"Rick, Rick." "Long time, Rick." "Good gracious." "Richard, you look positively ghastly." "Good morning to you, too, mother." "No, no, no." "I'm speaking as a concerned mother." "Are you sure you're not coming down with anything?" "Not at all." "Never better." "Well, good." "Then my work here is done." "I'm off to see some open houses." "Hopefully to find the apartment of my dreams." "Ta!" "Bye." " Ta!" " Bye." "Ah, thank you." "Mm-hmm." "Mmm." "Is Alexis gone, too?" "Yeah." "She had an early-morning class." "So, you were restless again last night." "What's going on?" "Nothing." "Babe, you keep saying that, and it keeps getting worse." "You were whimpering in your sleep." "It's been every night for a week." "So, come on." "Talk to me." "It's just a dream." "So it's a recurring dream?" "Okay." "About what?" "About when I went missing, I think." "And so why didn't you want to tell me about it?" "Probably because I didn't want to make a big deal of it." "But it is a big deal." "You lost two months of your life." "And you're dreaming about it now?" " I don't think you should ignore this." " I do." "Come on." "Everything is perfect right now." "You and I are in a great place." "Everyone else is." "I mean, why go turning over stones when the dreams will just probably just go away?" "Except they haven't gone away." "They're just getting worse." "Look at you." "You're stressed-out." "You're exhausted." "You haven't written a word in a week." "Look, a-at least consider seeing someone." "I know somebody who may be able to help." "Have you ever sought therapy before, Mr. Castle?" "Well, if you'd met my mother, you'd know the answer would be yes, but, uh, by my nature, I try to avoid introspection." "Well, let's get started." "What can you tell me about your missing time?" "Not much." "The last thing I remember, I was driving to my wedding." "A black S.U.V. started chasing me." "Then I was forced off the road." "Two months later, they found me in the middle of the Atlantic ocean." "I had been exposed to dengue fever." "I had a bullet scar with no recollection how I got it, no memory of anything." "I tracked down a man named Jenkins, who was involved somehow." "He, uh..." "He told me the reason I couldn't remember." "And you said you didn't want to remember." "We went to great lengths to make sure that you didn't." "And is it still the case that you don't want to remember?" "No." "I-I've tried to put it behind me, but it haunts me." "Not a day goes by I don't wonder where I was, what I saw..." "What I did." "Is it possible my memories are coming back?" "Well, dreams can be memories." "But more often they're symbolic... metaphoric expressions of an issue or problem." "You're also a writer..." "a creative person." "This could mean your mind is building a narrative to fill a two-month void." "I want to understand these dreams... what they mean and, uh..." "If they're real." "Well, we could put you in a relaxed state, try to revisit the experience." "Hypnosis?" "You have a pen and paper if you wish to take notes." "You may open your eyes and awaken at any time." "Are you ready to begin, Mr. Castle?" "Yeah." "Go back to the first image you can recall of your dream." "What do you see?" "I'm asleep on a boat." "On the ocean." "Long time, Rick." "There's a man there." "He says hi to me." "Long time, Rick." "He knows me." "Do you know him?" "He's familiar, but I-I can't... place him." "Wow." "This really works." "Okay, there's something familiar." "A trophy." "For some kind of sport?" "Maybe." "I-I can't tell." "Now someone's firing a pistol." "I see blood." "There's a man on the floor." "He's been shot." "He's dying." "I'm there, too." "I'm wearing camouflage paint." "I'm trying to help him, but..." "Can you see where you are right now?" "In a storage shed." "But it seems like everything is moving." "I'm in a truck." "We're in the jungle." "And there's someone chasing us." "They're shooting at us." "There's a blond man in a truck." "He's leading the charge." "Faster!" " A military truck?" " No, it's a civilian truck." "But it has a very... strange... license plate." "Uh-oh." "So the man you saw was Chuck Norris?" "No, he wasn't..." "Chuck Norris." "Of course not." "I mean, that would be ridiculous and..." "Super-duper cool." "But, no." "He..." "he looked like Chuck Norris." "Well, this was a very productive first session," "Mr. Castle, but I'm afraid our time is up." "Of course." "Thank you." "Uh, Dr. Burke, can I, uh... can I see you again tomorrow?" "Well, I'll check, but I want you to think about the underlying meaning of the dream." "Now, don't assume that the images are actual memories." "I'm