CH36

It is still the same day: (January 4, 2001)

Kate rushed towards the front of the hospital where Castle was standing. "More of them? Is this town nothing but IRA members?" She didn't like this town anymore.

Kate tugged out her phone as they both watched the two trucks pull up and stop next to theirs. "Hammond, its Beckett. We have company," Kate huffed as she watched them go back to their trucks and pull out AR-15's and shotguns. "Heavily armed company, four of them. …got it." Kate hung up.

"Hammond and Frazier are still 45 minutes out." Kate told him. "What do you want to do?" she asked Castle.

Rick sighed, not sure what he wanted to do. If this was his Ranger team he knows what they would do, but this was Kate, his fiancé, and he wanted to be married, not a widower, but he knew he was right.

"The best defense is…" Rick offered, looking at Kate.

Kate exhaled, not liking this plan. "Is a good offense." She lowered her head.

"Not to worry, I think you're going to like this." Rick lifted his eyebrows a couple of times. "You are immune to what you are about to see." Rick informed her and gently touched her.

They both watch as the four men, one by one, go up onto the front porch and spread out across the front of the hospital that looks more like a Victorian house.

As soon as one of them cracks the front door open Rick's illusion pops up confusing the four of them. They instantly find themselves inside the middle of a mirror arcade looking at multiple versions of themselves all over the place. It wasn't possible and they knew it, yet it was what they saw.

Rick used another illusion. "You can put down your weapons and go to jail or you can leave in body bags." Rick threw his voice so that it sounded like he is in there with them.

His answer was one of them opening up with his AR-15 on full auto, followed by the others emptying their weapons at points they still hope are into the hospital. Some how they do manage to succeed at doing that.

Problem was Rick and Kate weren't inside the hospital anymore. Rick stood there and opened up with his weapon on full auto and sprayed the area where he could see them standing catching two of them in the legs. Kate was in closer just off to one side and used her shotgun to shoot the other two in the legs.

They both had activated their invisibility and went out the side of the house. They proceeded to the front and moved in behind the four of them.

"These guys are idiots, no training of any kind," Rick said to himself.

He went forward and put three more rounds into the legs of the two he had already shot. He heard and sort of watched Kate do the same, only she used her service weapon instead of the shot gun. Then Rick and Kate removed the men's weapons while still invisible and let them moan and roll around holding their legs.

Rick launched their weapons out into the yard and saw two more get thrown from nowhere causing him to smile. "Still don't like my plan?" Rick inquired.

Kate deactivated her invisibility. "Yes. You're just lucky that these guys are idiots." Even Kate thought a full frontal assault was stupid.

Rick turned off his invisibility. "I'll keep that in mind for the next time. I hate to say this, but if we want these four bozos to live…" Rick made a face of pain.

"Go get him, I'll watch these four," Kate told Rick as she inserted 2 rounds into her shotgun and pumped it to put one in the chamber. She watched the men moan as they bled all over the front porch.

Dolan was just starting on the third guy, doing quick work on each to keep them alive, when Kate's phone vibrated. They only had zip ties from the bag Kate had brought in left and was using them on guy number two, leaving him on the floor next to guy number one. "Beckett."

Kate listened for a moment. "No, no more problem, you can come on in." Kate ended the call. "Two minutes." Kate advised Castle who had turned to look at her and nodded his head.

Kate met Frazier and Hammond at the front door. "This way," she said and took them to Castle.

Frazier and Hammond looked over everything. Two men who had leg wounds were cuffed to tables. Two more with leg wounds had their hands and feet zip tied were lying on the floor, with one on a gurney being worked on by someone who they guessed was Dolan's son and one guy on the floor with leg wounds who was unconscious.

"You two have been busy, what do you want us to do?" Frazier asked.

"There is an apartment upstairs. I don't know what Castle wants but what I could use is some sleep after these guys are all secured." Kate replied.

