Finding Ivy's Top Security Guard: Paul Ramone

I’ve been working at this damn prison for nearly 25 years. Well, it’ll be 25 years next December. I’ve been running it for the past 10. It’s nearly impossible to surprise me anymore. When I say I’ve seen it all, I mean it; from men shanking each other just for looking at them funny to men cutting themselves with plastic so they could use their blood for lube, jerking off in their cell with three other guys around.

It takes a lot to catch me off guard. We got a new prisoner today. Some piece of shit who repeatedly raped his girlfriend and beat her to a pulp. Piece of shit. He’s transferring from a neighboring prison a few hours away that couldn’t handle him. He’s done about a year of his life sentence so far. I shake my head as I read his record. This guy got off easy the first time he got caught with past girlfriends; I’m glad justice was finally served. I put the file down and look at the time; it’s nearly 6am, if I hurry I’ll make it home in time to help my wife get the kids off to school. Just as I close the door to my office, Francine, the infirmary nurse frantically grabs my arm.

“Sir, I need-”

I shake my head. “Nope.” Breaking free from her grasp, I walk away but she grabs my arm again.

“Sir, I think you should come see this. We need your help.” I look over at her and notice the blood dripping from her scrubs. I sigh.

“Fine, let’s go.” I follow her to the cafeteria where two other guards are struggling to hold an inmate against the wall. I take in the scene and notice another inmate on the ground in a pool of blood. He’s clearly already dead but I check his pulse anyways just in case. Yup, just as I suspected. I walk over to the other two guards and inmate.

“Well, well, well. Seems you made quite a mess on your first day here.” Michael snarls at me and I laugh. “Your money can’t buy you out of messes in here kid. Take him to solitary.” I whistle to a third guard to help the other two as they drag Mike off. I pinch the bridge of my nose. I have a feeling this prisoner is going to cause me to go into early retirement. I look at my watch, it’s nearly 6:30 now. I may miss putting them on the bus but at least I’ll be home to see them after school. I quickly fill out the death report and leave it to one of the other trusted guards to clean up the mess.

It's 7:30 in the morning by the time I walk through the door. I just pulled a 42 hour shift and I’m exhausted. You’d think after all these years the state would ease up on the hours they give me. As I walk into the house my wife is scrambling to grab her lunch and purse.

“Well hello stranger.” She says. I can tell it’s been a hectic morning already and she’s struggling to maintain her easy going demeanor. No doubt she’s also annoyed at not seeing me for the past 2 days.

“Hey honey,” I say as I let out a sigh and bend over to unlace my work boots. I can see her studying me for a moment. Probably wondering why she’s with someone who’s rarely here for her when she needs them. She surprises me with an embrace when I straighten my back.

“I’ve missed you.” She whispers. The weight of the world melts away as I return the embrace and bring her in for a long, slow kiss. I’ll admit, even when I’m home I’m not actually home. This job is a 24/7 job and even if I’m not working, I’m thinking about work.

“I love you.” That is all I can think to say as she pulls away getting ready to go out the door.

“I love you too. Date night next weekend? You’re due for a vacation.”

“I want to honey, I really do but-” She sighs, no doubt disappointed once again.

“I know. Work..” Her voice trails off. I put my hand on her arm as she turns to walk away.

“I’m putting in for retirement.” Her face snaps back to me in disbelief.

“Paul-” Guilt drips from her words and I can tell she’s starting to blame herself.

“No, it’s about time. I’ve put nearly 25 years into that prison and in return it has taken 25 years off me. I can’t keep going like this. I talked with HR a few days ago, and they said once I hit the official 25 year mark, I can retire with full benefits. Who knows, this time next year maybe we’ll all be on vacation in Hawaii or something.” A spark in her eyes that has dulled over the years from my work excuses returns and I forgot just how beautiful her deep rich chocolate eyes were. “The kids are growing up so quick,” I continue. “It seems like just yesterday we were bringing William home from the hospital.”

