76. Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Beckett was restless at the precinct. Everyone with any information about Castle's case was gone. It was almost dusk when they left, it was now dark outside, and no one had called since Ryan made a call that lasted about three seconds to tell her it looked like they had found some evidence in Castle's favor. She had already finished her reports for the part of the case she had worked on before circumstances had Gates remove her from it. The lack of either work or information, or more particularly both, was known to leave her on edge; so she finally called Esposito. Castle wouldn't be able to leave Gates's line of vision long enough to tell her anything, and Esposito was the one who was most likely to pull off catching the call and finding a reason to leave the room to take it.

"Hey, Javi," Did you find anything good enough to get Castle off the hook?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah. I can't take too long, but it's looking good. The ADA isn't happy. Castle's looking more innocent all the time, and Tyson is nowhere to be seen. She's about to have nobody to prosecute, and I think she still wants to think we're making all this up but can't. Real piece of work, that one. The tactical team is still here. The building's been cleared, there are officers on the street and inside, and no one's even seen anybody with Tyson's build. It's a pretty deserted looking area. As many cop cars as there are here, he may be looking for another place to hole up."

"Don't count on it. Be careful."

"And take care of Castle for you?"

"Busted, huh?"

Esposito chuckled indulgently. "We'll get him back home, Beckett."

"Thanks. I'll let you get back to work now."

"Later, boss."

After watching her pace for a while, Lupinski asked what was wrong. Kate gave him the condensed version of the past two days, and he was as angry as Kate.

"I'd heard some of it but…"

"The evidence Tyson cooked up was pretty damning, but it looks like they found his workspace tonight. I want to see how he managed it, and everybody is there now…except me."

"I need to make a phone call, Beckett. Be right back. Lupinski walked back to his desk and spoke to someone quietly, then he returned to Beckett's desk and said, "Let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"I cleared it with Gates. I can escort you there as long as I never let you out of my sight. My team can handle an initial investigation without me if anything turns up."

"Thanks, Lupinski. I wasn't going to ask her, but when the gift is dropped in my lap... I owe you big time."

He mentioned a couple of high points in his conversation with Gates as they walked down to Beckett's car. "You drive. I'll ride shotgun…literally," he told her.

"Tyson probably won't be in the building, but he does like to observe his handiwork. He could be watching, but he won't confront that many police," she told him confidently later in their drive. "How about call Esposito and let him know we're almost there."

Ryan and Esposito met Beckett on her side of the car when she pulled in at the front of the building.

"I'm surprised Gates allowed this," Ryan said as they walked inside.

"Apparently she has faith in Lupinski as a bodyguard," she answered. "I hate this. No offense, Lupinski. I really appreciate what you're doing. I just hate that I need it. But I love the reason I need it. The last two days have been…" There was a big sigh before she went on. "Poor Alexis was so upset. I had her sleep in our bed with me last night. I want my innocent husband back, and it seems so close to happening, and…"

Lupinski laughed out loud. "God, Beckett, you're a real mess. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and ask if the pregnancy hormones are making all this worse," he teased.

Beckett smiled and smacked him on the arm good-naturedly while Ryan and Esposito chuckled along with them.

When they reached the room with the cache of evidence, several detectives were milling around the hallway, CSU was packing up their equipment, and other detectives and Gates were discussing the various pieces of evidence with the Assistant District Attorney, whose attitude continued to vex everyone there. In spite of the evidence of Jerry Tyson's involvement, she was still angry that Castle had managed to escape a trip to Central Booking and seemed to wish for a way to convince herself Castle had something to do with planting the evidence they found.

Lupinski peeked in and caught Gates's eye, and she raised her hand to acknowledge him as she continued to speak to Gonzalez. He hovered behind Beckett as she entered the room.

Beckett was standing behind the ADA as Gonzalez made one of her snide remarks and confronted her. "What do you want from Castle, Ms. Gonzalez?" she asked. "Tyson threatened his life…told him someone was waiting to kill him in Central Booking, remember? And you're looking at the evidence we told you we needed a little more time to find. What was Castle supposed to do…go quietly to his slaughter and never have the chance to meet his son? He left me with a hint of where to find him, but it took about an hour and someone making the right comment for me to realize it. We did a little investigating before we walked back into the precinct with a major piece of evidence explained and documented. He was in my custody for all but about an hour while he sat and waited for me, and he turned himself in voluntarily. He was only trying to stay alive long enough to prove he was innocent."

