Espo leads Rick out of the break room. LT yells out.
"Hey Detective You have a call from the morgue, a Dr. Morgan?" He says.
"Wait for me" Espo says as he strides over to the phone.
"This is Detective Esposito. You have a cause of death? Ok I'll be right down." He says looking at Rick as he hangs up. "New plan Bro we are going to the OCME. A Dr. Morgan has our cause of death."
Rick looks torn he really wants to see what Tori has uncovered. But going to see Henry was good too.
"Yo Castle, make up your mind!" Espo says halfway to the elevator.
At the last second Rick darts through the closing doors.
"So what did Henry say?" Rick asks as they rode down the elevator.
"He did not say over the phone. He said we need to see it for ourselves, Bro." Espo says in a curt manner.
Rick was silent but reviewing all the possibilities even up to the point he walks through the doors of the Autopsy.
"Hello Henry, What did you find?" Rick asks eagerly.
"Hello Rick, You must be detective Esposito? I think we met on a peripheral case awhile back. It is good to meet you again." Henry says.
"Yeah I recall" Espo says hoping the formalities are over.
"Well Gentleman…Have you met Detective Jo Martinez? She has a parallel investigation." Henry says as he makes the introductions.
"I see" Rick says as he spies Henry gowning up.
"Henry is our victim contagious?" Rick asks.
"Well yes and no. Mr. DeLorca is no longer contagious. However, what I found is. Are you coming gentlemen?" Henry says.
Espo looks at Rick.
"I'm going to stay out here Bro. Go see what the good doctor has found." Espo says.
"Good Idea detective, I wouldn't want to go in there either…very scary stuff " Lucas says.
"Lucas, that is enough…Help Mr. Castle with his gown and air line will you please." Henry instructs.
Rick gets gowned then steps through the plastic curtain.
"So first we will go to our victim. He was recently in a fight. Notice the contusions on both arms and knuckles. From that we go to the spleen. It is covered in lesions. Now to say he died because of a blow to the spleen would be premature. Yes technically it was the last in a long chain of events which ended Mr. DeLorca's life. But let's go the beginning." Henry says.
"Ok so what was the cause for the beginning?" Rick asks.
Well to see that we need to turn the body. Would you assist me? Henry asks.
Rick helps turn the body as Henry readjusted the light on the victim's rear.
As you can see there are potmarks all across the surface. Our victim here had oily skin thus he has many boils and in grown hairs. However, one in particular had a much stranger core than usual as you can see my incision here. It yields a startling result. Come on Rick we need not to look at poor Mr. DeLorca anymore." Henry coaxes as they exit the sterile field and started the decontamination process.
Soon Rick is now dressed and enters Henry's office. Henry stops then points at the microscope.
Rick peers into the microscope and gasps.
"Is that…" Rick says being astonished.
A Soviet aged poison pellet? Why yes it is. I saw one of these once a long time ago. That was in medical school. The cadaver was donated anonymously. It had one of these in it too. Later I learnt that the cadaver was delivered by accident. Some gov't agency came then took him away. However, I had done a tox screen on him before he was carted away. That man died of Polonium 210 poisoning. It was quite popular assassin weapon. However, this pellet was at least 25 to 30 years old. If you look here Mr. DeLorca's body encapsulated it. Thus it was preserved. However, the tox screen came back with some Polonium but not enough to kill him. No what really killed him was exposure to a virulent strain of the flu. I would have to say he contracted it maybe several months ago maybe more." Henry remarks. "However, our victim did not have long to live. The cancer to the lung would have kept him in constant pain. Perhaps another week if he did not succumb to his injuries." Henry states.
"So this flu have you seen it before?" Rick asks.
"Yes…I saw in on the victims of that train contamination before the CDC sealed it." Henry says.
"So which was the killing strike the cancer or the blow?" Espo asks.
"Well without the fight he might have dropped dead anyway. So the blow hastened what already was in motion." Henry says.
"Thanks Doc…Come on Bro…we need to get back to the 12th." Espo says.
"Thank you Henry… Are we on for dinner tomorrow night?" Rick asks.
