AN: We're heading into Season 8, so the journey's almost over... I won't focus on Loksat much, but it might be mentioned here and there. I'm not sure how many chapters are left, but we're getting to the end, so let's see where this last season take Em and the gang.
This chapter is based on Season 8 Episodes 1 and 2 "XY" and "XX". Thank's to everyone for following, favouring, and reviewing this story. Here's the next chapter everybody, enjoy. Don't forget to Review. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters.
Is This The Beginning Of The End?
It was a week before school started, and lately I've been cooped up in the loft, not doing much except browsing the internet, and watching TV. I haven't seen Mike since we finished our community service. Once summer school was over, his parents sent him to some local summer camp, so he would stay out of trouble. And the summer camp has a zero internet and cellphone policy, so I haven't even been able to keep in touch with him, which sucked.
Besides not being able to see or talk to my best friend/boyfriend, nothing interesting has been happening around here either. The only main thing that has happened recently is that my aunt actually got a job as a captain. Today is actually her first day on the job, and it's not just any precinct she's working at, it's the 12th precinct. Since Captain Gates got the job as the new deputy chief, my aunt decided to take the position as the Captain at the 12th, which is pretty awesome. I'm glad she decided not to run for the State Senate because that would've been hectic, so I'm happy with the choice that she made.
Castle was happy for her too, and he was about to surprise her with a special present he had gotten her, which happened to be a beautiful silver bracelet with some little diamonds on it and the word 'Always' engraved inside. He was currently getting the surprise ready as my aunt got ready for her first day. The bracelet was hidden inside a large cupcake, with icing and round sprinkles on top. He also put on a decoration that looked like a banner with some blue writing on it, which read, "Congratulations Captain Beckett."
He was putting the finishing touch on it, which happened to be a sparkler that he was about to light up. As he got a lighter out, and started to ignite the sparkler, I said, "You're not going to set your hair on fire again, are you?"
Castle scoffed and said, "That was one time."
"Doesn't mean it won't happen again."
"I'm not going to set my hair on fire again."
"Okay…"
He lit the sparkler and smiled brightly before he picked up the plate that held it, putting it behind his back, so he could go surprise aunt Kate. He started to make his way to their bedroom, but stopped and asked me, "Aren't you going to come with?"
"No, it's your moment together," I said as I waved him off.
He smiled and continued on his way to give my aunt the lovely present he got her. As he went to do that, I continued to sit at the kitchen isle, and scoured the internet for anything interesting. A little while later I heard my aunt walk out and I turned to ask her if she liked the present, but she looked worried.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Oh, Em. Yeah, I'm fine, just a little nervous, that's all," she said with a small smile.
"Okay… Well, I'm sure you'll do fine. Did you like the present?"
She nodded and lifted her wrist, "Yep, it's beautiful. I have to go… See you later."
"See you later aunt Kate."
She nodded with a small smile before she headed out the door. I wondered why my aunt was nervous, we all know she'll do a superb job as captain, but I wonder if there is something else bothering her. I shrugged my shoulders, and went back to looking at an article on the internet. As I continued to read through the article, my heart began to break into several pieces.
"Noooo... Why..." I cried out way over dramatically.
"Mini Beckett, are you okay?" Castle asked as he came out of his room.
"No, I am not okay. This is the worst news I have ever received."
"What is it? Did someone get hurt?"
"I'm hurt, they can't do this to me."
"Em, just tell me what it is."
"My favorite show just got canceled. This season is going to be its last."
"Really?" Castle asked with a sigh and raised brow.
"It was my favorite show… It was about this TV actor who helped solve cases with an LA detective. They were finally hitting it off, but now that they are finally together, they go and cancel the show."
"I'm sorry to hear that mini Beckett."
"Yeah… Me too. Eight seasons and it's ending. I just hope they don't make the finale stupid."
"How could they do that?"
"I don't know, wind up having a weird cliffhanger moment, thinking they're going to die, but then skip ahead several years, and they have children and everything's all peachy."
Castle nodded slowly and said, "Yeah, that would be a terrible ending."
"Yep, they better not jip us on this last season either. They better make it epic, and not some weird plot that takes up the whole season and then during the series finale we get real answers."
"Hmm… Sounds like you should be writing it," Castle said with a chuckle.
I laughed too and said, "If they'd let me write it, I'm sure I'd make it impressive and memorable."
"I bet you would. So, how would you like to check out my remodeled PI office to get your mind off this awful news?"
"That'd be great."
"All right, let's get going mini Beckett."
We got to Castle's PI office and he was about to unlock the door, but the door was already unlocked. He pushed it open, and when we entered, some burley looking man came out of his office, and Castle asked, "Can I help you?"
"You sure as hell can, buddy. I'm Franco Mancini! Nice to finally meet you. Bring it on in. Come here," the man said as he gave him a tight hug, "Great news, huh, Ricky? My wife's sleeping with my brother, not my personal chef what a relief."
"Uh, I'm sorry. Y-y-your wife is having an affair with your brother and you're happy about it?"
"Hell, I got four other brothers, but my chef is one in a million. His spicy clams are to die for. Thanks again for solving my case, Ricky. You and your associate."
"Associate?" we asked together.
I followed Castle into his office, and Alexis was sitting at his desk looking at some papers. As she flipped through the papers, she said, "Could you wait out in reception? I'll be with you in a sec."
As Castle looked around his newly renovated office, he said to his daughter, "Uh, Alexis, I don't want to say you have some explaining to do, but I think you have some explaining to do."
Alexis stood from the desk and said, "Wait, did I forget to tell you I've been working PI cases for you?"
"Must have slipped your mind."
"Hey, didn't the guys do a fantastic job remodeling the place?"
"I know, right?! But you're changing the subject."
"I know. But check it out. Pull on "The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe," and…" Alexis pulled down on the book, and the bookcase opened up, revealing a secret area Castle had made.