Sweeping her hand toward the table strewn with Tyson's work, Ms. Gonzalez asked haughtily,"May I remind you that all this was found with the help of the suspect? I have to prosecute these cases, and I need to be meticulous about the evidence."

"You know what Tyson is capable of in theory, Ms. Gonzalez, but you've only seen the pictures and heard the stories. Castle and my team have seen the reality of the lifeless bodies, experienced the deception, and dealt with the aftermath before you were ever involved. We've seen firsthand the havoc Tyson can wreak in real time…how manipulative he is. He's insane, but he's brilliant…a bad combination. And we had to deal with those grieving families, too. Castle and I made the initial visits to tell them their family members had been murdered, and Tyson has just put our own family through two days of pure hell. You can see the evidence in front of you, and you still want to think it's Castle? What has he done to make you think so badly of him?"

"Lieutenant Beckett, you're here to review the evidence, I believe?" Gates asked pointedly.

"Yes, Sir," Beckett answered and went to stand with Castle.

ADA Gonzalez was treated to the look of absolute love that passed between the couple before Castle said, "Hey," and took Beckett's hand rather than following his first instinct, which was to pull her into a huge hug and kiss her senseless.

As evidence was being packed into bags and boxes, Beckett turned to the ADA. "With everything you've seen here, surely Castle can go home tonight?"

"Well, there is still the matter of his escaping custody," Gonzalez answered.

"To save his own life, since you wouldn't help. And when the circumstances come up in court for the public record, do you want to be seen as intentionally putting his life at risk?" Beckett asked.

"I should think time served would be in everybody's best interest," Gates suggested. "And Lieutenant Beckett, Ms. Gonzalez has agreed to drop any other charges. Look at what we've found, ask your questions, and then, why don't you and Detective Lupinski take Mr. Castle back to the precinct and start the paperwork?"

"You can do that now, but Mr. Castle should not consider leaving town for any reason. I'll be on top of all this until we have a final analysis of all the evidence."

"Well, we expected nothing less of you," Gates answered with her back turned to the ADA, and actually rolled her eyes at Karpowski, who had to find a reason to turn away, too, to hide the smile that was dangerously close to a burst of laughter.

After Ryan gave Beckett a tour of the evidence and she had asked several pertinent questions, she thanked him. Then she turned to her husband and said, "Come on, Castle. Let's go take care of the paperwork. You get to sleep in a real bed tonight. We can call Alexis and Martha on the way home and they might even have real food waiting."

Gates told them to wait for backup to follow, and the couple left, waving at Lupinski to join them.

"Will CSU will have custody of all the evidence overnight?" Gonzalez asked.

"I'll speak to them. And will you allow my detectives to take you home now?" Gates asked, obviously making a concerted effort to remain civil.

"Yes. Thank you," Gonzalez answered stiffly.

"Everybody out, then," Gates ordered. "Give me a minute to talk to CSU, gentlemen. Karpowski, Jennings, escort Ms. Gonzalez to your car. Esposito and Ryan, we'll back up Beckett and Castle. Tyson is still in the wind."

"Yes, Sir," they answered and went to their cars.

They met Castle, Beckett, and Lupinski inside the front door of the building and let them know Gates was right behind them before they all got into their cars.

As they walked to the car to wait for the captain, Ryan said, "Gates must be at the end of her rope. No 'Detective Karpowski' or 'Mr. Castle', just a bunch of last names…even for Castle."

"She forgets every now and then and includes him like he's one of us," Esposito answered. "He said he'd win her over eventually. I gotta admit I didn't believe him, though."

Ryan grinned and started the car, pulling it up between Beckett's car and the building across the street. "Didn't think she'd ever win us over, either, did you?"

Esposito just chuckled and settled back as Gates joined them. Seeing Gates get in the other car Beckett pulled out around Ryan's car and headed back to the bridge; then, just as they pulled away, someone from CSU rushed out to ask Gates a question. It slowed them briefly, and then Ryan copied Beckett's U-turn and followed.

