Page 85 of Prisoner of War
“Then you’d better speak to me,” he said, droppingthe needle back into the kidney tray.
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“The leader of this cell was killed a month ago. Now they look to me.” He smiled, but it was a mirthless, hard expression. “God knows why.”
“But, you’re a doctor!”
“And you’re the daughter of the President of Vistaria.” Again, the hard smile. “Yet here we are on this island paradise. Ironic, isn’t it?”
* * * * *
Minnie didn’t doze. She was too alert, her mind working overtime as she put more and more of her plan together, twisting details into the skein. She feigned sleep while she listened to Duardo moving around the room. Now, more than ever, she was mortally aware of the camera in the corner.
She also worked out exactly what she was going to do when he left. When Duardo did leave he did not speakto her, which was what she had been expecting. Zalaya would not have acknowledged her in any way.
She listened to the bedroom door open and then the outer door into the corridor open and shut. He had left the suite altogether.
Her heart was thudding again, but this time her fear mixed with heady excitement. She climbed from the high bed, trying to make it look unstudied. She went into the bathroomand didn’t bother shutting the door because the camera could not see that far. First, she used the toilet and let the noise of it flushing cover the sounds she made as she removed the lid from the tank.
Inside, rocking with the swirling water, the knife was propped up in the corner. Hanging from the button that popped the blade was a small key ring with the tiny key to the cuff on her wrist swingingfrom it.
Still naked, she moved back into the bedroom and opened the tall closet. She selected a fresh shirt and a pair of trousers and took them back to the bathroom. Away from the camera, she measured the trousers against the length of her legs and used the knife to hack away the bottom six inches of each trouser leg. She cut a long spiral out of one of the tubes of cut-off fabric. It wouldserve as a make-shift belt. Then she carefully folded the clothes up into a small square pile and hid the knife and key between them.
She carried the pile through the bedroom into the office and dropped them onto the desk there, the chain stretched almost taut. She undid the cuff, slid it from her wrist and fastened it about the handle of the desk drawer. It kept the chain taut, so the watcherswould believe she was still at the other end of it.
Thrilled to be free of the constraint, she dressed quickly. The trousers were tight in the hip and far too big in the waist, but she used the length of fabric to draw the waist in and hold the trousers up. The shirt billowed and she realized how much fluttering white material would draw the eye. She sliced and tore off the long tails and tiedthe front ends into a knot at her waist, which controlled the fullness.
Dressed, she crossed to the console and turned on everything. She was familiar with the controls now and she quickly located both Serrano and Zalaya. They were in the older, sterile-looking rooms that she had learned were inside the administrative building at the front of the palace grounds. Serrano was in what looked likean intense meeting of half a dozen senior officers, including the white-haired Torrez.
Zalaya was moving from room to room, speaking to the odd person, collecting files. Minnie could track his movements by switching from camera to camera.
Satisfied that both men were far from the palace, she left that bank of monitors on the pair of them and began tracing her route through the palace with thescreens on her left. She made mental note of guards, congregations of people, busy thoroughfares. For each risk she searched for alternative routes, using the cameras to check their viability.
For forty minutes she plotted her course but could not eliminate every risk. She did not bother trying to reverse the path she and Carmen had used to enter the building. The coal chute cover was too heavyand she would never move it on her own. It meant she had to use one of the public entrances and that was where her greatest risk lay. No matter which way she worked her path, she ended up having to move through the rotunda at the center of the palace where the grand staircase and foyer lay.
She recalled Duardo’s voice again and the harsh instructions.Your only choice will be to use the knifeor die. It does not matter what you do with it. Stab, slice, hack. You keep using it, and you get yourself out of trouble if you can.
So be it. She would have to take the risk. She smiled to herself as she finished tracking her route. It would make Calli laugh if she knew that Minnie planned to escape from the palace the same way Calli had once stolen into it, over the second floor balcony onthe north wing and climbing down the sides of the decorative brick wall at the end, screened by the ancient and massive old banyan tree there.
Her route decided, she glanced at the main bank of screens again. Serrano was still in his meeting, although the meeting appeared to be on the verge of breaking up. Torrez had already left the room. Zalaya was still on the move but hadn’t left the building.
Minnie picked up the folded knife and weighed it in her hand. It was time to act.
She climbed onto the desk and stepped up on the console, then onto the high section at the back of it. It gave her slightly less than six inches to stand but provided the necessary height. She took a deep breath and rammed the butt of the folded knife into the closest screen.
They were flat panel monitors. Shefelt the soft screen give under the impact, then a satisfying crunch and an electronic pop sounded. The screen went blank and when she lifted her hand away, she discovered that the flexible screen showed barely any sign of her blow. That was a bonus. Moving quickly, she bashed each monitor into blank oblivion. For the last of them, on the left, she was forced to use the paper punch for extra reach.Balancing on her toes at the edge of the desk, grasping the bottom of the metal frame that held the monitors, she swung it over her head.
She climbed beneath the console and battered her way through the wood paneling there with the base of the paper punch. She used the knife to slice through any and all wiring she could find. There was a lot of it. She kept at it until bare, shiny wire ends wereall she could see.
About ten minutes had passed.
She dropped the knife into her pocket and eased open the door to the corridor. There were no posted guards in sight. The second floor of this wing was primarily used as bedroom suites for the more senior officers, so traffic at this time of day would be light.
The corridor was empty.
She stepped out, her heart leaping. There was a lightheadedrelief at being able to leave Zalaya’s suite, but she ignored it because the relief was premature and inaccurate. She still had the rest of the palace to negotiate.
She moved down the middle of the corridor, walking normally, as if she had every right to be there. There was no other way to do it. If she tried to run and flitter by unobserved she would draw attention to herself. The cameras wereno longer able to track her and alert suspicious watchers. No one else in the palace had seen her before and might possibly mind their own business as she passed them.
