Oliver Linton, the grinning blond on his right, was in for manslaughter. He’d stabbed his abusive dad to death. Captain Benjamin Tracy was in for a drunk driving collision, the injured party not a person, but a famous war memorial, that he proceeded to urinate on in front of a group of school children.

Rory read files about them prior to his mission, and it had been planned that the three of them would enter the prison together. They acted as his veil, his cover, and when he glanced at Ollie’s smirking face, Rory was glad he was going inside with someone he could get on with. He was an undercover police officer about to walk into a prison full of convicts. If he hadn’t already lost his mind, he was about to.

****

The three of them walked in a line. Captain at the front, Rory in the middle, and Ollie at the back. The gate was unlocked and pulled open, and they stepped into the wing. The space was huge, filled with rectangle tables and chairs. The guard showed them the laundry room, the gate that led to the library, another that led to the gym, and the final one that took them into the yard. The prison was two floors high, the metal of the stairs, walkway, and cells, making it feel colder, and harsher than Rory had imagined. That was without looking at the faces of his fellow convicts, whose snarls and curled lips made Rory want to roll into a ball.

The eyes of the inmates didn’t focus on him, some hungry gazes fell on Ollie, and some challenging stares attached to Captain. Neither were friendly looks, and Rory grew uncomfortable for both his new friends.

Rory was largely ignored, exactly like he wanted, but then the weight of someone’s eyes tilted his head up, and he looked at the man hovering on the top walkway. The one man he wanted to appear inconspicuous to was staring straight at him.

Sebastian Claw.

Rory looked down again, but his skin prickled with a hot flush, and he glanced up.

Sebastian’s blue eyes were piercing, and his grey hair looked at home surrounded by metal, and white walls. Even with him meters above, Rory could see the shadow on his jaw and top lip, darker than the hair on his head.

He leaned his forearms on the metal railing and tilted his head when he caught Rory looking back.

“Hey!”

Rory tore his gaze from the man above and looked at the prison guard. “What?”

“I said come with me, and I’ll take you up to your cell.”