1042. Chapter 1042

After Knockout

Episode 3.24

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Yes, I own Castle. I am such a liar. Rating: K Time: AU between and during episodes 3.24 and 4.01.

Entering the hangar, she looks again at the text from Ryan and Esposito. Montgomery is the third cop? How is that even possible? But there he is, with his pistol in his hand, waiting for her.

What happened next was like a horrible nightmare. Later, she could remember crying, forgiving Montgomery and begging him to let her help him. Suddenly Montgomery said, "Castle, get her out of here." She felt Castle's strong arms around her and, in spite of her struggling, he carried her out of the hanger and to her car. All the fight went out of her as she stood there, letting Castle hold her.

Then she heard the gunfire and ran back to the hangar. It was too late. Montgomery was dead. So were Lockwood and his men. She knelt by Montgomery and cried. Castle took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Beckett, we have to get out of here. Now."

Someone spoke. "Mr. Castle. I have Captain Montgomery's phone, but I'll need the lady's, too."

Standing beside them as a short man dressed in baggy sweats, with a hoodie and a baseball cap. Beyond them Kate saw a half a dozen men dressed in black, wearing flak jackets and carrying automatic weapons.

She lashed out at once at Castle, hitting him on the chest with his fists. "You bastard! You could have saved him. You could have saved Montgomery. What's the matter with you, you bastard? He knew who killed my mother!"

Castle put his arms around her, trapping her flailing fists against her sides. "Dammit Detective. Every fucking thing isn't about you."

The anger in his voice stopped her. "What do you mean?"

"I tried to get Montgomery to let my friends take care of Lockwood and his crew. I told him I'd get new identities for himself and his family. I'd get them someplace far, far away and I'd provide them with enough money to live comfortably. He refused."

"Why?"

"He said if he did that, his family would know he was dirty and the rest of the NYPD would figure it out soon after. He said if he stayed here and tried to fight, he'd get himself and his entire family killed. Or, the Dragon, would find a way to release evidence he had that Roy was dirty. He decided dying here a hero was his only option."

"Mr. Castle, I'll need the young lady's car keys as well." The young man said.

"Why do you need my phone and car keys?"

"We need to erase all the evidence that you were ever here or in contact with Montgomery." Castle answered. "We need the car so we can make sure the transponder and GPS don't show you were anywhere near the airport. Don't worry. He's the best there is."

Numbly, Kate handed over her phone and car keys.

"The phones will take just a minute or so, but the car will take longer." The man said and walked away. Kate noticed the armed men were gone as well.

Castle walked her back to his car. "We need to tell Ryan and Esposito that Montgomery was the…"

"They know already. They texted me. Oh, shit. We'll need to do their phones, too."

"My guy can take care of that." Castle handed her a phone. "I got a burner. Absolutely untraceable. Call them and have them meet us….?"

"We'll meet at my place." Kate made the call and as soon as the phones were hacked, they were on their way in Castle's car.

Once everyone was at her place, Kate explained what had happened to Montgomery and Lockwood as well as Castle's part. She was interrupted by a knock on her door. It was Castle's hacker. He returned her car keys and took Ryan and Esposito's phones. He was back in minutes and then gone.

Kate looked at her three teammates. They had all been crying. "No one. No one outside of this immediate family ever needs to know about this. As far as the world is concerned, Roy Montgomery died a hero. We owe it to him. All of us."

Esposito looked at her. "This immediate family? Does this mean Castle is back with us?"

Kate nodded. "Yes." Then she hesitated. "I mean, assuming he wants to come back. I was…" Her voice trailed off, afraid Castle didn't want to come back.

Castle smiled at her. "I'd like to see you try to keep me off this team."

Kate smiled back. "I want us to try to investigate Montgomery's death."

"Why?" Ryan asked. "We know the Dragon is behind it, but we don't know who he is."

"Montgomery was a precinct captain and never should have been out at that airport in New Jersey in the middle of the night. And there was no reason for Lockwood and his goons to show up. Okay, we know why they were there, but it's a mystery to the rest of the world. Our cover will be that we want to find out what happened. We'll actually be looking for anything, that Montgomery left behind that might point us to the Dragon. Okay?"

Everyone nodded, including Castle, who knew it was a waste of time.

Kate continued. "One PP will want to send a senior officer and a lawyer to see Evelyn Montgomery. Probably a priest or minister. Castle and I will hang back and go see Evelyn as soon as the brass leave. Espo, you and Ryan go over his office. Anyone have any question?"

No one did, and they got up to leave.

"Castle, can you stay for a minute?"

He came back and sat across from her.

"Really, Castle. Comanche Tribal Police?"

Castle smiled just briefly. "Why Detective Beckett. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Castle…."

"Beckett, I know a lot of guys. Some of them we know you don't approve of. Might it not be best if there was nothing you had to lie about down the road? Not that anything like that has happened recently."

Kate nodded and stood up. "I'm glad you're back Castle. We're going to have to have a long talk about a lot of things when this is over. For now, I'm going to try to get a couple of hours sleep. I'll pick you up at your place and we'll go to Montgomery's at say, nine?"

They parked more than two blocks from Montgomery's house and waited until the police brass and a man in a dark suit, apparently a priest, had left. Kate rang the doorbell.

