Vision in Red by Sajjad Rasool - HTML preview

Vision in Red

Silence returned. But it wasn't the heavy, hungry silence of the Librarian. It was just... quiet.

"The door," Yasmin pointed.

The shelves had slid apart. The exit was open.

"Go," Amal said, clutching the ledger to her chest. "Run before it reforms."

They sprinted for the door. They burst out into the hallway, past the sleeping guard (who hadn't heard a thing), and up the ramp.

They ran until they hit the sunlight of Jaffa Street.

They collapsed on a bench near the Light Rail station, gasping for air.

Amal looked down at her hands. They were covered in black ink.

"We got it," Yasmin wheezed. "We actually got it."

Amal looked at the ledger. It was still warm. But the ink had stopped moving. The names were fixed.

"We didn't just get a book," Amal said. "We got a hostage."

Part VI: The Cappuccino and the Abyss

They needed to blend in. They couldn't just stand on Jaffa Street, panting, covered in dust and ink. That attracted attention. And attention attracted the Police.

"Cafe," Amal said. "We need to sit. We need to look like shoppers."

They ducked into a trendy cafe with glass walls and exposed brick. The air conditioner was blasting frozen air. Jazz music was playing softly.

It was surreal. Five minutes ago, they had been fighting a faceless monster in a basement of screaming paper. Now, they were standing in line behind a man ordering a soy latte.

Amal ordered two coffees. Her hands were shaking so bad she almost dropped the coins.

They sat at a small table in the corner.

Amal put the ledger on the table. It looked like a black hole against the white marble surface.

"Open it," Yasmin whispered.

"Here?"

"We need to know what we stole, Amal."

148