Chapter 22

I was pretty bleary eyed when my (company) phone rang that next morning. I’d had the wise thought to turn the ringer down low the night before so Candy just rolled over and kept snoozing. She’d been up late.

“2 minutes, I got coffee...” came Mace’s voice before an abrupt disconnect. I pulled on last nights clothes, grabbed my other bag and wallet and was out the door just as Mace pulled the car up. I’d heard someone rummaging around in the kitchen, and I wanted to dodge any angry parents or annoyed roommates.

Candy was rather ... vocal last night.

I closed the front door quietly on my way out, thankful that Mace hadn’t honked the horn. I’d tried that once in my teens, the response from the girls father had been spectacular. He’d come walking out and quietly informed me that his daughter was waiting in a polite young man to pick her up for a date, and that my truck was parked in his spot; and I’d best move on.

Some men just have a way with words.

Not me. I hopped in the car (throwing my bag in first) wearing yesterday’s clothes and smelling mildly of pussy and then uttered an unenthusiastic “hey...”

Mace didn’t even respond, just turned the fans on high, rolled the windows down fully and drove back to the hotel.

Passing me a key card he said: “Room 2024 remember? 20 minutes.”

I grabbed the bag again and hopped out, collecting some of the ‘free’ breakfast just as the staff was starting to put it away and ate a danish as I walked to the elevator. The showers here would be shitty, but any hot water was better than none.

I cleaned up, packed up and dropped my cards off at the desk just in time to see Mace walk out of the dining room. Fucker managed to get them to leave it open a bit! Filling my coffee mug with the life giving elixir and what passed for cream, I asked. “When are we expected?”

“Half an hour, we’d better move.” He grunted, I couldn’t tell if the coffee hadn’t hit him yet, or if he was still pissed at me.

“How many did you sense?” I asked when we were alone in the car. I’d taken to riding in the back, and found I liked it. Mace wasn’t one to let someone else drive, so I just rolled with it and caught naps whenever I could.

“Five ... I think some of them may have been CO’s with weapons, the rest probably inmates. But they could well be other staff. Three were bunched up closely in the East, the other two were in the main block.” He said with a shrug.

“You think something’s up, don’t you?” I asked. He’d been anxious yesterday.

“Yeah. What are the odds that three Weapons just congregate together without ever having been in a portal? I’m thinking they’ve been in, have their weapons, and found each other. This could be a real mess without you to take their weapons away.” he finished.

I couldn’t find fault with his logic. I’d strip the inmates, he’d scan them and anyone else who was a Weapon, and we’d get the hell out of there. If these prisoners had their weapons already, then either they’d been let out to run a portal, or there was a portal in the fucking jail. Either way, Max security cons with weapons wouldn’t be good.

The conversation died then, since we’d arrived. Our passes worked, and they let us onto the grounds (at least). I glanced at Mace and caught a look of surprise and then concentration. He paused a bit and then barely shook his head. We spoke with the Warden for a while we presented our paperwork, (which described our mission) and were granted a full tour. In addition, we would be seated at the observation post during both lunches, so every prisoner would be within my range at some point.

We ate there, and I couldn’t find much fault with the food. I did dislike the crappy utensils even though I knew why they were issued.