CH45
It is now one month later: (June 2, 2001)
Martha was going to be with them for just a few more days and as much as she said she liked staying with them, it was easy to tell that she wanted to get back to work.
The Nuke sample was also gone and shipped off to a secure site that specialized in class 4 bio-hazard drugs and gases. Jill had asked to scan the sample every 2 days for 2 weeks as she tried to work out what the drug was made of and what it was capable of doing.
The biggest event happened the following day after they had gotten their sample of Nuke.
"Hurry up Castle or we're going to be late." Kate called from her closet that was still not yet filled with shoes. Castle showed up while putting his service weapon in his holster. He saw that Kate already had hers.
They, including Martha, met Jim, Henry and his secretary along with a surprise for Gina if things became difficult at the entrance to the building. "Ready Katie?" Jim asked after hugging her. "Yes, Dad. I'm ready!" she replied.
"Thanks for coming, I'm sorry to drag you into our personal problems but you're the only person we know that can provide any expertise in what we did and what we expected to find," Kate thanked their surprise guest.
"Actually I'm glad to help. For rookies you two have already made some waves, our office is better off with you than without you. Besides I'm a sucker for romantic drama and I don't have to spend money on a book to read it, I get to live it," she responded.
"Shall we?" Henry opened the door for everyone and lead them to their hearing location, finding Gina, her attorney, along with a representative of Black Pawn, already there.
It only took a minute before the judge made his appearance and made sure both sides were represented so they could begin. Since this was Gina's lawsuit, she and her lawyer went first and presented their case.
It was only a hearing to determine if there was enough evidence to proceed to a complete trial, so it was more casual than a normal trial. As a result Henry and Jim had to remain silent while Kate, Rick and Martha stewed over what they heard.
As requested there was an overhead projection system so that pages of the contract could be displayed. The first problem came in the form of the fact that Gina's attorney failed to produce the original contract that had been signed and inspected by both parties after signing it.
Gina's lawyer stated that the original contract had been damaged and all that was available was a copy, however he had a deposition that proved that the original was damaged beyond repair and that the copy submitted was indeed a copy of the original.
It was then that Henry affirmed that the original contract had a water mark on each and every page to prevent any page from being substituted after the fact, along with the names of the people who were associated and had confirmed that the water mark had been added.
A copy of the original that was not documented by a third party that was not approved by both parties was, in fact no contract at all, simply a copy of something that could not be confirmed.
Each page had more than just a water mark. This was where Henry brought in his specialists who had studied the original contract that Gina's lawyer had finally handed over weeks ago before returning it and presented that the pages in question were at that time missing the water mark, made from the wrong type of paper as was the rest of the contract along with the evidence that each of these pages were printed off of a copier in the New York office of Black Pawn that Gina had access to.
Next came Henry's surprise guest, Penelope, a specialist with authenticating documents for the New York FBI Field Office.
Using the overhead projector she stated that while these were not the original documents thereby removing the authenticity of the contract but that in addition to the water mark there was an indentation on each page similar to a mark that was pressed into the page. That even a simple copier would show this damage to the page and duplicate the symbol that should be there.
Henry produced an example of what an original document had looked like as authenticated by himself, his client, Kate, Jim, his secretary, as well as a third party that had no association with either his client, Gina, or Black Pawn. In addition he presented a copy of that original to show that any copier would be able to duplicate this indentation on each page.
Henry eventually ended his case by asking the judge to reinstate the documented original contract that had the water mark that both parties had signed prior to Gina exchanging those pages with fakes in an attempt to turn his client into her slave and husband without his permission. Essentially stealing his life through deceit.
As expected the judge took all of the evidence under advisement and would call them to come back in when he had reached his determination on the evidence presented if there was enough for the lawsuit to continue.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Right now Kate and Rick were sitting in the conference room going over everything on the "Nuke" case that somehow had remained out of the general public. They were guessing that it had something to do with the decreasing body count. All the news organizations had moved on to other more entertaining items.