telling you, guys." "There's no doubt in my mind." "They are actual memories." "Even though Dr. Burke said they might not be?" "It..." "Was our first session." "He was just being cautious." "But they felt real." "Because they... they are real." "So you were in jungle combat?" "With Chuck Norris." "Like "Missing in Action"?" "The movie he did about rescuing P.O.W.s from Vietnam?" "Uh, only it wasn't Chuck Norris, it wasn't a movie," " and I wasn't in Vietnam." " You got that right." "Because the license plate that Tory is checking on... the one I saw..." "it had Arabic characters." "Okay, so an Arabic-speaking country with a jungle?" "Um..." "Yemen..." "Somalia." "Yeah, I guess so." "We'll know more when we track down that Chuck Norris look-alike." "How do you plan on doing that?" "That military skull tattoo I told you about." "That could help ID him, right?" "We'll see what we can find out." "But it's a long shot at best." "I know this seems impossible." "A lot of our cases do at first." "There's something there, Castle, so we'll just follow it and see where it leads." "I got something on that license plate." "It turns out, this isn't Arabic." "These are letters in the Thai alphabet." "What does it mean?" "That the license plate was registered in Chiang Mai, a province in northern Thailand." "I was in Thailand, getting shot at with Chuck Norris?" "Kate?" "Kate, are you awake?" "Alexis, hey." "Um..." "What's... what's wrong?" "Sorry." "I have an exam, but I didn't want to leave dad like this." "He's kind of gone off the deep end about Thailand." "Hey." "Were you up all night?" "I'm, uh, researching armed conflicts in northern Thailand during the time I was missing." "Somehow, I must have been part of one of them." "You find anything?" "No, not yet." "But I will." "You want to take a break, maybe get some breakfast?" "No, not until I figure this out." "I was there, Kate." "I was there." "I was shot at, which explains my bullet scar." "I was exposed to dengue fever, a disease that's prevalent in the region." "Everything fits." "But, Castle, why would you be abducted on our wedding day and end up in Thailand?" "Worst bachelor party ever?" "You know, maybe Dr. Burke is right." "Maybe those images that you saw in your dream are not really your memories." "Oh, no." "They're memories." "They're memories." "And you said follow them wherever they go, and this is where they go..." "Thailand." "This is all about Thailand." "Okay, well, why don't we take a step back from Thailand." "Why don't we take a look at some of the other images, like the... the trophy." "Eh, the trophy's irrelevant." "Well, it was in your dream for a reason." "You said it was familiar." "In what way?" "What did it look like?" "Cheap." "You know, something that you would give a child." "Okay." "So could it have been, um, an award that Alexis won?" "Maybe something that you won?" "Something for writing?" "I know what it is." "This is it." "This is the trophy." "This is..." "I, um..." "I won this in a..." "in a debate competition back at Faircroft Prep." " Why would that be in your dream?" " I don't know, but..." "Wait a minute." "Phillip Bartlett." "Who's Phillip Bartlett?" "Phillip Bartlett and I, we tied for first place." "We shared this trophy." "That man in my dream, the one who says hello, it was him." "I mean, he's my age now, but..." "Phillip Bartlett." "Long time, Rick." "He's a part of this." "If I'm gonna track him down," "I'm gonna need you to do a background check on him." "Okay, so now it's Chuck Norris and some old buddy from high school?" "Come on, guys." "I'm just asking you to run Phillip Bartlett." "Look, Castle needs to know what's going on." "What if these leads go nowhere?" "Then he needs to know that, as well." "Excuse me." "Tory!" "Hey, any more news on that license plate?" "A little..." "the plate was registered to a Thai freight company that went out of business in 1987." "1987?" "Uh, how would Castle see it on a truck almost 30 years later?" "I don't know." "It's possible the plate was stolen, or..." "Or what?" "I ran an image search of the plate." "Similar license plates appeared in several action films, during car-chase sequences." "Ah." "So you think he might have seen it in a film." "Maybe." "Martha." "Hey." "Uh, what's..." "what's going on?" "Richard is completely obsessed, and I am concerned about him." "I know." "Me too." "He never spoke to me about the missing time." "I thought he was at peace with it." "Didn't you?" "Well, I guess the dreams made him realize that he wasn't at peace." "He chose to forget those two months." "He must have had a very good reason for wanting to do that." "I think