Castle felt bad about leaving Adam Reynolds at the ER to worry, but trying to get the information they had just learned to someone who could help Beckett and the rest of the precinct was far more important.

Which was why he found himself standing outside the 12th Precinct for the second time that day. They just needed a way inside, a way to pass along the message that the Adam Reynolds who had reported for duty wasn't the real officer.

"Do you see anyone?" he asked, watching Esposito peer in the windows. The detective nodded, pounding his fist on the glass.

"Hey! Sarge, let us in!" Esposito yelled, when the desk sergeant tasked with guarding the door approached, only to have him shake his head.

"Captain's orders, Detective. Nobody in or out."

Espo made a noise of disgust. "We have information for Beckett. Let us in."

"We could break in," Castle suggested, only partially serious. Esposito shook his head.

"With him standing right there? Besides, the glass is bullet-proof, bro. What makes you think you're going to be able to Rocky it into submission?"

"Okay then, what's your plan?"

"I don't know yet, Castle," Esposito sighed, exasperated. "But I know we need to track down someone who'll be helpful."

Obviously.

Castle exhaled, twisting on the sidewalk while Esposito attempted to strike a bargain that would allow the desk sergeant to leave his post to deliver their message as long as they stayed put. The crowd from earlier had dwindled, as most of the cops must have decided to report to the alternative precinct, but there were still a few stragglers hanging around. "What about another precinct? Or calling in backup from Gates?"

His friend nodded. "Believe me, that's on the list."

"Why not do it now?" he asked.

Esposito's reply was lost in the call of his name from the end of the block. Both men turned to find Alexis and Hayley practically jogging their way.

"We found something," Alexis announced as soon as they were close enough. "I would've called," she explained at their quizzical looks, "but for obvious reasons, it was easier to come down here."

Rick nodded. "It's okay. What'd you find?"

"Arthur Collins had two younger brothers, Mark and Jeremy. Jeremy was convicted of armed robbery and the murder of a police officer."

Castle licked his lips. Things were starting to make sense. A police precinct, a robbery officer's uniform. It was poetic, in a terrible kind of way. "He's making a point. Wait, you said had? He had two brothers?"

Alexis nodded, turning her tablet around. "Jeremy Collins died in prison two years ago."

"So he wants to get revenge for his brother. What about Mark?"

"I-" The shrill – and loud – trill of his cell phone interrupted before Alexis had the opportunity to finish her thought.

"It's Beckett!" he announced, accepting the call and pressing his phone to his ear. "Kate? Are you okay? I've been trying–"

"I'm okay, Castle," she interrupted, sounding tired, but otherwise fine. Just as she'd said. "It's been insane. Vikram just unjammed our phone and radio signal, and we're–"

"On lockdown, I know," he finished for her, slumping against the precinct's stone façade. "Esposito, Alexis, Hayley, and I are outside. We've been working it from our end, too."

His wife laughed, murmuring "Of course you have," almost to herself.

"What happened?"

"The power went out right after I got to work, and when it came back on, we discovered one of our officers down – dead – and the holding cells open. That's why I ordered the lockdown. Then we found out we couldn't radio or call out, either."

His stomach churned. "Have you found them yet? Beckett, let us in, we'll help you look – we'll call in backup from another precinct if we have to."

"No, nobody's opening the doors until everyone's accounted for. And," she paused, which only served to make him more nervous. "Officer Hernandez isn't answering his radio."

Castle purposefully didn't look at his daughter. If he did, she would know something else was up.

"Okay," he said instead, straightening a moment later with renewed urgency. "Beckett, there's something else – Adam Reynolds from Robbery isn't Adam Reynolds."

As disconcerting as the case was, Beckett felt better having her partner back at her side – or at her ear, as it happened. Deep down, she knew this whole mess was only a murder, and she had solved hundreds of those. She just needed to find the evidence to put all the pieces together. Keeping that in mind, she called Vikram to her office and put Castle, Esposito, Hayley, and Alexis on speakerphone.

"Okay, Castle, we're listening. What do you mean Reynolds isn't Reynolds? He isn't on shift today, and he's not scheduled to work again until tomorrow."

"We have been following some leads – I'll tell you later - but the important thing is that we found the real Reynolds gagged and tied up in his apartment," her husband explained. "A man named Arthur Collins took his uniform last night. We believe he's posing as Reynolds."

"Collins? That name sounds familiar..." Vikram commented.

"That's because one of the prisoners' name is Mark Collins," Beckett explained.

"Wait a second," came Alexis' voice through the speaker, "Arthur Collins has two brothers: Jeremy and Mark."

"That's too big of a coincidence. I bet Mark got himself arrested on purpose," Castle ventured.

