Escape from Maitland

[Bray]

Story Title: Escape From Maitland

Type of story: long fic

Main Characters: Ric, Callan, Jack, Mattie, Juano (prison convict)

BTTB rating: A

Genre: Drama

Does story include spoilers: yes/no

Any warnings: V/D L

Summary: Ric Dalby gets sent to Maitland Jail for a crime he didn't commit. While he tries to adapt to the live behind bars, everyone on the outside are trying their best to prove his innocence... well almost everyone. When an opportunity arises for Ric to escape, will he take it or rely on his friends and family to get him out the legal way? As Johnny's connections on the outside try their best to keep Ric in, people are trying their best to get him out. Which will succeed?

____________________

CHAPTER 1

“Name?”

“Ric.. – Eric Dalby, sir.”

Ivan Martin, chief of guards, stares coldly at him, before writing it down on a confirmation form, asking him the regular questions on the form.

“I’m surprised a father murdering, drug dealing bastard like you hasn’t graced our walls earlier. Pushed the books one to many times, eh Dalby?”

Ric looks Martin in the eye, not saying anything, going by his beliefs of staying low, serving his time, and get out.

“Convicted for murder I read… you didn’t learn from your first let off?”

Ric tries to refrain from talking, but can’t resist anymore and starts.

“The evidence is stacked against me, no one in the jury believed my story, there was no evidence there which confirms it was me; but just so you know, Ivan, I didn’t do it. Whether you believe that or not is a different story, and whether you spread the word that I’m a crazed murder is another.”

A small smirk appears on Martin’s face, as he starts taunting Ric again.

“Around here, I quite frankly don’t give two damn hoots if you did it or not because it doesn’t matter. You are stuck in here for what – six years? – and believe me, you do not want to spend all that time telling arrogant rapists that you are innocent. Is there anything you want to confess Dalby? I’m a very, very good listener…”

Martin places his hand on Ric’s shoulder, but gets it shoved off, as Ric grabs his inmate clothing package and walks past the guards and through the entrance to A-Wing. Martin looks on, and curses under his breath.

________________________________________________________________________

Matilda is shown sitting at the top of the beach on a cloudy and windy afternoon staring out into sea, thinking about how life will be like without Ric. She is holding a piece of paper which so far says ‘To Ric,’ but nothing else, with the confused girl not knowing what to say. Suddenly, a familiar voice from behind her says ‘Well hello stranger!’ Matilda turns around to see Lucas, her ex boyfriend, standing firmly on the sand with a wide grin on his face, smiling at Matilda.

“Lucas! It’s so good to see you, how have you been!”

The freshly returned Lucas back from the young writer’s convention chuckles at his best friend.

“Pretty good actually, the convention was a complete waste of time. Run poorly and the other competitors were asses, along with the city being the most hectic place on earth - lets just say I’m VERY glad to be home.”

Matilda fakes a smile and pretends to care, as she rubs her face trying to remove any excess mascara.

“Wait, Matilda, have you been crying? What’s the matter?”

Matilda tries shrugging it off saying nothing, but breaks down in Lucas’ arms, trying to bear with the fact that Ric is really gone.

________________________________________________________________________

“OPEN ON 65!” The guard yells from the security box of A-Wing, as Ric watches the steel cell gate swiftly slide open. Rob, the commanding officer of the wing, walks over and pats Ric on the back and pushes him into the cell… or to Ric, his new home. Ric stands still and looks up and down, left and right around the cell, to see what he is dealing with. Dirty sink, rusted toilet, toothpaste-covered mirror and a bunk bed. He bends down to place his belongings under the bed, to see carved in the wall, ’Alyn North 20’. Ric can’t help but stare at it, but gets interrupted by Rob.

“You will be alone until dinner, but will be accompanied by one of thirty inmates arriving tonight. After dinner every night, there is count at 7.30pm. You are expected to be standing outside your cell with your inmate, at attention. This is one thing we do not take lightly, so any funny business, and your ass is going in the shoot. Hear me?”

“Hear you, boss. I also felt you as well, try keep in the spit next time.”

Rob smiles, then walks up and goes nose to nose with Ric.

