Castle's words weren't just hindsight or mockery of Steve; they were the truth. As a cluster of islands in the Pacific designed to attract tourists worldwide, Hawaii's open structure made it easy for infiltrators with ulterior motives to sneak in and establish a presence.
Even though Steve had swept through the area with his list last time, the sheer number of Japanese Americans in Hawaii since World War II was no small figure. This was an objective reality—not something Steve could completely shut down just by arresting a few people from a list.
Plenty of Japanese Americans weren't on that list, and the enemy only needed to contact those still maintaining close ties with Japan to easily funnel new operatives or intelligence agents into the islands again. There was no way to permanently sever this route.
Of course, the last purge had been a painful loss for the Japanese, and losing high-quality intelligence personnel wasn't something they could recover from overnight. However, sending over some logistical personnel or operatives with less critical missions to assist Kenichi Miura was still an easy task.
Now, after painstakingly rebuilding their intelligence network, these Japanese operatives found themselves exposed yet again—thanks to Castle, the ever-watchful schemer, who immediately called in Steve, intending to hand him another favor.
Thus, everyone gathered here remained at ease. Meanwhile, one of Hines' teams had already been dispatched to Hilo, on the southeastern side of the Big Island of Hawaii. Their mission: locate and monitor the Panama-registered cargo ship designated to "secretly transport Castle away," ready to storm it the moment operations began on this side.
While Miura discreetly arranged his plans and prepared to receive the weapons and equipment being shipped from San Francisco, Beckett and her team in New York had completed all necessary preparations. They were simply waiting for the action to begin in Hawaii and for their prey to fall into the trap.
When three determined women joined forces, their combined capabilities were no joke. Particularly now, with Castle worried about his wife and child's safety, he had granted Beckett nearly unrestricted access to Jarvis. With the full support of both Jarvis and the tech genius "Little Fatty," Beckett and her team were in no way inferior to Castle himself in Hawaii.
Upon learning that their employer was likely to be targeted by highly skilled assassins, the Russian bodyguards at the estate—led by Big Ivan—went on full alert. Their primary duty was to protect the estate and, more importantly, its vital technical data. Coordinating with Gianna's security team, they upgraded the estate's security to its highest level.
Although their plan involved luring Suzuki Mitsuhiro and his team into the estate for an ambush, new intelligence revealing two exceptionally skilled assassins among them led Big Ivan to request a change in strategy. Instead of dealing with three targets, they were now facing five, and Big Ivan suggested eliminating the group at sea instead.
According to Jarvis' intelligence, Suzuki Mitsuhiro and his team planned to infiltrate Castle's estate via speedboat. Despite the world learning about the machine gun bunkers on the estate's northern seaside defenses during Watanabe's previous attack attempt, the enemy believed these bunkers might be unmanned in Castle's absence.
These fools had no idea that the bunkers weren't manned by human guards but rather controlled by an ever-vigilant artificial intelligence that never needed rest…
At the same time, a stealth-optimized armed drone hovered 300 meters above Suzuki Mitsuhiro's safe house, maintaining continuous surveillance to ensure the two deadly assassins remained under Jarvis' watchful eye, preventing any unforeseen mishaps.
Meanwhile, Joe had moved into the estate with his team, Maggie and Omar Zidan. Although they didn't have the unrestricted access Joe did, the estate was large enough to accommodate them. Upon inspecting the luxurious property, Maggie and Omar immediately understood why Beckett, Gianna, and the others had zero concerns about intruders.
The sheer amount of firepower in this estate was likely more extreme than the FBI headquarters at 26 Federal Plaza in New York.
Both Maggie and Omar were experienced field agents, yet this was the first time they'd seen a private residence equipped with anti-aircraft missiles and heavy machine gun bunkers.
Did Homeland Security seriously turn a blind eye to all this? Deploying such heavy weaponry in a private estate—was this even legal?
But the three women didn't care about the concerns of the two federal agents. Now that they had the upper hand, Gianna, long suppressed, quickly dragged Beckett and Joe into the action, eager to show those men what an all-female team could do.
The trio swiftly divided tasks:
Gianna oversaw overall coordination. Joe was responsible for monitoring the Indian operatives who had been exposed due to their role in supporting Suzuki's infiltration. This included those involved in New York's taxi and transport industries. Once the Hawaii operation concluded, arrests would begin. Beckett handled external coordination between Winston's and Sean's men, ensuring smooth integration with Big Ivan's security team inside the estate. She also deployed her precinct's officers to support Joe's efforts.
Since the FBI lacked sufficient manpower—even with reinforcements at the JOC (Joint Operations Center)—they couldn't compete with NYPD's vast network. However, to avoid premature exposure, they couldn't officially involve the NYPD headquarters. Instead, Beckett assigned officers from her 12th Precinct to monitor marked Indian operatives in Manhattan, while Joe's people handled the other boroughs.
To bolster their operation, Joe even sought assistance from his superior, Peter Bockel, the new FBI New York Field Office Director. Without hesitation, Bockel deployed all available personnel to support Joe's large-scale surveillance, hoping to immediately arrest identified Indian agents once the operation concluded.
The extent of the Indian infiltration shocked Bockel. These people had been quietly establishing a massive underground network right under the FBI's nose.
Given India's colonial past under Britain, Indian nationals had an easier time obtaining U.S. green cards. This, combined with their sheer population size, led to a significant influx of Indian immigrants into the U.S. Many of them worked in low-wage jobs, particularly in recent years, where nearly one-third of New York's taxi business had been taken over by Indian drivers.
This made them prime targets for India's intelligence agencies, which had been covertly cultivating them for years.
If not for this unfolding operation, the FBI might never have realized just how deeply these "obedient" Indians had embedded themselves into American society.
Ironically, India and Japan's attempt to stir trouble in the U.S. had inadvertently exposed their own intelligence networks, allowing America to recognize the true nature of its supposed allies.
As all sides scrambled to finalize their preparations, the special operations teams dispatched from Bangalore had finally arrived in Honolulu. Comprising a coalition of operatives from three nations, their mission was to take down Castle.
After assembling in a safe house operated by Indian assets in Hawaii, team leader Kenichi Miura divided the operatives into four five-man units, each relocating to separate safe houses for deployment. Now, all they needed was for the weapons shipment from San Francisco to arrive, and they could launch their attack on Castle's estate.
Miura briefly considered whether this was a trap. However, with Castle carefully concealing Hines and his men, Miura's scouting efforts around the estate revealed nothing unusual.
Castle had publicly declared that he was in Hawaii to "work on his new book" and had remained inside his estate the entire time, occasionally lounging on his private beach.
As long as the weapons shipment arrived, the assault could begin.
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