by Dark Angel
Well, that stops me short.
I remain silent. Thinking of all the feelings of betrayal. The anger. The Ben & Jerry’s.
“Baby,” I say slowly, not looking at his face. I pause and take a deep breath. Here goes fucking nothing, as Lucien would put it. “I’m pregnant.”
I look up at him to see his reaction. Will it be anger? Joy? Despair at being behind bars?
“We’re pregnant,” I say again to him as his face registers no surprise. “You and I. It’s your baby.”
There’s nothing from Lucien. I start to worry. I mean, most men would have some reaction, right?
Finally, Lucien speaks.
“I know,” he says simply.
I’m silent for a moment.
Okay, that was not really what I was expecting. Not one bit. I mean, am I getting fat already?
“I saw the ultrasound the other day when we were together,” he says simply, his eyes looking into mine. “And when you didn't listen to me about getting out of here, I had to do the only thing I could to make sure I was protecting you. Protecting both of you.”
If he had reached over and walked through the glass I couldn’t have been more surprised.
Lucien…knew?
That’s why he came forward and confessed our relationship and got me fired?
To protect me?
A mix of emotions goes through my head. Rage at not telling me. Embarrassment for ever doubting his love for me. Regret at not telling him sooner.
But overpowering all of that to the point of obsolescence is one single overriding feeling.
Love. For Lucien Stone.
Even as a prisoner with a fraction of the freedoms that I enjoy, Lucien found a way to protect me. And I know in that moment that despite the danger that I’m in, with the Deputy Warden up to something, that Lucien will protect me.
I’m beginning to seriously doubt that he had anything at all to do with the Deputy Warden bringing me here.
“Kerri,” Lucien says and I lean forward, bringing the phone closer as my fingers touch the glass where his are. “I need to tell you something.”
I nod to him. I’m all ears.
“I need you to forgive me,” he says simply.
Forgive him? Did he have a hand in bringing me here?
“Forgive you for what?” I ask.
“This,” he says and before I can figure out what’s happening, Lucien’s already out of his chair and dropped the phone.
I watch in shock as he moves with the speed of lightning, his muscles straining and pulls at the phone receiver. It takes a moment but snaps from where it’s tethered to the wall.
“Hey, what the fuck!” the guard in the cubicle yells, opening the door from his cubbyhole toward Lucien’s side of the room.
But by then, Lucien has already turned around and taken aim and thrown the phone receiver.
It sails through the air with deadly accuracy toward the closed circuit camera that’s recording his side of the room.
The phone receiver makes contact with the camera and shatters it, knocking it off its place and causing it to tumble to the floor.
“You’re in some serious fucking trouble, brother,” the guard says as he approaches Lucien with his baton, his mouth open at the display of raw athletic skill in front of him.
Those are the last words for a while from the guard as Lucien takes the chair with one hand and lifts it in a swing, swirling it around him and making contact with his head. I hear a thud as the guard falls to the floor. Before even his body hits the ground, Lucien has grabbed a pair of keys, his baton, and his gun and rushes over to my side, where he kicks open the door.
I run to him, but Lucien rushes past me and takes the phone receiver that I was just using.
He snaps it off, aims at the camera, closes one eye, brings his hand back, and throws.
It meets the same fate as its counterpart had moments earlier.
I stare at the clock on the wall. The whole episode took less than 3 minutes.
And that’s when the alarms start going off. Sensing loss of contact with the Visitation Room, the prison starts to go into alert.
We have minutes, if that. I go back toward Lucien and reach for him.
He grabs me and looks at me.
“You’re not safe out there, Marshall is going to come for you again!” Lucien says, his eyes scanning the entrances for guards approaching as he cocks the gun.
I nod. “What do we do?”
That’s right. I’m with him. No matter what.
He doesn’t think. Rather, he operates on pure instinct.
“Come with me,” he says and grabs my hand.
I try to keep up with him as we run toward the door. Going into the prison, I try not to think about how we may be going in the wrong way, deeper into captivity. But somehow, as long as I’m with him, I don’t mind following.
But one thing is absolutely clear.
I am very sure now that he had no involvement in sending Deputy Warden Marshall to knock me out and bring me here.
Lucien
The note had been pretty clear. Take out the guard. Kill him if possible. Then take his gun and take Kerri hostage. After that, talk into the cameras and tell her I had her hostage. Then, start making my way out through the Visitor’s Entrance that ran next to the prison yard. Do whatever I had to to make sure that all attention was focused on the side toward the Visitor's Entrance and the prison yard. And whatever I do, do not destroy the cameras.
But here I am, fucking running into the prison with a pregnant woman after having destroyed both the cameras.
The prison is going into full alert and I already know what’s happening.
The sharpshooters are gearing up and scanning the prison yard for anyone who's making a run for it. Local police are being alerted and are setting up road barricades on all major roads that lead from the prison. Helicopters are being launched that are scanning the complex from above.
Everyone is looking for people who are trying to leave the prison.
And Kerri and I are running headlong further inside of it.