"We'll watch them, you are supposed to call Special Agent Darrigo upon our arrival." Hammond informed her. Since Frazier had done most of the driving, he was feeling alert and rested. They had changed drivers on the way up and their car now needed gas since it was pretty much running on fumes to get here quickly.

Kate pulled out her phone and walked away. "Report," Darrigo demanded as soon as he came on line after just one ring.

"Hammond and Frazier have arrived. We had four more uninvited guests likely all are IRA members. Something big is really going on sir. The only good thing I can report about these people is that they have little to no combat training." Kate was thankful for that.

"I can't get anyone to you until after daylight tomorrow. You four are on your own till then," Darrigo apprised her.

"We found a phone that has been used to call only one number, we believe Dolan's son and father have been using it to keep in touch." Kate gave him both numbers.

"I'll have Penelope see what she can dig up on the numbers," Darrigo told Kate.

"I also have a list of phone numbers with what look like code names next to each number. I'll take a picture of it and send it to Penelope," Kate advised him.

"Good, keep up the good work agent," Darrigo commended Kate.

"Yes sir. Any word on who they are after?" Kate was curious and knew even if he knew he might not tell her.

"We still have calls in on that, once I think you have need to know, I'll let you know." Darrigo ended the call.

"Yes sir." Kate said to her dead phone. Kate was suddenly feeling very tired and walked slowly back to where Castle was located.

Rick and Kate stuck around just long enough to watch Frazier cuff Dolan to his chair again. "Tell them to pee on themselves and poop in their shorts if they ask for a bathroom break again," Rick told them.

"Got it." Frazier started smiling.

Rick followed Kate upstairs. He hadn't been up there since he was busy watching their prisoners. He found a small studio apartment with a Murphy bed that was down, a sofa, an end table, kitchen and TV trays. Clothing for a male was lying around or hanging out in the open. Rick noticed that the kitchen sink was filled with dirty dishes.

"You sure you want to sleep up here?" The place was a pig sty as far as Rick was concerned.

"Yes," Kate moaned as she set her shot gun down and removed her weapon's holster followed by her heeled boots and fell onto the bed. Kate picked up and launched one of the pillows since it didn't smell like Castle.

Rick chuckled and removed his shoulder harness and placed it on the sofa. His SIG 22 followed with his shoes next. Rick crawled into the bed and moved in close to Kate. He placed her head where Kate always slept with an arm wrapped around her.

"Better?" Rick whispered.

Kate twisted her head so that her nose was in Rick's chest and breathed him in. "Much!" Kate closed her eyes and tried to let her tired and aching body lead her to sleep.

Rick was awake long enough to feel Kate completely relax against him and feel her breathing even out telling him she was asleep. His mind was still working. Why were these idiots this bad when they apparently have a plan to kill someone?

And where were they getting all these guys from? The IRA can't be that deep around here, can they? Still if their timing was right, whoever it was they were after was traveling in two days, so maybe they brought in everyone they could lay their hands on.

Had they eliminated the team that this weapon cache was meant for? Would that put an end to their plan? Did they have a back-up plan?

It took a lot for Rick to get to sleep. Rick felt his foot being tapped and was slowly waking up. Rick knew if it was bad Jack would have shocked him awake and Kate typically slept without moving much.

Rick finally had his eyes open and saw Hammond standing over them. "It's almost daylight," Hammond informed Rick. The agent smiled at what he saw and went back downstairs.

Rick started running his hand through Kate's hair and kissing the top of her head. All that happened was Kate hummed and snuggled in even closer. "It's time to wake up Kate, it's almost daylight," Rick told her while kissing her head again.

Kate simply turned so her head was even more buried into him and felt her kiss that spot. "Go back to sleep Castle." Kate kissed the same spot.

"Sorry Kate but we need to get up, we still have IRA captives to take care of," Rick tried again and kissed Kate's head once more.

"Hmmm, IRA, weapons… FBI!" Kate sat up suddenly and looked around searching for her weapons.

