Just Another Day: Chapter 11
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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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1:54 p.m. on May 14, 2012, At the Castles Complex in Sausalito, California
"We're clear," pilot Ron Daniels remarks, as the chopper rises steadily, clearing the tree line after taking off from the helipad at the Castles Complex. Their departure has been delayed by almost fifteen minutes, due to difficulties involved in moving one Willie Crockett.
The large man is in the back of the craft, laying peacefully on the portable medical bed that is being used to transport Sam Carlos' enforcer to the Chinatown Hospital, where Dr. Teresa Argento has a staff crew waiting for him. And by 'a staff crew', she means her absolute best of the best. She knows the importance of this incoming patient to Sam Carlos.
Along with Willie Crockett in the back of the aircraft are Kate Beckett and Lindy Matthews.
Matthews sits rigid in a military fashion, staring out the large window at the line of green trees below. The marvelous sight never fails to amaze the warrior, who has seen great horrors during her times, and therefore relishes the beauty below. These silent moments are peaceful for the blonde woman.
Kate sits, with her left hand atop Willie Crockett's right hand. She too stares out the opposite window, taking in the scenery. Like Matthews, she is lost in thought.
Calls have been made to ensure that Alexis Castle is safe at home. That was the first call Richard Castle had made once Lindy and Marcus had taken off to pursue the campus intruder and the earthquake hit. Knowing that Alexis was safe took immediate priority. Thankfully it is a free day at school – so while many of the children from the campus are there with their moms on this free day, Alexis chose to stay home and sleep in like the teenager she is. All were somewhat amused to hear that the young woman slept through the entire ordeal, wondering why the frantic calls were blowing up her phone this morning.
Both women, however, are now gazing downward at the chaos below them. The earthquake could have been worse, of course, but the damage to the roads below them . . . the damage to some of the older buildings built into the hills of Sausalito is considerable, even from these heights.
Once again, she offers a silent prayer of thanks that Castle opted against one of these magnificent older structures in favor of a newer, modern – and, in this case – more earthquake-resistant design, as their home is also built into the mountainside. Fortunately, it has sustained no damage, at least none that has been evident to Alexis.
Their home.
She smiles inwardly, always marveling at that single word, that changes everything.
Kate is snapped out of her reverie by the fingers of Willie Crockett tapping on her hand. She lowers the headset from her ears to hear what the big man has to say.
"Penny for your thoughts," he voices slightly, his tone strong but his volume low. She barely hears – or understands – his words because of the whirling blades above them.
"I'm sorry, what did you say, Willie?" she asks, tightening her grip on the large black man's hand.
"Just wondering where your head is," he remarks, his voice slightly louder now.
Kate smiles at their friend, as she responds.
"Just trying to get my head around all of these logistics," she tells him. "Drop you off, get airborne, get Jennifer, bring her back to Chinatown . . . and then start working on exactly who did this to her . . . and that's just for starters, Willie."
"It sounds like you have everything properly planned," he replies. "And thank you . . . thank you for taking me . . . for taking care of me," he continues. It is clear to both the ex-NYPD detective and the ex-Special Forces woman that this is a condition, a place that is highly unfamiliar to Willie Crockett.
Unfamiliar and uncomfortable.
"Willie," she begins, her gaze now firmly on the man on the gurney. "You are family. Surely you know that by now."
"We won't let anything happen to you, Big Guy," Lindy Matthews adds, her focus now on the patient with them. "I will be with you every step of the way."
"You're not going with Kate?" Crockett asks, his eyebrows raised in surprise, as he glances between the two women.
"No sir," Lindy replies. "Kate goes to fetch her friend, Jennifer, while I stay with you. No way are we just dropping you off there. We already know that word will filter out, and with all the confusion and chaos going on these days, we know it just makes sense for someone to try something."
"And once word filters out, we know they will want to do it sooner rather than later," Kate adds. "That's why Lindy stays put. With you. Rick's orders."
"Rick's orders?" Crockett chuckles. "Forgive me, but I don't see Richard Castle – or anyone else – giving either of you two orders."
As he says this, Willie Crockett smiles wistfully, his reflexes relaxing ever so slightly against his natural instincts. He knows – deep in his spirit – that these two women have his back. He knows – without question – that both of these women will do whatever is necessary to protect him.
Of this he has no doubt.
Sensing the conflict, Kate tightens her grip on the large man's hand.
"We've got you, Willie," she reminds him again, her face stern and serious. There is no smiling, no humor, no bantering. The enforcer recognizes a fellow warrior in the zone. He glances to his left at Lindy Matthews, whose face has turned into the same type of mask of determination.
"Yeah, I am as safe as I can be, with these two here," he reminds himself, as he closes his eyes, willing himself into a few minutes of combat sleep. The drugs administered by Nurse Gail Simmons are finally fully kicking in. He allows them to do their work, relaxing into it.
Both Kate and Lindy pull their headsets back up to their heads, both instinctively placing only one side on one ear, leaving the other ear free to speak with – and listen to – anything their patient has to say. They make this move just in time to hear their pilot speaking.
"Eight minutes out," Kate and Lindy hear Ron Daniels instruct into their headsets.
"That should put us there around 2:05," Kate comments to her colleague, speaking into the microphone.
"Affirmative," Lindy agrees, glancing at her watch. "And it will be a good twenty minutes before you are at San Francisco General," Lindy calculates.
"A lot can happen in twenty minutes," Kate agrees.
"Ah…. That is why you are so concerned," a half sleeping Crockett remarks. "And here I thought it was me who was causing so much consternation for you."
"Be quiet, you big baby," Lindy chuckles, bringing nervous laughter throughout the chopper as Ron Daniels banks right, heading toward the center of the city, and Chinatown.
