The Secret Manuscript (16 page)

“The
Stampeders, why?”

“Are there any
other sporting events other than the Grey Cup taking place this
week where ‘your team’ is playing.”

“I don’t think
so.”

“Fantastic.
Kyle, I happen to know with one-hundred percent certainty the
outcome of the Grey Cup this weekend, and I plan to make a lot of
money. Do you want me to tell you who wins?” Ben said with an
ear-to-ear grin.

“Is this
another one of your scams, because you remember how that turned out
for you the last time you tried to mess with fate.”

“What am I
supposed to do with this information — nothing?”

“I suggest you
throw that book away. It doesn’t do a person well to know their
future in advance, and I think it will bring nothing but bad karma
in your life.”

“You’re
wrong,” Ben shot back. “What if instead of me trying to make a
little bit of money on a sports bet, I came here and told you that
you were going to be hit by a bus today? What should I do then,
just let you die?”

“If it’s God’s
will, then I accept whatever fate He has chosen for me.”

“And what
about me?” Ben retorted. “What’s my fate? What if God placed this
manuscript in my path for a reason — to save your life and to win
some money to save our house from becoming foreclosed?”

“Condemned.”

“Whatever.”

“If that were
true, then I suspect it would likely be because God is testing you,
to see if the book will corrupt you or if instead you avoid the
evil temptation and do the right thing. I’d say right now, the evil
part of your soul is dominating over the good part.”

“You ‘suspect’
that’s God’s will, but you really have no idea. Look, man, we need
this money more than you even know.”

“What’s that
supposed to mean?” Kyle shot back.

“Never
mind.”

“Where are you
even going to get the money to place the bet?”

Without saying
a word, Ben slipped his backpack off his shoulder, unzipped the
main compartment, and held the bag open for Kyle to see. Kyle
peered inside and saw the wads of cash bound together with rubber
bands.

“Ben, where
did you get this money?” Kyle asked with great concern.

“God gave it
to me,” Ben replied. “And He’s going to give me a lot more.”

“Do whatever
you’re going to do, but keep me out of it.”

“I can’t do
that, Kyle, our fates are entwined.”

“You said you
needed to ask me two things, what’s the second thing?”

“What’s the
name of your lab’s main competitor — a Swiss company?”

“Why do you
want to know that?”

“I just do.
Are you going to tell me or shall I go down to the lab and start
asking around.”

“I’m not
really sure; labs aren’t really in competition with each
other.”

“Come on, man,
think. What lab does similar work to your lab and is based out of
Switzerland?”

“The only one
I can think of is Lucius Labs; they’re a big pharmaceutical company
based out of Switzerland.”

“And they’re
working on a cure for Alzheimer’s disease?”

“I seem to
recall hearing something like that.”

“Alright,
thanks,” Ben said as he was about to walk away.

“Wait, what’s
this about?”

“Let’s just
say there’s a bus heading your way.”

Ben branched
out from the campus, searching for various convenience stores where
he could place bets on the upcoming CFL game. He had a little over
eight grand with him and planned to spend every last dollar on the
bet. It never occurred to him that the manuscript could be wrong
and he could lose all his money. He also did not think of the
consequences of his actions. As far as he was concerned, the
universe had placed the manuscript in his possession to be
exploited — a way of paying him back for dealing him such a crummy
hand in life.

Ben arrived at
the first store and took off his backpack. Using the inside of his
backpack as a shield, he reached in and counted out one thousand
dollars in random denominations, and then walked inside.

The game was
Sports Select — a sports gambling game offered by the provincial
government. Ben was familiar with it, but since he was neither into
sports nor gambling, he had not played it before. In this case,
what he was about to do could not even be considered gambling.

Ben found a
small stand at the front of the store that was for filling out the
paper ballots. He picked up one of the small pencils and etched in
his bet, betting one-thousand dollars on Saskatchewan to win. The
Roughriders were a four-to-one underdog so Ben stood to make a lot
of money on the upset.