“Ric, Ric, Ric… there are things you need to learn here, and whether you pick them up quickly or slowly will determine your fate. And one of those things, is to never, EVER, badmouth me.”

“Right, are we finished?” Ric says with no fear, refusing to be intimidated.

“Just one more thing –“

And just like that, Rob delivers a clubbing brutal fist to the stomach of Ric, sending him buckling over and falling onto the lower bed gasping for breath. Rob smiles venomously at Ric, before cockily waving a small goodbye to him.

“CLOSE ON 65!”

________________________________________________________________________

“Summer Bay Police, this is Constable Jack Holden, how may I help you? Yes the trial has gone ahead… yes Ric was found guilty… ma’am, I didn’t decide this, the jury did… yes, any further updates and I’ll let you know. Thankyou, bye.’

Jack puts down the phone, and writes in the caller log book the name, date, time and reason of call, trying not to show annoyance of the number of phone calls concerning Ric. His office door slowly creaks open as McGrath knocks and enters. He walks over in front of Jack’s desk, and places down a whole pile of paper work. McGrath stares at Jack who still hasn’t reacted to him walking in.

“You alright son?”

“Fine.” Jack quickly mutters.

“Obviously you are NOT fine, you haven’t said a thing all day! Not still worried about Ric are you?”

Jack pauses for a few seconds, then blurts out.

“How could I not be? He is my ex’s cousin for Christ’s sake. Ric is like family to me, and for him to be wrongly put away like that… this whole things messed up.”

“Jack you have to accept it, Ric murdered Rocco Cooper – is there anything else I have to do to make you believe that? The evidence was there!” McGrath screams.

“The evidence was assumed… there WAS blood on Ric’s shirt, Ric’s fingerprints WERE all over Rocco; but that alone isn’t enough to convict a man for muder.”

McGrath stares at Jack, and sighs loudly.

“I know how much you care Jack, but you have to move on. Whether or not Ric is guilty he has been put away and there is nothing you can do about it. If you aren’t over this whole situation by tomorrow, I have no choice but to take action; there are others cases which need dealing with and if your mind isn’t placed solely on those, you aren’t doing your job. Do you understand me?”

A glum look appears on Jack’s face, as he accepts.

“Yes sir.”

________________________________________________________________________

Lucas walks from the kitchen and sits down at the table with Matilda, handing her a glass of water.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do Luc, I will be 22 when Ric gets out! I don’t know if I will be able to wait that long for him like he asked. And knowing that the reason he is probably suffering right now is because of me.”

Lucas shakes his head.

“It wasn’t your fault Matilda, the evidence was stacked against him, there was no way he could have made it out of that courtroom innocent.”

“No Lucas, there was a way. If I didn’t tell them what Ric said he would do to Rocco, there was a great chance they would of voted with him. There was no real evidence besides the motive which I just had to tell the world, how stupid could I be!”

Lucas reaches forward and grabs a hold of Matilda’s hands and draws them closer towards him.

“Maddie, listen to me. Everyone knows you didn’t mean it, even Ric. You vowed to tell the truth, and that is exactly what you did. If you had of lied, you AND Ric would of gotten in a lot more trouble, it was worth it. You didn’t know it would of ended up like this, no one did. But we are all here to support you, and believe me this, if Ric is innocent, he wouldn’t of been put in prison.”

Matilda looks up at Lucas and smiles, trying to hold back the tears.

________________________________________________________________________

Ric walks through the doors, and enters the cafeteria to find that the dinner menu hasn’t been posted, so he walks over and takes a seat at a nearby table. He looks up to see a man standing there with a large grin on his face.

“You are?”

“ ‘You are?’ You’re acting like I’m some sort of nobody! I am the one and only… Juano Eber! And Ric Dalby, I am your new best friend.”

Ric stares bluntly at Juano, very confused.

“Not much of a talker? That’s cool, that’s cool. Word going round that you killed some kid… before you say anything, let me say it first; I don’t judge people on what they’ve done, it’s what they are going to do that matters. We’re all in here for the same reason, because we’ve done something we weren’t supposed to do. But if we stick together in here, our time will go a lot quicker. What do you say ese’, I got your back, you got mine?”

“Johnny Cooper – do you know him?”

