Because Of You

Chapter 13

The detectives pull up in Ryan's car outside of the storage unit. Luckily the drive was only a short one. Kevin is grateful to Malone for not asking about any of the events that have occurred within the last few hours. In fact, Malone stayed pretty silent for the majority of the journey. Ryan didn't ask him about it, but he figures he must be feeling uncomfortable about the whole situation. Detective Malone isn't the type of guy to cause any drama let alone be a part of it.

"Is this it?" Malone questions as he comes out of his apparent trance.

"Yeah we're here" Kevin replies as he climbs out of the drivers seat. Neither detective makes a move towards the front door.

"Are we going to go in?" Malone asks furrowing his eyebrows. Kevin is just staring at him with this sad look in his eyes.

"I'm just sorry this is happening to you, Malone. You're caught in the middle of all of this" the blue eyed detective explains with a sigh "It must be tough getting a new partner who is involved in so much drama on his first day"

"Don't worry about it" he insists as they enter the storage unit.

Inside, Kevin gets a sudden chill down the back of his neck. Strangely enough the inside of this building seems colder than the outside! The senior detective leads the way down the corridor. Kevin focuses on his search for the correct door number. The NYPD stores many case files and old undercover operation tapes in the storage unit. You would think that it's not a very safe place to keep information, but it's actually one of the safest. It's only about five minutes away from the 54th precinct. The building looks so rundown from the outside that not even crack heads would venture inside. Plus, the place is locked with only high ranking members of the force having access to the keys. Captain Beckett's leant her set to Ryan and Malone so they can collect the files.

"Twelve, thirteen, fourteen and here it is. Fifteen! Hey, Malone, I found-" Ryan starts to say turning around to find his temporary partner - he's cut short.

Something cold hits him hard on the side of his head. The detective's body crumples to the ground on impact. The attacker smirks as he peers down at Detective Ryan, who is very much down and out for the count.

Back at the precinct, Esposito, completely unaware of the danger his partner is in, stands with his arms folded. No progress has been made between him and Sherman. The two detectives have just stared at each other in silence. It's been roughly five minutes now. Castle joined them when they were about three minutes in. The writer stands next to his wife who looks like a scolding mother, whilst he looks like the father who isn't really that mad, but just doesn't want to upset his wife.

"The longer this goes on the worse it's going to get" Beckett points out.

"I'm not apologising to him. He's been nothing but rude to me ever since he got here!" Esposito exclaims bitterly.

"Oh that's rich coming from you! Ever since I got here you've been giving me the cold shoulder, but I get it now. I really do. You're jealous, because I flirted with your partner" Sherman argues as he folds his arms across his chest.

Castle looks on with wide eyes, a mixture of horror and excitement bubbling inside him as the two detectives in front of him get more and more worked up, but he has to admit, Sherman does have a point about Esposito's jealousy. It's painstakingly obvious!

"Did you just forget what happened in the elevator this morning, asshole?" Espo remarks clenching his fists tightly.

"I had no idea who you were! Now I don't know what goes on in this precinct, since it's my first freakin' day here, but in my old precinct we had all sorts of crazies coming in and out. I assumed, and I'm sorry that it happened, but I thought you of all people could understand why I did it" Andrew points out, hardening his glare at the senior detective.

"Is this what all of this is about? A misunderstanding in an elevator? Come on fellas, you're better than this surely?" Castle speaks up, trying to defuse the ever growing tension.

"No, this is about much more than that now. I can't believe I didn't see it before" Esposito answers, the cogs seemingly turning in his mind.

Beckett flicks a curious glance over to her friend "See what, Espo?"

"Kev told me that there's a mole in the precinct and things have been pretty strange ever since Sherman got here. And he was with Kevin when he was taken. How do we know he didn't hire those three thugs to attack him?" the former soldier puffs his chest out as he steps closer to the new guy.

"What?! You're crazy! Those guys knocked me out! Why would I let them do that if I hired them?!" Sherman retaliates in pure outrage.

"You could have told them to knock you out so your cover would be safe" Esposito points out.

"Wait a minute, Espo. Where did Ryan get info about a mole in the precinct?" Beckett asks, trying to follow the thread of the crazy theory, rather oddly her friend rather than husband, has spun.

Espo exhales deeply "You're going to think I'm crazy, which is exactly what Kevin said to me, but McConnell told him we have a rat"

Writer and muse share a confused look.

"Why would McConnell say that? Why would Ryan even believe him?" a shocked Beckett probes, finding it hard to believe one of the sharpest minds she's ever come across would fall for a mob boss's ploy.

"I don know. He didn't say, but Beckett you should have seen him. He looked so convinced of it. Sherman has to be our mole. There's literally no one else it could be. There's nobody else who's as involved with this case other than us" Esposito looks Sherman up and down with a dirty look.

A cold chuckle escapes Sherman's lips "You're wrong. I think you're forgetting someone. As many people in this place seem to do"

The new detective stares into the Hispanic detective's eyes, just willing him to understand what he's getting at. Sherman has part of a theory in his head, but he doesn't want to be the one to say it.

"You don't mean? No way, he doesn't have it in him" Javier replies, catching on to Andrew's train of thought.

"Who?" Castle asks completely bewildered by the sudden turn of events. A minute ago Esposito and Sherman were at each other's throats and now they're understanding each other from simple glances?

"Malone" Sherman answers not taking his eyes off Javier.

Espo groans with frustration "It's so obvious now! Malone has been there from the very beginning. He's been in the background and listening to every move we make"

"And he was the one who managed to give us a location on Ryan. He couldn't have possibly got a trace on Ryan's phone that quickly unless he'd already been tracking it" Beckett adds, eyes lighting up as she connects the dots in her mind.

"Where's Malone right now?" Castle questions, unaware of the bombshell of realisation that's about to hit the trio before him in the break room.

Beckett, Esposito and Sherman glance at one another. Horror sets in.

"Oh God. I sent Ryan and Malone to pick up some files. Ryan has no idea Malone is the mole!" Beckett exclaims as she heads towards the door.

The men quickly chase after her. It's as if they just know what to do. All pick up their Kevlar vests as they head over to the elevator. Each of them says a little prayer in their head, religious or not, in the hope that they get to Ryan before it's too late.

Little do they know, the damage has already been done.