Kate wept. Her friend in the bunk next to her, Malak, had said she would give birth in a few days and they were both -- Kate and Malak -- still in prison and they were showing no signs of letting them get out.

That day, Malak and Kate were snacking on a packet of sunflower seeds when they overheard one of the prison guards talking on the phone.

'Sorry I hung up on you, I didn't mean to answer the call.' he said in his deep voice, then waited a few seconds and put the phone down.

The women tried their best to look like they had heard nothing, but the guard singled them out anyway.

'You weren't supposed to hear that,' he snarled.

'No, sir,' trembled Malak.

The guard went back to his phone.

'That was close,' Kate whispered.

'Too close.'

The guard had picked up the phone again. They seemed to be discussing a very important-sounding deal.

'You want -- a shark?! For two of them? But how?!' he shouted, and one could not but think how stupid it was of him to think that no one could hear him.

'Uh-huh,' he nodded. 'Shoes, too? But, mate, you're asking for too much here. WHAT?! Of course I want the deal to go on, are you kidding? Fine, I'll give you these. As long as you pick 'em up by Monday.'

He lay the phone down and stalked up toward Kate and Malak's bars.

'You're coming with me,' he snarled and jingled his keys.

Kate and Malak shared a hopeful glance. This was their chance in a century!

The door creaked open. The guard reached for their wrists but the women wasted no time.

'Run!' Malak whisper-shouted to Kate and they took off, holding hands, dodging befuzzled guards, Malak helping Kate along the way when her pregnant stomach proved too much for her to handle.

As they tasted the fresh air maybe for the first time in years, they could almost feel a sentence being carried on the breeze -- 'You will take the fall for this.'

They climbed hills, ducked under bridges, and survived days under cover until one day a pair of policemen recognised them as a pair of wanted criminals and gave chase.

Sirens sounded all around them. They were surrounded.

Kate muttered in Malak's ear, 'this won't be the end of us, I promise. We haven't even got to see our husbands again yet.'

'Empty promises, empty promises,' Malak muttered back.

They were forced to put up their hands in surrender.

'Looks like the end for us now, doesn't it?' asked Malak.

'I won't let it be,' said Kate, with her best determined attitude.

But it looked like it would be.

Back to prison.