Soul Intent (12 page)

Thirty minutes later, I read the first sentence out loud: “
Bengeski niamsi, te bisterdon tumare anava.
”

“That’s not English. And it’s not Slavic-sounding, either,” Val said.

“Or Italian or German,” I added.

She smiled. “Is it alien?”

I thought about that movie again…the plot mentioned a space gypsy tribe.

Flora was a Gypsy. “It must be Romany,” I said.

Val typed on her keyboard. Then she frowned. “Did you know that Romany’s an ever-shrinking language? They only have three thousand words left.”

“You found an online dictionary?”

“I did.” She took the sheet from me.

After a bit, Val grinned. “You’re such a smarty. Here’s your translation—
Cursed Germans, may your names be forgotten
.”

“If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can hear that bit of melodrama coming out of the mouth of a seventeen-year-old Flora,” I said. I rubbed my hands together. “This may take us a while.”

By sunrise we had completed the first two entries. Flora had extended the limited Romany vocabulary with a mix of Italian, Croatian, German, and English, and we were able to translate almost every sentence.

I looked at Val and rubbed my eyes. “It sure starts with a bang.”

Flora’s Journal

28 September 1946

Cursed Germans, may your names be forgotten. May malignant diseases waste your bodies. And may your grasp at immortality fall short.

Once upon a time a young princess lived with her father the king and her fairy godmother in a beautiful castle by the sea. The fairy used her magic to bring people joy and comfort.

Then disaster struck. Evil wolves killed the king and captured the castle. The princess and her godmother escaped and hid, alone and starving, deep in the woods.

The wolves destroyed many more castles, and they killed many more good people. A vast army joined together to fight against them. After many years, they defeated the wolves, and they rounded up the surviving leaders and put them in a cage so they could kill them.

The strongest wolf in the cage had fierce magical teeth, made out of the bones of his victims.

The princess and her godmother still starved in the woods, for although the people had won and they had rescued the beautiful castle, they kept it for themselves.

One day a knight in shining armor sent a message to the fairy godmother and the princess. He offered them a new castle in a land far away. But to get there, he wanted the fairy godmother to use her magic and make the strongest wolf immortal.

The princess didn’t want to help the wolf who killed her father. She didn’t want to help the wolf use his magical teeth forever and ever.

But her fairy godmother said they would perish if they remained in the woods, so they agreed to help, and they traveled to the wolf cage. While the fairy prepared a special talisman for the wolf, the princess decided to destroy the magical teeth before they too became immortal.

The captain refused to help her, even though she pleaded with him many times. One brave knight did volunteer, and he and the princess set off together on a quest to destroy the teeth. But although they tried valiantly, cunning wolves tricked them and almost killed the brave knight.

Now the princess doesn’t know what to do. The wolf still needs to be defanged. The captain doesn’t care. And time is running out.

But the princess will never give up. Never.

1 October 1946

When you are given, eat. When you are beaten, run away.

The captain came to the princess, who had been hiding in her room for the three days since the brave knight was wounded. The talisman was ready, and the wolf’s magical teeth would soon be deposited in a safe place, there to await his return from death.

The captain asked the princess to befriend a guard and pass messages to the wolf. She didn’t want to help, but the captain forced her to by swearing that he’d harm her fairy godmother if she didn’t.

So the princess searched for other ways to destroy the wolf’s magical teeth. Her fairy godmother made a special truth-telling potion to use against the captain.

When the princess gave the captain the potion, he told her where the magical teeth would be hidden. He told her he had to save them so he could become a general and help kill future wolves. And then he confessed his love for her.

When the captain left, the princess was horribly confused. She wanted to help the captain, but she was still determined to destroy the wolf’s magical teeth.

twenty-two

Present Day

Sterling, Massachusetts

Val let out a whistle. “The first entry matches what she told us, but the next one—Flora and Mr. Morgan—wow.”

I couldn’t wait to hear how the fairy tale ended. I held up the translation. “Time to show Madame Flora our copy. Maybe that’ll shock her into filling in the gaps.”

We walked downstairs and knocked on Madame Flora’s door. When she opened it, I pushed past her and sat down on her couch without saying a word. Val sat next to me.

The old lady stood in her bathrobe, her arms crossed. After a long moment of silence, she cleared her throat and asked, “Are we playing charades?”

“Good idea,” I said. I held up three fingers.

“Three words,” Val said.

I nodded and held up a single finger.

“First word,” Madame Flora said.

I nodded and pointed at her.

“Flora,” Val said.

I nodded and held up two fingers.

“Second word,” Madame Flora said.

I pointed at her again.

“Drabarni,” Val said.

I nodded and held up three fingers.

“Let’s cut this short,” Val said. “Third word is 1946. As in your journal from 1946, found in Hermann Goering’s soul line collection.”

Madame Flora sucked in a big gulp of air. She dropped her hands to her sides. “Archibald snuck you a copy, didn’t he?”

I touched my nose. “Bingo. And it’s a good thing, too, since you burned the original.”

“How do you know that?”

I smiled. “We also thought we should get to the journal before Archie returned it. We watched you destroy it.”

She closed her eyes. “And now you’ve figured out my code?” She opened them and stared at me.

I nodded. “Mostly Romany in a Glagolitic script.”

