Finding North Read Online Free PDF Page A

look.
    “ I have rights,” the
bookstore owner said. “I am a French citizen. I have rights. You
can’t . . .”
    “ What makes you think
you’re in France?” Dominic said in French. He pulled a chair away
from the table and sat down.
    “ I am still a French
citizen,” the bookstore owner said. “I have rights! I want
to . . .”
    “ What makes you think
anyone here gives a crap?” Dominic’s voice sounded almost
amused.
    “ I am a French citizen.
I . . .”
    “ You’re not in France,”
Dominic said. “You’re not even in Cameroon. You’re in a place where
no one will ever find you. When I say ever  . . .”
    Dominic pointed to the
video camera.
    “  . . .what
I really mean is, no one knows where you are,” Dominic said. “Not
the people watching, not the soldiers who brought you here, not
even myself. You are lost to the world, and no one is looking for
you.”
    “ I . . .”
the bookstore owner started talking but stopped. His face turned
ashen, and he swallowed hard. “Why am I here?”
    “ Recognize any of them?”
Dominic nodded his head to the walls.
    “ I . . .
uh . . .” The bookstore owner licked his lips. “No,
I don’t know any American soldiers.”
    “ You should,” Dominic
said.
    “ Why is that?” the
bookstore owner asked. “I make it a policy not to know
Americans.”
    “ Then why did you murder
them?” Dominic asked.
    “ I’ve never killed
anyone,” the bookstore owner said.
    “ As sure as you pulled the
trigger,” Dominic said. “This one?”
    Dominic got up from the
chair. He walked to near the door and touched the image of
Yvonne.
    “ She was my assistant,”
Dominic said. “A citizen of France, a public servant, killed last
year as a result of your actions.”
    “ I’ve never seen her before,” the
bookstore owner said. His voice rose with indignation and
arrogance.
    “ How about this one?”
Dominic asked. He walked across the room to the photo of Alex
leaning against the door to the vault, with Jesse’s head in her
lap. “I bet you’ve seen her before.”
    “ I didn’t take that one,”
Joseph said.
    “ I did,” Raz said. “And
the one of Y.”
    Alex held her hand out to
him, and he took it. On the screen, the bookstore owner seemed to
be pretending to be thinking.
    “ Maybe,” the bookstore
owner said. “I do like adventurous adult films. Isn’t she the star
of . . .”
    “ She is my niece,” Dominic
said.
    The bookstore owner
swallowed hard. There was a sharp tap on the door.
    “ Great. The Americans are
here,” Dominic said. He got up from his seat and went to the door.
“I’ll leave you with them.”
    “ No!” The bookstore owner
scrambled across the tile floor. He clung to Dominic’s leg. “Don’t
leave me with them.”
    “ Why shouldn’t I?” Dominic
asked.
    “ Please don’t leave
me!”
    “ You know what the
Americans call it?”
    Dominic put his hands on
his hips and looked around him. The bookstore owner shook his
head.
    “ Rendition,” Dominic said.
“Tidy name, don’t you think? They pick a country that couldn’t care
less if people are tortured, humiliated, abused, or killed. You’d
be surprised at how many countries simply don’t care. The Americans
find those countries, pay them well, and build a site like this.
All that’s left is to pick up scum like you
and . . .”
    “ Scum?” The bookstore
owner looked genuinely offended. “How dare you?”
    “ They use ‘enhanced
interrogation techniques’ here.” Dominic shrugged. “Nice name for
‘torture.’ The Americans have a way of naming things
that’s . . . special. Well, what do you expect from
the country that created Disney?”
    Dominic snorted a
laugh.
    “ You have to admit it.”
Dominic nodded. “Those Americans are good with
marketing.”
    Unsure of how to respond,
the bookstore owner opened and shut his mouth.
    “ They will do things that
will make you beg for mercy in two seconds. No more,”