See, I may have never gone to fucking school as much as I should have, but that doesn’t mean I don't know how to think. And ever since Spider handed me the note, I’ve been trying to wonder what Grinder’s angle has been. I thought about it quite a lot, and I think I finally figured it out.
But it's too soon to tell you what I figured out because right now we’re running past the cells and I swear it’s like all Hell has been unleashed. The prison’s going into lockdown but because the guards are all heading toward the Visitor’s Reception area, there’s a power vacuum in D Block.
Ancient beef between two inmates? They’re sorting it out now. Someone owe someone else money? It’s time to collect. Someone having a bad day? Time to last out. A collective wail of frustration at being locked up, despair at the circumstances that put them behind bars, and anger toward the world is being unleashed.
Tables are being overturned in common areas and chairs thrown against the walls. Most of the cameras have been destroyed, torn from the cages that protect them on the ceilings.
A few times I take Kerri and we hide in nooks, shadows, or behind doors as roving bands of prisoners walk by. Some people pass us by but they’re not paying us any mind. But I’m no fool. These men have been trapped here, some for years. All that testosterone and nowhere to put it too. And Kerri is fucking gorgeous. The last thing I need is for us to get delayed because I’m shooting some people who’re trying to get too close to us.
For her part, Kerri is keeping up with me. She realizes the danger of the situation. But believe it or not, we’re safer here than had we gone the other way—toward the Visitor’s Entrance. Eventually the guards are gonna start coming this way, when they figure out that I came inside. But right now they don’t think I could be that stupid. What’s the point in trying to escape from jail if you’re gonna head into it more?
But I know something they don’t. Somethi
ng I think Grinder knows and it’s important I get there ahead of him.
I round the corner and head toward the Administrative Block that sits next to D Block. As I expected, it's mostly deserted. Standard operating procedure for times like this is to evacuate all non-guard personnel.
I see two guards lying on the floor. They were doing normal guard duty, standing sentry and protecting the Administrative Block from the prisoners and must have been overpowered. I see them, beaten and bloody, lying there. Their guns are gone, as are their handcuffs, nightsticks, shoes, socks, pants, and shirts.
Kerri slows down, and stops to check on both.
She glances at me.
“Are they alive?” I ask.
She nods. “They’re hurt but they’ll be okay,” she says.
“Then we have to go,” I tell her.
“We can’t just leave them here,” she says, shocked.
I shrug. It’s either them or us.
“There’s nothing these men have to offer,” I say, and even I know I’m lying. Kerri looks at me. It’s obvious to me she will do whatever I tell her to.
And at that moment I realize that it’s time I live up to the big talk I’ve been giving myself and about how much I love Kerri because she makes me be a better man.
It’s time I become that better man.
Fuck.
“Take the gun,” I say to her and walk up to her. She takes the gun as I pick up each man and put him on my shoulder. They must weigh at least 200 pounds each, but that’s what all the pull ups and push ups in jail were for, I guess. “We’ll take them to the Alcove.”
The Alcove is going to be on our way to the Deputy Warden’s office, anyways.
That’s right. We’re headed right into the heart of the jail.
* * *
Five minutes later, I dump the bodies in a corner of the Alcove. My shoulders and arms are killing me from the load, but I feel the unfamiliar thrill and anticipation of adrenaline rush through me from the walk over here.
We passed no one; everyone was too busy either raiding the infirmary, fighting, or heading to the prison yard to escape that they basically left us alone. Kerri travelled in my shadow, caused by my frame carrying two guards.
“Which way now?” Kerri asks me, her eyes on me with fear mixed with admiration. She knows that we could have been at our destination by now if we weren’t slowed down by protecting the guards. But I know that I would have never been good enough for her if we had done that.
At this point in time, if she wasn’t placed in danger, I’d rather fucking die trying to be the man worthy of her than live and not measure up to what she sees me as.
“We’re heading to the Deputy Warden’s office,” I say wondering if I should take the gun from her as we walk into the hallways outside the Alcove.
But I never get a chance to make that decision because something hits me on the side of the head.
Blinding, searing pain shoots up my skull and I fall to the ground.
“You’re not heading anywhere, motherfucker,” I hear a voice and I look over.
It’s Grinder. He’s wearing a pair of brass knuckles. I bring my hand to the side of my head and feel. It comes back sticky and damp. It's my blood.
“I asked you to do one thing,” Grinder says, taking a step close to me. “One simple thing. And you couldn’t do that. You couldn't use that damned medic to get us transfers.”
I see Kerri’s eyes go wide as she hears herself being talked about. She’s hidden in the shadows of the Alcove. Neither Grinder, the three men behind him, nor Spider see her. But I see her, because I know where to look. I try not to give it away though, focusing all their attention on me.
“Great, you wanted her safe, and sent her away, I get that,” Grinder continues and takes another step toward me. “But then when I ask you to do something to protect her, what do you go and do? You intentionally throw my whole plan to shit and do the opposite of what I fucking asked.”
Now Grinder is standing over me as I kneel on the ground. I’m waiting for my chance. I’m only going to get one opportunity and I’m going to need to make it count.
