Castle wasn't just speaking casually. He genuinely needed Gianna, Neil, and Mozzie's input on something important.
What was it?
It was about Le Chiffre's upcoming scheme to short-sell the airline company!
This was something Castle had remembered on his flight back to New York. Since he already knew that Le Chiffre would soon short-sell the airline company to launder money for African warlords, even going so far as to send people to blow up the company's newly developed aircraft to create a major negative news event and cause the stock price to plummet, why not take advantage of this situation?
After all, even if Castle didn't intervene, the "heroic" British agent who seemed to sleep his way through every mission would successfully thwart Le Chiffre's plan. So, why not gather his friends, who were also exceptionally talented in scheming, and use Le Chiffre's scheme as an opportunity to make a fortune?
Of course, Castle wouldn't short-sell the company himself. Instead, he would go long, betting that the company's stock would rise after a successful maiden flight.
Moreover, being kidnapped by Le Chiffre had given Castle the perfect explanation for his source of information. He could use the excuse of betting against Le Chiffre's stock moves to justify why he hadn't directly eliminated the guy who had kidnapped him. It was all about keeping Le Chiffre around to monitor his actions on the airline's stock and time his own moves accordingly.
Sure enough, after returning to his estate and sending Alexis upstairs, Castle sat down with his friends and explained how he had accidentally overheard Le Chiffre's plan to short-sell the airline company's stock and then blow up their new aircraft during its maiden flight in Miami to cause the stock to crash. Everyone except John, who was busy holding little Eunoa and wasn't well-versed in economics, got excited.
They knew Castle's intelligence-gathering abilities were top-notch. So, when Castle said this, they were at least 90% confident in its accuracy. How could three people who were experts in economics not see the immense wealth potential in this?
The best part was that they didn't have to play the villain. Le Chiffre would take all the blame. All Gianna and the others had to do was buy up the airline's stock while it was still low, wait for Le Chiffre's scheme to fail, and then sell their shares when the stock soared, making a fortune in the process!
"No wonder, no wonder you didn't have Cassian and his team take out that guy who kidnapped you. It's because you knew he'd be up to something soon, right?" Gianna said with a relaxed expression, thinking she had figured out why Castle hadn't directly eliminated Le Chiffre.
Castle had already explained that he had Jarvis investigate Le Chiffre's activities during the flight back to New York, so Gianna, Neil, and Mozzie, all of whom were highly sensitive to financial opportunities, had no reason to doubt his story. Only John, who was holding his restless daughter, gave Castle a thoughtful look. He sensed that his friend wasn't telling the whole truth, but so what? Castle might not have revealed everything, but John was certain he wouldn't harm them. Besides, they could use this information to make a legitimate fortune. Was there really a need to dig deeper?
Castle noticed John's gaze and knew that his friend had picked up on the fact that he hadn't shared everything. But again, he knew many things, including that the British would soon come after Le Chiffre. However, these details weren't relevant to the current discussion, so there was no harm in keeping them to himself.
As Gianna, Neil, and Mozzie began enthusiastically discussing how to capitalize on this opportunity, Castle walked over to John, who was still struggling to keep little Eunoa from wriggling out of his arms.
"You're right, I haven't told you everything, but now's not the time…" Castle said.
John, who was busy trying to keep his daughter from hurting herself, replied nonchalantly, "I know, but I'm not concerned about that. I just need to know that if you need help, I'll always have your back, right?
Buddy, if I were you, I wouldn't be worrying about Le Chiffre right now. You should be thinking about how to explain to Beckett later how you ended up being kidnapped and taken to Eastern Europe after being lured to a bar by a South American beauty."
John's words made Castle's triumphant expression freeze. Damn it, he had completely forgotten that his biggest crisis was still unresolved!
But when he tried to beg Neil, Mozzie, and especially Gianna to stay and help him face Beckett, who would undoubtedly be furious about his stupidity leading to his kidnapping, none of them were willing to stick around. They all fled to Gianna's house next door, claiming they needed to discuss their strategy for buying up the airline's stock.
However, to their surprise, when Gianna and the others came over the next morning with little Eunoa to see how badly Castle had fared the previous night, they found him sipping coffee with a smug expression.
Neil and Mozzie were shocked to see that Castle seemed unscathed. "Dude, how did you manage to convince Beckett not to beat you up?"
Castle looked at the two traitors with disdain, as if they were beneath him. "You don't know that when dealing with an angry woman, nothing can't be solved with a passionate physical confrontation? If one round doesn't work, just go for another…"
Gianna almost dropped little Eunoa from laughing so hard. "Hahaha, Rick, did you 'seduce' Beckett into forgiving you? Hahaha…"
As a seasoned ladies' man, Neil was the first to catch on. Indeed, Castle's approach was the best solution. After all, he had only been kidnapped due to a moment of carelessness and hadn't suffered any real harm. Beckett had only been worried for a short while. This was actually a pretty clever move.
"Alright, enough joking. Let's talk about what you guys came up with yesterday," Castle said, finally getting serious. He also shared some additional details he hadn't mentioned before. "I've also found out a bit more about Le Chiffre. Since he's been laundering money for certain African warlords and terrorists for a long time, there's solid evidence that British intelligence, MI6, is already onto him. In fact, it's highly likely that M, the head of MI6, will soon send their best double-O agent after him. So, even if we just buy the stock and do nothing else, we'll still profit."
Gianna was particularly interested in this piece of information. As a European, she was well aware of MI6's capabilities. If what Castle said was true, then Le Chiffre was as good as dead. But what she cared about wasn't whether Le Chiffre lived or died—it was how much they could gain from this opportunity. "Rick, yesterday you mentioned that Le Chiffre would short-sell the airline's stock and then blow up their new aircraft during its maiden flight to cause the stock to crash. Are you saying that the reason we don't have to worry about Le Chiffre's scheme succeeding is because you know MI6 will intervene?"
After a pause, Gianna pressed for confirmation. "Rick, you need to be absolutely certain about this. We've already decided to start buying up the stock within the next few days. Neil, Mozzie, and I plan to buy up all the available shares of the airline company. If your intel is accurate, we might even approach some of the company's smaller shareholders…"
Castle was taken aback by Gianna's sudden queenly demeanor. "How much are you planning to buy?"
Neil chimed in, "Right now, about 15% of the airline's total shares are circulating in the market, which amounts to roughly $3 billion. We're planning to buy at least 10% to make a significant profit when the stock price rises."
Castle's well-tested heart nearly skipped a beat at the scale of their plan. "10%? How is that even possible?"
Gianna explained, "That's why we need to confirm whether MI6 will indeed go after Le Chiffre. If they do, we can consider approaching some of the company's smaller shareholders. Did you think we could just buy 10% of the stock on the open market? If we did that, the stock price would rise even without any positive news, which wouldn't be good for our profit plan…"
(End of Chapter)
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