by J. J. Franck
He knew the library would open in less than twenty minutes and his long hours of undercover work were ahead of him. He watched Avery disappear down the path knowing he would see her later at the library.
CHAPTER 3
As Avery neared the Bobst Library, she glanced up at the red sandstone facade that beckoned her while shielding her eyes from the bright sun. The structure towered over the surrounding buildings. It took a lot of foresight back in the day it was designed to combine eight separate divisional libraries under one roof, but it was a necessity given the cost savings that it inspired.
Quickly Avery entered the building and made her way through the atrium that continued up to an illuminated ceiling. At one time she enjoyed the sun shining in through the glass ceiling and the many windows that gave an airy feel to the building. But now it only made her headaches worse. That was one of the drawbacks to where her tumor was located.
In the past, Avery enjoyed being outside on sunny days, and touted herself as being a sun worshiper, but not so much anymore. She hurried through the atrium to the elevator and down to the lower level where her little cubicle was located. Avery now savored her time in the dungeon in the dark recesses of the library. Thankful she only had to venture up into the main library to stock books later in the day, but even that was becoming a chore.
Once the elevator stopped, Avery walked down the long narrow hall to the doorway to the left, the dampness of the lower level felt good. Avery quickly passed Jessie Morgan’s cubicle that was the first of many in the long row. Each one had their job to do and tasks to complete before the end of the long workday. Everyone acted like a cog in a finely tuned machine.
“Morning Avery,” Jessie said as Avery hurried past the cubical all donned out with family photos and memorabilia from vacations she had taken this past year.
Jessie was in her mid-thirties and the closest thing to a friend at the library that Avery had. She and her husband had tried setting Avery up numerous times without success. And since being diagnosed, Avery made a point of always finding an excuse for not attending these matchmaking sessions they came up with. Jessie was Avery’s mentor. It was when she worked at the library as a student that Jessie took Avery under her wing and showed her the ropes and their friendship blossomed.
“Hi Jess,” Avery said quickly. “I see we got another shipment of books in.”
“Never ending. I put a box in your cubical. I didn’t have time to log anything in yet. Mona came down and gave me a project for the Dean of Admissions.
“Doesn’t he have a secretary?”
“Yeah, you know how that goes?”
Mona Conroy was their immediate supervisor. Avery was fortunate that Mona’s first choice was always Jessie for special projects. In time Avery thought she would eventually trust her to handle some of these projects, but given her present situation, that probably would never be an option. Avery had made up her mind she would have to set up an appointment with Mona and fess up to her medical condition. It was only fair that Avery should be open and up front with her supervisor.
“I’ll work on getting those books entered into the system if you promise to help with stocking them this afternoon.”
“I should have this project done by then.”
Avery knew if Jessie helped with stocking the books, she wouldn’t have to spend as much time in the bright sunlight of the library. She hurried into her little cubical and then quickly glanced at the box of books. It was a task that had to be done first thing every morning. Typically, Jessie and her co-worker completed this task together, but this morning she would have to trudge along by herself.
Once Avery turned on her computer and logged into the library-cataloging program she busied herself at her desk. Avery worked at the computer inputting the data and putting the Dewey decimal classification number on the physical book for the better part of the morning. It was a tedious job, but a job she understood had to be done for there not to be chaos. Avery loved the solitude it gave her, and Avery counted herself lucky that not many people could handle this type of job because there was a lot of competition in the job market given the depressed economy in recent years. The fact she worked at the library while she was a student was a major factor in them hiring her above other applicants for the full-time position that came up after graduation, plus the fact not many had a masters degree in Statistics to boot. Also, Jessie had put in a good word for her, that was a major factor in her being hired. Mona especially trusted Jessie’s judgment in people. Avery was not going to disappoint either.
It was an hour before lunchtime when Avery finished cataloging the books in the shipment they received that morning. Jessie was nowhere near completion of the project Mona gave her, so Avery was on her own with stocking the pile of books. It would be a long afternoon, and Avery was just looking forward to it being over with.
For now, Avery was glad for the fact she worked in an area without windows as her morning went by without a migraine, but she knew that was soon to end. Avery pulled the cart next to her desk and started organizing the books so that shelving them would go quickly. By the time she was finished with her task, she had three carts filled and knew if she were to get the job done, she would have to work fast.
Avery was fortunate that the early morning sun turned to an overcast sky later that morning so that the light filtering into the atrium from the twelve stories of windows wouldn’t be as intense or an issue. The earlier she started the task the sooner she would be done for the day. Mona never liked any of them to leave for the day until all the new entries were shelved. It had been one of Mona’s goals, so everyone in the department adhered to the strict regiment, but there were times when that task was hard to accomplish given the number of books coming in each day. Not to mention books returned also had to get restocked.
