CH52

It is just hours later: (Still August 2001)

And once again I'm reminded of why GUEST readers should read and remain silent or not read at all. If you are that big of a coward then you should have paid attention to the warnings. That's what they are there for.

For everyone else, my apologies. My rant is now over.

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Rick and Kate were sitting at their desks looking at their computer screens. Kate was looking up shipments that had arrived yesterday from overseas that were tagged as being candles for domestic sale. Rick was looking at shipping companies that were moving goods from New York to DC; he then called to ask questions about what the shipment involved.

"Bracken has spent the morning cursing about his missing two coffee cups. He was sure he knew where they were. Without them he would not be able to do as he has been told," Jack typed onto their screens.

"He is presently preparing for his entrance into a conference room somewhere. He has not mentioned the name of the place. Interesting… He is talking to his unit in preparation for entrance. I believe from his words that he is using that they have a code set up for when the unit it to perform one of its functions."

"He has referred to someone named Nero. I believe that is the name of his unit. He is entering the conference room," Jack again typed onto their screens.

"Castle?" Kate whispered because she didn't understand. She looked over at him only to see Castle smiling back.

She began to think. Rick had gone to Bracken's apartment last night to give him a nightmare, but he had already gone there twice before to place his bugs. He only needed just that one trip to plant them, so that meant he went somewhere else to plant still more of the bugs.

"He went to his office?" Kate talked to herself. "Why? It would garner some information, but it would not get them into the conference room." Kate kept thinking.

"You planted one or more on his suits," Kate mouthed as Castle smiled even wider at her.

Oh, Castle was a genius! He planted bugs on Bracken for everywhere he went! Provided, of course, that he wore the suits with bugs on them.

Jack remained silent while Bracken was in the meeting allowing Kate to put their lunch together in the break room.

"If I'm right the candles arrived yesterday in a container from France," Kate said while eating.

"Makes sense. France is known for making perfume; he could easily hide his scent under one of the French perfumes hidden in a new, must-have candle. I found an overnight delivery using a freight company."

"They are likely already unloading what was in them right now for local delivery. He may possibly get them delivered tomorrow," Rick added and then took a bite of his sandwich.

"We need to intercept both deliveries if we can, then work up a way to bring Jordan into this along with the people here." Kate was already thinking up a plan that would bring in Jordan, Penelope, and the others.

It was hours later and Rick and Kate were parking their car and getting out. "I have a man in a uniform that says he is representing ABF. Scanning… I'm unable to confirm," Jack was forced to admit.

"Hack the CIA and use a satellite and see if you can find his truck. Most ABF trucks are large delivery trailers, sometimes too large for a residential road," Rick instructed Jack.

"The first satellite will not be in range for another 15 minutes. The delivery man has stopped ringing the doorbell," Jack informed them.

"Should we teleport over there and answer the door? I can make myself look like and sound exactly like Bracken," Rick stated.

"And if this guy is the drug maker, he is going to likely have an order for Bracken to follow." Kate didn't know what to do.

"Grab your weapon, we're going." Rick made up his mind. Kate hated this idea; there was no planning involved with it, but she took hold of Castle's arm and instantly found herself in someone's living room facing what was likely the front door.

"Jack, I need to look and sound like Bracken. Kate activate your invisibility." Rick walked over to the door and opened it to find the guy starting to leave with his delivery. "Sorry, you caught me in the bathroom," Rick explained, as he offered a reason for being delayed.

"Mother nature call, of course sir. Please sign here for delivery." The ABF guy put the box down and held out a clip board that had papers for Rick to sign.

"One moment while I get a knife to inspect the contents." Rick walked into the kitchen. He already knew where it was and what was in it. He came back with a tiny kitchen knife and started cutting the tape.

The tape had filaments in it and Rick pretended to get his little knife caught on one. He put a little more muscle into it, as the fiber finally gave way. However, Rick's surge of muscles caused the knife to fly out wildly, slicing the ABF delivery man just a touch, giving him what amounted to a paper cut.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Let me get my first aid kit for that." Rick apologized for the cut.

