But instead of a squad of guards, it was just the doctor and the nurse. They stepped into the room, and Irina closed the door behind them as Teterya set a cloth bundle on the bed.
“Why is A’isha Najem important to you?” he asked.
Alex decided to be as forthcoming as possible. “That’s not her real name. The name I know her by is El-Hashim. I’m not sure that’s her real name, either. She launders money for terrorist organizations that then fund bombings and murders and God knows what else.”
“Then you do want to kill her.”
“No,” Alex said quickly. “Killing her serves nothing. If she’s alive, we can find out who she works with. She could be the key to unraveling a very large network. Who knows how many lives that could save?”
“Don’t understand,” Irina said.
The doctor translated for her, then said to Alex, “You said you have personal need to talk to her. Is same?”
Alex hesitated. “No.”
“What is it?”
“Like I said, it’s personal.”
“Tell me.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d rather not.”
Teterya considered her for several seconds. Then he pointed at the bundle on the bed. Clothes that looked very much like those being worn by Irina and the other nurse.
“Put them on,” he said.
He turned to the wall to give Alex some privacy.
“The guard staff is told you stay here for observation,” he continued. “Is standard. Happens many time. They never check.”
Alex slipped out of the gray dress. “What about your other nurse?”
“She work here only short time. Irina in charge and you Irina’s patient. Only Irina or me check you.”
Alex would have to take their word for that. She pulled on the nurse’s outfit.
“Okay,” she said.
The doctor turned back around.
“What about this?” She raised her bandaged arm.
The doctor said something to Irina, who left the room for a few seconds and returned with a thin, cream-colored sweater. Alex donned it. It would make her a bit hotter than necessary, but hiding the wound was worth the price. Irina moved in behind her and started pulling at Alex’s hair.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Alex asked.
“No move,” Irina told her.
She attacked Alex’s hair with a brush and comb and a few bobby pins, and in record time sculpted a whole new look. At least it felt different. When Irina was done, she took a step back and stared at Alex.
“So?” Alex asked.
“One moment.”
She disappeared again. This time she returned with a pair of black, thick-framed glasses and a nurse’s cap. She handed the glasses to Alex.
“Wear, please.”
Alex put them on, relieved that the prescription wasn’t too strong. There was only a minute distortion to her vision.
Irina fixed the cap to the top of Alex’s head. This time, after she checked her handiwork, she pulled a small mirror from her pocket and held it up so Alex could see.
Alex had to admit that for a quick change, it wasn’t a bad disguise. Still, she wasn’t confident it would work, and said as much to the doctor.
“Will be fine,” he told her. “We have many different staff come through infirmary. Some only work one time. Is too much for them.” He handed her a laminated badge. “Is pass for temporary employee. Clip to dress.”
She did so.
“Now take this.” He handed her a file. “When walking, look at this as much as possible. You are ready?”
“Sure,” Alex said. “Why not?”
* * *
TETERYA LED HER to the locked back exit of the infirmary.
“Take care,” Irina told them.
Alex had the distinct impression the words were more for the doctor than for her.
They stepped through the doorway into a vacant hallway, moved quickly over to the central stairwell, and began their descent. They had nearly reached the first floor when the door below flew open and two guards walked in.
Alex immediately looked down at the file in her hands, pretending to study the sheet of paper attached to the cover. She felt acutely self-conscious, certain that her disguise would fool no one.
As the guards passed them heading up, one of them said something to Teterya. He responded with what sounded like a complaint, punctuated by an ironic laugh. The guards snickered as they continued their ascent without slowing.
Alex let out a breath.
When she and the doctor reached the first-floor landing, Teterya leaned in and whispered, “Stay close.”
The corridor was bustling with activity. There were several guards present, a few escorting prisoners. There were also a couple of men in suits— administrators, Alex guessed—walking toward the far end on the right.
Following Teterya’s instructions, she stayed directly behind him as he walked rapidly down the hallway toward another doorway she hadn’t been through before. With every step, she was expecting someone to say something to her, shout at her to stop. At the very least, she was sure one of the prisoners they passed would recognize her.
But they didn’t even look at her, and no one said a word.
There was a speaker box next to the door. The doctor pressed the button at the bottom of the box, and a voice spoke. As the doctor replied, he tilted his head up to face a camera mounted above the door. When the voice spoke again, the doctor stepped to the side, giving the camera a view of Alex. Motioning with his eyes, he told her to look at the lens.
Steeling herself, she tore her gaze away from the file folder and looked up. Her heart was pounding.
The voice spoke again, and the doctor quickly responded.
A pause, then a buzz sounded as the door was unlocked.
The room on the other side turned out to be a stairwell that led to the basement, which was nothing more than a single long corridor that ended at a barred door. The walls were covered with green peeling paint, the floor made of bare concrete. Though otherwise clean, Alex was pretty sure it was a place that didn’t see a lot of traffic.
There was another camera in the ceiling above the barred door. Just before they reached it, there was a loud clank, and the door swung open a few inches.
