Chapter 13

Everything that could be planned out was set. A moving van had been rented for two days, under Aidan Sawyer; of course. Nadia had changed the plates with another van in the yard and inconspicuously scattered papers over the dashboard to cover the VIN number. A quick stop at Menards filled a duffle bag with duct tape, rope, a black bandana, and lots of sound proofing foam; just in cause. Luckily, it seemed that the owner of the van was used to the neighborhood and didn't care much about what happened to his truck once money was in hand. The bike was already parked in the back and ready to be removed.

Everything was planned for first thing the next night. She parked the van in the lot of a hotel down the street and tried to do the impossible and get some sleep before sunset. When she finally gave up, she sat quietly in the back and went over everything repeatedly in her head. Aidan didn't need to say anything, Nadia could feel every tinge of excitement radiate off her and she tried to ignore it. "Would you settle down? I can't think..." she snapped at the empty air in the back of the van.

"Well, excuse me," Aidan snapped back. "This must be what they all feel like when their about to get out."

"Sure know how to make a girl feel special," Nadia muttered.

Before Aidan could respond, the alarm on Nadia's phone started to ring. "It's time!" Aidan chimed in.

Nadia rolled her eyes and mumbled about her having to get a new phone after Aidan had caused her to smash her's against the wall while she opened the back door. After a quick glance around, she was satisfied that no one was watching and she pulled out the ramp and rolled the bike out of the van. After it was parked a few spots from the van, she closed the door and climbed into the driver's seat. After a couple of days of watching the shift changes at the prison, Nadia and Aidan had decided on their target: David Sinclair who worked the 9:00 p.m. shift. He was always on time, small in stature, and light in weight; in other words, easy to move.

It was 8:55 when Nadia parked the van in the lot and like clock work, David pulled in a minute later. She parked the van out of camera shot and turned off the ignition. Before going any further, she quickly made herself look like the first person she thought of. A billboard caught her eye, so she became a red head with bright blue eyes from a Dairy Queen ad. She jumped out and walked around to open the hood. From the corner of her eye, she watched him gather his things and lock his doors. Action, she thought to herself. She sighed as loud as she could, placed her hands on her hips, and stared at the engine. He was too preoccupied with his own belongings to even notice her standing there; so she tried to call more attention to herself. She sighed again, ran her hands thought her hair, wiggled parts of the engine that she could see, smacked a few of them, threw up her hands, and gave an angry growl. If that didn't work she knew she would have to reinforce every stereotype out there and start crying; that was something she desperately didn't want to do. Thankfully, he was making his way over to her with an annoyingly heroic look on his face.

"Car trouble?"

"Wow, he's bloody brilliant," Aidan groaned.

"Yeah," Nadia frustratedly sighed, "I don't know much about cars... If it isn't something obvious; like something unhooked or melted, then it's all Greek to me."

He laughed, "I might be able to help..." He sat his things on the ground by the left front tire and looked over the engine. "I can't see much....I have a flashlight in my glove box, I'll be right back."

Before he took two steps, Nadia replied, "I have one in the back, actually. Let me get it..." She walked around to the back of the van, but tripped and twisted her ankle as she went to turn the back corner, "Ouch!"

David jogged around the van, "Are you alright?"

"Smooth move ex-lax," Aidan sneered.

"Ouch...yeah, I think so..." she started to get up but her hand slipped off the bumper and she fell back to the ground."That was graceful..."

"Oh. Here, let me help you..." he squatted down and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Thanks...and sorry about this..." she said.

"Sorry? About what?" he questioningly smiled.

"This," she laid her palm on his forehead and he went limp and fell to the ground. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she mumbled to herself as she jumped up and ran into the back of the van. A wheelchair she had bought at a Goodwill leaned against the side of the van. She snapped it open and pushed it down the ramp to the parking lot; once she locked the brake, she grabbed him under the arms and lifted his torso into the chair. Once he was completely in it; she pushed him back into the van, tied him to the chair, duct taped his mouth, and tied the bandana over his eyes. She locked the brake again and then screwed down the steel brackets she had bolted to the floor of the van. She had faith that she could keep him knocked out while she was inside but she had to be ready; there was no telling what could happen once she was inside.

She paused in the back of the van for a second and concentrated on David Sinclair's appearance; once she felt the familiar pulling in her abdomen, she jumped out and closed and locked the doors. She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and slipped it under the wiper blade. It read: A tow truck is on its way. Hopefully that will keep them from getting too curious. She picked David's things up from the ground, took a deep breath, and walked to the front gate.

"Hey, Dave. Ever heard of a backpack?" The guard at the entrance asked.

Nadia smiled, "Feels too much like a purse."

The man had an intimidating laugh, and it matched his stature. He hardly seemed to fit in the little room behind the glass; he was nearly 275lbs, extremely well built, with military hair cut and a hard expression which melted away when he laughed. "Alright, I'll buy it..." he glanced at his watch, "well mark this in the record books; you're late!"

