sliding door cable

I could not open my sliding door the other day on 2000 LX (not a power sliding door.) I got into the core of the door and found that a cable that releases the rear latch had broken. Went to dealer for part: they want to sell the whole door lever mechanism with the cable for $110. I checked the scrap yards and they are unwilling to separate from a complete door. Anyone have any ideas on where to find a reasonably priced cable or ways to make the broken one "work"? The cable is simply like a bicycle brake cable- I wonder if I could rig one of those to work?