To be honest, when Cassel first approached him, Jack hadn't considered resolving the situation through normal means.
He and Chris had now established the massive "Shangri-La Group," initially with the sole purpose of giving Justine, a homebody, a side hustle and a new hobby.
Unlike Chris, who had landed the lead role, Justine's Asperger's syndrome had a significant impact on her appearance and body.
While Jack's "treatment" had restored her movement and speech to near-normal levels, it was only a near-normal.
The most serious problem lay in her emotional life. Isolated from the outside world since childhood, communicating only online, most people, aside from her family and Jack, who had accidentally intruded into her "little world," were more like "NPCs" to Justine.
While antisocial might be an inappropriate metaphor, Justine was indeed quite indifferent to others, including the women around Jack.
After Jack, the only people who have truly established a close relationship with Justine, besides Braxton and his wife, Aaliyah, who replaced Chris as her companions, and the two Mexican maids, are Garcia, the beloved and adorable BAU member.
With the rapid expansion of the short video industry and the interconnectedness of various profit chains, Justine's small "side business" has gradually become a new media giant.
Not only are Jack's friends profiting from this, but Zoe's political career is also firmly tied to Shangri-La.
As the saying goes, collusion between officials and businessmen is always a surefire way to win in the business world, especially in a traditional capitalist country like this. Shangri-La's rapid expansion is almost in sync with Zoe's meteoric rise in American politics.
However, while both Shangri-La and Zoe have shown immense potential and should not be underestimated, they are ultimately somewhat immature, or perhaps lacking in experience.
Compared to the "old money" or "blue bloods," even the "internet upstarts" who emerged over the past two decades are still merely younger, dark horses.
So while Jack and Castle have a good relationship and share similar interests, they also share a certain vested interest.
But Jack couldn't let Zoe, a new senator, go head-to-head with a veteran senator with considerable experience and a strong chance of becoming the next Vice President, just for himself and Beckett.
It wasn't a question of whether or not to be brave enough. Even though Castle was a charming woman, Jack wasn't a bootlicker who would unconditionally sacrifice the interests of others, including his own woman, to help him.
Therefore, from the outset, Jack envisioned several solutions, the simplest of which was to hand the matter over to the expert Frank Moses. After all, it's only natural for a father to help his son.
The rescue operation in Paris had given him confidence in the veteran agent's abilities, and even if he ultimately needed to act as an anonymous long-range sniper, as he had before, Jack was willing to do the father and son a favor.
His only concern was that, given his current reputation as an FBI detective, a case like this involving a sniper attack on a congressman might be assigned to the Most Wanted Squad, and he'd be embarrassed to investigate on his own.
Unfortunately, plans couldn't keep up, and with the "Red" storyline unfolding, Frank might be overwhelmed.
Therefore, Jack was currently deciding to hold off on Cassel and Beckett for now while he helped Frank handle the situation.
Fortunately, with Montgomery's last-ditch efforts and Mr. Smith's decisive decision to flee the country, Senator Bracken wouldn't be sending out new assassins anytime soon.
However, since arrangements had already been made, Jack stuck to his original plan. The next morning, a stern-faced Brian Mills, accompanied by a phalanx of burly bodyguards, knocked on the door of the small building.
An hour later, the Most Wanted squad's base was deserted again. Aside from Cassel and Beckett, who sat on the living room sofa poring over Montgomery's files, Jack was alone, busy in the kitchen.
It was noon when Frank, having arrived in a new car, appeared outside the building. Following the aroma, he headed straight for the dining room.
The old agent was slightly taken aback to see that the place, which had been bustling with people the day before, was now only occupied by his naive son and his future daughter-in-law, hunched over their meal.
"Your girlfriend's already on a flight to Los Angeles," Jack said, emerging from the kitchen with a large bowl of braised pork in fermented bean curd. He knew he was thinking of the beautiful Sarah Ross.
The bald man sniffed, his gaze fixed on the sumptuous dishes on the table, and nodded in understanding.
This was something he'd discussed with Jack the day before leaving. While the idea of a girl fighting her way through a difficult situation sounded exciting and a common Hollywood trope, actually doing it might be a bit tiring for her.
Braised pork with fermented bean curd, garlic butter shrimp, black pepper beef short ribs, seafood and tofu casserole, and stir-fried pork and green peppers—a simple four-course meal and one soup—caused Cassel and Frank to vie for the prize, nearly leading to a tragic father-son feud.
Although his father had subdued him with a single hand, Cassel was clearly quite happy after the fight, a bit of a paternal love-defeat he'd missed in his childhood.
After a satisfying meal and a few drinks, Frank once again produced the slip of paper filled with names. Most of the names were now outlined, with the cause of death noted next to them.
"Hank Mesdinow died in a car accident two weeks ago, and Daniel McGurty died of a heart attack three weeks ago." Jack glanced at it and frowned slightly. "Is this a hit list?"
"Yes, there are nine names on it, and besides me, only two are still alive." Frank spoke the chilling words with a nonchalant tone, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.
"Do you know all the people on it?" Jack asked, handing the note to Cassel, who was peeking in from the side.
"Only one, Marvin Boggs. I remember you have some special connections. Can you find a way to get me to Pensacola, Florida, as quickly as possible?"
Frank clearly remembered Jack's ability to make it from New York to Paris almost a day ahead of him.
"No problem, I'll arrange it now," Jack agreed without hesitation.
Although his own private jet was already carrying the other crew members to Nevada to apprehend a serial rapist, it wouldn't be a problem for him to coordinate another one through his female boss.
If all else fails, there's a military transport plane. Jack, after all, is an NCIS consultant, so arranging a Navy transport plane just for him wouldn't be difficult.
After dissuading Castle from following him, and solemnly warning him and Beckett to stay put for the time being, Jack boarded a Dassault Falcon 7X business jet with Frank that afternoon.
(End of chapter)