Page 54 of Pen Pal

I needed to get out of here. Even if she was sick, I wanted to ensure she was alright. I’d gladly nurse her back to health, but breaking out of the hole was nearly impossible.

“Russo or Romano working tonight?” I called to Vitali.

“No, for once,” he snorted, just as surprised as I was.

I sighed, not wanting to do this, but I had to try. I addressed an envelope to Mara Roberts with her home address, hoping the prison wouldn’t make the connection that she was my lawyer.

I couldn’t write anything that gave away who she was, so I had to keep it bland. I wracked my brain, trying to think of what to write. I hadn’t written a letter without an undertone of my obsession with her, so I didn’t know how to tamper it down. I figured I should write the letter like I would to a friend I was concerned about.

Mara,

I haven’t heard from you in a while. Iseverything okay?

-Enzo

I gritted my teeth at how bland and casual it was, but I couldn’t let any guard know what she meant to me or who she was.

I sealed the envelope, hoping this was enough and that she would respond. Surely she still came outside to read her mail even if she was sick at home?

I knew I would find out soon enough.

The reminder of how Mark threatened her filled my mind and how dangerous he was. Did he find her and get to her somehow? Did the Sokolov family?

She was alone and vulnerable, divorcing an abusive man, her friends and family estranged. It was public knowledge that she was my lawyer. The Russian mafia could off her just for that.

The thought of her being taken from me…

I stood, walking from one end of my cell to the other, pacing restlessly. Dread pooled in my stomach, and my fists balled, adrenaline pulsing through my veins.

The patrolling guards glanced at me warily as if I was a ticking time bomb.

“You’re about to wear a hole in the floor,” Luca joked, but I couldn’t answer. I was buzzing like alive wire, ready to explode and take the world with me.

I had leverage on Deputy Michaels, but he worked in gen pop. If Vitali or Luca got released back there, they could get him a message. But the guards weren’t in a hurry to let us out unless it became overcrowded.

I kept my eyes on my cell’s window through the door. The guards shifted nervously but went about their patrols. They came in here every hour or so; the count was seven in the morning and seven at night. The shift change happened around three o’clock every twelve hours.

I watched and waited, and no one showed up in the morning when mail call usually happened.

“Officer,” I called as breakfast trays were served. “Why is mail call late?”

He shrugged. “Shit happens.”

I gritted my teeth. The urge to slam the guard’s stupid head against a wall was strong, but I had to play it cool. I needed them to relax around me so I could slip through their fingers easier.

This was a waiting game, but I wasn’t known for my patience.

“Lights out,” a guard called, tapping her baton on each door.

I gnashed my teeth as I lay in my bunk, fists clenched, body rigid. There was no way I could find peace when everything was so uncertain.

If she didn’t write tomorrow, I was done waiting.

I revised my mental map of the place and the possible ways out. I had never attempted to escape from the hole before, but for my little pen pal, I would.

The hallway was shaped like a cross; I could go straight, right, or left once I left the isolation wing. Straight led to the rec area, left went to gen pop, and right was medical. Each eventually led to an exit, but on the right was the closest, just past medical.

A few guards were distracted when they came through, smiling at their phones. It might take them hours to realize I was gone if I played it right.

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