Silent Legacy, Part 2

By Saul Prizer

Unnoticed for more than half a century, a secret brotherhood is operating behind the scenes of everyday life. Consisting of self-righteous individuals who feel indisputable moral superiority over the society and value their freedoms above all else, the members of this small group fulfill their peculiar ambitions, until one day their life is shattered by the loss of their leader, Oliver Paxton.
Led by the implacable desire to take revenge and kill Detective Bruno Brawling, who took him away, the brotherhood removes the remaining obstacles from the path and get ready to set their merciless designs into action.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Saul Prizer
• Release date: Sep 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9789935948472

Saul Prizer

Since my very early days I was simply fascinated about space, aliens, ghosts, and anything else (I did not know what vampires were back then), that didn't belong to the realm of everyday. A horror movie would disrupt my routines as a child for weeks - I'd be scared to sleep in my room and feel threatened by every dark corner; a space movie would excite me to such a degree that I would imagine myself being a clone made by aliens. Also, I believed, that when I close my eyes, even for just a blink, the world and the people disappear completely. I wanted to be a writer before I knew how to write, but when I did learn how to do it, I often felt that the task at hand is much bigger than me - I felt there was some kind of a hidden meaning in the act of writing and that if I can't grasp it, I won't be able to do it properly. ​I needed quite a bit of time to grow as a person in order to undertake it, but now my time has come. ​I like writing about what we, humans, experience as a touch of unknown and unknowable; therefore, in my books you'll meet personal and impersonal forces influencing people's lives and shaping their destinies. ​Yet, some of my books will be very down to earth, but nevertheless extraordinary. And last but not least - things my mind gets attracted to: Titanic, Fractals, Bitcoin, a phrase „Including, but not limited to", WWII, all kinds of sirens. Sounds weird? It sure is.

Book preview

SILENT LEGACY

ROMANCE · CRIME · THRILLER · MYSTERY

PART 2

by

SAUL PRIZER

Copyright © 2019 Saul Prizer. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-9935-9484-7-2 (Smashwords Edition)

Edited by: KIRKUS MEDIA LLC

More about the author: http://www.saulprizer.com

This is a fictitious story. Any similarity to real events, places, or people is purely coincidental.

Table Of Contents

I

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

II

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

III

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

Chapter 75

Chapter 76

Chapter 77

Chapter 78

Chapter 79

Chapter 80

IV

Epilogue

Chapter 81

Chapter 82

Chapter 83

Chapter 84

I

1

Near future. September 4

Instructed to arrive at the luxurious hotel at 11:00 a.m., Ottis Wilby, the leader of the largest criminal organization in the city, accompanied by his bodyguards Omar and Dennis, knocked on the door of the suite and was coldly and suspiciously received by two cartel sicarios.

Invited inside, the three men were immediately searched. Having made sure that the guests carried no guns, the cartel members demanded that they show the money they brought to complete the deal, then ordered them to sit on the couch next to the window.

Where’s Pablito? Ottis asked.

One of the men standing at the door glanced toward the adjacent room.

Oh, Ottis replied as he sat down.

He looked at his watch—it was 10:53 a.m.

Hearing a woman laughing resonantly in the next room, and being somewhat surprised by it, Ottis relaxed and focused on his plans: We will make all distributors work for us, or we’ll kick them out. With a high-quality product at my disposal and a mighty backup, the entire city will be under my control. I will be awash in money . . . Artisan will be helpless. This will be my finest hour—

His thoughts were interrupted by his ringing phone—it was a person who did him a great favor, someone he heartily despised and intended to do away with shortly. Having concluded his business with him just this morning, Ottis had already gotten what he wanted and did not expect to get this call.

Answering the call, he immediately mentioned being in the middle of something and suggested that the caller get straight to the point. Much to his surprise, Ottis then heard a strange and unexpected tirade of almost melodiously laid-out allusions, confessions, and even threats, and he could not understand why he was being told all of it now. During this short conversation he had a sinking feeling of being played, but unwilling to lose his temper at such an important moment, he managed to control himself and limited his response to a single rebuke to the other party at the end of the call.

Yet as he waited to close the deal, Ottis couldn’t stop thinking about the meaning of the words uttered by the caller—this man mentioned the recent attacks against him, spoke as if he was aware of the plots of Artisan himself, and made Ottis cast a mistrustful glance at his bodyguards.

Normally, that would make no sense; however, the caller was a treacherous man who possessed a lot of information and was wronged by Ottis many a time. Thus, one could definitely expect his revenge.

