Finding An Angel In Hell

By Cat

Copyright © 2005 Cat

Chapter Three – Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t

The bell rang signaling that it was time to go inside and Bran’s eyebrows drew together in a deep frown. He hadn’t seen his cellmate since that morning when he’d left with his group for the woodshop. When he’d returned at three in the afternoon the phone crew had been back early again. Alex had not been in their cell. The blond hadn’t been in the lavatories, the shower or the common area either. A check with Hank Severson had also turned up negative, but he’d seen the guard dispatch another officer just moments later. That worried him even more than not finding his cellmate.

Exercise period had come and now passed and still there was no sight of the smaller man. After nearly three months Bran had become used to these disappearances when the phone banks were let out early. What he didn’t like was the sudden change in the routine. The Irishman wasn’t stupid, he knew what was going on by this point. Whether it was something his cellmate wanted was another matter entirely. Up until now he’d been able to delude himself. He’d thought that the blond was using the time for some rendezvous or semi-innocent time out of their block.

Brandon wrestled with his conscience over the situation constantly as it tried to make him see what he didn’t want. As it reminded him that even if the whole thing were something innocent that his cellmate was heading for trouble. Instead of listening he’d ignored it not wanting to become involved. Anyway Alex was normally back by the time they went out for exercise period. Sometimes he would have some minor bruising and a limp, but nothing serious, nothing that couldn’t be explained away as a bit of rough lovemaking. In the dark haired man’s mind if his cellmate didn’t mention it then it was none of his business. Still at night he often woke, disturbed by Alex’s nightmares and he was fairly certain what they were about.

He and the other inmates were returned to their block from the yard and he went immediately to his cell to see if the blond had returned. The cell was still empty and Bran’s worry grew. The situation had passed beyond what could be easily passed over. Now his worry over his small and reticent cellmate was blossoming into full-fledged panic. He knew that the Warden had placed him with Lexy not only for his own benefit, but the blond’s as well and now he felt he’d failed him.

Looking around he spotted Slim and Deke, both men had stayed inside today so he hoped they’d seen Alex. “Have ye seen Alex? He’s still no returned from his work shift,” he asked walking up to the other two men where they were sitting playing checkers.

Slim stubbed out his cigarette in a clay bowl and motioned for Bran to sit down. “Campbell’s been taken to the infirmary,” he informed the Irishman once he was sitting down at the table with them. “Heard it through the grape vine while you was outside.”

“The infirmary, was he hurt?” Brandon leaned on the table getting closer to Slim, then turned his attention to Deke. “ I thought you were all released early, did you no see what happened, where he went?” he asked in a sharp whisper the concern in his voice heavy.

“I didn’t see, but it isn’t the first time,” Deke answered leaning back in his chair and tilting his head. The look was nonchalant, but his dark eyes showed the true extent of his feelings, frustration and helplessness. “I know you figured out some of it a long while ago, so you shouldn’t be too surprised. Alex got grabbed on the way back, he usually does. It’s like clockwork. If he doesn’t fight, he doesn’t get hurt. He must have tried to fight whoever it was this time around. He’ll be back in a few days, just be careful around him for a little while, he’ll be skittish.”

Bran sank back in his chair as all the excuses and barriers he’d put in place trying to deny his suspicions came crashing down. Now he was forced to try and understand why his quiet and very private cellmate had never tried to stop it.

Then he paused and looked up at Deke and Slim questioningly. “Has this happened before? You seem very certain that ‘twill only be a few days.”

“Three times since he’s been here, this is the fourth,” Slim answered slowly. He picked up a checker lying on the table and tapped anxiously on the table with it as the Irishman’s silver eyes turned on him incredulously.

“And ye’ve said naught to the bailiffs? Done naught to try and stop it?” McGowne demanded his pale blue eyes a stormy grayish.

Deke looked at him his green eyes calm despite their slight narrowing. “Bran, you’ve been here three months, you’ve seen this happen how many times now… six, seven? It never goes longer than a week and a half before the computers go down and Alex disappears. Why ain’t you talked to the dicks? They sure as hell listen to you faster ’n they listen to the rest of us.”

Moments later the dark haired man was away from the table walking rapidly across the common area toward Jack Abrams. The lead guard motioned for Hank Severson to open the gate that separated him from the common area and met Bran at the door.