He walked into the secret room, and said, "Oh, my God! This turned out so much cooler than I thought it would! Wait, did they do the thing on the desk with the…?"
"Mm-hmm."
Castle sat down at his desk, and tapped on the spot he asked to have a secret compartment put in. The secret compartment opened, and a gun flew out, but missed his hand by a couple of inches. Alexis and I let out a chuckle, and he said, "Obviously the spring has a trajectory… I'll make the… okay, back to you. Why… why are you working my cases?"
"Truth is, it's all your fault," Alexis said from beside me.
"You set up shop in my office behind my back, and it's my fault?"
"Exactly. A month ago, when you sent me here to open the place for your foreman, a potential client came by. I was intrigued, so I sort of said I was your associate, and then I kind of solved the case. Since then, I've closed three others."
"Alexis, you can't just… You closed four cases? That's more than I have."
"Wow, she did better in a month than you did in nine months as a PI," I said.
"Ugh …" Castle said with slight aggravation.
Alexis chuckled, and I gave her slight low-five to commemorate her awesomeness at solving four cases.
"I know. Step your game up," she said to him before she started to leave.
"W-what about your college courses?" Castle asked as he got up and stood next to his desk.
"Oh, please. I've got that handled. Plus, I forged your signature to make sure I got school credit for being an intern."
Castle's phone started to beep, and he said, "Okay, that's Esposito. I have to take this. But we are not done talking."
"Good, we need to discuss my profit participation in the company."
Castle turned the phone on speaker and Esposito said, "Castle?"
"Uh, e-Esposito. How you doing, buddy? How's the new boss lady treating you?"
"She's ignoring me."
"Just like every other woman in his life," Ryan interjected.
"Shut up. So, your wife is not answering her cell, and we need her authorization for more officers down here. Is she with you?"
"Oh, I'm 's at a meeting at 1PP. What's going on?" Castle asked.
"We're working on a case. You interested?" Ryan asked.
"I'd love to, but I'm a little busy with my thriving PIbusiness."
"Not really, I closed all the cases," Alexis exclaimed.
Castle raised a hand towards his daughter, stopping her from saying anything else, and continued to answer Ryan's question, "But since you're desperate, I'll rearrange my hectic schedule and, uh, lend you my expertise."
He hung up the phone and whispered to Alexis, "Come on."
She raised her hands defensively, and smirked at her father before leaving his office. Castle sighed, and I said, "Looks like we have a crime scene to attend."
"Who said you were invited?" Castle asked.
"Don't get mad at me since your daughter is a better PI than you."
"That's not what I… Hey…"
I laughed at him and said, "Vámonos Castle, let's go…"
"Okay… Okay…"
We got to the location of the crime scene, which happened to be a theater, which was currently under construction. When we walked into the place, there were three dead bodies littering the floor, and Castle said, "Whoa! Looks like a Tarantino film came to life in here."
Ryan came over to us and said, "Yeah. Now meet our stars. This is Greg Minoso. Over here, we got Jake Fitz. And finally, we come to Dustin Chambers."
We went over to Esposito and he held up one of the guns that was bagged as evidence, "And check this out. They were each packing identical .40 cals."
"I take it they weren't part of the construction crew," Castle said, pointing out the obvious.
"No. Renovation's not scheduled to begin till next week," Ryan said.
"Okay. So, what happened?"
"Truth is, we're not sure yet," Esposito answered.
"What we do know is that gunfire was heard around 9:07 A.M. and continued for a minute or two," Ryan explained.
"So, they shot each other?" Castle questioned.
"Nope, their wounds are from a downward angle, maybe 45 degrees, which means they probably all were shot from up there," Lanie said as she pointed to the balcony.
We made our way up to the balcony of the theater, where we found several rounds littering the ground.
"Yep. The shooter was definitely up here," Lanie said.
Ryan picked up one of the casings, and said, "9mm."
"All right, he must've capped them from up here, boom, boom, boom, and then boogied out that exit," Esposito explained.
Castle continued to look around, and stepped on something under the cloth that was around for the renovations. He lifted his foot as he mumbled out, "Ew. Guys."
Lanie pulled back the sheet, and revealed a puddle of blood seeping into the cloth.
"Oh," Esposito mumbled.
As Castle continued to examine the blood puddle, Ryan started to make deductions of what might have happened, "Looks like our shooter took a bullet from one of the dead guys down there, falls back up against the wall, grabbing the drop cloth, pulling it down with him."
"All right, let's contact hospitals…" as Esposito talked, Castle reached into the pool of blood with a pen and pulled out the bracelet that he gave to my aunt Kate not too long ago.
"This is Beckett's," Castle said as he held up the bracelet that was dangling on his pen.
"Wait, what did you just say?" Lanie asked as they made their way back over to us.
"I gave it to her this morning. She was here."
We were back at the precinct, awaiting the results of the blood pool we found at the crime scene. I was pacing back and forth in my aunt's office, as I wondered if she was okay. She was acting a little strange this morning before she left, and I didn't think anything like this was bothering her. What could she possibly be involved in? I continued to pace the room, while thinking about my aunt Kate, hoping she was all right, wherever she might be.
"She'll be okay, mini Beckett," Castle said as he continued waiting for an answer as well.
I stopped to look at him, and all I could do was nod. Castle let out a small sigh, and we both went back to waiting in silence. A few minutes later, Esposito came in and Castle said, "Tell us."
"Lanie said that blood was a match to Beckett's," Esposito said as he gave us the terrible news.
"But there was so much blood," Castle said as he looked at the bracelet which was now in an evidence bag, "Okay. Okay, but this is… This is Beckett we're talking about."
"Yeah, yeah, she's as tough as they come."
"Exactly. So, she must have shot those three guys. And since she hasn't contacted us, we can assume that their partners abducted her. But why? We need to dig into the backgrounds of those dead shooters. We need to find out who they're working with."
