What left Castle both amused and exasperated was the revelation from Jarvis's intelligence. Both the Japanese intelligence agency and the Roxette organization—after suffering heavy losses from Castle's indirect actions—had independently marked him as a top-priority target for assassination. They were hoping that Amir Barkawi, currently on the run and being hunted worldwide by the U.S. government, could include Castle in his plans while orchestrating a major attack on Washington. In their view, this would be killing two birds with one stone.
This meant Castle's feud with the Japanese government and the Roxette organization had officially escalated to a no-holds-barred vendetta. He had become a thorn in their sides, someone they couldn't ignore or tolerate any longer. Yet their inability to strike directly—due to Castle's strengthened security and his connections to the High Table, the underground world's ultimate authority—left them scrambling for alternatives. It was for this reason they sought out Barkawi, hoping he could use the chaos of a major attack on Washington to quietly dispatch a team of mercenaries to eliminate Castle.
Honestly, Castle had to admit that if he hadn't already uncovered their plans through Jarvis's meticulous intelligence gathering, there was a real chance their scheme might have succeeded.
"Thank God for Jarvis," Castle muttered, shuddering at the thought. "If it weren't for his data-mining capabilities, I'd probably be walking right into their trap."
However, upon reflection, Castle also realized that with the fortress-like defenses of his estate, a direct assault by mercenaries would likely end in their complete annihilation. "If Barkawi really tries something like that," Castle mused with a smirk, "he'll just be sending his men on a one-way trip."
The intelligence Jarvis provided not only clarified why the White House had been so easily compromised in the fictional Olympus Has Fallen, but it also shed light on Castle's current situation. He now knew he was considered a mortal enemy by both the Japanese intelligence agency and Roxette. Still, their plans were in their infancy, with Barkawi only recently being approached. While many details had yet to be finalized, Castle knew one thing for certain: there was no way he was going to sit back and let them act unopposed.
The Japanese intelligence agency's hostility was no surprise to Castle, nor to Gianna, who had predicted as much. Even though Castle hadn't handed over the damning list of Japanese operatives to the authorities, the Japanese still viewed him as an existential threat. However, since Japan was a sovereign nation and geographically distant, Castle decided to prioritize dealing with the Roxette operatives embedded in U.S. politics and intelligence. They were a more immediate threat, and it was high time he started systematically dismantling their influence.
That being said, Castle recognized that taking on Roxette by himself would be an uphill battle. Looking at the list Jarvis compiled of Roxette operatives operating outside the CIA—individuals scattered across the U.S. political landscape—Castle realized he simply didn't have the resources to handle this alone. If he wanted to take them down, he'd need to call in reinforcements.
And who better to call than Sean, the High Table elder still in North Africa? Castle was confident that Sean, knowing the target was the same organization that had forced him into exile, would relish the opportunity to help dismantle Roxette. Moreover, with Roxette already reeling from Benjamin Arthur's CIA purge, this was the perfect time to strike—like kicking them while they were down.
The good news was that both the Japanese intelligence agency and Roxette were still in the early stages of their dealings with Barkawi. The plans they were hatching hadn't progressed far enough to pose an immediate threat, which gave Castle ample time to prepare and strategize. For now, Barkawi was licking his wounds after several setbacks, including the loss of the red mercury bomb he had hoped to purchase from Dr. Edward Bailey.
Bailey, however, had been captured by British and American intelligence due to Barkawi's attempts to haggle for a lower price. Cornered and desperate to take revenge on the British government for his decades of imprisonment, Bailey detonated the bomb in a coastal town in the UK, thwarting Barkawi's plans to use it for a major attack on U.S. soil.
Barkawi, now hiding in Argentina, was surprised when representatives from the Japanese intelligence agency approached him with offers of financial support and actionable intelligence. Despite his relative isolation, Barkawi was well aware of the recent turmoil in Hawaii and New York. He knew the Japanese had suffered a crushing defeat in the intelligence war against the U.S., and their desperation made their offers all the more enticing.
For a man like Barkawi, who harbored an unrelenting hatred for the United States, such support was invaluable. With the backing of a nation-state's intelligence apparatus, he could carry out operations on a scale he had only dreamed of.
What surprised Barkawi even more was that shortly after Japan's emissaries reached out to him, another group from the U.S. also contacted him. These individuals, carefully concealing their true affiliations, proposed a collaboration to eliminate a specific target: an American writer named Richard Castle.
But Barkawi wasn't easily fooled. It didn't take him long to deduce that these operatives were likely tied to the CIA. Their motivations, however, intrigued him. Why would both Japan and elements within the U.S. be so hellbent on eliminating the same man? A little digging revealed Castle's involvement in the downfall of both the Japanese intelligence network and Roxette's operatives within the CIA.
"So, this Castle guy is the reason Japan came knocking on my door, and the reason these U.S. spooks are here too," Barkawi muttered to himself. "Interesting. Very interesting."
At this point in his career, Barkawi was still evolving into the master strategist who would later orchestrate the events of London Has Fallen. While he was a skilled arms dealer with significant financial resources, his hatred for the U.S. stemmed from a personal vendetta—the loss of his family in a CIA drone strike. For now, he was a man on the rise, slowly but steadily transforming into the kind of global threat that could make superpowers tremble.
Castle, however, wasn't too concerned about Barkawi at this stage. The man wasn't yet the unstoppable force he would become, and Castle doubted Barkawi could pose a significant threat to him in the short term.
What intrigued Castle most was the possibility that his actions as a transmigrator might have inadvertently set the stage for Barkawi's eventual evolution into a major antagonist. By forcing both the Japanese intelligence agency and Roxette to turn to Barkawi for help, Castle might have indirectly given the man the resources and confidence he needed to take his operations to the next level.
"Could it really be my fault that Barkawi eventually pulled off those audacious attacks in London Has Fallen? Did my interference push him to level up?" Castle chuckled to himself. "If that's true, I guess I've made things far more interesting."
What Castle found even more amusing was the fact that Barkawi and the Japanese intelligence agency, currently so aligned in their goals, would likely become bitter enemies in a few years. With the benefit of hindsight as a transmigrator, Castle could already foresee the inevitable fallout between these unlikely allies. But for now, he had more immediate concerns—like using this time to strengthen his position and deal with Roxette once and for all.
"Let them plot all they want," Castle thought with a smirk. "By the time they're ready to act, I'll be ten steps ahead."
(End of Chapter)
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