692. Chapter 692

After Recoil

Episode 5.13

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Really, someone else owns Castle. Rating: K Time: See above

She felt the blast of heat as the car's gasoline tank exploded, but she could never remember hearing the sound of the bomb going off. She lay there stunned, with her ears ringing, vaguely conscious that she was on top of someone. Then she heard it, sounding far off. Someone calling her name.

"Kate! Kate! Are you all right."

Someone gently turned her over. Blue eyes filled with concern looked down at her. "Are you okay?" Castle asked.

She tried to speak, but only a whisper came out. She nodded her head vigorously.

"Oh, crap. You're bleeding. Where is it? Where are you hurt?" She could feel his hands moving over her body, but oddly all she could think of was that Castle had better not let Gates see him touching her like this. It was way too intimate, Gates would kick him to the curb in no time.

"Kate, where….Oh, crap. It's not you."

Kate wondered, if it wasn't her, who was it?

"Medic. Medic!" Castle yelled. "Can you get up, Kate?"

She nodded, then croaked, "Yes. Help me up. I'm okay."

He took her in his arms and pulled her to her feet. That's when she looked down and saw him, his life's blood pouring out of his throat onto the sidewalk. Bracken. He's dead. She thought.

An FDNY paramedic gently moved her and Castle out of the way while several more paramedics worked briefly over Bracken. "Too damned late. He's gone."

"Jesus. Look at the hole in his throat. No one could have done anything." Another paramedic added.

As she was checked by the paramedic, Kate's mind began to work. "Castle, it was the driver. Find him." She looked around and saw Ryan and Esposito headed her way. "You two get with Bracken's people. The driver set off the bomb. Find out everything you can about him. Castle and I will go…."

"To the ER." Captain Gates said. "That's protocol, Detective Beckett. Get in the ambulance."

"Sir, I'm fine. I need to get to work"

"You need to get to the hospital and be checked out. The doctors will decide if you're fine or not." She turned to Castle. "Mr. Castle, you will go with her and make sure she stays there until released. Understand? If I need Detective Beckett for anything, I'll call you. "

"Absolutely." The paramedic and Castle led Beckett to the ambulance. It wasn't until later that Castle realized that Gates was going to call him to reach Beckett. Does she know about us? Or is she just thinking that if Beckett is hurt, it'll be better to talk to me first about the case and find out how Beckett really is?

When the eleven o'clock news came on, Kate Beckett became a hero. Every broadcast had the video of Beckett diving onto Bracken just as the bomb went off in a vain attempt to shield him from the explosion. That was followed by video of a grim faced Detective Beckett, covered in the blood of the dead Senator, giving orders to her team before being loaded unwillingly into an ambulance.

Beckett and Castle arrived at the precinct before dawn the next day. "Where are we on the driver?" Were the first words out of her mouth.

"Nowhere." Ryan said. "We found the car four blocks away. It was stolen and had phony plates. Not surprisingly, they dumped it where there were no security cameras. CSU says it's totally clean."

"He got into the car and just disappeared." Espo added. "His name's Noah Charles. He's been Bracken's driver for five years. He doesn't have any kind of a police record, co-workers said he's a nice enough guy, but keeps to himself. He dates, but no steady girlfriend. Phones and financials haven't come in yet."

Kate lowered her voice. "Any connections to Orantis Solutions or any similar firm?"

Ryan shook his head. "He served in the Navy for four years as a motor machinist. No training that might have gotten him any work with anyone like Orantis."

"We've got nothing on this guy?" Castle asked.

"He's in the wind." Espo lowered his voice. "And as far as I'm concerned he can stay that way."

"Like hell." Beckett snapped. "He murdered Melanie Rodgers, too."

The four of them talked to all of Bracken's staff who were in New York and other agencies talked to his staff in Washington, DC.

