“My dad discovered that there might be an attempt on your life,” she said, and both women visibly tensed. “As a…business associate, he felt the need to do what he could to keep that from happening.”
Alex hoped the label she’d used was accurate. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to raise any suspicions.
“So he sends you?” El-Hashim said.
“He couldn’t very well break in here himself—not without a round of reconstructive surgery.”
“That’s fairly audacious,” Marie said. “Sending your daughter into a pit like this.”
Excluding their present surroundings, of course.
“My father isn’t a sentimental man, and he knows I can handle myself. I was the best person for the job, so here I am.”
Marie grunted softly. “You sound like him, too.”
The comment was unexpected, catching Alex off guard. She was lost in it for a moment, lost in the memory of her father—tough as iron when he needed to be, and sometimes when he didn’t.
“Are you all right?” Marie asked.
“I’m fine.”
El-Hashim studied her carefully, and Alex knew she wasn’t yet convinced. “If your father did send you, then he must have told you why we met last week.”
There was only one way to deal with this question.
“He most certainly did not,” Alex said, an edge to her voice. “Let’s get something straight. I do not work for my father. I don’t know what he does. I don’t get involved. But when he asks for my help, which doesn’t happen often, I’ll do what he needs.”
“An impressive speech,” Marie said. “But if you don’t work for your father, then what is it you do?”
Alex paused. This was something that was bound to come up. They had even discussed it at Stonewell, and decided it was best to stick as close as possible to the truth.
“I collect people who’ve skipped out on their bail,” she said. “Car thieves, burglars, assault suspects. I work in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Real cream of the crop kind of people.”
Marie frowned. “You’re a…bounty hunter?”
Alex nodded. “And before that I was in the army for a couple of years. Didn’t think to bring a resume. Sorry.”
It was a make-or-break moment. The women could easily have walked out of the room right then and there—and that would’ve been the ballgame.
But they didn’t walk out. Instead, Marie said, “How much do you and your father expect to be paid for this service?”
Hooked, Alex thought, and had to struggle to contain her relief. “Me, I want nothing. My father? That’s between you and him.”
El-Hashim sneered. “Of course.”
Alex shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it mutually beneficial. You’re both resourceful people.”
“This is an interesting proposal,” Marie said. “But I think you’ll understand that my friend here needs time to think it over.”
“I do understand. But I’m afraid time is one thing we can’t afford to waste. I’ll need your answer before I leave.”
The two women exchanged glances, then El-Hashim said, “Please give us a moment.”
Alex nodded and watched them walk to the bedroom door, where they stopped and spoke together quietly.
As she waited, the door to the bathroom opened, and Teterya stuck his head out.
She’d been wondering how he was holding up in there.
When he saw Alex, he made a gesture indicating he was ready to come out, but Alex held out her hand, palm first, letting him know not yet. He nodded, retreated inside, and quietly closed the door.
Finally, the two women came back over and El-Hashim spoke first. “If we are to say yes, how would you get us out of here?”
Alex shook her head. “Not all of you. My instructions pertain to El-Hashim only.”
“I’m not leaving here without Marie.”
“You’re not leaving at all,” Alex said.
El-Hashim frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“The two of you have a nice little bait-and-switch thing going here, but I figured you out a while ago.” She turned to Marie. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re the real El-Hashim.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The women looked at Alex, nonplussed, and the one who had been calling herself El-Hashim started to protest—
—but Marie waved her off. “Don’t. It will only waste time. There’s no point in denying it.” She stared at Alex. “How did you know?”
“I suspected it when you let your friend here do your fighting for you. You confirmed it for me when you said I sound just like my father.”
“This doesn’t change anything,” the fake El-Hashim said, stepping closer to Alex. “I won’t let her go alone with you. It could be a trap. You could kill her the moment you are out of our sight.”
“I could kill her now,” Alex said, shifting her gaze to Marie, aka the real El-Hashim. “I could kill you both now. I could have killed you when your bodyguards were still here, and thrown them on the pile. But I didn’t, did I?”
The friend, who may or may not have been named Marie—it was hard to tell around here—eyed her defiantly. “You boast, but can you deliver?”
“Try me.”
The woman held her gaze for a moment, then finally looked away.
Alex dismissed her with a glance and returned her attention to El-Hashim. “You’re in prison. Even without an assassin on your tail, there are thousands of ways you can die in here. I’m offering you a way out, sooner rather than later. Take it or leave it.”
“There is still the question of how you propose to do this,” El-Hashim said.
“You’ll find out when the time comes, not before.”
“Can you at least tell me when that time will be?”
A reasonable question, Alex thought. There were two factors involved in the timing. The first was that any escape would be best conducted at night. The second was that Cooper and Deuce would need to be in position on the outside.