The doctor let Alex pass through first, then closed the door behind them. It clanked again as some unseen guard relocked it.
More concrete—walls, ceiling, and floor. Running along the center of the ceiling was an electrical line that was broken up at consistent intervals by glass-dome light fixtures, each with a single bulb inside. Cameras were mounted along the ceiling as well, about fifty feet apart.
The corridor curved to the right, and as they traveled through it, Alex realized that Teterya’s attention was focused on the ceiling ahead. With a sudden stop, he looked back past her, then ahead again. One of the cameras was directly above them, but because of the curve of the passageway, the cameras behind and in front were well out of sight.
A blind spot.
Teterya quickly pulled an envelope from his pocket and handed it to her. “I forget before. This message come for you this morning.”
“Have you read it?”
“No. Is sealed.”
Alex started to open it.
“Read while walk,” he said.
With a nod, she pulled the paper out, laid it against the file, and began following the doctor again.
The note was short and handwritten.
TOO DANGEROUS. RECOMMEND ABORT. PLS CONFIRM.
C
Now they think it’s too dangerous?
It had been too dangerous since the day they’d laid out this plan. So had something happened? Had she been compromised? Should she get the hell out of here now?
“Hurry,” Teterya whispered harshly.
She glanced up. The distance between them had increased to about twenty feet. She picked up her pace.
“A problem?” he whispered without moving his lips
.
“No. No problem.”
It didn’t matter what the note said. She had to talk to El-Hashim. She had to find out what the woman knew about her father.
Soon the tunnel straightened, its pools of light fading off in the distance, giving the illusion the passageway went on forever. It wasn’t long, however, before Alex could see another barred door. As they approached it, there was a familiar clank, but as they passed through the doorway, they weren’t greeted by an empty corridor. Instead, two guards Alex had never seen before stood in the hallway, waiting.
Teterya shared a few words with them, then the guards led them to a staircase that took them back to ground level.
The building they found themselves in felt very much like the cellblock buildings in the main part of the prison—same gray walls, same oppressive feel. The difference came when they followed the guards onto the blocks. There were only six cells, three on each side, their open metal doors revealing they were only big enough for a single bed and a toilet.
They were also empty.
The same proved true of the cells in the second block. In block three, however, two of the doors were closed.
After block three, the guards led them through a double-gated security checkpoint that, given their escorts, went quickly and without incident. A couple of turns down a short hallway brought them to a wide corridor. One wall was lined with thick glass windows that looked out into the yard of the isolation area. Except for two more guards out for a smoke, the grounds were deserted. Alex noted that the three guard towers along the walls had clear views of every inch of the yard.
No-man’s-land. All of it.
An elevator ride took their small group to the fourth floor. They went through another checkpoint, and two cellblocks identical to those below. The entryway to the third, however, was not open like all the others had been. In addition, a guard was sitting on a chair beside it.
As soon as he saw them, he jumped to his feet.
There was a quick conversation between the escort guards and the man at the door before it was opened. Teterya went through first, with Alex right behind him. When it appeared as if the escorts would join them, the doctor said something, and after a bit of back and forth, the guards stayed on the other side.
Another order from the doctor and the door was closed.
This new block was unlike any of the others. In fact, the only thing that gave it away as being part of a prison complex was the metal door they had just come through.
They were standing in a foyer that opened up into a large living room space, with a hallway on one side, and an open kitchen on the other. The décor was hotel chic—marble and silk and porcelain and bamboo—with beautiful paintings on the walls where windows would be, and a large-screen television sitting on a teak cabinet.
What the hell?
This was obviously the luxury suite for prisoners who could afford it, and Alex suddenly understood why the warden had been so accommodating. El-Hashim must have paid a fat wad of cash to be transferred here.
El-Hashim herself was standing in the living area. She and her three friends had all scrambled to their feet as Alex and Teterya entered, holding scarves up to hide their faces as they stared at their two new guests.
Alex kept a step behind the doctor, with her head tilted down in hopes she wouldn’t be recognized right away.
“Good afternoon,” Teterya said.
“What do you want with A’isha Najem?” one of the protectors barked. Alex guessed this must be the one called Marie.
The doctor moved out of the foyer and into the living room proper, Alex keeping pace.
“It is requirement,” he said. “All prisoners in isolation have medical check every two days.”
“Does it look like we are in isolation?”
“Does not matter. You are in isolation facility, you must have check.”
El-Hashim and Marie huddled for a moment, then Marie said, “Okay, fine. Just make it quick.”
Teterya bowed slightly. “I would like to use bedroom. Which one better for you?”
At the mention of bedroom, the women gave him a wary look, but the presence of a nurse seemed to stifle any objections they may have had. Alex half expected them to recognize her now, but they only seemed to see the uniform.
“That one,” Marie said, pointing at a door on the left wall.
“Good,” Teterya told her. “Who will be first?”
* * *
THERE WAS A small desk in the room. Alex opened the file on it, then sat so that her back would be to the doctor and whomever Teterya was examining.