“I was pretty sure I’d be getting a visit from you,” he said as he grasped the younger man’s arm. The prison guard steered him to a spot where they were out of sight, yet he could still see the common room.

“How is he?” were the first words from Bran’s mouth as he felt his back come up against the wall.

"Bad enough, bruises, lacerations, some tearing and a dislocated shoulder," Abrams informed him as he dropped his hand away from the Irishman’s upper arm and stepped back. He pulled a piece of gum from his uniform pocket offering it to the prisoner who declined. "He'll be back in general population by the end of the week." Jack unwrapped it and shoved it in his own mouth wishing it was a cigarette, but he’d quit six months ago and was trying not to fall off the wagon despite stress.

"I was told 'tis the fourth time 'thas happened. Why is naught being done about it?" Brandon inquired his voice coming out angrier than he'd meant it too.

Jack's eyes narrowed as he looked at Bran. "We do everything that we can, McGowne, but it's not as easy as you seem to think," he growled getting into Brandon’s personal space.

Then the older man sighed and stepped back getting out of the younger man's face and leaning on the wall while he watched the common area. "Alex won't tell us who is doing it. That isn't surprising he doesn't want to make things worse for himself and we understand that. Also we have to treat rape victims in here the same way we would treat them outside."

"Are there no other ways of finding out who the man is?" the bouncer questioned slumping against the wall thinking about his cellmate.

He could understand why the blond refused to get help. Alex was terrified, whoever was hurting him was clever and Alex knew it. Even if the other inmate was removed from Randall prison to another one he would have friends who would make the smaller man's remaining time miserable. They might even kill him. Sadly Bran had noticed that though the communication with more people on the outside had helped Alex’s moods, the other man was still withdrawing from the ones inside. And it was always worse after one of the days that the phone crew was released early because the computers went down.

"No, whoever it is that's doing this to him is smart," Abrams answered looking at his watch. He couldn't allow Bran to stay where he was for more than five minutes then the other inmate would have to return to the common area. "They leave almost no DNA sample behind and the few they do are normally contaminated so that we can't get a positive ID."

Bran clenched his fists angrily and started to ask another question but Jack shook his head. The door buzzed and the officer opened it motioning the Irishman back inside the common area. The tall young man stayed where he was for a moment and then finally took a deep breath letting the frustration go. Once he was through the door he turned back to Abrams.

"Sorry kid regulations you understand."

Bran nodded. His brain was already trying to tell him that he shouldn't be getting in the middle of all of this. On the other hand his conscience reminded him that this was his cellmate and that the other man didn't deserve what was happening to him. Slowly the longhaired man made his way back to his cell missing the looks he got from the other inmates. Still lost in thought he sat down at the fold out table and looked at the letter he'd been writing.

"So what did the boss man have to say?"

Looking up the Irishman saw Slim and Deke leaning against the bars of the cell. "'Twas the same as you told me. He's no badly hurt, a dislocated shoulder and.…" he trailed off not willing to say anything about the more delicate injuries. "...But 'twill be a few days before he is back."

He picked up his pen tapping it unconsciously on the table as he stared silently past them out into the common lost in thought. It was several minutes before he realized the other two inmates had taken his continued silence as an end to the conversation. He was glad actually, he didn't want to talk about it even though he knew that in a moment he would be filling page after page of his letter to the bar with the story. On another vein his mind was pointing out things to him, coincidences that happened too frequently to be coincidences. From a normal viewpoint it would be seen as simply something that happened. But with the addition of Alex into the equation a much more sinister and twisted picture was being painted.

**********

Three days later Brandon returned to his cell from exercise period to find Alex curled up in the corner of his bunk. The accumulated mail that the Irishman had been collecting for him while he was gone was piled around his curled legs. His left arm was in a sling that held it close to his body. The blond looked up as Bran moved closer.

"Hey thanks for keeping all of this for me," he murmured before dropping his eyes back to bed.

"'Twas no a problem," the taller man said as he stepped to the edge of the bed and leaned down and in to peer under the upper bunk.

He was startled when Alex suddenly jumped dropping the letter in his hand and crying out as he pushed himself tighter into the corner. Bran barely managed to keep from jerking away himself and slamming his head on the underside of his own bunk. The Irishman frowned in concern and stepped back. Disturbed he realized his sudden proximity to his cellmate had frightened him. Then his mind slapped him hard and he stepped back, silently berating himself for being a fool. Slim and Deke had even warned him to be careful around Campbell when he came back because he would be even more skittish than he normally was.

