by Simon King
“Let’s just say our young friend here is going on a little journey. You’ll find out to where in due course.” Frank looked at me with a little annoyance. “Was there anything else?”
I took the hint, hoping the pair enjoyed their final few minutes and left the cell. It was close to dinner time and was glad to get the hell out of there. I wasn’t sure whether they would share a final drink, Nails no doubt the one to try and bust out for freedom using the gun. There was no doubt in my mind that he was there to retrieve the firearm from Frank’s cell. I didn’t know when he would try and break out, or how, but found my interest minimal. I didn’t care.
5.
Russel ‘Nails’ Blackman became the first man to ever escape from King’s Castle Prison on Saturday, October 7th, 2006. It was a brilliant plan, one that I was actually quite impressed with, given my hatred for the guy. It cost the life of a single officer and without firing a single shot.
It was bloody perfect. An officer named William Stanley had joined the prison a few months prior, graduating from his intake class that very week. Because he was fairly new, not a lot of officers knew him that well and that was what worked in Nail’s favour.
Their appearance was strikingly similar, except for the thin mop of facial hair the crook wore. But reports say he’d shaved it off that very evening. Nails approached the station half an hour before lockdown requesting a quick trip to medical. The screws handed him a slip and he left the unit.
Once out, he spotted Stanley walking through the gym corridor and stopped to ask him about getting a library book to study for a test he had the next day. Nails convinced the new officer that he had a key for the closed library, the entrance of which joined the gym corridor about half way down.
The new officer fell for the ruse, unlocking the library and following the crook inside. It was a string of mistakes that ended up costing the screw his life. The rumours I heard was that Nails pulled the gun and had the officer drop to his knees with his back turned to him. Nails used the butt of the pistol and smashed the officers head in with a single blow. He stole his uniform, put on his belt, keys and radio and waited for the final call for lockdown. Once officers began to walk past the library, Nails simply let himself out and followed the crowd.
According to reports, not every officer was required to wait for the final muster to be called correct. Certain staff left the prison, particularly those not associated with units, such as Stanley. Nails simply followed the crowd and was eventually outside the gates. He even managed to bum a ride from another officer, telling them his had broken down on the way to work.
By the time the alarm was raised almost an hour later, Nails was long gone. It took 3 separate counts for the officers to realize someone was missing from the unit, Control eventually calling a Code Echo for an escaped prisoner. And while they were out searching, I lay on my bunk, hopeful that Frank was celebrating Nails’ success.
6.
Frank did celebrate. Probably more than he should have. By the time I visited his cell 2 days later, the empty bottle of Pinot Noir was already disposed of, the evidence tied inside a rubbish bag that was taken out to the dumpster by the bin billet.
The prison remained in lockdown for a day after the escape, but unlocked that Monday morning. I paid Frank a visit and asked him whether he helped plan the escape. He said he did, closing his eyes with a thoughtful smile.
“Maybe a little too much celebration afterwards, but there’s nothing wrong with celebrating,” he whispered. I was glad. Happy in fact. Celebrating was good, and something I was also hoping to do in a few days.
Although I can only speculate for the most part, the rumours that followed seemed to fill in a lot of the blanks, so I’ll try and share what happened as best I can. By the end of that Monday, Frank began to feel ill, something about his stomach cramping up. By the next morning, he had cold sweats, the bulk of his time spent sitting on the can with nothing but grey water leaving him.
Despite me suggesting for him to see a doctor, he refused, saying men didn’t see doctors over a bad case of food poisoning.
“I knew that fish was off the other night, I knew it.” If Frank thought he had food poisoning then I wasn’t about to correct him. But his symptoms didn’t get better, instead growing worse by the hour.
At the end of Wednesday’s dinner, I went to pay him another visit and found him hugging his pillow, unable to leave his bed because of the pain in the soles of his feet and palms of his hands. He looked fucked, sweaty and tired; his eyes grim with horror.
“I just wanna sleep. Fuck off and let me sleep,” he murmured to me and I did. I didn’t know at the time, but Thallium poisoning could come from trace amounts of exposure, measuring something like a couple of micrograms. I don’t know how much Thallium was in the rat poison but what I can tell you is that I injected a full 25ml of the stuff into that drink.
As I left his cell for the final time, I heard him mutter something about Danny, talking as if he could see him. I didn’t care.
7.
I was awoken through the night by screaming. A few of the boys yelled out for the dude to shut up but he continued wailing, sounding in severe pain. The noise eventually raised the attention of a couple of screws who were out patrolling the prison. They popped their head through Frank’s trap and called a Code Mike.
I saw Frank one last time and it was a heavenly sight to see. I only saw it through the crack of my cell door, but to me, felt like cinema viewing. The nurses arrived and immediately called for Frank to be wheeled up to the medical wing by stretcher. Four officers carried him down the stairs and I watched as the breathing corpse was lowered onto the stretcher. He was bleeding from his eyes and nose, his screams of agony silencing the unit. He kept waving his arms like a madman, calling out for Danny and Tommy to help him.
The officers struggled to secure him with the straps, desperately trying to tie him down. Frank kept thrashing about as the excruciating pain gripped him hard, each convulsion looking as if physically kicking him in the stomach. It was glorious watching him suffer. The pain must have been extraordinary.