"I'm fine, I've had a lot worse. If you will sign the papers..." the delivery guy told him. Rick took the pen and signed. "Your next delivery will be tomorrow; do not miss it and do as you have been told." The delivery guy left, closing the door behind him.

Rick pulled his weapon, went to the door, and gave serious consideration to opening it and taking him now, hopefully with Kate right behind him. Just what would he do with him? Then Rick had an idea that involved his ability to teleport, so he opened the door while putting his weapon away, thinking he would need both of his hands for his idea to work.

Rick looked outside and didn't see the ABF delivery guy but he did see a pool guy without any pool equipment that was the same height who looked like he was headed for the pool but he turned the wrong way. Seeing that got Rick to take off running for all he was worth.

Rick watched the guy turn to look at him and the guy looked confused. He was, after all, watching Bracken running towards him. The guy in a swimsuit, towel and sunscreen stepped to one side to let this mad man run past him. Nevertheless, Rick slammed into him and grabbed him and in an instant the guy found himself in a cave.

Rick didn't wait to look at his guy; he teleported back to Bracken's living room where he dropped his disguise and watched as Kate dropped her invisibility. "What did you do Castle?"

"I guessed that he was the drug maker and took him somewhere that he isn't going to escape from unless he can teleport too. And there is no cell phone service where I left him, so he isn't going to be calling for help," Rick explained. "Let's see what we've got. Better yet, close, and lock the door and pick up the knife and let's go home." Rick changed his mind.

Rick and Kate instantly find themselves in their dining room where Rick put the box on the table. "Jill?" Kate questioned.

"For starters this box contains 12 coffee cups that have a void that I'm unable to scan," Jill began. "As for the delivery guy, he had traces on Nuke on his person while he himself did not have any Nuke in his system. Based on the amount he had on him, I would surmise that he has been near the location of where Nuke has been manufactured while not ingesting any of it into himself."

"Also that knife has the delivery guy's DNA on it," Jill continued.

"Scanning… His DNA is not in the system which is not really a surprise since the majority of people do not have any DNA in the system. Also, after reviewing the computer of ABF, I have ascertained that they have no trucks assigned to delivery anything to Bracken's address, today or any other day," Jack finished.

"In addition, satellite coverage showed no sign of an ABF delivery truck at the address or anywhere near that address," Jack concluded.

"What did you do Castle?" Kate wanted to know what Castle did when he ran out of the apartment.

"I ran him down and teleported him to a place no one goes. It is a cave near the top of a cliff with a river meandering around the bottom of the cliff several hundred feet below. Even if he gets out, there is no one within hundreds of miles. The only fresh water is the river. If he jumps he dies; if he stays he dies; if he climbs and starts walking, he dies," Rick expounded.

"That was reckless Castle. If he is the drug maker he could have had Nuke on him ready to use against you." Kate was just getting started. "He did actually," Jill broke in. "On him, that is, not in Richard," Jill clarified.

"Exactly my point! You might have managed to teleport him but if he had injected you before you could teleport back, I would have lost you." Kate knew she couldn't lose Castle, it would absolutely destroy her heart.

"Richard has minute amounts of Nuke on his clothing. I suggest he remove them and burn them in a safe place," Jill advised.

"We have to get out of here first. Close and lock the door," Rick ordered and picked up the case of coffee cups with Nuke inside. After Kate closed and locked Bracken's front door, she took hold of Castle's arm. They teleported and found themselves in the hall just outside of their bedroom.

Rick stripped in the hallway and went into the closet to change clothes. When he came back out, he teleported away and returned in an instant later. "Where did you go Castle?" Kate wanted all of the Nuke gone.

"The Big Island in Hawaii to be precise. It's the only place I know of that has an active volcano that can actually be reached easily - easily enough to throw my clothes into." Rick answered. "We should do the same for this case, except I only have one item left for the next 24 hours. If I teleport it out I can't teleport back." He had a problem.

"Jack, I need a ride and first class plane tickets." And Rick picked up the case. "I'll be back as soon as I can," Rick told Kate and disappeared.

