CH18
After Castle left, Kate just stood there for a time. What am I thinking? This is not me! Need to clear my head.
She headed for the bedroom and got out her dress blues she would be wearing later. And got out her ironing board and filled it with water and plugged it in and turned it on to warm it up. Then spent some time pressing it all nice and flat with crisp edges. When done, she called Lanie. She was going to need some help. Not liking it because Lanie was going to ask questions and not take no or later for an answer.
"Hey Lanie. Can you come over. I need some help with something. And bring some wide bandages with you." Kate asks her best friend. "Yes, I'll explain when you get here. Just help me out, please." And ends the call.
Not 30 minutes later Lanie was at Kate's front door. Opening it and letting her in.
Lanie wasted no time blasting Kate with questions. Rapid fire like an automatic weapon.
"Lanie slow down. I'll try and explain." Kate then proceeds to tell Lanie all about the phone calls and the woman's voice on the phone. And how everything she was told by this person had come to pass.
"I need you to wrap by breasts down so I can fit into this thing easier. Please help me."
"You haven't told anyone about these phone calls have you?" Lanie asks knowing that her friend hasn't.
"I can't. Who would believe me? And would anyone ever trust me again if I told them I was doing things based off of an anonymous phone call or two."
"OK, let's get you into this thing. This had better work Girlfriend. Your life is on the line." Lanie is worried. This may be the last time she gets to talk to her best friend.
"Thanks Lanie, I owe you."
"You're damn right you do girlfriend. If you live thru this we are both going to get drunk."
Kate just laughs and takes her top off along with her bra so Lanie can strap her breasts down.
Finishing a little later after starting and stopping and undoing her work to start again and get it tighter.
"How's that?" Lanie asks. Hoping it is enough. Any tighter and she was going to cut off circulation completely.
"It's a little hard to breath." Kate sounds a little winded.
"Too tight?"
"NO, no. I'll adapt. Let's get this plate on and held in place."
Lanie holds up the plate to Kate's chest and has her hold it in place so she can wrap it onto Kate nice and tight.
Like Lanie did with her breasts, she finds that she has to start, stop and undo and start again. Finally finishing. "How does that feel?"
"It feels like I want to fall over onto my face. It's going to be difficult to walk without being bent way over."
Kate wonders if this is what it feels like for women that have really big girls? Even bigger than Lanie's. Maybe she likes her size just a little bit more now.
Lanie helps her get dressed. Everything. Pants, shirt, socks, boots and hair. Lanie felt like someone's dressing butler or house maid. The only thing Kate did for herself was her make-up.
"Can you make it? Or do you want me to hold you up?" Lanie is almost laughing except it doesn't feel all that funny.
"Can you help me get in the car? I'll have to figure out the rest on my own."
"Sure, come on girlfriend." Lanie walks her out to the car and helps her get in behind the wheel.
"You come back Kate. You end up on my table, and I'll kill you!" As Lanie starts crying knowing what is to come.
"Thanks for everything Lanie. You're the best friend anyone could have." Now Lanie has Kate blinking back tears.
Kate drives off leaving Lanie behind. "Please come back Kate. Please come back.!" And Lanie heads for her car, crying.
But Lanie had one thing left to do. Kate might kill her and be mad for some time. But she was not going to sit by and watch her best friend die, just because she was stubborn.
Pulling out her cell phone, she scrolled till she got the name she wanted and pressed send. After just 2 rings it was answered.
"Javi, I have a task for you. It is beyond important." And proceeded to tell Javi everything she knew. And warn him not to tell Kate. Not if he wanted to go on living.
Kate had made it to the assembly point for the funeral procession to the site. She stood next to her Captain. Together they got in one of the cruisers and followed everyone to the funeral site. It hadn't been easy. Kate had to really take her time getting in the car. It was hard to bend enough. And she was not used to taking such small breaths.
Upon reaching the site she again took her time getting out of the car. And walked very slowly. She was afraid if she didn't she would give herself away. She wanted everything to look normal.
There were hundreds of NY police, some State troopers as well as some County Marshals. She even recognized some of the State guys as from the Rapid Response Team from their attack on James Rook.
There were 7 off to one side holding rifles. Probably for the 21 gun salute that was to come.
Everyone was lined up in groups.
The first speaker was a priest that had been selected jointly by the families. With the families separate from everyone. Wives, kids, grandparents and probably some of their friends to offer support.
