66. Chapter 66

Chapter 66

AN: Again, this chapter relies very heavily on the episode, which is attributed directly to the original writers. More elements of change will be present in the next chapter, I promise.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Beckett and Castle passed an important looking man entering the precinct elevator as they exited it.

"Yo, Beckett, I thought you were off," Esposito called out.

"Was that the deputy commissioner?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah. There's been more brass through here than a marching band," Esposito answered.

Looking a bit annoyed, Ryan explained, "It's all need to know, and we didn't make the list. But, whatever's happening is going down in that conference room."

At that point, looking as though she expected something that would constitute at least a small altercation, Gates called Beckett and Castle into the conference room for introductions.

"Lieutenant Beckett, Mr. Castle, Captain Fowler, head of Narcotics."

"Thank you for coming, Lieutenant. Mr. Castle, I'd rather you wait outside."

"No," Beckett demanded firmly. "He stays. Whatever you brought me here for seems serious, and that affects both of us. He's worked with us for several years and has insights as good as any detective here. He stays or I don't."

"That's true, Captain Fowler," Gates defended. "They were both involved in two federal operations that I'm aware of, one under my watch; and I still don't know the particulars of either of them. They both know how to keep classified information to themselves."

Captain Fowler obviously wasn't happy with the new development. He all but rolled his eyes at having to put up with what he had earlier described to Gates as a civilian meddler. But, being forced to tolerate it, he began to present his case for needing to work with Beckett, beginning with the caveat that nothing he said was to leave that room. Beckett and Castle both acknowledged that warning.

He pointed out pictures of six victims on a whiteboard, saying they were all mid to upper level drug dealers and had all been killed in the past few months after a new drug ring moved in and took over most of the heroin and cocaine trade. He said he was tasked by the commissioner to find out who they are and shut them down but that they seemed to be invisible. No banks for money trails, and the street dealers never meet the suppliers.

"So when you bust a dealer, he doesn't know who he's working for," Castle stated in understanding. Fowler was obviously annoyed that the civilian was meddling effectively, Beckett was holding back a smirk, and Gates looked resigned again. But out of need to continue, Fowler acknowledged that he was correct and continued.

"Exactly. So we're three months in, and the only name we have is the leader, Lazarus…not his real name, of course. Then yesterday an intercepted phone call led us to this woman, Elena Markov. Pointing out another photo, he explained, "She's copped to being a low-level courier in the ring. Russian mail order bride, divorced, freelance translator, learned to speak English better than we do. She's never been in trouble before, says she just wants her life back. Claims she had a chance to make more money if she made a phone call, then she got in and couldn't get out. She worked through texted orders, and delivered packages…never met anyone else. All of it anonymous. Long and short of it is they called yesterday and asked to meet her to offer her a promotion.

"Which would give you guys a chance to get eyes on someone," Beckett stated, understanding the situation in general.

"It's the break we've been waiting for, so we leveraged Elena to take the meet, but she tried to commit suicide."

"She's in ICU under police guard," Gates explained.

"Sir, I'm sorry to hear about all this, but what does it have to do with me?"

Castle already had it figured out. "You want Beckett undercover as Elena, don't you?"

Fowler again seemed annoyed that the worthless civilian had seen his plan coming, and he continued explaining to Beckett that she was the one person in the NYPD database who both matched Elena's age and general appearance and spoke fluent Russian. He said it was their one chance.

"So you want me to go in her place?" Beckett asked to confirm the captain's intent.

Fowler detailed the meeting at the Widmark Hotel, the precautions that would be in place, the reasons they didn't believe Lazarus would know Elena on sight. He even offered to fit her with a monitored microphone if she wanted it.

Looking over at his wife, Castle could see that Beckett was on the verge of agreeing, but he didn't entirely trust Captain Fowler some reason he couldn't quite identify. "If she does this, she should be fitted with a GPS as well."

"A GPS?!" Fowler finally exploded with the resentment that he was having to tolerate a writer of mystery novels poking his unwanted nose into something this big. "It's a simple meeting, for God's sake…in a hotel with backup at elevators and meeting sites."

"My wife was shot by a sniper while delivering the eulogy at her former captain's funeral. Anything can happen. GPS would be a requirement."

