He wasn’t exactly sure what Jenny was going to do, but he had a pretty good idea from their earlier conversation at the motel. Dom had no idea when Jenny was going to show up, either, but he figured that she would be there within a couple of hours. It was time for him to prepare. He really didn’t have much to do besides have a talk with Butch. Butch was his key to getting out of this place. Cautiously, he stood up from his bunk and turned towards his cellmate.
“Please God, let this work,” he mumbled under his breath.
As he discussed the situation with Butch, he found that he had to go into more detail than he wanted to. Butch wanted to know the whole story if he was going to play the game. He questioned Dom for a while until he was finally satisfied that he was telling the truth.
Dom heard footsteps and turned around. It was the night guard. He acted casual, trying not to look like he was carrying on a conversation with the cell’s other occupant. He was very nervous, wondering if this was the big moment. He hoped not, because he had no commitment from Butch and he wasn’t ready for this to be happening. He breathed a sigh of relief as the guard looked into the cell and moved on to the next room. They were alone again.
“Well?” Dom asked. “What do you think?”
“I still don’t know what’s in it for me,” Butch answered.
“I have a feeling that the only thing that could convince you is cold, hard cash.”
“Now you’re talking my language. How much?”
“Five grand. If we succeed.”
“It’s a done deal,” Butch answered.
“I’m glad to hear it, but first I have a couple of questions for you,” Dom said. “What are you in for?”
“Purse snatching.”
“Why?”
“Well, that would probably be because I stole an old lady’s purse. What the hell kind of question is that?”
“Sorry,” Dom said. “Are they letting you out on bail?”
“Yeah. Actually, my old lady is supposed to be bailing me out soon.”
“Shit!” Dom quietly mumbled, even though he felt like yelling it. “I hope my girlfriend shows before yours does, otherwise I’m screwed.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it a whole lot,” Butch answered. “My old lady is pretty pissed off at me for getting arrested again. I don’t expect for her to be in any big hurry to get me out.”
Dom tried to smile, but couldn’t. “Okay, here’s the situation. I can give you the money when we get out if you leave with us. We’ll give you a lift to wherever you need to go.”
“It’s a deal. What’s the plan?”
Dom made sure that there was no one within hearing distance and he told Butch the plan as he knew it. They discussed different scenarios until Dom felt comfortable with the plan, but he hoped that Jenny didn’t throw a surprise into the equation.
He didn’t have any idea what time it was. He hoped that Jenny was on her way. They only had a few hours until daylight and a full police station. Not having anything to occupy himself with, he kicked back on the mattress and waited; waited for his angel of mercy, his salvation. But would his angel ever make it in time? Dom knew that if it wasn’t tonight, then they would have to forget it, because he would be moved to a more secure jail and he wouldn’t be going anywhere. Then he would be leaving his life in the hands of twelve jurors and one madman. Somehow, this didn’t seem promising to him.
Dom decided then that if he survived this mess, he would ask Jenny to marry him. The thought of marrying her brought a smile to his face. He was definitely going to marry that girl. If he survived.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Kent Perry was happier than a pig in mud. He had waited forever in that hospital bed hoping Dominick Maxwell would show up. He knew that he had to get him, but he was wondering if Maxwell was stupid enough to walk right into their trap. Obviously he was.
Earlier that evening, while they were getting their operation set up, Nina had gone into complications. The doctors and nurses had rushed in. Moments later, he heard them call her time of death. He sat there, dumbstruck, unable to comprehend what was happening. He had to ask someone what was going on. Even then, he still didn’t believe it and he had to go ask somebody else.
She had just been fine. She was starting to recover, she was out of her coma and she was doing okay. Kent had talked to her a little bit more when they went back to the hospital to set up the sting. She seemed to be coping a little better with everything and she was glad that they were there to protect her. Why the hell couldn’t I protect her from that damn blood clot? he wondered. She had been through so much, fought for her life, had a strong will to survive, and she was killed by her own body. To Kent, it was ironic as hell.
Kent’s only satisfaction was holding the gun up to Dominick Maxwell’s head and bringing him into custody. A thought had ripped through his mind while he was holding the cold blue steel of his gun to Dom’s head. He wanted to pull the trigger. In fact, the urge was so overpowering, he had to have Pete finish the arrest so that he could leave the room; otherwise he didn’t know if his self-control would hold out.
Tired from the endless work that day, Kent headed home. He figured that Pete could finish up the arrest procedure. He wanted to be in court the next morning when Maxwell was arraigned. He was looking forward to it.
As he drove, he remembered the message he’d gotten the day before from his girlfriend. He was supposed to have met her at 8:00 for dinner. No wonder he hadn’t heard from her all day. She was obviously really pissed. He didn’t care. As long as he had Dominick Maxwell in custody, he was happy. He could always patch things up with his girlfriend.
Kent arrived at his house and went inside. He was dead tired from being up all day and half of the night. He also had to be up early to make it to court. That would only give him a few hours of sleep.
