The Silver Coin

"Come right in." 

Abir pushed the door open and walked into a small, cramped space that was too small for the two desks and one bookcase that had been somehow forced inside. He spotted Vinit standing near the window. The sharp, acrid smoke hit Abir's nostrils. Vinit was smoking but he was trying to send the smoke outside the room. His attempt was failing miserably because the wind was pushing the smoke back into the room. Vinit took one last drag out of his cigarette and then threw the stub outside. Then he turned around and looked at his prospective client. Abir was tall and lanky and he had a bulbous nose that sat strangely on his face.

"A moron! That's who he is." Vinit thought and then with a cheerful smile, he shook hands with Abir and bade him to sit on a chair.

Abir sat down heavily.

"Now tell me why you wanted to meet me."

"I saw your ad on the dark net. And I sent you a message."

"Right. I saw your message but I think I told you quite clearly that what you wanted can't be done. But you kept calling me, kept sending me messages. Just accept that what you are asking for can't be done."

Abir's lips curled. Vinit thought Abir looked particularly hideous when he smiled.

"I know it can be done. I also know that you have done it earlier." He had done his homework on Vinit. He had met many charlatans in his quest. Somehow he had been directed towards Vinit and then when he was able to find Deepu Pehelwan who vouchsafed for Vinit's skills, the deal was done for Abir. It was as if fate had guided his steps towards Vinit.

"Who was it who told you about me?" Vinit scowled.

"Deepu Pehelwan."

Vinit sighed. He picked up a paperweight and started playing with it. Abir waited for Vinit to respond. He knew that Vinit wouldn't agree immediately for what he wanted Vinit to do.

"Let be very clear about what you want me to do." Vinit looked up at Abir even as he put the paperweight on the table and made it rotate. "You want me to catch a dead man's spirit and trap it in a coin. Right?"

"Right." Abir's smile deepened. Vinit patted on the paperweight to make it stop rotating.

"Last time I attempted such a thing, I almost got killed." Vinit looked carefully at Abir. "For that reason, I have increased my fees."

"Just name the price."

Vinit quoted 20 times of his normal fees. It was exorbitant and any sensible person would have declined but Abir did not even blink his eyes and nodded.

"You have to pay in advance."

Abir's smile disappeared but then he nodded.

"Will be done."

Vinit looked around at the dingy office that he had rented for a day from a shopkeeper. The books and the desks had been moved in the morning itself. Within four hours, everything would be removed from the premises. His men had been stationed outside and they had guided Abir towards him. 

"Well, get the money then. All cash. Once it is taken care of, I will move to the second stage."

Abir did not get up from his seat.

"You should know about the man we are going to trap."

"Not now. Once I start the rituals, then I will ask you to tell me everything about him." 

Abir stood up but hesitated.

"Kaku is in a medically induced coma. The doctor told me that pulling the plug would kill him but do you want me to ..." He left the question hanging.

Vinit leaned back on his chair. 

"No, you don't have to kill him by any weapon. Pulling the plug would do. Once I start the ritual, it will take me close to an hour to really understand the man. Then another hour to set up our trap. Then you can pull the plug."

Abir left the office lost in thoughts. He had not expected Vinit's fees to be so much high. He wondered if what he was doing was right. He thought of the hidden treasure and wondered if it was worth all the trouble. As he drove to his house, he kept thinking about the marvelous story that his father had told him on his death bed. Some five years back, Abir's father and his eldest brother (kaku for Abir) had traveled to an African country to work there as teachers. Then they got involved with a political party and when their party overthrew the government in a bloody coup, they escaped the country but they stole diamonds worth Rs 100 crores.

They were able to smuggle it to India and then Kaku hid the treasure somewhere. Abir's father trusted his brother blindly. Over a period of time, they used about Rs 10 crores or so. Kaku hid nothing from Abir's father except for the location of the treasure. Then Abir's father fell sick. He went to many doctors but no one could find what was wrong with him. Finally, he found out that he had been poisoned by his brother. The poison was well known in Africa but very rarely known in India. That was the reason why no doctor in Mumbai suspected poisoning. 

In any case, by the time the poison was detected in his blood stream, it was too late for Abir's father. He knew that it was his own brother who poisoned him. Moreover, his brother refused to come and meet him. It was quite clear that Abir's father was being cheated of his rightful share of diamonds. Abir cremated his father and the same day he accosted his Kaku but was told that there was no such thing as diamonds and that it was all a figment of Abir's father's imagination. Abir was kicked out but he kept a tab on his Kaku. He could see that his uncle spent money lavishly and that there was no known source of income for him. That implied that his uncle was using the treasure to fund his lavish lifestyle.

