The Unforgiven Sin

by R. Twine

  ‘He’s only concerned about his books, as usual!’ Michael exclaimed, interrupting me. ‘Here’s the real wealth! Here and now! Not in his pitiable papers,’ he uttered through his clenched teeth and then asked me. ‘What’s your take on all that?’

  ‘This is the question I should ask you, Michael. What’s your take on all that?’ I asked him, folding the letter.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he replied gloomily.

  ‘Neither do I. I didn’t expect such a turn of events.’ I took a seat on a chest. I needed time to rally my thoughts.

  ‘Phil had always been in the know about everything but he’d been hiding the truth from me. What do I have to do, Miriam? Samuel’s in love with you, I love you, too… What should I do after what I’ve found out? I hate him!’

  ‘I thought you’d fallen out of love with me, Michael,’ I said, refreshing his memory.

  ‘I don’t know what came over me. It must have been a momentary lapse of reason. Forgive me, Miriam, I’ve been off my trolley,’ he said, waving my question off, and then started yelling again. ‘It appears we are blood relatives! Within a short time I’ve come to know that I have as many as two brothers! Incidentally, have you accepted his proposal?’ he asked.

  ‘No, I haven’t,’ I replied. ‘I sensed there was some kind of a barrier between us so I wasn’t in a hurry to give him an answer. All three of us are in for major changes. It pains me to see you suffer, Michael. You are a very secretive person, and so is Samuel, as a matter of fact, therefore I’m not in the least surprised that you’re brothers.’

  ‘Miriam, I love you and want to help you. I want to help myself, too. This story with Samuel – I don’t like it at all! I’ve never kept anything back from you; I’ve always been sincere with you. I really have for you feelings I haven’t felt for many years, for any woman. Now that I know the situation we find ourselves in, I’m afraid of losing you.’

  ‘Michael, I love you, too,’ I said, tears running down my cheeks. ‘I’m going to lose the people I love – yet again – and this cannot be avoided. It’s foolish to believe that higher forces will reveal the truth. We’re just pawns on their chessboard. They will lead me again to the dead-line and abandon me, all alone with my problems I cannot solve. I’m fed up with life full of unexpected surprises, a life that makes me face impossible situations that have no way out. Look at Phil: he had such a treasure but nevertheless was far from being extravagant. Why? Who can give me the answer to this question? In actual fact, he was a billionaire but he didn’t seem to spend a penny of what is being kept in this vault. He was the keeper of this treasure, just like his father and all his ancestors. For whom and why had they been doing this?’

  ‘Miriam, I understand full well that you’re having a hard time. But I’m fed up with not living the life I want to live, too!’ Michael said, wiping the tears off my face. ‘Oh, how I love you, Miriam!’ he kept saying, while stroking my tight breasts and kissing me on the neck. ‘I love you more than this scoundrel Samuel! God, how I hate him! You cannot even imagine! I’m not sure what my reaction would be if this newly-found brother came within my reach! You and I will be strong only if we are together! I’m sure of it.’

  ‘Michael, we’re gradually going mad in this place. Everything that’s being kept here is soaked with human blood and violence! The ghosts of the dead owners of these treasures are guarding this place!’ I said. ‘You’d better help me find what we’ve come here for!’

  ‘Yes, you are absolutely right, let’s start looking for it,’ Michael agreed.

  We started looking through the archives. Some folders contained very old documents. There were thousands of them. Many of the folders had one and the same image on their front covers: an inverted pentagram with a heart in its center.

  ‘By all appearances, this sign symbolizes The Star of Baphomet, while a pendant is the symbol of an individual member,’ I said to Michael who was standing a little distance away from me, but he didn’t pay the slightest attention to my words. I went on with my search.

  ‘How can I possibly find anything in this mountainous pile of papers!’ I cried out in desperation.

  ‘Look, Miriam!’ Michael called out to me immediately and handed me some papers tied up with a cord. ‘It contains the inventory of the property of Satan’s followers! Just look at the dates: it looks like this society’s existed for many hundreds of years! Incredible!’

