“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.