CH57
It is now 2 days later: (August 25, 2001)
Kate was helping Castle with his cardiovascular work at the moment, meaning they were both doing laps in the pool while skinny dipping. She stopped at one end. "You're doing better Castle."
Rick pulled up next to her huffing and puffing. "Better for a baby maybe, I'm still so out of shape," he moaned. He was a Ranger who couldn't do more than a dozen laps in his own pool which wasn't even Olympic in length.
"You lost a lot of blood, babe, and some of what you got back was just saline. Jill says as soon as all of that is gone, you'll be able to transfer oxygen better. It's going to take a few weeks is all." She tried to make Castle feel better.
"The lab may be gone, but so long as the drug maker lives, he can just start again. And if I was him, I would get out of town to start again. We need to verify if the person I transported is actually him," Rick warned.
"You're not ready for combat, Castle," Kate fired back.
"And we don't have weeks to wait, either, Kate. If I'm wrong and he has already escaped it may take us months to get a lead on where he is next," Rick cautioned.
She thought it over. "Fine, but we do it together this time, Castle. If you go teleporting off on me I really will shoot you next time," she threatened.
"Your love for me knows no bounds," he teased and gave her a quick kiss. He climbed out of the pool and walked to the Pool Suite where they had been staying.
Kate stayed where she was for a moment and admired Castle's bare ass as he walked away from her before she also climbed out of the pool. She was smiling while she got dressed since she had spotted Castle taking looks at her. She didn't understand why they were even now so thrilled that they still found each other attractive. She just prayed it never stopped.
Rick came up to her as she was checking out her weapon. "Keep it out and stand ready, I don't know what we are going to find. …If anything," he advised her. After Kate touched Castle she found herself in the entrance to a cave. It was also hot, scorching hot.
It was just barely dawn as they could make out that the sun was just rising. There was enough available light that showed that the cave wasn't that deep. It was deep enough though, to give someone in it some shade, but only just.
Kate scanned her side. "Clear," she called out. "Clear," Rick responded and put his weapon away.
Together they walked to the edge. While Rick looked out across the way, Kate looked down. "Well, he didn't jump unless he likes dying and I doubt that the river is deep enough for such a high dive," she remarked as she turned to look up instead.
"Doesn't matter how deep it is. That's why people who jump from bridges die. Hitting the water from that height is like hitting concrete. You die on impact," he informed her.
"So where are we? Is there any place to walk to?" she wondered and then watched as a commercial jet started its approach to an airport in the distance.
Rick looked at what Kate was looking at. "This is called Horseshoe Bend, down there is the Colorado River. Over there on the other side is US Highway 89. To the North on the other side is Page, Arizona and its municipal airport. There are two ways across. One is north of here using Highway 89 as it crosses over the river just north of the city. The other is way south of here using highway 89A," he explained.
Kate was a little surprised. She was expecting that Castle would take him someplace more isolated, like some uninhabited island in the middle of nowhere.
"Well, if I saw an airplane coming in for a landing, I would go that way after I climbed out somehow." She was still working on just how he did that. It didn't look that far of a climb, but it looked dangerous and hard.
"Must have figured he didn't have a choice," she guessed. "Now what?"
"Jack?" Rick simply turned and smiled at Kate.
"Accessing CIA mainframe and searching for available surveillance satellites. One is available and will be in the area for the next 1-1/2 hours. The next one is a few hours away. Scanning… I have one individual walking slowly along the edge of the river canyon (I'm assuming there's some kind of canyon here, allowing for the steep drop off down to the river.) on this side. He is just under 5 miles from the bridge crossing of highway 89. It is likely that he can't see it yet," Jack announced.
"Keep your weapon out and activate your invisibility and take a hold of my arm. I have no idea what he had on him when I brought him here. Only that he would find nothing here. I'm going to place us several yards from him to the inside away from the edge," Rick informed Kate who nodded her head and disappeared.
When Rick felt her hand, he activated his own invisibility and then teleported them where he wanted to go. "Stay out this far and walk down field of him and do not react to what you are about to see," he advised her. He felt her let go of him and could barely make out the foot prints she left in the sand.
Satisfied that Kate was far enough away from him, Castle activated one of his Use of Illusion. In this case it was a 50% real and 50% fake representative of a real live Zombie that came walking in from the middle of the desert.
The drug dealer had not spotted it yet as it kept walking slowly, mostly because he was tired, dehydrated, and had his head down watching where he was walking to prevent from going over the side and falling down to the river.
Rick had it scream and had it begin running for the drug dealer. It was only then that Kate saw it, too. "SHIT!" she whispered and turned her weapon on the Zombie. She watched it run right for the drug dealer who was suddenly doing his best to start running himself. But the drug dealer had been out there without water and food under the sun for too long and the Zombie was catching up to him easily.