This, of course, meant getting them a message and receiving their reply—a procedure that might take hours. There was no way it could be done in time to leave tonight.
“Well?” El-Hashim asked.
“Tomorrow night, or the night after that at the most,” Alex told her.
El-Hashim considered this, then looked at her friend as if seeking advice. But Marie—or whoever she was—was already shaking her head. She leaned in toward El-Hashim and whispered something in French.
Alex could hear a few of the words—not…crazy…now—but most were said too quietly for her to pick up.
After several seconds, El-Hashim patted the air with her hand. “Qui, je sais. Je sais.”
Yes, I know. I know.
She turned to Alex. “Ms. Poe, I understand your need for an answer. But you must understand that I cannot take this on your word alone. I need time to verify that you are who you say you are.”
“I won’t put this on hold. It’s now or never.”
“You say it will take at least a day before we can leave. I’d suggest you proceed as if I have said yes, and by this time tomorrow, I can give you a definitive answer.”
Alex couldn’t blame her for wanting to check her story. She would’ve done the very same thing. But while she hadn’t lied about her background, what if El-Hashim tried to verify everything through her father?
How would he respond?
Would he sell out his own daughter?
Alex didn’t think he was capable of that, but she had also never thought him capable of leaving her and Danny. And time and distance didn’t always make the heart grow fonder.
A part of her wished she had just come in here and asked El-Hashim straight out about her father. Asked her where to find him. But she knew the woman would have told her nothing. The only way to get an answer was to gain her trust and get her away from this prison—alone. And when El-Hashim had no one else to rely on, that’s when Alex could make the push.
&
nbsp; She made a show of not being happy about the request, but finally nodded.
“I’ll give you until noon tomorrow,” she said. “No more. After that, you’re on your own.”
“That is most appreciated.”
It had better be.
And this had damn well better be worth it.
*
“AGAIN?” DR. TETERYA said as they returned via the tunnel under the prison.
“Is that a problem?”
“I am not scheduled during day. Dr. Timko will be back.”
Alex shrugged. “He seemed pretty sick today. Another day off shouldn’t be surprising.”
“Effects of drug will wear off by time he wakes up in morning.”
“I’m sure you can arrange a prolonged illness. A home visit tonight, perhaps, to see how he’s feeling.”
She had no trouble sensing his reluctance. He was oozing it like sweat.
“Doctor, this is the job you are being paid well to perform. There’s no backing out. You should know, if I’m pleased with how things go, I will recommend a bonus when I see my employer.”
“Bonus?” The word bounced clumsily out of his mouth.
“More money,” she explained. She wasn’t lying. She knew she was forcing the doctor to go miles beyond what he had expected to do, so recommending an additional payment wasn’t unreasonable. She had no idea if McElroy would comply, but she’d do everything she could.
“I…I was supposed to work double shift,” he said quietly, speaking more to himself than to Alex, as if he were trying to come up with a strategy. “Must get someone to cover tonight, so I come back tomorrow.”
“See? No problem.”
“Is no guarantee I find someone,” he snapped.
“I’m sure you will.”
He scowled at her and they walked the rest of the way in silence. When they finally returned to the infirmary, Irina took Alex into the back room and helped her change back into her gray dress.
“If we go out tomorrow night,” Alex said once the doctor had rejoined them, “I’m going to need my team in place. I don’t know where to tell them to go, though.”
Teterya thought for a moment, then nodded. “Of course,” he said. He gave her the location.
She asked for paper and a pen, and wrote Cooper and Deuce a note, sealing it inside the envelope Irina had brought her.
“Deliver this as soon as possible,” she told them.
“I take,” Irina said. “On way home.”
“Thank you.”
Irina called for the guards, and Alex was escorted back into the now full prison yard. The day was much warmer than the previous one, so any area in shade had, for the most part, already been claimed.
After walking around in the relentless sun for several minutes, Alex found a spot along the wall on the other side of the exercise area. If she pushed herself right up against the stone, she could at least partially avoid the direct sunlight.
She didn’t last there for long, however. She was restless, all worked up. She wanted to act, get things rolling, do anything. The only way to keep from exploding was to start walking again.
What if El-Hashim said no?
It was a very real possibility. If that happened, Alex would have only two choices:
One, accept the decision and walk away.
Two, take El-Hashim by force.
The second option would entail neutralizing the other three women in El-Hashim’s suite, and getting an uncooperative inmate past the regular prison guards.
Of course, with access to the infirmary, she could have the doctor bring some kind of drug that would knock El-Hashim out, making option two not quite as daunting.
Yeah. That might work.
It might be preferable.
They could pretend a fight had broken out while they were in the apartment, and that they needed to get an unconscious El-Hashim to the infirmary as soon as possible. Hell, they might even be able to get the guards to carry her.
But then what?
