Author's Note: I would like to thank phnxgrl, southerngirl1, MaineCastle, Chkgun93, and TORONTOSUN for their reviews. We're starting up right where the last chapter left off. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

Beckett walked into the morgue eleven minutes later. "You're late."

She glanced at her watch. "I'm only late by a minute."

"You're still late."

Beckett leveled a playful glare at her best friend. "What do you have for me?"

Lanie picked up three reports and flipped open the top one. "First victim is Roberto DeSable. Hispanic male, 29. Long rap sheet, but you can read that yourself. COD is being run over by a subway train. We managed to recover more of him once the train was moved, but he was pretty mangled. If his DNA wasn't on file from one of his many arrests, he would have been a John Doe."

"So it was the train that killed him, not the third rail?"

"That's correct. Most of his pieces didn't show signs of electrocution, so that's my best guess." She handed Beckett the first report and opened the second, moving to stand next to a slab. "Moving on; second victim is James Kenway, white male, 27. I fished four bullets out of him. I sent them to Ballistics, but there really isn't a question of who shot him. Esposito said I.A. had already cleared you guys?"

"Yeah. A cop getting shot tends to speed up that process."

"I'll bet." Lanie handed Beckett the second folder and opened the last one. "We assumed Alex must have been interrupted. Now I know she was."

Beckett followed Lanie to "The Hammer's" slab. "What'd you find?"

"Normally she partially severs both the inferior vena cava and the abdominal aorta artery. This time she only hit the inferior vena cava."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means it took him longer to bleed out. I also found GSR on his hand."

Beckett nodded. "That matches Esposito's theory."

Lanie handed her the last report. "I've sent his picture to Ryan. Maybe you'll get lucky and I.D. him."

"Fingers crossed." Beckett turned to go.

"Hey, before you go. Have you had a doctor check you out yet?"

"Lanie, I'm fine. It's just a bruise."

Lanie took Beckett's arm. "Let me take a look. I don't want you on my slab later because it wasn't looked at."

Beckett followed Lanie into her office. "While we're doing this, can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course. What's on your mind?"

Beckett leaned against Lanie's desk. "Is it bad that I almost don't want to catch Alex?"

Lanie had lifted her friend's shirt and was gently touching the bruise. "Have you talked to Castle about this?"

Beckett sucked in a breath then spoke through clenched teeth. "I have a feeling he'd agree with me. It doesn't help to wonder about something if he'll take my side. So, do you think it's a bad thing?"

"That depends. What's your reason?"

"It seems that ever since we figured out she was The Shadow Fox, she's started to target just the bad guys. I mean…I know it's not justice, but it is helping to clean up the city."

Lanie looked confused. "Are you saying you approve of her methods?"

"What? No, of course not. I'm just not sure if arresting her is the best thing to do right now. She's been protecting me. Why? I don't know. But what if she's protecting Castle too? His life is in danger."

Lanie shrugged. "Well, I can see where you're coming from. But you're also a cop. It's your duty to arrest her."

"But is it a bad thing that I don't want to?"

Lanie lowered her friend's shirt and looked down, thinking. "I don't think it's a bad thing. If Javi's life was in danger, I'd want to do everything I could to protect him. However, I don't think you really have a choice."

Beckett nodded. "I know. Thanks for letting me vent."

Lanie smiled. "I'm always here when you need to talk. All you have to do is open your mouth."

"So what's my diagnosis?"

"Take it easy. No field work that involves chasing someone down or tackling them. Let the boys or some uniforms take care of that stuff. Doctor's orders."

"Yes ma'am." Beckett pushed off the desk and collected the folders. "I'd better get these upstairs."

"I'll see if I can find anything to help I.D. The Hammer."

"Thanks Lanie." Beckett returned to the bullpen to see Castle and Esposito in the Conference Room with the files and Ryan at his desk running The Hammer's face through facial recognition. She made a pit stop at the board to update it and then joined her fiancé in the Conference Room. "Find anything yet?"

"Nothing to identify who The Hammer is. Ryan will probably have better luck." Esposito set down the file he'd been reading and stretched. "Good news is that The Hammer was a local. None of the cases he's associated with are out of state. Few are outside the city."

"That is good. Ballistics on the guns you found come back yet?"

He tossed her a file. "Came back a few minutes ago. All the guns were either reported stolen by their owners well before they were used, or they belonged to Hammer's victims." The phone at his desk rang. "Excuse me."

Castle set down the file he was reading. "You were down in the morgue for a while. Everything okay?"

Beckett nodded. "Lanie wanted to do a checkup and I had to talk to her about something."

"Wedding?"

She shook her head. "No, Alex. We'll talk about it tonight."

Ryan turned in his chair to look at them. "Got something." Beckett and Castle went to his desk. "Meet Jerome Spencer, a.k.a. The Hammer. This is the guy down in the morgue."

"Nice work, Ryan. What do we know about him?"

"He has a sealed juvie record. Arrested once for assault during a bar fight; served six months inside, plus a one year probation after he was released. Since then, he's pretty clean."

"Probably got smart and learned how to stay off the radar." Castle tilted his head back in thought. "What is it with the hammers he leaves behind at the scenes?"

Beckett turned to her fiancé. "Does it matter?"

"Well, there's a story there. Every killer that leaves a signature has a reason to do so. So what was Spencer's?"

Esposito hung up the phone. "Maybe he wanted to be known as The Hammer."

"Maybe. Doesn't seem quite right though. I think it's a way to send a message. Maybe he's saying, 'I brought down the hammer.'" He paused to think about it. "No, that doesn't seem right either."

