Within the Dead Space

by Hutchens, Gary

  I wonder if this is the same trail from way back then.

  He hurried along and at eighty steps the trail came out of the trees to flowing lawns with two swimming pools in the center. On his right was a large high-rise hotel. Pusca mapped the last seventy steps in his mind and then slipped back into the trees. He would come back later when it was dark. A beautiful rock garden with a waterfall stood next to one of the swimming pools and Pusca was sure that the cave was in the rock garden.

  Quickly, he retraced his steps back to the fence and then out to the point. He didn’t mind spending the whole day at the beach and refreshing his memories from ages past.

  “Excuse me…..excuse me.”

  Pusca opened his eyes to see four people standing behind him. “Yes.”

  “You look very familiar. Are you famous?”

  “No, I’m not famous,” Pusca responded in his abrupt quick answer response.

  “I know I’ve seen you in the newspaper. Let me think.”

  Pusca just ignored them for the moment.

  “It’s Chaco…from Peru.” The fat lady blurted out.

  Several people nearby turned their heads toward Pusca.

  “I’ll be damned,” one man hollered. “It’s the gold man!”

  The word spread across the boardwalk like a firestorm and people in an instant were running toward Pusca. Before long the entire beach was in turmoil as petty greed and crowd mentality overtook the usually sensible populace.

  Pusca ran like a jack rabbit running from a hawk. Hundreds were in hot pursuit hoping for a clue as to where the cave of gold might be. Within minutes Pusca was at the edge of the firestorm and finally raced beyond the spreading word. He dashed into the woods where he had been earlier and soon found a hiding place.

  Pusca remained hidden while many people walked by his hiding place, obviously searching for him.

  Pusca wasn’t aware that someone had taken his picture earlier and emailed it to the San Diego Chronicle. He made the front page of the evening paper. Word spread across the country all the way back to New York where they were still searching for him. Two detectives were dispatched from New York.

  The FBI was alerted in San Diego to take all necessary actions to catch the suspect.

  While all of this was going on, Pusca napped in the woods near the Marriott waiting for his chance to go to the cave.

  Even after dark, people kept wandering the trails near the harbor hoping to find Chaco.

  At about ten o’clock Pusca came out of his hiding place, ran down the trail and was quickly over the fence. He hurried to his original position from earlier where he could see the rock garden. When he was sure no one was around, he made a mad dash across the lit grassy area and stopped in front of the rock garden to catch his breath. Directly behind him was the high-rise hotel and he could only hope nobody could see him.

  All right, think and be quick about it, he told himself. I’m too close to get any perspective. I need to be over there by that pool.

  He had to change his course slightly as he backed up to miss a small pool cabana in the way. As he got to the front of the cabana he was startled to see two young people inside.

  Without thinking Pusca, or for that matter it could have been Chaco, said in a gruff voice, “What in the hell is going on here?”

  The two young people who were naked as jay birds grabbed their clothes and made a run for it across the lawn. Pusca couldn’t help but laugh. His little outburst caught the attention of several couples on the far side of the pool who were having drinks after dinner. He hid in the cabana for a while until things quieted down.

  From the cabana he was able to visualize the approximate location of the cave. The natural light from the moon helped him find it. He ran back to the rock garden and started searching for the entrance to the cave. It took over an hour of tedious work to find the entrance and then another half hour to open it. He stepped inside and just as quickly closed up the entrance.

  In an instant Chaco was back.

  “I don’t want to go,” said Pusca.

  “Don’t worry my friend, you’ll always be with me…..and thanks.”

  Chaco surveyed the room. The moon provided the light inside the cave. It was a very large cave with multiple side chambers all filled with gold. There were boxes of jewelry, statuettes, gold coins, and many other gold items. Chaco remembered the endless toil by the sailors that had been required to move the gold from the ship to the cave. Then he remembered the justifiable revenge he had inflicted against those who had helped to destroy his world.

  Let’s see now, I need about $250,000 in gold to pay off the bank. I need another hundred thousand for Maria and her family. If I remember right an ounce of gold is selling for five hundred dollars per ounce. Chaco lifted one of the gold coins and tried to determine its weight. I figure I need about forty pounds of gold. He guessed at the weight of the coins and filled a cloth sack with what he thought equaled $360,000. He took another sack and put about thirty coins in it for emergencies. He put both bags in a used backpack which he had bought at the Goodwill the day before. He slept for a few hours and then left the cave at the break of dawn.

  Everything seemed quiet at first until he reached the edge of the bay. There were people everywhere with picks and shovels digging in any piece of ground that they could find. Chaco dove back in the bushes several times as people came near him. Not far away he saw several police cars with their lights on and multiple news trucks. It was chaos.

  Think you idiot, he said to himself.

  Chaco followed the next two people that entered the bushes for a short distance. They diverted off the path to a small clearing where a hillside had a rock outcropping on one side. They moved several boulders and then started using their picks. After a minute of hard work they both took off their light coats and ball caps and then continued digging. Chaco sneaked up and grabbed a coat and cap while they weren’t looking. He began to walk away but turned back briefly and tossed five gold coins in the dirt they had removed from the hillside. He slipped away before they saw him.

