Chapter 1

"Agent Mission," the somewhat older man said as he entered her office.

"Yes Senator Marshall, I recognize you from the news," Mission said.

"Well I do hope I look better in person. I always think 'who is that old man?' when I see myself on TV" Marshall replied.

"Trust me you look ten years younger in person," Mission replied.

"My god you should go into politics. I almost believed that," he added. Agent Mission smiled but said nothing in reply. So Marshall went on. "I have looked over your proposal. I like it a lot. It should not only help me sell the budget, but should also advance our move to create efficiency in the non metro areas of the state. I hesitate to call them rural, since we want to get involved in the law enforcement in any town with a population under half a million."

"That I had not heard before," Mission said.

"Well you knew the plan was to take over all the country law enforcement first, then go to small town police departments?" Marshall asked.

"Yes, but half a million is almost all the police departments in the state," Mission suggested.

"Well your proposal will get our nose in the tent," he said.

"That was never the intent," Mission said.

"And I will never admit that it played any part in my decision to push forward with it. I think I can get committee approval during the meeting next week. Then we will have a definite go, even before the official vote."

"So should I be looking for resources?" Mission asked.

"Yes, but remember to sell the bigger plan, we want to absorb qualified local law enforcement people into the State Bureau of Investigation as much as possible," Marshall said.

"There are not a lot of high quality people in small town law enforcement. We aren't exactly looking for Mayberry here," Mission said.

"True but we could have used Sheriff Porter, if you people hadn't fucked it up," Marshall said.

"Well we did clean it up, so I guess all is forgiven. Besides that was a rogue operation." Mission said.

"Let's face it sweetie, she did everything better than the SBI with less than 10% of the resources. So like I said, we could have used her," Marshall said.

"Sylvia had some very worrisome friends," Mission replied.

"Well that is true. So do you have anyone in mind?" Marshall asked.

"Several actually, no one really stands out. They are mostly young and aggressive. They are applicants with law enforcement backgrounds in smaller departments across the state," Mission advised him.

"Well you have the power to recruit, if you hear of anyone good. So good luck and even though we can't advertise it, the program is going to go a long way with the politicians I can tell you that. There is something sexy about spies and double agents," Marshall replied. "Keep me advised.

"Absolutely," Mission replied but thought, fat fucking chance. The only reason you know anything about it is I need funding for the new section I am starting.

When Mission was sure no one was waiting she opened the top right drawer of her desk. From the desk drawer she took three files. The first was labeled simply rose. The file was the only reference to 'Rose' and would remain the only reference. Rose was the code name for one of the undercover agents Mission intended to recruit. There were three files in the drawer with various code names. Those three were her intended recruits and there were no backup personnel she had no other names on her list. These three were properly motivated she felt sure.

Now that she was almost sure the budget would be approved, it was time to get serious about recruiting. It might take a few weeks to do the paperwork so Mission knew it was time to go see the candidates.

"Well convict how you like it inside. This is your first time in isn't it?" Mission asked.

"You know it is bitch, you put me here," I said. "What the hell you doing here?"

"I came to see how you like being raped with a broom handle," Mission said.

"It was more like date rape than violent rape. I don't plan to resist, my face is too pretty to get mess up." I replied.

"Well if you are having so much fun I guess you wouldn't be interested in getting out," Mission said. She could see the prisoner face change expressions. She wasn't sure what that meant.

"Well, I'm always interested in the offers made by cops. They are usually good for a laugh." I said.

I can get you furloughed into my custody for an indefinite amount of time. You work for me, do what you are told and keep your mouth shut. If you do, you get to stay on the outside. You fuck me and you wind up right back here. Maybe with some more time added to your sentence."

"Doin' what?" I asked.

"Doing whatever I tell you to do. It will be dangerous and boring at time but you will be on the outside looking in." Mission said.

"Well that beats being on the inside looking out. So what do you want me to do for you first," I asked.

