Chapter 38
The Ruthless Pragmatist

Kubra sat across from Alex, his expression blank. He was wearing a bad hair piece and he had a full beard, but Alex recognized his eyes immediately. Dark and cold, there was no mistaking them. Alex suddenly felt panicked. She had no idea what he was doing here—or even how he got in here, but this couldn't be good. Was he pissed she got sent to Max? Was he here to kill her himself? All sorts of thoughts ran through her head, but she would have never imagined the next words out of his mouth.

"I'm going to help you get out of here, Alex," he began. "What I'm about to offer you, you will not be able to refuse. You betrayed me once, and you know better than anyone that I do not tolerate betrayals. I should have killed you, Alex, but here I am offering you my help, once again. The truth is, I need you back in my organization. Things have not been the same since you've been gone. I'm losing millions. Aydin is a complete fuck up. I tried to replace you with him, and it's just not working out."

Alex shifted a little in her seat. She wasn't sure where this conversation was going, but she decided to go along with it. "Look, Kubra, I know that I fucked up by testifying against you, but they were offering to let me out of serving years in prison. At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do—for myself. You've never spent time in here, you don't know what a place like this can do to you. Mentally, I just wasn't thinking straight. You're a ruthless pragmatist just like I am, so you can't tell me that you wouldn't have done the same exact thing if you were in my shoes."

"So, you're prepared to make amends by coming back to work for me then?" It was a question, but it sounded more like a demand.

Alex wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, but she managed to keep her composure. "Exactly how am I supposed to do that? I have several years left on my sentence, and now that I'm in Max, I'm sure it'll be even more. Besides, I thought I was already working for you anyway selling to these prison junkies."

"What?" Kubra asked, clearly confused.

Alex was surprised by his confusion. "Um, yeah, I've been selling drugs in here for you for months. Since Aydin showed up one day and told me I had no choice and that you would kill me and Piper if I didn't."

Kubra's face turned a deep shade of red. "Fucking fucker," he said as he slammed his hand down hard on the table and then abruptly stood up and started pacing.

"You mean you didn't order Aydin to force me into selling drugs?" Alex asked in complete disbelief.

"Absolutely not," he began, "I sent Aydin here to keep an eye on you, but I never asked him to force you into selling drugs in here. That greedy bastard has been stealing my drugs and having you sell them. He's stealing from me."

Alex wasn't sure what to say. She never suspected this, but this was really working to her advantage. Aydin was actually stealing from Kubra the whole time.

"I will take care of him. He will pay for this," Kubra said in an eerily calm tone, and sat back down. "Now, here's my offer to you Alex, and keep in mind that this is your last chance with me. No more betrayals. Agreed?"

"Okay, agreed," Alex said. She was curious about this offer.

Kubra leaned forward towards her, "I'm going to help you escape from here. Once you're out, I'll get you a new passport, money, a place to live… whatever you need. You will be my second in command, Alex. You will be well compensated."

"Escape? Escape from a maximum security prison? Are you fucking kidding me? She laughed.

"It will be easier than you think, I can assure you. I walked in just like this—America's most wanted… no, the World's most wanted," Kubra said proudly. "I can have you out of here as soon as tomorrow, Alex. Just say the word."

Alex realized he was quite serious. Could she really do this? Escape from prison and live her life on the run, and still under Kubra's control? She also knew Kubra wasn't really asking. He was demanding. She figured if she turned him down, he would probably kill her right now. She had to do this. There was just one thing—Piper. She couldn't run away and leave Piper. But was it fair to force Piper into living a life on the run? "Okay, I'll do it, but I have one condition."

"And that is? He asked.

"Piper," Alex said.

Piper, Steely, Nicky, and Lorna were all gathered together in the dorms. Nicky was sitting on Red's bunk looking rather distraught. Lorna had her arm around her, comforting her. Steely was in her bunk across from Piper crushing up roofies for Aydin's coffee while Piper was watching for guards or King.

"Okay, we're good to go," Steely said as she stuffed the tiny baggie of crushed up pills into her bra. "I'll make some kind of distraction, and dump this in his coffee cup. We'll need to lure him into the greenhouse somehow, and then twenty minutes later he'll be so fucked up he won't know what hit him."

"Then I'll come in and bring the gun," Piper said, affirming her role.

"Yeah, and then we'll get his prints on it, and put it in a baggie and hand it off to Nicky who'll then put it in his locker."

"And then one anonymous phone call to the cops, and it's done," Nicky chimed in.

"Let's do this," Piper said.

Steely left first and was joined by Lolly on the way to the greenhouse. Lolly wasn't privy to their plan, but Steely thought she could use Lolly to help with distracting Aydin. She told Lolly what to do, and Lolly agreed to help.

When they made it to the greenhouse, Steely saw Aydin standing by the greenhouse with his morning cup of coffee. He saw her as well, and nodded his head as a signal for her to walk over there, so she did.

"What the fuck happened to Vause?" he asked.

"Oh, you don't know?" Steely teased. "She got sent down to Max, so I guess you'll be getting new job assignment down there now to harass her more."

"Why the fuck did she get sent to Max?" he said, pulling her into the greenhouse with him. He placed his cup of coffee on the work table behind them.

"It didn't have anything to do with the drugs, if that's what you're asking. That fucking cunt, Judy King… she set up Piper to take the fall for this panty smuggling ring. Alex couldn't let that happen, so she took the blame," Steely explained.

Aydin looked confused. "King? The fucking celebrity chef?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Well, in that case, until I can get a transfer down there…" he said as he pressed closer to Steely, "you're going to be my new bitch."

Steely was ready to knee him in the crotch when Lolly burst out a window with her rake. She usually burst out a window every other week, so Steely thought it wouldn't seem like a big deal.

