12th Precinct, Present Time

To Serve and Protect

Chapter 13 - Striking Back

FBI JOINT HQ-12th Precinct

Agent Armas is standing at full attention in front of Supervisory Agent Shaw, "How could you let our suspect escape like he did. Once he entered that alley way you should have covered his only other exit immediately. Your slow reaction lost us an opportunity."

"I have no excuses Agent Shaw, I take full responsibility here."

"This is the first time you have let me down, Armas, so I will give you a break. You get a pass, this time! Let me down again and you will be surveilling a desk for the remainder of this case! And maybe future cases, is that understood Agent Armas."

"Yes Ma'am".

"You're dismissed agent. Do not mess up again."

Agent Armas leaves Shaw's office and is visibly shaken by his dressing-down by Shaw. As he heads back to his desk, two agents who had observed him entering Shaw's office, are talking quietly to one another in soft tones.

"He looks bad. She must have tore him apart quite well."

"I've been there. Trust me, you do not want to be chewed out by Shaw!"

"I believe you man."

For the rest of the day into the evening, there is a pallor hanging over the joint team. They all knew they had missed a chance to take down their suspect and worst, they now had just confirmed to him that he was indeed being watched. So, the Joint Task Group works furiously into the late night trying to get leads as to the whereabouts of their now escaped suspect. No leads were coming up.

At around 9PM Shaw sends the team home. They had all worked hard and she did not need to burn them out by keeping them longer. Rick Castle had left early yet once again to pick up the kids and since Kate had come in with him, together, that morning, Kate needed a ride back to the loft. Kate normally took a cab home or called for Rick's car service to return to the loft. Tonight though, with all that had happened on the case, she needs to get some fresh air. The loft was a short subway ride away. The walk to and from the connecting subway stations of her ride are both a brief 10 minute walk. That walk would allow her that air she needed to clear her mind. She decides to take the subway.

Before Kate can leave, she sees Shaw getting ready also to leave.

"Hey Jordan, heading out?"

"Yeah, can I offer you a ride."

"No, I need some air, going to take the subway."

"You sure, it is no bother."

"No, I just need to get some air and clear my head a bit."

"Well, okay, keep optimistic, we will get this guy. Remember when we caught Scott Dunn, our Nikki Bomber, it was his hubris that took him down. I think Fletcher will be the same."

"Thanks for the words of encouragement, see you tomorrow Jordan."

As Kate enters her subway platform to wait for her ride, she looks at her watch and sees she has about a five minute wait. At this time in the late evening the subway platform is all but nearly deserted. She stands patiently waiting for her ride. Then Kate senses a presence coming up behind her but before she can turn to get a look, she feels a small pinch on the back of her neck. It is the feel of a syringe being inserted into her neck. She blacks out.

At 10:30PM Rick Castle realizes it's getting extremely late and his wife was not yet home. He has called her cell, but it goes to voice mail. She either has it turned off or is not answering for some reason. So Rick calls the duty desk at the 12th.

LT answers having the late watch that night.

"LT, Rick Castle, has my wife left for home yet?"

"Yes Rick, the captain left a little after nine when Agent Shaw let the joint team go home."

"LT, she has not come home."

"Standby, I'm getting hold of Shaw." LT wasted no time contacting Shaw. Once receiving the news, she asks LT to do a recall for all the team members to return to the HQ.

The joint team is immediately recalled to conduct a city wide search for Kate. The call start with an emergency meeting in a conference room at the 12th.

"This is not good people", says Jordan Shaw, "the fact that Fletcher has changed his MO means we have angered him and now he has Captain Castle. We need to find him fast before he kills her. We know from his previous vics that he keeps them alive for a week or so, tortures them, kills them, and then assaults them post mortem. A week is the max time we have to find Captain Castle, 24 to 48 hours would be ideal, if we can find her in that time frame. Be prepared to work round the clock on this one. Organize your shifts wisely so you all will get a good sleep before your next watch. Let's not burn out. So turn to people, we need to get the Captain back safely."

For Rick Castle his worst nightmare is happening, his wife has gone missing. Then a darker thought comes to him, how will he explain to their kids that their mother is missing!?

The Ukraine Front

"Lex, wake up. Looks like the Russian Troops are on the move. We need to pack up and get out of here", Jackson tells his granddaughter. In no time flat, the pop up roof mounted tent is lowered on its platform, locked securely down, and then all their motion sensing device put in the trunk of their all wheel drive rough terrain SUV. They are heading out as missiles are launched exploding onto the road in front of them doing some damage.