looking into this is a bad idea." "Martha, I-I don't think that this is a choice for him." "I think that he needs to know the truth." "What if he never finds out the truth?" "What if he never learns anything?" "Or worse, what if he finds out something awful?" "I'll be with him." "Wherever this leads." "And I promise you I am not gonna let him go too far." " Thank you." " Yeah." "Long time, Rick." "Long time, Rick." "Phil Bartlett." "Thank you for coming." "Well, I knew it was only a matter of time before I'd hear from you." "You were expecting my call?" "Of course I was." "And I'm" " I'm here for you." "Oh, thank God." "What a relief." "Okay." "I need to talk to you about Thailand." "What do you know about Thailand?" "I was there." "I saw you." "You're not supposed to know." "Nobody is." "And you can't tell anyone." "I won't." "I won't." "I promise." "As long as you tell me your version of what happened." "I can't do that." "I need to know what you know." "What I'm about to say can never be repeated." "Understood." "I was in Thailand to attend an investment conference." "We hit this Bangkok nightclub." "Oh, she was so beautiful." "I thought she was a woman." "I swear to God." "Wait, what?" "Um, no." "I need you to tell me about Chiang Mai." "Uh..." "I was never in Chiang Mai." "I was in Bangkok." "You said you saw me?" "Yeah, but..." "no, I-I didn't see that." "I think it's best that we never speak of this again." "Wait, no." "No." "You were there." "I know you were." "Look, I don't know what kind of game you're playing here..." "It's not a game." "I-I saw our trophy..." "the one we won for debate club." "You were expecting my call." "Why would you be expecting my call?" "Phillip Bartlett..." "Bartlett-Braddock wealth management." "I wanted to take you on as a client." "Now not so much." "You know, for the record, I was never a debate geek, all right?" "I played lacrosse." "It doesn't make any sense." "He has to be part of this." "He was in the dream." "Except we checked him out." "The first and only time" "Phillip Bartlett traveled to Thailand was a month ago, and there's nothing that connects him to all of this." "I even called Faircroft Prep." "They confirmed Phillip Bartlett was not on the debate team." "I didn't share first place with anyone." "Uh, babe, maybe you're taking this whole dream thing too literally." "Or maybe you've combined two memories together." "No." "I'm not making this up." "But what if..." "What if this is "total recall"?" "Not only did they erase my memories, but they replaced them with false memories?" "But the false memories would have to be based in reality, right?" "Otherwise, why would Phillip Bartlett be in them?" " Uh, Castle, listen to me..." " Detective Beckett?" "A word?" "I've noticed you've devoted resources to running a background check on Phillip Bartlett." "And tracing license plates in Thailand?" "Uh, sir, I was following up on some new leads about Castle's disappearance." "In connection to Chuck Norris?" "Yeah." "It's complicated." "Kate, I know how important this is to him." "But these leads, are they solid?" "Or is Mr. Castle just grasping at straws?" "Yo." "I dug into that tattoo." "That insignia..." "that means Delta Force, right?" "Yeah." "It's also the title of a Chuck Norris movie." "Yeah." "Well, delta guys don't advertise, so whoever's wearing that ink is no longer active duty." "It says here on the banner that he's out of the 75th ranger regiment," "3rd Battalion, B Company." "Now, I checked with my boy at the Pentagon, and there's only a handful of guys with that service history who match the guy you said you saw." "Here you go." "Thank you for this, Esposito." "This is great." "So, he will be in here somewhere." "Yeah, but he's not." "None of those guys look like Chuck Norris." "You don't believe me, do you?" "For my money, your story about the missing two months never added up." "It still doesn't." "This is the guy." " Come on, Castle." " No, this is the guy." "That guy looks nothing like Chuck Norris." "He would with a beard." "And he lives right here in the city." "His name is Jeff Powers..." "honorable discharge in 2009, then he worked as a contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan." "This is just the kind of guy who could be a mercenary in Thailand." "He was there, Beckett." "He knows what happened." "I hope so, but if he doesn't, then we need to take a breath and discuss how to pursue this." "Or whether to pursue it." "That won't be necessary." "All the answers are right behind this door." "Castle!" "What are you doing?" "It's okay." "He knows me." "Jeff Powers?" "It's Rick Castle from Thailand." "Your