Chapter 308: Found the Gold Bars?

“Sit back down. Now!”

At Director Santiago’s thunderous shout, Carlos dropped back into his chair with lightning speed.

Director Santiago scorched him with a vicious glare and continued in a stern voice.

“If you dare move or open your mouth without my permission, I’ll take appropriate measures. Do you understand me?”

“...Yes.”

Terrified out of his wits, Carlos answered in a barely audible squeak.

Director Santiago gave him a brief glance, then turned to Vice Chairman Wei Chen.

“We’d also like to hear what Vice Chairman Chen is being questioned about.”

In other words, he was asking them to conduct the interrogation in English.

Vice Chairman Wei Chen nodded in agreement and resumed questioning Chen Zhihui.

“You understand that whether you live or die depends directly on how you answer, don’t you?”

“May I take that as a promise that you’ll spare my life?”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen had absolutely no intention of letting Chen Zhihui live.

Nevertheless, he lied in order to extract as much useful information from him as possible.

Naturally, Chen Zhihui had no idea what his true intentions were.

“You understand perfectly well, yet for some reason you’re asking again.”

“Thank you for sparing my life.”

“You know there’s one condition if you want to survive, don’t you?”

“Of course. Carlos distributes drugs throughout the Philippines.”

“You son of a bitch!”

Carlos was the first to spit out a vicious curse.

Director Santiago fixed him with a savage glare and held out his hand behind him.

As though he had been waiting for exactly that, a National Bureau of Investigation agent immediately placed a suppressed pistol into his palm.

Director Santiago aimed the muzzle at Carlos and spoke in an ominous voice.

“What did I just warn you about?”

“P-please spare me!”

Carlos clearly had no desire to die, so he begged in a voice trembling with terror.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you right now.”

So you’ll kill me later!

The thought rose all the way to Carlos’s throat and hovered on the tip of his tongue for a long moment, but he displayed superhuman patience and somehow held himself back.

“...I understand what you mean.”

“However, I have no intention of letting it slide that you ignored my warning.”

Pfft!

Director Santiago fired the pistol into Carlos’s right side.

Carlos let out a short scream and clutched his side with both cuffed hands.

“This time, the bullet only grazed your side. But every time you violate my warning from now on, I’ll put another bullet into your body. If you don’t believe me, feel free to test it.”

“I-I’ll never disobey your order again!”

“I’ll take your word for it. Vice Chairman Wei, continue interrogating Vice Chairman Chen.”

Director Santiago stepped back, and Vice Chairman Wei Chen once again took over.

“Director Santiago already knows perfectly well that Carlos distributes drugs. You understand what I’m getting at, don’t you?”

It was a direct warning: stop giving us obvious information and tell us something valuable.

“Yes, of course. Carlos imports drugs from an organization based in Indonesia.”

“Do you know how much he brings in?”

“About ten kilograms once a month.”

“I see. What else?”

“Carlos made an enormous amount of money selling drugs.”

“That much is obvious. Do you know how much Carlos has in hidden assets?”

“Only that it’s a huge amount...”

At that moment, Chen Zhihui hesitated, as though something had come back to him.

Vice Chairman Wei Chen and the others remained silent, giving him time to gather his thoughts.

After a while, he finally spoke in Chinese, as though the necessary details had resurfaced in his memory.

“About two weeks ago, I was drinking with Carlos. He got drunk and talked far more than usual.”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen immediately realized why Chen Zhihui had switched to Chinese.

He was afraid Carlos might retaliate.

Having understood his intention, Wei Chen could hardly ignore it.

“Tell me exactly what Carlos blabbered about.”

“He said the Philippine government was tracking his secret accounts.”

“I hope that’s not all.”

“He admitted that, just in case, he had used half of his secret fund to buy gold bars.”

“Is that so? Do you know where he hid them?”

“I was curious too, so I carefully asked him, but he didn’t answer.”

Bzzz!

At that moment, Vice Chairman Wei Chen’s phone, lying on the table, vibrated briefly.

He glanced at the screen and saw a text message from Cha Jiham.

After reading it, he nodded in understanding and asked Chen Zhihui,

“Is Carlos naturally suspicious?”

“How suspicious is he? He didn’t even trust Alberto, the second-in-command of Abu Sayyaf.”

“Hmm. I see.”

After replying, Vice Chairman Wei Chen turned to Director Santiago.

“Director Santiago, let’s go to the observation room for a moment and talk.”

“I was just about to suggest the same thing.”

With that, Director Santiago sprang to his feet.

***

“Vice Chairman Wei, what’s the situation?” Director Santiago asked impatiently.

Vice Chairman Wei Chen decided it would be wise to remain cautious.

“Bear in mind that the information hasn’t been confirmed yet.”

“I understand. Tell us quickly.”

“Two weeks ago, Chen Zhihui was drinking with Carlos.”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen openly relayed to Director Santiago and the others everything Chen Zhihui had said, along with the contents of Cha Jiham’s message.

“...He said Carlos is extremely suspicious by nature.”

“I see. Leader Cha, why did you ask Vice Chairman Wei about Carlos’s personality?”

I thought for a moment before explaining to Director Santiago.

“Suspicious people tend to hide valuables in unusual places that only they know about.”

“Ah, now I understand.”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen, who had a question of his own, joined in.

“Leader Cha, where do you think Carlos might have hidden the gold bars?”