“Where is she, Lucien?” Grinder asks, leaning low. “Where’d you hide her?”
“Why should I tell you?” I ask with a low voice. “Why should I cooperate now when I haven't this entire time?”
There’s a pause as Grinder looks at me.
“Well, we’re going to find her before we leave, my friend,” Grinder says. “And you can either watch me and my friends here—Spider included—fuck her till she dies, or you can make sure we just kill her. But I’m not leaving until I tie this loose end. So what’s it going to be, Lucien? The easy way, or the hard—”
That’s my opportunity.
I’m kneeling on the ground and I lunge toward Grinder, grabbing both his legs. He doesn’t see me coming and he throws both his hands in the air as I grab his legs and pull up all the while using my feet to push myself to a standing position.
Grinder hits the ground with a thud and I take the nightstick that I had from the guard in the Visitor’s Room and I club him twice in the head with it. He’s nearly passed out and I turn my attention to the three men coming toward me.
The first one is too cocky. I take a step back and use the nightstick like a one-handed baseball bat, connecting with his head. He falls to the ground not even knowing what happened. The second slows and pulls out a knife.
I shrug and rush him. He drops the knife but I use my feet to sweep a wide arc and trip him and then do a pirouette with the nightstick and hit him in the back of the head. The man goes down as I bring my body down low enough to grab the knife.
The third man never has a chance to do much because I take the knife, take aim and throw. It lands in his belly. Not enough to kill him, but enough to make him bleed.
That leaves Spider.
He never moved this whole time.
“Are you gonna kill me, Lucien?” Spider asks, nervous, and fidgety.
I shake my head. “Not if you leave,” I say to him. “Now.”
Spider doesn't need a second warning. He turns around and runs the other direction from me and I see him round a corner.
I sigh a breath of relief. The prison sirens are still going on when I hear a gunshot.
It startles me. It came from thedirection that Spider ran.
Like I’m in some fucked up video game, going after enemy after enemy, the next one comes.
Only this time, it's Deputy Warden Marshall.
And he’s holding a gun.
* * *
“So you’re here to take Kerri to my office?” Deputy Marshall asks. He’s got a smile.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, holding the nightstick and knowing it won't make a fucking bit of difference with that gun. I wish I’d fucking taken that gun from Kerri at this point.
“You know which way Grinder was heading, don’t lie to me, prisoner,” Deputy Marshall says as approaches me. “I know you know there’s a secret passage from my office to the outside world in the event of a riot.”
“If there was, it would be the first place they’d look,” I say with a shrug.
“Not if they never knew about it,” the Deputy says. “Not if the plans never included the passageway back when they built this dump in the 1890s.”
I say nothing as the Deputy approaches me.
“Imagine what would happen though if I let you escape,” he says, more to himself than me. “Imagine what would happen to me if my bosses found out that the guy they framed for murder got out under my watch.”
I bristle. What is he talking about?
The Deputy Warden raises an eyebrow. “Oh, I know you’re an innocent man, Lucien Stone,” he says with a chuckle. “I know you never killed no woman and her kid, but unfortunately for you, no one else ever will.”
He knew? He was part of the frame-up? What the fuck. I could fucking kill him right now.
“Oh I know you must be mad
as hell right now, aren’t you, convict?” the Deputy Warden asks. “But for what it’s worth, if it makes you feel any better, it’ll all be over soon.”
I remain silent. I can tell what’s coming. I’ve been in this spot before. On the other side of the gun.
“They told me if I ever had a chance to and reasonable justification to while you were in this cage to take you out,” the Deputy Warden says, raising his gun. “And you’ve just given it to me. Should be worth a nice bonus.”
I close my eyes and wonder what will happen to Kerri after I’m dead. Will the Deputy Warden go after her as a witness?
“Say goodbye conv—” he begins, but stops all of a sudden.
Maybe I didn’t hear the gunshot, but I see it’s effects. Blood gurgling out of his mouth and the corrupt jailer falling forward.
And behind him, standing with a raised gun, is Kerri Curtis. Sweat covering her face. Clothes wrapped around her tightly.
If we weren't in so much danger, I’d want to fuck her right now. Even with the cut on my head.
Instead, I stand there as she comes toward me and grabs my hand.
“Come on,” she says with an urgent whisper. “We have to get to that tunnel and get out of here.”
I say nothing as I follow.
Toward something I thought till this day was unimaginable.
Toward freedom.
Toward a life with the woman I love.
Toward the first day of the rest of our lives.
Kerri
I think back to the events that led us here a little over an hour ago as Lucien opens the door to the motel.
It started with the insane few hours that saw Lucien and I head into the dead Deputy Warden’s office. And sure enough, behind the bookcase there was a passageway. Built most likely when the prison was first constructed, it was designed for administrative staff to leave if there ever was a prison riot.
The Deputy Warden must have been maintaining it for a while because we were able to follow the path all the way down to the other side. It took us nearly half an hour of walking single file down that tunnel, but it deposited us more than two miles away from the prison and out of range of any police vehicles or state troopers.