High above the city, the deafening roar of helicopter blades ripped through the air.
Hunter ignored the noise and the slight turbulence, his eyes locked onto the sprawling neon grid of Las Vegas below.
"Boss, we cannot go any lower!"
The pilot shouted over the roar of the engine.
Hunter had chartered a private sightseeing helicopter from a local aviation company. He paid a premium for exclusive use and explicitly ordered the pilot to fly as low as legally permitted over the downtown sector.
Holding a pair of high-powered binoculars, Hunter continuously scanned the streets and alleyways, burning the topography around the Charles Building into his memory.
"Bank left!"
Hunter pointed, directing the pilot toward another angle.
Because of the massive tip Hunter had handed over upfront, the pilot complied without complaint.
After an hour of aerial reconnaissance, Hunter had a perfect mental map of the Charles Building's surrounding terrain.
Thirty minutes later, he was standing on the rooftop of a commercial high-rise about seven hundred meters away from their target.
Standing on the edge of the roof, Hunter raised an infrared laser rangefinder, calculating the exact distance between his vantage point and the Charles Building.
Satisfied, he swapped the rangefinder for a heavy-duty spotting scope and began a meticulous visual sweep.
During the day, the tinted glass exterior of the Charles Building made it nearly impossible to see inside.
But once the sun went down and the interior lights turned on, it would be a completely different story.
Even now, by observing the few open windows and the structural anomalies on the exterior, Hunter was able to gather crucial intelligence.
"Floors fifteen through seventeen... definitely reinforced and renovated."
"That has to be Vladimir Zelvisky's stronghold."
As he continued to study the building, Hunter frowned.
The Charles Building was not particularly tall—only twenty-four stories.
However, repelling down from the roof to breach the penthouse would be a logistical nightmare.
Unless he was willing to expose the unnatural capabilities granted by his System, it was a risk he was not willing to take.
The rooftop he was currently standing on was the absolute best sniper nest within a two-kilometer radius.
But the architecture of the Charles Building was problematic. From this angle, Hunter only had a line of sight on two faces of the building.
His physical attributes were rapidly approaching five times that of a normal human. He was borderline superhuman.
But he was still fundamentally bound by physics. He did not possess actual superpowers like teleportation.
He could not magically blink to another rooftop to cover the blind spots on the other two sides of the building.
After memorizing the available sightlines, Hunter packed up his gear and returned to the hotel.
When he unlocked the door to the suite, he found Ms. Perkins already waiting for him.
She looked triumphant.
"You are back."
Perkins tapped a stack of large papers spread out on the table. Hunter walked over. It was the complete architectural blueprints for the Charles Building.
The fire escapes, the elevator shafts, and the structural layout of every floor were clearly detailed.
"Did you confirm which floors Vladimir Zelvisky bought and gutted?"
Hunter asked, studying the schematics.
"Fifteen through seventeen," Perkins replied, her eyes gleaming with lethal anticipation. She tapped the corresponding section on the blueprints.
"We execute the hit tonight."
Hunter frowned slightly, but he did not shut her down.
"Fine. I will run overwatch."
"I found a rooftop a few blocks away that gives me a clean angle."
"The problem is, I only have a visual on two sides of the Charles Building."
"To minimize the risk of you getting boxed in, I should probably breach with you."
"No need."
Perkins shook her head, instantly rejecting the offer.
"You stay on the roof and cover my exit. That is all I need."
Originally, she had called Hunter because she thought the contract was too heavily fortified for a solo run.
But now that she had the blueprints, her ego had taken over.
She was an elite Continental assassin. Earlier that afternoon, she had confirmed that Vladimir only traveled with a two-car motorcade.
By her calculations, the Russian mogul had no more than ten to twelve guards stationed in the penthouse at any given time.
With those numbers, and with Hunter providing sniper support from a distance, Perkins was confident she could wipe them out herself.
Hunter raised an eyebrow but did not press the issue.
"Your call."
He knew exactly how deadly Perkins was. And if things went sideways, the distance between his sniper nest and the Charles Building was only a few hundred meters. With his Agility, he could cross that distance and breach the building in under ten minutes to pull her out.
They ate an early dinner in silence, mentally preparing for the violence ahead.
Just past 7:00 PM, as the Las Vegas sky began to bleed into twilight, Hunter and Perkins left the hotel.
As for their weapons, they had both smuggled their gear out of the hotel earlier in the day.
Hunter had simply stored his arsenal in his [Inventory]. Where Perkins had stashed her hardware was none of his concern.
They parted ways outside the hotel lobby without a word. They activated their encrypted earpieces and headed in opposite directions.
Forty minutes later, Hunter reached the rooftop he had scouted that afternoon.
He effortlessly picked the lock on the roof access door, stepping out into the night air and locking it behind him.
With a thought, Hunter pulled his heavily modified McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle from his [Inventory].
He set the bipod on the concrete ledge, aiming the massive anti-materiel rifle directly at the Charles Building.
Leaning into the scope, Hunter began a systematic scan of floors fifteen through seventeen.
Unlike the afternoon, the target floors were now brilliantly illuminated against the dark sky.
Aside from a few darkened rooms, the two faces of the building Hunter could see were completely exposed.
Through the sixteen-power optic, Hunter could clearly make out the interior layout, the furniture, and the armed men patrolling the penthouse.
He tracked the movements of the guards as they walked between the three floors.
Satisfied with his overwatch position, Hunter tapped his earpiece.
"I am in position. Do you have eyes on the target?"
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