Nadia shrugged, "I dropped my stuff and some of it rolled under a car..."

He laughed and shook his head, "See ya later."

Nadia nodded, "See ya." She walked towards the door and bumped into it when it didn't open.

"You need your card..." the man said, "like always."

She sighed, "Right... Uh, you think maybe this once..."

He laughed and shook his head, "This once."

A loud buzz sounded and the door opened, the air inside was cold and smelled like a dirty hospital. She glanced over the sign and followed the arrow to the guards' locker room. Once inside, she dropped all of Sinclair's things on a bench and found a map of the prison framed just outside the locker room. She was looking it over when she was startled by the face reflected back at her. She spun around but there was no one there. "It's you, stupid," Aidan pointed out. Nadia sighed, "Right. I am never going to get used to this." She turned back to the map, You're being awfully quiet. I figured you'd be bugging me as soon as stepped through the door.

"Would it make a difference?" Aidan asked.

No, Nadia responded.

"I am keeping myself busy in here until you realize you can't go any further."

That sounds dirty, Nadia chuckled.

"Oh yes, I'm the child..."

Nadia ignored her and found death row on the map and then their location; when she heard someone coming up behind her. "Five years, Sinclair. If you don't know your way around by now, I'm not holding out much hope for ya."

Nadia turned around and was taken aback by the man looking back at her. "He's cute..." Aidan said. Nadia smiled and tried to ignore what she was feeling too, "Ha, ha," she casually glanced at his name tag, "Chance." She had to look away, his face made her uncomfortable for reasons Nadia didn't like; she was attracted to him. He had a strong jaw line, incredible blue eyes, messy dark brown hair, a sharp nose, and full lips. In some ways she was reminded of Dean; which only made it worse. "Oh, come on. Dean would totally understand..." Nadia felt like she had been punched in the gut, when Aidan said those words.

"You alright, man? You don't look so good," he reached out to catch Sinclair.

She stepped back, "I'm fine..." She clamed herself and turned back to the map so that she wouldn't have to look at him. "I was just trying to figure out the most efficient ways around here."

There was a long pause before he answered, "O...kay." He laughed, "Sometimes I think there is really something wrong with you." Nadia didn't respond, "Where you trying to get to so fast, anyway?"

"You know the cafeteria, the different cell blocks, the warden's office, death row, the nearest bathrooms... You know, that sort of thing."

"In a real hurry to get to death row, are we?"

Aidan was flashing pictures of the very inappropriate things she would do to Officer Chance if she were given the opportunity and Nadia was having a hard time ignoring them. "Time is money."

"That it is." He reached toward the map, "It's a pretty straight shot from here," he traced a path to death row, "I mean you have the checkpoints here and here with guards; but other than that...it's a clear shot. So it, uh...saves money I guess," Nadia turned towards him without thinking and was a little stunned by his smile.

"You know you want to... He is cuter than Dean. Admit it."

I will not. Because he isn't. He's just different...it's his eyes.

"Get a little lost in your head sometimes, don't ya?" he smirked.

She laughed, "Yeah, you could say that."

"And those lips... Just plant one on him, you know you want to."

No! Besides I don't think he would take being kissed by David Sinclair to well.

"You never know... I mean he is really hot; so knowing the way things usually go...he probably swings that way."

Nadia ignored her, "Well, I better get to work; I'm already behind."

He stepped out of the way, "See ya around." Nadia nodded and walked passed him, "Hey," she turned around to hear what he had to say, "being in your head too much here can be kind of dangerous."

"Thanks," she smirked and returned to walking down the hall.

Nadia didn't know what to expect as she walked toward the west wing of the prison; also known as death row. Movies and TV had her heart racing as it anticipated riots and shives and she tried to calm herself. Movies, movies are fake. They exaggerate the dramatic. How noisy could a place full of people who have nothing to do but sitting and waiting be? Seriously. You're going to walk in there and there maybe a few negative comments about you as you walk by, but they are talking about Sinclair. Sinclair, not you. You are not Sinclair. You are not Aidan.

"Ouch, that hurt."

Nadia rolled her eyes and was taken aback as she rounded the corner and came face to face with a bored looking guard. He was sitting on a plastic chair and leaning back on the bars behind him. She scanned the bars quickly and realized this was one of the checkpoints Chance had been talking about. The man was lost somewhere far away as he stared at the wall across from him, oblivious to Sinclair standing next to him. Nadia waited but it was obvious that he wasn't going to come out of his reverie on his own anytime soon, "A little bored are we?"

The sudden break in the silence around him caused him to jump and reach toward his belt until he recognized the face looking back at him. "Jeez, Sinclair. What the fuck? You can't go sneaking up on people in a prison; you're going to get yourself killed."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you..." Nadia started to respond.

