The Contract (ePub)

An American citizen, who works as a Wall Street broker, gets contacted by a relative in Colombia who asks him to help him launder a huge amount of money of dubious origin. To do this job, the broker moves down to Argentina, South America, buying a summer villa in a far-flung corner of the country where a series of horrifying supernatural events take place. Just as he is about to die, he is saved by a powerful heroine.

'...Benjamin went back to the mansion. Despite his elation for his future business prospects, he felt a sudden pang of guilt as he ate his dinner. Lying in some deep corner of his heart, his empathy with human beings was still alive. Outside the full moon was climbing up across the starry night sky. When it had almost reached the zenith, at around 11:50 at night, Benjamin had already turned in. However he could not go to sleep. He just tossed and turned, thinking about the fate of Mathias, whose voice echoed in his mind, imploring him to take the shackles off and let him go. However, all of the sudden, his greed spread out across his heart like a dark, soft velvet, as if it had been cast by Evil himself, overriding his feelings of guilt.

Outside, the bright full moon cast melancholy silver light on the rolling landscape. Exactly at midnight, as Benjamin was about to fall asleep, horrific, loud howls ripped through the night air. They were not the kind of howls usually emitted by wolves or coyotes, but they seemed to come from the throat of some uncanny, beastly creature just out of hell. They were followed by human screams that pierced his eardrums.

Benjamin's heart beat faster at every human scream he heard. His blood pressure rose steadily; his temples hurt. It was as if two small hammers were pounding hard at the sides of his head. The horrifying howls turned into beastly, low-pitched growls and grunts, which carried a long way off in every direction. They made the window panes vibrate and the water in the jug which sat on the bedside table trembled.

Benjamin broke out in cold slimy sweat as he lay in bed...'