Excerpt

The next day Adams was seated behind his antique Italian mahogany desk doing paper work. His secretary, Kathy, buzzed him on the inter-com and said,

Jeremy Bosworth is holding on line one. He wants to speak with you right away. He says, its important.

Adams stretched back, cleared his throat, punched line one and picked up the receiver.

Hello, Jeremy, what do you have for me?

Heres my news. The Japanese men from Tokyo have again contacted our Nisei ladies about examining the museum collection of antique Japanese porcelain vases. Were going to invite them to the museum and try to learn more about them, but we have not agreed to let them touch our porcelain vases. I spoke with a FBI buddy of mine in the city and asked him about the Japanese underworld. He said there are three large criminal societies in Japan. The Leun Kung Lok Triad, Yamaguchi Gumi and Inagawa Kai gangs operate within Tokyo. There is one more gang of international criminals headquartered in Kobe: The Sumiyoshi Rengo. All of these crime organizations are inter-connected to the people who are searching for clues and secret codes that could lead to The Yamashita Treasure. My FBI friend said that hes reasonably sure these criminal gangs have some small cell groups in San Francisco. There is one commonality that links these criminal gangs and that is, they will not hesitate to use deadly violence to get what they want. These Oriental gangs are the most dangerous people in the world.

Upon hearing this assessment by Bosworth Adams was stunned. My God, How could I have become involved with these kind of people? said Adams.
* * *
Reverend Hummel and Cao left the church early in the morning and traveled in a pick-up truck to a near-by village. After arranging to hide their vehicle in a farmers barn, they rented some horses and spent the remaining part of the trip on horseback riding along trails to the cave Cao had discovered. They prepared a cover story claiming that they were searching for wildlife species that were being endangered by the logging crews that cut down trees for lumber. When the horses could no longer walk safely along the trail, they tied them to tree limbs and loosened up their saddles. After making sure the horses would be safe and comfortable, Cao and Hummel continued on foot to the cave entrance.

As they slogged through the underbrush of vines and plant growth, it grabbled at their arms and legs. They stumbled on loose rocks as they worked their way toward the cave. Cao signaled to stop on the trail and told Hummel to stand still and not speak. They waited five minutes in silence listening for any noise from trackers who might be following them. In the tree branches high above the trail they heard birds calling each other. This was the only noise they heard while they stood listening. Cao signaled Hummel to start following him again along the barely visible path toward the cave entrance that Hummel still couldnt see. After five minutes of torturous climbing, Cao looked back at Hummel and said,

See, there it is. The cave entrance.

Hummel strained his eyes, squinted, but saw nothing. Then a small opening appeared as they moved closer. More rocks shifted under their shoes as the loose stone gave way from the weight of their bodies. Some large nesting birds became alarmed and flew away in a noisy cackling flight that sent a chill through Hummelss neck and shoulder. This is a scene straight out of a horror movie, thought Hummel.

Do you think it is safe for us to be here? I dont want to get shot by some rebel guard, whispered Hummel.

I was here only once before. There are no guards or warning signs telling us to keep out, said Cao not sure if the Reverend was happy with his answer.

If we are challenged by guards or rebel security forces, we can say we found the cave opening by accident and decided to see what was inside, said Hummel as the excitement finally got to him.

Im betting that no one has been inside this cave for fifty years, maybe longer. We must be careful. There may be booby-traps or other hidden dangers, said Cao.

I have extra batteries for our flash lights plus a little food and water. I dont want to get trapped in this cave. In about six hours darkness will fall upon us. That should give us plenty of time to explore everything and get back to the horses, said Hummel as he realized he was now thinking about how fast he could leave this place. A thought kept recurring in his mind, Why am I doing this?

Cao and Hummel finally climbed through the cave entrance but found it difficult to make steady progress. They were afraid of setting off booby-traps that may have been set by the people who built the cave. Everyone who lived in this part of Luzon had heard rumors about hidden caves full of treasure. The floor of the cave was littered with the skeletal remains of dead men who likely died violently. As they moved carefully around the cave they saw rusted Japanese army trucks loaded with some metal boxes. What was packed inside was a mystery. They counted six trucks all loaded with identical metal boxes. Because of the age and condition of the metal boxes it wasnt difficult to pry open one of the boxes. Neatly packed and labeled inside they discovered golden ingots. Each ingot weighed about twenty-six pounds. They decided to each take one ingot from the opened box for themselves. It would be difficult to carry any more than one ingot back to the horses. They decided there must be other treasure beside the gold ingots, but they were too exhausted to continue their exploration of the cave.

As they worked their way back through the stone rubble to the mouth of the cave, Cao and Hummel began laughing with excitement of toting a gold ingot back to the surface. They realized that it would be foolish to show the gold to anyone. They must find a person to serve as an intermediary who could be trusted to protect their identity from other treasure hunters. Whom could they trust? How could they approach someone and tell them how they came into the possession of the twenty-six pound golden ingots?