"Our lab has not been able to understand this drug. Some of the ingredients remain a mystery and without them they are unable to tell us the results of taking this drug. He has been perfecting it to achieve something. Problem is we don't know what that something is."
"And since he isn't interested in the money he could make to sell it, makes it and him that much harder to find," Jordan informed Rick and Kate. "Still it was good work on your part to lay your hands on a sample."
"Have you learned anything on Bracken?" Jordan had been informed that they believed Bracken was hooked on the drug and that Neil Anderson had been involved somehow.
Rick and Kate's dilemma was that Jill hadn't solved the mystery of Nuke either and that had the hairs on the back of Kate's neck standing up. Jack and Jill were light years above anything they could make for several generations yet. The fact that Jill couldn't figure it out was scary.
Another problem was that Bracken, after his one phone call, had been silent. Rick and Kate were certain he was talking with the maker of the drug and Bracken's emergency fix was likely hidden in that coffee cup. With it missing that would tell both of them that someone was on to them or at least suspected Bracken.
Rick's bugs in Bracken's office and at home had not turned up anything useful except for Bracken finding out his coffee mug was missing and he questioned people in his office if they had seen it.
"No ma'am, Bracken only goes to his election office on occasion. He has various fund raising dinners and appears to spend most of his time at home. His commercial blitz has slowed of late, not that it matters. According to the poles he is going to win hands down," Kate was forced to admit, even though they had staked out both places over the last month.
"With a normal drug I would expect Bracken to search out his next shot. Seek out whoever is making it to get his next fix, so why hasn't he?" Jordan mused.
"If we could get a search warrant, maybe his drug maker is actually making it in his home, or has taught Bracken how to make it." Kate responded.
"We have no legal reason to bring him in so we could have his blood checked for the presence of the drug, let alone to search his home. And the likelihood that Bracken knows how to make his own shots is doubtful." Jordan said, shaking her head.
"Keep watching him, Bracken is the only lead we have no matter how slim it may be." Jordan signed off.
"It's been a month Castle, why hasn't Bracken died from a stroke yet. We know he is hooked on Nuke, so where and how is he getting it?" Kate said, frustrated.
Rick and Kate returned to their desks and pulled up any information on Bracken's next dinner fund raiser. Maybe they should invite themselves to it. "Bracken has arrived at his campaign headquarters," Jack placed the information on their monitors.
"Time for another stake out?" Rick asked. He watched Kate shut-down her computer and take her weapon out of its drawer with Rick following her lead.
Forty-five minutes later they were parked and outside Bracken's campaign headquarters where Rick was doing his best to walk around looking the entire place over. Jack monitored the area using one of CIA's surveillance satellites that covered several blocks. Kate was sitting inside at a coffee shop nursing her second cup of coffee while nibbling on a muffin.
It was extremely boring yet they had nothing else to go on. "Katherine, one single dose of Nuke has just passed our position at speed," Jill suddenly announce. Kate jerked her head back and forth looking to and from her area.
"In or out?" Kate asked. "In, it is now beyond my scanning range," Jill informed Kate.
"Tell Castle." Kate was up and on her way out of her coffee shop. The only thing Kate noticed is that a FedEx truck had stopped outside.
Kate watched as the driver went inside and watched Castle walk across the street from his position. "Jill scan the truck and take down his number, license plate, everything we can use to look up this truck and its assigned cargo, including the driver," Kate requested, while waiting for the driver to come out.
Kate pulled out her phone and sent all of that information to Penelope and then spoke with Frazier so he could arrange for this truck to be stopped after leaving there so it could be searched and the driver interrogated.
Kate was watching the driver come back out. "Katherine, Richard is down and is convulsing!" Jill quickly related to Kate what Jack has told her.
"NO!" Kate looked for Richard and saw him attracting a small crowd as he moved involuntarily while lying on the concrete. Kate was running to him, crossing the street as cars honked at her. Cars that Kate didn't even see.
Kate tried to hold Castle down. "CASTLE!?" However Castle continued writhe on the sidewalk.
