disclaimers can be found with part 1
++++++++++++++ Justice Deferred 9 by: Alex P ++++++++++++++
As she was leaving the guardroom, Paula picked up a paper bag that contained Brusard's civilian clothes and a pair of spit shined engineer boots. Around a week before release, prisoners are allowed, to check the condition, and fit of the clothing they were wearing when they entered the system. As one can imagine what can happen to unwashed, unprotected clothing left for several years, as well as the fact that prisoners tend to lose a lot of weight while inside, and their old clothes are then way too big to wear, when the condition or fit of their old clothing renders them unwearable, the out going prisoners are allowed to go through a warehouse of clothes, donated by Goodwill, Salvation Army, and various other local charities. They are allowed to find and store, one pair of pants and a shirt, these are set aside by the staff, and held for the prisoner until the day of their release, when the prisoner is given the civilian clothes to leave the facility, the idea being that they won't stand out as recently released prisoners by the people they encounter outside the walls.
As usual Cam was different, instead of losing weight like most others, she had put on twenty pounds of well-sculpted muscle, it may have looked really good on her, but it made the clothes she had worn into prison rip out at the seams. The only part of her old clothing that was still fit to wear, were her high quality, well worn and comfortable, engineer boots. Cam had smiled when she saw her reliable old boots, complete with the chains over the instep, and around the back of the heel. She had spent hours, sorting through the massive piles of clothes that filled the entire inside of an old warehouse on the prison grounds, before she finally came up with a pair of faded boot cut jeans, that fit decently and a blue denim shirt that was actually too big, but fit well enough for her. She wanted out of there, it was way too close to shopping for Cam's tastes.
Usually the clothing was left stored until the prisoner was released, but the night before, Paula had taken Cam's clothes to her house. and washed them. She also threw in a black T-shirt, she had picked up for the prisoner she had come to know and respect over the years, it was her way of showing Cam that she appreciated all the favors they'd traded over the years. Another young woman, one whose life Cam had saved, then protected from some of the less desirable elements. The innocent young girl had wanted to do something to thank her tall black haired savior for all she had done for her, so as a getting out present, Paula had allowed the friendly, if naive, young woman to shine Cam's beloved old boots. Even the guards were impressed by the spit-shine the young woman had put on Cam's old boots.
As the guard Captain made her way across the cell block, heading for Cam's third tier cell, she thought back to how much things had changed since the black haired beauty with the incredible cerulean eyes had entered the tiny enclosed world of CCC, and how much things had improved, because of her. Paula knew but couldn't prove that Camilla Brusard was responsible for most of the good changes that had made life easier for most of the prisoners and because things were better for the prisoners, the guards benefitted from them as well.
================ After her first couple of months Cam had faced some of the toughest women in the prison many of them ended up so badly damaged that they had to be transferred to permanent nursing facilities. It wasn't long before a small group of prisoners had gravitated toward the quiet strength of the tall woman. When the first attempt on Cam's life had failed, it came to Paula's attention that a beautiful young Mexican woman, serving twenty-five to life for second degree murder, been an R.N. on the outside, but she had always refused to work in the infirmary, until Cam, after the stabbing, was hospitalized, then Maria suddenly changed her mind, and agreed to be assigned to the infirmary, on the night shift. Since it wasn't easy to get a competent, qualified nurse to work in a prison hospital at night, much less one with the impecable credentials that Maria had earned, both in the OR and Emrgency Medicine, and the doctor in charge was smart enough to jump at the chance to have the highly skilled former R.N working with him. He did everything he could to make Maria's life easier, he even went to the state board and pushed the special paperwork to have her re-certified as an R.N.
Maria, used her position to watch over, and protect Cam, and any other of her friends, that were too seriously injured to watch out for themselves. She was also able to help several young women that were being hurt by the system, and/or other inmates. That was when Paula started watching whoever was spending time with Cam. Paula was interested to find that as she watched the little group, none of them seemed to be close friends, it was more like they tolerated each other. Most of their time was spent at the free weight area in a corner of the yard. They were all constantly lifting, or working out but very rarely as any kind of group.
