CHAPTER 6—SHAKEDOWN
Alex and Jake were taken aback by the imposing hospital. They'd never seen the place before, and they really didn't want to see it this time, either, but they had no choice. If they didn't report to Donovan soon, they wouldn't doubt he'd storm in and start kicking asses, beginning with theirs.
* * *
Kelly watched in confusion as three guards converged onto her tiny cell. What were they doing? In the decade she'd been housed here, her cell might have been shaken down three or four times. She played the role of the good girl patient. Without protesting, she took her medication and followed the rules. She had always had thoughts of revenge in mind, but hadn't followed through with any plans until she saw the wedding announcement. Even then, she hadn't done anything more than making those innocent little cards. No one ever cared that she had access to items considered taboo. They didn't understand. Frankie had to pay. If he had done to them what he did to her, they would understand. She allowed the shakedown with little fuss. She watched as they confiscated her heavy construction paper, her pens, pencils, and markers. Let them take it, let them take it all, she thought. It didn't matter, because by tonight, she would be free. After tonight, she and Carly would descend upon the Donovans and make their lives sheer hell. She wanted Frankie. Carly could take care of the little wife.
* * *
Counselor Hall stood behind his desk and stared down at the materials seized from Kelly Bartlet's cell. The items were perfectly harmless, of course. There was a package of heavy construction paper, colored pens and pencils, and markers of various shapes and sizes. It was craft making stuff; stuff that people used to make their own homemade cards. Ms. Bartlet had obviously been very busy lately. This did not bode well for him, especially when Frank Donovan got wind of it. The agent had claimed that he did not make idle threats, but if he were to toss the crap aside and pretend nothing had been found, he could evade Donovan's wrath. What's the big deal, anyway, he thought. They had received a couple of handmade cards from a mentally disturbed woman who was safely locked behind a steel door. There was no chance that Kelly Bartlet would be released. She wasn't at Rockbridge for solely running down Frank Donovan as a young coed. She had been brought here from Massachusetts after murdering two nurses at the hospital while trying to escape. This was something Donovan obviously didn't know. He also didn't know that Kelly Bartlet had been psychotic and obsessive most of her young life. Of course, it didn't matter. He would toss the materials and never breathe a word to anyone. His staff would back him up. Then after this day, he would ensure that Ms. Bartlet would never handle craft materials again. Quietly, carefully, he gathered up the materials and placed them neatly into a small box. They had an incinerator down in the basement that would effectively destroy everything.
"I don't think that is such a good idea," a voice said.
The LC looked up suddenly, completely not expecting anyone to enter his office on a Sunday. A young swarthy man and a woman with striking eyes stood in the doorway of his office. He immediately noticed that they were armed. His eyes also identified what appeared to be police-type shields hanging from clips at their waists. What the hell? Donovan hadn't been bluffing at all. He was looking at two very pissed off federal agents. Suddenly, his heart began to beat sickly in his chest. He was fucked and fucked good.
* * *
Donovan sat in his office with his head in his hands. He had yet to hear from Alex and Jake. He was certain they had made it to Rockbridge. If he didn't hear from them in the next half hour, he would make his own trip back. In the last two hours, he had called home six or seven times. Each time he dialed the number, it was busy. Good, he thought. He hoped she was on the phone with the airline making travel arrangements. He knew she wasn't happy about leaving, and he didn't want her to go, but he could not allow her to stay, not until the situation with Kelly Bartlet was settled.
The only thing nagging at him now was how Bartlet had gotten their mailing address. They had only lived in the apartment for about six months. Neither of them had wanted to stay at his old place, there were too many bad memories associated with it. However, for Donovan, there was more. The spot where Loralei had fallen after being shot seemed eternally stained by her blood. He wasn't sure if his eyes had played tricks on him or if the blood had actually penetrated the floor as easily as it had penetrated his heart and soul. Despite installing new carpeting and cleaning the floor, it never went away. It stayed there, haunting him. He didn't want to begin his married life looking at those stains every day. He couldn't do it. After Loralei was released from the hospital, they moved in to her tiny apartment across town. They stayed there an additional two months after the Black Heart's trial before settling on a new place not far from the old one, but still far enough away not to taint their happiness. Yet, it hadn't worked, had it? An insane ghost from his gilded past had found them, and she was intent on destroying his life. The best way to hurt him was to attack the people dearest to his heart.
He picked up the phone and dialed his home number again. This time, it only rang. Loralei wasn't home. He breathed a heavy sigh of anguished relief and was grateful that she hadn't fought him on this. She was stubborn sometimes, almost more than he. He left her, hoping that she understood the urgency, the sheer seriousness of the situation. No words in the English language could stress the importance of having her out of that apartment, away from yet another threat to not only her life, but also to their unborn child as well. He dropped the phone back onto its cradle and sat back in his chair. He would deal with Kelly Bartlet. He would face her again. This time, he would not run away. This time, he would not back down.
