Lester

Where

His house in Murrieta Heights. A light-green “Lester” marker shows on your radar only when you’re close, and his front door is open.

How it works

Press Y on him. Stay next to him to buy. He talks to anybody, officers included, but sells to civilians only, for cash in hand. His menu has three rants (His adventures, Conspiracies and The Epsilon Program; walk away and he stops). Each rant is three lines in a Lester notification, and the next one on a topic is never the one you just heard. Ask for a second while one is running and he says “I am talking. Listen.” and his wares, each price green if you have the cash and red if you don’t. He sells you one hacking device at a time: come back when it burns out (“You already have one”). Officers hear “I do not sell to people who wear their employer on their shirt”, and if you’re short he tells you what he wants for it. A full pocket or too much weight refuses a ware in words. The menu shows how many you own against how many you can carry.

What to buy

The hacking device is the cheap way in: every hack a step easier, until it burns out (it does, now and then). It goes straight into your weapon wheel. When it burns out it sparks, for everybody near to see. You can carry one.
The laptop is two steps and never breaks. You can carry one. If you carry both, only the laptop counts, so don’t carry the device as well.
USB drives only work in the laptop: buy them once you own one. Each covers one failed attempt and is then spent; you can carry 5.
Thermite does nothing yet: no job uses it. You can carry 5.

All four are contraband, so a police search takes them. See Banks and hacking for what each step does. Gear and skill don’t help the drill, the plasma cutter or a safe’s dial.

What Lester sells

Item	Price	What it does
Thermite	$2,500	A thermal charge, the kind a crew burns a lock out with.
USB Hacking Drive	$3,500	Works in a hacking laptop: a hack that goes wrong is covered once, no alarm and no lost attempt, and the drive is spent.
Hacking Device	$15,000	The real thing, in your weapon wheel. Every terminal and alarm panel hack a step easier, until it burns out: one hack in four.
Hacking Laptop	$100,000	A heist laptop with the right software: every terminal and alarm panel hack two steps easier, and it never burns out. A USB drive works in it.