In an apartment somewhere in Los Angeles, Lyle pocketed his phone.
Handsome Rob asked curiously, "Lyle, girlfriend calling?"
"No, no!"
Lyle shook his head quickly. "Just a friend. He wanted to ask me some coding questions. Charlie knows him too!"
Charlie, who had been deep in thought, looked up at the mention of his name.
"I know him? An old friend?"
"Not exactly," Lyle replied. "It's that Asian guy who modified our cars. He's really interested in computers."
"Over the last month, he's come to me a bunch of times to learn programming."
Charlie immediately pictured Hunter Sun.
He had a strong impression of Hunter.
A young man, but with exceptional skill in vehicle modification.
Moreover, Charlie had noticed that the Asian kid wasn't just handsome; his service attitude was miles better than the other mechanics Charlie had dealt with.
In the US, getting someone to work overtime through the night—especially someone with real talent—was harder than finding a hitman.
Charlie had worked with Hunter twice and had nothing but praise for him.
But now, hearing Lyle mention him so casually...
Charlie's meticulous, paranoid mind suddenly spawned a dark theory.
"Lyle!"
He looked up sharply. "When you talk to Hunter, did you ever mention what we were doing?"
"Or did he ever ask you why we needed the cars modified?"
A terrible thought had just taken root in Charlie's mind.
The gold was missing. Someone had beaten them to it.
Charlie suddenly began to suspect a leak.
It wasn't that he was overly sensitive. Stella had been kidnapped. The plan was blown.
While Charlie searched for a way to save Stella, he was also frantically trying to plug any holes in his operation. He had to know if there was a traitor in his midst.
Charlie's question was blunt.
Handsome Rob frowned slightly, glancing at Charlie before turning his gaze to Lyle.
Left Ear, the black demolitions expert, also looked at Charlie in surprise before fixing his eyes on Lyle.
Left Ear wasn't his real name, but his callsign. As the team's explosives expert, he had lost hearing in his right ear when he was ten years old, messing around with homemade bombs. The nickname stuck.
Lyle might be a socially awkward nerd, but his IQ wasn't negative.
Seeing everyone staring at him, Lyle panicked. He waved his hands frantically.
"Charlie, you're overthinking it!"
"I've known Hunter for almost a month. Aside from asking about coding, mostly he just listens to me talk about college or internet gossip."
"Hunter never asked about the cars. He never even asked who you were! I swear!"
Charlie trusted his team. He had worked with Lyle for years.
Hearing Lyle's vehement denial, the suspicion in Charlie's heart faded significantly.
Seeing Lyle's face flush with anxiety, Charlie realized he was being too paranoid.
But who could blame him? Months of planning had evaporated overnight. His gold was gone, his plan was exposed, and the woman he loved was in the hands of a psychopath.
Charlie looked calm on the outside, but inside, he was screaming.
"Sorry. I'm just... on edge."
Charlie apologized quickly, then changed the subject. "Lyle, how long until you can get the surveillance footage from around Steve's villa for the last three days?"
Lyle, being a simple-hearted techie, let go of his anger the moment Charlie apologized.
He thought for a second. "Give me ten minutes."
He opened his high-end laptop and began typing furiously.
Seven or eight minutes later, a smile returned to his face.
"Got it!"
Over two weeks ago, Lyle had hacked the security firm responsible for the district where Steve's villa was located. He had left a backdoor in their system.
Now, he effortlessly slipped back in and downloaded the footage.
He turned the laptop screen toward the group and began playing the clips one by one.
They watched intently. Soon, they spotted the problem.
"These cameras... they caught us."
"So that's why Steve was so sure we stole the gold."
"He must have gone to the security company afterwards and pulled the tapes."
Charlie felt a pang of guilt. When he first scouted Steve's villa, he had noticed the perimeter cameras.
But after discovering they belonged to a third-party security firm, Charlie had dismissed them.
He knew Steve was paranoid. Steve wouldn't trust a third-party company with his internal security.
Charlie had assumed that even if they were filmed, it wouldn't matter until after the heist was successful. By then, he wanted Steve to know who robbed him.
He never considered the possibility of being exposed before the operation even started.
But here they were.
"Charlie!"
Handsome Rob, who had been staring at the screen, pointed at a specific frame.
"Look. We were being followed."
Typically, security firms only kept footage for seven to fourteen days. But this company was diligent; they kept archives for a full month.
Lyle had started playback from the earliest available date, and they struck gold.
In one clip, a figure was visible near Steve's villa.
In another clip from a nearby camera—timestamped perfectly—Charlie and Stella were visible scouting the area.
The team huddled around the screen, their expressions grim.
They quickly found multiple clips showing the same figure.
The person was clearly prepared. They were wrapped up tight, face obscured.
Aside from confirming it was a man—and that he was definitely tailing Charlie and Stella—they couldn't glean any more information.
Silence fell over the room.
Even Charlie hadn't expected this.
He had spent his life hunting prey, never realizing he was the one being hunted.
From start to finish, he had never noticed the shadow trailing them.
Regret washed over him, bitter and heavy.
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