591. Chapter 591

After The Nose,

Or

How Season Eight Will Not End

Part Three

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Still don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: Sometime in season eight. Maybe. Or maybe not.

"All of us?"

Rick nodded towards four men lounging against the wall. All were fairly obviously armed. They were the three ex-Rangers who had met with Rick and Gray, the one who lived in the desert, off the grid.

"Where did you find them and can you trust them?"

"I did some research about how the military took down what they call High Value Targets in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I couldn't get any of the CIA's Special Activities Division, or Delta Force, Special Forces or SEALS to talk to me. So, I went looking for some nice young Rangers. They go along to provide muscle, like in Blackhawk Down. They were willing to talk, and talk a lot, as long as I paid for the drinks. I learned a lot more than I really needed for the book, which I never wrote, and like a lot of people I know, we kept in touch. When I needed some bodyguards who knew the area, I thought of them. As to whether I can trust them, I think so, but I'll be a lot happier when you leave."

Kate scowled. "I'm not leaving. Period."

Rick ran his hand over her cheek. "Kate, this is going to be dangerous." Rick new he'd made a mistake as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

"Dangerous? Meeting Vales in a hotel in El Paso? What are you planning to do? Tell me!"

Castle glanced at Vales who was stone faced. "Vales knows some guys. The Obregon brothers in Mexico. They're money men. Laundering money, loaning it, getting it overseas to nice safe banks, investment advice, anything the prosperous drug dealer needs in the way of financial services. And they know something about Locsat."

"So why doesn't Vales just trot off to Mexico and find out what they know?"

Rick blushed slightly. "The Obregon brothers won't talk to just anyone. They won't talk to Vales, but they will talk to a best-selling American author."

"You?"

He nodded.

"I'm going with you."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, she is." Vales cut in. "The cop goes with us."

"Vales…"Castle began.

"I said, the cop goes with us. One way or another, amigo."

Castle knew better than to argue. Vales motioned to his men who headed for the parking lot.

Coleman spoke. "Mister Vales, if she's coming with us, how about giving Mrs. Castle her weapons back? If there's trouble…?"

"Why should there be trouble?" Vales asked suspiciously.

"Ain't there always trouble?" Coleman said with a laugh. "Castle wouldn't need me and the boys and you wouldn't need your amigos otherwise."

Vales nodded to one of his men who handed Kate her pistols. They all resumed their walk to the parking lot.

Tuco looked at her. "I think we have a vest for you, maybe."

Kate shook her head. "I brought my own."

"Police vest?" Coleman asked.

Kate nodded.

Coleman stopped by a large, black SUV, identical to the ones Vales and his men were getting into. He opened the trunk and started handing out bulky protective vests. "Military body armor. Your Kevlar is good enough to keep out low velocity pistol rounds or maybe a shotgun pellet, these have SAPI plates in 'em. That's small arms protective inserts. A ceramic plate that'll keep out AK 47 or M 16 rounds, or even a 7.62 x 51 NATO round. Just don't get hit in the head."

More than protective vests came out of the SUV. Each of them was handed an M 4 carbine with spare ammo clips.

She and Castle helped each other into the vests and got into a large black SUV just like the ones Vales and his men rode in. All together she counted six SUVs full of Vales' men.

"Tuco" Almagro took the wheel with Gray riding shotgun. Rick and Kate sat in the middle with Coleman and Johnstone in the back seat.

"We're headed for Nuevo Leon. We go through El Paso, then through Juarez across the border and then about fifty kilometers south to the Obregons' place." Tuco said over his shoulder.

They crossed the border with no problems, which Kate found odd. Coleman explained. "Lots of Mexican big shots travel like this, heavily armed convoys. Politicians, businessmen and drug lords. Border Patrol knows no one would be carrying product north or money south so openly, so they just note the license plates and let 'em go on by."

They drove south through Juarez and out into the country. The air conditioning and the soft Mexican music from the radio relaxed Kate and she rested her head on Castle's shoulder. She was dozing when the car slammed to a stop and everyone began yelling, "Out! Out! Out!"

She and Castle got out quickly to find everyone outside, assault rifles nervously moving back and forth. "What is it?" She asked. Her Glock was in her hand. She didn't remember drawing it.

"Shot up pickup by the road." Gray said, seeming to be in more control than his history indicated. "Just like the Sandbox, ain't it?"

Johnstone nodded. "Yeah, a few more friendlies around and we could be in Iraq." He pronounced it Eye-Rack.

"I can do this shit." Gray said to no one. "I can really do this shit."

Two of Vales' men approached the pickup, examined it and then waved everyone forward. On the other side of the pickup, away from the road, were four dead men. One man said something in Spanish to Vales. Almagro translated, "He says he knows one of the men. He works for the Obregons, security."

"Bad shit." Coleman mumbled.

After a short discussion, mostly in Spanish, one of Vales' vehicles with four men went forward with the rest staying behind. About five minutes later, Vales motioned for everyone to move.

