"There should be surveillance here." Shiller stood up, looked around, and then said, "But it shouldn't be connected to the museum's monitoring room. Hayven has long treated this place as his personal safe house; he won't allow outsiders to spy here."
"The surveillance system here is connected to one of his safe houses, the one he values most. Perhaps he's watching us right now, along with that mural."
"You mean, he can see how Hesingnag was taken away?" Deathstroke pondered and said, "He'll definitely send people to pursue. That arms dealer from France is dumb and easy to control; he's one of the few chips we have. Should we look for traces around?"
"We can't indulge in such futile pursuits." Shiller said, "Following traces like this will still lead us by the nose. Breaking out of the situation has never been in it."
"Looks like you're going to employ some agent techniques." Deathstroke arched his brow, "Will I have the privilege of witnessing your brilliance?"
"Not brilliant at all." Shiller said, "Nothing about an agent is brilliant. We're going to Suez, find a ship."
They quickly got back into the car, but this journey was particularly silent. Apparently, this agent is not talkative by nature. Deathstroke took the opportunity to rest a bit — even though he's a cyborg, he still needs rest.
Very unfortunately, the Suez Canal has been halted. An armed force daring enough to control Cairo Airport would certainly not abandon an assault on the most crucial transportation chokepoint. In the past ten hours, there have been three rounds of firefights here, and almost all cargo ships are afraid to go.
Deathstroke put down the binoculars and said, "Over there, that ship should be theirs. But are you sure you want to board it? That could be very dangerous. Even if we could kill everyone on board, it would be hard to remain unharmed under missile bombardment."
"We're here to negotiate, not to kill."
"If you could stop loading bullets into your gun, I might believe a little." Deathstroke glanced at Shiller, who was loading bullets into his revolver.
"Military deterrence is necessary. At the same time, we need a little trick to get their attention."
"Like what?"
"Bang!!!!!!"
A few minutes later, they were taken aboard the ship. A big bearded man holding a gun frowned when he saw Deathstroke's uniform, clearly recognizing him. But soon, he focused on Shiller — did this guy just fire a missile with something??
"Hello." Shiller said, "Pleasure to meet you."
"It was you two causing trouble, wasn't it."
"Just wanted to get your attention."
"I was talking about Hurgada." Big Beard squinted his eyes and said, "You killed their leader, we were just about to negotiate."
"You can't be a peace advocate; otherwise, you wouldn't be in Suez." Shiller turned around, walked to a chair, and said, "Let's sit down and talk."
The opponent didn't refute. He sat on the opposite side of the table and then let others stand with guns behind them.
"I need you to do something for me, and you will surely benefit from it."
"Mind your tone, Yankee, we are not your subordinates."
"You still haven't understood what I'm saying." Shiller tapped the table with his handcuffed hand and said, "I'm not talking about what your organization will gain, but what you personally will."
Big Beard stared at him coldly. Shiller continued, "Hayven, the director of the Egyptian Museum, is trapped in his safe house and can't get out anytime soon. In the museum's underground storage room are artifacts he swapped over the years. Among them, some can truly be considered Egyptian national treasures. Do you not want them?"
Big Beard squinted his eyes, "Are you trying to trick me?"
"I'm not asking you to control the Egyptian Museum; I know that's impossible. After all, the other side has already gone mad, controlling the airport is an act of self-destruction. You just need to wait. What I want is for you to take the artifacts, and I get Hayven."
"Will he come out?"
"He definitely will. Those things are at least most of his fortune, he won't sit idly by as you take them."
"The Egyptian authorities won't allow it either." Big Beard said, "Breaking into the museum is no different from breaking into the airport; they'll treat us like terrorists. Besides, that guy is a local snake, he can find many people to deal with us."
"I'm not asking you to kill your way through." Shiller said, "I'll take you in, grab the items and leave, they won't have time to react. Of course, we need people to divert attention, there will be some sacrifices. But you should have quite a few people here who deserve to be sacrificed, don't you?"
Deathstroke gave Shiller a look, seemingly unable to fathom why he's so confident.
"You got that right." The Big Bearded man stood up and said, "I should thank you guys, for solving a big problem for me. If those guys managed to negotiate successfully in Hurgada, we'd be fooled again, driven out because of some people's weakness. Those who are overly skilled at communication should go meet the God of Death."
Deathstroke now understood. This Big Beard should be an active advocate of war, just like Shiller said; if he wasn't, he wouldn't be in Suez. You see, if the Red Sea is a den of chaos, then Suez is surely a hellish cauldron. Anything that happens in this region will be immediately felt here. The strategic importance is its allure; only the most resolute can fight to the end here.