Abir wanted his share of treasure but his uncle would not even speak with him. At long last, the nightmare of missing out on his fortune drove Abir wild. He read a lot about how to control the minds of other people. He checked out all the methods listed such as hypnosis and tantrik rituals but nothing helped. He then started meeting all sorts of charlatans who promised him that they would make a slave out of his uncle but all of them failed. He gave up everything and went to an ashram on the outskirts of Kasauli. There he met Deepu Pehelwan, his old classmate, and got the contact details of Vinit. Deepu told him how Vinit was able to use an ancient ritual to trap a departing man's soul and bind it to some item made of silver. Deepu had bound the spirit of the killer of his family into a silver urn. This way he ensured that the killer's soul would remain stuck in the netherworld, neither getting a chance at redemption in his next birth nor getting punished for his crimes in the previous birth. The silver urn would one day be destroyed and with it, the killer's soul would remain permanently in limbo. 

Abir thought long and hard about it and decided to wreak similar vengeance upon his uncle but he also wanted to know about the location of the treasure. Towards that end, Deepu gave him some documents to read. They were ancient scriptures, mostly written in the Pali language that was used in those days. A rough translation to English had been done by Deepu. Abir read about souls trapped in silver coins. There used to be 'thugs' operating from the vast jungles that protected them from the law enforcement agencies. They had amassed a huge fortune by robbing and killing people. The treasure had been taken out of India and buried in some godforsaken island by one of their leaders.

However, the leader had fallen deathly sick on his return voyage. He did not want to share the treasure location with his traveling mates for he feared that they would throw his body in the sea and go back to loot the treasure. So the leader of the 'thugs' trapped his soul in a silver coin and his traveling mates had to carry his dead body and the silver coin to the other 'thugs'. From the silver coin, the other leaders had obtained the location of the treasure. Deepu told him that Vinit was one of the descendants of the thug leader who had trapped his own soul in a silver coin. That was why Deepu had contacted Vinit and hired him to trap the killer's soul in the silver urn. As part of their plan, Vinit had set up his apparatus in the basement of an abandoned building. Deepu kidnapped and brought the killer to the basement where Vinit waited. When Vinit had given him the go ahead, Deepu had put a bullet in the killer's head. Then the departing soul was trapped by Vinit in the silver urn. The process had been brutal and Vinit had started bleeding from his mouth and nose. When the process was completed, Deepu went away to discard the body of the killer while Vinit went to a hospital to get himself treated. Deepu told Abir that it took Vinit a whole week to start walking again.

Thoroughly convinced, Abir sold his house and with the money, he hired a professional killer who shot and fatally wounded Kaku. Abir put up his uncle in his own house and kept him in a medically induced coma. The doctor charged exorbitantly for it but Abir paid gladly for he felt it was worth it knowing that his uncle was neither in the realm of living nor in the realm of dead. Abir then contacted Vinit and essentially forced him to yield to his will. He had got cash stashed in his rented house. The drive to his house and back to Vinit's office took an hour. When he came back, he found Vinit to be studying a book written in Pali language. Abir put the suitcase containing the money on the table. Vinit did not even check.

"Won't you check?" Abir was shocked.

"No. No need." Vinit smiled. "I don't think you will cheat me. In your detailed message, you have mentioned that you need to get the location of the diamonds from Kaku. I am sure you will be needing me in the next stage too."

"That's right." Abir shuffled his feet. He wanted to know if Vinit would charge separately for it but he didn't want to offend Vinit.

"This is the full and final payment for the task that you demand of me." Vinit seemed to read his mind. "I hereby accept your payment and promise to do all that I can do to complete your quest."

Abir smiled but this time his entire face lit up. 

Vinit and Abir left for Kaku's house where Vinit spent some time in cleaning up some space for his 'puja'. Then he blessed the silver coin that was to bind with the soul of Kaku. Then he used threads from Kaku's clothes and some bristles from his tooth brush to bless the threads that would form the soul catcher. Once that was done, Vinit asked Abir to take him to the hospital. He asked a lot of questions about Kaku and Abir tried to answer them truthfully. When Vinit walked in the top floor bedroom where Kaku was in the medically induced coma, he looked at the supine figure with pity and scorn. 

