The Cage (Book 2)

Prologue

Hello and welcome. If you're new to The Prison Series, then I recommend reading the first book in the installment, The Prison, although you don't have to. This book can be a standalone by itself. 

Now buckle up, kiddos. You're in for a ride. 

Do enjoy.

-FeastOfNoise

*Warning: This chapter may contain depictions of violence, sexual assault and mature content intended for mature audiences only*  

Prologue

Julian's P.O.V

The sharp sound of a buzzer went off and the gigantic metallic door slid open right afterward. Two guards' solemn faces greeted me, along with the horrid stench of a thousand burning manure piles, or at least that was what I thought a thousand burning manure piles smelled like. Instinctively, I scrunched up my nose in repulsion. 

"Are you the lawyer?" The taller and wider of the two asked gruffly. He looked irritated by me, despite this being our first meeting. Did he think I was making a face at him?

"Yes. Julian Evers." I reached out a hand for him to shake, putting on my 'professional' smile. 

He stared at it with apparent disdain and ignored it.

So much for hospitality.

Well, it was to be expected; this was a prison I was walking into after all, and not just any old prison. Oh, no. This was the prison to end all prisons, the infamous, aptly-named The Prison From Hell. It was Satan's own playground, a cesspool containing the worst specimen of humanity, and a haven for the degenerates, or so that blog I checked out before coming here for the first time proclaimed. Then again, why else would you build a maximum-security prison way out in the Pacific Ocean if it weren't to dump the worst criminal in the country and basically proceed to forget they even existed? 

"You're early," the irritated guard grumbled, then gave me a once-over. I resisted the urge to visibly shudder; the way his pewter grey eyes crawled over my body was... lecherous? Whatever it was, I didn't like it. 

I made a show of glancing down at my watch "Yeah, the helicopter got here faster than I thought it would." 

In reality, I'd harassed the chopper's pilot into taking off way before schedule for two reasons. The first was that, since the day I began my career as a criminal defense lawyer, I'd never been late for a client meeting, nor a session at a court, and I intended to uphold that streak till the end of my career. The second was because I was excited. This was my first high profile case since joining my firm, and it was one step closer to become a junior associate. If I did well, then I'd be looked over for the position of junior associate at BB&M. 

Are those really the only reasons why? A voice quipped annoyingly in my head. 

I ignored it as I'd done a million times before, and stepped into the prison once the guards moved out of my way. The door slid closed behind me with a loud, metallic slam that I imagined reverberated across the entire block. 

I looked around to see that I was in some sort of registration room. Other than the two guards who'd come to 'welcome' me, there was one other behind the equivalent of a reception desk. Naturally, the reception guard sat behind bulletproof glass. 

Bleak eyes stared at me. 

"Hi, I'm Julian Evers. I'm Mr. Schneider Cross's attorney. He's expecting me." I told him. 

"Is this your first time visiting?" The guard with the bleak stare questioned, his voice monotone. 

"No, it's my second time."