[Rail Yard : Guard]
Guard : Hello? Is anybody out here?
[The guard searches through the trains cards and spots a car with his flashlight. He approaches with caution and pulls out his night stick when he sees a figure sitting in the driver's seat. After, he shines the light in the window so he sees the grotesque bloated body, and screams.]
[Castle’s Loft : Castle, Alexis and Matha]
[Castle starts a stopwatch.]
Castle : Alright. Twelve letter word for "transcendent". Otherworldly. Honestly, sometimes it's like they're not even trying.
Martha : Doing the crossword in pen. Feeling cocky today, are we?
Castle : What is life without challenges? Eight letter word for "estrange".
[Alexis enters talking on her cell phone.]
Castle : Ah, you are just in time, my mini thesaurus. I need an eight letter word for "estrange".
Martha : She doesn't hear you, darling. She's still talking to Ashley.
Castle : I should be timing that phone call. That's got to be a record.
Alexis : (on cell) Uh-huh.
Martha : Please. I've had relationships that didn't last this long.
Castle : True.
Alexis : (on cell) Okay. Bye. (hangs up) Sorry. We were talking about the hiking trip next Saturday.
Castle : Oh, has Ashley got the "all clear" from his parents to come with us?
Alexis : They say they want to meet you, first.
Castle : Ah, they want to vet me to make sure if there's some kind of rock slide that I won't leave their boy stranded on a mountain side, having to gnaw off his own arm to survive.
Alexis : So, you'll do it?
Castle :
We'll have them over for dinner. We'll schmooze and impress them.
Martha : Would you like me to cook something?
Castle : No, we want to impress them.
Martha : And what is that supposed to mean?
[Rail Yard : Beckett, Castle, Esposito and Lanie]
Beckett : So, it's meet the parents time, huh, Castle? This is a pretty critical moment for you.
Castle : For me? Why me?
Beckett : Well, I mean Ashley is Alexis' first love, right?
Castle : Mm-hmm.
Beckett : What do you think will happen if you don't get on with his parents?
Castle : She'll lose interest in him?
Beckett : Oh, no. The exact opposite. I mean, it'll make their romance feel forbidden and they'll be off doing god knows what. Trust me. I know.
Castle : Never thought of it that way.
Beckett : My advice is keep the boyfriend close, but the parents closer. Hey guys. What do we got?
Esposito : Something messed up. I've never seen anything like it. Victim's name is Marie Subbarao. She's thirty five. Security guard found her last night. He's still getting g over it.
Castle : Wow. She looks like an overstuffed sausage.
Beckett : Lanie, what the hell happened to her?
Lanie : It's called explosive decompression.
Beckett : From... what? What would cause this?
Lanie : It's the result of exposure to a zero atmosphere environment.
Castle : Zero atmosphere. As in... outer space.
Lanie : Yep.
Beckett : Or?
Lanie : I don't have an "or" for you right now, sweetie. I have to get her body back to the morgue and then I may have some answers.
Beckett : Okay, well, her body's in a car in the middle of the rail yard. So, clearly, she wasn't killed in outer space. There's gotta be... another explanation.
Castle : [Castle whistles the theme song for X-Files as he pulls a book from the back seat.] Check this out. She was reading Taken By The Fourth Kind. A book on alien abductions.
Beckett : So, what's you theory, Castle? That she was abducted and then killed by aliens?
Castle : Well, a story that makes more sense is, uh, alien abduction gone wrong. One that ends with Marie being accidentally blasted out of the airlock of the alien spaceship.
Esposito : Well, if it was E.T., he has a nicotine addiction. Found this cigarette butt by the rear tire. It was laying in the track, which means it was dropped after the car was parked.
Beckett : Alright, well, have CSU check for DNA. Maybe we'll get lucky, and can you look into explosive decompression? See what else might cause it?
Esposito : You got it.
Beckett : Thank you.
Castle : You do have to admit, the condition does seem... otherworldly.
[Police Department : Beckett, Castle and Ryan]
Ryan : Marie Subbarao. The before version. Born in Chicago. Did post grad work at Johns Hopkins. And two years ago, she takes a job at the Aubrey Science Center in Midtown as an astrophysicist.
Beckett : Doing what?
Ryan : Not really sure. According to the Center's website, she recently landed a grant from the SETI institute.
Castle : The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence SETI? That could explain wh--
Beckett : No, it couldn't.
Castle : So, her working for SETI is just a wild coincidence?
Beckett : I'm saying it's an interesting fact that is unrelated to our case. Aliens were not involved in Marie Subbarao's death.
Ryan : Um... I don't know.
Castle : Why Detective Ryan, I never figured you for a believer.
Ryan : All I know is my father's cousin Raymond left this party in Jersey one night. He's driving back to Queens and bam! Blinding bright light comes down from the sky. Next thing he knows, it's morning, he's on the Jersey Turnpike.
Castle : Let me guess, no memory of what happened.
Beckett : That is not called an alien abduction. That is called a hangover.
Ryan : Maybe. Raymond always was a lightweight in the family.
Beckett : Hmm. Speaking of family, did our victim have any? A husband, maybe?
Ryan : Uh, neighbors said she was single and lived alone. They barely saw her. Apparently she normally came home from work around 10 p.m.
Beckett : Lanie said that the time of death was around 9 p.m. Which means work was the last place that she was probably seen alive.