I wanted to shout out the names of his victims. I wanted to scream out so he knew that it was me. But as I watched him bleeding from every visible orifice, I whispered them instead, so that they might hear from wherever they were and would come and watch the man suffer for his crimes.
As they finally wheeled him crying from the unit, I heard a single voice call out to him, one that I recognized well.
“Good bye, Frank,” Hal called, the pain in his voice evident.
8.
Nick shook my hand so vigorously the next morning, that I nearly fell over. He stood and clapped me on the back.
“I heard him, Dylan. I heard that piece of shit groan in agony for almost an hour this morning. You did it.” They had brought Frank into the medical wing then called for an ambulance. Nick was happy, despite not seeing the man himself. But hearing him suffer was enough for Nick to consider his revenge taken care of.
News of Frank’s death didn’t reach us for another 3 days, the old prick clinging to life for almost another 50 hours of agony. I wish I could have been there for every single one of them. Despite the doctor’s best efforts, none were able to save him, the poison running its course until his final, agonizing breath. Although there was a real sadness and shock within the Cruds, none knew how to proceed.
We held a vigil out in the yard, just as we did for Tommy. While many were sad and angry, no one suspected that one of their own had killed him. A rumour began to circulate that his food had been poisoned. For me, the evidence disappeared the day the bottle was dropped into the dumpster, itself emptied that very night. I eventually made the rat poison disappear down the toilet, the bottle dropped into a rubbish bag.
Despite a brief investigation, no evidence was ever found to support the poisoning theory. In a place filled with criminals, the likelihood of one of them seeking revenge was high. The matter was closed shortly after, wit
h Frank’s death ruled as accidental poisoning. It was no great loss.
9.
It turned out that Frank and Nails did share a celebratory drink before the successful escape attempt that fateful day. To tell you the truth, I’d completely forgotten about the possibility until Jack showed me a newspaper story a couple of months later. In it, the report said that a badly decomposed body was found on the side of a road, half hidden inside a drainage pipe.
Turns out the body was that of Russel Blackman. An autopsy revealed Thallium in his system and doctors weren’t sure how he’d been exposed to it. The report finished with his escape from custody and how the investigation into his death would continue. Whether it did or didn’t is anyone’s guess as I never heard another thing about it. Despite rumours circling that there were suspicions of Frank and Russel’s deaths being linked, nothing came of it.
10.
Nick the Greek had promised to help me if I took care of Frank. Judging by his continuing gratitude throughout the following weeks, I knew that the day would come where he would return the favour. All I needed was a little patience.
He came through in spades for me. Despite taking a little longer than expected, he finally repaid his debt to me in December of that year. Nick himself had been transferred out of the prison by then, now living at Barwon Jail instead. But he managed to send me a letter, one that had to hide his real news to me.
All inter-prison mail was monitored, the screws searching for anything incriminating. Nick’s letter was brief but made perfect sense. I knew immediately what he meant because of where he was.
Hey Dylan.
I hope you’re keeping well. It’s hell over here, the food worse than the company. But the brothers are keeping me busy with plenty of action, our days filled with Poker and Blackjack. Do you still play? Maybe I can send you a couple of Jokers to help you win.
Take care, kid
It was short, brief and on the money. The brothers were the Nielsen brothers, and from the sounds of it, were headed back to the Palace. If his information was accurate, the move would happen within a few days, inter-prison transfers only announced a day or 2 in advance.
The time was ticking and I could feel destiny reaching out to me. With one name already scratched from my list, 2 more would soon join it. If everything went to plan, the next chapter of my revenge would soon come to fruition.
I sat back on my bunk and let the letter sit in my lap as I looked out of my window. The sun was shining and there was a basketball game playing in Red Block’s yard across the path. But I didn’t see any of it, my mind burning the picture of my brother’s attack back into my mind. I replayed the scene over and over, remembering the looks on the faces of Aiden’s killers.
And as I watched my brother die again and again, my conviction to avenge him returned like a raging tsunami. But this time there would be no failure. It didn’t matter where they hid. This time, I would find them.
Thank you for reading Book 4 of the MAX series. If you enjoyed this book, could I ask a small favor? It won’t take long, I promise, and it will make this author extremely happy. Could you please leave a review here? Reviews are extremely important, without them, a book is judged much more harshly.
I humbly thank you.
Author’s Note
WOW. The twists and turns just keep coming in this sorry tale of pain and suffering. I know it’s not easy to stomach, but neither is maximum-security. Book 5 is available to pre-order here and I can tell you now, the intensity is only going to get worse as Dylan finally confronts the monsters that haunt him.
I thank you for sticking with me on this roller-coaster ride. I hope you’ll try some of my other books while you wait for the next chapter. If you’d like to ask me anything, you can join me on my Facebook Page.
Thanks again and take care.
Simon
https://www.booksbysimonking.com/
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By Simon King
Prison Days Series
(Books 1 to 6)
Prison Days: Inmates
(Books 1 to 5)
The Lawson Chronicles
(Books 1 to 3)
MAX
(Books 1 to 4)
COMING SOON
MAX
(Book 5)
“Betrayal”
Released May 25th, 2020
Copyright © 2020 by Simon King
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.
First Printing: 2020