Chapter 3 - THE BOOK THAT HAD NEVER BEEN BORROWED
The Brooklyn library had been closed for seven years.
Dominic refused to let me enter first.
I argued.
He ignored me.
“You're fourteen.”
“You didn't care when you needed the translation.”
“I cared.”
“You offered ten million dollars.”
“That was before I knew you were fourteen.”
“I was wearing a school uniform.”
He paused.
“That was not my best moment.”
I almost laughed.
Almost.
Inside, dust covered everything.
Dad's coordinates led to the history section.
Shelf 12.
Row C.
Book 44.
It was a nineteenth-century volume about New York harbor.
The checkout card was blank.
Nobody had borrowed it in sixty years.
Inside the spine was a strip of photographic film.
Dominic's security specialist scanned it.
A list appeared.
Dates.
Companies.
Account numbers.
Names.
Judges.
Police officers.
Union leaders.
Politicians.
Then:
CARLO RUSSO.
Dominic stared.
His father.
Beside Carlo's name:
STATUS: REFUSED.
Further down:
ELIAS RUSSO — APPROVED.
Dominic's uncle.
Still alive.
The man who had helped raise him.
Dominic's face hardened.
“What does approved mean?” I asked.
He did not answer.
The final line contained Dad's handwriting:
THE RUSSOS DIDN’T CREATE THE NETWORK. ONE OF THEM TRIED TO DESTROY IT.
Dominic looked at me.
“My father.”
Before I could answer, glass broke downstairs.
His men reacted.
“Stay here.”
I hated those words.
Then smoke began entering beneath the door.
Fire.
Someone had followed us.
Dominic grabbed my hand.
We ran toward the rear stairs.
The main exit was already burning.
We escaped through a basement loading entrance seconds before flames reached the archive room.
Outside, I looked back.
A figure stood across the street.
Victor Hale.
He watched the library burn.
Then got into a car.
Dominic saw him too.
“He killed my father,” I whispered.
Dominic looked at the flames.
“Maybe.”
“You don't believe me?”
“I believe Victor is involved.”
“What's the difference?”
“The difference is the reason men like Victor stay alive.”
He looked at me.
“We don't guess when evidence exists.”
It was the first time a man with Dominic Russo's reputation taught me not to choose violence before certainty.
May you like
I never forgot it.
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