[Aubrey Science Center : Beckett, Castle and Dr. Chuck Vaughn]
Dr. Chuck Vaughn : This is unbelievable. Marie was one of my most gifted researchers.
Beckett : What did she do here, exactly?
Dr. Chuck Vaughn : Uh, she analyzed the data fed in from our radio telescope in New Mexico, studying radiation from quasars.
Castle : For the SETI institute?
Dr. Chuck Vaughn : No. Most of her work was NASA related.
Beckett : When was the last time you saw her?
Dr. Chuck Vaughn : Uh. Last night. She was still here at her office at seven when I left.
[Aubrey Science Center, Marie’s Office : Beckett, Castle and Dr. Chuck Vaughn]
Beckett : And what about you, Miss Holder?
Ayana Holder : Uh, we went over the calendar for next week, then she sent me home at 7:30.
Beckett : Was she having any problems in life? Anything unusual happening lately?
Dr. Chuck Vaughn : Not that I'm aware of.
Ayana Holder : Actually, since Monday she'd been acting anxious and uptight. I finally asked her what was wrong and she said that something life changing had happened to her.
Castle : What was it?
Ayana Holder : I don't know. Then, on Wednesday she left work in the middle of the day. She didn't come back until Thursday morning.
Beckett : Dr. Vaughn, Marie's body showed signs of explosive decompression. Was she doing any kind of research that would account for that?
Dr. Chuck Vaughn : Oh, my god.
Castle : That's a yes.
[Aubrey Science Center : Beckett, Castle, Dr; Chuck Vaughn and Ayana Holder]
Dr. Chuck Vaughn : It's called an altitude chamber. We use it to study thermal life support systems under reduced pressure for NASA.
Beckett : What would happen if a person went inside?
Ayana Holder : Without protective gear?
Beckett : Mm-hmm.
Ayana Holder : Your lungs rupture from gas expansion and all the liquid in your body evaporates.
Castle : So, all the horrible effects of outer space without the view.
Beckett : Who else had access to this area?
Dr. Chuck Vaughn : Mostly our researchers and their assistants. Maybe thirty five people in all?
Beckett : I'll need a list of all of their names. Did Marie have problems with any of them?
Ayana Holder : Ted Carter, her ex-boyfriend. After their breakup things got ugly.
[Interrogation Room : Esposito, Ryan and Ted Carter]
Ted Carter : Can I ask what this is about?
Ryan : Mr. Carter, your keycard was swiped at the Science Center last night at 7:42. You mind telling us what you were doing there?
Ted Carter : I went to see someone.
Ryan : Marie Subbarao?
Ted Carter : Why is this any of your business?
Esposito : We're investigation her murder.
Ted Carter : What? Marie's not dead. How could she be dead?
Esposito : Someone put her in an altitude chamber.
Ted Carter : Oh, my god. Who could've done something like that?
Ryan : She was killed at around 9 p.m. Not long after you arrived at the Center.
Ted Carter : Not me. It wasn't me! How could you think I would do something like that?
Esposito : You had motive. You had access to the chamber. Why else would you even go and see her?
Ted Carter : To ask her to dinner.
Ryan : After Marie dumped you and had you fired, hoped she--
Ted Carter : It wasn't like that. I quit. It was too painful to be around her. Then, on Wednesday, out of nowhere, she called me. She wanted to go to coffee.
Esposito : And why would she do that?
Ted Carter : To mend fences, I…I guess. She gave me back some old T-shirts, some CDs she had of mine. Said she felt bad about the way things ended. I thought maybe we still had a chance, you know? So, I went looking for her at the Center.
Ryan : What happened when you found her?
Ted Carter : Nothing! We talked for a few seconds. She seemed upset about something. I--I tried to find out what, but she was in a hurry to get somewhere. So, I left. I went home. I--I was there by eight.
Esposito : Make yourself at home. You're gonna be here for awhile.
[Police Department : Beckett, Castle, Esposito and Uniform]
Uniform : Yeah, we got it...
Beckett : CSU's going through the altitude chamber. Once they get back with forensics we should be able to charge Ted Carter.
Castle : Tell me this, how did Carter get the body to the rail yard?
Beckett : Well, the altitude chamber is right next to the parking garage. So, he probably dumped her body in the car, took it out to the rail yard, and tried to throw us off the trail.
Castle : You know what would be a better story?
Beckett : Hmm?
[Castle holds up the Taken By The Fourth Kind book.]
Beckett : We have an earthbound solution to this mystery and you are disappointed. I get it. But that? Really?
Castle : Come on, Marie said she had a life changing event. What could be more life changing than being beamed up by this guy?
Beckett : Come on, Castle, we all know that there is no such thing as alien abductions.
Castle : And yet, most abductees report the same experiences. The white light, the memory flashes.
Beckett : That's because they all read the same books. So, of course they describe the same event. The dark, lonely road, the bright light out of nowhere, memories of being poked and prodded.
Castle : I believe the word you're looking for is "probed". And then, of course, there's the alien implant that's used to track the abductees.
Beckett : That reminds me of the Lego I got stuck up my nose when I was six.
Castle : You what?
Esposito : Uh, guys? CSU finished going over the altitude chamber. Nothing turned up.
Beckett : What? I mean, that was the exact machine that we were looking for, right in the building where Marie and he ex-boyfriend worked. That had to have been the murder weapon.
Esposito : 'S no blood, no tissue. It's clean.
