If India hadn't foolishly inserted itself into this scheme with the Japanese and the Turks, Castle probably wouldn't have considered retaliating against them. After all, last time, when Rajad caused trouble, Boeing had taken care of it for him, and he hadn't been too angry.
But this time was different.
According to Moz, the U.S. government had no intention of squeezing anything out of the so-called "South Asian Superpower."
For various undisclosed reasons, the U.S. found it inconvenient to punish India at this moment. The massive Indian diaspora in America was one factor, but there were other strategic complications at play as well. That's why Moz had personally called Castle, asking for understanding—explaining that neither he nor President Benjamin could openly support Castle's vendetta in this case.
The real targets for the U.S. were Turkey and, to a lesser extent, Japan.
Turkey was the only country they truly intended to go after. Not only had they humiliated the U.S. by withdrawing from NATO under the claim of "unfair treatment," but their geographical position—straddling Europe and Asia—was simply too valuable to ignore.
The U.S. was determined to take a chunk out of Turkey, and their reasoning was bulletproof.
Turkey bordered Iran, a country notorious for its anti-American stance and stocked with American-made weapons. The chance to station U.S. forces right at Iran's doorstep was an opportunity the Pentagon wouldn't let slip by.
And now, thanks to this failed covert operation, the U.S. had the perfect excuse to take action against Turkey—one so ironclad that even their opponents couldn't argue against it.
Japan, on the other hand, was in a different position.
With tens of thousands of U.S. troops still stationed on their islands, the Japanese were far from independent. Washington couldn't treat them the same way as Turkey. Instead, they'd use this incident to exert more pressure on Japan—keeping them in line but stopping short of outright retaliation.
As for India? The U.S. government wasn't planning to punish them at all.
And that meant if Castle wanted payback, he'd have to do it himself.
(This is a novel! Inspired by reality, but not reality itself! Keep that in mind!)
That's when Castle suddenly recalled something from his past life.
Around this time, India had supposedly discovered a hidden treasure hoard worth billions of dollars in some ancient temple.
According to reports from his previous life, one of the temple's six secret vaults—Chamber A—contained:
Over 1,200 gold chains, each about 2.7 meters long and weighing 2.5 kg Three solid gold crowns Nearly a ton of gold jewelry, diamonds, antiques, and gemstones 17 kg of gold coins from the East India Company era 18 Napoleon-era coins A miniature golden elephant A 3.5-foot-tall Vishnu idol encrusted with diamonds
And that was just one chamber.
When the other four vaults were opened (excluding Chamber B), they were found to contain even more treasure.
The then-Chief Minister of Kerala, Jayakumar, estimated the total value of the treasure to be over 500 billion yuan—or several hundred billion U.S. dollars.
Intrigued, Castle asked Jarvis to search the internet for any information about this supposed treasure.
To his shock, there was nothing.
Not a single mention.
He racked his brain, trying to recall the exact timeline. If he remembered correctly, in his past life, the treasure had been discovered around mid-2011. But now, it was already early 2012, and there wasn't even a whisper of it in the news.
Baffled, Castle had Jarvis conduct a deep dive into India's government records and intelligence networks.
The result?
India's government had no knowledge of this treasure whatsoever.
Castle was ecstatic.
At this point, his involvement in the Hawaii operation was practically over. The FBI was overjoyed with their massive haul of captured operatives, logistics personnel, and most importantly, the three team leaders—Miura Kenichi, Malatika, and the Turkish commander. These individuals were extremely valuable assets for American intelligence.
After apologizing to his writer friend Robin for the damages to his estate and assuring him that he'd cover all the repair costs, Castle handed the property back to Higgins, Robin's butler. Then, along with John and the SEALs, he boarded a private jet back to New York.
Steve was too busy hunting down the remaining Indian operatives in the U.S. to see Castle off. He had a long list of names to go through and was in his element—leading his special task force and Honolulu PD officers in a massive round of arrests.
But Castle couldn't stop thinking about that temple.
By now, money meant little to him. But the idea of intercepting this treasure before India's government could get its hands on it? That was very appealing.
Especially since, according to all available intelligence, India had no idea this treasure existed yet.
The whole discovery had originally been triggered by a retired Indian intelligence officer named Sundararajan, who had filed a lawsuit against the government for failing to protect the temple's sacred relics. That lawsuit had led to the opening of the vaults.
But now, for some unknown reason, Sundararajan had returned to the temple—yet had not filed any such lawsuit.
That meant the treasure was still untouched.
Castle wasn't about to let India cash in on this windfall.
He considered recruiting Jason and the SEALs for this mission. Kerala, where the temple was located, was just across the sea from Sri Lanka. If they staged their approach from Sri Lanka, sneaking into India would be relatively easy. Having five of America's deadliest operators with him would also ensure a smooth escape if anything went wrong.
But unfortunately, they weren't available.
Jason and his team had too many ongoing missions, and Jason himself was the type of soldier who only wanted to serve. When Castle casually tested the waters, Jason's response made it clear—he wasn't interested.
With no choice but to drop that idea, Castle turned to another trusted ally: Gianna.
She had experience.
During their last treasure hunt in the underground vaults of New York's Trinity Church, Gianna had been instrumental in recovering a massive hoard of Freemason treasure.
Moreover, if they were going to pull off a stealth operation in Kerala—just like the Indian operatives had tried to do at Castle's estate—it would be better to rely on Gianna's D'Antonio crime family connections than on official resources.
Castle had no interest in the political fallout from the failed intelligence operation.
He knew that international diplomacy was far beyond his expertise. While he could exert some influence, geopolitics wasn't his game.
But screwing over India by stealing their undiscovered treasure?
Now that was something he could get behind.
Their small private jet didn't head straight to New York.
Instead, it made a stop in Bay City, where Jason and his SEALs were stationed. After dropping them off at the Oceania Naval Air Station, Castle bid them farewell, making sure they knew they were always welcome in New York.
He wasn't trying to recruit them—he knew elite Tier 1 operators were always in high demand. But he figured that maintaining good relations with them might come in handy one day. These were some of the most skilled soldiers in the world, with extensive combat experience in dozens of countries. Keeping them as allies was just common sense.
With the SEALs gone, Castle and John continued on to Long Island's MacArthur Airport.
The real mission was just beginning.
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