The heavy, carved mahogany door of the private library clicked shut with a solid, echoing finality, instantly severing them from the distant, weeping waltz of the glamorous ballroom outside.
Dim, green-tinted brass Banker’s lamps faintly illuminated soaring, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lined entirely with priceless, first-edition classics. Alec moved like a silent phantom across the plush Persian rug. His gloved fingers slid expertly behind a collection of vintage maritime law volumes until his thumb finally depressed a hidden, pneumatic latch.
The heavy bookcase hissed quietly outward, revealing a narrow, heavily air-conditioned server room humming aggressively with rows of fiber-optic blue light.
Alec immediately tapped the central console’s security monitor. A four-way camera split
