The Guild, Secretive U.S. Intel Operatives

Chapter 12 - A Cautionary Note

Kate lets her team in on what she had discovered during her dinner with Vaughan. It was good intel and one that was significant for their mission. Despite that, after the brief, Rick gets her alone to discuss her actions on the interview.

"I know, Rick, I should have told you about the interview."

"What if Vaughan had pulled something on you?"

"He did not and if he had, I could handled it."

"I don't doubt that, you are capable of that. My concern is that you should have let us know as a precaution. I don't want to lose you like we lost Sophia."

"Rick, I think that her death has you overly cautious."

"Kate, you know how capable she was, and still we lost her. I can't lose you also."

"Are these your emotions speaking? You can not protect me all the time, I was following a hunch and it paid off. I got usable intel for our mission."

"You're an incredible agent Kate and your experience as an analysis has allowed you to find incredible leads and you are also very intuitive. The two combined are lethal and I do not want to stifle that, it would be handicapping you. I need to let you run with it. Still, just promise me Kate you will let us know next time you play a hunch."

"Rick, this is what I have been trying too avoid. Our personal feelings for each other should not interfere with what risks we take for the mission. We have had this discussion before. In my opinion, the risk was low and I was not in any danger."

It is a white lie. She had doubts at first but as the dinner progressed she became more confident she had been in control of the whole situation.

"Still, letting us know gives us info of your whereabouts should it be needed. It gives us a place to start if you go missing and we need to search for you."

She sees the logic of Rick's talk here.

"Okay, I will let at least let one of the team know should I go off script the next time. But are you sure that you are not being guided by your feelings for me."

"I will admit to those emotions I have for you. So I want to give you a gift to remind you there is someone who cares and wants to keep you safe."

He pulls out velvet clad box and opens it. It's a necklace with a beautiful pendant the size of a quarter and decorated with small diamonds."

To say Kate is surprised with the gift would be understatement.

"Is this you being romantic?"

She tries it on and then uses her cell phone in selfie mode to see the necklace on her. It is a fine piece of jewelry and looks stunning on her.

Then it suddenly dawns on her.

"This is a tracker, isn't it? And here I thought you were being sweet."

"Just wear it all the time as a reminder of my concern for you."

"Or so you can keep track of my location at all times!"

"That too! But if Sophia had one, we may have found her sooner…and alive."

Kate gives him a Beckett glare but she knows he has a point. It is hard to argue when what is being proposed assures your safety.

"Seriously Kate, it is a token of my admiration for you and a practical piece of jewelry to keep you safe. Since you haven't gotten you tracker implant, this will do the same job. It also looks good on you. Really accents your neckline and highlights them."

"Well then,… thank you,….I think!"

"Kate, I do have these feelings for you. You have to know that by now."

"I do, and I appreciate your looking out for my safety. I still have not grasped how a ordinary female like myself has your attention. Objectively, I'm just a woman like any other woman, How have I been so lucky with you?"

"Kate, whether you know it or not, your are extraordinary. So let me ask you, do you believe that of all the people in this world, there is that one person who is your ideal match."

"Rick that is such a romantic notion, but how would you know when it happens?"

"You just know. Your heart and mind are in sync when it comes. That's where I'm at but I know you have doubts, still, trust me, I know you are my match."

She looks into his eyes and sees the honesty in them, it melts her heart. She had been in serious relationships before and all had failed. Maybe those failed unions were making her hesitant. Certainly she was attracted to Rick, but she still could but wonder how a man such as Castle comes to want her. Kate truly was unaware how beautiful she was inside and out, and her humble self image of her beauty served to make her ever more desirable. Kate thinks of Sophia and Rick and how they ended. Is she fearful it could end the same way for her and Rick?

"Rick, I do feel something too, but can we take it slow? I'm not where you are at but I am getting there and need time."

"Kate, I'm not pushing, take all the time you want, but know this, I'm all in. Don't let what happened with Sophia fuel your doubts. I will wait and be here for you…always."

'Always', he had said. The word is to become their word. It was a verbal commitment to Kate from Rick.

She slept well that night and had an erotic dream of Rick.

A Phone Call

The team had been on mission for five months now and they had recovered the nukes. Still, the mission was not complete until Carter and his organization were shut down. During all this, Kate had only briefly emailed her family on few occasions during those five months so as to let her family know she was well and still on mission. Then she gets an email from Terri, her sister.

"Dad's missing you something fierce. He just mopes about most to the day and then looks at your baby album. How about a video call? It would raise his spirits."

She tells Castle about the email. Communications during the mission was limited and tightly controlled. This was standard protocol for any mission but especially for theirs.

"Go do it, Kate. Make the call for your father's sake. Use the secure sat phone and limit it to 15 to 20 minutes", he tells her.

"Really, you would let me do that?!… thanks for allowing me do this."

"Family is important to you Kate. You got into this business for them, for your departed mother. You did it so no one would ever again face loss like you did from a terrorist incident. So go make the call. I trust you not to reveal classified info on our mission."

Kate makes the connection and sees her father's face on the phone screen as he responded to her call.

"Katie!", she hears him on the phone, "so good to be able to speak you and see you. How are you?"

Jim Beckett is more than elated, he has not talked to his eldest daughter in five months.

