Close Encounters 6
"That's far enough," Beckett said coldly. The gun was steady in her hand. She'd taken one of Castle's own - an unmarked piece, no numbers - just in case.
Bracken was keeping whatever he felt very close. "What is it you want, Ms Beckett?"
The kitchen was dark; the fundraiser was a meet and greet only. No need for caterers, no possible chances for injections or food poisoning. She had to end this here.
"What I want is the truth," she croaked out, felt the shimmer of her anger waking once more. She'd come here to end it, to finally end it, but she felt the dark hole of her life opening up once more. "I want you to admit what you've done. Raglan, McCallister, Montgomery. My mother."
"Don't think you'll ever get the truth out of a politician," he laughed. "But you should already know what it feels like to be given a cover story, right? You and your CIA boyfriend."
Her heart thundered in her head, but the gun was steady. "You had my mother killed-"
"I'm just a guy trying to do right, trying to do great things for this city. Just as you've done great things. When I was a teenager, I found one of my friends dead in his apartment - his mother had killed him and his sister, then hanged herself. She'd left a note: she'd lost her job, was being evicted, she couldn't keep the family together-"
"What the fuck does this have to do with anything?" she growled, stepping closer in her fury. That calculated look came to Bracken's eyes and she halted, realized he was playing her for time.
"I knew then I wanted to make people's lives better. People just like her, who were so desperate and at the end of their rope that they felt like death was their only option. I've created jobs in this city, I've started work programs in those same neighborhoods where my friend was murdered by his own mother."
"Are you justifying yourself to me?" she hissed, realized she had started forward once more. She took a breath and fought hard to resist the impulse to go ahead and do it, murder him right here. "My mother was stabbed. In an alley. On your order. She bled to death on a pile of garbage. So save the campaign speech about the great things you've done."
Bracken had his hands carefully out, like he was placating her, and it occurred to her just then that Bracken was waiting for someone to come upon them, find them like this, that she looked crazy and wild-eyed while he seemed serene and in control.
"You seem a little unhinged there, Ms Beckett. And who are you, anyway? A disgraced former-detective who has been known to spiral uncontrollably into your mother's case."
"You put out a contract on our lives."
"So you say. I'm the Senator from New York. I'm the one who's always looking out for the little guy, who's built playgrounds in vacant lots and required landlords to get their tenements up to code. That's who the public sees. That's what they'll see if you come at me."
"I have the power here. And I have a demand - you recall your order to have us killed."
"Take it back?" he laughed. "Are we children on a playground? Not going to happen, Ms Beckett. I won't let you or anyone else get in my way."
"You're in no position to threaten me," she said coldly, backing up another step as she regained her purpose.
"I'm in the perfect position," he smiled.
She narrowed her eyes, quickly scanned the exits once more. She had the gun here, she had to remain in control. She didn't know how much time she'd have before the guys on surveillance noticed Bracken was gone.
"It's not about who has the gun, Ms Beckett. Clearly you've underestimated-"
"Before you start making speeches again," she said, taking a long breath in to find her center. "Maybe you should hear what I have to say. The CIA has a plan in place to take you out, Senator. I believe you've made a very nasty enemy over there."
Bracken shut his mouth.
She smirked. "Do I have your attention?"
"You do have a gun pointed at me," he said calmly.
"What I'm proposing is a trade. I'll call off the CIA when you cancel the contract on our lives."
"Yours and your boyfriend's."
"He will kill you," she said slowly. "My boyfriend? He will make it painful and he will enjoy it. He's a CIA agent, Senator. You think he can't kill you a hundred different ways and never be caught? Now imagine the people and resources he has behind him. More than that. Imagine the very pissed off man whose appointment you're blocking."
Bracken folded his arms over his chest and studied her. "Contract for contract." He gave her a half-curled smile and her guts churned at the damn confidence on his face. "I don't think so. CIA doesn't have authority on US soil, and you just gave me the names of those who are threatening a US Senator's life. You have no power here, Ms Beckett. I suggest you run along."
Bracken turned his back on her, like she was nothing, and she steadied her stance and called out to him.
"I have the file."
Bracken paused.
"Smith had another copy."
Bracken turned slowly towards her.
"Bank account number 0862241. You deposit your money orders there, for your contract killers. So you're right. It's not about who's holding the gun. It's about who has the power. And right now, I could release the file and destroy you."
His hands clenched into fists, but she wasn't even close to being finished.