"Oh, shit man, I did it again," Lolly said as she peeked in at Aydin and Steely.

"Damnit, inmate, how many times have I told you to stay the fuck away from these windows," Aydin yelled as he exited the greenhouse to confront Lolly.

Steely quickly retrieved the baggie of roofies from her bra, and then nervously opened the lid on his coffee cup and dumped in the contents. She replaced the lid and gave the cup a quick swirl or two.

Aydin finally finished yelling at Lolly and came back into the greenhouse. He grabbed his coffee cup, and took a sip. "Now, where were we?" He asked. "Oh yeah, you're going to be my new bitch. You've already been working with Vause this whole time anyway. You should be really good at it, and maybe with you, I could use you for a few other things."

Steely didn't like the way he was eyeing her up and down. He truly was a loathsome prick. She wanted to kill him. She was pretty sure she could do it. There was a sharp pair of shears within reach. All she had to do was grab them and thrust them right into his cold, dead, beating heart, but she kept seeing her mom's face, and she knew that she couldn't just kill him. It would be too easy and he needed to pay for what he had done. "I'll help with the drugs, fucker, but that's all."

Aydin smirked, and took another long sip of coffee. "You'll do whatever I say." He said, as he ran his finger down her face.

She jerked back, away from his touch.

"You know, I knew your father? Louie and I worked together for a while," he said.

Steely noticed he was starting to slur a little. "No, I didn't know that, but it doesn't surprise me. He always worked with scumbags."

He turned up the coffee cup and finished it off, "I knew your mother too."

"You can say what you like about my dad, but don't you dare mention my mother," Steely warned.

Aydin stumbled a little and fell against the wall. He braced himself, and shook his head trying to focus. "I even remember you too. You were young, and so innocent. I almost hated to kill you… but you didn't die. You were supposed to die too."

He then stumbled more and fell into Steely. She let him fall onto the floor, and then she propped him up against the wall. She grabbed him by his hair, and banged his head hard against the wall. "Yeah, I know what you did you fucking piece of shit. You shot me and you killed my mother."

Aydin, with his eyes half shut, said, "I was under orders. I didn't have a choice. It was Kubra. Kubra Balik, he gave the order to kill you and your mother. I just failed at killing you too."

Just then, the door opened and Piper came in. She saw Aydin slumped on the floor, and she felt relieved. "He's out?"

"Pretty much, he just admitted to shooting me and my mother, so I'd say he's pretty fucked up. You got the gun?"

Piper pulled the gun, sealed in a plastic baggie, from her pants. She opened it quickly and stepped over Aydin and lowered herself down to face him straight on. "This is for Alex, you sick, twisted bastard." Then she spit in his face.

Steely grabbed his arm, and Piper placed the gun in his hand, being careful to not touch it. She closed his fist around it, and then gently dropped it back in the plastic bag. Back into her pants it went. Then she hit him hard in the face with her elbow. He groaned and mumbled something, then passed out completely.

"What are you going to do with him now?" Piper asked.

"I'm just going to shove him under this table, and put these pots in front. He'll sleep it off, and in a few hours he'll wake up and not remember a thing. I don't think any other guard will come this way for a while. We should be good. Just get that thing to Nicky and into his locker."

"Okay, I'm going to find her now. Be careful," Piper said as she got up to leave.

When Piper went back inside, she was confused about what was going on. It seemed like a riot. Girls were screaming, some were crying, and the guards were struggling to maintain order. She saw Nicky and Lorna and went over by them. "What's going on?"

"What, you didn't hear? They just came and took Judy King down to Max. Guess your little plan worked, Chapman," Nicky said with a huge smirk on her face.

"What?! No! Wow, I didn't think Caputo would work that fast," Piper said, smiling. "Holy fuck! Are all these girls rioting because of it?"

"Yeah, they've all lost their shit over it. This is the funniest thing I've ever seen, and I'm glad to know that I was a part of it," Nicky said proudly.

"Okay, I know we're all proud of it and everything, but don't you two have something else that needs to be done?" Lorna asked.

"Fuck… the gun. I almost forgot," Nicky said.

"Yeah, this riot thing should help us out. The guards are all so distracted, no one's going to notice you slip in there and put this in Aydin's locker," Piper said, looking around at all of the commotion.

"Okay, so do you want me to grab it out your pants, or what?" Nicky asked impatiently.

Piper rolled her eyes, and as discreetly as possible pulled the gun from her pants and passed it off to Nicky, who then stuffed it down her pants.

"So, it's like we're snatch sisters again, but in a different way this time, huh, Chapman?" Nicky asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Jesus, Nicky…" Piper said, almost laughing. "Just go… do your thing."

"And be careful," Lorna begged.

"Careful is my middle name," Nicky said as she quickly kissed her on the cheek and walked away.

Alex returned to her bunk. She was disappointed to see that Stella was still there. When she walked in, and after the guard had left, Stella spoke quietly, "I just saw them bring King in. I think they're going to let us go back up the hill soon."

Alex felt relieved, but then she remembered the deal she just made with Kubra. She knew she wouldn't be going back up the hill. "When you get back up there, I need you to give Piper a message for me. Do you think you can do that?"

"What? Why? You can tell her yourself, right?" Stella asked.

Alex fought back tears, "No, I can't."

With most of the guards trying to keep the women under control, it was easy to gain access to the front office. A telephone was used to dial a series of numbers. After two rings the other party answered.

"Oui?"

"Yeah, it's me. We've got what we need. It's time."

A/N – Well, I think this is the penultimate chapter… all that's left now is to finish this. I already have an idea how to end it, but I'd like to know how you think it should end. Have a great week! - J