Bob sighed as he sat in his chair of the officers station of death row. Ever since Gareth had been transformed into Frida he had seen the Warden in constant conversations with the governor and a team of people in lab coats he only assumed were scientists. It had now been a couple of months since he had pumped the murdering rapist full of a drug that had transformed him into a teenage girl, who for all intents and purposes appeared to be the most innocent girl in the world.
The Warden and most importantly the governor appeared to find this experimental program to be the greatest innovation in criminal justice history. Two months of monitoring the girl had shown that the worst thing she had done was report tardy to class one day. Bob couldn’t help but smirk as he thought back to the morning meeting in regards to Frida, the old Gareth hadn’t given a shit about the rules. Frida on the other hand had apologized sincerely and earnestly to her teacher almost bursting into tears at the thought of breaking a rule. The complete change in attitude of the girl had brought to the forefront not only the Wardens ambitions but the governors as well.
The governor and the warden were working hand in hand on this secret program. If things planned out in their favor the two would be able to position themselves for great political power. Bob had seen administrative types do this before as they tried to climb the ladder of success. They already had grander schemes in mind but needed further testing, that’s where Bob and his men came in.
Bob couldn’t of cared less, after spending 22 years in corrections (15 as the supervisor of death row) he was ready to retire. Bob would of retired if it wasn’t for the fact the governor had raised the pay of not only himself but his coworkers as well. The governor was taking no chances on this program leaking out to the public and had authorized a pay increase of 20 percent to keep the officers of death row. The officers themselves were often picked by the warden meaning that they were the only ones that knew the secret and had been sworn to secrecy under severe penalty. Bob smirked as he drank his coffee, until the program was complete and the governor was ready to go public he would cushion his pension, once death row was empty and the governor was ready to make a move towards the presidency (his words not Bobs) he would donas he was told and happily collect a huge pension from the state.
“Hey boss you look deep in thought.”
Bob turned to see his second in command Sgt. Greg Travers. Travers had 18 years on the job and was also looking forward to retirement in a couple of years. Like Bob, Travers had his pay increased and was sworn to secrecy. Bob relied on Travers to make the schedule and keep track of the others time off requests or concerns. After all, there were only 15 officers that covered death row. Until this program was finished the 15 of them would have to cover the area with no help. Trying to make sure every C.O. had time off while making sure the area was covered 24/7 was going to be a chore.
“You might say that,” Bob said. “How’s the schedule looking Travers?”
Travers looked over weeks schedule a small frown crossing his face. “Well Davis and Smith are taking some time off this week to go on vacation,” he said. “They’ll be back Monday. I got Franklin to pick up a few shifts for o.t. but need someone to cover midnights Saturday.”
“I’ll take midnights,” Bob answered. “These skies are all sleeping anyway. Anything else?”
“Yeah the warden called,” Travers stated. “He wants to know if you decided on the next test subject.”
“I got a couple of ideas of who to Frida,” Bob smirked, to which Travers smiled. “Take a look at these two.”
As Travers looked over the files Bob looked out over the block. After what happened to Gareth the guys had started talking about what happened. Bob had tried to quiet everyone down but officers talk, especially during long shifts. Not wanting to clue the convicts into what awaited them they had come up with the nickname of Frida to describe the process. It resulted in many a joke as the guys would point to the biggest and ugliest cons and wonder what they would look like after they got Frida’d
“Dominick Santos or Rasheed Harmony,” Travers mused. “Interesting picks, any reason?”
“Santos is a pain in the ass,” Bob growled. “That bastard thinks the world should bend down and suck his dick. Tired of motherfuckers that act like the fucking victim. Did you know he wrote up Martins? Said Martins violated his constitutional rights because the fucker stuck his hand in the trap when Martins was closing it. Dropped a note to the warden grieving it saying he would sue the state.”
“Another asshole looking for a handout,” Travers sighed. “I mean he already killed his wife and unborn kid so you know he’s not trying to take care of anyone.”
“Except himself,” Bob grumbled. “All those appeals ain’t cheap and he can’t pay for a lawyer anymore. He needs income or he’s screwed. If we still had the needle he would of been up soon.”
“Guess he gets a different needle then,” Travers smirked. “But what about Harmony, why him?”
“Harmony is trying to bully the block,” Bob said. “He thinks he’s still on the streets trying to muscle out the competion. Heard from a snitch he’s trying to recruit again for the Acolytes. He’s trying to build up his army on the streets again while he’s locked up.”
Travers shook his head as he thought of Harmony. The former leader of the Acolytes was a huge and intimidating man with a heart as dark as he was. Convicted of orchestrating the murders of a rivals family, numerous rivals families that included children as young as four. This was on top of the numerous drug and racketeering charges he had racked up over time. Bob hated Harmony because for him everything was about race. He was convicted because of his race, he was stuck here because of his race, and those in power hated him because of his race. Bob shook his head every time he heard Harmony’s non sense. He didn’t hate Harmony because of what he looked like, he hated him because he brutally murdered women and children as intimidation tactics. That and he had beaten a child rape accusation when the mother of the girl had mysteriously vanished.
“Well they’re both good candidates,” Travers sighed. “So tell me, whose it going to be? The warden wants to Frida someone by the end of the day.”