"Plan B, we are headed off road for the Polish border. Let's hope we don't encounter any Russian forces on the way there."

Alexis grabs her binoculars and looks back towards the border hoping to spot the Russian forces now crossing that border. She sees thru the binoculars a column of fast moving troop carriers that are accompanied by armored tanks, missile launchers, and artillery.

"Bad news grandpa Jack, we have a column of Russian troops headed our way."

"Hang on", he tells her as he puts the SUV in high gear, they are hitting close to 60MPH over rough terrain. Alexis immediately puts on her seat belt as she dials up the local radio station to hear any news about the invasion and if the Ukrainians are now aware that the Russian Invasion is on. Jackson is on the satellite phone to their safe house in Poland. He alerts them of their situation. As Jackson makes contact with the safehouse, the Kyiv radio stations are announcing a missile attack on the city and Russian fighter jets taking control of air space.

"Lex", her grandfather says, "monitor our airspace and let me know if we have fighters in the sky above us", this is Jackson's reaction to the radio piece announcing Russian fighters in the air. Jackson spots a forest up ahead. He heads there hoping to find a path out the other side as he will use the forest to hide from Russian aircraft.

Alexis was monitoring the skies holding her binoculars to see up close any distance image of a Russian war plane. Their adrenaline pumping fast, they head for the forest in front of them. Once there Jackson slows down trying to find a path through the forest. At least now they had cover from Russian aircraft that may be in the area. Jackson is trying to decide if they should stay hidden in the forest and wait for nightfall to hide their approach to the Polish border. His current thinking is that waiting for nightfall may allow the Russian to establish control of the ground game and thus any vehicle on the road would be subject to detection and capture. A night time escape would have to be done with lights out and Jackson would need to use his infrared goggles to navigate in the dark their path to the Polish border. Once well into the forest, Jackson stops to tell Lexy of their options and to fuel up from the gas cans they had brought. Done with refueling, he gets Alexis' opinion on which alternative to take, stay till night or continue on in daylight.

The 12th The Following Morning

His kids had noticed Kate's absence that morning as they drove to child care.

"Daddy, how come mommy is not with us?", asks the boys.

"She had to go in early for a tough case and she maybe late this evening so you may not see her in a while", he tells a lie to his kids.

"Why does mommy's job take her way, just like Lexy", says Lily.

"I think mommy and Lexy should change jobs", the boys announce.

"Tell you what. So you won't miss mommy or your big sister so much, how about we have Ice Cream for dessert tonight just to cheer you guys up."

"Hooray", they all say together.

"I want chocolate", say the boys.

"I'll take strawberry daddy", says Lily.

The expectation of Ice Cream that night had worked. It got his kids mind off their missing mother and sister and had put them in a cheerful mood.

"Thank God for Ice Cream", is Rick's thought as they enter the parking lot of the Child Care Facility.

Back Underground

Kate is coming into consciousness and immediately senses ankle locks on her and that she is seated on a chair her hands cuffed behind her. As she comes to full consciousness, she sees Gregg Fletcher in front of her.

"Finally you are awake", he tells her.

Kate suddenly is aware that she is no longer dressed in her work clothes. No, she is now wearing a thin camisole, no bra underneath, and short shorts, no feel of panties on her.

"Why am I dressed like this. Did you put me in this outfit?"

"I sure did and I got an eyeful of that hot bod of yours. Your husband is a very lucky man and I realize now why you have three kids. If I were your husband you would have a lot more than three kids!"

She ignores Fletcher' crude and demeaning comment, but Kate realizes his speech is all bravado. She had familiarize herself with Fletcher's profile and knew that he most assuredly had an intimacy problem with his now deceased wife. Still the look in his eyes was primal. He had eyed her like a hungry wolf eyes his cornered prey before attacking and eating it. She recalls that Jordan said Fletcher's hubris would bring him down. With that thought Kate comes up quickly with a plan to handle him.

"You think you could handle me, huh? My husband is a big man, if you get my drift", she challenges with her innuendo to Fletcher, raising her eyebrows suggestively for emphasis to see what his reaction will be.

"I tell you what, maybe I show you later I am better than your man. I know you would like it!", he responds to her challenge, taking out a knife and holding the point to her throat.

"Maybe later we get to know each other better, maybe have a little play time, some fun."

