944. Chapter 944

After A Deadly Game

Episode 2.24

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I have yet to own Castle. Rating: M Time: See above.

Chapter Three

The light came on and Castle woke up. As he sat up, the two enormous men entered his prison with a tray of food. "Good morning, Mr. Castle. We brought you breakfast. I hope it's enough." He put the tray down in front of Castle and smiled.

Castle looked at the breakfast. It didn't look like they'd be starving him. There were pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, sausages, hash browns, a bear claw, orange juice and coffee. "Can I go outside and eat?" He asked.

The two men just laughed and left.

Rick began to eat and found the food, like last night's meal, to be excellent. When he was done, he found that he was unaccountably sleepy. "Oh, shit. They drugged the damned meal." He mumbled as he fell back on the bed.

He woke up later. By how hungry he felt, he was sure he had been out a long while. At first glance, he thought he was in the same prison. A second look said it was different. There were the same yellow painted cinder blocks and greenish linoleum, but the room was bigger and the furniture was different. The bed was a double bed with a nightstand beside it. On the bottom shelf were books, some of which he hadn't read since high school. There was Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and even John Buchan's Thirty Nine Steps. There was also a fifty five inch TV with a comfortable looking leather chair in front of it with a table alongside of it. Turning on the TV, he found he could get every sports channel he had ever heard of and more, but no news or other entertainment channels.

There was one door which he found led to a bathroom. There was a toilet, a sink and a shower. Also an electric razor, toothbrush, tooth paste, soap and all the usual products you'd find in a bathroom.

The door opened and two very large men, different from the two he had originally met, but equally big and muscular walked in. One had a tray of food. "You like surf and turf, right Mr. Castle?" The man with the tray said.

Castle nodded. "Who doesn't?" He said warily.

"Filet mignon, lobster tails, succotash, and garlic mashed potatoes with gravy and ice cream for dessert. And we brought you some of those little airline bottles of Scotch. Have a good evening, Mr. Castle."

Castle found a baseball game and began eating. This is the oddest kidnapping I've ever heard of.

She arrived at the precinct at 6AM the next day to find Montgomery in his office with what she took to be more FBI agents. She looked around but neither Fox nor Torres was around.

When he caught sight of her, Montgomery went to his door and called her in.

"Beckett, this is Special Agent Marcus Bradley and his team. They're taking over from Fox and Torres."

Bradley was an older man, in his fifties at least and dressed in the same uniform as Fox. The three agents with him, introduced as Davies, Collins and Kopeck, two men and a woman, looked like they came from the same box of FBI agents as Fox: Young, bright and pushy.

"Detective Beckett, we're taking over from the local FBI office. We're from FBI headquarters in DC."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "Is there some reason the local FBI can't handle this?"

"Before I answer that, let me give you some context. Special Agent Calvert worked with the Federal Organized Crime Task Force in Boston. Specifically, he was interested in an apparent alliance between the O'Connor brothers' gang and the Giordano crime family. The two gangs have taken out a lot of the competition in Boston and want to expand all over the East Coast. Naturally, they'd like to move into New York City."

"Is that why Special Agent Calvert was in New York?" Kate asked.

"We don't think so." Bradley said, not explaining any further. "The O'Connors and the Giordanos were planning to move in on two mobs here in New York, the Cardanos and the Westies. I believe you're familiar with both?"

Kate nodded.

"The O'Connors and the Giordanos have taken over the heroin smuggling operation once run by Dick Coonan, with whom you're also familiar, I believe."

Kate nodded and began to say something, but before she could speak, Ryan and Esposito entered the bullpen and were called into Montgomery's office. After being introduced and being told what Beckett had already been told, Bradley went on.

"Things started to go south when we found that Calvert wasn't carrying his issue side arm."

Espo frowned. "Wait one. We recovered his sidearm. It was by his body."

Bradley glared at the detective. "I repeat. Agent Calvert was not carrying his issued sidearm. FBI agents are issued with .40 caliber Glocks. Calvert was carrying a 9mm M9 Beretta. That weapon was stolen from the Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, North Carolina three years ago. Ballistics tests showed it was used in two murders. One was a low level O'Connor hoodlum who was working as a CI with the Bureau. The other was a family rival of Gennaro Giordano, the head of the family."

It took a few seconds for that to sink in. "Do you mean that Calvert might have been moonlighting as a hitman for the mob?" Kate asked, clearly stunned.

"Not might have been, but was. We got a warrant and searched Calvert's home. We found a well hidden safe. In it were false IDs for Calvert, several untraceable pistols, about a hundred thousand in cash and keys to several dozen safety deposit boxes. The safety deposit boxes yielded more cash, more weapons, more fake IDs and documents concerning his work with the O'Connors. As you can imagine this is a huge embarrassment to the Bureau. And it's not to leave this room."

