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As the detective entered the
chapel, he could already smell the burning clothes that belonged to the
foreign bishop. His eyes drew attention to a small cabinet located in the
east wing of the altar. Fighting against the flames he opened it swiftly.
A body collapsed on the floor, a body that belonged to an old man who had
spent his life in servitude of God. Now all that was left of him were his
burning wounds that had now covered all his body.
Dimitri Yeyneyev laid there in the smoke, almost dead. He looked at the
detective for the very last time, as he extended his palm slowly and with
a trembling pulse delivered an object to him. Detective Ray Lupter took
the object from his palm, a wooden bishop enrolled in small map, he came
to the conclusion that the brotherhood had come to kill the old bishop and
he had hide in a small cabinet and even if the brotherhood hadn’t find him
the spreading fire had. Moments later Dimitri Yeyneyev closed his tired
eyes as life left his body. The detective knew what this meant, they
already knew who had the legendary code and they were going steal it as
quickly as possible.
Detective Ray Lupter, stood still, as his mind tried to comprehend what it
actions he should make. Suddenly however, he remembered where he was, as
the intense heat produced by the spreading fire all around him caused his
sweat to drop back to the bottom of his chin. He had to run out of there
as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for him at the same time, the door
collapsed downwards and he could start to see the Church’s gate top
completely covered with flames and fire.
He turned around; there was no safe way out of there, and the only exit he
could see was a small window located near the rear end of the corner. He
ran to it, and immediately bulged outward breaking all the glass into
small fragments. He fell on top the cold, wet grass; trembling with
excitement as he turned around just in time to see the old church
collapse. Fortunately for him, he had grabbed what the bishop had wanted
him to take. He now knew that the fate of the world relied completely on
his ability to find the most hidden man on earth, before the brotherhood
did. It was going to be the hardest mission, he had ever faced and yet he
knew in a strange way that he had been preparing for it all his life.
He looked at the map that now resided in his hands; it was a map of a
small town in Singapore, named Nazul. At least that’s what the title
indicated him. Ray recalled the phone call, that he had established with
the bishop earlier that morning.
“A man’s life is in great danger, I need for you to come tonight at 8:00
PM . There is something I must give to you.” The bishop said, spitting the
words out as if they were prayers against an evil force.
“I don’t understand, what are you asking me
to get into?” the detective had said. Worried about the deepness of the
affair that looked so near to him at the moment.
“All I can tell you , is that you must look for a man named Gregory
Chapman, I will hand a map to you, that indicates the precise location of
this man. Rumor has it that this man possesses a code that if accessed
through the IMF’s CS, the International Monetary Fund computerized system,
then all debt control movements that the governments around the world now
hold on to, will be lost and economical chaos would spread. We cannot let
this happen, understand. I know that there is only one group capable of
this chaos. This group goes by the name of The Brotherhood of Deter. They
will find this man, kill him and take the code to eliminate all debts.
Only you can find this man before they do. Once you do find him, keep him
safe and take the code to the IMF they’ll know what to do with it.”
“But how do you know about the existence of the brotherhood?” asked Lupter.
-“I first knew it as an anticlerical group that sought hand in hand the
disappearance of the church, as they blamed us for all the world’s
problems. One of them a young man that had humble intentions told us about
their existence, and that they were plotting to assassinate the Pope. He
told us that there were very influential people in the brotherhood, he
told us that their power was growing without limits, of course a few ours
later we heard that the brotherhood had taken care of him, the police
found his body stabbed in some alley with the symbol of the brotherhood.
So we have tried to get as much information as we could but obviously they
knew that we had heard about the conspiracy to assassinate the Pope so
they left the plan only to turn to another one as evil as the past one.
The plan consisted of the only thing that could guarantee the complete
destruction of the world’s economy. A group of spies working for the
Vatican, recorded a conversation only two days ago where some of the
members discussed the plot to assassinate a man under the name of Gregory
Chapman in order to steal the code he possessed only to access the IMF and
erase all debts owned by countries to other countries and by individuals
to all associations throughout the world. This meant that any person that
owned money to the bank or to any other organization then the debt would
be erased and they would lose the track of who owns what.