When he was
done, he took the ballot to the cashier and laid down the cash. The
clerk didn’t even look up while validating the ticket.

Ben left the
store and moved onto the next one. He went to seven more
convenience stores and placed the same bet each time. He did this
to avoid suspicion and also as a way to launder the stolen money,
just in case it was traceable. Now all he needed to do was wait
until Sunday’s Grey Cup game and cash in all his winning
tickets.

Kyle came home
at two in the afternoon, a time when he was normally at work. He
walked in, hung his coat, and came into the kitchen where Ben was
sitting at the table. Ben was reading a newspaper, and eating a
mid-afternoon snack.

“Hey, man,”
Ben greeted him with a mouth full of food.

Kyle let out a
big sigh and was noticeably perturbed. “I’m having the worst week,”
he said. “First my team loses and now this.”

“Let me guess,
the new treatment your team was working on to stave off the effects
of Alzheimer’s disease was developed by Lucius Labs?”

“Yeah, how did
you—”

“I believe
they are based out of Switzerland if I’m not mistaken,” Ben said
with a smirk. By this point, Kyle made the connection and realized
Ben’s secret manuscript had let him know in advance.

“As you know,
Kyle, whoever goes to market first has a huge advantage. I suspect
your funding will be cut and you will have to start an entirely new
thesis. It definitely sucks, unless of course you have Alzheimer’s,
but there’s really nothing you can do about it, right?”

“What are you
getting at, and why do you have that stupid grin on your face?”

“My friend, do
you remember the time I was getting beat up and you came to my
rescue?”

“Which
one?”

“Good point. I
suppose it doesn’t really matter. What I’m getting at is you’ve
always been there for me. You’re a very loyal friend and I’ve never
really had the chance to repay my debt to you. As a matter of fact,
I haven’t even really said thank you.”

“Ben, enough
with the theatrics, what are you trying to say?”

“First, I want
to say thank you for being such a good friend to me. Second, we
don’t have to worry about money for a little while.”

“What did you
do, Ben?” Kyle said, not sharing Ben’s enthusiasm.

“I think it’s
best if you don’t know too much. You should remain innocent?”

“Ben, if
you’ve done something illegal, I want to know about it. As you
said, our fates are entwined. Whatever you do affects me too.”

“If you must
know, it all started when I robbed the robber a few weeks ago.”

“You
didn’t.”

“Oh I did,”
Ben said proudly. “Why don’t you have a seat, I think you’re going
to like this one.”

Kyle pulled
out a chair opposite to Ben and sat down.

“So the night
I asked you to rob the robber, I ended up going on my own.”

“Wait, how did
you know where the robber lived?”

“Sorry, I
thought I told you. I followed him.”

Kyle stared
back with a blank look on his face.

“I knew the
bank was going to be robbed, so I waited outside for the robber to
come out and when he did, I followed him. Actually, it wasn’t my
original intent, I thought I had lost him, but we coincidentally
ended up sitting next to each other on the bus.”

“Strange
coincidence.”

“I know,
right? Anyway, I went back to his house at night, but I went
prepared. I brought a knife, some rope, and some other supplies.
Oh, and I was dressed head to toe in black so I would be
camouflaged.”

Kyle rolled
his eyes.

“I made my way
onto the roof like a ninja and unfastened the chimney crown. The
thing was awkward and heavy, and I was also trying not to make a
lot of noise. I struggled to remove it, and when I did, I ended up
just resting it against the side of the chimney while finding the
sweet spot to balance it on the peak of the roof. Keep this in mind
because it’s going to become an integral part of the story
later.”

“So let me
guess, you entered the house through the chimney like Santa
Clause?”

“Yes,
exactly!” Ben said laughing. “Actually, it’s funny you say that
because the only reason I was able to discover this method of entry
was because a cat showed me how.”

“A cat?”

“Yeah, and
guess what the cat’s name was?”

“No clue.”

“Santa Claws!
Get it, like claws,” Ben said, demonstrating a scratching
motion.

“Cute… and
ironic.”

