Potter's Field

Kivanc ran as fast as he could, going through dark alleys and empty lots in downtown New York.

Either that or he might end up in the news at ten or at tomorrow’s newspaper headline.

He turned towards a corner, a blind light suddenly stopping him.

A truck sped fast, almost hitting him. It temporarily ceased the beating of his heart, rendering him immobile. Sweat trickled down his face. His panting continued. He turned and saw the shadows that were going after him. There was no time to waste! He must reach the archaeologist in the museum before anyone beats him to it!

Another dash towards the direction of the museum. A whizzing sound almost stopped him in his tracks, and upon realizing what it meant, the beating of his heart raced faster. A bullet just went past him!

A booming sound of a gun came soon, and he ducked beside the nearest trash bin to hide. Damn! Now, he's being shot! Whoever it was must have desperately wanted the pouch! Kivanc should have called the police instead of doing this on his own. But then, he never thought that the interest for such could be this grave!

Why would anyone want a pouch containing thirty silver coins? The equivalent value was not that much: only around three thousand dollars. Well, maybe for some, but for him, CEO and owner of a shipping company in Turkey, it was merely a sum he would spend on a vacation in the Mediterranean.

But Kivanc should have noted the events before this evening trip to the museum. Everything changed when he found the pouch two weeks ago. He was jogging near his home in Istanbul. He accidentally slipped and fell off a small cliff. He was thankful for the presence of the bushes at the foot of the cliff that broke his fall.

As he struggled to go back, he grabbed a rock on the side, but it was soft that he slipped, and a few amount of soil eroded in front of him. He grabbed whatever solid thing he could find, and the next thing he knew, there was the pouch in his hand. It must have been buried there for a long time. A long drawstring leather pouch that contained thirty pieces of silver coins with a mark of a man's face on the side should not be a big deal. He was determined to keep it as a souvenir. But somehow, after showing it to his financial advisor, he began receiving threats in his life.

Tonight, his notion that somebody wanted it has been validated. Kivanc could just give it but realized it was not as simple as that. The silver pieces inside were not just any other coins if threats had been issued to him.

Looking at it closely, it seemed to be coming from the ancient times. He tried to search online, but could not find anything relevant to what he thought these coins might be. Because if he would only track down in history the extraordinary relations of such symbolism, there would be two instances and these came from the Bible: one from the prophet Zechariah for his compensation as a shepherd or from Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed his friend, Jesus of Nazareth. Kivanc was not a religious man, but he was curious about the secrets that the pouch could bring. During his research, he found Horace Brown, a well-noted archaeologist based in New York, and contacted him. They agreed to meet to analyze the coins.

But things were not easy before he left for New York, as a series of unfortunate events occurred.

"I strongly advise that you put the company shares in public," Kivanc remembered his father said when the former CEO visited his office a few days ago.

Although the shipping company was doing well as a privately-owned family business, he also considered going public. But he was still gathering enough data to prepare themselves for the benefits and restrictions that they would have to face. He was trying to be sure of the decisions he had to make. For some reason, his father insisted on setting the wheels turning before it was too late. Too late for what? The next day, he realized that his father needed money for his mistress. Kivanc, an eligible bachelor in his mid-thirties, would have understood the man's desire to respond to his woman's every whim, but involving the state of the company should never be considered as his father's means to an end. The retired CEO had allocations to live prosperously for the rest of his life, but it seemed to be not enough.