Chapter 458
Luke walked over to the female gunman holding the AK47, a white woman, and the bullet struck her on the left side of her forehead, chipping off half of her scalp with a single shot to the head.
Though she was dead through and through, Luke took the AK47 to a distance out of habit.
Walker also came over and stood not far from Malone Bacchus, checking his injuries.
Malone Bacchus had been shot in the chest, blood was flowing all over the place, and he was no longer breathing.
As for the bulletproof vest on Malone Bacchus, it had long been stripped off and worn on Walker’s body, “This female gunman is really a ruthless character, even killing her own accomplices.”
Luke also walked over and looked at Malone Bacchus lying on the ground with an indifferent expression, “These two are both perverts, it’s hard to use normal thinking to consider.”
Walker asked, “What do you think we should do now?”
Luke looked around and didn’t hear any movement, his eyes looked toward the cave, “See if there are any other victims or suspects’ accomplices.”
Walker understood, “Good idea.”
The two still didn’t dare to take it lightly, Luke put on a new magazine and Walker took out his revolver.
The two entered the cave searching one after the other, one on the left and one on the right.
At this time, the sky is not yet bright, still need to use a flashlight to see the situation inside the cave.
The cave was about 1500 square feet or so in size and was a natural cavern.
The outside of the cave entrance held a lot of miscellaneous items, with a living area on the right hand side, a rest area on the left hand side, and what looked like a storage room further in.
Luke and Walker both split up to search.
Luke went directly into the storage room, he felt that the treasure was hidden here more likely, of course, first of all, it is still necessary to determine the safety of the cave.
He searched roughly, and no one else was found inside the cave, Luke continued to look for the whereabouts of the treasure.
The storeroom displayed a number of guns, including shotguns, AR-15s, Glocks, submachine guns, etc., as well as some equipment needed for the expedition, hiking pickaxes, strong flashlights, cassette stoves, drones, and so on.
Luke searched carefully, but didn’t find a clue to the treasure in the storage room.
Had Malone Bacchus lied? He hadn’t found the treasure just to lure himself here so that his female accomplice could finish him off.
It wasn’t right either, the gold pocket watch would have been one of Forrest Fenn’s treasures.
Suddenly, another time in the cave, Walker’s voice rang out, “Luke, come over here.”
Luke left the storeroom and saw Walker pouting and yanking out a wooden chest from under the bed, very similar to the one they dug out last time at Big Bear Lake, only this one was bigger and looked heavier.
Luke rubbed his hands together, a look of anticipation on his face.
Walker also hemmed and hawed, looking a little excited, “This chest actually doesn’t have a lock, these two assholes are really relieved.”
The wooden chest had a lock, it was just knocked out and could only be hung on, Walker reached out to open the chest, and was stopped by Luke, “Back up a bit, let me do it.”
Walker frowned slightly, “You’re worried about danger in the chest?”
“Unlikely, but it never hurts to be careful.”
Walker nodded and accepted good advice, taking a few steps back.
Luke gently removed the lock hanging on the wooden crate and slowly opened the lid, his eyes peering inside through the cracks in the crate.
Walker held a flashlight aside to shine the light.
The lid of the wooden crate slowly opened, Luke didn’t notice anything unusual, the light from the flashlight shone into the crate, illuminating the items inside in a golden splendor.
Luke couldn’t help but have a smile on his face as he looked at the chest full of gold jewelry, turning to Walker who was beside him, he asked, “Is this the scene you were expecting?”
Walker laughed, “Of course, although it’s not the first time I’ve seen it, it’s still exciting, this is the charm of adventure treasure hunting.”
Luke said, “We got lucky, it would have been perfect without the two bodies out there.”
Walker grabbed a handful of gold jewelry out of the chest, checked the texture, and put it back, laughing, “In a way, we should be thanking them, we wouldn’t have been able to find these treasures if it wasn’t for them.”
Luke didn’t want to thank the two psychopathic murderers and waved his hand, “Give us a hand, let’s lift the chests to the pickup truck and transport them back to our RV first, that’s where we’ll be really safe.”
“You’re right.” Walker walked to the entrance of the cave, peered out and saw nothing unusual, then joined Luke in carrying the crate out.
As they passed by the two bodies, Walker asked, “What about these two? Just keep them here?”
Luke moved the crates into the back of the pickup’s cab and secured them, saying, “It’s definitely not a good idea to just leave them like this; there’s a lot of wildlife in the canyon, and in less than half a day, they’ll be picked up by coyotes, and I don’t think there’ll even be any bone crumbs left.”
