423. Chapter 423

After Sleeper

Episode 7.20

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, but I do sleep. Rating: K Time: See above.

As soon as Kate woke up, she knew her husband was staring at her. "It's creepy to stare at me when I'm asleep." She said, without opening her eyes.

"I'm not staring. I'm thinking."

She rolled over to face him, finding him propped up on one elbow. "Thinking about what?"

"I know they lied to me. And the more I think about it, the more I wonder how much they lied to me. And I finally get to the point where I wonder if everything they said was a lie."

"So they lied about..?" Kate began.

"I didn't want to forget. At least I didn't want to forget what they said I did. If I helped an Al Qaeda defector reveal a plot that saved thousands of lives, why would I ever want to forget that? Does that mean I really did something…evil? Something I really do want to forget?"

Kate shook her head sharply. "No, Rick. I know you. You would never do something evil. I'm betting it's just CIA paranoia. They'd be better off if you never remembered what happened, so they made you forget and blamed it on you."

Rick thought for a minute. "Maybe, maybe not. I remember discussing moral choices in school. You'd be given a problem. Your aged mother and a sixteen year old stranger are both poisoned. You have enough antidote for one. Do you let Mom die or some kid? There is no right answer, of course, because you feel rotten no matter what you do, but you have to do something." He suddenly added. "And we have only their word that they're CIA."

"And you think they're not?" Kate was beginning to worry.

"Okay, let's start at the beginning. I'm driven off the road. They tell me something that makes me willingly go with them. They make me think they're CIA or some kind of good guys. So why set fire to the car? CSU said it didn't catch fire when it went off the road. I probably would have been killed or at least burned. It was deliberately burned. "

Kate shrugged. "To get rid of DNA and fingerprints?"

"If they're CIA, their prints and DNA wouldn't be in any database we could access. And what about the call to Vinny the Scar to get rid of the Cadillac Escalade? I believe that I called Vinny and that I dropped the money off for him willingly. I've seen that surveillance tape of me dropping the money over and over. I'm not drugged or under duress."

"Again, getting rid of evidence?" Kate guessed.

"The CIA can't find a guy to drive the Escalade off with phony plates and get rid of it? When Jenkins has assured me that every second counted? And what about Montreal? If we're racing against the clock to stop a terror attack…Okay, I can see them letting me make memory chip for you, Martha and Alexis. But in Montreal? What, the CIA doesn't have enough frequent flyer miles to get a non-stop flight to Thailand? That's absurd. Jenkins is probably not CIA. Or if he is, he's gone rogue, or he's some kind of ex-spook…or…or something."

"So maybe everything is a lie, lover." Kate said softly.

"I tried to find out something about Bilal from Faircroft, but they can't tell me much. He was from Pakistan and was a Muslim, but beyond that…Nothing. They don't keep great records."

"Why is that important?"

"Al-Qaeda is a Sunni Muslim group. They hate Shias. Those are the two main branches of Islam, but there are Alawites, Druzes, and….all sorts. Which may be completely irrelevant. Maybe Bilal was never in Al-Qaeda. Maybe he was in some other terror group, or he worked for a drug cartel, or shady Russian oligarch, or a shadowy arms merchant, or…Anything. Maybe Jenkins wanted Bilal because Bilal had the Swiss bank account information for a Russian oligarch and Jenkins and Bilal were going to rob him blind and live happily ever after. That explains the Russian, at least."

"There's another possibility." Kate said. She had thought about this but hadn't wanted to bring it up to Rick.

"What?"

"Maybe this was all about Golyvkin. We do know he was ex-Russian special forces, Spetznaz, and that he's a gun for hire. Even if Jenkins wasn't CIA, I bet there are a lot of people who'd be a lot happier if he was dead and could afford to pay for it."

Castle nodded. "Why involve me, then?"

"Maybe Jenkins did need you to bring Bilal in to this plot. They tried to kill Golyvkin in Thailand and failed. But, they still have you. They know you'll keep at it, because that's who you are. And you're famous." Kate smiled at Rick. "Or at least famous-ish. Bilal and Jenkins are going to go underground and Golyvkin would expect that, but you're a public figure. You start looking around, Golyvkin hears about it and comes after you. When he does, Jenkins is there to shoot him."

Rick smiled. "That's a surprisingly devious CIA conspiracy you've come up with, Beckett. I'm really proud of you."

Kate smiled. "I learned from the best."

Castle's smile faded. "I've wondered about Thailand, too. Why there? The elected government of Thailand was overthrown in a military coup. Burma, now Myanmar, next door has had a low level civil war going since independence in the 1940s. Northern Thailand, Burma and Laos form the Golden Triangle where opium poppies are grown. The Chinese are growing more powerful which upsets the Vietnamese and others, but how to find out if any of this is relevant, is beyond me. That I was in that area if the world could mean everything, or nothing."

"We could ask the DEA if they have heard of anything about a Russian hit man in the Golden Triangle. " Kate said.

"And maybe they'd tell us something." Castle said sarcastically. "Federal agencies are not known for sharing."

"We can try."

Castle nodded. "Sure. But Jenkins is the key to this. I'm sure they needed two months to mess with my mind. And I think I tried to escape. Maybe more than once. Bilal said I wasn't shot, but I have the scar. Now Bilal is not the most trustworthy witness, but it makes sense that if I tried to escape, Jenkins would be willing to stop me. Kill me if necessary."

Castle rolled onto his back and pulled Kate to him. "It's all about the story, Beckett. It always is. If I were writing this story, I'd have Rick Castle show up someplace that made sense. In a cheap motel in New Jersey, surrounded by Scotch bottles. Or in an alley behind a strip club. I wouldn't have him found in a small boat eighty miles off the coast of Delaware. The Gulf Stream could have eventually taken my desiccated body all the way to the Caribbean. Or I could have been run over by a supertanker. All it would have taken would have been a modest storm to swamp the boat and sink me. No, if I was meant to die, I'd have gotten a bullet in the head and an unmarked grave. I was meant to have been found on that beach in New England with lots of evidence that I'd been there for the whole two months. But I think I grabbed that boat and made a run for it. That story makes sense."

Kate nodded. "But, if everything may be, and probably is, a lie, what do we do?"

"We look at the trailer and the beach in New England."

"CSU went over it." Kate protested.

"They weren't looking for evidence that I'd been held against my will, and shot or that I escaped by stealing a small boat. It's worth a shot."

As it happened, there was nothing. After three days of searching with a CSU team, Kate and Rick returned to the loft.

Kate put her arms around Rick. "Lover, please don't lose yourself down some rabbit hole like I did. I don't know if I could handle that."

Rick kissed the top of her head. "I'm completely out of rabbit holes to try to go down. I've got nothing."

And I hope you never get anything. Kate thought to herself. I don't think I could handle it.