Collateral Hack

Part 3

"U better hide, (pirate symbol inserted) just left after u. I'll meet u l8a x Alice" Alice pressed the send text button, warning Jim.

Alice slumped over her counter looking down into the metal surface at yet another careless handprint she refused to wipe away. She glanced at the clock, shaped and painted into a life-float ring, only three out of her eight hours work passed. The café served most of the harbour's customers in the morning hours leaving only a few late starters dotted around at the tables. An old man rested his big grey bushy beard onto his folded arms as he snoozed in the corner; such was the peace in there at this particular time day.

'I have to get out of here'. Alice thought eyeing-up the old man, watching his arms rise and fall hypnotically. 'Maaaam' Alice groaned out to the back. She slowly shuffled through holding her tummy whilst flopping her head back. 'I don't feel good. I should go home, a sick girl shouldn't handle food right?' she said to her mother's back.

Ms Hunter stood wrapping fresh takeout food for the display counter, then turned with a drop of her shoulders, her face judgmentally analytic. 'Three hours won't put money in your pocket missy". Ms Hunter said. With a sigh, she nodded over to the exit gesturing Alice to go. Alice falsely shuffled over to gather her handbag slipping in a foil-wrapped sandwich then left the café for fresh air and an appointment, one she wasn't going to miss for the world.

A few hours later that day, tall heavy-duty gates caught Alice's attention as they span more than the width of the bus windows, coming to a halt. The West-Hold desert prison dominated the edges of where towns meet the outback. The bus wasn't allowed past the second barrier and stopped in a designated bay still a short way from the visitor entrance.

Inside the prison, keychains rattled on guards' waists as they searched the visitors' belongings. Two sweaty men walked out, refused entry due to a block on their records. Alice stepped forward for her search as signalled by the female guard. The female guard kept eyeing Alice as she moved around her body patting her and scanning a metal-detecting wand over her limbs. 'Shouldn't you be in school, or is not Friday today?' the guard said smugly in her delivery.

'Mam, no, I'm on a study leave day, just one more exam to go'. Alice said flicking her eyes down to the guard's shiny boots.

The guard nodded barely interested anyway, 'Which one are you here to see today then, young lady?'

'Ron, Ron Barr'.

The guards called the visitors through to the meeting area after a short wait.

Alice sat on a row of benches sectioned by short arched-out privacy dividers, a tall glass wall separated her from touching her father who came to sit opposite wearing a proud smile.

Ron held his smile and picked up the phone to communicate with his daughter even before his butt touched the bench. The pair exchanged recent news about their lives. Ron couldn't keep his eyes off the pink in his girl's hair.

'Dad, when will they transfer you, any news? You never should have been in a maximum-security prison; even those I trust don't believe me when I tell them you only stole stuff.' Alice looks at the other criminals sharing the visitor sections left and right of her father, 'This lot look really dangerous, you don't belong with them', She said, trying to quiet her voice with a tear swelling up in her eyes.

Ron felt the injustice harder than Alice did. His orange jumpsuit was a sign of highly aggressive behaviour to the guards, behaviour he'd not shown throughout his conviction. Nevertheless, Ron had his own suspicious reasons for being in that particular prison.

'Well, there's a saying in prison here poppet, "guilty by association", and I did meet someone with a high profile, he helped me with lifting some high prized goods too. His head is worth ten-times mine, only he's smart, knows how to hide'. Ron said hoping to stem some tears on her face with the truth.