A Convergence of Storms

Summary – Someone from Castle's past is murdered and that gives Kate a look into his unconventional childhood and time spent shadowing the CIA, something that hasn't really been discussed on the show (yet). AU of course, with some grounding in canon.

Author's Notes – Yes, I'm using the title for one of my favorite episodes which was on last night thanks to TNT.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle – Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. The OCs came out of my imagination.

Chapter 22 – Countdown

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As soon as the door opened, dim lights inside the vault came on, revealing the contents to the curious onlookers.

It wasn't a large room, about 8 feet wide by 8 feet in depth and 7 feet tall, but just because it wasn't large didn't mean what was inside was any less impressive.

Several large crates marked with fragile sat on one side, framed paintings draped in fabric resting against them. Next to them were several statues of various sizes, some of bronze, some of marble, each partially covered with the same fabric.

A small crate near the opening had fallen at some point and broken open, scattering glittering jewels on the floor.

But the most eye-catching was the wall of gold ingots about 4' high at the back.

"So was I right or was I right?" Castle asked.

"It's more than I ever imagined," breathed Alexi, staring. Yes, he would definitely need a bigger truck.

Castle nodded, maintaining his poker face. When he had heard the combination that Alexi said, he silently congratulated himself on not coughing up the real combination, but hadn't expected the vault door to open when he punched in that combination. No, he expected a different totally outcome and was surprised – shocked in fact and somewhat pleased – when it hadn't happened.

Bogdan had been deadly calm when he had told him – when he had drilled it into Castle's head that night. "This is what you say if someone tries to force you to give them the combination," he said with a sly smile that sent shivers down Castle's spine.

The last line of the 'poem' was missing – 'Fire from down below' – so he must have left that off when questioned about the combination, hoping to catch the antagonists in the trap. Again, Castle silently congratulated himself on that, but from that line, he half expected to be incinerated or blown up after he punched in the combination.

Instead the door had simply opened without any fanfare. Had Bogdan been telling the truth? Or had years of neglect negated his plan of vengeance?

Now he just had to figure out what 'it' was, if it still worked, and if he could use it to get them out of here safely.

"Get me one of those ingots," Alexi demanded, motioning with the gun.

Castle nodded and gingerly stepped into the vault, pausing for a moment.

"Move," Alexi demanded again.

"Okay, okay," said Castle as he scanned the interior and then walked to the back of the vault.

He picked up the ingot and turned around and then saw what he was looking for at the bottom left of the door – a timer that glowed 8:00, then 7:59, 7:58…small enough to miss if you weren't looking for it.

Cat and mouse – just enough time for someone to get into the vault and gawk at the riches before who knows what hell rained down on them. He only hoped that Kate and the others wouldn't be in the line of fire when it happened.

He slowly walked back out of the vault, considering the possibilities, this being one of the few times he wished he didn't have such a vivid imagination.

7:45…

By now, if they had understood his note, Esposito, Ryan, and Sargento Primero Costa should have the other men in custody.

Castle was brought back to the present when Alexi barked at him, "Put the ingot on the chair and get down on the ground. Hands behind your head. You move a muscle and I shoot your lovely fiancé."

Castle glanced over at Beckett, sitting silently wide-eyed in the corner, as he put the ingot on the chair and then slowly lay down on the ground as Alexi instructed, making a show of favoring his right knee.

Stall, his mind yelled at him – until the counter reaches 0:00.

The man picked up the gold and weighed it appreciatively in his hand. It was stamped 1 kilo. Yes, that would do indeed.

"Get up," Alexi barked again. "I've changed my mind and I need someone to cart this out."

"Knew you would," Castle said drily as he stood as slowly as he could. "So how are you going to spin this with your associates? If they see this, they're going to want their share."

He mentally calculated the time – 6:00…

Alexi nodded thoughtfully. "They can have the artwork and the jewels…but the gold…that's mine," he said, laying claim to it.

Castle shrugged. "So where are you going to hide it? They're going to want to look in the vault for themselves."

Alexi frowned and looked around the cellar. The wine rack – the gold could go behind it until he could come back for it.

"Move the wine rack," he demanded.

"By myself?" Castle whined.

"Yes," Alexi responded.

5:30…

Castle shrugged and walked over to the empty wine rack. He carefully tested the weight and then made a show of straining to move one side of it out several inches.

"Hurry up, or I'll let you pick out which knee I'm going to put a bullet through," said Alexi.

"Okay, okay – it's heavier than it looks," grunted Castle as he worked at moving the wine rack. "Must be made out of iron wood."

He slowly moved the other side a few inches away from the wall and then walked back over to the original side to move that side and repeated the process until the wine rack was several feet away from the wall.

Alexi huffed impatiently. "Move faster."

2:30…

"There," Castle said finally, brushing his hands off on the front of his pants. "You know they're still going to see it."

Alexi frowned and looked into the vault. "Those drapes – get those…you can use them to cover the gold."

2:00…

Castle nodded and slowly walked back into the vault. As he gathered up the drapes, he realized that they were old tapestries like the one that had covered the vault door. These must be worth at least $100,000 easily.

He turned and glanced down at the timer.

1:00…

Castle walked slowly out of the vault and laid the tapestries on the floor in front of the wine rack.

0:45…

"Now what?" he asked.

"Start moving the gold," Alexi said.

"Really – all by myself?" Castle made a face. "You know that's going to take a while," he stated.

"The sooner you start, the sooner you get finished." Alexi frowned. "Were you this difficult as a child?" he asked.

0:30…

"Probably," said Castle. He walked toward the vault and then paused. "Are you sure you don't want to watch? To make sure I don't put something in my pocket?"

"Got a better idea," said Alexi, picking up the handcuffs. "Hands out in front," he demanded.

"Okay, okay," said Castle. "But you know that's going to make me even slower," he said as Alexi put the cuffs on him.

0:10…

"Now, get busy – I've got 5 bullets in this gun and several more rounds – each time you stall, one of them gets a new hole," he said, motioning the g towards the silent group on the floor.

"Okay, okay," said Castle. He turned slowly back to the vault.

0:00…

Castle paused at the door. "Wow – would you look at that? You definitely don't want your friends seeing that…"

"What?" said Alexi, walking up to stand next to Castle, peering into the vault.

"That," said Castle as he shoved the man into the vault using his shoulder and prayed that whatever Bogdan had set up still worked.

He was rewarded by a loud popping sound and then suddenly both men were flung backwards as if shoved by an unseen hand.

All Beckett could do was watch Castle land with a thud on his side, several feet away from where he had been standing, his blue eyes still open, but unfocused, unblinking.

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