And I can't protect you."
The woman smiled.
"You don't need to protect me.
I'm here to protect someone else."
She dropped a worn folder onto his desk.
"Open it."
The Warden opened it.
His hands started shaking.
Inside was a photograph of his own daughter, smiling next to Queen Ava.
"How did you get this?" he whispered.
The woman's smile faded.
"Because Ava isn't just running the inmates.
She's running you.
And I know exactly what you did to get her in here."
The Warden fell back into his chair.
"You're not here to serve time," he stammered.
"No," she said softly.
"I'm here to find out who helped her bury the truth."
Just then, the office phone rang.
The Warden looked at the caller ID.
His face went completely white.
"It's Ava," he choked out.
"She's calling from the cafeteria phone."
The woman stood up.
"Answer it.
And put it on speaker."
What Ava said next made the Warden freeze in terror.
Click the link below to read the full story.
* * *
PART 3
* * *
The Warden's hand hovered over the phone.
Ava's name blinked on the screen like a warning.
"Pick it up," Naomi said again.
He pressed the button.
"Speaker."
Ava's voice filled the office, raw and sharp.
"I know who she is."
The Warden looked at Naomi.
Naomi didn't blink.
"You sent me a real gift, Warden.
A federal agent in my house.
You think I wouldn't find out?"
The Warden's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Naomi leaned toward the phone.
"How did you find out, Ava?"
A pause.
Then a low laugh.
"Because I've been watching you since you walked in.
You don't move like an inmate.
You don't flinch like one either.
And I've been in this place long enough to know the difference."
"You're smarter than they gave you credit for," Naomi said.
"Smarter than you, sweetheart.
I made one call.
To someone on the outside.
Guess what they found?"
Naomi's jaw tightened slightly.
The Warden saw it.
"Your name is Naomi Carter.
Former federal investigator.
Forced retirement two years ago.
No badge.
No g*n.
No authority.
Just a woman who walked herself into a prison."
The Warden stood up.
"How long have you known?"
"Since this morning.
Since the moment she didn't flinch when I knocked her tray over.
Real inmates flinch.
She didn't."
Naomi straightened up.
"And yet you still threw the first punch."
"I wanted to see what you'd do.
And you showed me everything."
"What did I show you?"
"That you're not here for the food."
The line went dead.
The Warden sat down slowly.
"She knows.
She knows everything."
"She doesn't know everything," Naomi said.
"She knows my name.
She doesn't know why I'm here."
"Why are you here?"
Naomi turned to face him.
"Sit down, Warden.
We're going to have a conversation you should have had three years ago."
He didn't sit.
"I'm not part of whatever this is."
"You became part of it the day you let Ava transfer to this facility."
His face changed.
Just slightly.
But enough.
"I didn't let her transfer.
She was assigned here."
"By you.
You signed the paperwork.
I've seen it."
The Warden's hand gripped the edge of the desk.
"Ava was supposed to serve her time in state.
You pulled strings to get her moved to a federal facility.
Closer to you.
Closer to your daughter."
"How do you know about my daughter?"
Naomi tapped the folder on his desk.
"Because your daughter, Rachel, has been visiting Ava every month for the past two years.
Under a visitor name that doesn't exist in your system."
The Warden's voice cracked.
"That's not possible."
"It's not only possible.
It's documented.
I have the visitor logs.
I have the photographs.
And I have the reason."
"What reason?"
Naomi opened the folder wider.
She pulled out a second photograph and placed it face-down on the desk.
"Before I show you this, I need you to tell me what happened to my daughter."
The Warden froze.
"Your daughter?"
"Her name was Maya Carter.
She was twenty-three.
She was a corrections officer at a state facility three years ago.
The same facility where Ava was serving time before you moved her."
The Warden's breathing changed.
"Maya was found in the parking lot after her shift.
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?