28
One Week Later
Avon Street Apartments, Queens, New York.
“Mrs. Merlinsky,” Jana said, “I know I’m breaking my lease early. And I know that means I’m supposed to lose my first and last month’s rent deposit. But please understand, if I stay here, they’ll come for me.”
“I don’t understand,” the old woman replied in a thick Polish accent.
“I was working for the FBI, Mrs. Merlinsky. I’m going to testify against a bunch of felons in federal court, and they want me dead. It's not safe for me here.”
“That is not my problem,” she said as her head tilted high into the air.
Jana’s shoulders slumped. “Mrs. Merlinsky, do you have a family?”
“Of course I do,” the woman said, a certain pride in her voice. “A daughter.”
“And if your daughter got into trouble, through no fault of her own, and s
