Bab 34: Chapter 34: Father
Meanwhile, far away in the United States, after a fierce mental struggle and feeling the urgency of dwindling time, Brian finally dialed the number Castle had left him.
Observing the incoming call from the United States, Castle answered with a relaxed tone, knowing it was likely Brian calling. He immediately reassured the anxious father: "Hi, Kem's dad. While we are speaking, Kem is on her way to the U.S. Embassy escorted by my people. She's a bit out of it right now, so she couldn't contact you immediately!"
The sound of Castle's voice, strangely familiar, instantly revitalized Brian: "What? You've already rescued her? Thank you, man, you can't imagine how grateful I am."
Brian, the tough guy who hadn't flinched despite three broken ribs, was nearly in tears on the phone.
"Don't mention it, buddy. I'm also a father, and my daughter is Kem's classmate! I totally understand your feelings. By the way, I took out the group that kidnapped Kem, none of them survived, so no need to thank me!"
Castle ultimately decided not to hide his identity from Brian, considering he was a former CIA heavyweight. It might be useful to have him owe a favor.
"It's you... Mr. Castle?"
Brian's voice was filled with immense surprise!
No wonder he was once a CIA big shot; just from the clues that his daughter was Kem's classmate and the vaguely familiar voice on the phone, Brian quickly realized he was speaking to Castle, the bestselling author and father of his daughter's classmate.
"Yes, it's me! Last month, my daughter asked if she could go to France with Kem, though she ended up going on vacation with her mother instead. I just happened to be coming to France for some business when I discovered Kem had been kidnapped. I was about to contact you, but then you had that accident…"
Castle, ever the opportunist, exaggerated his role, thinking there was no harm in embellishing his story when there were no witnesses.
"..." Brian, once a super spy and now disabled, blushed hearing Castle joking about his accident.
"So, buddy, I immediately called your wife to tell her not to worry. I was already in France, and I couldn't just stand by while my daughter's classmate was kidnapped, right? Plus, being a father myself, how could I stand by and watch this happen?"
Castle energetically bamboozled Brian, who was overwhelmed with relief and gratitude.
"So you took down those scumbags all by yourself?"
Brian found it hard to believe. A writer, engaging in gunfights and emerging victorious?
"Oh, well, not exactly, buddy. I'm just a writer, not some super soldier. But I have money and connections! I hired a team of mercenaries to help out. They rescued Kem and her friend Amanda, and they are escorting them to the U.S. Embassy as we speak. They should be arriving soon!"
"Man, I can't tell you how grateful I am. After the car accident, I was about ready to give up."
Castle's explanation, attributing his success to hired help, finally realigned Brian's shaken worldview, but his gratitude was palpable over the phone.
"Alright, buddy, you need to take it easy with your injuries. Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you, I took out the trafficking ring that kidnapped Kem, but from what they said under pressure, there's a guy named Valentino behind them. I plan to take care of him too, but don't worry about it. I just wanted to let you know."
Castle figured if he was going to have Brian owe him, he might as well go all in.
"Mr. Castle, after my accident, knowing I couldn't come to France, I asked a former superior to help rescue Kem. Even though you've already saved her, since you still have plans and actions to take, could I contribute somehow? This is a request from a father. Could I give your contact info to my former boss so he can get in touch with you? Just so you know, I used to work for an intelligence agency, and so did he, so we can definitely help."
Brian was eager for a chance to vent his frustrations and felt indebted to Castle for saving his daughter without seeking repayment.
"Wow, you have a substitute ready to step in because Brian can't make it? Perfect for facing Valentino directly while I pull the strings from behind!"
Castle was thrilled at the prospect of maneuvering from the shadows.
"Sure, buddy, you have every right to seek revenge! I'm staying at the Four Seasons Hotel in Paris. Have your guy come find me!"
Castle agreed, eager to fulfill his role as a mastermind behind the scenes.
"I say, buddy, we're both fathers, and it's clear Kem is going through her teenage years…"
Having discussed the serious matters, Castle started chatting with
a now-relieved Brian about the trials of fatherhood as he drove.
The conversation was light and without incident, and after learning that his daughter had safely reached the embassy and would soon be sent home, Brian agreed to meet up with Castle once he was back in the States.
After returning to his hotel, Castle immediately extracted his high-performance computer from his personal storage space and began hacking into Paris municipal surveillance to erase any trace of himself and the Black Fox team.
After taking care of these tasks, Castle planned to relax with a good bath before waiting for Brian's superior to arrive.
"Valentino's club isn't going anywhere, and with the TV news bizarrely boasting about the police's 'thorough' investigation and heroic rescue of dozens of kidnapped girls, he's unlikely to suspect anything before I make my move. So, there's no rush."
Content, Castle luxuriated in a bath and then indulged in a spread of exquisite French cuisine delivered by room service. As he sat on the sofa watching the explosive media coverage of his day's work, the doorbell rang.
"That must be Brian's superior!"
Castle got up to open the door, curious about who this substitute might be.
Upon opening the door, he was startled to find a distinguished older man resembling the Hollywood star Sean Connery standing there.
"Father..."
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Bab 35: Chapter 35: Dad’s Surprise
"Do you know who I am?" The strikingly handsome elderly man with white hair and beard, still exuding charisma despite nearing seventy, stared intensely into Castle's eyes with astonishment.
"Damn it, Brian, your boss is actually my dad? Oh right, Brian came from the CIA, and so did my dad!"