They always looked for someone from inside the group, if they wanted to spar, and Paula had seen all of them in the makeshift ring, at one time or another. All of them that is, except Cam, she never spared with anyone, but was constantly off to one side, going through her drills and katas. It was obvious to anyone that looked that the tall black haired woman, was far above the rest of the group and the records showed that there were several of martial art disiplines, that she had already mastered, long before entering the violent world of CCC. Her obvious favorite was a form of Tai Chi, she spent hours practicing the slow fluid precise movements of the discipline. Paula also obseved, that when the cell block had their scheduled shower times for the other inmates, one or two of the group were usually close by. The sight began to cause Paula to wonder what their purpose was, being a vetern prison guard, Paula knew she should do some investigating, but she didn't want the higher ups involved. She was sure that going by who these women were and what their reputations were, they weren't there to bother anyone, this caused her to check the statistics. As she had surmised, she found that there had been a dramatic drop in shower room assaults since Cam's little group started what Paula began referring to as their "shower patrols". Fully aware of the way the administration worked, Paula never informed anyone of her discovery, deciding instead, to follow the advice of an oriental friend of hers, the old man always told her, "if it ain't broke don't fix it."
Another thing that interested Paula, was the way these women handled their love lives. It had been another revelation to Paula that all of the original group had publicly out lesbians, some long before they were sent to prison, many continued to pursue relationships inside the walls. Paula also knew that during her first year, Cam had been celibite, claiming that she was remaining loyal to a lover on the outside. Then she had been called to a conference with her lawyers, that was followed shortly by a warning to keep an eye on her, it emphisized that she should keep a very close watch on the prisoner. This made Paula recall the rumors she had heard about the shake up in Benton County, hearing it was directly attributed to Cam's family, and their retaliation on those responsible for the womans incarceration. It seems that someone had not done their homework about the three bikers that Cam called family, and had severely underestimated the amount of pull they had with some highly placed individuals within the government, and while none of them would ever even think of using these connections for themselves, but they would move heaven and earth, when it came to their beloved little girl. The rumors said they were hard men, and were capable of totally ruthless, and merciless retribution, when it came to Cam.
Suddenly the IRS, DEA, FBI, and several other federal "alphabet" agencies landed on Benton County with both feet. By the time the Feds were finished in Benton County, the judge that had tried Cam's case, had been thrown out of office for malfeasance, and along with several of his fellow judges, was under investigation on charges of bribery, and criminal negligence. Two county commissioners, the county prosecutor that accepted her plea bargin, the Sheriff, four ADAs and six deputies that were in on the arrest of Cam, all ended up behind bars. The public defender that had been in charge of Cam's defense was disbarred for incompetence. To say the least it would be a long time before Benton County would recover from the vendetta. ================== Also acording to the rumors, and from what Paula gathered from the news media, what happened to Benton County, was nothing compared to what the three men did to Kreelcorp, and especially, it's owner, the elusive, D.C.Kreel. Following a trail that Kreel foolishly believed was completely covered, Cam's family was able to gather conclusive evidence connecting Kreelcorp, and its associates with the false charges that had put Cam's "Daddy" in Federal prison, taking him out of the way while his beloved daughter was being wrongfully persecuted, something he would never forgive. Once he secured the evidence, the family's high powered attorneys, instituted several lawsuits against Kreelcorp, all its officers and employees, obtaining a court order putting a freeze on all their assets, after which, they demanded an independent audit, which uncovered several major irregularities that ended up bringing on an investigation by the SEC.
Before they were finished, Kreelcorp no longer existed, all its assets, real and other wise had been taken over by CCMC Inc. Then they went after the still mysterious, D.C.Kreel, who, after exhaustive investigation, was soon wanted on charges ranging robbery and stock fraud to first degree murder. The only problem was nobody knew who D.C.Kreel was or even what the now fugitive executive looked like. The few people that had ever seen D.C.Kreel in person, mysteriously disappeared when the investigation began, and everyone watchng the developments of the investagations were almost convinced that Kreel had all bases covered, and that the slippery Kreel was safe, but once again, Kreel underestimated the wealth, power, and the dogged determination of Cam's family.
Kreel mistakenly thought, because they were bikers, they wouldn't be of any consequence or pose a serious threat to somone like the civilized, and refined Kreel, and there was nothing they could do to a person of Kreel's stature. Imagine the surprised look on D.C.Kreel's face, when the three legally armed and deputized bikers, accompanied by agents from both the NSA, and the FBI, burst into the penthouse apartment in Atlanta, and arrested the one time successful business owner, and now, wanted criminal. ============== The hardest part of the vendetta came after the arrest of D.C.Kreel.