Toward the front of the chopper craft, right behind Ron Daniels, sits Sam Carlos. He has been watching the interactions between his fiercest enforcer – and friend – with a keen interest. He doesn't kid himself . . . something is changing . . . transitioning between he and Willie Crockett.
He senses – he feels – a spark of humanity that he had long ago buried and thought lost forever – he feels this spark igniting every so often now. He feels it in himself. He feels it in his enforcer. And he carries no illusions as to the catalyst of this spark.
Kate. Richard Castle. Jennifer.
All having an effect – a good one – on both he and Willie Crockett. And to witness Crockett showing even a modicum of interest in a woman again, back at Richard Castle's safe complex for women? Carlos finds himself smiling, in spite of himself, as he wonders – once again – if any semblance of a normal life is possible for men such as he and Willie Crockett.
Do they even deserve such a life?
He brushes the thoughts away, deciding instead, to focus on the myriad of buildings passing below them in the city – in his city – and the chaos unleashed down there by the recent quake.
He glances back at Kate Beckett, who now has resumed her reverie gazing out the window. He can tell she is not really looking at anything. She is lost in thought, and the San Francisco businessman-slash-crime lord understands her conflict. He knows how close she and Jennifer Blackard have become, after reacquainting with one another months ago. And he knows that Kate realizes that the hospital where Jennifer currently resides – medically speaking – is absolutely the best place for the San Francisco detective. The trauma center there is first-class, clearly the best in the city.
Medically speaking.
But Carlos knows that Kate also realizes that Jennifer's medical condition, while significant, must play second fiddle to her overall safety. The fact that Jennifer is even in the hospital in the first place is a testament to this. No, Chinatown Hospital is where both Willie and Jennifer need to be.
"Teresa has a great staff," he reminds himself. "And Teresa is loyal. Her people are loyal. I know I can count on them."
His thoughts are interrupted as he sees Kate Beckett reaching for her mobile phone, indicating she either is making a call or receiving a call.
"Yeah, Babe," he hears her answer – knowing it is the latter, and also knowing who the caller is. Unfortunately, that is all he picks up from the conversation, as the noise is too loud in the aircraft as it continues to whisk them towards the hospital. He watches her nod her head, her expression unreadable.
Over a minute passes as he watches the conversation between Kate and her phone, until he sees her finally disconnect the call. She closes her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose for a few seconds. Opening her eyes, she glances back out the window, then toward Sam Carlos.
Standing steadily and carefully, she pulls herself along the hanging arm rests to her longtime college friend, sitting next to him. She takes off her headset.
"That was Rick," she tells him.
"I figured as much," he nods his head.
"He received a call from Chief Sumners, he's the chief of police in Sausalito," she continues.
"Yes, I know of Chief Sumners," Sam smiles, bringing a wistful smile to Kate's face as well.
"Yeah, I suppose you would," she smiles. "Anyway, long story short, Rick had called in our intruder's demise, as you would expect. We were hoping for a transport to get him out of our facility. It's not the most comforting thing for one of our women or their children to need emergency assistance and –"
"And find a dead man in one of your beds," Sam completes her statement. "I can see how that would be . . . problematic."
"Yes," Kate agrees. "Anyway, the problem is that because of the earthquake, there are too many emergency calls they are handling regarding injured people. Living people. They take priority."
"How long?" Sam Carlos asks.
"They won't be there to pick the body up before four or five o'clock," she replies.
"That's another two or three hours," he muses aloud.
"Sam, Rick made sure that our buildings were designed and built to the latest code for earthquakes," Kate tells her friend. "But that doesn't mean that someone on our campus could not have been hurt. I'm just worried that someone was actually hurt, and that someone will finally show up there and –"
"And nothing, Katie," Carlos softly corrects her. "You are wondering and worrying about something that may not happen. Your team – your fiancé knows how to handle things there," he concludes, bringing a smile to Kate's face once again with the term 'fiancé."
"You're right," she nods in agreement, but before she can say anything else, she notices the subtle change in demeanor from her friend. He quickly retrieves his own mobile device from his inner jacket pocket, and places a call quickly. It rings twice before getting an answer.
"Hey Sam," Richard Castle answers. "I was just talking with Kate."
"I know you were, my friend," Carlos replies. "And she told me of your conversation with Chief Sumners. In my haste to depart there with Willie, I neglected something very important, Richard. I would like to rectify that immediately."
"What can I do for you?" Richard Castle asks.
"Your intruder there . . . our deceased stranger," Carlos begins. "I did not get a look at the man. Please take a picture of him, and send it to me as soon as possible. As in the next few minutes, if you can please."
"No problem, Sam," Castle acknowledges. "But why the sense of urgency? I mean, he's dead, and you and Kate and Lindy have enough on your hands as it is."
"My sense of urgency comes from the fact that someone tried to attack you, Richard," Sam replies. "I want to know if I know the man. I want to know if it is someone familiar to me, or to those people who are loyal to me."
"I understand," Castle tells him. Give me a few minutes and I will take a photo and send it to you."
"That is exactly what I need," Carlos agrees. "Thank you very much, Richard. And please, my friend, do so quickly."
With that, Sam Carlos disconnects the call, and finds himself face-to-face with a more than curious Kate Beckett, who only stares at her friend.
"So, give," Kate tells Carlos. "What has you concerned like this?"
"Let me wait until Richard gives me what I have asked for," Sam tells his longtime friend. "It may be nothing . . . and it may be everything. Let's just wait a few minutes."
With that, Sam Carlos turns away from Kate Beckett, and closes his eyes as he blocks everything out – taking his own advice – and plays the waiting game.