She rolled her eyes and looked up at the sky. “How many goddamn times do I have to say this? I don’t understand you.”
The employment exam for this shit box had to be a cinch.
After throwing a few more unintelligible phrases at her, they took her into the administration building and to a windowless room on the first floor. There were three chairs along the wall opposite the door, all bolted to the floor. A guard shoved her into one and they left her alone.
Twenty minutes passed before the door opened again. While it was no big shock that one of her new visitors was the warden, the presence of Dr. Teterya surprised her.
The warden spoke first, then Teterya said, “We would like to know what happened to girl.”
“What does it look like? Someone beat her up.”
Teterya looked uncomfortable as he translated this for the warden. Apparently the doctor was the best English speaker in the prison at the moment.
The warden asked another question.
“You did not do this to her?”
Alex shook her head in disbelief. “What is wrong with you people? Why would I be trying to get her help if I was the one who hurt her?”
The questions continued for several more minutes. Then Teterya said, “We would like to examine you to make sure what you say is true.”
“Have at it,” Alex told him.
The warden looked on as the doctor checked her face and hands. While she’d had more than her share of fights over the last couple days, none of her injuries equaled what had been done to Frida.
When Teterya got to her arms, the warden pointed at the gauze bandage that now had a bit of blood seeping through. He said something and the doctor replied, most likely explaining to the man that the injury was a day old and had nothing to do with Frida.
It took a while before the warden looked fully satisfied. Once that happened, he was quick to leave.
“I will send nurse to bandage arm again,” Teterya said, keeping his voice formal even though they were alone.
“So you all believe me now?”
“You were being what they call Good Samaritan, yes?”
“That’s right.”
“Then okay. Is no problem.”
He started to leave.
“The girl?” Alex asked. “Will she be all right?”
He stopped at the door. “She hurt very bad, but will be okay in few days.” He hesitated before adding, “Night doctor watch her tonight, and I check her again when I come in tomorrow morning.”
Message received. “Thank you.”
“Tomorrow I send for you midday. Want to check your arm again.”
Alex kept her face passive, but inside she cringed. The comment had been unnecessary, especially since it had come out more wooden than she would have liked. Hopefully, if anyone was listening in, their English wasn’t good enough to pick it up.
“Whatever you say,” she told him. “You’re the doc.”
As soon as her bandage had been changed—not by Irina, but another nurse—Alex was taken back outside, where the sun had begun to dip.
Unfortunately, the temperature hadn’t. She was wiping sweat from her brow before she was even halfway back to the cellblocks.
As she walked, she couldn’t help but notice that whenever she neared a group of other prisoners, several would glance at her as if they could see right through her false identity, and knew she was not who she claimed to be.
Way to keep your head down, Alex.
Chapter Twenty-Five
When Cooper went to check the drop box, Deuce stayed inside the old barn. Their prisoner was out cold, the pain pills from the medical kit working exactly as advertised. The plan was to keep him under until they executed the abort mission later that evening. Then they’d drop him somewhere he could find help, and get the hell out of Dodge.
Deuce was a little surprised that Cooper hadn’t simply put a bullet in the guy’s brain. He figured Stonewell was a take-no-prisoners type of outfit, and Cooper was Stonewell through and through.
Or was he?
Maybe Deuce had been wrong about the guy. Maybe behind that cool, hard-ass exterior he was more of a human being than he liked to let on. Deuce had known a lot of former soldiers like him and had discovered that, unlike Deuce himself, they felt uncomfortable showing they had a heart, as if this somehow might compromise their manhood.
He also knew there had once been something between Cooper and Alex, something more than shared combat experiences. And he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that.
Had they been lovers?
Not that it was any of Deuce’s business. But he cared about Alex, and didn’t want this renewed contact to lead to anything that might hurt her.
If that happened, he would have to hurt Cooper.
He was in the process of heating up some canned stew when Cooper returned carrying an envelope, the top ripped open.
“What time do we pick her up?” Deuce asked.
Grimacing, Cooper handed him the note.
Deuce pulled out the sheet of paper and unfolded it, immediately recognizing Alex’s handwriting:
NEGATIVE ON ABORT. CONTACTED AK THIS AFTERNOON. EXTRACT TOMORROW APPROX. 9PM. RENDEZVOUS ABANDONED BUILDING, WEST OF PRISON, OUTSIDE FENCE.
“Well, fuck me,” he said quietly.
He handed the note and envelope back to Cooper, thinking that he and Alex would need to have a little talk when all of this was over.
A talk about unnecessary risks.
“Looks like we’re still on,” Cooper said.
“That it does,” Deuce murmured. “That it does.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The guards showed up in Building One’s kitchen right on schedule.
At a few minutes before noon the next morning, Alex washed her hands, removed her apron, and followed them to the infirmary.
“How’s Frida?” she asked Teterya once they were safely inside one of the infirmary’s secure cells.
“Frida?”
“The prisoner I helped yesterday.”
“Ah,” the doctor said. “Arcos. Come.”
