Unexpected Appearance Chapter 45
Rick checks his watch. "It's going to take time to get that book and have Petrov or the cryptographers around here decode those letters. I really need to go home and check on Alexis. I haven't been able to see much of her in the last few days. It's almost the end of the term, which is always a nervous time for her. She could probably use a good dinner, too."
"Can you get your friends here to take you home?" Kate asks.
"There's not much privacy around here. My guess is that someone will be in any minute."
"As if on cue, the door opens, and a familiar white-haired figure enters. "You'll still have to wear a hood, Richard, but I can take you home. I can take you too, Beckett. We can notify you when the letters are decoded."
"I'd rather stay and see what's in them as soon as possible," Kate says.
Hunt shrugs. "Your choice. We have a break room with halfway decent coffee, and you can watch the feed from ZNN. Our people usually find it good for a laugh."
"Really?" Kate queries. "As news channels go, they're usually more accurate than most."
"Accurate based on the information available to them," Hunt explains. "But let's just say that availability is limited. Still, I don't think you'll be waiting long. Any cipher Petrov can decode can't be too complicated, and our people are already on the way to get the book. So, Richard, ready to go? We transported your car. You'll find it parked in the garage under your loft."
"How did they get… never mind." Rick sighs. "Give me a hood."
Alexis looks up from her laptop as her father comes through the door. "Hi, Dad. On stakeout with Detective Beckett again?"
"Something like that. How goes the studying?"
"Calculus is no problem, and I've been through all the reading for Lit twice, but I'm having trouble with physics."
"Not that I'm any great authority, but I did ace my AP physics exam. Anything I can help you with?"
"Probably not anything that would have been on the exam back then. Newer stuff."
"I will choose to ignore the insult. What newer stuff?"
"Quantum entanglement, action at a distance. I just can't figure out how that would work. How would one particle, completely removed from another particle, achieve the opposite state at the same time?"
"These two particles, have they ever met?" Rick asks.
"Dad, particles don't meet, but they entangle if they have opposite spins in a magnetic field. But after that, no matter how far away they are, they'll still have opposite spins. I can't get my head around how that could work. Even Einstein didn't understand how it could happen. He called it spooky."
"I thought you liked spooky."
"The ghosts and goblins kind of spooky, the kind you make up stories about and forget until the next scary movie. But those are just stories. Entanglement is real."
"Can you think about it like a group of people becoming entangled?" Rick asks. "For example, they can all start out with different specialties but get instructions in the same place from the same big boss. After that, they each go their separate ways but can carry out a plan, even one with several stages, without communicating with each other or the big boss. Bad guys can work that way, but so can spies and cops. With people, we know who the big boss is. Perhaps with quantum entanglement it's just that no one's figured it out yet. Maybe the boss is God or the universe, and humans aren't privy to the master plan."
"Yeah, I guess I can handle that," Alexis considers. "Are you and Beckett trying to figure out the master plan of some criminal boss?"
"That's exactly what we're doing. And it shouldn't be too long before we get a master clue. In the meantime, what do you want for dinner?"
Kate is feeling slightly nauseous as she listens to a panel of talking heads discussing the pros and cons of Congressman Bracken's "Bold Environmental Initiative." As hypocrisy goes, Bracken must take the cake, talking about cleaning up the world while pouring poison into the streets. Sooner or later, the pundits will have a very different story to tell. Kate hopes it's sooner. Much sooner.
Hunt sticks his head in the door of the break room. "Detective Beckett, we have the letters decoded, and you need to see them right now. An agent's already gone to get Richard Castle."
Rick rarely has to read anything more than once, but he's read his decoded copies of the letters several times. The first one describes taking out Roy Montgomery when he makes his very predictable trip to the Better Brisket food truck every Thursday at 12:30. Petrov and two of the other Russian stooges are assigned to hijack the truck. Slipping Montgomery a slow-acting poison would be no trick. He always puts in the same order: a brisket sandwich with double barbecue sauce, coleslaw, and steak fries. All the Russian crew will have to do is make sure the right person gets the poisoned order. By the time the symptoms manifest, the truck will be long gone, and doctors will assume Montgomery caught some kind of bug – until it's too late.
Then comes the truly chilling phase: Montgomery's funeral. That's when Lockwood and the others are supposed to join an additional kill squad to take out Beckett, Rick if he's there, and as many cops as they can kill to make it look like a massive act of domestic terrorism. The shooters are instructed to make their retreat in the massive confusion and hide out at what's called the "House in the Woods." Hunt noted that it's already under surveillance.
"Kasparov and Bracken have no idea that Petrov and company have been captured, do they?" Rick wonders.
"There's no way they could," Hunt replies. "The agency's kept a tight lid on the whole operation."
"And they communicate by letters. That's their entanglement," Rick adds.
Kate shakes her head. "Castle, what are you talking about?"
"Just that Kasparov and possibly Bracken would assume that Petrov, Lockwood, and the rest of the gang hiding out in Fort Lee would already have their instructions. There would be no need for further contact, and having any would add additional risk to the operation. Beckett, do you think we pulled a great con when we caught Sue Vaughn, Stephen Fletcher's killer? That would be nothing compared to the one we could pull now."
"Castle, what con?" Kate demands.
"I mean, Roy Montgomery hides out while the press is told that he died. And, of course, we make sure Donovan thinks he's dead. We go ahead with the funeral, except that most of the mourners will be Esposito's pals from ESU waiting to spring the trap. When the evil fresh squad shows up, we take them too and run a simultaneous raid on the house in the woods. If we're lucky, Kasparov will be there, and we can grab him. But even if he isn't, by that time, Krumholtz should be finished, and we go to the DA with the tape and a mass of other evidence. Montgomery is a hero for playing dead to catch the bad guys – and making the tape. No reason for the DA to go after him. And I'm guessing Petrov won't be the only lackey to flip to save his ass."
Kate lets out a whistle. "Castle, do you really think we can pull that off?"
Rick lifts an eyebrow at Hunt. "Do you think it's possible?"
Hunt tosses his coffee cup in a wastebasket. "I think with a little behind-the-scenes assistance, it's more than doable. But you'll need to get started right away. I'll get someone to get you two out of here."
As soon as Hunt leaves the room, Rick retrieves the coffee cup and stuffs it in his pocket.
"Castle, what are you doing?" Kate asks.
"Maybe nothing. Maybe answering a lifelong question."