Kidnapped Ch.23
'Hand me everything in that box, and nobody would get hurt,' the man declared, his eyes shining maliciously through the holes in his mask.
Kate hesitated, feeling as though her heart was being torn into two. Here she was, with the information that could put her mother's murderer behind bars for the rest of his life in her hands. Yet, if she did give it up, the man could easily hurt her or the people that she loved.
As if sensing her inner struggle, the man immediately jerked the closest person to him into a sitting position, and raised his gun to his temple. Kate's heart plummeted all the way down to her stomach. The man with a gun to his head was Castle.
'Let him go,' Kate told him, her gun trained on his heart, as she struggled to keep her voice calm and even. She began to inch along towards him, but stopped, as her bulging 29-weeks pregnant stomach had stopped her from being as stealthy as she wished to be.
'I told you, detective, and I will only repeat this one last time. Give me the contents of the box and you can have your boy back,' the man told her. He pushed down on the gun, applying a larger pressure to Castle's temple. 'Oh, and detective, put the gun down. We most certainly do not want my hand to accidently slip and pull the trigger, do we?'
Kate glanced at the unconscious Castle, and slowly began to lower her weapon. She would not gamble with his life, not for anything at all.
'Good job, detective. Now, I would like the box. My boss will be very happy to have those,' the man told her, his voice smooth and laden with victory.
'These won't be going to Bracken anytime soon,' Kate told him, her voice low and determined.
'Detective, do you not understand my very simple deal? You give the box, and I will leave them safe and sound. You refuse to give me the contents, and they will hurt – a lot. So let's stop with these games and give it to me. Now,' the man told Kate in a no-nonsense voice. 'So, be a good girl, or else –'
With deadly accuracy, Esposito punched the guy from the back of his head. With all of the man's attention focused on Kate, he had neglected to sense that Esposito had already come round, and had been right behind him.
Letting out a large breath of relief, Kate gave Esposito a small smile, and Esposito nodded back.
Kicking the gun away, Esposito pulled the ski mask off the man's face, and began systematically checking his pockets, turning them inside out.
'No ID. We have nothing to identify him,' Esposito told Kate when she got off the phone with dispatch, having called for backup and EMT.
'Well, I didn't expect him to carry an ID with him,' Kate told him, but a small twinge of disappointment could still be seen on her face. 'You did good, Espo.'
'Hmm… I'm always the best,' a small mumble could be heard, and they both turned around to see Castle sitting up, looking disoriented, with Ryan next to him.
'Sure you are, babe, sure you are,' Kate told him, giving him a peck on his cheek after he stood up. 'How are you feeling?'
'Shouldn't I be asking you that question?' Castle frowned, pulling her closer to him and placing a hand on her pregnancy bump. 'What happened?'
'Well, I'm not the one who got knocked out by the guy, and that's not important,' Kate retorted, and Castle smiled, throwing a quick glance to their attacker.
'Fair enough. He got me on the head hard,' Castle told her, pouting.
Examining his head, Kate nodded. 'Probably nothing bad, but you will have a pretty bruise on your head tomorrow.'
'It hurts a lot, though,' Castle whined childishly, and his eyes brightened slightly. 'You will kiss it better, though, won't you?'
'You are such a child,' Kate told him, shaking her head, but gave him another kiss on his soon-to-be bruise.
'But you love me anyway,' Castle smiled.
'That I do,' Kate told him. She leaned into Castle, inhaling the scent that was uniquely his, finally allowing the fact that they had escaped unscathed to sink in. She could feel her legs trembling as she imagined what would have happened if Espo didn't wake up in time to save them.
'Guys, the EMTs are here. Ryan's gone to get checked out,' Esposito told them, interrupting their moment.
'Castle, go get your head checked out,' Kate told him, pulling away, and Castle frowned.
'But you've already kissed it better,' he protested. Kate gave him her patented eye-roll, and he went off immediately.
'That's goes for you too, Espo,' Kate told him, turning her stern gaze onto him.
'Beckett, I'm made of sterner stuff than those two,' Esposito protested, but Kate arched her eyebrows as she continued to stare at him.
'Should I ring up Lanie and ask her for her professional opinions?' Kate asked with a smirk. Lanie, being an ME, would obviously fear the worst and drag him off to some hospital for a full body check, and Kate was quite sure that Esposito would not want that to happen.
'Fine,' Esposito grumbled under his breath as he walked back towards the EMTs.
Making sure that the three of them were occupied by the EMTs, Kate ducked behind the wall to take care of the attacker. As she was fastening handcuffs onto the still knocked-out guy, her mind was far away. This had gotten too close to home. Images from her kidnappings were floating through her mind, and she struggled to hold them back. It was as if a dam had broken, and she had no control of her flow of thoughts.
Taking yet another deep shuddering breath, she noticed a shadow had obstructed her view. Smiling, she looked up, expecting to see Castle back from his checkup, only to stare right into the metal barrel of yet another gun.
Its owner stood over her, smirking. Gritting her teeth, the name that she so desperately loathed rolled off her tongue with a heavy coating of bitterness, loathing, and disgust.
'Bracken.'
A/N: I know, still a short chapter, but you will have to put up with it for a little longer. I'm responding well to the medication, but I am still not back to my full strength yet, but I am back to school already, which is very draining for me. So the next couple of chapters will be about this length as well, and then we should go back to the normal length.
I hope that you like this chapter. I know I should be studying for my business test which I have tomorrow morning, but writing fanfiction seems to be a much better use of my time.
As usual, PLEASE REVIEW! Criticisms are much appreciated, but no flamers please.
This chapter is dedicated to Bianca tabbycat for being the most marvelous beta ever, and to my lovely boarding house mistress, who was spending time with me to make sure that I am responding well to the medication over the weekend.