Juano looks around nervously, before muttering out a small quiet yes.

“Can you take me to him?”

Juano then shakes his head and begins to talk.

“Ric bro, why do you want to see Coop for? He rules the yard, if you get in his bad books, you are going straight to hell I guarantee you that. Besides, he’s in B-Wing. The only time all the wings merge to see each other is in the yard on Fridays.”

Ric looks at his watch to see it say: ‘Monday 12 February 2007 19:29’.

“Juano, I got your back. Glad to see that not every man in here isn’t bad blood.”

“Erm Ric, I forgot to say… the other place where everyone in every wing is together is –“

But before Juano can finish his sentence, Ric is pulled to his feet by none other than Johnny Cooper. He looks into Ric’s eyes with sheer anger, but it soon turns to a sly smile.

“Well well, look what we have here… it is THE Ric Dalby! Long time no see buddy, not getting into to much trouble I hope! Oh wait, that’s right, you killed my only brother!”

“You killed him yourself, so do us both a favour and just turn yourself in.”

Johnny laughs and then begins to talk again.

“You killed him because your b*tch of a foster mum didn’t have the nerve to do anything about it.”

Johnny’s comment sends Ric pas boiling point, and he grabs Johnny by the scruff of the neck and pushes him up against the wall. A nearby guard and Juano separate the two, and drag Johnny away and out the doors, with Cooper waving and blowing Ric a kiss trying to taunt him out.

The guard sits Ric down and shouts at him trying to cool him down.

“You’re not serious are you Dalby? Messing with Cooper? You must be crazy! If you start anything like that again with anyone, you’re going in the shoot. Oh, and by the way, you were promised a cellmate earlier, and the bus arrived just under 20 minutes ago. You can come in now!”

The guard calls in Ric’s new cellmate, which just happens to be someone he was very acquainted with quite a while ago. Ric’s mouth drops to the floor, as the new cellmate smiles. Ric struggles for words, but can only manage one.

“Callan?”

[Bray]

CHAPTER 2

"You know him?", Eber asks.

Ric stands up of Juano's bed and starts softly hitting the wall in a distressed state.

"I grew up with him, I know him better than anyone else. We had a pretty rough childhood together, but then things seemed to just go downhill for us. When he laid his hands on Matilda, you don’t know how badly I just wanted to - "

"Matilda's your girl? Hot name bro, if you don't mind me saying. Man, you and this guy Callan may have not of had the greatest past, but when a man enters such a place, they change instantly. You're stuck with him for a while, may as well make the most of it. Get to know him again, start anew."

"If you had any idea on what he did, you would be weary about ever talking to him again, also."

"TIME UP, BACK TO YOUR CELLS!", is roared out by the officer on duty as Ric leaves Juano's cell and walks a few down and enters his own. Sitting down on the top bunk is Callan, with a nervous smile on his face.

"Hey Ric..."

__________

Jack walks in the front door and practically slumps down on the couch in exhaustion, when he feels a pair of arms wrap around his chest, and he looks up to see Sam grinning. Jack smiles back before playfully pulling Jack over the top of the couch and onto his lap, causing her to let out a little scream.

"About time you got home Mister! Your dinner's getting cold! I would of eaten it myself but you know."

"If you ate my dinner, there would be serious consequences!"

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"I don't know... the tickle monster?!"

Sam jumps to her feet laughing trying to get away from Jack as quickly as possible, when she runs towards the table and sees the note that got delivered earlier in the day. She picks it up and walks back towards Jack with a now serious look on her face and hands him it.

"What's this babe?" Jack says with a large grin on his face.

Jack realises that the emotion is gone from her face, as he accepts the note and opens it up and starts to read it. It says: 'Jack Holden. You don't know me. I don't know you. Ric Dalby is innocent. Meet me tomorrow. 12:00pm. Diner. We can save him.'

Jack looks up at Sam trying to figure out if she had read the not or not.

"What does it say?"

"Oh uh, its just something to do with - um, just a meeting on tomorrow. That's all, see, nothing important."

Jack fakes a smile, and pulls Sam back onto the couch.

__________

"Two burgers and two juices please!"

Irene nods her head, as Lucas walks back to his table to sit down with Matilda. The two sit down, and try to avoid staring at each other, but lock eyes eventually.

