“But you must believe me, my dear, knowing that I just used a name no other individual in this room knows for Eva’s book,” the scientist interrogating her argued.
The white book.
Kimberley wondered if Dr. Carlton had really found the woman Rachel had been looking for.
“We don’t believe you,” Rachel said, and the doctor smiled.
“So, it’s true then,” he said, getting up from his seat. “I’m afraid you’ve been found out, my dear,” he told the little girl, and turned to Sergeant Bradley. “Bring in Mrs. Hannah Braun.”
The US Army sergeant nodded and left. He soon returned with a middle-aged woman dressed in a black blouse and a gray skirt. Her blonde hair was cut short and her facial features had sharp lines as if chiseled out from stone. Her firm steps conveyed the impression that she could soak up pressure. Her piercing eyes took in every little detail as she walked into Dr. Carlton’s office, and they widened when they rested on Rachel’s face.
“Aunt Shira!” Rachel exclaimed, wringing her hands around Kimberley’s.
“Rachel, is…is that you? It cannot be,” the woman said, moving towards the little girl and her companion.
“Rachel?” a puzzled Dr. Carlton demanded. “But, of course, your name is not Eva. Rachel is all over the book’s pages. Fascinating.”
“Her name’s Eva Rachel Braun, sir,” Kimberley lied. “Looks like you found her aunt.”
Dr. Carlton stared at the Counter Intelligence Corps agent.
“Okay, this is getting interesting,” Sergeant Bradley told his men.
“More lies, Agent Joana?” the doctor wondered aloud. “Mrs. Braun here has already told me that she has no living relative here in Germany.”
“But you just saw how she reacted when she saw Eva?” Kimberley pressed on.
“You don’t need to do that anymore, Kim,” Rachel said, looking at her aunt with tears in her eyes as the middle-aged woman drew nearer.
“What are you doing?” Kimberley whispered.
“We don’t need to hide anymore,” the little girl sobbed, taking her aunt’s outstretched hands.
“And she’s right, agent,” Dr. Carlton said. “You don’t need to hide anymore.”
Kimberley stared at Rachel’s aunt while holding her forehead. “You had to be a German Jew,” she grumbled, looking away in frustration. It was all in the open, now. No need to hide anything anymore.
Mrs. Hannah Braun hugged Rachel before looking the little girl over. She touched Rachel’s face with her right hand and patted her body. “You–You survived the Mine, child,” she exclaimed. “Is this really you, Rachel?”
“Yes, Aunt Shira,” Rachel replied. “I survived, but they’re after me.”
The woman frowned as she hugged her niece again. “I knew something was wrong when I saw the white one.”
Rachel leaned in towards her and spoke in a foreign language.
“What’re you telling her, Rachel?” Kimberley wanted to know.
“Nothing,” the Jewish girl replied, looking up. “We’re just speaking Hebrew.”
Kimberley felt ostracized.
“You will need the second book to achieve what you seek,” Hannah Braun told Rachel in English.
“What is she saying, Rachel?” Kimberley asked the little girl, coming forward.
“The black one?” Rachel asked her aunt. “But Father said we can defeat them without…”
“No,” Aunt Shira said. “You’ll need the second book.”
“Is there another book?” Dr. Carlton wanted to know.
“Yes, there is,” Kimberley said. “The black one.”
“Aunt Shira says we have to find it,” Rachel said.
“No,” the woman said. “I said you’ll need it to achieve what you must achieve. Unfortunately, you will never find it now.”
“Why?” Kimberley asked. “Why can’t we find it?”
“The Booklords have already found it,” Aunt Shira said. “It is in their custody as we speak.”
“Oh, God,” Rachel exclaimed, covering her mouth with both hands.
“And how did you know that, Aunt Shira?” Kimberley felt a funny feeling in her stomach. “Have you been in contact with the Gray Ones?”
“No, of course, not,” Rachel’s aunt replied. “I practice Shurabi, so I know what has happened to both books since their creation.”
“Shura what?” Kimberley frowned. She hated new words. They implied new meanings and new twists in the narration.