Beckett : That makes no sense whatsoever.
[Castle taps the Fourth Kind book sitting on her desk and Beckett slaps his hand away.]
Beckett : Check other altitude chambers.
Esposito : It's not like they grow on trees.
Beckett : Well, that can't be the only one around. And look for any other devices that cause the same injuries.
Esposito : I'll do my best.
Beckett : If it's not an altitude chamber, then what could it be?
[Castle whistles the X-Files theme.]
Beckett : Other than that.
Beckett : (answers phone) Beckett.
[Autopsy Room : Beckett, Castle and Lanie]
Beckett : Lanie, what did you find?
Lanie : Not the answers I was looking for. Instead, just more questions.
Castle : How deliciously cryptic.
Lanie : Because of the unique nature of Marie's injuries, I wanted to thoroughly document her condition before conducting the autopsy. While I was taking the x-rays, I saw this imbedded in her sinus cavity.
Beckett : What is that?
Lanie : I have no idea.
Castle : Call me crazy, but that looks just like... an alien implant.
[OPENING]
[Castle’s Loft : Castle and Alexis]
[Castle reads Taken By The Fourth Kind on the couch. ]
Castle : What could you possibly be looking for by probing up there?
Alexis : Can we talk about dinner?
Castle : Oh, no. You couldn't convince Gram to stay out of the kitchen. I will stock up on antacids and garbage bags.
Alexis : No, it isn't that. It's Ashley's parents.
Castle : What about them?
Alexis : He's an economics professor. The two of them are serious people, Dad. You may need to be more... buttoned up.
Castle : I can be buttoned up. And if I become unbuttoned, you can discreetly let me know with a brutal kick to the shin.
Alexis : I won't be there. They thought it'd be better if it was just you and Gram.
Castle : You're going to leave me alone?
Alexis : You'll do great. I just wanted to make sure that you'll make a good impression.
Castle : Trust me, so do I.
[Police Department : Beckett, Castle and Ryan]
Castle : Where do you come down on deficit spending during economic downturn?
Beckett : [Beckett takes the coffee he hands her.] Thank you. I take the theory that's held by most economists. That deficit spending is acceptable as long as it focuses on public investments, like infrastructure, defense, education, research.
Castle : Wow. Where did that answer come from?
Beckett : Semester of economic theory at NYU. Where did that question come from?
Castle : Trying out conversation starters.
Beckett : Well, we started a conversation, so I guess it worked. Kind of.
Castle : I…It's for a dinner with Ashley's parents. He's this stuffy economist, you know, and I just want to win him over, get them on my side. But what if they don't take to me?
Beckett : Oh, come on, Castle. They'll take to you.
Castle : Really?
Beckett : Yeah.
Castle : Thanks.
Beckett : So long as you don't act like yourself.
Castle : Oh… nice one.
Castle : So, where do we stand on this mysterious implant?
Beckett : It is not an implant. Lanie says that it's a metal fragment and she's running tests on it right now.
Castle : How'd it get up her nose?
Beckett : Well, maybe it was a piece of the altitude chamber that got lodged up there.
Castle : The altitude chamber we haven't found.
Beckett : Yet. The altitude chamber that we haven't found yet. And I'm sure that, as soon as we do, it will lead us straight to our killer.
Castle : I notice you said "killer" and not "Ted Carter".
Beckett : Yeah, Carter alibied out. He ordered pizza the night of Marie's murder and signed for it at 8:25.
Castle : Alibis in thirty minutes or less. So, at this point, we have no human suspects.
Beckett : By definition, "no suspect" means "no human suspect".
Ryan : Well, one might be coming your way. I checked Marie's phone logs at work. It turns out she made a thirty minute phone call before she left the Science Center on Wednesday.
Beckett : To whom?
Ryan : Benny Stryker.
Castle : The Benny Stryker? This Benny Stryker, renowned author of Taken By The Fourth Kind?
Ryan : One and the same.
Beckett : An astrophysicist and a U-F-ologist? Isn't' that like oil and water?
Ryan : Actually, they used to be colleagues. Three years ago he and Marie were members of the same research team, but Marie was worried that all his UFO talk would destroy their credibility. So, she had him kicked off the team. From what I hear, there's been bad blood ever since.
Beckett : Where can we find Stryker?
[UFO Lecture : Beckett, Castle, Benny Stryker and People]
Benny Stryker : Imprisoned in a cold, white room. Strange faces staring down at us. These are images that will haunt us, but they'll also unite us and help us remember. We didn't choose this, we were chosen.
Benny Stryker : One more time. We didn't choose this, we were chosen.
Castle : He's like the Tony Robbins of alien abduction.
Benny Stryker : I see we have some new members. Maybe you'd like to introduce yourself. Tell us your story.
[Beckett holds up her badge.]
Benny Stryker : Huh.
[LATER]
Benny Stryker : Do you actually think I had something to do with Marie's death?
Beckett : Mr. Stryker, where were you on Thursday at 9 p.m.?
Benny Stryker : At a book singing. In Queens.
Beckett : But you did have recent contact with Marie. In fact, she called you on Wednesday. What was that about?
Benny Stryker : You know, I could tell you, but I see you wouldn't believe it.
Beckett : Whatever you say will receive a fair hearing.
Benny Stryker : Well, that hasn't been my experience. Marie called me last week in crisis. She'd picked up anomalous sub microwave bursts on her radio telescope. It was not just the background noises of the universe. It was a signal coming from somewhere nearby, with a repetitive pattern.
