Judas: Chapter 14
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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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3:00 p.m. West Coast Time on Thursday, April 26, 2012, at the Castles Complex in Sausalito, California
Richard Castle sits in the conference room in the administration office, his legs crossed on the sofa there. Next to him sits Kate Beckett, who is sipping a cup of coffee.
The smaller sofa has been pulled across from the larger sofa, where Mike Monroe and Lindy Matthews are seated together. In the two adjacent chairs sit Sam Carlos and Willie Crockett. Crockett sits quietly with his eyes closed, while his boss smiles as he types a text into his phone.
Kate smiles at the sight. She opens her mouth to say something, but catches herself, realizing that both occurrences in front of her are not the norm for either of these men. Sam relaxing, smiling, and most likely texting with Jennifer . . . Willie relaxing, catching a catnap between all of the . . . well, how exactly does one describe the activities that make up the life of Sam Carlos' right-hand man?
She continues smiling, allowing both men their brief respite from what is normal for them.
Suddenly, Sam Carlos clears his throat, putting his device away, which automatically snaps the eyes open for Willie Crockett.
"Hmmm," Kate hears from her fiancé next to her, now realizing that he was watching and observing the same thing as her.
"I know," she whispers, as he squeezes her hand in acknowledgement.
"So, let's review," Castle tells the group, and begins to recount the encounter that he and Sam Carlos had with Elena Markov, telling the group that they ensured that the greeting they left with Markov was noticeably frostier than the encounter with the other woman and her twin girls.
"You think she got the message?" Mike asks. It is Lindy, sitting next to him, that responds.
"I don't think Miss Markov is the type who misses any message," Lindy remarks.
"I don't either," Kate agrees. "The bigger question right now is what you think she is doing with this new information . . . she's on to us, we are on to her . . . that changes the game, as you said earlier, Sam."
"That it does," Carlos agrees. "And you are correct. With the game changing, tactics will change as well."
"When the game changes, tactics usually accelerate," Willie adds thoughtfully. "Whatever her plan here was, whatever her timetable was, I think we can count on it accelerating."
"But we don't know what that plan is," Castle reminds the group.
"That is irrelevant, Richard," Carlos states affably. "Our ignorance does not change her plans. It simply means that we must take . . . how shall I call this . . ."
"A leap," Mike Monroe interrupts, as Willie Crockett nods his head. "In the military, we would learn and adapt."
"Yes, Mr. Monroe," Carlos agrees. "Learn and adapt. Which is exactly what I suspect Miss Elena Markov is doing at this moment."
"Which means we must do the same thing," Kate adds. "We need to accelerate, to change our thinking as well. Having the four of us walk the campus together was an example of us changing our thinking. And good thing, too."
"So, we continue to change, we continue to adapt . . ." Mike Monroe tells the group. "But how, that's the question."
The group is silent for a moment, as the six friends consider Monroe's question. It is Crockett who finally answers.
"What is our goal?" he asks. "If we are accelerating things, as we suspect she is . . . then for what purpose? Exactly what is our goal? What are we trying to accomplish?"
"Get her to show her hand," Richard Castle replies immediately, the mystery author in him taking over.
"Exactly," Crockett responds. "Until she shows her hand, we are merely guessing, stumbling in the dark."
"Bad things happen in the dark," Castle remarks, which brings a playful punch on the shoulder from a chuckling Kate Beckett.
"What, are we afraid of the dark all of the sudden?" she laughs.
Smiles and chuckles ensue in the room for a few seconds, until Matthews throws a splash of cold water towards the group.
"You two need to leave," Lindy pointedly tells Sam Carlos and Willie Crockett.
All heads turn toward the complex's fiercest defender. She doesn't smile. Her light-hearted demeanor is gone, now replaced by a fierceness painted on her face that impresses even Crockett.
"This woman," Lindy begins, comes to our complex yesterday. "We believe she has nefarious plans . . ."
"Great word selection, Lindy," Castle interrupts, only to receive another punch in the shoulder from Kate . . . except this time it is less playful.
"We believe she has dangerous plans for Rick . . . or this complex," Lindy continues. "She is a killer, she is a soldier, and a soldier does not rush into battle without –"
"Without reconnaissance," Mike Monroe finishes her thought.
"She has a plan," Crockett adds, warming up to the idea. "Which means she came into this with knowledge, with data, with –"
"She came in knowing who we are," Lindy continues, now gazing at Sam Carlos. "We have to assume, we have to think that she came into this knowing who you are, Sam. The most dangerous mistake we can make is assuming that she knew nothing of your relationship with Rick, here. Especially after the events of this week with Willie, here."