Kate started walking slowly to get closer and kept her weapon at the ready. She watched as the Zombie crashed into the drug dealer and saw it desperately try to bite him. Both Kate and Rick saw him raise his arm as he brought it down into the shoulder area at the base of the neck of the Zombie. "Scan indicates that he has injected the Zombie with Nuke," Jill told Kate and followed up by telling Jack. They could hear the drug dealer scream as the Zombie finally succeeded in biting him.
"Katherine, a scan of the suspected drug dealer indicates that it is not a man but is actually a woman. Based on scans I would guess that she is in her late 20's to early 30's and she is armed with a hand gun. It is most likely a Glock. It is, however, empty as are the two spare clips that she is carrying," Jill informed Kate. She was as shocked as Rick after Jack told him what Jill had told Jack.
They watched as she used a hand to hand combat technique and flipped the zombie over the edge. It fell to the river far below and then she fell onto the ground. "Richard says you should approach slowly and carefully," Jill cautioned her.
Rick had stepped in closer than Kate had and used another illusion to make himself look and sound like Bracken and dropped his invisibility. Kate was shocked when Bracken suddenly showed up out of nowhere. "Illusion," Jill whispered. "Also she has another 4 uses of Nuke on her person. I have warned Jack who has told Richard," Jill added.
She heard someone walk in relatively close, looked up, and was surprised. How did Bracken find her? "Help me up," she called out. However Bracken didn't get any closer. "I order you to help me up and reach the city on the other side of the river." She tried to put a little more force in her voice. "I require medical attention." She used a hand to inspect her wound. She looked up at Bracken. "I said help me up, you idiot," she ordered again.
"Sophia?" Bracken spoke and sounded shocked. At this time that Rick saw the look of shock on her face.
"How… ?" Sophia didn't understand. Bracken didn't know her real name. Hell, he didn't even know she wasn't really a guy. She had kept her illusion up and operational whenever she had dealings with him.
"Sophia Turner? …You're the drug maker!?" Rick was highly disturbed. It didn't make sense, she was a CIA operative, not a drug maker. "Why Sophia, tell me why," Rick suddenly demanded.
Kate was equally shocked. Castle who knew who this person was! Was it from his time as a Ranger? How well did he know her? Kate suddenly felt differently as her little green monster began to come out which caused her to raise her weapon and train it on Sophia.
"You've killed hundreds of people, Sophia; this makes no sense." Rick was having trouble understanding this turn of events. "The opposite of me," he whispered which Jack heard and shared with Jill who in turn shared everything with Kate.
"You're not Bracken?" Sophia was so hurt and out of it, needing water so badly that her mind was only now catching up. It wasn't Bracken and yet it was someone who knew her. Whoever it was had the same ability she did or at least something similar.
Time for a bluff. She slowly went for her weapon even if it wasn't loaded anymore. She had used all of the rounds to blow holes in the side of the cliff face with which to climb out. It had been a near thing too. She had almost run out of rounds before reaching the top. The climb had taken a lot out of her.
Rick lifted his weapon and put two real rounds in her left leg, causing her to scream out in pain, forgetting her empty weapon for the moment. They watched her scream and reach for her damaged leg. Sophia knew that walking out of here was no longer an option.
"That wasn't necessary." She snarled after the pain became manageable.
"I think it was. How many doses of Nuke do you have on you Sophia?" Rick had no intention of getting too close to her, at least not within arm's length so she could attempt to inject Nuke into him.
"None, I gave them all to you, remember?" she answered since she had delivered a case of the stuff to him at Bracken's apartment thinking that it was Bracken she was giving it to.
"She has four." Kate spoke up, causing Sophia to look her direction. Sophia didn't see anyone, however she knew she had heard a woman's voice and that she was correct.
"Agent Katherine Beckett, I presume?" Sophia called out. She gritted her teeth from a sudden surge of pain from her leg. "You're difficult to kill. That must make you Rick. You're the first person to ever recover from my drug. Except for that little girl in Detroit that made the news. Had me worried at first."
"So there is an antidote to Nuke. Good to know," Kate mentioned, causing Sophia to curse silently for disclosing that little piece of information. Kate made a mental note to quiz Jill later about if she had found the formula to the antidote when Jill had likely scanned all of the paperwork Kate had burned earlier. An antidote just might come in handy in the future.
"Little Katie Beckett falls apart because her mommy dies. People die all the time, and yet poor little Katie can't deal with it," Sophia worked at baiting Kate.
"Enough Sophia! …Tell me why Sophia. Why would a CIA operative decide to create and use Nuke the way you have or intended to," Rick demanded.
