Jennifer obeyed all of his commands and didn't fight as he dragged her to a nearby room.
He began to change into some clothes he had stashed, and pulled out some weapons he had made.
"Ok, March".
He jabbed the knife into her back as he pushed her, getting to her move forward.
He forced her down a hallway and into the block of cells. She couldn't help but notice they had passed three stations where guards were supposed to be.
Just as he shoved her into a cell, a guard watching on camera sounded an alarm.
The lights went out, and emergency lights came on. A siren wailed for several minutes. People started yelling and screaming and banging on the bars.
Jared quickly looked past Jennifer.
"Keep her in here".
He ran out and joined the crowd. Jennifer watched as they beat up a couple of the guards, tied them up, and stole their guns and handcuffs, and then put them in a cell together. A few minutes later, the guard that sounded the alarm was marched into the cell with the others.
"It's ok. What's happening to them won't happen to you. You're the insurance policy".
She apprehensively turned to see who was talking to her.
"Hi. I won't hurt you. I promise. I'm his cellmate. You can call me Lil' Wizard. It's ok, everyone does".
"How is this happening right now?"
"He's been planning it for months. He wants payback for the way the guards mistreat us, so he figured he would lure a big-name journalist and then stage a coup and they would give in to his demands if he released you".
"How charming."
Jared came back to the cell.
"Ok, let's go."
"Where are we going?"
"On a field trip".
He grabbed her and forced her out of the cell.
All the other inmates began whistling at her and growling and howling at her.
Jared forced her into a guard room. He shoved a chair at her and told her to sit down.
"Ok, now you and I are going to make a little video. Just sit there and act pretty and answer the questions I ask you".
He got the video camera all set up and then began to record. He made Jennifer say her name, and that she was a hostage, and that it was life or death.
As soon as they were done recording, Jared hacked into the computer and emailed the video to several news stations.
"Ok, back to the cell we go".
"Let's do this a different way. You trust me, as a journalist. Let me interview you on why you feel you are being mistreated and what improvements you would like. That will probably go a lot farther than what you are doing now".
"No dice, doll face. By the time this is over, I'll be on a beach in the tropics drinking a pina colada".
"A beach in the tropics? Wouldn't a cabin in the mountains be closer?"
"Yeah, it would. But I'm not looking for closer, I'm looking for better".
He grabbed her by the arm and took her back to the cell and handed her back over to Lil' Wizard.
Jennifer looked out through the cell door. All the inmates were freely running amok, doing what they wanted and hurting the guards that tried to stop them. The place was an absolute madhouse.
Jared and Lil' Wizard began to concoct their next plan.
"Hang on a second. I have to get someone to stay with her."
"Put her in with the guards".
"Good thinking".
Jared marched her over to the cell where they were housing the guards.
"Here's another addition for ya!"
"Thanks, boss".
The inmate watching this cell introduced himself to Jennifer as Baby Boy Blue.
"Everyone calls me that because my eyes are blue".
She took a nice, long, hard look at him. His eyes were as green as a four-leaf clover, but she felt it best to not bring that up.
"Yes, I can see that".
The guards that were in there with them were in bad shape. They were all bleeding, and were either unconscious or acting like they were unconscious.
The only plus about this cell was that it had an outside window that had been broken and now a nice breeze was blowing in.
Jennifer found a spot on one of the bunks and sat down and tried to figure out what to do.
Jonathan
Jonathan came into the penthouse and put his briefcase down.
He went and changed into some khaki pants and a polo shirt, and grabbed a beer from the fridge.
He checked his watch and figured Jennifer would be arriving in about an hour
He sat down with the mail and was about to leaf through it when the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Hart? It's Stanley. I'm at the office, working on the Myers deal, and we lost power. Do you have any idea what Bridgecorp is trading at?"
"Well, I can turn on the news and find out".
He grabbed the remote, turned on the news and immediately saw a breaking news alert.
"Hang on, Stanley, there's a breaking news alert".
"Is something going on?"
"It's New York, Stanley. Something is always going on".
"Very true, Mr. Hart".
Jonathan read the bottom of the screen.
"Stanley, Bridgecorp is trading at 118.53/share."
"Thank you, Mr. Hart. Any idea when you'll be back in California?"
Just then, Jennifer's face flashed on the screen and the words "Prison Rioters Take Reporter and Guards Hostage" appeared at the bottom.
"Stanley, I'm sorry, but I have to go. You're in charge, I trust you".
He hung up and turned up the volume.
World-renowned journalist Jennifer Edwards is being held hostage in the Briar Creek Federal Prison in Stone Creek, New York, about 3 hours north of Manhattan. This station was emailed a video moments ago, filmed by Jared Watkins, a former judge from Miller's Bay, who was convicted of theft and fraud charges and is serving 24 years to life in Briar Creek. In the video, he states that he arranged an interview with Miss Edwards in order to get her into the prison so that he could start the riot and use her as collateral. He states that mistreatment of the inmates by the guards precipitated this riot. We will play a clip of the video for you now.
Jennifer's face came back on the screen and Jonathan's heart began to beat out of his chest as he heard her say "My Name is Jennifer Edwards and I'm being held hostage".
He turned the volume down, grabbed the phone and called his pilot.
"Jack, I need you. Can you get me a helicopter? I'm in New York. I need it as soon as possible".
"I can have my hands on one in about an hour, at JFK".
"Perfect. I'll meet you there".
He got up and grabbed a jacket and ran downstairs to the lobby.
