Chapter 1: Samuel Drake
Rose Anderson usually didn't like being assigned to the entrance floor of the National Library of Brazil, far from the sweet smell of the oldest - and her most favorite - books; but today she was almost grateful for it.
The heat wave, that had been torturing the people of Rio de Janeiro, felt the strongest that day, and was close to unbearable, even under the cover of the thick walls of the historical building. Doing anything felt exhausting and everyone, who could, spent their days either on a beach or simply chilling in an air-conditioned cafe.
Only a few people decided to come by, giving Rose a chance to just sit behind her desk and enjoy the stray breezes stroking her skin that found their way inside through the windows. Her mousy brown, curly locks now felt like a thick blanket laying against her neck, no matter how much she tried to comb them with her fingers to one side only.
She herself was reading a book about the Amazonas basin, but even the simple task of keeping her eyes open felt tiring.
She was 27 years old, but still working on her thesis for her degree. The sole reason she moved to Brazil was that she wanted to do the best possible research about the topic of her choice - The Lost City of Z. Ever since Rose was just a child the legend simply mesmerized her, so much so, that she herself wanted to become a recognized historian as well.
She grew up listening to her mother telling countless stories about famous historical figures and legends of long-forgotten lost cities and civilizations. Every night, she fell asleep listening to how Ehnaton changed the whole religion of Ancient Egypt, or how the chiming bells and singing from Kitezh could be heard from under the water of Lake Svetloyar on the most silent days.
But her favorite tales were always the ones about the Lost City of Z. She kept asking her mother to tell those again and again until she knew them word by word.
Rose always imagined herself venturing into the depths of the uncharted jungle by the side of the famous adventurer, Sir Percy Harrison Fawcett, fighting dangerous tigers and venomous snakes, wielding swords, and shooting enemies from behind the cover of huge, mossy trees - even though she used to be afraid of sleeping alone in the dark, and the sound of thunderstorms.
Her thesis was now almost 400 pages long, but Rose still felt it wasn't even remotely close to being called finished - that was why she decided to move to Rio de Janeiro and get a job in the biggest and most important library in Brazil. They kept the very notes of Percy Harrison Fawcett there - Rose even had the luck to have a look at them with her own eyes...
She was just about to thank god for the exceptionally few visitors they had that day when a man entered the building, passing closely by her. The strong scent of cigarettes and aftershave mixed well together drew Rose's eyes to check out the new guest.
He was tall, much taller than Rose who was only 165 cm, and probably in his early forties. When his eyes met hers he instantly nodded towards Rose, murmuring a small "boa tarde" with a strong accent. It was pretty rare to meet Americans at this place, or at least not an everyday sight, but that wasn't the only thing that caught the girl's attention.
The way his eyes panned the building somehow raised Rose's suspicions as she took a better look at him and when she noticed the tattoos on his neck - flying birds - that reminded the girl of prison tattoos, she immediately decided to keep an eye out on him.
He was wearing a light blue, denim shirt with a white tank top underneath, and on his side, an empty bag dangled - Rose took a mental note to check if it would still be empty when he returned and fought the urge to stand up and follow the man who now targeted the stairs that led to the next floors.
Rose forced her green eyes back to her book, trying to shoo away the thought of the man doing something fishy upstairs, but she couldn't keep her attention on what she was reading anymore. The fact that she might catch a book thief soon made her a bit too excited since it was the first time anything like that ever happened during her shift.
Her days usually passed by eventless at the library. She helped the visitors find the books they needed or brought the returned ones back to their original places. Sometimes she arranged the newest reads to where they would belong, but that was usually all.
She kept peeking out from behind her desk, her eyes constantly jumping at the spot where she last saw the overly suspicious man, expecting him to return all stocked up with books any second...
But long minutes passed and he still hadn't come back.
