"Sorry, sir."
"Our boss is out on business right now."
"And we're not hiring."
Inside Brief Locksmith Company, Hunter had barely stated his purpose when the receptionist shot him down.
He hadn't even caught a glimpse of Slate Brief.
"Fine."
Seeing the woman's hand already resting on the desk phone, ready to dial 911 at any second, Hunter smiled, turned, and left.
In a country rife with racial discrimination, America has always put whites on top.
Whether this parallel world would ever see a "Black Lives Matter" movement, Hunter didn't know.
But one thing was certain: in the U.S., whites stood above Latino mestizos, who stood above blacks, who stood above Indian-Americans, who stood above other asians.
asians sat at the very bottom of America's contempt ladder.
In the blink of an eye Hunter had been in this parallel world for nearly two months.
Even though he spent most of his time inside Chinatown, he still ran into plenty of overt and covert discrimination.
But unlike those banana-immigrants, Hunter had never fooled himself into becoming a mental American.
So whenever he met with such slights, he reminded himself he was a citizen of Blue.
Thinking of it as "being targeted while abroad" instantly put his mind at ease.
That made it even easier to fleece the Yankees—he felt zero guilt.
After leaving Brief Locksmith Company he got back into his car, started the engine, and drove toward Lyle.
Hunter knew Steve was not the type to give up easily.
He still hadn't opened the two safes, so he couldn't be sure the gold bricks were inside.
But just the safes themselves—top-of-the-line "worthington 1000" private vaults made by the famous American security firm Worthington—were worth over three hundred thousand us dollars each.
That was precisely why he hadn't forced them open.
Safes that expensive already guaranteed him a decent haul.
Besides, he couldn't imagine Steve storing something trivial inside two such costly vaults.
The remaining near-ton of gold bricks had to be in there.
Steve had just lost tens of millions of US dollars—of course the man would go crazy.
While at Brief Locksmith Company Hunter had slipped in a few subtle questions.
He could tell the receptionist could no longer reach Slate Brief.
And Slater hadn't shown up at the company for more than a day.
Hunter had tailed Slater for a while, so he knew her well.
The gorgeous lock-picking expert Slater was an outright workaholic.
Even when she and Charlie's crew spent days casing Steve's villa,
Slater still insisted on dropping by the company every single day.
Now that she had suddenly skipped a day, Hunter suspected something had happened to her.
'Was Slater kidnapped by Steve?'
In the original plot of The Italian Job, Slater once disguised herself as a telecom tech to infiltrate Steve's villa.
Back then, her stunning looks,
coupled with the way she wandered the mansion and pinpointed the location of Steve's safe,
had aroused his suspicion; after deliberately asking her out on a date, he used clever questions to pry out her identity.
Obviously, Steve hadn't known Slater at the start of the original story,
but he clearly knew that the master lock-picker he'd murdered, John Brief, had a daughter.
Hunter had previously asked Dominic to dig around,
and Dominic had actually tracked down the Brief Locksmith Company for him.
Therefore, Hunter had no doubt Steve could find Slater too.
'Looks like my theft of Steve's gold bricks has triggered a butterfly effect.'
Slater's apparent abduction by Steve was definitely not in the original plot.
Hunter quickly realized it must be his meddling in The Italian Job that had caused this ripple.
Slater couldn't be allowed to die now!
At the very least, not before Hunter learned her lock-picking skills.
He wasn't thinking with his hormones; whether he could win Slater over didn't matter,
but her lock-picking technique was unquestionably top-tier.
Even a worthington 1000—the most advanced private safe on the market, costing over three hundred thousand USD—
she could open without a scratch in just a few minutes.
A skill like that was exactly what Hunter needed.
So he decided to do some thorough digging.
If Slater really had been snatched by Steve, Hunter would have to find a way to rescue her.
At the very least, he had to ensure Charlie's crew could get her back alive and that she wouldn't die at Steve's hands.
He drove straight to Lyle's place; Hunter had sought his advice on computer tech more than once,
so he'd become friends with the shut-in.
He got out of the car and rang the apartment bell for ages—no answer.
Hunter already had a hunch, so he dialed Lyle's cell.
The phone rang a few times, then was hung up.
Moments later, an email landed in Hunter's inbox.
He checked it on his phone—sure enough, from Lyle:
'I'm tied up right now, will contact you later.'
'As expected!'
Hunter's suspicion was basically confirmed.
He thought for a moment, then composed a reply:
'All right, handle your business. I wanted to pick your brain about computers, but since you're busy I'll drop by in a few days.'
Then he started the car again. After a moment's thought, Hunter headed straight for Dominic's place.
Steve was a ruthless man with a squad of heavily armed thugs.
The night Hunter had sneaked into the villa, the guy had sprayed full-auto AK fire at him.
In the gun-friendly US, plenty of homes had weapons,
but most were neutered models you could buy at a gun mart.
For Steve to have the military-grade assault rifle he'd used that night,
no matter how he'd got it,
proved the man was no pushover.
Hunter had to prepare thoroughly before he dared take him on.
His life was too valuable; he still had a bright future to enjoy.
The car soon pulled up again at Dominic's house. Hunter drove straight into the back garage, then hit the horn.
The blare quickly brought someone out.
Dominic emerged from the side door and spotted the ford mustang he'd given Hunter at once.
'Why are you back?'
he asked in surprise. When Hunter had left that morning, Dominic had gotten the hint he'd need a few days to prepare.
'Ran into a bit of trouble.'
Hunter stepped out, moved closer, and said, 'I need some hardware for self-defense.'
Dominic frowned and studied Hunter carefully,
then answered quietly, 'Follow me.'
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