"Fine dad, I just needed to talk and to see you too. You look good, how have you been?"

"Missing you badly."

"I know dad, but this mission is important, if successful, it could prevent another 9/11."

"I know that has been your motivation ever since you got in to the intelligence arena."

Then she hears in the background, "Dad, is that Kate?"

"Yes it is, come talk to your sister."

"Hi Kate."

"Back at you Terri. How have you been?"

"Fine, dad and I miss you so much."

"I will try and call more often, but there are few occasions when I can do so."

Jim Beckett realizes his two daughters needed to do a girl talk and he knew how personal their talks got. He needs to give them some privacy.

"Well", he says, "I know the two of you want to catch up and some of that talk is not meant for me. So your old dad is going to do some chores and let the two of you talk."

With that Jim Beckett leaves his two daughters to themselves as he goes to do some garden work.

"Kate, I am glad you called. Dad is so happy to see and speak to you."

"I am just as happy to be able to do this. My team leader cleared me to use sat video phone."

"I'm beginning to like that man. So how have you been, is the mission close to ending?"

"Our primary goal is done, but we still have a secondary objective and that may take time."

"Just get back to us Kate, that's all we want."

"About that Terri,….", she hesitated, then says,"there is a chance I may not make it thru this."

"Don't say that Kate!"

"Sis, you know I will do everything in my power to return to you and dad, but you have to prepare for that outcome if it should happen. You will have to be strong. For dad, for our dead mom, and most especially for yourself;"

"Kate, if that happens, I don't know how Dad will take it. He could relapse."

"That is why you have to be there for him. You'll be the only family left for him."

"As he will be the only family left for me."

"Terri, just promise you will prepare for the worse but hope for the best."

"I don't know if I can do that, alone. I've always had you to lean on."

"You are stronger than you think sister."

Terri gives her a feeble head nod acknowledging what Kate has said.

"Kate, just do everything you can to get back to us."

"I will, you know that, but I needed to speak to you on this possible outcome."

Terri again nods her head and then says, "You..you havetobeherefor my wedding!"

Terri holds up her hand to show an engagement ring.

"Oh my God, when Terri? You need to spill! Don't keep me in suspense."

"Last week after Josh asked Dad for my hand."

"Mrs. Josh Davidson. Has a good ring to it sister."

"So you got to come back and be my maid of honor."

"So this is why dad left us to ourselves. So give me the details, how did he ask? Did he get down on one knee? How did he set it up? Details sis, I need details."

The two sister spend the next ten minutes laughing and screaming with mirth at the details Terri relates to Kate.

Then when Terri finishes her story, she says to Kate, "So you have to swear to try your best to get back."

"I will Terri, what you just told me is motivation enough. I promise I will do all I can to stay safe and return."

"That's all a sister can ask", replies Terri.

Then in the background Kate hears their father, "So are you two done? Did you tell Katie about the proposal?"

"Yes she did dad, and I am so happy for her", Terri had put her on speaker phone.

"Well then, get back to us soon, we need to do a family celebration."

She spends the next five minutes talking jointly with her sister and father. Finally, Kate ends the call and bids her family good bye. She has tears in her eyes as she ends the call. Kate felt so alone at that moment. She felt the pain of being away from her family. But she was doing her mission for them and for her deceased mom, but most especially to save people like themselves from another terrorist act that would devastate the families affected. Just like what had occurred with her family.

As she finished the call and was wiping away her tears, Espo spots her.

"A personal call Kate?

"Yes to my family", she replies drying her eyes.

"First time getting back to therm?"

"In a way, I've emailed them over the months, but never got to do an extended call and get caught up with them."

"Good talk, I hope."

"Yes, my sister's engaged."

"Well congratulations, but little sis, use that to keep you motivated. Just remember when all this is done you get to be with them again."

"You're right Espo and it has given me greater motivation to get the mission done."

"Good girl, our jobs are difficult, so we need to find that motivation."

"So what's your motivation, Espo?"

Espo pulls out a picture from his breast pocket.

"That's my girlfriend, she's my motivation. I will marry her when the time is right."

"She's gorgeous, what's her name?"

"Lanie…..,Lanie Parish. She's an EMT back home."

"And where's home?"

"NYC"

"Really I'm from NYC."

"But you live in DC, right?"

"Yes with my sister and dad, we relocated for the job but visit often to remember our roots."

"Still got family there?"

"No sadly it's just my sister and dad and they stay with me. We had an Aunt Theresa for whom my sister is named, but she passed away last year."

"Were you there for 9/11?"

"Yes, I lost my mother then, she was in one of those planes that crashed into the towers."

"Now it's clear why you're in this business."

"Another one of my motivations for the job."

"That's a big one."

"Yes it is."

"Kate, we all have that as a motivation. I enlisted in the Army because of 9/11 and it's with me here on the job also."

"Did you also loose someone from 9/11?"

"My brother, he was NYFD and evacuating the towers when they collapsed, He go buried."

"I sorry Espo".

"Don't be, that's another one of my motivations."

There is a poignant pause, and the Kate says, "Glad we had this talk."

"Likewise, well I got to go and relieve Ryan from his watch. Catch you later little sis."

"Go relieve Ryan, Espo."

She retires for the evening but tonight's talks had truly given her reason to get thru all this, and she would. She would not entertain any other outcome.