-“We have to stop them at once.” The detective said without hesitation.
-“Yes we do have to stop them. Come tonight, and I will give you Chapman’s
precise location, which I do not even know at the moment. I must call some
of my contacts, and for my safety I will leave town tomorrow morning,
goodbye.”
Ironically, the old bishop had chosen him to take charge of this mission.
He knew that in Ray Lupter many talents resided in him and in a ways so
apprehensible that it was impossible for him not to be the correct man for
the job. He was brave and yet he was well aware of when the situation was
too risky for him to make a move. Only he could find Gregory Chapman.
Gregory Chapman had been catalogued as the hardest man to find by the CIA
and the FBI altogether. He had been a convicted drug addict in the 80’s
and as a consequence of leaving jail he decided to start a small business
of blackmailing famous celebrities along with important personalities.
Gregory got to know many of the people in charge of pretty much all drug,
weapon and other type of trafficking throughout the world.
Sooner or later he came about with a man that was said to hold the key of
the world’s economy. That man was Fred Griffin unofficially the richest
man in the world. He was using all of the money that he was supposed to
have been used to save the people dying of AIDS in Africa, the hunger
rising throughout Asia or the finance for the victims of terrorism that
had been left with no mother or father. He had used all that money to buy
mansions wherever he pleased, he had a fine collection of the best cars in
Europe, all suits that money could buy, he collected wild animals, he paid
security as no one else did.
Several people where aware that this was happening, so they decided to
call Gregory to blackmail him into giving them the code to control the
money. Basically what Gregory did, was to make him an offer he couldn’t
refuse as stated in the Godfather. He went to Fred and pointed a shotgun
towards his temples, he started shaking like an engine the moment he fell
the cold steel edge of the barrel.
Gregory was given the access code as a way of promotion, however it was at
this same moment that he felt remorse of his past actions. He didn’t enjoy
the direction that his life had just taken place. He felt terrible, in
fact he was completely over the problem. He took the code and ran away to
South Africa where the government gave him a new identity and protection.
He changed countries every two weeks, very unreliable he had all the money
he could wish and yet he lived in the lowest incomes. He knew a tremendous
amount of people as he had been in the blackmailing business for over
eight years. He was now aware that the first threat of danger had arrived.
Chapman was drinking his dried martini very smoothly that Sunday night in
the frosted Iceberg. He certainly enjoyed to watch the late jazz auditions
that happened at this quite and retired place.
That night, a man under the name of Benton Mills was playing the trumpet
quite smoothly. The notes came out as lightning comes out from the clouds.
The man was improvising with all his might, Gregory was enjoying the
expression in his face as he went up and down the pentatonic scales
playing blues rhythms.
The vision of the playing man started fading little by little. Chapman
thought to himself, must I be drunk already? Maybe its just the feeling of
sleepiness that won’t leave my body. Ever since he had run away he felt
persecuted and he never really got a sense of rest at night after that
strange day.
He stood up, ready to return to his room for the night, however in that
precise moment he saw the face of one of the assassins. He had previously
done some research on the brotherhood of Deter only to make sure that he
wasn’t being followed. He had not noticed any one of them, until that very
night at that bar. The killer was smiling, he knew that Chapman had
recognized him, he was looking him in the eyes almost laughing at the lost
fate of the poor man.
Chapman couldn’t understand why he was laughing, there was really no
explanation behind it he thought to himself. He must be a crazy bastard to
belong to that perverted brotherhood. He started walking towards the man,
but in his fourth step, he felt an aching pain in his chest. Never before
in his life had he felt such a destructive sensation, he was done. Chapman
hit the floor, as everyone started turning their heads towards the scene,
the martini cup laid in the table, with a little white powder near the
olive, the powder being nekton peroxide, the most deadly venom if ingested
orally.
