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We see that Castle and Alexis are on a flight to London. A stewardess, Farrah is getting Castle to sign a book for her and then leaves to talk to another passenger when they experience turbulence. Alexis tries to get his mind off of it by looking at their schedule. We see that Castle is going to speak to the Sherlock Holmes society of mystery writers and learns that Alexis made plans to meet with some friends who are studying abroad.
Castle then says who will be there to be proud of him? Alexis says that she is always proud of him and that she’s heard his speeches a thousand times and knows what he is going to say. “You’ll say you don’t believe in writer’s block, that you wrote your first novel to impress a girl. That reading great writers inspires you, and drinking with them inspires you to beat them on the best-seller list.” Alexis nails exactly what he was going to say.
Beckett calls and we see her on the tablet. She see’s that Castle is uncomfortable and asks if everything is all right. Alexis chimes in and says that it’s just turbulence. However, their call gets dropped and Beckett wonders if everything is not fine. Ryan tries to persuade her that everything is fine. Castle see’s the stewardesses’ talking and decides to go see what is wrong. When he gets there Jim, a male steward asks him to return to his seat but Farrah stops him and gets the captain.
Captain Edmunds introduces herself and shows him a picture of Kyle Ford, the Air Marshal on the flight. She says that an hour ago he sent a text to his field office about a security issue onboard the flight. A possible threat and that he is investigating. However, they can’t find Ford and ask Castle for help. They say that they searched for Ford but can’t find him. Edmunds says that she has instructions to lock herself in the front and continue to Heathrow.
Castle and Debbie go into the luggage area. They are looking around when Castle gets scared by a snake. Castle notices luggage from three bags all from different passengers with clothes sticking out of them. He then spots a bigger container and when he opens it they see Ford, dead.
Castle calls Beckett and tells her that the Air Marshal is dead from a hit to the head. Castle also says that his gun is missing. Castle sent Beckett a copy of the flight manifest and asks her to check out the people on it. Alexis comes down and he tells her what happened. Alexis says that she will check the body for clues and tells her dad to go talk to the flight crew.
The flight crew remembers seeing him around 11 towards the back of the plane in aisle two and they found the body at 11:35. Castle notices two guys taking selfies and goes to look through their pictures. Alexis is facetiming Lanie and asks for her help. Alexis shows Lanie the blow to the head and then she goes back to her seat. Alexis tells her dad that Ford was hit by a left handed person. Castle is looking through the couple’s pictures but didn’t find anything. We learn that while they were telling the story of how they met Castle was emailing the pictures to himself. They then watch the video and see Ford checking an overhead bin. They realize that it’s a ruse and that he is actually watching a passenger.
They see that he is looking at the guy in 26B, Isadore Baldon, 25 from Brooklyn. However, Beckett tells them that the guy they described doesn’t match, the real Baldon is in town and that his passport was stolen. Castle deduces that he is the killer. They want to detain him but Castle convinces them not to until they get his real identity. They serve more drinks and then Farrah goes to collect the trash. She gets the guy’s cup and then Castle pulls prints off of it by using the graphite in his mechanical pencil.
Alexis sends the picture to Beckett and they get a hit. His real name is Aiman Haddad, he’s a Syrian national but is in the U.S. on a student visa and is enrolled at Hudson University. The FBI has him on the no fly list because he is affiliated with ISIS and then Esposito tells them that he talked to the roommate who told him that Haddad became super religious and sold all of his stuff and said that he wouldn’t be needing it anymore.
Castle tells Alexis to go back to her seat and then tells the others that he is on the no fly list. So they talk about trying to detain him but he hears them and takes off running. They chase him but he locks himself in the bathroom. He makes a phone call but Castle gets the door open and grabs him. He asks Farrah what he said and she says, “They know, and it’ll all be over soon.”
Castle is on the phone with Beckett when Esposito walks up to her and says that the number Haddad called is tied to his Syrian mobile account. They checked his seat and carry on but they couldn’t find the gun. Beckett tells him that he will have to interrogate Haddad. Ryan then tells them that Haddad has a checked bag on the flight and that the FBI wants them to find it. Jim and Farrah go back up to reassure the passengers while Alexis goes to look for the bag.
Castle starts to interrogate Haddad while Alexis and Debbie search for the bag. They find his bag. Haddad tells Castle that he has to go home because his mother is sick with pancreatic cancer. He says that he petitioned the TSA and went through the proper channels. Castle then shows him the picture of Ford looking at him and then tells him that they found his body over there. Haddad then says that Ford got numerous texts on his phone, began texting back and then rushed off.
Alexis beckons Castle and tells him that they didn’t find the gun. Castle is on the phone again and they tell him that Ford had a second phone, his personal cell. Castle asks if Tory can make the phone ping so they can find it and has people set to listen for it throughout the plane. Castle hears the ping and goes to look for it. Castle hears it next to the snake and thinks that it’s in there but it’s actually on the ground. The phone is locked so they need his passcode or fingerprint to unlock it.
They unlock the phone and then read the texts that threaten the plane. Tory tells Beckett that the texts came from a prepaid phone and Beckett tells her to find out where the phone was purchased. Meanwhile Castle and the others pass out a form that will hopefully narrow down the people who are left handed.
We see that Beckett is following the plane on her computer and Esposito is standing by her when Tory tells them that the person that purchased the phone paid with a credit card and that they have her name. Her name is Marilyn Singer, she was a former Oceanic executive who got fired last year. Beckett also tells them that she filed a wrongful termination suit for blackballing her against the airline but the judge ruled in favor of the airline.
Castle and Alexis see her but she changed her appearance so people wouldn’t recognize her. Castle makes Alexis go back to her seat and then asks for some red wine. He is walking towards her when he spills the wine on her. Debbie tries to get her to come back to the galley for stain remover but she goes for her overhead bag when Castle see’s the gun and grabs her. They zip tie her and then are questioning her when she asks to see Ford because he was her boyfriend. Castle tells her that Ford is dead. She says that she thought he was having an affair. It was their six month anniversary and they were supposed to go away for the weekend but he canceled at the last minute because he had to fill in for someone.
Castle has Jim take her down below but then thinks that something else is going on. Castle is video chatting with Beckett when Ryan and Esposito come and tell them that Ford requested to be on that flight and wasn’t filling in for anyone. They checked Ford’s financials and found that $9,950 was wired into his account just before takeoff. The money was from Victor Dietrich, a wealthy German industrialist.
Dietrich’s office is two blocks away so they bring him in. He claims to not know Ford. But when they tell him that Ford is dead he tells them that he hired Ford for security. He was watching a piece that was being transported, a $13.3 million watch. He tells them that the courier is wearing the watch and that he stopped responding to his texts after takeoff.
His name is Aaron Rich. When Castle tries to wake him up he realizes that he might have been drugged. When Rich wakes up he checks for the watch but Castle realizes that it’s a fake and was switched when he was sleeping. They deduce that it was an inside job and then see Debbie holding a gun on them.
Debbie says that she was going to retire after 30 years but Oceanic eliminated their pensions. She heard Rich brag about how much money was strapped to his wrist. She says that Ford knew when Aaron was sleeping so he tracked her to the cargo hold. Alexis talks Debbie down and takes the gun. They zip tie her and release Haddad and Singer.
Castle tells Haddad that when the plane lands he will be detained for traveling on a stolen passport however he had the NYPD make some calls and if his story checks out he will be allowed to travel to Syria before he faces charges. Alexis tells him that she is canceling here plans so they can be attached at the hip. Before going back up Castle grabs a handful of small tequilla bottles. We then see Beckett watching as the plane safely lands.