"Captain Gates, I will not have this civilian tell me how to do my job. I insist that he leave."

Before the captain could answer, Beckett told Fowler, "The more you want Castle gone, the more I think I need him to stay. If you want my cooperation, he gets yours."

"Fine," Fowler answered through gritted teeth, looking at what she was wearing. We can put the GPS…in the heel of your boot."

"Thank you," Gates answered. "If anything goes sideways, I don't want any part of losing one of the city's best detectives."

"One more thing," Castle insisted.

"What else, Mr. Castle?" Fowler asked testily.

"Is there any possibility that Vulcan Simmons could be Lazarus?"

"How do you know about Vulcan Simmons?"

"There's history with my wife. He would recognize her."

Fowler gave him a long, narrow-eyed look and carefully enunciated, "We have no reason to believe that Vulcan Simmons would be Lazarus."

"You need to be sure," Gates insisted.

"You heard me," Fowler answered with barely contained anger. "The meet is at five. We don't have much time, so I need an answer now."

"It should be fine, Castle," Beckett soothed.

"I'll set the arrangements in motion and get you fitted with the electronics." Fowler said, obviously relieved as he left.

"I don't like Captain Fowler's hard sell tactics," Gates told them. "This isn't your job, Lieutenant. You're homicide. If you're not comfortable with it, you can walk away. I'll take the heat."

"Thank you, Sir, but I can handle this."

"Then I'll leave the two of you alone until they're ready to review the plan with you."

"Since it's just a meeting, I should be back in time for dinner," Beckett said to her worried husband. "Maybe we can have a glass of wine together and salvage the rest of the day."

"As soon as I know you're okay, I'll decant something amazing," he promised.

"I'll look forward to it," she answered.

In another couple of minutes, someone came in to take care of the electronic tracking, and then Fowler was back for a final briefing. Their backup plans were explained again, Beckett was told to take the north elevator to the meeting in room 1123 and was reminded not to act like a cop…that Elena was a woman who was intimidated by these people. Her instructions were to stay calm, memorize names and faces, and that she should be out in no time. After a quick kiss and a whispered assurance to Castle, she left with Fowler.

However, once she was in the hotel elevator with the attendant, the uniformed man shoved a gun at her and commanded her not to move. She was somehow hustled out of the building without the back-up knowing, and when the elevator reached the eleventh floor, backup reported that she wasn't there.

Beckett, with her hands bound, was thrown into the back of a truck and driven away from the hotel. Using the microphone, she reported her observations on the truck, the plate number, driving time, impressions of what she could hear, and the direction she thought they were headed etc., obviously needing help.

The backup team went into action, but found no sign of her at the hotel. The elevator attendant was nowhere to be found, either, and was apparently not a member of the hotel staff. Back at the precinct, Castle met an angry and frustrated Fowler at Gates door, demanding angrily, "Where is Beckett?"

"You promised us you had her back. What happened?" Gates demanded, placing a placating hand on Castle's arm to encourage him to let her take charge.

Castle barely contained himself, but he allowed it.

"We were set up for a simple meeting, not an orchestrated kidnapping," Fowler snapped defensively.

"Yeah, because people who orchestrate their sales operations this well would never be expected to do anything surprising. Did you even cover all the hotel exits?" Castle mumbled just loud enough Fowler could hear.

"Whoever was in room 1123 didn't know about a meeting because there never was gonna be one," Gates answered with a mildly accusing tone.

"Look, we've issued a limited alert," Fowler told them.

"Limited?!" was heard from Gates and Castle in tandem, and her hand again descended to Castle's arm. Gates continued. "We need to call in the cavalry, here."

"We know they monitor police radios. Sending up a flare might make things worse," Fowler answered. He seemed to finally fully sense how badly the operation had gone.

"They either knew your girl rolled on them, or they made Beckett. Either way, she's dead if we don't find her immediately.

"I guess that GPS doesn't look so bad now, does it?" Castle gloated. Turning to the captain, he said, "We may need to call Jordan,"

"We have the life of one of our own at stake, here, Captain," Gates stated firmly. "Is there anything you haven't told us about Elena Markov?"

"Absolutely not. Everything about the story she told us checked out."

