I've had this storyline for a while, but I never posted it because I didn't know what to do with it. Now that I've revisited this, I finally figured out where I want it to go.
This is a story about corruption and conspiracy. If that's not your cup of tea, no prob.
This is uhm different, so let me know your thoughts.
Disclaimer: The Plum universe belongs to JE. Typos are mine.
Stephanie's POV
I was walking down the hallway when I felt a rush of movement incoming behind me. Bracing myself, I moved off to the side at the last possible moment so that my attacker would dive face first onto the hard floor. Instead of tackling me from behind, my would be assailant got a taste of their own medicine. Ha!
"You're going to pay for that, Plum." The woman sneered. I've had run-ins with her before. More like nearly every damn day. Her name is Miriam Lopez but she goes by the nickname of Shawty. Shawty pretty much runs this place. It's not a good idea to be on her bad side. Unfortunately for me, I've been on her shit list since day one. Yay! Not. I have a good foot on her height wise, but she's got around forty pounds of solid muscle over me. Her punches hurt like no other.
"Bring it on." I sneered, easily deflecting her signature right hook. The thing about Shawty is that she likes to stick to the limited blows that give her results. Me being the observant person that I am, well, I've become quite adept at avoiding her fists these last several months. Yeah, she kicked my ass my first couple weeks here, but the tables quickly turned once I learned the limited variation of her true and tried moves.
"You're dead, Plum." Shawty growled after I pushed her off of me. She rose back to her feet after falling on her ass and charged me just as I felt the rush of someone else approaching.
"Of course you wouldn't fight fair. Coward." I snarled just as someone grabbed me from behind, yanking me off Shawty. "If you wanted me this much, you should have just said so." I teased, knowing that I can push her buttons a lot faster with words than blows.
"Fuck you, bitch!" Shawty spat."I don't want you like that. You're not my type." I partially ignored her as I worked on getting myself free from her latest lackey.
"Sure I'm not." I threw back, twisting out of the other woman's tight grip.
We were locked in a three person tussle for several moments. The cowards got some good punches in, those bitches! I returned every blow, though they weren't going to hurt as much as I am. A two to one ratio against will do that to you.
"Enough!" An authoritative sounding voice commanded, making my two aggressors stop in their tracks.
"Don't get involved in this." Shawty warned, shooting a heated glare to whoever is standing behind me. There's no way I'm giving my back to them again.
"Get." The person behind me ordered, using a complete no nonsense tone.
"Ma…" Shawty warned.
Ma is my cellmate. Her real name is Margaret Shin and rumor has it she's been locked up since before I was born. She's around my mom's age give or take, yet most of the inmates fear her despite seeing her as a mother figure type. She's never given me a negative vibe, but that doesn't mean she can't be dangerous. I've pretty much slept with one eye open the whole time I've been here, although it's been mostly because of Shawty.
"Leave. Now." Ma told Shawty and her sidekick of the day.
"You just got lucky, White girl." Shawty snarled before stalking off with her latest little lap dog. "I'll get you later." She whispered the threat as she retreated.
"Thanks." I said to Ma once the two were gone and I fell in step with her so we could reach our destination.
Ma was silent for the duration of our walk, only speaking until we passed the doors that led into the kitchen. Yes, I know it's quite the irony that I have this work duty of all things. I must have really wronged someone in my previous life.
On the outside, I was pretty lousy when it came to cooking. I was always afraid to venture into the kitchen and wet my toes. My mother always made me feel like such a disappointment when it came to cooking. But here on the inside, it's not as daunting. Ma makes it go pretty smoothly. Then again, it's not like we have many revolving food options.
"Again, Blue?" Ma asked as I went to wash my hands before I could get to work. I didn't respond, causing Ma to sigh. "Come here." She waved me over to her side of the table and I let her fuss over me some. Ma's got a lot of little tricks and usually she's the one that's kept my face from looking too fucked up. She's a miracle worker when it comes to healing swelling. Otherwise, I'd be in the infirmary daily.
