Riddle Me This

AN: So, for those of you reading, this is my version of Castle being kidnapped and having to play games with other people while Beckett, Espo, and Ryan race to save him (synopsis for episode 12). Not quite sure what the writers are going to do with this one, but it has a lot of good possibilities. This is a little long, but there was a stopping point I wanted to get to before the next chapter.

And thanks once again for all the reviews, favs, and follows – you are rock! And it's Sunday, so we get a Castle episode tonight.

As usual, don't own Castle; ABC does. Just playing with the characters for fun.

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Chapter 3: Trials and Tribulations

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Even though she knew it hadn't, Beckett felt her heart stop and then start beating double-time as the words left Svetlana's lips. Drugs – had Castle accidentally stumbled on to LocSat? And they had taken him because of it?

"Why type of drugs?" asked Ryan, filling the slack when he noticed Beckett's reaction. "Illegal?"

"Heroin? Opium? Cocaine?" listed Espo.

"No," said Pola as she shook her head. "He was murdered because of Oximetradropine."

"Oxi…?" Ryan said as he tried to write the name of the drug on his notepad.

"Victor was a research scientist at Beckham-Peirpont," Pola said in way of clarification.

"The drug manufacturer," Beckett said, nodding slowly, now engaging as her heart rate was slowing down to normal at that revelation.

Pola nodded in response. "He was working on a fast acting anti-anxiety drug for the military, one that doesn't have the side effects that current anti-anxiety meds have." She stood and started pacing, rubbing her back.

"The military is interested in a drug that soldiers can take if they need to, to calm them before they go into stressful situations," she explained as she walked. "The problem with current anti-anxiety drugs is that they can cause drowsiness, lack of energy, clumsiness, slow reflexes, slurred speech, confusion and disorientation, and depression."

"And that's not helpful in life-threatening conditions," Espo commented.

"No, it's not," said Pola, shaking her head and smiling slightly at Espo. "So BP created Oximetradropine and human testing started last year. It looked very promising, but then subjects started dying during the tests." She paused, the smile now gone.

"How?" prompted Beckett.

"Freak accidents," Pola said as she sat down and looked at Beckett. "The study was a double-blind study. Half of the subjects in a group would be given the drug, and the other half wasn't – they were the control. The entire group was then put in stressful, sometimes dangerous situations, to gage their reactions."

"So why did your husband think something was wrong?" Beckett asked.

"Because the accidents only happened in the group given the drug. Nothing happened to the control group," said Pola. She stood, waddled over to her desk, and picked up a large envelope. "I found this in the safe the other day when I was looking for some papers. When I saw what was inside, I called Mr. Castle."

"What's in here?" Beckett asked as she pulled on her gloves and took the envelope, opening it and taking out the papers.

"The lab work for the subjects in the tests," Pola said. "The way the experiment was structured was that all subjects had base blood work done before the test started, and then they would be put in a stressful situation to gage their responses. They were given a dose of the drug and then put into another stressful situation. Then more blood work was done and they would be put into another stressful situation, and then the final blood work was done."

Beckett nodded as she looked over the paperwork. "We'll give this to our ME to look over, to see if she can find anything."

Pola nodded. "Yes, of course, but I'm an endocrinologist and I can tell you exactly what she'll find – the people who died in the accidents may have heart attacks during the tests." She pointed at one of the lines highlighted in yellow. "See, in the first test, the base blood work is normal and then in the second test, the CK, Tnl, and TnT levels are elevated. Normally, the CK should be 0-3 mcg, the Tnl should be less than 0.35 mcg, and the TnT less than 0.2 mcg."

Beckett shook her head as she studied the test results. "But these are much higher than that."

Pola nodded. "Yes, indicating that the subject was potentially having a heart attack."

Beckett frowned as she looked at one of the highlighted lines. "There's no 3rd blood test on this person."

"No," Pola responded. "Because that's one of the subjects who died during testing. All of the other subjects who died during testing have the similar enzyme levels during the second blood test."

Beckett frowned again as she looked at the paper. "But here's a subject that has the high enzyme levels and they had a third blood test."

Pola shrugged slightly. "That's the nature of research. In any drug test, we expect some significant events to happen."

"You mean like someone dying because of the drug?" asked Ryan.