Ottis was suddenly apprehensive. Sensing that something wasn’t right, he wanted to get out of there, but the cartel men standing by the door did not take their eyes off his party and weren’t about to let anyone out.

Frantically trying to find a way out of this, Ottis was afraid that it was too late to do anything; however, under the pressure of a dreadful feeling, he found the courage to speak up.

Having noticed his agitation, the cartel member standing by the exit pierced him with a virulent look, but right at that time, the attention of all five men was inevitably drawn by the sounds coming from the adjacent room.

2

1953–1957

Arturo Debusschere, a man of no particular skills or impressive looks, had formerly served in the French army in North Vietnam.

This ordinary soldier had two secret hobbies: during the exchange of fire with the enemy, he would furtively point his gun toward his own and fire a few shots. Then, after the shooting, he would take pictures of the dead bodies on both sides, stiffened in odd and frightening poses.

The uncertainties provoked by these actions would make Arturo inexplicably excited: Did he hit one of his comrades? Had anyone noticed his acts of betrayal? How would he explain his photo collection, if it were to be uncovered?

In 1954, when France lost its influence in Indochina, Arturo was honorably discharged. Standing in formation for the last time, he received a medal from the military command and a beautiful dagger from his fellow soldiers.

The retired soldier was not in a hurry to get home—in love with a young Vietnamese girl, he crossed to South Vietnam and started a new life.

Unfortunately, Arturo’s happiness did not last. In about a year’s time, his beloved fell very ill and passed away. Taken by despair, he returned to his hometown at the very beginning of 1956.

Back in his familiar, yet changed, environment, Arturo was struck by bad luck: unemployment, feeling distant from his former acquaintances and friends, and unable to find his place.

With nothing to hold on to, the disappointed veteran started drowning his sorrows in a bottle but, however unexpected, gained an incentive for a new beginning.

Locked up in a detention cell after a bar fight, Arturo made a fateful acquaintance with Edwin Ericsson. The two had a lot in common: both had served in the army and returned home, where they felt unappreciated, forgotten, and discontent. In an instant, they felt close, as if they had been best friends for ages.

Released from detention, Arturo and Edwin became inseparable. The two men began setting bold plans for the future. Working diligently and applying their talents, they started a transportation company and construction and trade businesses, and they plunged into work.

Very soon the lives of the two friends took a drastic turn—they began meeting new and rather influential people, spent time in the company of beautiful women, improved their social status, and obviously, made a good deal of money. On top of that, even after becoming successful, Arturo and Edwin continued to get along perfectly.

Arturo’s cheerful and eccentric nature was finally restored. For some time, everything in his life seemed to fall into the right places: money gave him a sense of freedom and provided endless possibilities to enjoy everything his heart desired, and the business challenges stimulated him to develop and grow.

However, one day Arturo realized that inexhaustible material possibilities were unable to fulfill some of his most secret desires. Thus, he inevitably started experiencing a feeling of something intangible eating at him.

When Edwin suggested trying his luck in politics, he had rejected the idea after careful consideration—the prospect of never-ending political debates, increased levels of stress, a busy agenda, and unwanted publicity was not enticing to Arturo.

Wishing to bring some diversity into his routine, he knew he needed a new spiritual drive, but he was unable to find it.

One evening, after a particularly long and stressful workday, Arturo and Edwin left their office and stopped at a bar, where they had a couple of cocktails to blow off steam, then went home. Walking down the empty streets of the old town, the two spotted a section of the road under construction, with temporary traffic signs placed to mark an excavated half-a-meter-deep ditch, instructing drivers to go around.

Unexpectedly, Arturo stopped. Listening to the remote buzzing of the town’s nightlife, he seemed to be entertaining some idea.

Suddenly, his eyes were gleaming with excitement. Waving Edwin to come closer, he suggested they rearrange the warning signs in a way that a random driver would be directed right into the open trench.

Hardly able to contain their laughter, the two got right to it. Not expecting that their actions could lead to some grave consequences, Arturo and Edwin executed their plan and went their separate ways.

The next morning, eager to find out whether anyone had fallen into their trap, both had been trying to catch every bit of news until they heard about a car driving into a ditch. The friends cheerfully gave each other a high five and roared with laughter. Thinking about his actions, Arturo suddenly felt a sense of gratification, which finally filled the void he had been experiencing lately.

