Kidnapped Ch.6

Her legs froze up at the sound behind her as she ducked. The man gave a chuckle as he walked closer to her and snatched her arm in his hard grip. A shot of adrenalin coursed through Kate's body and she started to struggle, but the man slapped her sharply, and her struggles slowed as she fell on the ground.

'Let this be a lesson to you, detective,' the man told her threateningly, as he raised his gun towards her head. For the first time, Kate Beckett felt defeat in her body. The man standing in front of her had no ski mask on, and she could see his face, clear as the blue sky over her. His copper-colored skin glinted in the sunlight, and his facial features were all clearly etched in her mind. If she ever escaped, she could easily identify him out of a line-up, but these men would obviously do anything to avoid being caught and brought into custody. Closing her eyes, she braced herself for the stinging pain of a bullet. Images of Castle and Alexis floated through her mind, and she almost smiled; her last thoughts would be of the people who loved her. The cocking of the gun could be heard as she drew in a deep breath – her last one.

The sound of a gunshot resonated throughout the small street, and a scream pierced through the air. A woman living nearby was woken from her peaceful nap by the gunshot and rushed over to the phone, her voice shaking as she reported what she heard.

'Lanie. What's up?' Javier Esposito greeted as he picked up his phone. His voice was much surlier than usual, and his worry was so dark and heavy that it showed even over the phone.

The leads on Kate's case were getting cold, and they were nowhere near finding her. Esposito and Ryan both looked stressed, but their frustration was nothing compared to Richard Castle's. A whole week without seeing his wife, hearing her voice, or simply knowing whether she was alive or not was taking a major toll on him. Heavy bags under his eyes are now a permanent fixture on his face, and he seemed to have aged years in less than a week.

'Javi, get Ryan and Castle down to the morgue now. There is something that you've got to see,' Lanie told him, no trace of humor in her voice, and he agreed immediately. Something in her voice told him that whatever it was she had to tell them, it was something serious, and it scared her to death.

Quickly getting the other two guys, the three men headed down to the morgue, apprehension lurking in their minds, whispering dreaded scenarios from their previous cases. Lanie was pacing around in the morgue with a sheet of paper in her hands. She looked up as the men entered the room, and she quickly made her way to Esposito. Burying her face in his chest, she allowed the tears to leak out of her eyes and she silently handed the sheet of paper to Ryan and Castle. Scanning the paper quickly, Ryan looked up, his face as white as a sheet.

'Lanie, what is this?' Ryan asked, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was.

'Couple hours ago, a woman heard a gunshot from somewhere near where she lived. When officers arrived, they found some blood on the ground, and a bullet embedded in the pavement. CSU got a hit on the blood. It was Kate's,' Lanie told them, her voice slightly hoarse from tears.

'How much blood was there?' Castle asked, his voice shaking as he voiced out the question on everyone's mind, which no one dared to ask. 'Was Kate… shot?'

'A friend of mine at the crime lab told me that it was a low velocity blood spatter. If she was shot, it would have been high velocity blood spatter. So no. She was not shot. The woman must have heard a warning shot,' Lanie told them. 'There is also only minimal amount of blood on the ground, so she should still be fine.'

'Where is it, Lanie?' Castle asked, a tiny spark of hope reentering his voice.

'193 Brookville Alley,' Lanie replied, as the boys left the morgue quickly, not wasting a single second to get to their newest lead. They were all anxious about being one step closer to find Kate Beckett and her baby and bring them both back home safely.

'What do you mean she almost escaped?' He hissed into the phone viciously, half-rising from his chair. 'I gave you all the information you need from this side. I led them round in circles. And now I have a report on my desk saying that her blood is found? That those detectives are once again closer to finding her?'

'Sir, she's back with us now. We'll be moving to another location soon, and there will be no mistakes this time,' the man on the other side of the phone answered soothingly. 'There will be no more trouble for you this time.'

'There better not be. And whatever you do, do not kill her yet. We need to know what she knows,' he told them, settling behind his desk once again. 'Also, I believe that the lady is carrying a child.'

'I understand what to do, sir,' the voice on the phone became sinister; there was a new leverage to be used against the detective.

'Remember: keep her and her child alive. They may be our ticket to this,' He told them and quickly hung up.

Castle stared dumbly at the dark brown stains spattered on the pavement. This was Kate's blood – the liquid that coursed through her veins and kept her alive. When he saw it all over Kate's body when she was shot, that was already more blood than he wanted to see. He shook his head, and tried to clear his head of those nightmarish images, but the harder he tried to push them to the back of his mind, the more they refused to leave.

He took a step back unconsciously, and looked around. The officers at the scene were all looking at him with pity, and he hated it. Esposito came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

'We'll find her, bro. This is not like last time,' Esposito told him, his voice firm and reassuring. Castle looked at him gratefully, because unlike the other officers at the scene, he did not look at him pityingly. He looked determined and convinced.

A groan could be heard from the woman curled up on a mattress in the small room. The man sitting next to her smiled as his hands reached into his pocket and closed around a small bottle. Quickly, he stood up as the woman began to open her eyes.

Kate Beckett's head was pounding, and her hand immediately went over to her still-flat abdomen. Her eyes looked confused as she wondered why she was still alive if she had been shot.

'Let that be a warning shot to you, Detective Beckett. The next time you pull something like this again, you and your baby will both die,' the man told her, smiling as he saw the look of panic that flashed across her eyes as she realized that they now knew about the baby. He pulled out the small bottle from his pocket and handed it to her.

'Would you like some prenatal vitamins? You wouldn't want your baby to suffer, do you?' He asked, smirking.

A/N: Well, no more camps this summer, as I have to start getting ready for school again. Therefore, updates will be back to Monday.

I have been feeling under the weather recently, so I am actually a little disappointed in this chapter, but I promised you all a chapter on Monday, so here you go. As usual, PLEASE REVIEW. Criticisms are much appreciated but no flamers please.

And yes, I decided to be evil and not let Kate out of their grasp yet. Come on, it is an angst story as well…

As usual, this chapter is dedicated to Bianca tabbycat for betaing for me, and also, I am dedicating this chapter to a large bunch of new friends that I have met while working in camps. You guys are all awesome.

Zoe tabbycat