SINS of the FATHER

by Marshall Huffman

  “Kate, we have twenty-four million dollars in the back of the Mercedes. Are you willing to risk that for the likes of him?”

  “Victor, listen to me. Alan is a good person. I’ll keep him under wraps while you get to Luxemburg and out of the country. When you get to South America, let me know and I will take off and release him. It will be too late then.”

  “Listen to yourself. I’m sorry but this is the way it has to be,” he said and walked over to Alan.

  He took out his knife and cut the plasti-cuff binding his feet and hands together leaving the ones around his wrists and ankles.

  “I’m sorry about this Alan. It’s nothing personal.”

  “Gee, it feels quite personal from my end of things,” Alan replied.

  “Yes, I suppose it does. It sounds like you were very good to my sister and I appreciate that. If we could have met under better circumstances who knows, maybe we could have even been friends.”

  “Oh I don’t know Victor. Most of my friends don’t go around killing people.”

  Alan hopped over to the edge of the grotto opening. Victor raised his gun and pointed it at Alan’s head.

  “You won’t feel a thing,” Victor said.

  “Victor don’t,” Kate yelled running towards them.

  Victor glanced over just for a second and Alan brought his bound hands up shoving the gun out of the way. He heard it go off and didn’t hesitate in throwing his body into the off balance brother. They fell to the ground hard and Alan scrambled to his knees and pounded his fists against Victor's face.

  Victor rolled out of reach and went scrambling for his gun. He couldn’t find it. Alan was trying to stand. Alan realized he had already lost his chance. With his feet bound he couldn’t even get close.

  “Give me your gun,” Victor yelled at Kate.

  “No Victor. Let it alone.”

  “Give me the damn gun,” he said and started towards her.

  She started to run but he quickly caught her and wrestled the gun out of her hand. She tried to stop him once again but he turned and slapped her, knocking her to the ground.

  “Stop it Kate or you will join him,” Victor said.

  “What? You bastard. You would kill your own sister for the money?”

  He just laughed and walked back to where Lang was sitting on the ground looking up at him.

  “Nice try,” Victor said.

  “I’m not done yet,” Alan said.

  The gun sputtered twice. Two red holes appeared in Victor's chest. He looked down unbelieving. The gun tumbled from his fingers.

  “Sorry. I know that probably hurts but I couldn’t quite pull off a head shot sitting like this,” Alan said, taking Clouse’s gun from between his legs.

  Victor muttered something that Alan couldn’t hear and then slowly toppled forward and down into the grotto. He could hear Kate screaming as Victor disappeared from sight.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Kate sat in the passenger’s seat as Alan talked to Brandt.

  “You are telling me that you do not want any of the gold?”

  “Kate can have two of the bars. The first two I found. As for me, I got what I came for. My grandfather was involved but he was duped by your grandfathers. They really were going to take the gold to Mengele. He killed them to stop it. I guess we all learned something about our ancestors,” Alan said.

  “I suppose we did.”

  “I still don’t understand the forged part of the diary,” Alan said.

  “Maybe I can answer that,” Kate replied.

  They all turned to look at her.

  “Your grandfather had kept the secret buried for all that time. Clouse figured if he could get hold of the diary for just a while, he would add some incentive by forging a few pages. Your father found the diary, read it and threw your grandfather out. It was actually the truth in some ways. He did help the Germans. He did kill them to stop the gold and diamonds from getting to my grandfather. When your father found the diary and read it he was furious. Your grandfather never told him the reason why. The simple fact that he had helped the Germans at all was enough to brand him a traitor in your father’s book. Then when your dad died it gave Clouse another shot at getting the ball rolling again. He was hoping you would take up the chase for the gold. Of course he could never fathom someone one wanting to do it for the truth. To Clouse it was all about the money.”

  “And like the Boy Scout I am, I did just exactly that.”

  Kate just shook her head.

  “So how did you get involved?"

  "Victor and Clouse were pretty much two of a kind. Money is power and they wanted it. The night he came to see you before you flew to Paris, he called Victor. He told me it would be good if I could keep an eye on you.”

  Alan shook his head. What a sucker. It felt wrong from the beginning and yet he let his brains below his belt take over.

  “What a sap,” he said at last.

  “Alan. I didn’t know it would end up like this. When you said you loved me I almost called Victor and told him to forget the whole thing.”

