Judas: Chapter 12
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DISCLAIMER: Most of these characters are not mine at all, but they are memorable. Thank you, Mr. Marlowe. The others? Yeah, they're mine
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A/N: It has been too long. Rather than release a chapter periodically, I waited until I finished the story before posting chapter 12. The story is finished, all chapters being posted tonight. I hope you enjoy, for those still around. Peace and love to you all.
2 p.m. West Coast Time on Thursday, April 26, 2012, at the Castles Complex in Sausalito, California
The group at the table is silent for a few seconds, each of them internalizing and contemplating the words of Sam Carlos and Willie Crockett in their own manner.
"And because of what Sam had me do this week, whether you realize it or not, you already are in the game," Willie has just told them.
"Some game," Richard Castle finally voices, muttering under his breath as he sits in the large chair behind his desk. He takes a long sip of water, eyes closed, savoring the cool liquid that distracts him from the meeting, even momentarily.
Everyone's musings are interrupted by Mike Monroe, who now having processed this new information, reverts back into his role as chief of security for the complex. His words bring everyone's focus back to the immediate task.
"So," Monroe begins, "if this is true, and we have no reason to doubt that 'the game is afoot' as you put it, Mr. Carlos . . . then we may have a bigger problem than we want to admit."
"Markov," Kate interjects, knowing where the security chief is headed, glancing toward Richard Castle.
"Who is Markov?" Sam asks aloud.
"Our newest resident," Castle replies, his fingers now rubbing the bridge of his nose. Suddenly, before their eyes, Richard Castle seems to age. The lack of sleep over the last few days, and the jetlag from a red-eye cross-country flight are finally catching up with the ex-author.
"You okay, Babe?" Kate asks, leaning toward the table.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Castle lies, and everyone knows it is a lie. But each person also knows, without hesitation, that there will be plenty of time to sleep later.
"Elena Markov," Castle continues. "We have reason to believe she may be a plant here to do us harm."
"And why would you think such a thought?" Carlos asks, genuinely curious. "I would think that everyone who chooses to come here gets the benefit of doubt . . . at least initially."
"That is true," Castle acknowledges. "But this is a bit different. There was something different about this one, as we admitted her. All of us felt it. All of us to a man and woman."
"We would be idiots to ignore such a feeling, when all of us feel it," Kate adds.
"And we are not idiots," Lindy Matthews remarks, sipping on her bottle of water. Willie Crockett simply chuckles, as does Sam Carlos.
"No, you most certainly are not," Carlos agrees.
"Both Mike and Lindy – who I trust implicitly – believe her to be a soldier," Castle continues.
"A killer, Rick," Lindy corrects. "I told you that one killer knows when he or she is looking at another killer."
"Truth," Willie Crockett mumbles, his trademark toothpick still dangling from his lips.
"And you see this new resident – this Elena Markov - as a killer?" Sam asks, already knowing the answer.
"Without question," Mike Monroe replies, while Lindy Matthews simply nods her head in agreement.
"What do we know about her?" Crockett asks.
"Definitely Eastern European," Kate answers. "I am guessing Russian or Ukranian."
"No kids, came here alone last night," Monroe continues. "Her bruises were fresh, needed a butterfly. Seemed scared. Played the part right. But there was just something about her. It seemed off."
"Well, you people would know if something felt off," Carlos decides. "The question before us is this: What do you intend to do about her?"
"And when?" Crockett adds.
"Yes," Sam agrees out loud. "Cat and mouse games that go on too long tend to backfire spectacularly. I can look into her, if you wish."
"That would be appreciated, Sam," Castle replies. "We can give you all of the information we gathered during the admissions process."
"I am more interested in things you might not have collected," Sam interjects. "Fingerprints. Photographs. DNA samples."
"Seriously?" Kate asks, the wonder clearly evident in her voice.
"I do have my . . . connections, Katie," Sam reminds her with a smile.
"I am assuming you have access to a few of our three-letter friends, since you were able to get word to my father," Castle states.
"Those, along with a few of the police agencies in Europe," Sam answers. "If nothing else, facial recognition and fingerprints may turn up something."