"Lucas, you don't have to keep doing this. You haven't left my side all day!"

Lucas chuckles and smiles.

"But I want to do it, you mean the world to me Matilda, I would do anything for you. I love you... as a friend, you know that and I'm going to support you through this through thick and thin! Have you gone to see Ric yet?"

"Not yet, I haven't built up enough courage to do it. Although he did tell Sally he would like me to go this afternoon, its visiting day."

"Whats stopping you?"

Matilda ponders, then answers.

"Ric, Ric is the problem. We really had something about to lift off before... before he got sent away, and for them to just take him away like that, I don't think I'll be able to take seeing him again. I just don't know anymore."

"Well, do you want me to go with you to see him?"

She looks up at Lucas really thinking of that option, but wipes a tear away from her eye.

"What am I doing, I'm just being childish. Thanks for the offer, but this is something I have to do. You know it's getting late, I'm going there now, I'll talk to you later."

"Matilda, just think about it! It will just hurt you more, you're making rash decisions!", Lucas calls out.

But Matilda runs out of the diner, on her way to Maitland Jail.

__________

"What the hell are you doing here?", Ric screams.

"Hello to you to mate, didn’t expect to see someone like you in here. Long time no talk, aye?"

Ric shakes his head, then runs at Callan and pushes him up against the bricks.

"Listen mate, cut the crap and tell me why you're here and why you just happened to end up as my cell mate."

Callan pushes Ric off softly and begins to talk.

"Heh, still the good old aggressive guy I know. Now if you keep your hands off me, I'll tell you why I'm here... Friday night, three days ago, was meant to be going out to dinner with the girlfriend, but realised I didn't have enough. It's been a real rough patch of my life lately man, only a few months back lost $20,000 on a fake drug deal, and have been making up excuses to Lisa - my girlfriend by the way - why I haven't been able to supply her with the royalty she deserves."

"So?"

Ric intently questions.

"So, I went to the local corner store and held the cashier at gunpoint. He gave me $400, I was happy, and made a run for it, not knowing that right next door three police cars were fuelling up at the gas station. They saw me whilst the cashier pressed his emergency button which sent out immediate signals to all police vehicles, and I actually lasted around an hour or two on the run, but got eventually got caught around three miles from the city in the local park."

An optimistic Ric stares at Callan, figuring out what to say to the story.

"I'm not going to say what you did was right Callan because it's not, I actually think it's quite trashy of you to put the poor guys life at risk. But at the bottom of my 'murderous' heart, I can see why you did it. Guess you aren't so bad after all, put it here."

Ric extends his hand to Callan, and not long after, Callan shakes it smiling.

__________

A lady changes the song of the jukebox as Jack walks in the door and enters the diner, and walks over and takes a seat at one of the tables. He sits down and buries his head in the menu, not hungry, but nervous about the whole situation. Jack continues to skim through the meals and lifts his head to see a figure standing there wearing a black hoody. Without saying anything, the person sits down and pulls back the hood to reveal a woman in her thirties with long blonde hair.

"Jack Holden, I don't have much time so let's get right to the point. Ric didn't kill Rocco Cooper."

Jack stares at the woman waiting for a name, but gets nothing.

"We all know that, but what matters now is who really did. Give me a name... who killed Rocco?"

"One of Johnny's gang members, Phil Thomlinson. He was paid $5000 to finish the job by Johnny, and that is exactly what he did."

"Wait, but Johnny didn't ring anyone during the time he was in prison?"

The woman runs her fingers through her hair, still nervous about the whole thing.

"That's right, he didn't. Johnny paid Phil to kill Rocco a week before he was sentenced. Jack, there is something you don't understand; Ric was going to go to jail before Rocco was even murdered. Every bit of information about Thomlinson is right here in this folder. If this gets out, I'm going down, and if I go down, you're going down with me."

Jack's jaw drops to the floor at the information he just heard.

"Oh no, don't worry, these files are in safe hands, being a police officer after all. I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"

"Uh um, I have to go. The information I told you today, you will NOT tell anyone about. If it does, I know where to find you. Don't try to follow me, you will just get dragged further and further into this mess."