She shouted, "CASTLE, NO!" He was needed here. "Jill stop him, have Jack stop him. He is needed here. I need him here!"

"Too late. Richard is already in Hawaii and according to Jack is moments away from tossing the case of Nuke into a lava flow. If Richard is correct and he has stranded the drug maker where he cannot escape, you simply need to find his manufacturing site to destroy all of the Nuke. Without an ability to make more, you will put an end to Nuke," Jill informed Kate.

Great! She was unexpectedly on her own since he had suddenly gone rogue on her without thinking or planning. "Damn it Castle, I am so going to shoot you. … And if you tell Jack that Jill, I'll shoot you too." Kate was furious and all alone.

She remained home and made something simple for dinner and then went to bed. Problem was she was all alone in their big bed and she hated it. "Damn you, Castle. Now I can't even get to sleep." She pounded on her pillow and tried to relax enough to get to sleep.

Kate got very little sleep that night and got ready to go into the office. She decided to explain that Castle stayed home since he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to give it to everyone else.

Unfortunately she didn't have the car since Castle had teleported them home with that case of Nuke. "He's making these coffee cups somehow using a product that Jill can't scan, that can't be easy. Jill, see if you can start breaking down what those coffee cups are made of. Maybe I can trace the chemicals needed to make them," Kate asked as she made her way outside after calling for a taxi to take her to work.

"I forgot to make coffee," Kate moaned as she stepped out of the taxi only to get right back in again and asked the cabbie to take her to the closest coffee shop.

Later, as Kate was walking down the sidewalk headed for her building while sipping her coffee, she hoped that it would finally wake her up since her mind was obviously not working properly yet.

She was suddenly aware of a sharp, stabbing pain in her side just behind her on the right. The pain caused her to go into shock instantaneously and prevented Kate from continuing to walk, however, someone was holding her up. She soon found herself in the back of a delivery van that had a sliding door on one side.

Kate couldn't really think and tried to find out why her side hurt so much. She could just barely make out that the man who shoved her into the van had moved to the passenger seat, while the driver pulled out into traffic.

Then suddenly the pain was gone and Kate could move her hand. Placing her hand on her side and pulling it back around her enabled her to see the blood all over her hand. She'd been stabbed from behind and shoved into a van. The floor of the van was covered in plastic that was catching her blood that was no longer flowing out of her body.

The passenger took a quick look back at Kate and was satisfied with the amount of blood that he saw along with her lack of movement and turned back to look where they were going.

"They think they have either killed me or incapacitated me so they can dump my dead body somewhere. I can't let this get too far before we are where I can't get help. Jill! She could tell Jack who could follow her using those CIA satellites. Still this needed to stop NOW!" she thought to herself.

Kate pulled out her weapon just as the guy in the passenger seat turned around. She shot him in the head and watched as his head suddenly flew forward as he slumped in his seat and slid down onto the floor since he wasn't wearing a seat belt.

The driver instantly unbuckled his seat belt, opened his door, and jumped out with the van still in motion. Kate tried getting up but she slipped in her own pool of blood and fell down.

Then the van rammed into the backend of a car that had stopped for a traffic light, sending Kate flying. She climbed into the driver's seat, jumped out of the still open door and started looking for the driver.

Kate saw him running down the sidewalk going back the way they had just come. "Jill invisibility, now!" She took off running down the street trying to pay attention to the cars headed her way and that were stopping because of the accident she had just left and put her weapon back in her holster, since she didn't want to lose it while running. She tried to keep her eyes on the driver who kept running.

Kate knew her clothes on one side were bloody and prayed that all this running didn't cause her to start bleeding out all over the place.

She watched him turn right at the next intersection. Kate slid across the top of a parked car, causing people to look her direction because of the noise she made. She didn't bother looking at them. Intent on making it to the intersection, she ran down the sidewalk. That turned out to be easy since the driver was shoving anyone in his way to the ground. Those people were either still on the sidewalk or were beginning to get up.