He then moves the knife down her front to her breasts, now poking out from the thin material of the camisole. Kate is clearly outlined and visible through the camisole leaving very little to the imagination. Kate was always proud of her figure, particularly her boobs. Not too big, not to small, just right, her husband would tell her. Now she feels dirty the way Fletcher is fondling her with the knife to her. It is a predatory move on his part. He is doing foreplay with her in his own perverted way. He touched the tip of the knife to her nipples clearly prominent thru the thin fabric of the camisole. Kate's body reacts with a jerk to the feel of the knife tip on her sensitive nipples. Fletcher clearly enjoys that Kate is on display in front of him; that she is helpless and that he can do what he wants to her, just like he did with his other vics.

He continues tormenting her, "You think you could show me a good time? Do just that and maybe I don't kill you right off, maybe I continue to sample your charms."

Kate gets control of herself and then tells him in a sarcastic but calm voice, "Are you up for it?".

She looks him straight in his eyes as she gives him the veiled scornful response. She is being defiant to his attempt to subject her to a terror so hideous that Kate refuses to submit to it.

Her response hits a nerve with the man.

He reacts by giving her a back hand slap to her face with his free hand, "That's for the comment, don't ever address me in that tone, but you will learn! I have you captive for as long as I want. You will come to know my darkest desires and will fulfill them, and eventually come to enjoy your time with me."

There it is, she found a weakness to his bravado. He could not stand being reminded of his sexual inadequacy and those last words to her are clearly false bravado to hide his real self, his real dysfunction. Kate can work with that, she needs to play him. She needs to study him more. She needs to see how she can manipulate him. As much as she was defenseless being cuffed and tied to the chair, she could use criminal psychology to her advantage. She would appeal to his ego and lead him into a mistake.

"So you're into playing rough", she taunts him while licking the blood off her lip that had taken some of the slap.

"Are you woman enough for that", he replies back to her.

All the while Kate sees something in his eyes. It's a mixture of rage followed by some strange arousal at the sight of her helplessness as she is hand cuffed, a prisoner, lewdly dressed and on display for him.

"I will play nice if you will", she tells him, playing again to his hubris.

That comment is an ego boost to him, he senses she is submitting to him, "Good, I like it when my victims play nice. If you are cooperative, it may keep you alive longer. Know this detective, you are under my control. I can do what I want with you and there is no one here to stop me".

As he spoke, he invades her space once again. So close is he that she can feel him breathing on her and his breath is foul. So bad is it that she has to stop herself from gagging. The man is everything abhorrent, a devil incarnate.

Kate thinks about what Fletcher just told her. He likes it when his victims are compliant. It lessens his self doubt about his sexual inadequacy, and yet once again he tries to assert his dominance by reminding her that he is in complete control. It fits what she knows about him from his files. She will test him further.

"I can be good for you if you let me. If you play nice with me and don't hurt me, I might just show you a good time. I know my situation here but keeping me alive will get you benefits", she tells him as seductively as she can, using that tone that she reserved only for her husband, but now using it for advantage.

She sees his face lighten up and he is buying her role playing, "Good girl, let's just see where it can go with you. You need to be a cooperative pet and show me you are serious."

Kate puts on a fearful look and notices that it appeals to Fletcher's ego yet again. Fletcher thinks he's got her. His hubris is what Kate is appealing to, so as to delay any harm he is planning for her. She needs to do so because she will not leave her three kids motherless, and her husband without a partner. Of all people, Kate Castle knows the impact of not having a mother. She was nineteen when it happened to her, but her kids are all of five and three years old, and would be more severely traumatized by her death and loss than she had been with that of her own mother Johanna.

Kate recalls her readings about the Vietnam POW's who were held captive for years and tortured for military secrets. They would say just enough to ease the torture but not enough to give away U.S. secrets. In a like manner, she needed to do the same with Fletcher. Anything it takes to keep herself alive longer, but short of giving up all to him. This to gain time for the 12th and Rick to find her.

Kate knows there will be a full court press to recover her, so she is steeling herself for what she must do to keep herself out of harm from this despicable monster now her captor. She asks for strength from the universe and thinks thoughts of her kids and husband. Once again her family sustains her and gives her courage to move on, to conquer her fears, and ultimately to overcome her fears about the future and being held captive by Fletcher.

"Well then", she says in her seductive tone, "let's see if you are man enough for me."

"The question, detective, is whether you are woman enough for me!"

He gets the final word on her before he leaves her to stew in her own thoughts.

When he leaves the room, Kate let's out a breath that she had been holding trying to appear calm and in control. Now no longer needing to role play, she thinks again of her kids and recalls the last time Rick and her made love. It reinforces for her that determination to get thru this. In the face of such adversity, the strength and resolve of Kate Beckett comes out in full force. She will prevail, failure is not an option here!