Castle : As in... contact?
Benny Stryker : Or so she believed. So, she booked more time on a radio telescope array and studied that section of the sky, which is when the trouble started.
Beckett : What trouble?
Benny Stryker : Lost time. Four hours on Sunday, just gone. Then she started having mental flashbacks. A white room, a blurry face questioning her.
Castle : Are we saying Marie was abducted by aliens?
Benny Stryker : The classic indicators where there. I just tried to help her make sense of it.
Beckett : After Marie called you on Wednesday, she left the Center. Do you know where she went?
Benny Stryker : She said she was going to get proof of what she knew was there.
Castle : Proof of aliens. And did she?
Benny Stryker : I never heard from her again. I assume they stopped her before she got too close to the truth.
Beckett : Who?
Benny Stryker : The government. I warned her she was probably being followed. By men determined to keep the existence of aliens a secret.
Castle : It's like that Will Smith movie. Only, I'm guessing, a lot less funny.
Benny Stryker : These agents are real Mr. Castle. They fear the revelation that we are not alone would be too shocking. Hysteria would break out. Nations would crumble. That's why they try to discredit believers like me and eliminate people who threaten to expose the truth. People like Marie.
[Police Department : Castle and Beckett]
Beckett : Bookstore confirms that Stryker was signing his opus between 7 and 10 p.m. Looks like we're back to an empty space in the suspect column.
Castle : Yeah, but at least our timeline is making more sense. This whole Sunday-ish area, the life changing event? That's when she was abducted. Wednesday she leaves work. That's when she was looking for proof of alien life. Thursday she comes back to work feeling better, until she leaves and winds up... explosively decompressed. Overall, big week.
Beckett : You know what this timeline shows me? A lot of erratic behavior that could be due to drug use or any number of medical conditions.
Castle : Alright. Let's say Marie is a drug addled psychotic with a brain tumor. She still went looking for proof.
Beckett : She went looking for what she thought was proof.
Castle : Whatever it was. What if she found it? Where would it be?
[Aubrey science center : Beckett, Castle and Ayana Holder]
Beckett : Come on, Castle. You don't actually believe that Klingons are behind this, do you?
Castle : Killer aliens is a reach, even for me. But government agents covering up the truth? Not so crazy.
Beckett : Yes, it is. I mean, when this is all said and done, it will all come down to where and how she was killed. And I bet it will have nothing to do with secret agents or massive government conspiracies.
Castle : I'll take that bet.
[They enter Marie's office. It's empty.]
Ayana Holder : Detective?
Beckett : Where did everything go?
Ayana Holder : Two men came this morning with a-- a federal warrant. They loaded all of Marie's stuff into a truck.
Beckett : Who were they? From which agency?
Ayana Holder : They just said the government.
Castle : I'd like my payment in small bills, please.
[Police Department : Beckett, Castle, Esposito, Ryan and Montgomery]
Montgomery : My contact at Justice says no warrant was issued for Marie's office.
Beckett : Well, then people claiming to be federal agents seized her property. I mean, there's gotta be an explanation.
Castle : ( fake cough) Men in black.
Beckett : Other than that.
Montgomery : I'll put out more feelers. Meantime, keep me posted.
Beckett : Okay, thank you.
Castle : Marie found proof and they covered it up. It's just like Benny Stryker said.
Beckett : Do you honestly expect me to believe a theory, any theory, that ends with "like Benny Stryker said"?
Castle : What else could it be? Who made off with all her stuff?
Beckett : Maybe Marie was working on a classified government project and they confiscated her data.
Castle : Was her data in her furniture? Because they took that, too.
Beckett : Without knowing who "they" are, we can't find "them". You know, the key lies in the murder weapon. Esposito, tell me that you've located that altitude chamber.
Esposito : I did. At the physics center. At Hudson University. It's the only other one in five boroughs.
Beckett : See?
Esposito : It's clean. CSU just checked.
Beckett : Well, there's gotta be another device that does the same thing.
Esposito : Lanie and I looked into that. The only thing we found was an industrial vacuum packer. It's used for food processing.
Beckett : Check into every single one in town. We need to locate that crime scene.
Esposito : Castle. Just prove that E.T. did this, bro, please. I hunt people, not machines.
Castle : I'm working on it.
[Castle and Esposito do the "baby bird" gesture.]
Esposito : Thank you.
[Becket and Castle look over the murder board.]
Castle : Maybe we should focus on Marie's mystery Wednesday trip.
Beckett : Castle, finding proof of aliens will not help us catch our killer.
Castle : It will if she went somewhere with an industrial vacuum packer.
Ryan : If she did, it was off the Jersey Turnpike. Her E-ZPass account shows her getting off at exit nine.
Beckett : Where'd she go from there?
Ryan : Hard to say. I checked her credit cards. No activity in the area.
Beckett : What are you doing?
Castle : I am mapping it. [Castle speaks into his phone.] New Jersey Turnpike, exit nine. (to Beckett) Let me share with you the many wonders that await us at exit nine. Well, there's an arts center, some...state park with scenic hiking trails and canoeing, astounding amount of day spas, and the Plainsboro Observatory.
[Plainsboro Observatory : Beckett, Castle and Joy Harrison]
Joy Harrison : Yeah, Marie was here on Wednesday.
