A/N : Sorry for yet again taking more than a week to get this chapter out. Work got in the way. Here we continue with 7x21 In Plane Sight in this universe.
Disclaimer : Castle is the property of ABC and the situations and words from 7x21 in this chapter is the property of the original writer. Those changes I've made are mine.
Oceanic Air Flight 57 Cargo Hold – Mid Atlantic
Alexis takes a deep breath to try and steady her nerves before stepping up to the open travel trunk that is the current resting place of Air Marshal Ford. She can do this. She just made a big thing to her Dad about how she can do this so she can't let a little thing like some nerves stop her.
Straightening her shoulders she gets her self into the same mode she did all those times in the past when she had to deal with dead bodies when she interned at the morgue with Lanie. If anything this will be easier because the condition of Air Marshal Ford's body is a lot better that some of those she had to deal with as a fresh faced but eager intern.
She grips her cell phone in both hands as she brings it up so that she can see the screen. There she sees the reassuring sight of Lanie Parish her one time boss and mentor on video chat.
"It's awful what you are dealing with, sweetie," says the image of Lanie reassuringly and Alexis mentally thanks the medical examiner for the support.
Alexis has tamped down her nerves enough now and is in that mode that has held her is such good stead and made her such a good student. Focused, clear headed, open minded and ready to observe.
"Thanks for your help, Lanie," she thanks the image on her cell phone screen for more than just the professional help she is about to provide.
"Are you kidding? I just wish there was more I could do. I'm going to talk you through this, alright?" Lanie tells her calmly.
Alexis nods determinedly as she steps closer to the body and remembering the lessons the sassy ME taught her asks, "Do you want to see the head wound first?"
"Yeah, but your going to need to get in real close," Lanie's voice from the phone instructs her.
With the same detachment she used both in the morgue and the biology lab Alexis' rubber gloved hand grips the head of the dead Air Marshal and moves it so that the head wound becomes more visible. With her other hand she switches the camera on the phone around and holds it to get a good shot of the wound.
"Try moving the hair back," Lanie's voice asks her and Alexis complies. She carefully uses her fingers to move the man's short hair out of the way allowing herself and the ME to get a better look at the injury that killed him. With the hair out of the way Alexis starts to see something. Something that might be a help to her, her Dad and the rest of the passengers on this flight. That she might have an idea of what it was that was used to kill this man or at least it's shape. From the shape of the wound it looks to be something long a rounded. She's not sure though and she hopes that the ME all the way back in New York can confirm it for her.
"Yeah, there we go," exclaims Laine.
"Can you tell what he was hit with?" she asks hoping for confirmation that her observations are right.
"Hmm, it's hard to say. Something oblong, like a pipe maybe," supposes the ME tentatively and Alexis feels some small satisfaction that she was right in her own surmising about the wound and what might have caused it.
Alexis then stops thinking about this abstractly, like a lab experiment and remembers that this man was killed, brutally, by someone that is on the very same flight as herself and her Dad.
"Oh man!" she exclaims at that thought.
"Alexis are you alright?" the concerned voice of Lanie comes from her phone. "It's just another body. You've done this plenty of times before."
Alexis shakes her head despite the fact that the ME can't see her right now but then she lets the woman know what has her so worried, "It's not the body I'm worried about. It's the person who killed him and took his gun."
"Looking at this there is something I can tell you about who that person is," says the satisfied and reassuring voice of Laine in response.
"What's that, Lanie?"
"See the angle and position of the wound, Alexis?" asks Lanie in her best teaching tone.
Studying the wound again as Lanie instructs Alexis can suddenly see what the ME is talking about, "The person who hit them is left handed."
"That's right, sweetie. So you're looking for a long oblong murder weapon. Something like a pipe. And your murderer is left handed," summarises Lanie.
"That should eliminate a fair percentage of those on the plane as the majority of people are right handed. Also, there can't be many loose pipes around an aircraft like this so the options for the possible murder weapon are small. Thanks again for your help, Lanie," adds Alexis both grateful and pleased for the assistance and that she's been able to figure this out at the same time as such an experienced ME as Lanie.
"Don't mention it, Alexis. I just hope this helps you and Castle find who did this before they hurt anyone else. You look after yourself up there and don't hesitate to contact me again if you need anything else," says a serious and sincere Lanie.
"I will, Lanie. Thanks again, bye," and after a 'bye' from Lanie, Alexis ends the video call.