  He hurried back to the beach. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. More and more people and the media were there in mass like maggots at a salmon feast.

  He ran back into the bushes to where the two guys were still digging. He tossed some gold coins in the bushes nearby and then carefully tossed a couple coins close to where they were digging. He had emptied his small bag of coins. He backed away from the two guys and waited for more people to come down the trail.

  “I found one!” screamed Chaco at the top of his voice. “Right here!” Holding a coin to the morning sun, he screamed, “There’s another!”

  The two guys who were digging nearby quickly looked behind them and saw a couple coins in plain sight.

  The people on the trail came running. Within seconds, fifteen people were there with more arriving. Gold had been found swept the beach in minutes and people came running. It was a stampede!

  The two guys that had been digging grabbed the two coins and in the next breath had their picks raised in the air in a threatening manner. “It’s our gold and we’ll kill anyone that comes near it.”

  The crowd stopped in their tracks for a moment.

  “Look! Gold on the hill above them!” screamed one of the new arrivals.

  The diggers didn’t know what hit them as the endless wave of people overwhelmed the small hillside. Soon the cops arrived to find many bloodied noses and quite a few knock-down drag-out fights. The gold hunters just kept coming and coming and before long every square inch of ground had a body on it.

  And to keep the frenzy going, people were continuously yelling out, “I found one!” as if they were at an Easter egg hunt.

  This frenzy wouldn’t die down for days. Gold fever was contagious.

  Chaco slipped through the crowd and disappeared into the city during all of the commotion.

  Chapter 62

  GOLD RUSH IN SAN DIEGO was the news across the world.


  “Approximately thirty gold coins have been found so far and the coins have been traced to the Santa Cortina, which went down off the coast of San Diego five hundred years ago, just as Chaco the Inca kid has alleged. And if he is right there is a half billion dollar fortune just waiting to be found,” one reporter announced.

  Many of the businesses in the area had hired private guards to protect their properties. The Marriott was being overwhelmed by gold seekers. Parts of their fencing on the ocean side had been knocked down. The police couldn’t respond quickly enough so the Marriott had hired a small army to protect their property.

  The governor was considering calling out the National Guard.

  Everyone was searching for Chaco. The gold coins had appeared within hours after he had been spotted.

  In the meantime Chaco had bought some sun glasses and another hat that covered his face better. He had no idea the danger he was in.

  ***

  In Peru people were going nuts. Chaco had become a national hero overnight and the interest in searching for gold was sky rocketing.

  Dr. Ortiz couldn’t see straight. He had Chaco in his hands twice and he had gotten away. “Chaco knows where the Inca gold is right here in Peru,” Ortiz screamed. “We’ve got to get him! He’ll make us rich beyond our wildest dreams,” his frustration showing as he scowled at Sanchez.

  Ortiz, Sanchez, and Jorge were leaving for San Diego in the morning. Dr. Ortiz had contacted the FBI and was to play a pivotal role in Chaco’s interrogation and capture.

  ***

  Chaco stopped at the various newsstands on the street corners as he moved across the city. His picture was on the front page of all the newspapers.

  I’ve got to get out of this town and soon, he thought. They’re bound to catch me.

  He rode a city bus to La Mesa near Interstate 8. He had heard about hitchhiking and was surprised that within a half hour after putting his thumb out, he had a ride. They were three harmless looking guys who were heading back to Phoenix.

  The ride was uneventful until they stopped at the Subway in Gila Bend and one of the guys recognized it was Chaco in the back seat. While Chaco was in the bathroom they made their plans.

  “Carlos,” the name Chaco had called himself, “after we get to Phoenix where bouts are you headed?”

  “I think I’ll go on to Denver,” said Chaco, “I have relatives there.”

  “Well, we should be in Phoenix in another hour. Where should we drop you?”

  “Just somewhere near the freeway.”

  They finished their sandwiches and got back into the car.

  Five minutes later they pulled onto a side road and drove down it about a hundred yards.

  Chaco sat there wondering what might be going on. They seemed like nice guys and he wasn’t concerned until the car door in the back seat opened and Kyle, the driver, stuck a large gun in his face.

  “Get out of the car,” he demanded.

  Chaco was speechless and did what he was told. James the other guy grabbed his backpack from him and started rummaging through it.

  “Wow!” he screamed. “There’s gold here,” and gold coins poured out onto the ground.

  Chaco had regained his senses and was waiting for his chance to escape when a heavy blow to the back of his head drove him to the ground. The last thing he remembered was seeing the three men hooting and hollering about their good fortune.

  Chapter 63

  “I figure we might have half a million in gold here. If we split it three ways that’s, uhhh…..a hundred and sixty-six thousand a piece. That makes for a good days work. This guy,” Kyle pointed at Chaco on the ground, “is wanted by the FBI and we can walk away free and clear right now. We just leave him here and drive off.”

  “It’s not a bad idea, but you know what? If I’m right, Chaco knows where that half a billion fortune is. Do we settle for a hundred-sixty-six thousand or do we go for a hundred-sixty-six million? Let me think…..” as James used his hands to balance which idea might be better.

