Chapter 20

~Nathan’s POV~

I didn’t wake to soft kisses and a warm body pressed against my side. I opened my eyes and looked around me; no Riley. My brows furrowed.

“Riles?” I called and was surprised to hear him awake and alert down below.

“Hmm?”

I glanced over the edge of the bunk and spotted him sitting crossed legged on the chair, face planted in his latest novel.

“What’re you doing? Come here.” I called rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“Reading.” he said almost coldly and the previous night came back to me in a flash; I gritted my teeth.

“You’re not starting this shit again are you?” I returned and he chose to remain silent.

I wasn’t about to obsess over this new behavior; he was being childish, giving me the silent treatment and refusing to tell me what was bothering him. It was absolutely fine with me if he wanted to keep it all to himself. I jumped from my bunk and landed with a soft thud below; then went to pull on the usual outfit.

He didn’t glance up from his book once and I felt a flash of annoyance go through me before I quashed it and focused on what I was doing. When that was done I lowered myself onto his rumpled sheets, waiting for the guards to come free us from our cage.

I sat through twenty minutes of silence before the buzzer sounded and our gate was being opened. He ignored me on the long trek down to the showers and the walk to the cafeteria and when I sat in my usual seat amongst the guys, despite his earlier actions, I was surprised when he didn’t come to sit by me as he usually did. Instead he took a seat next to Kyle and John and everyone around our large table took notice.

“Well this is new.” John commented, looking between us and I ignored him.

“Mind your own business Johnny.” Kyle scolded him and a few of the guys snickered when John only gave him a pointed look.

The John we all knew would have decked a guy for that. He was getting soft and all because of this fruitcake sitting across from me. Just then, said fruitcake turned to offer me a small unwelcome smile and I stared at him blankly.

“You need to shave babe.” Unfazed, Kyle had turned back to him and was running his fingers through the stubble on John’s face. We all watched with varying degrees of amusement and in my case indifference, as John slapped Kyle’s hand away and turned to the meal before him.

“What’s up with you two lovebirds?” one of the guys nudged Riley who rolled his eyes before regarding me with a bored stare.

“Trust me dude, love has nothing to do with it.”

“Ha-ha Nate what’d you do, kid looks about ready to beat your ass.” The guys joked and I shrugged.

“I couldn’t tell you...” My gaze settled on Riley as I said it but like this morning he continued ignoring me, looking completely unconcerned as he listened to something Kyle was telling him.

“Any news?” I turned my attention to Eddie.

“Nothing as it relates to Riley’s situation and as for our case; everything’s going as planned. We’ll be outta here before you know it.” He grinned and I could understand his excitement; he had a girl on the outside he planned on marrying; we all had lives we were eager to get back to and this case had affected so much already it was time for it to end.

Many of the guys had already decided this would be their last undercover OP and it was understandable; but for me...this was my life, it was what I’d trained for and it was the one thing I knew how to do and do well. This certainly wouldn’t be my last; but it would definitely be the last time I allowed myself to get caught up in something that had the potential to harm my case.

I glanced at Riley and the thought of the few short weeks I had left with him sent an unfamiliar ache through my chest.

“What do you want for Christmas?” Kyle interrupted my musings with his address to John.

“We’re in prison.” John said simply then took a bite out of his stale bread.

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Eat your food.” John sounded annoyed now, but of course Kyle wasn’t backing down and I wondered how he could even stand the kid.

“You know, that attitude will get you nowhere.” Brief pause “You wanna hear what I want for Christmas?” he asked then, the excitement in his voice hard to miss.

John shot him down. “No.” Eddie chuckled and Kyle pouted, looping his arm through John’s and moving to rest his head on my partner’s shoulder.

“Dammit Kyle I’m trying to eat.” He admonished and I shook my head then took a bite out of my own loaf.

“So Kyle and I are supposed to help decorate the cafeteria and we were wondering if any of you guys wanna help.” Riley spoke up then and the silence that suddenly enveloped our table was answer enough.

