Wake of the Storm - The Mason Storm Series Book One

What would you do? (03/06/17)

Most men in prison would kill, some probably have, to be in my shoes right now, but these shoes couldn't have come at a worse time for me. Somehow, in the middle of everything that's going on, I've ended up in a relationship with a CO. It's a colossal mistake on my part and when the cost comes, and it surely will, it won't be cheap. I suppose it's early enough in, that I could back out, but there's a price that comes with this decision too, and it's just as extreme.

Correctional officers and inmates are together all day long. The prison cannot operate without the assistance of both. There are obvious lines drawn in the sand, but it's still humans, hormones and proximity. It happens, just not very often. When it does, it's normally the inmates who can't keep the secret. They want to run and tell their buddies. They want to be 'that' guy. Sooner or later a note gets dropped and the escapade ends badly for everyone involved.

The risks taken are mostly on the officer's end. If caught, all they can really do to the inmate is throw us in the hole for a few months then ship us somewhere on the other side of the country. For them it's rape, loss of job, and a prison sentence somewhere between sixty and one hundred twenty months. I've tried to make her see this, but she insists we will be fine.

We've been aware of each other for the last couple of years and have had the occasional conversation, but always around others, so no lines could be crossed. A few weeks ago one of the inmates on her work detail was out sick with the flu and she asked me to move some boxes for her. The thirty minute job turned into the better part of the afternoon spent talking and casually flirting. On my way out the door she brushed up against me and played it off as an accident.

I went back to my unit and brushed it off, not giving it much thought. When I went to the yard the next day, she was standing outside her office. She smiled and nodded her head to me to meet her by the exit.

I walk over and she says, "Listen, I've worked here for fifteen years and nothing like yesterday has happened before. I could be put under investigation, even fired."

"Nothing happened. I just moved some boxes for you. No worries." I'm thinking she is nervous about me saying something to someone.

She looks me in the eye, does that kind of shy smile and says, "Do you want to come back this afternoon? We can move the boxes back."

I should have known right then the path we were headed down.

So far, not a single soul knows of any of this. Last night I told Flip about Mrs. Shaffer just as a 'throw-off' in the event something does come out somewhere down the road. It's not Shaffer. I've been cultivating that relationship too, but for different reasons.

As of today things have only gotten worse. Much worse. Today was probably the beginning of the end. I am one step closer to going too far. Both of us are.

I woke up at 5:00 am this morning for a meeting. When I returned to my unit last night lil' Matt was waiting for me with a message from Flaco. I am meeting him at 5:30 in the back of the Bakery. So I get out of bed, grab my face cloth and toothbrush to head to the bathroom and on top of my locker is an envelope. I open it and it's a 'Thinking of You' card signed with a Heart-Me. A piece of paper falls out, song lyrics to Jessie Ware's 'Say You Love Me'.

At first, because I just woke up, I think it's one of the guys playing a practical joke. And then it dawns on me; it's from her. She was in my room last night while I was sleeping. I quickly put everything back in the envelope before Alex wakes up and put it inside my locker with my other personal letters.

I finish getting ready and head across the compound to see Flaco. He's been in the system for a long time and I know I can trust him with what I am going to tell him.

When I get to the Bakery he is sitting alone at a table drinking coffee. We exchange hellos and I explain my intentions of taking control of the pound, and how I intend on doing it. My mind is in other places, and not really thinking about what I am saying, but by the end of the meeting I get what I came for. I offer him a vig on the cigarettes and he refuses to take anything for lending them to us. He didn't say it, but I know him and his group are also tired of the GDs. On my way out he tells me that if I need anything else to just send a message through Alex.

I'm up anyway so I decide to go on and go to breakfast and then to meet the guys for our daily workout.

After lunch I'm back in the unit, waiting on the yard to open when my name comes over the loud speaker, telling me to report to the Lieutenant's Office. My chest falls to my stomach. There are only a few reasons to be called to the LT's, none of them good.

I hurry to my cell and grab the card from my locker and rush to the bathroom to flush it. If they are putting me in the hole, the last thing I need is for the officer packing me out to find it. When I get back from the bathroom Alex and three or four of the guys are already in my room putting all of my things in my locker.

I walk in and Alex says, "Any ideas?"

"None. Maybe it's a piss test. I hope anyway."

"You think someone ratted you out about the cigarettes?" Dub-C asks.

"Could be. They won't let me back on the compound if that's the case. They'll ship me. If they do you guys still have to move forward with the plan. Get these GDs off the yard."

I grab my radio and a fresh pack of batteries—the only things we are allowed to take with us to the hole—and start to shake hands with the guys, thinking after four of five years with most of them, this may be the last time I see them. I'm in the middle of saying good-bye to Flip when the unit officer shows up at my door.

"Lets go Brown. They want you at the lieutenant's," he says.

I finish telling the guys to stay in contact through the mail and then walk with the guard to the front of the building. He unlocks the door and I walk across the empty compound... I have a low-grade panic in my chest when I approach the LT's Office. There are two lieutenants and two compound officers standing out front. Are they expecting trouble from me? They all look me over with an Us versus Me attitude.

One of the compound officers says, "Inside," with attitude. Nothing else.

I could walk around their circle to get into the building, but instead I walk right through the middle of them. The same Me versus All of them attitude.

When I get inside, the low-grade panic escalates to Level 5. The highest level. Sitting across the desk from another lieutenant, is my card giver, the Heart-Me.

She doesn't even look up when the LT says, "Come inside, Brown.

Gregory C. Brown is the author of The Mason Storm Series and just recently released Book One, Wake of the Storm. He is also the creator of Stories from Behind the Wall with weekly installments found at  https://gregorycbrownbooks.com/stories-from-behind-the-wall/