Avery was busy shelving the books she cataloged in earlier that morning and hardly noticed Kirt watching her as she went about her job. She had taken two of the book carts in the hopes that Jessie would finish her project and seek her out to help shelf the books. But in reality, she knew it was highly unlikely, and she would be doing this job alone.
* * *
Kirt had spent the better part of the morning pretending to search for research books, trying not to look conspicuous. Given the university had over 40,000 students, he fit in. And the fact there were a lot of ex-military members taking advantage of the GI Bill with gaining a higher education and those working on a masters degree no one questioned his need to be there. Plus the fact he had a backpack slung over his left shoulder while carrying a few university text books in his arms to help give the persona that he looked like he fit in there. Kirt had been a student there a few years back, so he knew just how to act.
After walking the many floors, Kirt finally honed in on a group of young men. He had been watching them on his many trips through the library that morning. They had text books scattered around two of the Intra-stack seating cubicles on the sixth floor near a window. They were side-by-side, but the two worked in unison. It was only by closely watching them that morning that Kirt was able to pick up on the fact they were a team and not just two random college students. Books were scattered about taking up most of the cubicles nearby to give the two more privacy while selling their poison. The position of the books never changed, their tablet vacant of any note taking, so it was evident to Kirt this whole setup was a ruse.
The one man had on an NYU sweatshirt in dire need of washing. The other looked preppy. In the two hours that they were sitting there, neither one seemed to read any of the textbooks they had in front of them. Various students moseyed past, purposely dropping an item and then if you didn’t look closely, money was exchanged for a small packet of what one could only guess to be an illicit drug.
Kirt had been at the library for the past few weeks now, purposely changing his identity so as not to be detected. But that, in fact, wasn’t necessary because there were always different people selling their wares there. So Kirt knew
this had to be a large organization and would be difficult to take down. He figured they must rotate their personnel, but as yet he hadn’t figured out any of the other locations. There had to be five different teams at work given the rotation he uncovered. Kirt got the impression these jerk-offs felt invincible to the law. They always took a cubicle in the far corner. Their books covered the other cubicles on either side to give them more seclusion. Kirt wasn’t interested in them, but more interested in where they were getting their supply. He didn’t want to just cut the head off of the snake for fear others would take their place. He wanted to go up the food chain to the source of the problem and once and for all, stop the on slot of death that seemed to follow the drug trade.
Nathaniel walked over to Kirt’s cubicle and took a seat next to the young undercover officer startling Kirt out of his surveillance of the two at the far end of the row of cubicles.
Kirt turned to Nathaniel. He remembered him from the park earlier that morning. He didn’t want to say anything for fear of calling attention to himself. Kirt was now faced with the fact that he was being watched and followed by this space cadet and could quite feasibly blow his undercover operation. Kirt tried ignoring Nathaniel, but the young man just stared at Kirt for the longest time and then blurted out.
“The circle of death surrounds you,” Nathaniel said and didn’t seem to care who heard him.
Kirt just turned to Nathaniel and glared at him for the longest time. Kirt was short on words at the moment, but his eyes said plenty as he motioned for Nathaniel to move. But all Nathaniel did was sit there with a smug look on his face. Kirt took a few deep breaths contemplating what to do next so as not to call attention to himself but that was useless as everyone in earshot of the two heard Nathaniel’s outburst. Kirt could control himself no longer.
“Get lost!” he finally snapped out of frustration.
But it was useless, like talking to a rabid animal. Nathaniel had the look of determination on his face when suddenly he leaned closer to Kirt and then whispered.
“Beware of someone close.”
“What? Kirt asked startled by what Nathaniel had just said.
“The stars are aligning against you!”
Kirt could not tolerate any more of this mumble jumble and could not control his anger. And blowing his cover was the least of his thoughts at the moment. It bothered him that Nathaniel chose him out of all the people at the library that morning to sit next too. Plus, it bothered him what Nathaniel was saying. It was troubling, to say the least. But Kirt had never been into someone seeing into the future and certainly not a drugged out space cadet like the young man sitting next to him.
* * *
Avery was busy on the sixth-floor stocking books nearby when she noticed Nathaniel bothering Kirt. She always tried to keep a lookout for Nathaniel, as he never quite grasped the concept that he was bothersome to serious students who used the library facility to catch up on critical studies or to cram for an exam that loomed on the horizon. She could see that the man opposite Nathaniel was not receptive to what was being said and feared a physical confrontation could ensue.
Avery nonchalantly walked up to the table that Kirt and Nathaniel were sitting at. She reached down and took hold of Nathaniel’s hand while pulling him up and then she slowly turned to Kirt and whispered.
“I’m sorry if he’s bothering you,” she said.
Kirt appeared a little puzzled. “What’s wrong with him?” he asked.
“He’s special,” Avery said not wanting to go into what Nathaniel’s problem was.
“I’ll say he’s special,” Kirt smirked as he glanced over at Nathaniel.
