CH44
It is now one week later: (May 2, 2001)
Rick was in his study writing while Kate was on the mezzanine level reading. Martha had excused herself and had taken a taxi to who knew where since she wasn't telling.
Kate wasn't really reading though she did have a book that she wanted to read in her hands. Instead she was thinking of her time she had spent with Martha so far. Kate still didn't know what to think of Martha. The woman was just so… different.
Martha seemed to do things in sudden surges. Stay in her room most of the day, only to stay up all night and spend the following morning with them before they have to leave for work.
That and Martha's stories about their early years. It gave Kate a new understanding about how Castle had grown up, where money was a major problem.
"Sorry to interrupt Richard, however senator hopeful has entered his election headquarters and is presently talking with the people in charge. It does not sound like he plans on being there long," Jack suddenly informed Rick.
"Tell Jill, so we can get dressed and armed. We will be teleporting to catch him before he leaves," Rick instructed Jack and headed down the stairs to the master bedroom, where he was soon met by Kate.
After checking his SIG and watching Kate do the same, he asked, "Ready?" Kate took hold of Castle's arm. "Ready."
Thanks to Jack they arrived in a private space and had a short walk to Bracken's election office.
Rick showed his FBI ID. "We're here to see William Bracken." Rick only stopped for a moment while Kate kept walking.
"I'll tell him you are here," she said as she reached to pick up the phone.
"You will not, or I'll arrest you for warning him that the FBI is here, possibly allowing him to run out the back door. Unless you want to spend the next 10 years in prison..." Rick did his best to sound menacing while leaning in her direction.
Rick knew he couldn't arrest her for anything, but she didn't need to know that. However he couldn't allow her to give Bracken a warning either. They wanted to surprise him and see how he reacted to their sudden visit.
Rick got the reaction he wanted since she gave up reaching for the phone and looked scared.
Kate was first in through the door to Bracken's office with Castle right behind her. "William Bracken, I'm Agent Beckett and this is Agent Castle. We have a few questions for you." Kate displayed her FBI ID for a moment before putting it away, which just happened to display her service weapon.
Kate noticed it took Bracken a moment too long to compose himself. "What can I help the FBI with?" Bracken asked after securing his innocent public face in place.
"What can you tell us about Neil Anderson?" Kate inquired, while Rick wandered around.
"That was a very sad day for all of us. Neil was a good worker, he had a clear head on his shoulders," Bracken responded.
"So you met him?" Rick asked from the far side of the office and continued searching.
"I… I believe I met him once." Bracken was off balance.
"And your one and only quick meeting with him was enough to generate a good understanding of him?" Kate didn't believe him.
"I'm a politician. I'm generally a good judge of character when I meet a person," Bracken countered.
"Really? …let's test that, shall we?" Rick said. He opened the door and selected the first person he came across and dragged him into the office and closed the door.
"Is something…" Rick interrupted the man. "No talking, in fact don't ever talk again, ever." Rick tried to sound menacing.
"Now Mr. Bracken, who is this person? He obviously works here and likely has been here for a number of days if not weeks," Rick demanded.
"What is the purpose of this? Am I a suspect in his death, Agent?" Bracken ignored the test.
"You can go now, thank you for your participation." Rick escorted his selection back out of the room.
"Now that we've established that you're just another lying politician, how did you know Neil Anderson?" Rick asked Bracken point blank.
"I don't have to answer your questions Agent, unless you're arresting me. In which case, I would be talking with my lawyer. So unless you have something else, we are done here." Bracken angrily gestured for them to leave.
Rick collected Kate and they headed for the door. "Good luck with your election Mr. Bracken, it would appear that you are going to need it." Rick fired off a parting shot.
Once they are outside Kate turned on Rick. "What the hell was that Castle?" Kate knew FBI procedures and Castle had just broken most of them.
"He's involved Kate, I don't know how deep but he knows something. And now he is rattled and is going to do something stupid, if he isn't already doing it right now. We need to find someplace private." Rick looked around, walked Kate across the street and down an alley that was empty.