We were silent while she did her thing. When she was done, I thanked her and we got to work. There's no time for mushy feelings in here.
"You need to stop getting into so many altercations." Ma reminded me as we got ready to wind down our work day hours later.
I sighed. "I've tried. You see that they're the ones that seek me out." Even if I kick their asses more than they kick mine nowadays, there's always someone gunning for me in here. It's like they get paid to target me.
"Listen, you haven't been convicted yet." Ma gave me a hard stare. "Behave and keep your head down. You still have a chance to go back to the real world, unlike some of us." She wagged her pointer finger at me as we finished our work.
I gave her a curt nod, knowing that it was futile to argue with her.
S&R
Tank's POV
Sighing, I cracked my neck from side to side. Thankful to finally be done with the insurmountable amount of paperwork, I stood from my desk with the intention of finally heading out of my office for the first time today.
Except, the interruptions never stop. My desk phone rang and I nearly rolled my eyes in a perfect impersonation of Stephanie.
"Report!" I barked out to the control room.
"Mrs. Stankovic is in the lobby and requesting to speak to you." Manny shared, asking what I wanted to do.
"Escort her to my office." I bit out before disconnecting.
Sitting back down, my brow furrowed in thought as I wondered what could possibly merit Stephanie's BFF to show up to visit me in the building. She wasn't a regular even when Bomber was here.
A few minutes later there was a sharp knock on the door, telling me that it was Lester who escorted Mary Lou Stankovic.
"Thank you." She said to Lester politely. He flashed her a wide grin, indicating that he'd used his charm to make her feel more at ease.
"Welcome." I stood and pointed to the seat across from my desk. When she sat down, I asked: "What can I do for you?"
Mary Lou sat ramrod straight as she looked at me. "I would like to talk to you about Stephanie."
"What is it?" I asked, genuinely concerned.
"When's the last time you visited her?" Mary Lou asked point blank, giving me a fierce glare that reminded me so much of Stephanie's.
"Yesterday." I replied despite not usually giving up information so easily.
"How did she look?" She asked with heat.
"Thin." I said sincerely. Stephanie was already small, but her time in detention has her looking like a shell of the person we know and love.
"That's it?" Mary Lou asked as a spark of fury crossed her eyes.
"Yes." The first few weeks in, Stephanie looked rough every time any one of us visited her. Lately, she's been able to hold her own enough to survive in there. Bomber's making do with what she has. She's a fighter. Always has and always will be.
"Today, she looked like more than one person beat the crap out of her." Mary Lou declared.
I frowned as I leaned back in my chair. Harrison, Stephanie's lawyer, saw her early this morning to give her the good news that after so much back and forth bullshit we finally have a date set for her trial. He did not report any marks when he saw her. Shit.
"You have to help her." Mary Lou said, pleading with me to find a way of getting her best friend out. "I'm afraid she's going to get killed in there." She sobbed, choking on the last word. "Her blue eyes, they've lost their usual vividness. They look vacant, even when she tries to smile." A tear slid down her check, possibly against her wishes, which she quickly wiped away.
"We're doing everything we can." And we have, but someone very high up has been there every step of the way to derail our every move.
"Thank you." Mary Lou stood, telling me that was all she needed to hear. She just wanted to know that we haven't abandoned Stephanie.
We have not. Nor will we ever.
After Mrs. Stankovic was escorted out of Rangeman, I flew down to the underground garage. I had a plane to meet.
My drive to the private airstrip was smooth thanks to traffic being light.
When I saw him rushing towards my truck, a sense of relief washed over me. With Ranger finally back stateside we have better resources to help Stephanie. There's certain things that only he can accomplish.
"Report." Ranger barked before his ass even touched the passenger seat.
I gave him the rundown of what has been happening in the time he's been away while I merged into traffic.
"In short, Rangeman's profits are up thirty percent from last year." I surmised, hiding my grin. I knew that wasn't what he was referring to.