"Kate Beckett? Rick Castle? Oh! You've heard. Please come in."

They could hear the two girls crying towards the back of the house. They knew Evan didn't live at home any more and wondered when he'd come.

Evelyn escorted them to the living room. "I know I'm way out of line saying this, and you have every right to be offended, but Roy always hoped you two would get together."

"We've become a lot closer in the past couple of days and I think we're just getting closer." Castle said.

Kate nodded and smiled. "But, Evelyn, we're here on business. Roy should never have been in that hangar in New Jersey. The whole thing makes no sense. Was he acting…odd, or anything?"

She nodded. "Now that you mention it…"

Lieutenant Murray of Internal Affairs was not a happy man. He glared at the 12th Precinct's homicide team. "Just what the hell did you people think you were doing?" He demanded.

"Investigating a homicide." Beckett shot back. "That's what we do, remember. And it was our captain."

"You know it's protocol for things like this to be investigated by IA? Why the hell did you get involved?"

"He was our captain, dammit." Ryan yelled. "What did you think we'd do?"

"And you got here so promptly, too." Castle added. "Only two days after the shooting."

Murray turned on Castle. "And what the hell is some damned writer doing involved in an official NYPD investigation?"

"Perhaps I could call Mayor Weldon and have him explain that to you?" Castle said mildly.

"Perhaps I could bust your ass for obstruction of justice."

"Oooh. Then I'd need a lawyer. For things like this, I use Hampton and Carey. I like to be represented by "Chip" Sanders. It never hurts to have the former Attorney General of the United States leading your defense. I'm sure he can be here in half an hour with a dozen of so of my legal team." Castle stopped as if he'd just thought of something. "Would any of you three like a lawyer or three?"

All agreed that the more lawyers they had, the better.

Murray knew he was beaten. "Okay, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. What did you find?"

"Nothing." Beckett said. "Evelyn Montgomery said he was acting a bit odd, but she couldn't think why. Castle and I went over the house from attic to basement and back again. We found nothing of any use."

"Same with us." Ryan said. "Espo and I went over his office, his locker and anything else we could think of. There's no reason he should have been in New Jersey and no reason he should have run into those goons."

"That you know of." Murray added.

"That we know of." Kate confirmed.

"That's all. Now try to stay out of the IA team doing the investigation."

They filed out of Murray's office.

If it wasn't a contradiction in terms, it was a beautiful day for a funeral.

Kate had managed to get through almost all of the eulogy without breaking down.

"Our Captain would want us to carry on the fight. And even if there is…

She heard the shot and heard Castle grunt. She whirled around to see Castle staring at his bloodstained shirt. Then he pitched forward onto his face.

Kate screamed.

Then years of training took over. She knelt by Castle, and taking her shirt off, applied pressure to the wound. "Lanie! Castle's hit. Over here." Getting no response, she looked behind her. All was chaos. She kept yelling for Lanie, a doctor, for someone to get an ambulance. Anything.

Then Lanie was beside her, trying to push her out of the way. "Dammit, Kate. You need to get out of my way so I can work."

Someone pulled her away and she stared down at the totally incomprehensible scene. How could Castle have gotten shot? She wondered.

Then there was an ambulance backing up and Castle was loaded in. She tried to get in back, but the paramedic pushed her away. "We have two casualties, a doctor and three paramedics in here, Officer. You'll just get in our way."

The ambulance left, and Kate ran to her car to follow it.

The hallway outside of the ER was half stunned silence and half madhouse. Suddenly Kate felt a pair of arms around her.

"Kate. I heard about the shooting at the cemetery. I was afraid it was you."

"No, Josh. I'm fine. Castle got shot."

"Castle? Good. I hope the bastard dies."

Kate's reaction was to slap Josh as hard as she could. Josh staggered back a step.

"What was that for?"

"What was that for? My partner's been shot. My friend. He's in the ER now. He might die and you ask what was that for?"

"Kate. That bullet was meant for you. And Castle, by forcing you go back and investigate your mother's case…"

"Forcing me to investigate my other's case? My mother was murdered. No one has ever had to force me to try to solve her case. It's what I do."

"You're upset. We'll talk…"

"Upset? You're damned right I'm upset. And do you know what else I am? I'm done with you. You're out of my life as of this second. Now go."

"Kate, honey…"

Then LT and Ryan were beside her. LT had his hand on his can of Mace and Ryan had his hand on the butt of his Glock.

"Is this civilian being a problem, Detective Beckett?" LT growled.

She glared at Josh. "Davidson, this is the site of an official police investigation. If you don't leave, I'll have you arrested for obstruction of justice. These officers will be happy to take you into custody."

To the disgust of LT and Ryan, Josh turned and walked away.

Before Kate could even take a deep breath, Martha was hugging her. "Kate, how are you, Kiddo?"

"I'm fine, Martha. It's Castle I'm worried about. He was shot."

"I know, dear. We're all pulling for him." Martha hugged her tighter. "No matter what happens, Katherine, you're family now."

Before she knew it, Alexis had joined in the hug, followed closely by Kate's dad.

"Sweetie, I have news."

Kate turned around to see Lanie, her dress still bloody, standing by her.

"News." Kate knew it could only be bad news.