924: Chapter 914 Great Pressure 924: Chapter 914 Great Pressure After sunset, the convoy veered off the highway and stopped in the desert.
Having traveled all day, they had covered half the distance within Iraq.
It was possible to continue driving to the Syria-Iraq border by swapping drivers without resting, and by doing so, they would likely arrive at the Syrian border by noon the next day.
Although the Syrian Rebels controlled the southern border region of Syria, the route Gao Yang’s group was taking was the main artery for receiving aid.
Munitions continuously flowed into Syria, and the Syrian Air Force, still largely intact, frequently launched airstrikes on convoys crossing the border to cut off the rebels’ supply of munitions, making daytime border crossings risky.
Crossing the border at night posed no problem, as the Syrian Air Force basically lacked the capability to conduct night attacks.
Gao Yang and his group stopped halfway to rest for the night, planning to resume their journey early the next morning and reach the border by deep night.
Once they had stopped, Asif, who had been completely silent during the journey, immediately left Gao’s vehicle and dutifully returned to the truck.
Whether eating or doing anything else, the six people in the truck always kept their distance from Gao Yang and his group.
They found it easier to speak when separated.
As Gao Yang and his group gathered a good hundred meters away from the truck to eat, Gao spoke in a subdued voice, “Rabbit, have you found anything out?
I heard you conversing quite amicably with that old man.”
Cui Bo shook his head, smiling wryly.
“The conversation went well, but I can’t say it bore much fruit.
That guy’s lips are sealed.
He was happy to chat, but only about mundane things.
He didn’t drop a single hint about what we’re most interested in—the nature of the cargo.”
Gao Yang gave a wry smile.
“That’s better than my situation.
The guy in our vehicle doesn’t talk at all.
Go on and share details; perhaps we can piece something together.”
Cui Bo nodded.
“I talked with him for quite a while.
The old man is from Pakistani Kashmir, has never served in the military, but has spent a long time fighting against India with guerrilla groups.
Overall, he’s pro-government and very pro-Huaxia, even more so than he is pro-Pakistani government.
When I told him I was from Huaxia, he opened up and shared a lot about their conflicts in Kashmir.”
Cui Bo waved his hand dismissively.
“The younger man traveling with the old man is also from Pakistan but from the northern border next to Afghanistan.
He comes from a major tribe, extremely radical, pro-Taliban, and hostile toward both the Pakistani government and Huaxia.
Basically, an extremist.
The old man warned me not to interact with him, as even he disapproves of the young man’s radical views.”
Gao Yang nodded.
“And you said there wasn’t anything useful.
Seems rather valuable to me.
Now I see why Asif seemed so disagreeable.
Fair enough, I won’t bother trying to get information from him anymore.
Continue, please.”
Cui Bo nodded again.
“The old man wouldn’t say where they were from, but he mentioned that the six of them had also just arrived in Iraq and weren’t familiar with the local conditions.
Of course, he didn’t tell me this directly, but I deduced it from his words.
Also, no need to ask what’s in those crates; I don’t think he knows.”
At that, Cui Bo chuckled and waved his hand.
“I asked him why he sawed off the gunstocks.
The old man said it made drawing the guns easier.
They struggle to get submachine guns, and pistols aren’t powerful enough, so they shorten rifles for sudden assaults in crowds.
He said he’d been to India three times and claimed to have killed at least twenty Indian soldiers and police.”
Gao Yang shook his head.
“Let’s not dwell on that.
Did you manage to find out anything about the others?”
Cui Bo shook his head.
“I asked, but the old man said he didn’t know.
He’s only familiar with his fellow countrymen from Pakistan; he hasn’t interacted much with the others.”
Gao Yang frowned.
“Didn’t you ask which organization the old man belonged to?”
Cui Bo shook his head ruefully.
“I asked, but he didn’t say, just laughed it off.
I suspected he might be with the Taliban and deliberately spoke highly of them, but the old man clearly disdained the Taliban.
So now, I’m at a loss.
Also, although these individuals didn’t know each other before, they now belong to the same organization, handpicked as the cream of the crop.”
After a pause, Cui Bo suddenly added, “Moreover, they just followed the driver to pick up the cargo, but even he doesn’t know how the cargo got here.
The truck was handed over to them by the person we first met, the Arab, who brought a few others and then led them to join us.”
Gao Yang frowned.
“That means a lot of people are involved in this—Tomler, the Arabs, the mercenaries that were eliminated, and now us and those six mysterious individuals in the truck, as well as F**k.
This is getting complicated.”
Glolov laughed.
“We’re caught up in a major event, but that’s not unusual.
