"Quiet, the baby is sleeping," he whispered, finger to lips.

I nodded and followed him inside a small apartment where a young woman sat in a chair by an open window, a child of about four nestled at her breast. She made no show of modesty, the dark skinned child with a wild mop of black hair suckling, fully absorbed in gaining as much mother's milk from the fairer skinned woman as it could in the time the erect nipple was offered. She gave me a small smile, her eyes dancing as she looked at my tall and rugged frame, her lips offering a challenge, dare to question her nurturing in the open as she was with a child as old as this one was. Dare to make something of it other than as anything more than the gentle connection between a mother and her nursing older child.

I watched the little gremlin's small lips struggling with the rubbery nipple tip, a small ooze of whitish milk escaping the edges to trickle down onto the yellowish dish towel folded across her shoulder. The breast itself was full, apparently abundantly formed expecting the arrival of the other sleeping infant, and I looked in appreciation at the rounded globe exposed and the swell of its mate currently hidden inside the soft folds of the pale green kimono the mother was wearing.

"This is Hilda, she lives here and that is her daughter. Her son is asleep in the bedroom so be quiet," Alex said briefly nodding towards the other doorway and then smiling at the woman in the window before sliding through a small beaded doorway alcove into a minuscule kitchen with an equally small round table in the center with two rickety wooden chairs. He went to a counter and poured a dark liquid into a small cup and turned towards me, the steaming cup held in both hands.

"Coffee? It's good, Turkish but strong as hell. Amir, her man is from Istanbul. Works as a cabby and that is his woman. She came from Hungary."

"Travel tour about over Alex? Can we trust the bitch in there or should I just make sure and kill her and the kids before we leave?"

I heard a disgusted "harumph" kind of snort from the next room, the small alcove doing little to mask our conversation, the main worry I had about the listening mother.

Alex gave me a slightly disgusted look, apparently deeming my remark as completely unjustified but it was my daughters lives that were on the line, I didn't trust anyone at this stage even a good friend like Alex.

"Cool it, Hilda can be trusted."

"Says you. Is her hubby a Muslim or should I just assume they have taken the Christian oath of loyalty to despise all extremist and band with their good Christ loving brethren?"

"It's not like that. It's rather complicated but Hilda's brother was part of the Freedom Brigade in the Pest uprising against the Soviets. He was imprisoned for twenty-two years in Siberia before his release. She hates the Russians but she hates the Muslims more."

"Why, they refused her offer of baked ham at the last terrorist soiree?"

Another look of contempt from Alex and I knew I was trying his patience by being an asshole but I was still not convinced. Twenty-two years huh? The bitch couldn't have been a day over twenty-five or I was Tweety Bird so the "man" of the house was almost twice her age. I smelled something rotten and I didn't think it was any cheese in the cubbard.

"You have to believe me when I say she has every reason to hate the Muslim extremist even though her husband practices Islamic beliefs."

The woman's voice spoke from the next room. "Don't waste your breath on that one Count, he is the typical Western capitalist that the dirty extremist love to hate. It is not easy to be against the way the way the Muslims believe every time I am close to one like this one," the nursing mother said, the venom dripping from her voice as she spat out each word.

I smiled inwardly at the words, admiring the strength in the female voice, unafraid to unfurl her disdain at the visiting American prick. I wondered if somewhere along the line some Westerner had done her a particularly dirty deed.

"Maybe I'll let my better judgement slide for the moment Alex. What do you have to tell me?"

"The movie, I have placed the location it was made." He took a slow sip of his coffee watching me intently over the rim of the cup. I could tell he was enjoying this moment, wallowing in the suspense he was placing me under, the feeling of having the upper hand weighing against the need to impress me with his knowledge.

I made a small twirling motion with two fingers. Get on with it. ......(cont)