Ghosts of Criminals Past (A Former Undercover Warden Recounts His Tale)

“Honey, check the door.” Gabriel’s wife called out from the bedroom. Every morning, his wife plugged her ears and did her exercises for almost two hours. Ever since she turned fifty and retired from the army, this had been her daily routine.

Gabriel walked out of the kitchen, went to the door and looked through the door hole. He saw a young man in a warden’s uniform. “What’s it again? I thought I handed over everything.” He grumbled to himself as he opened the door.

“Yes, officer, how may I be of service to you?” He asked irritatedly, only to discover there were two officers.

“Sir,” The younger one began excitedly. “My name is Bonzo. We…”

“Yeah yeah. What do you want Bonzo”

“Sir, I was about to get to that. We’re new recruits who decided to have a visit to the greatest warden ever lived.”

Gabriel looked at Bonzo, then at the other one standing behind him.

“I am not a warden.”

“Sir, we…”

“I said I am not a warden. You probably have me mixed up with someone else.” With that, he withdrew his face and gave the door a push but the door wouldn't close. He then noticed the foot in the door.

“Sir, we know who you are. You are Gabriel El Santo. The undercover warden at Heaven’s Sanctuary.” Came another voice from outside the door.

Gabriel swallowed. What was happening? Truly, he was a warden but he served undercover. To keep the notorious prisoners in check, the prison command sanctioned a few wardens to live with the prisoners. They used that means to get information and also know of any riot or prison break before it happened. But it was supposed to be a secret. Even his official retirement scheduled to happen the following day was a secret.

Gabriel sighed. He opened the door and let the men in. The younger one had a grin on his face. The older one walked in calmly.

“Please sit.” Gabriel offered as he sat down too.

“Sir, it is an honour to finally meet you,” Bonzo began. “We have heard a lot about you sir. And about your famous run-in with Sweetheart.”

Gabriel smiled in spite of himself. Sweetheart was the most difficult prisoner he had ever encountered. She planned three riots, had more than ten officers killed and yet no one suspected her. No one but Gabriel. Gabriel had also been the one who killed her.

“Yes, Sweetheart was anything but a sweetheart. But let’s not start with that. Since you guys are obviously here for the stories, I’ll tell you some. Let me get some drinks.” He ended as he began to rise.

“No sir. You don’t have to. The stories are enough entertainment for us sir.” The older one protested.

“And you are?” Gabriel asked, returning to his seat.

“Michael sir.”

“Oh Michael. That’s good. In fact, your name reminds me of a criminal we once had at Heaven Sanctuary. Of course, you guys know the place should have been called the Devil’s Pit.” He said with a chuckle. The others smiled.

“There was this guy called Mobliz. He was brought in from the Mozamb Galaxy. Of course he is human. However, he was caught trading body parts of Renniods’. If you must know, Renniods have regenerative powers and for a long time they were a hunted group of people. Almost all of the Galaxies prescribed capital punishment for that offence. The Milky Way was an exception though. If you ask me, our laws are too lax. You see someone who murdered two hundred people and they get sent to some lowlife prison planet to enjoy the rest of their lives when those whom they’ve killed cry in their graves.”

“Er… sir, Mobliz.” Bonzo reminded.

“Ah, yeah, Mobliz. So it turned out that Mobliz had switched some of his body parts for that of a Renniod’s. Terrible affair, if you ask me. I demanded that we cut those body parts off but Prison Command would have nothing of it. Because they were scared of Human Rights Activists and all. Well, Mobliz led so many riots and even killed a few prisoners. He almost escaped twice. His only sin was to involve me in both plots. I had a tracker, you know. So the other wardens can easily track my movements. By the third time, I knew if we got caught again, we would lose our lives. Well, there was no talking him out of his plan so I put an end to that plan and any future ones.”

“You killed him?” Michael asked.

“Well, technically, he couldn’t be killed. He had numerous transplants. He even had a Renniod’s heart. There was one place where he didn’t get a transplant though, his eyes. So one night, I took a piece of metal and punctured both eyes. That was all I needed to do. The other prisoners he had been bully ganged up against him. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out a way to kill him - pulling out his spinal cord. Nasty affair it was. He didn’t really die though but he wasn’t alive either. He was… er… what do you call someone like that?”

“A vegetable.” Bonzo offered.

“Yes, a vegetable.”Gabriel agreed and laughed.

Michael looked at the old man laughing and sighed. He tried not to show his emotions.

“You know, talking about vegetables, there was this guy called Heroin. It was in my early days though.” Gabriel began again, oblivious of the reactions on their face.