"Dammit! This is Barry Adams doing!" Castle whistles suddenly, slamming his fist on the table. It startles everyone, including Sam Carlos.
"Babe, we have already said we suspect –"
"Suspect nothing, Kate," Castle intones, interrupting his fiancée. He quickly turns his attention to the San Francisco mobster.
"Sam – when Alexis was taken, I called you immediately," Castle begins.
"I remember," Sam agrees.
"And I told you I suspected Barry Adams was behind the kidnapping," Castle continues. "But what did you tell me, Sam? You told me you doubted it was Barry, because Barry was out of country. You told me he was –"
"In the Ukraine," Carlos remarks solemnly, nodding his head. "I had forgotten that, Richard."
"Damn," Willie Crockett mutters, chewing and swallowing his toothpick. "Too convenient."
"No coincidences," Kate Beckett mentions aloud. "Barry Adams visits the Ukraine, and now some Eastern European soldier – slash – assassin – slash whatever the hell she is shows up on our doorsteps? Mere days later?"
"You're right," Mike Monroe acknowledges. "It literally has only been a couple of days."
"Barry visits Eastern Europe, and now a woman you believe to be dangerous – of Eastern European descent – shows up here at your complex," Sam Carlos repeats out loud, more to hear himself process the words.
The room is quiet for a moment as the group processes this new information. It is Willie Crockett who breaks the silence.
"Okay," Crockett begins with a chuckle. "Now, look, no one poo-poo this idea right off the bat –"
"Poo-poo?" Lindy Matthews laughs aloud. "Such language!"
The entire group breaks into cathartic laughter. They all recognize edgy nerves are being released.
"Hear me out," Crockett tells the group, but his focus is on his boss, Sam Carlos.
"Boss is right. Cat and mouse games tend to backfire because you never know how long to play pretty. Why not try the more direct approach."
"And that direct approach is what, my friend?" Carlos asks his right-hand man.
"You are here," Crockett tells him. "Today. Right now. Our friends here suspect that their newest guest is a plant. They suspect she has been planted by the congressman, Adams."
"Yes, that rings true," Richard Castle acknowledges. "What are you thinking, Willie?"
"Adams knows that Sam is friends with you, Rick," Crockett continues. "He knows that – behind the scenes – the two of you are friends."
"Yes, but –"
"Come from behind the scenes," Crockett explains. "Boss – you and Rick – take a walk around the campus. Be seen. Let people see you together."
"Are you sure about this, Willie?" Kate asks. "I mean, that is a door that, once opened, cannot be shut again."
Kate looks at her long-time old college friend, and continues.
"And I say this for your benefit, Sam, not ours."
"What is the benefit?" Mike Monroe asks the team. "How does that –"
"It changes the game," Sam replies, smiling at his second-in-command. "It tells Adams, it tells anyone and everyone, that the game has changed. Closet friends are no longer in the closet. And as Kate astutely points out, it is a door that cannot be closed."
"It could impact fund-raising, Rick," Monroe mentions quietly. "No offence, Mr. Carlos."
"None taken," Sam Carlos smiles, warming to the idea.
"It could further legitimize Sam," Castle says, thinking aloud. His words bring a broader smile to the face of the mobster. "And it tells people we aren't hiding."
The room falls quiet once again, as the group almost comically view one another, sheepish smiles forming on everyone's faces. This time, it is Richard Castle who breaks the silence.
"You know what," he begins. "Either we are friends, or we are not. Allowing people to see this friendship – if nothing else – ensures that people don't hurt us in the future . . . what is the word I am looking for?"
"It ensures that no one miscalculates our relationship, and what we are willing to do for one another," Sam finishes the thought.
"It simply is taking a private conversation that we have had, Sam – you and I are friends – and making it public. So that no one in the future misunderstands."
"And," Carlos concludes, pausing for effect. "And, it gives you reason to introduce me to your newest guest, so that I may see her for myself, and so that she can see the game she is playing as it truly is."
"What do you mean, Sam?" Kate asks.
"If she is a plant, as you suspect," Carlos replies, "and if she is planted by Barry Adams, as we all suspect now . . . it follows that Barry would not be stupid enough to put a plant in here without sharing all known intelligence."
