Page 2 of The Rat

Rory snorted. “That’s notfunny.”

“Just saying, Idamn nearshit myself.”

Rory sniffed loudly,frowned, thenmurmured, “You sure you didn’t?”

“Screw you.”

There was humor in his tone, and Rorysmiled.

They were going on to thewingthatmorning and Rory was thankful he was going with company. The threeof them had only met the day before. Captain had been unnervinglyquiet, but Ollie rattled with nerves.

Captain was in for five years and Ollie fornine. By inmates’ reasoning, Ollie must’ve done the worst crime,but looking at him—young, slim, and a head of boyish blond hair—itwas hard to imagine he had done worse than the scarred military manon Rory’s left.

Hehad told Captain and Ollie he was in foreight years.

It was a lie.

Rory didn’t need to ask whatOllie or Captain hadbeen convicted of. He already knew.

Oliver Linton, the grinning blond on hisright, was in for manslaughter. He’d stabbed his abusive dad todeath. Captain Benjamin Tracy was in for a drunk driving collision,the injured party not a person, but a famous war memorial, that heproceeded to urinate on in front of a group of schoolchildren.

Rory read files about them prior to hismission, and it had been planned that the three of them would enterthe prison together. They acted as his veil, his cover, and when heglanced at Ollie’s smirking face, Rory was glad he was going insidewith someone he could get on with. He was an undercover policeofficer about to walk into a prison full of convicts. If he hadn’talready lost his mind, he was about to.

****

The three ofthem walkedin a line. Captain at the front, Rory in the middle, and Ollie atthe back. The gate was unlocked and pulled open, and they steppedinto the wing. The space was huge, filled with rectangle tables andchairs. The guard showed them the laundry room, the gate that ledto the library, another that led to the gym, and the final one thattook them into the yard. The prison was two floors high, the metalof the stairs, walkway, and cells, making it feel colder, andharsher than Rory had imagined. That was without looking at thefaces of his fellow convicts, whose snarls and curled lips madeRory want to roll into a ball.

The eyes of the inmatesdidn’tfocuson him, some hungry gazes fell on Ollie, and some challengingstares attached to Captain. Neither were friendly looks, and Rorygrew uncomfortable for both his new friends.

Rory was largely ignored,exactly like he wanted, but then the weight of someone’s eyestilted his head up, and he looked at the man hovering on the top walkway.The one man he wanted to appear inconspicuous to was staringstraight at him.

SebastianClaw.

Rory looked down again, but his skinprickled with a hot flush, and he glanced up.

Sebastian’sblue eyes were piercing, and hisgrey hair looked at home surrounded by metal, and white walls. Evenwith him meters above, Rory could see the shadow on his jaw and toplip, darker than the hair on his head.

He leaned his forearms onthemetalrailing and tilted his head when he caught Rory lookingback.

“Hey!”

Rory tore his gaze fromtheman aboveand looked at the prison guard. “What?”

“I said come with me, andI’ll take you up to your cell.”

He clutched his bag ofbelongings tohis chest, shot Ollie a glance, then followed the guard up two setsof stairs. Sebastian didn’t turn to him, he continued to look downon the wing, but as Rory passed behind him, he saw his back tense,and his biceps bulge as he flexed them.

“Cell82.”

The guard gestured Rory inside.He stepped in, looked at the bunk bed, the small basin and toilet,and the shabbylooking cabinet. He glanced at both beds, both made, bothcrease free. Rory’s heart thumped harder. He didn’t know which bedwas meant for him. He looked to the guard for help, but he’dgone.

“Shit.”

Rory turned back to the beds,hoping to find some evidence of which one his cellmate slept in. There wereno pictures tacked to the walls, or hairs on the pillow, Rory wasclueless.

“You’re on the topone.”

Rory jumped forward atthevoice andhugged the bag to his chest. He knew Sebastian was behind him andhad filled the doorway with his bulk.

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