"You just have to agree and then sit tight till I work out a cover story for your con friends. You won't be going back to your old routine, but I don't want it to be some big mystery, if someone recognizes you either. I'm thinking jail break, but it my be something else entirely. You just site tight while I work out the details. And tell no one about this conversation." Mission demanded.

"No one would believe me if I did," I said. I had no idea what Mission wanted, but I knew she was looking for something only I could give her. It was the only thing that made any sense. I didn't have any money and I had already refused to give her my boss so what could she want. Giving up 'The Arm' hadn't even been mentioned, so I had no idea what she wanted with me. It would be nice to get out of prison for a while anyway. I might find time to make a payment on the payback that I knew was out there.

During the last year I had been inside, I spent my time getting into shape. I had lost the thirty pounds of baby fat I could never lose on the outside. I had also learned to defend myself. One of the convicts decided I needed a lesson early on. The beating I took from her and her friends was motivation for the workouts that lasted longer and longer each day.

On the six months anniversary of my beat down I caught the black convict in an unmonitored storage room. I had her begging me not to kill her, so instead of shanking her I Broke her arm and ruptured her spleen. She also agreed to a truce. If she didn't honor it, I planed to shank her ass. I should have anyway.

I was doing time for carrying drugs across the border. Possession with intent to distribute they said. And of course they were right. I had planned to sell the drugs for The Arm. I picked them up in Mexico City. Then I put them on a fishing boat the worked its way around Florida in international waters. Then up the inter-coastal water way to a little town on the coast of Mission's state. That were the boat made landfall and where Morris just happened to be waiting for someone to pick up a really big shipment. Odds of a random drug search in a fishing town are about the same as winning the lottery. The prize was ten to twenty in the state prison. It was just a bit better than a supermax, or so I was told. They tried to get me to roll up the man in Mexico, but I would never do that. He wasn't in Mexico anyway. He was in Capitol City a few miles from Mission's office.

I wondered how much she knew. She obviously didn't know much, or she would have had the rest of The Arm's network. Instead she had me, and nothing more. The deal seemed to be I started fresh with whatever she wanted. I didn't have to bring anything but myself to the table. That seemed fair to me.

I waited two weeks before the guard came for me. I had stopped believing that it would happen. Nonetheless the guard showed up one day about noon. "You got a visitor convict," she said.

"Who is it screw?" I asked. I didn't think anyone had called a corrections officer Screw in the last fifty years.

"I got no idea. Just follow me and you will see," she said.

I hoped it would be Mission but I didn't expect it. Disappointment is the hardest thing to deal with inside. Well that and not being able to go to the refrig at 10pm for a snack. It had been good for my figure though.

"Well agent Mission, you did come back to see me," I said smiling.

"Well you still want to come to work for the enemy?" she asked with a smile.

"When do I begin?" I asked.

"Read this file right now, then do what it says. Not more no less," the SBI agent said. "Read it now and leave it with me."

"You have to be kidding. You are going to break me out of prison?" I asked.

"Actually I'm going to break you out of a bus on the way to the courthouse to be exact. You just have to take care of the driver. You can not kill the driver is that understood?" Mission asked.

"Yeah I got it. Seems like a lot to go through, when you could just get me furloughed to you," I suggested.

"Look Rose," She saw the questioning look on the convicts face. "That's your name from now on with the SBI. So Rose everybody has a hacker on the payroll these days. So if they run your background, we want them to find a legit prison break.

We are going to help you, but it is nothing a boyfriend couldn't do. Trust me it will help keep you alive and in play. As long as you are in play you get a day off the back end of your sentence for every day you are working for us."

"Cool what's my salary?' I asked.

"That's up to you and your employers. While you are between jobs we will work out something. Of course we will provide the things you need to make it work." Mission informed me.

"Make sure I eat, but not have enough money to run," I said with a smile.

