Sanctuary

put those days behind him forever.

But now he would put his vow behind him as well. How many would have to die in order for him to save Renee?

A new thought occurred to him as he took his last few calming breaths before ascending into the warden’s trap. If there was a guard stationed near the door, they might see his weapons and react out of fear, even if they’d been instructed to let him pass. They might force a confrontation early. That risk was too great.

He tossed the chair leg into the corner, where it clattered and rolled to a stop, then he pulled out the two pieces of splintered wood from his waistband and dropped them to the ground.

Barefoot and naked now except for his shorts. It was him, it was Renee, and it was the warden. At least one of them would die, and Danny only cared that it wasn’t Renee.

He put his right foot on the first step and began to climb.

I stood in front of the warden, dressed only in my white, short-sleeved blouse and my underwear. Standing there half-naked in my bare feet, staring at Keith because I couldn’t bear to look at the warden, my last strands of hope began to disintegrate.

It was what Pape wanted.

I looked over my shoulder at the door, begging to see something that would give me hope, but the door was closed.

When I turned back, my tears were already snaking down my cheeks. I could feel my naked legs trembling beneath me. I wanted to be strong for Danny, but I couldn’t seem to find any more strength in me.

“All of it,” the warden said. “I prefer that you are yourself, naked in my eyes.”

Keith stepped out, positioning himself between the warden and me. “You’ve made your point.”

“Oh? And here I thought rehabilitating Danny was my point.”

“By holding torture over his head?”

“Sometimes the threat of torture is the only way to get the wayward to confess their depravity. Danny is still pretending to be good.”

“You can’t force this on people. It’s monstrous!”

Marshall Pape arched an eyebrow. “Well then…perhaps she would like to save herself. Would that ease your mind?” He paced to his right. “How about it, Renee, would you like to save yourself?”

I only half-heard their exchange. My mind was cringing in my nakedness. I didn’t know what he meant by saving myself.

“All you would need to do is demonstrate your willingness to follow me. Make just a simple gesture of your love for me. Hmmm? Do that and I’ll save you from all this.”

My mind wasn’t working properly. He’d extended an olive branch to me, that was all I really heard. But he’d also used the word love and that confused me, so I didn’t respond.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “I can see you’re terrified, so let’s make this real easy. Don’t bare yourself. Just give me a simple gesture to confess your allegiance to me. Choose me, and I’ll set you free. Be my Judas; give me a kiss.”

The room was perfectly quiet. I could feel all of their eyes on me, some sad, some hardened by too many years in the warden’s sanctuary. All I had to do was kiss him and he would spare me?

It all struck me as a carefully rehearsed drama in which I, the unsuspecting victim, had been led onto the stage.

Nausea was flooding my belly and rising up through my chest. I had to be strong, I knew that. I had to save myself so that I could save Danny.

But I couldn’t move my feet. I couldn’t speak past the lump in my throat.

“No? Not even a simple single expression to be saved?”

“You’re a monster,” Keith growled.

“I’m the monster?” The warden’s words rang through the hard yard. He turned to the members. “Is that how you see me?”

None of the prisoners spoke. How could they? They’d all either come to believe him or were too fearful of their own fate to question his ways. His power over them was absolute.

“You see, Mr. Hammond, I’m not the monster here. She is. You are. You’re two puppets dangling on the end of a rope while the fires burn at your feet.”

The warden slowly walked up to me again, hand in his pocket now, grin screwed on his face.

“What would you do to save yourself, my dear? You won’t remove your clothes and stand naked before me. You won’t even acknowledge me with a kiss. I’ll tell you what…why don’t you kiss Keith here? Show me that you care about someone besides yourself and maybe I’ll reconsider.”

He was playing with us. Manipulating. Leading us down his twisted path, determining just what we would say or do to save ourselves.

“Just kiss him, and I’ll reconsider. It’s a sign of friendship, dear, not betrayal. Prostitutes don’t kiss, you know.”

The thought of doing anything the warden suggested felt like a betrayal of myself. But I was desperate to stay alive. For Danny.

“You can’t even do that, can you?” the warden said.

“What exactly will you reconsider?” Keith demanded.

“Everything. Isn’t that what you want? She can become yours. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted? And now the choice is hers.”

For a few seconds neither of them spoke, and it was just enough time for me to get hold of myself and make a decision.

I stepped over to Keith, lifted my hand to his neck, pulled his face down toward me, and kissed him. His lips were warm and he was breathing hard.

Something inside of me broke, and I couldn’t let go. He put his arms around me and pulled my head into his shoulder.

“Sh, sh…It’s okay, honey,” he whispered. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”

I clung to him as if he were my last hope in that insane world.

Keith hushed me again. “It’s okay.”

“Don’t let them hurt me,” I whispered into his shirt. “Please.”

“They won’t.”

Behind me, the door into the hard yard crashed open. Keith lifted his head and stared. I twisted in his arms and saw what he saw.

A man stood at the door, naked except for a pair of black shorts. His dark hair was swept back, wet with sweat. My heart bolted in my chest.

It was Danny. Staring at us with fiery eyes.

I was already halfway across the room, running for him. I was already throwing myself into his arms and curling up in his chest and vowing my undying love. I was doing all of that already, but only in my mind. I hadn’t moved. I was still in Keith’s arms, which were tightening around me.

Then I saw that Danny’s eyes weren’t directed at us, but on the man who held me. On Keith.

And from Danny’s eyes spilled all the rage of hell itself.

39

DANNY KNEW THAT he was being led to her. He knew there were no guards to stop him because he wasn’t meant to be stopped. He knew the only door that remained unlocked led to the hard yard, because Renee was in there. And he knew that when he found her, he would not like what he found.

But he did not know that he would find her in the arms of a beast.

He saw the whole room in the space of a breath. Four guards stood in the corners, armed with rifles. Bostich was near the center of the room overlooking a dozen inmates seated along the wall. The warden stood close to a man who held Renee.