Episode Five: War! - Scene 4

"Juice! What the fuck is going on?" Tina shouted from the other side of the bars. She was with her crew and they were headed to dinner with the rest of J Block.

The guard that was escorting them blanched when he saw the governor tied up, gagged, and dressed in only her underclothes. He mouthed, "Are you okay?" to her and Vera hoped the look in her eyes said, "What do you fucking think?" because that's what she wanted to reply.

"They've taken Sonia to Protection," Juice shouted as she stood behind Vera with a kitchen knife at her neck.

Tina was furious with Juice. This could get the large woman slotted for a year or maybe even killed by an inmate who had been paid by a guard. "What the fuck are you going to do with the governor?"

"They're insurance. I'm getting Sonia out like we did the last time with Queen Bea." Vera's heart jumped. She finally had video proof that Juice freed Smith from the slot and was responsible for infecting her with Hepatitis C.

"Why do that? Who is 'they'?" Tina asked.

Juice sneered and pointed to the clump of blood and uniform that was the deputy governor and several women seated on the floor against the far wall. "The minute she realizes that Sonia is in Protection, Bea and Kaz will come gunning for us. She's been waiting for a chance to start a war and get payback."

"Fuck Bea, Bea is weak," Tina spat at the floor. "She's alone since that Red Right Hand bitch tried to steal her girlfriend back and that She-man is still weak from cancer. That leaves the big, fat, cookie-eating, crazy one, and there's enough of us that we can take care of her."

Tina looked at Juice and smiled at her. She didn't think Juice was that smart but now she had the governor, the deputy governor, two sets of keys to every door in the building, radios and swipe cards. And their biggest enemy only had one person on her side. They finally had the run of the place and could finish off the former top dog quickly. This was too easy.

Tina and the women outside of the cafeteria started to laugh and bang on the bars and doors as Stella started handing them kitchen knives, rolling pins and even a few pots through the bars. The guard started to pull out his mace and try to get the inmates under control but he was quickly taken down and beaten into unconsciousness.

Tina handed a long knife to Kim, who looked at it evilly. "We'll split up," Tina ordered. "Take his radio and his swipe card and go get Sonia." Tina looked at the women who were with her. She pointed at the dark woman named Gibson, who had drugged the bald officer protecting Allie, and a swaying Filipino woman with a red nose named Dilaw na Bulaklak. "Laklak, you and the newbie go with her. Bring Sonia back here and wait for us."

"What are you going to do?" Tina asked.

"It's time I had a conversation with Queen Bea," Tina said as she handcuffed the guard to the iron bars. She took her crew and headed toward H Block and Kim headed down another hall toward the Protection Unit.

As the three women walked down the hall, they came to a stairway and Kim stopped. She looked into the space beside the stairs, "the same space that Frankie had bitch-slapped her for accusing that stuck up Miss Westfall," she realized. She signaled the two women with her and decided to make a detour.
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Bridget called a silent Code Black without hesitating. Then she made two phone calls: one to Derek Channing and one to Matthew Fletcher. She also tried to call Frankie to tell her she'd be home late but her lover didn't answer so she left a brief message.

Linda Miles and PJ Ford ran in to Vera's office to see what was going on and were surprised to find Bridget there alone. Bridget gave them a worried look as she turned the CC TV monitor so they could see it.

"A few minutes ago, Lucy Gambaro barricaded herself and several of her women in the cafeteria. They are holding Governor Bennett and Mr. Jackson hostage. They also have several women who are not part of their crew who were on work-duty at the time, including Allie Novak."

Bridget looked at PJ and saw a flash of worry before he replaced his stern composure. The psychologist made a mental note to have a discussion with him to assess his emotional state regarding Allie after this was all over.

"I have called Mr. Channing and Mr. Fletcher, who is in the process of completing his preliminaries before returning to us next week. With Fletch's training in hostage negotiations, I thought he would be an asset in this situation. He should be here within thirty minutes. Mr. Channing is currently in Perth giving a symposium and he will be monitoring the situation by phone until he can get here in about 6 hours from now."

Linda winced at the CC TV monitor as she watched Juice kick Will while she paced the cafeteria. Vera was seated at one of the tables, a red welt on her lip and her face red where she had been punched. She was gagged and dressed in only her bra and her shirt had been used to tie her hands behind her back.

