CONVENT FOR THE MAIDENS OF SAINT-MICHAEL
Chapter 6
Sister Claire Haffner slipped the black hood from her head. Sweat soaked her short brown hair and dark brow. Her eyes were filled with tears for Sister Rachel. She抎 heard the gunshots. Had her friend sacrificed herself to ensure that the operation was successful? Was she hurt? Dead? Captured? Impossible to say. But why had she chosen to toss the laptop down and remain on the street exposed, vulnerable?
揟he panel抯 destroyed. Take this and go.?
That抯 what Rachel had said. She抎 caught the laptop, then watched as her friend vanished from sight. The next thing she抎 seen were the strobing lights. Then heard the gunfire. An unsettling sound. One that had broken her heart. With no choice she抎 made her escape on the river following Rule #1. The objective took priority.
Always.
She stood in the convent foyer and allowed the familiar silence to calm her shattered nerves. This convent, here in Ghent, was for the aged, where the maidens lived out their later years after a lifetime of faithful service. The building had existed for three centuries, built specifically in Ghent for a reason. And yes, the women here were aware of the mission and had helped with preparations, but they抎 intentionally not been briefed on all its particulars. Those details were only for the order抯 abbess, who was hundreds of miles away awaiting a report.
She closed her eyes, steadied herself, then climbed the stairs to the second floor. Her room was one of several kept ready for visitors and faced the street. She, Sister Rachel, and Sisters Ellen and Isabel had arrived three days ago from the south, reconnoitering the workshop and determining when and how best to act. The operation had been planned for some time with care and diligence. The order had not survived for fifteen centuries by being impetuous or foolish.
She entered her room and switched on the light.
The small cubicle contained only a desk, wardrobe, lamp, white-cane chair, and iron-framed twin bed with a crucifix hung above. Bathrooms were shared down the hall, similar to a dormitory at university. She and her fellow maidens owned little to nothing in the form of material possessions. Whatever they needed was provided by the order. She抎 long ago adjusted to a life of simplicity, devotion, and duty. What she was not accustomed to was failure.
She peeled off the black spandex from her hot sweaty skin. A report would have to be made to the abbess, but she could not bring herself to make the call. At the moment she needed solace.
Which had always served her well in the past.
One of her earliest childhood memories had been a realization that she wanted to be on God抯 side. Religion had been important to her as far back as she could remember. She抎 earned a degree from Tulane University and wanted to teach music in elementary school, thinking that by doing so her life would be given to God.
Then she met Sister Anne.
An older woman who抎 visited the Catholic church in Shreveport, Louisiana, on a search, one that Claire herself would later repeat many times. On that day she was employed by the Caddo Parish Public Schools, devoted to her music students. She抎 listened to Sister Anne talk about the signs of a religious vocation梔edication, determination, and a little voice in your head that leads the way梩hinking the whole time she was talking only to her. More conversations followed and Sister Anne invited her to attend a retreat at a nearby convent. There in that quiet reverent space she抎 begun, for the first time, to truly listen to God抯 voice, pondering what he might be asking of her.
Why not be of service to me? the voice kept saying.
Why not?
She抎 always been possessed of a mind of her own, not one to crave the strength or attention of others, and always respectful of authority. All traits, she came to learn later, that Sister Anne searched for in recruits. That woman had possessed terrific instincts. Which were needed in her line of work. Anne had been the gatekeeper. The first person that every recruit dealt with. The one that had to be convinced. The selection process was tough and arduous. Only one to two women were found every few years.
And for good reason.
She recalled thinking about her own decision for several months. Finally, she quit her job and joined the Maidens of Saint-Michael.
She lived a year as a postulant, then devoted another year to canonical study, residing in the convent as a novitiate. Temporary vows came next, which bound her to three more years. If after all that time she still was sure then, and only then, were final vows taken. Most orders bestowed a ring on that day that signaled a marriage with Christ. The maidens were different. Each received a silver necklace with a fleur-de-lys.
Hers had hung around her neck for sixteen years.