The killer was laughing to himself as he left the entrance, as he didn’t
think that it would have been that easy. The brotherhood now needed to
find that code.
Lupter was getting his luggage from the upper head compartment in the long
and people packed plane. He had arrived finally to Nazul and was now going
to look for a quite bar called The Frosted Iceberg. There, a man would be
sited in the corner, drinking his martini, this man would be Gregory
Chapman. He ordered a green taxi as soon as he stepped on the dusty street
outside of the airport.
The taxi took him to the bar, everything was going according to plan.
He opened the crystal doors of the entrance, the coldness crept to his
fingertips and shivers ran throughout his arms. In the corner was a man,
wearing a dark hat. He was drinking a martini, and as soon as he gave one
more step forward, the man turned around to look at him. He was smiling
almost as he were laughing intensely at him.
Lupter felt a sense of awkwardness at the man, he didn’t seem to be as he
had imagined. The man looked evil, as if there was a snake hidden inside
his body ready to jump up at Ray the minute he approached. He thought for
a moment that this man may have been evil since he had been a convict
once. That he shouldn’t feel frightened at his sight, so he took the
courage to continue walking towards the man.
The assassin was laughing, Lupter had finally arrived. He would never
expect the surprise that was coming for him. The detective approached his
couch, and the killer asked “Why don’t you take
a seat, Mr. Lupter”
“There’s not much time, the detective responded. Why don’t you just tell
me where the code is, so I can turn it in as quickly as possible.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that yet, there is something you are unaware” The
killer said, in a quite tone.
“Haven’t you heard, Dimitri is dead. He’s dead because there’s some very
important people looking for this code. You are the only one holding the
code, both of our life’s are in great danger, not to mention the fact that
the future of the world is now in our hands too and your trying to tell me
to calm down. We’ll I think that either you must have an excellent reason
for it, or you’re a stupid drunkard that lives off in exile.” As he ended
the sentence, he noticed how the man he thought to be Chapman, drew out a
small jeringe from his right side pocket.
Ray Lupter didn’t know whether to run, or to confront the killer. In a
matter of no time he decided to go for the second option. He endured his
right knuckle as he plunged the edge of his elbow into the killer’s
stomach. This made him drop the jeringe immediately but he took a complete
run. All of the people turned around to see the two of them disappear into
an obscure hallway.
Ray was sweating as he persecuted the only man that existed in his sight,
this was probably the same man who killed Dimitri, one of his best friends
and advisers. He could not let him go, he couldn’t. Lupter had a weapon as
he could transport it to Singapore on the plane, he had the license for
it. He was very good when it came to using a weapon to defend his or
anybody’s life.
Lupter entered a small room in the east wing of the hotel, he saw the
killer standing quietly in the corner of the room. He looked calm, maybe
to calm for the detective so he took out his gun. Ray Lupter was sweating
as he pointed the gun towards the killer’s heart. It had all seemed so
fast and sudden. He knew that if he didn’t come up with a way to distract
the killer he would never get out of there with the key of where the code
would be.
The killer made a passive gesture with his eyes, as if he already knew
what was about to happen. Then he got out a cigarette and lid it up with a
match that he took out of his shirt pocket.
“Don’t you dare do anything tricky now.” the detective assured him.
The killer turned around to look at Ray, he smiled in his always degrading
expression. He opened his mouth, only to blow a smoke loop.
As he blew with all his might, a cloud of smoke emerged and headed towards
the direction of the detective. “Thank you” was all that he heard
afterwards, because after the fog disappeared there was no trace to be
seen of the killer.”
However what he did see, was the wooden bishop that had been given to him
earlier that day. He had probably dropped it while he was chasing the
mysterious killer. As he took it from the ground, he noticed how something
inside the piece galloped and bounced from one side to another. The
detective started toying with the piece moving it from one side to the
other, he could feel something bouncing against the walls.
