by KD Jones
He frowned thinking about Lauren. Maybe it was a mistake bringing her on as counsel considering their past history. But Lauren had always been professional. She knew Jagger saw other women after they had broken up. Lauren had seen other men too. It never bothered him.
He parked in his spot at the bail bonds building. It was time to see what Isaac and Vic had found out. But first, he wanted to have another talk with Crawley.
*****
After Jagger left, Daniela was taken to the food area. The male inmates and the female inmates were not kept in the same building. They had tried years ago to have both sexes in the same holding area but riots broke out and many were killed.
She found an empty table and sat down to eat. No one was really paying attention to her. Thank God. She only took a few bites of the tasteless stuff before the guards rounded everyone up again. She should have eaten faster.
Next the inmates were taken outside for a few hours of exercise. They did this whether it was good weather or bad weather. Today happened to be a little rainy. Daniela didn’t mind. She felt dirty anyway and it was a relief to feel the rain.
Before dinner most of the inmates got to have free time. They would get to spend an hour doing something they enjoyed. Some worked on getting an education online. Some just liked to chat on social chat video. Others liked playing musical instruments. Because of the crime she was accused of, her activity was reduced. No computer access. She could, however read paper books. Those were a rarity. Her choices were limited but she found some magazines on cooking.
After dinner, which she ate quickly, she was taken back to her cell. She laid on the cot and closed her eyes. Images of her and Jagger from earlier played on her mind. She smiled. She loved being with him. His laughter was infectious and he always made her smile. She loved everything about him. She just…loved him. She wasn’t sure how much he felt for her, but she knew it was deep. But did he love her?
*****
That was pretty much how each of her days went. Except for no more visits from Jagger. Three days and she was ready to scratch her way out of there. How did others do this for years? She hoped she would never find out.
She had read every cooking magazine she could find. She begged them to allow her to help out in the kitchen but they felt it was too much of a risk to let inmates have access to sharp objects.
She wished she could call Jagger. Just to hear his voice would help her bear things better. She wanted to be with him. Doubts were kicking in now that she hadn’t seen him in a few days.
She also wanted to know what was going on with her case. Miss Perfect lawyer had not come by or contacted her. Were they getting evidence against Lial? Would there be any?
*****
“Hey, baby. Do I know you,” a female said on the social chat video.
“No, you don’t. But you may knew of a friend of mine I need to get a message to,” a man with a mask on said as he held up money.
“Wow, that’s a lot. How do I know you’ll make good on your promise?” The woman leaned forward to get a better look.
“Send me an account. I’ll put half in there now so you know I am serious. Then once the deed is done, I’ll put the rest in there,” the man told her.
“Fine. I’ll IM you with an account. Have it in there by tomorrow morning.”
“Don’t talk about this to anyone,” he warned.
“What, do I look stupid to you?” she asked offended. He said nothing and ended the call.
*****
Day five and Daniela was going to kill Jagger for not coming by. How did he expect her to just sit back and do nothing? Her usual guard, the one that brought her in was off site picking up another prisoner to bring to lockup.
She had finished with the outside exercises and was sitting down in a remote area to reread the same magazines. She was told by one of the other inmates that next week someone would bring in new reading material. She couldn’t wait.
She had the strange feeling pass through her like she had all day. Like someone was watching her. She shook off the feeling. No one was there. She seemed to be the only one that read in paper. She flipped through the now familiar pages, pausing on recipes she was memorizing. She couldn’t wait to get back to her kitchen and try some things out.
A sound behind her had her looking back quickly. She saw one of the female inmates who had been there a while closing the door to the room that was named library. She tried to remember the woman’s name.
“Hi…um…Brittany, right?” Daniela put the magazine down and stood. Something was off with the other woman. She had an evil gleam in her eyes.
“Bridget actually. You’re a pretty thing. It’s a shame really.”
“What’s a shame?” Daniela had a sinking feeling.
“That I’m going to have to cut up that pretty face.” Bridget pulled out a knife.
Oh shit! Daniela looked around for her own weapon but all she had to use was books. She grabbed what she could and started throwing them at her. She had really bad aim.
“Why are you doing this?” Daniela asked, breathing hard.
“Money. I am getting paid a lot of money to take care of you.” Bridget dodged another book that Daniela threw at her.
“Who’s paying you to do this?” Daniela already knew the answer.
“Don’t know the guy's name. Don’t care to know it.”
“Maybe he won’t pay you then.” Daniela tried to step closer to the door but Bridget blocked her.
“He’s already deposited half the money in my account. Once you are out of the way, he’ll deposit the rest. When I am finally paroled in five years I will have the means to take me wherever I want to go. Now hold still. This will only hurt for a moment.”
*****
Five damn days! Jagger had been refused entry to the authority facility for five long damn days. Someone anonymously tipped the warden that Jagger was personally involved with the inmate and was planning to help her escape.
Jagger was furious. He had to call Lauren to step in and negotiate terms to get them to let him back in. It took a lot of maneuvering but he finally managed to get them to allow him a visit.
