"Boom!"

A strong flow of air almost blew Luke away.

He led people to guard the door of the backyard. Fortunately, it was some distance away from the villa, otherwise he would have been affected by the explosion.

Even so, my ears were buzzing and I was temporarily deaf.

In order to avoid a secondary explosion, Luke quickly asked everyone to hide behind the police car.

After a while, the second explosion did not occur. Xiao Hei, who was hiding aside, opened his mouth and waved his hands, as if he was saying something to him. However, due to the impact of the explosion, Luke's ears were buzzing and he could not hear it at all.

clear.

Luke looked at his watch. A full minute passed before he popped up to check.

The villa was on fire, and the surrounding area was a mess, with exploding sawdust everywhere.

The area around the villa was also in chaos. Luke rubbed his ears and felt that his hearing was gradually recovering, and he could vaguely hear the wailing coming from the villa.

The injured were all police officers from the Southern Division, and Luke could not ignore them.

He took over the explosion site, leaving a few people to guard the surroundings, and led the uninjured and successively supporting patrol officers into the villa to rescue people.

The explosion scene was very tragic, with flames, thick smoke, damaged walls, furniture, broken meat, and mutilated corpses...

A total of eight police officers entered the building at that time, three of whom were killed on the spot, three seriously injured and two slightly injured.

Generally speaking, the injured cannot move easily.

But the specific situation, specific analysis, the villa is on fire, if left alone, even if it does not burn, it will be killed by the thick smoke;

Luke asked the police to move the injured out to stop the bleeding, especially the three who were seriously injured. If the bleeding was not stopped in time, they would not be able to wait for the ambulance to arrive.

Among them, Detective Davo Galli, who was familiar with Luke, was also seriously injured. He was covered in blood, his arms and legs were broken, his chest was also fractured, and he was breathing out more than he was breathing in.

Luke looked at the other party with fear. If the other party hadn't come earlier, he would have been the one to lead the search. From a certain perspective, he could also be regarded as Luke's savior.

At the same time, Luke did not expect that this group of robbers would be so vicious and would actually plant a bomb in the villa. This was a naked provocation.

Things are getting serious.

The properties are also different.

Luke couldn't figure out why the other party placed a bomb in the villa?

Besides attracting the hatred of the police, what other benefits can there be?

Could it be to injure the police officers investigating the case and thus affect the progress of the investigation?

Or maybe it's just pure revenge.

"Woooo..."

A siren sounded.

Several cars with FBI logos pulled up to the door.

Luke was a little surprised. Logically speaking, the FBI shouldn't have arrived so quickly.

The FBI is led by an old acquaintance, Agent Anthony.

"Luke, why are you here?"

"I was investigating a homicide case and found out that this villa might be the suspect's stronghold, but the police from the Southern Branch arrived earlier than me and entered the villa to search, and an explosion occurred.

And you?"

"I am investigating the case of the robbery of an oil painting, and I came to see Inspector Davo Galli. How is his situation?"

"He was seriously injured and was just carried into an ambulance."

"What a pity. I still want to exchange some clues about the case with him." Anthony's face changed slightly, he shook his head and sighed.

Luke suggested, "The case I am investigating is also related to the oil painting robbery. We can also share some intelligence."

Anthony asked, "What did you find?"

Luke pointed to the dilapidated villa behind him, "This should be a stronghold of the group of robbers. They installed bombs in advance."

Anthony looked at the bombed villa, "It could also be a trap."

Luke nodded and agreed with Anthony's guess, "What did you guys find?"

"This group of robbers is very professional. I suspect that they may be a traveling type and may have committed crimes in other cities or other states.

I am asking people to search for similar cases across the United States, and I believe there will be clues soon."

"In other words, there is no progress in the FBI's current investigation?" Luke didn't believe what the other party said.

Anthony looked noncommittal, "What about you? What case are you investigating, and why is it related to the oil painting robbery?"

"I'm investigating the murder of a Southern Precinct police officer who used to work as a security guard at the Getty Museum." This was not a secret, and Luke couldn't hide it even if he wanted to.

"Just because he worked as a security guard at the Getty Museum before, do you think that he is related to the robbery of the Getty Museum's oil painting? Isn't it a bit arbitrary?"

Luke said, "He was killed. There is no doubt that he was killed."