“Come on guys, wouldn’t you like to see something other than these bare walls for a change?” he continued.

Silence.

“What about you Nate? Wanna help decorate?” he finally addressed me and I shook my head.

“I’ll pass.”

He sighed.

“It’s probably not helping you get back in his good graces if you turn him down.” John said softly.

“I’m not interested in getting back in anyone’s good graces, mind you own damn business.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself.” then continued munching on the unappetizing meal.

It was at that point that the commotion began and before I knew it, shouting filled the air and guards were moving from their posts, weapons raised threateningly as they went to stake out the situation. I pushed up from my own seat so that I could catch a glimpse of the chaos a few a tables down, when I heard the unmistakable sound of flesh hitting flesh and the snap of bone as some unfortunate guy’s jaw snapped. I groaned and dropped right back into my seat.

“Shit, there’s gonna be a lockdown for this.” John grumbled and my mouth tightened.

A lockdown was exactly what we didn’t need right now; it would only postpone our carefully crafted plans and our deadline was already too close for comfort.

“Beans again, why am I not surprised.” Riley muttered from where he stood on his chair surveying the scene.

By now the entire cafeteria was in an uproar as men ran to surround the fighting prisoners. As the seconds ticked by, guard after guard came rushing in, trying to quell the chaos and I turned to make sure all of my men were in their designated slots.

I couldn’t afford any trouble right now.

“Oh shit! He just hit a guard!” Riley exclaimed.

“Really?” this coming from Kyle who attempted to stand on his chair but was pulled back down by a disgruntled John.

“Keep your ass planted.” John warned and Kyle bristled but otherwise remained seated.

“Get down Riley, you’re only drawing attention to yourself.” I called over to my cellie and soon he too was lowering himself into his seat, but continued to stretch awkwardly in his seat trying to catch every aspect of the fight.

“This is getting serious.” This from Eddie.

“We’ll get a week this time if not more.” John commented, his anger barely concealed. I nodded.

“A week of lockdown? I can’t stay in my cell with the old man that long, he’ll drive me crazy!” Kyle exclaimed, eyes wild with worry.

“Guys, I might be wrong...but I think a guard just got stabbed.” Riley reported in horror and I pushed up from my seat, moving closer to the crowd. It was complete mayhem in here, food trays flying about, men shouting, running, guards subduing insubordinate inmates and I knew that sooner or later the tear gas would be let loose on the lot of us.

I ducked when I food tray came flying my way and it crashed into the wall behind me.

“Get down get down!” one guard shouted. Someone bumped into me and I stumbled. When I managed to straighten up, it was in time to see a guard, gun raised as if prepared to fire. I ducked again, skating across the floor and back to my table where the crew sat.

“Down down down!” I shouted, grabbing hold of Riley when I got close enough and pulling him to the floor. Half my body was draped over his as I covered my head and the others followed suit. A second later gun shots sounded and I didn’t need to look up to know that a few people had been hit.

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!” Riley was whispering over and over as he lay beneath me; his body quivering.

“Eddie’s been hit!” This from John and I glanced up to see my partner crossing the room -head still ducked- to go check on our fallen comrade.

I pushed up from the floor. “Stay here and stay down.” I told Riley before making my way over to Eddie.

“It’s bad.” John said when I approached. His hand was pressed against Eddie’s bloodied chest.

“Jesus.” I dropped to my knees before him.

“Get help!” John shoved me. I hopped up and the second I spotted a guard everything went to shit. I felt an intense heat flow over me, then I was being flung through the air. I crashed into a far wall and went down. Before I could register any pain or make sense of what had happened my world went black.

………………………

When I woke once more it was to a pounding head and utter confusion. Screaming, pounding feet, and heat. I pushed up with a groan, taking my time as I got to my feet, taking inventory of my limbs.

“What the-” I looked around me in shock, taking in the scene; most importantly the cafeteria wall across from me; all but torn down. I shook my head trying to clear it, but it only intensified the pounding in my head.

Not far from the gaping hole a fire was blazing eating away at everything in its path while inmates and guards alike tried to quell the flames. I moved unsteadily on my feet, almost tripping over the body of an unidentified male.

