by Tina Donahue
Text copyright ©2016 by the Author.
This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Desiree Holt. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original The Omega Team remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Desiree Holt, or their affiliates or licensors.
For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds
Death Sentence
The Omega Team Series
By
Tina Donahue
Death Sentence
She’ll risk everything for justice…
He’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe…and in his arms.
Greed and corruption rule at Zephron Correctional Institute for Women. A prisoner dies. The official ruling suicide.
Hallie Reyes knows it’s murder. Driven to protect the other inmates, she hires The Omega Team to infiltrate the prison where she works as a nurse. The agency sends Chase Wallace, a former Army Ranger. He’s tall, dark, deliciously male. Temptation Hallie doesn’t need but can’t resist.
Chase has been on dangerous missions before but never with a woman like Hallie. Fearless and determined, she’s everything he’s wanted and won’t chance losing.
Even if he has to take the entire prison down.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
A special thanks to Desiree Holt for inviting me to submit to her Omega Team’s amazing world. I loved her characters and those of the other talented authors in this series.
Prologue
Zephron Correctional Institution for Women
Hillsborough County, Florida
The alarm screeched.
Hallie Reyes bolted from the infirmary to cellblock F, the designated confinement area. Old-timers called it solitary. Younger prisoners named it fucked.
Kim Stephenson shouldn’t have been there. A good kid, Kim deserved her gain time. Dammit, she’d earned the right to early release.
Panting, Hallie dashed past two guard monitoring areas known as “bubbles,” both spaces empty, computers unmanned.
At the ominous signs, her stomach clenched.
She rounded a corner. The deserted hall stretched too far and stunk of institutional antiseptic and sweat. No air conditioning here to tame Florida’s oppressive heat or offer the prisoners relief.
Punishment and profit were the only goals at Zephron.
Dark-green doors marched up either side of the narrow hall. Inmates watched silently from narrow rectangular slits in the metal barriers. Making any noise, causing the smallest problem, would add to their days or months inside.
The alarm cut off and left too much silence.
Male guards loitered by Kim’s door.
Hallie pushed past them and stopped.
Kim hung from the barred window, her neck at an odd angle, her rich brown complexion tinged gray and blue.
Hallie whirled on the men. “Why in the hell are you standing there? Cut her down.”
“Nothing you can do for her.” Correctional Officer Dick Templar regarded the scene, his fleshy face impassive. “You’re a nurse, not God. No CPR is gonna bring her back.”
“Cut. Her. Down.”
The men exchanged glances. Most sauntered away. They discussed their weekend plans or the Marlins next game. Dick and Edward Zabala, another correctional officer, entered the cell, its space barely larger than two coffins.
The makeshift noose around Kim’s neck consisted of her bra and panties. The only clothes allowed her in confinement. Nude, she’d received as much respect in death as she’d known in life. Dick and Edward handled her carelessly.
She dropped to the floor, limbs sprawled.
Tears welled in Hallie’s eyes. Outrage pumped through her.
This atrocity had to end.
Chapter One
Located in a strip mall north of Tampa, the shabby tavern provided Hallie the anonymity she needed. Working-class patrons drank at the bar or chowed down in shadowed booths or tables. Burnt grease, beer, and humanity scented the air.
She clutched her burner phone like a lifeline, faced the front door, and awaited her contact’s arrival. She’d been too afraid to go to The Omega Team headquarters. If anyone followed her to the agency and found out what she planned….
Better for everyone to think she liked this place for a cheap dinner and had met a friend here rather than an agency employee.
Learning about The Omega Team through an acquaintance had been a fluke, contacting them her last resort to stop the greed and insanity at Zephron. Gatekeeper Group, the corporation that operated the prison, certainly wouldn’t help. In the past, the press had reported the horrors in the Florida correctional system, but nothing had changed. Politicians and the Feds were useless or possibly in on the corruption.
“Hey, turn that up.” A burly man pointed at the TV bolted to the wall. The Marlins final game in May was in its third inning. Guys bet on who would win. A middle-aged man and woman entered the tavern.
Muggy air blew inside.
Air conditioning couldn’t keep up with the sticky heat. Hallie’s anxiety didn’t help her feverish state. Sweat clung to her neck. She wiped it away and sipped her beer.
Her cell rang.
Queasy, she brought the phone to her ear, afraid the call meant the meet wouldn’t happen tonight. To have to do this again tomorrow or the next day wasn’t something she relished. “Yeah?”
“It’s me.” Athena Madero. She and Grey Holden had established and operated the agency. “You’re at the location?”
Hallie arrived twenty minutes ago, too antsy to stay home. “Yeah.” Despite the laughter and rowdy conversations, she kept her voice low. “No one’s come to my booth yet or even looked my way. Have you called to cancel?”
“No.”
“Did you give your team my picture so they’d recognize me?”
