590. Chapter 590

After The Nose,

Or

How Season Eight Will Not End

Part Two

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Still don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: Sometime in season eight. Maybe. Or maybe not.

Probst smiled triumphantly. "Now, why would your husband be meeting with a known, major drug dealer? And with his three new friends?"

Kate smiled back at Probst. "Rick is an author. He meets a lot of people for research and some of them I don't approve of. But meeting with Vales isn't breaking any law, is it?"

Probst changed the subject. "Several years ago Vales was being arrested for murder by a Detective Slaughter when you jumped the case, isn't that true?"

"That is not true." Gates snapped. "I established that clearly in my report at the time. Beckett was then a homicide detective and the murder took place in the 12th's jurisdiction. The gang unit is a city wide organization not tied to one precinct. Gang task force members are supposed to coordinate with the precinct they're working in. Slaughter never did that. In fact, Detective Slaughter has a long record of ignoring protocol. Among other things. Captain Beckett had every right to investigate that murder."

"It was quite lucky for Vales that you got involved, wasn't it?"

"He wasn't the killer. That was the victim's father, from whom we got a confession. We are supposed to arrest the right person, aren't we?" Kate said sarcastically.

"So you have no idea why your husband would be meeting with Vales?" Braun asked.

"None."

Gates pointedly looked at her watch. "Captain Beckett has answered all of your questions and I see no reason prolong this meeting. Good morning, gentlemen."

After the two had left, Gates turned to Kate. "Something is going on, Kate. Do you have any idea why Mr. Castle would want to meet with Vales? Or those three ex-soldiers?"

Kate shook her head.

"I suggest you find out then before this blows up in your face."

Once back in her office, Beckett called in Ryan and Esposito and closed the door. "Did you have lunch with Castle last Thursday?"

Ryan and Espo exchanged glances. "Yes." Ryan replied.

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"He's a friend of ours. Just because your marriage has fallen apart is no reason…"

"My marriage has not fallen apart! I'm more in love with Castle now than I've ever been. I just have something I need to do, then everything will be like it was." I hope. She added silently.

"You want us to tell you from now on if we run into Castle?" Espo asked.

"Yes. And tell me about the three men with him. What do you know about them? "

What the two detectives knew was less than Kate already knew.

When the two left, Kate picked up her phone. "Vikram? We have a problem. Get everything that you can find on a Cesar Vales, from Texas, drug dealer. There was a murder warrant on him here a couple of years ago, but it was dropped. I'll be there tonight to talk about this."

Beckett blew off some paperwork she had intended to do and got to her hideout by early afternoon. She hoped she wasn't already too late.

"I've got a lot of things on Vales." Vikram said. "But there's an awful lot of duplication. This one report from DEA covers just about everything of interest though."

Kate read through the report. One thing jumped out at her. "A year and a half ago Vales survived an assassination attempt in Houston. At about the same time two of his top lieutenants were murdered. That was the same time that Elena Markov was killing for Bracken in New York. That can't be a coincidence."

"But what does it all mean?" Vikram asked.

"I'm not sure…" Beckett was beginning to have a horrible feeling about this.

"There's one more thing. I decided to go over the surveillance footage again. I may have found something."

"What?"

Vikram turned the computer monitor to her. "There was a truck parked just down the street for a while last week."

The monitor showed the back of a panel truck marked "Sam's Plumbing".

"So?" Beckett asked.

"I checked. Sam's Plumbing is from Ridgewood, New Jersey and it's basically a one man operation. Just Sam. So what's he doing in the city? That's a long way from north Jersey."

"Did you get a look at the driver?"

Vikram shook his head. "No, but I found something interesting. A car was parked about a block from the plumbing truck. It was too far away to keep us under surveillance, but close enough to the plumber's truck. It arrived just after our plumber friend and left about five minutes after Sam did."

"Did you get anything on that car?" Beckett asked.

"It was too far away to get anything from our cameras, but I hacked into a camera right across the street. Here's the driver. No license though. The driver was cagey."

Kate felt a cold chill run up and down her spine. "Henry Jenkins."

"Who?"

Kate shook her head to clear it. "When Castle was kidnapped, he was part of it. He claimed to be a guy named Henry Jenkins who lived in Maine. Claimed Castle had been living on the beach near him for two months. We found out he was lying."

"So he's connected to your husband's kidnapping?"

"And more. We found out he took Castle to Thailand and later killed some Russian hit man. But what…" Kate flipped back to the shot of the truck and pulled out her phone, calling the phone number of the truck. When the phone was answered she used her best New Jersey accent.