"So all that stuff…the latex model of a hand with your fingerprints, surveillance photos of us, architectural plans for the loft, a map of the precinct, including the video cameras…" Beckett started.

"Don't forget the stick drive with the story and emails he put on my computer and then deleted. And a couple of his prints were there. He orchestrated everything down to the last detail, even the red herrings like Tessa's boss. It's not like him to leave prints."

"Hey, you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. It's just… Finding that stuff at Tyson's...it seems a little too lucky, that's all. Feels wrong."

"It should exonerate you, Castle. Maybe you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth," Lupinski suggested, still keeping an eye on their surroundings.

They passed a car on a side street just before they reached the bridge. When they drove onto the bridge, it was empty of other cars, and the gates were coming down for a bridge opening, so Kate brought the car to a stop and looked over at her husband. Castle still looked pensive.

Suddenly a car barreled toward the entrance to the bridge, crashing into the back of their car; and with a terrible screeching of wheels, it shoved them through the gate and pushed them up the slope toward the edge of the opening bridge. Before they could get their bearings, the door of the car behind them was opening, and the driver got out with a gun and started firing at their car from beside his car door. Almost as soon as the gunfire started, the upward movement of the bridge stopped, but it didn't start closing again.

"It's Tyson," Kate shouted. "Castle, get down!"

Kate grabbed her gun from the console, and she and Lupinski both turned and started firing at Tyson through the back window. He lurched several times as if he were hit, finally took a few staggering steps backward, and fell back into the car.

"Stay here," Lupinski ordered. "Bigger favor than I thought, by the way," he told them. Slipping out of the car, he eased toward Tyson's vehicle and looked in from over the hood. Tyson was stretched out on the seat, eyes closed and looking unconscious. As he inched toward the now nearly closed door, Tyson practically exploded up from the car seat and slammed the door open hard enough to knock Lupinski off balance. When he was trying to right himself, Tyson came around the car door and shoved him to the pavement, holding his gun over the detective.

"Who the hell are you?" Tyson shouted. Where's Castle?" He gave Lupinski a hard kick to the ribs and dropped to a crouch behind Beckett's car, staying out of sight.

"Where's Tyson? I think Lupinski's down," Castle said, reaching for the door latch and hoping to look back and see if their friend needed help.

"I don't know. I don't know how Tyson could still get up. I'm sure we both hit him in the chest, probably several times," Beckett answered.

"Lupinski wasn't part of his plan. He's probably even angrier now."

Beckett raised her head just enough to see out the window, and Tyson was standing there. He broke the window with the butt of his gun, catching Beckett's temple with it in the process, and deftly unlocked the door, pulling it open before Beckett could reorient. Then, wrapping his arm around her neck, he quickly dragged her toward him. She tried to fight, but he made tutting noises and jabbed the barrel of his gun hard against the side of her neck to stop her; and standing to his full height, he pulled her up with him, and backed slowly toward the open edge of the bridge.

Driving up to the bridge, Ryan, Esposito, and Gates saw a car leaving the side street much too fast, rounding the slight curve that led to the bridge. Then they heard the dinging of the bell sounds indicating a bridge opening, followed by the roar of an engine, a crash, and the screeching of tires…and gunfire.

"Not even a full two minutes behind them," Ryan said as if it were a curse. Do you think…"

"If it's Tyson, surprises may set him off. Park the car to block this side of the curve at the bridge entrance and we'll go on foot to find out what happened," Gates ordered. "Cell phones for the moment. No lights or radios, nothing he can notice easily. We don't want to tip him off. Let him think he's still in charge."

"You should stay here, Captain," Esposito suggested. If something happens to us, you'll be needed to coordinate when the others get here."

"Backup is right behind us. I'm calling your phone, Detective Ryan. Put yours in your shirt pocket on speaker, and keep the line open; but take what you need for normal communications, too. It should also help keep this away from the media now. The last thing we need is reporters flocking in to add to everything else. Keep me informed."

"I don't like leaving you without backup," Ryan answered as he parked, took the key from the ignition, and got out of the car.

"I'll be right here, armed. Now get out there and let me know what's going on."