"Yes we are…May I bring a date? I mean other than Abe?" Henry asks.
"Yes Henry, bring whomever you want. I will see you there. Remember it is at the loft. Abe knows the way he brought over our purchases. I have to say they complement the room completely." Rick says.
"Great Rick I'll see you there." Henry says looking out the door at Jo then dips his head.
She responds by looking away. Rick notices this exchange and says nothing. The ride back to the precinct was short but silent.
\\\\\
They arrive in the bull pen. Tom accosts them.
"Officer Brady what is going on?" Rick asks.
"The Captain wants you two in her office pronto." He says as he escorts them to the Captain's office.
Tom knocks on the door then opens and allows both Espo and Rick to enter. He closes the door then goes to sit next to Detective Ryan.
"What do you think that powwow in the Captain's office is about Detective?" Tom asks.
"I don't know I just got back myself. Who is in the office?" Ryan asks.
"Some guy from the AG office, a Guy from Homeland Security and a Special FBI agent." Tom replies.
Sully listening in is holding an ice pack to his head, Whistles.
"That is a number of firepower in there. Something is up." Sully says.
"Wait what are you doing out here? Aren't you concussed or something?" Ryan asks.
"No I guess I have a pretty hard head. Lanie cleared me but I still need to keep ice on my swelling." Sully says as he starts to arrange his things on Kate's old desk.
Ryan noticed Rick's chair was now next to Espo's. He wonders how long would it be before Rick learns the error and place it a different location. Espo is a bit filled with prickles recently. He hopes his partner changes his attitude soon.
/
Rick looks at the assembled people seated around Kate's Desk. First was Special Agent Will Sorenson from the FBI. Who stood up to shake his hand.
"Hello Writer Monkey I see you made an honest woman out of Kate here, Congratulations." Will says shaking his hand.
"Er Thanks" Rick replies.
Next up was Special Agent Stark from the AG office.
"Congratulations Rick You old dog you." He says as he too shakes his hand.
"Ok" Rick says looking around a bit confused as Espo has a smirk on his face.
Last to rise was Special Agent Mark Fallon from Homeland Security.
"Well Rick we meet again oh congratulation on the wedding." He says hugging the other man.
"Well Thanks man…So why are you all here? I am sure it is not about just congratulating me which is fine if you did do that." Rick asks as Kate rolls her eyes at her husband.
Special Agent Sorenson takes the lead.
"Well we need NYPD's cooperation. You do recall that terrorist attack in the subway?" Will asks.
"Yeah…It costs this dept a Captain. I know about it" Rick says angrily.
"Rick sit down…Honey, It is not over…It has just begun." Kate warns.
"I know you were missing. We have tracked you. You ended up in the Congo with this Man." AG officer Stark says pulling out the picture of Lance deLorca.
Rick is confused.
"You were exposed to a deadly virus there. You survived. Why you were there is up to debate. However, we then track you to Montreal from there to a dinghy off the Maryland Coast. We know you do not remember but we have an intercept courtesy of the CIN. We want to play it for you." Will says.
"Col this is El Cobra…The package is hot…Repeat the package is hot. Made contact with Rick Castle. He is infected, request assistance in Congo." The voice says.
"This voice is identified as Lance de Lorca…" Stark says.
"Rick, Lance was waiting for you when he got attacked. You are mixed up in this whole plot." Mark says.
"What is this plot?" Espo asks.
The men finally turn to Espo.
"What I am going to reveal now is a matter of national security. It seems the bio terror threat to NY is not over. Rick here has tested positive to the antidote. This disease is still somewhere in the city. We assume he was treated in Montreal where this vaccine is created." The AG agent says.
"We only have a small window to find those vials before NYC becomes uninhabitable." Mark says.
"Well we might have a clue. De Lorca was convinced the Actor who played El Jefe was involved. Right now we have no proof other than what De Lorca confided to his Son and Brock Harmon." Rick says.
"Good continue your investigations. We will be monitoring in a parallel investigation." Stark says.
They all stand then file out the door. This leaves Rick and Espo in the Captain's office.
"Ok guys what have you found?" Kate asks.
