The report said accidental overdose.
But Maya didn't use dr*gs.
She never had."
"I read the report—"
"You read what they wanted you to read.
The same report your office helped bury when Ava was transferred two weeks later."
"I didn't know about your daughter."
"You knew about a young officer who d*ed under suspicious circumstances at your facility.
You knew the investigation was closed before it started.
And you made sure the person connected to it was moved somewhere quiet."
"I was told to transfer her.
By someone above me."
"Who?"
The Warden looked at the door.
Then at the phone.
Then at Naomi.
"If I tell you, I lose everything."
"You already lost everything the moment Ava learned my name.
The only question now is whether you lose it quietly or loudly."
He sat down.
His hands were shaking.
"Three years ago, I got a call from a man named Douglas Mercer.
He's a state senator.
He told me a situation needed to be handled quietly.
An officer had been kjlled.
The inmate responsible was connected to someone powerful.
I needed to make it disappear."
"And you did."
"I had no choice.
He threatened Rachel.
Said if I didn't cooperate, my daughter would pay the price."
"So you buried my daughter's case to protect your own."
The Warden's eyes filled.
"I'm sorry.
I'm sorry about your daughter.
But you don't understand what these people are capable of."
Naomi placed the second photograph face-up on the desk.
It showed Ava standing next to a man in a suit.
The man was Douglas Mercer.
"Your daughter isn't just visiting Ava," Naomi said.
"She's being held by her.
Every visit, every photograph, every message — it's leverage.
Ava has been using Rachel to keep you in line."
The Warden picked up the photograph.
His hand trembled.
"She told me Rachel was safe.
She said Rachel was getting help—"
"She's been living in a house Ava owns.
Two miles from this facility.
She's not a visitor.
She's a hostage."
The Warden stood up so fast his chair hit the wall.
"I'll k*ll her."
"No.
You won't.
Because that's not justice.
That's rage.
And rage is what got us here."
"What do you want from me?"
"I want you to call the FBI.
I want you to give them everything.
Mercer, Ava, the transfer, the buried report.
All of it."
"They'll put me in prison."
"You're already in one.
You've been in one for three years.
The only difference is, right now, you still have a chance to do the right thing."
The Warden stared at her.
Then at the photograph of his daughter smiling next to the woman who had been controlling him.
"Make the call," Naomi said.
He reached for the phone.
The office door burst open.
Ava stood in the doorway.
Two inmates behind her.
A g*n in her hand.
"Hello, Warden.
Hello, Naomi."
The guards were nowhere.
"How did you get in here?" the Warden stammered.
"I've been walking through these halls for six years.
Your guards don't stop me.
They never did."
She stepped inside.
The inmates blocked the door.
"Put the phone down, Warden."
He set it down.
Ava looked at Naomi.
"I knew you weren't an inmate the second I saw you.
The way you sat.
The way you looked at the room before you looked at your food.
Cops do that.
Federal cops do that even more."
"You're observant."
"I'm a survivor.
There's a difference."
Naomi didn't move.
"What happened to my daughter, Ava?"
Ava's expression didn't change.
"Which one?
Yours or his?"
"Mine.
Maya Carter."
Ava tilted her head.
"She was in the wrong place."
"She was doing her job."
"She was asking questions about things that weren't her business.
I told her to stop.
She didn't."
"So you had her kjlled."
Ava's jaw tightened.
"I didn't touch her."
"You paid someone to do it."
"I don't pay people to do things.
I suggest.
Other people decide."
"Mercer."
Ava smiled.
"Mercer does what I tell him.
He has for years.
Your daughter found out.
She went to him.
He came to me.
I told him to handle it."
"And by handle it—"
"She went to sleep and didn't wake up.
That wasn't my decision.
That was his."
Naomi took a step forward.
Ava raised the g*n.
"Don't."
"You're going to sh**t me in the Warden's office?
With two witnesses behind you?"
"I've done worse with more."
Naomi stopped.
But she didn't look away.
"You're afraid," Naomi said.
Ava laughed.
"Of what?"
"Of what I already have.
You came here to stop me.
That means I already have something you can't afford to lose."
Ava's grip on the g*n shifted.
Just slightly.
"What do you have?"
Naomi reached into her uniform slowly.
Ava's arm straightened.
The two inmates behind her tensed.
Naomi pulled out a small recording device.
She held it up.
"I've been recording since I walked into this building.
Every conversation.
Every phone call.
Every confession."
Ava's face went blank.
"Everything you just said.
About Maya.
About Mercer.
About suggesting.
It's all on this device.
And it's already been transmitted."
Ava's hand started to shake.
"To who?"
"The FBI agent sitting in a car outside this facility right now.
The one who's been monitoring this operation for the past seventy-two hours."
Ava turned to the Warden.
"You set me up."
The Warden shook his head.
"I didn't know."
"She's lying," Ava said.
"She has to be lying."
Naomi pressed a button on the device.
A light blinked green.
"Check your phone, Ava.
Check the news."
Ava's free hand went to her pocket.
She pulled out a phone — one the guards had apparently missed.
She looked at the screen.
Her face went white.
"Senator Douglas Mercer was arrested forty minutes ago," Naomi said.
"Federal charges.
Conspiracy.
Obstruction.
Accessory to murd3r.
His statement named you as the one who gave the order."
Ava's phone slipped from her hand.
It hit the floor.
"That's not possible.
He wouldn't talk.
He never talks."
"He talked when the FBI showed him the visitor logs.
The same logs that show your connection to Rachel.
The same logs that prove you've been holding the Warden's daughter as leverage for a federal cover-up."
Ava looked at the two inmates behind her.
They stepped back.
"Don't," Ava said.
But they were already gone.
The door was open.
Footsteps running down the hall.
Ava turned back to Naomi.
The g*n was still in her hand.
But her arm had dropped to her side.
"You planned all of this.
The fight.
The cafeteria.
You wanted me to come after you."
"I needed you to reveal yourself.
You've been hiding behind Mercer and the Warden for three years.
I needed you to say it out loud.
And you did."
Ava's eyes were wet.
For the first time, she looked like someone who had been caught.
"What happens to me now?"
Naomi heard boots in the hallway.
Federal agents.
Real ones.
"That depends on what you tell them about my daughter."
Ava's mouth opened.
Then closed.
Then opened again.
"I didn't want her to d*e.
I told Mercer to scare her.
To make her stop.
He did more than that."
"Who did it?"
"His name was Ray Tolson.
He worked maintenance at the state facility.
Mercer paid him.
He's in Montana now.
I can give you the address."
Naomi's chest tightened.
Three years of searching.
Three years of dead ends.
And now, in a prison cafeteria, the woman who had taken everything from her was giving her the last piece.
"Is that the truth?"
"It's the truth."
Naomi nodded.
"Then tell the agents.
Every detail.
Every name.
Every payment.
And maybe — maybe — the judge will listen."
Ava looked at the g*n in her hand.
She looked at the door.
She looked at Naomi.
"I was never going to use this," she said quietly.
"I know," Naomi said.
"You brought it to feel powerful.
But you're not powerful anymore, Ava.
You haven't been since the moment you decided to hide behind other people."
The federal agents came through the door.
Four of them.
They moved fast.
Ava didn't resist.
She set the g*n on the Warden's desk and put her hands out.
One of the agents looked at Naomi.
"Agent Carter.
Are you alright?"
Naomi nodded.
"I'm alright."
They took Ava out of the office.
She didn't look back.