Author's Note: So... I messed up big time last week. I accidentally posted this chapter instead of chapter 43 like I thought I had. I figured it out several hours later and corrected my mistake. Anyone who read this chapter last week, I'm sorry for the mix-up and please make sure you go back to chapter 43 and read that. For anyone who hasn't read this chapter already, here it is.

I'd like to thank phnxgrl, southerngirl1, TORONTOSUN, and Guest for their reviews. Guest: Yes, the chapter from that morning was a completely different chapter. Here it is again, and I hope it makes more sense this time around. This chapter starts with Castle's POV after Kate's death. Enjoy?

Chapter 44

Castle sat in his chair, tears running down his face, which was the only sign that he wasn't completely dead to the world. Volkert hadn't returned from his office space, probably celebrating with his cigar and brandy. Castle still didn't know why Volkert had been so obsessed with killing Kate. Kate. Just thinking about her brought on a fresh wave of tears. He felt empty inside. Well, maybe not completely. After all, the sequence on the bridge had been staged, so there was a chance this was all just another charade. Castle shook his head; Volkert wanted her body (he could barely think the word) brought here to verify that she was dead.

Hopelessness descended on Castle again. She couldn't be alive. Even if Alex had faked Kate's death for the camera, Kate would be killed when she arrived because Volkert would find out Alex had lied. Alex would probably die too. That thought brought a perverse pleasure to Castle. Alex deserved to die after the anguish she'd put him through. Castle's musings were interrupted by the upstairs door opening and the sound of Volkert's cheerful, but terribly off-key, humming drifted down to him.

Volkert stopped humming once he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Open the bay door. We have a present arriving." He turned to Castle and just grinned.

The doors opened long enough to admit two cars before closing behind them. One of the cars was the Dodge, though Alex wasn't driving it anymore. She was sitting in the back seat and was blindfolded, which confirmed Castle's theory that she didn't know where the warehouse was. When the car stopped, Alex took off the blindfold and stepped out, looking completely calm. Castle's breathing had become shallow again. No, please be a trick. The trunk opened and Volkert went to check it out. From his suit pocket, he produced a little machine that looked like one of those fingerprint scanners you might see on CSI. Castle couldn't see what was happening, but a few moments later, the grin on Volkert's face widened.

"Excellent. Well done. Too bad it took so long for you to complete this task. Your boyfriend would still be alive if you hadn't taken your time." Alex's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. "Place her body over there. I hear lovers like to be laid to rest next to each other."

Two of the thugs roughly grabbed Kate by the shoulders and drug her body from the car's trunk over to where Castle sat. Her body came to rest at the side of his chair; her face was pale and she obviously wasn't breathing. Even though her death had been violent, her face looked as though she was at peace, and Castle could pretend that she was simply sleeping. One of the thugs kicked her in the back, which sent her limp body rolling toward Castle until she was resting on her side, her right arm awkwardly drooping across her bloodstained back. Castle pulled against his restraints, trying to get to the man, but he didn't budge more than an inch and the thugs started laughing.

Castle was furious. "Don't you dare touch her!"

Volkert laughed as he bent down to Kate's side. "Why not? I'm sure she wouldn't mind." He grabbed her right hand and ran the palm of it down the side of his face. "Mmm, she's still warm." Castle pulled against his restraints again and Volkert laughed as he stood and dropped Kate's hand. "Bring me Vanessa. And make sure she's loaded with the hollow points." One of the thugs nodded and went to fetch the gun.

Alex sidled up to Volkert. "Are you sure you want to kill him so soon? He'd bring a handsome reward."

Volkert looked at her, instantly suspicious. "You seem to be his champion of late. Is there something going on that I'm not aware of?"

Alex laughed sarcastically. "Oh yes, Castle and I are lovers, not that Kate knew that." Alex's tone became cold again. "I was engaged to Sloan and you killed him." The gun had arrived. "I'm just thinking that you're going to need the ransom money to skip town like you want to."

Volkert stopped inspecting Vanessa. "What are you talking about?"

Alex shrugged. "Oh, nothing. Just that... well, in order to gain poor Kate's trust, I had to give the Feds something. Like a last name, perhaps."

Volkert pointed the gun at Alex. "I was hoping to use this on just Castle, but it looks like you're getting the first bullet."

Alex started inspecting her nails. "You won't kill me."

"Oh, I won't, will I? And why is that?"

Alex tapped her chest. "Because of the dead man's switch, remember? If this sensor stops feeling my heartbeat, the receiver on my chest will send a different signal to the encrypted servers. That means all the information and proof I have against you will get turned over to the Feds. And trust me when I say I have a lot more on you than you think."

"And why would that stop me from killing you?"