Alexis takes a breath and looks around her. She remembers something her dad told her he told Kate one time, that as a mystery writer he is highly paid to think like a killer. As the daughter of a highly paid mystery writer that has edited his work since she was fourteen she has likewise become trained to think like a killer. So with that in mind she studies her immediate vicinity.
It is a good bet that the Air Marshal was killed here in the hold. The fact that his body was hidden here supports that. The killer would have wanted to hide the body as quickly as possible. They couldn't have killed him elsewhere on the plane and then dragged his body down here. That is something that the passengers and crew were sure to have noticed.
Likewise the murder weapon is likely something that is down here as well. Something that came easily to hand for the killer. Looking around her eyes scan for something long and oblong. After a minute of searching her eyes alight on a long red metal handle fixed by clamps to the wall of the hold. It looks to be a handle used for manually opening a hatch.
She goes over to it and as she reaches it her nose detects the distinct and biting smell of cleaning products. She quickly goes back to where she was examining the Air Marshal's body and picks up one of the plastic trash bags she'd brought with her to put any evidence she might have found on his body in. Going back to the handle and using her still gloved hands she carefully removes the handle from its clamps and holds it gingerly by one end. She then drops it into the plastic bag her other hand is holding open.
She looks with satisfaction at the probable murder weapon. The smell of cleaning product indicates that the killer has tried to erase any trace evidence from it. At the very least they are sure to have wiped it of any fingerprints. This might not help her and her dad now but at least when they land they may have some corroborating evidence. She doesn't think that the cleaning chemicals available on an airplane would be strong enough to eliminate all the evidence from the handle. So if her dad does find the killer then they may have some evidence to help put them away.
Time to let her Dad know what she's discovered. Hopefully this and whatever Kate and her team can find out from the passenger manifest will help her Dad narrow down the suspects. One thing is for sure though, it's going to be a long flight.
Oceanic Air Flight 57 Rear Galley – Mid-Atlantic
Castle stands in the rear galley and a ball of ice forms in his gut as he listens to the information his wife is telling him from the phone pressed to his ear. What she and Esposito have just told him have just brought to life one of those many worst case scenarios that his writer's mind has been churning about ever since this whole plane trip started.
That the man he'd seen in that gay couple's video, that he now knows, thanks to his and Alexis' MacGyver inspired CSI work, is Aiman Haddad who is most likely the murderer of Air Marshal and may therefore have evil intent for this flight. The same flight that holds his daughter and over two hundred other innocent people. He can't let anything happen to them all, especially Alexis. He's a cop now, even if only a part time one. It's on him, on the oath he took at the 12th in front of his family and friends, to stop this man and whatever destructive scheme he has planned.
Castle just wishes that he'd brought his gun because even if it was only in his checked bag he would be able to get at it now but unfortunately he hadn't been able to bring it with him. The terms of his position as an NYPDA Detective only allow him to be armed when he is on duty. Combine that with the strict gun laws in the UK and there was no way he was going to be able to bring his personal firearm with him on this trip. Regardless he can do this. He's been trained to subdue a suspect plus he has the assistance of the rest of the flight crew. He can take this man down.
In a determined voice with only a hint of apprehension he ends the call with Kate, "Yeah, thank you for letting me know. I'll call you later."
He hears from down the phone her own sign off and he feels a twinge of discomfort at the slight desperation he hears in her voice. She is obviously unhappy at not being with him as he faces down this terrorist and he frankly feels the same way.
As he takes his phone from his ear he looks at the others that are grouped around him in the rear galley. The three members of the flight crew, Debbie, Farrah and Jim which, along with Alexis, who is also present, have become his own little homicide team. All of them are looking at him with apprehension having obviously heard his side of the conversation with the precinct. His gaze is drawn to the nervous and expectant look on Alexis' face and he makes a quick decision that has everything to do with him being a father and nothing else.
However before he can give voice to his decision Alexis asks, "What is it? What did Kate say?"
He steps up to her and in a tone that will brook no argument he looks directly into her eyes as he tells her, "I want you to go back to first class and stay there until I tell you."
He sees concern and a brief indication that she might argue the point with him cross her face before she gives him a look that indicates she can see how serious and important this is for him and she acquiesces, "OK, Dad. Be careful."
With that she steps up to him, kisses his cheek and then does as she is told and leaves the galley.
