A van races down alley. A man springs in front of it with his gun drawn. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! The man unloads his clip, but the van never slows. BAM! The van plows into the shooter literally knocking him out of his shoes. Castle is more than ready to sink his teeth into a murder mystery if only to get a bad taste out of his mouth. Martha tried her hand at making his patented funny face pancakes—the ones he always makes for his daughter. They are both missing Alexis now that she’s moved away to college though Castle seems to be getting better at letting go. Not great, but better.

The murder victim’s name was Hasim Farouk. Ryan and Esposito find an arsenal of high-end weapons in the guy’s apartment along with surveillance equipment. Hasim had assault charges filed against him not too long ago. The complaining party was Bram Stoker, a TA at Columbia. He also happens to be a distant relative of the famed Dracula author. Hasim got ticked at Bram because of his flirting with female students. One of the girls was Sara El-Masri, who was seen trying to escape from the van that ran down the victim. Hasim died trying to stop her from being abducted.

Agent Harris (guest star Dylan Walsh) is brought in to run point on the kidnapping. Sara’s dad, Anwar, is a wealthy Egyptian businessman who made many enemies in his homeland. He tells Beckett that he hired Hasim Farouk to discreetly protect his daughter. As a fellow overprotective dad, Castle can relate. He and Beckett head off to meet an author Sara went to see the night she was abducted. She attended the lecture event with a friend. Castle realizes it was Alexis. A call to her cell leads to a ringing from a lost and found box. Not only was Alexis at the event with her friend, she was abducted, too.

Agent Harris says surveillance video helped them ID one of the abductors. His name is Roger Henson, a midlevel narcotics smuggler who is likely just a hired gun for the real shot-callers. Castle fears the worst. If Sara was the target, then Alexis was just in the way. Beckett holds him close, not caring who sees them. Castle silently walks out of the precinct. Captain Gates tells Beckett to do whatever she needs to do to get him back his little girl. Martha comforts Castle by letting him know that Alexis is her father’s daughter. She’s strong and she will get through this.