The Truth Berries

XXIII

       Alfred Baynes never saw their faces. But he took orders from the anonymous men who called him every twentieth of the month. They entrusted him with one single task, but the task proved to be too enormous for him. But they had already done their side of the deal. They made him the man he was today. They picked him up from the muddy pools of life and gave him the name and power he possessed today.

       He remembered the day they came to him. He was still a struggling lawyer that time, a rookie with two failures in his resume already. He was just coming out of the courthouse after his second failed case when a man wearing a black cap purposely bumped into him. He was caught off guard so his bag and all the files he was holding scattered all over the floor. The man never said sorry, but he helped him gather everything. He even helped him stand up. The man deliberately avoided looking into his eyes and his cap shielded his face so he never recognized him. The man kept on brushing his shoulders and straightening his suit when he was already standing up. Then out of a sudden, he slipped an envelope inside his suit. The man never spoke a single word throughout that encounter and he left as swiftly as he appeared. Baynes was left there standing still, with the strange envelope inside his suit.

       Alfred Baynes waited to be home first before opening the envelope. He brought it to his room and read it on his bed. The letter was addressed to him but it bore no name of its writer. Baynes felt like he was reading his own struggling life from somebody else’s point of view. They knew all his hardships and all the humiliation he suffered. Whoever wrote that letter, they knew everything about him, as though they have been watching him through his entire life. And then they offered him success and fame. They promised him a position in the city hall. Then they promised him the city itself later on. Eventually, if he should accept it, he shall have a seat at the Senate itself. All he had to do was pledge his allegiance to them.

       The letter contained a brief history of an ancient organization that was formed a long time ago but still existed today. The brotherhood had only one aim; to ensure that mankind should live the life that they deserved since the time of our forefathers. They have been keeping the balance since the earliest times but they have been doing it covertly. They had eyes and ears everywhere, and everything that has happened was all according to their plans. According to them, they were the last of the gods’ descendants, and their purpose was to bring mankind back to where he was supposed to be sitting – along with the gods.

       Baynes felt like that was all a mistake. He thought it was like some kind of a prank letter from some lunatic with nothing better to do with his time. He crumpled the sheet of paper and threw it into his thrash bin. He started fixing his bed so he could go to sleep but it was then that his phone beeped. He got a message, but no number was registered. The message told him that tomorrow midday, the judge who threw his last case shall die in a car accident. That was to assure him that everything was not a simple joke. Baynes jumped off his bed and ran to the windows. He slowly parted the blinds and he peered outside to see in time the same man who bumped him at the courthouse. He was still wearing his cap and he was holding his phone in his hands. Baynes understood then that they were indeed watching him, whoever they were.

       At noon the next day, the city was shook with the news of Judge Miller’s car accident. The respected old woman was on her way to a hearing when a trailer truck lost its brake and crashed the judge’s car like a tin can. The driver was immediately caught but he requested a trial. Of all people with better records, the responsibility of indicting the driver landed on his hands. He was immensely pressured to close the case successfully but he gained the city’s trust and love when he finally did. Unfortunately, the car transporting the driver to the city jail suddenly exploded, killing him along with three other policemen. But he won the city, nonetheless.

       Since then, he became one of their henchmen. Whenever they wanted something to be done, they would call him and tell him what to do. He could never say no anymore for he knew that these men never take no for an answer. The last task, however, was unlike anything they have asked him before. And because of that, he had gone to extreme measures to ensure the accomplishment of the task. It had cost him his most loyal man, Jess. And he knew for sure that after he succeeded in finding what the brotherhood wanted, he would certainly hunt for his head. That was why he got ready with his own contingency plan.

       At ten minutes before ten that night, his private line rang. They were ten minutes early that time, but they were never late.

       “Report.”

       Just a single word but the power it possessed was unimaginable.

       “My man is currently tracking the person who apparently received the package from Egypt. According to him, he has already made contact.”

       There was a long, awkward silence between the lines.

       “Wasn’t that exactly what you told us before?”

       Baynes swallowed hard.

       “This time I’m sure he’s telling the truth.”

       “And why is that?”

       “I have what he holds dearest. And I can tell you with confidence that I made our last conversation very inspiring for him, so he would do his job.”

       “I see.”

       Baynes always wondered if the brotherhood was only one man for they all sounded the same. It has always been the same deep, guttural voice on the line. But Baynes knew better than to ask.

      “And when can we get a report of your positive acquisition of the thing?”

      “I really can’t give you the exact day and time as of now. But as soon as my man gets it, you will have it.”

       “Don’t play games with us. You know what we can do. Tell us when.”

       Baynes was terrified. They never talked to him like that until now. It seemed they were growing impatient already.

       “Soon, sir. I promise that.”

       He knew those words couldn’t move them, but he  also knew they got no choice but to wait like him.

       “Do you trust this man of yours, Baynes?”

       “I trust him to save his wife and his son, nothing more.”

       “And what about after this? Will he not talk about anything to anyone?”

       A smile cracked on Senator Alfred Baynes face.

       “A dead man never talks.”