Next was a speaker who was a training officer for one of the men. Followed by the Captain of the State Rapid Response Group.
Next was Roy who spoke for the NYPD.
Tears were streaming down almost everyone's face. Most of the crying was done in the family section.
Kate was wishing that the boys could have made it to the service. But they had insisted that they should man the 12th and keep the public safe. It was their contribution. Kate thought it was sweet, but it did not stop her from missing their presence.
Kate's attention had been on the service and she had forgotten about the threat on her life.
It was at this time that a team of bagpipes began to play 'Amazing Grace'.
To Kate it sounded so sad. Just like she remembered when watching Star Trek, The Wrath of Khan. Even with all the other Star Trek movies out there. It was still her favorite. And the sound of the pipes only made the tears come faster.
Some men came in to get ready to lower all four men into their final resting place. As Kate could hear a non-commissioned officer preparing the men for the 21 gun salute.
Fire!
Fire!
Fire!
And then all hell broke loose as Kate hit the ground.
One mile away when Kate was leaving with Roy:
Javi had listened to everything Lanie had told him. He would have called her nuts or paranoid. But this was about Kate. And he could tell Lanie had been crying. So he listened.
He had asked her no questions. Just listened to what she had said and hung up the phone. Turning to his partner telling him he had something important to do, and could he cover for him.
Ryan looked at him puzzled. But Javi's face told him what he needed to know. He just told him sure, anytime. And watched his partner literally run out of the bullpen and take the stairs, not waiting for the elevator.
Javi raced to his apartment. He even turned on the lights to get there faster. He knew it was wrong but he was in a hurry. And he was not loosing his only sister.
He found the case he wanted and checked it's contents for everything he was going to need. Then back down to his cruiser to go where he was needed most.
He was near his destination and he pulled out his map. Spotted the location for the funeral service. Measured out where 1 mile was that would give him a perfect line of site.
Parked his car, grabbed his case and started walking. Finding a building that would work to his needs, he went inside and started up the staircase. Making it to the top floor, he oriented himself and started walking down the corridor.
Spotted a room that he thought would work. Put the case down on the floor and knocked on the door. Getting no answer he pulled out a much smaller case out of his pant leg and went to work on the lock.
Getting it open he walked in. No one was home. Perfect. Moving to the windows that would give him the vantage point he wanted to see. Finding what he wanted. He started re-decorating the room to meet his needs.
Moving back to his case he opened it up and started taking its contents out and started assembly. And loaded a 7.62×51mm round in his bolt-action M40A3 sniper rifle.
Now all he had to do was wait, and pray.
He knew roughly when the funeral service was scheduled to end. As it approached that time. He started to survey his surroundings using his scope. Spotting likely target locations. Having picked his favorite three locations. He got into position and started waiting.
He heard a shot in the distance. One.
Another shot in the distance. Two.
On the final shot he saw a flash in one of his target locations. 'Gotcha'!
Looking thru his scope he could see a guy packing up his rifle. It looked like a Barrett 82A1. 'BINGO'!
Javi lined up his shot. It was a relatively short one. He had fired from a lot further away then this before.
Just as the guy stood up with his case in hand, Javi fired.
He had missed his heart by a fraction of an inch. Still it went thru one of his ribs, fracturing it into a lot of little pieces. The fracture and the bullet punctured his left lung. It destroyed his Superior Vena Cava. It then fractured another rib on the way out his back. The concussion of the shot threw him up against the back wall and he fell out of sight.
Javi then packed up his weapon. Wiped everything down. Left the room and re-locked the door on his way out. Walking all the way back down to ground floor. Stowed his case in his cruiser and drove away. As soon as he was a mile away on a perpendicular route, he pulled over and reached under his seat and pulled out his burner phone and called 911. Telling the dispatcher that he had heard a shot, and gave them an address.
Then he hung up, drove another mile, stopped and got out. He then found a broken rock and smashed it into his burner phone until it was just a pile of a lot of little pieces. Then he picked up most of the pieces of what used to be his phone, and threw them as far as he could.
Got back into his car and drove home, before heading back to the 12th. All the while hoping Kate was alright, or he would never forgive himself. EVER!
Kate woke and opened her eyes and looked straight up. It seemed everything was white. And she didn't feel any pain. She was pretty sure she got shot. So, shouldn't there be pain? Is this Heaven?