Pola nodded. "Yes. We hope it doesn't happen, but it's always a possibility. It's only when too many people start having a problem during testing that flags are raised."

"And you think that the accidents were used to cover up those deaths?" Beckett questioned.

"Yes, I do. BP paid funeral expenses for the people who died during testing, and all of them were cremated," Pola responded. "So there is no way to examine them now."

"There aren't any names for the subjects," Beckett said as she flipped through the pages.

"No," said Pola. "The names are sealed, but BP has a record of them because they do follow-up visits to see if there are any after effects."

Beckett nodded. "How did they select the subjects for the tests? Were they company employees?"

"No, that would skew the results," Pola responded. "They needed a random sample, so they placed ads on the web and in magazines, and would select qualifying subjects from the respondents. They had to be in good health and not have ever taken any anti-anxiety medication in the past."

"And you think your husband was killed because of this?" Ryan asked.

"The few deaths due to heart attack that BP reported aren't statistically and clinically significant," Pola responded. "However, when you add the people who died in the accidents to that number, it does become statistically significant and the FDA would have cancelled the human tests. I ran the calculations myself based on the data. BP would have lost millions, if not billions, if they couldn't bring the drug to market."

"But you have no way to prove they died of heart attacks," Beckett stated.

Pola shook her head and looked at her. "No, I don't, and that's why I called Mr. Castle."

"So he was here last night?" Espo asked.

Pola nodded. "Yes, we met about 6:30 and talked for an hour or so. He left shortly after that. I sent him an electronic version of the results."

Beckett nodded and then asked compassionately, "Pola, I know this is hard for you, but can you tell me how your husband died?"

Pola leaned back on the couch wearily, resting her hands on her stomach. "Two months ago, I had taken Nickoli to visit my mother in Florida. She loves the weather there and he wanted to see Mickey Mouse. It was our last vacation before the baby came. Victor couldn't leave because they were in the middle of a test."

She wiped a tear from her eye. "We had just been there a couple of days when the housekeeper called one morning. Victor had a stroke during the middle of the night and died in his sleep."

Beckett paused for a moment before asking, "Was an autopsy performed?"

Pola nodded. "Yes. Victor was healthy – there was no reason for a stroke. And the autopsy didn't find anything."

Beckett nodded, thinking. "Pola, do you know if your husband talked to anyone at BP at his suspicions?"

Pola shook her head. "I don't know. He never said anything. I gave Mr. Castle the names of several people whom he could contact at BP. I wrote them on the envelope for you."

Beckett nodded as her phone chirped. She glanced at it quickly and then stood. "Thank you, Pola. I assure you that we will look into this and find out what happened to your husband."

"Thank you, Captain, Detectives, I appreciate your help," Pola said as she stood up. She suddenly clutched Beckett's hands in hers. "And please, I must know if Victor was murdered because of this. I want justice for him and I will do anything to get that."

Beckett nodded as she freed her hands from the woman's firm grip. "Pola, the only thing I can promise is that we'll do our best to find out what happened."

The personal assistant had shown up magically and was waiting by the study door to escort them out.

"Thank you," Pola said as her young son ran into the room with a gleeful, "Mommy!"

Pola snuggled her son against her and kissed the top of his head as they sat down on the couch.

"So you think Castle got into something over his head?" Ryan asked as they walked to Espo's car.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Espo replied in response.

Beckett shot them a look to quiet them and then glanced at her phone as they got in the car. "I've got a meeting at 1PP in an hour, so can you drop me off a couple of blocks from there?"

The boys nodded in unison.

"Espo, call the police in this area to see if Castle's car broke down after he left last night. If it did, see if you can find someone who saw him," Beckett said.

She quickly dialed a number. "Vikram, can you ping Castle's cell phone and let me know where he is. No, nothing. He was supposed to bring some papers by for me to sign, but he's running late and I don't have time to wait." A pause. "No, I'm not in the office. I'm on my way to 1PP for a meeting."

As Espo drove down the street, the boys looked at each other and shook their heads collectively as Beckett waited for a response.

"It's off?" Beckett replied. "I hate to ask you this, but can you…turn it on remotely? I really need to find him now."