"We're fine Kate, we just need to get up and join Hammond and Frazier. They might like their chance at a quick nap," Rick said to Kate.

It was enough to get Kate to roll out of the bed. "God I'd kill for a shower or even a toothbrush." Kate walked over to her weapons.

"I'm sure this place has a bathroom with a shower," Rick replied.

Kate shook her body. "Yeah, no thanks though I do need to pee." She headed for the bathroom knowing exactly where it was, since she had found it earlier while performing her search.

Rick used the bathroom while Kate was collecting her weapons. It was only a couple of minutes later and they were both headed downstairs. "You two want to trade off to take a cat nap upstairs? Go right ahead," Rick said while he checked how much ammunition he still had.

"We're good for now. Your friends have peed on themselves," Hammond informed them.

"So that's what that smell is." Kate crinkled her nose. Rick, however, had smelled worse.

"In that case I'm thinking Kate and I should go collect their weapons from that pit, and keep it from them if you two are good alone with our friends here. Should only take an hour or so." Rick suggested.

"I could really use some coffee," Frazier moaned. "Amen," Kate seconded his feelings.

"There may be a cheap coffee machine upstairs," Rick remarked and watched Frazier head upstairs. Rick chuckled at him.

Frazier had been gone for 15 minutes when he came back downstairs carrying something that had 4 cups of coffee inside it. "These were the only clean cups I could find. The guy who lives up there is a pig," Frazier informed them, not like they didn't already know.

"Part of that mess is my fault," Kate told him. "I searched it looking for anything that would help explain all this." Kate took one of the cups and sipped, making a face. Still, it was coffee.

Rick and Kate took their coffee out to their truck and Kate handed Rick the keys so he could drive. They found the burnt out building again with no problem however both of the cars that had been there were gone. "Uh-Oh!" Rick exclaimed as he stopped well short of the building.

"They've been here." Kate commented. She drew her weapon, pulled the slide back and took the safety off. Kate watched Rick attached the silencer to his weapon. "I should have taken the time to reload my clips." Rick shook his head. He really had gotten soft since leaving the Rangers. He really needed to up his game. Rick knew that all three of their weapons used the same ammunition.

"They are in your pockets just like mine. We can wait Castle," Kate offered and watched as Rick dug out all of his spare rounds. She held them while he filled his clips using up every round he had left.

"We stick to this side and work our way through the trees till we reach the house," Rick said to Kate.

It took them some time before they could look inside with Rick keeping guard while Kate looked in the hole. "They're gone Castle, all of it." Rick cursed a blue streak.

"It was the weapons or the prisoner Castle and we needed information. Just where did they take them?" Kate questioned.

Suddenly Rick turned his head to look at Kate. "Hospital!"

Kate made a face of shock and distress. "Oh shit! And we left them." Kate yanked out her phone and called Hammond. "Hammond, the weapons are gone, they may be headed your way. They will have RPG's, AR-15's and grenades or flash bangs. We will be back as fast as we can, keep your eyes open and call us if you see anything." Kate ended the call.

"Come on Kate we are leaving." Rick reached over to Kate and they instantly were on the front porch of the hospital just as they saw a truck roll up and slam on the brakes.

Rick watched as a guy who was in the bed of the truck rise up while holding something big. "RPG!" Rick grabbed Kate and ran inside. "RPG, everyone out the back!" Rick yelled at Hammond and Frazier.

Rick was the last out the back door just as a huge blast erupted at the front of the hospital. He knew just what an RPG could do to a wood frame building and knew the front of the hospital was now heavily damaged and likely on fire.

"You two go that way, Kate and I will go the opposite. Try and squeeze them between us," Rick told Hammond and Frazier. Rick and Kate ran their direction while Rick raised his weapon and scanned the area as they moved. Problem was they had a large open space to cross to reach the building next door. "Invisibility," Rick told Kate and disappeared in front of her, though Kate could feel him take her arm.

