Page 61 of The Presidents Shadow

DACHE DOES NOT talk very much when he is training Maddy. But when the great man does speak, Maddy knows that it’s bound to be important. As a result, his words are the only ones she ever writes down with an actual pen in a paper notebook. One of his rules now comes to mind:

Your power does not exist for your own convenience. It exists only for the good of others.

Maddy remembers this as she stands outside a locked wrought-iron gate at the state-run youth rehab center in Harriman, New York, the current residence of her friend Belinda.

Should she press the Visitors button, even though there is a sign underneath that warns SUNDAY ONLY ? Even if they allow her inside the building complex, Maddy knows there will be an avalanche of paperwork for her to fill out if she wants to see Belinda.

She keeps turning Dache’s words over and over in her mind.

Only for the good of others.

She decides to chalk this one up to the good of Belinda.

Maddy isn’t there to do something wrong like help her friend escape.

She’s not bringing Belinda contraband. She just wants to see her and tell her about the progress of her unofficial investigation.

Anything Belinda might know about a green car and a man with an accent would be welcome, as well.

Maddy looks through the locked gate, as if she is hoping that Dache might magically appear and give her his point of view on the subject of breaking and entering.

No way. She’s on her own. She looks up toward the sky, then she tightens all of her muscles.

Focus, Maddy, focus. Be someone or something other than yourself. The smaller, the better.

The guard manning the security cameras thinks nothing of it when a small, adorable gray squirrel scurries under the base of the wrought-iron gate and heads for the main building.