  ‘Michael, I think this is precisely what we need! Here’s the information on the contributions made by all members of the sect. We need to look everything through very thoroughly,’ I said, opening a hefty folder.

  I ran through the columns containing dates: one column held the date a person became a member of the sect; the other one contained the date of his or her death. It looked as if nobody left the organization while alive. This was an interesting folder: it contained the information on all the members of the satanic society. It was with great interest that I turned the pages one after the other and suddenly came across a yellowed photograph. My heart raced violently. It was a picture of my grandmother with her name written underneath. I couldn’t even imagine that a member of my family could belong to The Star of Baphomet…

  ‘I wonder what they spent their money on,’ I said, studying another dossier. ‘I don’t think it safe to take these papers out of the bunker.’

  Michael was totally absorbed in reading, going thoroughly through every document. From the side, it seemed as if he was recording the information right onto his sub cortex. He was virtually swallowing up one sheet of paper after the other. I was good at fast reading too, but not as good as he was!

  ‘It’s terrific, Michael!’ I exclaimed in admiration. ‘I’ve never seen anybody read so fast! I’ve always known you’re different, but you keep amazing me with every passing day.’

  ‘Here it is – the evidence!’ he said, clearly oblivious to my praise. ‘Just have a look at these resounding names! I’m not sure this information should be disclosed. This can be fraught with danger, Miriam. This is a collection of compromising materials on the most prominent people of our world. Now I have no doubt whatsoever that Phil has been murdered. And now that I have entered this place, this is the fate that may await me, too. Miriam, we have put our lives in great jeopardy. These people are invulnerable and no compromising material will ever be able to help us put them behind bars.’

  ‘Michael, our task is to make them leave us alone!’ I said. ‘The original documents must stay here for our own safety’s sake. Every one of these men has been involved in serious wheeling and dealing. Phil had been gathering materials for years, and, to my mind, someone ferreted out this fact. The investigating officer told me Phil had had powerful patrons, and they clearly wanted to lay their hands on the documents and destroy them. It could also be that someone was afraid the documents would fall into the hands of somebody belonging to The Star of Baphomet, or…’

  ‘…or into the hands of this self-proclaimed Master everybody is so afraid of!’ Michael surmised. ‘Miriam, somebody’s been playing cat and mouse with us!’

  ‘Indeed, who’s this mysterious stranger and how shall we find out his name?’ I mused aloud.

  ‘I have no idea,’ Michael said.

  ‘Can it be Samuel? Agella’s his mother, after all…’

  ‘Do you really suspect him, Miriam? I somehow thought you loved him!’ Michael said in bewilderment.

  ‘I do, Michael. It could be Samuel, too. And it could even be you!’ Silence fell between us. Michael stared at me with his eyes wide open, lost for words.

  ‘I’ve never been anybody’s master,’ he said finally. ‘It pains me to hear such allegations, the more so when they are coming from you. I’ve put myself in jeopardy by coming here for your sake, Miriam. But for you, I’d never have come anywhere near this place. I want very much to help you and I’m confident that people who have the intention of doing you harm had their hand in everything that’s happened to me recently. I’m here to help you despite the
imminent danger… By crossing the red line after we’d met, I have to go with you all the way till the end. And it’s not about money and treasures, Miriam, who the hell needs them, anyway…’ Michael went silent, sparks of anger in his eyes.

  ‘What is it about, then?’ I asked. ‘Please, go on. ’

  ‘It’s about you and your offspring! This offspring of yours can be obtained through Samuel, too! That’s why the danger comes from him, not from me! Besides, I’m sure it was intentionally that Barry Clean mentioned the compromising material,’ Michael said. ‘And it was he who brought you to Agella’s castle, not me,’ he concluded.

  I could only shrug my shoulders.

  We went on looking through the papers; I took photos of some of them; Michael recorded everything in his memory like a computer.

