The Uneasy Charlie
Absolutely no one in this unforgiving city would willingly turn down a massive stack of cold, untraceable money, and Arthur was certainly no exception to that universal rule.
Not too long ago, under the heavy cover of a freezing, torrential downpour, he had flawlessly stolen two massive, military-grade safes directly out from under Steve's heavily fortified nose.
Although there should undeniably be nearly a full metric ton of pure gold bars secured inside those heavy vaults ,a staggering, glittering fortune worth at least twenty to thirty million US dollars, which was more than enough for him to live incredibly comfortably for several lavish decades ,he currently couldn't touch a single ounce of it.
His current [Lockpicking] skill simply couldn't bypass the incredibly complex, acoustic and mechanical defenses of the Worthington 1000 safes just yet.
And Arthur absolutely didn't want to foolishly use brute force, like a heavy thermal cutting torch, to cut or break them open, knowing perfectly well it would permanently trigger the internal glass relockers and turn the vaults into useless blocks of solid metal.
Consequently, he could only tighten his tactical belt for the immediate moment and actively look for other highly lucrative ways to make quick survival money on the streets.
He absolutely hadn't coveted the heavy bank card securely holding three hundred thousand dollars in Mia's trembling hand before, entirely because Mia was already undeniably his woman.
Arthur's cold, calculating mind might seamlessly manipulate violent street gangs and ruthless international thieves, but he absolutely couldn't bring himself to ruthlessly cheat his own fiercely loyal woman out of her hard-earned life savings.
As for Dom, however, Arthur possessed absolutely no such moral qualms.
The massive shipment of highly expensive goods currently in Dom's desperate hands were all violently stolen from massive tech giants operating out of Silicon Valley.
If Arthur hadn't aggressively intervened and tipped them off to the federal heat, Dom and his reckless crew absolutely wouldn't have been able to safely finish selling this massive batch on the black market before the FBI violently kicked down their doors and seized everything.
In the bitter end, if the feds had confiscated the shipment, who exactly knows which corrupt bureaucratic department would have ultimately benefited from the seized millions.
Now, Dom was actively, desperately asking him to help physically transport this massive batch of hot goods out of the federal crosshairs.
Arthur possessed his supernatural, invisible private space; although a standard industrial shipping container was undeniably massive and heavy, his supernaturally expanding private space should absolutely still be able to flawlessly fit its massive cubic dimensions.
Even if there were already many heavy vehicles, supplies, and two multi-ton safes stacked inside the void, and he couldn't immediately free up the necessary spatial volume temporarily.
Arthur could easily spend some dedicated time in the very near future aggressively focusing on leveling up a few of his complex skills.
Once those specific skill levels inevitably increased again, the absolute size and available volume of his invisible private space would naturally continue to grow significantly.
This specific kind of underworld business ,which required absolutely zero upfront capital, wasn't physically dangerous for a man with his terrifying attributes, and brought in massive amounts of cold cash incredibly quickly ,was the exact kind of flawless operation Arthur wanted.
He genuinely wished for it to happen much more often on these chaotic streets, not to mention a single, successful transport reward was a staggering six hundred thousand US dollars, which was more than enough liquid capital for him to operate smoothly for a very long while.
Seeing Arthur confidently agree without a single moment of hesitation, Dom's stoic face broke, and his genuine smile widened significantly.
He absolutely didn't mind giving this highly capable young man a very generous, massive financial reward for the massive risk.
Being actively, heavily targeted by the federal FBI right now made Dom completely, violently realize the lethal danger his tight-knit family was currently in.
He was already fully, tactically prepared to completely leave the sprawling city of Los Angeles for a while to let the blinding federal heat die down.
Dom even had quiet, desperate plans to completely cross the southern border and leave the United States altogether in his heavy heart.
In the chaotic, adrenaline-fueled past, he had arrogantly spent entirely too much of his massive, ill-gotten gains on aggressively modifying his high-performance cars, throwing lavish neighborhood parties, and buying top-tier racing parts.
As a direct, disastrous result, when massive federal trouble finally hit the asphalt, Dom suddenly found he didn't actually have much liquid cash left in his pockets to fund a clean, untraceable escape.