“What the fuck’s going on?” I said more to myself than anyone else but a breathless voice beside me answered and I felt a hand latch onto my arm; pulling me closer to the scene.

“They fucking blew it up!” it was John.

“What?”

“The fighting, it was all a distraction; they’re escaping!” he tried again and it took a while for me to process his words, but when I did, my eyes widened and I swung around to appraise him with wide eyes.

“Come on, help me find the others.” He shouted and pulled me in the direction of the flames. When he released my hand I noticed the imprint of his bloody hand and I froze, grabbing hold of his sleeve.

“Eddie, where’s Eddie?”

The look that flashed through his eyes at that moment was unreadable. “Later, come on” and he was running across the room, pushing pass inmates and jumping over rubble.

Despite the pain I followed him, racing to catch up, all the while glancing around me to catch a glimpse of Eddie or…

“Riley.” I hissed when I spotted him standing amidst the rubble. He had his bottom lip caught between his teeth as he looked toward the large hole in what had once been the cafeteria wall, then back into the cafeteria.

Kyle stood not far from him, shouting something at him but he only shook his head. I continued to follow John as we moved closer to the two and it was only when we were a few feet away that I realized what was going on between them.

“Riley you can’t!” Kyle was shouting.

Three long strides brought me close enough so that he could see me and when he did his eyes widened briefly before they shuttered and his expression became unreadable. Blood soaked his pants and he was sweating profusely.

“Riley-”

Kyle swung round when he heard my voice, eyes pleading.

“Nate, do something, he’s gonna run!”

Riley took a step back, bringing himself closer to the gaping hole and farther away from me.

Around me the guards had bigger problems; rounding up as many prisoners as they could while trying to deal with the roaring flames.

I took a step closer as he looked back and forth between me and the hole.

“Riley don’t!” I shouted, it didn’t take a fool to realize what he was contemplating and my heart sped in my chest at the prospect.

“I have to!” he shouted back and took another step away from me.

He looked scared; eyes wide, lips wobbling and I stepped closer.

“No...if you do this, that’s it for you, you’ll be on the run and when they catch you Riles, that’s it, your life will be over. Come here.” I said, afraid that if I stepped any closer he’d bolt, so I tried for rational despite my pounding head.

He glanced between me and Kyle this time, then I watched in horror as his expression shuttered once more and he said firmly.

“My life is already over.” Just like that, he spun on his heels and before I could process it all, he had disappeared through the hole.

“Riley no!” Kyle screamed in horror and a second later he was darting after his friend.

“Goddammit Kyle!” This from John who, without a thought skated across the rubble and disappeared through the hole behind them both.

I stared after them in shock, my mind reeling, my head pounding, my thoughts in chaos, then I too was darting across the small distance and through the hole. It was a tunnel, completely empty, rubble strewn across the floor, lights hanging by faulty cords. I could hear Kyle screaming Riley’s name as I ran, slipping on the loose stones.

There was no thought to what was going on behind me, no thought to all the shit that had just gone down; I just ran, heart pounding with every thud of my feet against the concrete and before I knew it I was out into the open; fresh air forcing its way into my lungs.

The escape had been well planned; the route from the prison clear and uninterrupted, I could see guards darting about, hear the gunshots and at one point I wondered if it was me being shot at, but I kept going, drowning out the sounds, focused on John’s back which was quickly disappearing from view.

When I got to the fence I slid through the small gash with some difficulty, but then it was home free and I was tearing across the asphalt and into the forestry beyond.

Even as I swept pass trees and brush and jumped over protruding roots I kept going, eyes ahead so that I wouldn't lose sight of John’s shirt, all the while knowing that by stepping through that hole we’d all just made ourselves fugitives.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING GUYS AND I HOPE YOU KNOW THAT I APPRECIATE ALL YOUR SUPPORT

HOPE THE HOLIDAY IS GOING GREAT!

KEEP SWEET!

-DoUbLe.A

unedited.