CH39
It is now just under 3 months later: (April 1, 2001)
Rick had talked with his lawyer that night while on speaker phone after finding out what his lawyer had to tell him. "Gina has filed papers fighting the contract that you signed with Black Pawn with Gina being their representative. She is claiming that the contract has been modified by you after the fact."
"I have managed to delay any proceedings being that you are FBI Agents and are presently out of state on a classified FBI assignment and are therefore unavailable. However the second you set foot in New York, the clock starts ticking."
"Since you were unavailable I've been served the paperwork," Henry told him.
Rick paid to have Henry fly out the next day and go over what Gina had filed. "This is the original contract that she created Castle. The one we all, including my dad, went over word by foreign word." Kate complained.
They had a conference call with Jim as they went over what Jim had found and what the new contract that Rick had signed had said.
Henry spent the night in their spare bedroom since the place was fully furnished. "I can see why Richard's engaged to you," Henry had commented that night while eating dinner. "Thanks Henry, Castle says something like that all the time. It's nice to know he's not alone in liking my cooking." Kate smiled.
"If you weren't already engaged Kate and I wasn't married, I would ask you to marry me. This is really good." Henry was sure he was going to leave tomorrow weighing an extra 5 pounds that was never going to come off.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
They had recorded just over 1,000 phone calls that had resulted in the arrests of 243 individuals and had closed down 14 "Rip and Tear" companies overall after adding in the accomplishments of the San Diego office. They had also closed down and had filed papers against a number of the larger telemarketing companies that utilized large phone banks.
Kelley stood up with her glass of champagne that Castle had paid to have delivered. "I want to thank each of you. This office recorded the most number of raids and arrests of Project Senior Sentinel. Thanks to Agents Castle and Beckett and their astounding ability to track bank account records to overseas banks in the Cayman Islands, we actually have money to give back to the seniors that were scammed out of their money. It's not all of it, however, it is a lot more than we were ever hoping for."
"To our Senior Citizens." Kelley raised her glass and watched as everyone else raised theirs and even got Agents that were not part of the team raised theirs.
"Hopefully our attempts at taking their residences and other property and selling them will allow us to give some of the victims at least a little money." Kelley added.
"Like in an auction?" Rick was suddenly interested. "Can we get a list of the properties that would be offered up for auction?" Rick smiled hopefully.
"Sorry Castle, members of the FBI and their families are not allowed to partake in the auction of confiscated property," Kelley was forced to tell him.
Kate patted the shoulder of the pouting Castle and kissed his cheek. "It wouldn't be an island villa anyway Castle." Kate said to him.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Right now Rick and Kate were eating Popsicles soaked in Vodka while listening to one of Kate's favorite bands. They had finished their assignments yesterday and had celebrated in the cafeteria with Kelley and most of their volunteers.
Tomorrow was one of their full week off after all of their hard and successful work. Tomorrow was also going to be a trip out to Florida to do a site visit to each of their Papa Murphy's sites that were under construction. Most of them were almost complete and they would need to start hiring store managers and have the managers start hiring employees.
After that they were going to visit another 8 sites all in the Tampa Bay area to open still more stores. When those were at the stage of these 12 stores they would scout for another 8 sites all in the Orlando area. Together they had decided on not expanding in the Daytona Beach area, their single store in that area would be their only one, at least for now. Maybe they would look at Atlanta or Birmingham after that.
Kate had a real problem deciding what to get Castle for his birthday. This dinner was paid for by Kate as part of Castle's birthday.
"Happy Birthday Castle." Kate licked her Popsicle clean and handed over two envelopes.
Rick wasn't Kate and ripped the first one open and pulled out a piece of paper.
"I Katherine Houghton Beckett, soon to be Katherine Houghton Castle (Agent Castle) wish to be married during winter on a beach on our favorite island and make love in the ocean, or on it." Rick read the first one silently. "You decided!" Rick got up, bent over Kate, and kissed her soundly.
"On it?" Rick questioned. "Married on a beach or on the boat?" Rick wanted to be clear.
"Married on the beach, right on the beach with the reception on a boat that we all sleep on." Kate clarified.
