Chapter 22
"This is fascinating," Alura said looking at the pictures that Simon Lawrence had given J'onn and James. The latter had had to return to CatCo., so that he would not be missing all day. There were new reporters joining the team the next day and the final touches on what he wanted to do needed to be finalized.
"And yet somehow, I'm not comforted by that," Winn spoke up. Kara, Mon-El, Alura, J'onn, and the young tech wizard had moved into the conference room so that they would not be disturbed.
"He just gave you the pictures?" Mon-El asked, kind of surprised given what Kara had discovered.
"I didn't even have to threaten him with a subpoena; though I did not press about his family's business. How has the research been coming Winn?" The Martian wanted to know.
"Slow, which has been frustrating. I'm thinking that they must have changed the family name because I keep coming up with dead ends," he replied.
"Did Simon know where his father found this book?" Kara suddenly asked.
"No. I got the impression that Simon was having a hard time dealing with the fact that his father had it at all," J'onn said.
"Much like the Book of Rao, this book was sacred to someone. The fact that it has ended up in the hands of someone else means that they were either unaware of being stolen or unable to stop the theft," Alura spoke up. She was right. The pictures of the book told a story that the actual book would have had they had it. The pages were worn, covered in handwritten text, some of it not in English, which Winn was trying to have translated after he scanned the pictures into the DEO's computer banks. What was in English was the latter part of the book. The handwriting seemed to have changed as well which made Kara think that someone else had decided to pick up where the original author could not. The blonde looked at her mother, who was intently reading the passages that referenced the man she'd mentioned earlier.
"There is no mention of the man flying. Upon arrival to this planet, depending on his age, he would have discovered that he could fly. He makes no effort to hide his other talents so I have to wonder, why he would hide that," Alura continued. There was a knock on the door and everyone turned their focus.
"Ricky, what's up?" Winn asked as the tech pushed open the door.
"The computer has been stumbling over the translation but it spit out something I thought you should hear," Ricky said after coming in the door and closing it behind him.
"What is it?" Kara wanted to know.
"The author mixed words together. So for instance, using the sentence, "the cat sat in a box" as an example, the phrases, "the cat" and "in a box" are in Polish. The verb "sat" however, is in Hebrew," Ricky explained.
"The name on the cover of the book is not a Jewish name. It's John DeWitt," Winn gave him a look.
"I think that is the second author. Perhaps Mr. DeWitt wanted the book to survive the war," Ricky suggested.
"Because if there had been a Jewish name on the inside cover, the Nazis would have burned it," J'onn frowned.
"Precisely. While many Poles may have spoken or understood German, not too many Germans would have known Polish," Ricky said.
"What if the first author was using it like a code?" Mon-El suddenly had an idea.
"Like the Hebrew words were the code and the Polish was just the background noise?" Winn wondered.
"Yes, exactly. As you said, the Germans would have burned the book if they knew the Hebrew author. Perhaps it was code to tell John DeWitt where to look for something after the war," the former Daxamite thought.
"DeWitt then uses the book to translate or perhaps adds his own thoughts to it?" J'onn wondered.
"I should think so," Mon-El shrugged. Alura suddenly spoke up, distracting everyone from their conversation,
"My friend Mordecai died to protect the book's location. It is only I who knew where he hid it and only I who must carry out his mission. This may be the final time I write but if I succeed then everyone will know my name. If not, I fear we are doomed. The man whom I seek could kill me so much as look at me so I must tread carefully. The object that belongs to him must be returned from whence it came. May God forgive me if I fail. Then there is a crudely drawn map and an "x" next to the word Tunguska. The year in the corner of the page could be nineteen forty-five but it's hard to read."
"As in Tunguska Event?" Winn perked up at that.
"What now?" Mon-El asked.
"The object that belongs to him must be returned from whence it came? What object?" Kara wanted to know.
"Get working on those Hebrew translations. My guess is that since we don't have any idea who this John DeWitt guy is, he failed, and that's why Coville wants that book," J'onn frowned.
"He wants to get his hands on the object that a possible Kryptonian left behind," Alura heaved a sigh.
To Be Continued…