Esposito was already out and in Special Forces mode. In a slight crouch, he worked his way down the shadowed guardrail of the bridge toward where the stopped cars would provide some cover as he got closer. Ryan was right behind him, following in the same position, quietly passing information to Gates about the situation they were observing.

When they reached the back of Tyson's car, they could see him dragging an uncooperative Beckett out of the car, and Lupinski was crouched next to the door on the passenger side.

"Worse than we thought, Captain. Tyson has Beckett, and it doesn't look good. Haven't seen Castle yet. Looks like Lupinski's okay."

"Castle, I've got your girl," Tyson shouted gleefully. "Are you watching? I want you to see this." Directing his next comment to Beckett, he threatened, "Did you really think I'd let you live after everything you've done?" He was taking his time, unaware that backup had arrived for the Castles.

Castle knew a second man had not figured in Tyson's plan; but with a gun to Beckett's neck, The lunatic would probably be confidant that their responses would be careful. Tyson would still feel in charge. He seemed to want Castle to watch what he was doing, so Castle's response would be to buy time by not appearing right away. He picked up the gun Beckett had dropped as Tyson dragged her from the car; and when Lupinski opened the passenger door slowly to ask if Castle was hurt, Castle slid out behind the door, easing it shut quietly, and moving around to the back of the car.

"Castle," Esposito hissed from behind Tyson's car. "Karpowski's team should be right behind us. Gates is waiting at the car to coordinate."

Castle and Lupinski quickly and quietly filled Esposito in on what happened earlier. Then Esposito eased around Tyson's car to let Ryan know.

"Castle! Where are you? You need to see this," Tyson shouted again, dragging Beckett with him back to her car when there was no response from Castle.

Beckett stumbled, and Tyson had to stop to support her and shove the gun more firmly against her neck. "Stand up," he ordered her, hefting her up without moving the gun far enough to create an opening for anyone to have a clean shot at him. Looking into the car, Tyson seemed surprised to find no sign of Castle.

Karpowski stopped her car right behind Ryan's, getting out and rushing to Gates. "What happened?"

"Tyson has Beckett. The bridge is partially open, and he's dragging her up toward the open edge with a gun at her neck. He's been yelling to Castle to come and watch. Gonzales thinks she knows what Tyson is capable of, but she'll never believe this level of crazy."

Jennings showed up then, close on the heels of the ADA, who had just caught the last snippet of Gates's conversation. "She just got out and took off," he explained.

"I want to know what's going on," Gonzalez demanded.

"You're getting in the way again," Gates answered. "That's what's going on. You're a distraction while we're dealing with a hostage situation. Go back to the car."

Then, through the speaker of Gate's phone, they heard Tyson's taunting voice shouting as he looked for Castle, "I knew you and Beckett would find my little treasure trove of evidence, Castle. Did you really think I'd kill you? This is so much better. Even if it gets you out of the murder, you'll have to live with people wondering if you planted the evidence and set it all up so you could get away with it. My little gift to you. Where are you? Are you a coward…too scared to try to save your wife and baby?"

That sent chills up the spine of everyone who could hear it.

"Jennings, Karpowski, go," Gates ordered. "Keep to the shadows over there, she said, pointing to her left. Ryan and Esposito are on the opposite side. Ms. Gonzalez, you're staying here if I have to cuff you to the car, understand? You will do nothing else to distract my people. There's a madman with a gun over there holding one of my detectives hostage. And on top of that, I have to worry about seeing that you don't get yourself killed being stubborn. You will not be allowed to interfere or demand another thing. Not a word or movement to distract any of us until this is over."

"Not a word," the ADA agreed, finally seeming to realize the gravity of the situation and dismounting from her high horse. "I'd like to stay here, but I won't say a word. No distractions."

"Come on out, Castle. I want you to see this," Tyson shouted, sounding a bit less gleeful than before. The voice was taking on more of a sound of madness, and everyone there knew how quickly the situation could escalate out of control. "Come on, Castle. Where are you? I want you to see me take her life." He moved his gun to Beckett's stomach and started backing toward the edge of the bridge again. "You took my freedom. I'm taking what you love now. First your baby, then your wife…but you need to watch."