door was unlocked." "Just wanted to ask you a few questions." "Castle." "That's him." "That's the guy in my dream." "Well, needless to say, that G.S.W. to the head is the likely cause of death." "When did this happen?" "Based on liver temp, about midnight last night." "But I'll know more once I do a full workup on him." "Castle starts remembering this guy." "And all of a sudden, he becomes a homicide victim?" "That's kind of weird." "Yeah." "It's not just weird." "It's suspicious." "Well, I was hoping to prove Castle's story was true, but not like this." "Yeah." "Contact the next-of-kin." "Let's find out what Jeff Powers was into." "Easier said than done." "His parents are dead, no wife or siblings." "Hoping to track down a friend or someone he served with." "But I'm on it." "Hey." "How you doing?" "On the bright side, at least I'm not crazy." "Yeah, well, I never thought you were." "Well, I sure thought I was." "You must have had a few moments of doubt." "Do we have any idea who killed him?" "It's too soon to tell." "But we're gonna get to the bottom of this." "What if it's my fault?" "What if me poking around is what got him killed?" "Castle, how could that even be possible?" "I don't know." "Maybe I'm being followed or watched." "His death cannot be a coincidence." "Yeah." "It doesn't seem like one, does it?" "Well, I may know more in 20 minutes." "You mean your appointment with Dr. Burke?" "Yeah, if I can remember about Thailand, it may help us solve this murder." "Okay." "Keep me close." "Always." "Hey, uh, Beckett?" "Hey." "Please tell me we got something." "Well, I did find this..." "a cocktail napkin from Exotica." "I take it that's a strip club?" "Yeah." "And this was in the victim's pocket." "It could be where he was last night before he came home and wound up dead." " And it might be where he met our killer." " Yeah." "I'll see if I can find out who he spent time with at, uh, Exotica." "Sure, I know Jeff." "He's a regular." "He's at the club a few nights a week." "He's nice, always a gentleman." "Fact is, he was there last night, right?" "Was he there with somebody?" "Just me." "Amber, did you notice if he talked to anyone, or left with anyone?" "Jeff wasn't much for socializing." "Did he have any friends that you know of?" "Anybody ever stop by the club?" "Hmm." "Yeah." "One friend did." " Who?" " Some army buddy." "He came in looking for Jeff." "He was in town, visiting, and wanted to surprise him, so he made me swear not to say anything." "When was this?" "Three days ago, maybe?" "Amber, this army buddy of Jeff's... do you think you remember this guy well enough to help us out with a sketch?" "Sure." "Why?" "Is something going on with Jeff?" "It's not working." "I-I-I can't remember anything new." "I keep coming up with the same images." "Let's look at this another way." "Perhaps the images came to you for a reason." " Something triggered them." " Like what?" "You began having this dream over a week ago." "Did anything unusual occur on that particular day?" "Um..." "No." "I got up." "I had breakfast with Beckett." "She had to go to court." "Uh, I went to the gym." "And then?" "I wrote for a while." "I wanted a change of scenery, so I took my laptop to the coffee shop..." "There." "What did you just remember?" "Just that when I was at the coffee shop," "I-I got this strange, um, like a buzzing, ringing in my ears." "Let's go back a week ago to the coffee shop." "What were you doing when this buzzing first started?" "I was writing." "Or, rather, procrastinating." "I was stuck on a scene, so I was just people-watching." "Anyone you knew?" "Or recognized?" "No." "No, I don't think so." "Wait a minute." "That ringing... it started when I looked up at the TV." "What was playing?" "Something from the local news." "April 15th is only two days away." "This is the clip you would have seen." "But, on the bright side, many post offices will be open extra late to accept tax returns from last-minute filers." "It's just some report on tax day." "Maybe the buzzing has nothing to do with this." " Always file an extension." " Just keep watching." "There's got to be something else there." "The federal Plaza, Church Street, and Chinatown post offices will all have extended hours" "Wait." "Um, pause it." "Pause it." "Of course, the I.R.S..." "What is it?" "Tory, zoom in on that man right there." "I know him." "He was the one chasing us in the truck." "Are you sure?" "Yes, I'm sure." "He was in Thailand." "Yo." "We got our sketch back of the guy who showed up at the strip club, asking for Jeff Powers." "The same man." "First in Thailand, now in New York." "Whoever he is, he's at the