The Omega Team: Death Sentence (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Tina Donahue Read Free Book Online

clothes, he strolled off camera.
    Hallie seethed. “Bastard. He raped her.”
    “That’d be my guess.” Chase closed out the screen and brought up another with inmate photos. “Which of these women are into Dick and Edward? Either because they find those pricks attractive or need favors only guards can provide?”
    She shuddered. “I can’t imagine any woman could stomach them clothed, much less naked, even if that woman was starving.”
    “Ever hear the term there’s a lid for every pot? Being in prison with a thousand other females and less than two hundred men lowers expectations quickly. So, which ones?”
    “Why?”
    “We’re looking for the weakest link to exploit.”
    “In what way?”
    “Maybe this will help to explain.” He pointed to an unattractive inmate sporting a red buzz cut and acne scars on her cheeks. “Let’s say she’s in love with Dick. Thinks he’s Prince Charming. Since he’s actually scum, he’s already got another babe on the side. This one.” He pointed at a young black woman, her features delicate, beautiful eyes lushly lashed. “Since Dick’s smitten, he makes no effort to hide his feelings around the first inmate. How do you think she’d react?”
    “She’d be hurt, jealous, and would probably want to castrate him with her teeth.”
    “Exactly. That’s the kind of person you get to talk to you. Draw them out. Learn their secrets, which will lead you to the ones Dick and Edward have. Right now, we’re concentrating on them because of your suspicions and from what I’ve observed. They’re the ringleaders. The other guards follow along to keep their jobs and the graft flowing. Given that Dumb and Dumber aren’t subtle in what they do at Zephron, they’ve surely pissed off more than a few inmates by using them then tossing them aside. So, which ones do you think fit that scenario?”
    “I can’t say for certain. I’ve only heard rumors.”
    “We’ll start with that, but we need a list.”
    Hallie chose three inmates.
    He transferred their photos to another file. “Of these, who do you think messed with Barb so she’d get confinement?”
    “Because Dick told her to?”
    “Exactly.”
    “Where do these people come from?” She hit her seat. “What is the matter with them?”
    Chase shrugged. “In Dick and Edward’s case, my guess is they’re psychopaths. Not the Silence of the Lambs kind, but people who don’t have a conscience and will do anything for a buck. There are a ton of them in government.”
    She wanted to scream.
    He stroked her jaw. “If you clench your teeth any harder, you’re going to break your molars. Let’s catch these bastards, okay?”
    She squeezed his hand and pored through pictures. “Her.” Hallie moved the cursor to Patricia Ullman’s photo. In high school, Patricia deliberately drove her pickup into a rival who’d made a play for her boyfriend. The girl survived but wouldn’t walk again and had to relearn how to speak and feed herself. Plain and stocky, Patricia needed a man to make her feel worthy and would have done anything to keep one interested in her.
    Chase regarded the photo. “Starting tomorrow, find an excuse to get Patricia in the infirmary. A scheduled check-up. A shot she needs. Show your concern. Commiserate with her. Get her to open up.”
    “While I’m wearing these.” She touched the eyeglasses.
    “The powers that be barely trust video evidence that’s irrefutable. They sure as hell won’t believe your word or mine over the guards’. It’s the only way we can learn what happened to Kim and expose what’s going on so the other inmates are safe.”
    Uneasy, Hallie needed reassurance more than she ever had, even in the darkest days when she, her mom, and sister were on welfare and barely surviving. “I’ve never done anything like this. What if I mess up?”
    “You can’t.”
    She slumped. “Couldn’t you sugarcoat it a little?”
    “No. We’re up against a powerful group, including