The Obregons' place was a walled compound covering a half a dozen acres or so. The four men sent ahead were standing in front of the main gate, relaxed and unconcerned. When Rick, Kate and their bodyguards walked through the gate, the first thing they saw was a young blonde wearing only bikini bottoms laying in a pool of blood. Almagro checked her. "Shot in the back while she was running, I think. Then someone put a round through her head to make sure."

"Careful bastards." Johnstone said. They moved on.

At the main house they found a stocky Mexican woman in a grey maid's uniform who'd been shot in the head at close range. Most of the other people they saw had been armed when they died. Not all of them though.

Coleman put his hand out to stop Rick and Kate as they passed a room with a door that had been kicked in. "Keep walking. Don't look."

They did as they were told, but Castle asked. "What was it?"

"A couple of dead kids. Boy, maybe ten, and a younger girl. The boy had his arms around the girl to protect her. Lotta damned good that did."

One of Vales' men approached them. "Vales wants the writer and the cop."

"Why?" Rick quickly asked.

"Because." Was the only reply he got. They walked with their four bodyguards and an escort of a dozen or more of Vales' men.

They entered a large, formal dining room with a table that could seat perhaps two dozen people. Only three men sat there now and they were dead. Vales stood at the head of the table, looking at the men. "Someone knew we were coming, Writer." He snarled. "These are the Obregon brothers, what's left of them.

"You sure it wasn't someone else killed them?" Castle asked. He didn't like this one damned bit.

"Look what's written on the fucking wall."

There, in blood, were the words, "Go back to your wife."

Castle nodded. "They knew we were coming."

"What should I do with you?"

"Let us go home." Kate said at once.

"Why?"

"Because this is a powerful, ruthless man you're dealing with. He isn't going to stop trying to kill you and everyone else like you to take over your business, so you need all the help you can get. Me and Rick included."

Vales stood there looking at the message on the wall for a long time. Finally he spoke. "They didn't know the cop was here. They didn't know everything." There was another period of silence. "Coleman, get those two out of here. Out of Mexico and out of Texas, understand?"

Kate didn't fully relax until their plane was airborne and headed for New York.

That night Rick walked out of the bathroom in the loft to find his wife sprawled naked on their bed. "I hope you still want me back." She said quietly.

"Do you really have to ask that after all I did to get you back?"

She shook her head. "I guess not, but it's nice to hear it."

Rick pulled her close. "I love you, you're my wife and I want you back. Always."

"I'm so sorry. Believe me, all I wanted to do was to keep you safe. And I screwed that up."

"You did what you did because you love me. I don't agree with what you did, we are better together, Kate. But I accept totally that you did do it out of love."

Kate buried her head in his chest. Rick felt her tears begin to fall. "For the longest time I was sure you could never love me and I refused to be just another conquest. I refused to admit I loved you. Then I believed that I loved you much more than you loved me. It wasn't until you stood by me on that bomb that I realized that you love me as much as I love you. Now, I'm afraid that I'm not capable of loving you as much as you love me. I keep screwing up and hurting you and I hate it. But I do it. Are you really sure you want me back?"

Rick kissed the top of her head. "Love is very hard to quantify, Beckett. I feel…."

"Don't call me that." Kate interrupted.

"Call you what?" Castle asked, mystified.

"Beckett. My mother was Mrs. Beckett. She took my dad's name. I want to be Mrs. Castle from now on. And Captain Castle at work, even if it does cause problems."

"Problems?"

"I want you with me. We are better together. I refuse to be one of those captains that stays in the office all of the time. And if I'm out there, I'll need my partner with me. Is that okay?"

Castle frowned. "I don't know. I suppose you might find a way to convince me."

She slid her hand down his chest. "I may have an idea that'll convince you."

New Orleans is both a big tourist town and a seaport with people coming and going all the time. Four young men drinking in the French 75 were typical of the crowd that night. No one noticed a slender, older woman pushed her way to the bar to stand by one of the men. Neither did anyone notice that she slipped an envelope to the man. "There's five thousand apiece for you, Cowboy."

"Pleasure doin' business with you, ma'am." He replied.

"How much did you get from Castle?" She asked quietly.

"Ninety five hundred apiece going in and another ninety five going out. The second ninety five hundred wasn't part of the deal. He paid it because he was just so damned happy to get his wife back. We did good this time." The other three men at the bar nodded and smiled at the woman.

The woman nodded back. "I was hoping that those two idiots would stay out of this, but since they can't seem to stay out of trouble, I may need your services again."

"You know where to find us."

The woman smiled. "Sure. Anyplace where loud, obnoxious young drunks congregate."

Cowboy laughed. "You won't find the kind of men you need drinking lemonade at a church social."

"I'm afraid you're right."

"So, can I buy you a drink?"

It was the woman's turn to laugh. "Why, Cowboy. You know I'm a married woman with a very jealous husband."

"Oh, no disrespect, ma'am. Just keeping management happy so as you'll remember us the next time."

She nodded. "There will be a next time, too. And I will remember you, although you may bot thank me for it. I'll have to take a rain check on the drink. I have two idiots to protect."

She walked out of the bar and into the warm Louisiana night.