center of this." "Just catching a glimpse of his face is what started all this." "It's what triggered my dreams." "But who is he?" "What else do you remember about him?" "Uh, he was dressed like a soldier." "You said he was yelling at his men?" "In what language?" "Faster!" "Faster!" "He was speaking English." "So, was he American?" "British?" "No." "I-I think he had an accent." "So European, maybe." "I'll run his photo through Interpol, see if they know him." "And I'll have unis canvass where that video was taken and see if anyone in that neighborhood recognizes him." "Thanks, guys." "Okay, what else can we do?" "Castle, you can't be a part of this." "Not anymore." "What do you mean?" "I have to be." "We don't know this man's agenda." "No, no, Beckett." "I need to be..." "What you need to do is go back to the loft and stay there." "Now, I've assigned a security detail to you." " Why would I be a target?" " I don't know." "And neither do you." "But he was shooting at you in Thailand." "And he just killed Jeff Powers, your Chuck Norris look-alike." "Now, Lt. is gonna drive you home." "And if I refuse?" "Then he'll drive you home in handcuffs." "Just for the record?" "Extremely bitter." "I'll call you if we find anything." "Beckett." "Lanie, hey." "What did you find?" "Well, for one thing, Mr. Powers' blood work came back." "He had antibodies for dengue fever." "Just like Castle." "Similar strain, too." "But the main attraction is what I found in the man's mouth." "Huh." "Rather, what you didn't find." "What happened to his teeth?" "They were pried out..." "eight of them... shortly before he died." "So Powers was tortured first." "Revenge?" "Or the killer wanted information." "Did he leave any evidence behind?" "I'm afraid not." "Looks like he wore latex gloves." "I found traces of talc in the victim's mouth." "The gloves would have been bloody." "The killer would have to get rid of them." "They could have his prints or DNA on them." "Right, but those gloves could be anywhere." "How would we find them?" "The department has bloodhounds." "Call the K-9 unit, have them deploy bloodhounds to search near Powers' apartment building." "Thanks." "Find the gloves yet?" "Oh, nothing so far." "Yeah, not with my team either." "Well, the dogs may still come through." "I'm not so sure." "For all we know, the killer didn't even toss his gloves." "So what?" "He's just walking around with bloody latex?" "Nah." "He could have put them in a Ziploc bag, could have burned them." "Yeah, the thing of it is, even if we find the gloves and get the killer's prints or DNA and we do ID this guy, he's probably long gone by now." " Based on what?" " Well, if he wanted information, he probably got it from Jeff Powers, yanking out all of his teeth." "No." "A soldier like Powers?" "His training?" "No, he'd die before he spilled his guts." "I hope you're wrong about that." "'Cause if our killer was after information, he may think Castle has it." "Hey." "I thought you said you were staying at a friend's tonight." "No." "Uh, you said I was staying at a friend's." "Oh." "Well, then, you should have listened." "I wanted to be here with you." "I know this isn't just another case." "Oh, yeah." "Listen..." "yesterday morning in my office." "I know I was a little Doc Brown, "Back to the Future."" "What really went on in Thailand, dad?" "I know you must have a theory." "Uh, believe me, I have dozens." "Which one scares you the most?" "I don't need you to protect me." "I'm not a kid anymore." "I'm not afraid to hear the truth." "That's right." "You aren't, are you?" "Why not let me in?" "I wanted to forget everything." "So in my darkest moments, I wonder if I... did something terrible." "I know you." "You would never do anything bad." "I could never leave the love of my life, desert her and you for two months." "And somehow I did." "Castle." "How did we ID this guy?" "By way of a bloodhound named Cujo." "Cujo sniffed out a paper bag in a storm drain about four blocks away from the crime scene." "The bag contained latex gloves." "And we're sure these gloves belong to the killer?" "Yeah." "The bag had teeth in it, too." "In any case, CSU was able to pull prints." "We got a hit off ECRIS, European fingerprint network." "So the killer's European?" "He's Russian." "Ilya Golovkin." "Castle, does that name sound familiar?" "No." "Who is he?" "He served in Spetsnaz..." "Russian special forces..." "then moved on to the former KGB." "The Russians are behind this?" "Mm, doubtful." "He left Russia five years ago and disappeared." "Since then, word is that he's been responsible for over two dozen assassinations." "Including politicians, dissident