American variety show: Sniper Elite

Chapter 52 Plan in progress
Michael gently placed the refrigerated Perrier in front of Beta, bowing slightly and saying, "Please wait a moment, I'll go get the documents."

He then closed the frosted glass door to the meeting room, the lock clicking shut.

Beta watched Michael leave the meeting room, his gaze sweeping across the space as his mind raced. The security company's layout, occupying the top three floors, was clearly meticulously designed. The floor he was currently on was merely a buffer zone for client reception and employee rest; the true core defenses must lie on the two floors above.

He gazed at the darkening sky outside the window.

As a top-tier security company in the industry, their headquarters defense system is undoubtedly impenetrable. This is the domain of professionals, not a place for ordinary intruders. To breach such an impenetrable defense and reach the rooftop is tantamount to dancing on a knife's edge. The risk is too high, and it's simply not suitable.

But there was another option: to complete his order in this relatively less secure area of ​​the floor. He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. From this excellent vantage point, the outline of Charles de Gaulle Airport's runway was clearly visible four kilometers away, and upon closer inspection, the flashing runway lights could be seen.

Beta observed the floor-to-ceiling window in front of him.

The most common double-pane tempered glass uses a common embedded fixing method. By simply using professional tools to cut open the sealant around the edges and using a strong suction cup, the entire piece of glass can be removed completely.

Beta took out his phone and opened the compass to confirm his current location. He then pulled up the airport map stored on his phone, zooming in on the details with a swipe of his finger, comparing the screen and the actual view. Soon, he pinpointed the location of runway 3.

From this floor-to-ceiling window, you can indeed see the VIP terminal and the Runway 3 area.

He held his phone to his ear, pretending to make a call. With this natural movement, he aimed the phone's camera at the distant airport facilities. He lightly pressed a button and snapped a dozen photos in quick succession.

Just then, the sound of Michael pushing open the door came from inside.

Beta said in a deep voice into his phone, "Get this done as soon as possible."

He calmly ended the "call" and put the phone back in his pocket.
-

Beta sat at the table in the safe house, staring intently at the computer screen.

He zoomed in on the photos taken by the phone one by one. The telephoto capabilities of this specially made phone far surpassed those of ordinary models on the market, clearly recording the situation from the floor-to-ceiling windows to the VIP terminal.

He put down the mouse, gestured with his hands as if aiming a gun, and squinted to simulate the firing angle. The height difference was slight, but setting up the gun on the table in the meeting room would make up for it.

The phone on the table was playing a recording, and Michael's voice came from the speaker: "We provide AAA-level security services. These are security cases I've been involved in before, but due to client privacy, I can't disclose more details."

Beta quietly repeated the recording, "We provide..."

He pressed the replay button and imitated again: "We offer..."

Playing it again, adjusting the tone again: "We provide..."

After practicing repeatedly, he picked up his phone, pressed the record button, and lowered his voice to imitate Michael's tone: "We provide AAA-level security services; this is a security case I've been involved in before."

He then imported the original recording and his own imitation recording into his computer, opened the audio processing software, and compared the two tracks side by side. On the screen, the sound waves were broken down into undulating curves, displaying the subtle differences between high and low notes, and between peaks and valleys of sound, as precisely as an electrocardiogram.

Beta clicked the play button, and the two recordings played simultaneously on the computer.

On the screen, the sound wave curve showed slight misalignment in some areas. He extracted the discrepancies and played them repeatedly for comparison.

Then, he lowered his voice and repeatedly imitated the tone of the recording: "7 * 24-hour protection service, 7 * 24-hour protection service."

After mastering the pronunciation details, he picked up his phone again, pressed the record button, and repeated in his adjusted voice: "We provide AAA-level security services; this is a security case I've participated in before."

After importing the recording into his computer, he compared the sound waves of the new recording with the original. This time, the two curves almost completely overlapped, and when played back together, the two recordings sounded as if they were spoken by the same person.

To ensure everything went smoothly, Beta deleted the phone recording and spoke directly into the computer microphone: "We provide AAA-level security services; these are security cases I've been involved in before."

Acoustic analysis shows that the curves still match perfectly.

He nodded in satisfaction, took a sip of warm water to moisten his throat, then got up and stretched to give his tense vocal cords a rest.

Beta stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, the heavy curtains shutting out everything from the outside world. However, the night wind seeping in through the cracks carried a putrid stench, filling the room.

He frowned and slammed the window shut, then turned on the room's fresh air filtration system. With a low hum, the air purifier began to run at full capacity.

This trip to Paris was truly unfortunate, coinciding with a city-wide strike by sanitation workers. The streets were piled high with garbage emitting a pungent odor, and if it weren't for the constant sounds of French conversations around me, Beta would have almost thought she was in India.

He stretched his stiff shoulders as he walked toward the dressing table.

On the table in front of the mirror lay an unfinished human face model, the rough clay barely outlining the facial features. Although the details were not yet perfect, it was already clear that it bore a seven or eight-tenths resemblance to Michael.

In order to accurately construct a facial model of Michael, Beta needs to continue to contact him, further observe and familiarize himself with his behavioral characteristics and physical details.

The first floor of AAA Security Company only has a customer reception area and an employee rest area. The security measures on this floor are no different from those of a company in an ordinary office building: a locked glass door, a few surveillance cameras, and no access card or password is required to enter or exit.

The security measures leading to the second level were completely different. Beta, with just his naked eye, discovered five layers of rigorous verification systems: password input, access card recognition, iris scanning, and fingerprint and voiceprint authentication. That heavy security door was virtually impossible to breach without military-grade demolition equipment.

The order was scheduled to be fulfilled at 8 p.m., which was exactly the time when all employees of AAA Security Company would be off work.

Beta only needed to impersonate Michael, carry a gun, and take advantage of the shift change to subdue the security personnel on duty, gaining access to the first floor where security was lax. Then, he would remove the glass window, set up his sniper rifle, aim at the target 4 kilometers away, pull the trigger, complete the mission, quickly clean up the scene, and leave.

The whole process was clean and efficient, leaving no trace.

(End of this chapter)