"Tank." The deadly way he gritted out my name told me that he wasn't in the mood for games. Great. That's exactly the way we need Ranger right now.
Eight months ago Bomber was set to go after a medium bond skip: Martin Echols. The dude was a simpleton. He kept a very low profile. Everyone at his work said he never interacted with anyone. Echols was the type of employee that showed up, clocked in, did his work and then clocked out at the end of his workday. Didn't talk to anyone. Even his manager said he could count on the fingers of one hand how many times he heard Echols speak in the twelve years he worked there. Echols got into some legal trouble and ended up being bonded out by Vinnie. No one was expecting him to skip his court date. When Bomber when looking for him after weeks of virtually tracking him, she stumbled into what I suspect was a set up. Whomever Echols wronged, they made sure he wouldn't be able to speak. With Echols dead and Stephanie behind bars accused of murdering a man seemingly unrelated to Echols, well…
Our first clue that something was up came when Stephanie was denied bail. On paper, the official reason was given to be due to the violent nature of the crime. It was such a gruesome murder that even crime heavy Trenton was scandalized. Additionally, Stephanie was deemed a flight risk because of her history as a BEA. I called total bull.
The next clue that someone very high up was pulling a lot of strings to make this happen become obvious when Steph's court date kept getting delayed. She passed the seventh month mark last week. Perhaps if Ranger hadn't been away on a government mission, things might have played out differently.
"If you ask me, this has conspiracy written all over it." I told Ranger once I caught him up on the important details. I was only able to give him the gist of things when he finally resurfaced last week. He was gone a lot longer than even he had initially anticipated. "It's been roadblock after roadblock."
"How is she?" I knew Ranger would ask and I've never been someone who flat out lies.
"She's had a rough time." I cocked my head to the side as I gave him a condensed version of everything Stephanie has had to endure so far. "Bomber's tough and she's done a good job of holding her own." I get to stay in the loop thanks to the informants we have on the inside. Even they don't know who's making moves behind the curtain.
"Who's her cellmate?" Ranger inquired as he scanned the file I gave him. He'd find everything we've collected on our own so far in there. There's no way the prosecution has the slam dunk case they say they do. If they did, the trial would have started immediately. Some influential people are looking to get re-elected this year and they want to make themselves look good at Stephanie's expense.
I blew out a sigh, knowing that he wasn't going to like the answer.
"Tank." Ranger warned again, his temper flaring.
"Bomber's cellmate is Margaret 'Ma' Shin. She's serving a life sentence for killing, dismembering and then cooking her husband." I braced for what I knew would come next. The investigators reported that when they entered the Shin residence, the most mouth watering aroma greeted them. Needless to say, none of them ever had a beef stew in their lives ever again.
"What?!" Ranger hollered, beyond pissed. "Stephanie's in remand. Why is she bunked with someone who's already been sentenced?" Ranger knows as well as I do that usually someone in pre-trial detention won't be bunked with someone who's already serving their term. That's yet another red flag in this whole mess.
"Prison overcrowding." I bit out, knowing it was a flat out lie by officials.
"You honestly believe that?" Ranger snapped.
"No." I shook my head. It is also my belief that the reason why Bomber was put in a cell with someone as dangerous as Margaret Shin is for one reason only: to make sure Stephanie doesn't leave that place alive.
S&R
Stephanie's POV
I was staring up at the ceiling like I did most nights, unable to power down the racing thoughts filling my mind despite the near darkness. My eyes have adjusted very well to the darker nights, even if the dimmer corridor lights cast a bit of glow into the front section of our cell it's not easy to see much in front of you. I've been here two hundred and thirteen days, yet still struggle to get used to how horrible nights are.
Since I have the top bunk, I try not to jostle around too much. I wouldn't want to disturb Ma in the middle of the night. She's already very adept at falling asleep at the end of our long days, unlike me. On days when a visitor gives me the same worried look Mary Lou couldn't disguise during her visit earlier, I find that I struggle more than usual to fall and stay asleep.
