Detectives Ryan and Esposito arrive at the crime scene only to be met with more suits and uniformed federal officers than they were expecting.
These men do not belong to the NYPD or even the State of New York. The men here appear to all be federal. Probably directly from DC
As the two NYPD detectives attempt to cross the crime scene tape, they are halted by the first two men they encounter holding assault rifles
The closest man speaks to the two first "Sorry, this is a closed crime scene"
"We are NYPD homicide detectives" Esposito says as he is presenting his badge "We were called in. We understand there are several murder victims"
"This is a federal investigation" the unknown man states
Ryan raises the obvious question "What agency?"
"It is a federal investigation. Your chief has been advised and your services are not needed here. So you can leave" the man points off the scene then states firmly "NOW!"
The two detectives walk away from the immediate area and out of ear shot
"What is all that about?" Ryan asks first
"We heard nothing about this being a federal crime" Esposito finishes
Kevin Ryan takes out his cell phone and opens the contacts tab then his partner raises a question "What are you doing?"
"He said our chief knows about this. Let's find out"
The phone connects to the Chief of Detectives office "This is detective Kevin Ryan from the 12th precenct. We are at a shooting and were told by the feds we had to back off and…" he obviously is being given some information. Then he finally responds
"I understand…yes sir, we will leave this to them…yes sir, we will not discuss this"
Ryan hangs the phone up then looks over to his partner "That was very unusual"
"What was so unusual?" Esposito asks
"I was told to back off…and given specific instructions to pass a message to Captain Beckett telling her to NOT look into this or, quote "THERE WOULD BE TROUBLE DOWNTOWN end quote"
"Why would they even mention Beckett?" Javi wonders "She is not even here"
"Yeah. That is weird. I don't know why they told us to keep her away"
"You know, I think we need to go and do a little investigating into this on our own" Ryan adds and the duo begin walking back toward their cruiser.
Looking at the building one last time Esposito states "I don't remember ever coming here or getting a call from here. Do we even know who occupies this place?"
"No. I've never been here either" Tyan responds "When we get back. I am going to have dispatch send a message to Beckett and get her to call us back. Maybe she will know something we don't"
Once back in the station. Esposito places a call to communications and asks them to send the captain a message to call them back ASAP
Ryan goes into the tech room and begins a little research into the building where the shootings allegedly occurred. Initially he is not having any success in locating the tenant but after a little cross referencing using the city's utilities billing system the tenant records indicate the building's occupant is 'Global Consolidated Transfer'
He then checks the registration records and finds there is a long term lease in the same company name
Esposito steps in and is looking at the screen when he asks "What is Global Consolidated Transfer?"
"Well that is more of a problem. The Secretary of State has no record of a business registered by that name. We have utilities billed there and a lease paid on a yearly basis but nothing else"
Javi thinks for a minute "It could be a front"
"You mean like a drug laundering operation?"
"No. They would have a retail business that deals in cash so they can move money around without getting caught. This looks more like a covert shell business to cover up something like a black ops contractor"
"You mean, you think this was like that company Cole Maddox worked for?"
"Exactly" Javi answers
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Kate feels the love of her life turn over in the bed to pick up his phone from the night stand
"Hello" he listens for a few moments "OK, come on out. We will be waiting for you when you get here"
"Hey, babe, what's going on?" Kate reaches around her husband and pulls herself up to his side
"There has been an event in the city. An attack on a federal surveillance facility and our guys think it is Lockstat"
He can feel Kate tighten her grip on him "Are we in danger?"
"Not from this. We had no part of that unit. Jake wants to come out and give us some information about that and what they have found so far"
"So, we need to get dressed?"
Rick turns into Kate "He is just leaving Jersey. It will be about two hours before he arrives"
"So we still have some alone time before he gets here?"
"Yes. But I think I need a shower…" he puts on a silly grin "care to join me?"
"Absolutely?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The two detectives have spent a little more time looking at the records available in the computers but have not had a lot of success. Every road ends in a dead end. It appears any and all paths toward the building or its occupants leads down a long path that ends in a blank wall
Esposito looks up from his computer screen to his partner "Kev, have you heard back from Beckett?"
Detective Ryan looks at his cell phone "No. She has not responded to our message. I wonder if dispatch sent the message to her?"
Esposito picks up his phone and places another call to the communications center. After a short conversation with someone downtown he hangs up hiss phone
"What did they say?" Ryan asks
"They sent the message and it indicates that it went through"
"But she has not responded"
"I asked them to resend the request again"
"And if she doesn't respond?" Kevin wonders
"Then I am going to get worried"
"A building gets attacked and we are booted out"
"And we are warned to keep the captain away"
"And now she's missing?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
There is a knock at the front entry. Castle, followed by his wife, pulls open the door to find his specialist agent Jake Garrett standing outside carrying a file in his arm
"Hey Jake. Come in" Castle steps aside allowing the very stern appearing man to move into the living room
"Kate this is Jake" Rick points from his wife to the man
She reaches out with her hand "Good to meet you Jake" she says
He responds "I feel like I already know you Kate. Your husband has had us keeping an eye on you"
She looks up to Castle "Oh is that so?"
Rick speaks softly to her "I have to protect what I love the most"
She whispers back "Thank you"
Castle looks aback to Jake "What do you have?"
"There was an attack earlier in the city on a building that we believe is related to LockStat"
"The building is occupied by an intelligence gathering unit for the government. It was a data center occupied mostly by analysts"
Beckett looks at the agent "You mean a bunch of data researchers were attacked?"
"Yeah" Jake responds "There was two, four man teams. They broke in and went after every one inside. They also destroyed all the data storage units and were gone in less than 5 minutes"
Kate makes a statement "Not enough time for the NYPD to respond"
"Or anyone else for that matter" Castle adds
"And the building is off the main streets and no one even say the attack coming"
"Was everything destroyed?"
"In that building…yes. But I have contacts who have confirmed that this was one of several NOC's or network operating centers. The data kept there was mirrored in several other locations"
"Are they OK?"
"The government has kept it quiet but there was simutanious attacks at two other centers. They are very isolated and the media has not reported it"
"So all the data is gone" Beckett asks
Jake smiles "No. There is at least one other mirrored sites that was left untouched"
"Are we able to get information from…?" Castle starts to question
"Yes. We have an operative inside that has been able to push a backup to us and Rick…" Jake pauses in his statement
"What?"
"There is information about your kidnapping from your wedding"
Rick can feel Kate's arms tighten around his arm