Castle suddenly stood with Beckett's gun trained at Tyson from above the car door and shouted, "Over here." Lupinski spontaneously stood and echoed both his answer and his action from close by. Then like machine gun fire the same words and action passed back and forth across the bridge…Jennings doing the same from the opposite side of the bridge, followed by Esposito from behind Tyson's car, then Karpowski and Ryan.

Tyson had been so rabidly focused on tormenting Castle and Beckett that he had uncharacteristically missed that others were infiltrating his space. When his focus was suddenly divided, he instinctively moved his gun progressively toward the new threats; and when his grip lessened as surprise briefly affected him, Beckett twisted far enough away that Tyson was exposed to the others. Not aware of the previous unsuccessful shots, Jennings and Karpowski took advantage of their position and shot several times to his chest. Tyson lurched a couple of times and staggered backward, but without falling, pulling at Beckett again in the process. Then another shot rang out from slightly behind Jennings and Karpowski, hitting the center of Tyson's forehead; and he crumpled to the pavement approximately five feet from the open edge of the bridge. After everything but the somewhat eerily disembodied sound of the bridge opening bells went quiet, Gates lowered her gun and ADA Gonzalez eased toward her.

Gates ended the phone connection with Ryan and placed a new call to Lin Jackson. "Lin, we're going to need IA. I'm at the scene of a shooting, and I'm about a hundred per cent certain the kill shot was mine. Four other NYPD officers were also involved. Send people who don't know me. I want this to be as clean and unbiased as we can make it." She listened for a moment and then said, "I don't know when we'll be back at the precinct, but it could take a while to close this down." Another moment of listening, and she told Lin where they were before disconnecting the call. From there, normal police communication was used freely.

Karpowski and Jennings jogged over to where Tyson was lying still on the pavement, and Lupinski arrived at the same time. "Careful," he warned. "We thought he was dead once, but he miraculously recovered." Looking closer, he added, "On the other hand, he didn't have that bullet hole in his forehead then." He was already kneeling to check Tyson's pulse and had found none when they noticed the growing pool of blood seeping from behind his head.

"I don't think he's coming back this time," Jennings commented. "Not much we can do."

Gates stood close by. "I'll call for a medical examiner. I already gave IA a heads up. Might as well get that out of the way as soon as we can. Somebody needs to call EMS. We have a couple of injuries."

"I'll get on that," Esposito offered, and Gates nodded acknowledgement.

"Towing," she continued. "We'll need to impound both cars. They're evidence for now."

"I'll take that one," Karpowski told her.

"And we might as well snag CSU. They can't get over the bridge yet anyway. Maybe they can take this one, too. That unit was on night shift."

"I'll go find them," Jennings said. "They wouldn't have been too far behind us, so they're probably stuck on the other side of the roadblock."

While Gates issued orders, Castle had jogged over to Beckett. He wrapped his arms around her, cradling her head gently with his hand, as she nuzzled her forehead against his neck, resting the uninjured side of her head on his shoulder.

"How bad is it?" he asked gently.

"I don't know yet. Give me a minute."

"Did he do anything that could hurt the baby?"

"I don't think so. He jabbed hard at my neck, and that hurts; but he mostly pointed at my stomach…just held the gun against it…not much pressure. Seemed like it was more for effect."

Castle turned slightly so he could run his hand over Kate's baby bump. "He's over excited in there, isn't he? Poor wife. You've been assaulted from the outside and the inside. Shhhh, Baby Boy," he said soothingly, still stroking his hand over his son's present home. "Daddy's going to take you and Mommy home soon. We're all okay now, so settle down and let Mommy recover." Then he pulled his wife into another hug, burying his face in her hair in relief. "It's over, Kate. We don't have to worry about Tyson again."

"We should see what they need from us, Castle. Gates has been busy coordinating follow-up, and I should be helping."

"I'm sure everybody understands why you aren't at the top of your game right now."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "Well, I'm a cop, and I need to have at least a little game. But I really needed to be your wife and baby Castle's mom for a minute. Can we revisit that later?"

"Count on it." He gave her another quick squeeze and a little kiss on her head before they walked toward Captain Gates. "I think we have the captain to thank for dropping Tyson. Karpowski's team didn't know you and Lupinski had already unsuccessfully shot him in the chest. Gates did."