"You won't run Rose. The reason you won't run is you will be a prison escapee and if they catch you, you will come back here to serve every day of your sentence plus ten year for escaping. Let me assure you if you run, I will make it my life work to hunt you down." She waited just a second then asked, "Are we clear about that."

"Yes I suppose we are. So tell me how this is any different from prison?" I asked.

"You come and go as needed to get the job done. It's all about results you get them you stay outside, you fuck it up and you are back in here pretty damn quick. One more thing I am the only one who knows you work for our side. You are going to have to be smart and resourceful to pull this off with no help other than the team I'm putting together for you."

"I think I have it now. I'm going out to play with the bad kids and rat on them. If they catch me I die a very unpleasant way. If I turn them over to you, I have to testify which also gets me killed.'

"Absolutely not, you arrange for us to catch them in the act or catch them dirty without the warrants ever mentioning you. It's call finessing the truth," Mission said. "One more thing, no one will know who you are other than Rose. If anyone other than me makes contact with you, they must give you the code Thorn. It will mean for some reason I can't contact you myself."

"I suppose we have a never ending supply of burn phones?" I asked.

"Something like that sure," she said. "We may change the password from time to time. But if the first sentence doesn't contain the current one, throw the phone away and move to the safe meeting place. Don't worry we will go over all this later in the safe house."

"So when do I escape?" I asked.

In a couple of days you will be scheduled for a court hearing on the way there will be an incident go with it. Remember your first test will be the bus driver."

I spent two long days waiting for my 'escape'. Prison is an experience that can't be adequately be described there are just no words. I was constantly on the lookout for some kind of attack. One of the other inmates said, "You are just too fucking pretty," that was before she kicked me in the face. It was also before I learned to defend myself. I also found the stomach to dish out some payback. The rules for survival were different inside those fences.

I ran it over and over in my mind. How I would render the guard unconscious before the men came for me. I had no idea how they would cover the jail break, but I was interested in learning.

The guard came through on the afternoon of the second day to advise me that I had a hearing on some bullshit thing the next day. I had begun to think I had imagined the whole thing since I had heard nothing between Mission's visit till the guard's pronouncement. I had a special time in the shower, since I had court early the next day. I also got a new bar of soap for the special shower. I decided to steal the soap, even though it was hard to do. I smuggled it out in my vagina. The guard didn't check to see what happened to it, she must have just assumed I left it in the basket.

Since I wasn't allowed to return to my cell, I left the prison with the soap inside my panties. I had to work it out of my body and into the panties, since it burned like a mother fucker in there. The plan was to slip it out and work it down my leg. When they weren't watching I kicked off my shoe then insert the soap in a sock. My plan was to use it and the sock as a sap to beat the driver unconscious.

I waited for Mission's crew to force the bus to somehow stop, or something more dramatic. Instead there was a single highway patrol car which turned on its lights to force the bus to stop. When the bus pulled over the patrolman entered though the door and tazered the armed guard, while I beat the driver unconscious. The highway patrolman and I left together in the car. We also turned the other prisoners loose.

In the patrol car the driver did not remove either his motorcycle type helmet or his very dark glasses. "Don't worry you can touch the car we are supposed to leave prints. We are about to disappear, so it's okay."

"So who are you?" I asked.

"Another of Mission's gang," he said with a slight Hispanic accent. He unbuttoned his shirt sleeves and I saw his tats. I had no idea what a gang tat meant, but I knew one when I saw it. "Right now we got to dump this car and take to the woods," he said.

He meant it literally. We left the Highway Patrol car after removing two back packs from the trunk. We left it parked in the boat landing about five miles from the bus attack. It would be found quickly enough. I was in the prison jump suit so taking to the woods seemed like a good idea to me.

The boat landing had some cars parked there while the owners were on the river fishing. We could have had a spare car parked there, but it would have been too obvious. The landing also has a surveillance camera. We hiked into the deep woods for five minutes, when my rescuer told me to change out of the jump suit.

