Disappearance of Richard Castle (2024)

The disappearance of Richard Castle was an event that occurred from May 12, 2014-July 2014. Orchestrated by the CIA, he was kidnapped and taken to Thailand, where he helped stop a terrorist attack. Later, it was revealed that Loksat, a codename for a CIA operative who was connected to William Bracken, Vulcan Simmons, as well as a drug operation, was also connected to his missing time.

Backround[]

Months before Castle was abducted, a Pakistani Intelligence operative named Bilal Khan later turned rogue and joined the terrorist group Al Qaeda. His expertise soon caught the attention of the CIA and as a result, he chose to leave the group. He also gave the CIA intel on operational details and those involved with Al Qaeda in exchange for a safe passageway to the U.S. Knowing that Al Qaeda would soon discover that he betrayed them, Bilal suggested to bring Richard Castle to Thailand, whom he had befriended during high school.

Summary[]

While heading to his wedding, a Black SUV crashed into Castle's car and he was kidnapped. Later, it was revealed that the CIA orchestrated the kidnapping. The NYPD then locate the SUV to a local scrap yard via tracing Castle's phone. They find out that the SUV was destroyed but Castle is nowhere to be seen. However, it was later revealed that Castle ordered the car to be destroyed. Due to the fact that Castle disappeared for a long time, the FBI decide to help investigate Castle's disappearance. Beckett continues to make a TV appeal for any information regarding the whereabouts of Castle.

Some time later, a coast guard guard finds Castle unconscious on a boat off the coast of the Atlantic with two bullet holes in his chest. Castle is then immediately taken to a hospital, with a severe fever, and with no memory of the events between the two months. Beckett then visits him and asks what happened to him between the two months although he can't remember. The NYPD then trace the boat to a campsite owned by someone named Henry Jenkins. He then directs Beckett, Esposito, and Ryan to Castle's tent where they find his belongings. However, when Beckett takes Castle over to the site, they encounter the real Henry Jenkins and that the other Jenkins was an imposter.

Castle then offers a $250,000 reward for information regarding his missing time. A couple then notices Castle and Jenkins in one of there photos in Montreal, Canada. Then, Castle and his daughter, Alexis travel to Montreal, Canada. Castle finds a video of himself in a safe kept in a bank in Montreal. In the video, Castle broadcasted himself, apologizing to Beckett, Alexis, and his mother for leaving them. Castle then finds the place where he broadcasted the video and he came across the imposter "Henry Jenkins". Jenkins told him that Castle, himself, wanted his memories wiped and Jenkins urged Castle to go back to living his normal life and forget about his missing time.

A year later, Castle keeps having dreams about his missing time. He then realizes that he was in Thailand, with the help of a psychologist named Carver Burke. In Thailand, he remembers a man who was shot, a guy that looked like Chuck Norris, an a blonde haired man who was shooting at Castle. Over the coarse of the investigation, Castle identifies the guy looking like Chuck Norris, Jeff Powers. The NYPD find out that he was killed in his apartment. The NYPD also identify the blonde haired man, a Russian KGB agent and assassin, named Golovkin, who murdered Powers. Castle later tracks down one of the places where Powers ate at every Tuesday. He meets Bilal Khan, who was the dying man who was shot in his dreams. Bilal explains that Castle was in Thailand because he needed him. In addition to that, Powers was his CIA handler. Apparently, Bilal was a former Al-Qaeda agent who defected and told the CIA about Al-Qaeda's next terrorist attack. He was shot in a Buddhist monastery and his contact was killed. After telling him about the operation, Bilal later leaves as Golovkin spots Castle and holds him at gunpoint. Suddenly, the imposter Jenkins shoots Golovkin dead. He finally reveals that Castle was in Thailand as part of an undercover CIA operation to thwart an Al-Qaeda terrorist attack and leaves Castle. Later at Beckett's apartment, Castle tells Beckett, his mother, and Alexis about his missing time.

However, in 2016, Castle eats some Korean food which gives him a sudden image of a time he could not remember. He then decides to visit L.A. along with Hayley Shipton and Alexis. Castle goes to the Korean restaurant only to discover that he had no money to pay for the food and used his watch as payment instead. Alexis then realizes that Malcom McCabe, a former Marine, placed a tracker in his watch. She visits McCabe's aunt, disguised as a reporter. When she brings Alexis a photo album of him, she finds out that he and Hayley were associated with each other. Alexis then comes across Hayley and demands her to explain her involvement with Castle's missing time. Hayley then decided to come clean to Castle. She met him a year and a half ago during the time of his disappearance and she met Jackson Hunt, his father, while working for MI6. Hunt called Shipton, telling her to keep tabs on Castle, noticing that Castle was investigating something dangerous. After his CIA mission in Thailand, he went "rogue" and came to L.A. instead. In addition to that, she was the one who placed the tracker in his watch to keep track of Castle. After Castle left the watch in the restaurant, Castle was shot by an unknown person. His CIA handler, Jenkins, was had his memories erased to keep him from thinking about his missing time in L.A. Lastly, Castle finally begged Hayley to lie to him and never tell him that they ever met.

