Chapter 7
Harrison's POV: "Jail Planning"
CLANG!
The jail cell door slammed shut behind me. The sound echoed through the cold hallway like a gunshot. My shoulder was still bleeding from where Detective Kane had shot me, but the pain felt good. It reminded me that I was still living.
Still alive and still dangerous.
"Welcome to your new home," the guard said with a mean smile. "Hope you like orange jumpsuits."
I didn't answer him. I was already planning my escape.
The guard walked away, and I looked around my cell. It was small and dirty, with one tiny window and a bed that felt like concrete. But I'd been in worse places.
My cellmate was lying on the bottom bunk, reading a book. He was a big man with tattoos covering his arms. He looked like he could snap me in half.
"You must be Harrison," he said without looking up from his book. "I'm Tank."
"How do you know my name?"
Tank finally looked at me. His eyes were cold and calculating. "Everyone knows your name. You're famous around here. The lawyer who kills kids."
I sat down on the top bunk. "I don't kill kids. I solve problems."
"Same thing," Tank said with a shrug.
I studied Tank carefully. Something about him seemed familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd seen him before.
"What are you in here for?" I asked.
"Murder," Tank said bluntly. "Three killings, actually. But they could only prove one."
"Who did you kill?"
Tank smiled, and it wasn't a nice smile. "People who asked too many questions."
I got the message. Don't ask Tank too many questions.
But I needed information if I was going to get out of here. And I needed friends.
"Tank, how long have you been in this jail?"
"Two years. But not for much longer."
"You getting out soon?"
Tank put down his book and looked at me seriously. "Harrison, there are things you need to know about this place. Things that might help you."
I climbed down from the top bunk and sat next to him. "What kind of things?"
"This jail isn't what it seems," Tank whispered. "Half the guards work for people on the outside. People with money. People with power."
My heart started beating faster. "What kind of people?"
"The kind of people who might want you dead," Tank said. "Or the kind who might want you free."
"How do you know all this?"
Tank looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Because I work for them too."
I stared at Tank. "You work for who?"
"The same people you work for, Harrison. The same people who've been protecting you for twenty years."
I felt cold all over. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Tank laughed quietly. "Harrison, you think you've been running your little witness-killing business all by yourself? You think you could make entire families disappear without help from very powerful people?"
He was right. I'd always wondered how I got away with so much for so long. How police investigations always went cold. How proof always disappeared. How judges always ruled in my favor.
"Who are they?" I asked.
"Let's just call them 'The Organization,'" Tank said. "They've been watching you work for twenty years. They've been protecting you because you're useful to them."
"Useful how?"
"You kill people who might reveal their secrets. You make problems disappear. You keep their corrupt system running smoothly."
I thought about all the families I'd killed over the years. All the witnesses who had seen lawmakers taking bribes, judges fixing cases, police officers working with criminals.
"But now you have a problem," Tank added. "Detective Kane and her friends have proof against you. The Organization doesn't like lost ends."
"What does that mean?"
Tank's face got serious. "It means they have to decide whether to help you escape or help you die."
Before I could ask what he meant, Tank pulled out a small cell phone from under his mattress.
"How do you have a phone in jail?" I asked.
"I told you, half the guards work for The Organization." Tank started calling a number. "I need to make a call about you."
He put the phone to his ear and waited.
"It's Tank," he said when someone answered. "Yeah, he's here. Harrison's in my cell."
I could hear a person on the other end, but I couldn't understand what they were saying.
"Uh-huh," Tank said. "Yeah, I can do that. When?"
More talking from the other end.
"Tonight? That's pretty fast." Tank looked at me while he talked. "Okay, I understand. It'll be done."
He hung up the phone.
"What'll be done?" I asked.
"Harrison, The Organization has made their decision about you."
"And?"
Tank stood up and walked to the cell door. He knocked on it three times, paused, then knocked twice more.
A guard appeared instantly and unlocked the door.
