Around noon, Hunter was hiding carefully in the branches of a large tree.
His motorcycle was already stashed in his Inventory.
Thanks to his Inventory, he had been able to stalk Stella for days without being detected. With his amateur tracking skills, he would have been caught long ago otherwise.
He raised his new binoculars and pushed aside the leaves.
He focused on a vehicle parked about twenty meters away.
It was the Dodge Ram 3500 Van—the one he had modified himself.
There were at least two people inside. Maybe more.
But Hunter was certain of two: Charlie Croker and Stella Bridger.
They were observing a massive villa dozens of meters away.
That had to be Steve's fortress.
"Finally found it."
Steve's villa was located northwest of LA, about twenty kilometers from Hollywood.
It was an upscale residential area, forty to fifty kilometers from downtown.
Nestled against the mountains and overlooking the ocean, it was prime real estate. Top five in the greater LA area.
Most villas here started at several million dollars.
The inheritance tax was steep — nearly $70,000 — so he never planned to keep the old place.
He had never planned to pay that tax. He'd rather buy a new place when he got rich.
Charlie and Stella observed the villa for a while, then drove off.
Hunter didn't follow them. He stayed behind to study the target.
"I know where he lives now."
"Next step: How to get in."
"And how to get the gold out."
With his Inventory, getting the gold out was easy.
He didn't need Stella's lockpicking skills to crack the safe on-site. His Inventory was now the size of half a room (54 cubic meters).
He could just touch the safe, store the whole thing, and walk away. He could crack it open at his leisure later.
His only problem was infiltration.
Steve's villa was a fortress.
It sat halfway up the mountain, surrounded by dense vegetation, providing excellent cover—for defenders.
Armed guards patrolled the perimeter 24/7.
High walls topped with electrified razor wire encircled the property.
Two vicious American Bullies roamed the grounds.
Hunter didn't know if there were internal sensors or cameras.
"Paranoid bastard."
"He's expecting Charlie."
Steve had betrayed Charlie's crew over a year ago, killing John Bridger. But since he only saw John's body and the others fell into the icy lake, he likely suspected they survived.
Even after all this time, he was still waiting for their revenge.
Hunter climbed down from the tree after Charlie left and began to circle the property, looking for weaknesses.
Charlie had a team. They had Lyle, a top-tier hacker who could shut down LA's traffic grid, tap Steve's phone, and loop his security cameras. Getting in was easy for them. Their problem was moving a ton of gold while escaping Steve.
Hunter had the opposite problem.
Moving the gold was trivial. Getting in alone, without a hacker or backup, was the nightmare.
But luck was on his side.
After circling the mountain for hours, he found a path.
Steve's villa was surrounded by electrified walls on three sides.
But there was a gap of about ten meters on the side facing a sheer cliff.
The cliff dropped forty to fifty meters straight down.
Hunter went to the bottom of the cliff to inspect it.
It was nearly vertical. 90 degrees. Bare rock with only a few patches of weeds.
If he could climb this, he would emerge less than twenty meters from the villa itself.
The guard dogs and the main gate were over two hundred meters away on the other side.
Climbing from here would bypass the electric fence, the gate guards, and the dogs.
The only variables left were the internal guards and Steve himself.
"This is the safest route."
"The only problem is... how the hell do I climb a 50-meter vertical cliff?"
Hunter looked up at the daunting rock face.
He needed to figure this out.
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