132. Chapter 132

After Probable Cause

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Me owning Castle would be highly improbable. Rating: K Time: See above.

Falling from a hundred feet up, when you hit the water it's more like hitting a solid object than hitting a liquid. He had tried to prepare himself, but the reality was worse than he had expected. The pain was incredible. Worse, he was hurt before he went in. Even with his preparation, he had the wind knocked out of him as soon as he hit. As he sank, weighted down by his now wet clothes and his protective vest, he knew that everything would have to work perfectly for him to survive. Even if I do die, with any luck they'll never find the body. They'll spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders wondering if one day I'll be there when they least expect it. Not a bad epitaph. Not what I'd prefer, though.

He had almost reached the end of his air when he saw a dim light moving towards him. Just in time the SCUBA mouthpiece was pushed into his mouth and he sucked in a breath of air. I'm alive and I will kill again.

His partner began pulling him towards the far shore. As she did so, he made a horrible discovery. He tried to use his legs to help her, but his legs refused to move. Damn! Did that bitch or Castle do this to me? I owe them. I really do owe them now.

She was strong and determined and pulled him to the far side of river. When they surfaced they could already see the lights from the arriving police cars. "Too late. " He whispered. "You're too late as always."

"Can you make it up the ladder?" She asked.

He shook his head. "I can't feel my legs. I can't get up the ladder by myself."

"Can you hang on here while I go up the ladder? I have a rope in the car. I'll haul you up."

He nodded. "Go. I'll be fine."

She shot up the ladder on the side of the pier and was back in minutes with the rope and a pulley. She climbed down and tied the rope under his arms. "I'll go up and pull you up from there. Don't worry. I can do it. I can do it for you."

"I know you can."

And so she did, hauling her lover up to the pier and then moving him to the back seat of her car. From there she drove him to her home, moving him inside with the help of a wheelchair. Knowing the dangers he would face when his plan was successful, she had carefully stocked her home with enough medicines and equipment to outfit a small emergency room. She quickly examined him. The results were not good.

"Love, you've been hit twice. One shot hit below your vest and ricocheted off of your hip bone. The other hit under your armpit and exited out your back. Neither bullet wound by itself is that serious. Nothing that I can't handle, but your X-rays indicate that a small bone fragment, probably from your ribs, hit your spinal cord, damaging it. I can remove the fragment, but the damage to your spinal cord may be permanent. You may regain some use of your leg or legs with time and rehabilitation, but you'll never be one hundred percent."

He tapped his head. "All that I need to be one hundred percent is this. "He said with a cold smile.

"I know. I can be your legs. Or we can find other helpers, just like in the past."

Months later, in another state, with another identity, he walked slowly into her office with the use of crutches and leg braces. "I'm getting better, thanks to you."

She smiled happily. Nothing in her life had ever been as exciting or as fulfilling as her life with him. Her whole life before him seemed dull, grey and meaningless. "We'll be perfect before you know it. Then we can go on. We can go on forever. They'll never find us. They'll never stop us."

He went back to his plans and she concentrated on hers, on the photos in front of her. The woman was beautiful. She knew that. And she hated her more than anything. Even more than the man. She longed to have them both as her patients. Oh, how she longed to have them helpless and on her operating table. What fun she'd have with them.

She put the photos of the couple away. She needed to concentrate on the other two. They were the key to their future together. Together!

"Javi, Ryan." Kate Said quietly. "Can you join me in the break room for a minute?"

The two followed her into the break room. Kate looked around and then busied herself at the coffee machine as if making a cup of coffee. "Castle thinks that Tyson is alive. He thinks that Tyson set up the whole murder and frame of Castle just to get us on the bridge where we'd appear to kill him so he could disappear and go on killing."

"Are you kidding?" Espo said, shaking his head. "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to make that work? To anticipate Castle's escape, you finding him and helping him, the two of you figuring the whole thing out? It's impossible."

Kate nodded. "That's what I told Castle. But where Tyson is concerned, I don't want to take any chances. When we have time, we need to look through Tyson's records. We know that Tyson loves complex plots. We also know he likes to use partners. We should check everyone that was involved in this to see if there's any connection with Tyson: Castle's double, Tessa's roommate, Kurtzman, everyone, and try to find someplace Tessa and Tyson went to eat. Maybe we can figure out where he was by where he chose to go to dinner."

Ryan and Espo nodded. "Sure."

"One other thing. Don't tell Castle about this. He may be wrong and I don't want him to worry."

Rick saved the chapter of his novel and closed his laptop. He walked to what was his combination story board and murder board and typed in a code word. The face of Jerry Tyson appeared. Maybe Tyson is dead. But his plan was to get us all to that bridge where he would appear to have died. Kate doesn't think that's possible and I don't want to frighten her. I'll just have to do this on my own.

He began updating the board.