With his daughter gone Debbie asks, "I take it he's a bad guy?"
Castle nods as he responds, "He's on the no fly list and for good reason."
"So he's a terrorist!" exclaims Jim.
As Farrah mumbles a distraught, "Oh my God!" Castle looks at the three crew members gravely as he theorizes, "He murdered the Air Marshal. Now that is a bold act committed by someone not concerned with what happen when the plane lands."
"Because maybe the plane won't be landing," adds Jim his voice plainly showing that this is a scenario that has been his and the rest of the crew's nightmare for a long time.
Castle gives him a look of agreement, "I think we can assume the worst, assume that his plan is bigger than killing Kyle Ford."
At that the senior flight attendant, Debbie, steps forward, "OK, we know what to do. First we isolate him if possible."
"I'll control his hands so he doesn't go for the gun or something worse," includes Jim.
"I'll get the zip ties to secure him," adds Farrah nervously.
"Good and like you said I think we should do this quietly. Try to get him away from the other passengers," suggests Castle.
I could page him back here to the rear galley," suggests Debbie.
Castle shakes his head negatively, "Then he might get suspicious, that's too risky. If he realises we're trying to take him down he may do something desperate…."
His speech goes dry in his mouth as he turns towards the curtain separating the galley from the passenger cabin and is greeted to the sight of Haddad looking right back at him and standing just the other side of the curtain. The man looks at Castle nervously, sweat covering his brow, and it is obvious he has overheard at least some of what has been said about him. The two men freeze for a moment as they look each other in the eye before Haddad quickly turns and dashes away from Castle desperately.
"Stop!" yells Castle as he and Jim leap to pursue Haddad. He is just out of Castle's grasp as the suspect barges his way through a row of passengers to get to the aisle on the other side. Disgruntled yells of "Hey!" from the passengers seated in the row follow Haddad's frantic scramble over them to evade capture.
As Haddad quickly turns back to the rear of the plane Castle and Jim quickly reverse their course back the way they came into the rear galley. Upon entering they are greeted with the sight of Haddad grappling with Farrah who has gotten in the man's way as he desperately tries to make his escape. Castle quickly moves to assist the young woman and is not a moment too soon as he sees Haddad reaching for a metal coffee pot on a nearby counter, obviously intending to use it as a weapon.
Taking hold of the arm reaching for the coffee pot Castle instinctively uses one of the moves he learnt during his NYPDA training to force the man's arm behind his back and he manhandles the man roughly, face first, into the nearest bulkhead. Haddad struggles and squirms in an attempt to get free but Castle just uses his superior strength and coursing adrenalin to force the man's arm higher and more painfully up the man's back. Haddad cries out in pain as his arm is bent into an unnatural shape but he keeps struggling.
Through gritted teeth Castle instructs the straining man, "Keep still!"
Haddad yells back angrily at Castle in Arabic and Castle looks at the Farrah who is looking dishevelled after her tussle with the suspect, "What did he say?"
Looking at him with wide eyes she tells him, "He said, 'You can't do this. You can't stop me!"
Castle turns his attention back to the man he has pinned against the bulkhead and he tightens his grip. He's got him, he thinks, with relief and satisfaction. He's not going to get away and he's not going to hurt anyone else.
The 12th Precinct
Kate hangs up her cell phone after yet another fraught phone call with Castle hundreds of miles away and thousands of feet in the air. Seriously, she thinks, is everyone on that plane up to no good?
First her husband identifies and captures Haddad who, thanks to a check of the recent calls on his cell phone, they confirm had made several suspicious calls to Syria. Then, after Castle has interrogated the suspected terrorist, he comes to the conclusion that while Haddad is on his way to Syria to join that country's civil war he isn't responsible for Kyle Ford's death.
That after finding the Air Marshal's private phone Castle discovers the disturbing and threatening texts that were sent to the dead man and they were not sent by Haddad's phone. No they were sent by the phone that they discovered was purchased by a disgraced Oceanic Air executive, Marilyn Singer.
Discovering the woman aboard he takes her into custody in a typically Castle way, spilling perfectly good red wine, indeed! After interrogating the woman and searching her bag, discovering the Air Marshal's missing gun, he decides that while the woman had planned some ill-conceived scheme to try and extort money from the airline, all from a letter they found in the same bag, she wasn't the killer of Kyle Ford who was also, coincidentally, her boyfriend.