“Everything’s going to be all right. You’re early. Your contact should be there shortly.”
With the phone close to her mouth, Hallie cupped her hand over it. “I’m worried about someone following me. You don’t know these people. They’re capable of anything to keep things the way they are.”
“I understand that. More than you can possibly know. Your contact will bring you up to speed.”
“On what?”
“I’d rather not discuss this by phone. Hang tight and….”
A Zephron guard stepped inside.
Hallie froze. He shouldn’t have been here. This was miles from the prison and not the guards’ usual hangout. Face lowered, she huddled in her booth.
“Hallie?” Athena asked. “You still there?”
“I have to leave.”
“Why?”
“A Zephron guard just came in. He hasn’t seen me yet. As soon as he grabs a seat, I’m taking off. We’ll have to reschedule—”
“Hold on. Is the guy six-three or so, long, black hair tied back, coppery skin, high cheekbones?”
The only thing Athena hadn’t asked was whether he was also virile as hell.
Talk about a walking billboard for male perfection. His black tee and worn jeans hugged his lean yet muscular frame. Having shoulders that broad should have been a crime. The bulge behind his fly promised nights filled with wicked pleasure. Every straight woman’s dream.
He
scanned the room.
Hallie’s heart jumped to her throat. “Did you guys set up hidden cameras in here? Are you watching me? Us? Him?”
“No. If you see the man I described that’s a good thing. He’s your contact.”
“You can’t be serious. He’s a new hire at Zephron. He started weeks ago, just a few months after Kim….” Hallie couldn’t finish. “He must have conned you into thinking he was someone else.”
“Grey and I have known him for years. He’s fully vetted.”
“Didn’t you hear me? Besides doing assignments for you, he works at the prison.”
“We put him in there. For another client.”
Hallie squeezed her phone. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
“We had to vet you first. Like you said, no telling what the people at that place are capable of. We needed to find out if you were legit or part of the problem.”
She slumped against the table. This would have made a good plot for The Blacklist or Quantico. In real life, it was a nightmare she wanted to wake from. “Who is he?”
“He’ll tell you.”
The call went dead.
He negotiated the tables and stopped at her booth. “Hey.”
Her tightened throat wouldn’t allow speech. If he’d duped the team or all of them had conned her, tonight wouldn’t end well.
She wasn’t ready to die, but running wasn’t an option. He blocked her escape, was far taller, and outweighed her by eighty pounds of pure muscle or more. Catching her would be a cinch for him. He could probably snap her neck as easily as a chicken’s.
Steeled for the worst, she gestured to the seat across from her.
He regarded her trembling hand. “Relax, all right? I’m here to help. Promise.”
His voice rumbled in her belly like deep, seductive bass. Warmth flowed through her, but didn’t chase away her dread.
He slid into the seat and offered his hand. “Chase Wallace.”
Not a name she would have expected for a Native American. By her guesstimate, he came from Seminole, and possibly European ancestry on his father’s side, which had blessed him with the Wallace name and impressive height.
Dark lashes fringed his deep-brown eyes. Stubble covered his cheeks, chin, and upper lip. The five o’clock shadow added to his masculine allure.
At Zephron, she’d noticed him immediately. However, she hadn’t learned any particulars as to who he was. “Hallie Reyes.” She took his hand.
His grip caressed rather than harmed.
Nerve endings fired and sent tingles up her arm. His skin was deliciously hot, his palm callused. He’d known hard labor.
The only physical effort the other guards indulged in was breaking up fights, hauling recalcitrant inmates to confinement, and fucking. Off the clock and on. The guards’ air-conditioned bubbles must have seemed like heaven to the prisoners. More than a few young women did whatever their keepers wanted, no matter how lewd or vile, in order to luxuriate in a cool breeze and avoid having their early release snatched away.
Ruthlessly, the guards used their power, no different from Hallie’s father.
She released Chase’s hand and tried to shake off her attraction to him. Wasn’t like her. She had no desire for a relationship with any man. An occasional one-night stand was all she could manage and only to take the edge off.
Messing around with him for a few hours wouldn’t do. She’d want more. “Is that your real name?”
He smiled easily. “Since birth.”
The twentysomething waitress halted at their booth, close to his side, and flashed a broad grin. “Hey, handsome.” She stroked the table, her polished nails a breath away from his forearm. “What’ll you have?”
“Same as the lady.”
“Anything to eat?”
He folded his arms on the table and leaned toward Hallie. “What would you like?”
When it came to him, she didn’t want to consider the question. Given his size and potent masculinity, he could have easily gotten away with being macho. Instead, he was surprisingly polite and easygoing. Important qualities in a man. Unless this was an act.
Unnerved, she shrugged. “Whatever’s good.”
“You like burgers? Chili?” He spoke to the waitress. “What else do you have?”
She recited the menu. Uncomplicated bar food.