“If I were him, I’d hide them somewhere inside the cave he was using as a hideout.”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen frowned in confusion.

When they had entered the cave to capture Carlos’s gang, they had searched every inch of it.

Yet they had not found even the tiniest speck of gold.

And now Cha Jiham was saying the gold bars were hidden inside.

In a cautious tone, he asked why Jiham had reached that conclusion.

“The cave was in a very inaccessible location. If you’re setting up a hideout in such a secluded place, there’s no reason to make the entrance door as thick as a bank vault.”

“Hmm. There’s some logic to that. Go on.”

“The cave door had a keypad lock. Someone as suspicious as Carlos would never have told his subordinates the password.”

“I understand what you mean, but there was no gold inside the cave.”

“We only checked what was visible.”

“Could it be...”

I immediately understood why Vice Chairman Wei Chen had trailed off.

“There’s a strong possibility Carlos built a hidden room somewhere inside the cave.”

“And if such a room really exists, how do we find it?”

“Saho has an extraordinary sense of smell. He can detect the scent of an object from an entire kilometer away.”

“That’s right! We have Saho!”

Thinking the idea was brilliant, Vice Chairman Wei Chen jumped to his feet and shouted.

Feeling all our eyes on him, he awkwardly deflated and sat back down.

“Ah, I was just so happy that I couldn’t help shouting.”

“I understand your feelings perfectly, Vice Chairman Wei,” Director Santiago said at the same time, then asked me curiously, “Leader Cha, are you sure Saho can find gold bars?”

“Saho already has experience finding gold bars hidden in secret rooms.”

“Then there’s no problem!”

“Still, my conclusion could be wrong, so I’d prefer only the absolute minimum number of people go to the cave.”

“I hope I’m included in that minimum?” Vice Chairman Wei Chen said before anyone else.

“Leader Cha, I’m directly involved in this, so include me too.”

“Captain Bruno of the FBI discovered the cave’s location, so I should go as well.”

“And I’m from the same country as Leader Cha...”

Everyone in the observation room began offering persuasive reasons one after another for why they should be allowed to go to the cave.

“If that’s how it is, why don’t we all just go together?”

***

“Saho, it’d be great if you could find the gold bars inside the cave. Will you do that for me?”

However, Saho shook his head firmly.

That morning, I had gone to Iligan to oversee the operation to capture the North Korean submarines.

Saho had wanted to come with me and had even climbed into my arms, but I had left without him.

Because of that, the offended cat was now flatly refusing to do what I asked.

I knew exactly how to win Saho over, so I wasn’t worried in the slightest.

“Saho, did you really like the cobra that much?”

The instant I finished speaking, Saho began nodding his head furiously.

“If you find the gold bars, I’ll let you go hunt a cobra.”

Only then did his resentment vanish. The cat broke into a satisfied grin and vigorously nodded up and down.

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan, who had been watching the exchange, asked worriedly,

“Leader, cobras are lethally venomous. Is it really safe for him to hunt and eat them?”

“Chief Kang, you already know what Saho is capable of.”

“That’s true, but why do I still feel uneasy?”

“Saho instinctively senses danger. So if he realizes an opponent is beyond him, he won’t recklessly go after it. Right, Saho?”

Saho nodded, showing complete agreement with my words.

At that moment, National Intelligence Service Director Om Giyeon spoke to me.

“Leader Cha, are you sure Carlos hid the gold bars in the cave?”

“There’s a fairly high chance.”

“Assuming they’re there, how much gold are we talking about?”

“That depends on the size of his secret fund.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“He spent half of his hidden assets buying gold.”

“Ah, I see. By the way, if we find the bars, what are we going to do with them?”

NIS Director Om Giyeon was transparently hinting that he wouldn’t mind getting a share.

Ownership of the gold bars belonged to Carlos, which meant it would pass to the Philippine government.

Therefore, the Philippine side was well within its rights to reject his claim.

“The Philippine government will retain the right to dispose of the gold.”

“So if luck isn’t on our side, we walk away with nothing?”

I shook my head and answered NIS Director Om Giyeon’s question.

“The Philippines needs to purchase three state-of-the-art submarines to secure its sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea. On top of that, they plan to acquire twelve FA-50PH light attack aircraft.”

“Until the contract is signed, nothing is guaranteed.”

“I’ll latch onto President Gonzalez and refuse to let go.”

NIS Director Om Giyeon’s concerns vanished instantly.

Cha Jiham wielded influence so enormous that even President Douglas took him seriously.

If a man like that was displaying absolute confidence, was there any reason to waste time worrying?

“So I can leave everything to you, Leader Cha?”

“Ha-ha-ha! Exactly.”

As we exchanged light laughter, the driver gently stepped on the brake.

The moment I opened the door and got out, Director Santiago, who had arrived earlier, approached me.

“Leader Cha, I sincerely hope we find the gold bars Carlos hid.”

“We’ll do everything we can.”

After answering briefly, I stroked Saho’s head and encouraged him.

“Let’s find the gold quickly and go hunting afterward, all right?”

The instant I finished speaking, Saho shot deep into the cave like an arrow.

We hurried after him.

In the blink of an eye, Saho raced all the way to the far end of the cave, stopped dead, and stared at a single spot on the floor.

I ran up to him, panting heavily, and asked,

“Huff... Did you find the gold bars?”