The woman hands Jack the files which are stored in a yellow folder, and stands up to go. While she is doing so, her handbag which was placed on her lap falls onto the floor and out of the bag falls a digital camera. Jack bends over to help her pick up her belongings, but she snatches the camera away from him and fiddles around with it urgently trying to put it back into her bag. She stares at Jack, before getting to her feet and running out of the diner.

"Wait, please!"

Jack screams with no prevail.

__________

Matilda is guided through the steel doors to the visiting room where she sees Ric sitting down on the other side of the glass panel, and hesitantly walks over and sits down going face to face with him.

"How have you been, you don't know how much I've missed you!"

"I've been good, missed you to."

Ric smiles.

"Not getting up to much trouble on the outside world I hope, ha. Life in here's okay, I think I'm pulling up okay according to the nurse."

A confused Matilda lets out a small smile at Ric.

"I know how hard this is for you Maddie, but you've got to stick through this for me. Every day I wake up in a cold dark cell, and wonder when I'm going to see the people I love again, whether it is today or tomorrow, or next week. And for me to be taken away from you, the person I love and will always love, it really hurts me to think about you. Just eight more years till I get out, then we can start a new life together."

Tears start rolling down Matilda's cheek, but she wipes them away trying not to show her emotions.

"I really don't know if I can wait that long Ric. When I'm not with you I'm thinking about you, and I can't stay that way forever. As long as we're together and you're in here, it will keep affecting me."

"So you're saying its over, you're going to end something this special in the visiting room of Maitland Jail?"

"No, I'm saying I don't know how much more of this I can stand..."

There is an awkward moment between the two as Ric starts to talk again.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Matilda slowly gets up out of the chair, and turns around and asks the guard to escort her from the prison, leaving Ric alone watching her leave.

__________

Three hours later…

"Things running smoothly Cal?"

Asks one of the inmates to Callan.

"Don't know, still haven't told Ric yet. The opportunity hasn't arisen in conversation yet. If he doesn't like it, this whole thing's ruined, I've got a criminal record next to my name and I'm spending three years in this hole for nothing."

"But... if he doesn't like it, it's still going ahead isn't it?"

Callan chuckles abruptly.

"God no, Ric has the one thing I need and without him we are nothing. If he doesn't react well to this, we're over..."

Just like that, Ric walks into the cell with a confused and annoyed look on his face, overhearing the whole conversation.

"What will be over if I don't react well to what?"

Callan looks down clearly meaning for Ric not to hear that conversation.

"Don't you find it a bit coincidental we end up in the same prison? Don't you find it a bit coincidental we end up in the same cell? Ric, I'm in here for one reason... to get you out."

Ric stares at Callan, not sure what to say or how to react.

________________________

Please comment if you get the chance, I love peoples opinions and really need some motivation to keep going. Thanks.

[Liska]

Great chapter! Keep it coming!

[Reo]

Great fic.

Cant wait to read what Callan wants Ric for.

[Bray]

Sorry if you had any trouble trying to read it, also. I copied it from Microsoft Word, and the " and ' all turned to weird symbols.. fixed now though. Thanks for the replies!

[Louisefan]

Great.

[Bray]

CHAPTER 3

“Have you completely lost your mind?” Ric says glaring at Callan before walking around the cell in a deep state of confusion.

“I’m already in here for 8 years and if I get caught I’m gonna be sentenced for life.”

An uneasy Callan continues to stare at Ric, knowing that if he isn’t part of it, the plan isn’t going ahead.

“Do you wanna know something? My girlfriend came in here earlier today balling her eyes out because she can’t take having a one-way relationship anymore. How the hell do you think that makes me feel knowing that she could be seeing someone else right now?”

“Just so you know Ric you aren’t the only one at fault, I had to give up my own girl out of my OWN FREE WILL! And for what, a backstabbing ‘friend’ that I used to have?”

Callan snaps back at Ric, and hits the wall coming to realise that his plan is in tatters.

“Save me the bullcrap Callan, I heard every bit of what you said. Are you lying to me again now? Huh, are you?”

Ric pushes Callan up against the metal cell door causing it to let off a shatter, like a glass bottle hitting the ground and breaking into hundreds of pieces. Callan looks into the eyes of the angered Ric, and pushes him back off him defending himself.