Immediately he went towards the tools and doctorial store near the lobby
of the hotel. When he arrived he asked the man for a small hammer so as to
open the wooden bishop in two. The man attending the store looked at him
curiously, he was probably asking to himself Why the hell does this man
want a hammer for? Well he had to give the man the hammer, so he just took
it from the small tool box and gave it to him.
Detective Lupter just cracked it open with a precise and surgical
preciseness. Inside it, there was a small message written on an enrolled
papyrus that was about 1 or 2 cm long, the detective stared at the
message. It is too late, he will get killed before you arrive, the code is
in a piece of paper behind the main crucifix in Saint Galilea’s Church.
The detective felt a wave of relief come over him as he read the message
for the second time. He was going to get the message before they did, now
he had the advantage of the hidden message.
The assassin was now following the detective as he entered the Church of
Saint Galilea, he was thinking that the detective was probably playing a
trick on him because it was just to easy, wait for him to get the code and
then kill him.
Lupter continued walking through the ile, he could see the faces of the
women praying for protection from a higher God. He knew that those prayers
where the same as what he now wanted, he was in fact praying for
protection himself. He knew that someone was probably following him at
this precise moment, maybe it was too late already. He went near the
crucifix, took a look around just to make sure that in fact he wasn’t
being followed. Then he took out the gun from his pocket and fired a round
of three shots in the ceiling.
All of the people that used to remain in the church now left immediately,
thus the detective felt as he could take the code out of the Crucifix
back. He removed a paper that laid in the back, he took it out. He stared
in amazement, to think that this little piece of paper could put in
jeopardy the fate of many lives, that made it look so powerful.
He looked at the code, lloe98675jdkeugbkae8473 this code was the ultimate
one, he was pretty sure of it. The letters and numbers made no sense at
all to him, there was no way that without the code anyone could access the
IMF’s debt control rate.
The killer smiled as he took the sniper rifle from the black case, he
dismantled every piece only to put them back together into a deadly
harpoon. He was on top of the window, the shot would be easy to make,
first in the knee so that he could confess it all to him, then he could
shoot him in the forehead as he would be of no use later on.
He stood looking through the target at the detective, he watched him stood
in amazement at the piece of paper. How stupid of the detective, the
killer thought. Then without hesitating he aimed directly at his kneecap
and pressed the trigger as a small rounded bullet went through the skin
piercing all the remaining of the tissue near the detective’s knee.
The detective felt an a ripping feeling in the upper part of his left leg.
He feel to the floor immediately without being able to control himself. He
turned around as a man approached him, the same man that had conflicted
him earlier that afternoon. The killer was still smiling, he felt an anger
that had never before been present in his body.
The detective took out the gun from behind, only to let it rest for a
moment in his palm. The silver cutting in his knuckles brought him a sense
of security. The killer took out a thin wire from his coat, with a folding
edge and a trigger in the middle of it. It was the most advanced sniper
rifle that the detective had ever seen.
“Where did you get the gun yourself or did the brotherhood also
proportioned it to you?” The detective asked.
“That’s where you are completely wrong. The killer replied laughing from
his inside. There was never a brotherhood, let me explain myself. You see
I told bishop Dimitri that there was a brotherhood only to fake my death
the very next day. Then he would lead me to Gregory Chapman, which
contained the code that I had mourned for a very long time. I killed
Dimitri as I invented a story that the brotherhood hadn’t finally killed
me, but then I was forced to kill him so as to cover my identity. Then I
went after Chapman knowing that you were coming as the bishop had told me.
Then it was really easy, because I pretended to disappear and return to
the brotherhood when I was following your moves all the time. I could have
killed you a long time ago.
“Well so could I, but know I will.” The detective said almost in a secret
as he took his automatic and fired about twenty or thirty rounds of shots
to the poor man. He was dead after the noise had finished.
Two or Five minutes later the church was filled with paramedics as Lupter
took hold of the code himself. He was taken to a hospital in order to
recuperate his ill looking wound. Then he faced the easy task of returning
the code to the IMF. Which he did and won a police academy prize for his
brilliant labour. He is still recognized until today as one of the best
individual detectives in the United States.
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