"And we have absolutely nothing. " Ryan said disgustedly. "His place in DC got us nothing, his little cubbyhole office in DC got us nothing, his friends and co-workers got us nothing and phones and financials…"

"Got us something." Beckett interrupted. "He got nearly five million dollars transferred through banks all over the world, all of which led us nowhere. But we know he did it for the money. He wasn't after Bracken for personal reasons."

"Maybe." Castle said. "He must have had some weakness that the people who hired him knew about. You can't just walk up to a guy and say, "Want to make a quick five million by killing your boss?" It doesn't work that way. Maybe he did have some reason to hate Bracken and they found out about it."

"If there is, we haven't found a trace of it, bro."

"He took a week off about a month ago and cleaned out his bank accounts. I bet he went to some nice foreign country with no extradition treaty with the US and parked his money until he could get back there." Kate said.

Gates stuck her head out of her office. "The manager of an apartment in Brooklyn just ID'd Charles as a tenant. Get your things, people. We're going."

ESU members were stacked around the door to Charles' apartment. One cop swung a heavy battering ram in to the door, knocking it completely off its hinges. The ESU swarmed into the apartment, followed closely by Beckett and her team.

"Well, here he is." Said one cop.

Noah Charles was face down on the kitchen table with a silenced pistol by his side. The cop checked him. "One shot to the back of the head. I'm guessing this is the murder weapon."

Beckett swore and began giving orders.

That night, they went over what they had. "As usual, nothing." Espo said.

"No surveillance cameras or doorman. No tenants remember seeing Charles or anyone out of the ordinary. There are no security or traffic cams for blocks." Castle went on.

"In fact, if you know what you're doing, and I'm sure they did, you can get almost to the George Washington Bridge before you hit any cameras. And by that time, you're one of a million cars leaving New York." Kate finished.

"Detective Beckett?" Gates called. "You have a visitor. For you and your team."

Kate looked beyond Gates and recognized the visitor. It was Sheila Bracken, the Senator's wife. "The last person I want to see." She muttered.

Gates led them into the break room and left. Mrs. Bracken was effusive in her praise of Kate for what she'd done. Kate tried to be as friendly as she could, but wanted to scream that Bracken was a monster.

As they left, Sheila Bracken held Castle back. "Mr. Castle, Detective Beckett seemed a bit upset with my visit. Do you have any idea why?"

Castle thought quickly. "You and the world see Detective Beckett as a hero who tried to save the Senator's life. She sees herself as someone who failed to save a life. She sees violent death on an every day basis. It gets to you after a while. But she'll be fine."

Sheila Bracken looked through the glass at Beckett. "What a remarkable young woman. No wonder you're in love with her."

Castle's look of terror was gone in a second, but Mrs. Bracken caught it. Castle explained. "We are in a relationship, but the NYPD has strict rules about colleagues dating. We could get in trouble if anyone found out."

"I won't tell a soul." She looked at Castle for a second. "Of course, you're the writer and she's the detective in the books. I really must get them all and read them."

When Mrs. Bracken left, the team was glad to have seen the last of her and put the whole Bracken episode behind them.

That, however was not the case as they found out a month later.

"I absolutely will not do it." Kate said over breakfast at the loft. "I refuse."

"If you refuse, you'll have to explain why you refused to accept a very generous donation from Mrs. Bracken to the Johanna Beckett Scholarship fund. And you can't do that because we have no real proof of any wrongdoing by Bracken."

"I don't need proof. He had my mom killed, Castle. How can I accept their money?"

Castle thought. "Think of it as righting a cosmic injustice. It's karma."

Kate looked at him skeptically. "Karma?"

"Just think. Bracken's money is going to fund a scholarship to help people who'll spend their lives fighting people just like him."

Kate grinned, ever so slightly. "I'll bet he's rolling in his grave."

Castle laughed. "Spinning more likely. He's probably down there, looking up and screaming at his wife for what she's doing."

"You think?"

"I know so, Kate. This is perfect."

Kate laughed. "Do you know you're remarkable?"

He nodded. "And tall."