"Beep, beep, beep, beep!"
Listening to the busy tone from the other end of the phone, Charlie's expression had already turned extremely unsightly.
He hurriedly pressed the redial button!
Unfortunately, a prompt soon came from the other end.
It clearly informed Charlie that the phone had been turned off.
Playboy Rob was standing right next to Charlie.
He also realized something was wrong and quickly asked, "Charlie, was Slater taken by Steve?"
Although Rob was a playboy, he was also meticulous and very capable.
He was one of the best drivers in California, with top-tier skills in Driving both cars and motorcycles.
Even with yachts, speedboats, helicopters, and so on, Rob was adept at operating them all.
He could even handle women with ease; he was a real veteran in every sense of the word.
Therefore, even though Charlie had only mentioned Steve's name once just now,
Rob had already connected the dots to what might have happened.
"Hmm?"
Charlie's hand, which was holding the phone, trembled slightly.
This was the first time in all these years that he had encountered such a major setback before an operation had even begun.
No, it would be more appropriate to describe it as a major failure.
Charlie and his team had been investigating Steve for some time now.
Their plans against him were also progressing steadily.
But Charlie never expected that just as they were preparing for a tentative infiltration of Steve's villa...
Slater was suspected to have been captured by Steve!
"How could Steve know that Slater is Old John's daughter?"
"He shouldn't have even seen Slater, right?"
"Also, how did he know we were going to make a move on his gold?"
"Wait, I remember Steve saying just now that we stole his gold the day before yesterday?"
"Could there be another group of people who also had their eyes on Steve's gold before us?"
"And they stole his gold ahead of our planned operation?"
For a moment, countless stray thoughts surged in Charlie's mind.
He fell into a state of confusion!
Standing to the side, Rob waited for a long time without receiving a detailed answer from Charlie.
He frowned, then reached out and placed a hand on Charlie's shoulder, giving him a shake.
"Hey!"
"Hey, are you okay?"
After being shaken a few times by Rob, Charlie finally snapped out of his panic and contemplation.
He looked at Rob, who was watching him with concern and worry, and a look that was more painful than crying immediately appeared on his face.
"I'm fine, Rob."
Charlie replied with a bitter face, "Our plan has been exposed."
"Slater has likely been taken by Steve. He wants us to bring the stolen gold to trade for her."
Rob was stunned. "Stolen gold?"
Charlie nodded. "From what Steve said, his villa was robbed the night before yesterday."
"Although I can't be sure if it's true yet, I think there's a high probability it is."
Rob frowned. "Why?"
Charlie: "I mentioned it before, right? The reason I was able to find out Steve was hiding in Los Angeles was because I received some information."
Rob nodded. Charlie was an international thief and the leader of their international theft team.
In the past, Charlie had always been responsible for intelligence gathering.
He was the one who personally contacted everyone and eventually brought them together to form a highly efficient and powerful theft team.
So, when Rob heard Charlie mention it before,
That he had received word that Steve was hiding in Los Angeles,
Rob believed him without a shred of doubt.
Charlie sighed before continuing, "I investigated through my underworld connections in Los Angeles and found out that someone was selling gold bars stamped with parisian dancer. That's why I suspected Steve might be hiding in Los Angeles."
"According to my investigation, Steve has been selling them in small batches ever since he returned to Los Angeles."
"Although I can't be sure exactly how many gold bars that guy has sold,"
"A conservative estimate would be at least several million us dollars' worth."
"They were all sold to some black market merchants here in Los Angeles."
"So I suspect that besides us, someone else must have targeted him."
Charlie obviously didn't know that a transmigrator had known about their operation in advance and had used the powerful ability of a 'cheat' to steal the gold from Steve's hands ahead of time.
Therefore, he didn't suspect Hunter, with whom he had collaborated twice but hadn't communicated much.
Instead, he suspected that Steve had been too careless when selling those gold bars on the black market, and as a result, he had been targeted.
Rob listened intently and believed Charlie's analysis.
He rubbed his head irritably and then asked, "So what do we do now?"
"Where are we going to find that gold for Steve?"
Charlie fell silent!
He needed some time to think about how to rescue Slater and, along the way, find out where that batch of gold was now.
Seeing this, Rob didn't disturb him.
After thinking in silence for a while, Charlie soon had a plan.
He looked up at Rob again and asked, "Do you still have the energy to drive?"
Rob smiled. He knew the Charlie he was familiar with was back... "Don't worry, unless you find me ten 'babes' tonight."
Charlie also smiled, though it was a bit forced.
He patted Rob on the shoulder. "We'll split up. You go contact the others."
"And while you're at it, prepare a ton of 'gold bars' that look real enough to pass."
"I'm going to find Lyle now and have him help pull all the surveillance footage from near Steve's villa for the past few days."
"We need to find the person behind the scenes who might have stolen that gold!"
Rob nodded, not saying anything more.
"Leave it to me."
Then, without even changing out of his basketball uniform, he left straight away.
Watching his departing figure, the smile on Charlie's face finally couldn't be maintained any longer.
He sighed deeply and looked up at the sky where the starlight was faintly visible.
"Who could it be?"
After a moment of silence, Charlie didn't bother with the basketball that had rolled off to who knows where.
He didn't go to change his clothes either; still wearing his basketball uniform, he walked toward the parking area.
Steve hadn't left them much time, and considering that guy was a madman with blood on his hands,
Charlie was also worried about Slater's safety. Therefore, he needed to figure everything out as quickly as possible and then find a way to get Slater back.
This night, for Charlie and the others,
Was destined to be a sleepless night..
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