“But I haven’t finished my entree,” Darlene complained.
Raymond didn’t respond. Instead he whisked Darlene’s chair out from the table, forcing her to her feet. The more he thought about Dr. Levitz, the more he thought the man could be the savior. As the personal physician of a number of competing New York crime families, Levitz knew people who could do the impossible.
CHAPTER 1
MARCH 4, 1997
7:25 A.M.
NEW YORK CITY
JACK Stapleton bent over and put more muscle into his pedaling as he sprinted the last block heading east along Thirtieth Street. About fifty yards from First Avenue he sat up and coasted no-hands before beginning to brake. The upcoming traffic light was not in his favor, and even Jack wasn’t crazy enough to sail out into the mix of cars, buses, and trucks racing uptown.
The weather had warmed considerably and the five inches of slush that had fallen two days previously was gone save for a few dirty piles between parked cars. Jack was pleased the roads were clear since he’d not been able to commute on his bike for several days. The bike was only three weeks old. It was a replacement for one that had been stolen a year previously.
Originally, Jack had planned on replacing the bike immediately. But he’d changed his mind after a terrifyingly close encounter with death made him temporarily conservative about risk. The episode had nothing to do with bike riding in the city, but nonetheless it scared him enough to acknowledge that his riding style had been deliberately reckless.
But time dimmed Jack’s fears. The final prod came when he lost his watch and wallet in a subway mugging. A day later, Jack bought himself a new Cannondale mountain bike, and as far as his friends were concerned, he was up to his old tricks. In reality, he was no longer tempting fate by squeezing between speeding delivery vans and parked cars; he no longer slalomed down Second Avenue; and for the most part he stayed out of Central Park after dark.