“Shurabi,” Mrs. Braun repeated. “Ancient Jewish magic. It has helped me to be ahead of the Booklords all these years.”
“Okay, I get that,” a lost Kimberley said. “Which other option is there, then?” she asked Rachel’s aunt.
“Returning the book to the Gray Ones,” the woman replied.
“Ok, that’s not an option,” the Portwood police officer quipped. “We can’t trust them.”
“You don’t need to,” Aunt Shira said. “This is the only available option left for you now, my dear.”
Doctor Carlton cleared his throat. “So, your fantasy-filled story notwithstanding, Mrs. Braun, we’ve established that this white book has a black copy,” he said. “We’ve also agreed that you lied in your report, Agent Joana.”
Kimberley said nothing.
“We’ve also discovered the veracity of Sergeant Bradley’s report,” the Cornell University scientist added, and Sergeant Bradley grinned. “Which leads us to the one question I need answered, Agent Joana: Do the Germans have a new secret super weapon? A super soldier only this book can defeat, and how does the book do that? Please be patriotic for once, agent. Alsos needs to know the truth.”
“There’s no secret weapon, sir,” Kimberley replied. “What we have is a man who had been following us from our time, because we have something he wants.”
“From your time?” Sergeant Bradley asked. “Do you think this is all a joke?”
“I don’t believe that, agent,” Dr. Carlton said.
“You believe this pile of paper can defend against a super soldier and yet you don’t believe it’s a time machine?” Kimberley asked him. “Okay.”
“I don’t believe you, Agent Joana,” Private Johnny said. “That’s not possible.”
“I don’t care what you think, private,” Kimberley returned.
“Unbelievable,” the private chuckled. “So, where’re you coming from, the past or the future?”
“Actually, we’re coming from the past, because we had to go back in time while escaping from the Booklords,” Kimberley replied. “Now, we intend moving forward into the future, into our time.”
Private Johnny’s face turned white. “How you lie with a straight face is beyond me, miss,” he said coldly.
“You forget she’s an agent, private,” Dr. Carlton said. “For all we know, she could be working for the Germans right now, judging from all the lies she’s been telling us.”
“But it’s true,” Aunt Shira said, and all eyes turned to her. “Both books are time machines, doctor.”
“Are you sure of this, Mrs. Braun?” Dr. Carlton asked, and the woman nodded. “Incredible,” he exclaimed. The middle-aged woman had sounded convincingly truthful all evening, so he had no reason to disbelieve her, yet. “Get Colonel Pash,” he directed a guard.
“The colonel has left with the contingent drafted for the Hechingen mission, sir,” the guard reported.
“Then get him on the phone, damn it!”
“Yes, sir.”
Kimberley noticed a drop in the room’s temperature and moved to pick up the white book from Dr. Carlton’s desk.
“Hold it right there,” the man interrupted her. “Alsos will confiscate this…this white book and…and will investigate whether it’s really a time machine like you said, agent.”
“I told your superior that this book’s story is bigger than all the wars the world has ever fought in history put together, sir,” Kimberley reminded him. “You still don’t get it, do you
?”
“It’s possible that the Germans have acquired a new biological technology and are strengthening their soldiers with this weapon,” the scientist rather continued, deep in thought. “This book must be defensive in nature, if one must believe the fantastically unbelievable story you, the little girl and Mrs. Braun just told us. Obviously, the Germans want to get it at all cost, since it’s…mysticism could unravel their biological weapons technology, right?”
Kimberley rolled her eyes.
“And if it turns out that you’re right about this…pile of paper being a time machine, agent, then we have our own super weapon right there, my dear.”
“That will not help anybody, doctor,” Mrs. Braun, or Aunt Shira, told Dr. John Carlton. “Like the nuclear weapon your government is seeking to develop, another super weapon will only cause more destruction.”
“Let the generals decide that, Mrs. Braun. I’m just doing my job,” Dr. Carlton replied.
“It’s getting cold in here,” Sergeant Bradley observed.
“You know what that means, Rachel,” Aunt Shira told her niece.
