A huge thank you to fbob again for his contribution to this chapter! This chapter is rated M for violence. I want to remind everyone that I am a Caskett shipper and my stories will always reflect that. Just a heads up! Today's the day, I hope this makes the day pass quicker. Reviews would make my day. This is my entry into the 2014 Castle Hiatus Ficathon. I made the 50k words!

Walker sat up, grabbed his duffle bag and carefully made his way around the elevator machinery to the door that led out to the roof. He was about to open it when he heard the unmistakable sound of feet climbing stairs. The stairwell was to his right and so was a door. He quickly pulled out his pistol and nearly dropped it when the suppressor hung up on the belly band holster. It was well in hand when the officer opened the door and froze at the unexpected sight of him. Walker put a shot in the officer's forehead and he dropped.

A quick appraisal showed he was close enough to Walker's size that while the uniform would be slightly loose, especially in the waist, it would pass the casual observation. The tactical vest and all the other equipment on the officer's gear belt would hide the loose fit.

Ten minutes later, the officer lay clad in his underwear on the steel grate, his blood dripping down the elevator shaft. Walker had donned his uniform and boots, though the boots were a full size too big so he hoped he wouldn't have to run very far.

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

The final scene of The Hunt For Red October played out with Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin on the conning tower of the surrendered Russian submarine in some river on the East coast. Castle sighed and Beckett knew he'd missed a good third of the movie. She'd missed a little as well. They both needed the rest with the stress of the last 24 hours.

"Castle, I'm going to take a quick shower, wash my hair and get cleaned up. I feel gross. You'll be okay for a few minutes?" He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at her in his usual naughty boy manner. When she flashed him a smile he waved her off.

"I'm fine. We have a guard outside the door, a small army of Federal Marshals and NYPD guarding us. Go for it. Then maybe we can convince somebody to go get us some burgers and shakes or something. I'm getting really tired of the substances this hospital claims as food."

"I think I can make that happen." She stood up, gave his hand a squeeze, and recovered the DVD from the player. By the time she had it in the case, he'd fallen asleep. She smiled at him, swiped the hair from his eyes and brushed a light kiss across his brow. Then picked up her travel bag, hesitated a moment and decided to take off the heavy vest, gear belt, and her boots. She almost left her gun in the holster but at the last moment picked it up and took it in the bathroom with her. Not because she thought she'd need it, but because she didn't want to leave a loaded gun lying around where someone could pick it up. Hospital staff weren't tactically trained. There was too much chance of someone getting hurt or killed.

She closed the bathroom door behind her, found a place on the towel rack to lay the gun, then she turned back and locked the door for the same reason. It was a loaded and it couldn't go into the shower with her.

A few minutes later when the water temperature stabilized, she hobbled carefully into the shower glad for the handicapped access grab bars. The shower floor was not exactly slippery but it wasn't non-skid either. The rubber mat helped but it didn't come close to covering the entire shower floor. It didn't matter. Having that inflatable cast off for even a few minutes combined with the hot shower and she thought she knew what heaven felt like.

She indulged herself in the heat of the shower for a couple of minutes, then shampooed her hair, rinsed it and put on the conditioner. The plan was to let it sit for the specified five minutes while she used the loofah and body wash.

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

Walker made it down the steps to the main corridor. He double checked that he had indeed put a fresh magazine in his gun. He had. He was sure he had outsmarted the FEDS and NYPD. They had no clue how close he was and what he was capable of. They had underestimated him.

He wasn't sure which room Castle and Beckett were in but he thought it would probably be near the nurses' station. He was pretty sure they, and maybe Hunt as a long shot, were the only people on this floor. His plan was dirt simple. Trigger the bomb he had left near the oxygen tanks. Give the powers that be sixty seconds to respond by pulling people to cover the passages on the way to this hall. Then check, if the hall was clear, move rapidly toward the other end with his suppressed pistol. Take out the guard at the first guarded room. Go in.

If it was Castle's room, take him hostage to control him and disarm Beckett. Kill him then kill Beckett unless Beckett had her gun in hand, in that case kill her first. At this point it was strictly business. Then lie on the floor open hands toward the door. Surrender. Bargain the death penalty off the table with the offer of Volkov on a silver platter, if they were fast enough to catch him the rest would be history.

If he found Hunt, shoot him in the head twice and leave. Continue down the hall to find the next room with a guard which would be at Castle's room. While he was rehearsing, his hands had powered up the burner phone and selected the number of the trigger phone. He tapped the number and watched for a few seconds. The phone said the call was connected, then he heard a muffled explosion and a very slight tremor in the floor. He looked at the time. When the minute shifted, he'd go.

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

Kate lost herself in the luxury of the hot water massaging her achy body. She could feel the tension loosen the muscles of her neck and back. For the moment, the hot water washed away the anxiety and worry that had been building. It was heavenly.

