CHAPTER 216: FREE AT LAST (1)

Jack was sitting in his sociology class when his phone vibrated.

He checked it and saw it was a message from Wendel, informing Jack that all charges against Madison had been dropped and she was being released in the next few hours.

Fucking finally! he thought as he stood up.

Robin sitting next to him looked at him as he stood.

He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "They finally dropped their charges against Madison. She’s being released shortly. I’m going to go pick her up. I’ll probably be gone for the rest of the day."

She nodded, gave him a quick hug, then turned her attention back to the front of the class where Battle Axe Broadmoor was glaring at them.

"Something to share with the class?" asked Professor Broadmoor in a stern tone.

"No," said Jack as he picked up his backpack and headed for the back of the lecture hall.

"I do not appreciate you disrupting my class," said Professor Broadmoor acidly.

Jack paused at the door.

"Had you continued your lecture, Professor Broadmoor, the majority of the class would have remained unaware of my departure. So it is you who has disrupted your own class."

Then, he exited the room. He had no time for her nonsense. She was an excellent lecturer, and he actually enjoyed her lectures. But she was pathologically unreasonable.

He checked his phone as he walked towards his car. Wendel had included instructions for where to go and what to expect when he got there.

The discharge facility was next door to the visitor center, so he could park in the same parking lot.

He thought about giving Madison the good news via his soul space, but given her notoriously bad acting skills, he figured it was best she found out about it the normal way.

When he arrived at the jail, he parked in front of the discharge building and went inside.

Past the door was a small concrete room with five plastic chairs, a door and a window.

The window was meshed glass with a grill to talk to the person behind the glass. And behind the window was seated the same guard who had led him to the visitor room where he met with Madison.

Jack walked up to the window, and the guard said, "Hey, if it isn’t Mr. Calm. Is your girlfriend getting released?"

"Yep. They just dropped the charges. My lawyer says she should be released in a few hours."

The guard leaned forward and started typing on a keyboard.

"Madison Kavanagh, right?"

"Good memory!"

The guard shrugged.

"Sure, it has its uses. I think I would have made an excellent detective, but when I applied to the police academy, they had the gall to tell me I was too smart."

"Wait, what?! You’re saying they turned you down because you..."

"Have an IQ above their accepted threshold. Said I would get bored with the job."

Jack just couldn’t help saying, "That might explain a few things."

Then he added, "What about the FIS?"

"Oh, I tried with them as well. But I failed the polygraph. Not because they caught me lying, but because I’ve studied polygraph tech and the ways it can be circumvented. One of the first questions they asked was if I knew how to cheat on a poly."

"And being the honest man that you are, you said, ’yes’."

He nodded. "Yep. They said, thank you for your time; there’s the door."

"What about the military?"

"I considered it. But they ship you wherever they want, and you don’t get much say. I have family here, and I don’t want to be separated from them long term. I’m fine being gone for a few months here and there, but being gone most of the time and only able to visit once a year, not acceptable."

Jack nodded. "I feel ya’. Family’s important."

Then he asked, "What about a PMC? Maybe they have jobs that would let you stay near your family most of the year."

"I wish! But you basically have to know someone on the inside to even get an interview."

Jack’s soul space self instantiated a copy of Orin and asked him if his company would even consider interviewing someone like the prison guard.

He also made a copy of the guard so he could do his own interview just to be sure. He would hate to recommend someone to Orin only to find out the guy was dirty.

Back in the physical world, he asked the guard, "Do you know any foreign languages, or have any martial arts training?"

"Both. I can speak three languages fluently, can speak casually in four more, and can swear in another dozen. And I have a black belt in Krav Maga."

Jack whistled appreciatively. "Impressive."

Then Jack smiled. His soul space self had just re-synched, and he learned that the guard was clean.

"Well, in that case, I think I might be able to get you an interview with a local PMC. I know the CEO."

"Which one? Who’s the CEO?" asked the guard, sounding dubious.

"Orin Blake."

The guard hissed. "Shit, man, I’d love to work for them."

Jack pulled out his phone and started typing a message to Orin. Katie’s father had given Jack his private number.

"Will you give me your name and phone number so I can pass it along?"

The guard studied Jack’s face for a moment, then said, "Marvin Lancer, ..." then gave Jack his phone number.

Jack finished typing his message and pressed send.

A reply came back almost immediately, "wait one"

He and the guard had been chatting about life as a prison guard for a few minutes when the guard’s phone dinged.

The guard snatched it up from his desk and looked at it.

"Holy shit!"

The guard turned to look at Jack, eyes wide. "Is this for real? This says I’m hired. I just need to go to their office and sign some paperwork."

Jack’s phone dinged. He checked and saw a reply from Orin. "Good find."

Jack looked up at the incredulous guard and said, "Yup, it’s real. Just got confirmation."

Then the guard’s look turned thoughtful.

"How can they make a decision so quickly? They haven’t even talked to me."