Page 45 of Obsidian Dream

Damiano glanced around the library.“Beneath the library.They haven’t been accessed in hundreds of years.There is nothing down there but musty old bones.Anything of note was taken when they erected the library.”

“Anything of note to the thieves guild,” Dante answered coolly.He hadn’t moved from Rieka’s side.“Can you do it?”

Damiano stared at him like he had asked a rhetorical question.“Yes.We are experts in pulling off the impossible.Ask Frankie about where the original Mona Lisa is housed.”He moved past Dante and Rieka toward the center of the space until he stood directly beneath the oversized window.Damiano tapped his watch and scrolled through until he found what he was looking for.“We can do this old school.It appears my ancestors were hedging their bets and ensured we could access the catacombs if the need arose.Let me bring up the schematics.”

A bright light flickered before a hologram took shape in front of them of a pixelated, hand-drawn blueprint of the building.“The guild had the foresight to digitize the older blueprints.We never know when they will come in handy.”

Khalida moved toward the schematic, as Damiano stepped closer to her, before she enlarged the main library.“How do we use it?”

“See here.”Damiano pointed to a dark shape on the hologram, brushing up against her.“When they covered the door, they placed a symbol to let us find where the original opening was.”

“Convenient,” Rieka muttered loudly.

Damiano hit the floor face-first with a loud thud, Khalida pressing a knee between his shoulder blades.She twisted his arm at an awkward angle—he winced, but to his credit, he didn’t yell as she pulled, twisting it farther.Any more pressure and it would snap with a pop.

A small silver knife lay in his palm.

“Don’t touch my knives.”Khalida let him go, and Damiano collapsed.She quickly retrieved the knife before replacing it on her belt.

Damiano didn’t look ashamed.He smiled brightly as he slowly stood up, wiping the dust from his suit before he rubbed his wrist.“Once a thief.”

“Try that again on any of us, and I will conveniently forget you are Frankie’s cousin.”

“Favorite cousin,” Damiano added.“I wanted to see if you were as good as they said.I am not disappointed.”

Talik took a step forward before he stopped himself, gritting his teeth.

“Do I need to renegotiate with your matriarch?”Dante asked, breaking the silence.“It has been a few decades since we last saw each other, and we would have much to discuss.”

Damiano flinched at the threat.“No need to bring her into it.”He turned back to Khalida as if he had never tried to steal from her.“We can use a diamond-core drill.It will easily go through the floor.At this time of day, the drilling will not be an issue and will not take long.”Damiano whistled before he glanced at Dante.“Repairing it is another matter.”

“Are you not up to the task?”Talik asked as he walked over to Khalida.At least someone had the foresight to mark the entrance of the catacombs with a giant X.How appropriate and helpful.

“We are.”He turned to face Dante.“Would you mind donating a new carpet?It will be easier to mask the repair if we can cover the entire floor.”

Dante slowly nodded, his gaze never leaving Rieka.

Khalida enlarged the schematic even more.“How long do you need before we get access?”

Damiano looked at the hologram and then at the library floor.He tapped his watch, and the image dissolved.“Two hours.I need to source the drill first, but it will not take long once we have it.I will have my people here shortly.Is there anything else we need to know?”

“No,” Khalida answered.

“We don’t need to know what you are looking for.”Damiano nodded and swaggered toward the door.He half turned at the door, smiling, but his gaze was serious.“It is far easier for us to deny our cooperation if this is ever released or leaked to the public.”

They watched him walk out in silence.

“Do you trust him?”Rieka asked no one in particular.

They had no choice.Even Dante’s contacts couldn’t get the equipment they needed within their tight time frame.

Talik knew Damiano’s kind.He had been exactly like him once upon a time.“No.”