The Masterful Russian. Cordelia Gregory

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      Chapter 1

      Refugee Camp, Marzello, Southern Coast of Italy

      Adalina Morelli shook her head and stood up from the long thin camp bed in the tent. She stared at the young woman sitting on the opposite bed dressed in a Burqa holding a small five-year-old girl who was crying in her arms. Next to her was a quiet thirteen-year-old girl with a black hijab around her head. There were tears locked in her dark brown eyes but she did not shed any of them. The young woman removed her arm from around the small child and put it around the teenager’s shoulders and squeezed them to give comfort.

      Adalina put her hands on her hips feeling pity swell inside her for the two girls. No matter how many times she saw children and the people in the refugee camp suffering, she couldn’t become hard to it. She had tried to place her feeling of hopelessness at a distance but it always reared its head and threatened to interfere with her aid work. Now it was affecting her better judgment and penetrating the cold armour she had placed around herself to get the job done. What the undercover journalist was asking to be able to do was either an act of courage or perhaps on reflection, stupidity. Either way, Adalina couldn’t help but admire her bravery and determination. She genuinely wanted to help the woman succeed in her quest but the danger was immense. It could kill them both. The journalist needed to understand sacrifices had to be made so others could be saved.

      She threw her hands up in the air in defeat when she looked at the faces of the girls and made every effort to harden her heart but it was getting harder and harder to do. She said to the young journalist, “You shouldn’t be here. I can’t protect you. If they find out who you really are, they will kill you. They don’t call this refugee camp ‘The Hole’ for nothing. All forms of low life exist here among the innocent. There is even talk about IS operatives in here. People get swallowed up and disappear. They won’t take kindly to a journalist living among them and reporting what they see. I shouldn’t be letting you do this but, damn it, I need people to know what is going on here.”

      Adalina rubbed her tired face. The young woman stared back СКАЧАТЬ