Exactly because of this grim financial reality, he was fully prepared to risk letting Arthur completely handle the transport of the goods, desperately needing to successfully sell the massive batch they had stolen before but absolutely hadn't been able to move through their compromised channels.
As Dom had openly said himself, he knew perfectly well that even though he was temporarily walking the streets out on expensive bail.
He must undeniably be a primary, high-value target of heavy FBI surveillance teams right this very second.
Although Arthur might also naturally fall under some peripheral FBI surveillance simply because he had been the one to aggressively bail them out.
Compared directly to the massive, suffocating federal heat on Dom and the rest of his known crew, the surveillance and tactical pressure placed on Arthur would undoubtedly be much, much smaller.
After witnessing these few chaotic, highly dangerous events, Dom absolutely no longer doubted the cold intelligence, lethal ability, and flawless tactical methods of the calm young man standing right in front of him.
He firmly, deeply believed in Arthur's terrifying cleverness.
Even if Arthur miraculously couldn't deliver the massive shipment of goods safely, at the very least, if he were violently discovered by the authorities on the highway, successfully escaping into the shadows on his own should be absolutely no problem for someone with his lethal skills.
At that critical time, exactly as long as the kid was clever enough to wipe his tracks, even in the absolute worst-case scenario, the violent fallout shouldn't legally involve Dom or his heavily monitored family.
At most, absolutely everything from this specific, high-stakes robbery would just completely go down the drain.
After successfully reaching a solid, preliminary agreement on the cracked sidewalk, Dom wasn't in an immediate, desperate hurry to tell Arthur the exact, highly classified location of the industrial container holding the stolen electronics.
He absolutely still needed some crucial time for preparation, securely contacting the wealthy black-market buyer, and aggressively negotiating any possible logistical issues regarding the drop-off point.
Arthur, naturally, was even less in a hurry to rush the high-stakes operation.
Although his private space was highly likely large enough to seamlessly hold a massive shipping container right now, entirely because there were already many heavy, highly valuable things securely stacked inside it.
Arthur, who absolutely didn't want to permanently take any of his hidden assets out of the void to make room, had to spend some dedicated, quiet time expanding the private space by aggressively upgrading some of his skills along the way.
Doing so would ensure that his baseline physical attributes could also flawlessly receive some more massive, supernatural improvements before the drop.
However, after successfully reaching a highly lucrative cooperation, it was undeniably clear that both imposing men were in an incredibly good, relieved mood.
Soon, the two of them turned around and walked smoothly back along the exact way they came, chatting in low, relaxed voices and occasionally laughing under the sweltering California sun.
What Arthur absolutely didn't know was that at this exact, critical moment, in a completely different, highly upscale corner of Los Angeles.
Directly because of Arthur's sudden, flawless, and violent intervention regarding the two massive safes, Steve had completely lost the absolute vast majority of his ill-gotten net worth.
This ruthless traitor, who was now suddenly teetering on the absolute, terrifying verge of total financial bankruptcy, had completely fallen into a blinding, murderous frenzy.
Steve, purely because of some highly misleading, circumstantial clues he had violently found after Arthur's flawless, lightning-fast actions on the sheer cliff, had aggressively stumbled into falsely treating Charlie Croker and his surviving crew as the absolute, undisputed masterminds behind the impossible theft of his two multi-ton safes.
Because of this blinding, paranoid rage, he violently mobilized absolutely all his heavily armed, underworld connections to ruthlessly investigate Charlie and the others.
And Stella Bridger, a stunningly beautiful, highly sought-after lock-picking expert operating in downtown Los Angeles, was the absolute first target to be violently found and aggressively kidnapped off the morning streets by the crazed, desperate Steve.
The massive, highly lethal chain reaction set off by Arthur, the silent, calculating butterfly, had officially begun to tear the city apart.
Meanwhile, far across the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles, at a sun-baked, asphalt basketball court.
Handsome Rob stood quietly holding a heavy basketball, his sharp eyes intensely watching the deeply distracted Charlie Croker, who was constantly, nervously fiddling with his silent cell phone nearby.