Then there was a voice. " I see you are awake. Good! You had us worried some. I'll go get your doctor and let him know. He will probably want to talk to you." And Kate sees a little heavy set black women walk away and thru a door.
A little later an elderly white male walks in looking like any other doctor she has ever seen. "Well, Miss Beckett. You managed to give everyone quite a scare. My name is Dr. Gilligan.
Yeah, I know. Trust me, I've heard them all.
You were shot in the chest during the funeral. There was an authoritative black guy who rode in the ambulance with you and only just left about an hour ago.
He put 2 officers on the elevators down on the main floor. There are 2 more at the elevator on this floor, and there are 2 more on each of the stairwells on this level. Seems you have a lot of friends who are concerned about you.
Oh, and there are 2 more just outside your door. Those 2 search everyone who wants to come in here. Even me! Talk about a new experience!
You are one lucky lady miss Beckett. That 'thing' we took off of you when you got here is what saved your life. You must have had a lot of help to get that thing strapped on so tight. We saved it for you in case you wanted to see.
The bullet did not penetrate it, though it was close. However the impact has caused severe bruising of at least 2 of your ribs. You are also going to see severe bruising of your skin at the impact site. I would suggest you stay away from bikini's for some time to come. Until the swelling goes down.
We have you on pain medication at the moment, as you may have already noticed. We are going to keep you overnight, but you should be good to go home tomorrow.
Oh, our waiting room is full of people waiting to see you. Are you up to seeing any of them?"
Kate just nods. "Good I'll have a nurse send the first batch thru. Try not to talk to long. Sleep would be a good idea at this point.
Any questions?" He asks before opening the door to leave.
Kate just shakes her head. What she really wants to know she can get from her visitors.
Short time later in walks her dad. "Katie! I'm so glad you are OK! Not trying to give me a heart attack are you?"
"I'm sorry dad. It wasn't my intention to scare you."
"You knew somehow, didn't you. That's why you were wearing that hunk of metal on your chest."
"I had a lead that something was going to possibly happen so I took precautions."
"Where did you get it from? One of your boys?"
"Castle found it for me." Kate states factually. Afraid if she told a lie and said it was Javi, he would ask Javi and find out she had lied.
"Hhhmm. He is out in the waiting room with everyone else. Him and his daughter have been here all night.
That is one cute little girl he has. I've never meet anyone as smart as she is. Only 'Almost 6' (using his hand to show quotes as he talks). Rick calls it 'Almost 6, going on 20'. She is smart, that one." Jim decides to leave out the part about the little girl crying that his little girl had been shot. Something is going on between those two, and it warms his heart that his little girl may just finally be opening up.
Kate is shocked. Castle and Alexis have been here ALL night. But she had done nothing to warrant such attention! Has she?
"I should go and let the others have a chance at you.
Don't ever do that again sweetie." As Jim leans it to kiss her on the cheek. "I'm not sure I could survive loosing 2 women."
"Thanks dad. I'll be over as soon as I get out of here." And watches her father turn and leave. Catching a glimpse of someone in dress blues just outside the door. But can't see just who it is.
Next in is Lanie and Kate just cringes. This is going to be bad. Kate is in soooo much trouble.
"Katherine Beckett. You are going to be the death of me! I should have known you were going to cause me trouble!
But seriously. I'm glad you are alright. I take it that hunk of steel you strapped yourself into worked?" More statement than question.
"It's good to see you too Lanie. And yea, it seems to have done the job. Except for the pain part.
I don't know how I'm going to thank you for all you did."
"Just stop living in the past sweetie, that's thanks enough. You have a life. You're mother would want you to live it. I know you know that, but getting you to do it is proving to be the tuff part."
"I know Lanie, but it's hard. If I don't figure it out I feel like I'll have let her down, you know?"
"A parent wants their children to be happy and successful. Live your life to its fullest. Living in the past and wondering 'What if', isn't living! It's existing. I really wish you would wake up and see what your life could be."
"I know you do. I'm sorry. It's just, … hard." Kate wasn't going to promise to change. She knew it would just be words to her friend.
"This is not over Katherine Beckett. You and me are going to have a heart to heart some time soon. I better go, there are others out there who want to see you too."
"Thanks, Lanie. You really are a good friend." And Kate watches her leave.
A little after Lanie is gone her door opens again.
"CASTLE!?"