"Jack?" Rick queried.
"By the sound of it Bracken has pulled out a cell phone and has called a number. Scanning… Both numbers are unlisted."
"He is complaining that he was just visited by 2 FBI Agents asking about the death of Neil Anderson. He says he can handle them but thought the other person would want to know."
"He is being asked your names and is providing them. The other caller is in New York City. I just need him to stay on the phone a little longer." Jack advises he needs a little time.
"Bracken is being told to do nothing at this time, he will take care of it. The other person has ended the call. Other than a general area, I was unable to pinpoint his location," Jack apologized.
"I am attempting to ID him based off of his voice, however unless his voice has been recorded, it is unlikely to succeed." Jack wasn't sure of his results.
"At least we know he is involved somehow. Where does Bracken live?" Rick asked as Jack looked it up quickly and gave Rick an address. "Be right back, don't go anywhere," Rick told Kate and disappeared in an instant.
Kate didn't know what Castle was planning, she just knew they needed information that would stand up in court. "Katherine, Bracken has Nuke in his system," Jill suddenly announced.
"WHAT!? How much? You mean he is addicted!?" Kate was shocked. "Why isn't he dead from a stroke?" Kate was bewildered.
"There is more." Jill was loathe to tell her, however knew that she should. "There was a section of the room, likely a safe or container that I was unable to scan. That location may possibly contain an sample of the drug, likely Bracken's use for when he feels that he needs a shot."
Kate turned to look in the direction of Bracken's office even though she couldn't see it. "We need a sample of that drug. We need to examine it thoroughly." Kate was trying to think of how to get her hands on it. Maybe another midnight trip like she did at the Black Pawn office.
Which reminded her, they had a preliminary hearing tomorrow. Kate pulled out her phone while looking around. "Hi Dad, do we pick you up tomorrow or do you want to meet us there?" Castle's lawyer wanted to make sure all of them were there so they could end this quickly.
"We've already worked this out Katie. What's wrong? Has Rick done something? Have you two had a fight?" Jim didn't understand.
"WHAT!? No Dad, Rick and I haven't had a fight. It's just that tomorrow is big, Dad, if we don't win Castle is going to end up married to someone else. I could lose him tomorrow." Kate's fear of losing him was really beginning to affect her.
"Everything will be fine Katie, we've taken every precaution we can and have a case that they can't counter." Jim tried to soothe Kate's fears, when suddenly Rick popped in right next to her.
"I gotta go Dad." Kate ended the call. "Where did you go?" Kate demanded.
"I planted a couple of bugs in Bracken's house," Rick told Kate.
"Seriously Castle? You're a god damn FBI agent who is planting illegal bugs in people's homes!?" Kate was confused about what she was feeling.
"Um, yeah actually." It was only now that Rick realized that he had screwed up and tried his puppy dog eyes trick so Kate wouldn't stay mad at him.
"Jill says that Bracken is addicted to Nuke." Kate cursed his puppy dog eyes which made her talk. She watched as Castle's eyes flew wide open. "There is also a place inside his office that she can't scan. It likely has Nuke inside of it," Kate added, cursing internally.
"We need that sample. What do you suggest we do about it?" Rick knew what he wanted to do.
Kate scrunched her face and looked down at the concrete. "I was planning on a midnight raid." Kate squeezed her eyes closed, knowing what it meant.
"How very FBI of you. Pray tell how do you suppose we are going to obtain the warrant for this action?" Rick grinned.
"Shut up Castle." Smugness did not become him.
Rick pulled Kate in close suddenly, causing her to huff out a breath, taken by surprise. "You know I love you, right?" Rick kissed her, taking all the fight out of Kate.
After breaking from the kiss, Kate silently cursed the power Castle had over her. Yet it only made her heart grow bigger for Castle. Then Kate kicked his shin. "OW! What was that for?"