She seemed to collapse into a chair across from the couch. “How much of it did you understand?” She bit her lip.

“We’ve decoded half of it,” I said. “Right now we have a wounded brave knight and a captain in love with a confused princess.”

Madame Flora sighed. “Scott, you mustn’t tell Archibald you can read it.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“You will cause irreparable damage for all of us.” Madame Flora sat forward on her seat, her hands gripping the ends of her bathrobe. “You mustn’t tell him.”

I looked at Val. “What do you think?”

“I think she owes us the rest of the story before we can agree to that,” Val said.

“Me too.” I pointed at Madame Flora. “Translate your fairy tale into fact, and we’ll reserve judgment until you’re done.”

Madame Flora’s gaze swung from Val to me. She nodded, and said, “Once you hear me out, I’m sure you’ll understand.”

twenty-three

October 1946

Nuremberg, Occupied Germany

Baba had given it to Flora last week, the night she completed calculating Goering’s soul identity. “Write it down,” she said, pressing the leather-bound journal into her hands.

“Write what, Baba?” she asked.

“Everything that happens to you from this day forward.” Baba handed her a fountain pen. “Today marks the first day of our new life. You must record all that happens.” She grabbed Flora’s shoulders and stared fiercely into her eyes. “You must form new dreams.”

So Flora took the journal, and she wrote about the disastrous negotiations with the Nazi underground.

The overseer knocked on the door just as she finished, and Flora glared at him. “Get out of my room,” she said. She moved to her bed and hugged her pillow to her chest.

Archibald Morgan shook his finger at her. “You put my mission in jeopardy, yet you dare talk to me like this?”

“It was your fault—not mine. It didn’t have to happen that way, and you know it.”

“I know it?” His hands clenched into fists. “What do you think I could have done?”

“Turned the gold over to the authorities,” she yelled. “We both know it’s stolen.”

His chin dropped toward his chest. “Knowing is not enough,” he said softly. “I told you I needed proof.”

“And James and I got you that proof.” She spat that out. “We almost died on Saturday—but that’s not good enough for you, is it?”

He shook his head. “I have only your word and four scraps of burnt paper. James is barely coherent—he remembers nothing. And the only thing I saw in that clearing was a burnt-down barn.”

She turned away from him. They had been so close.

Flora had been mentally punishing herself ever since that hellish trip back from the barn. Baba had tried talking to her about it, but she gave up as Flora maintained her stony silence. Not even the historic news that afternoon of Goering’s conviction and death sentence could cheer her up.

Why was the overseer bothering her, anyway?

“I need your help, Flora,” he said after a minute. “Just one more time.”

She turned back to him. “Haven’t I done enough, Mr. Morgan?”

“I thought you had,” he said. “But the depositary team has reviewed my paperwork, and they now require a new form. Mr. Goering needs to sign a release and attestation for us.”

“So have him sign it.”

He sighed. “Mr. Goering’s lawyer, Dr. Stahmer, only trusted James. Now that he is hurt…” His shoulders slumped.

Maybe she had succeeded after all. “What happens if he doesn’t sign the release? Will he be able to deposit the gold?”

“He will not.” The overseer cleared his throat. “But before you get any ideas, let me make something crystal clear—if Mr. Goering does not deposit that gold, I will rescind the offer we made to your grandmother.”

“Go ahead. I dare you.”

Archibald Morgan nodded. “Very well. The two of you are to leave the residence tonight. I do not wish to do this, but you leave me no choice. You may take one week’s worth of medicine for her.” He turned around and stepped over the threshold and into the hallway.

“You’re a cold-hearted bastard,” she said under her breath.

He stopped, but he didn’t turn around. “Excuse me?”

She clenched her fists. “All right.”

Silence for a moment. Then he asked, “All right what?”

“I’ll help you, Mr. Morgan. You can count on me.”

He turned around and gave her a thin smile. “I hoped I could.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black and white photograph and a folded sheaf of papers.

Flora got up and walked over to him. She looked at the picture. “Who’s the soldier?” she asked.

“Private Steven Lee. He is one of Colonel Andrus’s guards. James identified him as a weak link. I need your help getting to him.”

“My help?”

“Three weeks ago, I asked James to come up with a backup plan in case Mr. Goering’s lawyer blocked our access.” He held up the papers and frowned. “I will not lie to you, Flora. This is a delicate and, shall I say, a very personal assignment. And now that Mr. Goering has been sentenced to death, I need you to work quickly.”

It wasn’t like she had a choice, was it? “Yes sir,” was all she could say. She closed her eyes for a moment and steeled herself for what she was about to do. She walked back to her bed and picked up a small cloth bag hanging from the post. Then she returned to the overseer. “Mr. Morgan, there is something you could do for me.”

He smiled. “Certainly.”

Funny how nice he acted, once he’d gotten his way. Flora reached into the bag and withdrew a hypodermic syringe. Then she quickly jabbed the needle into the overseer’s arm and depressed the plunger.

He clapped his hand to his arm. “What did you do, Flora? That hurt.”

“I need the whole story, Mr. Morgan.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room, next to her chair. “You’d better sit down before you fall.” Baba said the drug took only took a few seconds to take effect.

The overseer lurched forward and collapsed onto the chair. His body slumped to the left.