891. Chapter 891

After Veritas

Episode 6.22

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: In truth, I do not own Castle. Rating: K+ Time: See above

"Bill, just let me handle this. This is what I do." He gestured to the expensive office they sat in. "This is what we do. And we do it very well."

Bracken angrily shook his head. "Jerry, listen to me, god dammit! I'm running for the President of the United States of America. This can't just be handled. That isn't enough."

The lawyer smiled comfortingly. "The only evidence they have is an old tape that's been in the possession of a cop who's had a grudge against you for years. We'll tear that apart in court. Quit worrying."

"NO!" He yelled. "You start worrying. Have you seen my poll numbers? They've gone straight in the toilet. Worse, believe it or not, I'm the butt of jokes on late night TV talk shows and the internet. Do you have any idea how many idiots out there get their news from there? Too damned many!"

"Bill, we'll win this thing going away."

"That's not enough. I can't afford to just win. We have to destroy those people. At the end of this I want that bitch cop, her cop pals, that writer and everyone else connected with this cluster fuck in jail! In jail! Do you understand me?"

Jerry looked at Bracken with disbelief. "How do you expect us to do that? This is a high profile trial. There is major media attention and the Feds are all over this thing. Sure, we can suggest that Beckett and the rest are obsessed with a vendetta against you, but how would we ever get proof that this is full blown conspiracy against you?"

"How?" Bracken's face was beginning to turn red. "I'll tell you how. Pay off people to say what you want them to say. Threaten them. Blackmail them. Grab their damned kids and threaten to slit their little fucking throats if they don't cooperate and then kill the bastards after they've testified. That's what you do! And if you don't want to do that, then I can make you do it my way. Remember what was on the tape? I know people, Jerry. Dangerous people. So do what I damned well say."

Bracken shook his head sadly. "I've been too easy on everyone. I should have been more damned ruthless. How could I have allowed this to happen?"

When Bracken left, Jerry called his team together in his office. "Bracken has no idea what he's asking for. With all the scrutiny we'll be getting there's no way to do what he wants without all of us, including Bracken, ending up in jail."

A very bright and very ambitious blonde lawyer looked around. "And he threatened us if we don't do this? As in having us killed? What the hell are we supposed to do?"

Jerry nodded. "Just leave that to me."

The president of Orantis Solutions was nervous. Bracken was not happy with him, that much was obvious. And what happened to people who Bracken wasn't happy with was all too clear. Finally he was ushered into Bracken's office.

"How the hell did I get blindsided on this, Davis? How? How did I end up with Kate Fucking Beckett walking into my press conference and arresting me? Arresting me!" Bracken's voice was low and cold.

"She killed the guys that were supposed to kill her." Davis said, feeling sick to his stomach.

"Two armed killers against a drunk, stoned, unarmed woman and she killed them? Where did you find those morons and why the hell wasn't there any follow up?"

"They were good people, sir. They'd worked for us before and were successful. But, they had been told to lay low for a while and not attract any attention to themselves. So, when we didn't hear from them, we assumed everything went as planned. And we didn't want to check on Beckett for fear of attracting attention. By the time we knew she was alive and our people were dead, um…."

"By the time you knew just how badly you fucked up, I was on god damned national television being arrested!" Bracken screamed.

"Sir, not every operation goes one hundred percent according to plan." Davis said nervously.

Bracken actually laughed. "Not one hundred percent according to plan? How about zero percent according to plan?" Bracken stared at Davis and then screamed. "How about fucking zero percent according to plan, you asshole?"

""Sir, we've done all we could to limit the damage and…"

Bracken cut him off. "You'll do a hell of a lot more than that, Davis. My idiot lawyers seem to think that getting me off is some sort of a victory. Well, I don't want to be innocent, I want to be President. So, I'm going to make the tough decisions that Presidents make. Kill them all."

"Sir?" Davis was sure he'd heard Bracken correctly, but he had to check. "Kill them? All?"

"Yes, god dammit! Are you deaf, or stupid, or something? Kill that bitch, the writer, the cops, all the damned cops involved in this. Kill their families, her dad, his mother and daughter, everybody's mother, father, wife, husband and children. Every one!" Bracken was panting.

He slammed his fist down on his desk. "I've been to damned lenient. I should have had Pulgatti shanked in prison and Raglan, McAlister and Montgomery killed too. I shouldn't have stopped with that bitch lawyer. I should have wiped out her whole damned family. If I'd been more ruthless, I wouldn't be in this mess. When the damned sniper failed I should have sent more men after her and everyone else. I should have had Smith killed. I should have had anyone connected with Montgomery's damned file killed. Anyone who read it should have been killed. All of them."

Bracken looked up as if just realizing that Davis was still there. "Now get the hell out of my office and don't come near me until they're dead."

Davis got up and walked out. Bracken's losing it. It would be almost impossible to orchestrate a massacre of that magnitude successfully. Even if you could somehow kill all of those people, there'd be too many loose ends, too many chances for foul ups, too much evidence left behind. Eventually, it would all come back to me. Davis shuddered slightly. Luckily, I have options.

Bracken looked at his lawyer. He could tell from his expression that he had bad news.

"Bill, we have a problem. Davis and two other executives from Orantis Solutions have gone to the Feds and made a deal. Apparently, the have a lot of incrimination documents. I'm still trying to get a handle on what they have through discovery, but the chatter I'm getting says it's bad. Bill, this information links you directly to several murders. We can try to suppress the evidence, but…Dammit, this is very serious."

Bracken just smiled and then laughed. "No problems, Jerry. I'm going to have them killed. I'm going to have them all killed. Every last one of them. So, it's not serious at all. You have to be ruthless, Jerry. I've learned that." Bracken laughed again. "Dead. All dead."

Jerry just shook his head.

Bracken, William, H., Federal Prisoner 183 47 0892 felt the knife slice through his orange prison jump suit and into his body. He fell to the floor. He was strangely calm. Now that's a ruthless man. If I'd just been like that, I wouldn't be in this mess. Then all was darkness.