Free Poe by Brett Battles

completely cut off from the outside world, and will have ways of confirming your identity. Once she does, play up that you’re there on your father’s behalf to help her escape.”
    “You don’t even want me to point out the number of potential holes in that story,” Deuce said.
    McElroy greeted the comment with a grunt. “Not if we keep it simple.” He focused back on Alex. “If asked, you know nothing about your father’s activities or his relationship with El-Hashim. You’re doing this because he asked you to, and nothing more.”
    Could it work? Alex wondered. Maybe. But it seemed so—
    You go see Dad . Danny, smiling and happy and hopeful. Then in words he hadn’t spoken, but still in his voice: Bring him home, Aleck. Bring Dad home.
    She closed her eyes, resting her forehead on her hand, her father’s face from the surveillance photos front and center in her mind.
    When she finally looked up again, she said, “All right, let’s start at the beginning. Tell me exactly how we’re gonna do this.”
    * * *
    M CELROY REMAINED IN the conference room alone after everyone else had left.
    The briefing couldn’t have gone better.
    Alex was in. As was, although reluctantly, her partner Deuce.
    There had been a few dicey points during the discussion, but that was to be expected. It wasn’t an easy mission, by a long shot. But McElroy had been able to keep the conversation on track. He had even been able to smooth over the fact that he couldn’t tell them exactly how they were getting out of the prison. He hadn’t lied when he said Traz didn’t want anyone on the ground in Crimea to know the route in case they were captured and questioned. The insider had been very clear about that.
    But McElroy had implied that he, himself, had been told. That was not exactly true. Traz’s fear extended to everyone involved on Stonewell’s side. And while McElroy would have preferred to know the details, the condition was one he was willing to live with in view of the potential reward.
    That was why he was in charge to make the difficult choices. And in this case, it had definitely paid off. The mission was on, and he knew without a doubt that the abduction of El-Hashim would reap the information he needed to locate and finally capture Raven.
    Yes. It couldn’t have gone better.

Chapter Eight
    Bern, Switzerland
    This was not t heir usual day for a meeting, nor their usual time. But emergencies happened, and this one, the woman thought, couldn’t be more urgent.
    She sat quietly on the left side of a rectangular conference table as her colleagues filed into the room and took their seats. Three men, all with well-known faces, each one seasoned by circumstance, and a bit haggard after a number of sleepless nights.
    The woman hadn’t slept much, either. Not since she had received the news. She was no stranger to the complexities of their situation, having spent the last five decades in the trenches with some of the most powerful men and women in the world, but this particular complication could destroy all of that hard work in an instant.
    At the center of the table was a speakerphone with an encrypted connection, allowing the fifth member of their assembly to attend remotely. The connection was crystal clear, and she could hear him quietly breathing on the line.
    As they settled into their chairs, the oldest of the men said, “All right, so where do we stand?”
    To the world outside, he was a prominent banker. Cautious, conservative, trustworthy. But the more appropriate description was greedy . For it was greed that had brought them all together in the first place—a flaw, or perhaps strength, that the woman was more than willing to admit to. After all, wasn’t it greed of one kind or another that drove most human beings?
    “Nothing’s changed,” she said. “My source tells me the Ukrainian authorities still have no idea who they have in custody.”
    The banker nodded. “What guarantee do we have it’ll stay that