“So I scale
down the chimney and nearly break my leg on the dismount, but I’m
happy because I made it inside. I turn on my flashlight and start
to sneak around like a cat burglar. As I’m shining my flashlight
around, I notice this guy has a punching bag and a weight bench and
I start to freak out a bit. At this point I’m thinking about
turning back, but I can’t exactly climb up the chimney, right, so I
have no choice but to go upstairs. I should also mention that I had
been drinking a bit too, so by the time I reached the top of the
stairs, my buzz started to kick in. The alcohol and adrenaline
circulated in my blood and formed a powerful concoction.”

“Alright, so
you’re in this guy’s house, you’re feeling invincible, then what
happened?”

“I search the
entire first floor, but found nothing. By the way, the guy had
pretty much the identical house we have. I knew the layout without
needing the flashlight. So after searching everywhere, I crept up
the stairs, and entered the man’s bedroom. He was sleeping so I
quietly tiptoed over to his bed and from there we got into a little
tussle.”

“You attacked
a man in his sleep?” Kyle asked, stating his disapproval.

“No, he woke
up and attacked me first. I fought back in self-defence.”

“And what if
he didn’t wake up? You would’ve attacked a man in his sleep.”

“Something
like that. I didn’t exactly have a fully formed plan in mind. I
figured I would think of something.”

Kyle put palm
to face and shook his head at Ben’s stupidity. “And you won this
tussle?” he asked.

“Hey, don’t
look so surprised. I can get down when I need to.”

“Sorry, go
on.”

“So yeah, this
guy was really strong and overpowered me quite easily. He was on
top of me, strangling me, and then something incredible
happened.”

“What’s
that?”

“You remember
the cat, right?”

“Santa
Claws.”

“Yes, well my
guess is that the cat was playing around with the chimney crown
that I had haphazardly leaned up against the chimney, and it fell.
It tumbled down the roof and caused the loudest commotion. The
robber got distracted for a moment, but that was all the time I
needed to kick him off me and run away.”

“Great, I
can’t wait to hear how this ends.”

“What I did
was actually quite brilliant given the short amount of time I had
to make a decision. As I ran out of the room, I figured I had two
options. One was to make a mad dash out the front door and begin a
foot race down the block. But this guy was much more athletic than
I was and would have undoubtedly caught up to me and beat my face
to a pulp. Besides, I had just been nearly strangled to death and I
hurt my ankle getting into the house so I might not have even made
it past the front porch. So instead of having this maniac chase me,
I thought my only option was to hide and instigate a sneak
attack.”

“A sneak
attack?” Kyle reiterated.

“Yes, and it
was really quite effective too. When the robber came out to look
for me, he stopped at the top of the stairs and listened for my
footsteps. But I was hiding in the adjacent room, which was
equivalent to where your room is. Then unexpectedly, I came
charging out and shoved him as hard as I could down the
stairs.”

“You shoved a
man down a set of stairs?”

“It was in
self defense, Kyle. The man was trying to kill me.”

“Do you blame
him?” Kyle asked.

“No, but I was
justified in what I did, and I would do it again.”

“Alright,
whatever,” Kyle said letting out a big sigh of disappointment.
“What happened next?”

“I tied him up
and searched his room. In the back of his closet, I found a
makeshift cubbyhole where there was over eight grand in money and
jewellery in a secret stash. I took it all.”

“Wow, I can’t
believe you did all that.”

“I know,
right?”

“So what did
you do with the money? — which is probably traceable.”

“That’s what I
thought. I ended up placing small bets all over the city, betting
against the Stampeders, and as you know, the Stampeders lost.”

“So how much
money did you make?”

“Enough to get
us by for a while.”

“You’re
crazy,” Kyle said, unsure what to make of his friend’s actions.

“Kyle, I
haven’t even told you the craziest part yet.”

“What’s
crazier than breaking into a known bank robber’s house, robbing
him, and using the money to win a bet, which you happened to know
the outcome based on a book that foretells the future?”