Rosaria slides her hand into the coat pocket holding her firearm. “You could say that. Just so I know how to help her, are there any other exits from this building?”

“This is the main one,” she says. “There’s a fire door on the other side…but you can’t go through there. If you do, it’ll set off one heck of a ruckus.”

“Thanks,” she says.

The librarian asks, “If your friend comes back, should I tell her you’re here?”

“No worries,” Rosaria says. “I’m sure I’ll catch up with her on my own.”

I’ve gone up and down four long lengths of bookshelves and have only come across a young girl, splayed out on the floor, reading a Harry Potter book. I can’t tell which one it is. I step over her long legs and have a pang of fear, thinking about Denise.

When I get to a point where I can look back at the main door and the lobby, I freeze.

A woman is talking to the cheerful and helpful young lady at the main desk. The woman has on plain black slacks, black jacket, white blouse. She has a dull-looking leather bag over one arm and she’s got a serious look on her face as she talks.

I wish I could read lips, so I knew what she is saying.

But whatever she’s saying, her entire presence and demeanor say one thing to me: cop.

I duck back into the stacks.

Rosaria turns and freezes.

A shape has just moved back into the near stacks.

It looked like an adult. Hard to tell if it was a man or woman.

But the shape moved pretty fast, like it didn’t want to be spotted.

“Thanks, ma’am,” she says to the librarian, and steps quickly away from the curved desk.

Her hand is still gripping her SIG Sauer, and she makes another quick check at her waist, making sure her handcuffs are ready for use.

If she’s very, very lucky, she will end this in a few minutes.

I’m moving as fast as I can, slipping from one set of stacks to another. I can sense I’m being tracked, and there’s not much I can do. The cop out there has my trail here among the volumes depicting civilized life, and I’m running out of places to hide. At least there are no civilians back here to get in the way.

And where the hell is Archie?

I feel like I’m making a house out of a deck of cards, and one by one, the cards are slipping away.

I come to a wall, see a small alcove with books and book carts, and I turn.

The shadow is coming closer.

Damn.

If I duck to the left or to the right, I’ll be spotted.

I head to the alcove.

Rosaria sees movement.

She’s getting closer.

This will end now, she thinks. It will end now, and she will prove to her boss and anybody else out there that she can do a job, no matter how abandoned and alone she is. The shadow and shape flick before her. She senses she’s coming to a corner of the building and Captain Cornwall will be trapped, and then it will be done.