"Richard has been injected with an overdose of Nuke Katherine." Jill has scanned Rick and told Kate the results.
"NO, OH GOD! …Remove poison, followed by remove disease, and then cure massive wounds," Kate told Jill. Thankfully the people around her would only recall that Kate was talking to herself. "Do the remove poison and cure massive wounds again, don't spend the time scanning him. Jack, we need an ambulance, now!"
Kate held Castle down as his convulsions came to an end, but he remained unconscious. "Scan?" Kate asked, her voice shaking.
"I detect no remnants of Nuke in his system, however he may have already suffered permanent damage, depending on which version of Nuke he has been injected with," Jill responded softly, trying not to draw attention to herself.
Kate was still holding Castle when the ambulance showed up; she climbed in with him for the drive to the hospital, holding his hand the entire time, willing herself to keep it all together. What Kate didn't see was Bracken standing at a window smiling as he watched everything including watching the ambulance drive away with one dead FBI agent. He just knew that agent was involved. His only wish was that Beckett had gotten dosed too.
Kate found herself forced to remain outside of the emergency room space they took Rick to.
She didn't want to sit, so she spent her time pacing around, waiting. It was almost an hour later before it occurred to her to call Martha to have her come to the hospital.
Kate was still pacing mindlessly when Martha showed up and hugged her. "What have they told you?" Martha asked.
"Nothing… nothing." Kate looked into Martha's eyes and started to fall apart, as her fears became overwhelming, she began to cry, not trying to stop the tears.
"I can't… I can't Mom… I just can't." Kate buried her head into Martha's shoulder and cried for what she could lose as she held onto Martha for dear life.
Kate was quiet again an hour later. "Castle family?" a lab coated man called out. Kate was on her feet in an instant with Martha a little behind her. "I'm his fiancé and this is his mother," Kate informed him, wanting to hear answers.
"Come with me," he requested and took them deeper into the hospital.
"We were told that Mr. Castle was brought in because he was suffering from a seizure. A seizure involves the sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain. Some of the symptoms of a seizure can be loss of awareness, typically called a black out. Confusion and periods of forgetfulness. Loss of vision or blurry vision. Difficulty talking, swallowing, and drooling. In this case we were told he suffered twitching, tremors or jerky movements."
"In Mr. Castle's demonstrated the twitching, tremors or jerky movements or so we are told. The ambulance failed to have an EEG machine; by the time he arrived here we found no indication of a surge of electrical activity in his brain."
"Still that does not mean he didn't suffer from this symptom. As to what this episode has done to him, we will have to wait until he wakes and we can run some tests. For now he appears to be stable and we will keep him at least overnight. I can let you visit one at a time. We will likely move him to a room upstairs tomorrow after running a few tests after he wakes. I'll leave him to you for now." And the doctor walked away.
"You go ahead darling, I can wait," Martha urged.
"Not a chance Martha, you're his mother. You gave birth to him and raised him. I only love the results of your hard work. Go on Martha, I can wait. He's still alive and that's enough for now." Kate guided Martha inside while she walked about nervously.
"After all your days, months, years as an Army Ranger, I never thought I could lose you after you came home." Martha stoked his forehead pushing a piece of hair away. "Katherine loves you a lot, son, and I approve of her. Did you know she called me mom? I know she doesn't know she did. One of these days I'm going to find out what happened to her mother. That young woman so needs someone to love her. You hang onto her, son." Martha bent down and kissed Rick's forehead while running her hand through his hair.
"Don't scare me like this again, I'm not as young as I used to be. Plus I want those grandchildren that that witch stole from both of us." Martha traded places with Kate and hugged her on the way out.
Kate's tears started the second she went through the doors. What she saw was still too near her heart. Kate was full on crying by the time she ran her hand down the side of his face. "I'm frightened Rick, I've never been so frightened. It was like watching my heart crumble in front of my eyes. Please Rick… I love you!" Kate lifted his hand and kissed it.
"Scan complete… I find no evidence that there is any fraction of Nuke in his system. In fact you have healed his damaged knee and regrown his knee cap. However I have no way of determining what, if any, damage has taken place in his brain," Jill advised her.