Beckett : But she had access to her own telescope. Why would she need this one?
Joy Harrison : Marie usually worked with a radio telescope. This is an optical telescope.
Castle : So, she came here to get a visual on something up there in space.
Joy Harrison : She said she picked up signal anomalies. She wanted to see where they were coming from. She took an image capture, then she left.
Beckett : Could we get a copy of that image?
Joy Harrison : I checked the telescope's hard drive. She erased everything. Coordinates, the image capture, it's all gone.
[Country Road : Beckett and Castle]
Beckett : She erased everything? What the hell did she see up there?
Castle : Marie Subbarao, a sober minded scientist, believes she was abducted by aliens after intercepting strange radio signals. Using a telescope, she photographs the source of the signal. The next day, dies mysteriously. Then, her office is raided by shadowy government agents. I'm not asking you to die your hair red and call me Mulder. I would simply ask that you consider the possibility that Marie had knowledge of, or made contact with, something up there that somehow led to her death.
Beckett : We will continue our investigation and solve this case and it will have nothing to do with little green men.
Castle : They're grey, actually.
Beckett : Castle. The truth, the real truth, is out there. [Beckett's car breaks down and coasts to a stop.]
Castle : Dead battery?
Beckett : Maintenance just replaced it.
Castle : My phone isn't working.
Beckett : Mine isn't either.
Castle : Neither is my watch. You have a logical explanation for this, too, right?
[A blinding bright light comes down from the sky over Beckett's car. They Castle and Beckett look at each other, then lean forward to look up through the front windshield.]
[Dark Room 1 : Castle and Agent Eastman]
[Someone shines a bright lamp in Castle's face.]
Agent Eastman : Marie Subbarao had information. Information we need.
Castle : Where's Beckett
[Dark Room 2 : Beckett and Agent Westfield]
[Someone shines a bright lamp in Beckett's face.]
Beckett : Who are you? Where's Castle? I am an NYPD detective!
Agent Westfield : Where is it?
Beckett : Where's what?
Agent Westfield :We all know what Marie Subbarao was involved with, Detective. That information must not get out.
[Dark Room 1 : Castle and Agent Eastman]
Castle : Yeah, but we don't have it.
Agent Eastman : Where is it?
Castle : Is this the part where you bring out the old Nazi with the dentist drill?
[Dark Room 2 : Beckett and Agent Westfield]
Agent Westfield : If you don't cooperate, we'll find a way to get at the truth. We'll do whatever it takes to protect our way of life.
Beckett : From what? A woman who thought that she was abducted by aliens?
Agent Westfield : You're out of your league, Detective. You have no idea how deep this is. Now where is it?
Beckett : Who are you? Identify yourself.
[Dark Room 1 : Castle and Agent Eastman]
Castle : What, CIA? NSA? MIB? Ooh. Shape shifting aliens that only look human?
[Dark Room 2 : Beckett and Agent Westfield]
Beckett : Who killed Marie Subbarao?
Agent Westfield : If you keep asking questions, you shouldn't. You may end up like Marie.
Beckett : Who killed her?
Agent Westfield : No one you could ever reach.
[Dark Room 1 : Castle and Agent Eastman]
Castle : What about JFK? Was that the second shooter on the grassy knoll? Third shooter, backed by mafia? Castro? Mafia and Castro?
[Agent Eastman pulls out an injection gun.]
Castle : Okay, whatever you guys are looking for, we don't know where it is. No. Dude. Come on. You don't-- Ah! [Eastman injects Castle in the neck.]
[Dark Room 2 : Beckett and Agent Westfield]
Beckett : No! [Westfield injects Becket in the neck.]
[Country Road : Beckett and Castle]
[Beckett wakes up leaning on Castle's shoulder back in her car. Castle wakes and they look at each other.]
Castle : You okay?
Beckett : (whisper) Castle, did that really happen?
Castle : Do I have a… ?
Beckett : [Beckett see the small red circle on Castle's neck from the injector.] Oh, no. [She checks her neck in the rearview mirror. There's a small red circle from the injector.]
Castle : 'Cause you got a…
[Montgomery’s Office : Beckett, Castle and Montgomery]
Montgomery : This is outrageous. An illegal detention of an NYPD detective?
Castle : Who says the government is unresponsive? They're all over this alien cover up.
Montgomery : Who are these men?
Beckett : Agents, of some sort. They probably are the ones who cleared out Marie's office.
Montgomery : Well, I'm glad you two are all right. But no one snatches up my people and detains them. I'll get into this.
[Police Department : Beckett, Castle, Esposito and Ryan]
Beckett : Those men knew who killed Marie and they refused to tell us.
Castle : They also refused to confirm that J. Edgar Hoover liked to wear dresses.
Esposito :
Hmm. Abducted by government agents, huh? Come on, what were you two really doing?
Beckett : It's not a hickey, Esposito.
Esposito : You both have one.
Castle : I wish it was a hickey. It's from the injectors.
Esposito : Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
Castle : They were men in black.
Beckett : Where are you with the vacuum packers?
Esposito : So far, I have found over a hundred machines in the five boroughs. CSU's checking them as fast as they can.
Castle : And the cigarettes?
Esposito : No DNA match. But they are a Chinese brand, only found in Asia or on the black market in Chinatown.
Castle : So, maybe she was killed by an alien. Just an illegal alien.
Ryan : Hey. Those hickeys?