"What a fool!" Vinit thought. "If only he had shared the diamonds with his brother, he would not be suffering so much."

Vinit took some time in hanging an intricate pattern of threads.

"This is called a soul catcher." He informed Abir. "Most of the souls are really scared when they shed their bodies. They are supposed to move towards light but for some moments they hover over their bodies. If we place very bright light over the body, the fearful soul will have to move towards the corner where there is darkness. They will be galvanized to move towards our soul catcher where they will be trapped. The danger to me is from the fury of the trapped soul. It would attack me and I have to somehow fend it off from taking possession of my body. Once that is done, then the soul catcher would push the soul into our object of interest. For your Kaku, it will be this blessed piece of silver coin. Then I will trap it. When you pull the plug of your Kaku, you will see me thrashing about on the floor. Do not come to my aid. I don't want your Kaku to take possession of your body. That will simply be horrible."

When Vinit was satisfied with his soul trapper, he helped Abir in setting up strobe lights over the body of Kaku. When the lights were turned on, they were so powerful that the entire room was illuminated. However, Vinit had taken care to arrange his soul trapper to stand in such a way that a small shadow covered it. That was the only patch of shadow in the room. Vinit took his place and then signaled Abir to kill the switch that was keeping Kaku alive. The moment the switch was thrown off, Kaku's body began twitching and soon it started to thrash about. 

"He does not want to go so easily. It will be a heck of a fight." Vinit thought. Then he started chanting his mantra to keep himself ready for the struggle with the departing spirit. With a long drawn twitch, Kaku's body fell still. Immediately the soul trapper rustled. Vinit smiled and then his face contorted.

Abir watched the struggle between Vinit and Kaku's spirit with a mix of horror and fascination. Vinit was knocked on the ground where he thrashed about. Then with great difficulty, he was able to sit crosslegged. Abir noticed that Vinit's face had become ashen as if he had lost all blood. Then blood started to trickle out of Vinit's mouth and his nose. Then he fell on the ground and started thrashing about. Abir did as he was told and he watched the ongoing spectacle with growing horror. When Vinit opened his mouth and started speaking, Abir was left horrified. It was as if Kaku spoke from within Vinit. 

"You wretch! You piece of shi*! You think you can force me to share my fortunes with you. Ha! You moron! Your father was an ass**** too! He really thought I will give him the diamonds. And all that he did was whine about! Let us not do it! If we get caught, then we will go to jail. He kept whining, kept telling me to not do it. It was my idea. I took the diamonds from Kirby. I killed him because your father was a fu**ing coward. Yes! I killed Kirby! I sliced his neck with a knife and watched all the blood flow out. Slowly, slowly his life ebbed from him. Ha! I should have killed your father then and there too but I needed him. Just like one needs a beast of burden, I needed him. Ohh! This wretch is trying to take control. Tchach! It is too late. This will be my new body, this will be how I will go about enjoying my riches. As for you, you moron, you get nothing. Oh no! No! NO! NOOOO!"

Abir heard a blood-curdling scream and then Vinit's body started contorting. A sigh escaped out of him as he managed to sit and then he spat out a thick glob of blood and saliva. He took a deep breath and started to chant something. Abir heard it but he simply couldn't understand it. It was as if all the words merged together. The world around him started to lose colour. The brightness of light started to decrease slowly. The next moment he hit the floor. The impact made him aware of how bright the light was still. He took the support of bed to stand. When he looked towards Vinit, he found that Vinit was staring intently at the silver coin that was now moving on its own. The coin managed to do three backflips before it finally lost all its steam and then with a dull thud, it fell to the floor and stayed there.

Vinit asked Abir to turn off the bright strobe lights. The darkness that fell around them was like a thick curtain. 

"We managed to do it!" Vinit spoke in a hoarse whisper. "I need time to recuperate now. You can take this coin with you. Place it in a safe place. You don't have to worry about it now. It is harmless now. The spirit sleeps within it. We will awaken it later to question it."

Abir helped Vinit up. He noticed that Vinit had spilled enough blood to completely wet his shirt. Vinit groaned at every step. When he placed him on a bed, Vinit went into a foetal position and then fell unconscious. An hour later, his men came and they picked up Vinit and left. 

