Tahir looked furious and I could only imagine that he mirrored my own anger. Popescu’s comments about me were beyond the pale. To call me inhuman was far more extreme than any of his hateful comments up to this point. He had expressed his disgust at me all along, but he was being hateful and aggressive about it now.

He wanted us to be angry, it would make us sloppy. I focused on my breathing. I needed to keep calm if I was going to figure out a way to get out of this. ...