"Sounds like we have some research to do." Rick commented, only to see Kate shake her head. "Turn it over." Kate stated, getting Rick to turn it over to read the back side.
Anse Chastanet's Elope to Paradise wedding package: Wedding on Anse Mamin Beach that includes the bride arriving on the secluded beach via water taxi. Access is only by water taxi or the resort shuttle. All legal processing, lawyer and registrar fees, all messenger and transportation services, wedding bouquet, wedding cake, bottle of champagne, photography, video photography, pre-wedding spa package, local national wedding dress, private sunset post wedding sailing trip.
Honeymoon for one week on a Yacht called Viva Mas. 124 foot long, sleeps 10 with 5 cabins, crew of 5 plus captain, stabilizers, satellite TV, gaming console, 2 wave runners, Dinghy, large Jacuzzi on deck, DVD player, fully air-conditioned, diving and snorkeling gear on board, waterskis, SATCOM, cell phone capable.
$95,000 per week.
Rick lifted his eyebrows at the cost. Granted he had spent more than that on Kate's engagement ring; he was thinking of spending close to that for her wedding ring.
"I know the cost is expensive, Castle, but it's once in a lifetime. It's not like I'm ever going to get married again...unless you want to renew our vows someday." Kate tried using Castle's puppy dog eyes look to get what she wanted.
Rick sighed knowing he was going to cave; he pulled out the other piece of paper.
"I, Katherine Houghton Castle, owe my husband one sexual fantasy of his choice, no matter what it is, at a time and place of his choosing." Rick's eyebrows really shot up at this one.
Kate was playing with her hands knowing just what she was offering and if she was truthful with herself, it scared the crap out of her. "I mean it Castle, anything, anyplace and anytime." Kate whispered as her stomach started doing gymnastics, so much so that she was starting to make herself nauseous.
Kate watched as Rick kissed the paper, folded it up and placed it in his pocket over his heart.
Kate wasn't sure what to think of that. Part of her had hoped Castle would rip it to pieces, part of her wanted to know what he wanted right then. Not knowing what Castle was thinking was starting to get to her.
Previously Kate had played with herself till she had one of her strongest orgasms ever with Castle watching her. This could be way past that. Castle had already tied her to the bed twice, even though Kate had yet to do the same to Castle. She was saving it for a special occasion.
Kate didn't know what Castle's fantasies were, they hadn't talked about them. Not even much about them touching themselves. It had taken all of Kate's courage to offer up the double headed dildo. Now they used it at least monthly if not more.
It was one of the things that had made Kate love Castle even more. But this! Just what would Castle do with it? Did he know just what Kate was offering, how much of herself she was exposing to him?
Kate was so nervous that she picked up another Popsicle out of the bowl and had it gone in under a minute. She took the last one out of the bowl and nursed this one for as long as she could after eating half of it quickly.
Kate was struggling out of her clothes after making it home. "How was your birthday Castle?" Kate was smiling as she left her dress on the floor and was trying to get her arms behind her back to unhook her bra. Finally Kate turned her back on Rick. "Castle?"
Rick unhooked Kate's bra and she let it fall to the floor. "Thanks Castle." Kate reached up to kiss Castle. "Hmmm, you taste like Popsicles," not noticing it was she who tasted like popsicles.
Kate crawled into bed and was still just awake enough to snuggle into Rick before falling asleep.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Kate moaned about her headache most of the day as they walked through their Papa Murphy's sites. Each contractor had a plan provided by Papa Murphy's to follow-what materials to use, what color to paint this or that.
Papa Murphy's sent the required prep counter, door coolers and all of the product. They also sent the phone system, cash registers, pizza dough maker, cans of pineapple, cans of sauce, rolls of shrink wrap, literally everything they would need.
Only the ex-sub shop required the most work. It needed a new water heater, new restroom fixtures and finishes, new rooftop A/C units along with a fair amount of demolition.
Rick and Kate agreed that in about 4 months they could start looking at 8 new sites in the Tampa Bay area.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
The following day they were both in Henry's office to go over the papers that Gina had filed in court. They were met in the reception area by Jim who had also read the contract. "Hi Dad, ready to read what we have and be a lawyer?" Kate asked him; she let go of him after hugging him.