"You really should have checked your accounts recently. The Feds have frozen your assets. If you kill me, you won't make it out of town, let alone out of the country." She took a seat, draping herself in it like a goddess of the ancient times.

Volkert lowered the pistol. "I really hate you sometimes."

Alex smiled sweetly. "Oh, don't worry. The feeling is mutual."

"So, what do you want to do with him?"

"Ask for a ransom. Believe me; Castle's family can afford to pay it. I'll expect to get my cut, of course."

Volkert scoffed. "Your cut?"

Alex nodded. "For setting it all up. A note will be arriving at the Twelfth very soon in which I will be asking for 30 million dollars to be wired to an offshore account. Naturally, the Feds will be reluctant to comply, so in a couple hours, you'll send them a tooth to prove you mean business."

"A tooth? I prefer an ear."

Alex rolled her eyes. "It needs to be something that can be easily fixed should they get him back. Not that they will."

Volkert sighed. "I'm guessing you've done this before."

Alex smiled. "Yes, I have; got three million dollars, plus my client's commission for killing the mark. Not a bad payday."

Volkert handed Vanessa back to the thug. "Let me guess. Your cut is half a million."

Alex scoffed as she stood. "No, a full million. And once I get it, I'll disable this and the information I've got will stay safe and sound. After I'm far away from you, that is."

Volkert walked away. "This had better be worth it."

Meanwhile…

The members of the Twelfth had barely said a word since the news of Detective Kate Beckett's demise had spread to the entire precinct. Esposito had spent the past half an hour holding his wife close as she'd cried into his shoulder. Tears had run down his face too. After all, he'd lost not just a colleague, but a close friend as well. Ryan hadn't moved from his chair or picked up the phone to call Jenny. The only signs of activity on the floor were in the war room as techs scrambled to trace the video's signal origin and track the Dodge Alex had been driving. So far, they hadn't turned up anything. Avery had arrived a few minutes ago after finishing up with the CSU techs that had processed the scene of Beckett's death. Esposito hoped that the lab would turn up something that would lead them to Beckett's body or Castle.

Gates was furious that the FBI had let her finest detective get killed literally in front of her eyes. She'd demanded to see the list of evidence the Crime Scene Unit had collected, and although Shaw had been reluctant to hand it over, she'd finally agreed. Gates had then retreated to her office to go over the list. After a few minutes, she opened the door to her office and called Ryan and Esposito in. Esposito gently extricated himself from Lanie's grip, promising to return soon.

He had to hit Ryan to get him out of the trance he was in. "Captain wants to see us." Ryan nodded and slowly followed his partner into the office.

Gates closed the door behind them and took her seat. "I've been looking over the evidence log and was hoping you could help me with something. When did Beckett get a second phone?"

Esposito shook his head. "She only had the one, at least as far as I knew." Ryan nodded in agreement.

Gates showed them the evidence log. "This says that Beckett had another phone. At least, one was collected at the scene and her prints are the only ones on it. You knew nothing about it?" Ryan and Esposito shook their heads. "There might be something to this. I know the Feds are running the show at this point, but I'd like you two to run an investigation into this."

Esposito didn't understand what was going on, but he nodded anyway. He was leaving Gates's office when the elevators opened. A skinny young man with crazy curly black hair and geeky glasses stepped off holding an envelope. Esposito poked his head out the door of Gates's office to see what was going on.

The young man went up to the nearest cop he could find. "I'm looking for a Jordan Shaw. Can you tell me where he is?"

Agent Shaw had come out of the war room to see what was happening. "I'm Agent Shaw. How can I help you?"

The young man handed her the envelope. "I was told to bring this to the Homicide Department of the Twelfth Precinct. I'm sorry, I was expecting a guy. Not that Jordan isn't a good girl's name…"

Shaw interrupted. "Who gave this to you?"

The young man shrugged. "I don't know. It was in my mailbox this morning with a note to deliver it to Jordan Shaw on the homicide floor at the Twelfth Police Precinct at 1:30pm. It said a life depended on it."

"Where's that note?"

The young man flushed. "I-I threw it out. It's still in my trashcan at home."

Shaw turned to one of the agents. "Escort this young man to his home and bring back the note that was attached to this."

The agent nodded and went with the young man back to the elevators. Shaw opened the envelope and read it through before taking it to the war room. Esposito followed her into the room. She handed the note to a tech and told her to dust the note for prints. The tech only found two, the ones Shaw had left behind when she had read the note.

Esposito was growing impatient. "What does it say?"

"It's a ransom demand. Now that Beckett is dead and we've frozen Volkert's assets, he's desperate for cash. Probably so he can leave the country."

"But what does it say?"