"That's true," Kate adds. "Perhaps her seeing you and Rick together was less a surprise than we suspect . . . perhaps seeing the two of you together simply –"
"Confirmed something she already knew, coming into this," Willie completes the thought.
"And if that is the case," Carlos states, now inserting himself back into the conversation, "then we must accept that she sees me being here as an opportunity."
"An opportunity to take out a potential liability," Lindy adds.
Heads are nodding in agreement before Castle throws yet another wrench into the machinery.
"Not only that," Richard Castle remarks solemnly, "but if I were writing this as a story –"
"Uh oh," Kate chuckles, now drawing a mock look of concern from Castle before he continues.
"If I were writing this story, just as Sam and I are friends and comrades . . . just as I am not alone here with Sam . . . with Willie . . . with you Kate, with you and Lindy, Mike. With Dawn and Colin and Samantha . . ."
He pauses, gathering his words together.
"Just as I am not alone, perhaps Elena Markov is not alone either," he intones sadly.
No one says a word as they consider the idea, the concern that has just been dropped into the room. A few more silent seconds pass before Richard Castle drops the final shoe.
"In the four plus months that we have been open at this complex, from Day One until today, we have never had a single woman – not one – enter this complex as a pre-emptive or precautionary move. Every single woman who has come here has come here after an incident," he notes sadly.
Kate pulls her hand to her mouth, eyes widening, as she now understands his sadness, and where he is headed with this thought.
"Samantha always wanted a woman to come here proactively, not reactively," he states. "She always wanted someone to come here before being attacked. It has never happened. It has never occurred, not even once, with one hundred women now here. It has never happened until today."
"One day after Miss Markov arrived," Sam completes the circle.
"That can't be a coincidence," Castle remarks sadly.
"There are no coincidences," Lindy agrees.
The group is quiet for another few seconds before Sam Carlos stands up to leave. Willie Crockett immediately stands with him, as Sam closes the discussion.
"As I stated earlier . . . the game is afoot . . . and we are behind the game already."
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An hour later, roughly 4:30 p.m. West Coast Time on Thursday, April 26, 2012, at NuGenetix headquarters in Silicon Valley
Chandra Jain stands at one of the multiple large whiteboards in her office on the second floor, staring at the four different formulas written there. Each one is in its own column on her board, and each one varies only slightly from the others. She knows not all of these are viable. Hell, she recognizes that it is just as likely that none of them will yield the successful antidote. Still, she is satisfied with the progress from the past couple of hours.
"I'm just eliminating options," she reminds herself out loud. "Each failure is not a failure, but a step closer to victory."
She smiles wistfully as she thinks this out loud. It is one of Andrew Klein's favorite sayings to the development organization, a variation of an old quote attributed to Thomas Edison. It is a mindset that not only does not punish failure, but actually rewards it . . . as long as it continues to move the team closer to their goal.
Now, however, victory is not measured in time-to-market for a new product. No, on this day victory is measured in a cure for a horrific ailment.
An ailment that Andrew Klein's development team created.
An ailment that Chandra Jain created.
Angrily tossing the marker against the whiteboard, she turns to grab her purse and keys. As an experienced developer, she knows when to continue pushing the envelope, and when to step back and refresh.
Purse and keys in hand, she walks toward the elevator, pushing the down arrow. She takes out her phone, sending Martin Sumners a text message.
Chandra: Need a break. Numbers and variables are running together now. I will be back in a few hours.
Martin's affliction aside, she knows he will understand the wisdom in her move. Still, it grieves her . . . it guilts her to leave like this, knowing that at any moment, something that suitably frightens Martin will send him into another comatose session.
"I love you, Martin, but you're afraid of your own shadow," she muses sadly to herself as the elevator doors open . . .
. . . bringing Chandra face to face with Cassandra Klein.
Mrs. Klein had come to speak with her husband earlier in the afternoon. Having left his executive office on the fourth floor, she now is on her way out to pick up their kids from school. Andrew had communicated what he had done to Martin Sumners earlier that day. Cassandra Klein was none too happy over the recent events.
"Inflicting someone else with what afflicts me . . . with what afflicts Richard Castle does nothing good, Andrew. Now, another person has this damn . . . this damn disease?"
"It's not a disease, per se –" he tried to correct her, unsuccessfully.
"Don't play word games with me, Andrew, you know exactly what I mean," she had exploded. And the use of his proper name was not lost on the CEO for NuGenetix. He knows she only uses his proper name when she is angry.
And right now, she is angry . . . even an hour later as she is on the elevator watching Chandra Jain get on.
She makes up her mind quickly, pushing the emergency stop button as soon as the doors close on the two women.
"Chandra," she begins, "I am so sorry for what Andrew has done to Martin. There is no excuse for this."
"Well, it certainly does rain on this whole 'we are family' bullshit your husband has been espousing for years now.
