How does a guy break into a jail when the clock is ticking and he could drop dead at any moment?
Fast. Sloppy.
I took five minutes to study the structure on Google Earth before deciding the best point of entry would be the west wall. I think that’s the likeliest place for the cells to be, because I see a yard with barbed wire next to it. The other side of the building is a parking lot. To the front is a long driveway. To the back looks like a garage. Maybe for storing their vehicles.
I decide to leave before my parents arrive at the hospital because I’ll lose my nerve if I see their faces. If River’s been reading all the garbage online, then so have they. That means they’ll be a wreck. And I’m not throwing shade for that. I’m a mess, too; however, this isn’t about me. It’s about River’s sisters and anyone else who was tricked into taking that poison.
I gaze into River’s warm brown eyes and kiss her hard, not knowing if I’ll ever see her again. Her lips are like warm velvet, and our mouths move together like they were made for each other. Why did I wait so long to do this?
I pull away and stare into her eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Tell my family I love them and I’m sorry.”
“I will,” she says. “And good luck.”
I close my eyes and imagine the place I want to go. When I open my eyes, I’m in a room with beige walls, a table, chairs, and a coffee machine. A police officer, who’s sitting reading the paper, looks up at me and blinks.
“Oops. I guess you guys remodeled recently.” I zip from the room, looking for the holding cells. Down the hall, I spot a heavy steel door with a small window. Next to it reads, No guns beyond this point. The prisoners have to be on the other side.
I approach the door. I’m not sure I can go through solid metal. I’ve never tried, and today doesn’t feel like the day for taking risks. More risks.
Instead, I punch the wall to the side and climb through. The hallway is lined with steel bars, and it smells like sweat and disinfectant. This is the place.
“What the!” the guy with neck tats in the first cell says.
“You Morris?” I ask.
“No.”
I move on to the next cell, where a bald guy is lying back on his bed.
“Morris! You Morris?” I ask.
“I can be for fifty bucks,” he says.
“Errr. Sorry. You’re not my type.” I keep moving. The next two cells are empty. When I get to the last one, I see a young guy with bottlecap glasses and a skeletal frame, sitting on his bed reading. “Morris?”
“Yeah?”
Jesus. He reminds me of me. Not at all what I imagined for a guy who sells toxic steroids to college students.
“Hey, you’re Huff,” he says. “I saw you on the news. Nice cape.”
I try not to cringe. This cape isn’t me. But anything for my girl. “I don’t have a lot of time. I landed in the break room first, so I’m pretty sure they know I’m here.”
“Then get me out.” He stands and comes up to the bars.
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because apparently you’re the only one who can keep your customers alive.”
He sits back on his bed. “Sorry, but it’s like I told my lawyers; you want the formula, then I want a deal.”
“They’re never going to give it to you. No one believes we’re going to die, Morris. They think it’s a hoax.”
“They saw what happened to Blake.”
“And it’s going to take months for them to figure out he didn’t die of a regular heart attack, long after those other football players are dead. And the girls your sister dosed.”
“And you. That’s why you’re really here, isn’t it?” he asks smugly.
“I’ve already made up my mind. I’m not taking more.”
He stands again and grips the bars. “You’ll die.”
“Probably.”
“But don’t you get it? You’re the entire reason I started making the formula. I couldn’t put on weight no matter what I did. I just wanted to find something that could help guys like me build muscle. I succeeded, but they fired me because I broke their rules and did trials on human subjects. Also, a few died, but that’s beside the point.”
I don’t believe a word he’s saying. If “all he wanted” was to help guys like himself, then why hasn’t he taken it?
I hear an alarm sound inside the building. I know the police are coming. “Make your lawyers send the formula to this lab.” I hand him a piece of paper. “With luck, it’ll keep people like your sister alive while they figure out how to get them off this stuff.”
“My sister? Keni took it?”
“Didn’t you know?”
“No! Fuck! I told her to never touch the stuff! We just needed to raise money so I could start my company, build my own lab, and fix the formula.”
“If you want to save her, you know what to do. Share the formula. There’s a lab that says they’ll make it, quietly, but you have to hurry.”
Morris slams his fists on the bars. “Dammit, Keni!”
“Morris, what’s it gonna be? They’re almost here.” I look over my shoulder at the police in riot gear coming through the heavy steel door.
“Fine. I’ll have my lawyers send it.”
“Awesome. Nice talking to you.” I turn to leave.
“Huff, you’re lucky to be alive. I don’t know how it’s possible.”
I look over my shoulder.
He adds, “That pool was filled with concentrated, rejected, tainted batches. Mixed with the final formula. No one could’ve survived drinking in that much.”
“I guess I’m lucky.”
“I don’t know. But if all the stuff they’re saying you can do is true, it’s nothing I’ve ever seen in any of the experiments. The formula gives people muscles and reduces inhibitions. It even gives them a sense of euphoria for a few hours. But that’s it. Okay, and it boosts your pheromones secretions, which is why you might be experiencing a sudden popularity with women, but there is no scientific reason you were able to lift a one-ton steel beam. If what I saw was real?”
I stare at the wall in front of me. I don’t understand what this means. If it wasn’t that poison that made me this way, then what?
“I gotta go.”
“If you live, come see me again when you want to figure out the answers!” he belts out.
Not likely. I pull back my fist and slam it into the wall. “Ouch!” The darn thing is made of solid brick. I shake off the pain and hit it again. The wall crumbles, and I climb out.