3

1957–1960

Was it a misdemeanor? An act of hooliganism? A silly prank? No, nothing like that. It was a first deed—this is exactly how Arturo referred to his nightly pastime.

The man running into the ditch was unharmed, with only his vehicle suffering some major damage.

Sorry, buddy, but you were unconditionally fooled . . . Arturo grinned with satisfaction.

Indulging in the success of his spontaneous creativity, it did not take long for Arturo to come up with more practical jokes of a similar style and quickly discover his new calling—expressing himself through the creation and execution of well-designed wicked acts, which added excitement to his otherwise mundane life.

Having Edwin eagerly involved in this new activity, Arturo had no intentions of hurting, or worse still, killing anyone; there was enough of that happening as it was. Besides, murder attracted the police like a magnet, which was the last thing Arturo and his friend needed. Their venture was merely meant to be subtle self-expression through unpredictability and fun.

As the years went by, Arturo and Edwin experienced lots of joy and excitement from their pastime activities. While the business matters had receded into the background, the close friendship between the two had grown even stronger. They had become the true brothers of fate.

Having named their union a brotherhood, Arturo and Edwin frequently thought about the future of their clandestine undertaking. Considering firsthand experience and personal traits, they had come up with criteria for the membership of their possible followers: Such a candidate must be in good physical shape and be able to defend himself. He must not work for someone, and he must be an independent, self-contained, and creative person, able to demonstrate his faculties and, obviously, capable of steering clear of law enforcement.

Arturo was naturally chosen to be the first leader of the brotherhood.

4

1961–1981

In the early sixties, Arturo and Edwin met the spry fifty-year-old Fredrick Olster. Dexterous beyond his age, this man possessed a great sense of humor and was an improvisational prankster able to surprise anyone.

Having made the best of impressions from the very beginning of their acquaintance, Fredrick possessed all the qualities sought by the brotherhood and was, therefore, invited to join Arturo and Edwin.

Although nobody knew it then, the new member had arrived just in time. A little more than a year later, Arturo Debusschere suffered a heart attack and died. Shaken by the loss, Edwin took over the leadership, but he felt completely broken. He was depressed, picked up drinking, and never regained his former happiness.

Unfortunately, Edwin met a similar tragic fate—in about a year’s time, seemingly still unable to find peace without his close friend, he died in a car accident.

By default now the leader of the brotherhood, for nearly two decades, Fredrick operated alone. He did meet one person who seemed to be a good candidate, but eventually, he decided against making the call.

Remembering Arturo and Edwin and recollecting the joy and antics they had experienced, to commemorate his predecessors, Fredrick came up with a couple of acts, and even though it was against the safety principles of the brotherhood, he would repeat them nearly every ten years.

In December of 1980, he finally met a promising young man who possessed almost unlimited creativity and was able to seize opportunities that had gone unnoticed by others, which, in the course of time, involved the country’s prime minister himself.

This perfectly rational and far-sighted individual contributed and brought variety to the brotherhood’s operations. Fredrick, who was heading it at the time, had no doubts that he had found himself an excellent replacement. The talented newcomer’s name was Oliver Paxton.

5

Past

After a few years, having taken the reins of the brotherhood, Oliver Paxton opened up completely. Acting solely at his own discretion, he had implemented dozens of ideas, was running several businesses, attended numerous parties, enjoyed endless acquaintances, and formed a criminal organization that infested the entire country. However, despite his busy schedule, Oliver was first and foremost the soul of the brotherhood.

His immense presence was felt everywhere, and it seemed that nothing could stop him. Oliver continued operating unhindered for more than twenty years, but then he was arrested, pinned down by indirect evidence, and ended up in jail. As his sentence came to an end, Oliver made a vow to be even more careful in the future and had no plans of going back to prison.

Unfortunately, it was then that a scrub of a detective, having infiltrated Oliver’s cell, managed to gain his trust and ratted him out. He was charged with grave accusations. It was a disaster.

Watching the news coverage of the massive countrywide police raid of Oliver’s criminal enterprise, Oliver’s comrade and childhood friend Benjamin, waiting for his release from prison, broke out in a cold sweat. He could not fathom how something like that could have happened.

Wondering why everything had to take such an unexpected and cruel turn, Benjamin soon found out about an undercover detective, Bruno Brawling, who was the reason behind the new charges against Oliver.

Trying to utilize his influential contacts, he made arduous efforts to fight the law-enforcement investigation and drag out the legal proceedings, but as the repercussions of the case grew, the powerful people who could help him backed out, and Oliver received an exceptional sentence: the death penalty.

