Chapter 2

“You’ve lost your mind, Jobaira.” Yrah stared at the application letter in her hand. 

She knew it was illogical, but when she heard Trojan, Agent Tejano, and Agent Ysiah talking about Interpol’s plans to send temporary doctors to the supermax in Italy, she didn’t hesitate to sign up.

In truth, the scope of her brother-in-law’s work amazed her. He saved the world every day.

Over the years, she’d befriended his colleagues, Agents Tejano and Ysiah, who also treated her like a younger sister. 

Ysiah was a member of the Interpol medical staff, so when Yrah found out he would be the Attending physician on duty at the supermax prison, she got super excited. Ysiah had always been complimentary of her hard work and capabilities as a new doctor.

The door opened, revealing her brother-in-law, followed by Agent Ysiah, who smiled as soon as he saw her. 

“Are you sure about this, Yrah? Your sister would slaughter me if anything happened to you.” Kuya Trojan stared at her as though he were trying to read her mind, his forehead bunched up in concern. He’d been practicing his Tagalog, though his accent was still atrocious.

Yrah nodded. “Ysiah is going to be with me, Kuya. I will be fine.” 

Trojan seemed to consider her words for a moment, then acquiesced. “The doctors we’re sending to the supermax will be undercover. We have to find out who among the inmates are implanted with those suicide bombs.”

Yrah was aware of the situation. Ysiah had briefed her on it when they last talked. She had wanted to know how she could join the team of doctors infiltrating the prison. 

Ysiah said they wanted medics who had field training, preferably if they’d been in the military. Since no one was aching to go into an underground prison that housed violent prisoners for several weeks, Interpol needed bodies. 

Yrah would never admit it out loud, but she also craved the rush of courting danger. She wanted to find closure with Gresso, but it was the thrill of working in close quarters with some of the most violent men in the world that fascinated her. 

It was akin, she supposed, to being a zoo veterinarian working on a lion. She had to find out why she yearned for this sensation. According to her Attending, she needed to discover the root cause of this issue to resolve it.  

It was shock, she decided, that made her react that way to Gresso. She’d never encountered anyone like him before. He was the first man to ever kiss her and flirt with her like that. It was only natural that she would obsess over him because everything was new to her, and she was the type of person who pulled back and examined the problem from all angles. 

She’d always been a curious person, and didn’t get the chance to study Gresso because she had no access to him. She had this theory that once she saw him again, she’d realize that he was just an average guy, and everything would go back to normal. Still, it’s been years, and the man’s effect on her hadn’t abated, so she was hoping this was the solution. She was getting desperate. 

“Once we process your application, you’re gonna go into boot camp for three months where you’ll have a crash course in self-defense. It’s not enough time for anyone who’s never had any experience with violence or combat, but we need to get started. You will be taught how to use firearms. Will you be comfortable with that?” Kuya Trojan asked, looking at her with a worried expression on his face. 

Yrah bit the inside of her cheek. For a month, she’d avoided watching romantic and tear-jerker movies and had been binge-watching action and thriller movies on Netflix and other streaming services. One day, she watched the entire oeuvre of Bruce Lee, then followed it up with a marathon of “Beat” Takeshi movies. She was now convinced she knew everything there was to know about the Yakuza. She also watched all the John Wick movies. 

She needed to be in a specific frame of mind. Now all she had to do was get her body ready. She had never been an athletic person, so this task may prove more difficult than sitting around eating popcorn and watching Keanu Reeves bust down doors and gun down every person in the room. 

She considered her Kuya’s words. “Hey, I’m okay with that. Self-defense is great. It’ll be useful to me long after this mission is over.”

Her brother-in-law groaned and rubbed his face with his palms. “Should I tell your Ate Bella, or will you do it?”

Yrah cleared her throat and adjusted her skirt around her. “It’s better if I do it, Kuya. Maybe after the training. Heck, maybe after the mission. I can tell her I signed up for Doctors Without Borders in Cameroon or something and will be out of contact for six months.”