“I highly recommend you don’t touch me again Dalby or Matilda won’t be the only person screwing with you,” Callan says with a smile on his face.

Ric raises his right hand back behind his shoulder and goes to punch Callan, but he points at the guard on watch right outside the cell.

“Ric, it’s good having people who have got your back. Especially when those people have greater authority than you,” Callan whispers, pointing to the guards.

“If you mention Matilda again, Rocco won’t be the only person I’ve killed,” Ric winks at Callan. “So you’re saying that you’re going to break out of this place right after a game of poker with the guards and a few beers? Give me a break; they don’t hire professionally trained security for nothing.

“The guards are my puppets, Ric. I play them now, and when I’m finished with them, throw them in the trash. They are only good to me when they’re giving me the things I need to get out of here. I have the firepower to make me and you get out of this place and far away by next week, away from all the stress and agony, to start a new life. And I don’t think you want to wait another 8 years to be with Matilda again,” Callan says.

“What d’you say Ric, leave Monday night, get to Matilda on Tuesday, begin our life of paradise on Wednesday… that is if you trust me of course,” Callan extends his hand to Ric with a determined glint in his eye.

Ric thinks for a second about the possibilities of if he gets caught, what people would think of him… and then Matilda breaking up with him.

“Callan, I -- I really appreciate what your trying to do… but if you think I’m going to risk my future life with a scumbag like you, there really is something wrong in that skull of yours.”

Ric walks out of the cell, leaving Callan and the other prisoner standing there, both with grim looks on their faces.

“Cal, why do you need Ric to escape for? What does he have that makes him so special?” asks the prisoner.

“He has a hell of a lot of money; he just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Está bien usted? No ha hablado con usted para el mami de edades.”

(Are you okay? Haven’t spoken to you in ages mami.)

Juano rests his head on the telephone box and puts his other hand over his ear, trying to hear the crackled reception.

“El bebé? Bebé? Yo le pierdo, puede hablar usted más alto!?”

(Babe? Babe? I’m losing you, can you speak up!?)

Sunlight beams through the window of a house as a beautiful young woman named Maria is trying her best to scream through the phone to Juano.

“Juano yo soy fino! Hola? Me puede oír usted? Juano!”

(Juano I’m fine! Hello? Can you hear me? Juano!”

Back in Maitland Jail, Juano starts smashing the telephone against the cage trying to get it to work.

“Maria! Quiero saber son los niños bien?”

(Maria! I want to know are the kids alright?”

The signal cuts off as Juano slams down the phone in anger. He turns around and is starting to walk out of the telephone booth when he sees Ric standing there behind him after listening to the conversation.

“Kids?” Ric asks slowly.

“You never told me you had any kids?”

Juano turns completely shocked and begins to walk away from Ric muttering to himself.

“Do I have to tell you everything that’s going on in my life? Ohh no, I’m not letting you hassle me about this Ric. Bad enough you heard it in the first place.”

Ric jogs after Juano, not interested in his kids, but to tell him the plan Callan had come up with. He places his cold hand firmly on Juano’s shoulder and spins him around.

“Bro, listen. I don’t WANT to hassle you about your kids, that’s the last thing on my mind. There’s something I’ve got to tell you about Callan…”

Wind blows through Matilda’s hair brushing all of the stray sand off her face. She wakes up and slowly gets to her knees and checks her phone to find: ‘ 5 Missed Calls – Lucas’. She blinks a few times trying her hardest to fully wake up, as she looks around realising that she fell asleep on the beach. Though showing her family gene of laziness, she drops back down onto the beach and closes her eyes wanting more sleep. But this time she gets woken up for good when she feels a hand brushing up and down her back. Matilda sits up to find Lucas sitting there with a sympathetic smile on his face.

“How about we get you home hey? You look exhausted, besides its only 4pm, you’ll never be able to sleep tonight at this rate,” Lucas says.

Mattie shakes her head once more trying to fully come to grips with the world.

“Sorry if you’ve been trying to contact me, I came back from the prison earlier. Just haven’t been in a very social mood, wanted to have some time to myself.”

Lucas shakes his head.

