Justice Deferred
By: Alex. P
For Disclaimers see Chapter 1
Chapter 5
While Cam waited for the guard to bring her clothes and escort her to the
Admin. building to process out, she thought back over the last six years.
Her thoughts tried to bypass the long mind-numbing tedium of the day to day
existence in this Hell on Earth but instead went over the highlights of her
time as a resident of CCC.
More importantly how she had been changed by the highs and lows of her time
here and how some of the changes were for the better and some were definitely
not good at all.
At first everything had gone pretty much as Cam had expected. There had been
the usual advances by some of the other inmates, the ones that had simply
accepted her and over time become some of her closest associates.
The others, the ones that had been foolish enough to attempt to force
themselves on her paid dearly for the attempt.
One notable incident occurred in the showers shortly after Cam had been put
into the general population. A woman called Val had caught the tall beautiful
new fish taking her shower and with the help of two of her followers had
attempted to take Cam by force. By the time the incident was over Cam had
needed stitches in her lip and her thigh where a knife made of glass and
masking tape had been stuck into it and broken off. Val and her accomplices
were put in the infirmary for broken bones, various deep cuts, and bruises that
went all the way to the bone, and in Val's case a severe concussion. After that
things had gone fairly smoothly.
Cam had earned her rep as someone best left alone, and she settled into a daily
routine. She had been behind the walls for nearly a year when she was called to
the warden's office, where she was introduced to a short stocky man that was
very impressively dressed from his expensive custom tailored Italian suit, to
his hand made western boots. There was something very familiar about him, but
Cam wasn't able to figure out what.
He was introduced as her new lawyer, after saying and answering some coded
phrases; Cam was assured that he was sent by her uncles and Cutter. For the
first time since the beginning of this whole mess Cam was starting to feel like
she was gaining a little control at last.
He began by telling her he was using every available resource to obtain a
review of the circumstances of her conviction, and the plea agreement. A plus
for the man was he didn't lie to Cam or try to give her false hopes.
He truthfully told her that the plea bargain she'd signed with the Benton
County Prosecutor was pretty much iron clad and so far they hadn't been able to
find any loopholes in it. Since there were no witnesses to support her claim of
coercion, her best hope for release was parole.
She understood and accepted his opinion, and respected the man for his honesty.
She told him he was the first honest lawyer she'd seen since the beginning of
this ordeal. Before he left the strangely considerate and familiar man went
over a system of complicated codes and conveyances so she could communicate
with her family.
The usual messages were to be in the form of personal ads in some of the
"biker rags" she was already getting sent to her every month by
subscription. Also he informed her that her uncles, through the lawyers, had
deposited the maximum amount in her account, so that she could get anything she
wanted or needed. For her part Cam reissued her no visitors and no mail orders
as the mail was opened and read by the
authorities prior to her receiving it and visits were recorded.
He also gave her a list of emergency numbers so she could contact one of her
several attorneys, at any time she needed them. He as much as told her that his
entire firm was at her service, large or small 24/7. It turned out that this
short stocky little man was a long time friend of Cutter, who, he assured her,
was out of federal lock up and the firm was in the middle of a false
imprisonment lawsuit on his behalf.
The lawyer gave her a predatory smile that transformed him into an entirely
different man than the one she met and one she wouldn't want to cross. It was
then she recognized him as the man Cutter had always called "the
Sargent-Major."
Once she remembered his connection with Cutter, her confidence in the
deceptively calm man went way up. It told her this man, like Cutter, had some
unusual contacts in D.C. He gave her his card containing all of his private
numbers, and informed her that any papers she received from him were considered
confidential.
Not only must the prison officials let her have them, they were not allowed to
know the contents. As the lawyer was preparing to leave, he gave her a message
from Cutter and her uncles, the gist of it was to watch her back. That when
Kreelcorp had gone after her, a fact Cutter discovered when a representative of
the corporation tried to blackmail them regarding her freedom, (insinuating
that they had taken her freedom and they could, if they wished, restore it)
they had gone way too far over the line.
According to the message, her uncles and Cutter was going to show that bastard
how they took care of their own, and that going after his little girl was the
last straw. They were not only going after Kreelcorp and it's owner D.C.Kreel,
but they weren't going to stop until every single person involved with hurting
their family, and also everyone involved with putting his little girl in CCC,
had paid dearly.
Cutter had made it very clear to the lawyer that absolutely no expense was to
be spared in his vendetta against the business rivals, and Benton County. In
his own final warning and in Cutter's own words;
"Take cover WC cause I'm cuttin' loose the dogs."
It was only two weeks later that the first and most successful attack against
Cam came.
Lulled by the lack of news about her family's war with their enemies Cam wasn't
paying attention to her surroundings, and allowed herself to be bracketed in a
crowd by two other women with shivs.
She was stabbed five times before she was able to break away from the crowd,
most of which had no idea what was going on. Bleeding heavily Cam staggered
away a few feet before she collapsed fortunately at the feet of the newly
promoted Sargent of the Guards, Paula Carson.
If the well known, and respected guard hadn't been there, Cam's assailants
would have finished the job and Cam would have died right there in the exercise
yard. Paula stared slack-jawed down at the beautiful woman laying at her feet
in a quickly expanding pool of her own blood.
True to her training, Paula had quickly shook off her surprise, knelt down, and
began doing what she could to stop the bleeding, as she called on the radio for
immediate medical assistance, and extra guards to clear the yard.
That was the first meeting between the guard that was on the fast track to
promotions and the prisoner that was destined to become a prison legend in her
own time.
