531. Chapter 531

After Hunt

Episode 5.16

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I can't recall. Do I own Castle or not? Anyone out there know? Rating: K Time: See above.

Kate slipped into bed with Castle. In spite of everything he'd been through, or more likely because of it, he was way too wired to sleep. She moved as close to him as she could and lifted her thigh across him.

"I meant what I said, Castle. Don't ever do anything like that without me again."

"I'm sorry. I just…" He stopped.

"You just what?" She asked in a whisper.

"I wasn't thinking. I was so angry and upset that Alexis wasn't released with Sara that I just… acted on some stupid father's instinct. I should have talked to you. I should have…I don't know."

"Castle, I'm furious with you for just leaving me like that and going to Paris without a word. Do you have any idea how frightened I was? Do you have any idea what losing you and Alexis would be like for me? Rick, we're partners. Not just at the precinct and not just for solving crimes. We're more than that. At least I thought we were."

Castle hugged her tightly. "We are partners in every way. Always. It's just that your partner can do stupid things sometime, but never again."

She kissed him. "Good. I was a little worried there."

"You never, ever have to worry about that. I may be stupid but I'm not that stupid." Castle was silent for a moment. "So how much trouble am I in for not talking to you?"

Kate ran her hand along his jaw. "Trouble? No trouble at all. I'm so happy and relieved to have you back that I couldn't be mad at you."

"Good."

"I probably should have gone with you, but I won't know until you tell me what really happened."

"What?" Castle said, surprised.

"Don't pretend, Castle. You know I can tell when you lie. That story you told Martha and me was a lie. You went to Paris and asked your friend Gaston for help. He put you in touch with a man who just happened to be your long lost father? And he arranged a meeting, a ransom was paid and Interpol and the French police caught the kidnappers once Alexis was released. Then your father, this shadowy international mercenary and fixer just disappeared? And you came home with Alexis. Castle, Alexis did a better job with the story than you did."

"Do I at least get credit for not being able to lie well to you because I love you?"

"I could tell when you were lying to me well before you loved me."

Castle did his best to look hurt. "I've been in love with you for a very long time. Are you sure you knew when…"

"Quit trying to change the subject. What really happened in Paris?"

Castle decided he had no choice. "I did meet with my friend Gaston who is an advisor to the French Defense Ministry. He had told me about a man named Jacque Henri whom the French government sometimes used for things they couldn't do openly. Very bad things. But he had a reputation for being successful. I hired him and he took me to a guy called the Mole, Le Taupe, in French. He was blind but he heard things in the recording of the phone call from Alexis that you wouldn't believe. He located where she had been held. Henri and I went there, but she was gone. But the kidnappers had left a listening device behind. Henri talked to them and a deal was struck. I thought everything was okay. "

"I assume it wasn't okay?" Kate asked.

"We got to the meet and a bunch of armed men met us. Henri pulled a gun on me and took my money. He sold me out to the guys who kidnapped Alexis."

"We know Henson was keeping an eye on Alexis. That the kidnapping was about her. Who were these guys and why did they want Alexis?" Kate asked softly.

"My dad."

"What did your dad have to do with this?"

"He's a spy. Twelve years ago he killed the wife of a KGB agent named Gregor Volkov. This was all about revenge. Volkov kidnapped Alexis to lure my dad out so he could kill him, me and Alexis. My dad was at the meet. He killed Henri and the gunmen who'd been sent by Volkov for me."

"And?"

"I allowed myself to be captured by Volkov with a two way radio that was actually a bomb. When Volkov called my dad to tell him to surrender or else, Dad set off the bomb then started shooting. Alexis and I made a run for it and here we are."

"What about the man who tortured and killed Henson?"

"I guess he works for my dad. I didn't ask. Quite frankly, I'm not anxious to see him caught. I'm sure he's a bad man, but I feel I owe him. And Kate, all of this is top secret stuff. We can't ever tell anyone."

"I won't. But Castle, if anything even remotely like this ever happens again, I am going with you. Understand?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

All four stayed home at the loft the next day. Alexis and Kate were washing the breakfast dishes while Castle wrote in his office and Martha was in her room getting ready to go out to do some quick grocery shopping. Alexis moved closer to Kate. "You know, don't you?"

"Know?"

"What really happened in Paris. Dad told you."

Kate decided there was no reason to try to lie. "He told me. Is that a problem?"

"Not for me, but please don't tell Grams. She doesn't let it show very often, but I know that Grandpa leaving her all alone hurt her a lot. The less you say about him the better."

"I won't say a word."

Meanwhile, eleven time zones to the East, Major Ivan Gregorovitch Volkov sat in his office at the headquarters of the Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, on Lubyanka Square in Moscow. He carefully studied a message he had just received from Paris.

He put the message on his desk and unlocked one of his desk drawers. He took a file from the drawer and carefully put the message in the file. He looked through the file, paying especially close attention to some photos. They were of a grey haired man, an elderly red headed woman, a tall, good looking dark haired man, an attractive woman with light brown hair and a young girl with red hair. He closed the file and returned it to the locked drawer.

He reached for his intercom. "Sergeant Oblonsky, could you please tell Captain Konev to come to my office at once? We have a problem."