Teen Ink

Prologue

“Why her?” Dominik leans over the table towards the masked man, peering at the pictures. Candid shots from behind, far away, in a crowded room. Always the same black-haired teenaged girl. Dominik licks his black lips and smiles slightly – she’s pretty. The masked man lays his menu over the spread of photos, gives the waitress his drink order. When she leaves he lifts the menu, finger dancing over the girl’s oblivious face.
“She’s our way in.” They look at the pictures in silence, the masked man breathing heavily. Against his better judgment, Dominik taps a nail on the bulky body of the brown-eyed boy, never far away from the girl, large club hanging from his belt. As if he’d need it. The other nail finds an older man, also her constant companion, war-hardened and strong.
“And them?”
The masked man slams his fist on the table, ice shaking in the water glasses. “They are nothing! They are weak! Stupid!” He drops his voice. “They will not hinder our goal. We will prevail.” He hisses, breath smelling of rot and Vodka. “She will be the lamb that slaughters the lion.”