Poe

Chapter Forty-Two

For the rest of the ride, Alex used a rope to hold the trunk lid closed from inside. Eighty-five minutes later, they reached the secluded bay southwest of Slavne with no further incident.

The arranged fishing vessel was waiting for them.

By the time the sun came up, they were twenty-five miles off the coast, where they met up with the Nanu, a Belgium-registered, oceanic science vessel. The Nanu was owned by the Teetaert Institute, a research firm that was itself owned — after a few additional corporate layers — by Stonewell International.

The scientists aboard the Nanu were a bit miffed that their research trip to the Black Sea had to be put on hold for several days, while the ship made its way back through the Bosphorus and then to a Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea. The purpose of the side trip was to ferry a group referred to as VIPs who had suddenly shown up on the ship one day. But a promise of adding the missing time to the end of the voyage seemed to mollify most of the researchers.

Alex never got the name of the island where they were dropped off. They were met at the pier by a blue sedan with black-tinted windows, and whisked away to a private airfield where a Stonewell jet was waiting.

El-Hashim was assigned to the back row of the plane, where she sat with the two Stonewell security officers who had been waiting for them at the airfield.

Alex took a seat in a row by herself near the front of the jet. She tilted her chair back the moment she was able and fell fast asleep.

“Miss Poe?”

Someone touched her.

“Miss Poe?”

She opened her eyes. It was one of the security men, his hand on her shoulder. She thought at first she had slept right through the landing, but no, she could hear the engines still droning.

“Yes?” she said as she tried to blink the sleep from her eyes.

“The prisoner has asked if she can speak with you.”

“Uh, sure. Okay.”

She followed him to the back. As she passed through the cabin, she could see Deuce passed out a couple rows behind where she had been. Cooper was on the other side of the plane, reading a book.

El-Hashim sat in the middle of the back row, holding a cup of water. When she saw Alex, she nodded a greeting and gestured to the seat beside her.

She then looked at the guard who’d brought Alex back. “May we have a bit of privacy?”

The man didn’t move for a moment, but finally said, “Five minutes. That’s all.”

“It’s more than enough.”

The security man nodded to his partner, and they both moved a few rows up.

“What do you want?” Alex said.

“You asked me a question.”

“One you didn’t feel the need to answer, if I remember correctly.”

El-Hashim tilted her head, conceding the point. “I’ve had time to think.”

“And?”

“I will tell,” she said, glancing at the two security men. “If you will do me a favor.”

“I don’t do favors for terrorists.”

“I’m not a terrorist.”

Alex shrugged. “Semantics.”

“I simply want you to deliver a message.”

“That doesn’t do much to change my mind.”

“Maybe this will. The person I want you to deliver the message to is your father.”

Alex narrowed her eyes, but said nothing.

“All you need to say is, the committee should know that El-Hashim never forgets.”

“And what’s that code for?”

“I assure you, there’s nothing coded in that message at all.”

“You will, of course, forgive the fact that I have a hard time trusting what you say.”

“So, will you do this for me?”

Alex looked away, shaking her head to herself.

“You realize,” El-Hashim said. “All you need to do is say yes. I won’t actually know for some time if you delivered the message.”

“And maybe the contact information you give me won’t even be for my father. Maybe it’s a way of sending a message to someone in your network.”

“You asked me for the information. And now I am offering it to you.”

Alex was surprised by her own hesitation. Now that she was potentially this close to contacting her dad, was she actually scared?

“All right,” Alex said. “I’ll do it. If I decide to use your information.”

“That doesn’t concern me. It would be very difficult to never try and reach him, I think.”

Alex didn’t respond.

“How’s your memory?” El-Hashim asked.

“Excellent.”

“Like your father’s, then.”

Again, there didn’t seem to be the need for a reply.

El-Hashim leaned over and whispered an e-mail address — a seemingly random mix of letters and numbers — in Alex’s ear.

“Would you like to repeat that back to me?”

Alex shook her head. “I’ve got it. Is that all?”

“You want more?”

“Do you have more?”

“Unfortunately, no,” El-Hashim said.

Alex stood up.

“You’ll remember the message, yes?”

“I’ll remember,” Alex told her, then headed back to her seat.

McElroy was waiting for them at the airport when they landed. With him was a squad of black-suited men who screamed government agency. Which one, Alex wasn’t sure.

He smiled and shook each of their hands as they exited the aircraft.

“Excellent work,” he told Alex. “Well done.”

She said thanks, then stood to the side as El-Hashim was escorted off the plane.

“It’s certainly a pleasure to meet you,” McElroy said.

El-Hashim frowned. “Am I supposed to know who you are?”

“I’m the one who sent the team to pick you up. But that’s not important. We won’t be spending any time together, so no need to become buddy-buddy. These men, however…” He gestured to the group of suits. “I have a feeling you’ll be getting to know them quite well.” He turned to the oldest-looking one in the group. “I remand El-Hashim to your custody.”

“Transfer accepted,” the man said. “Ms. El-Hashim, you will come with us.”

As the woman was led away, Cooper walked over to Alex. “Nice working with you again. It’s…been too long.”

She gave him a quick smile. The truth was, being around him again had been better than she expected. Nice, even. The residual anger she’d felt over the last several years had receded. Maybe disappeared completely.

“It has,” she said. “Thanks. You know, for saving my life and all.”

“If you’d died back there, I’d be buried in paperwork. Nothing I hate more than that. I should be thanking you for staying alive.”

“Glad I could keep the writer’s cramp away.”

“Hey,” Deuce said, walking up and dangling Alex’s car keys in the air. “They moved your car here, so we can go. I mean, you know—now?”

“Good working with you, too, Deuce,” Cooper said, holding out his hand. “I’d trust you to have my back anytime.”

Deuce looked surprised by the compliment. He shook Cooper’s hand. “Thanks, man. You take it easy, huh?”

“You, too.”

Cooper turned to Alex. She thought he was about to hug her, but after an awkward moment, he held out his hand again.

“Keep in touch, Alex. I mean it.”

“I will,” she said.

Deuce took hold of her arm. “Come on, already. I want to get home.”

As they walked toward the parking lot, they heard footsteps running up behind them. Alex looked back to find McElroy heading their way.

“Hold on,” he said.

“Do we have to?” Deuce whispered.

“Do you want to get paid?” Alex whispered back.

“Fine.”

They stopped and turned to wait.

When McElroy reached them, he was slightly out of breath. “I meant what I told you when I first saw you back there. Great job. I know it wasn’t easy.”

“It’s what you paid us to do,” Deuce said. “Speaking of which, when can we expect the check?”

McElroy cocked his head. “The money is already transferred to each of your accounts.”

“Crap,” Deuce said under his breath. “You mean we didn’t have to stop?”

Alex felt the urge to elbow him in the side, but refrained and said to McElroy, “You’re welcome. Now, if you don’t mind, we’re pretty tired, so we’re—”

“Can I ask you something?” McElroy said.

“What?”

“Were you able to find out anything about your father?”

Alex frowned and shrugged. “No. She didn’t have anything beyond what you already told me.” Her father was personal business.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I took a chance. It didn’t pay off. But we got her for you. So…” Another shrug.

“Listen. About that. I might have some other projects coming up that you might be great for. Can I call you?”

“Sure. You can always call.”

“But what? That doesn’t mean you’ll answer?”

The corner of her mouth tilted up. “Hey, Deuce, didn’t you say something about going home?”

“Once or twice.”

“Mr. McElroy,” Alex said. “Thank you for the opportunity. We’ll show ourselves out.”