Hearing this, Steve's face immediately became even more ferocious.
"Quick, play it!"
He looked at the disc his subordinate brought, which obviously contained surveillance footage copied from somewhere.
"Yes!"
The subordinate quickly handed the disc to a minor leader. The leader took it, walked to the TV, and after fiddling with the playback equipment next to it for a while,
the TV was turned on. Soon, several surveillance videos from different road sections appeared on the screen.
In those surveillance shots, there were brief glimpses captured by surveillance equipment near the villa.
There were also images captured by monitors placed nearby by the security company of the villa district.
Clearly, the security company responsible for guarding the villas in this area
felt very defensive after learning that a wealthy man's villa had been burglarized the night before last.
Therefore, they very tactfully and actively cooperated with the requests of Steve's subordinates, handing over a portion of the surveillance footage.
Steve watched intently, and his already ferocious face
soon became even more unsightly due to anger.
"Charlie Clock!"
Steve almost gritted his teeth as he roared out this name.
Although most of the surveillance footage played on the TV screen was not clear,
even if they were just outlines, Steve still recognized several of the figures.
Not to mention those people clearly didn't expect Steve to be able to get surveillance footage of areas dozens or even hundreds of meters away from his villa.
Because that was clearly beyond the boundaries of his villa.
So, in the footage played on the TV screen,
there were several segments that clearly captured a few figures.
Every one of them was no stranger to Steve.
Especially the man in the lead—wasn't he exactly the international thief Charlie Clock, whom Steve had always suspected might have planned and stolen those two heavy safes containing most of his wealth?
Along with it, many of the doubts in Steve's heart, at the moment he saw Charlie Clock,
all had answers!
"Charlie Clock, it really is you!"
Originally, Steve still had regarding the two heavy safes in his villa, which together with the gold bars inside had a total weight of at least four tons,
how they were stolen without leaving any traces and in such a short period of time, silently and mysteriously...
he had deep incomprehension and doubts!
However, after Steve saw Charlie Clock appearing in the surveillance footage,
all the doubts and incomprehension seemed to have answers in an instant.
Because the opponent was Charlie Clock, an international thief with a meticulous mind who liked to formulate thorough plans,
and who could even spend several months constantly refining and perfecting a plan for a single operation.
So!
If Charlie Clock had made a move, then all the impossibilities became possibilities.
Seeing the figure of an 'old friend' appear in the surveillance footage playing on the TV screen,
Steve grinned hideously, his eyes full of ruthlessness.
"You've really got something, Charlie!"
"I didn't expect that even though I already spared your lives, you still don't know what's good for you and delivered yourselves to my doorstep."
Steve was indeed a villain, and he never considered himself a good person.
Over a year ago, when he decided to hog the one ton of gold bars that Charlie's team had stolen from the Italian Mafia,
Steve killed Old John, because he was Charlie's old friend who was both a mentor and a father figure, as well as the true core and soul of the team.
Killing Old John could intimidate Charlie and the others, and it could also psychologically crush Charlie.
One must know that at that time, Steve actually had the opportunity to kill Charlie and his entire team.
However, for one thing, it was to hog the gold bars; once the gold was in hand, his bloodlust wasn't as heavy anymore.
Secondly, having spent several years with Charlie and the others, there was some degree of friendship.
Therefore, in the end, Steve did not Kill Them All.
Otherwise, at that time, he and his men were fully armed.
Charlie and the others had fallen into the lake along with their car, with no weapons on them to fight back, relying solely on those two small spare air cylinders in the car.
With several people taking turns holding their breath in the lake, how many minutes could they have lasted?
After the fact, Steve indeed regretted that he wasn't heartless enough back then to pull up the roots and eliminate the problem.
Over the past year or so, it was precisely to pay for his momentary soft-heartedness that he chose to live in low-profile seclusion.
He didn't expect to be found by his former old friends so quickly.
They had even taken away the batch of gold bars he had hogged back then, as well as most of the wealth he had accumulated over the years.
One must know that in those two safes, besides the remaining majority of the gold bars that Steve hadn't finished selling yet,
there were also a lot of cash, luxury watches, gemstones, and even bearer bonds and so on.
Stored in the two safes was almost all of Steve's wealth, except for some real estate and cars.
Without them, Steve instantly went from a multi-millionaire worth tens of millions of us dollars
to an unlucky guy who could face a bankruptcy crisis at any time!
After all, he had so many subordinates who had to be hired with money.
This expense alone amounted to at least several hundred thousand us dollars every year.
Real estate prices in the United States are relatively cheap, but property taxes are particularly high. In Los Angeles, the annual property tax is almost two percent of the house price.
Steve has three properties under his name. For this villa alone, the annual property tax is nearly one hundred thousand us dollars.
Annual routine maintenance, fire insurance, utilities, and so on, cost another hundred thousand or more.
In the United States, not just anyone can afford to live in a big house.
At this thought, Steve's veins bulged all over his body.
He suddenly looked at one of his subordinates and ordered: "Go, investigate for me."
"Within a day, I want to know where Charlie Clock is now."
"Yes!"
The subordinate took the order and left immediately.
Steve's eyes remained fixed on the television screen, staring at the figures of Charlie and the others.
At this moment, he felt he had found the mastermind behind the theft of his two safes.
The confusion in Steve's heart dissipated a bit, and his originally muddled head suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
"The worthington 1000 I purchased is not something just anyone can open."
"Who is this strange woman appearing in the car with Charlie?"
"Is she a new member of his team..."
"Wait, I remember Old John mentioned it before."
"He has a daughter who has the same excellent Lockpicking talent as him."
"Moreover, she didn't take a wrong turn like he did."
"Instead, she learned all the skills and then opened a locksmith company, serving the police, banks, and insurance companies."
"This woman looks young and seems to perfectly match the daughter Old John mentioned..."
"I remember Old John also said back then that his daughter also works in Los Angeles."
Countless thoughts quickly flashed through Steve's brain.
A smile soon appeared on his face.
Steve knew that he might soon be able to find Charlie.
And his two safes stolen by Charlie and his team...
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