“I didn’t become a prison guard because I had an itch to be an inmate’s favorite fantasy, you know,” she said, her words muffled and thick against his skin.
“Didn’t think that. Even for a moment.”
“And I’m not here, after what happened, because I like being sliced and diced.”
“You’re not a masochist. I get that, too.”
She cleared her throat and leaned back, meeting his gaze. “My brother’s an inmate. Not here. Back in Texas. I thought maybe I could figure out what happened to him. Why he did it if I met more…like him.”
Something he already knew. “What did he do?”
Her lips trembled. “He murdered my sister and my parents. And he would have done the same to me, but I was away at college. When I saw him, in jail, it was like he wasn’t even there. Someone else was inside him.” she closed her eyes. “His gaze was flat. Soulless. And he snarled at me like an animal. Evan wasn’t like that.” When her eyes opened, they swam in tears.
“Something happen…to change him?” he asked softly, petting her cheek.
“I don’t know. But the things he did to them…weren’t right…weren’t what a human being would ever do to another. He devoured them.”
Billy shut his eyes, already guessing what had really happened. People didn’t snap. They didn’t turn. If the seed of evil wasn’t born in them, evil entered them.
She had a right to know the truth.
Chapter 6
“The Deputy Warden wants to see you.”
Gabriel was pulling on a clean coverall when the officer poked his head inside his cell to deliver the news. He fell into step beside the guard as he made his way out of the barracks and into the main building, careful that his relief was wiped from his face. He hadn’t had a chance to slip a message to Billy since he’d arrived, and he felt like he was sitting on a time bomb waiting for the cheap watch to tick to detonation.
Kalicek was sitting behind his desk. The door closed behind Gabriel, and he glanced back to see Billy who gave him a guarded smile.
“So, Vlahos. You have anything for me?” Kalicek said. “Are there demons infiltrating the prison, or is this whole operation a bust?”
Gabriel took the seat in front of his desk and let out a deep sigh. “Means found something today at the site.”
Kalicek’s eyes narrowed. “Well? What’d he find?”
“I don’t know. But it was metallic. Silver. It didn’t belong there.”
“And you let him take it?”
“Not much of a choice. It was that or bust my cover. Even if I got my hands on it now, it’d be like the sword hilt. We wouldn’t be sure what it was for.”
“So, we’re going to do what? Wait for him to take the prison? Let him eat another man?”
“I convinced him that it would be too dangerous for another man to disappear. But he wants blood.”
“How you gonna do it?” Billy said, crossing his arms across his chest.
“I’ll have to show him some skills. Something he can put to use. But I’ll need a shank.”
Kalicek walked to his file cabinet, unlocking the bottom drawer and pulling it out. He waved a hand toward the contents. “I have a collection. Don’t choose anything fancy, or he might recognize the work.”
Gabriel carefully rifled through the stash
of makeshift weapons, discarding sharpened wedges if Plexiglas, nails embedded in thick slivers of soap, and chose a razor blade which was chipped away to form a point and embedded in the end of a toothbrush. “You prepared to lose an officer for a while?” he asked, lifting his gaze slowly to the two men.
“Which one?” Billy said, his body tightening. “Want me to take a fall?”
“No. I’m going to need you.” He drew a deep breath. “Priest. I want her out of there.”