"Your editor is one determined lady Rick." Jim didn't believe that Gina would go to these lengths.
"Ex-editor Jim, ex-editor." Rick corrected Jim while smiling.
To speed up the process each of them took a section that dealt with her lawsuit based on each point that was being made. Each of them were doing a lot of writing in red on the papers they had.
Henry ordered a break for lunch and had sandwiches delivered along with drinks. When Jim went to the restroom during this time it gave Rick and Kate time to talk to Jack.
"Gina has put back what we removed in each section and has highlighted these sections as being the reason for the reason of the lawsuit," Jack pointed out.
"Jill?" Kate asked, hoping she has something they can use.
"It is Richard's signature, however the signature was not done using ink, meaning Richard did not sign it. It is merely a copy of Richard's signature and not an original," Jill informed them.
"We need a handwriting specialist to verify and indicate this in court," Kate remarked and made notes.
"We need a paper specialist also. If these are just copies of the earlier contract, perhaps he can expose the paper used instead of the paper that was actually used," Rick suggested.
Kate's head snapped up. "Paper! Paper Castle! Each and every page had a watermark that we placed there in case of just this thing happening," Kate declared. It was at this time that Henry walked back in with Jim right behind him.
"Paper, Dad, it's the paper!" Kate smiled widely, sure that they had a lead on something.
"Your watermark." Jim had instantly caught on. Henry pulled out the light they would need. "Kill the lights Dad."
"Why do none of the pages have our watermark?" Kate was dumbfounded. She was sure this would nail Gina to the wall.
"She has sent us a copy of the contract and not the original papers." Jim surmised. "It's not uncommon. Henry do you have a projector that we can use to put these papers up on the wall?" Jim asked.
Minutes later they had the sheet that had Castle's signature on it up on the wall. Jim was standing next to the image and even blocked some of the light. "Dad?" Kate didn't really see anything.
"One of the things we did with the watermark was to make an indentation just at the corner. While this may be just a copy, even a copy would show the indentation that was made. It would be a shadow that was barely detectable. Yet I see no such shadow," Jim stated.
"We need to get our hands on the originals that Rick signed. If her lawyer is going to use them in court we have the right to see them, and not just copies," Jim advised.
"I'll have a court order in their hands tomorrow. If they don't produce the original contract, I'll ask that the entire case be thrown out," Henry informed them.
""We still need to find some specialists in ink and paper as well as the workings of a copy machine." Kate replied and watched as Henry took notes.
Jack would tell them that he has already located them, but he couldn't talk with Jim and Henry around, so it would have to wait. He can have Richard send the names to his lawyer later.
"The sooner we get those specialists the better. Maybe they can give us a lead on where the paper and ink came from," Kate said.
"We can subpoena a copy of the paper and ink used at Black Pawn as well as a copy from each and every printer or copier used in Black Pawn or from whatever company they use to print out large files," Henry told them and made a note.
"Every Black Pawn office?" Jim inquired. Henry made yet another note.
"Gina is the only person listed, however, she represents Black Pawn, so who is paying for this lawsuit? Gina or Black Pawn?" Jim added and Henry made still another note.
"If Black Pawn is a part of this even if it is only providing Gina with the funding, this is a breach of the real contract and when we prove that this one is false we can use it to void the contract with Black Pawn and sue them for breach of contract," Jim apprised them. Henry was still taking notes while Kate sat there smiling at her dad. Her dad was on a roll; it felt more like her dad of old.
"In addition we can also counter sue Gina and send her a message. If she's smart, she'll give this up and take her chances that Black Pawn won't fire her or that she can easily find another job." Jim remarked. Henry kept right on taking notes.
"What do we do?" Kate asked.
"For starters, the more we know about Gina the better. Where she lives, her lifestyle, medical history if we can get it, phone records, friends, family. Essentially investigate her," Jim suggested as he wound down from what he could think of.
"I don't think the FBI would approve of us using their facilities for personal use," Kate warned.
