This chapter is co-written by fbobs and I. I'm a make love not war person! I drew a picture of where everyone was in the story. Then I wrote out how I wanted it to go. Who shot who? Where? The sequence of events. The end of the chapter. He helped write the beefy stuff. The guns, the action, where they hid, all the nitty gritty. Please give him a hand. Thank you to all who reviewed last chapter you rock! Special shout outs too CYmru64 and Vegasgirltech both reviews made my day! Getting closer to 572 reviews and 50k words everyday! My entry to the 2014 Castle Hiatus Fcathon.

Shaw was out of breath and a little envious of Esposito who looked like he could have run backwards from the precinct and arrived, with his tricked out AR15, without being winded. Ryan struggled in his suit and street shoes. None of them were used to running while wearing a thirty pound rifle rated vest but under the circumstances the heavier vests with heavy ceramic plates were needed to do the job. They had double timed it for a quarter of a mile and then within 100 yards of the building they saw lights come on at the back of the building where Beckett had told them she expected them to exit. Shaw motioned towards the front door, took her three men and disappeared into the building. As they entered the building, she pointed down the hall. Her team moved in tactical jumps toward where they expected to find their suspects.

They could see the headlights spill from the Jeep into the building then froze when they heard the sound of a suppressed sub machine gun being fired. Shaw was just about to signal them to move forward when a second burst of suppressed fire rang out. She was sure she heard the sound of bullets striking flesh. It was a sound that they all instantly recognized. She motioned them forward and resumed their advance.

A few seconds later they found themselves flattened against the wall as the ear splitting thunder of four un-suppressed shots assaulted their ears. That was followed by the unmistakable last sound of someone dying. Shaw looked around the corner and saw two blood spattered bodies stacked in the lit door way. She saw movement in the shadows, and moved her gun against the doorframe for stability. A man with an AK47 stepped into her line of vision, she pointed and started firing.

Shaw heard shots outside. As she approached the only exit, she stepped carefully around the blood soaked bodies and peered out the door. Blood and brains flew out of the head of the person that appeared to be holding Castle. Castle and his captor fell from her sight. Before she could recover she heard more shots and another man lurched into her view. His head exploded from multiple hits and he toppled on Castle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ C&B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Shaw and her team had advanced towards the front doors, Ryan flanked left around the building with Karpowski, JT and two uniforms. Esposito told him to stay around the corner from the planned exit door and only act to block an escape if the brothers got that far. Out of the corner of his eye Ryan saw Shaw and her team enter the building. After Ryan nodded his understanding, Espo took, Hastings, Valazquez and Gates around the side of the building that would put them closest to the ambulance bays at the back, because that was where Beckett had told him the standoff would take place.

As they progressed back along the side of the building there was a sudden eruption of light some of which spilled around the corner near the end of the building. Esposito took off at a dead run right next to the building. In the diminishing wedge of shadow he saw a tall dark form gracefully sprint toward a large overgrown area a few yards from the building. After his eyes adjusted for a couple of seconds he knew for sure it was Beckett. She moved in behind the brush then fought her way in it to get in a better shooting position. He watched her carefully.

When he realized she wasn't going to look in his direction, he continued forward and peered through a crack in the doors into the Emergency Room Foyer. He saw Castle fully supported between two large men, definitely unconscious. The third man scouted ahead of them and was about to exit through the back door. It would put Beckett in position to flank them. Espo didn't dare move forward until they had committed to exit the building, because he'd be a perfect target in the headlights. He did, however, move forward enough to spot a body in a congealing pool of blood, in the hall that lead to the foyer.

Esposito turned to his team, motioned them close and whispered, "They are about to exit the rear of the building. I'll wait until Beckett starts shooting, then move up and shoot from the corner of the building when and if I get a clear shot."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ C&B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kate focused intently on the rear of the building. Her hands shook and her vision narrowed to just that door. She could hear them as they approached. When they appeared at the door the two brothers were behind what was apparently their point man. He stepped back, turned around and argued because she heard unintelligible loud, angry voices.

She caught another quick glimpse of them as she settled into the spot she had picked. She raised her weapon to train it on the door when their point man hesitated at the door, a moment later they came through the door. The point man exited the building crouched low, moved five feet out and turned a quick circle with his eyes and gun. Beckett knew he hadn't seen her because he didn't shoot. It was obvious to Beckett that the headlights from the Jeep temporarily affected his eyesight. He moved a few feet toward Beckett, as he studied the brush covered area. She froze and was thankful that her gun was flat black and wouldn't give off any flashes of reflection. She was concerned her face and hands might show but didn't dare move. A few seconds later, he spun around, grabbed the door and motioned for the two men holding Castle to make their exit.

As soon as they were clear of the door the point man turned back to the door and aimed his AK from the hip. Beckett fired four quick shots. She would learn later two of them missed right and hit the glass door, one hit the man in his left shoulder blade, the fourth, she learned later, went over his shoulder into the room and through a back wall narrowly missing one of the FBI assault team crouched there.

She thought she had missed because her target only flinched, held his AK on his hip and fired several shots as he stepped back into the building. Beckett felt a stinging pain in her side when suddenly the doorway was riddled with gunfire. The gun man fell half in and half out of the door, blood spurted from multiple wounds littered throughout his body.