"That's the thing. We can't. Their IDs are all fake and their prints aren't in the system. Castle, do you have any idea what Beckett was doing at that theater?"
"She was supposed to be at 1PP."
"I talked to Gates. Beckett didn't have anything on the books."
"So she lied to me?"
Ryan came rushing over to us and said, "Guys, I got a hit on one of the dead shooter's credit cards. He rented a short-term apartment through an online site."
We went to leave, but Castle turned to me, and put both of his hands on each of my shoulders, stopping me in my tracks.
"Stay here, Em," Castle said.
"But I…" I stuttered out.
"I know, stay here. Your aunt wouldn't want you involved."
"Fine."
Castle nodded, and I watched as the three of them got on the elevator before they were gone. I sighed sadly before I made my way back to my aunts office, and waited for their return.
Eventually they came back, and not empty handed. They found some woman in the apartment they were checking out, and they were getting ready to interrogate her, to see what she might know. I followed Castle into the observation room, and as we looked at the woman in interrogation, she looked at the one-way mirror and winked with a smirk. Castle got closer, and I chuckled at the situation.
"She's cool," I said.
Castle scoffed and continued to stare at her, before Esposito and Ryan walked into the interrogation room.
"Have a seat, Miss Shipton," Esposito said.
"Oh, no, please, call my Hayley. I insist that anyone who's frisked me use my given name," she said with a British accent as she took a seat.
"Okay, Hayley, my partner and I really enjoyed reading your file."
"Oh, sweetie, I'm so much more than words on paper."
"Born and raised in East London, over in the borough of Hackney," Ryan said.
"Rough area. Don't they have a street nicknamed "the murder mile"?" Esposito questioned.
"Well, yes. But it's not without its charms," Hayley said.
"Just like you. Love your accent, by the way. Very posh. Where did you learn to speak like that?" Ryan asked.
"Not from the slums she grew up in. And definitely not from your mom, who's at the tail end of a 20-year prison bid," Esposito explained.
"Oh, then not wanting to follow in mum's footsteps, you joined the metropolitan police service."
"And that was an epic fail."
"Yeah, they booted you out because of your tendency to cut legal corners."
"Allegedly," she said.
"You hung a dealer out of a window in order to get a confession?"
"Did I hang him out the window? Or did I save him from falling out said window? It's hard to tell. It's even harder to prove."
"Well, lucky for us, we don't have to prove that you were hiding in that apartment."
"Hiding? No, lost. I was looking for a Starbucks, actually. Usually they're so easy to find."
"How do you know the guy who rented that apartment?" Esposito inquired.
"Unlike the imbeciles who usually sit in this chair, I know my rights, so I would like to leave now," she said as she started to stand up.
Esposito pushed her back down into the seat, and said, "No, I don't think so."
Ryan got up from his chair that was on the other side of the room, and walked over to Esposito, saying to Hayley, "We got a missing NYPD captain, as well as three dead bodies, so you should start talking right now."
Hayley stood and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't know anything…"
"Come on, Hayley. You can do better than that," Esposito said.
"Look, I am just a freelance security specialist. I was hired by an insurance company to catch a hacker who's been stealing social-security numbers from their system…"
"Why were you in that apartment?" Ryan questioned her.
"I have been following fake IDs made from the stolen social-security numbers. And last night, I got an alert that five of them had been used together in New York City. Caught my attention, so I flew in to investigate."
"Five IDs. You sure it was five?" Esposito asked.
"Four men and a woman. Greg Minoso, Jake Fitz, Ty Dade, Dustin Chambers, and Susan Emory."
"Where were you at 9:00 A.M. this morning?"
"On final approach to JFK, and my flight didn't land until 9:30. And that is all I know. Now go and check my alibi so that I can get the hell out of here."
We walked out of the observation room, and Castle let out a frustrated sigh.
"She seems pretty cool," I said with a small smile.
Castle gave me an unamused look, and said, "She's not cool. She's hiding something, and your aunt is still in danger."
"You might be right, she may be hiding something. But I don't think she has anything to do with what my aunts involved in. I think she just got roped into this somehow."
"Hmm… I still don't trust her."
I nodded, and we watched as a uniformed officer escorted Hayley towards the elevator. Ryan came over to Castle and me, and Castle said, "She's hiding something."
"I know," Ryan said.
"We can't just let her leave."
"Her alibi is solid. We have to."
"Ryan," Esposito called for him over at his desk.
"Yeah," Ryan said as went over to talk with Espo.
Castle went to talk to Hayley, so I followed behind him, and Hayley said to him, "Ugh. I put you down once. I won't hesitate to do it again"
"My name is Richard Castle. That missing captain is my wife and her aunt," he said.
"I didn't know. I'm sorry."
"Keep your sorry. Just give me your help. There's more to this story than you're telling us. Now she's been injured and abducted."
"I don't know anything about that."
"Name your price. Anything you say, I'll pay it. I just want my wife back."
"I hope you find her," Hayley said before she entered the elevator.
Esposito and Ryan made their way over, and Esposito said, "Yo, unis found a stolen van with blood in it by a dry-cleaner's on 23rd street."
"Any sign of Beckett?" Castle asked.
"Yeah, officers found the owner locked in the back. They said a woman matching Beckett's description was there," Ryan answered.
They were heading out, but Castle stopped me once again, and said, "No Em."
"Why?" I sighed.
"Because."
"I want to go… This is my aunt, I hate waiting here and not knowing what's going on."
Castle let out a huff, and said, "Okay… You can come. But stay alert."
"Thanks, Uncle Rick."
He nodded, before we all headed out of the precinct, and towards the dry-cleaners that my aunt was spotted at.
We arrived at the dry-cleaners a little while later, and we went up to the woman who owned it.
"Hi, I'm Detective Ryan. This is Detective Esposito. This is Mr. Castle," Ryan said to the woman.
