946. Chapter 946

After A Deadly Game

Episode 2.24

By

UCSBdad

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

Chapter Five

He grabbed her and pulled her close, putting his mouth next to her ear. "They can hear us." He whispered.

"Are you sure?" She whispered back.

"Anyone who'd build this kind of a place would bug it. And, the other night I mentioned to myself that I like my filet mignon wrapped in bacon and with Béarnaise sauce. And that's how I got it the next time."

"Filet mignon? Really?"

This time, he rolled his eyes.

She allowed herself to be pulled into the bathroom. He turned on the shower and the sink, full blast.

"I hope this will cover any sound we make talking. Now what happened? Why are you here?"

Kate started telling him everything that had happened since he'd gotten kidnapped. "You were kidnapped, right?" She asked, still a bit suspicious.

"This room has no windows and there's no door knob on the inside. It can only be opened from the outside. It's a nice place for a prison, but it's still a prison."

She continued her story.

"The Feds arrested you? What for? Why would anyone arrest you?"

"The FBI has decided that I'm your mistress and that you're the new Godfather of the mob."

Castle rested his chin on her head. "Beckett, I'm so damned sorry."

"Castle, they told me you were at a high level meeting of the Cardano family. Why were you there and why didn't you tell me?"

"A meeting of the Cardanos? That's crazy. I've never been to one of their family meetings. The only…."He stopped. "When was this?"

"The first part of April. Why? Castle what did you do?" She said accusingly.

"It was Teresa Cardano's sixteenth birthday party."

"You went to a sixteen year old girl's birthday party? Really? That's your story?"

"She's a huge fan of Nikki Heat. Her dad, Michael Cardano, told me that if I'd read the book for an hour, he'd donate ten thousand dollars to the New York Library. You know how I feel about the library, so I agreed. But when the hour was up, Teresa and all her girlfriends wanted more, so I read for five more hours until Mrs. Cardano said the girls had to go to bed. Michael Cardano donated an extra fifty thousand to the library, but if there was any high level crime family meeting, I wasn't invited."

"The girls really liked Heat Wave?" She asked, smiling.

"They love Nikki Heat. Who wouldn't?"

"I like it, too." She said softly.

"You do?" Suddenly he thought of something. "Oh my god. Demming must be worried sick about you."

"Any cop would be worried when another cop disappears." Kate said, not sure how much she should tell Rick.

"You're hardly any cop…." He stopped. "You aren't just any cop to him, are you?"

"We broke up." She said, looking at her feet.

Castle struggled to contain his relief and joy. "Oh."

Beckett decided she should tell Castle what had happened. "There's this crazy writer that's been shadowing me. Half the time he just drives me crazy. But the other half…." She stopped, not sure how to go on. "But the other half of the time, he makes me laugh and working with him hasn't been just fun, it's been….I learned a lot about him. He's not the kind of person I thought he was at first."

"Wait. You have another writer, a crazy one, following you, too? Why didn't you tell me?"

She slapped Castle's chest. "It's you, dummy. And I thought you really liked me. That you just weren't looking for another conquest, but then…." Her voice trailed off.

"Ellie Monroe. How stupid can I be?'

"Pretty damned stupid from where I sit, Castle. But, I do like you and I thought when you invited me to the Hamptons that I could go and see what we were like….together. It's a little late, though."

Castle ran his hand through her hair. "Kate, I'm so damned sorry. I should never have been with Ellie Monroe. I acted like…."

"A teenaged boy with massively over active hormones?" Kate suggested.

"Worse than that."

"Agreed. Way worse." She waited for a few seconds. "Will you still take me to the Hamptons?"

"Forget the Hamptons. I'll take you to the Caribbean, Jamaica, maybe, or the Windward Islands. Hey, how about Hawaii, Tahiti or maybe Fiji. We could go…'

"To the Hamptons. I don't want to be with Rick Castle, world traveling playboy. I want to see what my partner is like when we're together. Okay?"

"Whatever you want, Beckett." He thought for a second. "Actually, the Caribbean might not be that good an idea. I think we may be there now."

"What do you mean? Where?"

"I think the CIA is holding us here. And I think here is Guantanamo Bay."

