United (The United Trilogy Book 1) (17 page)

At this Masters stepped up.  “This is meant to be a place feared and not one that you want to enter, President Thatcher.  The men are required to take care of themselves, as you have noticed they have chosen not to.”

“I see, and have they been given the adequate time and supplies to do so?”  I asked Masters, but turned to face the Warden.  Masters also directed his gaze to the Warden.

“Ah, yes, you see Miss President, we keep them on a very tight schedule working to pay off their dues to society.  There isn’t a whole lot of free time you see, the system is designed that way.”

“I see, yes.  I am going to be taking a tour lead by Mr.  Masters and his team, when we return, I would like to see a breakdown of the weekly and daily schedules as well as everything they eat and how often.  I also want a list of all your guards as well as background information.”  Stanley slumped into his chair looking completely shell -shocked.  “We will see you soon Stanley.”  I motioned for Masters to go ahead of me and waited for Adams to join me before I followed.

Chapter Seventeen

Once we were out of the door and heading down Adams leaned over and whispered directly into my ear.  “I’m pretty sure he is going to have to change his pants now, remind me not to get on your bad side.”  I shot him a quick wink and tried to keep up with Masters.  Half way there I poked Masters hard in the back, “If you want me to make it you will slow the heck down.  5’2, remember, and in heels.” Masters said nothing but slowed his stride.

We turn a corner and come to an abrupt stop in front of the cell block.  Two guards meet us at the door.  Masters said something to them that I couldn’t hear and they nodded and looked directly at me and nodded again.  Masters stepped to the side and introduced me to the two of them so fast I didn’t catch their names.  Then he scanned us in and off we went.  I huffed in annoyance and was about to say something when Adams leaned over again and whispered, “We were standing in the open and vulnerable, if you want to meet them later in private, it can be arranged.”

I smiled my thanks to him.  Thank God for the rookie.  Once we reach the first line of cells, I could see both men switch to full alert and I knew Green would be doing the same behind me.

Master turned to me, “remember, ignore all comments that aren’t productive.  If you wish to stop and engage you may do so, but I would prefer you just look for now, most of the men are out on work detail, the ones left behind are here for a reason, because they can’t be trusted to leave.”

I nod and motion for him to continue.  We walk past the cells and they are even worse than I imagined.  There is absolutely nothing but a very flimsy mat on the ground with a thin blanket and a hole in the ground I’m assuming to be their toilet.  No wonder it smells so bad, they don’t even have standard plumbing.  It is so cold I am shivering in my three layers, I can’t imagine only having that small blanket and sleeping on the cold hard ground.  Masters was right about there being mostly empty cells.  The further we went the more I saw glimpses of people up ahead.  When we reached the next set of cells there were a few men there.

Most ignored us completely, a few said some nasty comments, but one older gentleman was just sitting on his mat and watching us, I motioned for Masters to stop and I walked up to the man behind the bars.  “Hello sir, my name is President Thatcher.  And you are?” This got a laugh out of him which turned into a horrible coughing fit.  Once he got the coughing under control he stood up and walked up to the bars

You’ll have to excuse me Miss; it’s been a long time since anyone called me Sir, especially a good looking woman.”  Masters stepped forward, and I put my hand up to stop him.  “I’m sorry Miss, I forgot my manners.  I’m called Smith, I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

“None taken Mr.  Smith, why aren’t you on work detail like everyone else?”

“Oh no Mr. just Smith, my first name is Eddie, but only my momma ever called me that.  And I’m not out there working because they say I’m too sick to be of any good.” He started up the coughing again.

This worried me, this man sounded like he should be in a hospital, prisoner or not.  “Yes, I can see that.  Have you seen a doctor?”  This caused Smith to start laughing again and go into another coughing fit.

I turned to Adams, “I need a glass of water.”  He was about to protest but Masters nodded his consent and Adams left to do my bidding.

Smith brought himself under control, “No miss, no doctor is needed.  I’m just of bad health is all.”

“I’m sorry to hear that Smith, and how long has your health been like this?” He looked afraid now and glanced at Masters.

“She asked you a question, answer her please.” Masters told him.