Castle, utterly frustrated and wishing he could strangle Brian, who was likely still bedridden, was taken aback by this huge "surprise" before he was even ready to reconcile with his father.
"Come in first," Castle sighed, resigned to his fate. After all, the man at the door was his father; without him, there would be no him. He couldn't just leave him outside, could he? Stepping aside, he allowed his father to enter.
The distinguished older man glanced around playfully and took a seat on the sofa as if he owned the place.
"My real name is Sean. Has Martha ever mentioned me to you?"
Sean, potentially more formidable than Castle and Brian combined, used his first words in the room to gauge how much his son knew about him, who had been hidden behind the scenes for nearly three decades.
"No, mom never mentioned you. It was after I became an adult that I pieced together clues to find you. By the way, my hacking skills are top-notch. The secret databases at the CIA and FBI are like my backyard."
Castle mixed truth with embellishments as he spoke to his father, whom he had never met since birth.
"Oh? Is that so? It's been almost forty years, and I never expected you to have such a complicated identity. I wouldn't have believed it myself had I not thoroughly investigated you before coming here. I was shocked to discover you could even mobilize a squad directly under 'The High Table.'"
Sean, seeing through his son's lies with a glance, nudged Castle to remind him that lying to your dad isn't easy, especially when you're nearly forty.
"Uh, well, it was an accident. I was just trying to hire some mercenaries through The Continental Hotel, but a friend who gave me the Rage Lion coins also provided an instruction manual. I followed the instructions and called The Continental, and they ended up arranging such a formidable mercenary squad for me."
Castle told the truth, which seemed to settle Sean's suspicions for the moment.
"The Rage Lion coins, were they from Gianna of the D'Antonio family?"
Sean's question startled Castle again.
"How did you know?
Gianna's boyfriend, Alexis, oh, your granddaughter's godfather, so she gave me some."
Castle was taken aback by his father's intelligence capabilities.
"Did you know that every Rage Lion coin has a serial number? You gave six of them as a tip to that mercenary squad called Black Fox, didn't you?"
Sean effortlessly explained the father-knows-best dynamic.
"You knew that too?" Castle was astounded.
"Nonsense, I designed the darn things!"
Sean casually dropped a bombshell that he was the designer of the Rage Lion coins!
"What? You designed them? You're involved with The High Table?"
Castle's jaw dropped.
"I don't have much to do with The High Table, just friends with some people above it!" Sean nonchalantly added another stunning fact, dazzling his son.
"In fact, when Brian called earlier to ask me to contact Richard Castle, the father of his daughter's classmate, I had a hunch it might be you. So I decided to check who you had hired through The Continental's intelligence network before coming here. The Continental then told me directly that you were using their team. Can you imagine my surprise?"
Sean observed his restless son and sighed.
"But, as a seasoned behind-the-scenes operator, I have to ask: how did you recognize me immediately? Don't tell me it was through the CIA database. My digital records don't exist in the CIA's central data, and even if they have my records, as far as I know, they are all locked in a secure, manned basement vault."
"Basement? Paper records?"
A sudden realization struck Castle, prompted by Sean's words.
"Are you a R.E.D agent?"
Castle blurted out in shock.
Sean was genuinely surprised this time; his son knew about the CIA's most secretive R.E.D program?
"How did you know about R.E.D? That's impossible!"
Sean discovered that his son, whom he had never met, seemed to have more secrets than he did.
Castle regretted his loose tongue, realizing he'd dug himself deeper just when he'd managed to divert his father's suspicions.
"My friend, a superior hacker, accessed some very covert channels and learned about R.E.D. He told me that the CIA refers to retired, uncontrollable, extremely dangerous agents as R.E.Ds. A major identifier for these agents is that they don't have any digital records in the CIA's database; their files are all paper and stored in a
secure vault in the CIA's basement."
Castle bullshitted earnestly, hoping to deflect his father's attention by throwing his hacker friend under the bus.
Sean, cunning beyond measure, wasn't easily fooled by such tactics, but this was his son, after all. How could he interrogate him?
"Alright, if you don't want to talk about it, let's leave it. We all have our secrets, don't we? What's your plan for dealing with Valentino? I hope you're not planning on using The Continental's resources again. You know that the D'Antonio family is one of The High Table's twelve leaders. They technically can't get involved in this kind of affair."
"Heh, I know, so I didn't plan to involve The Continental anymore. Did you see I settled the Black Fox squad's account? I plan to go myself!"
Castle grinned, shocking his father with his audacity.
"What? You're going yourself? With what, your belly?"
Sean eyed Castle's protruding stomach, suspecting his son had drunk too much at dinner.
"Don't underestimate me. Didn't Black Fox tell you that it was mostly me doing the work this morning on Heaven Street?"
Castle was puzzled why his father would ask such a question.
Sean found himself increasingly unable to fathom his son: "Aren't you just a writer? Since when did you become so skilled?"
That's when the fall-guy number two, John Wick, came up.
"My friend, John Wick—Gianna's boyfriend—ever heard of him? He trained me personally."
"The Boogeyman? He's your friend?"
Sean realized his son truly was his own flesh and blood; the apple didn't fall far from the tree when it came to stirring up trouble.
"Yes, he's my friend, the godfather to your granddaughter Alexis, and Gianna's dream man. By the way, I played matchmaker for them!"
Castle boasted, making his father Sean consider whether it was too late to disown him.
"Damn, kids raised by single mothers really do turn out to be troublemakers..."
Sean sighed deeply, regretting that he hadn't been there to raise Castle himself.
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