"Can you tell us what happened here?" Esposito asked.
"A lady and man burst in. She said she was cop. Bleeding everywhere. Big mess. Those are her clothes. She told man to lock me in bathroom, he did, and that was it," She explained to us.
"Wait, she told him? You're saying that she was here of her own volition? Not as a hostage?" Castle questioned her.
"I was hostage, she was in charge," Castle showed the woman a picture of aunt Kate on his phone, and she said, "Yeah, it's her."
"Okay, this man that she was with, can you describe him?" Esposito asked.
"Uh Late 20s, east Indian, had beard."
"Did you catch his name?"
"No. But he was in kind of bad shape, too. Headaches, dizzy, said he needed to eat. She told him he probably should have gotten breakfast instead of calling her."
"Beckett got a call from some guy this morning," Castle mentioned to us.
"Do you know who she was talking to?" Ryan asked.
"She said it was a telemarketer," Castle walked over to the bloody clothes aunt Kate left behind and said, "What is she doing? What the hell is going on?"
As we hung around the dry-cleaner, Castle tried to come up with some theories to figure out what was going on.
"All right, let's think. Beckett gets a call from a mystery man. Can we trace the phone?" Castle asked.
"Already checked. Call came from a burner phone," Esposito replied.
"Damn it. All right. She must have met this guy at the theater. Clearly, they were ambushed. Beckett gets shot. But she manages to take three of them out, and then she and the man escape."
"But she didn't call for backup."
"Yeah. Why wouldn't she reach out to us?" Ryan asked.
"Guys, the woman just sewed herself up with a needle and thread. Clearly something's going on, and she's afraid to contact anyone," Castle said.
"But what? I mean, what could it be that would cause her to react like this?"
"Whatever it is, it has to do with this man. We find the man, we find Beckett."
"All right, I'll have CSU dust this place for prints. Maybe we get an I.D. on this guy."
"All right," Castle said with a nod.
Castle's phone started to ring, so as Esposito and Ryan worked to get answers, he Picked up his phone.
"Hey, Alexis, listen, someth… What's going on? All right," he hung up the phone and said to the guys, "Uh, I'll meet you back at the station."
"All right," Esposito said.
We made our way to Castle's PI office, and he called out to his daughter once we got inside, "Alexis?"
"Dad, we're in here," Alexis called out from his office.
"We? Beckett."
We went into his office, and found none other than Hayley, talking to Alexis.
"That's it. That is it," Hayley said.
"Yeah?" Alexis asked.
"Yes."
"Okay."
"Hey, it's Hayley," I whispered to Castle.
"I... I can see that," he said to me before he asked them a question, "What the hell's going on here?"
"Oh, I hope you don't mind. I'm just giving her some PI lessons."
"Hayley was teaching me the art of manipulating men. It's all about confidence and eye contact."
"Yeah, if you can entice a man with your gaze, you can lie, steal, cheat, what have you."
"Ooh, I want in on that lesson," I said.
Castle gave me a look before addressing Hayley once again, "My wife is out there fighting for her life. Why are you wasting my time?"
"Wait, what? Why didn't you tell me?" Alexis asked Hayley.
"Sorry. I figured it wasn't my place," she said to Alexis before she answered Castle, "Now, look, Rick, you asked for my help. You want it or not?"
"What's the catch? 'Cause I'm thinking, with you, there's always a catch," Castle said.
"There's only one. No cops."
"Why not?"
"Differing agendas. The cops serve and protect the city. I serve and protect me."
"Fine. No cops," Castle agreed as they shook on it.
"Dad, what happened to Beckett?" Alexis asked.
"She's hurt, and she's on the run."
"From whom?"
"I don't know. It has something to do with a man she's with."
"What man?" Hayley asked, but Castle gave her a glare, "Look, I'm here, aren't I? You've got to give to get. Who's this mystery man?"
"He's east Indian, in his late 20s. He might be sick. He was dizzy, had a headache, said he needed something to eat. I don't know. What about you, Hayley? I know you're holding back on something."
"I have a lead on the last two shooters."
"How?"
"Well, I haven't just been chasing random identities. A hacker stole 100,000 social-security numbers, then bundled them into smaller groupings."
"And who's he selling the bundles to?"
"Mafia, drug cartels, terrorists. Take your pick. However, from the bundle of those five shooters, I've just uncovered that a new identity's been used."
"Can you track it?"
"I already have. It was used to lease a storage locker a few days ago."
"And how does this help me find Beckett?"
"It doesn't, but there are still two killers hunting her. If we can track them down, I get one step closer to my hacker, and you get your wife out of harm's way. This way, we both get what we want."
"All right. Let's go," Castle said as they got ready to leave the office.
"Dad, did you notice any candy wrappers or fruit juice, anything with sugar, at the dry-cleaner's?" Alexis questioned her father before he left with Hayley.
"Uh, an empty soda can. Why?"
"I think Beckett's mystery man might have been having a diabetic incident. But based on his symptoms, sugar is not enough. You need Insulin to regulate…"
"Honey, I need to go. Let's talk about this later, though, okay?"
They were heading out, but Hayley stopped and said to Alexis, "Red, don't wait for the old man. If you've got something, follow up on it. Look, Beckett's on the run. She can't go to a doctor, can't go to a hospital, so how does she get her hands on Insulin?"
"She would have to get creative," Alexis said.
"There you go," Hayley said before she left with Castle.
I watched Alexis type away on the computer, trying to find out how my aunt would have gotten some insulin.
"Think we'll find anything," I asked.
"Yeah, I have an idea," Alexis said.
"What is it?"
"Here," she said as she pointed at the screen, "There was a prank 911 call 2 hours ago at 2nd and 23rd. An ambulance responded to it."
"So, as they went to investigate the call, my aunt snagged some insulin from the back."
"More than likely. I'm going to send this to my phone, and see if I can get some information."
"Can I..."
