American variety show: Sniper Elite

Chapter 131 The Witness (Third Update, 6 words)

Katalia frowned: "Is there any way to get the case reopened?"

Beta slowly spun around in his swivel chair twice: "What if...the key witness suddenly disappears?"

"Not again? Why do you always think of killing to solve problems?" Kataria looked at him incredulously. "Can't you think of any other way?"

Beta shrugged. "Come on, Katarina, when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. The most direct way to solve problems is often within my area of ​​expertise. It's faster to deal with the people who create problems than to solve them."

Beta stood up, his tone turning serious: "Listen, Katalia, go abroad and lay low for a while. The FBI is serious this time. Given your current situation, with your injuries, you're practically crippled. Your revenge plan simply can't proceed. If you stay in the US, they'll find you sooner or later."

“Impossible.” Katalia refused firmly: “I’m not going anywhere unless I kill that beast with my own hands.”

Beta stared at her: "Do you know what being caught by the FBI means?"

Katalia stepped forward, almost touching Beta's face: "Of course I know. But I will not leave until I have personally dealt with that bastard. That was my parents' life, and I cannot let go of this grudge."

The two locked eyes for a long ten seconds.

Beta took a deep breath: "Alright, considering how you've always helped me, your current inconvenience, my concern for you, and our 23-year friendship."

Katalia raised an eyebrow slightly: "Oh?"

“I’ll help you get this done,” Beta said firmly. “But on one condition: after it’s over, get out of here and head to Italy to avoid the FBI. Do you agree or not?”

Katalia was clearly stunned: "You're going to help me?"

Beta approached Katalia step by step, the distance between them so close that she held her breath. Katalia instinctively stepped back until her back hit the cold wall, leaving her with nowhere to retreat.

"You—" Her voice trembled almost imperceptibly as she looked at Beta, who was so close to her, his warm breath brushing against her cheek.

Beta's face slowly approached, stopping just centimeters from Katalia. He raised his right hand, a faint smile playing on his lips, his arm brushing against her burning earlobe as he reached for the bookshelf behind her.

With a soft "snap," he pulled out a hardcover book.

Beta deliberately waved the book slowly in front of her: "What are you thinking about, hmm?" Before she finished speaking, the spine of the book gently tapped her forehead.

"You!" Katalia shoved him away forcefully. "You're insane!"

Beta grinned mischievously. "I'm not helping you for any weird reason, I just want to help you, just like you help me when I need it."

Beta opened the book and pulled out a plain black business card from the inner pocket—it was completely blank except for a dark red website address.

He walked to the computer, quickly typed in the string of characters, and pressed Enter.

"This is..." Katalia composed herself and leaned closer to the screen.

“The top hacker in North America.” Just as Beta finished speaking, Katalia’s phone vibrated in her pocket.

Katalia took out her phone; the screen displayed a string of garbled numbers. She looked at Beta with a puzzled expression.

“If I ever see you using a regular phone again,” Beta said, taking the phone. “I’ll kick you all the way to the far side of the moon!” Beta pressed the answer button, and a high-pitched male voice with electronic static rang out: “I can only locate the phone closest to your IP address. But… this shouldn’t be yours, right? Your shopping history is all women’s clothing, and your browsing history is all beauty blogs. Your usage habits are too feminine. Is it convenient to talk now?”

Beta changed her tone: "Of course, it's just a makeshift tool I picked up by the roadside."

"Ha!" The other party chuckled. "I'm not interested in that. It seems you're still using my specially encrypted phone? I can't track your signal at all; I can only contact you by locating this phone."

“I didn’t expect you to not have left a backdoor in your program,” Beta said.

The sound of typing came through the receiver: "Those underhanded methods? If I need to, I can always crack my own encryption program and find the target I'm looking for."

The person on the other end of the phone continued in his signature tone, "So, what do you want with North America's number one hacker? Looking for someone? Checking accounts? Or tracking a vehicle?"

Beta opened Don Luis's file: "Find me a Don Luis, a former Mexican drug lord. Find out the cases related to him, especially those that require him to testify in court, and the witness information."

"Ha! Looks like you're planning to target Don Louis? Let me see." A rapid series of keystrokes came from the phone.

"Found him! Don Lewis, former Sinaloa Group executive, now under WITSEC protection, hiding in his luxury estate in Monterey, California. Interesting. This estate is equipped with underground fortifications. No wonder you wanted to lure him to court; if he's hiding in the underground bunker, unless you use aerial bombs, you can't hurt him at all."

"The efficiency is still amazing." Beta exclaimed.

"Ha! I've got it. Here's a witness number one. If we can make this gentleman 'die unexpectedly,' the case will have to be reopened, and Don Louis, as witness number two, will have to testify in court again."

"Price?" Beta asked bluntly.

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone: "I was originally going to charge you 50,000, but I have a small suggestion. Would you like to hear it?"

“Speak,” Beta replied briefly.

"Here's the thing," the voice on the other end of the phone lowered, "I have three guys, all reliable veterans. They've recently come back into the game, and I was thinking, why not have them work with you on this job? We can split the profits; you take the lion's share, just to give them a taste of what's good for them."

Beta pondered for a moment: "I'll waive the 50,000 intelligence fee and give each of them 10,000."

"No, no, no!" the voice on the other end of the phone immediately retorted, "At least 30,000 per person!"

Beta grabbed a pen and paper: "Thirty thousand each?"

He sneered, "Are you crazy or do you think I'm a sucker? Three people is ninety thousand US dollars! Not nine hundred, but ninety thousand! Ten thousand per person at most, otherwise forget it. Do you think this is robbing the Federal Reserve's vault? Killing someone costs thirty thousand?"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone before the person finally relented: "Fifteen thousand per person, that's the lowest I can go."

Beta quickly calculated: "Deal. Where are the witnesses? Have them meet with me as soon as possible."

“Los Angeles, California.” The voice on the other end of the phone replied, “Give me your contact information and I’ll have them get in touch with you.”

Beta stared at the computer screen: "Contact me through a dark web platform."

"Understood." The person on the other end of the phone hung up abruptly.

(End of this chapter)