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 – 42 days and counting – yeah! And I've watched the first preview. This chapter is rated high T for swearing. And sorry for the spoiler about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid if you haven't seen the movie. And yeah, I've almost hit 50,000 words.
Disclaimer – Don't own Castle – Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. The OCs came out of my imagination.
Chapter 23 – One Fish Two Fish…
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Beckett struggled in vain against the handcuffs that chained her wrists behind her back, screaming into the duct tape, desperate to reach Castle, to pump life back into him if necessary.
No, her mind whirled as she stared into his unfocused eyes – he couldn't be gone – this wasn't fair – they had overcome great obstacles – they were supposed to have their happy ending.
No, she screamed over and over again for what seemed to be hours, but it was only a few seconds between the time that Castle crashed to the floor and when his body jerked as he gasped and sucked in a deep breath of air and then coughed hoarsely.
He finally groaned and rolled onto his back, squeezing his eyes shut, swallowing thickly and gasping in another gulp of air. Damn you, Bogdan, he swore. He could at least have warned him – not that the last line of the poem didn't. Fire from down below – yep, that was something he didn't want to experience again.
His hearing finally started working again – or at least the connection between his ears and his brain – and he heard two sounds simultaneously – the muffled noises coming from Beckett and a groan from Alexi.
Castle pushed himself up to a sitting position and then stood on shaky legs, moving unsteadily towards Alexi.
"You asshole," he said, standing over Alexi and pointing into the vault. "None of that is rightfully yours – you did nothing to deserve it," he spat out.
Castle grabbed Alexi by his shirt collar and dragged him over to the vault door. "But if you want it that badly, then spend the rest of your life with it."
Castle pushed the dazed man into the vault and then pressed his hand on the pad and keyed in a combination. The vault door closed with a quiet click. He closed his eyes and leaned against the door for a few seconds before turning and walking on unsteady legs to Beckett.
He collapsed on his knees in front of her and brought his hands up to her face as she frantically vocalized at him.
"Sorry," he said as he made a face and gently pulled the duct tape from her mouth.
"Key," was the first thing Beckett said after Castle removed the duct tape, her eyes wide. "Alexi has the handcuff key."
Castle shook his head with a slight smirk. "Got a spare in my wallet—" he said, reaching for his back pocket, only to come up empty, and then made a face. "And one of men has my wallet."
"Ya think?" Beckett asked rhetorically.
Althea and Anders started to make noise also and Castle moved over to them to pull the duct tape covering their mouths.
"Castle, you could have warned us," was the first thing that Althea said after Castle pulled the tape off of her mouth.
"Where's the fun in that?" Castle shrugged innocently. He grinned at Beckett, who quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Rick, we're in serious trouble – those men are going to come back any time now," said Althea. "And we've – you've only got one gun," she said, motioning with her head to where Alexi's gun lay on the ground. "And the way your hands are trembling, I don't think you could hit anything right now."
"Yeah," nodded Castle, looking down at his hands. "That could be a problem, unless…" He reached over to pick up his cell phone from where one of the men had tossed it and then swiped it on.
He smiled at the message and looked up, holding it up for them to read.
"Raindrops keep falling on my head," Beckett smiled.
"What the hell?" Anders said in response.
"Remember that last scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?" Castle asked.
Anders shrugged. "Where they run out of the house and are gunned down by the Bolivian police? Exactly how is that going to help us?"
"Let's just say that the Argentina police were waiting for them outside," smirked Castle.
"What?!" asked Althea incredulously. "Rick, we're here 'unofficially' – we're supposed to be flying under the radar. We haven't even paid the reciprocity fee."
"Well, both you and I agree that I don't do so well with that," Castle said. "And I paid the fee before we left. I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend any time in an Argentinian prison."
Althea let out an exasperated sigh. "So when did you contact them?"
"I didn't," Castle confessed. "Our backup did."
"Our backup?" asked Anders.
"Yeah – one of the things I've learned over the past 6 years is that you get into serious trouble if you don't have good backup. And no offense, you guys are lousy as backups," said Castle. He shrugged again. "I left a note for Esposito and Ryan and a Palladium card. So, according to the text they sent, they caught the guys and they're just waiting for us to take care of Alexi."
Anders pressed his lips together, fuming that they had been upstaged once again.
"Well, then, can you get them in here to free us?" Althea asked. "This year would be nice."
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Carrying a semi-automatic, Esposito stood smugly by the stairs as Ryan unlocked the handcuffs for the trio. Several Argentina police officers milled about the cellar, including Sargento Primero Costa (now Comisario) who was talking with Castle and Beckett.
Anders finally walked over to them.
"Ah, Señor Anders," said Costa. "It's good to see you again."
"You too, Comisario Costa," he said, shaking the man's hand. He looked at Castle. "I hate to break up the party, but what are we going to do about Alexi? How are we going to get him out without getting fried?"
"Oh, that," shrugged Castle. He looked at Costa. "You ready? I don't imagine he's going to be really happy about being locked in there."
Costa motioned toward two policemen who then moved to the vault door and raised their guns.
Castle stepped up to the pad and typed in a combination as he said, "One fish, two fish…"
"Red fish blue fish – son of a bitch," swore Anders with a smirk. "Perfect…"
The vault door snicked open and Alexi stumbled out, almost blinded by the light after being in the dark for an hour.
The policemen quickly apprehended him and hauled him out of the cellar to the waiting police van where the other men were in custody.
Castle frowned at Anders. "How did you know about the combination?" he asked curiously.
Anders shrugged. "Well, Nancy Drew, sorry for the blow to your ego, but that's the first thing you said after they drugged you in the Hamptons."
"And I thought I didn't give them the right combination." Castle made a disappointed face and then looked at them suspiciously. "But how do you know what happened?"
"We were able to reconstruct the videos that were taken," Althea soothed and then smiled slightly at him. "Rick, it takes years of training to handle a situation like that, which you obviously don't have, so, yes of course, you talked."
"I will say that they thought you were jerking them around when you said that. And they weren't very happy about it," shrugged Anders.
Castle's brow furrowed in thought but Althea interrupted him. "That's enough of that for now." She crossed her arms and tapped her foot at him. "Now what you're going to do is spill your guts about how you knew about the treasure in the first place."
"Okay," said Castle as he smiled at Beckett and took her hand. "But not here…"
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They were finally settled at the bar at the hotel, sitting around a table, enjoying a glass of fine Argentina wine.
Melekov had been found alive in the van that Alexi was using and was currently being treated at the hospital.
Comisario Costa had stationed several policemen at the Grotto to keep a watchful eye on the treasure. He nodded as he took a sip of the wine. "Bogdan was a good man, very frugal but generous – you would never have known that he had millions hidden away. But I think those who did know," at this, he looked pointedly at Castle, "he chose wisely."
Castle nodded as he took a sip of his wine. "Well, some of them remembered better than others," he said self-deprecatingly.
"I still want to know how you knew about the treasure and why you didn't report it to me," demanded Anders.
Castle nodded and swirled the wine in his glass lightly while he thought. "It all started with a spider in the bathroom…,"he finally said, eyes narrowed in remembrance.
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