To be honest, Gianna's request was almost reckless. Bob and Booth, who had specifically come to support the team due to the unknown strength of the assassins, were initially against it.
They had come to New York because the opposition included two professional killers, and now, after all that, Gianna wanted them to only take out "Trigger" on the speedboat and leave the other assassin, "Dove," alone?
What if something went wrong?
How would they explain that to Castle?
However, as Jarvis continued gathering intelligence on Suzuki Mitsuhiro and his team, Bob and Booth gradually changed their minds.
They ultimately agreed to Gianna's plan.
—
As for the person expected to fire the first shot in this New York counterattack, Little Fatty, would he hesitate?
Would he struggle with the morality of launching a drone strike to kill someone?
Not at all.
Had it not been for the influence of Ramsey, the girl who had softened him, Little Fatty might have already turned into a full-fledged demon under Castle's terrible influence.
Fortunately, both Beckett and Gianna had also played a role in keeping him somewhat grounded.
While Little Fatty was primarily a hacker, Castle had dragged him into the field for years, exposing him to countless life-threatening situations.
Even so, Castle had strictly forbidden them from ever allowing Jarvis to fire weapons at humans autonomously.
Castle understood the dangers of an AI with self-learning capabilities controlling lethal weaponry.
During the last attack on Castle's estate, when Watanabe's men had assaulted the compound, Castle had realized the severity of this issue.
Afterward, he had used his admin privileges to purge Jarvis' memory of any lethal actions and had since restricted the AI from engaging in direct combat.
From that point forward, he had assigned Little Fatty the responsibility of manually handling any necessary drone strikes, ensuring that no AI-controlled system ever autonomously attacked humans.
Little Fatty, being a hacker and fully aware of the risks of self-learning AI, had no objections to this arrangement.
Thus, he sat calmly, watching the drone's surveillance feed as Suzuki Mitsuhiro and his four operatives approached the estate's private beach by speedboat.
While keeping an eye on the real-time data, he also reported the enemy's movements to Bob and Booth, who had just left the supercomputer lab and were heading toward their sniper positions.
Meanwhile, in another video call, Castle was updating the three Iron Ladies about the battle unfolding in Hawaii.
—
Hawaii: Kenichi Miura's Last Stand
Miura knew he was completely finished.
His mission had failed spectacularly.
The man inside the estate—his target—had known everything from the start.
Miura's seven remaining operatives were all wounded—not a single one had been killed outright, but none could continue fighting.
Whoever these two defenders were, they were experts.
They had intentionally avoided lethal shots, instead systematically incapacitating Miura's team.
This was not the behavior of ordinary bodyguards.
Something was very wrong here.
Miura had no intention of dying for his country.
He was a high-ranking CIRO agent, not some fanatic willing to die for "Emperor Showa" like his predecessors in World War II.
He had no loyalty to such ideals.
Instead, his mind raced—why hadn't Castle's forces simply killed them?
What were they waiting for?
Then it hit him.
They wanted live captives.
He was valuable.
If he surrendered, maybe—just maybe—the Americans would negotiate for his release.
If Japan offered something in return, perhaps they could get him back.
That was his best option now.
What Miura didn't know was that the U.S. government had no intention of playing that game this time.
—
Meanwhile, on the beach, Malatika and the Turkish team leader were facing a different crisis.
Unlike Miura, they had not yet been taken out.
Both men were still fully combat-capable, and so was one surviving operative—a Turkish agent who had somehow avoided getting shot.
That Turkish agent was carrying a portable rocket launcher.
Malatika's eyes lit up.
Their biggest problem wasn't the sniper—it was the machine gun nest.
If they could suppress it, they might have a chance to get off the beach and into the trees.
That was their only hope.
So, after a quick discussion, they decided to make a final push.
They no longer cared about the mission—kidnapping Castle was impossible now.
At this point, their only goal was survival.
—
At that moment, the U.S. Coast Guard warship appeared on the horizon, speeding toward them at over 20 knots.
At the same time, Malatika noticed something even more disturbing.
None of their downed operatives were dead.
The three sniped operatives on the speedboats had been shot in the head.
But the six others?
They were all alive—just incapacitated.
That wasn't a coincidence.
The Turkish leader immediately realized what was happening.
"They want us alive," he muttered, voice shaking.
Then, his expression turned grim.
"Malatika, we cannot be captured. If we fall into American hands, our governments will be exposed. The U.S. will have proof to use against us."
The Turkish agents were true Ottomans at heart.
They would rather die than be used as political pawns by the U.S.
Thus, the Turkish leader made a brutal decision—he would execute all of his wounded operatives, ensuring that no one from his country fell into American hands alive.
But then, he hesitated.
Because there was a problem.
Of the twelve operatives who had landed on the beach, six were Indians, three were Turkish, and three were Japanese.
Meanwhile, the three remaining Turkish agents had stormed the main gate with Miura.
Even if the Turkish leader killed all of his wounded men on the beach, it wouldn't matter—the three Turkish agents with Miura could still be captured alive.
That meant the Americans would still get their proof.
There was no way out.
—
Malatika, on the other hand, had a different plan.
He was a high-caste Indian.
Even if he was captured, his wealthy family could buy his freedom.
So he had no intention of dying here.
Unlike the Turks—who still had some warrior spirit—the Indians and Japanese had immediately begun thinking about surrendering.
This wasn't a coincidence.
The old "Samurai spirit" had died long ago.
The Indians were even less willing to fight to the death.
The only one who understood what was coming was the Turkish leader.
He knew that if they were captured, the U.S. would use this as a diplomatic weapon against all three nations.
And the worst part?
There was no escape.
The Coast Guard had arrived.
Hines and the FBI were closing in.
______
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