After a brief chat, Kim was so overjoyed to hear that her father had secured her a chance to become a star, even at the same company as her idol, Leila, that she hugged her new friend, Alexis, and cheered.
Castle knew a little about Jack's secret plans, but as someone involved in the industry, he was somewhat skeptical of such ambitious attempts to build a new entertainment empire. He was well aware of the difficulty of venturing into a new field, bypassing the encirclement of established companies with vast resources.
Short dramas are indeed very popular right now, considered a dark horse, but countless dark horses fail every year, just like the rise and fall of startups in Silicon Valley.
While everyone is buzzing about the year's new "unicorn" companies and talking about IPOs, no one cares about the unknown companies that fail silently due to lack of funding and lack of investor support.
After all, friendship is friendship, and business is business. As a renowned author with over ten bestsellers under his belt, Castle's best option was to wait and see.
Of course, Jack had no intention of forcing their friendship into cash; he simply wanted the adaptation rights to a few lesser-known novels in Castle's possession.
There were too many interested parties for Castle's hit, Heat Wave, the first in the Nikki Hitt series. Although he and Chris had just made a fortune, the money wasn't something to be squandered.
Chris had sent professional business people and lawyers to negotiate the rights, and progress was slow, but Jack wasn't impatient. Nothing can be accomplished overnight in the initial stages.
Soon, Red appeared backstage with Leila. Kim finally got the autographed photo she'd been craving, and the two girls immediately turned their attention to Castle.
"Okay, let's go meet the Queen of Rock and Roll," Castle shrugged with a smile, and led them to the staff to inquire about Joan Jett's lounge.
"Would you like to take tomorrow off? Spend some quality time with your daughter," Jack asked Brian, who was driving, after putting Leila in his car.
"The day after tomorrow, Kim's going to a science fair. I'll get Leila on the plane tomorrow and return to Los Angeles a day later."
Brian's smile hadn't faded since he saw his daughter, a typical daughter-slave.
A quiet night followed, and Jack's part-time job as a temporary bodyguard ended. He leisurely spent the afternoon in the office, then resumed tending to his vegetable garden.
Several pumpkin plants had already produced fist-sized fruits, and he fertilized them, hoping they would grow quickly so they could be used as jack-o'-lanterns for Halloween.
Pumpkins are a wonderful plant; they're also great in millet porridge, and the seeds can be fried and eaten.
Then, in the afternoon, a mission arrived. A murder had just occurred in the NYPD's 12th Precinct, where Detective Beckett, Cassel's muse, worked. While trying to identify the victim, they discovered a large cache of guns, ammunition, and suspected spy equipment in his apartment.
Considering the deceased's Saudi nationality and concerns about terrorist links, the NYPD reported the situation to the FBI.
Dana Moger naturally thought of Jack first, calling him and asking him to investigate as soon as possible.
When Jack arrived at the 12th Precinct in his Dodge Hellcat, he encountered Cassel and Beckett discussing the case in the coffee shop.
"What's going on?" Jack drooled enviously as he took the photo Beckett handed him, observing the dazzling array of guns.
Since arriving in New York, his personal gun collection has stagnated. The small farm Chris bought for him now remains largely untouched, save for a "fallout shelter" underground.
The Gatling gun Jack had once used to such great effect is now back in Chris's possession, or more accurately, in the Wolfe brothers' secret arsenal.
After the bombed-out building was rebuilt, and with no one at home for years, he temporarily entrusted his Los Angeles arsenal to the brothers, including the LG5A grenade-loading sniper rifle from a major Eastern power.
The weapons shown in the photo are few, but each one is a fine piece of art, including the German HK433 assault rifle, the British AX308 sniper rifle produced by Accuracy International, and the American Taran Tactical Innovations JW4 TTI Viper pistol.
"Did you guys bust some assassin's or gun enthusiast's lair?" Jack marveled, especially at the two JW4 TTI Viper pistols. He'd only seen them once in John Wick 4 in his previous life and had never had the chance to touch them in real life.
"Could he be a spy?" Castle handed Jack a cup of coffee. "Kevin and Esposito also found a number of eavesdropping and tracking devices."
"So you haven't confirmed the deceased's identity yet?" Jack saw it was an American coffee and immediately added double the sugar.
"We know his name: Hasim Farouk, a Columbia University student with a military background, a former commando in the Saudi Special Forces."
Beckett handed Jack the file with the photo and continued, "And his financial situation. A Swiss bank deposits $50,000 into his account every month."
"Oh, he's 25 and a sophomore? Have you asked his classmates?" Jack quickly read through the thin pages of information, but had no idea what was going on.
"I just spoke to a few of his classmates, and no one seems to have noticed Hasim in class, or even knows who he is. He's like an invisible man." Beckett waved his phone.
Elsewhere, Cassel was already using his writerly imagination. "He's hiding in plain sight, a well-hidden foreign agent on some special investigation mission."
"And then he was killed after shooting at a speeding van. If that kind of agent were written into a novel, readers would be furious, wouldn't they?"
Jack quipped, returning the case file to Beckett.
"Wow, look who's here! Long time no see, FBI boy. Oh, and by the way, shouldn't I call you Supervisory Agent Tavoler now?"
Esposito walked into the coffee shop, smiled, and gave Jack a fist bump, then handed the file to Beckett.
"Kevin's still searching for the van involved in the accident through traffic surveillance, but things are getting weirder about Hasim," he said, snatching the coffee from Cassel's hand before he could finish it. He moistened his throat and continued.
"The technicians checked the surveillance equipment in his apartment and found a connected bug installed in another luxury apartment less than 800 meters away."
(End of chapter)