"Not really the way I thought we would meet again Rick. I had planned on making you one of my slaves and having you service me. Once just wasn't enough."
"You do know that I've had your little pet, he's not bad. A little rough around the edges, but then I like it rough." Sophia toyed with Kate even if she couldn't see her.
"That was years ago and it was only once, Sophia. It wasn't really that memorable." Rick struck back. "Meet Clara Strike." Rick waved his hand at Sophia.
"Clara Strike and Derrick Storm," Kate whispered. "You were actually in the CIA?" Kate wasn't sure if she was impressed, shocked or worried.
"Little Ricky Castle who doesn't know who his father is and yet he gains inside access to the CIA. You really are dense Rick." Sophia tried baiting Rick now.
"Doesn't explain why, Sophia. Using Bracken to win the election and inject Nuke into people he would have access to. One major problem-Bracken is infected and dependent on Nuke. What happens when he doesn't get his fix?" Rick challenged.
"Oh Rick, you really are dense. All that time spent in the CIA and yet you learned nothing. Who needs…" He interrupted her, "We found your lab Sophia, it's over." Rick started smiling.
Sophia thought it over. If the US had her formula that would put a kink in her plans. Still they may have the formula but they didn't have her pheromone and you needed that to get them to obey and she had synthesized that too. The US didn't have that and it would take them years, maybe even a lifetime to figure that out.
"It's not over Rick, it is far from over, but it is over for you." Sophia knew what would happen next.
"It's over for you, Sophia. Come on Kate, we're leaving," Rick announced and started walking toward where Kate should be.
Kate kept her invisibility and walked up to Castle. "What about her, we need to take her in. She needs to be interrogated." Kate wanted to know what she knew.
"Sophia is CIA Kate. More than likely she has something on her to kill herself with. Besides everything she would tell them would be a lie with just enough truth attached to it to make it believable," he argued.
"We can't just leave her out here. She's important and has information. If it gets in the wrong hands it would cause chaos." Kate didn't know what to do with her, she only knew that Sophia had to go with them.
"Actually we can leave her." Rick calmly put two rounds in Sophia's good leg, causing her to cry out in agony.
"CASTLE!?" Kate couldn't believe it, he had never been this cruel before.
"Fine, think about it Kate, just think." Rick walked away and motioned for Kate to follow. "I have just three uses left for the next 24 hours. We still have 3 of Bracken's hired killers waiting for us somewhere. Even if we do take her in she still has her unit just like Jack and Jill attached to her. Attached until she dies. When she dies, it dies, remember?"
"Say we cut her hand or foot off to get her unit off of her and hand her over to Jordan. If the military or the Hawks in the government ever catch wind of what Nuke could be used for, how long do you think it would be before our country starts making the stuff in bulk?"
"We could get Russia, China, North Korea or any other country to do exactly what we tell them to do. For the greater good of course. So long as it was OUR greater good. I'm a realist, Kate, and she has to die, there is just too much at stake here. Remember the big picture." Rick pled his case, silently hoping Kate had a better plan.
Kate let Castle talk and she could see all of his points, but she thought that there had to be a better way. One that didn't turn them into killers. "I'm an FBI Agent, Castle and so are you. If we do this, it makes us no better than her or the guys trying to kill us," she pointed out, something he already knew.
Rick was looking at Kate with 'Think of something else than Kate, anything.' written all over his face. "We don't have evidence but with Nuke on your mother, it is likely that Sophia killed her or had her killed," he asserted.
She turned and looked at Sophia lying on the ground bleeding from her legs. Kate had already considered that before they even came here. Still it gave Kate an idea, it wasn't perfect.
"I have an idea Castle and I want you to hear me out. …I want Sophia to come clean on her killing my mother in exchange for me fixing her bullet wounds and handing over all the Nuke she has on her."
"I want you to hold her down while I fix her leg injuries, when that is done I want you to inject her with her own Nuke. After Jill confirms that she has suffered a stroke, we can leave. She may make it to the road and she may not."
"Even if she does, her stroke will affect her memory and ability to convey how Nuke is made or anything else she has ever done. She'll live and we won't be cold blooded killers and it accomplishes the greater good. As for her unit…" Kate didn't know what to do about that.
Rick thought it over and while it didn't satisfy everything he was worried about, he did like it. "On two conditions. First, we need Jill to scan her to make sure the Nuke has done enough damage. Second, I teleport home and teleport back with something that will cut her hand or foot off to get the unit off of her." He paused, waiting for Kate's reaction.
Kate had already considered using Jill to locate all of the Nuke that was on her and verify that the stroke was real and big enough, so she was happy with that. "How do we get home?"
"I'll have one teleport left that will get us home," he replied.
