II

"You got 'im for an hour, but that's it." Red handed the guard a twenty as he spoke. The behemoth of a black man stood in silence before Red, his feet still in shackles and hands cuffed behind his back. The guard closed the cell door and locked it, then threw in the keys to Red. "He's all yours. I'm not askin' no questions, but if anybody gets really hurt, I'm not the one takin' the heat. Your ass is. You may be about free, but I've still got the power of the pen." The rotund guard patted the pen in his shirt pocket.

"Don't worry, Chuck. Everything's gonna be just fine." The guard waddled off. Lance walked by, giving Red a nod of his head.

Red lit a Winston and leaned back against the wall, trying to show his guest that he was at ease, although not even he truly was with Rollo. He was almost Rollo's equal in stature and no doubt would have been a good match for him in his younger days, but Rollo had twenty years on him. Rollo even struck fear into the hearts of the other violent offenders. He was in for life without hope for parole and acted accordingly. He was one of the few inmates in GreenMax that refused to click. The gang members kept their distance, neither recruiting the man, nor attempting to intimidate him. Once the leader of the Muslim group had tried to convert him to Islam. Rumor had it that he left Rollo's cell with a new tattoo branded on his ass as a souvenir. "Smoke?"

"You know that I don't smoke." Rollo towered over Red. "What the hell do you want?" Red had already decided that he would make a preemptive palm strike to the chin if the monster seemed as if he were going to attack.

Red calmly reached into his back pocket, producing a crisp hundred dollar bill. "I've got a little business proposition for you. How would you like to earn a hundred bucks for 10 minutes work? You could get a woman in here for that," Red smiled.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Rollo looked interested.

"Oh, just a little intimidation really. Maybe a little physical work, nothing serious." Red sat up on the edge of the bed, dangling the keys from his right hand. "Now if I take these cuffs off you, you're not gonna pull an Al Sharpton on me like you did with that guard that zapped you, are you?" Red smiled as he spoke.

"Not unless you give me a reason to." Rollo stared at Red with cold black eyes, then turned around and extended his conjoined wrists. Red stood to unlock the cuffs in an effort to be on equal footing with Rollo, just in case. In an instant, the man was relatively free. "Now, what do you need me to do?"

Red again smiled. "You ever tied a hawg or roped a calf?"

"No, but I tied a man up and let his ass rot in a trunk before. I got a feelin' you want me to be ropin' a man, not a hawg." Rollo spoke the words without emotion. Red chuckled.

"You're right about that. But this time you won't have to do much ropin' hopefully, just help me a little. You hear of a guy named Macelli?" Red queried the black man, a more serious tone in his voice. When his business side formed a perfect hybrid with the brute within, Red was at his most dangerous.

"Nope. That who we gone hawg-tie?" Rollo was amused.

"Yep. He's cuttin' in on my sales. As you know, I've been the only smoke in here for eight years- and I'm not about to let some dago come in here and take a piece of my action- not even for one day." Anger consumed Red.

"So, where is this dude? We waitin' 'till he drops the soap?" The mercenary smiled.

"No. I've got it all worked out. I sent a message for him to come up here for a little pow-wow. He thinks I'm gonna buy some smokes from him. Lance will bring him down in a few minutes. I want you to wait outside, minding your own business. When he comes in here you give me a couple of minutes to talk to him before you come in- so we don't spook him. Then, we'll wrap him up in swaddling clothes." Red reached under his bed and retrieved a rope, then slid it under his pillow. "The main thing I'll need you to do is make sure he doesn't run off. You can kick the shit out of him to if you like, just so you don't kill or permanently maim him. I am a short-timer." Rollo liked what he was hearing. "Go on out there. He'll be here in a minute."

Rollo left and stood a couple of cells down, just out of earshot. This was going to be easy money. He thought of what kind of woman he could get for a hundred bucks as he waited. In a few minutes a short, stocky Italian swaggered into Red's cell, just as he had said. He looked to be about thirty. Rollo started counting to 120.

"You must be Red," Macelli tried to take control of the situation. "Your boy just came for me."

"That's right." Red stood and extended his meaty right paw. "Glad you came down. I need to unload this stuff just like the note said- get me a little gate money." Red motioned to the three cartons of Winstons stacked on the floor behind him.

"That's all fine, but your price is a little high. I can buy from the guards for thirty a carton. Why should I give you thirty-five?" Macelli looked the bigger man square in the eyes.

"Thirty, huh? Well, you got a good thing goin', then. They always charged me thirty-five. But thirty it is. What the hell. I'm feelin' generous today." Red smiled. Macelli extended a hand with two fifties in it. Red took the bills.

"You got a ten?" Macelli asked curtly.

"Yeah, I got change right here." Red had orchestrated the situation perfectly. Rollo entered just as he reached under the pillow. Startled by the large shadow on the wall, Macelli spun around.

"Who the fuck's the nigger?" Red pounced on the man like an old lion, too battle-weary to toy with its prey. Macelli crumbled to the ground under the almost three hundred pounds of Red's weight, his head constricted in anaconda-like arms. His brief struggle was muted by a blow to the ribs from Rollo. Red forced the man onto his stomach and pressed his nose into the concrete floor.

"You hold his upper half while I tie his legs," Red barked over heavy breaths. Rollo grasped the man's head like a vice and covered his mouth with one hand. When Macelli tried to bite his hand, the big black man slapped him with an open palm across the ear. Red planted his knee in Macelli's back for leverage. In a minute, Macelli's legs were tied. Red pulled the Italian's hair causing his body to contort into a bowed shape. Without instruction, Rollo fed the man's hands into the unused portion of rope. A look of satisfaction came over Red's face as he tightened the final knot binding Macelli's wrists to his ankles. Macelli yelped as the rope ate into his skin. The man was fixed in the bowed position, his spine compressed and abdominal muscles stretched to their limit.