“I know…” Her voice trails off. “Hard to believe he’s going to be 18 next week.”

“It won’t be long until we’ll have an empty nest.” William is due to go to college next fall. He wants to become a lawyer. After seeing the work I’ve done, he said he wants to make a difference in the world too. He wants to make sure criminals pay for their crimes. An admirable thing to want, I didn’t have the heart to tell him that sometimes the justice system is rigged, especially for those who have a lot of money. I’m sure he’ll make a difference though.

All of my kids will make a difference in their own way. William is a straight A student, captain of the football team, and captain of the chess team. He’s mister popularity but doesn’t let it go to his head, too much anyway. We actually just got a notice in the mail that he is going to be the Valedictorian of his class. The only issue is he has been accepted to three Ivy League universities and is having difficulty choosing which one he wants. It’s really between two, Columbia and Harvard, but I have a feeling he’ll go for Columbia since it’s the closest. He’s a bit of a mama’s boy, but not to a fault. Yup, I’ll have to be sure to bring extra tissues to his graduation in June.

Mia is 15 and couldn’t be more opposite to her brother. While her grades are decent, she’s definitely the dreamer out of the three, with aspirations to become an actress. She’s head of the drama club and yearbook committee, the creative one in the family. Actually, there are already scouts from Julliard keeping an eye on her who attend her performances regularly. There’s still a couple years left for her high school career but there has been talk she may get a full ride scholarship, according to her guidance counselor. While getting into acting can be unpredictable and heart wrenching, I think she’ll do just fine. Who knows, someday I may see her on my television playing some important role on a popular program.

My youngest, Liam, changes his mind weekly on what he wants to do with his life. He’s 12 and according to his teachers, a delightful troublemaker. It seems his goal is to make as many people laugh as possible, especially if someone is having a bad day. He lightly talked about becoming a psychologist or comedian, two very different spectrums when it comes to careers. Though last week he said he’d rather join a traveling circus and become a clown. Needless to say my wife, who is deathly afraid of clowns, did not approve, which of course made Liam want to do it even more.

They’ll all find the path that’s right for them. I try to not interfere with their futures too much, but if they ask my opinion I do give it to them. Sometimes they hate me for it but, that’s teenagers for you. All I really want is for them to follow their passions, ‘cause life’s too short to not do what makes you happy. Case in point with my soul sucking career.

“Earth to Paul.” I look down to see Emily looking at her watch.

“Oh, sorry honey.” I give her a light smile and she quickly kisses my cheek.

“I’ve gotta get going, but I’ll see you in a few hours okay?”

“A few hours? I thought your bookshop closed at 5?”

“Hey, I’m the owner. I can decide if we close early or not. And I’ve decided I’m closing at noon today. We can have some alone time before the kids get home.” She gives me her signature look, the one that instantly gets me hard because I know exactly what she wants.

December 23rd I will be set free of this place. I fantasize about a trip to Hawaii as a couple of my fellow guards finish mopping up the blood spill that Michael caused. Although I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I swear I have gotten ten times grayer since putting in my notice last year. Michael Dean being the main reason for that. Every time I turn around, someone else is murdered or severely injured, including a few of the guards. It’s gotten to the point where my wife had to be put on anxiety medication because she’s been having nightmares of me getting killed when I go to work every day.

I was even called to come in during William’s graduation. He understood, of course. But I made sure to leave after his Valedictorian speech at least. Thankfully my wife recorded him walking across the stage to get his diploma so I could watch it when I got home. Then, thanks to Michael, I refuse to call him Mike like he requested because that would signify respect, to which I have none for him, I almost missed helping William move into his dorm at Columbia in August.

I take out my phone and stare at the countdown timer my wife installed on it. I have 7 days, 12 hours, and 37 minutes before I can officially say fuck you to this place. December 23rd cannot come soon enough. After the mess is cleaned up, I follow the guards as they drag Michael into solitary. Once he’s secured inside his new temporary cell, I notion to them to leave us alone.

