The Beasts of Juarez, R.B. Schow [books to read for self improvement .txt] 📗

him, one that left her rattled but more determined than ever. When Yergha finally got mad and hung up on her, Cira’s heart was filled with an agitation she had to release before heading inside.

She took a few calming breaths, then put a smile on her face and walked into the prison to meet with a man who was a dragon in his own right, one she had to slay if she planned to move into her own position of power.

“Be savage,” she said to herself as she walked into the Supermax prison.

After checking in, Cira was promptly escorted into Warden Dicampli’s office. He did not look happy to see her.

“Warden,” she said.

He waved at a chair in front of his desk and said, “To what do I owe this displeasure.”

“Oh, come on Warden,” she said with a sexy smile. “You know exactly why I’m here. Let’s not start things off on a bad foot.”

“Every day here starts off on a bad foot. And then there’s always something that makes things just a little bit worse. Today, you are that something.”

“And tomorrow it will be something else.”

“You’re looking fit,” he said. “Have you been working out?”

“Overtime,” she said.

“Let me guess, you need Atlas Hargrove.”

Sitting up a little straighter, she smiled and spread her hands wide. “Look who decided to come to the table.”

“Not going to happen.”

“Wrong answer.”

“We’ve had some discipline problems with Atlas and he’s currently in the hole in a state of mental decay. He is unfit for whatever it is you’re wanting him for.”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that,” she said with an edge to her voice.

“What do you want him for?” Dicampli asked. “I’ve been ever so curious these last six months. I mean, a man of Leopold Wentworth’s caliber surely isn’t hiring this low-rent thug for personal security.”

“First off, Fabian, that’s none of your business, but I understand that nature of curiosity and how it can pick at you. So I will tell you, Atlas Hargrove is a weapon. He’s blunt-force trauma. For our purposes, he’s also a way to get things done that other people can’t do.”

“I’ll give him that.”

“Go get him, Warden Dicampli,” she said, her amiable disposition all but gone. “I am dealing with a situation that is time-sensitive and lives are on the line.”

“You don’t need to tell me about the pressures of the day,” he said, not even moving a muscle.

“I think that I do, Warden Dicampli. See, the pressures you have here will wait for you, but the pressures out there—what Leopold, our team and I are dealing with—won’t wait. With all due respect, Fabian, you don’t have a clue.”

“I already told you I cannot bring you Atlas Hargrove. He’s not fit for company or whatever else you need your blunt-force object for.”

“Would you like me to call Leopold?”

Dicampli laughed, then reclined in his chair and said, “What, so I can tell both of you that my answer is no? The man damaged prison property, scared both prisoners and visitors alike, and he refuses to play well with others, which is to say, since you dropped that maniac off six months ago, he’s killed two more inmates.”

“This is a Supermax prison facility, Warden. Every convict I’ve ever known did time because they were a problem too big for society to handle. Now stop with this bullshit posturing and go get Atlas.”

“I decided to leave my wife,” the man said as if this absolved him from being properly blackmailed.

“I’m aware of this,” Cira said. “I will send her a note of congratulations when I can.”

“She took my son,” he said, ignoring the jab, “but I let her because he’s nothing but a disappointment. Everyone around me is a colossal disappointment.”

“I’m sure you were just as disappointing to him,” she said. “We all have our lousy father story we get to tell when we’re old enough. You’ll be his. Bravo, Fabian. Bravo.”

“What are you going to take from me that hasn’t already been taken?” he asked with a bitter laugh. “She gets half of my income, I’ve had to turn down prisoners for COVID, and the board is breathing down my neck about profitability. I’ve had to stall the reporting of the two people Atlas killed just to pad the books for another month. That alone could cost me my career. And now you want to throw this Atlas Hargrove BS in the mix? I’m sorry, but I’m not all that excited about ending up in genpop right alongside these guys.”

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked.

“You need to know where I’m at on things both here and in life.”

“It’s customary to keep your offenses private so that later they won’t be used against you. Not that I care about something as paltry as fraud.”

“What Leopold has on me is worse than whatever I’ve done recently, I know that. There is one thing that he cannot take from me and that’s my responsibility to my inmates. When you brought Atlas back last time, he was a mess. You think that didn’t raise a few eyebrows? One of the prison nurses actually tried to report me for dereliction of duty or something petty like that. She was new and nosy, but now she’s full-time because in the state of California, when someone complains about you, not only can you not fire them, you have to take a knee and suck their proverbial dick until the end of time.”

“No one said California law was pretty, but it’s not without its holes. You give me Atlas, I’ll find a hole for both of us to crawl through, and—”

“He’s in solitary confinement,” Dicampli said as if that resolved the matter.

“So?”

“It’s indefinite.”

She realized she was getting nowhere. Looking at Dicampli, staring right