Unexpected Appearance Chapter 18

Kate gazes around Rick's unoccupied loft. "Where are Martha and Alexis?"

Mother was anxious to occupy a yurt in the Catskills for yoga and meditation. I strongly encouraged Alexis to go with her. She was upset with me, but at least if the bomb goes off, they'll both be safe. Have you been in contact with Dr. Motorcycle Boy?"

"No. He was scheduled to board a plane. He's probably in the air already. I hope so. He'll be safe, and if the bomb does go off, the city may need doctors like him a lot more than it does now."

Rick presses a button that lowers hooks from the rafters and suspends a sheet to form a huge screen.

What are you doing?" Kate asks.

He plugs his phone into a projector. "Giving us a 600-thread count image of the murder board. I snapped a picture of it while we were being expelled from the 12th." He picks up his laptop. "And here we have his driving data. Ryan sent it to me before we were kicked out so I could help him trace Amir's route. It's like our own mini-precinct."

A sudden smile brightens Kate's face. "Except that it smells better."

Rick grins. "Thank you."

"Castle, even if Amir is innocent, Jamal isn't," Kate asserts. "He, his truck, and the bomb have all disappeared."

"His guilt is entirely predicated on his association with Amir and the theory Amir constructed a bomb for $10,000." Rick counters. "It's obvious that someone put a lot of effort into making it look that way. That same someone could have easily hired Jamal to move the crate and grabbed both of them. Think about it, Beckett. Even with the alarm out for Jamal's trucks, that one hasn't shown up on a single traffic camera. It's been stowed somewhere, and maybe Jamal with it. There's been no sign of him either. But if we solve Amir's murder, the solution is likely to point us to the bomb."

"I hope you're right, Castle. So, what did you get off Amir's GPS?"

"I didn't have time to go over all of it. And two sets of eyes are better than one."

Esposito hands a printout to Mark Fallon. "This is a photo off the moving company's website. It's the exact truck we're looking for."

"All right. Send it downtown and get it circulated to every officer on duty," Fallon instructs.

"On it," Esposito agrees.

"Agent Fallon, you'd better have a look at this," Ryan calls.

"What have you got?" Fallon queries.

"Tech just got me locked into Jamal's phone. Looks like he just sent a text to another burner, "Package delivered."

Scrubbing a hand down his now darkly stubbled face, Fallon rushes across the bullpen to Montgomery's office. "How many choppers do you have in your fleet?"

"Seven," Montgomery answers.

"Jamal's truck could be parked with the bomb set to go off. Coordinate a street-by-street grid search," Fallon orders.

"How about this?" Rick proposes. "Amir overhears a terrorist plot. He installs cameras to gather evidence, only they found out and killed him."

"That would have to involve a passenger," Kate considers, "and even a regular one would be unpredictable. But you know what wouldn't be unpredictable?"

"The shift of another driver," Rick realizes. "And Beckett, we know that one of them, Kevin McCann, went out of his way to steer us in the wrong direction. He claimed Amir was flashing a roll. Amir wanted nothing to do with the $10,000 that showed up in his account. He wouldn't have been flashing anything. So, if McCann knew about it, he must be involved. Amir had the cameras put in to spy on him."

"Maybe," Kate responds. "Have you got GPS for him?"

"Amir had it for the cab regardless of who was driving it. "OK, according to the schedule on the murder board, this was McCann's last shift. This is the day before the murder. And look at that. He stopped near the storage facility where they kept the cobalt 60."

Kate presses her fingertips against her bottom lip. "He's a cab driver. He could have been dropping off a fare. Besides, he alibied out."

"His alibi was a drunk stock trader. Anyone could have been driving that Allied cab. Or he could have had an accomplice torture and kill Amir. Either way, he's involved. Look at this. He's near the warehouse, 100 yards from where we found Amir's body. McCann was at the same two places Amir was, including where Amir was murdered. That can't be a coincidence. We have to at least see why the warehouse area is so popular."

"I can't drive an NYPD unit when I'm not officially on the job, Castle."

"I know. We'll take one of my cars. I have an SUV with a few extra bells and whistles, that I load up when Alexis and I go camping or to my place in the Hamptons. My daughter won't travel without a considerable library. She loves her factoids."

"Gee, I wonder where she gets that from?" Kate teases. "All right, let's go."

"At least Montgomery didn't take your badge and gun."

"I don't know how much good the badge will do me right now, but I feel better having the gun."

"I feel better with you having the gun too."

Helicopters touch down in the searchlight-lit parking lot where Jamal's truck is parked. Fallon and Montgomery exit one of the choppers. "One of my guys on the grid spotted it," a sergeant shouts over the noise of spinning blades.

"Did the radiation detector go off?" Fallon questions.

"You bet," the sergeant confirms.

"How long has it been sitting here?" Montgomery asks.

"Not long. IR shows the hood's still warm. The hazmat guys are getting radiation levels before they let anyone get near it," the sergeant adds.

A man in a protective suit approaches. "The radiation is only mildly above background. It's safe to approach. If there's a bomb in there, it's well shielded."

"Thanks," Montgomery says.

"Open her up," Fallon shouts.

With Fallon and Montgomery close behind, two cops open the back of the truck and shine flashlights inside. "Sonofabitch! It's empty!" Montgomery exclaims.

The sound of vibrating metal fills the lot as Fallon bangs his fist against the side of the truck.

"Make a sweep," Montgomery instructs the sergeant.

Fallon steps back from the truck, drawing a breath. "Check all the buildings, every inch of a four-block radius. He can't have wheeled the bomb far."

"He could have loaded it into another vehicle, Fallon," Montgomery suggests softly.

Fallon nods. "F*! I know."

Rick had half expected Beckett to demand she should drive, but she said nothing when he slid behind the wheel of his vehicle. After the drive uptown, he checks his GPS and pulls to the curb on the street where Amir's cab had been, near the warehouse. "This is where McCann parked."

Kate points at the building. "One of the bay doors is open. There's a white van in there." She draws her gun. Approaching silently on bent knees, she signals Rick to pull open the van's back door and gasps at what's inside. The timer on a bomb is ticking down from 13 hours, 21 minutes, and 46 seconds. The alarm on her belt screeches again, and a bullet ricochets off a nearby pillar. She and Castle dive for cover as she returns fire. The seconds continue to tick away.