"Hello, this is Norma from Bartles and James. We're Mr. Richard Castle's accountants. Did Mr. Castle pay you for the use of your truck the other day?"

"Sure." Sam replied. "He paid cash. Up front."

"Oh, thank you. He must just have forgotten to make a note of it. Goodbye." She hung up. "Oh, god! I've totally fucked up."

"What?" Vikram said. "I don't understand."

"Jenkins is keeping an eye on Castle. Jenkins, or whoever he really is, is some kind of intelligence agent. And he took Castle to Thailand. Northern Thailand, northern Laos and northern Myanmar, Burma, is the Golden Triangle. They've been growing opium poppies there for centuries. And Castle was with some Pakistani, allegedly a former Al Qaeda operative who turned on them. But Islamic radicals are all over Pakistan and Afghanistan and they're deeply involved in the heroin trade."

"Which means…?" Vikram wasn't following this.

"I have no proof, but phony Jenkins could work for Locsat and is keeping an eye on Castle. If Castle is trying to find out about Locsat…." Kate grabbed her phone again. She got Castle's voicemail. "Castle, lover, I've made a huge mistake. Whatever you're doing, stop and call me. I'm going home. To the loft. Please. I love you so much, Rick. I'll explain everything. Just come home to me, lover."

She turned to Vikram. "Keep a close eye on the surveillance cameras and keep your gun with you always. I have to go be with Rick. By pushing him away I may not be keeping him safe, but leaving him wide open to whatever Jenkins is planning."

As she drove home, she called Castle every chance she got, but was only able to leave messages on his voicemail.

When Kate reached the loft, she tried to call Castle one last time. Her heart sank when she heard his phone ringing from his office. There, sitting on his desk, was his phone. She cursed, then began calling everyone she could think of that might know where Castle was. Her calls to Alexis and Martha went to voicemail. She just hoped that they weren't so angry with her for leaving Rick that they wouldn't call back. No one else of all the people she called had any idea where Rick was, although she had the feeling that some of Rick's friends wouldn't have told her even if they did know.

Eventually, she had called everyone she could think of and had gotten nowhere. She decided it was time to go to bed so she could start in the morning. Finishing in the bathroom, she went to Rick's closet and found a tee shirt of his she could wear. But once she had it on, she took it off again. If he does come back here tonight, I don't want anything between us and I do want to show him what he means to me.

However, she found she couldn't get to sleep. What she had learned kept going around and around in her head. How did Castle figure it out? Not important. I, of all people, know how good he is at figuring out a story. He figured it out. I just have to accept that. He can't think I'm cheating on him with Vikram. Would he think I'm cheating on him with someone else? No! I can't go there. I can show him there's no one but him for me. Whatever he thinks, I'll fix the damage to our marriage no matter what it takes.

She began to think of things more relevant to her problem. Why did Jenkins kidnap Castle in the first place? The best stories are those that stick the closest to the truth. So, maybe they did need Castle to contact someone, if not Bilal, then someone else. How many people did Castle meet when he did his research for the Derrick Storm books? Who might he have met who'd want to see him now? I have no idea who that might be. Any other reasons to take Castle? Did they kidnap Castle to get back at me? I put Locsat's partner, Bracken, in prison. If I'm expecting to be the partner of a crooked, sociopathic President, I'd be plenty pissed off at that. And that explains all the effort to make it look like Castle had run out on our marriage instead of just dumping him someplace with a no memories, or a head full of phony memories. Breaking my heart and destroying the love I have for Rick would be a perfect revenge. Much neater than murder. But all of this brings me no closer to figuring out who's behind Locsat.

Kate tossed and turned and wrestled with another question. Why did he meet with the three ex-soldiers? And why the meeting with Vales? Are the three his guides to the world of drug smuggling in Texas and Mexico? Agent Braun acted like they'd know the area. But Vales? Well, who better to ask about the drug trade than someone in it up to their eyeballs? As long as Vales isn't working for Locsat. I wish I could have asked more questions. But I didn't want to betray any interest that might jeopardize my investigation. Instead, I may have jeopardized Castle. Fuck! I hate this!

Kate finally fell into a fitful and restless sleep.

She rose at dawn and was quickly on her way to Castle's PI office. When she arrived, the office wasn't open yet. Feeling slightly guilty, she used a lock pick to open the office door. She searched the office, but found nothing to help her.

She was about to leave when Alexis arrived. Kate breathed a sigh of relief when the young redhead smiled when she walked in. "Hi, Beckett. Need something?"

"Alexis, I can't explain, but your father may be in great danger and I need to find him. Can you tell me where he is?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Alexis, please. I realize I've screwed up our marriage and probably put Castle in danger, instead of protecting him, but I need your help."