Esposito : Yes.
Beckett : No.
Castle : I wish.
Ryan : Okay. So, tech just went through your vehicle. Turns out you were hit with an EMP - an electromagnetic pulse - which knocked out all the electronics. And here's how they found you in the first place.
Beckett : Tracers, listening devices. They must have been watching the Science Center. That's when they put these... accessories in my car.
Castle : Maybe that's what was up Marie's nose. Perhaps they were tracking her, too.
Esposito : No, it wasn't a tracer or an implant. Lanie identified it as aspergillus. It's a rare calcification resulting from a sinus infection. The calcification is so dense, it reads like metal.
Beckett : There you go. Logical explanation.
Castle : Yeah. I would disguise my tracking implant as a rare medical--
Beckett : You know, the bottom line is that these guys were desperate to get whatever Marie took. So, we gotta find it first because that'll lead us to the killer.
Esposito : Yeah, but we really don't know what we're looking for.
Beckett : But we do know that they don't have it.
Castle : Which means it wasn't in Marie's office.
Ryan : She maybe hid it somewhere.
Esposito : Maybe with someone she trusted, somebody under the radar.
Beckett : Ted Carter said that Marie gave him some of his stuff back last Wednesday night.
Castle : Maybe that's not all she gave him.
[Police Department : Beckett, Castle and Ted Carter]
[Ted Carter carries in a box of the stuff Marie gave back to him.]
Ted Carter : I don't understand. It's just book and T-shirts, mostly.
Beckett : Mr. Carter, did you notice anything different in the things that she gave you? Anything that wasn't there before?
Ted Carter : No, it's all my stuff. It's just T-shirts, Jefferson Starship CD--
Castle : Oh! This CD got me through two weeks of Storm Watch writer's block.
[Another CD drops out of the case when Castle opens it. Beckett picks it up.]
Castle : I don't remember it being a two disc set.
Beckett : This one's unmarked.
Castle : Marie's proof, perhaps?
[LATER]
[Beckett opens her CD drive, but Castle takes the disk from her.]
Castle : Oh, oh…wait. That's it? I mean, no pomp, no circumstance? What's on this could shake the very foundations of our existence. We need to pause and savor--
Beckett : [Beckett snatches the disk back.] Please, let's just stick it in and get it over with. [Beckett puts the CD in the drive.] I mean, the fact of the matter is, there's probably nothing of any value on that CD to our investiga…
[They see a smudge of color in the otherwise black and starry night sky in the photo.]
Castle : You were saying?
Beckett : (whisper) No way.
[Police Department : Beckett, Castle, Esposito and Ryan]
Castle : Behold this image, gentlemen, and lady. We are witness to a stunning event, a turning point in history, the moment we knew, we are not alone. For who can deny that this is an alien spacecraft!
Ryan : It does kind of look like one.
Esposito : Yeah, but this image? I mean, it's gotta be doctored. Right Beckett?
Beckett : I don't know.
Esposito : Whoa.
Ryan : What are you saying? Are you saying you think that this is real?
Beckett : Well, it doesn't look doctored.
Castle : Okay, just for clarity, so we know later who said what, you are conceding that it is a possibility that this is an alien spaceship.
Beckett : What I am saying is that we now know what these agents were after.
Castle : [Castle holds up closely spaced fingers.] That close.
Ryan : Mm.
Beckett : And as far as I'm concerned, let a higher pay grade deal with it. We now have leverage that we can use with our mystery agents.
Ryan : How? It's not like we can just call them up.
Castle : Hmm. W-- uh, we do have a box of bugs. It's the next best thing to a Bat Phone.
[Castle hands Beckett the box. She looks at him for a beat, then grabs the box, lifts up a corner, and talks into it.]
Beckett : We have what you want. You know where we are. [Beckett closes the box and puts it on her desk.]
Esposito : You really think that's gonna work?
[Beckett shrugs. Her cell rings.]
[Montgomery’s Office : Beckett, Castle, Montgomery and Agent Westfield]
[Montgomery escorts Agent Westfield into his office where Beckett and Castle are waiting.]
Beckett : Please take a seat.
Agent Westfield : So, where is it?
Beckett : Not a chance. I want something in return. The name of Marie Subbarao's killer.
Agent Westfield : Ladies first.
Agent Westfield : Why are you showing me this?
Castle : It's the photo that Marie took from the Observatory. Of the alien ship.
Agent Westfield : I'll be on my way now.
Beckett : Wait a minute. We had a deal.
Agent Westfield : You said you had what I want. As it happens, you don't.
Montgomery : You're not leaving. Marie Subbarao was murdered in the most awful way imaginable, and her killer is still out there. You owe it to her. Give us that name.
Agent Westfield : Maybe she isn't who you think she is.
Beckett : What's that supposed to mean? I mean, if it's not this, then what? Why all this fuss over an astrophysicist who analyzes radio signals?
Castle : Unless what she analyzed was secret. That's it, isn't it? She intercepted classified information.
Beckett : Yeah, you did say that she took something that was vital to our security. And we found Chinese cigarettes at the crime scene. Was she working with the Chinese?
Castle : Look, either you tell us the truth now or we take what we know to the media.
Agent Westfield : What makes you think they'll print it?
Castle : Oh, they probably won't. But I know more than a dozen bloggers who will. Not to mention over half a million of my own followers on Twitter.
Agent Westfield : Nothing I say can leave this room.