She didn't hear the bomb go off and didn't notice the tremor in the floor.

She laid a bead of body wash on the loofah, rubbed it into suds and lathered it all over herself, rinsed and did it again. God but it felt good. The only thing better right now would be Castle's sunken bathtub with her favorite red wine And some scented candles. She moaned with satisfaction as she felt the stress wash away.

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

Jordan Shaw heard and felt the bomb go off. She reacted instantly. She sprinted from where she was in the front lobby to the stairwell and up the stairs. A horrible fear settled deep in her chest grew at the thought that she could be too late.

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

The minute ticked passed, Walker took a deep breath, grunted to himself, opened the door into the hallway and glanced around the corner. The hall and all the rooms on this end beyond the nurses' station were dark. "Okay, so they were in that rotunda area next to the nurses' station," he mumbled to himself.

There was nobody at the nurses' station so he took off at a jog and ran as quietly as he could. When he reached the corner just before the the nurse's station he stopped, poked his head out, took a mental picture and pulled it back. One nurse approached the nurses' station, and one guard stood stoically outside of the room.

He waited until she was clear of the counter, shot her once in the head, pivoted, drew a bead on the wide eyed guard and fired. The bullet passed through his head and buried itself in the wall behind him. Walker was glad it hadn't gone through the door and alerted the occupants. He sprinted quickly to the door and yanked it open. Castle saw him and screamed, "Beckett! He's here!"

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

Kate's euphoria was shattered at the sound of Castle's scream, "Beckett! He's here!"

She reacted instantly, threw back the shower curtain, lunged for her gun. Her weak leg forgotten she nearly fell and caught herself on the edge of the counter, but still slammed her head on the corner of the faucet handle. Momentarily stunned by the impact her feet slipped and she almost did a split onto the floor. She recovered onto her good leg but lost valuable time. Her heart thundered in her chest. She grabbed her gun in a soapy hand, right when she heard Castle say, "Beckett! He's AGGGGHHHh." There was the sickening sound of something hitting flesh.

She fought for control, fought to overcome her fear for Castle's safety and succeeded. She felt as the gun slipped from her grip as she tried to raise it. Her feet slid on the floor and caused her to stagger, the pain from her leg slashed through her. Then as quickly as it had stunned her she was no longer aware of it. She fumbled with her left hand and managed to unlock the door. Then she grabbed the handle, gave it a twist and yanked with all her strength on the door. It ripped over the top of the toes on her left foot but she managed to turn the yank into propulsion and surged off balance through the door.

All she saw was Castle and Walker in slow motion. The blood drops spilled through the air from the gash in Castle's forehead, the loose flesh vibrated giving him a surrealistic appearance as his head reacted to the blow. She saw the flesh on Walker's vibrate back and forth from the reaction force of the blow. His gun continued to move past her. He fired a shot that missed her on her right side, penetrated the door and the nurses' station outside.

She planted her right leg. It barely held her up. She watched, with detachment, as her front sight aimed at Walker's head, but when she pressed the trigger the gun slipped and the shot went high through the window.

Her right foot slipped forward, her left foot was trapped under the door. She discovered she suddenly couldn't see out of her right eye from the blood and swelling, so she followed her training and moved to use her left eye. She watched his gun as it swung back toward her, in slow motion. She braced her other hand against the door frame, stopped her fall, then aimed her gun but she saw his gun move faster. Her gun was almost back to him when she saw the fire and the gun jumped as he fired. With both hands on her gun she was nearly fully exposed, her whole body a target. Her world jerked violently and she knew she'd been hit.

A stinging like fire erupted across her chest, then as his gun jerked a second time and an awful driving pain seared through her chest, she felt herself start to fall. Her entire being focused on Walker. Survival was no longer a priority. Kill Walker. Save Castle! The rage gave her what she needed to stiffen her body in one last survival reflex. Walker's head moved away from Castle's, he wanted to watch her die. His eyes widened for a split second but before she could take advantage of it the monitor alarm went off. Walker's head jerked right to look at it in slow motion, Castle's head was forced down in reaction. In that instant Beckett's front sight stabilized on Walker's ear, she pressed the trigger one last time and watched as blood, brains and bone fragments blew out both sides of Walker's head. The bullet entered just behind his left ear. An instant later her head hit the door frame with a crunch and streaks of light flashed through spots in both eyes. She collapsed to the floor as her left toes ripped themselves free from under the door.

She moved her eyes. The last thing she saw with the fuzzy vision that remained in her left eye was Castle's terrified face, splattered with blood. His eyes and mouth wide open. She registered that he moved, then everything went black.

Thanks again for reading :) Follow me on Twitter glo1196 - Tumblr: MyCastleObsession and on Pintrest glo11962 where I have a Castle board!