Like a call for heaven, Pablo immediately stood up, throwing away his shovel and ran toward the guy who shouted as well as Joseph stood up calmly walking toward it, while Linda tried to make her way to a better spot, still gun in hand, to see what they exactly found.
"Look." The man pointed his finger into the hole, which was not even a meter deep, maybe 30 cm or less, and there was already a black thing that was poking out of the ground.
"Pull it out, let’s see what’s in it." Joseph spoke, as now even he became excited about the fact that it was still there and even got confused a bit.
Like, it was truly not that deep, and how the fuck does the rainwater not wash it out was a mystery, as well as the thing he didn’t know about.
How did the investigators miss it?
When they were looking through the whole forest for more evidence, for more bodies, or anything that can connect them to something greater... but now it was their luck that it remained untouched.
"First dig around it to make it easier." Pablo said, and the man did exactly that, digging around it, and the silhouette of it was starting to show and once again, Joseph was right about it.
It was a giant suitcase or at least it looked like it, and Pablo was already seeing the money in it, the 500 bills that could even be 20 million, judging by the size of the suitcase.
"Should we?" The man looked up as he threw away the shovel and now Pablo kneeled down, grabbing it with him, and they were ready.
"On three. One, two, three!" He shouted, as they pulled on it but nothing... it didn’t even move a centimeter from the ground. "What the fuck..." Pablo said as he tried again, pulling it, but nothing.
"Maybe a root went in it." Joseph said as he was looking at them, but it wasn’t a root, at least not what Pablo felt.
"No, it’s... heavy. Like really heavy." He said. "Come here, guys, and grab it together." He gestured around, and 4 of them now grabbed it. "On three. One, two, three pull!" He shouted, and all of them started pulling it out from the ground and finally, it was moving.
But shit... it wasn’t like a suitcase full of money but more like full of concrete. It was so heavy that their veins popped out as they were struggling with it, but they succeeded after another two guards grabbed it and helped them.
"Fuck... it’s more like a body in it... or two." Pablo said as he looked up at Joseph.
"Body already would’ve rotted away. It’s been here at least 16 years." He said. But now even he was kind of questioning if it was really money in it, because seeing them struggle to pull it out just gave a sign that maybe something very different is in it. But then... what?
Body couldn’t be it, as he said, not just because it’s been 16 years, but because rainwater could have gotten into the suitcase, and it did, since it was wet and muddy. So it would have rotted away after all those years.
So for a moment, all of them just stared at it like it was going to magically open up by itself or more like they were afraid to open it. Pablo first thought it could be a body contracted in it, or the second option, there is a bomb, that’s why it’s heavy as fuck.
Like, Joseph’s father wasn’t a dumbass. He was actually a genius in his own way, and if he suspected somebody would find it, or some of his close men would backstab him and steal it, he could have booby-trapped the suitcase.
"Open it up." Joseph spoke, and Pablo looked up at him with worried eyes that if this really is a bomb, then all of them die. Literally, the Cassian family would just vanish away. But on the other hand, Joseph wasn’t looking worried about things , more like he was keen to see what the fuck is in it.
So Pablo knelt down, and with one last look up at Joseph, he grabbed the zipper on it, pulling it, but quickly realized that it’s not going to work. So he grabbed the machete off his side and started cutting it along the line of the zipper.
He did it slowly and carefully, focusing on any noise or if any line was there that was a clear indication that it’s indeed a bomb, but there was nothing. Not a ticking, not any lines and when he was done with it, he looked up again at Joseph and opened it up.
And all of them froze down, who looked into it... like they became stone. Just stared at it, not even moved, even their breath stopped.
"Am I seeing this right...?" Pablo asked as he looked up at Joseph as he fully opened it letting the other side fall on the ground.
It was truly something majestic as Joseph looked at it and was something that he didn’t expect to see.
Gold bars on top of each other, all of it clearly stamped with the 999.9, and with the weight of it... 12,5 kg each.
"That’s why it was heavy... 15 bars, 12,5 kilo... and this." He reached into the suitcase grabbing a small plastic bag. "How big are these diamonds... and rubies...I don’t even know what it is." He said and well, the bag truly had some big stones in them, some of it colored deep red, and some others green and other colors.
"Not even talking about the cash." Joseph said as he knelt down, reached into the suitcase and pulled out a bag. "Even marked... 2.5 million." He said as he looked back, and there were 4 of these bags in there, all of it vacuum sealed.
"And it’s the first one." Pablo said as he stood up smiling, already having the urge to go and dig the other obese.
"First one, and also the last one." Joseph said, still holding the bag in his hands. "This was clearly hidden for a different reason. Gold, diamonds... my father kept those in private banks and judging by the fact that it was barely 30 cm deep and vacuum-sealed... it was buried in a hurry."
Yeah, it made sense, because the vacuum seal screamed that the money needed to be protected, plus, the gold bars too had plastic on them.
"Maybe he did it the same time you were arrested, thinking if it’s not working, then he can grab it whenever he wants it." Pablo said as he reached out for one of the bars pulling it out and holding it like it was a baby. "Around 1.2 million in my hands... and who knows what those gemstones are worth... it is—"
"Put your hands up right now!" A loud shout suddenly came from the side, and as they looked, there she was.
The hero of the day, Linda, pointed the gun directly at Joseph.