"No, what I'm going to do, I can't have you around."
"Manipulation and deception."
"Exactly, so stay here. I'll be back soon," she said before heading out of the office.
"I guess I'll stay here then, and… and keep myself company. Keeping this place safe and all…" I mumbled to myself as I plopped down on the leather couch that Castle had in his office.
Alexis came back a little while later, and it turned out that her hunch was right. She viewed security footage from the ambulance, and saw my aunt take some insulin from the truck. Right now, she was searching for the Taxi that they jumped into after they robbed the ambulance. She finally found some promising information and called her dad to tell him about what she had found.
"Hey, what's up?" Castle asked.
"Dad, I was able to track Beckett and that mystery man to a taxi," Alexis said.
"You are the best! Okay, uh, now all we have to do is call the cab company, figure out where they went."
"Already did. They went to a prison upstate."
"Really? Is she still there?"
"No, but she visited an inmate, William Bracken."
"Bracken? Okay, why is your wife visiting a disgraced former senator?" Hayley asked.
"They have history," Castle answered her.
"What kind of history?"
"He had Beckett's mother killed."
"It's why she became a cop. She dedicated her life to hunting him," Alexis chimed in.
"Okay, so, what's with the reunion? And why today of all days?" Hayley enquired.
"Because Bracken's behind this," Castle said.
"I know he was a powerful man, but that sort of influence dries up when you're serving life in prison."
"You don't know the kind of people Bracken was aligned with mercenaries, dealers, the worst of the worst. He made a lot of people rich. A lot of whom may still owe him favors."
"You're saying that William Bracken ordered a hit on your wife?"
"Beckett ruined his so-called legacy, his life. He's out for payback."
Hayley and Castle went to visit Bracken at the prison, to see if they could get some more information on where my aunt might be, and what she's involved in. Alexis and I were still hanging out at the PI office, and she was still searching for some clues that may lead us to my aunt's whereabouts. As we waited around, Alexis got a ping on her cellphone. She checked it out and said, "Oh, no."
"What?" I asked from my seat.
"Dad's phone went dead."
"How do you know?"
"I've been tracking him, just in case he ever goes missing again."
"We have to get to the precinct, and tell Espo and Ryan."
"Yeah, come on Emily."
We got to the precinct, and Alexis ran towards Esposito and Ryan as soon as the elevator doors opened, "Dad's missing! We have to find him!"
"Whoa, whoa. Whoa. Slow down. What are you what are you talking about?" Esposito asked.
"I've been tracking his cellphone on the sly. That way, if he ever disappeared again, I'd know. And an hour ago, his phone suddenly went dead."
"Okay, maybe the battery just died," Ryan reasoned with her.
"No. Not with where he went."
"And where's that?"
"Winterkill correctional. I tracked Beckett there earlier."
"Winterkill! That's where Bracken is," Esposito said as we made our way to his desk.
"He's connected to this somehow. That's why dad went to see him."
"Without telling us. But I bet Hayley went along, huh?"
"Yeah, but when I called her, she said she left him at the prison. Hasn't heard from him since."
"All right, I'll reach out to the prison, get their external surveillance feed," Ryan said.
"All right," Esposito said as he grabbed his keys.
"Where are you going?" Alexis asked.
"To get Hayley."
Alexis and I hung around the precinct as we waited for any word on our new missing persons case. Alexis looked a little frazzled and I said, "I'm sure we'll find your dad."
"I know, I'm sure we'll find Kate too. I'm just worried… Who knows what they might be involved in."
"Whatever it is, I think it's something big. There's definitely more to this story."
"I think so too, but what?"
"I don't know, but it's not good. We could all potentially be in danger."
"That's what I'm afraid of. Hopefully we'll get some answers soon."
"Yeah, I hope so too."
Esposito brought in Hayley, and right now, they were interrogating her to see if she knew anything that she wasn't telling us. Alexis and I watched from the observation room, and Hayley said, "I don't know anything. The last time I saw Castle was outside the prison."
"You'd think an ex-cop would understand obstruction of justice," Esposito said.
"Yeah, especially since arresting her for it will torpedo her investigator's license," Ryan mentioned.
"You're not scaring me, guys," Hayley said.
"You think we're playing? Castle's one of us, which means you better come clean right now, or every cop in this city is gonna make it their mission to jam you up," Esposito said.
"I understand the passion. But I have a reputation to uphold. My clients think that I roll over every time a cop says, "Boo," I'm looking for a new line of work."
Alexis was getting frustrated, so she busted into the interrogation room, and said, "Damn it, my dad's in trouble! If you know anything about where he is, you have to tell us."
"Alexis, it's not that simple."
"Yes, it is. Please."
"Okay, there is something I kept to myself, but it's not gonna help you. It's a dead end."
"Spill," Ryan said.
"There was a woman at the storage locker. We mixed it up a little. When she kicked me, something transferred from her boot. I had a lab test it. It's creosote. It's a form of coal tar primarily used to treat railway ties. There are tens of thousands of those ties used in the subway."
"You get a copy of the lab report?" Esposito asked.
"Yeah," Hayley said as she handed over her phone.
"Tie's not from the subway," Ryan said.
"What?"
"How do you know?" Alexis asked.
"No traces of any steel dust or any other pollutants. My guess is that the rail road tie's new," Ryan answered.
"I'll call MTA. See where they store those things," Esposito said.
"Thank you," Alexis said to Hayley.
Eventually they got a hit on where Castle might be, and we got there as soon as we could. When we got inside, Castle was okay, and there was a lady down on the floor that some of the officers were attending to.
"Dad!" Alexis yelled as she ran to her dad, giving him a tight hug.
"Hey! Hey, hey, hey! I'm okay. I'm okay. It's okay," he said as he continued hugging her.
Ryan came over and said, "E.S.U. says the building is secure. There's no sign of Beckett."