For some reason though, when he got into bed, he could not fall asleep. His mind was racing through all of the events that had happened over the last three days. He couldn’t figure out why Maxwell would want to kill his sister. Or anyone for that matter. Dom seemed to him to be the kind of guy that was really nice and extremely normal. Besides the scrapbook, his house had no telltale signs of his passion for murder and he just didn’t seem like he had it in him. Dom also seemed to do a fine job of acting innocent. If he was really as guilty as Kent felt he was, he did a great job covering up for it. His only downfalls were Nina’s implication, his flight, and that scrapbook of his. He hoped it would be enough for a conviction.
His thoughts turned to Jennifer Capstan again. Where was she and what was her role in this? He wondered if Dom had confided in her about the murders. She was still wanted for questioning and they were still going to work hard to find her.
Tomorrow, he would question Dom about her whereabouts. He didn’t think it would do any good. Instead, he felt like Dom would feed him some story, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. He would also question Jennifer’s parents and find out if they had heard from her at all. Jennifer Capstan needed to be found. Tomorrow, if possible.
Kent looked at the clock and realized that tomorrow was already very much there and his sleeping time was getting minimal. He closed his eyes and drifted off to the vision of him holding his gun to Dom’s head. He had pleasant dreams.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Jenny pulled into the police station. The parking lot was vacant except for two police cars and two other sedans that she figured were unmarked police cars. She had no way of knowing how many people were on duty right now.
Jenny slipped the gun into the waist of her pants after putting her jacket on. She unzipped the left jacket pocket and put the handcuffs in the pocket along with the stun gun. She figured that the stun gun required no aim and so she could handle it left-handed. She put the pepper spray into her right pocket so she could easily withdraw it and use it effectively with her right hand. She was ready to go.
Jenny took a deep breath, let it out, and stepped out of the car. She could see no tr
affic coming up the street, but she knew she had to hurry before someone came along.
She climbed the three stairs to the front doorway. It seemed to require a tremendous effort on Jenny’s part as if she had just run a ten-mile race.
The front of the police station was made of glass. It had two swinging glass doors and the wall around the doors had glass extended all the way up to the underside of the roof. These guys would be S.O.L. if there was a drive by, she thought.
She pushed open the right-hand door and walked on through. Up ahead, there was a counter with an officer sitting behind it. Jenny approached the officer, but he did not look up.
Finally, Jenny spoke. “Excuse me.”
The officer looked up. “Yes ma’am, what can I do for you?”
“I’d like to visit my boyfriend.”
“And who is your boyfriend?”
“Butch.”
“What’s the last name, Miss?” he asked.
Jenny was caught and didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t thought about his last name or even if Butch was his proper name. “I don’t remember his last name,” she finally replied “I’ve only been seeing him for about a week and he told me once, but I forgot it.”
The officer stared at her. She wondered if she was wasting her time. He seemed to be looking at her like she was an idiot. Finally, he looked down at his desk and rifled through a few papers. He stopped when he came to the one he wanted. Looking up at her, he scowled. “Johnson. You couldn’t remember a name like Johnson?”
Jenny blushed. “I’m sorry. Like I said, I haven’t known him very long.”
After staring at her for a few more seconds, a smile came over his face. “Okay, follow me. I really shouldn’t let you be visiting anyone this time of night, but I’ll look the other way this time. Just keep it short.”
Jenny was relieved. She’d been hoping that he couldn’t see through her shallow request. Whenever Jenny did something that she felt was wrong, she felt like the whole world could see through her and see her real intentions, or could look at her and tell that she had just done something bad.
As the officer led Jenny to a room off to the side of the station, she scoped out the situation. The officer was the only person she saw. She could hear a couple of other voices farther back in the offices down the hall, but they seemed to be far enough away that she could probably get away with her plan if everyone remained quiet.
Jenny followed him into a room and he told her to wait there. She noticed that the door had to be unlocked with a key. Furthermore, she noticed that it had to be re-locked with a key. Jenny assumed that when Butch was brought into the room, the door would be locked behind them, allowing neither one to leave until the guard let them out. She was hoping that the cop would not stay in the room with them, but she doubted that she would be that lucky.
When the cop left to retrieve the prisoner, he left the door unlocked. Jenny peeked out the door after him to see which way he was going. He headed down the hall and to the right, so Jenny figured that she would have to head that way to get to Dom. She pulled her head back inside the room and waited. She’d made note that the cop did not have a gun on him, and for that, she was appreciative. She waited and wondered why he hadn’t searched her. If she was a cop, she would search anyone before they came into contact with a prisoner. The guy must have thought she was innocent-looking enough and blew off procedure. She was sure her looks didn’t hurt either. The entire time she was talking to him, she had a visual of him searching her and finding the gun and all the other things that she had in her pockets. Not only would she go to jail for the stolen gun, she’d also be tied to the burglary at Spy Headquarters. That would put her in jail for a while. So far, she was lucking out.
One other thing that Jenny thought was weird was that they were visiting in a locked room. She had expected that she would be shown to a booth behind a glass partition with a phone connecting both sides of the glass. That was what all the movies showed, and she had actually seen it in place in one prison when she was visiting a friend. Maybe that was just the way it was in prisons and not so much in jails. Jenny didn’t know, but she was happy about the way things were set up.