  ‘What had Phil been doing in life, in actual fact? Why had he been gathering this material? It took years, as a matter of fact,’ Michael mused aloud. Could this material have been the main motivation for murdering him? If so, we can well become the next victims, Miriam. Beside Phil, there was only one more person who enjoyed access to this vault: Phil’s trustee. Who’s this man? Nobody but the banker knows him, and the latter isn’t likely to disclose his name to us. We’re conspicuous, Miriam, and that’s what worries me most. This one-and- only trustee is the key to all this. It’s highly likely, that Phil’s murderer killed my wife, too. We haven’t got a moment to lose. I don’t know for sure who this man is but I still have some suspicions as to who exactly this might be.’

  ‘We have to find him, Michael – it’s urgent… And, please, forgive me,’ I said, sensing that my ungrounded suspicion had offended him.

  ‘Not at all, I’ve already forgotten about it,’ he shrugged me off, thinking his own thoughts.

  ‘We’ve got very little time. Here, in this vault, there is everything we need to detonate an informational bomb! Financial fraud, drug and human trafficking, arms sales… The members of this sect actually bathe in human blood! There’s enough material to wake the whole world up to the danger! Phil even gave the description of human offerings…’

  ‘This has yet to be proven, Miriam. You studied law, didn’t you, and you are supposed to know that, besides papers, there have to be live witnesses whom we’ll never manage to find! We’ll make a laughing stock of ourselves – and that’s how it will end. They are invulnerable! No judge is going to run the risk of locking them up – and eventually flushing his career down the toilet! We’ll just get them a little bit scared – that’s what we’re going to do by sending them a couple of compromising documents. Then they will probably leave us alone because none of them is eager to see his name appear in criminal breaking news. They’ll want to hush things up – and thus they will eventually stop bugging us! Phil knew this and therefore he left all the important documents here, in the safe place. Incidentally, how did you get in touch with Phil?’

  ‘Samuel gave me his telephone number,’ I explained.

  ‘Samuel? Is this some kind of a joke?!’ Michael asked in astonishment.

  ‘No, this isn’t a joke, Michael. It was Samuel who gave me Phil’s telephone number. He advised me to consult him for an explanation of the weird things that had been happening to me. Phil had been an anonymous consultant expert in one of the famous movies whose plot revolved around the world of demons. This was how Samuel got acquainted with him.’

  ‘Miriam, Samuel is Phil’s brother! Do you really understand what it all means?!’ Michael yelled viciously. His yell was really deafening.

  ‘Oh, shut up, Michael! Shut up your mouth, for Christ’s sake! The only thing you do is yelling like a madman!’ I demanded.

  ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry…,’ he said quickly, collecting himself. ‘We’d better leave this basement, Miriam. And we’ll have to go to some other place, not the hotel we stayed at before. Phil had a devoted friend… A genuine friend, not the likes of those scoundrels… We’ll find everything out and act accordingly.’

  ‘Michael, I’m at a loss. Is it worthwhile to stir up this nest of hornets? Maybe, you are right, and we’d better leave everything as it is?’

  ‘If they leave us alone, we will not wash their dirty laundry in public,’ Michael replied. ‘These papers are a guarantee of our safety.’

  When we were ready, Michael pressed the intercom button.

  ‘We’d like to leave here,’ he said.

  The appropriate code came in several minutes. Michael quickly keyed it in, and the door opened. We left the bunker and got on the train again. Albert Stein was already waiting for us.

  ‘Can you tell me who Phil’s trustee was?’ Michael asked him.

  ‘Unfortunately, I cannot disclose this information to anyone. The only thing I can tell you is that after your father’s death this person has no access to this place any more,’ he replied.

  ‘Was this trustee able to take any documents out of here in secret?’ Michael kept asking him.

  ‘No, he wasn’t,’ Stein assured him. ‘Only the owner is entitled to handle the content of the bunker as he pleases.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Michael nodded.

  ‘Always at your service,’ said the manager. ‘If you need any further information you can always count on me.’

  ‘Thanks, I'll certainly take that into consideration,’ Michael replied.