Now he's had them following up with the import/export businessman, Victor Dietrich, on one of his out there hunches. She's just gotten off the phone with him and Alexis as she described to them what she and Ryan discovered after talking to the man. It looks like, yet again that Castle is onto something. That this whole situation has more to do with the smuggling of a thirteen million dollar watch than terrorism or a disgruntled former employee of the airline.
She just wishes that she was there with him as he follows his hunch, just like she usually is. Without her there how is he going to ground himself and not let his wild theories send him off on unhelpfully tangents let alone keep him out of trouble? She knows he's a trained Detective now and that she should have faith in his abilities but for seven years now whenever something like this has happened, one of them being in such danger, the other has been right there with them. OK, maybe not all the time, as she remembers that near disastrous undercover operation from last year. However, most of the time they have faced situations like this together and it does not feel right at all not being there with him.
At least Alexis is there to help him and keep him focused. His level headed daughter can usual reign in his over exuberance almost as well as she can.
Then again Alexis' presence on the flight is another large part of why she has had been feeling so desperately anxious about this whole situation. She's stuck here while her family is in real danger and it is making her almost sick with worry and felling not a little guilty. She should have found a way to accompany Castle and Alexis to London and damn the lack of available leave or the start-up of the taskforce. The taskforce could wait a few days and she could have taken some leave without pay. It's not like she and Castle need the money from her meagre pay check. She should be there, watching Castle and Alexis' backs as they all figure this all out together. The disquiet of her emotions right now are through the roof.
Not that they are stopping her from doing everything she can to help her husband and step-daughter find the real story and therefore the killer. No, if anything it gives her even more motivation to make sure no stone goes unturned and that all the still developing resources of her taskforce are used to help them.
As she strides purposely through the bullpen she shakes her head as she thinks that she never thought that the first case of the Special Investigations Taskforce, understrength and under resourced as it is in these early days, would be such a personal case for her. At least those few resources that she has have done everything that could be expected of them, if not more. Ryan, Espo, Lanie and even Tory have all been there for her as they all work to help her husband, their friend and one of their own track down the murderer and keep a plane load of civilians safe.
She's glad that she recommended that Tory be assigned as the tech analyst for the taskforce otherwise there might not have been anyone here yet with her expertise to discover the same leads that she has. Ryan and Esposito's presence have been a godsend as well and not just for their usual thoroughness in following up leads. If it wasn't for their understanding and support there's a risk that she would spend this entire time just sitting in front of her computer, watching the track of the flight and not doing a thing to help her family as she obsesses over their predicament.
Then again, as she walks into her office and takes her seat behind her desk and sees the reassuring sight of the plane icon on the screen showing that Flight 57 is still in the air, she has an unpleasant feeling that things are about to come to a head over the Atlantic.
She watches the icon move infinitesimally closer to its destination and in her gut she knows that Castle is close to finding the truth. As she stares at the screen and wills the icon to stay visible Kate prays that whatever the truth is that Castle, Alexis and everyone that the small bundle of pixels on her screen represents come through safe and well. She just wishes there was more she could do.
Oceanic Air Flight 57 First Class Cabin – one hour before landing
Castle freezes as he looks down the wrong end of Kyle Ford's gun in the hands of flight attendant Debbie. He's kicking himself for not retaining possession of the weapon after they found it in Marilyn Singer's bag. But no, he had to put in the locker in the first class galley where they were storing all the evidence. Nice and handy for Debbie, the now exposed killer and would be wildly expensive watch thief, to get and now be pointing at him, Alexis, Farrah, Jim and the passengers in the first class cabin.
While he stands frozen to the spot his mind is going even faster than the plane is flying through the air as he thinks of ways to either talk the woman down or disarm her. He's really missing his own gun now especially as he senses the presence of Alexis standing close by his side. His hear skips a beat every time the woman swings the gun in his daughter's direction and he wishes he could call out to her to stop as she steps closer to him and also the woman nervously waving a gun around at everyone.
"Debbie?" asks a shocked Farrah from behind him.
"Mmm hmm," Debbie responds with a slight nod in answer to the question implied in Farrah's shocked tone.
"Why?" presses Farrah obviously unable to believe that this woman whom she's worked with so closely could be the killer and the person that stole the thirteen million dollar watch that as being transported, read smuggled, on the flight.
