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“I am not at liberty to reveal how I know what I am about to tell you, but I believe the Book of Doors has surfaced.”
“The Book of Doors,” Azaki said. “Are you sure?”
“I am.”
Azaki was quiet for a moment. “Interesting.”
“I need someone trustworthy to retrieve it.”
“To bring it to you, to sell?” Azaki asked.
“Of course,” Lottie said. “Imagine the profits. Even after my cut, you would have enough to run and hide for the rest of your life. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
Azaki didn’t answer. He was scared and in need. That was what she was bargaining on.
“If that book falls into the wrong hands...”
She knew what he meant.Whohe meant. But she didn’t say anything.
“Tell me what you know,” he said finally.
Lottie told him the details. “I am asking for your help, so I will pay for your flight to New York, if you tell me what airport you want to leave from.”
“No need,” Azaki said. “I can afford a couple of tickets.”
“A couple?”
“Me and my bodyguard,” he explained. “I’ve got a new guy. Big guy. Very good with his hands. Does anybody else know about this?”
“Probably,” Lottie said. “But if they don’t yet, they soon will. It will be a feeding frenzy.”
“Yes,” Azaki agreed.
“I want you to do one other thing for me,” Lottie said. “Something a bit more unusual. And this is why I am coming to you. One of the women with the book, her name is Isabella Cattaneo.”
“What of her?”
“If she is alone when you find her, I want you to bring her to me.”
“What?”
“I want you to bring her to me.”
“Why?”
“I need to protect her.”
“Protect her from what?”
“That is not your business. Will you do it? Recover the book and bring the woman to me?”
Azaki thought about it for a moment, and all Lottie heard was wind and traffic.
“Let me get to New York,” he said finally. “I’ll be in touch once I’m there.”
He hung up.
Lottie put her phone away and leaned on the railing again. She wasn’t worried about the Book of Doors; she knew that would come to her one way or another, and she would make her final sale and get out of the business once and for all. Azaki was really just insurance on that point. What she really needed Azaki for was to bring her the woman. That was the main thing. Because she had made a promise and she always kept her promises.
