Chapter 33 – Payback
Getting everyone involved in Pauls plan turned out to be the easiest part. Carrying it out – now that was a challenge no one could have forecasted. It had to be done during the night shift and they all had to be there – Paul, Brutus, Dean and Harry – at the same time, but it was soon clear that Percy and the floaters couldn't; it would simply be impossible to sneak Coffey past them.
Therefore they either had to find the perfect day or risk a dangerous exposure by changing the duty schedule with such short notice and raising questions. After three days of futile planning, a desperate Paul gathered the involved parties in his office just before the afternoon shift ended.
"I've been thinking," he said, pacing up and down the floor behind his desk. "Monday night next week will be the best offer we'll ever get. Percy's on duty until noon and I can extend my own watch with a couple of hours. The only one we'll be missing is Harry, but I guess he could meet us outside with the truck…"
"Paul?" Brutus interfered softly from his spot by the door. "I'm not sure the warden's wife will live for another week."
Paul slowed down and leaned against his desk. The pained look on his face revealed the crushing truth: He already knew that. He let out a heavy sigh.
"Guess we'll have no other choice but to do it tonight, then," he said quietly. "We're all here tonight anyway."
"But Percy's on duty tonight too," Dean reminded him.
"We'll just have to make sure he's occupied somewhere else, won't we?"
"With what?" Brutus rumbled. "He has to be kept away from the Mile for hours. If he realise what we're up to, he'll turn us in faster than he can pull out that ridiculous hickory bat."
"I'll come up with something to keep him out of our hair," Paul said gravely. "Just make sure you are all ready for night. Brute, you and I will pick up some sedatives, when we move Alice to the infirmary after dinner. It's for the best," he added firmly, when Ellie opened her mouth to protest. "She can't stay here. The fewer people who know about the plan the better."
Ellie crossed her arms, though she knew he was right. She couldn't imagine Alice blabbing out, but there were a lot at stake, if she did. Better safe than sorry was probably the only way to survive this crazy plan.
"All right," she agreed unwillingly. "But she will hate it."
"I'm pretty sure she's not the only one who ain't gonna find this evening particularly amusing," Dean pointed out, muttering.
oOo
After a great deal of persuasions Alice finally agreed to spend the night in the infirmary – though not without a bit of reluctance.
"This is ridiculous," she told Paul, while he handcuffed her. "I feel perfectly fine."
"Standard procedure," Paul lied without any hesitation. "The doctors love to keep track of your progress. It's out of my hand, I'm afraid."
Alice narrowed her eyes and looked around at the guards, before fixing her eyes on Ellie.
"You look thoughtful, dearest. Something you guys aren't telling me?"
"No," Ellie said quickly. "What would that be?"
Alice threw Brutus a theatrical suspicious glare. "Isn't he treating you well? You'll let me know: I'll whip him for you."
Brutus looked slightly offended, but Ellie laughed; ever since Paul had discovered their secret relationship, the news about her and Brutus had spread around the prison like a wildfire – and in E-block in particular, much to Alice's delight. Ellie hadn't seen her this happy since her first trip to the yard.
"I assure you, he has done nothing that deserves whipping," Ellie said softly, while she folded her blanket and handed it to Paul, along with her books.
"Are you worried about me then, you silly girl?"
"I'm just sorry I can't stay with you tonight," Ellie said and meant it. Not so much because she thought Alice would be in any need of her, but because she needed Alice more than anything: This night was going to be a long, nerve-wracking nightmare and it would be nice to have Alice's rock-stern personality by her side.
"You can't, I forbid you," Alice said firmly. "Go home, read a book and get some sleep."
Oh, I wish… Ellie thought to herself, when Paul and Brutus escorted Alice out the door. Paul had more than once suggested her to go home as soon as she had played her part in the plan, but she had refused. How could she, when the men (and Brutus in particular) were out there, risking their jobs – perhaps their lives too? She would much rather stay back on the Mile with Dean than to be at home, lying in bed and worrying sick all by herself. If something terrible happened, she certainly would not want to be the last person to know about it.
oOo
"Morphine?"
Ellie looked up in surprise after she had examined the orange medicine bottle Paul had brought back from the infirmary in the dim light in the tunnel underneath the execution room.
"Yeah…" Paul looked hesitant, his voice echoed against the raw brick walls. "Should we have picked something else?"
"No, it's just… it would have been better with an anaesthetic. It's easier to dose than an analgesic, which is commonly used for pain relief, not general anaesthesia…" Ellie stopped, realising she had lost them with her medical nonsense. "Never mind. It will work."
"How many pills d'you think we'll need?" Brutus asked.
"He is not that big a bloke, so six, seven pills should be enough."
Paul poured the stated amount of pills out in his hands, considered the sum for a moment and then shook out four more. Ellie shot him a look.
"An overdose can increase the risk of cardigenic shock," she explained. "It can damage his heart and lead to death."
"The risk we're exposed to, if he wakes up before we returns, is far greater than the death of an already condemned man," Paul responded calmly.