Several police cars drove over and stopped not far away, and senior officials from the Southern Bureau also rushed to the scene.

Luke and Anthony walked over and had a few words. They learned that Luke had organized a rescue operation, and the senior officials of the Southern Branch expressed their gratitude to Luke.

Luke handed the scene to the senior management of the Southern Bureau and said goodbye to Anthony.

Anthony patted him on the shoulder, "Stay in touch, man."

At this time, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon.

After working hard all morning, Luke and others haven't eaten yet.

Luke took several team members to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Because of the explosion, everyone was in a low mood.

Luke picked up a glass of Coke and took a few sips. Coke is not a good thing, but if you feel unhappy, then drink it. Fat House Happy Water is not called it for nothing.

Xiao Hei couldn't help but talk about the explosion just now, "I thought these robbers were looking for money, but now it seems they are a group of crazy guys."

The deputy said, "I'm not very surprised. Don't forget Patrolman James Jauregui. This is not the first time they have killed a police officer."

Luke said thoughtfully, "It seems that we have to shift the focus of the investigation this time."

Previously, Luke's main experience was in investigating two homicide cases, but now the situation is different. They have solved the corpse dumping case on Route 1. There are too few clues in the murder of the patrolman, but it can be determined that it is related to the oil painting.

Related to the robbery case.

Since there are few clues about the murder of the police officer, the investigation will focus on the robbery of the oil painting. As long as this group of robbers can be caught, the murder of the police officer may be solved.

Immediately, Luke rearranged the task.

The focus of the investigation is on three directions. The first direction is to investigate old cases. This group of robbers is bold and careful, has skills and equipment, and must have a criminal record before. The deputy team is responsible for the investigation.

The second direction is the stolen goods. This stolen goods does not refer to the ten robbed oil paintings, but the property that was placed together with the pistol in the vault of the Gray couple's home, and is the responsibility of Xiao Hei and Jackson.

The third direction of investigation is the Getty Museum. Luke plans to go to the Getty Museum himself to understand the situation and see if he can find more clues about the robbery.

After dinner, Luke and Porter rushed to the Getty Museum.

The Getty Museum is still exhibiting normally, and several heavily armed security guards can be seen not far away. Apparently, the museum has been devastated because of the robbery of the oil painting.

Porter observed the security personnel and cameras in the museum, "The security measures are so tight, it is not easy to steal oil paintings here."

Luke said, "That's why the robbers attack in all directions and attack during transportation."

Porter lowered his voice, "The fact that the robbers set up an ambush in advance means that they already know the exact time and location of the transportation. There may be a spy inside the museum. Could it be the murdered police officer James Jauregui?"

Luke nodded slightly. Although he didn't want to doubt the police easily, the $200,000 found in James Jauregui's warehouse and the museum floor plan showed that this was very likely.

Porter mused, "If James Jauregui was a mole, why was he killed? Because the spoils were unevenly divided?"

Luke has also thought about this question. Jens Jauregui was killed on the night of December 25, and the oil painting was robbed in the early morning of December 30. When Jens Jauregui was killed, the oil painting had not been snatched.

It’s nothing more than an uneven distribution of the spoils.

The greater possibility is that James Jauregui wanted to quit, and the robbers were afraid that he would leak the news and kill him.

There is also a possibility that the robbers obtained the transportation route of the oil paintings from James Jauregui, and in order to prevent the police from finding them through James Jauregui, they killed and silenced them in advance.

After Luke showed his ID, he met Shukri Blade, the deputy director of the museum, who is also solely responsible for the museum's security measures.

Shukri Blade invited Luke and Luke into the office, looked at them and asked, "Two police officers, which department are you from?"

In just the past few days, he has met several groups of people who came to investigate the case.

"I am Detective Porter from the Robbery and Murder Division, and this is our Captain Li." After Porter introduced him, he thought of the two people pretending to be detectives and added, "There were people from the Robbery and Murder Division before.

Have you come to investigate?”

"No." Shukri Blade shook his head, "I have heard of the name of the Robbery and Murder Division. Are you also responsible for investigating the case of stolen oil paintings?"

Luke asked, "Do you know James Jauregui?"

"No."

Luke took out a photo of James Jauregui and said, "He is a patrolman who used to work part-time as a security guard at your place."
To be continued...