"I have a bad feeling about this, Fowler," Castle said. "There's something else you haven't told us, isn't there? I see it in your eyes. What else?" he demanded.

Fowler cringed a little at the accusation but didn't answer.

"Spill it, Fowler," Castle said, moving threateningly into his space. "My wife is in this mess because you screwed up."

Fowler took a deep breath and admitted, "There's a very small possibility Vulcan Simmons could be involved. We have no reason to think so, but he's probably been working under someone's protection for the past eight years or so. It's vaguely possible."

"And you didn't see fit to let us know that before this happened?" Castle shouted, pushing Fowler against Gate's desk. "I told you…"

"Mr. Castle, this won't accomplish anything, positive," she said, pulling him back. "Over there for now…please," she ordered, motioning him to a corner away from Captain Fowler.

Gates went to her desk, pulled out the phone she used to contact Jordan Shaw, dialed the number, then opened her door, calling Ryan and Esposito. "Gentlemen. My office, now!"

The boys had barely entered the room and closed the door when Gates's call was answered. "Thank God you're there, Jordan. We have a situation." She gave a brief description of the problem as Fowler listened in confusion. Then she called IA. "Lin, I need you here now. Jordan is on her way, but she has to set their contingent plan into motion first."

"What's going on?" Fowler wanted to know. He obviously sensed that the entire operation was quickly slipping out of his control, and he wasn't happy.

"What's going on is that Vulcan Simmons is in league up to his eyeballs with the man who had Lt. Beckett shot a couple of years ago. That man is still out there looking for a reason to try again, and you just gave it to him. Your lie not only endangered the life of a fine law officer, it's also interfered with a high profile FBI operation involving the same man. I've been ordered to detain you here until we can ascertain that your actions aren't part of the conspiracy being investigated. Lin Jackson from IA will keep you company in the conference room until our FBI contact arrives, and this time I'll have to insist that none of what I've just said leaves this room. Because of your decision, they're having to put their operation into action earlier than intended. You'll be detained until Agent Shaw can speak to you; and considering the circumstances, I'd suggest you fully cooperate. This isn't looking good for you, Captain Fowler, regardless of whether it was intentional carelessness with a fellow officer's life or actual collusion to help take her down for profit. You had the opportunity to exercise some conscience in your command decision, and you chose to ignore it. It seems Mr. Castle's instincts are as good as you were told they are."

Fowler's bluster seemed to collapse at that point, and he cooperatively walked to the conference room with Gates to await the reckoning for his overzealous choice.

"Deep breaths, man," Esposito told Castle. "Tell us what happened so we can get on it."

Castle explained, and Ryan and Esposito had the urge to go to the conference room and take Fowler on, but Castle disagreed.

"GPS, guys...if Captain Idiot even bothered to turn it on. Fowler thought it was a stupid idea, so I don't know where that stands right now. If the truck can be intercepted before it reaches its destination, there's probably less danger for her. Just get on it. I don't have the authority, and the captain has her hands full right now. She expects you to take the initiative."

"You coming with us?"

"Not yet. If I leave this room right now, you may have to arrest me for Fowler's murder." Castle continued to pace Gate's office until she returned.

"Lin is here. I'm free to do my job," she reported.

"Ryan and Esposito checked on the GPS monitor. They called everything in so the FBI has the same information."

"Beckett reported in again," Gates told him. "She said that they're slowing down and she needed to get rid of the wire. They're bound to have at least her hands restrained. I hope she can manage that."

"She's pretty creative…and flexible. Maybe she can," he answered, staring out the window worriedly as he spoke. Realizing how that could be taken, he started, "I didn't…"

"You're under stress, Mr. Castle. I took that statement as respect for your wife's ability to use the skills she's developed over her years here." He nodded his appreciation before she added, "Jordan Shaw was in town today, and she should be here in about ten minutes. She's left Avery to coordinate the rescue so she can get here and assess the overall situation."

xxxxx

Beckett's captor checked for a wire before allowing her out of the truck. He somehow missed the GPS in her boot heel, probably because he was concentrating on how he planned to run the device suggestively up under her jacket as he completed his search. As he finished and found nothing, she managed to slide the wire under something in the floor of the truck with her foot before he spotted it.

