As the group chatted, Kim cheered in excitement, hugging Alexis tightly when she heard that her father had secured her a chance to become a star—with her idol, Lyla, in the same company.
Castle, though a supporter of Jack's ventures, remained skeptical.
Building an entertainment empire from scratch was no easy feat.
Sure, Jack's short-form series had made a splash, but so did many "black horse" startups before crashing into the reality of the industry.
Castle had seen countless ambitious projects fail because they couldn't compete with the established giants.
Startups rise and fall like waves in Silicon Valley—people celebrate every new "unicorn" company, but no one remembers the countless others that died quietly due to lack of funding.
Castle, being a seasoned author with over a dozen bestsellers, knew better than to sell himself short.
He wasn't against working with Jack's company, but he wasn't about to give away his most valuable IPs—especially not "Heat Wave," the first book in his Nikki Heat series.
There were too many interested buyers, including major studios, to rush into anything.
Jack understood this, which is why he wasn't pushing hard.
Instead, he was simply looking for a few lesser-known titles from Castle's collection—just something to get started.
Meanwhile, the business negotiations were being handled by Chris's legal and finance teams.
Jack had no intention of rushing things—building something big took time.
---
Later that night…
Reid showed up with Lyla, and Kim finally got the autograph she had been hoping for.
Immediately after, she and Alexis turned to Castle with hopeful eyes.
"Alright, alright," Castle sighed dramatically, throwing his hands up. "Let's go pay our respects to the Queen of Rock!"
He led the girls to find Joan Jett's dressing room.
Jack, meanwhile, turned to Bryan, smirking.
"Taking the day off tomorrow?"
Bryan shook his head.
"Not yet. Kim's going to a science fair tomorrow, so I'll be taking Lyla to the airport first. I'll fly back to LA the day after."
Jack chuckled.
Bryan had been grinning like a proud dad ever since he reunited with Kim—classic "girl dad" behavior.
---
The next day, Jack's part-time bodyguard gig came to an end.
With nothing urgent on his plate, he spent most of the morning relaxing at the FBI office, then went home to tend to his ever-expanding vegetable garden.
His pumpkins were already the size of a fist, and with a little extra fertilizer, they'd be perfect for Halloween.
Pumpkins were amazing.
- Good for porridge.
- Good for carving.
- Even the seeds could be roasted for snacking.
Jack was in the middle of admiring his crops when he got a call.
A case had just landed on his desk.
---
Castle's muse, Detective Kate Beckett, had just caught a homicide case at NYPD's 12th Precinct.
While investigating the victim's identity, they discovered a stash of firearms and suspected espionage equipment in his apartment.
Considering the victim was a Saudi national, NYPD immediately contacted the FBI—concerned that this could be terrorism-related.
And when it came to cases like these, Dana Mosier's first instinct was to call Jack.
By the time Jack pulled up in his Dodge Hellcat at the 12th Precinct, he wasn't surprised to find Castle and Beckett already deep in discussion.
---
"Alright," Jack said, taking the case file Beckett handed him. "What do we got?"
As he flipped through the crime scene photos, his eyes widened slightly.
The weapons stash was ridiculously impressive.
Damn.
Jack loved guns—but ever since moving to NYC, his personal collection had been stuck in limbo.
Chris had bought him a nice little farm in the countryside, but on the surface, it was still "untouched land".
His beloved minigun was back in Chris's hands—or more accurately, locked away in the Wolf brothers' secret arsenal.
The LG5A grenade sniper rifle from a certain Eastern country? Same deal.
But these photos…
HK433 assault rifle.
AX308 sniper rifle.
TTI JW4 Viper handguns.
Jack nearly drooled in envy.
He recognized those pistols from John Wick 4, but he'd never actually gotten his hands on one in real life.
"You guys just raided a hitman's house, huh?" Jack whistled.
"Or maybe… an espionage operative," Castle added, passing him a coffee.
"Kevin and Esposito also found a ton of surveillance and tracking devices."
Jack took a sip—then made a face.
"Ugh. American coffee," he muttered, dumping in double the sugar before continuing.
"So you don't have a confirmed ID yet?"
Beckett nodded.
"We know his name—Hasim Faruq. He was a student at Columbia University."
She handed him another file.
"Military background—former Saudi special forces commando."
Jack flipped through the file.
"And his financials?"
"That's the weird part," Beckett said.
"He received $50,000 a month—wired from a Swiss bank account."
Jack arched an eyebrow.
Interesting.
"Dude's 25 and still a sophomore?" he remarked.
"Have you talked to his classmates?"
"I just interviewed a few," Beckett sighed. "But none of them even noticed him in class. Some didn't even know he existed."
Jack raised an eyebrow.
"So he was practically invisible?"
Castle leaned in, eyes gleaming.
"A foreign operative, hiding in plain sight," he mused. "An elite spy, carrying out a top-secret mission—"
Jack cut him off immediately.
"Then why the hell would a top-tier secret agent get himself run over by a van?"
Castle froze.
"…Wait. What?"
Jack sighed, flipping through the file again.
"According to the report, our badass super-spy was shot at a speeding van—and got himself run over like an idiot."
"If you put that in a novel, readers would tear you apart."
"Wow," a new voice chimed in. "Look who's here. Long time no see, Agent FBI Kid."
Jack turned to see Javier Esposito grinning at him.
The two bumped fists.
"Or wait," Esposito smirked, "should I be calling you Supervisory Special Agent Tavolar now?"
Jack snorted.
"Call me whatever you want—as long as you tell me what the hell is going on."
Esposito handed Beckett another report.
"Kevin's still pulling traffic camera footage to find the van," he said. "But things are getting weirder by the minute."
He took a sip of Castle's coffee—earning a betrayed look from the writer—before continuing.
"Our tech team checked his apartment's surveillance system."
"And?" Beckett prompted.
Esposito let out a low whistle.
"Hasim's place was being bugged."
Jack raised an eyebrow.
"By who?"
Esposito grinned.
"Whoever it was, they weren't even trying to hide it."
"Their listening devices? They were set up in a high-end apartment building… less than 800 meters away."
______
(≧◡≦) ♡ Support me and read 20 chapters ahead – patreon.com/Mutter
For every 50 Power Stones, one extra chapter will be released on Saturday.