The order of the women was predictable: the two larger bodyguards first, followed by Marie, and finally El-Hashim.
During each check, the doctor would occasionally say something to Alex in Ukrainian. She would nod and pretend to write something in the file.
When El-Hashim came in, her hijab now wrapped around her head and covering her face, Marie didn’t leave.
“You go now,” Teterya told her.
“No,” Marie said. “I stay. Where my friend goes, I go.”
Alex was tempted to point out that her friend had been in the other room while she was in here, but held her tongue.
“Is not acceptable,” Teterya said tersely.
“It is unacceptable for my friend to be alone with you.”
“But we not be alone. Nurse is here.”
Alex wished the good doctor hadn’t pointed that out, but Marie simply said, “Same thing. I’m staying.”
There was a pause, then Alex heard Teterya come up behind her. A moment later he was leaning over her shoulder as if to examine the file, his voice barely a whisper. “What you want to do?”
Alex had been expecting this. “It’s okay,” she said, matching his tone.
Teterya nodded as he continued to consult the file for another second or two before returning to his patient. “Very well,” he told them. “If you’ll both sit down, we can…” He coughed. Once, twice, and a third time. Then he said, “Excuse, please. I must get water.”
He crossed to the en suite bathroom. As soon as Alex heard the door close behind him, she waited a beat, took a breath, removed her glasses, and turned around, finally facing the woman she had come here to see.
“El-Hashim,” she said softly. “Excuse me for the intrusion. My name is Alexandra Poe, and I’ve come here to—”
“Assassin!” El-Hashim shouted, and lunged at her.
Alex dove sideways off her chair, not so much surprised by the reaction as by whom it had come from. She had expected any attacks to be launched by Marie, but the woman had stepped back against the wall.
El-Hashim rammed the chair and smashed it into the desk, barely missing Alex’s hip. Spinning around, Alex grabbed her by the arm and tried to get behind to her to grab the other, but the woman was wiry and fast. She squirmed away and yanked her arm free. For a moment, they stood facing each other, El-Hashim’s eyes narrow and wild.
“Listen to me,” Alex said through clenched teeth. “I’m not trying to—”
The door to the room burst open, and the two bodyguards ran in. At the same moment, El-Hashim rushed at Alex, swiping a hand toward her face.
Alex jerked her head back, reflexively moving her elbow up to block the blow, and ended up with El-Hashim’s nails ripping into the cut on her forearm. Alex cried out and tackled her to the floor, straddling her and pinning her arms down.
“Get off me!” El-Hashim screamed.
“I’m not trying to hurt you,” Alex said.
One of the bodyguards grabbed Alex around the waist, as the other tried to pry her hands from El-Hashim’s arms. But Alex couldn’t be budged. “I just want to talk!”
“Liar!” El-Hashim cried.
“I’m not here to kill you, goddamn it. I’m here to get you out of this—”
Hot white pain shot through Alex’s torso as a fist hit her kidneys. She immediately released El-Hashim and rolled onto her side, the pain so intense that
she could barely breathe.
As El-Hashim got to her feet, Alex looked up, her words coming out in short desperate gasps. “I’m…here to…help you…escape.”
The two bodyguards moved forward, but El-Hashim held up a hand and they stopped short. She crouched down next to Alex, her eyes full of curiosity. “What lie did you just tell me?”
Alex was finally getting her breath back. “It’s not a lie. I’m here to help you escape.”
“You expect me to believe this after you attack me?”
“You attacked me. All I did was defend myself.”
El-Hashim studied her a moment, then shook her head. “Why should I trust you? I have no reason to.”
Alex got up on her elbows, the move sending a jolt of pain through her. “I understand that,” she said. “You’re scared. You don’t know me. But you do know my father.”
“Your father? That’s absurd.” El-Hashim turned and looked back at Marie, who was still safely on the other side of the bed. “How would I know your father?”
“His name is Frank Poe. I’m his daughter, Alexandra.”
El-Hashim scoffed and stood up. “I’m getting the prison guards.”
She gestured for the bodyguards to grab Alex. They moved in quickly and roughly pulled Alex to her feet as El-Hashim headed for the door.
“Wait,” Marie said. “Perhaps we should hear what she has to say.”
El-Hashim stopped and studied her friend in confusion. “And why would we want to do that?”
Marie shrugged. “Curiosity?”
El-Hashim considered this a moment, then nodded. “I suppose the guards will still be there in a few minutes.” She walked back to Alex, her eyes narrowing. “So who is this Frank Poe you think I should know?”
“I don’t think,” Alex said. She twisted around slightly, testing the grip of the bodyguards. They were strong, but not so well positioned. It wouldn’t take much effort to free herself, but that could wait for the moment. “You met with him last week, along the waterfront in Yalta.”
Marie took a step forward. “How do you know that?”
Alex shot her a glance. “Because I do.”
“Who told you?”
Alex kept quiet.
“Your father?”
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