Wanting to know more about his missing time, Castle continued to ask Hayley about his time. She finally gives him a computer downloaded with a website off the dark web. Cracking the website's encryption, Castle finds a video from himself, revealing that he was discreetly investigating Loksat (the code word connected to a CIA related drug operation connected to William Bracken and Vulcan Simmons, which Beckett was investigating along with Vikram Singh) and in the process, he was shot. Jenkins erased his memories due to knowing too much about Loksat. Later, Castle then discovers that he inadvertently killed Beckett's former AG team (Rachel McCord, and 4 other members) due to investigating Loksat.

Kidnapping[]

On May 12, 2014, Castle was driving to his wedding in the Hamptons. However, a Black SUV crashed into his car, and his car is set on fire. Orchestrated presumably by a group of CIA operatives, Castle was kidnapped. Later, the SUV was seen being destroyed in a local scrap yard. They find out that Castle's friend, Vinnie Cardano, was somehow connected to the destruction of the vehicle. He then revealed that anonymous caller requested that he order the destrruction in exchange for $10,000. However, the NYPD found footage that Castle was the anonymous caller. Then, the FBI started to help Beckett investigate Castle's disappearance for two months.

Time in Thailand[]

Some time during his missing time, Castle was in Thailand as part of an undercover CIA operation to thwart an Al-Qaeda terror attack. Bilal Khan decided to help the CIA. During the mission, hid in a Buddhist monastery where he was supposed to meet his contact, although the two were ambushed. As a result, his CIA contact was killed and Bilal and Castle fled in a van. Being chased by a blonde haired man in charge, they were being shot at. Suddenly, a man matching the appearance of Chuck Norris defended both Bilal and Castle and started shooting at the assailants. Some time after they found safety, Castle went "rogue" and went to Los Angeles.

Loksat[]

Castle then went to Los Angeles and started to investigate Loksat, a codename used for an unknown CIA analyst who partnered with William Bracken and Vulcan Simmons in various drug operations. Secretly being watched by his father Jackson Hunt, Hunt had Hayley Shipton, a spy for MI6, watch Castle in Los Angeles. She placed a bug in is watch to make sure that he didn't go anywhere dangerous. However, he left his watch at a Korean restaurant and was shot by Loksat's henchmen while trying to identify the mystery man. He then made an audio recording of himself, saying that he would have the imposter "Henry Jenkins" erase his memories to protect Beckett. It was assumed that Jenkins erased his memories in Montreal, Canada.

Investigation[]

Some time in July 2014, Castle, in a dinghy boat with two bullet holes, and is spotted by a coast guard vessel off the coast of Delaware. He is then immediately taken to the hospital. There, Beckett visits Castle and asks him about his missing time, although he can't remember. Then, they find out that Castle stayed on a camp lot owned by a man named Henry Jenkins. Posing as Henry Jenkins, the imposter directs the NYPD to a campsite where Castle stayed. At the site, they find Castle's belongings. However, Beckett and Castle meet the real Henry Jenkins and the one who directed the NYPD to the tent was a fake Jenkins.

Castle later discovers that he met the fake Jenkins in Montreal, Canada. He and Alexis go to Montreal and uncover an audio recording of him, apologizing for his missing time. With the help of Tory Ellis, he finds the place where he recorded the video. However, he meets the fake Jenkins, who tells him that Castle, himself, wanted his memories erased. He then urged Castle to leave Montreal, go back to his life, and forget about his missing time.

In 2015, Castle decides to investigate his missing time due to having nightmares of his disappearance. Beckett insists that he see a psychologist, Carver Burke. He remembers that he was in a truck in a jungle. There was a dying man in the truck with him and that a blonde haired man and other assailants were shooting at him. Suddenly, a man looking like Chuck Norris saves them and starts shooting at the assailants. He also remembers that Philip Bartlett, a former classmate, was in his dreams. Tory soon figures out that Castle was in Thailand, not the Middle East. However, he soon figures out that Bartlett is not connected to his missing time. Beckett, Ryan, and Espostio identify Jeff Powers, the man who looked like Chuck Norris. However, it was revealed that Powers was killed in his apartment. Watching a video, Castle also recognizes the blonde haired man who was shooting at him. The blonde haired man name is Illya Golovkin, who was a former KGB agent, he left Russia and disappeared. According to his file, he is a contract killer and was responsible for many assassinations. The stripper who used to dance for Jeff is found dead. Later, Castle stops by the place where Powers ate. He encounters Bilal Khan, the dying man in his dreams. He finally reveals that Castle was in Thailand because the CIA needed help. Apparently, he was a former Al-Qaeda agent who hid in a Buddhist monastery to meet his CIA contact, who was killed. He was going to give the CIA intel about Al-Qaeda's plans. Khan soon leaves and suddenly, Golovkin points a gun at Castle. Jenkins then shoots the hitman dead. He then reveals that Castle was in Thailand as part of a CIA operation, which thwarted a terror attack. He then heads home and tells his mom, Alexis, and Beckett.