"That was for you rubbing off on me Castle." Then she pulled Castle down to her and kissed him. "Now let's go home, I'll make dinner and we can spend time with your mother before our midnight raid." Kate said as she pulled Castle out of the alley and flagged down a taxi for the trip home.
Rick and Kate put their service weapons in the gun safes by the front door and went into the living room. "Hello Martha." Kate was glad to see her before she headed into the kitchen to start dinner.
"Hello darling, how was work?" Martha stepped over to Kate and hugged her tightly. It was a feeling that Kate had learned to melt into. Martha wasn't her mother but she was Castle's mother and Martha had shown that she cared about Kate.
"It was fine Martha, we gained a new lead and will be out following it tonight after dinner," Kate told Martha and went into the kitchen. Martha only followed as far as the breakfast bar where she sat down.
"You two work too hard, dear. Trust me. Doing things in their own time will allow you to live longer." Martha was just trying to keep them both out of danger.
"Says the woman who hasn't slowed down since the day she was born," Kate teased while she started gathering what she needed to begin dinner.
"I never said do nothing darling, just do things in their own time," Martha countered.
"And if following our lead tonight is the only time we can?" Kate argued her point.
"Then I'm glad you're young, dear. Just don't forget to have some fun too. You and Richard need some fun, too." Martha simply wanted the two of them to have fun and not lose the love they had.
"We're doing fine Martha. Rick and I do things and go places every chance we get." Kate knew a trip back out to Tampa to look for future Papa Murphy's sites was coming up, probably followed by a day or two in St. Lucia again. It was something Kate was looking forward to.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
It was hours later and close to 2:00 am. "Now what Castle?" Rick and Kate were just outside of Bracken's election office.
"I'm down to 3 teleportation uses since I used 3 earlier to plant the bugs in Bracken's house. Think you are up to going in alone? If you encounter a problem, Jill will tell Jack and I will teleport right to you and then we teleport right back out again. Plus your invisibility will last an hour while I only have 20 minutes." Rick didn't want to slow her down, plus he knew Jill was better suited for this venture.
Kate pulled out her weapon and checked it. "I'll be fine, Jill and I have done this before." Kate was thinking of when she broke into Black Pawn.
"You've done this before? Do I want to know anything about this?" Rick trusted Kate about whether she wanted to tell him or when she felt like telling him.
"Probably not. I'll be right back." Kate gave Castle a quick kiss and became invisible.
Rick had gotten used to seeing Kate with her invisibility and watched what appeared to be a sort of like-shadow shape cross the street and stop at the main door, before seeing it open and close as Kate went through the door.
"How are we doing Jill?" Jill had turned off the security system and unlocked the door. "We are still clear Katherine. The void space is still within his office," Jill advised her.
Kate walked slowly and carefully with her weapon out until she reached the door. "Jill?"
"The door is now unlocked and you are clear," Jill told Kate. She opened the door and closed it behind her. "Now where?"
"Scans indicate that it is in his desk, lower drawer on the right side," Jill informed Kate.
Kate made it to the desk, slid the drawer open, and looked inside. "Not much in here Jill. Just some papers, couple of coffee cups, Vicks cough drops. I don't see anything." Kate was instantly frustrated. "You sure this void space is in here?"
"Positive, pick up the coffee cup on the right," Jill instructed her, getting Kate to pick it up.
"Store it in your coat and we can leave," Jill said.
"A coffee cup?" Kate was expecting a built-in safe somewhere or a lead-lined case, something, just not a coffee cup.
Kate made her way back out into the main room closing the office door behind her and making her way to the front door. Jill to re-lock the front door and turned the security system back on.
Kate carefully and stealthily snuck up behind Castle and leaned down to whisper into his ear. "BOO!" She got to watch Castle jump before deactivating her invisibility.
"Comical Kate. You're a regular laugh riot." Rick covered his heart with a hand and willed his heart beat to slow down.
"Thanks!" Kate gave Castle a quick kiss. "Teleport us home now babe," Kate asked and they were gone in an instant.
