Tom was up before Doug. He carefully slipped the packages of heroin under his blue prison uniform, trying to get them where they weren't visible. The last thing he needed was to get caught by one of the other prison guards carrying a kilo of heroin. Once he was sure the drugs were hidden, he turned and went over to Doug's bed and tapped him on the arm.
"Wake up sleepy head." Tom tapped him once more and his partner rolled over and opened his eyes. "Ready to go to work?" Tom asked with a smile.
Doug rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked at his partner with disbelief. "You really get off on this don't you?" he said with a chuckle.
Tom laughed and said, "What can I say? There's nothing like a good bust." He quickly slipped his badge into his pocket and tied the bandana around his head.
Doug got up and followed his partner over to the cell doors. He took a look around and said, "I'll just be glad to get the hell out of this cell."
"Well, looks like you're going to get a chance to do just that McQuaid." Fitzgerald said, as he made his way to the officer's cell. "I hear you boys are lucky enough to join us on road crew today."
Tom smirked at the prison guard and decided to have a little more fun with him. "Yeah, looks like you get to spend the day looking at my beautiful face."
Fitzgerald however wasn't amused. He pushed Hanson up against the wall roughly and said, "You know McQuaid, there's not going to be anyone out there to stop me from shutting you up, so if I were you, I'd watch that mouth of yours."
Tom struggled in the guards grip, but didn't back down. "I'd really like to see you try Fitzgerald."
The guard took one more hard look at Hanson and then abruptly let go of him. "You'll get what's coming to you sooner or later." With that, he walked out of the cell and stood waiting for the officers to follow. Once Doug and Tom stood in front of him, he gave Tom a quick shove, knocking him into Doug. "Let's go boys."
Doug grabbed onto Tom's arm before he could do anything stupid. "Come on… let it go for now." He whispered. Tom straightened himself up and nodded. He then followed his partner and Fitzgerald outside to the waiting bus. They were met by six other inmates and four armed guards.
"All aboard." Fitzgerald said as he stared Tom down. Tom pushed the anger down that was beginning to build inside him and followed Doug onto the bus. They made their way to the back of the bus and took a seat.
Tom leaned into Doug and whispered, "I am so looking forward to slapping the cuffs on him." Doug just looked at his partner and nodded.
Thirty minutes later the bus pulled over into a parking lot of a state park. Tom noticed that the park was a heavily wooded area, and that they hadn't passed any sign of civilization for the past twenty minutes. Tom stood up and followed Doug off of the bus, where the inmates were lined up, having their handcuffs removed. Fitzgerald was especially rough when it came to the McQuaid brother's turns. "Welcome to road crew boys."
Each of the inmates were handed garbage bags and tools to begin their work. They spread out as far as they could under the watchful eyes of the five-armed guards. Tom and Doug took their supplies and headed over to a shaded area by the bathrooms.
The officers had been working for nearly and hour when Fitzgerald walked up to them and motioned them over to the side of the bathrooms, out of sight from the rest of the crew. "McQuaids, I have some garbage for you to pick up over here."
Doug looked at Tom and whispered, "We're on." They followed the guard over to the side of the building and waited for him to make a move.
Fitzgerald shouldered his rifle and looked from one officer to the other. "I hear you boys have a package for me?"
Tom patted his uniform where the heroin was hidden. He nodded and added, "Do you have the money?"
Fitzgerald pulled out a wad of bills and showed it to the officers. Tom pulled out the packages of heroin and showed it to the guard. "How about a trade?" he asked.
Doug watched as the two traded the goods. Please just let this go as planned, he thought to himself and let out a sigh of relief when the guard tucked the package into his coat pocket. "I guess we'll get back to work now, come on Tommy." With that he started to pull Tom away. He was stopped however by a rough hand on his shoulder.
Fitzgerald turned Doug around and looked him hard in the eye. "You two had better not screw this up for me. I've got a good thing going here and I want to keep it that way."
Doug shrugged out of the guard's harsh grip and replied, "Don't worry Fitz, we know how to keep a good thing going." With that he tugged on Hanson's arm and they made their way back to work..
When the officers were far enough away that Fitzgerald could no longer hear them, Tom looked over at Doug and said, "Ok, deal number 1 down. Let's just see where else this will take us."
Doug picked up his work gloves and garbage bag. "I agree. Somehow I think that this was just a test. I think that there is a lot more going on here." He bent over and started picking up the garbage stuck in between the bushes. "God, this sucks."
Tom laughed as his partner began picking up the garbage. This is going to be a long day, he thought to himself. But, at least he was out here doing this shitty work with his best friend and partner. "You can say that again." He said as Doug sent him a look that told him to shut up.