"Nice work, Rollo. I think I got it from here." Red casually reached into his pocket and handed Rollo the hundred. "Just stick around and don't make any trouble when Chuck comes back, alright? That way, you'll get laid for sure tonight." Red was careful to reason with Rollo. Rollo knew that Red was right. If he did not give the guards any trouble, they would get him a good whore for sure. "Was that fun, Mr. Macelli? See what happens when you fuck with the wrong people? Thought I would just let you slide, cuttin' in on my business like that, didn't you? Me leavin' and all." Macelli tried to respond, but had no breath to send across his vocal cords. "Well, you're gonna learn a thing or two the next couple of days. But don't worry. I got ya taken care of. You got two days all to yourself in here-just you and your thoughts." Red reached into a trunk in the corner and pulled out a small box. "You see this? The brothers gave this to me on one of their visits." Red took a hummingbird feeder from the box. "You see, they thought we had windows in this mutherfucker. They were gonna tame us animals by exposing us to nature. We were all gonna have little birds and butterflies outside our windows. I think I was the only one that kept mine. I knew I'd have a use for it. They even filled it for us. You're gonna be so glad they did." Red suspended the feeder from a hook in the center of the ceiling with a long cord so that the spout was about four feet from the floor. "Come and get it, buddy boy. This is breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next two days." Red pushed the feeder gently, causing it to swing like a pendulum. Macelli tried to rest his twisted neck on the floor, but was unable. "Come on. Let's see what ya got." Macelli was motionless. "Aw, come on. Be a sport. Either you take your sup or I call Rollo back in here for a little action- and I know you don't want that. Come on, now. Show some spunk. You're gonna need the practice if you're gonna make it two whole days." The threat of Rollo forced Macelli into motion. "That's a boy. This is marinara flavored. You'll like it." Macelli rocked back and forth on his stomach, slowly building enough momentum to reach his knees. "Boy, I wish the brothers could see this. They'd like to know that their little gift was goin' to such good use." The feeder was still a few feet away from where Macelli had managed to balance himself. He tried to coordinate his arms and legs in order to reach the feeder, but fell flat on his face. "Marciano fought with his nose pinned together. Think about that," Red taunted. Macelli again gained enough momentum to reach his knees, this time directly under the feeder. He extended his chin skyward in an effort to reach the spout. Arching and straining, his lips reached the spout but he was unable to cause the nectar to flow. "You gotta use your tongue on that little round ball! I swear, a hummingbird is smarter than you wops!" Red doubled over with laughter. Finally, Macelli managed to cause a few milliliters of the serum to flow down his chin and gathered it up with his tongue. In such a vulnerable position, he knew his only chance at avoiding further violation was to play the game just as Red wanted.

Satisfied, Red exited the cell and handed Chuck one of the fifties, the price necessary for keeping Macelli bound for two days. He pocketed the other fifty- just enough for an hour on the computer.

III

Every Monday night Red gave the guard in charge of the sky box fifty dollars for one hour of access to the computer in the main floor guard station. The computer had been installed due to a federal initiative to modernize the prison system and was equipped with internet access. It served no purpose as far as making the prison run more efficiently, but was a porn lifeline for the guards and any of the inmates that were willing to pay the access price. Red paid the steep rate for "unsupervised" time on the computer. He had his routine on the computer down to an art. This night his timing was particularly important as he was conducting the most intricate and biggest scheme that he had ever attempted to direct from the inside. Red sat down in the swivel chair in front of the computer and glared at the screen. He clicked on he "Excite Chat" icon and entered his password in the appropriate box: "CON45". Red's brain had become conditioned to release a jolt of ephemeral joy each time the hue of the computer screen reached his retinas. For Red, the weekly contact with the outside world had given him a sustaining taste of freedom. The chatroom menu appeared and he selected to go to a private chatroom called "Jellyroll". A dialogue box appeared and he smiled as he read the name "Johnny_Quest" in the chatlist. Everything was going as planned.

"How are you tonight, John?" Red typed.

"Couldn't be better. Ready to do this one," was the reply.

"Are Chris and Tony working this one with you like I wanted? Is everything ready?" Red typed rapidly.

"Yep. I filled them both in. They feel good about it." John was the person that Red trusted most on the outside. The two had worked together for more than twenty years. They had a mutual trust. Red knew that he would get his fair share of the money as long as John was involved. John knew that Red would have more lucrative schemes for him in the future as long as he treated him fairly.

"I've been thinking and I think it's best that we only go after the Easy Prey with this one." Easy prey was a code word in the off chance that their chat was being monitored.

"WHAT? I THOUGHT THAT WE WERE GONNA DO THE FULL SWEEP!?

"Well, what do I tell the two kids? They been looking forward to it."

"Yeah. Don't you worry about the transportation. I know just the guy. Wait until I get there. He can get us whatever we want. The most important thing for you to do is put out the fliers at the Hunting Ground. We need a big turn out."

"What exactly do we need them to say?"

"You've got to use your brain some too. Just make sure you're specific about the time and place. And make sure to include a hook- a jackpot or free dinner or some shit like that."

"That sounds good. I can put the fliers up tomorrow. They'll look real good. Kinko's has a special going."

"Good deal. You got any more questions? I 've got to check my email before I get off this thing.

"I'm cool. This is going to be fun. I'm looking forward to seeing you in a couple of days."

"Me too, brother. I can taste the freedom already. This one will have us living the good life! I'll see you on the outside!" Red felt a lightness in his soul that he had not experienced for some time.