"I'm sorry I dinnae mean to startle you so," he apologized moving back until he felt the fold down seat of their little table touch the back of his legs. "Is there aught that I can do for you while your arm is healing?"

Lexy sat up slowly, hissing in pain as his arm shifted a little in the sling. "It's… okay," he murmured unconvincingly, his violet eyes flickering to Brandon then back to the pieces of mail around his legs. He looked up again blinking in confusion at the bigger man's question. "Aught? D'you mean 'anything'?" he asked emphasizing the last word.

Bran nodded in answer to the question. "Aye, sometimes 'tis hard to remember that no everyone will understand. And I’ve no been in this country long enough to be Americanized."

He didn't add that when he was upset his baroque came out much stronger than normal. Right now seeing his cellmate with his bruised face and the arm in the sling, not to mention being terrified of him had him greatly upset. The bodyguard wondered how bad things would have been if he hadn’t spent the last three months trying to win the small blond over.

“Would you… would you mind opening everything for me and just turning the letters in the envelopes so they are easy to get out?” Alex requested hesitantly.

He felt bad about his reaction to Bran. The big man had been the best cellmate and friend he’d had since he’d been here. He hadn’t meant to be afraid. He’d even thought that since he’d known he was there that he would react badly. Even so self-preservation and fear had kicked in and Lexy had seen the startled hurt in the big man’s eyes. Then the Irishman had turned around and offered him help.

“Of course, ye need only ask,” Brandon answered and moved back to the side of the bunk. He crouched down next the bed, but refrained from reaching for the mail. A nervous smile touched the blond’s lips and the big man returned it collecting the boxes and letters that Alex shoved towards him.

**********

Bran sat across the desk from Warden Henriksen with Officer Abrams sitting beside him. The warden was looking at the information that Jack had accumulated after the Irishman had come to him three days ago with his theory. Brandon had written everything out trying to remember every time Alex had gone missing. Abrams had been skeptical, but intrigued enough by the coincidence that he had gotten the records for the phone banks as well Campbell’s infirmary records.

The dates Bran had written down hadn’t all be correct, not being able to remember all three months the ones for the last month had been. More than that the four times that Alex had been taken to the infirmary though lined up exactly with days that the computers had crashed. Jack realized that McGowne was onto something and immediately took the information to the Warden. That had been yesterday. Now the three men were sitting across from each other, their moods ranging from outraged to anxious.

The warden was outraged that none of the staff had noted a prisoner suddenly going missing from a work detail repeatedly. Especially after said inmate had ended up in the infirmary on several occasions. He didn’t care that each time the young man had been found somewhere inside his cellblock. The fact that careful scouring of the place had turned up no trace of evidence should have alerted them to the fact that he’d been dumped there.

Officer Abrams was distressed because he felt it was his responsibility to make certain that the inmates were safe and had failed to perform his job. It didn’t matter that he was not the one who escorted the prisoners back from the call center. Nor that the crashes happened so that they coincided with shift changes meaning that the officers who were responsible were normally scrambling to do their job before being fully briefed for a day. It meant that the escorts wouldn’t always know which inmate hadn’t gone to his job that morning.

Bran was concerned that his failure to report the absences would cause him trouble and perhaps delay his release. Even harder to bear was the idea that if he had gone to someone sooner then perhaps his cellmate would have been spared nearly a dozen rapes in the last three months. How the younger man had endured it silently he didn’t understand.

“Sir, dinnae know what to say…” the Irishman began, but stopped as the warden held up his hand.

“I won’t say that I’m not disappointed,” Henriksen stated looking at McGowne then back down at his folded hands. “But I also understand. The same part of your nature that would have led you to come to us as soon as you suspected something is the same thing that kept you silent. You’ve only got three more months to go before your first parole hearing and you don’t want to jeopardize that.”

“’Tis no excuse,” Bran replied shaking his head. “I should have come to ye sooner. I want to thank you for no dragging Alex into this yet, though.”

The warden inclined his head accepting the thanks. “Officer Abrams and I agree that right now his trust of you is important. And if he hasn’t been willing to say anything after all this time it obvious that whoever is hurting him has him scared for his life. You have no idea who the person might be?”