"I think you're right," Beckett agreed. "He was brought in for disorderly conduct. That's easy to achieve. You just need to annoy the hell out of someone until they call the cops."

"But what for? What was his purpose?" Esposito intervened.

"We believe killing Officer Parker was their objective, and they caused the blackout to make it look like a random casualty in a prison escape."

"Makes sense," Castle said, and Beckett could almost hear the way his overactive mind processed all the new information. "And what do we know about Parker?"

"Not much," Beckett sighed. "He was a fairly outgoing person, according to his peers, but he also liked to keep to himself. He was transferred to the 12th a couple of years ago."

"Actually, Boss," Ryan started, joining the impromptu meeting, "I know something that might help us. I noticed he was transferred from the 23rd Precinct, so I called a friend who works there as soon as the phones were working again. He said there was a nasty case involving Parker. Apparently, another cop was killed. They found the person responsible thanks to Parker's testimony, but something must have happened, because he requested a transfer the very next week."

"What was the case?" Esposito asked.

"A robbery gone wrong. Parker and his partner were on patrol and they were called to check it out. When they got to the scene, there was a shootout and Parker's partner was killed. Parker testified, and they eventually got the shooter. It was one Jeremy Collins. He died in prison not so long after the event, during a riot, even before his own trial."

"Jeremy Collins? Isn't that Arthur and Mark's brother?" Beckett questioned.

All the pieces fell into place in Beckett's head. It was revenge against the cop who put their brother in jail, leading to his early demise.

"Captain," a voice called her from the office door. It was Detective Hyun. "We found another escapee, Roger Jones. He was knocked down, but he's just regained consciousness. He says the cop who knocked him out is the one who killed Officer Parker."

Understanding dawned. "Now we know their getaway plan," Beckett murmured.

"Probably safe to say if one brother was posing as a cop, then the other would be, too," Castle agreed. "Who'd you say you were with?"

"Krezel, Hernandez, a guy named Williams, and Reynolds," Hyun answered.

Even coming from the speaker, Alexis' gasp was perfectly audible. "Reynolds? That means..."

"It means Kyle Hernandez is alone with Arthur and Mark Collins," Beckett completed. She turned to Hyun. "Bring us to them."

"Hey, that was a hell of a tackle back there," Kyle murmured, pushing his shoulder against the wall at the entrance to the gym. "You play football?"

Mark eyed him. "Track. And the other guy didn't seem to think so."

Most good cops wouldn't. Especially knowing that Captain Beckett would have their head for a potentially dirty takedown. "Krezel's a good guy," he said instead. "He just doesn't like being waved off like that."

"You did kind of steal his thunder, Mark," Reynolds snickered. "And man, that guy's face when he went down. Ah-aaahhh," he mimicked, laughing into his arm when Kyle shot him a warning look.

"Oh, come on, it was a little funny."

"Cover me," he ordered, ignoring the rest in favor of ducking into the gym. Reynolds and Williams followed a second later, the scuff of their shoes on the wooden floor telling him exactly how far behind him they were.

His skin pricked with awareness, the instinct to fight bubbling at the edge of his mind.

The gym was empty. Quiet, too, save for the noise of the city breaking the barrier of the windows.

It didn't make sense. Yeah, with communications out, another team could've already apprehended the remaining prisoners, but that wasn't what was going on, not this time.

Kyle jolted at the familiar samba beat that echoed around the room, originating from the clip on his belt.

The phones were fixed?

Behind him, Reynolds and Williams stilled, something that sounded like protest coming from one of them. He couldn't make out exactly what was said as he lifted his phone to his ear.

"Hernandez."

"Kyle? Oh, I'm so glad you answered."

His shoulders sagged in relief. "Alexis? I'm so sorry about this morning. There's a situation at the precinct, and I–"

"I know," she cut him off. "It's okay. They're looking for you right now. Beckett's been trying to get you on your radio and you're not answering, but I took a chance and just called."

He wasn't answering? His radio hadn't made a sound since the blackout.

"Listen," she continued. "I've been helping try to figure it out all day. And Kyle? You need to know–"

It wasn't a good time. He trusted Alexis, and knew she had good intel to share, but it wasn't a good time. Not with Reynolds and Williams behind him.

"It's, well I can't really talk right now."

"Just listen. Listen, Kyle," she interrupted again, urgency lacing every word. "The two officers you're with? They're not officers. Their names are Arthur and Mark Collins. Arthur stole a robbery officer's uniform and his brother Mark was placed in holding last night on drunk and disorderly charges. They planned the blackout to kill Officer Parker."

All of this was planned to get to Will? "Why?" he asked, keeping his voice low. He couldn't tip his hand too soon; letting them know that he knew their identities likely wouldn't end well for him.