They left their coats on chairs of the dining room. "Find anything?" Rick hoped this trip produced results. He watched Kate pull out a coffee cup, and gave her a funny look.
"I know, but Jill says this is it." Kate defended both of them.
"A coffee cup?" Rick was still dubious.
"There is a void in the base of the coffee cup, a place that I can't scan. I'm assuming that the base is not made of the same material as the remainder of the coffee cup. The material does appear to be as susceptible to breakage as the rest of the cup," Jill informed them.
"Breakable," Kate whispered and placed the stopper in her farm house sink. She threw the coffee cup into the sink where it shattered into countless numbers of pieces.
They both looked into the sink and saw a lot of pieces, big and small. Kate started to reach into the sink to search the mess. "Careful Katherine! Scanning…" Kate yanked her hand back like she had just gotten burnt.
"I am detecting what is likely an injector filled with Nuke. Beginning scan and analysis of the drug," Jill said to them.
Rick took a wooden cooking utensil from the container on the counter next to the range and started pushing broken pieces around while being careful to pull out the bigger pieces. They both saw a small orange object at the same time.
Kate went searching through the utensils and came back with a pair of tongs she could use to pick it up. "Coffee cup?" Kate wanted to put it into something. They stared at it. "Jill?" Kate queried. She wanted answers.
"I am still analyzing the chemical make-up of this drug; it is highly complex, however it is definitely Nuke and should be handled with care. As suspected it is made up of a plastic dimple that is ribbed, likely making it easier to hold onto. There is already a tiny or baby needle attached. All the user has to do is inject the needle and squeeze the dimple to inject the drug."
"You can use your finger tips or simply squeeze it between two of your fingers as has been speculated," Jill apprised them.
Kate tilted the cup to force it to move around in the bottom of the coffee cup, and then placed the cup on the counter. "Now what?"
"Do we need to keep it for Jill to analyze or can we turn it over to the FBI lab?" Rick questioned.
"You will need to keep it for a little while still, I keep needing to scan it as I try to analyze the interactions of the chemicals. It is more complex than I had anticipated," Jill answered his question.
"Probably just as well since we need to get our story straight on how we got our hands on it. Jordan is likely to ask," Rick pointed out.
"We need to get some sleep, we have that hearing tomorrow. I mean today." Kate looked at her watch as the long day was starting to catch up to her.
"We have a problem," Jill suddenly announced.
"Yeah I know we do. We've got a wacko who is making Nuke and a junkie who is trying to get elected into the Senate. What more is there?" Kate demanded.
"This Nuke sample has a tiny fraction of a radioactive isotope embedded into the mix of chemicals." Jill had worked that much out.
"Which means what?" Kate didn't understand.
"Medical or industrial?" Rick queried. "Not that it likely matters." Kate looked at Rick, silently asking him or someone to explain.
"With the right equipment you can track down and follow an isotope." Rick had used something similar in his past. "You need to be close to get an exact location, however you can get a general idea if you are within range."
"SHIT! Now what do we do? Jill needs this to keep scanning it." Kate didn't think it sounded like they could keep it.
"Jill, was the material used to hide it in the coffee cup capable of hiding it from detection?" Rick had an idea.
"Scanning… Yes, it kept me out so it would keep your simple scanning equipment out," Jill confirmed.
"Well we can't glue it back together so where do we put it?" Kate was open to suggestions. "If you have used something like this before, what did you carry it in?" To Kate it sounded like Castle knew something about it.
"We placed it in a lead lined canister, about the size of a small thermos or soda can. We need something thick like lead," Rick explained.
Kate was sure they didn't have any lead. "Something thick… something thick..." Kate tried to think of something that they had. "Where would we find something at this hour?" Castle still had a couple of teleports left. Get there, get it and teleport back.
"Can we use our panic room? It's about a foot of concrete with steel panels on the inside. Maybe we can put it and all the pieces of the cup inside something and store it in our panic room. If Jill can't find it after that neither can anyone else." Kate suggested.