We were back at the precinct, and Ryan and Esposito were getting ready to interrogate the woman who kidnapped Castle. Castle, Alexis, and I were in the observation room and Castle asked aloud, "Why doesn't Beckett trust me?"
"She does," Alexis and I said.
"Then why is she keeping me in the dark? I don't need protecting."
"Yes, you do. You're a writer, dad. And you and Beckett are magic together, but you don't have her training or her skill set. When you disappeared last year, I thought you were dead. For two months. And then you went missing today, and I was so scared."
"Honey…"
"Beckett has a reason for keeping quiet. If you love her, you have to trust her."
Ryan and Esposito walked into the room, and Castle said, "Finally. What are we waiting for? Let's go give her hell."
"Castle, wait," Ryan said.
"We got a positive ID on the guy running with Beckett," Esposito mentioned.
"Great. Who is he?" Castle asked.
"His name is Vikram Singh. He's a low-level analyst for the Attorney General's investigative office."
"In D.C.? That's where Beckett worked," Alexis said.
"Yeah, but that was two years ago, and she never mentioned anyone named Vikram," Castle said.
"Yeah, as far as we can tell, their paths never crossed. He's only been on the job a few months," Esposito said.
"Then how would Beckett know him? We need to call Rachel McCord. She was Beckett's partner."
"McCord's dead, Castle. Killed yesterday in an automobile accident, along with three other members of her team," Ryan revealed to us.
"That can't be a coincidence."
"It's not. The last member of her team was stabbed to death at a club that same night. Witnesses saw him flirting with a hot brunette," Esposito said.
"This doesn't make any sense. What does any of this have to do with Bracken?"
"Well, let's go ask her," Ryan said.
Ryan and Castle went into the interrogation room, while Esposito, Alexis, and I watched from observation.
"For someone who says they've got a lot of downtime, you sure have been a busy girl. Staging car accidents, stabbings in D.C., kidnapping me at gunpoint in New York. Tell me, do assassins get frequent-flier miles?" Castle asked as he sat in front of the woman.
"Ah, but you didn't fly commercial, did you? We ran your photo against every flight from D.C. So, you either road-tripped it or you took a private jet. And given your arsenal, you people clearly have the resources," Ryan said.
"Not really sure what you're expecting here. A tearful confession? Not gonna happen," the woman said.
"Well, we are expecting that you're smart enough to know that it's CYA time."
"Look, unless you've got a bag of spiders, we're done here."
"You know, you told me I had no idea what was going on, and you were right. But now I've got the edge of it, and I'm gonna keep on peeling it back until I know everything, with or without your help," Castle said.
"I'll recommend the "with." It comes with less prison time," Ryan said.
"Prison's a Picnic compared to what happens to me if I talk. You need to make your peace with the fact that your wife isn't long for this world," she said.
"Don't be so sure. Your team started out with five. Three of you are dead, and you're sitting right here. That leaves one your boss. And Beckett against one guy? I like those odds," Castle said.
"What makes you think there's only one team in play?"
I didn't like the sound of that. If there are more people involved in this, then my aunt is truly in danger, and has a target on her back. I just hope we can get to the bottom of this, so I can get my aunt back.
A little while later, after they were done interrogating the woman, the three of us met up with Ryan and Castle by my aunt's office.
"Hey, I just got off the phone with an assistant AG in D.C., an Allison Hyde. She's leading the investigation in the deaths of her people. She's up on the first plane in the morning to take our hitter into federal custody," Esposito said.
"Does she have any idea of this Vikram guy's connection to Beckett?" Castle asked him.
"No. But she's pulling his records."
"So, we're nowhere."
Alexis walked over to her dad, giving him a side hug to comfort him during this hectic time. We heard the uniformed officers escorting the woman they interrogated earlier, out of the precinct, so we turned to watch them leave. What happened next caught everyone off guard. The woman elbowed one of the officers in the face, and then kicked the other. As everyone got their bearings, Ryan and Esposito grabbed their guns, while Castle grabbed Alexis and me.
The woman grabbed the one officer's gun and started shooting. Castle pulled Alexis and I down to the ground with him, hiding behind one of the desks. He held us down, as several rounds flew around the precinct.
"Shooter's down!" Esposito yelled.
Castle let us out of his grasp, and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Alexis said with a nod.
"Uh-huh," I said.
"Come on," he said as he pulled us up.
We made our way over to the now dead woman, and Castle said, "Oh, sweetie, don't look."
"Why did she do it? There's no way she thought she could escape," Alexis asked with confusion.
"It wasn't about escape. She knew her fate was sealed as soon as she got caught. That's why she went out on her own terms."
"And made sure we stay in the dark."
Alexis grabbed my hand, and we walked away from the scene that just unfolded, as Castle continued to ponder what was going on, probably wondering where my aunt could be.
It was late, so Castle and Alexis took me home, so I could get some rest. Of course I wasn't going to get any rest because my aunt was still missing, and I had no clue if she was safe or not. Sure, my aunt is the bravest woman I've ever known, but she's not invincible, and can only make it so far before… I tried hard not to think about the worst-case scenario, but things were looking bleak as each lead we got led to more questions and dead ends.
I figured I wasn't going to get anywhere with this, so I decided to throw on some clothes and headed to Castle's PI office because I knew they'd be there as they continued to work this case. When I got to Castle's PI building, I found two other familiar faces making their way inside. Mrs. Rodgers was the first to spot me, and said, "Emily, what in god's name are you doing wondering the streets at this hour?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I came here. I would've caught a cab, but I have no money on me," I said with a slight chuckle.
"All right, come on."
"Brave girl," Hayley said to me.
"You don't know the half of it," I said with a smirk.
"I think I'm going to like you."
I smiled at Hayley, and the three of us made it up to Castle's office. Mrs. Rodgers walked in first, and called out to her son, "Richard?"
"In here," he called.
"Ah. I thought you two might need a Pick-me-up," she said as she showed them the coffee, "Oh, and look who I found downstairs."