journalists, protected witnesses, even a Vatican banker." "Golovkin's the guy you call when you have a job that no one else can do." "Castle, if Golovkin is involved, then whatever's going on, whatever you were a part of, it's something big." "Here you go." "How do we even track down a guy like Golovkin?" "We called in reinforcements." "We're coordinating with the FBI." "Every state and federal law-enforcement agency is looking for this guy." "And when we find him, you will have your answers." "He's the only person who knows the truth." "There's at least one other person who knows." "I need to see Powers' file." "Exactly what are you hoping to find?" "We already went over what little there is on Powers." "Yes, but you were looking for his killer." "I'm looking for this guy." "Jenkins is the mastermind behind this, or mastermind-adjacent." "He was probably in Thailand." "For all I know, he was driving the truck I was in." "Castle, we could never locate Jenkins, much less find his real name." "But maybe now we can." "If Jenkins had contact with Powers, there may be evidence in here that can lead us to him." "Yo." "We got a hit off that APB." "A transit cop thinks he just saw Golovkin get off a subway stop at Sheridan Square." "That's half a block from Jeff Powers' apartment." "Yeah." "Maybe he went back there." "Castle, stay put, okay?" " Yeah." "You be careful." " I will." "ESU's got my back." "The seal is cut." "Someone went inside." "He might still be there." "Okay, go." " Police!" "NYPD!" " NYPD!" "Detectives, over here." "That's Amber, the stripper." "Golovkin must have questioned her." "Now he knows we're onto him." "Bringing her here was his way of rubbing our faces in it." "Yeah, but what's his angle?" "What's he after?" "I don't know, but whatever it is, he's not gonna stop until he gets it." "Good evening, sir." "How may I help you?" "Actually, I'm working with the NYPD." "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions." "Have you ever seen this man?" "Mr. Jeff... of course." "He's a regular customer here at Sunil's café." "Very regular." "In fact, for the past six months, he's come here, without fail, every Tuesday at 6:00 p.m." "Was he meeting anyone?" "No." "He always dines alone." "What about this man?" "Have you ever seen him or the two of them together?" "No." "He's not familiar to me." " I'm sorry." " Of course." "Thank you for your time." "Hey." "Who are you?" "You should never have come." "If you're here, it means that I'm a dead man." "I thought you already were a dead man." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." "You're not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell's going on." "Fine." "We must leave." "Now." "Where are we going?" "What is this place?" "They promised me you wouldn't remember." "How did you find me?" "Jeff Powers." "Powers would never talk." "Unless..." "He's dead, isn't he?" "When?" " Yesterday." " Was it the Russian?" "You know about the Russian?" "How?" "This is even worse than I thought." "Who are you calling?" "This is Icarus." "I've got a code 7-9-1." "What does that mean?" "Just tell me who you are." "I'm Bilal." "Bilal Khan." "You really don't know me." "I know you were in the truck, wounded." "Long before that, I was your friend." "What are you talking about?" "I was an exchange student at Faircroft Prep in 11th grade." "You weren't." "I'd remember that." "Not anymore." "You see?" "The two of us, together." "The good old days." "That's the trophy... the one I thought I won with Phil Bartlett." "That's because they had to erase all your memories of me and replace them with somebody else." "Who are "they"?" "I can't believe they picked Phil Bartlett." "W-what a douchebag." "Listen, Bilal..." "I-it's Bilal, right?" "Even if what you said is true a-and we knew each other in 11th grade..." "You even consulted with me when you wrote your first, uh, Derrick Storm book." "Consulted about what?" "Terrorism." "Since I was working with, uh, Pakistani intelligence," "I was something of an expert on the topic." "Okay, but how does that explain Jeff Powers?" "Why would he come to the restaurant every Tuesday?" "To check in with me." "He was my handler, my CIA handler." "And now my cover's blown." "Your cover?" "So you're a spy?" "Not a spy." "Look, after I left the intelligence service," "I lost my way." "I joined Al-Qaeda." "You were in Al-Qaeda?" "Can you please keep your voice down?" "Yes, I was." "I rose up to become a part of their senior leadership." "And now you're bussing tables and you live here?" "I chose this life." "It's my penance." "I wanted to leave Al-Qaeda, and I had inside knowledge