Jefferson laughed, continuing to talk about nothing as we turned down another corridor and walked until we had no choice but to stop at a gate. I’d never seen this part of the prison, but I had no doubt he was taking me to where I needed to be.
“On the gate!” he yelled, smiling at the female screw behind the glass. She pushed a button, triggering a loud buzzing sound, and then the gate opened. We’d already gone through five similar gates, and not one screw even raised an eyebrow. This was the power of the white shirt, and the reason why I paid fools like Jefferson and Nugent so much. Guys like them gave me and the brothers carte blanche to move freely throughout the prison to do our jobs.
Twenty feet after the gate, we went through a door that led outside to a long, barbed-wired path, which led to another building. I stopped and let the sun touch my face. Something I had always taken for granted when I was outside in the world was now considered a luxury.
Halfway down the path, Jefferson, who had somehow retrieved a rake on his way out of the building, interrupted my thoughts and started talking again. I swear that dude loved to hear the sound of his own voice.
“X, when we get around that building, I want you to take this rake and start cleaning up the leaves. It’s a blind spot in the camera network, so the only people who will be able to see you are me and the other COs on the yard and in the tower. He should be around here in about twenty minutes, so I’ll keep them occupied. When that time comes, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what to do.”
I nodded in confirmation as he escorted me to the spot where I would be raking.
After five minutes, Jefferson wandered off to talk to some other screws on the other side of the small street, so I let Lenny and Squiggy out to play in a pile of leaves. As I raked, my thoughts wandered to Sonya. I still couldn’t believe she was having an affair. I wasn’t one to explore my emotions—hell, some people might say I didn’t have any emotions—but every time I thought of Sonya with another man, I became overcome with an intense jealousy.
“Motherfucker, I want my fifty dollars!” I turned around at the sound of a fight starting. This was nothing new. In prison, dudes fight every damn day. What made it different this time was that it was two COs who were beefing. Jefferson was pointing a finger at another white-shirt screw who was almost half his size. He was yelling loudly enough for half the prison to hear him.
“Get your finger out my face. I don’t owe you shit!” the pint-size screw yelled back.
I had to stifle a laugh when Jefferson pointed his finger and poked him in the nose. What happened next surprised me, and probably all the other screws, because no one would have expected the short screw to punch Jefferson in the face. A melee ensued, and every screw on the yard came running.
When Jefferson had told me he’d take care of the screws, he wasn’t playing. I whistled at Lenny and Squiggy, scooping them up. Less than a minute later, I spotted him coming my way, and my heart rate sped up, my body tensed, and my palms became sweaty. This was the moment I’d been waiting for. I glanced over at the screws, who weren’t paying any attention to me or him as they tried to break up the fight.
When I looked back, he was less than twenty feet away. I tensed, tightening the grip around my shank, ready to spring into action. This was do or die time. I was on a mission, and I wasn’t going to let anyone stop me from accomplishing my goal.
“Get in and bring the rake,” he ordered when he was in front of me. He had parked the prison van to block the view of both the tower and the COs.
“I have to admit, Nugent, I didn’t think you had the balls to pull it off.” I jumped in the van and hid behind the seat. He threw a blanket at me, and I covered myself.
“I didn’t, but you gave me half a million reasons to grow a pair.” He chuckled as the van moved toward the gate. Next stop for me: a visit to my wife and Junior Duncan.
Chippy
6