Rose almost forgot about him in the end - the thick, heavy air not helping her keep her mind clear at all. But then finally, after about half an hour or so, she noticed him coming down the stairs again. Half walking, half jogging, he kept looking behind his back and as he got closer and closer to the exit, his steps became exponentially faster.
He didn't even notice Rose staring at him, searching for any kind of confirmation about her suspicions. When her eyes fell on the bag on the man's side, Rose almost jumped up from her seat. It was clearly visible that it wasn't empty at all anymore...
"I knew it..." Rose whispered to herself as she realized she was really going to stop a thief! But if she didn't act quickly enough, the man would soon leave the library...
Just when he passed by her, and opened the door leading to the hallway, the girl finally jumped out from behind her desk and ran after the man in such a hurry, that she almost tipped over her own leg. Wearing high heels - which were part of the obligatory dress code, along with a dark skirt and white shirt - didn't help.
"Excuse me, sir?" she cleared her throat which sounded way too dry. He stopped immediately, pulling his shoulders slightly up, and slowly turned around his heels, reminding Rose of a child, that got caught stealing cookies from a forbidden jar. His eyes quickly checked the girl out from head to toe, and when he saw who had addressed him, his face immediately put up a flirty smirk.
"Yes, milady?" he asked. His voice was deep and pleasantly hoarse, charming enough to tell Rose that he was probably used to wooing ladies all the time. Too bad it wouldn't work out this time...
"I would like to inform you, that no books belonging to the library can be brought out of the building. Or at least, not without permission," she said politely, but with a sharp tone, and the man acted surprised.
"But Milady," he started, putting up the most innocent look on his face. "I don't have any books with me." And just to prove his right, he raised both of his hands into the air, showing that they were indeed empty.
"Your bag was empty when you entered." Rose nodded towards the said equipment with her head, with slightly less patience in her voice. The fact that he was trying to make the girl look stupid annoyed her. "As far as I can tell, it is far from empty now..."
Rose honestly believed she got the winning cards, but to her greatest surprise, the man's smile grew even wider and quirkier as he replied. "Were you checking me out? If this is gonna be a harassment, I'd like you to know that I am perfectly aware of my rights..."
"Please, don't make me call the police." Rose interrupted him. She felt every last bit of her patient evaporate with the heat as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Stealing from the library is considered a crime, but if you give the books back to me now, we can just simply forget about our little affair and you're free to go." she went, on, reaching a hand out in the end, expecting him to grab to books from his bag and hand them over finally.
But it seemed like that the obvious thief wouldn't give himself in that easily. As he stepped one step back, towards the main entrance, he replied. "Sorry but - even if I had the books you're talking about which I obviously don't - I couldn't give them back. But since I don't have any books with me, of course, I'm just gonna leave now." and just like that he simply stepped to the entrance and grabbed the doorknob.
"It was a pleasure, milady," he said with a flirty smile.
"Oh, no, you don't..." Muttered Rose under her breath and reached after the book thief just when he opened the door. She almost touched his arm when she finally realized something was off.
The man didn't step out and left. Instead, he balked at the doorstep and a small "oh, shit..." left his lips. He immediately shut the door closed again and grabbed Rose by the shoulder to push her down to the ground, out of the way of the wooden doors.
When she was about the ask what the hell was wrong with him, she heard gunshots flying above her head and saw the bullets punctuating the doors just to be stopped by the solid, marble walls of the library.
"What the hell?!" Rose yelled as the man was now dragging her by an arm, back inside the library, still keeping both of them close to the ground.
"Sorry sweetheart, I'm afraid we can't continue our argument about me not stealing any book," he replied, somehow still managing to keep the flirty smirk on his face as if what had just happened was an everyday phenomenon for him.
He dragged Rose behind the safety of a desk and, right after, jumped to his feet, ready to leave the girl there. Rose - probably in a mild state of shock - stood up from behind her hiding space with her mouth slightly open, and looked around to see the bullets destroying her dear books...
