The Reincarnationist by M. J. Rose Read Free Book Online Page B

fall open to the soft leather bookmark with his initials stamped on the cordovan in gold, at the beginning of a chapter titled “The Soul in the World of Souls after Death.” He’d underlined several paragraphs and he reread them now.
    There follows after death a period for the human spirit in which the soul casts off its weakness for its physical existence in order then to behave in accordance with the laws of the world of the spirit and the soul alone, and to free the mind. It is to be expected that the longer the soul was bound to the physical the longer this period will last….
    His right hand returned to the brass buttons on the chair. The metal was cool to the touch. There was not much he’d ever lusted after the way he craved these stones. Once he had them, oh, the knowledge he would gain. The mysteries he would solve. The history he could learn. And more than that.
    He read the next paragraph, in which Steiner described how great a pain the soul suffered through its loss of physical gratification and how that condition would continue until the soul had learned to stop longing for things that only a human body could experience.
    What would it be like to reach the level of not longing? A pure level of thought, of experiencing the oneness of the universe? The ultimate goal of being reincarnated?
    He looked up from the page and over at the phone, as if willing the call to come. It was a simple burglary:the professor was elderly. He would be there alone. It was just a matter of overpowering him and taking the box. A child could accomplish it. And if a child could do it, an expert could certainly do it. And he was only hiring experts at every step of the way. The most expensive experts money could buy. For a treasure, for this treasure, was any price too high?
    There was no reason to worry. The call would come when the job was done. The round brass buttons were warm once more. He moved his fingers over to the next two, relieved by the cold metal on his skin, and returned to the book.
    Having reached this highest degree of sympathy with the rest of the world of the soul, the soul will dissolve in it, will become one with it….
    If he had proof of past lives, actual reassurance of future lives, what would he do with the knowledge first? Not torture or punish; he had no desire to cause pain or sorrow. Find lost treasure? Discover truths that had been turned into lies through history? Yes, all that in time, but the first thing he would—
    The sound startled him, although he was expecting it, and he jerked forward in the chair. As much as he wanted to, he didn’t pick up on the first ring. He put the bookmark back in the book and closed it. Listening to the second ring, he took a satisfying breath. He’d waited for this for so long.
    Lifting the receiver, he held it up to his ear.
    â€œYes?”
    â€œIt’s done,” said the man in heavily accented Italian.
    â€œYou’ll proceed to the next step?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œFine.”
    He was ready to hang up, but the man spoke quickly. “There’s something I should tell you.”
    He braced himself.
    â€œWe had a small accident, and—”
    â€œNo. Not on the phone. Report it through your contact.” He hung up and stood.
    People were fools. He’d explained a dozen times how important it was that nothing revealing be discussed over the phone. Anyone could be listening. Besides, it didn’t matter if there’d been a small accident. Accidents happened, didn’t they? What mattered was that the stones were almost in his possession, at last.

Chapter 8
    â€œA re you hurt?” Josh asked the professor.
    â€œNo, stunned, not hurt.”
    He was on his back, lying on the mosaic floor, at the foot of the ladder.
    â€œHere, let me help you. Are you sure he didn’t hit you?”
    â€œIt was so odd, looking up into the barrel of the gun, it was like looking into the night. Except a