“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.
The steps grew muffled and stopped. The woman was in her cell, exactly where Alex wanted her.
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.
Alex retrieved the syringe and moved back into the cell.
“You’re not a very nice person,” Alex said, crouching down to Kalyna’s eye level. “I don’t like people who aren’t nice.”
Kalyna eyed her through half-open lids. There was fear now in her gaze, not likely an emotion she experienced often. But there was also still a bit of defiance.
“I know what you’re thinking. I know you’re telling yourself that tomorrow, or the next day, you’re going to find me and return the favor. But sorry, that’s not gonna happen. What’s gonna happen is that your habit of beating on others is gonna stop. Maybe you don’t believe me, but here’s the thing. People already know I beat you once. They’re gonna see you now, see your broken nose there, and know I did it again. They’ll know you aren’t as tough as you pretend to be. And they’ll stand up to you. And they’ll come at you. And there will be nothing you can do about it.” She paused. “Nod if you understand me.”
Kalyna stared at her, unmoving, for several seconds, breathing raggedly through her open mouth. Finally she nodded.
“Good,” Alex said. “I have one more surprise for you.” She lifted her hand and wiggled the syringe in the air.
Kalyna’s eyelids opened wider. She pressed herself against the wall, as if hoping she could push through it.
“Don’t worry,” Alex said. “This is gonna help you sleep, for a nice long time. Hell, it might even be lunch tomorrow before you wake up. It’ll give your pain some time to dull.” She smiled. “Consider this a favor. You’re welcome.”
Alex made like she was about to lean in and stab the needle into the woman’s arm. The moment Kalyna tried to twist away from her, Alex changed directions and drove the tip into the woman’s thigh.
Kalyna cried out and tried to snatch the syringe, but Alex shoved her in the chest, knocking her against the wall. As soon as all of the drug was administered, she pulled out the needle.
“You might want to lie down,” she said.
Kalyna, drawing on whatever energy she had left, lunged forward. Alex stepped to the side, easily avoiding her.
With an angry growl, Kalyna staggered off the bed and onto her feet. The moment she was standing, she began to sway, and only kept from falling by grabbing the top bunk.
As Kalyna took an unsteady step toward Alex, the woman began to blink slowly. She thrust her other hand out, placing it against the wall. She blinked again, her eyes remaining closed for nearly a second this time. When she opened them, she looked back at her bunk, took a half turn toward it and promptly fell on the floor.
“Dammit,” Alex said under her breath.
The last thing she needed was for someone to find Kalyna passed out in the middle of her cell. It would most likely mean a trip to the infirmary for the night, and drug or no drug, Alex didn’t like the idea of the woman being anywhere near that place on this particular evening.
“I told you to lie down,” she said as she manhandled Kalyna back onto her mattress.
Rolling the woman toward the wall, Alex pulled the blanket over her, then stood back and surveyed her work.
Other than Kalyna seeming to have fallen asleep so early, nothing looked out of the ordinary. It would undoubtedly be a bit of a problem come cell-check time, but at most, Dr. Teterya or Irina would be called out to check on the unresponsive inmate, and could massage the story appropriately.