Shared Obsession Chapter 150
"She left the precinct just after nine. Husband said she never came home," Avery reiterates.
"What about the car?" Beckett asks.
Avery waves around the garage. "Stationary at this location since the transmitter was activated 20 minutes ago." He points toward an entrance with an off-kilter mechanical arm. "Our vehicle security tech said that was his way in."
Castle peers into Jordan's vehicle. "So he was already in the car waiting for her when she got behind the wheel. But isn't it SOP to check the back seat, especially when there is a homicidal maniac running around?"
"Apparently she was on the phone with her daughter. That might have distracted her," Avery offers.
Beckett examines the car's interior. "There's no bullet hole. Medium velocity spatter. So he leans in from behind, she elbows him in the nose, he recoils, and," she gestures toward the driver's side of the car, "a blood trail flies in that direction."
Obvious respect sounds in Avery's voice. "She took her shot."
Castle points to a blood drop on the garage floor. "And left us some breadcrumbs."
Avery shines his flashlight on the concrete. "Here's another one."
Beckett takes a few steps in the direction of the drops. "And another one here. His nose is still bleeding, but he has Jordan at gunpoint. And he brings her here, where there's a car waiting. There's tire treads. Let's run down all vehicles stolen within the last 24 hours."
Castle points toward the entrance. "If I recall, this place laid off the attendants last year when it got license plate recognition. There was a letter to the editor in The Ledger about the heartless NYPD eliminating some poor guy's job. The story didn't make much of a splash. Even car washes use that tech these days. But wouldn't a record of what cars came and went speed up our search?"
"Yes, it would," Kate acknowledges, sending an inquiring look at Avery.
The agent nods. "I'll see about uploading that data ASAP."
Kate startles as her cell blurts a distinctive tone. "It's him!" Her fingers curl tightly around the phone. "Beckett."
Dunn's voice oozes from the speaker. "There's nothing like the bond between girlfriends is there, Nikki? You must really miss her."
"Where is she?" Kate demands.
"Safe – for now."
Kate's eyes blaze. "If you hurt her I will…."
"Well, that all depends on you, doesn't it?" Dunn interrupts. "This is your story, not hers. She's just an extra. The showdown only works if it's between you and me. Come to Battery Park Ferry Terminal at midnight tonight. And come alone Nikki, or she dies."
"How can I be sure she's still alive now?" Kate presses.
"I'll send you an email," Dunn promises.
On a high-security computer in tech, Wong opens the attachment to Kate's email. A video plays on the large screen. Shaw is taped to a chair in a room devoid of distinguishing features.
"Say hi to your friends, Agent Shaw," Dunn's voice urges.
Shaw glares at the source of the sound. "Go to Hell, Dunn."
"That's it," Wong says, freezing the video on the last frame.
"I don't care if it's your story, Beckett. I'm bringing her back alive," Avery declares.
"It's not my story, it's his," Kate insists. "And if Shaw were here right now she'd tell you the same thing."
Castle lays a hand on Kate's shoulder. "Whatever he's got planned, it's a trap."
Kate's teeth ridge her lip. "If I don't show up, she dies."
"But if you do, you both die," Montgomery asserts.
"We need to get to her before the exchange," Avery says.
Esposito rushes into the room, with Ryan behind him. "We traced the email's IP address to an internet café in Midtown."
"How about plates from any of the cars Dunn might have been driving?" Kate asks. "Did the traffic cams pick any of them up around the café?"
"None of them were tagged on the feed," Ryan says.
"So he probably took public transportation," Castle assumes.
"How about the subway?" Ryan suggests. "Sounds like an el in the background."
"He knows about the cameras in the subway. I doubt he'll risk them again. He could have allowed that sound on the video so we'd be chasing our tails. Maybe he took a bus," Castle offers. "Can the FBI system bring up any bus route that would take Dunn to that café?"
"On it!" Avery responds.
Kate stares at the image on the screen. "But we still would need to know where it came from. There must be something here, but there aren't any reflective surfaces and all the windows are blacked out."
Castle leans close to the display. "Not all of them. Look, what's out this window? This looks like another job for the Feebies' wide-screened toy."
"Zoom in," Avery instructs an FBI tech.
"What are those? Buildings?" Esposito asks.
"Bridge towers," Castle responds.
"Call up all the bridges in the city. See if our view fits," Kate instructs.
Ryan points. "Ah, the Whitestone."
"That means we're looking South and East," Montgomery notes.
"But we still need another coordinate to find him on the axis," Avery says.
"Overlaying the bus routes," the tech announces.
Castle points at the screen. "There, that's the bus stop closest to the bridge. And it's close to an el, too." An address flashes on the screen.
"Got it!" Kate shouts. "Have the rescue team meet us there."
"Alpha team in place. Standing by," an FBI agent announces into his com.
Avery points at a building. "This is it. Place is supposed to be abandoned. Thermal confirms a hot spot on the fourth floor. That's where he's holding her. My team is gonna enter on the blind side."
Castle gazes at the dilapidated façade. "This is wrong."
"What's wrong?" Kate asks.
"I feel like I'm on the Millennium Falcon escaping the imperial forces. It's too easy."
"What do you mean too easy?" Avery questions.
"I mean the peek out the window of the bridge. Dunn recording while a train was passing by. The car was ditched not far from a connecting train but we didn't get any video from that. You remember how perfect everything was with Conrad? And Dunn got away with hanging his other patsy. He's a master of misdirection. With the train breadcrumbs, maybe he didn't think we'd look for a bus, but the stops are pretty far apart. He could have taken it to and from any of the buildings around here."
"Look, Castle, I got the trap memo too," Avery concedes. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to sit on my ass and do nothing. That's my partner up there."
"Alpha Team standing by," the team leader repeats.
"She'll be dead the minute you breach that door," Castle warns.
"That's why we're not going to breach," Avery explains. "Hostage exchange goes down at midnight. That means he has to move her before then. We move in quietly, take position…."
"And then as soon as Dunn comes out…," Kate picks up.
"I'll put him down like the rabid dog he is," Avery vows.
"An insult to canines," Castle mutters.
"Making entry on the south side," the Alpha Team leader reports, as Kate and Castle monitor the operation from a van.
"I don't know how he's doing it, but he's not up there," Castle asserts.
"And what are you basing that on?" Kate asks.
"I don't know how I know. I just know."
"You know what, Babe? From the first time we worked together, you noticed things I missed. I didn't like it. Hell, I resented it. But what you saw kept me from sending an innocent guy to jail and helped me catch a killer. I learned a while back to trust your hunches. So, if you feel he's not up there, then you need to tell me why, now."
"Beckett, you know how fast I read. I got a good look at Dunn's manuscript, his style, his devices. This isn't how he'd write the scene."
"How would he write it?"
"He'd let Nikki and the FBI think they'd found him, to lure them here. He'd let the FBI converge on the building. Only he's not in there."
"Where is he?"
"Nearby, watching, relishing the scene, seeing his plan unfold. And at heart, he is an arsonist. He'd want to see his victims burn like he wanted for you. So he'd wait until the FBI got into position and settled in. Then he'd blow the building."
Air whooshes from Beckett's lungs. "Oh, God!"
A/N A little disclosure. A few years ago I was tasked with writing a series of articles on car washes. Exciting, right? It did, however, give me some food for thought. Some car washes use license plate recognition to instantly identify returning customers and tag new ones. That way, they not only keep track of the cars but offer the services the drivers prefer. In my research, I found that the tech was already employed all over the place, especially on traffic cams. I figured the garage Shaw used would have to have it. It also led me to stick in a bus.