Rick speaks first then finishes with what Henry said cause of death is.
Espo listens intently.
"Espo, do you have anything to add?" Kate asks.
"Only that the doc is right he was in a fight just before dying. Tori has a video of seven guys jumping him. Tori is doing facial recognitions. She might have something by now, Captain." Espo says.
"What about Ryan and Sully?" Kate asks.
"They are going to the SRO to investigate his last known address." Espo says.
"Ok well continue but keep me in the loop ok? I certainly do not want to lose any of you too." Kate says. "I'll inform the Chief and Commissioner."
The meeting ends as Rick gets a cryptic text.
"Excuse me but I need to go…I'll see you at the loft later." Rick says as he gets up then leaves.
Kate watches him leave with a deep pain in her stomach.
\\\\\
Rick walks away from the building then hails a cab. He changes cab in an underground structure. He looks for any tail. He sees none. He finally gets dropped off across from the west entrance of Central Park. Rick tucks a newspaper under his arm. He crosses under a few overpasses then emerge at a bench by the boat house. There are a few pigeons scattering as he sits down then raises the newspaper. He rustles it loudly in case there were any mics about. He also removed his cell phone battery then stuffed it into a faraday cage. Another action he did was buy new clothes then place all those in another faraday cage. Also he wore a hat and glasses. He never looks around. He follows all the rules his father has taught him to thwart any surveillance. He continues to read and rustle the paper.
A Bum looking in the trash can looks over at him as Rick continue to read the newspaper. Rick finishes then leaves the newspaper behind. He walks a different route then at one of the underpass Rick is pulled quite suddenly through a door. There is a long ladder the person who grabbed him motion for him to go down. The man is that same bum. The Bum does not say a word but shows Rick he is armed. Rick follows the ladder down. It stops in a tunnel. The bum motions to go left and into the dark. Rick is worried.
"Is it happening again? Am I to be never seen again? What will this do to Kate? Why do I let my father persuade me into doing these sorts of things?"
Rick stumbles in the dark. The bum pushes a night vision goggles on his head then switches them on. At least Rick can see as the bum urges Rick onward. Rick is mentally counting his steps. At the 2333rd step the Bum stops and signals him to also. There is a faint rumbling as if a Subway train was passing by. A faint light appears overhead as Rick removes the night goggles. The bum is gone.
"So are you here?" Rick yells into the darkness surrounding him.
There is no reply other than a tapping noise which is getting closer and louder. Finally the noise stops. Rick peers into the gloom. Then a silhouette of a man appears.
"So are you ok?" The voice asks in a whispered tone.
"Yes, no thanks to you!" Rick says visibly annoyed.
"Patience Son…Precautions must be made. Would it surprise you that there were 7 different trackers in your clothes? I do not know who is your tailor but I certainly would complain." The man says. "They sure think you have something to do with this bad business."
"Cut the crap Dad why am I here? Why did I see you at the funeral and what were you discussing with the Mafia?" Rick asks.
"All in good time Son in good time…I just wanted to see you are well for myself. That Jenkins kept his word. Then I will answer your questions." The voice says.
"Ok Dad you can see I am well so what is going on? What did you get me mixed up into?" Rick asks.
"Fair enough…You have been briefed about the virus. Well the Mafia families own the ports. They know everything that comes and goes. We were looking for a specific container. They knew of it but by the time we got it set aside it was empty. The vials and cryogenic container is gone. There has to have been a switch made just after loading. We found a trap door so that the container below it had someone in it to crawl in into the container then leave with the package." He says.
"So you lost it too? Lance De Lorca is the key Dad he was exposed to the virus. Let me continue my investigation. I am sure I will find his killer and the vials." Rick says.
"Ok Son I will do it your way. Remember I'm always watching my family." He says as he retreats into the darkness.
The light above goes out and Rick can see the outline of a door. Rick stumbles toward it. He finds the handle. It opens easily. He is at the 7th St Station for Central Park. It is the right subway to take him to the loft. Rick looks at the clock in the station is read 5:50 in bright red numbers. Rick calculates he still can beat Kate home plus start the evening meal.