about that organization." "So I struck a deal with American intelligence to trade what I knew for a second chance." "You defected." "If you like." "I hid in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand where I was supposed to meet my CIA contact and get safe passage to the United States." "But things didn't go as planned." "And what does any of this have to do with me?" "Why was I there?" "Because I needed you." "Needed me?" "Needed me for what?" "I was about to turn myself over to the CIA." "When my contact was killed by a bullet that was meant for me." "Now, the rendezvous point was supposed to be a secret." "Which means there was a leak." "I could trust no one." "I-I had some leverage, so I agreed to meet again, but only in the company of somebody I trusted, somebody I knew." "Somebody too prominent to be eliminated." "I knew only one such man... you." "How did we end up in that truck?" "The Russian had been hunting me, hired by Al-Qaeda." "He finally caught up with me." "That's how you got wounded." " Was I wounded, too?" " Fortunately, no." " My ride's here." " I still have a lot of questions." "There's no more time." "I-I'm sorry, Rick." "Look, I was the cause of much upheaval in your life." "Please know that was never my intention." "In fact, I have the deepest gratitude for everything that you've done." "I just wish I could remember what it was." "As do I." "I doubt we'll meet again." "Be well." "Come away from the light." "Come." "Look, I'm..." "I'm..." "I'm not part of this." "I know absolutely nothing." "It does not matter." "I thought we had an understanding that you wouldn't pursue this." "Jenkins." "Well, you'll have to forget about Bilal Khan and everything else that's occurred tonight." "Are you gonna help me to forget?" "We'd prefer not to." "Yes, well..." "Thank you for that." "Oh, and, uh..." "That's for making me miss my wedding day." "You have no idea how lucky you are, Mr. Castle." "As for missing your wedding, that was unavoidable," " if it's any consolation." " It's not." "You dragged me halfway across the world." "You owe me an explanation." "I'm not at liberty to give you one." "Well, then I'm not at liberty to forget about Bilal Khan." "Or Golovkin here." " Mr. Castle..." " What?" "You gonna kill me?" "You can't." "Raise too many questions." "That's why you brought me back from Thailand, minus my memory." "I was gone two months thanks to you." "I missed my wedding." "What couldn't wait one more day?" "There was a ticking clock." "We'd picked up chatter about a major Al-Qaeda strike in the U.S." "We knew it was hours away and there was never enough time for us to put the pieces together in order to stop it." "But Bilal knew about the strike." "Names, places, operational details, yeah." "We were desperate for Bilal and his intel." "And when his contact was killed, we needed you to get Bilal." "And he came through." "We were able to prevent the strike, and we neutralized everyone involved." "That's all I can tell you." "And I expect you not to repeat it." "Think of it this way..." "yeah, you missed your wedding, but you also saved tens of thousands of lives." "You should leave now, Mr. Castle." "You saved tens of thousands of lives?" "And went on a secret mission to Thailand?" "Yes." "Unfortunately, I cannot divulge any further specifics." "If you told us, you'd have to kill us." "You mock, but it is for your own safety." "I guess what really matters is, you found out the truth, dad, and the good news is, it didn't turn out to be your worse-case scenario." "Yeah, bad news is," "I can't brag about my heroic exploits to anyone." " Mm." " Oh." "Though you're kind of doing that right now." "Totally." " I have to go study." " See you." "You know, darling, Alexis and I do not need to know the details." "But I do hope you can tell Katherine." "Of course." "Hey." "I got here as soon as I could." "Never soon enough." "I'm just glad that you're okay." "Um, don't tell Alexis or mother about the Russian-assassin part." "I left that out of the story." "Yeah, well, um, there's no proof of what happened in that alley." "By the time uniforms got there, his body was already gone." "If Jenkins can get rid of memories, getting rid of a body would be child's play." "I am so sorry, Kate, for everything I put you through." "Babe, it's not like you were partying in Thailand." "You have the best excuse ever for missing our wedding." "You were saving the world." "Yeah." "Still a lot of unanswered questions, though." "Like how did I get shot?" "Why was I gone for two months?" "Yeah." "You may not know everything." "No." "But I know enough." " Let's drink to that." " Yeah."