"Was Calvert just in the wrong place at the wrong time when Castle was grabbed?" Kate asked.

"Are you aware that Mr. Castle has ties to the Cardano crime family, Detective Beckett?"

Kate glared at the agent. "He does not have ties to the Cardanos." She shot back.

"When you were investigating the plot against Jimmy "The Rat" Moran, didn't he go see an underboss of the Cardanos named Sal Tenor?"

Kate nodded. "Castle is a writer of crime novels. The fact that he knows someone like Tenor doesn't prove he has ties to organized crime. "

"Did you know that in early April of this year, there was a major meeting of the Cardanos at Michael Cardanos' house and that Castle was there? All of the Cardanos were there. All the big boys and also Richard Castle."

Beckett was shocked. "I had no idea…."

"Mr. Castle was also with you on two occasions when you met with Finn Rourke, the head of the Westies?"

"One of Rourke's enforcers was our vic. Of course we talked to Rourke." Beckett snapped back.

"And after Castle paid you a hundred thousand dollars, which you never repaid, to smoke this mythical Rathbourne out, you killed Jack Coonan who was the one who both killed your vic, but also killed your mother."

Beckett shot to her feet. "Just what are you trying to say?"

"Wait one." Montgomery yelled. "Both of you calm down. To begin with, Castle gave the money to the NYPD, not to Detective Beckett. And Coonan was shot in front of the whole damned floor, including me and it was covered by our internal security cameras. Agent Bradley, you should think long and hard before you accuse the entire homicide unit of being involved in something."

Bradley glared at Montgomery. "I think it would be best if Detective Beckett were taken of this case."

"Duly noted. However, this is my precinct and she stays."

Bradley glared at everyone. "It's possible that Calvert was sent by the O'Connors who were under the impression that the Cardanos were using Castle as a pipeline to the NYPD and ordered a hit on him. The Cardanos, hearing of this, could have grabbed Castle to protect him. That would explain why Calvert was there with the gun he had and why the kidnapping was so professional."

"It's a nice theory." Beckett said sarcastically. "Is there any proof to it?"

"Not yet."

"In that case, my partner is still missing and I have to find him." Kate started to get up. She needed to get away from Bradley before things got out of hand.

"You refer to Mr. Castle as your partner. That's an odd choice of words, Detective. He's a tagalong writer, not a cop. And, according to Special Agent Sorenson, you two didn't get along. In what way has this wealthy playboy suddenly become your partner?"

Again, Montgomery spoke up before things could get ugly. "Mr. Castle has been assisting the NYPD and has been acting as Detective Beckett's partner. With, I might add, the full approval of myself and the Department. He's been quite helpful. We wouldn't have found the woman who was going to kill your Federal witness without him."

"That was helpful to a number of people, wasn't it?" Bradley replied coldly.

"Kate, I think we're done here. You and your team should get back to work."

Beckett nodded to her boss and went back to her desk, slamming herself down in her chair. She looked over at Castle's empty chair. Where the hell are you? She thought.

Ryan and Esposito sat by her desk. "Beckett, those Fed clowns aren't going to lift a finger to find Castle. We need to do this on our own."

"I know, Javi. It's just…."

"Just what?"

"Castle never told me he went to a meeting with the Cardano family. Why would he go there?"

Ryan smiled. "This is Castle, remember? A chance to mix with the mob? He'd jump at it."

"But why would the Cardanos ask him, and why didn't he tell me about it?"

"You were kind of otherwise…." Ryan began, then stopped when Espo glared at him.

Kate nodded slowly. "I was too busy with Demming to pay any attention to Castle." Dammit. Why did things have to work out like this?

She stood up. "I'm going to go see Lanie."

Lanie looked up from a report she was reviewing to see her best friend standing there. "Oh, someone's had a bad day."

"It shows?"

"Kate, believe me, it shows. What happened?"

Kate told her all about the conversation with Bradley. "The Feds think I'm Castle's mistress and that he's about to become the Godfather or something. And that asshole Bradley practically admitted that they don't expect to do anything about Castle. It's all up to us."

"If I were Castle, there's no one I'd rather have looking for me, Sweetie."

Kate sighed. "Lanie, they took him away in a plane that hasn't been found yet. He could be anywhere, out of the country, even. We depend on the FBI for things like this. I can't just call up the police in Mexico or Central America and get the kind of response the Feds would get."

"So, what are you going to do?"

Kate grinned slightly. "Actually, I do have an idea. And Bradley will hate it."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Hell no."