Castle silently congratulates Farrah for getting Debbie talking and focusing on her. As the closest to the gun wielding flight attendant he has the best chance at disarming her. Unfortunately he can't make a move yet because the weapon is currently pointing directly at Alexis and he daren't make a move while there's a chance his daughter could be harmed. He just hopes that Farrah can keep her colleague talking and maybe calm her down because at the moment the scared woman looks like she could just twitch and fire the gun.
"Thirty years, Farrah!" Debbie replies bitterly. "Thirty years of loyal service. I was finally ready to retire. So what does Oceanic do? They restructure…ha...and eliminate our pensions."
Calling on the class at the Academy he took on conflict resolution and how to calm a suspect and to try and direct her aim away from Alexis, Castle speaks up at this point, "Debbie," he doesn't know whether to be happy or apprehensive when she swings the gun in his direction at her name. "You don't want to do this. Drop the gun."
The woman smiles and gives a small laugh as if he's said something funny, "Do you have any idea what it's like. Serving this little punk kid in first class every month," she looks around Castle to where the young male apprentice of Victor Dietrich is sitting behind where he is standing and whom she stole the watch from. "Hearing him brag about how much money he's got strapped to his wrist. When I have nothing."
Cringing in his head he hears Alexis speak up at this point and his heart is in his throat again as the gun swings back to aim at her, "So when you found out he was taking this flight again you decided to do something."
Castle is both proud at the calm and understanding voice that Alexis is addressing Debbie with yet horrified as his beautiful daughter steps even closer to the armed woman. Again he itches to reach out to pull Alexis behind him and out of the line of fire. Then he sees that while Debbie has the gun firmly aimed at Alexis' chest there is a look of hesitation on the woman's face. He hopes that it means that she would hesitate to kill Alexis maybe because he knows that the two of them have become friendly over the course of the investigation. Then again Debbie knew Kyle Ford for a lot longer and that didn't stop her killing him so he may just be projecting some wishful thinking.
"I heard about that watch," Debbie sounds almost like a petulant child as she tries to justify her actions to the young woman moving closer to her. Debbie's voice gets increasingly shaky, as does her gun hand to Castle's discomfort as she continues, "How it was going to be auctioned off. That's thirteen million! But nobody…nobody was supposed to get hurt. Right, I just…I just needed Ford to step away for like a minute but when he saw Aaron was sleeping…he knew." Debbie shrugs her shoulders at that as if to say what happened next was not her fault, "He tracked me down in the cargo hold…"
Castle is almost jumping out of his skin as are the rest of the people in the cabin if the gasps he hears are any indication as Alexis takes yet another step towards the killer and this time he does reach out to grab her arm to stop her but she puts her hand over his as she says sympathetically, "Debbie, what the airline did to you was unfair."
He watches as Debbie nods at Alexis' words but is also preparing to pull Alexis to one side at the first indication that the woman is about to shoot.
"But please don't make it worse," Alexis pleads to Debbie. "This isn't who you are."
"It's not," agrees Debbie, shaking her head and close to tears.
Castle watches as the gun starts dropping, slowly, as Debbie listens to Alexis' words and her resolve evaporates. However, before he can step forward and disarm her Alexis does just that by maintaining eye contact with the woman as she carefully places her hands over the gun and gently removes it from Debbie's grasp. Both he and Alexis simultaneously breathe sighs of relief as Debbie releases the gun and Alexis steps back and goes to pass it to him.
It is at that moment, to everyone's surprise most of all Castle's, that Aaron Rich, the apprentice that Debbie knocked out and stole the watch from, jumps up from his seat, grabs the gun from Alexis outstretched hand, grabs her, pulls her from Castle's grasp, stands behind her and points the gun to her head.
"Ok, so now that's over. Give me the watch!" he demands thrusting the gun into Alexis' temple to emphasize his intent.
A/N : So those familiar with the episode will note a few changes I've made not to mention the little matter of the cliff-hanger that I've left this chapter on. Remember this is AU and I've decided, and at the suggestion of a reviewer, that changing the order of the episodes aren't going to be the only changes in this universe. I will endeavour to bring out the next chapter quicker than this one so that I'm not leaving you hanging too long.
In the meantime I'm sure a lot of us are looking forward to the start of season 8 in just a couple of days. I know I can't wait. Don't worry this story will continue after the hiatus ends.
Many thanks again to all that have reviewed, followed, faved and read my little story.