Chapter 5

A light knock sounded at the door at six A.M. and a trolley was pushed into the suite bearing a pot of coffee, a basket of croissants and an assortment of fresh fruit. There was also a small bag which the smartly uniformed server informed Kate was from the concierge. Kate thanked the young man, signed the check and happily sent him on his way.

Castle looked relaxed in sleep, almost like a little boy, and Kate hated to wake him, but she also knew that he wouldn't want to miss any part of the search for Tyson. "Rick," she whispered, brushing back a couple of strands that had fallen across his forehead, "breakfast is here."

Without opening his eyes, Rick reached out a hand to find her. His fingers wove through the hair at the back of her neck and he brought her head toward his, meeting her lips with his own. He opened his eyes to look into hers. "Good morning."

"How are you feeling?" Kate asked. "Head still hurt?"

"Yeah, but it's OK."

"Good, cause we should be ready to go when Ryan calls."

"Ready and eager."

After breakfast, with some help from Kate to avoid soaking his bandage in the shower, Castle stood dressed and ready in front of a mirrored wardrobe door frowning at his less than perfect hair. "Maybe this will help," Kate said, handing him the bag that had been brought up with breakfast."

Castle examined the contents and grinned at a cap emblazoned with "NYPD Helper." He pulled Kate to him for a kiss. "That's perfect."

Kate's cell buzzed. She put it on speaker so Castle could hear. Ryan had obtained old city maps of the area of the museum. They showed a small inlet from the river that seemed to run right into the bluff where the building was constructed. In addition, the plans for the building showed an ancient cellar that had not been unearthed when the building had been searched.

"Tyson could be in that cellar right now!" Castle exclaimed.

"Or he could have gotten out by boat without anyone seeing him," Beckett added. "We're going to have to coordinate with the harbor police before we go in there again. I need to call the Captain."

Captain Gates set up a war room at the 12th. There were representatives from the harbor division and ESU as well as Beckett, Ryan, Esposito, and Castle. Plans were posted on the whiteboard and assignments carefully made. The group piled into two vans to meet with a small army of uniformed officers surrounding the museum.

The door to the cellar stairs had been hidden, carefully blended into a wall. Rifle bearing armored officers opened it and cautiously descended, followed by Esposito, Beckett and Ryan. Kate had convinced Castle to keep his distance and he grudgingly brought up the rear. High powered lights were used to cut through the inky blackness, searching both for Tyson, or any means of escape. The cellar walls were full of alcoves which might once have been used to house wine or whiskey. A heavy metal door was built into an outside wall bearing a padlock, which was dispatched with bolt cutters. The door opened into a small grotto where a motorized dinghy was tethered.

Castle peered through the door at the boat. "If that boat is here, Tyson probably is too," he cautioned Beckett.

"Castle, if he is, we'll find him," Beckett replied reassuringly. Beckett shined her light into each alcove along the walls in turn, finally reaching one near the stairway. A black clad figure sprang from under the stairs, stunning Beckett, knocking her gun and her light from her hands, and dragging her to the stairs with an arm at her throat and a gun to her head.

"I've got your woman, Castle," Tyson shouted, moving backwards up the stairs with Kate in his grasp.

Castle picked up Beckett's gun and pursued Tyson up the stairs with the rest of the police close behind him. Tyson frustrated them by continuing to use Beckett as a shield and moving toward the staircase to the upper floor. Under constant pursuit, passing through the array of galleries, Tyson made his way to a wall that faced the river.

"Tyson! Give it up! There's no where to go," Esposito shouted.

Tyson continued to drag Beckett with him to an antique bathing machine standing against the wall. As Tyson opened the door to the relic, Beckett jammed a hard elbow into Tyson's solar plexus and darted away. Castle fired Beckett's gun simultaneously with the handguns and rifles held by the police as the door closed.

The entrance to the bathing machine was a mass of splintered wood. With a room full of guns trained on it, Castle pulled it open, expecting, hoping, to see the dead body of his nemesis. There was no body. Another door on the back side of the machine was open to a window in the outer wall. A few drops of blood were on the edge of the window. The river flowed below.

Castle and Beckett watched as divers searched for Tyson's body. "They're not going to find it Castle" stated grimly.

"Castle, what are you talking about?" Beckett asked. "You shot him. Every cop in the room shot him and he went into the river. He's dead."

"Don't you see, Beckett," Castle asked. "He needs us to think he's dead, so he can start over again, start the killing again. Otherwise he would have killed both of us long before this. It was the only way we'd stop looking for him. It had to be public and it had to be final. He got what he wanted."

"Castle," Beckett said, taking his hands, "it's over. He's dead."

Castle pulled away, looking toward the river and half whispered to himself,"For now."

Castle checked every window and every closet in the loft. "He's not here, Castle," Kate said. "He's gone."

"Just the same," Castle told her. "I'm going to get a new security system. If he could get in, someone else might. I'll get Powell to recommend something and test it for me."

"You're going to get a master thief to help you with your security system?"

"Who better?" Castle asked, "unless you think I should ask Serena Kaye."

"Nooo," Beckett told him firmly. "Powell will be fine, but what can I do to make you feel secure tonight?"

"Well Detective," Castle said pulling Kate against him, "you sleep with a gun and I sleep with you. That should do it."

Kate wrapped her arms around his waist. "And how can you be sure I won't use my gun to shoot you?"

"Because," Castle told her, playing with the top button of her blouse, "I know how much you'd hate the paperwork."

Footsteps crunched on the roof of the loft accompanied by triumphant laughter.

Finis?

A/N Enough creepiness for now. A little 3XK can keep a good night's sleep away. Coming up: Drop When You Shop. Meredith insists on taking Kate shopping for her trousseau and they find a body. The victim is part of a group of friends who all went to the same New York City special high school. Who did it? Thank you all for the reviews. I wish everyone caught in the weather safe passage. Love, Sally