Finding North Read Online Free PDF

Dominic
said.
    Dominic tapped on the
door. The bookstore owner began screaming incoherently. The lock
clicked open, and the door moved.
    “ I’ll tell you anything,
everything,” the bookstore owner said. “Just don’t let
them . . . I have a weak heart. I am the sole
caretaker of my ninety-seven year old mother.
I . . .”
    “ Who did you tell?”
Dominic’s voice was calm and soft.
    “ Tell?” The bookstore
owner sounded puzzled.
    “ This man?” Dominic walked
to where the image of Paul’s dead body adorned the wall. “This is
Sergeant Paul Tilly. He was a decorated soldier, graduated top of
his class in engineering at the Citadel. He’d just been recruited
to work with the US Army Corps of Engineers. He would have started
nine months from . . . His girlfriend was pregnant.
They planned to marry when he returned from his trip.”
    Alex’s hand clamped over
her mouth. Tears streamed down her face. Joseph looked grim. On the
screen, the bookstore owner began to visibly shake.
    “ Sergeant Tilly was a nice
person, a kind person,” Dominic said. “He was the kind of guy who
went to bat for anyone in need. Every year, he’d pick a cause —
saving the whales or buying trees in the Amazon or children sold as
prostitutes or whatever spoke to him. He’d raise money — and
awareness — for this one issue for an entire year. He’d badger his
friends to run campaigns to save the monkeys or whatever. One year,
he championed the Gypsies, the ‘Roma,’ as he called them. I told
him . . .”
    Dominic’s face shifted to
a soft smile as he remembered. For a moment, he fell
silent.
    “ Gone,” Dominic snapped
his fingers. “Just like that, he’s gone. And here you
are.”
    Dominic fell silent. The
bookstore owner watched him closely. Dominic took a breath and
nodded. He walked to the picture of Jesse and Alex.
    “ My niece?” Dominic asked.
“This is her best friend. He was shot with one burst of sixteen
rounds and a second of twenty-six, separated by four minutes.
Forty-two bullets. He died in her lap. He was the child of a
Mexican prostitute who just happened to be working in San Diego
when he was born. She had him and left him. He fought his way into
the US Army. He broke his back to become a Special Forces soldier.
And this . . . is what he gets . . .
FROM YOU.”
    Dominic’s voice echoed in
the small room.
    “ I . . .
I . . . I . . .” the bookstore owner
said.
    “ I’m not going to mention
my niece,” Dominic said. He was breathing hard, almost panting. A
medium-sized, fit man, his shoulders moved up and down as he sucked
air into his lungs. His voice dropped to a whisper. “I cannot be
held accountable for what I will do. She was my brother’s eldest
daughter. She was my friend, my fly-fishing companion,
my . . . She was one of my favorite human beings.
Ever. More than fifty years of life, and she was my favorite
person. And she . . .”
    Dominic opened his hand so
the tips of his fingers pointed toward the wall.
    “  . . .
because of . . .”
    Dominic held his hand,
palm up, to the bookstore owner.
    “ Her friends, her father —
they are watching,” Dominic said as he pointed at the video camera.
“They beg for justice.”
    He shook his head and
walked to the door. He’d just reached the door when the bookstore
owner spoke.
    “ There was a standing
order,” the bookstore owner said.
    Dominic rested his head
against the grey metal door. He took deep breaths to calm
himself.
    “ Anyone a copy of E. L.
Voynich’s The Gadfly came into my hands — from anyone — I was to call,” the
bookstore owner said. “I’d sold him ten, maybe twelve, and
then . . .”
    The bookstore owner
pointed to Paul. Terrified, his finger shook
uncontrollably.
    “ He . . .
he . . . he was supposed to come, bring the book,
but . . . he . . .” the bookstore
owner shook his head.
    “ He was dead,” Dominic
said. He turned to face the man. “Dead men