Read Online Infamy by Robert K. Tanenbaum - Free Book Online

on. He’d kept a journal since he was a lonely child brought up by analcoholic mother and his shipping tycoon father. The kind of notebooks had changed over the years from the old black-and-white composition notebook to the current version that he had made special for him. But he’d kept them all—hundreds of them—now lining an entire wall-length bookshelf in his library.
    Some of what he wrote when he was young were just musings of a boy or comments on other kids and people. But as he grew older, he’d used them to “think through” and plan out his business dealings, especially after becoming a business major at Princeton and he was well on his way—with the help of his father’s fortune—to building an empire. The notebooks included his innermost thoughts, as well as details of some transactions and projects that at best were unethical and often criminal. He knew they were dangerous to keep, but he didn’t trust computers. Besides, it gave him an almost sexual thrill to look up from his desk and see a library’s worth of his writing.
    Even if it was a risk, he wasn’t worried. Money bought a lot of things, including law enforcement, judges, and public opinion. The press fawned all over him, and any independent media sources that dared say anything else were quickly dismissed as “politically motivated” by their colleagues,Constantine’s supporters, and the adoring public. His homes were protected by state-of-the-art security, as well as the ominous presence of Mr. Fitzsimmons and his nefarious team of goons.
    Constantine frowned. The notebook was open to his latest journaling about his most ambitious project yet. But it hadn’t been going well, and in fact, if the ship didn’t get righted soon, his whole empire could come crashing down around his ears and he’d find himself decorating a federal prison cell. But he was no coward; the thought of his scheme—both what he planned to accomplish and the risk—gave him a rush, and he intended to make it happen. And I always, always get what I set my mind to , he thought.
    â€œExcuse me, there’s a call for you, Mr. Constantine.”
    He turned at the deep bass of Fitzsimmons’s voice. “The one I’m expecting?” he asked.
    â€œApparently there’s been a glitch.”
    Constantine scowled. He didn’t like “glitches” and paid good money for them not to happen. “I’ll take it in the library,” he said curtly.
    As he stood to go back into the house, Constantine nodded toward his wife, who was seated on one of the sun chairs. “I want those two watched. Let me know what they’re doing.”
    Fitzsimmons raised an eyebrow, then smirked. “You got it, boss. Want me to do anything if they’re up to some hanky-panky?”
    Constantine’s eyes narrowed. “No, just let me know. I’ll decide what to do after that.”

5
    W HEN THE SEDAN ARRIVED AT the Fifth Avenue entrance to the Central Park Zoo, Officer Ewin pulled over to where a uniformed police officer was waving traffic around a half dozen parked cruisers with their red and blue lights flashing. Karp looked out the window and noted a larger contingent of officers standing by the Arsenal, as the zoo administration building was known, blocking the entrance.
    Ewin rolled down his window when the officer approached. “I got the district attorney with me,” he said. “What’s the ­latest?”
    The officer leaned over and looked at Karp. “Hello, sir,” he said when he recognized him. “The shooter’s holed up withsome hostages on the northwest side of the zoo in the Bird House, near the grizzly bear enclosure.”
    Despite the urgency of the moment, Karp smiled. “You seem to know a lot about the zoo, Officer.”
    The officer, a young man who barely looked old enough to be out of high school, smiled. “Yes, sir, grew up