"Before he transferred to the Twelfth, he and his partner were on patrol when they were called to a robbery in progress. His partner was killed."

He remembered Will saying something to that effect when they'd first met. Parker hadn't volunteered many details, just said he'd taken his partner's death hard and needed to be somewhere new.

Alexis didn't wait for a response before continuing, "Jeremy Collins was convicted because of Parker's testimony; he died in prison two years ago. And today, Collins's brothers–"

"Orchestrated this entire thing," he concluded, bringing the story around to her original point.

"Right. And we need to get you out of there. Where are you?"

The gun at his back shouldn't have surprised him. "I knew we should've just knocked you out and made a run for it when we had the chance, but Arthur said to wait for the right time. Hang up the phone," Mark Collins ordered.

"Kyle," Alexis called. "Kyle are you there?"

"Just give me a second Mark, Reynolds," he answered. "I already stood my girlfriend up once today. I'd like for her not to dump me while I'm standing in the middle of the precinct gym."

Reynolds – not Reynolds – snatched the phone from his hand, tossing it to the floor. The screen cracked under his foot but, Kyle noticed, didn't disconnect the call.

"That's better."

"Turning my radio off was a good touch," Kyle said. "When'd you do that?"

Mark snorted. "Right after we left the locker room. You were distracted. It was easy. And it just goes to show that you cops are all idiots."

"You killed Officer Parker."

"He killed my brother – our brother," Mark hissed. "He lied, so Jeremy went to prison, and our brother ended up dead."

Kyle turned, his hands raised in surrender. No doubt Alexis was in the process of telling the captain what she was hearing, where he was; he just needed to keep the Collins brothers talking until the cavalry arrived. "How did he lie, Mark? Arthur?"

The brothers shared a look, but Kyle remained stoic. "You broke into a police station, you caused a blackout and took out communications, and you killed a man. How did he lie?"

"Jeremy never went into that convenience store, even the owner said he didn't do it, but Parker pointed his finger at him and lo and behold, my brother went away for murder and robbery. Because the cops are the right ones, the just ones, the honest ones," Arthur spat. "Never mind that Parker was a loser who spent most of his days drunk on the job."

Mark picked up where his brother left off. "We'd almost gotten a judge to listen, to reconsider the conviction, and practically the next day we're being told to come down to the prison morgue to ID and pick up our brother's body. All because of Will Parker."

"So you decided to kill him," Kyle concluded, wondering if he was hearing the pound of footsteps outside the gym, or if it was just the thundering of blood through his ears.

Arthur exhaled, shifting his grip on the gun. "He had to pay for what he'd done. How was it fair that he got a cushy reassignment, got to get himself straight, and our brother got to die as he rotted in jail for something he didn't do? Jeremy was just a kid!"

"You're right," he reasoned, watching the door at the far end of the gym open. Krezel, LT, and Detectives Hyun and Ryan slipped inside, with Beckett halting in the doorway, her phone clenched in her hand. "It wasn't fair, and your brother deserved better, but you killed a man in cold blood."

The Collins brothers stood taller, defiant. "He got what he deserved. He–"

"Mark and Arthur Collins," Ryan bellowed, distracting them just long enough for Kyle to stomp on Mark's foot, shove him to the ground, and strip his brother of the gun. Arthur landed beside Mark, giving the others the opportunity to come forward with handcuffs at the ready.

"Mark and Arthur Collins," Ryan repeated, gripping Mark under his bicep to haul him to his feet. Kyle watched Hyun do the same for Arthur. "You are under arrest for murder and conspiracy to commit murder, impersonating a police officer, and tampering with our communications."

The men said nothing as they were led away.

"Good work, Hernandez," Captain Beckett murmured once they were out of earshot, ending the call with a short tap of her index finger. "I was on the line the whole time. You kept your cool, kept them talking. Even with a gun on you. That's impressive."

Kyle looked down at the weapon in his hand. "Thank you, ma'am, but I have to admit something," he started, reaching into his waistband and brandishing a clip. "When Mark tackled the other prisoner, something just didn't feel right. So while they were having a staring contest with Krezel, I took the liberty of disarming Arthur. Just in case."

Beckett's lips lifted in an appreciative smile. "Clever."

"Thanks." Kyle bent at the waist, scooping his phone from the floor. The screen was mangled, but the rest of the device remained intact. "Thank goodness for cases, huh? Even thin ones."

The captain chuckled quietly. "Tell me about it. Castle knows a guy who'll fix that for you," she added, patting her belly.

"Oh, that'd be great." Kyle pocketed the phone. "Thanks, Captain."

"You're welcome. Now come on, we need to open this place back up; I'm sure Alexis is eager to get in to see you." Her lips twitched, but she kept them pursed, not allowing her amusement to escape.