Shaw cleared her throat. "'Castle is alive, but he won't be if I don't get my pay. Attention to details is critical now. Check her phone for further instructions. A triangle will get you squared away. You have two hours to get ready. After that, if the money is not paid, he'll be a dead man.' I'm not sure what it means, but analysis will be able to tell us more."

Esposito repeated the note to himself. "'Castle is alive, but he won't be if I don't get my pay. Attention to details is critical now. Check her phone for further instructions. A triangle will get you squared away. You have two hours to get ready. After that, if the money is not paid, he'll be a dead man.'"

Shaw straightened. "It's coded."

"That's why your team will be analyzing it, right?"

Shaw shook her head. "No, I mean that the real message is hidden in the wording. It's a subliminal message. 'Castle is alive, but he won't be if I don't get my pay.' You could just as easily say if I don't get paid."

"So?"

"Combine the last word of that sentence with the first word of the next and you get 'pay attention.' The sender is letting us know this message has dual meanings. 'Check her phone…' Who's phone?"

Avery held up the phone taken from the scene. "Beckett didn't have another phone in her name. This one is a burner and it had Beckett's prints on it. Alex may have left this there on purpose. Specifically for the ransom demand maybe?"

Esposito shook his head. "Alex killed Beckett. Why on Earth would she have set up a ransom on Castle?"

Shaw disregarded Esposito's question. "Are there any messages on the phone?"

Avery shook it out of the evidence bag and turned it on. "No, just one number in the phone book."

Shaw thought for a few seconds. "'A triangle will get you squared away.' This is going to sound crazy but run GPS tracking on that number. Triangulate the signal."

One of the techs took the phone over to their station and plugged in a few commands. Esposito watched as the triangulation program ran. Slowly, the triangle zeroed in on the phone's coordinates. As the map of Manhattan zoomed in, the triangle grew smaller. Eventually the triangle stopped shrinking and an address popped up on the screen. Shaw ran the address; it belonged to a warehouse near Red Hook Terminal.

Shaw smiled. "Gotcha."

Esposito was confused. "So whose number is this?"

Avery answered this question. "It might belong to Alex or Volkert or any one of the thugs Volkert has hired for this job."

"Why would Alex leave that number?"

Shaw stepped in. "I think it's to help us find Beckett's body, and Castle. Alex hates Volkert, and from what I've seen of her file, she is more than willing to betray her clients when they are careless or cross her. She wants Volkert to pay for killing her fiancé. By leaving that phone, she can kill two birds with one stone."

Avery interrupted Shaw's profiling. "The note says we only have two hours to get into position."

Shaw nodded. "Go. Use a silent approach and park well out of sight of the warehouse. And don't travel in a big group; make sure there are staggered arrival times. I don't want to spook them into killing Castle early. If you can, find a way to take a look inside without tipping them off. I don't want to stakeout the wrong location. Oh, and one more thing. Absolutely no blue and whites. That would just announce our presence."

Avery nodded. "Got it."

Thirty minutes later…

For the past half an hour, Castle had been alternating between trying not to look at Kate and memorizing her face. The problem with not looking at her was his range of vision was limited; it was either look at Kate or stare at the blood trail from the car to where she lay now. So he'd focused on memorizing her face, knowing that if he did make it out of this alive, he might never see it again. Castle tensed as he heard footsteps approach. The footsteps belonged to Alex, who was carrying a small pair of scissors.

Castle glared at her. "How could you? She trusted you."

Alex stepped over Kate's body and squatted down, blocking his view of her body. "Then she was a fool. Just like you. Assassins survive best by lying or pretending to be what we aren't. To truly trust an assassin is to sign your life away." The scissors made a sharp snip sound. "That should do it." She straightened up holding a lock of Kate's hair. "This will go nicely with your tooth." She started to walk away, but then turned back. "By the way, which tooth would you like us to pull? Something from the back so it isn't visible at your funeral?"

Minutes later…

Esposito and Ryan parked with the rest of the assembled strike team. They pulled their vests out of the back of their car and suited up. Ryan rotated his right arm around to stretch out his shoulder.

Esposito glanced at his partner. "Scar acting up again?"

Ryan nodded as he checked his gun and grabbed another clip. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Shaw came over to check on them. "SWAT is going in first from all sides. You'll be in the team that follows them. Your position is at the front of the building. If SWAT does their job right, you shouldn't have to fire a single shot. Ready?"

Esposito checked his shotgun and sidearm. "Let's go."

Meanwhile…

Alex sat in the catwalks above the rest of the warehouse looking out the window at the street below. Time was running out to save Castle, but there was no sign of the cops. Where are they? They needed to figure out the clues soon, or it would be too late.

A/N: Sorry about the mix-up last week. I hope things make more sense now that everything is in the right order. Stay tuned for the next chapter!