“They’re coming,” the little girl said, cleaning her teary eyes.
“And what do you mean by that, little one?” Sergeant Bradley demanded, looking out of the room with his men.
“It means we have to leave right now with the book, sergeant,” Kimberley said, “or else everyone in this camp will die.”
Sergeant Bradley panicked when he remembered what happened to his men on the road from Stuttgart, but refused to say anything that would help the double agent.
“You’re not going anywhere, Agent Joana,” Dr. Carlton said. “And no one’s going to die. Take them away, sergeant.”
The US Army sergeant moved to obey his superior.
“We’ve lost all hope,” Rachel said, beginning to cry again as the soldiers surrounded her and her companions.
“No, we’ve not, Rachel,” Kimberley told her while her aunt consoled her.
“No need to be afraid, my dear,” Aunt Shira, or Mrs. Hannah Braun, said. “You just need to give back the book.”
“Stop saying that, woman,” Kimberley snapped. “Can’t you see you’ve done some damage already?” She searched frantically for her tiny cross before Sergeant Bradley’s men forced her hands behind her back. Unfortunately, she could not find it. “You don’t know what you’re doing, Dr. Carlton,” she pleaded.
“I know exactly what I’m doing, agent,” the doctor said. “Unlike you, my dear, winning this war at all cost is the priority of everyone in this camp who volunteered for the Alsos Mission.”
A slow wind picked up as the room’s temperature fell drastically. Kimberley moved to pick up the white book a second time. Sergeant Bradley held her back by grabbing her waist. She managed to touch the ancient codex before the lights went out.
The soldiers could only shoot sporadically.
Their screams were gut-wrenching.
And within seconds, it was all over.
Chapter 15: Prisoners of War
THE book’s dome started radiating a bluish hue that aided the sense of sight. Kimberley’s thumping heart slowed down when she realized that Rachel and Aunt Shira were also inside the unearthly protection. The icy support spiking out from the book restricted her movements and she didn’t like that.
“W-What just happened?” Sergeant Bradley demanded behind her.
“What I’ve always feared,” she replied. “And I don’t think it’s…”
Gray hands penetrated the dome and grabbed her neck, pulling her towards the icy layer forming the hemispherical structure. The heat from these demonic extensions burnt her skin as she struggled to breath. Suddenly, she was free, panting and feeling her scorched neck. She turned from the strange, ash-like material on the floor before her to see Mrs. Hannah Braun, or Aunt Shira, swinging something around at the flailing infernal hands trying to get at the white book, or any living thing, through the dome’s icy layer. The middle-aged woman had turned a fragment of the icy extensions supporting the book’s magical dome into a weapon. More ash-like substance fluttered to the room’s floor.
The Gray Ones withdrew and the magical dome disappeared.
Kimberley stared at the middle-aged German woman.
“You can fight them with a piece of the book’s defense if you can break out a part of it,” Mrs. Hannah Braun, or Aunt Shira, told her.
“Never knew that,” Rachel said, wide-eyed.
“Now you do, my dear,” her aunt said.
“They can now withstand the book’s defense for longer,” Kimberley noted. “I wonder why this is so.” Rachel’s aunt wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Kimberley noted that as well. Despite the defensive information she just got about the white book’s icy extensions from the German Jew, Kimberley still felt that the woman knew more than she had revealed to the Alsos team investigating Sergeant Bradley’s report.
The Portwood police sergeant looked around. Chaos ruled Dr. Carlton’s small office. The man, himself, lay dead near Kimberley’s feet, killed the instant his infernal visitors came calling.
Sergeant Bradley dropped down beside Private Johnny’s body, sobbing. His men lay strewn around like ragdolls, smoke still coming out from the muzzles of their hot M1 Garand rifles in the cold environment the white book continued to sustain within and around the small office. “Why?” the sergeant cried. “What killed them all?”
Kimberley had nothing to say. She searched her pockets for her cross necklace a second time. She frowned when she could not find it. Using a pen she saw on the dead Doctor Carlton’s desk, she drew a cross on a piece of paper, and handed Rachel the pen.