Hallie ordered a burger and fries she wasn’t certain she could keep down.
He chose chili.
“Back in a flash.” The waitress patted his shoulder and hurried away.
Men at the bar cheered at whatever had happened in the game.
Chase kept his full attention on Hallie, his manner nonthreatening and confident. A man comfortable in his own skin.
She envied him. “Who are you?”
“Excuse me?”
Wary of anyone overhearing, she kept her voice as low as possible. “Athena said she and Grey have known you for years. What’s your background? Did you use it and your real name to get your job at the prison?”
“That wouldn’t have been prudent, although I did use Chase. Always best to keep things as simple as possible so there aren’t too many details to remember.” He smiled.
Good god, he had a killer dimple. Unfortunately, he hadn’t a clue how serious this was. She gripped the table edge. “Then you lied on your job ap. What happens when the warden or Gatekeeper finds out?”
“Neither of them will know anything real about me. Jacqui worked her usual magic. Anyone tries to check my background, they’ll get info the agency wants them to have.”
Must be nice to be certain. “Jacqui?”
“Our resident computer genius. She gave me a very nice history that’s now part of official records, until she takes it out. I graduated high school in the Midwest. Took a few units at a Texas community college, where I got Ds and Fs then dropped out. After that, I earned an unfortunate criminal record for DUI and theft in Florida.”
A perfect background for a prison guard hired by Gatekeeper. In addition to Zephron, the group operated other correctional institutions in Florida and dozens nationwide. Privatizing prisons pleased constituents who wanted lower taxes. It put campaign money in politicians’ coffers, enriched shareholders, and grew the corporation. To keep expenses low, Gatekeeper paid its guards rock-bottom wages and generally hired men and women with less-than-stellar backgrounds.
A win-win for the employees who’d had trouble finding work elsewhere, and for Gatekeeper, too. They cared about cold, hard cash to the exclusion of everything else.
The only ones who suffered were the prisoners. Like Kim. A nineteen-year-old girl who’d never gotten the chance to live and had died alone in a concrete cell. Its walls bore claw marks from others trapped there, the women stripped of everything except underwear. For weeks or months, inmates sweated in the intolerable heat or shivered in the raw cold, the isolation slowly dulling their senses and hope as Gatekeeper upped profits.
Hallie rubbed her forehead. “Who are you really?” She needed good news. “A former cop? FBI? CIA?”
“Army Ranger.”
His powerful build proved it. No sissy gym equipment produced a hard bod like his. “Doing what?”
“I was a sniper. My last tour was Afghanistan.” Pain swept over his face.
Surprised at his reaction, she forgot her own problems. “Did you lose a buddy?”
He smiled sadly. “Several through the years. Many good people on the other side, too, who were supposedly our enemies but weren’t. I saw devastated families. Parents who simply wanted their kids to have a better life than they had. Instead, bombs blew their neighborhoods apart. They had to bury their children and find another place to live, along with the will to go on.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too. War sucks. You can quote me on that.”
She wanted to comfort him. When her father had been around, he’d bragged endlessly about his military exploits even though he’d never ranked above private. To him, viol
ence came naturally. He thrived on power over those who couldn’t fight back. Exactly as the Zephron guards did. “Is that why you didn’t re-up?”
“Someone once said doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results was the mark of insanity.” He shrugged. “When you’re eighteen, you’re gung-ho and sure you’ll change the world. At thirty-five, I could see there was no end to the conflict. Maybe if the brass had run the operations as they wanted, meaning without political interference, things might have been different. As it was, I concluded there wasn’t any point in continuing. Thankfully, Grey and Athena were on hand and offered me an out. They do good work. Been with the agency a year.”
She shouldn’t have doubted them or him. “How much do you know about Kim Stephenson?”
“Only what I’ve heard from the guards. I’m assuming most of what they’ve said is lies. Couldn’t get her records. Jacqui hacked into the system and tried like hell to find something, but the particulars are either buried deep where no one will ever locate them or they’re gone.”
Hallie gripped her beer. “Kim was in on a burglary charge that she had nothing to do with. Her boyfriend conned her. And I know what you’re thinking. Everyone in prison says they’re innocent. Kim was. Her biggest crime was coming from a broken home. Her parents were alcoholics. She poured her love into a creep because she didn’t have anyone else. When they got to the house he broke into, he told her to wait in the car. That a friend lived inside and he was there to get stuff back the friend borrowed. She believed him. She was seventeen at the time and didn’t have a clue. The homeowner’s silent alarm went off. The cops arrested Kim and her boyfriend a block from the scene. Being poor, she got a public defender. We know how great that is. She never had a chance even though she’d never been in trouble before. The judge sentenced her to six years.”
“Here you go.” The waitress delivered his beer. “Your order will be up in a few. Want a glass?”
“No thanks. That couple over there is trying to get your attention.” Chase pointed.