The few other visitors all covered their heads, screaming and heading towards the back entrance or the other floor, but Rose just stood there, observing the damage and watching the book thief running for the stairs - when a bullet flew just by her left ear, dragging a few strands of her curly hair with itself.
She finally snapped but still, all she could do was let a huge scream escape her throat.
The thief was already in the middle of the first set of stairs when he heard Rose and looked back just to find her standing straight in the middle of the showering bullets.
"Oh, come on!" he pressed the words as he unwillingly turned back to run back down and push the girl out of danger. Just as they both fell to the cold, stone floor already covered with bits of wood and paper, the main entrance of the library blew open, making glass and the remains of the door rain inside the building.
"I'd be wiser to stop running, Drake!" Rose heard a man yelling from the doorway. His voice was cold and emotionless, almost scarily. "The farther you run, the more damage you'll cause to this place."
"Yeah, like I'm the one blowing up buildings without a question..." the book thief mumbled the reply to himself as his eyes looked for a way to escape. Rose saw him considering every possible direction, before his eyes finally fixated on the stairs again, only a few feet away from the both of them.
"Okay, listen," he turned to Rose. "You're gonna have to run with me, okay?" Just do exactly as I do," he told her and didn't even wait for her to nod - he grabbed her wrist firmly and started pulling her towards the nearest staircase, carefully staying behind the cover of the remaining desks.
Rose didn't think, just followed him, trying her best not to fall over the debris in her high heels that she was seriously considering taking off. Through the hall, up to the first floor on the stairs, they ran without stopping. Bullets kept flying by their head and Rose believed she was still alive thanks to only sheer luck at that point...
When they finally reached the second floor, the man ran to a window to open it up right away. Hot air stroked Rose's face immediately, reminding her for a second that just half an hour ago, how calm and lazy that day was... She definitely did not expect her afternoon to turn into a run for her life.
"See the roof of that building next to this?" the man urged Rose to step to the window, pointing towards the slate roof of the neighboring building that was 7 if not 9 feet away and almost 4 feet down. "You'll have to jump there - it's not a big deal, just don't think about it, okay?" he said simply, as if jumping Olympian heights was an everyday thing.
"What?! No! I can't..." Rose insisted but as the gunshots were coming from closer and closer, and the man was pushing her to jump up the window frame, the girl didn't see any other choice.
"Well, you have to." the reply came and Rose finally climbed out the window. The height immediately scared her and she wanted to turn back, but she felt such a strong push on her back that she had no other option but to jump...
For a brief second, she felt like time slowed down around her. She felt the hot air stroking her cheeks and dragging into her hair, while her stomach journeyed up from her belly to her throat. But then, with the loudest thud, she fell against the roof, and all the air escaped her lungs.
She didn't even have the chance to think about how hard she hit her knees or elbows, because the air missing from her respiratory tracts dominated over every other pain she had at that moment. For a few seconds, all she could do was fight for air, and when she finally managed to breathe, all she could do was cough.
The book thief landed next to her with such ease, that for a second Rose wondered whether he was secretly an athlete but she didn't have much time to think as he already reached for her arm to help the girl up to her feet.
"We have to make another jump!" he yelled, running to the edge of the roof, dragging Rose with himself and before she got the chance to even just understand what she was told, they both jumped off the building.
She expected another painful landing with additional airless seconds, but to her surprise, all she could feel was the strong smell. Looking around she noticed they landed in a dumpster this time and - even though she sort of felt disgusted - she was grateful for the softer landing.
"Come on!" Said the man as he helped her climb out of the rubbish. "Jump up!" he then immediately urged Rose as he jumped on a motorcycle, leaving enough space behind himself for another person to sit on.
Rose, though a little hesitantly, but followed him, as he started the engine up. A new wave of gunshots followed their way but the motorcycle was so fast and the man was such a good driver, that they left the danger behind them in just a matter of seconds.
As Rose held onto his torso with all her might, she heard the thief introduce himself:
"I'm Sam Drake, by the way."