249. Chapter 249

After The Wild Rover, Again.

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Never in my wildest dreams would I claim to own Castle. Rating: K Time: The past and the present.

I've been a wild rover for many a year,

And I've spent all me money on whiskey and beer,

But now I'm returning with gold in great store,

And I never will play the wild rover no more.

Bobby Shannon leaned back in his chair and looked over the skinny, pale fellow standing before him. "So! You're Fenton O'Connell?"

O'Connell just nodded.

"You don't talk much."

O'Connell shrugged. "Mike Conlon talked to you so you know damned well that I'm Fenton O'Connell. Or do you just let anyone walk back here?"

Bobby shook his head slowly. Mouthy, isn't he? "So, Fenton O'Connell, what caused you to leave Chicago and come to New York?"

"Are you sure you listened to Conlon?"

Bobby frowned. "I know what Conlon told me. But I want to hear from you. Okay?"

O'Connell shrugged. "I was working for Conlon in Chicago."

"Where in Chicago?"

"South Side. Conlon works out of a bar called The Bright Green. A fellow named Joe Clark owns it for appearances sake, but it's really Conlon's."

"And what did you do?"

"Moved product. Making crank is too easy, every teenage kid thinks he can make the stuff. So we buy from the small time meth cookers. My job is to pick up the product, collect it and pass it on to our dealers."

"And what happened?" Bobby asked, leaning forward, interested.

"We used a couple of Central American meth cookers. All of a sudden they told us that a Salvadoran gang had told them to stop selling to us. At one place, I turned around and some dude from the Mara Salvatrucha, the gang, was behind me. He pulled out a machete and said he was going to cut my head off. I shot him and a pal of his. The Maras are real big believers in violent revenge, so Conlon thought I'd better lay low for a while. So here I am."

"Why New York?"

"What am I supposed to do? Go to San Francisco and try to fit in with the Triads? I was born in New York, and Conlon told me you were a stand up guy."

Bobby nodded. What O'Connell said, tracked with what Conlon had said. Bobby stood up and held out his hand. "Okay, Fenton O'Connell. Let me give you a little try out to see what you can do. If you work out on something small like I have in mind, we can try you on something more difficult."

O'Connell shook his hand. "And if I work for you, I'm just Fenton."

"I'm Bobby, then."

….

Fenton turned the corner and slammed into a sharply dressed young African-American. "Be careful you dumb Paddy asshole!" He growled.

Fenton smiled and started to apologize. Half way through the apology, he slammed his fist into the man's stomach. He pulled out his pistol and jammed it as far into the man's mouth as it would go.

"Now listen. This is Staten Island. You and your kind stay the hell of the island. Understand? This is a friendly warning from Bobby S. If you don't pay attention to this warning, you'll never see the next one coming. Got that?"

The man nodded around the gun in his mouth.

O'Connell removed the weapon from his mouth, but kept it pointed at the man's chest. "I asked you if you'd gotten that."

"I got it." The man said with a glare.

"I got it, what?"

The man glared at O'Connell, but looked away. "I got it, sir."

O'Connell smiled. "Now get the hell out of here."

Bobby Shannon and two of his crew watched from a car across the street.

"He did okay." One of them said.

"That he did." Bobby said, stroking his jaw and thinking.

….

The crew met at Kelly's. Bobby S. and two members of his crew walked in with another man. Bobby held up his hand for silence. "This is Fenton O'Connell. He comes to us from Chicago where he worked with Mike Conlon. I just asked Fenton to have a little talk with Antone Jefferies. I think our friend Fenton got the message across." The crowd laughed.

Bobby turned to Fenton. "Since you're the new guy, you get to buy tonight. Don't worry if you don't have the cash. Siobhan will put it on a tab for you."

"Siobhan?" Fenton asked.

Bobby S. pointed to the woman behind the bar. She smiled at Fenton. Fenton smiled back.

….

"He's cute, Fenton."

"As cute as me?" He teased.

"Oh, lots cuter. He's soft and cuddly and cute as hell. Win him for me?"

Fenton looked at the white stuffed animal. "What is it?"

"It's a stuffed toy mouse." The man running the game said.

"Are you sure you want it, Siobhan?"

"Are you sure you want me?" She said back to him.

"What do I have to do to win Mr. Whiskers there?"

"Just take six of these rings and toss five of them over any one of the posts there."

"Nothing to it." Fenton said, tossing down a five dollar bill.

Twenty dollars later, Fenton was angry.

"We can go, Fenton." Siobhan said, putting her arm around his and pulling him away.

Fenton pulled back. "Hey! Fenton O'Connell is a man of his word. I told you I'd win that for you and I will."

Finally, Fenton and Siobhan walked away from the amusement park hand in hand, with Mr. Whiskers in tow.

…...

"Fenton!" Bobby S. shouted into his phone. "The cops are all over your place. Siobhan just called, screaming her damned head off. What happened?"

"Somebody ratted me out. I gotta run and I gotta run fast and far. I can't tell you where 'cause the damned phones may be tapped. I left a note in my car for Siobhan. See to it that she gets it, okay?"

"I'll get it to her. But where…" But Fenton had hung up.

…...

Kate rested her head on Castle's lap. "I don't care how cool Ryan's stories about being undercover are, you are never going undercover. Never."

"Kate?" Castle whined. "That's not fair."

"I'm not talking about fair, I'm talking about keeping you alive. And I don't fight fair where your safety is concerned. End of discussion."

"But if…" He began.

"No!" Kate said firmly. "The only way you will ever go undercover again is over my dead body."

"I have a compromise in mind."

"What?" She asked suspiciously.

"It involves me being over your live body."

And it's no, nay, never,

No, nay, never no more,

Will I play the wild rover,

No, never, no more.