Her Kuya Trojan gave her a doubtful look. “Your sister is not an idiot.”

He looked like he was going to say something more, but by then, Agent Tejano had walked in to take her application. 

For the next grueling three months, she underwent a rigorous training schedule that started at five in the morning and ended at seven in the evening. There were twelve of them in the program, but two ended up dropping out, and they were men who had muscles bigger than Yrah’s head. For the first month, Yrah would crawl into bed with limbs that weighed her down like a sack of potatoes and her body throbbing like one giant bruise.

Ysiah ended up mentoring her because they knew each other, and he usually stopped by to check on her anyway. He became her sparring partner, and even though he was considerate of her inexperience and lack of grace, he didn’t take it easy on her, at all. He told her she could find herself in harrowing, life-or-death situations, and need to be able to get herself out of it because a hardcore inmate wouldn’t take pity on her.

Ysiah was a tall, lean guy whose hand-to-hand combat skills were superb. With his chiseled jaw, high cheekbones, and easy smile, he was the perfect distraction to the female trainees whenever the trainer needed one. It was a good thing that Yrah had already gotten familiar with him, and she was immune to his charms. 

At the end of her training, she was issued standard Interpol surveillance gadgets. Nothing fancy like James Bond stuff or anything, but some of them looked like everyday things that served another purpose. 

Like a clicker pen with an ink that was actually a knockout drug, a caduceus pin to attach to her lab coat that was a tracking device so that the team would know where she was at all times, a watch that recorded conversations, eyeglasses that had night vision and video recording capabilities, a pager that was actually a taser, a stethoscope that transmitted a patient’s vital signs via Bluetooth, and the scariest one of all: a secret compartment in her watch that hid a cyanide pill. She was supposed to take the pill if she were captured, and rescue was impossible, so she could avoid torture and mutilation. 

Well, that was enough to give her nightmares. 

“The last group of doctors assigned to the supermax turned out to be a sleeper cell of a neo-Nazi terrorist group called The Reich, led by a man of unknown origins, called Laird Leftho. He’s responsible for mass killings in Syria, Israel, Pakistan, Jerusalem. He is a fanatic,” Agent Tejano explained, clicking the button to change the slide.

Yrah gasped. The man projected on the wide screen looked like Thor if Thor was evil. Tall and built like a tank. Maybe close to seven feet. He wore a very tight white t-shirt and camo trousers. His long blond hair hung loose on his broad shoulders, and he had a long, ragged scar that started just underneath his eye and went all the way down his cheek and neck. She couldn’t see his eyes because he wore wraparound shades, but she’d bet they were the color of blue ice. He was at least a foot taller than some of the men walking beside and behind him.

She and her new team were being briefed in the conference room by Agent Tejano and her Kuya Trojan. Seven would go undercover as guards, while four as doctors—she, Ysiah, Dr. Jaz, and Dr. Zinc. 

She didn’t know why anyone would name their child after an element, but maybe it was a code name. Anyway, Zinc was cool. A nerd, but cool. Most importantly, he had brought snacks from America that he shared with her, so they became fast friends. 

Tejano folded his sleeves up to his elbows. His face, highlighted by the projector, looked hewn from wood with all of its interesting angles and the severity of his features. He gritted his jaw before continuing. “Your team will be given a month to find out who among the inmates were implanted with the bombs. It’s a small chip embedded on the lower spine that causes the body to explode once activated. The death of the inmate would activate it. Removal would activate it. It’s already been used in countless attacks, and the number of casualties can no longer be swept under the rug.”

Next to Yrah, Dr. Zinc raised his hand, and Tejano nodded at him in acknowledgment. “Well, the explosion is easy to explain. It speeds up the accumulation of gasses in the body until it bloats, then the eyeballs pop out, and liquefied organs seep out of the available orifices.”

Tejano raised his eyebrows. “Well, no. There’s actually a tiny bit of amatol attached to the chip, so when it’s triggered: big boom.”