732. Chapter 732

After Driven

Episode 7.01

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Do I own Castle? I can't remember. Rating: K Time: See above.

"He's one of your lot, mate."

Castle frowned and looked at the man sitting across from him in a crummy bar in northeastern Thailand. "One of mine? What do you mean?"

The man laughed. "He's CIA, just like you, mate. What'd you think I meant?"

"You're sure?" He had trouble believing it.

The man shrugged. "Of course, there are a lot of blokes who say they're CIA, or MI6, or the Russians or the bloody Mossad, but your boy's connected, no doubt of that."

Castle looked out the open window of the bar and sipped his Singha beer. The airstrip was right across from the bar and he could plainly see Thais unloading raw opium onto a beat up C-47. A dozen or so men with AK 47s stood around, seemingly not worried. "I thought that went out with the Vietnam War."

The man laughed. "People have been selling that stuff since the bloody locals were throwing spears at each other and they'll be selling it when everyone has bloody rayguns. But this one's really connected." The man leaned in close. "You're a Seppo, so you've heard of Senator Bracken?"

Castle almost lost it. "Bracken? Hell, yes I've heard of him. What does he have to do with this?" Even as he asked the question, he started to figure out the answer. Bracken had tried to fund his presidential campaign with drug money. Why not go to the source? The so-called Golden Triangle covering Laos, Burma and Thailand was ground zero for opium poppies from which heroin was made. It made sense.

"He's the boy." The man said, smiling

"But Bracken's in prison. His money's gone, his so called friends dumped him, most of them stole whatever of his money they could get their hands on and the rest ratted him out to get a better plea deal. How could he be running this?"

The man ordered another two beers for them. "Bracken isn't. His partner is. Actually, some say he was Bracken's boss. Still running drugs and still making great loads of cash."

"Who's the partner?" Castle asked, as casually as he could.

The man shrugged. "Don't know. Don't want to know. The code word for him is Locsat. It could be a he, she or a them. Anyway, best forget about that one, mate. Dangerous. How about some dinner?"

The man Castle knew as Henry Jenkins wasn't interested. "Of course I've heard of this Locsat. Everyone has, just as everyone has heard of POWs from the Vietnam War still in Vietnam. Or, for that matter, little green men sneaking into the White House from their UFOs. It's a rumor. Maybe there's a kernel of truth to it, but it isn't our job. It's just another damned rumor in a world that's filled with more damned rumors than facts. Forget about it."

"What the hell is our job, if not to look into something like this?" Castle demanded.

"We secured an al-Qaeda defector and we stopped a major terrorist strike on US soil. If it'll make you feel any better, I'll ask around about this Locsat, but I'm telling you, it's just a rumor."

Castle didn't feel any better and didn't forget about it. When he found Castle missing, Henry Jenkins swore and called for help.

Locsat's trail led Castle to LA. However, he ran out of money there.

"Look, you ate here, so you pay me or I'll call the cops." The restaurant owner threatened.

Castle took off his watch. "Look, just keep this until I can get the cash, okay?" He tossed the owner the watch and walked out. The owner reached for his phone, then decided he'd spend half the day with the cops if he called them. A half a day off work he couldn't spare. He put the watch on.

"You're having trouble, aren't you, Rick?"

He whirled around. The speaker was a tall, slender dark complexioned woman. From her accent, he guessed she was British. "Do I know you?"

She shook her head. "We have a mutual friend. He sent me to look after you. He gave me this to give to you." She held out a book. It was Ian Fleming's Casino Royale. In fact, it was the same edition his dad had sent to him after Paris.

"What can you tell me about the man who gave you this?"

She shrugged. "Rugged looking, early sixties, grey haired, works as an "intelligence asset." She smiled. "Oh, and he's your dad, Jackson Hunt."

"And you are?"

"Haley. Haley Shipton."

"You're CIA?"

She shook her head. "No, I know your dad. He asked me to look after you. And if you can't pay for lunch, I think you do need looking after."

Castle didn't like this at all, but realized he had little choice. He nodded.

An hour later, Castle found himself in a small apartment in West LA where Haley was living for the time being. "Your dad hasn't been able to find out if Locsat is real or not, although he thinks he is. But he found a selection of aircraft coming in from the Golden Triangle to LA that might match Locsat's alleged MO."

Castle took the list It covered a good dozen airports in the LA area. "I'll start checking these out tonight."

"We'll check these out tonight." Haley said.

"I'll check them out."

"Don't trust me?" She said, smiling.

"Not a bit."

"You're learning."

Three nights later, Castle came back with a gunshot wound across the ribs. Haley did her best to patch him up.

"This isn't going to work. I can't do this by myself, and if I involve anyone else, Beckett will find out. If she finds out Locsat is Bracken's partner, or maybe his boss, she'll run straight at him. Can you have my dad contact Jenkins, my handler? He said something in Thailand that might be a help."

Jackson Hunt was furious. "What the hell do you mean, he escaped?"

Jenkins did his best to explain. "We set it up to look like he's been camping here on the beach since the wedding. But the drugs we used to alter his memory are tricky. He woke up at night and panicked. Probably didn't know where he was and fled."

"You couldn't have just caught him?"

"He grabbed a pistol. He must have been hallucinating or something. He emptied the magazine at basically nothing, including putting a couple of rounds into the boat itself."

"What the hell were you thinking of? Just leaving him on the damned beach? People will think he ran out on his fiancé."

"That was the idea. We can't exactly tell everyone what he was doing for us and then on his own."

"You'll have to stay there and talk to his fiancé when she shows up." Hunt said.

"What? I can't let them ID me."

"Look, I left very specific instructions that if my son was ever, ever, involved with the Agency in any way, I was to be involved from day one. Now, did that happen?"

"No, but we had operational…"

"I am not going to let Kate Beckett think that my son walked out on their wedding. He needs her too damned badly to let the marriage just fall apart before it even begins. She needs him as well. You stay at the damned trailer until she sees you. Then when she finds the real Jenkins, she'll know it was not my son's fault. Do you understand? Or do I have to come up there and do this myself?"

"Yes, sir. "Jenkins said tiredly.

"Good. I'll get satellite imagery looking for his damned boat and I'll figure some way to get word to the Coast Guard." Hunt slammed the phone down.

Richard Castle held the woman he loved and wiped her tears away. "I will so make this up to you."

"You have nothing to make up to me for." She said, leaning against him. "Someone kidnapped you. We know that now."

"What about the payoff to Vinnie the Scar?"

"Easy. You were told my life was in danger. Or Martha's or Alexis'. There are a million reasons you might have done what you did and none of them are your fault." She leaned up and kissed him. "Castle, we'll figure this out. But, now I'm just glad you're here with me."

"Welcome home?"

"Yes, welcome home."