"We'll just have to find alternate methods is all," Rick replied while he gave Kate a look of "We both know who I mean."
Henry had his secretary come in and begin work on his notes so that he could start making phone calls. Since nothing else came to them the meeting broke up.
Rick, Kate, and Jim soon made their way to a local restaurant that was loud enough that the others would not likely overhear their conversation. "Are we in trouble dad?" Kate's fear of losing Castle was reaching her limit of holding it together.
"I don't think so, provided that we can get our hands on the original contract that her lawyer plans on presenting as evidence in court. The real contract has built in copy protection to prevent just what Gina has done. We've seen it, your lawyer has seen it along with his secretary. We just have to prove that Gina has removed and inserted pages after the fact. Once we do that you two are home free." Jim remarked. Kate started breathing again, not that she noticed that she had stopped.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
They both had the week off or so they were told and were enjoying being home, sleeping in their bed, just living in their home instead of apartments. That is until they got a call from the New York office telling them to come in the next morning.
"If we get sent to another city I'm going to scream." Kate said as they took the elevator up to their floor.
After going through another security check point they find Special Agent Darrigo in his office, packing. "Sir?" Kate and Rick looked around.
"I've been reassigned to another office; my replacement will be here tomorrow. Agent Jordan Shaw called you in and is expecting you in the video conference room." Darrigo advised them.
"I'm sorry sir, perhaps we'll meet again." Kate offered her condolences and shook his hand.
"You know where you're going sir?" Rick asked after he shook Darrigo's hand.
"Salt Lake City, which given my possible options is actually the best of the bunch. You two could turn out to be really good. Try not to lose sight of the big picture," Darrigo told them and watched them leave his office.
Rick and Kate found Penelope in the conference room with the screens already up and on. "I've downloaded what I've been sent, these two are yours. Just call me when you are done and I'll handle the equipment," Penelope instructed them.
"Jordan, Avery?" Rick and Kate greeted their team leaders and sat down.
"I know I've been sending you all over the place so far even though I told you I would find work for you there in New York. The first two were meant to get you used to how an FBI agent works and I must say I'm impressed so far. You two have made good on my selecting you for this team."
"However, I'm going to send you out yet again. We have what might be a serious problem that we need to get a handle on. Open your packets now please." Jordan waited while Rick and Kate opened their packets and started looking through them.
"There is a new drug out there that we really need to find and shut down if we can. We think it has already made it to New York though it looks like it started in LA. Avery and one other of our team will meet you in Las Vegas. I and the rest of our team are headed for LA."
"In addition the entire BAU team is headed for Dallas. After that we will all leave our respective cities and move to the next. Where we will be staying in that city after a week or two." Jordan informed them.
"Why are we involved Jordan? Chasing drugs is not part of our scope." Kate didn't understand. Hell even the Telemarketer case wasn't really part of their scope.
"As you will find in your packets, this drug is highly addictive and we believe it has resulted in over 200 deaths in LA alone with another 100 or so in Vegas and even more in Dallas. We have 20 deaths so far in Kansas City as well as a handful here in Chicago. We've seen a few deaths that might be related in Boston and Baltimore. It is only a matter of time before one shows up in New York.
There is one more thing, our lab has so far been unable to determine just what this drug is or what it does. However people are ODing a little too easily, especially in LA, Vegas and Dallas."
"You, along with Avery and one other person, are to find out what you can about this drug. Find people who have used it, sold it. Go to hospitals and talk to the doctors and talk to people that have been admitted into the hospital."
"We need to find out who made it, where it is being manufactured, what it takes to make it. We need to give the doctors all the information we can along with help our labs understand it."
"Based on numbers alone, it appears that it started in LA and moved its way across the country."
"You leave tomorrow morning and one more thing, DO NOT let this drug get into your system. You both need to adhere to proper handling of a dangerous drug, I have no desire to lose any of my agents because they handled a syringe improperly," Jordan warned them.
"I'll meet you at the airport; a member of the Las Vegas office is going to meet us there," Avery said to them before he and Jordan signed off.
"Sounds like my night with Lanie tonight just got canceled," Kate commented, feeling a little down. She had been looking forward to a little girl time.