“So this Heroin guy somehow smuggled some poppy into the Mercurial Prison Planet. A terrible waste, using an entire fertile planet as a prison, if you ask me. But no, the Human Rights Activists wanted prisoners to live productive lives and giving them an entire planet was the best idea they could come with. Well, that wasn’t a problem until Mercurial became one of the surest spots for getting heroin. You guys were probably toddlers but ask anyone old enough to know. Mercurial had the highest number of visitors when compared to other planets. It was like a tourist site. And when Prison Command placed a limit on prison visits, that was when the real party began. The price shot up over one thousand percent.” Gabriel said as he adjusted himself on the chair feeling excited.

“No one knew how any of it was going on. Mercurial is a rather large planet with very little in budget allocation. It was supposed to take care of itself by selling off produce from the farms. But wardens are neither farmers nor entrepreneur so the entire enterprise went into ruin. It was my first undercover mission then. Now this was very big for me so I was a bit scared. I had never taken drugs prior to that time and I wasn’t willing to start. But I had to unravel the entire drug production machinery. If it were you, what would you do? After all, you’re getting started already.” Gabriel asked as he turned to Bonzo.

“Well… uhm… I would try to…”

“Young man, there is no time for trials. You either get it right or you blow your cover and end up dead in most cases.” Gabriel cut in.

“Well, I went in as a Priest who was caught harbouring criminals and also found guilty of money laundering. My plan was simple. As a former priest, I could refuse to partake in drugs. And due to my history with criminals, I could have some skills they needed. Well, it took me four years to rise up the ranks. I even have knife scars on my body as my refusal to partake in drugs make other suspicious of me. Anyway, I finally made it to the top and that was it.” Gabriel concluded.

“What? What happened to Heroin?” Bonzo asked

“What happened to Heroin? You guys don’t know? I thought…. oh, Snap. You guys are new recruits. Heroin wasn’t a prisoner. He was a low level prison warden. He actually had a half brother called Michael who was a prisoner in the prison at the time. He was the one organising everything while Heroin handled the trade. So we er… had them transferred.”

“Transferred to where?” Michael asked

“To Heaven’s Sanctuary. Actually, Heroin suspected that he had been caught but he had no proof. I was also transferred to Heaven’s Sanctuary so he felt he had a friend in me. Long story short, he lost his footing on one of the steps in the prison while patrolling after light out. While Michael suddenly slipped in the bathroom and dashed his head on a railing. No one knows who was smart enough to pull those stunts off.” Gabriel said with a tired grin.

“You killed them?” Michael asked with anger showing on his face.

“Relax kid, they deserved it. Heroin was a criminal in a warden’s uniform while Michael was a lowlife. They were ruining lives.”

“They didn’t kill anybody!” Michael protested.

“Well, tell that to the families of the victims that purchased the drugs. The drugs weren’t regulated, you know. And the production process was crude and substandard. I sure many people either died from it or suffered permanent damage. To be honest, Heroin was actually a prisoner in Heaven’s Sanctuary. The Prison Command made him remain a warden to avoid the bad press. And Michael, well, things like that happened all the time in Heaven’s Sanctuary.”

“Er… what about Sweetheart.” Bonzo asked.

“Oh, yes, Sweetheart. You seem to be fascinated about that lady. Trust me, son, she wasn’t a sweetheart. She was a nightmare. She was brought in for murdering her husband and her two brothers-in-law.”

“They wanted to rape her.” Bonzo interjected.

“No, son. You don’t know that. You see, the one thing you must learn is that criminals will say anything to make you pity them. And this particular criminal even killed a lot of officers. So even if she wasn’t guilty of killing her husband and his brothers , which the court didn’t agree with, she is certainly guilty of killing those officers.”

“She didn’t kill those officers.”

“You say what son?” Gabriel asked, noticing the rising anger.

“I said…” Bonzo began as he stood up, followed by Michael, “She didn’t kill anyone. Michel arranged all that. And Michael here is a son to the Michael you killed.”

“What?”

Michael and Bonzo both brought out their guns. Two shots were heard. Gabriel opened his eyes to see the two officers on the ground.

“Don’t just look, call it in.” His wife shouted as she walked back to the bedroom.

This is my entry for the 24 hour short story contest--March 27--Topic 10--The warden from the most difficult prison in the galaxy reminisces about the most difficult prisoners he's had. by @mctiller. I really enjoyed this one. In fact, I overshot the 2000 words limit and I wasn’t even done. Had to prune it though (especially at the beginning and final end). Do join the fun. There’s still a few hours left.

Thanks for reading

Blessings

[image source: Pixabay]