with this stuff."

"Truthfully, I have. But the details are 'need to know'."

"No doubt. What was…"

"And you don't need to know," Casey snapped before Morgan could get going.

The Room

Chuck woke up but kept his eyes closed. OK, pretend to be asleep. What happened? Where was I before I got here? I defeated the protocols and snuck out.

Wait, what protocols? Why did I do that? Then what did I do? I can't remember. Come on, Chuck. What's the last thing you remember? Think, damnit! Sarah. Yes, Sarah! I want to be with her.

"Sarah!"

Oh no. They heard. The heat in my arms. I can't move them…

Darkness fell over the room. No, no darkness.

A hissing sound filled the room. Oh crap, what is that? No light. "Who's there?" There was no response. "Answer me, you motherf…" No, that isn't going to help.

What the hell? Movie time! Whoa! My fingers! They are way too long. Hehehehe. Look at that; I can touch the screen.

Oh. More heat. Here we go again. Fight it. Fight…

Ah, I'm back again. Don't talk. They won't find me. Sarah will. What? Where am I? I snuck out. Yes, that's it. They caught me. And they dragged me into the bunker. What bunker? Who did? Why?

The hiss started again. Hey, that's the screen. Who is that old man? The old woman looks like… I know her… It looks like…Sarah! Yes, that's Sarah. She looks good. Oh and that's me. Awww… yeah that wouldn't be so bad.