Two weeks later, Vinit sent a message to Abir with some instructions. Abir followed them to a T and then waited for Vinit to arrive. He was carefully plotting about how to get rid of Vinit for he did not want anyone else to know about the location of the diamonds. He had procured a gun to shoot Vinit dead. He had already given notice to the landlord about vacating his rented house. He was going to disappear the moment he obtained the location. The silver coin with Kaku and Vinit could go to hell for all he cared. He wanted Vinit to come alone and when he saw Vinit being dropped by his men who did not wait for Vinit, he felt exhilirated. It was as if Vinit had fallen into his trap, hook, line and sinker. 

Vinit met him with a warm smile and inquired about the preparations. 

"Well, before we begin, I need you to take this tablet." Vinit handed Abir a thick capsule.

"What is it?"

"My insurance!" Vinit smiled. "It is a lot of money at stake. Should you want to, you can kill me the moment you find out about the diamonds. I am not accusing you of anything but you must understand, I can't take any risks. It is my life at stake here. This capsule contains a horrible poison. Once ingested, the thick covering around it will withstand the acids in the stomach for an hour or so. After that, the poison comes out of the capsule. It kills the person within minutes. However, if the antidote is administered before the hour mark, then the poison is rendered ineffective and completely harmless. The process here will take us around 45 minutes, perhaps even 40 minutes. Should you choose to kill me then, you will have 15-20 minutes to reach hospital which is frankly impossible from this location."

"Moreover do not think about killing me and getting the antidote for I am not carrying it. My men will bring it with them when they come back to pick me up."

Abir looked at the capsule with a sinking heart.

"Also do not think of trying to throw up and thus get rid of the capsule. It won't come out. The only way you can save yourself then would be to cut open your stomach and take the capsule out but again, that will be a very foolish move for the blood loss will make it impossible for you to drive so you won't be able to reach a hospital in time."

Vinit smiled at Abir.

"Take it without fear. Don't worry. I have no reason to covet your treasure. What is yours will remain yours. In any case, I have taken my payment and I am not going to start asking for more. As long as I am here, you will get your antidote."

Abir sighed and then swallowed the capsule. Vinit watched him carefully. He had seen some foolish people try to stuff the capsule in their shirt collar or sometimes get the capsule stuck in between teeth thereby giving him ample sign that they were there to harm him. Vinit had taken immediate steps to safeguard himself. He had been in this line of business for years. He never trusted his clients. However Abir swallowed the capsule without complaining. For a moment, Vinit felt disconcerted for having doubted Abir. Then he started focusing on his job.

The silver coin was brought out and placed on a temporary ouija board. Vinit started reading some mantras. After around 15 minutes, the silver coin started to shake. Vinit asked if Kaku would like to answer some questions. The coin kept shaking.

"He is not cooperating but that's understandable given that he was trapped by us. We keep trying."

For another 15 minutes, the coin kept shaking and refused to move but then finally, almost grudgingly it moved itself to the section marked 'YES'.

"Good" Vinit's face was by now very sweaty. The entire operation was taking a toll on him and even though he was able to move about he had not recovered 100%. He moved the coin back to the starting position.

"Where are the diamonds? Is it at your house?"

The coin moved to YES.

"In your bedroom?"

NO.

"In any bedroom?"

NO.

"In any bathroom?"

NO.

"In any balcony?"

NO.

"In the kitchen?"

YES.

"Near the geyser?"

NO.

"Among the spices?"

NO.

"On any shelf?"

NO.

For some moments they were stumped.

"On the ceiling?"

YES.

"On the fan?"

For some moments the coin stayed still. It was as if Kaku did not want to share his secret with Abir but then very unwillingly the coin started to slide towards YES.

Abir had at last found the location of the hidden diamonds. He took out his gun and pointed it at Vinit. The silver coin had by then stopped at YES and then suddenly it started to slide towards NO.

"What is going on here?"

Abir was startled. Vinit glanced once at the coin going towards NO then looked back at the barrel of the gun pointed at his head.

"Put that gun away, please"

Abir reluctantly put his gun away. 

"I thought you were smarter than this." Vinit reproached him. "I already told you about the poison in the capsule and the antidote that you will need soon."

Abir did not reply.

"Why should I help you now?" Vinit asked. "Give me one good reason now."

"Why is it lying? You failed me."

"I failed you? Oh, come on! To get a secret out of a reluctant spirit is a difficult task as you can see. Eventually, it will be forced to answer correctly. But now, I don't want to do anything."

Abir picked his gun up and pointed it at Vinit.

"You will finish your job or I will kill you."

Vinit smirked. "You were going to kill me in any case so better for me to die knowing that you will never get the answer about the diamonds."