"Hey," Hayley said as we came in.
"That's funny. Last time I saw you, you said we were done. And Em, how'd you get here?" Castle asked with surprise on his face.
I shrugged and said, "I walked."
Everyone except Castle chuckled and he said, "8 blocks!? Alone… At night. We'll, we'll talk later."
Hayley change the subject and said, "Look, I feel bad about what happened. If I'd known I could've used you as bait, I would have stuck around and followed your kidnappers.
"Uh…" Mrs. Rodgers said with a huff.
"It was a joke."
"Not a very good one."
"Fair enough."
"What do you want, Hayley?" Castle asked.
"To help. I reckon that I owe you that much after what happened."
"She did give us the clue that found you," Alexis said.
"Well, yeah, after Esposito dragged her down to the precinct," Mrs. Rodgers chimed in.
"You're not wrong, mother, but we do need all the help we can get to find Beckett," Castle said.
"I was hoping you'd say that, because I've already got feelers out to contacts in high-traffic areas across the city cab companies, banks, hotels, train stations. I sent them pictures of Beckett and Vikram and asked them to spread them around, plus scan through their surveillance videos. If your wife is still in town, we will find her," Hayley explained.
"Ah, I told you she was a keeper," Mrs. Rodgers said.
We spent several hours at Castle's PI office, and I wound up crashing on the couch while everyone worked to get more information. Once early morning hit, we all went home and tried to reenergize a bit, hoping they would get something at the precinct. And the precinct happened to do just that, they wound up getting the surveillance video footage from the conversation my aunt had with Bracken yesterday at the correctional facility. We were watching the footage, and something my aunt said, happened to freak out Bracken.
"What did Beckett say that freaked him out so much?" Castle asked.
Ryan rewound the footage back and we listened closely to the conversation.
"How do you know about Loksat?" Bracken asked my aunt.
"Doesn't matter how. The question is what is it, and why is there a hit squad running around the east coast, killing people to protect it?" my aunt questioned the man.
Ryan paused the video and said, "Loksat. Never heard of it."
"Me neither, but it clearly scares the hell out of Bracken," Esposito said.
"Figuring out what it means is key, and that's exactly what Beckett is doing," Castle said.
"Well, why don't we talk to Bracken and find out?" Ryan suggested.
"Yeah."
"No, not you, Castle. You're radioactive with this guy."
"Yeah, you should stay here and wait for the assistant AG. She's on her way up from D.C. to bring some federal muscle," Esposito said.
"All right," Castle said as they left to talk to Bracken.
Castle got out his cell phone, and dialed someone's number. I followed behind him, and listened in on the conversation, "Hey, Alexis. I have another clue…We? ...Was Beckett with him? … No, no, Alexis. I don't want you involved in this… Alexis, no. It is too dangerous… Alexis…"
Castle hung up with a huff, and I asked, "You okay?"
"No, Alexis hung up on me, and is digging into this case. I don't want her to get hurt."
"I understand, but she's an adult. And she's tough, and smart just like you. You gotta let her do her own thing. She can handle it."
He looked down at me and said, "I know, I just… I don't want to lose her. I don't want to lose your aunt either."
"Yeah, I don't want to lose them either. We just have to trust them, and have faith that they'll be able to handle themselves. We're not always going to be able to protect the ones we love, no matter how hard we try."
"When did you get so philosophical?"
"I don't know, I guess after all these years it was kind of instilled in me."
"Ugh, all of my girls are growing up on me."
"Don't worry Castle, it'll be okay. We may be strong, smart, and tough women, who are able to take care of ourselves, but we'll always be your strong, smart, and tough women."
"Come here mini Beckett," He chuckled out, as he pulled me into a tight hug, "You're the best, you know that? You always make me smile during the worst times."
I looked up at him with a smile, and said, "Well, I try."
"Why don't we head back to my office, and wait for Alexis and Hayley to bring some more information back."
"Sounds good to me."
Eventually Hayley and Alexis got back from the hotel my aunt and Vikram were at earlier, and they did manage to get some information. Vikram managed to pull up the papers that contained Loksat, so we tracked down the confidential papers too, even though the whole paper was pretty much blacked out except for Bracken's name and the word Loksat.
"Other than Bracken's name, there's nothing actionable in the memo itself. Only the word Loksat," Alexis said.
"There's something else written after it, but it's too smudged to read," Castle pointed out.
"I'll try and sharpen it."
Alexis zoomed in, and sharpened the blurred image, so we can figure out what it was.
"2011. A "B" and a "D". All right. What does that mean?" Castle asked.
"Uh, 2011 could be the year. I don't know what "BD" means," Hayley said.
Castle's phone started ringing and he said, "It's Esposito," he picked up and started speaking with him, "Hey, what's up? ... At the office… Nothing. You sidelined me, remember? … I can't… Look, it's gonna take me half an hour to get there. Why don't we just jump on a video conference? Give me a minute to dial you in."
He hung up and said to us, "You three should get out of sight. I'm not gonna mention we have this document. People connected to this thing are getting killed all over the place, so no sense putting ourselves in the cross hairs."
"Agreed," Hayley said.
"Thanks," he said as we walked behind the monitor, so we wouldn't be spotted.
"Mr. Castle. We never met when you were in D.C., but I read the reports. You helped us out of a very tricky situation," the assistant AG, Allison Hyde, said through the video chat.
"What can I say? My life kind of depended on it," Castle said.
"Given the stakes here, I'm going to be blunt. Are you currently in contact with Captain Beckett?"
"No."
"But she did rescue you last night."
"Yes. And then she left me. So it's kind of a sore subject."
"Did she happen to say anything about the man with her, Vikram Singh?"
"No. Why?"
"When we started digging into him, we noticed some alarming discrepancies."
"What kind of discrepancies?" Ryan asked.