His cheeks flushed at that, but he simply nodded, motioning for her to walk ahead of him. "You're probably right about that, ma'am. I imagine Mr. Castle feels the same way – more so, even – about getting in to see you."

This time, she actually laughed, rubbing her hand over her stomach. "Yes, you would be right about that."

As expected, Castle was the first one in the door the moment she lifted the lockdown order, but after the day she'd had, Kate couldn't bring herself to do more than welcome him with an embrace (tight despite the swell of her belly between them).

"I am so–" he breathed, hiding his face under the curtain of her hair. Beckett nodded in agreement, slipping a hand up his back to cradle his neck.

"I know. I know. So much for a relaxing last day, huh?"

Her husband chuckled, touching his mouth to the curve of her cheek. "That's one way to put it." His hand fell to her belly, subtly acknowledging their daughter and quieting Lily's kick-storm in one move. "What now?"

Arthur Collins and his brother were still in their respective interrogation rooms, awaiting the arrival of their respective lawyers. The van they had intended as their getaway vehicle had been swept by CSU and impounded. The other prisoners were in the process of being transferred to the 9th, where they would be processed for release or remand. CSU was still working on processing and cleaning the holding area, and Will Parker's body had already been taken to the morgue. The last thing she was waiting for was confirmation from Vikram that the jamming equipment he'd found attached to their main power conduit hadn't done any lasting damage to their system.

Beckett exhaled, stepping away to survey her squad room. The day shift was finally underway, though the stragglers from the night shift still stood around, swapping stories of the last few hours. Esposito and Ryan laughed together by Ryan's desk, and Alexis and Kyle Hernandez had taken a moment to greet each other, though she didn't let her eyes linger on them.

"As much as I'd like to say now I get my things and call it a day, I still have to finish up what I never got to start earlier."

Castle nodded, understanding warm on his face.

"Just can't leave, huh, Boss?" Ryan teased, stepping around the desks to join her at her office door. Esposito followed, eyeing her with amusement.

Beckett shook her head, settling her hand high on her belly. Lily kicked at her palm. "Not yet. It turns out that there's a pretty large amount of paperwork involved when your precinct gets cut off from the outside world for a few hours."

Her detectives chuckled.

"We don't envy you there," Esposito said. "The only thing I need to do now that I'm here is wait for a call. Gotta take advantage of not being in charge while I still can."

"Don't get too comfortable; I'm sure I could find something for you to do," she drawled, leaning into the hand Castle pressed to her back. As always, he'd found the exact spot that was aching. "I also need to contact Officer Parker's family, express my condolences."

That sobered the group. The boys lowered their heads, but Castle nodded. "What are you going to tell them? About why he…"

"I don't know," she sighed, resting her chin on her chest. Albeit she was constrained by what she could say until the DA decided how to pursue things against the Collins brothers, but even then, she was almost certain that knowing about Will Parker's past misdeeds wouldn't bring his family comfort. "I'll tell them enough."

Her husband's hand slid up and down her spine, offering his support for the difficult task she faced. Beckett smiled up at him once before turning to the boys again.

"But in the meantime, Ryan, Officer Hernandez," she called, getting the young man's attention. Alexis turned a sheepish smile on her as well. "Finish your reports and get out of here."

The young officer didn't need to be told twice. She watched Kyle clasp Alexis's hand in his as the pair turned toward the bank of desks the uniforms shared.

Alexis looked over her shoulder, giving them a wave. "Thanks, Kate. I'll text you later, Dad."

Beckett felt her husband relax beside her. "Thank you," he called.

"Boss," Ryan protested, getting her attention again. "It's still my shift. I'm staying until it's done."

"Besides," Esposito started, lifting a shoulder. "We had kinda planned to do something for you before you went home."

Emotion constricted her throat, pricking her eyes with irrational tears. Her precinct family was so good to her.

"Okay," she said after a moment, clearing her throat. "I can't wait for that."

She watched them share a grin. "Yeah, it is gonna be pretty spectacular," Ryan said, backing his partner up.

"Well," she hummed, offering them a lopsided smile. "In that case, get to work."

They laughed, stepping back.

"And you," she added, knocking her shoulder against Castle's. He caught her hand with soft fingers, giving her his full attention. "Come with me?"

Her husband grinned, canting toward her for a kiss she couldn't help but allow. They parted after a moment, and her lips lifted even higher when he spoke, "Always, Kate."

Episode beta work by acertainzest, amtepe, and ivyandtwine.

Castle Season 9 is produced by Team Planet and the writing team of Castle Season 9. Executive Producer is acertainzest.

For a full list of Season 9 authors, please look at our ffnet profile.

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