"What about her? If we leave her here with a massive stroke she'll just lay there and die, we'll still be killers," Kate challenged.
"Not if we make a phone call to the Page police department with an anonymous tip about her being out here. They may even think that her stroke was caused by heatstroke," Rick countered.
Moments later a still invisible Kate twisted Sophia face down and planted her knee into the side of her face, forcing it into the sand while her hands and body weight pressed down on Sophia's shoulders to keep her arms in place while Castle searched her for the Nuke that she had on her, using Jill as his guide.
Sophia so wanted to gloat that even if they killed her she still won in the end, however she couldn't give them any clues or they just might figure out a way to stop it, so she remained silent …mostly. "Finally figured out how to be a killer Rick?"
Kate and Rick backed off. "Be right back." He kissed Kate and disappeared, which from Sophia's point of view had Rick kissing air.
It took Castle a little longer than he would have liked to return; he needed to make sure it would be sharp. Like really, really sharp. Twenty minutes later Rick was back. This time it was Rick who forced Sophia to the ground while Kate searched for her unit. There was only the one location that would work since the watch Sophia was wearing came off easily. "Now you're a common thief?" Sophia was confused.
In just moments both of her legs stopped hurting and felt perfect again. Well enough, in fact, that Sophia took a blind stab and tried to kick Kate with one of her now good legs, except all she hit was air.
Sophia felt Rick get off of her only to be replaced by Kate, she assumed, since she couldn't see her. Then she felt Rick forcing her now good legs down and held them there. With her head turned to the side she didn't have a good view.
Still it was good enough to see Rick lift up high what looked like a machete. "NO!" Sophia screamed and started to struggle as hard as her sapped strength would allow.
Sophia watched as the machete came down swiftly and suddenly there was a searing pain in one of her legs, causing her to cry out in pain. She was released but the only thing Sophia felt was the pain of having had her foot cut off. She was even forced to watch as Rick stood up holding her foot with her bracelet still attached. They had just cut off her unit.
Sophia curled into a ball and held her bad leg that was still causing her such pain and kept crying. Suddenly there was a hand that she couldn't see which was touching her open wound where her foot used to be.
In just moments the pain was gone and Sophia watched as a new foot started to grow out of the open wound. Sophia couldn't believe it, the pain was almost gone and she was growing a foot!
"Jill?" Kate asked.
"Total growth of the foot will be complete in roughly 25 minutes. I detect no Nuke in her system, nor do I detect any form of antidote that would prevent Nuke from affecting her system," Jill pointed out. "Interesting, I am however finding remnants of semen in her. It would be a safe guess that she has had sexual intercourse just prior to being brought here."
"Scanning… There are actually a couple of sperm still alive and may possibly live long enough to penetrate the egg they are attached to. Scanning the sperm DNA so that the sperm donor can be identified. …Scan complete, now beginning search," Jill suddenly added.
"She's pregnant?" For Kate this changed everything. "The sperm have not yet penetrated her egg, so she is not yet pregnant and may stay that way," Jill countered.
Rick wasted no time in finishing their plan and injected Sophia while she is still shocked from the news Jill has provided. 'She was going to have a baby! Oh god, if they figure out who she had sex with they might someday figure out her plan. Still it would be likely too late to stop it.' Then her mind left her.
Rick and Kate backed off and watched Sophia have spasms until she just laid there quietly. "Jill?"
"Scanning... Sophia has had a massive stroke. Her entire left side has been affected and her motor skills, speech patterns and memory have all been affected. Also the foot Richard is holding is slowly dying," Jill informed them.
Rick placed the foot on the ground. "Jack, make the call and try and give them our exact coordinates and then hang up quickly." Rick was willing to complete his part of their bargain.
"Jill what happened to the baby?" Kate felt bad about that, it wasn't part of her plan.
"Scanning… The final two sperm have died during her stroke. Sophia is not pregnant. Also her foot re-growth will be complete in 15 minutes," Jill answered. Kate's mind was at ease. She wanted to stop Sophia, but killing her unborn child wasn't something she wanted on her conscience.
Rick and Kate stood there after Kate finally deactivated her invisibility and waited. After about 45 minutes they could both see a dust cloud making its way in their direction. "Looks like help is about to arrive," he remarked.
"The foot is dead," Jill added, causing both of them to look down at the foot and saw the bracelet return to the original form of the unit resembling Jack and Jill and then slowly crumble into dust. Allowing all of them, including Jack and Jill, to see what would happen to Jack and Jill eventually. It was sobering, watching a glimpse of their future.
Rick bent down and picked up the foot and threw it over the side to land in the Colorado River, hopefully never to be seen again. "Let's go home Castle." Kate took a hold of Castle's arm.