Kate activated her version of invisibility and felt Rick pull her until he let go. Kate heard Rick's feet run across the hard surface with Kate right behind him, she thought, with her own boots sounding on the hard surface.

Just as they reached the building next door there was another large explosion as what was left of the hospital took more damage. This was followed by two smaller explosions in quick succession. "RPG followed by two grenades." Kate could hear Castle, even if she couldn't see him. Suddenly she saw him. "Keep yours up Kate, yours lasts longer. I've got maybe 5 minutes left to me," Rick instructed Kate, sure that she is close by.

"What now Castle?" Kate was curious.

"Call Hammond, tell them not to do anything until after they use the third RPG. I want you to move out to the car parked in the street and use it as cover. Just after the third RPG I want you to open fire. We shoot to kill this time Kate. …Now go!" Rick raised his weapon to provide cover if needed.

Kate pulled out her phone and dialed Hammond before she started running for the car parked out front. "Hammond, wait for the third RPG to be fired and then open up on them, we will follow immediately." Kate waited for a reply before hanging up and ducked down behind the car, breathing heavily, steadying herself. She was an FBI agent not a damn Army Ranger.

Rick decided to risk it and used one of his illusions.

Shadow Evocation Greater - You tap energy from the Plane of Shadow to cast a quasi-real, illusion. If damage is sustained it is only partially real if the victim does not believe the illusion.

Rick chose a zombie who looks truly ugly which showed up on the opposite side of the truck and attacked the guy with the RPG before he got his third and hopefully last shot off.

Rick was rewarded with hearing someone scream and watched as he involuntarily shot as the RPG flew far up in the sky, up and over the hospital, where it landed and exploded. "SHIT!" Rick hadn't thought of that; he could only hope no one was injured in the explosion.

Right on schedule Kate, Hammond, Frazier and himself all open up on the truck where both men are located. The second guy was just getting ready to throw another grenade when he is hit and dropped it.

The guy in the bed of the truck is screaming for all he is worth as he can feel himself being eaten alive by a real honest to GOD zombie.

His screams ended when the grenade his buddy had dropped exploded followed moments later by the truck exploding.

Kate ended her invisibility and stood watching the truck burn, taking a quick look to see if Castle was okay. She could see him stand from where he had been laying on the ground. Looking past the burning truck Kate could make out Hammond and Frazier emerging from where they were.

It a few minutes later they could hear sirens getting louder. They had gathered together to look at the burning truck and the burning and ruined hospital. "We're in trouble aren't we?" Kate just knew they were in trouble for all of this.

"You two did this yesterday didn't you?" Hammond looked at Rick and Kate.

"Something similar, twice actually," Rick confirmed.

"Leave it to the new rookies to create this big a mess. Is working with you two always going to be like this?" Frazier asked not expecting an answer.

They watched as the town's two fire trucks showed up along with the town's sheriff. "We'll talk with the sheriff. I wonder if our captives are still alive?" Frazier questioned as he and Hammond moved off to intercept the Sheriff.

Kate looked at Rick. "These two weren't here for us were they? They were here to kill the people we had captured so they couldn't talk weren't they?" Kate wanted Rick to say no, but she knew better.

"Likely killing us would have been icing on the cake." Rick nodded his head as they watched the firemen start putting out the fire in what was left of the hospital.

"Who is so damn important that Michael would kill his own son?" Kate couldn't wrap her mind around a parent willingly killing his own son. "Just who the hell is 'Bitch?'" She wanted answers. Kate took a moment to remove her spent clip and slap in a new one, which got Rick to do the same with his weapon.

"Our first case as FBI Agents." Rick commented softly.

"Think it's our last?" Kate added quietly. Everyone was dead and she felt bad about that, just wasn't sick about it. Was that because even if she had killed someone, she hadn't done it face to face?

Kate was starting to truly understand what Castle felt when he killed that 15 year old kid who probably was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kate took hold of Rick's arm and leaned into him. She still had Rick and she loved him.