"Yes, but how are you going to explain that to the Governor, if they found out exactly how he died?" Ellie entreated. "You will be put in jail for premeditated murder."
Prompt by a stern look from Brutus, a very reluctant Paul let two pills slide back into the bottle, before spreading out the remaining pills on the gurney, so they could pulverize them. When the white morphine powder had been secures in a small paper envelope, Brutus looked at his superior.
"Okay – now what?"
"When Wharton's been sedated, we'll take care of Percy."
"Have you figured out how?"
"It's simple," Paul said lightly. "We're gonna put him in the restrain room."
Brutus gaped at him in unflattering disbelief.
"What?! Did you bump your head on your way down here," he hissed, fighting to keep his voice down. "That's your grand plan: You gonna lock him up?! Jeezes Christ, Paul, if the Governor finds out…!"
"He wont," Paul said firmly. "Because Percy won't tell him. He won't dare to."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Cause we have something to tell the Governor too, if he does: A little story about Percy purposely frying a man alive." Brutus fell quiet and Paul continued calmly: "Percy will believe that we're taking revenge for what he did to Del and we'll be able to sneak Coffey out and back in, without him ever suspecting a thing."
Brutus gave him a long, silent look, before finally speaking up:
"I don't think I've ever participated in a plan where so many things could go wrong," he said gloomily, shaking his head. "If we're all still alive tomorrow, I swear I'm gonna start playing the lottery, because this plan coming together is gonna acquire a shitload of unearthly luck."
oOo
William Wharton went face first into his mattress twenty minutes after they had drugged him with a morphine-spiked RC Cola. Ellie checked his pulse and reflexes and turned to Paul.
"He's definitely gone."
Brutus slid the door back and locked it. A heart-in-throat kind of silence settled over the Mile.
"If anyone wants to back out, now's the time," Paul said in a quiet voice. "After this, there's no turning back."
No one spoke up, until Harry cleared his throat and said evenly: "So is it Percy's turn now?"
Paul looked back at the closed office door, where Percy had been filling out reports since they had returned from the tunnel, and nodded. The men walked down to the duty desk and Paul picked up the strait jacket.
"Remember," he told Dean and Ellie in a low whisper. "No matter what happens, you two stay out of this. You have to be able to deny it all, if something goes wrong."
"Yes, sir," Dean croaked, looking quite pale.
Ellie felt agitated when she sat down by the desk, pretending to be working, while Paul, Harry and Brutus huddled together before the office door. Paul nodded, turn the door knob and all three men stroddled inside. Before the door closed behind them, Ellie saw a glimpse of Percy's alarmed face behind the office desk, his eyes darting from one guard to another. With bated breath she waited for what would happen next.
"What is this?" Percy asked from within the office; even through the door his muffled voice sounded higher than usual.
The buckles on the straight jacket clattered and Paul responded, stern as a rock: "Payback."
For the briefest of seconds the office was dead silent – then it sounded like someone had let out a furious animal: A chair was knocked over, things fell to the floor and crashed, heavy boots stomped on the linoleum.
Percy let out a horrendous, infuriated scream: "NO! You let me go! Let go of me!" A belt rattled. The young guard croaked: "What are you doing?!"
Paper flickered and then Paul snorted with laughter.
"Boys, look what he's been reading: Miss Lotta Leadpipe."
"Oh, Poicy," Brutus rasped spitefully. "What would your mother say?"
"You let go of me, you ignoramus!" Percy spat and Ellie could her him twist and turn to get free. "I know people – big people!"
"So you say," Paul said casually. "Now, stick your arms out like a good lad."
"No, I won't do it! You can't make me!"
"Oh, you're dead wrong about that, you know," Brutus responded and the next thing that could be heard through the closed door, was a ear piercing cry that made Dean cringe.
"You gonna put your arms up?!" Brutus yelled over Percy's agonizing shriek. "Huh?!"
"A big man is ripping your ears of, Percy," Paul said loudly. "I'd do as he says."
"Dear God," Dean muttered breathlessly, when Percy's scream intensified, before it suddenly broke and turned into rough breathing. The straight jacket rattled again. "What are they doing to him?"
Ellie stared at Paul's blurry silhouette behind the glass window in the office door, her heart pumping, but before she could say anything, Percy spoke, his voice sounding throaty and fragile, as if he was on the edge of crying:
"Please, Paul." It was almost a whisper, the words barely audible through the door. "Please… don't put me in with Will Bill – please don't!"
"You would think that," Paul said, his voice colder than a Scottish winter.
The door was ripped open so sudden it made Ellie and Dean jump in their seats. Percy, embraced by the canvas jacket and with misty, terrified eyes, stumbled out of the office. Paul grabbed him by the neck and ran him down the Mile.
"No, no, you can't do this!" he sobbed, when Harry pulled the door to the restrain room wide open. "You can't!"
"Let you in on a little secret," Paul said and brought out a roll of strapping tape from his back pocket. "We can and we will."