He took her to the cell two doors down. Frida was on the bed. While the blood had been cleaned from her face and arms, her bruises looked worse than ever. The good thing was that she was asleep.
“Ribs broken. Three,” Teterya said. “Many, many, uh, brew?”
“Bruises.”
“Yes, bruises. All over arms and body. But is lucky. No injuries inside.” He paused. “You know who do this?”
Alex had a pretty good idea. It had to be that bitch Kalyna. But she shrugged and said, “Could’ve been anyone.”
“Well, if happen again, think she not live. She very…delicate?”
Alex didn’t want to think about it. She had enough issues to worry about without adding Frida’s problems to the mix. But the girl had been kind to her from the beginning. It was hard to ignore what had happened to her, and what could very well happen again.
Back in her room, Alex changed into the nurse’s outfit, with Irina once more helping her with her hair. Once the hat and glasses were in place, she followed Dr. Teterya back down to the tunnel.
As expected, El-Hashim and her friends were sitting in the living area, waiting for them to arrive.
Alex said, “Shall we go to one of the bedrooms again?”
“Here is fine,” El-Hashim told her, gesturing to a chair. “My friends are well aware of our discussions.”
Teterya cleared his throat. “I need to use the toilet.”
El-Hashim smirked. “Again, Doctor? You miss so much when you do.”
He cleared his throat a second time, then headed for the bathroom.
Once the door closed behind him, Alex took the proffered seat. “What’s it to be?”
El-Hashim smiled. “You are definitely your father’s daughter. Always right to business.”
“You believe me, then.”
“I believed you yesterday, but, in my life, I have found it
prudent to not always rely on instinct.”
“Fair enough. So again, what’s it to be?”
El-Hashim leaned back in her chair. “Do you know why I’m here?”
“You were arrested.”
“But do you know why?”
“No,” Alex said.
“Your father didn’t mention it?”
“Not a word. We don’t…talk much.”
“Interesting.” She smiled. “He was there, you know.”
Alex froze, all other thoughts forgotten. “What?”
“Yes. He was arrested, too.”
It took a second for the words to sink in. Dear God, was her dad also sitting in a Crimean prison at that very moment?
Alex tried to gather herself. “Funny. He didn’t mention it.”
“Oh? How do you communicate with him?”
“Online. Dummy accounts. E-mails. The occasional text.”
“No phone calls?”
Alex shook her head. “Like I said, we don’t talk much. What happened?”
El-Hashim studied her face, then smiled again. “Your father and I were meeting in Yalta. The nature of what we had to discuss involved getting together several times over a two-day period. Our last meeting was to take place at a café a few blocks from the sea. He was there first. Upon seeing me when I entered, he stood to greet me. As we were saying our hellos, the police moved in. Not only did they take your father and me but also my friends who were stationed along the street.” She gestured toward her three companions. “We were all processed at the police station, then my friends and I were sent here.”
“And my father?”
“He really didn’t tell you any of this?”
“I told you before, we lead separate lives. I’m not involved in his business unless he really needs me. I usually don’t want to know what’s going on.”
“But now you’re curious.”
“I am this time, because I’m an active participant. It’s not so much that I want to know, but that I need to know, in case it has a bearing on how we proceed.”
A perceptive grin. “And because, deep down, you really do want to know.”
Alex kept quiet.
After a moment, El-Hashim said, “Your father was supposed to be taken to a prison in the middle of the peninsula. But one thing Frank Poe has at his disposal is a very capable network. The car transporting him turned up full of bullet holes at the bottom of a hill about forty miles away. The driver was still strapped behind the wheel and your father was gone.”
Alex hadn’t realized she was leaning so far forward. She sat back, trying to act as if the news wasn’t all that surprising.
But she was hurting inside.
Her father escaping at the cost of a policeman’s life? That wasn’t the man she knew. That wasn’t the dad who taught her how to swim or change a tire or swing dance. It especially wasn’t the dad who’d taught her how to know the difference between right and wrong.
“Too bad you don’t have as capable of a network,” she said.
“Our areas of specialty are…different,” El-Hashim said. “My job is more subtle, behind the scenes. We rely more on our clients’ help when necessary.”
An opening. “And hence the reason I’m here,” Alex said.
“So it would seem.”
“I need your answer. Are you coming with me, or are you going to stay and take your chances?”
“It would be very difficult to leave my friends behind.”
“The only reason the Ukrainian government hasn’t been bragging about your capture is because they haven’t yet figured out who you are. My guess is that it was my father they were really after and you just got caught up in it. But now that he’s gone, their attention’s going to turn to you sooner than you want, and when they do realize who you are, that egg on their faces for losing my father will be a distant memory. You’ll suddenly become a very big fish to a government that has little reason to boast.” She smiled. “Then again, if you also disappear, how much will they be able to pin on your friends? Another month, maybe two, and they’ll all be released.”
“There is no way we can know that for sure,” El-Hashim said.
“You’re right. Life is full of uncertainty. It’s up to you.”
