Part 2
Once home after he corrected the report, Steve had lain awake thinking back to when Mike's temper had first gone foul. As he was just about to drift off he finally recalled the meeting they had in Captain Olsen's office with people from CDCR and sleep eluded him for a long time.
The next day when he arrived at work there was a note on his desk to report to Captain Olsen's office. Arriving there he found Captain Olsen with CDCR people from their meeting.
"Keller, you remember Ben Goldwyn and Frank Bateman?" Olsen inquired politely.
"Yes, of course." Steve responded respectfully, shaking hands with the two visitors.
"We thought we would find out if you had been able to give our request some consideration." Mr. Bateman asked courteously.
"Yes, a bit. If Mike and Captain Olsen have no objections, I will do it." Steve tried to sound calm, though he felt a bit anxious.
"The decision is entirely up to you, I have no objections. I don't think Mike will object, but he went out of town this morning on family business." Olsen said with a smug tone that alerted Steve.
Steve did his best to keep his features totally impassive at the news Mike had left him out of the loop about his trip but the hurt was in his eyes.
"Fine, guess the answer is yes then." Steve sounded a bit subdued
After Steve retrieved the report from Mike's desk to turn it over to Captain Olsen, he left with the two men from CDCR to start the preparation for his undercover role; nobody knew if this would be the one undercover assignment that could very well cost him his life.
After extensive briefing, Goldwyn and Bateman felt he was convincing enough to pass inspection. Steve Keller was about to enter the prison population of Chino under an alias.
He made it through processing without raising any suspicions of his true identity. Thanks to the tips from the CDCR men of what to avoid doing once inside and what to do he acted accordingly.
He was following the guard, carrying the standard issue blanket and clothes and other necessities an inmate was given, and was having a mounting feeling of dread. wondering if he should have agreed to this assignment.
"One step out of line and you will live- or maybe not live- to regret it!" the guard threatened with malice in his voice.
Steve stared at the back of the guard's head as he walked. When they got to the cell he would be in. he was shown which bunk to take. Before the guard left him alone, again he taunted Steve with a parting shot.
"Word of warning pretty boy, sleep with your back to the wall. Some of the boys here love "fresh meat", especially when they are as pretty as you." Guard jeered almost cheerfully.
Once the guard was gone, he put his stuff on the bunk and hurried to the basin where he was violently sick. By the time the other inmates came in, he had his stuff put away in the proper places as he had been instructed. He kept his eyes straight ahead as he was warned by the CDCR people to do. That only worked until this one guy came over and got in his face.
"Watch your back "B.G.". You just might become my "punk" or worse." The inmate spoke with a leer. "You would not be the first boy I butchered and most likely not the last."
As the inmate spoke, he dared to let his hand brush against Steve, who forced himself to not show any fear, facing an unmistakably hardened criminal. He also made sure to not drop his eyes, as he knew that would be a sign of weakness and just what could get him hurt or killed. So he continued giving the inmate "Red eye", at least for the time being. Usually he knew you should never look at another inmate and always keep your eyes straight ahead, but when someone is in your face, you had to show that you were not going to be intimidated. If you could manage it. Then a voice spoke up that neither expected.
"Leave him alone, Buster. You have enough "punks", already. This guy is not going to be one of them. Trust me on that." The red haired prisoner spoke without fear. "I said back off!"
Buster moved away from Steve, although he was much bigger than the red haired prisoner, but he had learned to listen when the man spoke. Steve saw the red haired prisoner continue what he had been doing and relaxed a bit. He thought of all the tips he had been given by the men from CDCR and hoped he would be able to keep this charade up for the time needed, but part of him wished he had never agreed to this as he had heard how dangerous Chino could be.
He busied himself with a book so that he did not need to make eye contact with either of them, until it was time for lights out. He was almost glad he had got in there so late in the afternoon, that there wouldn't be much time left in the day, but knew he was dreading it as well and the days to come.
That night after lights out, he tried his best to think calming thoughts, so he could get some sleep. He found it hard to do, but finally sleep did come. After they had been asleep about 3 hours, Steve was shocked when he was wakened by the red haired prisoner shaking him gently. He covered Steve's mouth so he would not speak and alert Buster.
"I'm going to remove my hand, but be very quiet. We don't want Buster waking up." Red whispered under his breath as he removed his hand from Steve's mouth." I'm Red aka Jonathan Corwin."
"Josh Livingston." Steve murmured, hoping the name sounded convincing." Thanks for earlier, but why?"
"Because I know who you really are. I recognized you; I used to live in The City." Red's voice was barely audible and sensing Steve's thoughts sought to reassure him quickly. "Don't worry. Not letting on, because I remember you were very decent with my brother when he was busted. You're here about the prisoners that have been killed."
"You know what's going on with that, I take it." Steve said in a very low voice.
"Yes, we need to talk but not here. I will let you know when, until then we don't speak of it. Safer that way. Get some sleep." Red softly said before getting back in his bunk.
About a week later:
Back in San Francisco Mike had just got back to town and realized he had to make amends to Steve for his uncalled-for words. Not finding Steve at his apartment he headed to the department to seek him out.
The guys in homicide honestly had no answers for Mike; just that Steve had taken a report to Captain Olsen. None of the colleagues had seen him since. So the Captain's office was his next port of call.
"How is Jeannie doing? Did she get the idea of leaving school out of her head?" Olsen asked with concern.
"Finally, I had to do quite a bit of yelling at her about it, but she finally gave it up. I appreciate the time off to deal with that matter. It really had me in a fit; I even took it out on Steve. It was all getting to me, the trouble with Jeannie and those guys asking him to do that undercover assignment." Mike spoke calmer than he was the last time he saw Olsen until he noticed the strange look on Olsen's face. "Rudy, what is wrong? I can tell by the look on your face?"
"Mike, now stay calm. I did not realize how you really felt about them wanting Steve to do that assignment. They came back for an answer the morning you left and I told the kid it was up to him, that I had no objections." Olsen explained quietly.
"Rudy, you get on that phone right now and get hold of them and find out where in the hell Steve is!" Mike barked.
Just then there was a knock on the door and Olsen thought: Thank God saved by the bell so to speak. Little did he know the knock was just going to raise Mike's ire even more.
"Come in." Olsen called gratefully.
When Mike saw who entered, he immediately stood up and whirled around to face the men who had taken Steve away with them.
"Where is Steve Keller?!" Mike challenged in a hostile tone.
Both looked at Mike then Olsen then at each other. They realized that Mike Stone was very volatile and on the verge of tearing apart anyone that stood between him and his partner. Both cleared their throats before confirming what Mike already knew.
"Lieutenant Stone, well he was in Chino last we checked. He agreed to do the undercover assignment for us and you had gone out of town so we put the wheels in motion." Mr. Bateman answered in an anxious tone.
"CHINO?!" Mike shouted in dismay. "You know how dangerous that could be for him?! You might as well have just signed his death warrant!
"Lieutenant, this unfortunately is the location of the undercover assignment we needed him for. I thought you understood that when we had the meeting here a week ago. I am sorry but he is in the system now." Mr. Goldwyn explained calmly.
"You need to figure out some way to arrange a family visit so my daughter and I can see him totally alone. And when we see him he better be okay, mark my words!" Mike spoke in a slightly menacing tone.