"His knee! Oh god I could have fixed his knee long ago. My god how stupid am I?" She let the man she loved more than her own life suffer when she could have fixed him. "I'll make it up to you babe, I promise." Kate kissed his hand again, afraid to lean in and kiss his lips.
"Who did it Jack? Do you know?" Kate wanted who did this to them. Besides whomever it was might have access to the creator of the drug.
"I do actually. I had hacked the CIA again and was using their satellite to watch the area. His name is Kris Bryant. He is a minor league baseball player for the Mets that was called up yesterday to cover for an injury. He has no wants or warrants. He has been with a guy named Ted Ross who was arrested for purchasing cocaine. Kris was waiting in the car while Ted bought from an undercover cop."
"He has been ticketed 3 times. One when he was a teenager for demonstration of speed, one was for passing cars using the common left turn lane to reach the left turn only lane, the other was for doing 52 in a 35 speed zone. He was also ticketed for parking illegally once."
"I'm using security cameras along with facial recognition to find where he is now. He does not have a residence in New York City, so he is likely staying with friends since he has no family in the city, nor is he registered in a hotel at this time," Jack responded to Kate in answer to her question.
"He is single however he could have a girlfriend who may or may not live in the city," Jack added.
"I want him Jack, I want him the second you find him." Kate had something to take her mind off of Castle. It replaced her fear with anger for who did this to Rick.
Kate went back outside to Martha. "I'm going to stay with Castle for as long as it takes. I'll call Jordan in the morning and update her on why I will not be in the office tomorrow. You can go home Martha, I promise to call and tell you if anything happens. Even if the only thing that happens is he sneezes. I'll call," Kate told Martha, thinking it would be easier on her if she was home and had a bed to sleep in.
"I promise Martha," Kate added when Martha opened her mouth to object.
Kate was in Rick's room sitting in a chair worrying about what will happen when he wakes up. How much damage had the drug done to him before Kate had gotten to him?
Kate got up to make sure Castle was still breathing then she returned to her chair. When Castle started moving a little and mumbling, Kate flew out of her seat and pulled out her phone to call Martha like she had promised. She also pressed the call button to get a nurse in the room.
"He's dreaming which is a good thing. It means his mind is active," the nurse advised Kate. Martha could hear the news since she was on the phone with Kate.
"Have you eaten darling? You aren't helping Richard by starving dear." Martha decided to look out for Kate.
"I'm fine Martha, really, I'm fine," Kate assured her. Kate didn't want to leave Castle or Jack. She needed Jack to find the scum who did this. The only one who could do that was Jack.
Kate jolted awake from the sudden pain at her left ankle. "OW! I'm awake. Has something happened to Castle? Has Jack found the jerk who did this?" Kate started firing off questions.
"Jack has determined that there are three men approaching the house. They have split up; two are approaching each door while the third is making his way through the garden and is likely headed for the stairs next to the gazebo," Jill told Kate. "Each seems to be armed with a weapon, one of which appears to be an HK full automatic weapon. He is in the garden," Jill added.
"Armed men!?" Kate has been caught by surprise. "MARTHA! She is home all alone, even if I phone her it's too late for her to get out and she'll never find the panic room. Jack can you call the police I'll get a taxi and be there as fast as I can." Kate didn't know what else to do.
"Touch me Katherine," Jack demanded. Kate stopped at the door. "What? Why would I want to do that?" She didn't understand.
"So I can teleport you into Martha's bedroom; none of them have yet reached the doors, so you will have maybe a minute before they enter," Jack explained.
Kate knew Jack could teleport Castle, she didn't know Jack could do it for her too. Kate touched Castle's watch and instantly found herself standing next to Martha who was sleeping in the largest of the guest bedrooms. This one was far forward, the opposite end of their master bedroom.
Kate took hold of Martha and started dragging her out of bed. "Martha I need you to wake up. Up Martha, get up and come with me." Kate was actually helping Martha to stand since she was still half asleep.