Posted 9 Feb 2019

How was this man supposed to help? It has to be a ruse, Beckett thought. Although, this man in the sweater did know the Carmichaels were really the Bartowskis, or the Bartowski-Walkers, or the Walker-Bartowskis. Or something like that.

"Stand down detective!" someone grunted. "Get your panties out of a bunch." Another tall, broader man edged around the corner hauling a large duffel over his shoulder. It was ex-Marine Colonel, ex-NSA Agent John Casey, the only member of Team Carmichael Industries from their initial encounter at the townhouse a couple years ago they had yet to see. This man was solid backup for whatever plan they chose. How the older man fit in was less clear.

"Put your hands down, Hartley. The shooting doesn't start until later." He edged past him towards the door Beckett and Castle were blocking. "Well, are we just going to stand out here like a bunch of ninnies, or are we going to rescue the girl?"

Castle and Beckett led the way into the apartment.

Inside, everything was calm. Sarah was perched on a short chest of drawers separating the bedroom and the main room, Castle's father was reviewing the blueprints, and Chuck was playing a game on his tablet. His tablet…

"Let me see my daughter."

It turned out Chuck wasn't playing a game. He was reviewing their satellite's live image. Castle didn't know what he was looking at, but there were a lot of red splotches. "Where is she—"

Chuck pointed to a longer streak. "I think she's stretched out on the floor, leaning against a cage."

Castle's father said, "Sure, gadgets are neat, but that doesn't save my granddaughter. Son, if you are done talking with Beckett, we need to review the plan a—" He pulled his gun and pointed at the doorway.

The British gentleman's arms were lifted straight skyward. John Casey, not to let a threat go unanswered, had his own sidearm out. Chuck almost dropped the tablet, rambling and waving his hands that everyone should calm down. Beckett didn't move, except to widen her eyes, drop her mouth, and edge her hand towards her gun in case it was needed. Sarah moved even less, still looking bored.

Hartley finally spoke, "Charles, a little help here."

Hunt turned his gun to Chuck, "You brought him here?"

"Let me explain."

"Explain? What possible explanation could there be for bringing Alexei Volkoff to my safe house when we are about to raid Volkov's compound."

Before Chuck could answer, Sarah said, "Chuck, are you going to stop this man from pointing a gun at my husband or am I going to have to throw him through the window."

That was specific. She didn't say she'd just stop him. She said how. Falling from a throw at this height could also be fatal.

Casey growled, "I suggest you listen to the lady. I have personal experience with that. My second longest experience in a hospital was from her throwing me through a window. I wouldn't recommend it."

Sarah stood up, pulling Hunt's attention and aim. Bad idea. Castle remembered the townhouse a couple years ago from the first time they met the spies. Chuck seemed to go cross-eyed for a second, twitched his head, and knocked Hunt's gun to the floor. The older man started to reach for a backup piece, when Casey, the only person with a weapon still drawn, said, "Don't even think about it. The wall behind you is red so there wouldn't even be much of a mess."

Hunt held his hands wide, and unhappily followed Casey's pistol wave to sit on the bed in that half of the studio apartment. That gave everyone the space to fully enter the room.

Hartley still had his hands in straight in the air. After an admonishing look from Casey, Hartley lowered his hands and joined the rest of them.

With tension levels just below the flashpoint, Chuck started his rambling explanation, "I'm sorry everyone, that was my fault. Agent Hunt. Can I call you Jackson? No. Ok. Agent Hunt it is. Agent Hunt, this is Hartley Winterbottom—"

"Talk about made up names," Castle's father grumbled.

"That is his real name, well, I guess I should say that's the name his mother gave him, and you don't want to mess with her," Chuck said.

"Damn straight," Casey offered.

Hunt said, "It doesn't matter what his mother named him. He's Alexei Volkoff, the one person on the planet possibly more dangerous than Gregor Volkov."

Chuck waved his hands, as if pushing downward to calm everyone down. "No and no. See, this is how it is. Alexei Volkoff doesn't exist anymore. My wife is far more dangerous than Volkoff ever was, at least if you're a bad guy. Volkoff really wasn't that dangerous. I should know. I took him down."

"You. Yeah right. Rumor has it Orion did it."

"That happened a year after Orion was dead. Kind of amazing." Chuck sighed. "Do you really want to know? I have to explain a lot because you might guess half of it and incorrectly assume the other half, which would be dangerous."

"Yes, I want to know why you thought the professor here, this Volkoff look-alike, would help."

"Are you sure? I know you're an escaped rogue CIA agent, but that's just a cover. This is the secret that resulted in the three of us being hunted by the CIA."

"Just spit it out." Hunt didn't take that threat seriously or didn't care.

Sarah said to her husband, "Chuuuck..."

He tried to placate her, "It's ok. I know what's safe to say. Hartley even has a different identity now. Most of this is history anyway. It's not useful to have false stories circulating in the intelligence community."