"And Sam's relationship with Rick can definitely be viewed as 'intelligence," Willie adds.
"Allowing her to see you and I together, in the open, as friends, gives her a piece of intelligence that she did not have," Sam continues.
"Which causes her to question the information she is getting from Barry," Willie adds once more.
"And as you say, Rick . . . we are either friends, or we are not friends," Carlos concludes.
Heads begin to slowly nod around the room, before Mike Monroe drops the final brick.
"Well, if we are being honest, anyone who really wants to know what Rick's relationship is with Sam Carlos here need only pay attention to what happened back on the east coast a couple of days ago."
Chuckles rise into the air around the room, as the participants begin to realize the inherent obviousness of Monroe's statement.
"That is true, Rick, Sam," Kate agrees, glancing at both men. "When it comes to whatever relationship you two have - or don't have, that cat came screaming out of the bag this week."
"And amazingly," Lindy adds with both sarcasm and slight wonder, "word of Mr. Crockett's rampage did not alter or diminish the local councilman's hard-on for Rick here. That is nothing short of stunning."
"Do tell," Sam Carlos agrees, nodding his head. "One would think . . ."
He leaves the statement hanging in the air, contemplating future moves. As he has stated to Richard Castle, he hesitates to take out a publicly-elected figure.
"The key word is 'hesitate'", he mumbles under his breath to himself. His words are unintelligible to all save Willie Crockett, who merely nods his head.
Standing up, Carlos brushes imaginary lint off his lap. Immediately, Willie Crockett stands with him.
"If you are agreeable, Rick, I believe Willie is once again correct," Sam tells Castle. "I think now is as good a time as any for a stroll. And if we just so happen to wander into your newest resident . . . well, I know how to play that. Changing the game, yes?"
Silently, a smiling Richard Castle stands from behind the desk, and begins walking to the door.
"Is this a two-some, threesome, or can others join?" Kate asks.
Let's keep it at Willie, Rick, you and I for now," Carlos answers, holding his hand out for Kate as he meets Castle at the door.
As the foursome leave, Mike Monroe stays seated with Lindy, a troubling look on his face. It is noticed by Willie Crockett, who halts the outgoing foursome.
"Hold tight," Willie tells the foursome, as he returns to the remaining two security personnel.
"Something's bothering you," Crockett states. It isn't a question.
"Astute as always," Lindy remarks, placing her hand inside Mike's larger dark hand.
"Just a question bothering me, from a security standpoint," Monroe answers. Now Castle and Kate and Sam all have stopped and re-entered the room, but staying at the door to listen.
"Why is an assassin here?" Monroe asks. If she is a killer, if she has been sent to do damage, why is she here? Why is she here at the complex, instead of taking a shot at Rick at his house. His address is no secret. And there is far, far less security at his home – no offense, Kate," he finishes.
"None taken, Mike," Kate nods from the doorway, as Sam Carlos re-inserts himself into the conversation.
"A good question, Mr. Monroe," Sam states admiringly. "My take is that while Richard is the very bane of Barry Adams' existence right now, it is Rick's complex that has dealt the biggest blow to Adams' plans and operations."
Seeing confusion on multiple faces, Sam continues.
"Forty-nine women, Mr. Monroe," Sam states. "Forty-nine women are not cheap to replace. Forty-nine women can pull in a pirate's haul in the time that Barry Adams had them. It was this complex – and the people here – you and Miss Matthews – that took the lives of his men. It was this complex – you and your team – who found out where the women were held. It was members of this complex who freed those women."
Monroe nods his head slowly, understanding the ramifications.
"It's not just Rick then," Monroe states.
"As I said," Carlos concludes. "The game is afoot. And the game has changed. Let's go change it some more, shall we?"
With that, Carlos turns back to the door, walking out, followed by Crockett and their two friends from the complex.
Friends who are now about to become much more public.
A/N: As mentioned in this chapter, after the events of the last story, with it becoming public knowledge that a feared hitman from the west coast traveled to the east coast to rescue Richard Castle's daughter, any thought of their relationship being clandestine are moot at this point. It opens up different stories to take advantage of what will be a very public, sometimes challenging, and never predictable friendship between Richard Castle and Sam Carlos.