"You didn't scare me," he quickly shot back.

Nadia fought to keep from rolling her eyes, tough guy, "Fine, I didn't mean to surprise you then. I wasn't trying to sneak; you were just off somewhere...totally not here. Can I get through?"

The man, whose name tag read, Kipper, stood up and reached out his hand, "That depends, you have your card?"

"Of course," Nadia lied as she pulled her debit card out of her pocket and handed it to him. She concentrated on the cards sudden change of appearance in his eyes from a debit card to a San Quentin i.d. card while she glanced around her. There was a camera behind her pointing down the hall towards the second and last checkpoint and into death row. Another was mounted ahead and to the right so that it captured every face that passed through Kipper's gate.

"Alright," he handed the card back to her and turned his key in the slot until he could pull the heavy door open.

She thanked him and walked toward the final gate. Before she even got there, the guard stood up aggressively and stared at her with a menacing look, "Well, if isn't St. Sinclair. Surprised you could pry your lips off Wong's ass long enough to make it all the way down here."

Perfect. "Look I just need to get through, alright?" Nadia was starting to grow weary of this whole ordeal.

"Already? It's just about to get good," Aidan replied.

"Wong send you down here for one of your stupid inspections?" he sneered.

Nadia sighed, "I don't even know what you're talking about. Here's my card," she reached out Sinclair's hand and glanced at his name tag, "James. Just let me by."

He glanced down at her hand, "You know, I don't think I feel like it. You can go and whine about it to Wong; see if I give a rat's ass."

Nadia was starting to lose her temper; every minute she stood here was another minute she had to keep the real Sinclair asleep and the higher the risk of the entire mission grew. "Why do you insist on doing this like a normal human? You could make him let you through in a heartbeat; but you insist on wasting time..."

Shut up, Aidan. Nadia could feel Aidan's furious disapproval at that demand as she tried to push her way to the surface. Not yet.

"Bite me. If you can't take care of this one little problem, I'll do it myself..." Aidan pushed harder and harder until Nadia gave up and let her past. Aidan smirked and stepped closer to James, "You know what? I think you just like saying his name."

James was taken aback for a second; but he stood his ground, "Is that right?"

"Yeah," she paused, "I think it makes you feel better about how impotent you are."

James clenched his jaw and his face turned a bright, angry shade of red as he stepped towards Sinclair, "I will gut you where you stand," he spat.

"Boy, you really are desperate to get all up close and personal with all your friends in there aren't you? Do they make you feel all warm and good about yourself? No need to worry about your little impotency problem if you're on the right end, huh?" Aidan recognized his slight shift in weight as he prepared to punch her in the face; but she was a step ahead. It takes twice as much power to swing and miss than it does to actually hit someone, Nadia internally rolled her eyes at the unnecessary and inappropriate fact that she had a compulsion to share at a time like this. She was right though; in his effort to hit Sinclair, he threw himself off balance and started to fall forward. As he stumbled forward and tried to regain his balance, Aidan slammed her elbow into his face. Nadia winced at the sickening sound his nose made as it crushed under the force of the hit. He fell to his knees spouting obscenities and threats; but Aidan cut him off with a quick knee to the face. His large body slumped back like a ragdoll propped against a wall. Aidan watched to make sure he was out and then looked straight at the camera. She raised her hand and flicked it as thought she were waving some annoying person away and the camera twisted, snapped off its bracket, and crashed to the floor.

"Holy crap," Nadia mumbled.

"Thank you," Aidan smiled.

"I'm sure you just attracted a lot of unneeded attention to us. Guards beating on guards, malfunctioning cameras...oh yes, this is going perfectly," her words dripped with sarcasm.

"I can't deal with half my brain freaking out right now. So you need to shut it and let me do what I do best." Aidan shoved Nadia's card back in her pocket and grabbed the key from James' belt. As she slid the gate open, she searched for cameras down the cell block. The sound of the fight and opening gate had grabbed the attention of most of the inmates on the block. Mirrors flashed into the hall as they tried to see what had happened. Aidan ignored them and grabbed James by the ankle and dragged him through the gate and closed it behind him. "Dude, you need to go on a diet," Aidan mumbled to an unconscious James.

Part of Nadia wanted to shut herself away in the back corner of her mind as Aidan worked; but the majority was entranced with a morbid curiosity that kept her wide-eyed. Aidan took out the two cameras down the block the same way she had the others and listened hard for approaching guards, but she couldn't hear anything over the loud curiosity of the inmates ahead of her. Guess we're going to have to do this the hard way, she thought to herself. Before Nadia could ask what that meant, Aidan concentrated on projecting a complete blackout to the hallway behind her.

"What are you doing?" Nadia asked.

Anyone who comes down here will collapse and blackout before they even now what hit them. I've kept a few tricks up my sleeve...