He then put a bag over her head and took her inside a large house, the first floor of which was obviously being used as offices. Once inside, the bag was removed, and she was held hostage at gunpoint. Sticking to the persona of a frightened, low level courier, she asked questions about what would happen. Just before his cell phone rang to tell him to bring her in, the man with the gun told her she could drop the act; and then he ushered her into a room nearby.

In Russian, the man at the desk asked if she was…a friend; and, also in Russian, she answered, "I am a friend. A true friend."

"You are Elena Markov?" he asked.

"Yes."

The man smiled, said he was glad to finally meet her, and introduced himself as Mr. Jones. Her kidnapper was introduced as Mr. Harden.

"I'm sorry about the lengths we have to go to to have a meeting, but these are the times we live in," he apologized. After very little small talk, he got to the business at hand, saying that, rather than having her freelance, they wanted to offer her a permanent place in their organization. Handing her a small note showing the amount fifty thousand dollars, he assured her that would be her weekly pay.

She looked at it poker faced and proclaimed it a generous amount but insisted on knowing who she was working with. She gave meeting Lazarus as a prerequisite…a matter of trust.

Harden asked to speak to Jones before taking her to wait in one of the bedrooms upstairs while Lazarus was contacted; and taking advantage of their time in the hallway behind the closed door, Beckett grabbed the phone and called the precinct. Aside from asking them to trace the call, she told them Elena was much more important than they thought. When the two men returned, she was again standing innocently near the desk where they had left her.

Harden had expressed his opinion that something wasn't right about Elena Markov, that she didn't seem to know why she was there. Jones didn't seem concerned and suggested that Harden never liked adding new personnel, especially when it was someone with more rank than Harden's, but Harden still argued his point. He didn't trust her.

xxxxx

Castle, Esposito, and Ryan, frustrated that the phone's heavy security measures, followed Gates into the conference room to confront Fowler about anything else he may have chosen to keep to himself.

"Captain, why did Beckett tell us that Elena Markov was more than a courier?" Gates asked pointedly.

"I have no idea," Fowler answered.

"Is there anything else you haven't told us?" Castle asked impatiently.

"No." Turning to Gates and Lin Jackson, he asked, "Do I have to keep answering questions from him?" he asked.

"Since you've taken it upon yourself to virtually sign my wife's death warrant, I think I have a right to a few more bad answers," Castle snapped.

"Sounds fair to me," Lin Jackson answered.

Fowler grudgingly answered, "We didn't have time to look too deep, not with things moving this fast. We didn't even know about her until yesterday."

"Maybe you didn't know about her at all," Gates answered, sounding disgusted.

Ryan went to the door and spoke to someone who called him there. "I think we can fix that. The hospital called, and she's awake."

Their brief encounter with the hope of learning more about the woman was also dashed when the hospital security footage showed Elena leaving her hospital room alone. The police officer guarding her had been left behind on the floor, his throat cut using exactly the same method as all the drug dealers on the white board in the conference room. They now knew that Markov was a contract killer.

Jordan had joined the group just in time to gather that information, and Castle asked her, "Do we have any idea where Beckett is yet?"

"Yes, we still have the signal, but we still have to get there."

Ryan protested, "If they've taken Elena, that means Beckett's cover is blown. She's as good as dead."

"Or if Elena left entirely on her own and she knows how to contact them, it's no better," Gates answered.

"SWAT is on the way," Jordan assured them. "Avery is coordinating, but we had to gather the specific people we know we can trust, and we have to go in a quieter mode than usual…different vehicles, different appearance. These people know their security. If we go in as usual, they'd see us coming miles away. It's slowed us down, but we're underway."

xxxxx

Left to herself in her room, Beckett found paper and pen and wrote a letter to Castle, hiding it behind one of the heating grates before hearing another vehicle and voices outside. There was another woman being brought in with a black bag over her head. Then Harden came to take Beckett back to Jones.

Jones was surprised, but Lazarus agreed to meet with her if she agreed complete an assignment first…a take it or leave it deal.

"Deal," Beckett answered, now wearing a fully confidant demeanor. "What do I need to do?"

'Kill him," Jones said casually. "What you do best." And he dropped a picture of the intended victim on the desk in front of a shocked but still poker faced Beckett…immediately clarifying Elena Markov's place in the organization. "Make it clean," he added.