The negotiation was sabotaged, which was good for the war hawks. But as long as those wavering people were alive, Big Beard couldn't feel at ease. He couldn't execute them directly, but he could find ways to send them to their deaths.
And if their deaths could exchange for many valuable artifacts, it was quite worthwhile. Because Big Beard could trade these items for more weapons and supporters. This is what Shiller said, not for the entire organization, but for yourself—not for Big Beard personally, but for their resolutely warlike faction.
Throughout the Arab World, there is an unchanging iron law that heretics are more detestable than the infidels. Countless disputes have arisen from this and have provided too many with opportunities to exploit these are key points they can make use of. Shiller also grasped this point.
Although Big Beard kept saying he hated those who were too adept at communication, communicating with him went smoothly, and the plan was quickly finalized.
"Wait here." Big Beard said, "I will soon arrange for my companion to meet you. One of you will take them back to Cairo, and the rest of us will join later."
Shiller nodded and looked at Deathstroke, asking, "Which one do you want to do?"
"Ground operation." Deathstroke replied, "I'm more suited to creating a commotion than sneaking around. I'll take them first."
"Deathstroke." Big Beard called out his codename, "I've heard great things about you."
Deathstroke took out his business card, handed it to him, and said, "If one day you really can't stand your brothers, call me, and I'll let Allah bless them."
Big Beard grinned, took the card, and said nothing more. They waited on the ship for a while before another group came on board.
They seemed quite hostile towards Deathstroke and Shiller, probably because Deathstroke sabotaged the negotiation, completely ruining their plan. However, Big Beard successfully persuaded them to sit down and talk.
This time, in Shiller's narration, their plan had changed. It wasn't about a secret maneuver using artifact heists to force the Egyptian authorities to the negotiation table—that was what those who wanted to negotiate desired.
Deathstroke watched Shiller speaking eloquently: first laying a trap to arouse the other party's curiosity; throwing out the real bait to force them to show greed; provoking their emotions to induce anger; then showing enough strength and control to force them to make concessions.
These people who were quite good at communication obviously weren't as good as Shiller. He wasn't the type of agent who only knew how to shoot. Deathstroke realized this more deeply than ever. It's the things beyond the muzzle that were his forte. In this sense, Wonder Woman indeed gave him a good gun—not shooting freely forced him to think of other ways.
After several rounds of confrontation, the negotiation was finally completed. Deathstroke stood up, organized his equipment, and said: "Let's go, I guarantee that by the time you arrive, Cairo will be in chaos."
Shiller watched him leave, without doubting his words. Deathstroke was undoubtedly very good at creating chaos. But this wasn't all he wanted.
"You have people in there, right?" Shiller looked back at Big Beard.
"That's right, what's up?"
"Keep an eye on that Mercenary, see who contacts him."
"You don't trust him?"
"Don't worry, it has nothing to do with our plan, just a personal suggestion, consider it a favor."
"I'll ask around for you." Big Beard said, "I can't say this in his face. But in fact, I'd like your card more."
"Sorry, I don't take private commissions."
Then they also set off from Suez. But unlike Deathstroke's high-profile approach, they streamlined their workforce as much as possible, taking only one car, avoiding all checkpoints that could be bypassed, heading directly to their destination at the fastest speed. Then led by Shiller, they entered the museum's underground.
On the way, they already noticed that Deathstroke had perfectly fulfilled his promise. The center of Cairo was in chaos, especially around the Egyptian Museum. It was unclear if it was under attack or not, but there were many police cars surrounding it. It seemed harder to get in, but actually, not only they were blocked, Hayven's people also were.
This is what Shiller wanted. If Hayven was still hiding in his safe house, refusing to show up, his people would have no way to break through such a blockade. Unless he came forward himself, others might consider his position as the curator of the Egyptian Museum and let him in. This was the only way to protect his collection of artifacts, and now it was up to him whether to choose fortune or life.
Shiller led Big Beard's group silently into the museum and quickly arrived underground. In Shiller's eyes, there was nothing important here; but in Big Beard and his people's eyes, it was full of treasures.
Those Egyptian sculptures, murals, masks, each was priceless. Even without official documents might lead to depreciation, but the quantity well compensated for this. Moreover, most of these items were small and could be taken away in bags, and they happened to bring quite a few bags.
"Grab more, my friend." Shiller said, "If your bags are full, come to me, and I'll tell you which is more valuable."
"You know about this, Yankee?" Big Beard picked up a mask nearby that looked like a Pharaoh's, examined it carefully, trying to stuff it into his bag, "I thought you guys lacked culture."
"Honestly, I don't know. But when your hands touch the most valuable one, there should be a scream from..."
"Let go of that thing! You damn robbers!! Bastards!!!!"
"Oh, Hayven, you're here." Shiller turned around and showed a cold smile to the figure at the door.