The absence of a unified leadership within the Lockset organization inevitably led to conflict. Those who had suffered losses wanted revenge, while those who hadn't been affected resisted such efforts to preserve their interests. This loose organizational structure finally caused the first major internal dispute over whether to continue targeting Castle.
For now, the organization remained intact, as all members were pinning their hopes on next month's presidential assassination attempt. The operation promised to be a turning point, allowing Lockset to seize power amid the chaos. However, tensions simmered just below the surface.
Castle had no knowledge of this internal strife. Instead, he sat in his study, listening intently as Jarvis relayed a recent piece of intelligence. Unlike Jarvis's usual internet sleuthing, this information had come from "Bailey Street's" very own Kg, better known as Uncle Powell, the shadowy king of New York's underground intelligence network. The message was clear: a group of highly skilled Japanese operatives had arrived in New York, tasked with assassinating Castle.
Despite the immense capabilities Jarvis offered, including access to countless public and private surveillance cameras across the city, some intelligence still eluded Castle. This was especially true when dealing with operations that avoided modern technology altogether.
Case in point: the Japanese operatives in question belonged to the Watanabe Consortium. After Castle's explosive retaliation during the Christmas kidnapping incident—where he hacked Japan's Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office (CIRO) database and exposed their operatives in the U.S.—the Japanese had learned to fear Castle's prowess in cyberspace. For this reason, their plans for revenge avoided all digital communication, relying instead on old-fashioned, person-to-person methods.
This reliance on analog tactics initially left Castle in the dark.
However, they hadn't accounted for the presence of Bailey Street—a sprawling, secretive network of informants under Powell's control. This organization, which avoided modern technology in favor of human observation, was a force to be reckoned with. Its members, who included New York's numerous homeless individuals, gathered intelligence through the simplest yet most effective method: people watching.
When three Japanese men, clearly operatives of some kind, arrived in New York and began preparing their mission, they immediately caught the attention of Powell's street-level operatives. To the average person, these men might have seemed like tourists or businessmen, but to Powell's trained eyes, they were something else entirely.
The trio made their first mistake while discussing their plans in Japanese at a street corner. They debated whether to target Castle at his Long Island estate or stake out his former Manhattan luxury apartment. Unfortunately for them, a homeless man sitting nearby overheard their conversation. As it happened, this particular individual was a retired U.S. Navy serviceman who had spent ten years stationed in Japan's Sasebo Naval Base. While his spoken Japanese was rusty, his listening comprehension remained sharp.
The operatives' casual assumption that their language would protect them from eavesdroppers proved fatal.
The overheard conversation quickly reached Powell, who immediately recognized its significance. Powell, who owed his life to Castle's father Sean, had always kept an eye out for Castle. Even though Castle rarely sought his assistance, he often sent small gifts to Powell as a token of gratitude, a gesture that did not go unnoticed. Powell, in turn, felt a deep sense of loyalty to the younger Castle, just as he did to Winston, the manager of the New York Continental Hotel, who had similarly protected Castle's family for years.
Upon confirming that the Japanese assassins were targeting Castle, Powell wasted no time in passing the information to Castle via a secure channel.
Castle, upon receiving Powell's warning, immediately instructed Jarvis to track the assassins. Although they had been careful to avoid digital communication, it took Jarvis less than three minutes to locate them in a so-called "safe house" in Brooklyn's Red Hook district. The house, established by the Watanabe Consortium, was supposed to serve as a secure base for their operatives.
Jarvis's findings, combined with Powell's street-level intelligence, revealed the full picture.
These assassins weren't sent by the Japanese government or CIRO, as one might have expected. Instead, they were dispatched by the Watanabe Consortium, a powerful corporate entity. The motive was personal.
The Watanabe patriarch, who had planned to pass his empire to his son Watanabe Taro, had suffered devastating losses during the Christmas incident. Taro, implicated in the kidnapping of Castle's daughter Alexis, was forced to commit suicide to appease the U.S. government. Additionally, Taro's cousin, Nakajima Ichifu, was thrown into an active Hawaiian volcano by Castle's operatives as punishment for his role in the plot.
Humiliated and enraged, the elder Watanabe had been stewing in resentment ever since. With the Japanese government showing no interest in avenging his family, and the U.S. seemingly content after extracting a lucrative arms deal from Japan, the elder Watanabe decided to take matters into his own hands.
Thus, he dispatched three of his most trusted assassins to New York to eliminate Castle and restore his family's honor.
However, their attempt at secrecy fell apart the moment they underestimated the reach of Powell's network.
As Castle reviewed the information Jarvis had compiled, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Seriously? I haven't even had time to go after the Watanabe Consortium, and they've already come to me? Do they think I'm a pushover or something?"
The more he thought about it, the more absurd it seemed. "Watanabe Consortium, huh? If it's a fight they want, then it's a fight they'll get."
Castle quickly formulated a plan.
First, he decided not to confront the assassins directly—not yet, at least. Instead, he would let them believe they still had the upper hand, all while gathering additional evidence of their connection to the Watanabe Consortium. This would give him leverage to strike back on a much larger scale.
Second, he activated his estate's enhanced defense systems, ensuring that his home remained an impenetrable fortress. Between the automated defenses, his elite bodyguards led by "Big Ivan," and his personal arsenal, any direct assault on his property would end disastrously for the attackers.
Finally, Castle instructed Jarvis to monitor the assassins' movements around the clock. If they made even the slightest misstep, Castle would be ready to act.
Back in Brooklyn, the three assassins had no idea how badly they had underestimated their target. They believed themselves to be operating in the shadows, unaware that their every move was being tracked.
Meanwhile, in his Long Island estate, Castle returned to his lab, a dangerous glint in his eye.
"Watanabe Consortium," he muttered to himself. "You think you can kill me and walk away? Let's see who ends up regretting this decision."
With that, he resumed his work, knowing that the next move was his to make.
(End of Chapter)
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