They had just barely been able to save Cam that time, but despite loosing her
spleen and a kidney, the black haired beauty recovered quickly. Paula had
visited the unusual prisoner every day, and found her to be a bright,
intelligent woman, both well read and well educated. They had many interesting
and lively conversations, and in time they had developed a mutual respect for
each other, becoming as close to friends as a guard and an inmate could get.
The prison officials had done everything in their power to find the women
responsible for the attack, but as was expected they had no luck. Everyone knew
exactly who had stabbed Cam and why but without proof there was nothing anyone
could do. When Cam was returned to general population in D Block, prisoners and
guards alike, watched to see how the woman would retaliate for her injuries.
When two weeks went by with nothing happening, the two women began getting
cocky.
Everyone finally gave up figuring that the supposedly tough chick had lost her
nerve because of the attack and her near death. Nobody blamed her, it could
have happened to any of them, and they decided the whole incident was over, except
Paula.
She had gotten to know Cam fairly well and she was sure something was going to
happen. The woman was just too smart to exact her revenge when she knew
everybody expected it, and there was a good chance she'd get caught.
She remembered a comment Cam had once made while she was still in the
infirmary. Cam told her that in prison you didn't have to be a stand up guy,
but you do have to stand up. Thinking of that Paula tried to warn her superiors
that the incident was far from over, but they ignored her. Paula was right.
Late one night, when Paula was off duty, the quiet of the darkness was
shattered by a blood curdling scream of abject terror and agony, that came to a
sudden gurgling stop. All the lights came on and the guards came charging into
the cell block. What they found caused the most hardened veteran among them
shudder in fear and get a little queasy.
Laying on the floor of the community day area, were the two women that had
stabbed Cam, or what was left of them at least. One was dead, the other was
alive but unable to move or speak or communicate in any manor. There wasn't a
mark on them with the exception of a few small bruises on the neck of the woman
still living.
When the coroner examined the dead woman his report said every major organ in
the woman's body had been ruptured, apparently, one at a time, he also added
that it was a long and horrendously painful way to die. He was a Vietnam
veteran, and commented that the last time he'd seen a body in this condition,
was when he examined the body of a Vietnamese official that was a suspected
traitor. At the time it was suspected that his death was an assassination.
The doctor's report on the woman left alive was just as bazaar and mysterious.
The first and most obvious was the reason she was unable to speak it was
because her vocal cords were destroyed not hurt, or injured, not even cut, they
were destroyed beyond any possibility of recovery, or medical repair.
There were no apparent injuries to explain the unusual condition, only two
small bruises on her larynx. She would never speak again. Her paralysis was
caused by severe compression of the spinal cord, also of unknown cause.
All readings showed that the woman was aware and able to tell what was going on
around her, but was completely unable to communicate, in any manor. There was
nothing found to explain the cause of the injuries and also no way of finding
who had caused them.
The guards had responded instantly to the sound of the screams, but no
assailant was found, another mystery was that the bodies hadn't fallen from the
second tier where they lived. The bodies had been placed where they were found
and carefully arranged. Recognising the victims as the women responsible for
the Brusard stabbing the guards hurried to Cam's cell on the third tier, but
all they found was Cam sitting on her bunk in the lotus position eyes closed,
and unresponsive until the guards called her name.
They also checked and found that the cell door was locked and not tampered
with.
The tall exotic beauty smiled slightly when she heard of the condition of the
two women then expressed an obviously insincere concern for their misfortune.
The mystery was never solved but after that Cam's wish to be left alone was
honored.
When Paula brought up the incident in a private conversation, all Cam would say
was that she heard that the women had become cocky lately, and had made many
enemies. As far as she could see karma and justice had been served and she
refused to discuss it further.
As Paula walked through the cell block, she recalled her contacts with the
beautiful mysterious inmate, and all the time she'd spent trying to understand
the strange way the raven haired beauty reacted to things. Something that would
devastate the usual prisoner caused the woman only a moments thought, but
things that most prisoners wouldn't even notice would cause Cam to withdraw
from everyone until she had considered her reaction thoroughly.
She could count on one hand the number of women the exotic and mysterious woman
spent any time with, and none of them had ever been intimate with her, and
nearly every woman that Cam had been intimate with was never allowed close to
her again. In fact for a while Cam was never with a lover for more than twice
then she would ignore them as if they no longer existed.
She also recalled when Brusard had first come to her attention she was known as
untouchable, not that she didn't get offers, a woman as beautiful as Cam could
have anyone she wanted, man or woman, prisoner or guard.
She was untouchable because that was the way she wanted it. From what was said
Cam was being faithful to someone on the outside, Paula remembered thinking how
rare that kind of loyalty was.
Then after getting some news from her attorney Cam had gone into her cell and
orders from the warden specifically stated that she was to be left alone until
she indicated that she was prepared to re-enter the population. She had stayed
in her dark cell listening to those old blues CDs she loved for over a week, no
food only water.
Then word came that she was requesting a clean uniform and a shower. After that
Cam was like the D-block's own answer to Casanova. When Paula had asked her
what happened all Cam would say is;
"Lovers are never what they seem."
Something bad had happened to her but only the warden knew and he wasn't
talking. Cam never laughed after her self-imposed isolation.
She walked around with an amused smirk as if she knew the punch line to some
cosmic joke and she wasn't sharing. No one was ever allowed to get close to the
walls she had erected around herself.
Well... Paula thought smiling ...no one that is until Cheryl Killian.