"Frank?"
The voice brought him out of his daze. Surely he hadn't heard what he thought he did. Surely she hadn't decided to be stubborn. Surprised, he turned toward Loralei. He wasn't supposed to be looking at her or hearing her voice. She was supposed to be at the airport awaiting a flight out to Missouri. "Loralei? What the hell are you doing here?" He watched as she quietly walked around the side of his desk to face him. He focused his dark eyes on her face, fixing her with a pissed off, worried gaze. "I don't want you to stay here right now. Didn't I make that clear enough?"
She placed her hand on his cheek as he tried his best to stare straight through her. His anger was so acute that his body was almost quaking. And he wondered why I didn't tell him about the baby sooner, she thought. Sighing, she said, "You have a lot of control over a lot of people, places, and things, but you can't control flight schedules, Frank. The first available flight out is on Tuesday. The rest are booked solid."
He covered her hand with his and brought it down off his face. "You're kidding, right? Don't you think I know what you're doing, Loralei? You must leave immediately. It's not safe for you here. Don't you understand? Can you do this one thing for me, for us, without your bullheaded stubbornness? I'm asking-no-begging you to listen to me. After this is over, I don't care if you ever honor another request I make for the rest of my life. Just this once, baby, please."
His last five words were hurled at her through gritted teeth. It had been several months since he had been this upset with her. She knew he wasn't exactly angry. He was addled more by anxiety than anything else. "I promise you, Frank, I tried. There's nothing available. Call behind me if you want. You're right, I don't want to leave. I'd rather stay here and help you with this. You're not the only one in this marriage who worries, Frank. I know you're afraid something will happen to me, to the baby, and I don't intend to fight you. I can't leave today or tonight."
"You can leave." He slipped his hand into his pocket and dug out his car keys. He laid them out on his desk and slid them toward her. He focused his eyes on her face again. "Go back home and call your parents. Tell them you're driving up tonight so they'll be expecting you. It would take no more than seven or eight hours. If you understand, if you don't want to fight me on this, then go. Go now."
Not taking her eyes off his, she reached across the desk and grabbed the keys. Before she backed away, he took hold of her arm and drew her across his lap. His lips took hers gently, but the kiss deepened very quickly as her lips parted against his. He didn't want to let her go, but he had no choice. Every moment she lingered with him made her departure even harder to bare. Reluctantly, he broke the kiss.
"Loralei," he said, "I need you to go."
She stood and moved a few steps away from him. "I'm going." She turned away from him and made her way toward the door. Before exiting, she turned to glance at him over her shoulder. He had not taken his eyes off her. His gaze was intense and unfaltering. "I love you."
He nodded. "And I you, my love."
Once she was out of his line of vision, he glanced down at his watch. Too much time had passed with no word from either Jake or Alex. He stood, with the intention of asking to borrow either Monica's or Cody's car so that he could make his way toward Rockbridge. He had time enough to get to the door before the phone started ringing. He darted back toward the desk and swooped up the phone. "Donovan," he spat.
"It's Alex," she said. "Before you start yelling, we had a slight problem here at Rockbridge. Your hunch about Fred Hall was right. We caught him trying to discard some very interesting evidence seized from Kelly Bartlet's room. She had tons of craft-type materials in her cell, including heavy construction paper and card stock. We checked with every staff member currently on duty, and all concurred that Bartlet's cell hadn't been shaken down in about a year. They also found the address of Bartlet's aunt. Jake is speaking with her on the phone right now, but we're certain that she mailed cards for Bartlet from the Chicago area."
Donovan felt his blood begin to boil. If his hands could reach into the phone line, he would throttle Fred Hall. "What about Kelly Bartlet," he asked. "Is she secure?"
"Yes. But you had a right to worry. A wedding announcement was found among dozens of bridal magazines, it was yours and Loralei's. She appeared to be targeting Loralei as well as you."
He caressed the bridge of his nose, thankful that he had sent Loralei away. "Thank you," he said. "Before you leave, find out who Hall's superior is, and contact him. Tell him to call me here as soon as possible. I'll be seeing Ms. Bartlet tomorrow."
"I don't know if that's advisable at this point, Boss."
"I don't care," he said firmly, stiffly. "This is something I should have done ten years ago. It is something I must do now, for her sake as well as mine."
