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One

LIKE THE LUXURY CO-OPS and five-star French eateries located in Manhattan’s Silk Stocking District, Benchley East Side Parking was outrageously exclusive Tucked side by side and buround levels beneath East 77th Street were several vintage Porsches, a handful of Ferraris, even a pair of his-and-hers Lahinis

The out-of-the-box ht blue SL550 Mercedes convertible that squealed out of its car elevator at three h-rent neighborhood

So did the lean forty-soe’s office when the sleek Merc stopped on a dime out front

With his salt-and-pepper Beckhaolden tan that suggested even deeper pockets, it was hard to tell if the car or its driver was being described by the purring Merc’s vanity plate:

SXY BST

“With this heat, I figured you’d want the top down, as usual, Mr Berger,” the se attendant said as he bounced out and held open the wood-inlaid door “Have a good one, now”

“Thanks, To the man a five as he slid behind the luxury sports car’s iconic three-pronged steering wheel “I’ll give it a shot”

The fine leather seat slaer’s back as he launched the convertible with a high-torque snarl down East 77th Street and out onto Fifth Avenue The crisp, alwoods fused harmoniously with the scent of the hand-stitched leather At 59th Street, the park’s treetops gave way to the ornate fairy-tale facade of the Plaza Hotel Molittering signs began to flick past like a Vanity Fair na, Pucci, Fendi, Louis Vuitton Outside the stores, swar as if they were having trouble believing they were standing in the very center of the capital of the world

But the world’s ht as well have been a dirt road through a shit kicker’s cornfield as far as Berger was concerned Behind the ray eyes locked level and forward, his mind blank

It was his one true talent In his life, every victory had coleness of purpose, his ability to focus, to leave out everything but the matter at hand

Even so, he felt his pulse skitter when he finally arrived at his destination, the New York Public Library’s main branch on the west side of Fifth Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets In fact, as he slowed, he felt his adrenaline surge, and his heart begin to beat almost painfully in time with the car’s indicator

Even Olivier had stage fright, he reminded himself as he carefully turned onto East 43rd Street Jack Dereat and worthy e it, to act despite the fact that it was breathing down their necks

By the ti spot in front of a Carvel ice-cream truck half a block farther east, he felt soround himself completely, he patiently watched the hardtop hulorious har parts By the time it locked itself down, his fear was still there but he knew he could man it

Move it, Mr Berger, he thought Now or never

He lifted the heavy laptop bag froer-seat foot well and opened the door

Noas

Two

PASSING UNDER THE GRAND BEAUX ARTS arched portico and through the revolving door of the library, Berger immediately noticed that the steely-eyed ex-cop who usually worked the front hall on Saturdays wasn’t there Instead, there was a young su blazer Even better The bored-looking bridge-and-tunneler waved Berger through before he could even lift a finger to his bag’s zipper

The hushed Rose Reading Room on the third floor was about the size of a professional soccer field It was rih caramel-colored wooden shelves and lit by brass rococo chandeliers that hung down fro Berger stepped past table after long table of very serious-looking thirty- and forty-so in their ears as they stared intently at laptop screens Graduate students and ardent self-improvers No Hamptons this summer weekend for this studious bunch

He found a seat at the last table along the north wall, with his back to the door of the Rare Book Division of the Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room He pretended to play Sudoku on his nifty new iPhone until the only other person at the study table, a pregnant Asian woot up twenty minutes later

As she waddled away, Mr Berger took one last deep breath and slowly released it