Chapter 1051 Corpses and Somalis (Double last day to ask for monthly tickets)
Everyone walked across the bottom of the railway bridge to the other side, and couldn't help but frown when facing the messy footprints on the ground.
Jubal squatted on the ground, silently identifying the number of footprints, but Hannah went straight to the key point, "It's them. There is a small footprint here, which should be left by the 7-year-old boy named Nicholas."
"They came down the hillside over there and headed west." Detective Bolino drew a line with his hand and pointed in the direction where the footprints disappeared.
"Wait a minute." Old Muto suddenly lowered his face and stopped everyone who was about to step forward, and shouted twice behind him in a dialect that even Jack couldn't understand.
The three militiamen immediately raised their Bayi bars with solemn expressions and bent forward in a formation of one in front and two in back.
"What happened?" Aubrey was confused.
Clay pointed to the big bird that was flying up and down in the woods in the distance, "There are other animals there competing with the vultures for food, probably hyenas or cheetahs."
All the smart people present quickly thought of what Clay meant by food, and their expressions suddenly became ugly.
Sure enough, ten minutes later, everyone saw a mutilated body under a big tree far away from the main road.
Old Muto's militia boys had just shot away two cheetahs, one large and one small. Before they arrived, the mother and son (female) were driving away the annoying vultures while seizing the time to enjoy fresh meat.
The internal organs of the corpse have been basically hollowed out, and there are numerous white bones on the two arms and thighs, not to mention the face. All the easy-to-eat features have been eaten away, and there are only two bloody holes left in the eye sockets. , the eyelids and eyeballs were pecked clean.
"Jacob Bruce." Jack endured nausea and pulled out a passport from the deceased's trouser pocket, then found a branch to pull out his right hand that was pressed under his body, and took a picture of the fingerprints with his mobile phone.
Because he was pressed underneath him, the lower part of the deceased's right arm was preserved, while his left arm appeared incomplete five or six meters away.
Although there is no Internet at the moment, the fingerprints can be sent back after returning to further confirm the identity of the deceased.
"He seems to be one of the leaders?" Jubal turned over the incomplete list in their hands.
Clay's performance was second only to Jack's. He collected the red rags around the body and then pieced together half of a red T-shirt, while the remaining half was still on the body.
On the front of the T-shirt is a picture of a dove of peace holding an olive branch in its mouth, surrounded by a ring with words such as Brunswick Mission Church written on it.
"Something is wrong. My boys walked west along the path for two kilometers. The footprints there are more orderly, at least lined up in a line. But why does this body appear here alone?"
Old Muto didn't understand criminal investigation, but he was keenly aware that there was something wrong with a corpse appearing alone here.
At this time, Jack also finished a rough inspection of the body, "Sorry, the damage is too serious, I can't tell the specific cause of death, unless Dr. Temperley Breonna and her team are called in to directly remove the bones for analysis.
But I could barely tell from the bruises on some remaining skin tissue and the edema under the scalp that he had been severely beaten before his death, and the right arm beneath him showed defensive wounds. "
"Beat him to death? Can I think that the murderer targeted him deliberately and had a certain purpose?" Jubal held his chin in thought.
"It can be considered that it is unlikely that the others who were kidnapped will be forced to submit by standing up in public. There are only footprints of at most four people around, and they are at least one kilometer away from the path that others passed.
It is believed that someone deliberately brought him here and then tortured and killed Jacob Bruce without anyone else seeing. "
Aubrey, who said this, stood farthest away, looking up from time to time to glance at the vultures that were still circling in the sky and screaming strangely.
"What's the purpose? Just to simply destroy the corpse and eliminate traces? Oh, by the way, if the corpse is disposed of in this way in a place like this, if we arrive a day later, we will only find some broken bones, right?"
Hannah's question received no response from anyone else, because everyone's attention was drawn to Detective Bolino and Old Muto who were having an argument.
"This is an obvious frame-up, I don't believe you can't see it." Old Muto said angrily.
Detective Bolino spoke in a low voice, as if coaxing an old child, "But everyone knows that this is their territory, and I think we should ask them. Maybe the Lion King or his people saw something. "
"Who is 'The Lion King'?" Jack asked, also in Swahili.
Both of them were a little surprised that Jack could speak Swahili, and they looked at each other and ended the little dispute decisively.
Old Muto had a pretty good impression of Jack. After a slight hesitation, he chose to tell the truth frankly, "There is a rebel force from Somalia resting nearby, but they are very small. I don't think they have the ability to kidnap 23 Americans." people."
"Can you take us to have a look? Maybe as Detective Bolino said, they saw something early yesterday morning?"
At this point, Jubal paused and glanced at Detective Bolino and the militiamen who were searching around. "If they really kidnapped those tourists, I will be responsible for negotiations and understand their demands. Force will not help solve the problem." question."
"No." Old Muto shook his head, "Just let that young boy come with me. Simba and his people are a little sensitive."
At first, Jack didn't understand why he wouldn't make people feel sensitive when he was with him, until he followed the old Muto up the ridge and saw a flag with a red star on a blue background flying on a hill not far away.
He knew almost nothing about Somalia, except that Somalia and Ethiopia, which had fought for the Ogaden region, were once Soviet brothers.
In addition, there was only the inexplicable battle in Mogadishu in 1993, when the Black Hawk fell and the SEALs, Delta and Rangers were defeated.
There was a ruin on the hill, which looked like a small military facility that had fallen into disrepair for a long time. Except for a bunker-like main structure that was still intact, the rest could only barely block the wind.
"The Somali flag in my memory should be a blue background with white stars." Jack asked tentatively.
Old Muto replied casually, "Because Siad Barre is just an idiot poisoner, he has never really ignited a spark."
This sentence contains a lot of information, and Jack roughly understands why Old Muto would bring himself, an American who is "suspected of being a red element", to the meeting alone.
Somalia, a small country located in the Horn of Africa and guarding the throat of the Gulf of Aden, was once the little bully in East Africa. It played both sides between the United States and the Soviet Union, and even fought with Ethiopia for the Ogaden region rich in oil and gas resources.
Siad Barre, as mentioned by Old Muto, was a political strongman who once ruled Somalia for 22 years. Before he was overthrown in 1991, Somalia had always been a so-called socialist country.
It goes without saying what kind of character Somalia is today. Although the people on this land are called Somalis, the warlords belonging to various tribes have been fighting for years, turning this once little bully in East Africa into a pirate paradise.