It was quite late by the time sleep began calling my name. In fact, I'd just closed my eyes when the unmistakable clink of the cell door opening alerted me that we had visitors. Well, I had unexpected visitors.
I opened my eyes, but didn't move. From my vantage point up above, I saw the distinctive shadowy figures stalk towards our beds. I recognized one of the intruders since she's been a thorn in my side since day one: Shawty. I know her build blindfolded by now.
As soon as I saw her making a move towards me, I swung my legs over the side. Using gravity to my advantage, I was able to knock Shawty on her ass.
"Told you I'd be back." Shawty growled as we brawled.
"Give it up." I snarled, easily getting out of her grasp. It was then that all hell broke loose.
Shawty and her accomplice rushed me at the same time, practically cornering me in the confined space. I had to ignore the burning sting on my left side as I pushed Shawty away. I didn't even realize that Ma was up and moving until she yanked the other assailant back.
"Tonight's the night, Plum." Shawty snarled, rushing me again. "He's not happy that your trial date's been set." She let slip, causing me to get a little distracted.
He? What the hell? All this time I thought that Shawty had it against me because I refused to be her servant. Now, I'm starting to realize that it's something completely different.
"Who is he?" I demanded, moving my head out of the way to avoid her fist. During my surprise at her slip up, Shawty got the upper hand and pinned me down. Having her straddle my waist further restricts my movement. She's fucking heavy!
Before Shawty could attempt another blow, she was being hauled away. Ma had her in a tight headlock or at least it looked like that to my distorted gaze.
"I told you to leave her alone." Ma reprimanded just before a crunching sound reached my ears. When Shawty slumped against the floor with a heavy thud, I understood what Ma had just done.
"You killed her." I gasped, panic bubbling up my throat. I felt like I was going to hurl. "Ma!" I hissed, wondering what's gotten into her.
"And I told you, Blue, to stop getting into fights." I couldn't see very well in the semi-darkness, yet I still made out the pointer finger Ma shook my way.
"I was in bed!" I bitched, reminding her that I wasn't the one that went out looking for trouble. Trouble found me.
The rustle of fabric reached my ears, and I figured Ma must have shrugged her shoulders. Potato, potato.
I glared at Ma even though I knew she couldn't see my face. Yes, Shawty and her people have been a pain in the ass. However, she had some valuable intel. She took whatever she knew to her grave.
As my mind raced working frantically to try and decipher Shawty's final cryptic words, a chilling thought made all others stop in their tracks. Shawty came here with an accomplice. Did Ma kill her too?
The lights came on suddenly, making me squint my eyes instinctively as the alarm blared. Ugh, that only happens when the guards need to do an emergency headcount in the middle of the night.
My eyes scanned the floor and I couldn't help but grimace. The two inmates they're looking for are not only in our cell, but they're also deceased. Oh fuck.
"Why'd you go and kill them?" I groaned, wondering what our punishment will be. I spent a lot of time in solitary when I first got here. Every time a fist came my way, mine retaliated. Had I not, I'd probably be dead by now.
Ma shrugged. "There's only so many life sentences I can actually serve." She said ominously.
A shiver ran up my spine. Ma never gave me a malevolent vibe. I'm not naive. I know that whatever she did couldn't have been a picnic if she's serving a life sentence. Yet, she's respected by even most of the guards. So why would she do this? It made no sense to me.
"You never did ask me what I was in for." Ma said as activity roared outside of our cell, probably as other inmates bitched about being awoken.
"It's none of my business." One thing I learned from my repeat FTAs is that when you're locked up, no one is your friend. Keep your mouth shut about your alleged crime. Don't ask others what they're in for. Don't accept favors from anyone. Hold your own as much as possible.
"Hmm." Ma nodded, just before she lunged surprisingly fast.
In the split second I had before she reached me, I wondered if my instincts had been wrong about her all along. When she hit me over the head and everything went black, that should have been my answer.
Obviously this is fiction, but I've tried to keep it as realistic as possible despite the conflicting research (every state is different).