Brutus seized the boy by his neck and Paul slapped a piece of tape across his mouth, turning his fearfully pleads into muffled mmmph-sounds. They shoved him inside the restrain room.
"You'll have a few hours of quiet time now," Paul told him, "so you can think of what you did to Del?"
"And if you get lonely," Brutus said with a malicious grin. "Just think about Miss Leadpipe."
With the door closed and locked, Paul leaned back against the empty cell that had once been Delacroix's and fastened his keys to his belt.
"So far, so good," he mumbled, when Ellie and Dean joined them. "Everyone ready for part two?"
"Sure, boss," responded a deep, soft voice that no one had expected from the cell behind the. "I'd like to go for a ride."
The men gaped at the giant man standing by his cell door; John Coffey's face was calm, his eyes dry and bright. He almost smiled.
"Looks like we're all in then," Brutus said slowly.
oOo
"Lets go over it one more time, Dean," Paul said as he handed out shotguns from the gun safe in his office. "What do you say if someone comes by?"
Dean took a deep breath and began reciting what they had already been practicing: "Coffey got upset just after the lights out, so we put the coat on him and locked him in the restrain room. They hear any kickin' and bustin', they'll think it's him."
"What about me?" Paul asked him.
"Your over at Admin, filling out Del's file and going over the witnesses on account of how big a screw up his execution was."
He unlocked Coffey's cell door while he talked and slid it open.
"We're going for the ride now?" Coffey asked gently.
"That's right," Paul said. "We're going for the ride now."
"How about us, Dean?" Brutus asked as they walked down the Mile with Coffey in the middle.
"You, Harry and Percy…" Dean darted a glance toward the restrain room. "… are in the laundry room, doing your washing, prob'ly gonna take you a few hours until you're back…"
It happened out of nowhere. They were walking down the Mile, when an arm suddenly shot out between the bars in Whartons cell, seizing Coffey by the wrist. Coffey gasped and stopped abruptly in his tracks, as if he had been struck by lightning.
"Wher'dyou fink you're goin'?" Wharton slurred, his glassy eyes fixed on Coffey's face. He snickered when Coffey visible shivered under his touch.
"You're a bad man," Coffey whispered, his tone frail with pure horror.
"S'right nigger," Wharton grinned. "Bad as you wan'."
Coffey didn't try do break free, but his was now shaking from head to toe. Wharton chuckled.
"What's wrong?" he rasped quietly. "What's wrong?"
The lamp bulb in front of his cell smashed to pieces and Ellie yelped. The men stared at the bizarre scenario, no one seemed to be able to move a muscle – then Paul slowly reached down and plucked Whartons hand off. The young man flinched and staggered back into his cell.
"Whooee!" he exclaimed, swirling on his feet. "Whole room's spinnin'! Like I'm shit-ass drunk! Had me some good shine!" He reeled back to his bunk, mumbling all the way: "Niggers oughtta have their own 'lectric chair. White men oughtn't havte sit in no nigger 'lectric chair… Nossir…"
He had passed out before his head had even hit the mattress.
"He's a bad man," Coffey repeated, his big hands still trembling.
Ellie looked at Paul, her cheeks flushing.
"The doze we gave him was big enough to knock him out for twelve hours at least," she said. "I don't know why…"
"He won't remember this tomorrow," Paul said softly. "Don't worry, Ellie. We should've known we couldn't dope a maniac like him for very long."
Ellie tried to take comfort in his words, but she was still embarrassed – and she could fell her anxiety rise in alarming speed too. The screw-up with Wharton had reminded her just how easily the plan could fall apart; she felt sick with worry, as the men walked back to the duty desk.
"We'll be back in a couple of hours," Paul said to Dean. "Hopefully before our shift is over."
"And if you ain't?" Dean asked nervously.
Paul raised his shoulders as if to say: Then start praying like you've never prayed before…
"Well then," he said slowly. "See you soon."
He guided Coffey through the office door with Harry at his heels. Brutus stayed back. Ellie tried to smile at him, to let him know that everything was going to work out just fine.
"Try not to worry," he said softly, brushing a lock of her hair from her face. "We'll be back before you know it."
"I will allow myself to be as worried as I please until you guys returns, safe and unharmed, and there is nothing you can do about it," Ellie said, trying to sound high-spirited, but her voice was shaking. What if someone saw them? What if they got shot by the patrolling guards on their way out? What if the warden turned them in, as soon as they arrived? There were to many 'what-if's' for her to handle!
Brutus smiled.
"I'll come back," he said and gave a quick, but firm kiss as if to add weight to his words. "Promise."
"You can't promise that," Ellie said faintly, her throat tightening.
"Of course I can," he rumbled reassuringly, when Paul called his name and he had to let go of her. "Because I love you too much not to."
He said it in such an evenly tone that Ellie didn't perceive the exact words, before he had long since disappeared down the dim hallway with Paul, Harry and John Coffey.