“Nay Lexy has no mentioned anything to me. I’ve noted that he is nervous after each incident, but seemed fine otherwise so I thought little on it. I frightened him when he returned to our cell after this last time only leaning close to him. I knew ‘twas time to tell someone my suspicions.” Brandon leaned forward looking back and forth between the two men. “Is there naught that can be done to keep him safe?”

Abrams spoke up for the first time that morning. “Yes we are working on a plan to try to prevent him from grabbed again.”

The dark haired bodyguard nodded relieved to know that something was being done to keep his cellmate protected. He could only hope that they would be successful. The first two nights after Alex had returned from the infirmary the blond had slept deeply because of the painkillers he’d been on. The past two nights Bran had been awakened by soft terrified whimpers and pleading. He’d been able to soothe the blond back to a deeper sleep with soft caresses and talking to him in his sleep. That had left the Irishman wide-awake though and more distressed than he cared to think about. His guilt over not doing something sooner was slowly eating away at him.

“Have you noticed if there is anyone that Campbell seems to be more nervous around the others?” the warden asked hopefully.

Brandon shook his head. “Nay, I noticed right away that he dinnae interact with anyone often. There are two that he sits with during exercise period, but they dinnae spend time inside. ‘Twas weeks before he stopped flinching if I came near.”

Abrams nodded corroborating the Irishman’s observations. “He doesn’t seem to trust anyone, but I suppose we can’t blame him.”

“Alright, we’ll just have to see if we can catch the person the next time the computers go down. Or maybe if we keep Alex out of their reach long enough they'll try something stupid and we can catch them,” Henriksen commented.

Jack stood knowing they were being dismissed for the time being and led Bran out of the office once the bodyguard had risen from his seat. “Don’t worry about all this kid,” he said to McGowne as they walked back to the cellblock. “It’s not always easy to know what to do in situations like this. And who knows. We may increase our security around Alex and still have him disappear on us if we’re wrong about when they’re grabbing him.”

“Or they may simply turn their attention to yet another who can no protect themselves,” the big man acquiesced. He didn’t want his cellmate to suffer anymore, but he didn’t want anyone else to become the rapist’s victim either. They would be back to square one trying to catch him.

**********

Lexy was out of his sling and mostly healed when the computers went down again a week after the meeting in the Warden’s office. This time the guards were ready. Officer Tanner showed up at the woodshop to request Bran be released for the rest of the day. Jack Abrams went with the guard who was to pick up the inmates at the call center and walked all the way back at Alex’s side just quietly chatting as if it had been a whim on his part.

When the two of them reached the cell that the blond shared with Brandon, Campbell raised an eyebrow to see his cellmate sitting calmly at the table answering his stack of never ending mail. The Irishman could also see a touch of relief also in the violet eyes. Behind the smaller man Abrams shook his head to let Bran know that he hadn’t seen anything on the walk back. The big bodyguard was disappointed but not surprised, they would have to just stay diligent.

“What are you doing back so early,” Alex asked as he settled on his bunk with the letters that had arrived for him that day.

“’Twas a phone call from my friends,” McGowne answered spinning the story that he and the warden had come up with to try and explain Bran’s being back at the cellblock early on certain days. “They’ve been speaking with a lawyer who may be able to get me released sooner. Though I’ve told them no to bother they dinnae listen.”

“Oh,” Lexy’s eyes fell for a moment then he looked up smiling slightly at the Irishman, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “I hope it works.”

“Thank you, Alex,” Brandon smiled at him touched by the other man’s wishes knowing how afraid he was. They’d gone back to their easier companionship over the last two weeks, the blond slowly relaxing with him again as time passed. He hated to deceive the smaller man, but it was important that he believe the story so that their rapist wasn’t tipped off.

**********

Two days later it happened again, breaking the routine for the first time in over nine months. This time it was the warden that casually arrived at the call center and collected Lexy on the pretext that he wanted to discuss the other mans parole chances. It wasn’t so much a falsehood as Campbell was due for his parole hearing in a little over two months.

Bran was again waiting for him when he got back to their cell, but like with the first no one was seen. No one that wasn’t supposed to be in the cellblock appeared either. They hadn’t expected it to be easy to catch the person but they were getting no clues at all. The Irishman hoped that with the next computer crash they would get something.

Something else the warden had done known only to Officer Abrams and Brandon. A computer expert from the police department in the city had been brought in to try and find the virus causing the computers to go down. They were hoping that they would be lucky and they would catch the rapist also.

End Chapter Three