"It appears that he forged his records to get a job with us. Vikram Singh is not the man he's pretending to be, which means we have to assume that he's up to no good."
After the video conference was over, the four of us tried to figure out what Loksat 2011 BD stood for. If we figure that out, we might be able to figure this whole thing out, and possibly find my aunt Kate.
"It's a product number. Serial number?" Castle threw out.
"Keypad code," Hayley said.
"Safe-deposit box," Alexis said.
"Code name?" Castle questioned.
We continued to ponder what it could be when Castle figured it out, "The tail number of an airplane."
We looked at him in surprise, and Alexis said, "Let's try to track it down."
"Yeah, if we find that plane, we might find Beckett."
Eventually we got the location of where the plane was, and Castle and Hayley quickly left the office to see if his hunch was correct. Turns out it was, and they were able to locate my aunt and Vikram. I was waiting patiently, well as patiently as I could, for them to get back to Castle's PI office. I heard the door open and I perked up, hoping it was them. A man walked in and I figured he was Vikram, so I went up to him and said, "Hi, you must be Vikram."
"Um… Yes… Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Emily."
"Oh, Kate's niece, right?"
"Yep, that's me. Nice to meet you."
"You too."
"I'm going to say hi to my aunt."
"Okay," he said with a nod.
I went out to the reception area, and I found Aunt Kate and Castle hugging.
"Aunt Kate," I said.
"Hey, Em," she said as she opened her arms to me.
I gave her a long hug and said, "I missed you so much."
"I missed you too Em."
"I'm glad you're okay."
She cupped my face in her hands, and smiled down at me, "Me too. But it's still not over yet."
"I know… But I'm sure you guys will figure it out."
"I sure hope so."
"Yeah, me too. I'll call Espo and Ryan, see if they can get down here, and we can figure something out," Castle chimed in.
"Sounds good," she said to him before she looked back at me, "And I don't want you involved in this anymore. So you are going home."
"Aww, but Aunt Kate," I said.
"No buts, you already know too much. Trust me, okay?"
"Fine."
"I'll text Alexis, see if she can bring Em home," Castle said.
"Thanks Castle."
Alexis came to pick me up a little while later, and took me home. The next day, Castle, my aunt Kate, Ryan, and Esposito were implementing a plan to take down whoever this Loksat was. Castle and Aunt Kate were going to do an "interview" with the news, but it wasn't real, it was a setup. They knew that whoever else was involved in this thing would be watching, and more than likely, trying to get their hands on Beckett. And indeed, they were, they followed Castle back to his PI office, and Ryan and Esposito were able to take them down. Then Hayley wound up getting taken at the airport, and brought back another person involved, to Castle's PI office. But thankfully, Castle had his gun in the special compartment, and was able to take him down as well.
Then it turned out that the assistant AG, Allison Hyde, was involved in it as well. From what I heard, Allison Hyde was supposedly the mastermind of all this and behind the whole thing. Sadly, she knew that she was in to deep, and would be caught eventually, so instead of being taken down by the cops, she decided to take herself out. Everyone thinks this whole thing might be over, but I have a feeling it's not. I think there is still someone behind it all, and pulling the strings. I'm sure there are a lot more of Loksat's minions around, and he or she probably isn't satisfied with whatever they are trying to accomplish, so they'll be back at it again.
I'm just happy everyone's safe for now, and even though we should be worried, we can't keep digging into this. For now, we're out of it, and hopefully, Loksat will leave us alone. But with our history, it never quite works out that way.
Since it was all over, I was sitting in my room and listening to some music on my iPod. As I sat there, I started smelling food, and it smelled like it was burning. I decided to head downstairs to see what my Aunt and Uncle were cooking up in the kitchen. When I got there, I saw that the kitchen was slowly filling with smoke and Castle was staring at the front door which was wide open.
"Uncle Rick? Are you okay?" I asked him.
"She's gone."
"Who's gone?"
"Your aunt… She left."
"What!? What do you mean she left?"
"She wants to protect me, save our marriage. She left."
"No, we have to stop her," I said as I went to run out the front door.
Castle grabbed me, and I tried desperately to wiggle out of his hold on me.
"Emily, no. She's gone… You have to let her go."
"NO… She can't do this… It's not fair…" I said as I continued to struggle in his grasp.
Castle held onto me, both of us slowly dropping to the floor, as his arms wrapped around my waist, making sure I stayed put. I dropped my head and said through tears, "It took so long for you two to get together, and now… Now this… What if this doesn't work? I don't want you two to get divorced."
"Hey, hey… It's going to be okay. I'll get Kate back, some way… It's temporary," Castle said sadly.
I turned to look at him and said, "I have a feeling you don't truly believe that."
"I… I don't know."
"At least I'll be able to see her at the precinct."
"Yeah, she doesn't want a break from you… Only me."
"She wants to protect you."
"Exactly… It just sucks."
"I agree, it totally sucks."
We sat on the floor together, and I smelled the smoke once again, "Uh, Castle."
Castle turned to check the kitchen and the smoke was starting to get thicker, "Shoot…"
He quickly went to discard the burnt s'morlettes he was making before my aunt abruptly left him to take on what I'm assuming is Loksat. I should have known that she would continue to dig into whatever this is, and not want us involved. I just wish she didn't have to leave Castle, or just let this whole thing go, but that's not who my aunt is. She want's justice, and she won't rest until whoever this Loksat is, is taken down and we can live our lives without looking over our shoulders constantly.
I just hope my aunt doesn't get herself killed in the meantime. I know she knows what she's doing, but of course you can't help but worry what she's getting herself involved in, and it could be so much more dangerous than anything she's ever faced before. I just hope Castle will be able to handle her absence, but knowing Castle, he'll pull through in no time, and will probably do everything in his power to get his wife back, and probably wind up getting involved in this whole thing as well. I do know one thing is for certain, I'll be there every step of the way, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure we all make it through this.