Beckett interrupted, "Wait, if this secret is so dangerous, maybe we should just trust you."

"I suppose it's not really that dangerous any more, after Casey's girlfriend took out Decker with a grenade over a year ago. Seventeen people know this particular information, so what is three more? Most of the people who know it no longer work for the government anyway. I still recommend you not share this with anyone outside of this room, not even with Alexis. Got it."

Beckett and Castle nodded while the skeptical elderly spy lifted his shoulders as if didn't care about the seriousness of the situation.

"About thirty-three years ago, Hartley and Orion were working on a computer training project. It was in its early stages but would later become the key part of the umbrella project for cross-agency threat analysis and opened the possibility of super agent training."

Hunt replied, "Yeah, all good agents know about this project. The Intersect project failed after Agent Larkin was killed. He was the only agent good enough to handle the information. Everyone else who tried the download went crazy or lost their memory."

Sarah jumped in, "Bryan Larkin never had the Intersect. He wasn't that good of an agent either." She was adamant.

"He saved my life once in Jakarta," Hunt pointed out.

"Jakarta, I remember that. That whole op was a disaster. His sloppiness is the reason I had to blow the building."

Hunt was surprised. "You're Mrs Anderson."

"That was a stupid cover Bryce always insisted upon. If you were in Jakarta, then I saved your life too, so I kindly ask you to be quiet and let my real husband explain."

Castle realized something. "Not wanting to risk the wrath of a super spy, but Sarah, didn't you lose your memory a year ago?"

Chuck answered for her, "Yes, she downloaded a faulty version of the Intersect to rescue me. It worked for a while, but was removed. The version was faulty because the CIA did a poor job of reverse engineering the download device. They didn't have access to my father's full designs." Turning to Hunt, "Yes, my father was Orion." Hunt looked skeptical more than impressed.

"What does this Intersect do?" Castle asked.

"It doesn't matter. After my father was killed and I took down Volkoff, the chances of another successful Human Intersect were eliminated."

"Another?"

Chuck gave a crooked grin. "The CIA took it out before I resigned."

Hunt scoffed, "You were the Human Interest. Yeah right."

"Right. Now I'm the CEO of Carmichael Industries, and you know what we are going to do? We're going to save your granddaughter."

He continued, "In the initial research of the Intersect project, my father and Hartley discovered a way to input a personality profile into the brain. Hartley volunteered for a mission to infiltrate the Volkov crime family, which at the time was led by Yuri Volkov, Gregor's father. Unfortunately, something went wrong, and Hartley became Alexei Volkoff, the long lost British half-brother of Yuri, and he proceeded to take over the organization. The implanted personality would not fade away."

"So this man really is Alexei Volkoff." Castle's dad looked like he might take action, not that he would get far with so many spies in the way.

Chuck said, "After a fashion. The Intersect was removed a few years ago making him Hartley again. Shortly after, I broke him out of jail and set him up with a new identity."

"You let that murderous bastard go," Hunt stated.

Hartley jumped in, "I really don't remember anything that happened before then. Well, much of anything. Charles is the only one who survived the process unscathed. I've reasoned it was a genetic thing. His neural pathways most matched those of the primary designer, who did a lot of self-experimentation."

Chuck clarified, "It's a little more complicated than that, but as I said before, that doesn't matter. What matters is Hartley can help with the plan."

"What's your plan?" Beckett asked.

"Hartley walks in the front door with Sarah and me as armed bodyguards. We all walk out with Alexis."

Everyone was quiet. Team Carmichael looked like that was a reasonable plan. Castle and Beckett were waiting for the rest of it. Hunt was filled with disbelief.

Hartley finally broke the quiet with some gentle concern. "Charles, I want to help somehow. A young woman's life hangs in the balance. How could I refuse? But I'm not sure how I can help this way. I don't even remember this Gregor Volkov."

"It will be just like when we safely walked in and out of Volkoff Industries after your Hartley personality had been restored, but this time Sarah will be with us. Casey, and I assume Hunt, will be on overwatch. Sarah managed to negotiate some serious firepower from Gregor's local competition that they can use."

Hartley said, "I supposed I could try. It did work last time."

Hunt couldn't keep quiet any longer. "How are you supposed to get them to release Alexis? By just walking in? I don't think so."

"This is ALEXEI WOLKOV," Chuck finished with a gruff, fake German accent. Or was it supposed to be Russian? "They're all scared of him."

"Gregor hates me more," Hunt argued. "I killed his wife. I was trying to get Gregor. His wife was part of his organization, and I caught his wife instead."

"On whose orders?" Chuck said in a way that suggested he knew the answer. He always seemed to know the answer.

"I was on loan to MI-6."

"Was your contact Frost or Tuttle?"

"Rime. Tuttle was her superior."

Sarah let out an abrupt laugh. "Rime means frost."