“Who did this, Agent Joana?” Sergeant Bradley asked her.
Kimberley walked to the door without saying anything. Sergeant Bradley cocking his sidearm stopped her cold.
“What is it, young man?” Rachel’s aunt asked the soldier. “What more do you want from her?”
“She caused all this,” the man shouted. “You all caused this mayhem.”
“Your superiors never listened to me,” Kimberley said quietly. “None of this would have happened if they did.”
“They…They were doing their job,” Bradley pointed out.
‘Just as I was doing mine back in Portwood,’ Kimberley thought. “What do you want, sergeant?” she asked.
“Where are you going?” the man demanded, sniffing.
“To see if my friend is still alive in your clinic facility.”
“Aiden,” Rachel exclaimed, moving towards the door. “Please, God, let him be alive!” she prayed. Events of the past few minutes had kept her from remembering her wounded friend. “Please, God, let him be alive!” she repeated at the door.
“Stop!” Sergeant Bradley ordered her and she froze. “I’m…I’m coming with you two.”
“Me, too,” Aunt Shira said, stepping over a dead soldier.
“Protect us, Rachel,” Kimberley told the little girl and turned to the others. “I can’t hope on a piece of paper to do that,” she said, raising the sheet on which she had drawn a cross for all to see. “It’s a joke,” she added when no one laughed.
Rachel picked up the white book as she passed Dr. Carlton’s desk and Kimberley made way for her to take the lead as they left the doctor’s office.
Outside, the camp appeared lifeless. Dead bodies lay everywhere.
“Who did this?” Sergeant Bradley repeated. “Who would do such a thing?”
“Alsos Spear HQ, Alsos Spear HQ,” a radio crackled somewhere in the compound. “Alsos Spear HQ, please respond.”
Bradley moved away to investigate this at the same time a familiar figure appeared at the door of the Unit Clinic in the compound.
“Aiden!” Rachel shouted, racing up to his tired-looking figure. “Aiden, you’re alive!”
“Aiden, did they touch you?” Kimberley wondered aloud as she came up to the two kids. “You survived again.”
“I know, Kim,” Aiden sa
id. “They met me on my bed, and just…just left me alone.”
“We’ve all been with the book for some time now, Kim,” Rachel said. “That gives the three of us some protection, you know.”
“Are you saying we’re all now Bookbearers?” Kimberley asked her.
“No,” the little girl said. “But it is possible that the Bookbearer’s protection from the book could rub off on those bearing the burden of the book with him or her.” She looked at her aunt for support.
Aunt Shira nodded. “That protection wanes off if the strife is not quickly resolved, though, so we’re lucky your friend here is still alive,” she added. “The same goes for you, too, my dear,” she told Kimberley.
“Okay.” For some reason, Kimberley didn’t like what she just heard.
“And your friend here appears wounded already,” Mrs. Braun, or Aunt Shira, continued. “The Booklords don’t attack the wounded, or the diseased, if I remember correctly.”
“That really works?” Kimberley asked. “Glad to hear that.”
“Everyone is alive except the doctors and nurses working shifts here,” Aiden announced, and Kimberley brushed past him to enter the clinic.
True to the boy’s report, only the clinic’s staff lay dead on the building’s floor.
The soldiers on the beds appeared perplexed.
“What’s going on, miss?” one of them asked Kimberley, but she had no ready reply.
“Back at the Mine, Barak was wounded by the Romans and when the demons came for the books, he wasn’t killed,” Aunt Shira said behind Kimberley on entering the clinic.
“Wasn’t he associated with the book, Aunt Shira?” Rachel asked.
“No, he was visiting his relation at the time. He had travelled all the way from Rome.”
Sergeant Bradley entered the clinic. He’d been at the communication block for some time. He pointed his sidearm at Kimberley and her group standing in the middle of the room.
“Not again,” Kimberley said.
“Task Force A wants us to hold these four individuals as prisoners of war until they get back here,” the US Army sergeant announced to shouts of approval from some of the wounded men in the room. “Now, who’s with me?”
The White Book Page 18