Page 56 of Babalon

Liar.

I can feel my blood pressure rising, and if I don’t know any better, I’d say that my face and ears are pink from being put on the spot like this—the fact I’m the dealer is irrelevant at this point. He’s here for me, even if I haven’t dropped to my knees to confess and beg for forgiveness.

Looking at the warden, I attempt to keep my body and position relaxed so as not to raise suspicion. They likely already think that I play a major role in the distribution, or they’d never call me in here. They woulda had a meeting with the entire group of officers, trying to see who was uneasy enough to crack under the pressure.

My eyes flick over to the detective, his own dark gaze staring at me like he can see straight through me like a pane of glass. We hold eye contact for almost too long until he leans to the left and reaches into his back pocket, pulling out a small notepad and a pen. Proceeding to jot down a few notes and not bothering to look at me again as the warden flies into my impromptu interrogation.

“And what is it that you know, Officer Pierce? The Detective is a busy man; he doesn’t have all day.”

“Clearly,” I mutter, the warden scowling at my reply.

“I’ve had my eyes on a few of the AB members here. Nate mostly, he has been trying to recruit heavily for the AB.”

“What does that have to do with moving cocaine through the prison, Officer?” Detective Whitlock asks.

“I don’t know how versed you are with the prison population, but the AB, at least in Darkwater, likes to rape new inmates, and I will give you one guess on what hole they use,” I snap.

He finally looks back to me, his brows pinching together in the middle, unimpressed with the snark I was laying on thick. I just know this guy is going to be a problem.

“He targets new inmates. They’re an easy means of importing blow, Detective. Moving on, I think they’re mules, especially the ones that come in a few at a time and end up in the AB ranks.”

“You think we’re going to buy that, Nadia?” the warden huffs, rolling his eyes as he leans back in his chair.

“Honestly, I don’t give a damn what you buy. It’s the truth. Look at the inmates when you walk into gen pop. Most of the users are white, and we know the AB wouldn’t deal with other races.”

“Have you seen this with your own eyes, Officer?” Whitlock inquires.

“The raping or the dealing?”

“Either or.”

“No to both. You can certainly talk to the inmates about the raping, but I don’t think they’re going to talk to a pig.”

“Pierce!” the warden shouts.

“I don’t take offense to it, Warden. She’s fine.”

You know, if you would have told me when I was in my guard training, that I would pop off to a real police officer like this one day, I might have balked and called you a liar, but here I am. I sound like the inmates. They don’t trust the guards, and the guards don’t trust anyone outside of these walls.

It’s a delicate ecosystem.

“Do you have anything else to add, Nadia?”

“No, Warden, I do not.”

“Very well. Detective, do you have any more questions? Nadia needs to get to her patrols.”

“No. I will be in touch.”

“Nadia, you’re dismissed.”

Shoving out of the chair, I make my way to the door. I need to get the hell out of here. I had high hopes for today, thinking it was going to be a good one but now I have a blond inmate I need to harass.

If he thinks seg was bad last time, he’s going to hate the time he’s going to spend down there now.

It took several hours before I could get out of rotation long enough to hunt Kace down. The new inmates that were brought in over the past couple of days are failing to thrive; terrible for them but it keeps the population manageable.

I’m back on my shit today, fuck them all.

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