I found jeans and a tee shirt in the pack also a pair of too large canvas sneakers. I dressed while he dug a hole in the ground for the jump suit. The walk had been uncomfortable since my vagina burned from the course soap and from the stretching necessary to hide the almost full bar of soap inside it. One can suffer a lot of things to gain her freedom, but then after one is free she begin to notice the pain. It was a bit philosophical I know.

The guy lost the uniform quickly after he dug the hole for our clothes. We left the packs in the holes as well as the clothes. I had a hard time keeping up with him as he hustled through the woods because I struggled with the pain between my legs. After a few hundred yards I concentrated on my breathing and hardly felt the pain at all. It was simply a minor irritant.

"What do I call you," I asked when we were in sight of the road.

"My code name is Nico," he said. "And you are Rose. We both did business with The Arm."

"This isn't about The Arm is it," I asked.

"No, but he is simply the common thread that ties us together. The cops will find it eventually and figure it is why I broke you out. They will have no idea Mission is involved," he explained.

We continued to wait in silence. While we waited and he stared at the road, I appraised him. Nico was Hispanic no doubt at all. His background had to be with the gangs. Most likely they were West Coast gangs, I guessed. He was covered mostly with the tats I was pretty sure since he wore a long sleeved shirt, even though it was summer.

"So how did you get out?" I asked.

"I was already on parole when they caught me with a pocketful of Meth. As they say Mission made me an offer I couldn't refuse." he informed me.

"So we are going to be working dope?" I asked.

"Nobody told me nuthin, except to break you out." he said.

"Shit, you are as much in the dark as me," I suggested. "The fucking blind leading the deaf."

"Yeah, I don't even know if we are going to be working together or not. I'm guessing we will, but I don't know. I don't have any idea why Mission thinks I would need you," Nico demanded.

"Believe it or not, there are some places a woman can get into, a man can't," I said.

"What you gonna do when you get there. Some of these dudes will fuck, you then cut your heart out. That ass won't always save you." he said.

"Well break out your bad ass scale, and let's measure each other," I said. I needed to know how bad he was just in case we did work together. I'm sure he wanted to know the same about me. It was going to have to wait, since I didn't want to injure him or be injured by him. At the moment that would have been the only way to tell who was the badest of us all.

We were saved by the church bus, which pulled up along side the road near the entrance to the abandoned gas station where we waited. Since it had been just a gas station, it had to close and the convenience store a mile down the road inherited its customers. The old gas station was empty and deserted. It was a good for a church bus to pick up two hitchhikers.

"You must be my passengers," the driver said.

"I suppose so, where we headed?" Nico asked.

"Church bus off to summer camp," the driver said. "You remember what summer camp was like don't you. Fresh air, swimming in the lake, crafts and such?"

Something told me there was more to it than that, but I didn't ask. I did ask, "How long?"

"Four or five hours," he answered.

With that much time I settled into the rear seat meant for six people. I stretched out and went to sleep. When I awoke we were in parking lot of what for all the world looked like a church camp from my baptist days as a kid.

The air was cool and fresh when I stepped from the bus. We were greeted by a man leaning heavily on two canes. I was sure he was also wearing leg braces. "Welcome to Church Camp, my name is Major Andrew. While you are here you will address me as Sir. You will also address anyone wearing battle fatigues as Sir. If you don't, there will be repercussions. Trust me, it is going to be physically uncomfortable enough here, you don't need for it to be any worse."

He looked me and Nico over, then said, "You two will be in isolation until your time is complete. My staff does not need to know who you are, or what you do to complete their mission. Please don't try to engage them in small talk.

"You two will occupy a small cabin with very few comforts, but we will try to supply you with basic needs. You will be cooking and cleaning. Anything else you choose to do or not to do is up to you. We will not intercede in any disagreements, so you better learn to defend yourself even if it means murder." The crippled man said.

"So the Sergeant Major will have someone show you to your cabin. You will remain there till someone comes for you. There is no schedule here so use your time well."