Montgomery : You have our word on that.
Agent Westfield : Last month we determined that an enemy operative had intercepted classified, coded data streams between the Pacific Fleet and the Pentagon.
Beckett : You think it was Marie.
Agent Westfield : The intercepted transmissions coincided with Marie's tasking her radio telescope to point at our satellite, which was nowhere near where she was supposed to be doing her research.
Castle : So, that wasn't a photo of a UFO. That was your spy satellite.
Agent Westfield : But the real damage done is the data she downloaded, which I fear is now in the hands of the Chinese.
Beckett : So, then who killed her?
Agent Westfield : Her handler, I imagine. The Chinese must have known we were on to them. They were smart enough to make it look like the boyfriend did it.
Montgomery : Who's this handler?
Agent Westfield : Someone from Chinese intelligence. We were never able to identify him. Whoever he is, you'll never catch him. It's over.
[Castle’s Loft : Castle and Bob Linden]
Bob Linden : It's never over. In the book, I take a bold, new look at the linear aggregation of markets.
Castle : It's about time someone did.
Bob Linden : So, Ashley tells me you're an author as well. Tell me about your writing, Mr. Castle. I don't read popular fiction. I find most of it crass and tawdry.
Castle : Yes. Right. Well, I, uh... I think of my writing as character studies in human behavior, looking into the heart of what makes people tick. For instance, what would make an ordinary person like yourself commit an act that's unusually heinous or someh-- out of character. Would you excuse me for a moment?
[Police Department : Beckett / Castle’s Loft : Castle, Alexis, Ashley and Ashley’s parents ]
Beckett : (answers phone) Beckett.
Castle : (on cell) Marie was acting out of character. What self respecting espionage agent would act strangely and risk blowing her cover? Maybe she wasn't the real spy.
Beckett : (on cell) Well, that might explain the test results that Lanie just sent over. Marie had traces of sodium pentothal in her system.
Castle : (on cell) Somebody gave her truth serum? Maybe it was the real spy. The white room, the questions, that's why Stryker thought she was abducted by aliens.
[Overhearing, Ashley's parents look at each other at the table.]
Beckett : (on cell) Well, if Marie wasn't the spy...
Castle : (on cell) Then the real spy is someone with access to that radio telescope at the Science Center.
Beckett : (on cell) I'm heading over there right now.
Castle : I'll meet you there as soon as I can. [Castle hangs up and turns around, seeing the confused faces of his dinner guests.] More wine?
[Aubrey Science Center : Beckett and Castle]
[Beckett and Castle look over the logs for the radio telescope.]
Castle : Got another request here redirecting the telescope to the satellite coordinates.
Beckett : Signed by Marie, just like all the others. Well, out of character or not, it looks like she was the spy after all. Wait a minute. These two signatures are different. The-- the "A"s don't match.
Castle : You're right. [Castle flips through the logs.] And look who else makes an A like that.
Beckett : Dr. Charles Vaughn.
Castle : He forged her signatures to make it look as though Marie was the one intercepting the satellite transmissions.
Beckett : So, maybe Marie saw a request with her fake signature and she got curious. So, she put in a request of her own to have the telescope scan that part of the sky.
Castle : So, that's when she intercepted the weird signals. After that she lost time.
Beckett : And then, when she told Benny Stryker about it, he assumed that she had been abducted.
Castle : Which she had been. Only not by aliens. By Dr. Vaughn, who drugged her to find out how much she knew. When he realized how close she was, he got rid of her.
Beckett : Yeah, but he's the one who told us about the altitude chamber.
Castle : Yeah, because he knew it would lead us to Marie's ex-boyfriend.
[Dr; Vaughn’s Apartment : Beckett, Castle and Esposito (on phone)]
Esposito : (on cell) Dr. Vaughn is gone. He's not at his place. But you know what is? Three vials of sodium pentothal.
Beckett : (on cell) Any idea where he went?
Esposito : (on cell) Nope. But it looks like he left in a rush.
Beckett : (on cell) Call TSA and have him put on a no-fly list and keep me posted. (hangs up) He's on the run.
Castle : If he heard we asked for those request forms, he would have been tipped off.
Beckett : He probably had an escape plan in place, just in case his cover was blown.
Castle : And Chinese handlers who can smuggle him out of the country. Not to be negative, but the odds of catching this guy are not great.
Beckett : Unless we enlist the help of a certain government agent who wants him just as bad as we do.
[Police Department : Beckett and Agent Westfield]
[Beckett meets Agent Westfield as he steps out of the elevator.]
Agent Westfield : I may want to put you guys on my friends and family plan.
Beckett : We now believe that Dr. Vaughn is the spy. Marie figured it out and then he killed her.
Agent Westfield : I'm inclined to agree, which leaves the agency with some egg on its face.
Beckett : And which agency did you say that was, again?
Agent Westfield : I didn't. We dug deeper on Dr. Vaughn. Turns out he has a fondness for gambling. He ran up quite the tab at an Atlantic City casino controlled by the Chinese. After that they owned him.
Beckett : Do you know where Dr. Vaughn is now?
Agent Westfield : I know where to start looking.
[Police Department, Conference Room : Beckett, Castle and Agent Westfield]
Agent Westfield : Using his cell phone number, I can triangulate his position.
Beckett : Well, he's gotta be worried about being tracked. He probably turned it off.
Agent Westfield : Then we'll just turn it back on.