“Ric?” Lucas asks.

“I don’t know where things are going with him Luc, one minute we were having the times of our lives, and now it’s lucky if I see him once a week… I told him that I wasn’t sure if I could take much more of it, and he reacted really badly to it, like I had just cheated on him.”

“Would you?”

Matilda looks at Lucas in confusion.

“Would I what?”

“Cheat on him?

Still in confusion and with a lot on her mind, Matilda stands up and starts pacing around the area of sand.

“The thought’s never crossed my mind, I can’t give you an answer… wait what on earth am I talking about, of course I would never cheat on Ric. I love him and will always love him, I promised him that when we got together. How stupid am I for even thinking about that? You must think I’m some kind of slag!”

Lucas also gets to his feet and grabs Matilda’s hands. He smiles at her, then pulls her in and hugs her as a good friend would.

“Matilda, you are the last person I would think is a slag. I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to be in your position right now, and I know for a fact I wouldn’t handle it as well as you’re doing at the moment.”

Matilda hugs him back, thanking him for his kind words.

“Hey Mattie, I was going to watch some movies tonight if you wanted to come? Tony and Beth are out, so I’ve decided to watch To Kill A Mockingbird for the hundredth time, only if your interested though.”

Letting go of Lucas, Matilda smiles and laughs at the mention of Lucas’ favourite movie.

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything!”

Jack walks into the police station and looks at the clock which reads 1.43pm, knowing he is late from his lunch break. He picks up a parcel which is sitting on the doorstep, and sees it is addressed to McGrath. Jack slowly enters McGrath’s office hoping he doesn’t realize he is late, but luckily for him no one is there. Cautiously, he places the parcel on McGrath’s desk and quickly leaves the office chuckling to himself, knowing he got another fifteen or so minutes extra. Without hesitation not wanting to be seen by anyone else, Jack enters his own office before looking around outside to make sure no one is there, and closes the door.

Jack sits himself down at his desk and pulls out the document the lady gave him earlier in the day, and opens it. Loose sheets of paper fall out onto his desk including a picture of Thomlinson. He grabs a hold of his computer mouse and opens the central directory, and searches for Phil Thomlinson, but it returns with no results. Desperately he tries an advance search trying to find more information on him, but still no results.

In anger, Jack hits the desk knowing that he can’t convict a man just because some lady told him he was a murderer. The desk vibrates, causing a picture of Rocco to slide off and fall to the ground. Just as it hits, Jack’s office door shoots open, and McGrath comes storming in.

“Afternoon Holden, any more sources for the recent robberies?”

“Erm, no sir… still haven’t found information on it yet. But I’m working on it, trust me,” Jack lies straight to the face of McGrath, knowing full well his mind has been everywhere else but on the robberies.

“What have you been doing then? Still not working on that Rocco Cooper case have you? Remember what I told you Jack, if I find out that you’ve still been pecking at it, action will be taken.”

Jack quickly slides his foot over the picture of Rocco, trying to shield it from McGrath.

“Of course not sir, what you said to me really gave me a wakeup call and I realized this job means more to me than a silly case.”

McGrath walks forward to Jack, placing his foot awfully close to the picture of Rocco and slaps Jack on the back encouraging him. Whilst doing so, he sees Jack’s computer screen.

“Who’s Phil Thomlinson?”

“Oh, he’s just, you know, the average speeder you pick up on Omega Avenue. Caught him this morning…”

McGrath nods his head, and leaves Jack’s office, leaving Jack in absolute relief.

“OPEN ON 65!” screams the guard on duty, as Ric’s prison door slides quickly open, hitting the metal with a clang. Ivan Martin walks past Ric’s cell, turns abruptly, and struts into it. He stands still whilst inspecting the small dark cell, trying to find even the slightest bit wrong with it to go on even more of a power trip, but fails.

Thankfully he did turn up, Ric thought to himself. The whole afternoon has been awkward between Ric and Callan after what Callan proposed to him in the morning, and Martin’s presence may just be something interesting Ric needs.

“Dalby!”

“Ivan…”

“Good news, Warden wants to see you! But unfortunately that’s only good news to me, whenever Warden wants to see someone, something must be really wrong. Hope your not planning any escape, that would just be a tragedy.”