Silence descended, then Marie leaned in and whispered something in El-Hashim’s ear.
“My friends are concerned about my safety,” El-Hashim said.
“As they should be.”
“They want you to know if anything happens to me, it is you who will pay.”
“I’m afraid I can’t guarantee anything, and I don’t respond well to threats.” Alex stood up, not in a huff, but in a manner that indicated business was business. “We won’t simply be walking out of here. This is dangerous, and if you get hurt, you get hurt. But it won’t be because of something I’ve done.” She took a breath. “Consider this a missed opportunity.”
As she stepped away from the chair, El-Hashim said, “I did not tell you no.”
“You haven’t really told me anything. I’ve laid out the ground rules, so you either live with them or you don’t.”
El-Hashim stood up. “If something happens to me, it happens. Does that work for you?”
Alex purposely hesitated, then nodded. “So that’s a yes?”
“Correct.”
Alex studied her a moment, and sat back down. “Then this is what I need you to do.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Teterya suggested that Alex stay in the infirmary for the duration. If she were to leave, he would have to summon her again, and that might raise unnecessary attention.
He had a point, but Alex shook her head. “I need to do something first. Send for me right after dinner. I’ll be ready then.”
Before she left, she requested two items to take with her.
“Why?” the doctor asked, surprised.
“Better if you don’t know.”
He looked nervous. “I cannot have this as problem for me later.”
“It won’t be.”
She could see that he wasn’t sure if he could believe her, but he collected the things she wanted and gave them to her.
Back in with the general population, she moved in and out of the crowds until she found who she was looking for. Instead of approaching her, however, Alex held back and watched.
When dinner came, she fell in line three people behind the woman. Dinner was a variation of the slop from the night before. It might well have been the very same batch, doctored up to look new. Who could tell? Alex took her share, grabbed a stale roll, and loitered beyond the end of the serving area until the woman had taken a seat.
Approaching casually so as not to draw any attention, Alex surreptitiously slipped a note next to the woman’s plate. She then took a seat three tables back where she could watch.
For several minutes she wondered if the woman would even notice the piece of paper, but finally the side of the inmate’s palm brushed against it. She picked it up, opened it, and read the two numbers inside. One was the number of her own cell. The other was a time: twelve minutes from now.
The woman crumbled the note in her fist, and glanced side to side. Alex ducked down, but it wasn’t necessary. The woman never looked behind her.
Quickly, Alex rose and left the room, then hurried up to the fourth floor, stepping into the cellblock directly adjacent to the one in which the woman’s cell was located. Leaning against the wall by the door, she pulled her arm into her dress and reached into the waistband of her panties.
Removing the two items Dr. Teterya gave her, she brought her arm back out, uncapped the needle at the end of the syringe, stuck it into the bottle, and drew the liquid into the cylinder.
Now she just had to wait.
Right on schedule, she heard the woman clomping across the concrete at the far end of the fourth floor. When the steps neared the neighboring cellblock, they slowed for a moment then picked up again, heading for the row of cells on the left side.
Pushing away from the wall, Alex quietly entered the block and approached the woman’s cell from the side so as not to be seen. She stopped at the edge of the bars, set the syringe on the floor next to the wall, and stepped out.
“You came,” she said.
Kalyna was standing only a few feet in. The moment she realized it was Alex who’d passed her the note, her eyes shrank to slits. She spat out a word.
Alex felt safe to assume that if it was a greeting, it wasn’t a friendly one.
“Nice to see you, too.”
“What you want?” Kalyna said. “Same your friend? Is why you here?”
“I am here about my friend, but—”
“Good.”
Kalyna rushed toward the doorway of the cell, her arms outstretched so she could grab Alex. Alex took a half step back, and ducked down right before Kalyna could reach her.
Using her whole body, Alex thrust her palm up into Kalyna’s chin and smashed the woman’s teeth together, the loud clack echoing through the block.
Kalyna staggered backward into the cell, stunned.
Not waiting for her to regain her senses, Alex punched Kalyna in the gut, just below the rib cage.
Doubling over, Kalyna fell against the end of the bunk bed.
Alex hit her again and again, punching her like one of the bags back at Ackerman’s Gym.
Stomach.
Arms.
Ribs.
A cartilage-cracking blow to the nose.
Kalyna tried feebly to block the first few hits, but was soon using whatever strength she had left to stay on her feet.
“When you have someone on the ropes, you can never let up,” Emerick had preached over and over.
He would have been proud of Alex at that moment. She didn’t let up until Kalyna started to slide to the floor.
“No, you don’t,” she said, grabbing the woman under the shoulders.
She forced Kalyna to walk around the end of the beds.
“Which one’s yours?” she asked.
Kalyna, her head hanging low, said nothing.
Alex slapped her across the face. “Which bed’s yours?”
With effort, Kalyna looked up and glanced at the lower bed of the rear set of bunks. Alex walked her over there, then pushed her onto the mattress. Kalyna fell onto her ass, and leaned back against the wall with a moan.
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