When someone wants to do something forbidden without revealing their identity, they can only turn to unwitting mercenaries.
It’s quite typical for mercenaries to encounter such situations, and that’s why the payment is so high.”
Gao Yang furrowed his brows and said, “There’s truth in that, but our current mission definitely involves the Syrian Rebels—that much is certain.
I’m just worried that if something particularly hot ends up in our hands, it could spell big trouble, especially now that we’ve discovered how complicated this situation is, with so many forces involved.”
Bruce laughed and said, “Why not just figure out what the cargo is?
If it’s nuclear or biochemical weapons, we’ll proceed with the original plan.
If it’s not, we complete the mission, get paid, and leave.
Who cares how complex it gets?”
Gao Yang looked at six people grouped together in the distance and said, “Looking at it now, the hope of getting information out of them is shattered.
We also can’t secretly inspect the cargo, nor can we peacefully request an inspection, so we have no choice but to conduct a forced inspection.”
Glolov was worried, but he didn’t say a word, because Gao Yang had already stated that they had to understand what the cargo was in order to decide whether to go through with the mission or terminate it.
Although Glolov felt it wasn’t necessary, he wouldn’t speak up again.
Frey glanced at the six people near the truck and said solemnly, “Boss, if we’re going to conduct a forced inspection, now is a good opportunity.
They don’t stand a chance to threaten us.”
Bruce thought for a moment but then shook his head and said, “I’m not against inspecting, but I oppose doing it now.
If it comes to a forced inspection, we’d have to eliminate everyone on that truck; otherwise, it would greatly damage our reputation.
We must know what the cargo is, especially during a forced inspection.
So, if we do need to inspect forcefully, we must be prepared to kill.
Either we don’t do it, or we go all out, so we should at least wait until we reach the Syria-Iraq border.
If we end up killing them, we can easily pin the blame on the Syrian Rebels.”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “Test Tube is right.
We’ll proceed with the original plan and reveal our cards once we reach the Syria-Iraq border.”
There wasn’t much left to discuss; everything had already been negotiated.
After speaking, Gao Yang waved his hand and said, “It’s safe here.
A two-man watch is enough—switch every hour.
Big Dog, Worker Bee, you two take the first shift.
Tonight is a rare chance for rest.
Everyone should rest well.”
Glolov and Tommy, being the oldest, were assigned the first watch, which was the easiest since once it was over, they could sleep till dawn.
Getting up in the middle of sleep was the hardest, so naturally, Gao Yang took it upon himself to assign the watch to himself and the youngest, Frey.
Sleeping in the vehicle was uneasy and unsatisfying, but although the desert had large temperature fluctuations between day and night, the absence of wind made it more bearable.
Gao Yang and the others, well-prepared, opted to sleep outside.
After a long day and night on the road, everyone, whether they drove or rode, was tired.
As soon as Gao Yang got into his fleece sleeping bag, he almost immediately fell into a deep sleep.
Regardless of where he was, as long as Gao Yang needed to sleep, just providing him a place to do so usually ensured a good rest.
However, unusually, he struggled to rest because he kept dreaming.
When he was woken up by Cui Bo, he felt a sense of relief.
Taking a few deep breaths, Gao Yang crawled out of his sleeping bag, donned his helmet, lowered his night vision device, and grabbed his rifle.
As he started his watch, his heart was still racing from the dream.
Frey, yawning, walked over to Gao Yang, rubbed his eyes, put down his night vision device, and said, “Boss, you look uneasy.
What’s wrong?”
Gao Yang exhaled and replied, “I just had a dream, and it wasn’t a good one.”
“What did you dream about?”
After thinking seriously for a moment, Gao Yang nevertheless smiled wryly and said, “I forgot most of it.
I just remember that we were all together.
Then, I can’t recall why, but everything turned dark, vast darkness.
I knew you were all there, but I couldn’t see anyone, and I couldn’t run away.
Yeah, it was something like that.”
Frey chuckled and said, “Boss, you’re under too much psychological stress.”
Gao Yang nodded and replied, “I suppose so.
I’ve been feeling quite a bit of pressure lately.”
Frey grinned and said, “You’re just worried about what the cargo we’re delivering is.
That’s been stressing you out a lot, but I don’t understand why you’re worried.
I think you really don’t need to stress too much, boss.
You need to relax.
There’s really nothing to it.”
Gao Yang and Frey talked for an hour until it was time to wake up Bruce and Lucica for their turn on watch.
Then, possibly influenced by Frey’s reassurance, Gao Yang lay down again and slept soundly.
(To be continued.
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