  Chapter 41

  It was already dark outside. Michael caught a taxi and told the driver where to go. In half an hour the cabdriver slowed the car to a stop on a narrow side street, and Michael helped me out. We stood still until the taxi disappeared around the corner.

  ‘What are we waiting for, Michael?’ I asked.

  ‘Let’s go,’ he said, quickly taking me by the arm and starting forward.

  We walked for quite a while in the darkness through narrow winding alleyways. Finally, Michael stopped near a big grey house surrounded by lush vegetation. An old man of about seventy opened the door and let us in.

  Michael came over to the man and gave him a huge bear hug.

  ‘Meet my godfather Walter, Miriam,’ Michael said.

  ‘Glad to meet you,’ I said, giving him a smile.

  Walter shook my hand and showed us to the sitting room.

  ‘It’s been five years since we last met,’ Michael said turning to Walter. ‘Sorry, I haven’t told you about my wife’s death.’

  ‘You know that I’m always well informed of what happens to my relatives. Having any problems?’ the old man asked rather unceremoniously.

  ‘Yes, I am, Walter. I need your help,’ Michael replied… ‘I’m in a mess. You were the one who knew my father best. By the way, he’s left me not only the books but a lot of unfinished business, too. He put the burden of all the unsolved problems on my shoulders, which, as it now turns out, has put me in great jeopardy. I learned that there were a lot of things about him I hadn’t been aware of. He led a double life, amassing compromising materials concerning those who surrounded him. Well, you know what I mean,’ Michael said, staring intently at the old man.

  ‘Michael, you only knew what he allowed you to know,’ Walter said. ‘Phil wouldn’t let you into the details of his activities because he’d been trying as best he could to protect you from potential strokes of fate. As you can see now, he never succeeded in doing it. Phil had been working for a secret service since his youth.’

  Walter paused for a while to pour some whiskey into his and Michael’s glasses while pouring me Martini instead. I wondered how he managed to know what I preferred.

  ‘His task was to monitor the activities of this organization and to track down its connections,’ Walter went on. ‘All the members of the sect were virtually invulnerable, Phil knew it right away but still continued to gather compromising material against these people.’

  ‘Indeed, the documents he’d gathered are capable of kicking up a big racket, but that’s all they are capable of doing,’ Michael said. ‘And that’s precisely what I expected.’

  ‘I’m of the same opini
on,’ Walter nodded. ‘The materials Phil had gathered could generate quite an earthquake in the world of politics. There’ll be a big scandal but it’s likely to be quickly hushed up. They’ll intimidate some people; others will accept comfortable sums of money for keeping mum. Even if revealing these documents succeeds in removing some figures, they are likely to be quickly replaced by other ones. And everything will eventually go back to the way it was before.’

  ‘Walter, I’d like to know what precisely I have to beware of. And what I should do to remove the danger coming from these people. Why had Phil been silent during all these years about his working as a secret agent?’ Michael asked, fuming with anger.

  ‘My dear Michael, everybody has his or her own secrets. Eve-ry-bo-dy!’ syllabicated Walter. ‘And Phil wasn’t an exception. I’m sure you keep quite a lot of things secret from those who surround you, too. And so does your beautiful companion, Miriam,’ Walter said with a smile. ‘Am I right, my dear?’

  I got confused.

  ‘Michael, you couldn’t possibly expect Phil to tell you about this outright!’ Walter said.

  ‘Yes, you’re right,’ Michael agreed.

  ‘Thanks to a favorable turn of events, after Sean died, Phil inherited his entire library along with his father’s throne and, consequently, The Star of Baphomet with all of its members. Phil was already working as a psychiatrist by then and knew the dark world very well: both through his father and through his patients who saw and heard the hereafter. It didn’t take Phil long to see through all the intricacies of the secret society. These people attained power through demons and devils. All the members of this society had some amount of capital which they entrusted to Agella, who made huge money out of big money. These people are likeminded in their aspirations and are tightly connected with each other through their collective machinations. When one of them dies, he’s quickly replaced by another one.’

  ‘But what if someone wants to leave the society?’ I enquired.