Part 1: The Fugitives
Chapter 9
"A new shipment of inmates"
As Hugo and Hooft were settling in to their new surroundings at the Trading Post, Colonel Staquait was back at Cape Doom overseeing a new shipment of inmates that had just arrived. The newly brought prisoners were all chained together in several rows. The first row was those who were serving short sentences; the second row was for those who were serving long sentences; the third row was for those serving life sentences and the fourth row was for those who were on death row. Yes, this was the way that Cape Doom operated and Colonel Staquait looked down on the prisoners and smiled evilly at them.
Upon arrival, the prisoners were stripped of their clothing and once they were stripped, they were rechained and led out into the courtyard where the hard labor was done. Colonel Staquait stood from atop of a balcony and stared down at his prisoners, who were completely naked with their black and white stripped uniforms next to them.
"Welcome, prisoners," he called out to them below. "This is your home now. You have been convicted of crimes ranging from petty theft to capital murder to terrorism. The world has disposed of you from her life and now you will live the rest of your days here. You will live the life of an outcast and be treated as such. Disobey orders and suffer the consequences of what Cape Doom has to offer. So forget the world as the world has forgotten you. So now, put on your clothes."
Doing as they were told, the prisoners put on their uniforms and those who had trouble putting them on were beaten by the guards for not being in sync with the others. In fact, one of the prisoners who was witnessing all of this was Bobby Canler, Jane's former fiancée serving a life sentence for attempting to assassinate the Queen of England. Yes, he wanted to do it to make a better life for England but it appeared that his intentions were not that good after all.
Once their uniforms were put on, the prisoners were led to their cells and those who were serving more severe sentences were placed in more confining cells. Bobby was one of those who were put into the confining cells because he was convicted of attempted murder. Once that he was put in his cell, a small voice came out from a small hole next to his cell.
"Hey," the voice whispered. "You're Bobby Canler, aren't you?"
Bobby heard the voice and when there were no guards around, he crept over to the small hole and spoke to the voice coming from the next cell over.
"Yes," he whispered. "Who are you?"
"The name is Antoine," called the voice. "Antoine Daniel, I'm serving time for petty theft."
"Then why are you in here?" asked Bobby. "I thought those who were accused of minimal crimes were placed in the other cells with the other low convicted prisoners."
"I know," said the voice. "I'm only 14 years old and my mother asked the man who runs this place to put me in here."
Bobby was shocked by all of this and wanted to know right then and there why a young boy like Antoine was in here. In fact, he had witnessed young boys Antoine's age being imprisoned in the tower of London for petty crimes and yet they were released after a short period of time.
"If you don't mind my asking," asked Bobby. "How long have you been sentenced?"
"I've been sentenced to life imprisonment," replied Antione dejectedly. "What about you?"
"I've also been sentenced to life imprisonment," replied Bobby. "I was planning to kill the Queen of England and rid my country of her tyrannical ways. But, you can't be sentenced to life imprisonment for a simple crime like petty theft."
"I know," replied Antoine. "My mother had asked the judge to sentence me to life imprisonment so she could disown me. I think she lied to the judge so that I could never be in society again. My mother was a prostitute and treated me very badly."
The more he heard from Antoine, the more shocked Bobby had become of his new friend's predicament.
"Didn't your father say anything to her in your defense?" asked Bobby.
"My mother said that he had washed his hands of me," replied Antoine. "If I ever get out of here, I want to find a family that would be supportive of me and that would make my whole life worthwhile."
Bobby looked down shockingly and just then the guard came over and peeked through the cell and saw Bobby looking out through the prison bars of his cell and even though he thought that he heard something, he ignored the conversation that Bobby was having with his neighbor and returned to his duty of patrolling the prisoners in the wing.
"Antoine," he said. "I want you to listen to me. I'm going to get you out of here somehow. There is going to be a family out there who would want a boy like you and that would mean very much to them. But, if you are going to survive in a place like this, you have to do what they say and if you don't, you may never get out of here alive. Do you understand?"
"I do," replied Antoine and the conversation was finished as Bobby looked back out over the night sky that fell over the prison and thought of his earlier life with Jane.
He knew that Jane was married to Tarzan, but there was a moment if he could just see her again and apologize to her for all he had done to her, it would mean the world to him. But, as he returned to being in his solitary confinement, he overheard the sounds of Colonel Staquait and several of his highest ranking officers planning something.
"Gentlemen," he said. "I have a feeling that we were tricked by Tarzan and those two dolts. We need to return to those jungles and recaptured those two idiots and keep them here forever."
"How can we?" said a lieutenant. "With that wild jungle man out there, there is no way we could find those two."
"That's where you are wrong," said Staquait. "If you listen to me and do as you are told, you will see why that capturing Hugo and Hooft will be much more easier this time."
Bobby was shocked at this, hearing the word Tarzan meant that Jane was going to be put in mortal danger. Little did he realize of the true danger that would befall Jane just around the corner…