"Time for your shower, Harrison," the guard said.
"But it's not shower time," I said.
"It is for you," Tank said. "Special shower. Very special."
I realized what was happening. They weren't taking me to get clean. They were taking me somewhere to kill me.
"Tank, wait," I said. "I can be useful to The Organization. I know secrets about lots of important people."
"I know you do," Tank said sadly. "That's exactly why you have to die."
The guard grabbed my arm and started pulling me out of the cell.
"Tank!" I yelled. "I have knowledge about Detective Kane's family! I know things that could destroy her!"
Tank stopped walking.
"What kind of things?"
"I know why The Organization really wanted her family dead fifteen years ago. It wasn't just because her sister saw the crash."
Tank waved the guard away and pulled me back into the cell.
"Talk," he said.
"Detective Kane's father was a police officer investigating The Organization," I said quickly. "He was getting close to exposing everything. So they told me to kill his family to stop the investigation."
"That's old news, Harrison. The Organization already knows you killed the Kane family for them."
"But they don't know about the evidence," I said desperately.
Tank's eyes got interested. "What evidence?"
"Before I killed Detective Kane's family, her father hid files proving The Organization exists. Files with names, dates, bank accounts, everything."
"Where are the files?"
"Detective Kane's father gave them to someone for protection. Someone who's still living."
Tank sat back down on his bunk. "Who has the files?"
I smiled. This was my chance to stay alive. " Kane's father gave the information to his partner. His police partner who he trusted totally. "
"What's the partner's name?"
"Detective Ray Murphy," I said. "He's been Sarah Kane's boss for the past ten years. And he has no idea what's really in those files."
Tank grabbed his cell phone again and called.
"It's me again," he said when someone answered. "Yeah, we have a problem. A big problem."
He listened for a moment.
"Harrison says Kane's father hid proof against The Organization. Detective Murphy has it, but he doesn't know what it is."
More talking from the other end.
"I understand," Tank said. "So we keep Harrison alive for now?"
Tank listened to the answer, then hung up.
"Good news, Harrison. You get to live a little longer."
I felt relieved. "What happens now?"
"Now we break you out of jail so you can find those files before Detective Kane does."
"How are we going to break out of jail?"
Tank smiled that scary smile again. "Harrison, I told you half the guards work for The Organization. Breaking out is the easy part."
"What's the hard part?"
"The hard part is what happens after we're out."
Tank walked to the small window in our cell and looked outside.
"Harrison, The Organization has a new job for you. One last job before you leave forever."
"What job?"
Tank turned around and looked at me with cold eyes.
"They want you to kill Detective Kane, her friend Maya, and both of your daughters."
"Both of my daughters?" "Elena and her twin sister. The Organization can't chance either one of them remembering what they saw as children. "
I felt sick. "They want me to kill my own children?"
"It's either kill them, or The Organization kills all of you," Tank said. "Including me."
That's when I heard footsteps in the hallway. Multiple guards were walking toward our cell.
Tank looked out the cell door. "They're here."
"Who's here?"
"Your extraction team," Tank said. "Harrison, in about five minutes, you're going to be a free man. And in about five hours, you're going to be a child killer."
The cell door opened, and three guards walked in. But they weren't wearing standard guard uniforms. They were dressed all black, with masks covering their faces.
"Time to go, Harrison," one of them said.
As they led me out of the cell, Tank called after me.
"Harrison! Remember, you have until sunrise to kill Kane and both your children. If you don't, The Organization will kill everyone you've ever cared about."
I turned back to look at him. "I don't care about anyone."
Tank's eyes got sad. "Yes, you do, Harrison. You care about someone very much. Someone you thought died years ago."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your wife, Harrison. Emma and Elena's mother. She didn't die in that car crash fifteen years ago."
My heart stopped. "That's impossible. I saw her die."
"You saw what The Organization wanted you to see," Tank said. "She's been living this whole time. And if you don't kill your girls tonight, The Organization will kill her tomorrow."