ADA Gonzalez asked, "Is it over?" from her position behind Gates.

"I thought you were going to stay put," Gates said tiredly, still looking straight ahead.

"Sorry," Gonzalez answered in an unexpected show of cooperation. "Do you want me to go back and wait in the car?"

"You need to know what happens, too," Gates said, turning to face her. "Just observe…quietly, please. We have a lot of follow-up to do."

"Captain, the tactical team was stuck here, too. Some of them checked under the bridge, and they're bringing up a man who was waiting for Tyson with a small boat," Esposito told her.

"If I remember correctly, Mr. Castle suggested that?"

"Right. Esposito answered. Dealing with Tyson, we thought it was worth following it up. Things were pretty crazy right then, though. Sorry we forgot to give you a heads up. And Blount is bringing down the bridge operator. I wouldn't be surprised to find a connection to Tyson there, too."

"How would Tyson be connected to the bridge opening?" Gonzalez asked.

Gates gave Ms. Gonzalez "the look" and said, "At this point, let's just interview him and see what plays out." Both Gates and the ADA had a clear view of Castle and Beckett and the tenderness of the interaction between them. "Tell me, Ms. Gonzalez, does that look to you like a man who would have an affair he knows would risk everything that couple has built together?"

As Castle stroked his wife's middle and talked gently to his unborn child, Gonzalez admitted, "No, it doesn't."

"I'm not sure how Mr. Castle planned that escape, but it was only to avoid dying and leaving them without him. If you had allowed us the extra time, I'm one hundred per cent certain it wouldn't have happened. He and his family had a lot to lose, and they had been through hell with Bracken and Simmons not that long ago. . If you can find out a way to work with that to his advantage, I would appreciate it. Not because he expects preferential treatment, but for humanitarian consideration of the circumstances you forced him into."

"I'll take that under advisement."

"That's all I'll ask."

Castle and Beckett walked back to where Gates stood with the ADA, and Beckett asked where Gates needed her.

"We aren't that far from their station, so EMS should be on the other side of the roadblock any minute. That's where I want you first."

"But, Sir…"

"No argument. And Lieutenant, protecting that baby is a priority. In spite of the fact that your enemies list is dwindling rapidly, until after your maternity leave has ended, your public service will happen at the precinct. Full desk duty as of tomorrow."

"Yes, Sir."

Behind his wife, Castle mouthed, "Thank you."

"It's too bad we don't have a recording of Tyson's tirades," Ryan commented. "We were all too busy for that."

"I wasn't," Gonzalez admitted. "When I first got out of the car, I admit my motives weren't entirely innocent. I turned on the recorder on my phone so I'd have a record of what was happening, be sure there wasn't anything untoward. By the time Captain Gates walked away to watch with her gun drawn, my motives had changed. I moved up behind the two detectives over there and turned on the video camera…figured we might need it later. I got everything from just before Tyson's treasure trove rant on audio. And it's probably going to be pretty shadowy from back here, but I think I got video of Tyson holding Beckett and bellowing for Castle." When everyone looked at her, she shrugged. "I felt extraneous. I had to do something."

"We might need it later?" Gates asked, seeming surprised.

"Well, we're supposed to be on the same side," Gonzalez answered, looking a little sheepish. "I guess sometimes that gets lost in the shuffle.

"Thank you," Gates responded.

Gonzalez nodded then pointed to the side of the bridge where Karpowski and Jennings had been. "I'll be over there…observing…quietly." The two women exchanged smiles, and Gates went back to work.

Beckett, Castle, and Lupinski were talking to Ryan when EMS drove up to the roadblock. Gates paused in her conversation with someone from the CSU team to call out, "Lieutenant…EMS," and point in that direction. Beckett sighed and Castle accompanied her to the medics. She was told that there didn't seem to be more than bruising to her neck, to expect it to be sore for at least a few days. After cleaning the matted blood from her hair and checking the state of the wound, she was told it wasn't as bad as it probably felt. They cleaned it, removed a couple of small pieces of glass and patched her up with only a tiny strip of hair loss. After checking for signs of a concussion, Beckett and Castle were told it didn't appear to be a problem but to keep an eye on her anyway.