The man with a broomstick up his ass stood beside the Major. He was also the one who took charge, when the major staggered away. "Right let's go find you a guide." We went into what was the mess hall and administration building. "Jewish Chic take these two to the VIP cabin please."

Then he turned to us. "You will have your classes in the meeting room at a large building by the lake, but you will not eat in our dining hall nor ever go there. When we wish to speak to you, we will will come to you. Understood?"

Nico and I nodded. The Sergeant Major said. "When I pay you the respect of asking you a question, I expect an answer not some shrug. Now do you understand the instructions?"

"Yeah," Nico said.

"If you were one of ours I would drive the smirk from your face," the Sergeant Major said.

"Don't let that stop you," Nico said. He almost didn't get it out of his mouth. Because the Sergeant Major gave him a stiff handed job to the throat. Next thing I knew Nico was laying on the gravel parking lot gasping for air. None of us moved to help him. I was pretty sure the Sergeant Major had a lot of experience with that move. He most likely knew how hard to strike in order to kill and would have stopped short of that much force.

We stood watching Nico for several minutes before the girl in the battle fatigues helped him to his feet. She wore a bored expression which made me think the greeting had not been that unique. The young woman and I helped Nico to the cabin. He wasn't hurt to badly but it took a while for his breathing to return to normal. While he struggled I checked out the cabin.

The cabin was small and once had contained four sets of bunk beds. That meant in the church camp bays it had held eight kids. Only two of the bunk beds remained. The upper bunk of each had been turned into a storage platform for whatever things might need storing. In our case it was filled with plastic boxes. One set of boxes had to be mine since it help smaller versions of the same clothes as the other one.

My boxes were filled with female underwear as well. There was already nothing left of my prison clothing but still my identity would be completely erased by the Discount store jeans and the tee shirts all generic. There were two sweaters, since it was the fall of the year. I assumed that it would be cool in the evenings at the mountain camp.

There was a wood heater in the middle of the floor. Beside it was a box with two sticks of wood. Leaning against a back corner of the cabin was a smallish ax. I had not noticed a woodpile, but I was sure there would be one nearby. With the ax along the rear wall was a five gallon plastic water jug with a plastic tap at the bottom. Obviously water had to be carried into the cabin. So far I had a feeling I was going to miss prison.

Under the small sink there was another five gallon bucket to collect the spilled or waste water. Also the little dry sink unit held a couple of drawers. One of them held lots of plastic utensils. Forks, spoons, and even sturdy knives filled the small drawer. Above the sink there was storage in the form of a pantry shelves of sorts. They were stocked with just basic food items.

Along the wall where my bunk bed was located was a built in desk with drawers. There were storage shelves above it as well. Also on the desk was a plastic covered note.

'You are located in the Smith Cabin. While I'm sure you have looked around and realized there is no bathroom or shower facilities. This is a private compound as such has it has bathhouse located about twenty yards north of this cabin. There are other cabins as well probably unoccupied. Should you meet other residents, you would be well advised to not discuss yourself or your mission. Some of them will be plants to discourage your conversing with straners. I should not need to warn you of the dangers in breaching security. We shop for the residents once a week, so make your grocery list accordingly. You will find frozen meals in your freezer unit and you have a microwave oven and a cook top. You will be forced to fend for yourselves. Get a good nights sleep, school starts at 6AM sharp.

It was past dark and I had been through a lot. I was hungry, but not enough to cook one of the frozen meals. I found the makings for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so I assembled that. I figured Nico might as well learn to fend for himself. I expected he had learned to keep his mouth shut already.

After the sandwich I stripped off the jeans and fell into bed. Since I hadn't worn a bra I was comfortable enough. Except that a minute after I hit the bed I realized I needed to pee. I slipped into a pair of fleece running pants I have found in the plastic boxes above my bed. It was chilly but not cold so they would do quite well.