“Can’t get enough of me Paulie?” His nickname for me makes my skin crawl, but I don’t react. I won’t give him the satisfaction of knowing it bothers me. I chuckle, looking down at my phone. I need to keep my composure. I’m so close to leaving, just 7 days, 11 hours, and 53 minutes.

“You realize you just keep adding time to your clock, kid.” I think he’s on his third or fourth life sentence. I’ve lost count. “It doesn’t bother you to take all those lives?”

“They all deserved it, in one way or another.” He scoffs.

“Did Ivy?” I see his eye twitch. I struck a nerve. “Did she deserve to be repeatedly raped and beat?”

A sick smile slithers across his face. “I had to put her in her place. You know how women can get.” The image of Emily flashes in my mind. She visited me once a couple months ago when I had to work a triple. Michael was being transported to a different cell block at the same time as she was entering my office. As soon as Michael caught a glimpse of her, he’s been taunting me, threatening me with things he wanted to do to her. He even verbally cat-called her, and I could tell she was shaken up by the short encounter. She never visited me again after that.

“No, Michael, why don’t you tell me how women can get.” His eye twitches again. Legally, I can’t do anything to harm an inmate, unless it’s in good faith to maintain the order and protection of myself and others in the prison. However, there’s nothing in the law that states I can’t verbally combat an inmate, one that deserves it anyways.

“How many times do I have to tell you, Pig? My name is Mike.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” He laughs, turning away from me. “You don’t have a fucking clue how to handle women. Real men don’t hurt the ones they love.”

“No. No, no, no. Real men keep their women in their place. You don’t know what that bitch was like man.” Pity party, table for one? “I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand.”

“No? Why’s that?”

“I actually satisfied my woman. You probably can’t even get it up.”

“You call leaving her bloodied up satisfied? If she was so satisfied, why did she move on so quickly?” Rage began leaking from his eyes and he punches the concrete wall before rushing the door. I don’t flinch as he grabs both bars on the little window we’re talking through.

“Fuck you!”

“Big words from such a small guy.” I laugh.

“You’ll get what’s coming to you. You and your bitch of a wife.”

“In your dreams buddy. You’re going to be locked away for a long, long time.” He ignored my statement and continued speaking.

“And after I’m done with you, I’m getting Ivy back. I’m going to teach her a lesson on how she’s supposed to behave for her man. You’ll see.”

I laugh before radioing in for someone to come take care of his hand. Personally, I’d rather see it get infected from being untreated. But legally I have to make sure he is offered help. I close the little door on his window just as he attempted to spit at me. Scum.

It’s barely December 21st, I look at the clock as I grab for my phone. The first thing I see is the time, 2:30am. The second thing I notice is my countdown to retirement, 2 days, 9 hours, and 41 minutes. My wife stirs in her sleep, which was no doubt disrupted due to my phone buzzing.

“Yeah?” I answer in an annoyed tone. There’s nothing worse than being woken up in the middle of the night, especially by work.

“Ramone? We need you to come in immediately.” Francine sounds frantic on the other line, but I’m still half asleep.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“Blood. There’s so much blood.” That got my attention.

“Who’s blood?”

“Nearly everyone’s.” She begins sobbing. I fly out of bed, pulling on my clothes as I try to get more information from her. Emily sits up, noticing my panic and turns on the light.

“Paul? What’s going on?” I hang up with Francine, send a quick text, then start buttoning up my shirt.

“That was Francine. An inmate escaped.”

“Oh no, well that happens occasionally doesn’t it? I think in the past 20 years it’s happened a few times that I remember, and they’ve always found them hiding somewhere on the property, right?”

“Apparently it was a bloodbath.” The color drains from her face.

“How bad?”

“Five guards are dead, three more are severely injured. It appears there was a mole working with us that helped the inmate escape.”

“Who escaped?” I gave her a look and she immediately knew it was Michael. My phone buzzes and I open the text.