* * *
Kelly didn't think the federal agents were ever going to leave. She was more than certain they were associated with Frankie in some way. She had never seen them before, but their visit was too close to Frankie's the day before. Her cell was now completely stripped of every personal item that had once been in her possession. She didn't care what they took as long as they left. If they didn't leave, hers and Carly's escape plans would be shelved for tonight. She couldn't have that. Kelly paced the short length of her cell restlessly. The agents had to leave, they had to leave now. Frankie had the ability to spoil every damn thing, but he would not spoil this for her. During one of her brief passes around the room, she stopped and peered out the window. They were leaving. Yes oh yes.
* * *
The guard on Carly and Kelly's row was a petite spitfire known to all as "Kit." Kit normally worked the day shift, but earlier today, she had been called in to work second. She hated working second shift, but the giant guard whose place she was taking was a friend of hers. He had worked in her place countless times, and she figured she owed him at least one favor. Kit was hesitant about taking her co-worker's row because there were a couple of really loony chicks there. Working with the mentally disturbed didn't really bother her, but these girls took the cake, literally. One of them was some whacked out serial killer with an affinity for murdering her husbands. The other was some poor, sad sap who looked at bridal magazines endlessly. Nuts. They were nothing but nuts.
As soon as Kit signed in, she noticed that something was going down inside the LC's office. She had no idea that it was he who was going down. She shrugged it off and forgot about it. The LC was just as creepy as some of the inmates. She looked at the logbook and noticed that it was nearly time to pass out the evening medication. She didn't like that task, either. It required actually stepping in the cell and making contact. Whatever happened to the days where a poor working gal could just shove the shit under the door and go? Sighing at her shitty lot in life, she went to the medication room [yes, folks, room] where dozens of bottles of drugs waited for distribution. Kit had to sign in for that as well. There was a camera recording her every move, ensuring that she didn't palm a couple of xanax. She collected a couple dozen paper cups to medicate her row, and she set about her task.
* * *
Black Heart lay in wait. It was her job to take down the guard known as "Kit." She had been chosen for this particular duty because her body type and coloring matched Kit's more than Kelly's did. Their escape plan wasn't elaborate, it was more like an old prison standby, but it was the only thing they had. Hopefully, it would be enough to free them so they could each carry out their plans. After their deeds were done, Black Heart intended to rid herself of Bridal Babe through any means necessary. If they had to wait another week, they'd be screwed. The hospital intended to move her to a special 'Hannibal Lector' type room due to her violent nature.
Kit left the two craziest inmates for last. She went in and administered Bartlet's medication without incident. She didn't like how the other woman seemed to leer at her, but she shrugged it off. She had to get moving. One more psycho and she could take a smoke break. She turned from Kelly Bartlet's cell and made her way toward that of Carly Butler. Kit inserted the large square key into the lock and shot it home. When she opened the door, she saw that Carly was in bed. She jumped as the door clicked closed behind her. She sighed in frustration. Now she'd have to unlock the fucking door just to get out.
"Come on, Butler, time for your meddy side," she sang.
Black Heart reared up off her cot suddenly, striking the guard in the face. The perfect soundproof walls absorbed the noise beautifully. Black Heart came down on top of Kit, and she never knew what hit her. "You should really think about beefing up your security," Black Heart said as she stripped Kit's uniform off her.
* * *
"Okay, you. Move it," she barked at Kelly Bartlet.
Another guard glanced over at Kit as she shoved the inmate along. "Hey, Kit? Where you going with Bartlet?"
"She left something in the rec room. I have to get it for her before she flips out," Black Heart said gruffly, passably imitating the now deceased guard.
Before they slipped off to the recreation room, Black Heart led Bridal Babe over to the one blind spot where there were no cameras. It was in the employee dressing room. Black Heart found a supply closet with extra scrub outfits. Hastily, she dug one out and handed it to her. Bridal Babe giggled the whole time she was undressing.
"Cut the shit," Black Heart hissed. "Do you want to get caught?"
Once they were both dressed and incognito, all they had to do was unlock the back employee entrance and slip out the door. The plan was so brilliant that Black Heart wondered why she hadn't thought of doing this months ago. Of course, tonight was the first night their guard had been so little and weak. Their row was supposed to be manned by specially trained men and women. Apparently, Kit hadn't been trained so well.
* * *
The bloody, beaten body of the guard known to all as "Kit" wasn't found for an hour or more. She wouldn't have been found at all if the lead guard on duty hadn't been searching for Kit. One of his subordinates said he saw her leading another inmate to the recreation room. He didn't find anyone there. Frustrated, he sighed and decided to do Kit's rounds for her. Once he found Kit, he was going to thoroughly bitch her out. He shined his flashlight into Carly Butler's cell and saw the crumpled body on the floor. It took another half hour to discover that Kelly Bartlet was missing from her cell.
Nothing was sweeter than freedom.