Erdoğan Prison, Present day
The guards hadn’t beaten Morgan too badly before they tossed him into one of the yellow rooms. He suspected their restraint was because if they injured him, he might end up in the infirmary and miss out on solitary, which was the real punishment.
He saw why they called these ‘sponge cells.’ They were padded with yellow foam mattresses. Theoretically, the foam made it harder for prisoners to injure themselves if the isolation got to them.
That was a real danger, and Morgan knew it from experience. He’d developed his own ways of dealing with that kind of isolation but he’d seen tough men crack in a relatively short time.
He hoped Dr. Erdem was holding out.
Hitting a guard would get him at least a week in solitary, if not more. But Morgan knew that this time, he wasn’t going to need any of his strategies for coping with isolation.
Because this time he wouldn’t be staying.
The door was solid and it had opened with a key card. If he was on the other side of the door and had all day, he couldn’t break into the room without a card. On this side, it would be even tougher.
Fortunately, he had a guy.
Morgan focused on the lone security camera in one corner of the room. It covered almost the entire cell. The only way to avoid its gaze was to stand straight under it in the very corner.
It was not something your average prisoner could do for long, especially since it wouldn’t get you anything except a few minutes of privacy.
Fortunately, a few minutes of privacy was all Morgan needed.
He stood in the corner and reached straight up to the camera. He grabbed the housing and snapped it off on one side. He brought it down and found what he wanted, two small metal discs exactly the same size as a hearing aid battery.
He popped them out and quickly replaced the camera cover.
The discs replaced the batteries in his “hearing aids,” adding some clever electronics. The new batteries not only lasted much longer than the ordinary ones, but they also transformed the more or less standard heading aids into full-featured Zeta ear comms.
These were only one of the many surprises that Zeta had built into President Shakir’s new prison system through multiple contractors operating under international shell corporations.
Using the security cameras had been a nice touch. Ironically, security equipment got even less scrutiny than other materials that went into constructing a prison. All a Zeta agent had to do was get himself thrown into solitary and he’d have access to the tech.
Morgan thought about some of the other goodies that Shepard’s division had built into the equipment that now sat in the prison laundry. It really was a remarkable and elegant plan. Morgan was almost sorry that he and Conley wouldn’t be able to execute it.
Morgan hit the switch on one of the devices. “Cobra here. You there Shepard?”
* * * *
“Cobra?” Shepard said into his phone with more than a little surprise in his voice. Alex put down her coffee and headed over, signaling Shepard to put her dad on speaker.
“How are you calling us?” Shepard said.
“I’m in solitary,” Morgan said.
“That’s a little early,” Alex said. She had to force herself to add, “Cobra.”
“Change of plans,” her father’s voice said.
Shepard looked stricken. “Um, there’s no changing this plan. The schedule is essential—”
“Okay, so it’s a whole new plan,” her father said irritably. “My cover was nearly blown. I recognized the warden. We have history.” Then before Shepard could speak, he added, “Wasn’t your fault. His name wouldn’t have kicked up on any search. He was military; it was fifteen years ago, and I never even knew his name. But if he sees me…”
“I take it you didn’t part on good terms?” Alex said.
“His men were injured. And he lost an eye—he blames me,” her father said, his voice remarkably calm.
“I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding,” Alex said.
“Oh, not at all, and he’ll want to kill me if he sees me. Plus, he’ll figure out pretty quick that I’m an agent of some kind,” Morgan said.
“So we’ll have to abort and get you out of there,” Alex said.
“I don’t want to leave without Dr. Erdem. We may not get another chance,” Morgan said.
“We’d need weeks to come up with a new operation,” Shepard said. “And it sounds like you may not have days.”
“Cougar and I are prepared to work quickly,” he replied.
“Would you care to share this remarkable new plan with us?” Alex asked.
“We’re working on the details. We’ll firm them up when I get back up in the general population. For now, can you get me into Erdem’s room? Then I need you to arrange his release back upstairs.”
“What about you?” Alex asked.
“Give me a day in here to make it look good and then do the same.”
“We have nearly complete control of the prison computer system. I can place the orders, but any check or audit will show breaks in protocol. You might only have a few days, maybe less, and that’s if your one-eyed friend doesn’t recognize you.”
“Your new escape plan must really be something. We can’t wait to hear the details,” Alex said.
“Me too,” her father said, with a hint of humor in his voice.
“The door will open in a few seconds,” Shepard said.
“There it is,” Morgan replied.
“Go outside and check for another open door. That will be Erdem’s cell. Don’t worry about the security cameras, I’ll adjust the feeds.”
“Thanks Shep, I’ll report when I get topside. Cobra out.”
Alex and Shepard gave each other a look.
“What just happened?” the young man asked.
* * * *
Morgan found Dr. Erdem lying on the ground, facing the wall. The cell was cool and there was no furniture other than a toilet—no bed or mattress.
Of course, the floor was padded, so that was something.
“Dr. Erdem,” Morgan said.
The man slowly turned and saw Morgan standing over him in civilian clothing. The scientist was in his mid-thirties and in reasonably good physical condition. “Are you okay, Dr. Erdem?” he asked.
The scientist got to his feet and Morgan could see that he was alert, much sharper than Morgan would have expected after so long in solitary.
“You’re American,” Erdem said.
“I am. I’ve also come to help you. To get you out of here, but I’ll need your help to do it,” he said.
“You don’t seem like a lawyer,” Erdem said.
“It’s not that kind of help,” Morgan said.
“State department? CIA? They threw me in here because they said I was a CIA spy. Are you here to trick me? To get me to agree to something so they can accuse me of whatever they want?”
“Frankly, Dr. Erdem, I don’t see that your situation could get much worse. However, I’ve been authorized to tell you that your wife says the dog won’t stop getting into the garbage since you left,” Morgan said.
Genuine surprise registered on Erdem’s face. Then it took him several seconds to compose himself. “Okay, what’s going on?” Erdem asked.
“I’m part of a private organization that provides assistance to the U.S. Government from time to time. My organization has been asked get you an…unofficial release,” Morgan said.
Erdem sized him up and said, “You mean some sort of an escape?”
“Yes, but my partner and I have run into a snag. We’ve had to accelerate the timeline.”
“Will this be dangerous?” Erdem asked.
“Almost certainly,” Morgan said.
“I see. I assume this will be my only chance?”
“Yes.”
“What do I do?”
“Right now, just follow the guards who will come later. You’re going to be released back into your cell upstairs. After that, we’ll have to act quickly and I will contact you when it’s time.”
“What do I call you?”
“You can call me Dan,” Morgan replied.
“Okay Dan, it appears I only have one option,” Erdem said. Then the man added, “Is that some Boston I hear in your voice?”
“It is. Your file says you grew up in New York, until you headed to NASA.”
“I’m Queens,” he said. Then he added “Go Yankees,” almost reflexively.
Silence hung in the air between them.
“Ah, I see. You’re a Red Sox man. Is that a deal breaker?” Erdem said seriously.
Morgan waited a few seconds before answering. “We’re trained to look past things like that. I’ll do my job. Plus, I don’t want to add to your problems,
considering the fact that you weren’t able to sign a single decent free agent during the break and your bull pen might as well be a geriatric ward.”
With that, Morgan stepped out of the cell, closed the door and headed back to his own cell.