"I will hire someone else. There will be someone who could get that information from the spirit trapped in the silver coin."

"You can search but you won't find anyone else." Vinit sighed. "It is not a humble brag. It is the truth. Only I can trap souls in a silver coin and only I can force them to communicate."

Abir hesitated.

"Now I want half of your diamonds." Vinit looked at Abir. "That will be the price that you pay for pointing that gun at me twice."

Abir scowled. He wanted to shoot Vinit dead but he could not bring himself to pull the trigger. He threw the gun away and then grunted.

"Is that a yes?"

Abir grinded his teeth and grunted again.

"I will take that as a yes. Now be a good sport and give me the gun."

Vinit put the gun in his jacket pocket and then turned his attention back to the silver coin. Once again a series of questions about the diamonds were asked. Once again the silver coin moved about. After the second round of questioning, it was clear that the diamonds were in the kitchen and that it was hidden among the spices. Vinit checked his watch. He had been at the job for almost 50 minutes. Within 10 minutes, his men were going to arrive. His third round of questioning helped in confirming the location of the diamonds. The pouch of the diamonds was indeed hidden among the spices. There was a big jar of tea leaves and among them was the pouch of the diamonds.

Abir suddenly felt a sharp pain in the stomach. He gave a funny look at Vinit and then fell on the floor, groaning. Vinit was surprised. He checked his watch. There were still 5 minutes to the hour mark. He took out his phone and called his men to hurry up. Abir kept clutching his stomach and groaning. Within two minutes, Vinit's men arrived. One of them had the antidote that was administered to Abir. For some moments, Abir hyperventilated then he fell on the floor again, writhing and groaning.

"What's going on?"

Vinit's men were scared. They gathered around Vinit and all of them looked at the writing figure of Abir on the floor.

"We should probably get him to a hospital." The taller one really wanted to help. However, he turned around to not look at the pathetic figure on the ground.

"Or we can let him die here. Who cares about him?" The shorter one was more pragmatic. He was looking at Vinit, not even looking at Abir.

They looked at Vinit letting him decide on their next course of action. Before Vinit could reply, he saw the taller one groan and go down on his knees. The report of the gun reached his ears a fraction late. Abir had shot and killed the taller one. By the time Vinit managed to pull out the gun in his jacket, the shorter one had been shot twice. Vinit pointed the gun at Abir and pulled the trigger but nothing happened.

"You have never fired a gun, right?" Abir smiled. "You have to first remove the safety catch but it does not matter now."

He shot and killed Vinit. It was time to get rid of the evidence. He started a big fire using the bed sheets and curtains and then threw the mobile phones of the dead men in the roaring fire.

Then he picked up the silver coin and threw it in the fire.

"I hope you are freed from that prison, Kaku. Goodbye."

Abir took one last look at the pile of the bodies and then smiled triuphantly. As he was about to leave the house, he heard Vinit's whisper in his ears.

"Boo!"

Startled, he turned around and then felt as if he had inhaled an acerbic gas. It burnt his windpipe as it went forcing its way inside his body. For a moment he stood tottering and then his knees gave in. 

"Yield!"

Vinit screamed inside him. The cry of 'Yield' kept on increasing in intensity. Abir screamed in pain as Vinit's cry slowly enveloped him. Then suddenly the noise ceased. Abir opened his eye and saw himself hovering near the ceiling. He looked at his body near the front door in alarm. Then slowly his body stood up. Vinit looked out of his body. He smiled as Abir's spirit was pulled towards the dead body of Vinit. He felt very scared as he found himself hurtling towards a silver prison. It was totally black inside the prison. He could not see anything in it and yet he felt that the darkness was alive, that it was going to consume him. He tried very hard to escape but the black prison swallowed him slowly.

Vinit smiled.

"I will get used to this body too. Eventually!"

He walked towards his erstwhile body and then took out a silver coin from its pocket. He smiled at the coin.

"Good, my plan worked."

He walked towards the fire and managed to get the silver coin out of the fire. Only the edges had melted a bit. He put the two coins together. 

"One for Kaku, one for Abir. You two were greedy, little pigs, weren't you? Now you have an eternity to think about your actions. Abir, I truly didn't need your treasure. I already have got the treasure of thugs. I don't need anything else. But now I will take your treasure too. I will use them to help the families of my men who were slain today. That's the least I can do for them. Sleep now, both of you. Dream about what you did and why you should not have done them. Goodbye."

The End