"I should say so," Nadia was flabbergasted at Aidan's abilities.

You could do it too, you know. All you have to do is give in and accept it.

"I don't really think this the time for a conversion of my beliefs."

Aidan shrugged, fine. She walked down the row but stopped about halfway and turned in a circle to look at the curious and harassing faces around her. A young, scrawny man to her right caught her eye. He wasn't standing at the bars like everyone else; instead he was standing in the middle of his cell, staring back at her. She couldn't tell if he was afraid, curious, or just stupid. She watched him for awhile until Nadia interrupted with a shocking realization, "There aren't enough... There aren't 675 inmates here..."

What?

"This isn't right. There are supposed to be 675 inmates on death row; they couldn't possibly all fit here." Nadia was starting to panic the more the realization sunk in.

Aidan looked at the ground in shock and tried to make everything make sense; then she thought of something. She looked at the first inmate she saw and asked him, "Is this death row?"

He gave her an odd look, "You're the guard. Aren't you supposed to know these things?" He laughed and Aidan let her appearance drop. He jumped back in shock and Aidan heard the first guards running towards her and drop to the floor. She drilled her eyes into his and made him talk, "This is one. There are two more."

"What?" Aidan snapped.

"There is the North-Segregation where all the white collar good death row guys are. This one; the East block. I guess we're the medium violent ones, and then there's the Adjustment Center; the worst of the worst," he spat out the words in a rush.

"Where are they?"

"Well, the North Segregation is to the north..." he paused and winced as Aidan grew angrier at his attempt at humor, "go back to the gate and turn right. That's North Segregation. The Adjustment Center is the opposite way, to the South; at least until the new facility opens in 2011."

You could have done a bit more research I guess, Aidan angrily snapped at Nadia.

"You were there too you know. Now what? This was supposed to a quick in and out operation. Now our time just tripled!"

Relax, Aidan frantically thought for a few seconds, I can still do this. I just won't be able to enjoy it as much as I'd thought; I'll have to rush.

The other inmates were starting to get over the shock and confusion of what they had just seen and heard take place and they were getting noisy and perverse. Aidan quickly thought of what she could do to kill them all quickly so that she could move on to the next cell block. As she thought over the different scenarios she had come up with in the last few days, the nearest faucets blew off the sinks and water started to spray every where. "That will take too long," as she said the words, the water suddenly stopped. She bit her lip out of stress and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Hey chica, how about you come over here; I'll make you forget all about whatever's bothering you," an inmate to her left purred through the bars.

Aidan snapped her head in his direction and she walked over to him, "Is that right?" She pushed away the panic and smiled.

"Absolutamente," he smiled back.

"Pipes burst for no reason in a couple of cells and all you can think about is how horny you are?"

"It's been a long time," he explained with a smile.

She gave him a sweet smile, "Oh don't worry, you won't have to wait much longer."

His smile grew, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," she raised her hand and ran the back of her finger along his jaw. Then she pulled it away and flicked it just as she had with the cameras and his head snapped around; breaking his neck and killing him instantly.

"We don't have time for this," Nadia pointed out as more guards dropped behind her.

"I know," Aidan said under her breath. Now the inmates were shifting into a flight or fight response; which was quickly dampened by the bars around them. She turned to the cell across from the man she had just killed and ripped the bed from the bolts on the floor and slammed it into him. She walked down the block, repeating the move over and over again until the only inmate still alive was the scrawny man from before. She was taken aback when not a cell in his body looked fearful.

"Christo," he tightly said without taking his eyes off her.

Shock jolted through her body, "You're a hunter."

"What?" Nadia said in surprise.

He glanced around him, "Use demonic possession as your defense for why you killed 10 people and you tend to look a little crazy."

"What?" Nadia repeated in shock.

Get a hold of yourself, Aidan snapped at her.

"So you're not a demon. What are you?" he asked.

"I'm a whole new level of freak," she smirked. "Love to stay and chat but...places to go, people to kill."

"No! You can't kill him!" Nadia fought to regain control of her body; but Aidan was holding firmly on.

"I have to," Aidan snapped. "I can't just let him go." The man watched her with confusion.

"You have to. We can't kill a hunter!"

"Exactly! He's a hunter. Hunter's talk; if I let him go word spreads. We will be on every hunters hit list," she let the words sink in.

Nadia felt like she had been punched in the gut, Dean.

"Yes. Now what's it going to be?"

"What the hell are you?" he asked again.

Aidan and Nadia ignored him. She knew it was selfish; but Nadia new that if Dean found out what she had let Aidan do, she would never see him again, "Do it."

Aidan waited for Nadia to decide and could feel tears come to her eyes as Nadia said the words. It'll be quick, she told Nadia. Without a sign of what was coming, her hand flashed up and his head snapped to the side before he could even process what was happening.