Luke took out his cell phone and took pictures of the shooting scene, then carried the two bodies into the cave and took pictures again.
This was the place where the two psychopathic killers lived, they didn’t just kill people, they must have killed a lot of wild animals as well, the coyotes shouldn’t dare to come close in a short period of time, but of course, it’s impossible to say for a longer period of time.
After settling down, the two of them drove the pickup truck back to the RV campground, and put the treasure chest into the RV.
It was also already light outside.
In order to avoid trouble, the two matched their statements, the treasure was dug by themselves and had nothing to do with the two perverted killers.
The reason why they went to the camp of the perverted killers was because they suspected that the perverted killers had imprisoned other victims, and as a result, they were ambushed by the female gunmen, and the two fought back for their own safety.
For this set of sayings, the two had carefully studied it, and some details had been thought of, and they had even purposely looked for a location where the treasure had been dug up.
Coupled with the fact that the two had a treasure map, the purpose of coming to Red Rock Canyon was to search for the treasure, and it was only natural for them to obtain the treasure.
Moreover, the two psychopathic killers were already dead, and with no evidence of their deaths, these treasures were what they had dug up themselves.
With the identity of the two of them, no one would hold on to this matter.
Arranging everything, the two left Red Rock Canyon, with Walker driving the RV and Luke driving the pickup truck.
On the way, the two passed the spot where the black woman had been killed.
Luke gets out of the car to take pictures of the scene, and later puts the body of the black woman into the pickup truck, again to prevent the body from being eaten by wild animals.
From here, it was also clear that Red Rock Canyon was indeed a good place to kill and rob, there was no need to bury the body at all, the wild animals would help dispose of it, and even if the police received a missing person call afterward, all they would find would only be a few leftover bones, and there was no way to find out the exact cause of death.
After the disposal, Luke left Red Rock Canyon driving the bias three-wheeled motorcycle and Walker driving the RV.
Luke’s cell phone got a signal, and he contacted Anthony, the deputy supervisor of the FBI’s Los Angeles office.
The FBI’s Los Angeles office, one of the larger offices in the western United States, had a jurisdiction that did not stop at Los Angeles, but radiated to most of the west.
The FBI New York office was one of the FBI’s larger offices in the eastern part of the United States, mainly responsible for cases in the eastern part of the United States, but rather less convenient than Anthony’s side.
Luke explained the situation and sent over the photos of the two psychopathic killers.
The FBI side quickly recognized the identity of the two suspects, it was the two suspects who were wanted by the FBI for homicide, among them, the reward amount of Marlon Bacchus was as high as eighty thousand dollars, and the reward amount of the AK47 female gunman was fifty thousand dollars.
These two people have been roaming around in several cities, committing several robberies and murders, and their modus operandi is very brutal, mostly sadistic, and they are wanted by the police and the FBI in several places.
Anthony contacted someone from the FBI’s Colorado office and told them to send someone to the scene immediately, and at the same time, he took a plane to Red Rock Canyon to take over the follow-up of the case.
Luke and Walker arrived at the rest area near Red Rock Canyon, which was a bit busier than the last time they were here, with a number of parked cars.
Luke and the two of them went straight into the restaurant and found a seat by the window, which overlooked the RV’s.
Luke still ordered a taco and fries, plus a Coke.
In a restaurant like this one, choosing a taco was a safer decision.
The two were halfway through their meal when a man of Mexican descent wearing a cowboy hat walked in outside, none other than Canyon Ranger Carlos.
Walker was in a good mood and took the initiative to greet him, “Hey man, as I said last time, I’ll invite you for a drink when I see you again. Do you have a minute?”
Carlos walked over, “Thanks for the offer, but not today. By the way, did you guys ride over on that bias three-wheeled motorcycle out there?”
Luke said, “I rode it over here, but it’s not ours, it belongs to a friend we met in the canyon, that friend got lost last night and I drove it back.
You’re here just in time, can you help us out?”
Carlos sighed, “This is a bit of a complicated problem, that friend of yours may never be able to drive the off-road three-wheeled motorcycle.”
“What happened to him?”
Carlos asked rhetorically, “Last night, did you guys hear gunshots?”
“Yeah.” Luke responded and asked rhetorically, “What do you think about the gunshots last night?”
“Because of the gunshots, I purposely went into the canyon this morning to check it out, and I came across an old white man who had his hands chopped off pretty badly.
But fortunately a life was saved, and my colleague sent him to the nearby is hospital for treatment.
Also, I learned from him that he had a partial three-wheeled motorcycle, presumably the one out there.”