He was making his way inside the facility when an emergency motor pod rode up. He stood and watched as someone on a gurney was reeled out and toward the emergency motor pod. He questioned one of the guards he was familiar with.
“Hey, Tony, what’s going on?” Jagger asked.
Tony shook his head. “One of the new female inmates was attacked by our seasoned inmate. It was a bloody mess.”
Jagger felt his gut clench. “Which new inmate?”
“Someone named…Martin.”
Oh shit! “Where is she being taken?”
“To the local hospital. She’s in pretty bad shape.”
Jagger went back to his motor pod and started it up. He picked up his cellphone and dialed Vic. “We have a situation.”
Chapter Eighteen
Jagger knew he broke the speed limits but he didn’t care. His only thought was of getting to Daniela. How could this have happened? She should have been safe from Wellings inside the authority prison. He didn’t know what kind of shape she was in. When he called the hospital they refused to give him details because he wasn’t a family member. He feared he would never get to see her again. That was unacceptable!
He barely parked the motor pod before he leaped out of it. He ran into the hospital pushing past the staff that tried to stop him. He was able to get the room number from earlier so he knew where to go.
She was on the second floor in a recovery unit. That meant she had to have some kind of surgery done to her. Whoever was responsible for hurting her was going to pay for it, and pay dearly.
He found the recovery room. It was one large room with flimsy partitions separating multiple patients who were recovering from surgery of some type. He yanked one partition after another. Several people yelled at him for invading their privacy. He just ignored them. He didn’t care about any of them.
The only one he cared about was Daniela.
He looked at the terrified staff and yelled at them. “Where the hell is Daniela?”
“I’m here. Stop yelling at those poor people.” Her weakened voice came from the last partition on the left.
Jagger rushed to the partition and yanked it completely down. There she was. Paler than usual. She had bruises on her face that he could see. Almost her whole head was wrapped in bandages along with a bandage on her rib cage. “What the hell happened?”
“Nice to see you too,” Daniela croaked. She almost cried at the sight of him. He was so beautiful to her.
Jagger knelt down next to the bed and took her hands into his. He gentled his voice, “Baby, what happened?”
“Do I need to call security?” a nurse asked at a safe distance away.
Daniela shook her head. “My…boyfriend is just upset that I was hurt.”
“What happened to her?” Jagger demanded out of the nurse.
“She was punched and kicked in the head, thrown hard on a floor, knocking her unconscious, and then stabbed five times. She would have bled out if one of the authority guards hadn’t found her. Her heart stopped twice and had to be revived.” The nurse walked closer and checked Daniela’s bandages. “You’re recovering nicely. We will be able to move you to a private room for forty-eight hour observation. Then you’ll be released from medical care.”
The nurse turned to glare at Jagger. “You behave or I’ll have your ass tossed out of here.” Then she stormed away to help other staff clean up the mess that Jagger made.
Jagger turned back toward Daniela. “Who stabbed you?”
“One of the female inmates.”
“Why?” He didn’t understand this.
“I think I asked her that and she said she had to get her money.”
“Wellings?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“He’s got to be stopped. He almost succeeded in killing you this time.” Jagger looked over her injuries. He felt a fury that he had never felt before.
“I agree. This one was too close a call. I…didn’t think I’d make it.” She was on the verge of telling him her feelings for him but at that moment, Victor showed up.
“Thank God you’re okay.” He gripped Jagger’s shoulder giving it a squeeze.
“She almost died. We have to get Wellings now before he makes another attempt. He might succeed the next time where this time he failed. I won’t allow that. I’d kill him first,” Jagger said the last part as a swear, a promise of revenge.
“What do you have in mind?” Vic asked.
“We go on offense.”
“I’m in,” Vic said.
*****
Damn it! He should have heard something by now. He had checked his IM messages but there was nothing from the inmate stating whether the job was done. He hoped it wasn’t another waste of his money like Crawley.
He turned on the TV hoping to distract himself. The news report came on. He was going to flip the channel but something caught his attention. He turned up the volume to listen for the news lady.
“This just in. There was a fight between inmates at the local Eastgate Authority Prison. One of the inmates is in critical condition and has been rushed to the Eastgate Hospital where she is still unconscious. It is unsure whether she will make a recovery. It is a matter of time.”
The report ended and Lial went to his computer to pull up the news feed. He verified the information but there was no names. What if the woman in the hospital wasn’t Daniela? He had to be sure. The time had come for him to run. He had no choice. But first, he had to tie up some loose strings.
*****
“I don’t like it.” Jagger paced back and forth in the private room that they had put her in for the forty-eight hour observation.
“It will work,” Vic told him. He looked over at Daniela. “We won’t let him get close enough to hurt her.”
“I will be fine, Jagger. Truly.” She knew that he needed reassurances.
“Leave us alone for a few.” Jagger motioned for Vic to leave the room. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.
“I would do anything to keep you safe. This is an unnecessary risk,” he told her, caressing her cheek. “Let me think of some other way.”