Whatever drug Teterya used would have to wear off quickly. Alex would need El-Hashim to be alert and able during the actual escape. But it would then again be a question of willingness to cooperate.
As Alex pondered this dilemma, she crossed into the middle of the yard and noticed Rachel heading quickly in her direction. The girl was half walking, half jogging as if she wanted to go faster but wasn’t sure she should.
“Where have you been?” Rachel asked as soon as she was close.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Alex, guard up, said, “I was in the infirmary. My arm.”
“Oh,” Rachel said as she glanced at the bandaged forearm, then just as quickly seemed to forget about it. “Come on.”
She turned back toward the cellblocks.
“Where?”
“It’s your friend, what’s-her-name—Frida, right?”
“What about her?”
“She’s hurt pretty bad.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alex followed Rachel into Building One, and to a cell on the first floor.
The only one inside was Frida, lying on a lower bunk.
Someone had beaten the hell out of her. Her face was bruised and bloody, her arms cut and scraped. Her dirty dress was ripped in several places, one across her belly exposing a welt at least two inches long.
Alex dropped to her knees next to the bed and said, “What the hell happened?”
Rachel, who stood in the doorway, held her hands up in surrender. “I wasn’t here. I just found her lying right outside the cell.”
“You didn’t see anything?”
Rachel said, “It happened before I got here, okay?”
Frida’s eyes were closed, her teeth clenched in pain.
Alex softened. “Frida? Frida, can you hear me?”
A low, almost imperceptible moan escaped the girl’s lips.
“I couldn’t get her to talk, either,” Rachel said.
Alex looked back at her. “Why didn’t you take her to the infirmary?”
“I thought moving her onto the bed was already taking a chance,” Rachel said.
“You could have at least gotten a guard.”
She started backing out of the cell. “Look, I didn’t want to get involved, all right? I knew she was your friend, so I went looking for you.”
“Well, get a guard now.”
“I’ve already done my job. This is your deal, not mine.”
With that, she left.
“Goddammit,” Alex said under her breath.
Running her fingers lightly over Frida’s skin, she summoned up her combat training and checked for obvious broken bones. Everything seemed to be in place, but who knew what kind of internal damage there was?
The sooner Frida received medical attention, the better.
“Frida, open your eyes.”
The girl moaned again.
“Come on,” Alex said. “Open your eyes.”
A slit appeared across Frida’s left eye as the lids parted. Her right, already swelling, wasn’t going to open at all.
Alex touched the girl’s forehead. “I’m gonna help you up, all right?”
Considering her own residual pain, she thought that might be easier said than done. But she had to try. Frida’s face, however, became tinged with fear, and she moaned again.
“You need help,” Alex insisted. “I’ve gotta get you to the doctor.”
Gingerly, she slipped an arm under the girl’s shoulder and another under her legs. Alex’s forearm screamed in agony as she lifted Frida off the mattress, and hoisted her out of the bed. Grunting, Alex swiveled one of Frida’s legs up so that her foot was flat on the ground, then did the same with the other.
A loud groan flew out of Frida’s mouth as Alex stood all the way up.
“Hang in there. The hard part’s done.”
The size of the cell doorway forced Alex to shuffle sideways to pass through without
banging Frida against the bars. Once she was in the common area, she moved as quickly as she could toward the exit.
There were dozens of prisoners right outside the entrance to Building One, milling around, bullshitting, and trying to stay out of the sun. When Alex made it outside with Frida, they all turned to look, their conversations dying mid-sentence.
One inmate moved in closer, trying to see who it was Alex was carrying.
“Out of the way!” Alex shouted as several more women moved into her path. “Move! Move!”
Most of them stepped to the side, largely because they had no choice the way Alex was moving, but the first inmate stood her ground.
“Who that?” she said, nodding at Frida.
“None of your goddamn business. Now get out of the way!”
Instead of moving, the woman scowled, narrowing her eyes.
Alex had no time to deal with this shit. She turned as if she was going to walk back the way she’d come, then suddenly kicked backward, ramming her right heel into the woman’s stomach.
There was a sudden exhalation of breath and a thunderous groan. As Alex turned back around, the woman dropped to her knees, clutching her abdomen.
Alex moved around her without further incident and continued toward the administration building.
The guards finally showed up when she was about three quarters of the way across the yard. They shouted at her, probably to get her to stop, but she kept moving. It took two of them grabbing her by the shoulders to finally stop her.
The guard who had taken Alex to her cell when she’d first arrived pointed at Frida, and said, “You do?”
“Do you think I’d be trying to get her help if I did?”
It was clear she had far exceeded his ability to understand.
“Help,” she said. “My friend needs help. Doctor!”
That seemed to do the trick. Two of the guards took Frida from Alex and hurried toward the entrance to the admin building. The two who had been holding Alex hadn’t let go, however, and started shouting questions at her.
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