Chapter 245

Chapter 245

Vivian followed him into the vehicle. Inside sat four people, all dressed in dark clothing. One of them was looking at a tablet on the passenger seat, showing a satellite image of Zone C with several locations marked by red circles.

The person looked up at Vivian, then handed the tablet to Arthur, leaning over and tapping a finger on the location closest to the water.

"The container is at this position, three o'clock direction. There's not much cover around, but there are two surveillance poles on both sides of the passage that we can avoid. Their pickup time should be around 2 AM. At that hour, the port security patrol intervals are about twenty minutes, which gives us enough time to complete the transfer."

Arthur took the tablet and looked at it for a while before handing it back. "How many people can you bring in?"

"Four. With you and Ms. Perkins, that's six total." The person spoke in a low voice. "But if Raymond's people bring weapons, we'll be at a disadvantage facing them in open ground. The best approach is to intercept them before they open the container, so they don't have time to react."

Vivian sat in the back seat listening, her gaze falling on the red circle on the tablet.

At 1:40 AM, the wind in Port Zone C was stronger than before.

Vivian and Arthur arrived early at the container yard near the red circle location. The SUV was parked about sixty feet behind them in a shadowy spot.

They stood in the narrow gap between two containers, able to see the target container's position through the opening. The three containers sat quietly in their spots, with a forklift parked nearby. The forklift's hood was cold.

At 1:50, two dark-colored sedans drove in from the direction of the cargo passage, stopping about forty feet from the target container.

The headlights went out, doors opened, and six people stepped out. Two of them each carried a black long bag, bulging with contents.

Vivian stood in the gap watching them exit the vehicles, her breathing soft and light. Arthur stood beside her, his gaze locked on those people.

They stopped in front of the containers.

One person carrying a black bag set it on the ground, unzipped it, and pulled out a crowbar.

He didn't rush to act. First, he turned to look around, then wedged the crowbar into the lock position of the first container.

The moment he pushed down hard, several figures flashed out simultaneously from the shadows on both sides of the container yard.

Ronan's people closed in from two directions, moving fast, their feet making almost no sound on the ground. The person in front rushed up behind the one with the crowbar, grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. The crowbar slipped from his hands and fell to the cement ground with a clear metallic clang.

Raymond's people reacted quickly. The other person with a black bag immediately crouched down, unzipped it, and pulled out something short-barreled that reflected a dark metallic sheen under the streetlights.

His finger found the trigger, but before he could fully raise it, someone in dark clothing rushed in front of him and kicked the side of his knee. He toppled sideways, and the short-barreled weapon flew from his hands and hit the ground.

But Raymond's side had the numbers advantage. After a brief moment of chaos, the remaining four quickly steadied their formation.

Two people backed toward the sedans and pulled out the same short-barreled weapons from the trunks. Ronan's people had no guns, only short batons and chains, putting them at a clear disadvantage against armed opponents in the open dock.

One person raised a gun and fired outward. The gunshot exploded across the dock like a stone smashing into ice—sharp and abrupt. Ronan's people were forced to retreat several steps, pulling back to the side of the containers for cover.

Raymond's people used this gap to regroup. Two had already circled around to the target container, trying to open it again.

Vivian saw Ronan's people pinned down on the container's side, unable to advance. One person was half-crouched behind the metal, hand covering his shoulder with dark liquid seeping between his fingers.

Arthur stepped out from the gap.

He pulled a handgun from inside his coat, the grip catching the streetlight for a moment.

He didn't charge forward but crouched at a container corner and fired a shot toward Raymond's side.

The bullet hit the sedan door with a sharp metallic collision. One of Raymond's people about to climb onto a container ducked his head.

Almost simultaneously, engine sounds came from the dock entrance.

Two dark gray SUVs charged in, headlights off, moving fast, heading straight toward Raymond's vehicles. Before the vehicles fully stopped, the rear doors were pushed open and four people jumped out, all carrying weapons and wearing bulletproof vests, moving quickly.

Arthur's men had arrived.

Though he hadn't figured out how to explain this to Vivian, the artifacts mattered. Country H's national treasures had been away from home for far too long.

Arthur's men entered the battlefield from the side, forming a pincer movement with Ronan's group.

Raymond's people hadn't fully reacted when the two front guns were knocked away, the barrels grabbed and lifted upward. Raymond's men were forced to let go, and the weapons were seized.

The people in the back tried to retreat toward the sedans, but the two SUVs had already blocked their escape route, hoods facing them. The headlights suddenly blazed on, beams of blinding light hitting them straight in the face. Several people raised their hands to shield their eyes, losing their vision briefly.

Arthur's men took advantage of those seconds to advance quickly. One used his elbow to knock aside one of Raymond's men, while another knee-struck another in the abdomen. That person bent over, clutching his stomach, backing up until he hit the sedan's side door and slid down, curling up on the ground.

Arthur didn't want to use the gun. He still wanted to stay clean for Vivian.

Vivian stood in the container gap watching the battlefield. Gunshots rang out twice—the first from Raymond's people, the second a warning shot Arthur fired while suppressing them.

She saw Arthur stand up from the container corner and walk quickly to the side of the target container. One of his men had already used a crowbar to open the lock on one container. The door was pulled open a crack, revealing neatly stacked wooden crates inside.

Raymond's remaining people were pinned down by the sedans. Three guns had been confiscated. Two people crouched on the ground while two others lay motionless on the pavement, blood on their faces.

Arthur stood at the open container door and looked back at Vivian. Only then did she step out from the gap.