Ice Cold Kill Read Online Free

office waving a reprieve. Or for a crusading detective with exonerating evidence. Or a cook with a last meal. It wasn’t that sort of prison.
    Asher Sahar whispered, “This might be interesting.”
    He fumbled for his glasses, which lay on the knee-high stack of hardback books, two books deep, two wide, that served as his bed stand.
    The main door rumbled sideways under the power of an ill-greased motor. They couldn’t see the door, only hear it. The next sound was the absolutely unexpected clack of women’s heels. Round, sensible, solid heels.
    Asher sprang out of the bed as if ejected. He ran both hands through his thinning hair. He straightened his sweater. “Eli,” he said.
    The bear rose quickly, knowing an order when he heard one. Even a whispered one.
    The heels clacked closer. Asher folded his hands behind his back.
    An armed guard came into view, then another and a third. None wore any rank or insignia or any identifying marks.
    And in walked an elderly woman, very thin and tall, with birdlike shoulders, her bones seemingly visible even under a trench coat. Her hair was stark white. Her outfit was immaculate and tasteful.
    She smiled warmly.
    Asher Sahar said, “Hannah,” the same way you’d greet a neighbor who regularly drops by for coffee.
    “Oh my God. Asher. Look at you.”
    They spoke in Hebrew.
    “You look well,” he whispered. He cleared his throat, conscious of the soft rasp in his voice. “How are things in the world?”
    The three guards looked far less than happy to be conducting this reunion. Two of the three touched their holstered sidearms. The elderly woman said, “Not good. A situation has arisen. And we have need of your talents.”
    Asher nodded solemnly. “You needed my talents four years ago.”
    The woman said, “And today.” She offered no explanation about the situation four years ago. She offered no explanation about the years in between.
    Asher said, “Something has arisen?”
    “Unfortunately.”
    He said, “War?”
    “Democracy.”
    A smile spread across Asher’s still-youthful, bearded face. The harsh lights glinted off his round glasses. “Who could have foreseen that?”
    The woman shook her head. “As it turns out, you did, dear. You’d laid out this contingency years ago. Now, you’ve been proven prescient. Our friends have moved heaven and earth to free you. So that you can do what you must.”
    Asher was aware that the giant, Eli Schullman, was standing at attention in his own cell, even though Asher couldn’t see him. “And my men.”
    The woman said, “Of course.”
    “I’ll need financing.”
    “Which you shall have.”
    “And independence.”
    She laughed. “As if anyone could grant you that! Of course, independence. You never followed orders, anyway.”
    He smiled. “Well, never is a little harsh. Get us out of here. Tell us the situation. Give us time to formulate a plan.”
    The woman said. “Out of here, you shall be. The situation shall be made clear. You have seventy-two hours to formulate a plan.”
    Asher said, “I’ve been in this prison for almost four years.”
    Hannah laughed again. “Only your body, love. Only your body.”
    She made a quarter turn to the nearest guard, gave him the gentlest of nods. The guards glowered at one another, expressing how unhappy they were to be doing this. But they nodded back to an unseen someone in the control room and, a second later, the doors to the cells holding Asher Sahar and Eli Schullman clanked open.
    The other prisoners kept mum, watching, wondering.
    The elderly woman said, “We have transport outside. Plus clothes and hot food.”
    Schullman’s voice was a gravelly rumble. “Give me a smartphone. Or a laptop. Anything with a wireless connection.”
    The guards flinched when he spoke. Schullman seemed to absorb more than his share of the harsh light of the corridor. Hannah looked up at him, then she made the same quarter turn to the nearest guard. She did not speak.
    The guard