Unfortunately, in the eyes of national powers, Castle is currently seen as a soft target, vulnerable and easily exploited.
No matter how intertwined Castle's relationships may appear—being entangled with a U.S. military enterprise and flirting with the president—when facing the power of a nation, his personal influence simply doesn't measure up. Even a chaotic country like India can deploy forces far beyond what Castle's private resources could contend with.
Confidence in oneself is one thing, but when faced with the realization that multiple nations have their eyes on him, Castle immediately raised his guard. This was to avoid repeating the previous debacle where he, due to carelessness, was drugged by just three people and shipped off to Eastern Europe—a lesson learned the hard way.
For now, however, Castle had little to worry about. His family—be it his mother, Martha, or his daughter, Alexis—was in New York. Martha, though living in her Southampton vacation villa with her boyfriend Chet, had two full security teams assigned to her. Alexis, on the other hand, was often in Castle's former Manhattan luxury apartment due to her schooling, with an even larger entourage of bodyguards. After last year's Christmas incident, both Castle and Beckett—whose precinct included Manhattan—had taken Alexis's safety even more seriously.
Beckett, in particular, leveraged her resources, placing Castle's apartment as a high-density patrol area, ensuring rapid police support in case of emergencies. Thus, after carefully reviewing his current situation, Castle felt somewhat reassured. Though he lacked the means to directly confront national-level powers, as long as he maintained strong defenses and expedited the licensing of his visual displacement and cloaking technology to Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, the forces coveting his resources would likely back off somewhat.
While this approach seemed passive, it was pragmatic. Some opportunistic powers—India being a prime candidate—might still take an interest in him. However, once Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin secured Version 1.0 of his technology, these industry giants would protect their interests, becoming natural allies against intrusive national powers. After all, these conglomerates wouldn't tolerate underhanded tactics targeting a "golden goose" like Castle.
Once these two aerospace behemoths integrated the technology, their pursuit of maintaining technological superiority would make them hostile to any underhanded attempts by other nations. These corporations, like DuPont in its heyday, wouldn't hesitate to eliminate competitors using ruthless measures. Wealth and power are rarely maintained without cutthroat tactics.
With this realization, Castle's concerns subsided somewhat. By addressing the issue before nations with indigenous aerospace capabilities acted, the situation wouldn't escalate further. Moreover, with Russia taking an unusually diplomatic approach, Castle wasn't overly worried about France or India for the time being.
However, Russia posed its own set of challenges. Although their messages had come through Big Ivan, Castle's head of security, the nation was one of only three globally working on fifth-generation fighter jets. If they decided to acquire his technology, what then?
Handing it over outright was out of the question. Denying them completely was also problematic, given the rebranded yet formidable KGB. Compared to their Cold War rival, the CIA, the Russians were in many ways more adept. The very thought of Russia's infamous operatives—like their "swallows" and "ravens"—made Castle uneasy.
If Russia remained persistent, would secretly passing some tech through Big Ivan suffice? No, that would set a dangerous precedent. Giving them an inch could mean losing everything. Russian pragmatism in such matters was infamous; any leverage they gained would be inescapable.
Perhaps a different approach? Russia excels in producing top-tier hackers. Maybe Big Ivan could tap into his connections to recruit one or two under the guise of research collaboration? Whatever they managed to "steal" would then be their problem.
Castle's lack of national loyalty may seem peculiar for someone living in the United States. However, his ties to the country were superficial—rooted in family and friends, particularly Beckett, who was deeply entrenched in her career. If not for her, Castle might have long left chaotic New York for a freer life, as his financial independence allowed.
Currently, Jarvis was monitoring the restless Indian forces trying to exploit him. For Castle, the immediate priority wasn't these opportunistic yoga enthusiasts but finalizing the production process for his cloaking system. By sealing deals with Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, he'd gain allies capable of fending off unwanted attention.
While Castle focused on finalizing his project in his lab, Gianna, with help from Neil—a former master of securities fraud—was quietly acquiring shares in the stock market. Their target? Sky Airlines, which Le Chiffre was preparing to short-sell on a massive scale.
Sky Airlines had been plagued by repeated delays in the maiden flight of its new wide-body aircraft. These delays had left investors disillusioned, with some smaller shareholders contemplating cashing out entirely. However, the company's reality was different. Gianna and Neil, through Jarvis, discovered that the aircraft was already ready for its maiden flight. The delays were a smokescreen by the company's major shareholders to drive out speculators and opportunistic small shareholders, who would miss out on the inevitable stock surge.
Sky Airlines' situation had attracted four groups: Gianna and Neil, aiming to thwart Le Chiffre and profit from the stock; the company's major shareholders orchestrating the delays; small shareholders losing confidence; and skeptical retail investors looking to exit.
In recent weeks, Neil had quietly acquired nearly half of Sky Airlines' publicly traded shares. After Gianna joined, her bolder and more aggressive tactics brought in an additional 4% of the company's total shares from wavering small shareholders. Combined, their holdings now accounted for 8% of the company.
In the U.S., anyone owning more than 5% of a company's shares must disclose their holdings to the SEC. Thus, Gianna and Neil, each holding roughly 4%, temporarily halted further acquisitions, consolidating their shares and planning their next move. They aimed to remain under the radar during Sky Airlines' upcoming board meeting, ensuring Le Chiffre remained unaware of their actions.
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