Chuck explained, "Gregory Tuttle was Volkoff's MI-6 alias. Hartley's alias. Yes, his false personality had an alias. Frost was my mom's alias when she went undercover to take down Volkoff's network and rescue Hartley."

Hunt didn't believe it. "Your mother was a spy too? I've heard enough fiction."

It was hard to contradict his father, but when faced with the truth, Castle said, "Um, we met her, last year. Not in person, but on a video conference. She took out Sophia and her organization. You said you greased some wheels at the CIA. How could you send me to that ex-KGB traitor?" Castle turned to Chuck. "Last year, didn't you say she was working for, well, him?" He thumbed to Hartley, who was looking uncomfortable with the entire situation.

"Yes, Sophia worked for Volkoff. The Volkoff personality was pulling those kinds of strings for a long time. When he was removed from the picture, Sophia went off on her own, going after the Linchpin."

"I'm so sorry I caused all of this trouble," Hartley said. "I'd like to make amends. The least I can do is help. Charles, what's your plan? How am I supposed to get you inside?"

"Well—"

Hunt was still not buying it. "There's no way they are going to believe that man is Alexei Volkoff. Just the name inspired fear in his adversaries and his organization. That man doesn't inspire fear. He even has elbow patches."

"Then, what's your plan, Hunt?" Casey asked.

He explained it. No one reacted. After a beat, Chuck pulled out his tablet, attaching a tiny, jointed cylinder to the port on the side. It projected an image of the room that held Alexis and its surrounding area onto the ceiling.

Chuck said, "Our team is a big fan of the magnet which the beginning of your plan sounded like. It isn't the magnet, though. If would be if you snuck in to rescue everyone after your son was being captured, with him serving as a distraction. Instead, this plan is sacrificing him, hoping he isn't in the blast radius when your radio blows up, and then letting him fight through three dozen men trying to escape. The magnet isn't supposed to have to fight for freedom."

Hunt said, "A few will be taken out from the blast. I was going to draw the rest to the front with an attack. There are only supposed to be a dozen people there. Richard would have to fight past one or two... three at most."

Chuck said, "The explosion would draw some to the room where it happened, to see what happened. That's the opposite of the magnet. Also, there's a lot more than a dozen now. I don't think even an adrenaline filled father can take out twenty, but Sarah and I can do that easily."

Hunt skeptically said, "The two of you. Right. I thought you said you don't have the Intersect. Even if you did, you're not taking out twenty."

"Sarah doesn't need the Intersect unless she is out of ammo and most of the time not even then. She's that good. If she had the Intersect, she could go in by herself. I trained with Sarah and Casey for years, so I can handle myself. I have this thing where I swing Sarah around and she hits everyone. It's kinda fun."

Hartley tried to helpfully add, "And you broke into my headquarters and took about twenty by yourself."

Chuck corrected, "That was over two years ago. I was temporarily out of the CIA and out of spy shape, but I had the 2.0 as help. I was just saying the two of us can do it, because we have in the past, even without Intersect help."

"Three," Beckett said, picking sides. Team Carmichael seemed to know what they were doing, and were going with their plan, whatever plan was picked by the rest of them. More importantly, their plan didn't rely on Castle smuggling in a bomb, maybe being near when it went off.

"Detective, you don't want to be in the middle of what happens," Hunt said.

"Someone needs to rescue Alexis while everyone else is talking out the guards," she reasoned.

"Kate—"

"Rick, I got this. I know Russian, so I can go in with them."

Sarah said, "They'll probably speak English. Alexei Volkoff always insisted on it. It was one of his quirks."

"Thank goodness. I don't know Russian anymore," Hartley said.

"Wait. Aren't you Volkoff?" Castle asked.

"I forgot it when the Intersect was removed."

Hunt still wasn't convinced of the plan. "He's going to be useless."

"He can do this," Chuck said. "He's done it before. Beckett, your first job will be to get Alexis out of her cage. Then lay low with her and Hartley while Sarah and I take everyone out."

"It's still too many people," Hunt said.

"Maybe Casey can shoot a couple people." Chuck nonchalantly shrugged and Casey perked up.

"He'll be outside," Hunt argued.

Casey grunted as if to say that wasn't a factor. The walls didn't seem to matter to him.

"Why did they increase security?" Castle asked.

"They must be reacting to the French and Interpol raid of the arms dealer compound where the ladies landed," Chuck reasoned. "I was always going to report them. If I hadn't it would have been a waste of the reward money because Sarah blew the airplane twenty minutes after we left. The smoke would have led the authorities there anyway. Carmichael Industries doesn't let arms dealers escape justice when we can easily stop it.

"It does mean we won't get support from Interpol on tonight's mission, but they can't be around Hartley anyway. We can handle the increased security. Detective, you rescue Alexis and take cover with Hartley. The rest of us from Carmichael Industries will do the rest."