The Truth Berries

VI

          He suffered two broken ribs, a broken tooth and a swollen ankle that made him walk with a slight limp up to now. But aside from his foot injury, there were no visible evidences that suggested he was tortured mercilessly. Not a single bruise to be found on his body. He was handled by professionals, of that he was sure.

          The day after the chaos in the senator’s study, Jess woke up with several masked men already inside his own house. They had gotten to his wife and son so he could not move an inch. They took him to a waiting sedan outside while three men dragged his wife and his son to a separate white van. He struggled against four men but his strength was no match for them. His protest was cut short by a single blow to his upper abdomen, right into the solar plexus. One man covered his head with a black cotton bag, before delivering the final blow that made him unconscious. Then, they forced him into the trunk before slamming the door closed. When he woke up, he found himself seated in a dark room, legs tied and handcuffed from behind. There were three men in front of him. Two of them were part of the team who kidnapped them and they were still masked. The other one, sitting on a chair on the other end of the table, was Senator Baynes.

          “I never imagined you could do that to me. Of all my men, you were the most promising, Jess. Now, where is it, Jess? What did you do to the contents of the chest? Where did you hide it?”

          “I don’t understand what you are saying, Sir. I did not steal anything from it. What you have is what we got from that bastard. I swear, Sir. Please, let my family go. They have nothing to do with all this mess.”

          “I would want to, Jess. Believe me I don’t want to involve your family in this. But of all the people, you should know how much I have invested just to have that chest and what’s inside it. That chest is literally my property!”

          “Please, Sir. I’m begging you. I would do anything you want me to do. Just let go of my family. Please”, he sobbed.

          “You know what, Jess? I believe you. So here’s the deal. You go find my real chest and deliver it to me with all the complete pieces and I’ll let your family go. For the meantime, they shall remain in my men’s custody. You get my assurance that they will be treated accordingly while you are looking for my chest. Now, do I get your word that you will do everything just to find it?”

Jess only nodded because he could not talk anymore. He was now crying pathetically in front of the senator. But the senator was not moved.

          “Can’t hear you, Jess. Have you lost your tongue already?”, the two men behind snickered.

          “Please, Sir. I did n-“

          “Do you promise to find my chest at all cost, Jess?!”

          “Yes, Sir. I promise. I’ll find it at all cost”.

          “Very well, then.”, he stood up and gave orders to the two men.

          “Give him something to motivate himself. He deserves it.”

.         The two men opened the door as the senator walked out of the room. Before closing it, they reached out to get something from outside the room and Jess shivered when he saw what it was. It was a steel Yankee baseball bat wrapped with a whole bath towel at the end. When the door closed, his cry of agony followed and reverberated throughout the building. It took twenty minutes before the cries stopped and the two men appeared from the room. Through the small c***k of the door, Jess could be seen lying face down with blood trickling from his mouth. He had to find the real chest or he would never see his wife and son ever again.

He did not have time for full recovery. Baynes had his family hidden in one of his numerous safehouses. He thought of searching them one by one but that would eventually do more harm to them than good so he went back to where all of those troubles began. He flew back to the place where he was first outwitted by his adversary – to Wolf’s place. As he was standing there facing the burnt-out cabin, he considered his options. Wolf’s already dead so he could not question him, obviously. So were his men. There was only one way to find the truth. He traced Wolf’s every step before they met that day. He stalked all that he had contact the last few days and one name proved to be more than worthy of his time. So he paid him a visit.

           The old man just came home when he first saw him. The folks just call him Papa Yoel. Nobody knew his real name and nobody wanted to tell him who his families were. After the old man locked his door, he waited for about an hour before following. He spent a full minute picking the lock of the front door, then went inside stealthily. The entire house was dark so he took out his pen light and searched the whole place. It wasn’t in the drawers or the cupboards. The huge glass cabinet full of antique burial jars looked suspicious so he upended every one of them but it turned out to be a bad idea. Many of them contained ashes which he presumed to be the real ashes of men. This made him flinch. Not that he’s scared of curses but of diseases he could acquire from them. Then, he heard someone snoring from upstairs. He donned his gloves and took out the bulging piece from his suit. He climbed upstairs with utmost focus.