The lawyers were sent to have an emergency conference with Cam at CCC to let her know, that the woman she loved, and went to prison to protect, was the same person that paid to put her there, and the same person, that paid for the attempts on her life, and had attacked her family. When Cam found out the first person she had ever loved enough to consider committing her life to, the one she knew as her sweet loving, Debra Stringer, was actually D.C.Kreel, and she had lied, distracted, and manipulated the young woman into contributing to the near destruction of her family. Her reaction wasn't exactly what everyone anticipated. When the lawyers explained, they were there to warn her that the arrest of D.C.Kreel would soon be making the news, trying to insure, she wasn't blind- sided by such bad news, they were worried that there would be a display of the infamous, Brusard temper that made even the toughest, hard core bikers cringe. What they got was no reaction what so ever. Cam rose from her chair, and shaking each man's hand, she thanked them for going to the trouble to come to Chillicothe, to inform her of Debra's arrest, and her unfortunate identity. She also sent word to her family that she was fine, that she was as well as could be expcted, and she was both proud and happy they were able to stop the woman, before she got a chance to do further damage to her family. The tall mysterious and dangerously unpredicable, woman then left the room, and walked back to her cell, without saying a word to anyone. Then with the full permission of the warden, as well as other officials within the Corrections Department, Cam turned off her lights and retired to her cell.
They tried to send her food but Cam refused it, all she did was sit on her bunk, and listen to her collection of old blues songs. Finally, after a little over a week, just when the warden was about to have someone go into her cell, very late at night, Cam called a guard, and asked to take a shower and to get some clean clothes. It was of course granted, the next morning, she reported to roll call just as if nothing had happened. She went about her normal routine, and most thought she was just fine, the same old enigmatic Cam, but Paula could see the difference. She was harder now, more cynical, cold, and uncaring, and when Cam smiled it was a cruel, predatory, insincere smile that never reached her ice blue eyes.
There had been four attempts on the dark biker's life, the last of which turned into a riot that left a guard and eight prisoners dead and many others hurt, Cam among them, with a bullet wound in her shoulder. Through all that Cam's sense of humor had survived, but after she got the news of her lover's betrayal, learning that someone she trusted and loved was responsible, it was something Cam couldn't accept. As if that last shread of her humanity, disappeared, crushed under the terrible weight of her shattered heart. She had been in prison for just over a year, and she was already colder, harder, more humorless and the most emotionless a soul as any lifer inside the walls.
Life behind the walls pretty much went on as always, it was like the tides, or the phases of the moon, those eternal cycles stop for no one, the struggle of living from day to day, was eternal and constant, and of little consequence when your soul was dead. Older prisoners who had served their time were released or paroled and new younger prisoners took their place. Cam and her friends kept on trying to help the weaker prisoners whenever and wherever they could.
The occasional confrontations only served to enhance and further their reputation. Cam's detached methods of dealing with everyone, friend and foe alike, was in many ways the reason why everyone feared her even more. Paula had watched the tall cold-eyed woman closely knowing, that if the dam holding back all those repressed emotions broke, all hell was going to break loose. Paula was one of the few people that knew the whole story of Cam's betrayal, and could see that the tall black haired woman's withdrawal was a defense mechanism to keep everyone away so no one would be able to hurt her like that again.
The older woman knew what she was doing, because she had tried it herself one time, and she knew from her own experience that it wouldn't work. Another change in Cam's behavior was that she was taking lovers now. Before Deb's betrayal the tall exceptionally beautiful inmate politely turned down every proposition that came her way, vowing to never be unfaithful, but now it wasn't unusual to see the cerulean eyed beauty, with someone new, either going to, or leaving one of the many hidden places that the prisoners used for their trysts, it also worried those that paid attention that she was never with the same woman twice.
Once Cam had been with a woman, she would ignore her completely, the only women that were safe from the tall beauty's advances, was the small group of women that hung around with her, and of course their lovers. The phlandering biker still had her honor. Paula remembered all the wishful sighs, and occasional brokenhearted tears that followed the hauntingly aloof woman everywhere she went, in those dark days. On the day it occured, nothing special happened, there was nothing out of the ordinary, not a single clue, to warn them just how special a day it would be. It started out just like every other day; the morning bell rang at 5:30 am, just like every morning. Cam was up, off her bunk, and already knocked out her one hundred sit-ups as well as the same number of pushups, just like every other day. She accompanied her cellblock to breakfast and had a pastry and several cups of prison coffee (that Cam claimed could be eaten with a fork) like she always did. Then Cam returned to her cell, she waited to be escorted, along with several others, to classes offered by the prison. Classes lasted until lunch, then as always, Cam went to the yard, and began her work out, as did every other woman, in the small group, they either worked out with the weights or honed their fighting skills by sparing. Cam as usual, was off to one side working on her Tai Chi routine. Everything was going along just like every other day. Then something happened, something that would eventually be as important to the small prison community, as the closing of Alcatraz.
It was a change that would, one way or another, touch the lives of every one on D-block some for the better... and some, forever.
++++++ END 9 TBC in 10a ++++++++++