"What do you want us to do?" Linda asked.

"For now, you two are the highest ranking officers outside of the situation. PJ, I would like you to coordinate the lock-down. We have prisoners moving from work detail to dinner and everything is wide open. Let's get as many prisoners back to their cells before we have a full-blown riot on our hands."

The former wrestler grabbed his radio and began shouting orders as he walked out.

"And me?" Linda inquired.

"I have something I need you to do," Bridget said softly.
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Sonia stopped struggling when Officer Webb got some assistance from Officer Johns and they managed to put handcuffs on her. She knew at this point that it would be best to wait and see what Juice had planned and whether or not she needed to take control of the situation.

The guards put her in the farthest cell in Protection and removed her handcuffs. Peta walked into the observation room and Brenda Murphy, the officer on duty, asked her what was going on.

"Gambaro and her crew have blockaded themselves in the cafeteria and taken Vera and Will hostage. Miss Westfall is in charge right now and is coordinating the recovery."

"Miss Westfall?!" Brenda asked, surprised.

Peta shrugged her shoulders and nodded. "She's the highest ranking prison official in the building after Vera and Will. With the two of them in the middle of the shit pile, she gets to be at the top of the shit heap."

The overhead radio ordered all prisoners to their cells and Peta left to go assist with the lockdown while Brenda went into her lockdown protocols.

Officer Johns closed Sonia's cell door behind him and turned to look at the small, well-dressed woman inside.

"Keep me informed, Bobby," Sonia ordered and the thin, severe guard gave her a quick nod.

As he passed the third cell, he turned and looked at the tall woman standing by the window. She turned and smiled at him and he smiled back. He knew where his loyalties lie and it was to HIS governor, the ONLY woman who could clean up these filthy whores and drug dealers. He admired her more now because she was willing to go to the root of the problem and fix it from the inside. He vowed to himself that he would help HER no matter what.
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Once she had given Linda her instructions, Bridget made sure the safe was locked and then made sure the desk was locked and hid the key in a safe place. She grabbed her jacket and a radio and headed out of the office and down the hall past the admin office, an officer's lounge, and several smaller offices. She noticed that all of the rooms were empty and concluded that everyone was assisting with the lockdown.

She walked through the door that divided the administrative area from the second floor classrooms and the library and headed toward the tactical room on the first floor. When she got to the staircase and turned, she ran face-to-face into Kim Chang and two of the women from J Block.

She turned and tried to run but Kim grabbed her hair and pulled back hard, dropping the psychologist to the floor.

"Pick her up," Kim ordered the two women and they grabbed her by the arms and followed Kim down the hall.

They pulled her into a classroom and Kim locked the door behind them. Bridget struggled to get away from the two women but Kim ordered them to hold her. When the psychologist twisted and broke free from the grasp of the two inmates, she ran for the door. She didn't have a chance to stop herself as she ran into Kim's waiting fist and dropped to the floor.
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Matt Fletcher positioned his tactical squad in the hallway left and right of the cafeteria so they couldn't be seen from inside. There was also another group at the door leading to the loading area.

When he got to the prison, he went directly to the Tactical center where he was supposed to meet Bridget. The guard monitoring the CC TV system said that the last time the psychologist had been seen was when she exited the Admin Wing.

PJ joined them and reported that everyone had been locked into their individual cells and the only group that hadn't been accounted for was J Block. Matt asked PJ to stay and coordinate from the Tactical center while he took a Tactical squad and went to talk to Gambaro and try to figure out what she wanted.

"Hi, Lucy. This is Matt," he shouted through the gate. "Can we talk?"

Juice grabbed Vera's hair and put the kitchen knife against her neck. "Stay back! Anyone tries to come in here and she's dead. Do you understand?!"

"I understand Lucy. I just want to talk and see if we can help you. I'd like to end this peacefully before anyone else gets hurt. Can you tell me please; do you have any demands?"

"Yeah. Will someone bring me my strap-on? The governor's lacy bra is getting me hard and I thought we'd have a bit of a party." Juice leaned down and licked the side of Vera's face.