Big Beard and the others reacted faster. In an instant, they dropped what they were holding and raised their guns. But that made Khaywen let out an even more wretched scream, because the mask had fallen to the floor and one corner had been knocked clean off. He tried to lunge for it, but shrank back before the dark muzzles of the guns.
"You bastards, what the hell do you want?!" Khaywen shouted in despair. "Take it all, take it all! Just don't touch my things!!!"
"You know what I want," Schiller said, looking at him. "I only wanted to take back what belonged to me. You were the one who made all this too complicated."
Khaywen closed his eyes in pain and said in Arabic, "It was that damned French swindler who came to me and said he'd found an easy mark. As long as we hid the mural, it would be ours. That thing really was too good, and I only wanted to get my share..."
"What did he say?" Schiller asked, looking at Big Beard.
"You're looking for a mural," Big Beard said, also looking at him. "What kind of mural? Is it valuable?"
"Perhaps very valuable, but my employer is the Justice League," Schiller said. "You wouldn't want the situation here to get even more complicated, would you?"
Big Beard frowned deeply. He looked at Khaywen and likewise said in Arabic, "What are you trying to do? Let those meddling American bastards ride roughshod over us completely? Give it back to him!"
Although Schiller did not understand Arabic, he could tell from the tone that Big Beard was helping persuade Khaywen. That was only natural. Khaywen was just a greedy antiquities collector. He did not care about the regional situation. But Big Beard and his people