"Whatever the reason, The Hammer has been identified, so those cases are closed now." Beckett glanced at her watch. "It's getting late. I say we wrap up for the night, start again in the morning."

Esposito finished writing his note. "One more thing before we do. Ballistics is running the bullets from the ceiling and the shootout now. Hopefully the bullets in the ceiling will match a gun we collected."

"That would be nice." Beckett looked at the crime scene photos. "There isn't a gun near Spencer when this was taken, and no gun was found on the tracks with DeSable; maybe Kenway was using it to shoot at us."

Ryan pulled on his coat. "Well, I say we figure that out in the morning. Night guys."

After dinner that night, Kate and Rick found themselves on the couch. Kate was curled into his side, her glass of wine sitting forgotten on the coffee table. Rick sat by her side in silence, stroking her arm. He knew there was something she wanted to talk about, but he was letting her set the pace. He'd been doing that ever since her father died; she was the one to dictate the speed at which they dealt with things as long as she didn't shut him out. She smiled inside. Rick's patience with her made her realize, once again, just how much he loved her. She wished she'd had a friend like him when her mother died; maybe then she wouldn't have internalized everything.

Rick cleared his throat, signaling that the sitting in silence couldn't continue. "So, you had something to talk about? What's going on?"

She sighed. "I'm not really sure I want to arrest Alex. Not yet, at least."

"Is it because of the guardian angel thing?"

"Yeah. Lately, she's only been targeting bad guys. I know what she's doing is illegal, that's not a question, but is it really so different from what your father does?"

Rick paused to think about it. "My father does what he does for the government. The CIA tells him who to kill or what to do, and he finds a way to do it. Alex is either doing this on her own, or she's working for The Gentleman. For all we know, he's the one who sent her to kill The Hammer."

"I hadn't thought about that."

"I understand where your mind is at though. Arresting Alex may mean that we lose the protection she's been providing or that your father's killer doesn't get caught quickly. Whatever it means, I don't think we shouldn't at least try to find her. You don't want to willingly let her go. A move like that could kill your entire career, not to mention your reputation and credibility as a cop."

Kate sighed. "I know."

"I understand your reasons, I really do. But you're a cop. It is your job to arrest her, no matter how much you may not want to."

Kate nodded. "You're right."

"Now I've got a question for you."

"What?"

Rick shifted so he could look her in the eye. "At the crime scene, you seemed to be in a hurry to get out of there even before you'd been shot. What was going on?"

Kate looked down. "I was seeing my dad on that floor. It was a flashback to finding him like that."

"That's what I thought." He paused, studying her face for her tells. "Are you sure you're okay with being back?"

He thought he saw a flicker of something, but it was gone as she raised her head to look at him. "I'm fine. It was just a little too familiar. I'm fine."

"Kate, I'm just trying to take care of you. I don't like it when your walls go up and you shut me out. Please don't shut me out completely."

She reached out and cupped his cheek. "I'm okay. Am I one hundred percent? No. But I can handle this case. The crime scene caught me by surprise, that's all. Trust me."

"I do."

She kissed him gently. "Thank you for listening."

"Always."

Her phone started to ring from the bedroom. "Who could be calling me right now?" She stood up.

Rick followed her. "Are you on call tonight?"

"No." She looked at the screen. "It's Jenny. Hello?"

"Kate? Kate, you have to come quickly! He took Kevin!"

"Slow down Jenny. Who took Kevin?"

"I don't know, some man. Kevin had just come home with the groceries and opened the door when this guy slammed him into the doorway and grabbed his gun. I just froze; I didn't know what to do."

"Jenny, I'm on my way. Call 911 and tell them what happened. I'll call Javi and have him come down. Are the girls safe?"

"Yes, they're fine. I'd already put them down for the night. Oh Kate, what am I going to tell them?"

"Don't worry about that just yet. Do what I told you, I'm coming." She hung up. "Someone abducted Ryan when he got home tonight."

Castle headed for the front door. "I'm coming with you."

Beckett followed him, grabbing the coat he tossed her. "Never thought you weren't."

They pulled on their coats as they breezed out the door. Castle locked up in record time and they ran to the elevator. Beckett called Esposito while they waited for the lift, letting him know what had happened. Before she'd finished the story, he'd promised to be there as soon as he could. The lift arrived and the couple boarded it, Beckett pocketing her phone and Castle hitting the button for the parking level.

Beckett and Castle arrived at Ryan's building as the blue and whites were arriving. Beckett flashed her badge and the uniforms nodded, letting the couple join them in the elevator to the apartment. The elevator stopped on the fifth floor and everyone got off. Blue painter's tape was stretched across the hall a few feet from both sides of Ryan's apartment and a bag of groceries had spilled in the doorway.

Jenny poked her head out of the apartment when she heard them get close. "I tried to tape off the scene so it wouldn't get contaminated. I didn't touch anything else."

Beckett ducked under the tape and pulled Jenny into a hug. "You did the right thing. Has anything happened since Ryan was taken?"

She shook her head, sobbing. "No, nothing. Kate, why did this happen?"

"I don't know. Tell me everything that happened…"

Beckett trailed off as the phone started to ring. Jenny turned toward it in surprise and then ran to it, checking the caller I.D. as she picked it up. She looked up at Beckett and then back at the phone in silence.

"Jenny, who is it?"

"It's Ryan."

"Answer it."

She nodded and hit the accept button. "Hello?"

A/N: Aaannnddd...another cliffhanger. Sorry about that (okay, maybe I'm not...). If you have a theory about what's going to happen, leave it in the comment box below. Thanks!