Upon hearing that Ivan and his team had immediately called the Continental Hotel in New York after he left that alley, requesting cleaners to handle the two corpses, Richard Castle realized something he hadn't thought of the previous night when he took out Marcus Gates and Paul Macard in that very same alley. He hadn't even considered at the time that he could have just called the cleaners from the Continental himself. In fact, these professional cleaners might even have more experience with this sort of thing than Ivan and his team, who are, after all, local power players in New York, well-versed in the city's alleys and with ambiguous ties to law enforcement.
Castle only remembered this when Ivan brought it up himself. The Continental Hotel system indeed offered this kind of service. The main business of the Continental was essentially as a broker or platform for assassins. So, when certain killers eliminated their targets or engaged in other actions that couldn't be exposed, they might need the help of these professionals.
In the larger High Table system, regardless of which country's Continental Hotel you're dealing with, there's always a group of such specialists. These individuals are true professionals in crime scene clean-up, offering services that ensure no traces or consequences remain, especially for clients who are recognized and approved by the High Table.
While Castle was aware of this, he had never really paid attention to the internal workings of the Continental. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that he was a traveler from another world, the original Castle wouldn't have ever needed such secret corpse disposal services. So, it hadn't even crossed his mind the previous night.
Remembering this now, Castle casually pulled out ten coins from his clothing (though in reality from his personal space). Five of the coins were worth 100,000 each, while the other five were worth 10,000 — all of them were the Lion's Fury coins that Gianna had given him. He handed them to Ivan, who had come to report on the handling of last night's events. "Take these coins. They're all from Gianna, and I don't really have much use for them. Last night, you gave the cleaners two coins, right? I didn't even think to summon them myself. I'm glad you did; after all, they're the experts in this kind of thing, far better suited than me or you, who haven't been in New York that long, to deal with it.
"Also, you should keep these Lion's Fury coins for now. In case we need to use the High Table or the Continental again, you're the better person to handle it.
"As for security, since you don't have any urgent tasks at the moment, it looks like I'm going to buy that estate we visited. Once I've purchased it, the ten of you will move in temporarily. I want you to help upgrade and perfect the security system there, and it will also become your main base of operations. Get familiar with it. No problems with that, right?"
The nearly 2-meter-tall, burly former Signal Flag Major accepted the ten coins without hesitation and agreed immediately to Castle's arrangement.
After spending some time getting to know each member of the security team, Castle received a call from Moz. It seemed the owner of the estate was in quite a hurry. After the butler returned a call to the intermediary, the seller's lawyer immediately requested that Moz, acting as the buyer's representative, finalize the sale as soon as possible. The lawyer wanted to quickly complete the transaction and receive the estate's sale funds. Whatever hole the estate's previous owner was trying to fill remained a mystery, but Moz's call made it clear that he was on his way back to New York to meet with the seller's personal lawyer in the hopes of completing what, in this economic crisis, was a rare large-scale real estate deal.
Castle quickly headed to the main house, where he and Moz signed a formal contract, fully authorizing Moz to handle the purchase of the estate. Afterward, the butler drove Moz back to New York.
Left with some free time, Castle sat alone in the grand, opulent living room of Gianna's estate, pondering a few things.
He realized that many of his past actions—always working alone, fighting solo—had been utterly foolish. Even though Moz and the chubby kid had been with him in recent operations, they mainly handled logistics and intelligence support. They were incapable of covering for Castle when things got messy, or providing him with the armed backup he might need in dangerous situations. In other words, when Castle found himself spread too thin, Moz and the kid were essentially useless in a fight.
Now, with ten trained people under his command, even if they were all from Gianna's training camp, Castle didn't mind. After all, his core secrets would never be exposed to them. They were merely tools, and Castle had no issue with that.
As he mulled over these thoughts, Castle began to reflect on how chaotic his life had become. When he first arrived in this world, wasn't he content just daydreaming about charming Beckett? How did it come to this, with so many tasks piling up, and even more on the horizon?
Even though deep down, Castle was a lazy soul—a "couch potato" who would rather spend his days lying on a beach chair under the sun, flipping from side to side—he could never seem to stay idle. There was always some new problem or unexpected event that forced him to act. Recently, he had even sought Gianna's help, recognizing that in many of his solo missions, he was becoming overwhelmed.
Castle's mindset remained deeply connected to his past life in one of the world's safest countries. Because of this, he felt no sense of belonging to this new nation, despite the solid foundation laid by his predecessor. If he didn't cause trouble, Castle could live quite comfortably off the royalties from the 26 books his predecessor had published. His only concerns were his mother, daughter, Beckett, and perhaps a few friends like John Wick. Other than that, Castle cared little for anyone or anything else. He still felt somewhat disconnected from this world.
This detachment was a key reason why he acted so recklessly at times. The previous night, when he tracked down Marcus Gates and Paul Macard, Castle didn't even bother with pretense, killing both men without hesitation. Aside from his disdain for Marcus, who preyed on defenseless women, and his contempt for Jerry Tyson, Castle had no patience for drawn-out schemes. Why waste time playing games with these scumbags when he already knew the full story?
People like Jerry Tyson deserved to die a thousand times over. The only reason he was still alive, continuing to plot in prison, was because he was incarcerated in the infamous Sing Sing prison.
Castle, to his credit, understood his limitations. No matter how powerful the rewards from his system, he couldn't just waltz into Sing Sing and shoot Jerry Tyson, blatantly defying the US justice system.
There was no need for such a dramatic move anyway. Castle had his sights set on taking out Tyson when the time was right. He knew that Tyson's grand plan would eventually lead him to a cheap motel, where Castle could justify taking him out during an attempted escape. This way, there would be no negative fallout.
Tyson had spent years orchestrating this plan, and Castle, well aware of his intentions, was content to bide his time. After all, with Marcus and his accomplice already dead, Castle had set the stage perfectly. When the police inevitably failed to find Marcus, Castle could subtly guide Beckett toward Tyson in Sing Sing.
The endgame was clear. Tyson's plot would ultimately lead him to a final confrontation where Castle would be waiting, ready to finish what had begun.
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