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?”
Alex glanced away. Lying without lying.
Marie, who seemed to have taken on the role of main inquisitor, said, “Even if this is true, why should we believe you’re his daughter?”
“Look at me. I have his mouth and nose. My hair is darker, and my eyes, they’re like my mother’s. She was Persian — although I’m sure you already know that.”
Marie seemed stunned. Her expression suddenly softened as she moved around the bed and walked over to El-Hashim. They huddled for several seconds, then El-Hashim said to the bodyguards, “Let her go and leave the room.”
Alex could feel them hesitate, as if they were hoping they’d heard incorrectly.
“Go!” El-Hashim commanded.
As soon as their hands were off her, Alex rubbed her upper arms to get her circulation going again. There wasn’t much she could do about her kidney, which was throbbing like a son of a bitch.
No one said a word until the bodyguards had left the room and shut the door.
Then El-Hashim looked at her. “You do have some of your father’s features. I’ll say that much. But tell us again. Why exactly are you here?”
“Because he sent me,” Alex said. “To get you out.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Alex had originally intended to go with McElroy’s plan of telling El-Hashim she was here because of her father’s concern that the woman would not be able to easily extract herself from the Crimean judicial system. But considering what she now knew, she decided there was a better way to handle this.
“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.