Kate lifted an eyebrow skeptically. "The CIA? Isn't that your default theory? If it isn't zombies, it's the CIA? Or the CIA and zombies?"

"I got some information from the CIA, remember? You met Agent Grey. I saw a photo of a place like this where the Agency takes people they want to get to cooperate with them. It even had the same colors, yellow and green. They're supposed to make you more cooperative, or relaxed, or something. Plus, everything you've told me about the kidnappings says that this is a lot bigger than some crime family could pull off. The CIA could fly all over the US and most of the world and no one would stop them or question them. And if anything did get back to the FBI, it would simply disappear before it got to the field agents."

"And, the guys who are feeding me, us, now, don't bother covering their faces. Which leads me to think that they're not going to be in any database we'd ever get access to."

Kate nodded. "Okay, maybe the CIA. Just maybe."

"I noticed that the air conditioner runs all the time, just about, which means were some place that's hot. When they open the door to feed me, I felt a little puff of humid air. Hot and humid? The tropics."

"There are a lot of places in the tropics, Castle. And it gets hot and humid in New York and half of the US."

"I've heard some things when they open the door. The sound of aircraft engines and gunfire."

"Gunfire? Why would there be gunfire at Guantanamo Bay?"

"There was a lot of gunfire and then it cut off."

"Like a firing range?" Rick and Kate smiled at each other.

Then Kate shook her head. "It doesn't make any difference where we are if we don't get out."

"I'll get us out."

"Do you know a guy?" Kate teased.

When they left the bathroom, there was a large paper bag on Castle's chair. He picked it up and looked inside. "Oh, this is for you."

Kate looked inside and blushed. "Victoria's Secret? Are you sure you didn't set this up to see me in my underwear, Castle?" She continued unpacking the bag and found two pairs of pants, two shirts, high heels, a selection of feminine products, a sleep shirt, and a spoon.

"We still have some of the sundae, Beckett. Care to watch the game and have some ice cream?"

She sat on the arm of his chair. "Who's playing?"

"The Braves and the Marlins, in Miami. Score was tied 2-2 in the fourth and…." Castle looked at the screen. "Still tied in the sixth."

When the game was over, Castle checked his watch. "About bedtime. I'll take the floor."

Kate put her hand on his shoulder to keep him from getting up. "No, we'll share the bed. But that's all. I'm not going to do anything with people watching." Kate stood up and then swore. "Oh, shit. Where can I change for bed?"

"You could sleep in your clothes?"

She glared at him. "For how long? I'll go in the bathroom. They'd better not have a camera in there." She glared at the light fixture where Castle thought the camera was. She removed her makeup, washed, brushed her teeth and changed as quickly as she could, trying not to show anything.

Then she crawled into bed and let Castle use the bathroom. When Castle came back, the lights went out.

"Beckett?" He whispered. "Thanks."

"For what? Getting myself kidnapped, too?" She whispered back.

"For putting up with me. You really are remarkable, you know."

Kate moved over and brushed her lips against his. "I like you too, but that's all you get for now." She moved back over to her side of the bed.

Castle decided that this wasn't how he imagined being in bed with Kate Beckett would be like, but he did like it. He really liked it. You've got it bad, don't you?" He thought. Yeah, and I like it.

Several stories above them, one of the men who'd delivered Castle's food knocked on an office door.

"Come in."

In the office was a tall, muscular blonde woman, working on a laptop.

"Find out anything?" She asked.

"They don't know that the old turn on the water full blast trick doesn't work with a first class surveillance system."

She shrugged, "You want to tell him so his next book will be more accurate?"

The man laughed. "No. But they know pretty much what we thought they knew. One thing, apparently they are getting together. As a couple, that is. They're in bed right now, but she's not going to let him do anything while they're here."

"Wouldn't expect her to."

"Oh, and this is good. They think they're in Guantanamo Bay. You know, Camp Delta."

The woman smiled. "Maybe we should give him a Cuban cigar and Cuban rum." As soon as she said it, she shook her head. "Bad idea. They'd smell a rat. They're both too smart to fall for that."

The man stood there for several moments.

"Is there something else?" She asked.

"Yeah. Why are we babysitting these two?"

"The best of all possible reasons." She replied.

"Care to tell me?"

"Because we were told to babysit them. Okay? Now get back to work."