This was the toughest hit the brotherhood ever had to withstand. Bruno Brawling, of course, deserved to forfeit his life for it; however, watching with a bleeding heart Oliver’s futile attempts to survive, Benjamin knew that the revenge would have to wait.

6

Benjamin Zee, the current leader of the brotherhood, recollected one of the evenings at the end of November 1992, which had a special meaning to him.

With eighty-two-year-old Fredrick Olster retiring to a well-deserved rest, Benjamin became a full member of the brotherhood and a right-hand man of its fourth leader Oliver Paxton. It was a very important day for him, one he would remember for the rest of his life.

That evening, on the way to the ceremony, Benjamin was overwhelmed by excitement and anticipation of a grand future. Dressed in a tuxedo and wearing a fake mustache and a wig to conceal his identity, he was contemplating the new stage in life he was about to embark on, as his heart raced with all-consuming enthusiasm. As if attuning to his mood, the radio started playing the Boyz II Men hit End of the Road, which had ruled the charts for the past months. This song, save for the love lyrics, perfectly symbolized the epic road of Fredrick Olster. The retiring leader, however, admitted to being indifferent to modern tunes and revealed that after the death of Jimi Hendrix, he lost most of the joy he once had when listening to music.

Fredrick’s farewell and the last escapade were to take place at a private event of the city elite, to which he had managed to score three invitations.

Stepping out of the car, three sharp-looking men entered the building, where, watching the crowd enjoying their drinks and exchanging gossip, they freely mingled among the guests and received occasional curious looks.

After finishing his speech during the short official part of the event, the city mayor had awarded a certificate of merit to one of the council members. Following a wave of applause, the stage was taken by an illusionist hired by the event organizers, who entertained the public with his magic tricks for a good half hour.

The event would have been meaningless for the three men of the brotherhood had Fredrick not been attempting to execute his last deed. Picking a group of people, with the man who had received the mayor’s award being among them, he approached them and asked, Have you enjoyed the show this evening?

Oh, yes, definitely, both the men and women responded in unison.

Allow me, too, to demonstrate something, he suggested.

Exchanging looks in anticipation of adventure, Benjamin and Oliver watched the developments from a distance.

Without waiting for the group’s consent, imitating the illusionist they had seen on the stage, Fredrick dexterously pulled out a pocket square from a young man’s suit and unfolded it so that everyone could read the embroidered initials R and H.

Observing a sprightly and somewhat comical man, the group was eager to see what he had up his sleeve. Holding the handkerchief by one corner, Fredrick took a lighter and lit it up. Waiting until the fabric was fully alight, he suddenly grabbed and squeezed it with both hands like a lump of snow to put down the flame. Waving his arms demonstratively in the air and opening them, he showed his empty palms. The group exclaimed, waiting for the outcome of the trick.

Scanning through the people in the group one by one, Fredrick unexpectedly pointed to the purse of one of the women, with a corner of white fabric sticking out of it. Taken aback by surprise, she pulled out a handkerchief, all in one piece, with the same initials on it.

Fredrick received compliments and applause.

Thank you, he said modestly, nodding. One more?

Yes, one more! Definitely! Please! the crowd responded.

All right, last one.

Having gained the trust of his small crowd of spectators, Fredrick laid his eyes on the member of the council who had received the award and extended his hand toward his trophy. Wishing not to disappoint the people, the politician unwillingly let his precious certificate go.

Without blinking once, Fredrick deftly tore up the paper through the middle several times, and picking up a small metal tray from a table next to him, he placed the ripped pieces of the certificate on it and lit them up.

Trying to disguise his concern, the owner of the award kept a wary eye on Fredrick’s every move, but it was more than obvious that the certificate meant a lot to him—with his arms crossed over his chest, he was nervously biting his lips. Several people in the group furtively glanced at him.

As the paper went up in flames, Fredrick froze. Frantically darting his eyes back and forth from the pile of ashes to his little audience, he looked confused, scared, and lost.

Things were not looking good. Some of the spectators were still hoping that it was part of a perfectly performed trick, but they quickly realized that things did not go as planned and were looking sympathetically at the victim.

Watching Fredrick closely until now, Oliver Paxton joined the crowd and decisively broke the awkward silence.

Here you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you, he said, addressing Fredrick. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Oliver suggested, "Come on, Dad, enough of those tricks for tonight . . ."

Without