Castle : You can do that?
Agent Westfield : We turned off your phones, didn't we?
Castle : Yeah, and the car.
Agent Westfield : He's in the warehouse district in Chinatown. 1400 block of Canal Street.
Beckett : Can we get a closer look?
Castle : There he is. Fancy. That's just a few block away from where we found Marie's body.
Beckett : Maybe that's where he killed her.
Castle : And who's that guy? Oh, wait. He's the cigarette smoking man.
Agent Westfield : Otherwise known as Ung Kyu. He's a high level Chinese intelligence agent.
Beckett : So, our murder suspect is meeting his handler.
Agent Westfield : Which means Dr. Vaughn may still have the data.
Castle : Well, then let's go get him.
[Chinatown, Street : Beckett, Castle, Esposito, Ryan and Agent Westfield]
Castle : Where are the predator drones? The black helicopters? All those SWAT teams repelling down on ropes?
Agent Westfield : Budget cuts. It's vital to our national security that we take these men alive.
Castle : These guys are trained agents. They probably have cyanide capsules in their teeth in case they're caught.
Agent Westfield : We'll worry about their teeth when the time comes.
Ryan : Patrol cars have closed off all streets in a five block radius.
Esposito : And air support's on their way.
Castle : Alright. What's the plan?
Agent Westfield : Vaughn's cell phone signal has gone dark, which means he's underground. According to our Intel, this building has an extensive basement with two methods of ingress.
Beckett : Actually, most of the basements on this side of town are linked through doorways used as escape routes for illegals in case of an INS raid.
Agent Westfield : So, you're saying that Vaughn and Kyu could be in either of the adjoining buildings as well?
Beckett : Welcome to New York.
Agent Westfield : Let's go.
[Chinatown, Building Basement : Beckett, Castle, Esposito, Ryan, Ung Kyu, Dr. Chuck Vaughn and Agent Westfield]
[Beckett and Castle search the basement and find a couple of Chinese workers.]
Beckett : NYPD. Stay where you are.
Castle : That's a vacuum packer at one o'clock.
Beckett : Looks like we found our murder weapon. [Beckett takes a photo of Ung Kyu out of one of her bulletproof vest pockets.]
Beckett : Have you seen this man?
Castle : (Chinese) My partner is crazy and may start firing at any moment.
[Both workers point over their shoulders.]
Beckett : Go, go!
[The workers run off.]
Beckett : Semester abroad?
Castle : Nah. TV show I used to love.
Beckett : Ah. Nice job.
Castle : Thanks.
[Beckett, Castle, Ryan, and Esposito continue searching the basements. They hear someone speaking Chinese and hitting someone.]
Ung Kyu : Get on your knees.
Dr. Chuck Vaughn : Wait, please! I…I got rid of Marie. I did everything you asked.
[Kyu cocks his gun and points it at Vaughn.]
Dr. Chuck Vaughn : Wait, wait, wait, wait! I can still help you. Wait! Wait, wait! Please don't! I can still help you, please!
Beckett : NYPD! Drop that gun!
[Kyu turns to see Beckett and Ryan tackles him. Dr. Vaughn tries to run off, but Agent Westfield blocks that direction.]
Agent Westfield : On the ground. Now.
[Ryan cuffs Ung Kyu and Castle sees Kyu chewing something.]
Castle : Cyanide capsule! [Castle rushes to Kyu to get it out of his mouth.] Ew! Gum. False alarm.
Agent Westfield : Where is the data?
Dr. Chuck Vaughn : In a USB drive. In his pocket.
Ryan : [Ryan pulls out the USB drive.]Think we'll get a medal for this?
Agent Westfield : This never happened.
Castle : Guess that means I can't put this on Twitter.
[Chinatown, Street : Beckett, Castle and Agent Westfield]
Agent Westfield : Vaughn's already spilling his guts.
Castle : Yeah, a near execution will shake your loyalties like that.
Agent Westfield : Between his conviction and the espionage charges, he and Ung Kyu will spend the rest of their lives in federal prison thanks to you.
Beckett : And to Castle.
Agent Westfield : Yes, and Mr. Castle. Might I have private word with Detective Beckett?
Castle : Course.
[Beckett steps aside with Agent Westfield.]
Castle : (answers cell) Hey, sweetie. Look, um, about the parental review. I failed and I know and I'm-- I'm sorry. Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, they-- they found me fascinating? Camping with-- They want to go camping with us? No. No, n-- I'm-- No, no, it's-- No, that'd-- Yeah, that'd be great. That'd be so much fun. Mm-hmm. I love you too. Bye. [hangs up] So, what'd he tell you?
Beckett : Uh, he told me something in confidence.
Castle : What?
Beckett : Well, I wish I could tell you, Castle, but it was classified.
Castle : Well, what did he tell you that was classified? Was it about aliens? The truth about UFOs? Are you going to tell me or just make me keep guessing?
Beckett : I don't know. This guessing this is kind of fun.
Castle : Alright. Was it about what happened at Roswell?
Beckett : No.
Castle : Area 51?
Beckett : No.
Castle : Loch Ness Monster is real?
Beckett : Yeah.
Castle : Really?
Beckett : No.
Castle : Ugh. You had me. They're controlling the weather.
Beckett : No.
Castle : Our thoughts?
Beckett : No.
Castle : Our buying habits?
Beckett : Actually, speaking of...