In 2016, Castle eats some Korean food which triggers a memory of being in South Korea. However, that night, he has the same dream, including the Hollywood sign, and Castle soon discovers that he was in Los Angeles, not in South Korea. He, Hayley Shipton, and Alexis go to Los Angeles to investigate his missing time. Castle and Hayley go to the Korean restaurant and figure out that he could not pay for the Korean food and used his watch as payment. However, Alexis discovers that someone placed a tracker in his watch. Alexis identifies the person who placed the tracker in his watch, Malcom McCabe. Alexis, posing as a reporter, visits McCabe's aunt and she gives her a photo album. However, Malcom was revealed to have been associated with Hayley, who revealed that she is connected to Castle's missing time. Hayley then reveals that her and Castle met a year and a half ago. Some time before that, she met Castle's dad, Jackson Hunt, who told her to keep tabs on Castle as he was investigating something dangerous. When Castle left the watch in the Korean restaurant, Hayley lost track of him and Castle was shot some time later. She also revealed that his CIA handler, Jenkins, was supposed to wipe out his memories as a result of his investigation in L.A. In addition, Castle urged Hayley not to tell them that they ever met. At the end of the day, Hayley finally presented him with a website of the dark web. Decrypting the website, Castle and Hayley watch a recording of Castle. It is revealed that he was investigating Loksat (the codename for a CIA analyst who was connected to drug operations as well as Senator Bracken) and was shot in the process. He had Jenkins erase his memories to prevent him from remembering Loksat and to protect Becket. Castle soon realizes that he was inadvertently responsible for the deaths of Rachel McCord and her AG team.

Taking down Loksat[]

Using the information about the plane that Castle had been tracking, Vikram eventually identifies the passenger as Caleb Brown, a public defender who was photographed getting into a car with Brooks, one of the hitmen sent after Beckett's AG team. Beckett pressures Caleb who finally gave her and Castle a phone that can lead them to Loksat and a time when Loksat would be calling to give Caleb his orders. At the appointed time and place, Beckett answers the phone and receives orders for Caleb to deliver a flash drive with the new bank routing numbers to a warehouse for Loksat's accountant. However, the call proves to be untraceable as Loksat had routed it through a cellular relay that he'd placed at an old Cold War radar station in the Arctic Circle. Instead, Castle, Beckett, Hayley and Vikram decide to stake out the dead drop in order to identify the accountant so that he could lead them to Loksat. As Caleb finally showed up to make the dead drop, Javi calls Beckett and reveals that a recent murder victim who was burned alive is actually Caleb Brown, meaning that the dead drop is a trap for them. Several SUVs full of heavily armed hitmen arrive, leading to a gunfight between Castle, Beckett, Hayley and the hitmen. Beckett and Hayley manage to kill several, but Beckett and Castle run out of bullets before they are rescued by Mason Wood, the head of the Greatest Detective Agency whom Castle had met during his visit to LA. Mason claims to be a former State Department attorney who was looking after them as a favor for his friend Rita Hunt, although he refuses to get involved in their fight further and provides the pair with some untraceable weapons before leaving.

Knowing that Loksat won't stop coming after them, Beckett and Castle begin planning to get their loved ones to safety before taking down Loksat. At the same time, Ryan and Javi discover a message carved by Caleb into the trunk of the car that he was burned alive in, revealing that his killer was Loksat's right-hand man. Using Caleb's credit card records, Vikram is able to find security camera from a diner where Caleb had eaten the night before and the footage shows them Caleb's abduction, although they aren't able to get a shot of the killer's face to run facial recognition with. As a result, Beckett decides to continue hunting Loksat rather than retreating to the safe room at Castle's P.I. office as they had previously agreed to. Using traffic cameras, Vikram is able to find the exotic getaway car that the killer was using and track it to a house owned by a shell corporation with Javi and Ryan insisting on going there themselves rather than risking Beckett out in the open. However, the house turns out to be completely empty and Beckett realizes that it was just a way station and guesses that their killer had anticipated their ability to track down his car from the crime scene and led the NYPD to a place where he knew that he could lose them. Vikram confirms that surveillance cameras on the street behind the house were disabled the morning before, meaning that the killer was able to walk right in the front door and then right out the back door, leaving them with no way of knowing where he went.