Soon, she heard voices heading down the hall and she hoped this Butch guy would not blow it for her. The door pushed open and in walked a very big bald guy with the cop behind him. Butch was wearing handcuffs.
Jenny ran up to Butch and threw her arms around him, giving him a big hug and then stood on her tip toes and gave him a quick little kiss on the lips.
“Hi Honey! Are you okay?” she asked.
He looked a little shocked, but luckily his back was turned towards the officer.
“I’m fine, Baby,” he answered, not being able to return the hug because of the handcuffs.
“I’ll be back in five minutes,” the officer interrupted. “You have until then.”
Jenny and Butch nodded and the cop left the room and shut the door. They both waited and heard the distinctive “snick” of the lock as it snapped into place. There was a little window in the door and Jenny looked towards it to see if they were being watched. They were.
Jenny averted her eyes from the door and turned her head so that the person at the door could not see her lips. Then she whispered, “Don’t look, but we’re being watched.”
“Wonderful,” he whispered back. “What’s the plan?”
“Well,” she replied, “hopefully he’ll stop looking long enough for us to put my plan into action.”
“Which is?”
“Well first of all, I’ve got a handcuff key in my pocket. We can get those off of you and you’ll have both hands free. Secondly, I have a can of pepper spray in my pocket. Third, I have a stun gun. Fourth, I have two pairs of handcuffs with me,” she finished.
“What? No gun?” he asked.
“I have one of those also, but I’d rather not use it if we don’t have to.”
“Okay,” Butch said, “but what’s the plan?”
Jenny periodically glanced at the door, making sure she wasn’t obvious about it. She told Butch her ideas while she pretended to be happy about being reunited with him. He agreed that the plan sounded pretty good. Jenny noticed that the cop wasn’t at the door anymore. She broke loose from Butch and went to the window and peeked out. The guard was nowhere to be seen.
“Quick,” Jenny whispered loudly. “Get over here!”
Butch went over to Jenny as she dug the handcuff keys out of her pocket. She stuck the key into the first cuff and unlocked it. After peeking out the window again, Jenny unlocked the second one and put the cuffs in her pocket with the other ones. She now had three pairs. She pulled the gun out and handed it to Butch, who stuck it in the front of his pants and pulled his shirt over it. Upon taking another quick peek out the window, Jenny saw the cop returning. Luckily, he was looking the other direction and he didn’t see her looking.
“Show time!” Jenny whispered and Butch fell into a heap on the floor with his back away from the door and his hands positioned behind his back. He curled up in a ball and Jenny leaned over him as if trying to find out what was wrong. She could sense that the cop was just about at the door. Three seconds later, she was rewarded with the sound of the lock followed by the sound of the cop rushing in asking what was wrong. Jenny told him that Butch had just collapsed and she didn’t know what was wrong.
As the cop leaned over Butch, Jenny watched as the barrel of the gun was stuck in his face followed by Butch growling at him not to make a sound. While he was still caught by surprise, Jenny pulled out the stun gun, pushed it into the cop’s back and pushed the button. She could hear the voltage crackling as it entered his body. He collapsed immediately and Jenny covered his mouth before he could say anything, much less scream. The whole attack took less than two seconds, leaving the cop totally caught by surprise. He was down before he knew what was happening.
Jenny reached down and pulled the cop’s boot off and then his sock. After stuffing the sock in his mouth t
o keep him from yelling, she wrapped gauze around his head that she had dug out of the first aid kit that they had purchased earlier. He was not going anywhere and Jenny knew that he would be helpless for ten or fifteen minutes. Nevertheless, she threw a pair of handcuffs to Butch, who put them on the cop’s ankles while she handcuffed his hands behind his back. As an afterthought, she hooked the last set to the chain joining the cuffs on his wrists and connected it to the table leg in the middle of the room.
Now they needed his keys. They weren’t in his pockets. She looked around on the floor, but they weren’t there. Finally, she opened the door leading outside the room and there they were, hanging from the lock. Jenny grabbed the keys and threw the stun gun to Butch, who got the message and shocked the cop one more time just for good measure before throwing the stun gun back to Jenny.
She peered back down the hallway. Everything seemed to be clear. They exited the room and locked the door behind them. Grabbing Jenny’s hand, Butch led the way back to the cells. They were in the back, away from the offices. Jenny was thankful that the hallways were deserted. Butch had to unlock two heavy iron gates on the way.
He led Jenny straight to Dom’s cell. The look of shock and relief on Dom’s face was amazing. He obviously had been skeptical that they would make it. Jenny took the keys from Butch and unlocked the cell. Dom ran out and grabbed Jenny up in a bear hug. They spoke no words, but Jenny could feel the gratefulness in Dom’s touch. He could feel intense love radiating from Jenny.
Running out of the cell area, they didn’t bother to lock the gates behind them. As they came to the main door that led to the front desk, they heard voices and stopped short of the door.
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