Walker sighed, “What an unlucky guy, I hope the arm is still attached.”
“I’m afraid it’s hard, he’s lost his right hand, most likely to a coyote, and there’s no guarantee that his left arm will be able to be attached.” Carlos shook his head slightly and looked at both Luke’s again.
“I suggest you leave Red Rock Canyon, it hasn’t been peaceful here lately.”
Luke trailed off, “Who cut him?”
Carlos took a seat next to him and said, “He said it was a psychopathic man, wearing a hood and he didn’t get a good look at him, and the murder weapon was a machete.”
“As I recall, the first day we came to Red Rock Canyon, you warned us that we had better leave because of this psychopathic killer?”
Carlos shrugged, “It’s hard to say, it’s true that tourists have been going missing in recent times.
But the canyon is full of all sorts of dangers, and I’m not sure if he did it.
However, this time we found a survivor and I’ve called the police.” Carlos glanced at his watch, “I reckon they might be getting close.”
“Whoops ……”
Just then, several cars with flashing police lights pulled into the rest area.
Carlos looked out the window, “So soon, looks like my words got enough attention.”
One by one the people in the cars stepped out and Carlos felt something was wrong, “They don’t look like cops, they’re FBI uniforms.”
Carlos stood up and walked to the door of the diner.
Several people in FBI uniforms walked in as well, led by a white man in his thirties who scanned the restaurant, “Which one is Counselor Lee?”
“It’s me.” Luke stood up.
“I’m an agent from the FBI’s Colorado office, Wesley Leakey.
We received a call from Supervisor Anthony that you’ve captured two wanted men in Red Rock Canyon.”
“Yes, my name is Luke Lee.
Those two wanted men have been shot down by me, would you like me to take you to the scene?”
“Counselor Lee, I’ve heard of your great name for a long time, and I’m honored to work with you.” Wesley Leakey took the initiative to shake Luke’s hand.
“Let’s talk on the way, I’m worried that the corpse will be attacked by wild animals.”
“Okay.”
“Did you bring the scene investigators and the coroner?”
“I’ve already notified them, they’ll arrive later.”
“OK, let’s go ahead then.” Luke explained a few things to Walker and then looked over at the Mexican cowboy off to the side, “Administrator Carlos, do you want to come along?”
“You’re actually FBI? “Carlos snapped back, “Of course, I’ll go with you guys, it’s my duty.”
Luke then rushed to the scene of the two shootings with the FBI and sent them the initial photos of the scene, describing the scene in detail.
Luke put the situation into perspective and returned to the rest area to meet up with Walker.
Walker had stayed in the RV and hadn’t dared to leave the house, and Luke had returned just in time for dinner, and the two had opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate.
However, they both refrained from drinking too much.
In the evening, Luke and Walker closed the doors and windows tightly, drew the curtains, carried out the chest of treasure, opened the lid, and the light was golden again.
The two men hadn’t had time to look closely at the treasure since they had acquired it, and were ready to sort and weigh the gold jewelry tonight.
Walker grabbed the gold jewelry out of the crate onto an electronic scale, recording a figure for each pile.
“What’s this?” Walker saw a brown leather at the bottom of the crate, he picked it up and looked at it, there were some designs drawn on it, “Is this a new treasure map?”
Luke also came over to check it out, “Could it be Forrest Fenn’s third treasure map?”
Walker took the newly found treasure map and compared it with the previous one, “No, it’s a completely different style, this shouldn’t be Forrest Fenn’s treasure map.
But then why is it in this treasure chest?”
Luke thought for a moment and said, “This afternoon, the FBI dug up a few more bones near Malone Bacchus’s camp, Malone Bacchus should have killed quite a few treasure hunters.
This treasure map could also have been obtained from the treasure hunters, the location marked on the treasure map is not Red Rock Canyon, and they were unable to leave Red Rock Canyon, this treasure map was not of much use to them, and it was most likely thrown into the treasure chest casually.”
Walker nodded, his eyes dead set on the new treasure map, “This represents a new adventure, a new treasure!”
Luke interrupted his fantasy, “Do you still have vacation time? My vacation is almost over anyway.”
Walker was a bit deflated, “I can study the map first, and we’ll set out again when we’ve determined the location of the treasure.”
“Wait for your good news.” Luke stretched his back, he still had a lot of things to do, and he probably wouldn’t have a chance to treasure hunt in a short period of time.
Moreover, treasure hunting was not as simple as imagined, it was impossible to find the treasure every time, this time it was more by luck.