"I know, I know, God knows that I know," Klein's wife tells the formidable developer. And if I know my husband, he has only told you part of the story. If you are going to solve this puzzle, I think it is time you see the full picture of what you are facing."
"I suspected there is more to this than what Andrew told me," Chandra replies. "What he has told us."
"You know my husband well," Cassandra remarks. "Let me tell you what he has not told you, so that you may see the full extent of what we are facing . . . and when I say 'we', I remind you that Martin and I are in the same boat, so to speak.
"Yes, I know that," Chandra agrees.
"This drug that your team has created made its way out of this building," Cassandra begins.
"How?" Chandra asks. "Security for the drug and the entire building is top shelf. How is that even possible? Unless someone tried to get it to one of our competitors."
"Nothing so draconian," Cassandra remarks, then frowns. "Actually, now that I think about it, the truth is actually far more draconian than you could ever even imagine, Chandra.
"So, what is the truth," Chandra asks. "And the cliff notes version please, before someone decides to place a call for a malfunctioning elevator."
Cassandra has to smile at the younger woman's attempt at humor. It is clear why Andrew is so fond of this developer. She is young, energetic, brilliant and unflappable. Cassandra is counting on that last quality to bail them out of this horror show her life has become.
"There is a man named Richard Castle –"
"I know of him," Chandra interrupts. "Author. Cool series. I don't think he's writing anymore though."
"What you say is both true, and outdated," Cassandra tells the younger woman. "Mr. Castle was an author, but more recently, he has entered into a more philanthropic arena . . . one that my husband and I actually support and have provided funding assistance for."
"That's right," Chandra replies. "I heard about what he is doing with those women's shelters across the bay. The one that got attacked. It was all over the news. I remember -"
"Yes, it is a wonderful thing he is attempting to do," Cassandra interrupts. "And surprisingly, he has made a few enemies along the way, as such an attack on his shelter confirms. One such enemy – who shall remain nameless for your own good – decided to inflict Mr. Castle with RSX3."
"Excuse me?" Chandra replies. "Why on earth would –"
"My husband has not been entirely forthcoming with you, Chandra," Cassandra interrupts. "In the right hands, Chandra, RSX3 will be a golden parachute for extremely wealthy people," Cassandra tells her. "In the wrong hands, however, this drug can be the cause of a horrible, lingering death by attrition. It is for this latter reason that Richard Castle was given this drug."
"Someone tried to murder Richard Castle?" Chandra repeats, incredulously. "Using my drug?"
"Yes, Chandra," Cassandra replies. "And fortunately for Mr. Castle – and unfortunately for Andrew, and by extension, myself, along with you and Martin – Mr. Castle has a certain friend in high places back in the city who has taken Mr. Castle's plight very personally."
"How personally?" Chandra asks.
"Personally enough to inflict me with the drug as a means of giving Andrew added incentive to find an antidote. And when that didn't prove immediately fruitful, Andrew resorted to his actions of earlier today."
She allows all of this information to settle within Chandra Jain's consciousness before continuing.
"I tell you this so that you can perhaps do something that you don't often do, but that may prove useful," Cassandra continues. "I think some time in the field might help you gather the missing data you seek. The drug was originally delivered to Mr. Castle in Chinatown weeks ago."
"Chinatown?" Chandra repeats, again angrily. "How in the world did –"
"Focus, Chandra," Cassandra interrupts once more, quickly pressing the emergency button, releasing the elevator car from its frozen state.
"Get into the field," she tells the young developer. "Go to Chinatown Hospital, back in the city. Ask for Dr. Teresa Argento. She is the Chief of Staff. Tell her who you are, and who you work for. Tell her why you are there, to try and help Richard Castle. She will know what to do next."
"But Mrs. Klein," Chandra begins but is interrupted once more.
"If you want to help Martin – you must help Mr. Castle," Cassandra tells her. "And the fastest way to help Mr. Castle is for you – the one person who knows this drug better than anyone else – to get into the field, to the place where this all began. There is likely some information you don't have. Dr. Argento can get you those missing pieces."
With that, the elevator car door opens, and Cassandra Klein leaves the elevator with a final parting shot at the young developer, who stands motionless inside the elevator car.
"And be careful, Chandra. Do not lie to this woman. When you lie to her, you lie to a very important and very dangerous man with whom Dr. Argento is aligned. You do not want to make an enemy of him. We are friends with this man, Chandra. Longtime acquaintances. Yet what happened to me is a direct consequence of Andrew temporarily getting on the wrong side of this man."
"Who are you talking about?" Chandra asks the retreating form of Cassandra Klein, as she steps out of the elevator. But the wife of the NuGenetix CEO ignores her, not looking back.