At the same time, unwilling to sit around and do nothing, Castle leaves for the 12th Precinct. However, his cab driver proves to be Mr. Flynn, Loksat's right-hand man that they are chasing. Mr. Flynn abducts Castle and takes him to a room for interrogation for the names of everyone who knows about Loksat. Mr. Flynn injects Castle with a truth serum and states that within the hour, Castle will tell him everything that he wants to know before Castle dies. The truth serum causes Castle to open up to Mr. Flynn about his relationship with Beckett and he promises Mr. Flynn that Beckett will kill both him and Loksat by the end of the night. However, Mr. Flynn is confident that Beckett will be dead by the end of the night and that there's nothing that Castle can do about it.

Beckett receives a call from Mason, claiming that he may have a lead for her: a source that he had worked with in the past, a facilitator for extralegal intelligence operations who knows the dark side of the CIA. Beckett convinces Mason to take her with him to meet the man and she leaves without telling Ryan, Javi and Vikram what she's doing. By pulling all active and passive cell phone signals from the tower serving the empty house and screening them against the towers from the route that Mr. Flynn took to it, Vikram is able to find his cell phone number and begins working on tracking the phone down.

After the truth serum takes full effect, Mr. Flynn brings in Loksat to question Castle himself. To Castle's shock, Loksat is revealed to be Mason Wood. Mason confirms his identity as Locksat, although he states that it's only his code name for his extralegal operations. Mason admits that the Greatest Detective Society in LA is legitimate and in no way connected to his illegal operations and that Rita isn't dead yet, he had needed Beckett and Castle to trust him so that Mason could find out who else knew about his existence before killing them. Under the truth serum, Castle is forced to identify Hayley, Vikram, Ryan, Javi, Martha Rodgers and Alexis Castle as the ones who know about Loksat. Mason departs to eliminate the threats to himself, leaving Castle to Mr. Flynn who prepares to give Castle a lethal injection.

The NYPD is able to track Mr. Flynn through his cell phone to a building where security refuses to allow them to search it, citing that the building belongs to the CIA and that it's protected by the National Security Act. The security guards are quickly subdued and Javi forces one to reveal where Mr. Flynn has taken Castle. Ryan and Javi arrive just in time to stop Castle's murder, shooting Mr. Flynn in the hand when he tries to inject Castle anyways. Ryan tries to radio for backup and to warn Beckett that Mason Wood is Loksat, but all communications are jammed as the building is a CIA black site. As the NYPD and the black site's guard engage in a gun battle, Castle hooks Mr. Flynn up to the truth serum and forces him to reveal where Mason is taking Beckett. Finally, Mr. Flynn reveals that Beckett is being brought to the black site which has a kill room in the basem*nt with an incinerator. As Ryan, Javi and the cops continue their gunfight, Castle breaks through the wet wall to get out of the room and to Beckett.

Picking up Beckett, Mason leads her to the black site and prepares to ambush her, but Beckett has already deduced the truth about Mason being Loksat. However, Mason magnetizes Beckett's gun to disarm her, having armed himself with a plastic gun. Mason reveals Castle's supposed death and prepares to kill her and throw her in the incinerator. Castle arrives and confronts Mason at gunpoint, only to have the electromagnet in the celling pull his gun from his hands, but the distraction gives Beckett the chance to disarm and subdue Mason, finally bringing down Locksat. In the aftermath of Loksat's arrest, dozens of local and federal law enforcement officials, presumably sent by Hayley, descend on the black site, rescue the besieged cops and arrest almost a dozen people. Beckett predicts that it won't be long before the CIA connection comes out as it's too big a story for the agency to bury.

However, the next morning while cooking breakfast, Castle becomes concerned by the fact that Mason had Caleb murdered, but he didn't dispose of the body in the incinerator like he had tried to do with Castle and Beckett. Caleb, who had only faked turning on Loksat and his death, invades Castle and Beckett's home and attempts to kill them. Although both Beckett and Castle are seriously wounded, Beckett kills Caleb, bringing both Loksat and the Beckett Conspiracy to an end.

The Players[]

• CIA
  • Henry Jenkins
  • Jeff Powers
• Bilal Khan
• Gary Duffin
• Illya Golovkin
• Hayley Shipton
• Loksat
• Caleb Brown
• Brooks (henchmen who shot Castle)

Victims[]

• Richard Castle (almost died during car accident, in Thailand, and in L.A.)
• Jeff Powers (Tortured by Golovkin and shot in the head)
• Amber (Tortured by Golovkin and shot in the head)
• Illya Golovkin (Shot by Jenkins)
• Rachel McCord and her AG team (Killed in car accident, staged by Loksat)

Suspects[]

• Jerry Tyson
• William Bracken
• Jackson Hunt
• Vinnie Cardano