Beckett's attention immediately turned to the two men left holding Castle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ C&B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hunt was making his way toward the door when the point man turned for a last check after the brothers passed him. Hunt knew in that moment he should have waited. His gun moved way too slowly, he saw right down the barrel of the AK. His last thought was, "Shit." He felt tremendous pain and his last mental image was black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ C&B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At that precise moment Shaw and her people rushed around the corner. The point man never saw what hit him. Between the shots from Shaw's pistol and her teammates AR the point man was down in seconds. From where they stood Shaw couldn't see Castle or the two men holding him up. She bent over Hunt and felt for a pulse against his throat.

"He's alive but his pulse is dangerously weak. Get something here fast!" Avery pulled his cell phone out, called for ambulances and two medical evacuation choppers, as the rest of the team advanced down the corridor.

Shaw's team cleared the area and sprinted to the other end of the corridor in seconds. At the door she mentioned for her people to stop. Before her were the brothers as they desperately pulled Castle along. One brother had his gun in his hand the other had his MP5 hanging from his strap.

The way they were supporting Castle, she had no clear shot. She wouldn't risk his life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~C&B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beckett saw the brother's moment of confusion when they heard the gunshots behind them. The brother closest to her held his gun to Castle's side at an awkward angle. He had it pointed at Castle's liver. If he pulled the trigger, Castle would die an awful death. She lifted her gun and took careful aim, when the gunman turned his head to look at the commotion behind him, she squeezed a shot into his head. It entered through the base of his skull and she watched as he collapsed forward and took Castle down with him.

The other brother turned and shot blindly in Beckett's direction. He got two shots off into the brush, one of which tore through her upper thigh. She dropped to the ground instantly. Then his body jerked violently forward as multiple shots rang out. she watched through the brush as bullets ripped through his throat, chest and the last shot hit his cheek and blew the side of his face off. The man fell limply across Castle's body. Both Espo and Shaw stood with their guns aimed in his direction.

Beckett made an agonized howl of anguish, pushed herself up with her arms and one legand lunged out of the bush only to fall full length on the ground. She discovered her right leg didn't want to work, ignored it, dropped her gun and crawled frantically toward Castle thrashing with her three operational appendages. She heard odd strangled mewing sounds and was almost to Castle when she realized they were coming from her.

Esposito appeared in her peripheral vision, carefully looked into the doorway and then apparently yelled because she saw Shaw step over a body in the doorway and head for Castle. Shaw, Beckett and Esposito arrived at the pile of bodies at the same moment. She fought off blinding pain in a desperate effort to reach Castle and managed to wedge her hand under the brother on top of him to Castle's neck. Her tenuous grasp on sanity was at risk as she felt for, and finally found a pulse. Relief flooded through her as her fingers felt a weak but steady beat thrum though her fingers.

"Wake up, Castle! Come on open those eyes and wake up." She begged him as she continued her search.

Blood covered every inch of Castle's neck, back and hair. Beckett, frantically searched what she could see and feel of his body for bullet wounds. There was too much blood. She had to stop the bleeding before help got there, her emotional and psychological limit finally being reached.

"You're not getting out of marrying me this easily, Castle. Do you hear me?" She tried their banter in desperation. His pale face showed no expression. She didn't care who watched or the consequences right now as tears streamed down her face openly.

Ryan had arrived unnoticed, gently touched her shoulder and spoke softly, "Beckett, the paramedics we called for are here. You need to let them work on Castle. He's alive, Beckett. You need to be looked at too. When Castle wakes up you need to be there for him." He reached out and gently pried her away, but she refused to let Castle out of her sight.

The paramedics had to split their time between Hunt and Castle for the next fifteen minutes. They all looked up when they heard the Medical choppers overhead. Esposito left to guide them to a landing spot in the parking lot.

With her wounds wrapped and stabilized Beckett held Castle's hand as they waited for transport. Shaw walked over to her.

"The choppers are for Hunt and Castle. Hunt was shot four times. I have no idea why he isn't dead. He's in critical condition. Castle is critical too. The medic said he's been beaten almost to death, very dehydrated, and apparently hasn't had a meal in days so he gets the other chopper. They can't carry more than one patient and the medical teamin each chopper. I'll make sure you go to the same hospital as Castle but you will have to wait for the ambulance. It should be here in a few minutes. Agents will be assigned to protect each of you for the time being. We aren't taking any chances. Hopefully this is over but until we know that for sure, you three are all under twenty four hour protection." Beckett nods her acknowledgement over the loud sound of the choppers. She doesn't have any words anyway.

Kate watched as Agent Shaw walked toward the corner of the building closest to the chopper that would transport Castle. Their eyes met for a moment before the doors swung open and more help jumped out.

Kate reached down and ran her fingers through his hair, and wiped it away from his forehead. She bent over and brushed her lips across his brow. "Don't you dare give up, Castle. Do you hear me? I love you." Her fingers slipped through his as the medics lifted his gurney and carried him towards the waiting chopper. She felt her body waver, then strong arms wrapped around her waist. Ryan and Espo appeared on either side of her. Both of her boys, Gates and the crew of the 12th watch as one of their own was loaded in.

Please, let me know what you thought of this chapter. Don't forget this will continue with weekly updates with longer chapters (hopefully). I'm honored at the reception this story has gotten! Thank you to my helpers because without them, my ADHD mind would drive all you readers away! They rock! Thanks again for reading :) Follow me on Twitter glo1196 - Tumblr: MyCastleObsession and on Pintrest glo11962 where I have a Castle board!