Page 46 of Anarchy Missing

“Well, O’Neil,” Randy says, “it’s not up for debate. And quite frankly, I don’t give a goddamn about your prison status or relationships. If you’ve got information that will help us, you will be telling us all about it before we leave.”

O’Neil looks at me, nodding his head towards Warden Cage. “Don’t believe a word he says. Yeah, the other guys took care of the eyes, but his guards”—he sneers at Cage—“did the rest.”

I look at Dick Cage, then Randy. “We do not threaten prisoners,” I say calmly, but firmly. “Or beat them,” I say this with my gaze directed to the warden.

“Lulu,” Randy says. “Do you mind stepping outside for a few minutes?”

“I certainly do,” I say back. “I won’t be a part of this, Randy. Not what I signed up for.”

We stare at each other for several seconds, both of us standing our ground.

“I’m happy to tell you,” O’Neil says, interrupting our standoff. “But I want out of this prison.”

All of us laugh at that statement. Even me.

“Not out of my sentence,” O’Neil continues. “I want a transfer to Cathedral County Minimum.”

The Pen, where we are now, is maximum security. Where all the hardasses go. Normally a former police chief wouldn’t be sent to the Pen, but O’Neil’s crimes were too numerous to ignore. His corruption spanned more than a decade.

“I hardly think,” Randy says, “what you’ve got to tell me is worth all that trouble.”

“Ask him,” O’Neil says, motioning to Dick Cage.

“Is it?” Randy asks the warden.

“It might—”

But just then the lights all go out.

“What the fuck?”

Pretty much everyone in the room says that at the same time.

“See,” O’Neil says, standing still in the dim lights coming through the half-open blinds covering the window. “What I have to say really is worth all that trouble.”

Warden Cage walks over to his desk and picks up the phone. He stares at it for a second, then sets it back down. “Dead,” he says, pulling out his cell phone. “Shit,” he says, looking at Randy. “My cell is dead too.”

Randy and I both get our phones out and just as Randy says, “Mine’s out as well,” my phone rings.

Everyone looks at me, including the prisoner, and I shrug. “I have SkyEye Satellite.” And then I point west, towards the mountains. “I come from Wolf Valley, remember? No service out there except satellite.”

“Answer it,” Randy growls.

The screen says unknown number, but I know who it is. There is only one person it could be in a time like this.

Case.

“Hello?” I ask the phone.

“Hey, Lu,” Case says, voice calm, like he hasn’t a care in the world. “Do you have time to meet me for lunch today?”

I stare at my boss and then say, “Uh, sure. What did you have in mind?”

“I’ve got a shitload of meetings this morning, but if you can swing by ToyBox around noon, I’ll squeeze you in.”

He says it… sexy. Squeeze me in. It shouldn’t be sexy. Those words shouldn’t fill my head with images of him grabbing my breasts last night.

But they do.