That remark bothered Avery as she quickly turned and just gave Kirt a stone cold glare while leading Nathaniel by the hand to a table further away from where Kirt was sitting. She took a book off the shelf nearby and opened it and placed it in front of Nathaniel.
It didn’t take long, and Nathaniel became engrossed in the words as if it were a book he had chosen to read. He quickly turned the page and continued to read.
Once Avery was confident that Nathaniel would no longer be a bother she glanced back over at Kirt who was watching her every move. It annoyed her that he was so impertinent and not very understanding of a person like Nathaniel.
She then mouthed, “You okay now?”
Kirt proceeded to nod his head. He was embarrassed that Avery intervened when Nathaniel was harmless enough. Kirk quickly turned his attention back to the two men selling drugs. It bothered him that they took notice of the commotion at his table. And because of that Kirt knew any future surveillance of these two would not go unnoticed.
Once Avery was through stocking the books, she made her way back to her basement cubical when she was summoned to the information desk with an odd request. Staring at the note given to her, she knew exactly where the two men were located. Quickly Avery took the elevator up to the sixth floor. She walked up to the two men and handed them the note that the information clerk gave her for the two.
It puzzled Kirt because he now realized that possibility he had been made, not by the two men, but in fact the young girl who worked at the library or someone else at the library. He tried not to stare at the two as once they read the note. The one turned to Kirt. Quickly they packed up their books and cleared off the table, it didn’t take long, and they made their way to the elevator.
Kirt contemplated arresting them on the spot, but decided against that, not sure if he was identified or if they were closing up shop for another location.
After giving the two men the note, Avery just walked off as if nothing had happened. She was anxious to get back to her cubicle. There was only ten minutes before going for lunch. She needed to rest for a few minutes before venturing outside the building.
Kirt was curious about the note and why they packed up their things as fast as they did. Avery didn’t look like she was involved with the two, yet Kirt had to keep an open mind. The operation had been able to go undetected for some time now. It apparently made sense that it was a well-oiled operation and that meant lookouts to keep the police at bay. And it made perfect sense that an employee at the library could be the perfect sentinel. Why he hadn’t picked up on that sooner bothered him. It was only seeing the young girl in the park, that he took notice of her that morning. And the fact she gave them the note before they packed up their little operations bothered him.
CHAPTER 4
Kirt stationed himself just outside the employee entrance in hopes of following the librarian who passed on the note to the drug dealers, if indeed she left the building for lunch. And luck was with him that day when he spotted Avery leaving with a group of other library employees. Once they entered the park, they went in different direction. Kirt was curious whether the librarian would meet up with the two dealers he had been watching. A twinge of disappointment went through him, as he wanted desperately to be wrong about the woman for some reason.
Kirt had called in backup to follow the two drug dealers once they left the library, so he was confident that even though they may have made him, these lowlifes would have no way of knowing they were still being followed. The undercover operation had been in effect for weeks now, and it bothered Kirt that possibly it was all for nothing given the problem he had that morning. Following Avery was his choice. He only hoped he made the right decision and in the end, stop this drug operation at the library.
Given Avery had a late lunch that day, the noon crowd had dissipated long ago. Kirt was fortunate the librarian was an easy mark to follow, and walked only a short distance to a café nearby.
Avery quickly took a table near the front window facing the street. She enjoyed watching the people walking by and envied them their lives. At one time she had such hopes for her own life, but now it just seemed useless to dream. There would be no vacations in Europe to see all the sights she read about in history. No adventures to go on or explore things she only read about. All she had were the visions in front of her, looking a
t other people living out their lives.
Beth, the waitress on duty that morning, walked over and handed Avery the menu. “Haven’t seen you around lately,” she said with a pleasant smile on her face.
“I took a few days off.”
“Nothing serious, I hope,” she said.
Avery just glanced up and smiled at Beth. She had been coming to the café for more years than she cared to think about. First as a lowly college freshman looking to get away from the crowded cafeteria on campus, now as a working woman. And in that time Beth knew her routine, and in the hours she spent having lunch, Beth got to know more about Avery than any of her sorority sisters, or co-workers knew about her life. But the fact remained Avery didn’t know anything about the waitress’ life other than the revolving door she had with her boyfriends. Beth was one of those people who had big hair, and way too much makeup for such a lovely face. Her uniform was a size too small, but the men who came to the café didn’t seem to mind the curvy figure of the young waitress and only enhanced her tip intake.
Beth didn’t wait for an answer. She just smiled pleasantly and then asked. “The usual?” Beth waited while smiling with the pen to paper. Given the café was almost empty Beth was in no hurry to move on to the next table.
Avery raised her hand while shaking her head. She was having a difficult time concentrating and only wanted to be left alone. “Make it light today. A cup of chicken soup and crackers.” Was all Avery said and then quickly added. “I’ll just have some green tea to drink.”