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“And of all different ages and backgrounds too,” Ray adds. “The rich, the poor, the elderly, the young. A well placed bomb could only end up killing ten people while still collapsing half a building, and it would be more than enough to vilify our asses to everyone.”
“… But which library, and when?”
Ray shoves his coffee into the cupholder and starts the car. “No… they wouldn’t…”
He knows this city better than I do, and I can’t say I’ve been to a library in Manhattan yet.
“Talk to me, Ray. Where are we heading?”
Peeling out of our parking spot, Ray starts to weave through the increasingly thick traffic.
The pain in my leg begins to fade as Sophia trickles to the back of my mind.
“New York Public Library. The main branch. It’s a landmark. If they blow that shit up in the morning, they’ll get their dozen dead bodies, plus it will make enough noise to get the widespread attention I’m sure they want.”
“Blowing up a government building wasn’t enough?”
“Why blow up just one when you can blow up two?”
He’s got a point. Reaching for the gun tucked behind my belt, I make sure it’s loaded. “I’ll send some men to other libraries around the city, just in case we’re at the wrong spot.”
Replacing my gun with my phone, I text Maksim the details of our ‘discovery’.
“Let’s hope we’re right,” Ray mumbles as we run a red light.
He might as well have a special licence plate on his bumper—one that says KILPATRICK PROPERTY to all law enforcement officers—because we blow by at least two cop cars without any trouble.
The journey is surprisingly quick for this time of day, and we arrive at our deceptively quiet destination just before Maksim texts me back with a confirmation of my orders.
“Let’s do this,” I say, stuffing my phone away.
Stepping out of the car, I look up towards the grand front doors of the massive library. People are already passing through the marble archways, completely unaware of what might be about to happen.
Immediately, I start racing up the stairs, towards the front doors.
But Sophia is forever on my mind, and my leg starts to beg for a break before I’m even halfway up.
“Fuck,” I grumble to myself. “You’re not a cripple. You’re a king. An assassin. Don’t forget how you took her in the first place. This is nothing compared to that.”
But my leg doesn’t listen. It never does. And when I finally push my way into the library, the pain only gets worse. Because I’m immediately confronted by a small gaggle of college girls.
They’re all around Sophia’s age.
Fucking hell. I need to stop thinking of her.
But when they see the angry demon that I am, they all stare at me like she does, like I’m a nightmare that just stumbled in off the streets.
They’re not completely wrong.
“Get out of here,” I growl, storming past them, but I don’t stick around to enforce my order. There’s no time. If Ray and I are right, the Greeks are about to unleash a blitzkrieg upon this city.
“Should we try to clear this place out?” Ray asks, when he caches up to me.
“What’s the point? No one will listen to us. I’ve been in New York long enough to know just how many crazy people wander in off the streets, shouting about the end of the world.”
“They’ll listen if we show them what we’re carrying,” Ray says, lifting his shirt to reveal the handle of his gun.
“No. Keep that thing hidden until it’s needed. The last thing we want to do is cause a scene, especially if we don’t have to. That’s what the Greeks want, to make us seem like the bad guys. If we go around waving our weapons in the air, threating people to leave, then it won’t matter if there’s a bomb or not, we’ll lose.”