On the return trip to the cabin, I past Nico as he walked toward the bathroom. He hadn't spoken a word since our arrival at the cabin. I had no idea, if it was some sort of macho shame, or his vocal cords were compromised. Either way it didn't really bother me. Upon reaching the cabin I slipped out of the fleece pants and climbed in the less than comfortable bunk bed. Then I immediately fell sound asleep. My head had been reeling from all the changes, but it had also been a long day.

6AM arrived way too early. I was announced by some kind of weird trumpet music played on a loud speaker somewhere at a distant location. I struggled out of bed when I noticed the time on the large electric clock on the wall.

"Nico, wake up it's time to greet the day," I said as I walked out the door headed to the bathroom. I went back inside immediately and put on the fleece slacks. I did that because it was cold outside. Okay maybe not technically cold but it was much cooler out there than inside the cabin. I couldn't understand it because the cabin wasn't heated.

Either way I wore the fleece pants to the bathroom to pee. I went back to the cabin since I knew it was close to 6:30. On that trip I didn't pass Nico so I assumed he was going to sleep in. I did make sure he was awake when I went to the cabin.

"Leave me alone. I'm sick," he said.

I had to admit he did look bad. He was pale and had a slight tremor. "You shit you are coming down from a high. You relapsed," I said.

"I couldn't break your ass out of jail without something to take the edge off," he said. "Now I'm paying for it, so it's your fault I feel like shit."

"Don't even try to put this shit on me," I demanded. "You are a scumbag junkie and probably headed to prison." I was pretty sure he had somehow been blackmailed or something similar to get him to agree to this crazy assignment. They were on the verge of kicking him out, what would they do to him to keep him from talking? I couldn't even guess.

I had enough time to heat some instant oatmeal and add some raisins. They were all things I found in the cabinet. I needed water for the oatmeal and the coffee pot so I ran to the bathroom to half fill the three gallon container with the spout.

It was six thirty exactly when the man who walked like he had a stick up his ass came into the room. "Good morning, my code name is big X you will call me either Sir, X or Big X from now on. We are going for a morning run. It is our routine to start every day with a run. This morning I will be assessing your physical condition. So let's go," he said.

"What about Nico?" I asked.

"It appears that Nico will not be joining us," X said.

I followed him outside. Then I followed him as he ran off into the woods. It was cold for about five minutes then it was hot as hell inside the fleece sweat shirt. We ran till I was pretty near exhausted. I finally looked up and saw that we were back in the parking lot by the administration building. I was catching my breath and looking for a place to throw up when I spotted Nico being lead to a Black Cadillac SUV in chains. Half a minute later the SUV drove off and it was the last I ever saw of Nico. I didn't even ask about him. Hell he was no more than a stranger.

"You need to go back to the cabin and haul some firewood. The electricity will be turned off at noon. Without firewood it is going to be very uncomfortable in the cabin. Plus you won't be able to cook," Big X said. "The Microwave Oven will work and the refrigerator and freezer but not the cook top or the small heater you had last night. He then walked away as if nothing had happened. Obviously Nico's well being meant nothing to him.

I went back to the cabin and found a computer map for the wood pile. Hauling wood was going to be difficult. There was no cart or grocery basket handy. What I did find outside the cabin was a sheet of hard plastic. It was perfectly flat but it would slide along the ground. I thought. "Prison did not prepare me for this shit," I whispered.

I went back inside the cabin and found several pieces of rope. I decided to take them all just to be sure I didn't get the the wood pile an then find out I needed more or a different one. I used the knife to punch a hole on to corners and then I tied a rope to it. It slid along the ground pretty easily. I loaded enough wood for what I felt was two or three days. I knew I could judge by the rate I consumed this load how big and how often I needed to make the loads.

I started with two dozen pieces of split logs about a foot long. I felt like that would last a couple of days. I had to tied the make shift sled into a 'U' shape so the wood didn't roll off the side The sled configured that way did not move alone the rough ground very well.