"Beckett, I'd help you if I could, but I can't. Dad told me that he couldn't tell me anything about where he was going or what he was doing. He said you might be looking for him and that he didn't want you to know."

"Can you tell me anything?"

Alexis nodded. "I came to work about eight o'clock two days ago. Dad was here with three men."

"Can you describe them?" Kate broke in.

Alexis described the three men. Kate was sure they were the three in the IA surveillance photos.

"Did they say anything or do anything?"

Alexis slowly shook her head. "Dad did call one of them Cowboy. Other than that, he told me he couldn't tell me anything and they all left."

"Nothing else? Could he have mentioned Texas?" Kate was getting desperate. She was sure Castle had headed for Texas to see Vales, but where? The state was just too damned big!

Alexis walked behind the desk and tapped the desk top. A hidden panel in the desk popped open, but no gun flew out. "Dad took his pistol." Alexis sat down at the computer and began typing. "If he had his gun, he couldn't have flown anyplace, unless…" She smiled. "He leased a business jet at JFK. According to this, he and three passengers flew to El Paso, Texas." Alexis continued to type on the computer. She smiled again. "He rented two suites at the El Paso Hilton Garden Inn. One for himself and one for four people. Suites One Eleven and One Thirteen."

Alexis frowned for a second and then resumed typing. "Here we are. He made three wire transfers to a bank in El Paso, Texas. Sent to a James Coleman, Hernan Almagro, and a LoDon Johnstone."

"How much?" Kate asked.

"$9500. Just under the ten thousand dollar limit that would require the bank to notify the Treasury Department."

Kate took out her phone and called Ryan. She explained that she might have to be out of town for a couple of days and that she couldn't explain why to either him or to One PP. "Can you and Espo cover for me? I don't want you to get in trouble, so if anything…"

Ryan stopped her. "If anything goes wrong, we'll still cover for you. No problem."

When she had hung up, she turned to the redhead. "Alexis, I can't thank you enough. I just hope I'm not too late." She hugged Alexis briefly and headed for the door.

"How are you going to get on a plane with your weapons?" Alexis called to her.

Kate stopped and frowned. "I'll have to try to get some in Texas. It shouldn't be too hard."

"Or you could take a leased business jet and go to your room at the El Paso Hilton Garden Inn."

Kate turned around. "I could what?"

"I know all of my dad's passwords and credit card numbers. I can have you on a Lear jet out of Newark in four hours. I already have your room reserved in El Paso."

Kate went back and hugged Alexis again. "You're amazing."

Alexis shrugged. "We Castle women have to stick together. No telling what kind of trouble Dad would get into otherwise."

That afternoon, Kate checked into the hotel. The first thing she did after putting her suitcase down was go to Castle's room. She knocked several times, but got no reply. She then tried the other suite with the same results. Kate spent the rest of the day walking from one part of the hotel to the next, hoping to find Castle, but with no luck.

She got up early the next morning and went to have breakfast. There her luck changed. As she was finishing her breakfast, she saw Coleman come in and order coffees to go. She left, throwing a twenty on the table and followed Coleman to a conference room.

When she got to the door, a man with an obvious bulge under his left armpit stopped her. "Private meeting. No admittance."

She smiled. "The meeting is with my husband, Richard Castle, and with a Mr. Vales. I need to see my husband."

"Beckett?" She heard Castle say, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

The guard stepped aside and she walked in.

Cesar Vales turned to look at her. "A cop! What the fuck is a cop doing here? What the fuck are you trying to pull on me?"

Beckett held her hands over her head. "I'm Castle's wife, and yes I am a cop. But I'm here solely as his wife. Take my weapons and check me for a wire if you want. All I want to do is talk to Rick."

One of Vales' men checked her with an electronic wand, finding her sidearm and back up where she said it was. He also confirmed she wasn't wearing a wire.

Vales pointed to a corner. "Talk over there where I can see you."

Kate pulled Rick into the corner and kissed him, briefly but passionately. "Lover, all I ever wanted to do was to keep you safe. You have to believe that." Before Rick could reply she told him about what she'd found out about Locsat and what she surmised he'd found out about what she was doing. "Please, let's just get out of here as fast as we can. Okay?"

"We can't. I told Vales all about Bracken and this Locsat thing. If Locsat is using CIA funds to buy drugs, using CIA aircraft to move the stuff and using CIA mercenaries to protect the operation, Vales can't compete. He'll be driven out of business even if he isn't killed. He's pretty sure they tried already. If we try to walk out on him, he'll probably kill all of us."