He took a cab to JFK, and thanks to an accident on the bridge, he arrived there just before Jack did.
"Where are we headed?"
"Briar Creek Federal Prison".
"You got it".
Jack flew them to the prison and Jonathan explained what was going on.
"Now, stay with me because I'm going to try to work this to her advantage".
"No problem".
Jack landed them in a field far enough away from the entrance that it was safe, but still on the grounds.
Jonathan hopped out and made his way to the barricade where the police were.
"Mister, what are you thinking pulling a stunt like that?! This is federal property!"
"I realize that. My name is Jonathan Hart, and my girlfriend is the journalist being held hostage in there. My company, Hart Industries, has enough net worth that I could purchase this entire property if I wanted to. However, I'm willing to help another way. If he will release Jennifer, he can go anywhere he wants in my chopper and my pilot will fly him. But he has to release her, unharmed".
"I appreciate that, Mr. Hart. He hasn't contacted us about specific demands yet, but when he does, I'll keep it in mind".
Jonathan tried to listen as the officers strategized on what to do.
They sent a list of phone numbers into the prison by way of an officer who was posing as a delivery man, and then sat back and waited.
Jennifer
Jennifer was tired, hot, and thirsty. She wanted out of there, this minute.
She was also scared out of her wits.
One of the inmates came into the common room pushing a cart.
"Hey guys, I was able to find a nice stash of food in the kitchen. Wings, burgers, fries- you name it. MacDaddy Jones is cooking it up as we speak. And Skinhead Mick got the soda machine in the canteen open".
A bunch of inmates headed to the kitchen, so Jennifer took a chance and tried to sneak into a room with a telephone.
"No, no, no, not so fast".
"I was just….looking for a bathroom".
"Yeah, right."
She turned back around and went and sat at one of the tables in the far part of the common area.
It wasn't until she saw him go upstairs that she began to relax.
One of the inmates grabbed a chair and turned it around and sat across from her.
"Hi, I'm Martez".
"Hi".
"So, rumor has it you were writing a story to free Watkins".
"That's what he asked for. But, like I told him, I was willing to get his side of things out there, without any promises as to whether or not he got out of here. He lied to me though, so if I do print his story, it's going to be filled with all of these events".
"Can I get you to write my story?"
"Tell me your story".
"Long story short, I killed my mom's boyfriend because he was about to kill her. I didn't mean to kill him, I meant to harm him. And I thought that's all that happened".
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I shot him, he fell to the ground, and my mom got away from him. By the time he got out of the hospital, she had moved and didn't leave a forwarding address. They got one bullet out, but one got lodged near his knee, like right above it. The DA declined to press charges against me because I was defending my mom. However, 10 years later, they show up at my door and arrest me. They said that the bullet had broken down inside his body and it caused him to have blood poisoning and he died. And they blamed me for it because I shot him".
"That's very tragic".
"You gotta help me. I'm telling you, I don't belong in here".
"I don't have any connections to the parole board or the governor or anything. If they ask me about you, I'll certainly tell them what you told me, but that's all I can do".
"At this point, I'll take what I can get".
"Can you do me a favor?"
"Certainly".
"Help me get out of here".
Just then, a very tall, broad shouldered brown-haired man came over and stood by their table.
"Dinner time".
Martez turned towards the man.
"Oh yeah? What you gonna have?"
The man pointed at Jennifer.
"Her".
"I beg your pardon".
"Leave her alone, T-Rex".
"Stay out of this Martez".
"No, I'm not going to stay out of it. You are going to leave her alone."
Martez stood up to challenge him and just as T-Rex reared his fist back to punch Martez, Martez threw a punch of his own. Before T-Rex could recover from that, another inmate came up and hit him in the back of the head with a chair, knocking him out. This prompted an all-out brawl, so Jennifer got up and ran to the first cell she could find with an open door.
She hurried inside and stood there, watching the brawl through the doorway of the cell. She was mesmerized by two smaller inmates working together to drag T-Rex into a cell.
She backed up when someone got too close, and felt someone behind her.
She turned around.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to intrude. I'll just be going now".
"Don't. It's not safe. Wait till they calm down and then I'll get someone to escort you out".
She nodded.
"I promise, I won't hurt you. Most of us in here aren't violent criminals. It's just…you can only be locked up so long before you go stir crazy. And then you add the mistreatment on top of that and it's a recipe for disaster. And the thing is, I'm new here. But I had that pegged the second day I was sent here".
"What mistreatment do you all allege the guards did to you?"
"Well, for starters, there's just a level of disrespect. Some of them are just downright hateful. They call us names, they throw things at us, they single inmates out and are harsher on them in regards to discipline. Then, there's the torturous part of it. They purposely bring food in here to eat in front of us that we can't have, like pizza, or hot wings, or fast food. And they make things harder. I don't expect them to make things any easier, but it seems cruel of them to make it harder on purpose. For example, when they find out that you have something you aren't supposed to have, they come in your cell, go through your things, and take what they find that is not allowed. That's called tossing a cell. The torturous part is that when you get your cell tossed, some of the guards will come behind you and write you up for having a messy cell, when you didn't have a chance to clean it up after they tossed it."
"I see".
"And then there's other things, like they withhold our medication, or they restrict our access to medication or medical services. They also like to make us wait extra long to go eat, knowing that when we get there, we might not get anything to eat".
"Yeah, that's not fair. You have some really good information. And I'm not saying I will need it, but if I was to write an article about this, can I quote you?"
"Absolutely. My name is Worth Truman".
Jennifer's jaw dropped to the floor.