She shook her head. “You know there is no other way. Vic would not have suggested it otherwise. This is our only option if we are going to catch Lial. And I want so badly to do that. Not just for me. I want this for us.”
Daniela leaned up and kissed him softly. He deepened it immediately and they both groaned with need. God, she wanted to tell him so badly that she loved him. But it was the wrong time. She had imagined many times how she would say it. First she would have a lovely dinner she fixed just for him, then she would lead him to the bedroom where candles would be lit everywhere. She would strip naked and climb to the middle of the bed and hold her arms out to him. Then she would say with her whole heart, “I love you, Jagger.” But not like this, in a hospital room, while she was still accused of a crime she didn’t commit.
He cupped her face with such gentleness it almost made her cry. “Promise me you will take no chances. At the first sign of danger you will get out.”
“There won’t be any danger…” she tried to say but he interrupted her.
“Promise! I won’t let you do this unless you promise. I can’t lose you. Not now, not ever," his voice cracked with emotion. “I am falling in love with you.” God, he felt so vulnerable.
Daniela’s heart leapt with joy. This may not have been the place, and the timing was off, but none of that mattered now. She leaned her forehead against his. “I am totally in love with you. I promise. I won’t take any unnecessary chances. But you do the same. Promise you won’t risk yourself unnecessarily. I can’t breathe without you.”
“I’ll do my best. I have everything to look forward to.” He prayed things went the way they hoped.
*****
He timed it just right. Lial walked into the hospital at five minutes to the end of visiting hours. He went up to the information desk breathing heavy. The woman on the other side looked up at him with concern.
“Are you okay, sir?” the receptionist asked.
“Please. I have been out of town and just got in today. I found out that my fiancée was brought in. I need to find her.”
“What’s her name?” she asked, pulling something up on her computer.
“Daniela Martin,” Lial said, giving her his best worried look. “Please help me find her.”
The woman nodded her head. She clearly believed he was a worried fiancé. “She’s in a private room for observation. Room 2405. But…it’s almost the end of visiting hours.”
Lial had his answer. Daniela was the one that was brought in. Good. He had to hide his pleasure at knowing she had been severely hurt.
“Surely you can allow me ten minutes with my fiancée. I just need to make sure she is going to be alright and then I can come back tomorrow to spend more time with her,” he told her.
“I’m not sure. I may need to ask my supervisor first.” She went to pick up the phone but Lial reached out his hand and covered hers.
“Please. I just need to see her for five minutes. What harm could there be?” He gave her his most endearing smile. It never failed to get him what he wanted from women.
“Okay. I guess five minutes should be fine. I’ll show you where to go.” She was about to move around the front desk but Lial stopped her.
“It’s okay, I can find it. I don’t want you to get in trouble either for letting me in past visiting hours. I’ll just tell them if they stop me the person at the front desk was busy and didn’t see me.”
She looked relieved. Obviously she was worrying over getting in trouble for breaking the rules. “Make it quick.” She pointed him to the nearest elevators.
As the elevator doors closed, Lial smiled wide. That was damn easy. He could almost see the surprise on Daniela's face when she saw him walk through
the door. Almost over now.
Chapter Nineteen
“Here, honey, let me adjust your bandages,” the nurse said as she started adjusting the bandages.
“Thanks,” Daniela croaked out. The nurse turned the lights down and left the room.
A moment later she heard the door being closed and a lock being initiated. She didn’t look up, but her eyes were open.
Lial had watched from right outside of Daniela’s hospital room as the nurse attended Daniela. He waited until the nurse left, then he made his move.
“Who’s there?” her voice was so scratchy.
“Wow, she must have done quite a number on your head.” All Lial could see were dark strands of Daniela’s hair peering out of the bandages wrapped around her head.
“Lial?” her rough voice asked.
“Yeah, sweetheart. It’s Lial, your fiancé. I came to say goodbye,” he told her as he went over to move the call button away from her hand. He then eyed the tubing hanging with bags of IV Fluids.
“Goodbye?”
“Yes. I am going away now. However, you won’t be coming. You are going on your own journey. And you won’t be coming back.” He pulled out a syringe and stuck it in the IV bag from the top and pushed the substance inside.
“Where?”
“Where are you going? To hell if I have a say. Because you have been such a pain in my ass from the beginning.”
“Why?”
“Money. I have planned this heist for a long time. I had to get hired on as an accountant first. Unfortunately the company was looking for family oriented workers. I had to tell them that I was saving up to ask my girlfriend to marry me. It worked, they believed me. It took months though to get the codes to the accounts that I needed. All that time I had to deal with your whiny clingy ass. Did you actually think I was going to marry you?” Daniela didn’t say anything so he continued.
“It was easy once I had the codes. I opened an account on the Bazin planet under a fake name. I slowly started depositing money from the larger accounts so it was less noticed. The only mistake I made was the day that a large account was opened, I pulled from it. The owner of the account was immediately alerted to the withdrawal and contacted my firm. I had to act fast and blamed it on you.” He walked over to the end of the bed and gripped her foot painfully. Daniela groaned.