"Unfortunately, I already know all the signs to look for, and what to do for mean bruises," he answered wryly, shook the medic's hand, and thanked the man for taking care of his wife.

Lupinski wandered over when he saw Beckett stepping down from the EMS vehicle. "You okay, Beckett?"

"Looks like it," she answered. "Your turn. I saw you holding your side. That's where he kicked you, isn't it?"

"I'm okay."

"You're a bull-headed cop like the rest of us. Go let them check on you."

"You speaking as a higher ranking officer?"

"I'm just saying you had my back. It's my turn to have yours. It won't take long. Just let them be sure nothing's broken. One more favor for a friend? A much smaller one this time."

"Some people just don't know when to quit," he grumbled good-naturedly as he stepped up into the truck. "How do you put up with her, Castle?"

"She does get a little pushy sometimes," he teased.

Beckett met Blount as he was coming in with the bridge operator. A member of the tactical team had walked by earlier with a man who was probably the one with the boat, so she assumed some of her duties again and walked with them to where she saw Gates talking to the probable owner of the small boat. He and the bridge operator each identified Tyson's picture as the man who had hired them as auxiliary crew for a movie scene being shot on the bridge. He had paid them well and had them on stand-by…asked them to be ready to move when he called them…something about availability of things he would need. When the first shots were fired, the man with the boat was to move out far enough under the open section of the bridge "that the cameras wouldn't pick up his presence" and help Tyson out of the water and over to a rental vehicle on shore "to get him to another filming site". The bridge operator said he was told he would receive a call to open the bridge, and that would start the scene's progression. When he heard gunfire again, he would stop the bridge from opening any further and leave it in that position until further notice. The two men seemed to fully believe their actions were part of a movie scene. Tyson even had boatman, place a very convincing "Bridge closed for repair" sign at the other side of the bridge just before he set his plan into action. Everyone was again both impressed and appalled at the meticulous detail in Tyson's planning.

CSU finished their second job of the evening and was packing up. The danger seemed to be over, and the tactical team also closed down to leave. The cars had been towed, EMS was long gone, and a couple of civilian drivers were waiting on the block near the bridge rather than taking detours. IA had sent a representative there to look at the scene and speak to everyone involved, and they were already gone. A few reporters had caught wind of something happening, and a small but growing group had gathered. Officers had them cordoned off near the waiting cars until the crime scene was released and weren't telling them anything about the situation, but that didn't stop them from speculating to their cameras in their breaking news announcements.

Dr. Stokes had arrived later than usual after taking what he called the scenic route to get there around the closed bridge. The ME's van was backed into place at the bridge entrance to offer less accessibility to reporters as Tyson's body was examined on scene and then loaded into the van. The ADA was still observing quietly as things were obviously winding down.

The bridge operator was called and told he could close the bridge, and police personnel began to return to their vehicles.

ADA Gonzalez walked over to Castle and Beckett and told them, "Mr. and Mrs. Castle, I'll see you at the precinct tomorrow at one. I'm sure that, after all this, Captain Gates will be amenable to waiving any paperwork until tomorrow morning." Everyone looked to Gates, and she nodded tiredly. The ADA continued, "I'll bring what I need from my end when we meet then, too. Go home and get some rest. You must both be exhausted."

The Castles also nodded tiredly. "We'll be there," Castle assured her.

Ryan and Esposito took the Castle's to their car, and reporters started to shout questions as soon as people came into view from the bridge, but Ryan turned the car and went over the bridge in the opposite direction, heading toward the precinct as soon as the bridge closed and the gates went up. Officers at the other end removed the closed sign, and the light nighttime traffic started moving again. Lupinski rode with Blount and Freedman, and Gates and the ADA were taken to their homes by Jennings and Karpowski, everyone going home to get whatever rest they could manage before their jobs required their presence the next morning.

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AN: Some people seemed to like the Tyson episode and the chapter, but I know a lot of you didn't. For those of you who fall into the latter category, thanks for the patience to stick it out. Please remember that I said this would be the last big crisis in this story, and I'll keep that promise. My intention was to make the two invasive, omniscient villain problems go away much earlier in their lives than in the series.