“A couple of officers will be sitting outside to watch the house.” While I don’t particularly like living near law enforcement, it does pay to know people in times like these.

“Watch the house?” I sighed before telling her the threat Michael gave me just last week. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I could see the anger and fear flowing through her.

“I mean, I kind of did.”

“No. You said, and I quote, ‘Michael was trash talking you, so I put him in his place’, remember?” Her rendition of my voice is remarkable, and completely inaccurate.

“I mean, I didn’t lie. And I don’t sound that arrogant.”

“You lied by omission. And, yeah, sometimes you do.”

“Okay, okay, you win. I just didn’t want to worry you and cause unnecessary anxiety. He was supposed to be secure. He’s serving over 3 life sentences for Christ sakes.”

“I know but-”

“Hey.” I walk over to her and cup her face in my hands. “Listen, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Everything’s going to be okay. Now, you and the kids, stay inside today. If you need anything, Officer Johnathan and Officer Graham are right outside if you need anything. I’m hoping I won’t be too long, but you know how it can be.” She sighs.

“Just 2 days Paul. Two days and this will all be behind us.” I don’t say anything, but I give her a kiss and head out the door.

The prison is swarming with law enforcement when I arrive. Francine definitely didn’t embellish when she said there was a lot of blood. It was even dripping from the ceilings. I watch as some guards are put on stretchers while others are bagged up after being declared dead.

I head to my office where I’m met with the head honchos of all the prisons in New York. “Ramone.” Chief Merrick outstretches his hand, and I firmly shake it. “What can you tell me about Michael Dean?” I dig in my desk to find his file.

“This is everything we have on him.” After reading it over, he looks back up at me.

“Is there anything you can tell us about the days leading up to the escape? Had anything out of the ordinary occurred?”

“No, I don’t think-” My wife’s voice floods my mind. “Actually, when I was putting him in solitary the other day, he did say something. I didn’t think anything of it because you know how inmates like to talk shit.”

“What did he say?” I told him of the threats he made towards my wife and myself, then his plan to find Ivy. “Do we know where Ivy Rosilla is now?”

“I think somewhere in Italy, last I heard. After a year of being checked up on, the government felt she was safe enough to let her move on and live her life.” Francine walks in and greets Merrick.

“What time would you say this all occurred?” Merrick asked her.

“I’m not sure.” You could tell she was still shaken up and just recently stopped crying. “It was probably a couple of hours ago, maybe around midnight?”

“Probably?” His patience ran thin, you could tell in his tone. “Well, how long was it between the escape and the alarm?”

“That’s the thing, sir. The alarm didn’t sound. At least, the alarm didn’t sound until one of the injured guards was able to make his way to the control room from the halls. Security footage was cut shortly before so we can’t know for sure.”

“Someone helped him.” Merrick rubbed his hands through his hair and paced the room. The calendar caught his eye with December 23rd circled. “Wife’s birthday?”

“Retirement day, actually.” I replied.

“Ha. Lucky you.”

“Actually, I thought about it on the drive over here. Even if I’m retired, I’m not going to get any peace until that son of a bitch is back behind bars or dead. I’d like to postpone my retirement by a few months.”

“A few months?” Francine questioned.

“I’m hoping we find him by then but yes, a few months.”

“What date were you thinking?”

“How about March 13th, it’s my wife’s birthday.” I turn my attention back to Merrick. “You have my complete devotion to this Chief. I won’t rest until we catch him.”

“Very well. Thank you for your commitment.” Before walking out, he turned back to me. “I’m going to warn you now though, Ramone, don’t go rogue on us. The last thing we need is someone chasing rumors in hopes of bringing Michael down solo and being the hero. Got it?”

“Yes sir, I understand.” Francine, who is the one who probably should have retired over 10 years ago as she’s well into her 60s, looked up at me.

“What’re you going to tell Emily?” I sigh.

“She’ll understand.” At least I hope she will.