  “But you didn’t. Your ‘I need space’ was so you could call and report in.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, live and learn. So, Brandt are you good with this?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be? I honestly have no problem sharing with you. You did the work. You risked your life. We can split everything even among the remaining three of us and the two of you. That’s approximately six million for each of us,” Brandt told him.

  “Without sounding condescending, I would feel pretty strange taking Nazi gold. No offence intended but I am my father’s son.”

  “Yes but it was the sins of his father, not yours,” Brandt pointed out.

  “I’m good with my decision. Heck, I’m throwing in the Mercedes station wagon as a bonus,” Alan kidded.

  “What are you going to do now?"

  “I’m really not sure. I’m in Europe. I still have money from selling my house and all my stuff so I guess I’ll travel for a while. At some point I may write a book. Whatever I do, it won’t be about treasure,” Alan told him.

  Alan handed over the keys to the Mercedes station wagon.

  “It’s pretty weighted down. If I were you I would transfer it to a more substantial vehicle as soon as I could,” he told them.

  He got out and climbed into his rental car. Kate tapped on the window.

  “Alan…”

  “It’s okay Kate. I was a little miffed when I was about to be shot but I’m pretty much over it. At least you are a millionaire twice over. I saw that gold hit fifteen hundred an ounce today. Not bad. Two million four hundred thousand and you have only had it one day. I hope you enjoy it.”

  “Alan. Can we just start over? I realize I do love you. I want to be with you.”

  “I’m not in your league Kate. I can’t do all the things you do. Besides, you’re a millionaire and people would think I was just a boy toy,” he kidded.

  “Alan, give me a chance to make it up to you. I promise I will.”

  “Kate, here is the thing. When I said I loved you I thought I could trust you. I took that into account when I said it. I am old enough to know love from lust. Are you desirable? Unbelievably so. Do I love most things about you. Absolutely? Can I trust you? You see, that’s the problem. Enjoy your life Kate,” Alan said and rolled up the window.

  He slowly drove off and didn’t look back. He was smiling to himself. The diamonds were tucked away in the battery compartment of the Mercedes. Travel would be nice.

  - THE END –

  About the author:

  Marshall W. Huffman never considered being a published author. Most of his writing was for personal satisfaction. His wife, Susan, talk him into submitting his work for publication but the idea of rejection deterred him. It wasn’t until 2012 that he finally gave in and at her insistence e-published his first book, THE END. That almost turned out to be a disaster when he accidently published the rough draft instead of
the finished book. After that little setback and of course, republishing the finished manuscript, his writing career has since taken off.

  Marshall’s first trilogy is THE EVENT and consists of THE END, THE BEGINNING, and THE REVELATION. This was followed by a second trilogy called: THE SECOND CIVIL WAR and consist of Book I – A NATION DIVIDED; Book II – A NATION AT WAR and the conclusion, Book III – A NATION HEALING.

  He has also published a series of mysteries entitled: THE ANGIE BARTONI CASE FILES with a central cast of characters. In addition, he has two other series entitled: THE NORRIS FILES with its own set of central characters and THE LOGAN FILES. He enjoys writing mysteries, techno-thrillers, and Si-Fi.

  His Sci-Fi books THE BRINK – OPERATION DEEP FLIGHT ; BLACKSTAR, CLOSE PROXIMITY, and CHIMERA are intense techno-thrillers with Si-Fi intertwined. His latest addition is WORLD’S END. It is a look at what could well happen if we don’t stop twisting science in perverted way.

  Marshall was born in Bainbridge, Georgia and grew up in Indiana. After spending eight years in the Navy, he attended Ball State University, earning a B.S. degree in Business.

  During and after college, he was involved in the restaurant business and spent the next twenty-five years in all types of venues, eventually owing his own fine dining restaurant. After years of long hours he decided on a career change. He attended Eastern Illinois University earning a MBA. Because of his business background, Eastern Illinois University asked him to teach in the hospitality management program. He was recruited from Eastern to Parkland College and soon took over as the Program Director for the Hospitality Program. During his tenure there, he became a chef and had a television show called Cooking around the World with Chef Marshall and taught a series of cooking classes for Continuing Education as well.

  Professor Huffman retired from teaching along with his wife, Dr. Susan Huffman, to Tampa Bay Florida.

  You can find his books under: MARSHALL HUFFMAN at Amazon.com.