I was standing beside the true king of Alabaster Isle. And I would be by his side no matter what. No matter what kinds ofdanger we faced, or how dirty our hands had to get… He decided right then and there, with me on his one side, and Joy on his other, that we were going to fight, and fight, andfightsome more.
And it wouldn’t be easy. Far from it… But we wouldn’t stop until The Ivory reign was officially toppled.
There were more than a few moments of doubt. Of course there were. After all, we were just a ragtag band of morally corrupt makeshift officers. There were twenty of us. And ninety-two active inmates. That was it.
He had the entire cartel—and connections from mob families all over the world. He had dirty cops in just about every police force in all the boroughs, government officials in his pocket. Manuel Blanco had spent two decades building himself a global empire. His power seemed limitless, and in considering how we could even go about defeating that, we had to consider that a physical fight likely wouldn’t end well for us.
But wedidhave one advantage. It was something that made me sick with rage to think about, but couldn’t be ignored assomething—a weakness for us to play on.
Manuel Blanco wanted Velle back. He was desperate to hold on to hispet, which was the only reason we kept the peace, and kept working. It was just a different shade of gray until we could figure out how to defeat him.
We needed the prisoners.
It was a gamble for sure, but in order for this plan to work, we would have to free the animals from their cages and hope like hell they didn’t turn on us. Andeven then… would it be enough?
For months, we trained in secret, stocking supplies in Oscar’s Attic. That was the code name…
Get it? Oscar’s Attic… O.A. Old armory.
Yea, pretty basic, but I thought it was cute.
Joy is exceptionally talented, at many things, but she has a real skill for sneaking around, and stealing. Subtly, like pilfering small amounts of things here and there until she has a whole stockpile of provisions.
Still, we needed more weapons—a lot more—and Oscar’s Attic was no longer the place where such things were kept. They were in the new armory, located inside the prison. More specifically, in the West Wing, right around the corner from the Warden’s office.This was not done by happenstance.
And so, we came up with a plan to hijack the armory, which would coincide with Dr. Love’s plan to imprison the East Wing doctors. And we were all set to move forward with our hostile takeover… When The Ivory beat us to the punch.
Cartel capos, dressed as uniformed officers—dressed like us, only distinctly different—swarmed the halls of Alabaster Penitentiary. It was immediately clear why they were there; to cause intentional mayhem. And to replace us.
I hate to give the asshole credit for anything, but it was a smart move. While I’m sure he’d been planning it since we left, he waited for the perfect moment to throw us a curveball.
One thing I’ve learned about Velle, however, throughout this whole thing, is how adaptable he is. How willing he is to take his licks, and allow them to fuel his rage, and his perseverance.
In that moment, he vowed that if The Ivory could be patient, and wait for his moment… so could we.
Except that whenwestruck, the hit would be critical.
And so here we are. Our plan is officially in effect. We’ve been laying in wait for months, and it’s finally time to make our move.
Interestingly enough, we’re still waiting.
As soon as the lights in the cellblock went out, we were locked and loaded. Pieces in place, and ready to make our move. That prick Pedroia had some kind of meeting—we’re not sure of the specifics, but chances are it had something to do with us.
No matter, though. As soon as the coast was clear, and we were sure The Ivory was preoccupied, Velle and I slipped upstairs and took the armory.
It was actually a lot easier than it should have been. We drilled into the lock, and once we were inside, we began creating barricades, stacking furniture to hide behind in the event we get bogged down and have to start shooting.
We’ve emptied the entire weapons cache, filled bag after bag with as many guns as we could fit.
And now we wait.
Velle and I are going to hole up in here until Peters, Soto and Reyes can take the night crew hostage. After that, we take the control rooms, get guns to the prisoners, and once we have the numbers… We take the prison.
That’s the plan, anyway. And it’s a solid one. Sure, a million things could go wrong, but I have faith in us.
I have faith inhim, more than anything else.
Seated on the floor behind an overturned desk, we have a few moments of silence before all hell surely breaks loose. I witness my partner taking a breath, holding it with eyes closed, back pressed against the oak. I’m not sure if he’s giving himself a moment to panic, to worry, obsess, doubt. But if he is, you’d have no idea.
