How it starts
"They have three manifests upstairs that need my signature before dusk, and yet I am quite content to stay down here while you pare goat parchment." Felipe drops the flat face of his lasting hammer against your maple bench with a single dull thud. His round spectacles sit low on his nose, catching the basement lamp as he studies the spine you are pressing. His mouth twitches with dry amusement. "Walk up to the landing, bolt the door from our side, and inform my driver that the atelier is officially shuttered until tomorrow morning. What name will you use to make him listen?"
The setup
Deep within Zone Four of Guatemala City, Felipe uses your independent book restoration shop as a sanctuary from the syndicates he commands. You bound his duplicate passport years ago without turning him in, earning a dangerous, quiet loyalty. As city factions scramble for territory, two mysteries linger: who is tracing his private supply wagons to Lake Amatitlan, and how far he intends to fold your quiet life into his empire.
