American variety show: Sniper Elite

Chapter 115 The First Step of the Operation (Third Update)

Beta opened the encrypted file he had just received on his computer. The underground intelligence market was all-encompassing. Even for ordinary engineering data like the renovation of the 87th-floor observation deck of the Freedom Tower, three detailed documents arrived in less than two hours after he posted the bounty.

Two documents bearing the "Alpha Construction" watermark clearly originated from within the contractor's organization and contained construction drawings and schedules; another document bearing the name of the Liberty Tower property management company detailed the access permissions for construction personnel.

Beta quickly compared the three documents in front of him, and a complete project schedule rapidly took shape in his mind.

The concrete pouring was completed 72 hours later, and the most crucial glass curtain wall installation project coincided perfectly with his carefully planned operation, both scheduled for the morning of three days later.

Beta frowned.

The entire construction and renovation project was originally scheduled for 30 days, but now only 12 days remain. Adding to the challenge, the installation of the glass on the observation deck and the public address in Central Park will both take place simultaneously in three days.

This timing conflict meant that when he prepared to snipe from the 87th floor of the Liberty Tower, he would either run into a construction crew at work or be faced with tempered glass that had already been installed, either way completely blocking his firing window.

Construction progress must not be synchronized with the action plan, and there are few options available to halt the entire project.

He ruled out the option of creating a safety incident.

In the event of an accident, the 87th floor of the Liberty Tower will be flooded with investigators, the Liberty Tower property team, and senior executives from the construction company, making the site even more crowded than during construction.

Disrupting the glass supply will not help.

The construction schedule shows that even if Beta drives to Minsunada now and sabotages the glass that the glass factory is preparing to deliver, preventing the glass from arriving on time, the renovation team will still proceed with the wall painting as planned, and the workers will still be present at the sniper location.

His focus eventually fell on the core element of the construction process—people.

There is only one way to completely disrupt the construction schedule without attracting unnecessary attention: kill both the construction company owner and the site manager.

If these two men were to die, the entire project would immediately descend into chaos. Even if someone within the company tried to keep things running, the deaths of both the top management and the site manager, along with the police investigation, would be enough to bring all construction to a halt. At that point, the police would be busy investigating the "murder," while the construction site would be emptied of all personnel, leaving Beta with a perfect, undisturbed sniping window.

Beta closed the file and told the New York police to investigate the two bodies. All he needed was an empty 87th floor and a chance to pull the trigger.

Beta leaned back in his chair, his fingertips tapping lightly on the table, the plan he had just finalized taking shape clearly in his mind.

A familiar sound of footsteps approached from behind; it was Katalia.

A cup of iced coffee was gently placed on the table, its color noticeably paler than before. With her movement, a faint scent of orange wafted over.

“Here’s some advice,” Beta said without turning around. “Don’t use scented shampoo. No matter how perfect your disguise is, it can’t cover up your smell.”

Katalia gave a soft hum and sat down on the small sofa in the study, holding another cup of coffee.

"I thought you'd say thank you first." She took a sip of her coffee, a mocking smile playing on her lips. "What a complete jerk."

Beta turned his head and his gaze fell on her.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, casting dappled patterns on her hair, while the scent of oranges stubbornly lingered in the air. He picked up his coffee cup, the ice cubes gently clinking against the side.

Katalia leaned lazily against the sofa, her oversized off-shoulder T-shirt hanging loosely, the hem barely covering her upper thighs, revealing her long and shapely legs.

She crossed her legs, the red slippers hanging from her toes swaying gently, tracing casual arcs in the air.

Beta tilted his head back and downed his iced coffee in one gulp, the bottom of the glass making a crisp sound as it hit the table.

“I need some of your camouflage materials,” he said as he stood up, his gaze sweeping towards the bathroom. “I have to go out for a bit.” Katalia casually nodded towards the bathroom with her chin, her fingertips lightly tracing the rim of a glass. “Whatever.”

Pushing open the frosted glass door of the bathroom, Beta went straight to the locker.

The moment the cabinet door opened, a dazzling array of professional camouflage products appeared. Cosmetics were arranged by color scheme, and there were boxes of camouflage gel.

Beta browsed among the various bottles and jars.

Beta's slightly teasing voice came from the bathroom: "You're planning to get fake breasts? No wonder the size sometimes seems inconsistent, sometimes big and sometimes small."

"Bang!" Katalia slammed her coffee cup on the table, rushed into the bathroom, and snatched the silicone breast pads from the cabinet.

"Use it or get out," she said through gritted teeth. "But don't touch my things, understand?"

Beta immediately raised his hands in surrender: "It jumped out by itself as soon as I opened the cabinet door."

Katalia glared at him fiercely, then casually stuffed the breast pads into the innermost drawer: "I'm warning you, don't touch the new lipstick, but you can touch anything else."

Beta rolled her eyes: "I'm pretending to be a man the whole time, why would I need lipstick?"

Beta turned and turned on the tap, the icy water washing over his face. As he looked up to wipe the water from his face, he saw through the mirror that Katalia was still leaning against the doorframe, her gaze fixed intently on him.

"What?" Beta grabbed a towel to wipe his face. "Trying to steal my skills?"

Katalia crossed her arms: "I want to see how the legendary 'β' works, how it completely transforms into someone else."

“It’s pretty much the same tricks you use,” Beta replied casually.

He picked up the hairspray can and combed all his originally fluffy hair straight down, making it lie flat against his scalp. While waiting for the hairspray to harden, Beta pulled out an ID card with a picture of a strange man on it from his bag and used Katalia's hair clip to secure it to the edge of the frame as a reference.

Uncovering the sealed box of the disguise gel, Beta scooped out the two types of gel, A and B. He casually picked up Katalia's eyebrow pencil to use as a stirring stick, and in just a few seconds, the originally liquid mixture solidified into a gel-like substance indistinguishable from real skin.

Beta rolled the gel into a cylinder in his palm and then laid it flat on the clean sink. His gaze swept around, and he picked up Katalia's makeup remover glass bottle, its shape a perfect rolling pin.

As the glass bottle rolls, the gel gradually spreads into a thin mask base, gleaming with a realistic skin glow under the bathroom lights.

Beta repeatedly compared her ID photo with her reflection in the mirror.

He opened the small filler kit, took out several flesh-colored soft gel pieces, and unscrewed the cap of a bottle of clear adhesive. Using a fine-tipped brush, he applied a small amount of glue to several spots below his cheekbones, then attached the fillers one by one, kneading and adjusting their shape and thickness with his fingers.

As the last piece of filler was in place on either side of her nose, Beta met Katalia's focused gaze through the mirror: "What?"

Katalia crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe: "Is this the legendary 'skeletal reconstruction'?" Her gaze swept over Beta's noticeably wider jawline.

Beta lightly touched the filler that was not yet fully set with her fingertips, and added a little more adhesive: "I like to start reconstructing from the skeletal structure. After all, to completely become another person, makeup alone is not enough."

“Indeed professional.” Katalia nodded. “My disguise can only make me 'look' like someone, but you…”

She took a half step closer and carefully examined the increasingly unfamiliar features in the mirror: "It's like sculpting a new face."

(End of this chapter)