"But what does that mean for my life expectancy? Or my boyfriend's? So here's what's going to happen. The deal you had with Smith - that's our deal now."
Bracken's lips curled.
She shook her head shortly. "But anything happens to me, or anyone I care about, the file goes public. And if you think I mean the media, you're mistaken. The CIA and the FBI and the Secret Service's Joint Task Force gets the full copy, and they come after you. Hard. Am I clear?"
She could see the glitter of calculation in his eyes as he tried to come up with a loophole. But she'd gone over it and over it all evening, planned it as she'd traveled here.
"That's a yes or no question, Senator."
Bracken ground his teeth and his fists released. "Yes."
"Let's make sure you have it," she said carefully. "Tell it back to me."
"The contracts are cancelled. You're protected so long as that file doesn't see the light of day. Or any secret agencies."
She brought the weapon down and stepped closer now, glad for the way he studied her like he didn't know what came next. "Me and those I care about. My father, my team, Richard Castle. Everyone on my side."
"I got it," he groused out, eyes flint-like and cold. "You just stay on your side, you hear me?"
"One more thing," she said quietly, steel in her voice. "Whatever you think of me, whoever you think I am, you have no idea. Obsessed? You don't know the half of it. And now I've a whole army on my side, Senator. It's your turn to be afraid."
She felt the burn of the scar at her back, the way it still pulled and stretched, the way her chest was tight in the cold. And then she felt the heft of the gun in her hand and she raised it, let him see it coming.
She pistol whipped him with the butt of her gun, same spot Esposito had punched Castle.
He held his hand to his cheek and she saw the blood glistening.
"That's gonna leave a scar. Every time you see it, think of me."
And then she headed back through the bowels of the kitchen, her blood making her body pulse and jerk, alive with the thrill of getting him back - even that, even one superficial wound.
She wasn't done. This wasn't over.
But for now-
"I'm sorry, Agent Castle. You have to check your sidearm."
He let out a growl and scraped his hand down his jaw. "Look, two NYPD detectives are following. They'll be here in minutes. But I don't have that time. I have to get to the senator."
Before Beckett killed him.
"Sir. I'm sorry. You're not on the approved list."
What was with this woman? "Esposito and Ryan are right behind me. I swear."
But she was reolsute.
"Fine," he growled. She flinched, but he only snapped open his holster and tugged the weapon out. Castle grabbed her hand and slapped his gun into her palm. "Now, I've got to get to the senator. It's a matter of life and death."
"Detective Beckett is already-"
He was three strides away from her but he jerked back at the mention of Kate's name. "Beckett is here. You let her through?"
The officer nodded.
"You see where-"
"The ballroom was the last I saw her."
Castle made a beeline for the back ballroom, following her pointing finger, and darted through the crowd, elbowing people out of his way. He tried to be subtle, but fuck subtle, he could not let Beckett kill the senator.
He'd fucking stand in front of the man if that's what it took.
Castle scanned the busy room, the noise and chatter crackling through him like static. The front podium was empty and the chairs behind it were filled but for one. No Bracken.
Fuck. Fuck, she could not have killed him.
She wouldn't, right? She wouldn't kill him. She'd been so damn-
There he was. Bracken. Hustled out from what looked like a back hallway, a fresh butterfly bandage over one cheek. Ice was in one hand but he was being led so quickly by his security team and handlers that he had no time to use it.
And then they were opening a back door and pushing right through.
Oh, God.
What had Kate done? What had Bracken done to her?
He made for that back hallway at a run.
When she rounded the corner of a back hall and was out of sight, Beckett fell back against the wall and let out a shaky breath, closing her eyes. Shit. She'd hit him. He deserved it but still.
She'd been waiting for this day since her mother's murder thirteen years ago, and even if it hadn't been the way she'd dreamed it, it was huge. It was. . .she wished Castle had been there.
"Detective Beckett."
Kate jerked upright at the new voice, her heart tumbling. She turned her head and there in the red light of the exit was Agent Black.
"Drop your weapon," Agent Black said coldly and she saw the Sig pointed at her heart.
She slowly lowered her gun to the floor, mouth dry.
"Kick it to one side."
Fuck. Kate tapped it with her shoe and heard it skitter entirely too far away.
She should've known it would come to this.
"You just can't be contained," Black said, his eyes dead. "You've corrupted my son, and now you've destroyed everything I've sought after for the last forty years. I'm done working around you."
He pushed open the exit door and jerked his head for her to follow.
"Time to end this, Beckett."