Because Of You

Chapter 5

"Espo follow me. Now!" Beckett orders as she races out of her office with her husband hot on her heels.

Esposito has kept his head low for a while now. Ever since Beckett told him Ryan and Sherman were going to pick up a suspect he's been sulking. Guilt has been weighing heavily on him. Although, upon hearing his Captain's orders, he finally lifts his head up. The precinct is very different from when he looked down. Cops race around. Bulletproof vests are worn by many. Detectives grab their guns from inside their desks. Oddly, and rather worringly, a lot of them keep glancing at him.

"Beckett, what's going on?" Esposito questions with a slight urgency in his voice.

"We have a report from some industrial security guards of multiple shots fired at the location where Ryan and Sherman were sent to pick up a suspect" Beckett tells him as she hurries down the corridor towards the elevator.

Espo is up like a shot and following his fellow cops to the elevator "Do we know if Kev's okay?"

"I don't know Espo. All I know is shots were fired and nobody can get in touch with Ryan or Sherman" the captain tells her worried detective.

If something has happened to Ryan, and she prays to every kind of God out there that nothing has, but she knows if the worst has happened then Esposito is only going to blame himself. Beckett knows she'll also blame herself. When she got the report she went sick to the stomach. Everything inside just knotted up. She was the one who sent Ryan and Sherman there. They're both her responsibility. Kate doesn't want to lose one of her most trusted friends. Nor does she want to lose a detective on his first day.

Castle glances uneasily at his wife. The concern he has for his friend takes precedence. However, he knows Kate will be blaming herself. Yes, she put two detectives with no working relationship out into the field together, but she had no choice in his eyes. The writer just hopes Esposito understands that too.

Right now, the worried detective isn't blaming Beckett. The blame is being placed on himself. All he can think about is his best friend as they race to the scene. The thought of Kevin being injured or worse knocks him sick. Brutal abhorrent mental picture fill his mind. A pool of blood forming on his partner's white shirt. Tears streaming down his pale cheeks. Those once piercing blue eyes now open wide and empty. All life drained from them.

"Espo, we're here" Beckett tells him.

As she turns into the parking lot she tries to glance at her friend. Espo wipes a tear from his cheek. The mental images remain with him. Beckett pulls up at the scene. Before the car has even fully stopped Esposito jumps out. Leading the way, gun in hand, he runs to the back of the warehouse. The report said 'shots fired at the south end of the warehouse complex'. Espo just hopes one of those bullets didn't hit his partner.

As he turns the corner, his heart skips a beat. A lump forms in his throat. The ground is stained with puddles of dark red blood. Four bodies lie on the ground. Three are dressed in black. One is in a suit. Esposito races over to the one in the suit. As he gets closer he realises that it's the new guy. Part of him is relieved. At least Ryan isn't here with the bloody corpses. On the other hand, it leaves him with a tormenting question; where's Kevin?

The 12th precinct captain analyses the scene. It doesn't look good. Holstering her gun she walks over to Espo. Kate sees him standing over a body in a grey suit. Fear takes over. Even her own lungs turn against her and won't allow her to breathe properly.
Pushing past Esposito, she looks down at the body. Lying on the floor with a bloody forehead is Detective Sherman. Kate squats down and checks for a pulse. After feeling a steady heartbeat her lungs allow her to breathe again.

"He's alive. Just unconscious" Beckett announces, even though she knows Sherman's current state is not a big concern for Esposito. The welfare of his partner is all he cares about. It's all he'll ever care about.

"Oww, my head" Sherman grunts as he tries to sit up. Kate immediately focuses her attention on her new detective and steadies him.

"Easy Sherman. What hap-" Beckett starts to ask.

"-Where the hell is my partner Sherman?!" A frustrated Esposito cuts her off.

"He's not here? Oh man they must have taken him" Andrew grimaces. The throbbing pain in his head intensifies as he moves.

"Yeah he's not here! All we got is you and three dead bodies!" Espo barks, gesturing to the gunshot victims behind him.

"Those are the guys" Sherman states with a confused expression as events start to click into place.

"Who are they?" Beckett asks. She too is anxious to find her missing friend, but nowhere near as much as Esposito.

"Those are the men who attacked Ryan and I" the detective points out, but he still looks so confused.

Beckett glares at Esposito. From a simple look she tells him that she will handle this. The Hispanic detective walks off in a huff.

"Start from the beginning Sherman. Take you time. We want you to remember everything you can" Beckett tells him.

Glancing over to Castle she sees him gesture that the paramedics are 2 minutes out, but hopefully 2 minutes is all she needs to get a lead on Ryan's whereabouts.

"Ryan and I arrived at the warehouse. He told me to take the front and he'd take the back. I entered the warehouse, but there was no one inside then I heard Ryan shout, one shot was fired, so I made my way through the warehouse to the other side. I saw one perp on the ground. I guess Ryan must have taken him down. Then there was another perp, who had a gun pointed at Ryan and I guess it was Ryan's gun, because he didn't have one in his hands. I came up behind the suspect and told him to drop it. I remember feeling a sharp pain in my head, then I woke up and well, you know the rest" Sherman explains, not really pausing for many breaths.

"So, only one shot was fired?" Beckett asks her new detective.

"Yeah I heard only one and I don't think any of them were hit when I saw them, but I'm guessing from the three dead perps over there that something went down" Andrew replies with a shrug of his shoulders.

"And you think that those three over there are the men that attacked you and Ryan?" his captain questions him further. The intention is to squeeze every drop of information out of him.

"I know it's those guys. Same size, height, clothes and everything" Sherman tells her just as the paramedics pull up.

Beckett moves out of the way. She heads over to Espo. The detective has his back to her.

"Where is he Kate? Whose got him? Is he alone or is he with someone? Is he injured? Is he even alive?!" Esposito exclaims, almost losing control of his emotions. Tears well in his brown eyes. The overwhelming need to hold Kevin in his arms is too much to bear.

"Espo look at me. Don't do this to yourself. We will find him okay? I promise you I will do everything within my power to find him and then some" Beckett replies with an encouraging grip to her worried friend's shoulders.

Worry for Kevin grows exponentially inside of her. Part of her concern is for Esposito too. In his current mindset, he's a loose canon. The end result could be fatal. The detective needs to get his emotions in check. How ever difficult that may be in the current situation.

"He has to be okay Beckett. If something happens to him then I'll never forgive myself" Esposito adds with a shaky voice.

"Hey, stop that. If we want to find Ryan, alive, then you're gonna have to focus. My best guess is, since Ryan isn't here, that he's been taken but he's alive. If they shot him then they would have just left the body along with Sherman's. Who they probably assumed was dead so the fact Ryan's not here tells us that they want him for something or they have a use for him. Now I know it's not a great reason, but at least he's still breathing, right? Just focus on that" Beckett says trying to calm him down.

Thankfully he sees reason and relaxes slightly. Espo looks around the crime scene with more analytical than emotional eyes. It seems that pep talk might have worked!

"Beckett look" Esposito beckons her over.

As she approaches, she looks up to where he's pointing. A smile spreads across her face.

"A security camera. Nice work, Espo. I'll get someone to get the footage for us asap" Kate tells him as she walks away towards the group of cops awaiting her command.