756. Chapter 756

After Sleeper

Episode 7.20

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Only in my dreams do I own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Jameson Rook was on his way to marry the love of his life, NYPD Captain Nikki Heat, when he saw a black Cadillac Escalade speeding up behind him. He pulled over to let the other car pass, but it pulled up parallel to him and stayed there. He started to wonder if he should try to out run the strange car when the window rolled down and he saw Detective Sean Raley, from the 20th Precinct. Driving was his partner, Detective Miguel Ochoa. "Rook! Pull over. It's important." Raley yelled.

Rook pulled over and rolled down his window. "Look, guys, if you lost the numbers of the strippers at the bachelor party, I can't help you."

"It's Captain Heat. She's been kidnapped." Raley said quickly. "You need to come with us."

"What? Kidnapped? How?" Rook said, getting out of the car.

"It has something to do with her mother's CIA past. Some Russian whose career she ruined is getting his revenge." Raley said. "Come on, Rook. We have to move."

Rook quickly got in the back of the Escalade with Raley. "We have to get rid of this car. It can be traced to us too easily. You know Vinnie "The Arms" Calamari, don't you?"

Rook nodded. "Sure."

"So call him up and tell him to pick the car up and have it destroyed at one of his wrecking yards."

An hour later a still shaken Jameson Rook dropped ten thousand dollars into a dumpster behind Vinnie's club, the Cha-Ching. He had to fight off a dozen New York sized rats to get the dumpster all to himself, but the rat bites he got were worth it. He'd do anything to save Nikki.

"You need something on those cuts." Raley said when Rook got back in the car. He pulled out a couple of band aids, some antiseptic cream and a pill. "The pill is in case the rats have any diseases."

Rook downed it with a bottle of Evian water and soon felt very, very tired. In minutes he was asleep. He didn't notice their new car stopping, nor did he notice being put in a private jet. He was flown to Montreal and taken to an abandoned building. He was given a shot that made him very suggestable. He woke up still feeling drowsy and rather odd. "What happened? Where am I?"

"The Russian has taken Nikki to Montreal, but we've lost her trail. Don't worry, we have the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on the case and they always get their man. But while we're here, you should make a recording for Nikki in case she makes it out alive and you don't. "

Oddly enough, that made perfect sense to Rook.

"We took the liberty of writing something up for you. Just read off the teleprompter."

Rook nodded and read. "Nikki, comma, my love. Period. I…."

"Perhaps you could leave out the punctuation?" Ochoa suggested.

Rook cleared his throat and began again. "Nikki, my love. If you're seeing this, that means I'm dead. I want you to know that I've loved you always and that I never meant for any of this to hurt you." Coming to the end of the teleprompter message, Rook looked at Raley and Ochoa. "What does that part mean about not hurting her? That makes no sense."

Before either detective could answer, a beautiful, buxom blonde in a painted on Mountie uniform came through the door. "Allons! I am Constable Jacinda Jenkins, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Who am I to mount?" Jacinda was actually a stripper at Le Wild et Crazy Canadien, but was not a terribly skilled actress.

Ochoa cleared his throat loudly, reminding Jacinda of what she should say. "That is, we have found that the Russian has had the feared terrorist, Collette Stenger, take Captain Heat to Thailand."

"Thailand?" Rook mumbled, suddenly feeling so very tired again.

"Have another energy drink." Raley suggested with a cynical smile.

Rook downed the drink and collapsed.

Some hours later Rook woke up in the jungles of central Florida.

"How do you feel, Rook?" Ochoa asked.

"How did I get here? Where is here?"

"Thailand, of course. You must really be jet lagged. And you slept all the way across the Pacific Ocean on the way here."

Rook looked around. His travels had never taken him to Thailand, but this looked like what he imagined it was like.

"Now get your camouflaged fatigues and face paint on and we'll be ready to go rescue Nikki."

"She's here with this Stenger woman?" Rook asked, somewhat confused.

"No. The Russian turned her over to Raina Veneau, a dangerous Russian-Canadian terrorist. The woman is capable of anything. We must be very careful."

Meanwhile, Raley was talking to the two people who would be with Rook in the truck.

"Look, Chuck, you've got this right? You're a professional."

The bearded man nodded. "And I get a part in the next Nikki Heat movie, and I'm a continuing character if it turns into a franchise."

"You have the signed contract in your pocket. Signed by our attorneys, Shyster, Finagle and Huckster."

The bearded man nodded.

Raley turned to the other bearded man. "Are you ready, Osama?"

"You can get me a hack license and a medallion for a New York taxi cab?"

"Absolutely. No more living in caves and third world hellholes, my friend. You're headed for the Big Apple."

In minutes, Rook was in the back of the truck as they were chased by a group of stuntmen. Then Chuck handed him an energy drink and in seconds he passed out.

He was hauled out of the truck and put on a plane headed for New England. There, on a private island in a rented mansion, Roach set about leaving Rook's fingerprints on empty Scotch bottles, used condoms, and in every room in the house.

Jacinda Jenkins was called to obtain samples of Rook's DNA of a type and in a manner that neither Raley nor Ochoa had any intention of doing.

A month later they sat and watched Jameson Rook and Nikki Heat get married. At the wedding reception the two detectives sat at the bar and complained.

"All that work for nothing." Ochoa grumped.

"I was sure she'd dump him and one of us would have a clear shot at her." Raley said.

"But she loves him. What's the matter with that woman? Can't she see I'm a better match for her than some reporter?"

"Miguel, you mean I'm a better match for her than some reporter or you."

They sat and drank for several long minutes.

"So, what are you going to do?" Ochoa asked.

"There's this blonde. She's not Nikki Heat, but who is? You?"

"That ME, Lauren Parry. She's okay I guess. For second best."

Something like that couldn't have been what happened to Castle, could it?