          He was already in front of the door when he noticed that the sound of snoring stopped. He waited for a full minute but not a rustle came out of the room. He paused for a moment to think. He was young and at the peak of his strength. He had military training and was skilled both in armed and hand to hand combat. The old man wouldn’t stand a chance. He took a deep breath and reached for the knob. It wasn’t locked. Slowly, he started to turn it, creating less noise as possible. The door opened and he was halfway through when a shadow leapt out suddenly and sent him tumbling down the stairs. He lost his gun when his wrist bumped into the handrail. When his ankle hit one of the steps, he cursed his attacker. Unfortunately, he was still on the losing side when they both landed at the bottom. But his training during his days in the Marines paid off when the old man tried to attack him with an unusual knife. He easily blocked it and put his skills in display. Ultimately, he won their skirmish and put the old man to sleep.

          “Tough son of a b***h”, he said to the unconscious man.

          When he was sure the old man could not do anything but talk, he poured some cold water to wake him up.

          “Morning, sleepyhead. Do you speak English? Can you understand me?“

          “What do you want?”

          “That is not how we’re doing this. I’ll be the one asking questions and you will be the one answering. Now this will make things more interesting” he took out a small knife from his boots.

          “Who are you?”, he asked the man bravely.

           With no hesitation, Jess drove the knife into the old man’s leg while covering his mouth at the same time. His cry of pain was muffled considerably by Jess’ gloved hand. He left the knife intact, its full length of the blade deeply sunk. Blood started to make its way down his hairy legs. Yoel started to quiver but defiance still showed in his eyes.

          “Don’t mind who I am. You don’t know me but I know Wolf. And he knew you enough to invite you to his place and pay you a thousand dollars for a job done. I think it’s just safe to assume you knew him too. Now, my question is; where is the chest now?”

          “What chest?”

          “Oh, you want to play this your way, huh? That’s just fine with me ”.

          He pulled the knife from his leg and went for his left hand. Still, nobody could hear him for Jess was covering his mouth. When he was done crying, he resumed his interrogation.

          “Okay, let’s try it again. Where is the chest that you took from Wolf? Where are you hiding it?”

          “That thing does not belong to you. It belongs to the god.”

          “Not anymore, old man”

          “You will not get anything from me. Kill me if you must, but I will not let the gods down. And they shall avenge my death. You shall not go unpunished!”

          Jess lost his temper. He smacked the man before pulling the knife and stabbed his other leg. Yoel winced in pain.

          “I’m getting tired of this, old man! Tell me where it is or I’ll kill you right now!”

          “Go ahead. End my suffering. But I will not tell you a single thing about the chest!”

          He was about to punch him again when he heard a soft vibrating sound. It was from a phone. He checked his but he had no messages. Then he realized it was Yoel’s. He searched the man and found his cellular phone. He had one new message and it was a confirmation of a successful package delivery. Jess let out a smile. Then, he took out his phone and dialed. When it was answered, Jess told him what he found out.

          “I know now where it is. The old man who forged it has sent it to the Philippines, to one Miguel Romero. I’ll fly tonight as soon as I’m done here.”, he hanged up.

          After the call, he started cleaning up his things. Then, he looked around the house for something. He came back carrying a thick plastic bag and a roll of duct tape.

          “It seems your god has favored me and not you.”

          “No. You don’t understand. That thing shouldn’t be in anybody’s hand. It is way dangerous for any man to have that in possession. No man is worthy of its power and that will anger the gods.”

           Jess decided he heard enough. He taped the man’s mouth and covered his head with the plastic bag. Then, he wrapped the ends of it around his neck, making the old man gasped for breath. Before leaving him to suffocate, he leaned into his ear.

           “I’m not afraid of your gods. When you meet them, let your gods know I’m coming for them”.