“It’s been a few months Miss.” A few months, this man looked horrible and he’s been like this for months?   Just then Adams came back with several bottles of water.  I took one and opened the cap and handed the bottle through the bars.  He took it and drank from it greedily.  Once the bottle was empty he handed it back.  “Thank you Miss, I appreciate it.”

I took the bottle and handed it to Adams taking a second bottle from him.  “You are most welcome, would you like another?” He nodded and I took the cap off and handed him the second bottle.  He drank slower this time and when he was finished he handed the empty bottle back to Adams.

“Thank you very much miss, you are a ray of sunshine in here.”  He smiles wide and you can see that most of his teeth are rotting.  I tried hard not to show how disgusted I was with how these men were being treated.  “It was very nice to meet you Smith, I’m going to make sure a doctor comes to take a look at you, and I hope you are feeling better soon.”  I nodded to Masters to keep walking and when we were out of hearing range I said, “I need some air...now!”

Masters nodded and walked to a side door that he scanned us into that led us out into a fenced in yard.  I tried to get my anger under control and waited until I felt I could talk to him without yelling.  “Do you know that man?” He nodded yes.  “What is his background?”

He looked down at the ground for a moment then met my eyes, his were filled with compassion.  “He has been in for nineteen years now.  His daughter was taken by some boys looking for trouble, he found them attacking her and he beat them up pretty good, one of the boys died.”

My eyes filled with disbelief, “You mean to tell me this man is rotting in prison because he was defending his family?!”  I just couldn’t believe what he was telling me.  This is my first prison, first inmate that I’ve talked to and this is already what I am finding out?  What else am I going to find once I dig deeper?  I’m not sure I want to know.

“You know how our country deals with people who abuse children; the fact that he was defending his daughter is the only thing that kept him from death.  Roz, I don’t like it anymore than you do, but you can’t bend the rules depending on the inmate.  They have to know that there is always a punishment for their crime, always, no matter what.  Go ask Smith if it was worth it.  Ask him if he would do it again to make sure his daughter wouldn’t be touched again.  I will tell you his answer will be absolutely yes.  Just like any other man defending his family.  Did he mean to kill the boy?  Of that I’m not so sure, but you better believe if I had a daughter and people were attacking her, I would kill them all and walk myself right to the prison doors.”

I sat down not caring that I was making my outfit filthy, not caring that I looked weak in front of these strong men.  I placed my head in my hands.  And let the tears silently fall.  Masters told the two men to stand guard up ahead.  And he sat down next to me not touching or talking, just sat there for about five minutes until I had gotten myself under control.  When I brought my head up and dried my eyes Masters was looking off into the distance, but started talking to me anyway without looking my way.

“When I told you I didn’t want you to come here it wasn’t just for safety reasons Roz.  Yes, it is dangerous, but the main reason is because I didn’t want you to have to see it.  It is one of those necessary evils that we need in order to keep our country safe.  You are too pure, too good for this place.  Your heart takes on everyone else’s pain and I didn’t want this to break you.” The tears are silently flowing again as I take in his words.  He looks down at me now.  “Don’t let it break you Roz.  Take the anger you have and direct it where it needs to be, at the conditions of this place, but that’s it.  Take the hurt and put it towards good use, to educate the people about the consequences of their actions.” He put his arm around me this time and rubbed my shoulder.  “Just don’t let it break you Roz.  Having a position like yours, it hardens you after a while.  You become numb to these sorts of conditions and treatments, which is why they want to keep the leader fresh and new.  They want you to be affected enough to make it better.”

I nod, trying to bring myself under control.  We sit there for another few minutes in silence.  Then I turn to look up at him.  “I need the truth from you right now Kevin.  Did you know how bad these conditions were?” He nodded yes, never breaking eye contact with me.  “Was it in your power to change them?” He shook his head no.  I see, so it was up to the President and Vaughn apparently was fine with these conditions.  Just out of curiosity, I asked him “Would you have made changes if it was up to you?”

“Yes, not many, but some.”

That was enough for me, time to dry my eyes and put the compassion to good use, to make changes.  “Well get ready, because changes are about to be made.”  Standing up he held his hand out to help me up.  I dusted myself off as much as I could and turned to him.  “Thank you Masters, really, I’m not sure I would have made it through this.  Andi was right after all.  You really are a big teddy bear.”