Martin chuckles and grabs Ric by the arm, and pulls him out of the cell, guiding him on his way to Warden’s office. Meanwhile, Callan lays on the bottom bunk completely petrified Ric told the guards.

“Juano?”

A large smile appears on Juano’s face as he finally gets through to Maria.

“Maria baby, you don’t know how sorry I am about before. You know the stupid Americanized phones shipped over on those Chinese vessels… we never get anything from Mexico today sono gasta.”

“Sounds interesting… babe, there was something I was going to tell you today before the phone cut off. Over the past week, Amalie has been coughing and spluttering all over the place, so I took her to see physician yesterday to see what the problem was…”

Confusion arises over Juano.

“What’s wrong with Amalie? Maria? Are you there? Hello?”

“Yes yes I’m still here. I’m afraid it’s not good news though. Juano what I’m going to tell you will be hard and you’ll have to promise me you wont overreact. We’re going to get through this one step at a time luca.”

“Get through WHAT one step at a time?”

There’s a silence over the phone as Juano waits intently to hear what Maria is about to say.

“Amalie has an infection in her pulmonary arteries, and the doctors don’t know what’s wrong and… how long she has to live. Juano, this is more serious than you think. If blood isn’t getting to the lungs, she’s going to stop breathing. And if that happens, she only has at maximum fifteen minutes to get help. They’re approximating around two months, unless they find a cure…”

Juano forces the phone into his hear, not believing what Maria just told him, and in absolute shock. He drops to his knees and drops the phone, eventually smashing it into the metal box, and burying his hands in his face, crying, knowing that he most certainly wont see his own daughter again.

Though suddenly, the conversation he had with Ric earlier in the day popped into his head.

”He wants me to break out with him, and he was going on about how he came in to save me, some crap like that. I mean how does he want me to react? Does he expect me to run at him with open arms and say, ‘Oh Callan, how much I thankyou for this good deed!’ Of course not, I’m not going to risk getting a life sentence for some rubbish like that.

Juano nods in agreement.

“For sure esse, only a year and half left for me, and everything is sweet at the moment. Wife is happy, kids are doing fine, and time in here is even going fast for once, woah. Of course, everyone dreams of getting out of here as soon as possible, but there’s no reason for me to get out.”

Knowing what he said earlier, Juano reconsiders his decision.

Martin walks Ric into Warden’s office cautiously, and closes the door behind him. Warden spins around on his cheer to greet Ric, but at the same time stares at Martin, signalling for him to leave the room. He gets an annoyed glint from Martin, but he turns around and exits the room.

“Ric, first of all I want you to know that you’re not in trouble. Secondly, what I’m about to tell you may alarm you, but I would rather tell you now than for you to get a rude surprise.”

Ric nods his head, intrigued about what Warden is saying.

“Johnny Cooper… he filed a request just this afternoon about being transferred. This is what he wrote: ‘B-Wing is to hot and stuffy, and with my sinusitis, it clogs up my insides with flem, causing me to have staggered breathing sessions.’ “

“But if Johnny is going to get transferred, why is this such a big problem with me for?”

“You see Ric, Johnny isn’t asking to get transferred to a different prison, he’s asking to be transferred to A-Wing, currently the one you’re in. If you haven’t already realized, your cell is three or four degrees cooler than all the rest, which is because the cool current coming off the Sienna River flow right in through your window vent.”

Warden continues.

“I don’t look after the requests Ric; I have no say in the matter whatsoever. But, there’s a problem – we can’t fit three inmates in one cell. Either Callan goes to B-Wing, or you go. Simple as that. The Prison Association have never turned down a request, it will be the same this time I’m afraid. And as a warning to you now, Johnny isn’t in the best of moods. So what I’m basically saying is, for your own safety… you’re moving to B-Wing first thing tomorrow morning.”

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Thanks for all of your comments so far, please review!

[Liska]

Great chapter! This fic makes me think about Prison Break.

Coult it be that I've read this fic somewhere else?

[Bray]

Hehe, I love Prison Break... why I found the inspiration to write this fic. And I've only posted this at Home and Away Central, where I'm up to chapter 4... same as here. Thanks