Mustafa Oglu and Ali handled the situation slightly better. Though shocked, as field agents, their immediate reaction after the initial fright was to recognize the presence of snipers. They instinctively dropped to the ground. Mustafa Oglu, a seasoned operative, even performed a tactical move—firing blindly behind him while going prone on the beach.
But for Suzuki Mitsuru, a mere technical specialist, the blood and flesh splattered on him shattered whatever composure he had. He might have been an expert in computer technology, but he had never experienced the brutal reality of a battlefield.
The scene was simply too horrifying. How many people could claim they had personally witnessed someone being torn in half by sniper fire right before their eyes? The sight of organs and blood scattering across the sand was too much for Suzuki's nerves to handle.
In fact, before launching this operation, neither the Turks nor the Indians had as clear an understanding of Castle's estate security as the Japanese did. When old Watanabe gathered forces to attack Castle in an attempt to avenge his son, the security footage from that incident had already revealed how heavily fortified the estate was.
But greed and arrogance blinded them. They assumed that once Castle's abduction was set in motion, the ensuing chaos would give them an opening. That's why they sent Suzuki Mitsuru—who had never performed a field mission but was highly skilled in computers—to infiltrate the estate and extract the coveted technology.
To ensure the mission's success, the Japanese even hired two skilled assassins in New York to assist Suzuki, preventing the Turks' Mustafa Oglu or India's Ali from snatching the technology once obtained.
However, for all their planning, they failed to anticipate that the operation had been compromised from the very start due to the carelessness of a Turkish agent. Castle had been aware of the scheme all along, monitoring them from the moment they set their plans into motion.
What none of the three nations expected was that the American government and the defense contractors who wielded real power behind the scenes would use this incident as an excuse to escalate tensions—specifically against Turkey—to divert attention from the worsening domestic issues in the United States.
On the beach, one man stood frozen, mind shattered by the gruesome scene, while the other two dropped to the ground, raising their rifles in a defensive stance. At that moment, Gianna called for Ivan to lead his heavily armed Russian bodyguards, along with Maggie and FBI Agent Omar Zidan—who had legal jurisdiction—to close in on the trapped "prey" in a careful tactical formation.
Behind them, Bob and Booth, having successfully completed their sniping mission, remained in position, providing cover. Now, all that was left was for Ivan and Maggie's team to arrest the three surviving agents, who had neither the ability nor the will to resist anymore.
Meanwhile, in the underground command center of Castle's supercomputer lab, Jo was on the phone with her assistant, Jabo. The time had come to reveal their hand. With the Hawaii operation wrapping up, it was time to move on to rounding up the Indian operatives—those who had facilitated weapons smuggling to Miura Kenichi's team and those in New York who had sheltered Suzuki Mitsuru's group and provided them with a safe house.
No more deception. The game was over.
As New York wrapped up its part of the operation, Hawaii was also reaching its conclusion.
Miura Kenichi—pragmatic and concerned for his own survival—had no illusions about what surrendering would mean. Meanwhile, on the beach, Malatika, the high-caste Indian agent, had abandoned his supposed patriotism in favor of self-preservation, even convincing his Turkish colleague to do the same.
One might wonder why Japanese and Turkish operatives would so easily surrender, given the warrior spirit of the samurai or the Ottoman legacy. Shouldn't they at least have had some of that fire in them?
But there's a vast difference between battlefield soldiers and covert operatives like Miura Kenichi and Malatika. Soldiers in combat can sometimes be driven by adrenaline and the momentum of the battlefield, overcoming fear.
But for men like Miura and Malatika—raised in privilege, promoted without hardship, and never truly tested—there was no steel in their spines, no unwavering resolve to fight to the death.
The Turkish team leader had, for a brief moment, contemplated making a heroic last stand. But when he realized that his sacrifice would be utterly meaningless—and with Malatika urging him to surrender—he abandoned the thought.
Thus, whether it was Miura Kenichi at Robin's estate, surrounded with no escape, or Malatika's team on the beach, completely broken under Sonny's relentless gunfire, both battles had effectively ended.
Perhaps the only person dissatisfied with this outcome was Castle himself.
Sitting in his study, using his private satellite connection, he had been coordinating with the women in New York, Peanuts' stew-loving Moz, and even President Benjamin Arthur—who had cleared out the Oval Office just to watch the operation unfold via live video feed.
Castle couldn't believe how weak his opponents had turned out to be.
The so-called "Three-Nation Alliance" had spent so much time and effort planning this mission, yet they crumbled almost immediately. Castle's side had barely even exerted themselves before the enemy collapsed.
In New York, Ivan's team of heavily armed Russian bodyguards—along with FBI agents Maggie and Omar, who had the legal authority to make arrests—arrived at the beach. Without even firing a shot, they forced Mustafa Oglu and Ali to drop their weapons. As for Suzuki Mitsuru, who was still in shock, two Russian bodyguards had to physically hold him up to walk.
At this point, the real focus in New York had shifted away from Castle's estate to rounding up the Indian operatives exposed by the operation.
Oh, and Jo had also sent a team to recover the sunken speedboat that the chubby techie had obliterated with the drone missile—along with the remains of Trigger, the assassin who had been on board.
Castle's direct involvement in the operation was now effectively over.
The only thing left for him to do was to pay for the cleanup—specifically, to replace the blood-soaked sand on Robin's private beach. After all, as a friend, he couldn't just leave it in such a state.
As for his own estate's beach, which had been even more gruesomely desecrated by Pigeon's shredded corpse and scattered organs, Ivan's team was already experienced in handling such messes. After all, they had cleaned up after Watanabe's mercenary assault before. Swapping out all the sand? No problem.
The ones about to step into the spotlight now were Moz and the special task force assembled specifically for this incident. This unit—composed almost entirely of U.S. defense industry insiders and hawkish policymakers—had a very clear agenda: use the captured Turkish agents as leverage to justify escalating tensions with Turkey.
Miura Kenichi had given up all hope.
From the start of the battle, it was clear they had walked into a well-laid trap. The real question now was no longer how their operation had been compromised—that no longer mattered.
It was obvious that their captors weren't in a rush to execute them. In fact, out of Miura's seven-man team, only one Indian agent had died from his injuries. The rest, including himself, had merely been incapacitated.
Having taken shelter behind an SUV from the start, Miura Kenichi was completely unharmed. His so-called courage, which was nothing more than an illusion, crumbled instantly in the face of reality.
As Hines and his team closed in, they had little trouble securing the six wounded agents and Miura Kenichi himself—who, despite his big talk, turned out to be the easiest to capture.
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