Masters groans out loud.  “Will you stop spreading nasty rumors, and don’t even think about hugging me; I can tell you want to.”  We start walking again and I laugh, because he’s right, and if we weren’t standing in a prison I would hug him.  We join the others and they silently retake their positions again.  Adams looked over at me and mouthed are you ok.  I looked at him and smiled.

“Masters, I think we gave Stanley enough time for a panic attack and to get those papers together, I say we pay our good friend a visit, lead the way.” We start back towards the Warden's office.

Masters knocks on the door and then scans himself in.  I walk in without ceremony this time and take a seat on the other side of Stanley’s desk.  His eyebrows shot up in surprise but he didn’t say anything.  The guys were all standing around me and I could tell their presence wasn’t going to help get me any straight answers, as it was I was afraid poor Stanley was going to wet himself.  “Masters take a seat next to me, Green and Adams you’ve been wonderful escorts, why don’t you go get some air, Masters will message you when you are needed.”  At Masters' nod, they both left the room.

“Well it seems as you have settled into your role rather nicely, and quickly might I add.” Stanley said seeming to find his courage now that we managed to level the playing field a bit.

“Yes, well I don’t believe in putting anything off that needs attending to, which brings me to this facility.  I’m sure you won’t be surprised to find that I find the conditions appalling.”

He shakes his head sadly and looks at me.  “No, I’m not surprised Miss.  Here are the things you asked for.”  He hands me several folders, which I begin to look through.

I hand them off to Masters to take a look while I get down to what is troubling me most.  “I don’t want to waste your time or mine sir, so I’m going to just lay it all out there, is this alright with you?”

“Of course, I prefer it that way Miss.”

“Good, then we will get along fine.  First off, why aren’t the prisoners being better taken care of?  There was a very sick man in one of the cells being completely neglected.  They may have done some horrible things to wind up here, but just because they might not have a conscience, doesn’t mean that I don’t.  I would hope that as Warden of this place, your job includes seeing to every man’s needs, whether you agree with their actions or not.  If he has a headache or a runny nose, I understand, but Smith sounds like he’s already gotten an invitation to the grave.  He needs a doctor and has needed one for months now.  There is no excuse for this type of behavior and I don’t wish to hear one now.  The only argument you could have is that the President didn’t allow for medical treatment, and that’s a valid argument. However, I am President now and the rules are changing.”

He took this much better than I thought he would, in fact he was nodding his agreement so he either was a fantastic liar all of a sudden or he did agree with me, that or he was just resigned to do whatever I asked.  Either way as long as it was seen to.  “I’m going to have my assistant send a doctor out here today to have Smith seen to.  I want you to set up a monthly visit for him to do checkups on all of the prisoners.  Masters is going to be checking in with you to make sure everything is taken care of, so please make sure this is top priority.”

I retrieve the files from the desk where Masters placed them.  Flipping through I find the page I am looking for.  “If you would be so kind to explain the work program to me, I would appreciate it, my knowledge on the subject is very limited,” I’m proud that I still sounded in control when really the sixteen year old in me wanted to say, what the heck, I don’t get it!

“Certainly Miss.  Before the rebellion, the prison systems were a mess.  A lot of people would commit crimes just so they could have a place to sleep and food to eat.  We don’t have that problem here since everyone is taken care of, but we didn’t want it to become a place where people could escape their life for a better one.  That is one reason why the conditions are so bad.  We didn’t want the convicts to get out of their citizen duties of working, so all of the hard labor was set aside for the convicts to carry out; things like garbage duty, working the sewers and the fields.  This saved the people from having to over work themselves and it helped the prisoners to make amends for their crimes.”

Hmm, the first maybe, the second not so much, which led me to my next idea.  “I agree with you that having them continue to have jobs and pay their way is the right thing.  However, we are expecting them to work like our citizens, yet harder and not take care of them like we would our citizens.  I’m not saying they should be treated the same, but they do need to be taken care of.  The heat in the building for one, we need to make sure the basic needs are met, a better mattress, warmer blankets, and for Heaven’s sakes actual plumbing.  It’s bad enough they are in cages like animals, that cannot be helped, but a little compassion never hurt anyone.”