  They all started laughing.

  “Get something to tie his hands with. I’ll call my wife and tell her I might be coming home a few days late. I’ll tell her we’re on a mission for God.”

  They all laughed again.

  All three men were ex-military but overall used to be pretty decent guys. They had been in San Diego along with everyone else looking for gold but when they got out to the beach and saw the masses of people the futility of it all sank in quickly and soon after they left for home.

  Kyle and James both had a wife and kids. All three were drivers for the Post Office and they had taken a couple of weeks off to look for gold. They were pursuing the American Dream…..how to make a fortune without having to work for it.

  Kyle’s wife wanted him to take the hundred sixty-six thousand and leave good enough alone. James’s wife basically said, don’t come home without the millions.

  The third man was an unknown in many ways. He wasn’t married and had been a driver for only a year. Kyle and James who were good friends had invited Allen to go hunting last year with them. He turned out to be a great hunter and loved drinking beer with them. Allen had been forced out of the military because of his temper but neither Kyle nor James had ever seen him act out of hand.

  “Let’s go guys, no time to waste.”

  They unloaded the trunk first and then tied Chaco’s hands behind his back. They picked him up while he was still unconsciousness and put him in the trunk.

  “Is he breathing?” asked James.

  “He’s okay. I didn’t hit him that hard.”

  They drove off heading for San Diego.

  An hour later they heard noises coming from the trunk. Chaco was screaming and kicking the trunk lid.

  “That’s not going to work,” said Kyle as he pulled over.

  “I’ll take care of it,” said Allen and he jumped out of the car.

  Kyle pulled the latch for the trunk lid. Allen put his face close to Chaco and said, “Not another peep out of you or I’ll mess you up good.” He raised his hand as if to strike Chaco but didn’t and then jeered at him and slammed the lid.

  For two miles they didn’t hear a sound and then the yelling and kicking began again.

  Kyle stopped the car again at a rest area.

  “This time I’ll really take care of it,” Allen shouted and jumped out of the car. Kyle and James gave each other a quizzical look not quite understanding Allen’s extreme irritation.

  The trunk lid popped open and Allen started beating Chaco half to death.

  Kyle and James jumped out of the car and ran to the trunk. They had to forcibly pull Allen off of Chaco. He might have killed him. Luckily, they were the only ones in the rest area and no one had seen or heard what had happened. It took a couple of minutes to calm Allen down.

  “You might have killed him. What’s going on with you?”

  “Sorry guys. I got carried away. I won’t do that again.”

  “Please don’t, Allen. We need Chaco to tell us where the gold is. We can’t kill him.”

  In Allen’s mind he had already assumed they would eventually have to kill Chaco. It was so clear, there was no other way.

  They got on their way and had no more trouble with Chaco, probably because he was unconscious.

  “I know an old run down motel near Yuma. We’ll stop there and get dinner and have a long talk with Chaco.”

  An hour later they reached the hotel, checked in quickly and got a room, which wasn’t visible from the front office. There weren’t any other cars in the parking lot so they dragged the unconscious Chaco into the room.

  “Damn it Allen, you really hurt him.”

  “Oh, he’s alright,” said Allen and went into the bathroom and got an ice bucket full of water and splashed it on Chaco’s face.

  Chaco was groggy at first and then promptly came to.

  “See, I told you he’s okay. Now let me question him.”

  “Just back off Allen, I’ll quest
ion him,” said Kyle.

  “Chaco, are you all right?” asked Kyle in an endearing voice.

  “I’ve been better.” His mind was still a little hazy.

  “We don’t want to hurt you anymore. Just take us to the gold and then we’ll let you go.”

  “I don’t know what gold you are talking about.”

  “The same place where you got these gold coins from. Now tell us.”

  “That was all there was. I found the cave and took everything.”

  “Then you won’t mind taking us there and showing us the cave.”

  “There must be thousands of people all over the area by now and the cops are everywhere. When I left the cave several people saw me come out of it. The cave isn’t a secret anymore.”

  “He’s lying,” said Allen. “Let me at him,” and Allen pushed forward. James held him back.

  “Tell us the truth,” said Kyle. “Otherwise, I’ll have to let Allen talk to you.”

  Chaco looked at Allen. If I could only get out of these ropes I’d like to have a little talk with Allen myself, thought Chaco.

  “It must be all over the TV about the cave.”

  James flipped on the TV and they watched the evening news. They talked a lot about the gold that was found in San Diego, but nothing about a cave being found.

  “I told you he was lying.”

  “Do you want to change your story, Chaco?”

  “I told you the truth.”

  The three men went outside to talk.

  “You’re going to have to beat it out of him,” Allen said.

  “He may be right, Kyle,” said James. “I hate to do it, but if we want the gold I may have to agree with Allen.”

  “I don’t disagree, but then what? Even if we get the gold and the FBI gets Chaco and then he tells them what we did to him, we could be in a real fix. I want the gold as much as you guys but I don’t want to rot in jail either.”

  “We beat it out of him and then we kill him,” said Allen indifferently.