Another Chance

Chapter 38

Choosing the same meeting place twice is not often Hunt's modus operandi, but the coffee is excellent, and Richard's appearance is predictable. If his son keeps calling for meets, he may go through the entire series of Bond books. He has a good idea what Richard wants to talk about - the termination of a minor player by a thug Kilimnik hired from the local Russian mob. He'd thought the oligarch was smarter than that. The killing was sloppy.

Unfortunately, the notice taken of the demise of Kenny Barton not only put Kilimnik in an uncomfortable position, but it also added one more reason for Kilimnik to want both Kate and Richard gone as soon as possible. Hunt can't let that happen. The file he sent to Richard affords them some measure of safety, but if what the Moscow listening post has picked up is correct, Kilimnik will be bringing in some much more qualified help to remove that obstacle to his boss' intentions. Hunt had no problem spotting the surveillance on Richard's home and on the 12th Precinct, but the new arrivals may be more skilled at that as well.

Castle isn't interested in the mild sweetness of a latte. Before making his trip to the counter to order the most potent brew the market serves, he'd caught the expression on his father's face. He has no doubt about the seriousness of the situation, and he can use all the fortification that he can get. He takes a seat as close as he can to Hunt, at an adjacent table.

"They're going to go after that file, and then they are coming after you and Kate," Hunt says without introduction.

"Who is, Dad? Bracken's people?"

"Son, if all you needed to worry about was Bracken's lackeys, you'd be a lot better off. This is all tied up with the other side, part of their master plan. Those people are 10 times more dangerous than Bracken's organization."

"What master plan?"

"Right now that's need to know, and all you need to know is that Bracken is an important pawn in the whole scenario. You understand the game. Even a pawn, properly positioned, can take down a king."

"So what do I do?"

"You be alert at all times for any detail that is off. That means the smallest thing that looks unusual, smells strange, tastes different or makes you uneasy, even if you don't know why. Kate too. And make sure that file is in the safest place you can think of, but talk to Kate about having it - out loud, so anyone listening knows she's still protected.

"I'll be watching, and I've pulled in a few people I can trust. Their guys are as good - almost as good - as ours. But there is a point man for their side, who doesn't have that kind of training. We take him out, we take a big bite out of the whole operation."

"How long will that take?"

Hunt shakes his head. "Don't know. Take care, son. I'll be around."

"What's that?" Alexis asks, pointing to the plastic box on the table.

"A primitive prototype I built, kind of from spare parts, Micah explains. "It's not our whole therapy pet, obviously, but I have the algorithm in its memory, and it can hear and respond. It's sort of like Alexa, except that it doesn't order stuff or have access to the cloud. It just reacts to what's going on around it, like if someone coughs, it asks if they are feeling sick. I added some safety stuff too. It detects smoke and carbon monoxide. A lot of parents would want that for their kids - or themselves.

Alexis runs into his arms. "That is so cool! I would love to show this to my dad. You know how much he likes gadgets. He'll be impressed. Knowing how he is about Kate and the baby, he might even want one around for them."

"That would be as good a preliminary test as any. If he's willing, we could leave it with him for a while, see how it works, and if he or Kate have any suggestions. I'm not working tonight. If your dad and Kate are home, we could go over then."

"That would be great! I'll give Dad a call."

Castle isn't sure he wants Alexis at the loft, or anywhere close to him right now, but the makeup of his family is hardly a secret, and he has no doubt that Hunt has eyes on her. His father understands the danger more than anyone and has more than shown his willingness to put anything on the line to keep her safe. Castle suggests that his daughter and Micah join him and Kate for supper. He was planning to make the chili that's always been one of Alexis' favorites, anyway."

Kilimnik looks up as his son-in-law, Victor, comes into the office he maintains in a nondescript brick building in lower Manhattan. "What have our people discovered?"

"Richard Castle went to a bank and was there for 23 minutes. He was carrying an envelope when he entered and was not carrying it when he left. We believe that he put the file in a safety deposit box."

"Can we retrieve it?"

Victor shakes his head. "We have no contacts there. We would have to break in."

Kilimnik steeples his long fingers. "And attract unwanted attention. There may also be another copy. No. I think at this point our answer must be to take out Beckett and Castle in a way that will destroy anything they have in their possession. However, it must be so convincing as an accident that it will avoid triggering whomever Beckett trusted with the file from releasing its contents to the press or the authorities. At a minimum, the public must be convinced that any derogatory information that the media put out concerning Bracken's activities is a baseless conspiracy theory. Our leader has managed to do that with warnings voiced by Bracken's opponents for years."

"A big enough tragedy would distract from any one victim," Victor suggests. "When one or two people die, their names are all over the news. When the list grows, very few remember the individual names on it."

"That is so," Kilimnik agrees. "I doubt that many Americans, or even New Yorkers, could remember the name of a single victim of the attack on the World Trade Center. But, Castle and Beckett must be at the epicenter of whatever our people engineer. Their destruction and that of everything surrounding them must be complete. And it must be carried out by someone who is above suspicion. Do we have such an operative?"

Victor's face cracks in a rare smile. "We do, a sleeper. She has been in place for years, ever since the connection of Richard Castle to the CIA was discovered. She's been activated twice to aid in minor operations but managed to remain undercover after Sophia Turner's discovery. She will be able to facilitate any access our people need to Castle's Manhattan dwelling where Beckett is also staying presently. Given their engagement and obvious sexual fervor for each other, I would not expect that arrangement to change. The building is, of course, under surveillance by the CIA, but her activities and those of any guests or tradespeople she ushers in should not attract their notice. They will be looking for the unusual and the out of place. That, they will not see."

A/N For those of you who like "The Rookie," I now have a story under "Rookie." The site finally got around to adding the category after my request over a week ago but didn't get the title of the series quite correct. I wrote the story right after the pilot, so at least one little detail in the show has changed, but it is still pretty much on track.