She waited a few more moments. "I see. Thanks." She hung up the phone and thought a few moments. "Vikram can't turn his cell phone on," she said quietly.

"Which means he's someplace without reception or someone took the battery out," said Ryan.

Beckett nodded, looking at the front of the envelope, pressing her lips together before speaking. "Ryan, start with Dr. Kazankov's assistant – Tanya Fellers. She might be able to tell us something."

"Got it," said Ryan as he took the envelope from Beckett. "And don't worry, we'll find him."

Beckett nodded as she looked out of the window, tears starting to form in her eyes. She didn't know what was going on, but she should be out looking for her husband, not sitting in administrative meetings. The Captain's job was quickly losing its appeal.

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Castle studied the room as he slowly ate his cheeseburger and half-way listened to the conversation going on around him.

The mood in the room was slowly changing from uncertainty to an almost comfortable comradery as people ate and made small talk.

Maria's oldest son was starting college in the fall. Manuel had several scholarships, but she was working 2 jobs to save money to pay for other expenses that he would incur.

Risner missed the sea and was saving to buy a 35 foot sailboat – his dream was to sail around the world.

Two of the partners at Felisha's previous firm had started their own practice with the blessing of their former partners. Money was tight, the salary not quite what she had at the other firm, but she was head administrative assistant and they had promised to pay for her to go to law school.

Collin's wife was expecting twins in a couple of months and they were going to have to move at some point to a larger house.

Castle paused mid-bite. From what he heard, money – or the lack of it – was a common theme for everyone in the room…except for him. Was that what they had in common? But why would the need for money correlate to what was happening now? He could see it if they all had money and someone was holding them for ransom.

His train of thought was interrupted as one of the walls lit up with a counter that showed 5:00.

The group became attentive as if a predator was sneaking up on them and they were protecting their tribe.

"Riddle me this, ten in a row, that's how you go, answer quickly, never fear, right and wrong shall be here," the metallic voice said.

Castle frowned, shaking his head. "That makes absolutely no sense."

The screen lit up, showing a picture of a diamond and a circle. "What does this represent?" asked the voice. The counter started.

The room paused. "A diamond ring," said Felisha confidently.

The picture changed, showing Mary + Mary.

"Summary," said Castle.

The picture changed to showing four hands doing different gestures.

"It' the one marked C," said Collins. "It's the left hand," he explained. "The others are all right hands."

The screen changed to "A man drove to a hotel and as soon as he got there, he was bankrupt."

"Oh, oh, he was playing Monopoly," said Maria quickly. "And when he rolled the dice, he landed on a property he couldn't afford to pay the rent on." She shrugged slightly. "We don't have cable."

The screen changed to "If it's information that you seek, come see me. If it's pairs of letters you need, I have consecutively three. Who am I?"

Castle nodded after a few moments of thought. "A bookkeeper."

The screen changed again. "Smell me, buy me, and deliver me. I won't change."

"Oh, I know" said Felisha as she spelled out the words. "Scent, cent, and sent."

The screen changed. "What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter."

"That's easy," said Castle. "The gravedigger – Shakespeare."

"Yeah, we got this," said Risner.

The next puzzle showed. "We hurt without moving. We poison without touching. We bear the truth and the lies. We are not to be judged by our size. What are we?"

The group murmured for a few moments until the answer was finally blurted out. "Words!"

The screen changed again. "When is 99 more than 100?"

"Nah, that's not possible," said Collins.

Maria thought a moment and then said quietly. "Yes, it is – a microwave. Most of the time, when you set a microwave to '99,' it runs for 1 minute and 39 seconds. When you set it to '100,' it runs for 1 minute."

"Okay," nodded Collins.

The screen changed. "A man was born on January 1st, 23 BC and died January 2nd, 23 AD. How old did he live to be?"

"45," Castle said quickly. "There is no year 0. But if the culture he was born in starts at age 1 with the person's birth, he'd be 46.

The counter stopped at 0:39 seconds and the group breathed a sigh of relief.

"We did it," someone said.

"We beat it."

"Yeah, we did."

There were handshakes and backslaps.

And then the room descended into chaos as a claxon screamed and strobe lights flashed, disorienting them.

Castle felt his body shake as a taser hit him, stunning him into compliance and a dark bag was pulled over his head.

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