It made following him easy since he left bodies lying scattered on the sidewalk. Kate watched him turn right again at an intersection and just kept running since she had some distance to make up on him. If he ducked into one of those doors, she might lose him. She had to keep eyes on him.

She turned the corner practically at full speed, not paying attention to the sound of her boots pounding the sidewalk as she ran. She came almost face to face with the driver who had a weapon with a silencer on it pointed her way.

There were people running everywhere since a gun was now exposed and aimed down the sidewalk he had just come from. Kate came to an abrupt stop just feet away from the driver and his weapon which was pointed right at her.

However he didn't fire his weapon and just kept looking in her direction. Then he looked quickly to the left and right and turned to take off running down the sidewalk again with his weapon still out.

Kate wanted this one alive. She took off running after him again. She watched as he suddenly stopped and grabbed a screaming woman and used her as a human shield while keeping his weapon pointed down the sidewalk.

"Shit!" Kate cursed silently. She stepped in between two parked cars and out into traffic as she kept her eyes on the cars that were passing her and the guy with the gun. He was still looking down the sidewalk, telling the woman to shut-up. He pointed his weapon into her cheek, causing her to whimper while crying.

Kate watched him aim his weapon down the sidewalk as she walked up even with him only out in the street. She stayed in the street and went down one more car before stepping onto a now empty sidewalk behind him by a full car length.

She watched him and didn't see his weapon shaking at all and watched his head pivot from side to side. "I need to start wearing something other than high heeled boots if I'm going to keep doing this," Kate said to herself.

She debated on whether she should shoot him. He might shoot the woman if she did. What she really needed was for him to release her. Kate placed her hand on her weapon and thought about trying to pull it out quietly.

Kate decided he was too wound up and was waiting to hear or see something. What they both soon heard were sirens telling both of them that police cruisers were headed their way. The sounds of the sirens bounced off of the buildings, making it difficult to determine where they were coming from.

She prayed and readied herself like Castle had taught her. An invisible Ranger-trained FBI agent against whoever this guy was; she could do it - she could take this guy. She tried to take calm breaths without making any noise.

Suddenly a car alarm across the street went off. It startled the guy and he released the woman. He turned to run again. Kate was ready for him!

She grabbed his gun hand at the wrist and used his momentum to pull his weapon down and behind him while she shoved her booted heel into his right kneecap, hearing a satisfying snapping sound.

He cried out in pain as his right leg gave way momentarily. Kate used this distraction to kick his damaged leg out from under him, forcing him to the sidewalk where she bent his wrist so that his weapon was pointed up.

She shoved her right foot into his neck just below the jaw and the other foot into his armpit and gave his wrist a sudden jerk with a twist and heard a bone break, causing him to scream in agony.

Kate used both hands to yank his weapon out of his broken wrist. She rolled on the sidewalk, letting go of the driver, and stood up quickly. As she did, she saw him reach down and pull a small revolver out of his boot. Kate fired two rounds into his right leg, causing him to shriek. She took a step forward and kicked the weapon in his hand away from him and watched it hit a car and spin down the sidewalk.

Kate stepped back and looked down at him holding his weapon on him and put two rounds in his left leg, causing him to wail. She stowed his weapon into the back of her pants causing the weapon to disappear.

Kate started walking down the sidewalk while looking around. There were people all over rather far out that were watching everything. Everyone who was close was off the street and mostly away from the windows.

She walked between two parked cars and went across the street, secure in the knowledge that there would be uniforms here soon to collect him. She stopped in the street next to a car and waited for uniforms to show up who were soon followed by an ambulance. Once she was sure the driver was secured, Kate ran down the middle of the closed street headed for the van that had her blood in it. When she dropped her invisibility she wanted to be close by to give her statement that didn't say anything about the driver.

"Richard wants to know if you are okay, Katherine," Jill told her when Kate found a spot to deactivate her invisibility.

"Tell Castle that I'm going to shoot him when he gets home," Kate responded. She approached the uniforms that are at the van making sure that her borrowed weapon didn't show.