This episode picks up where Roman and Frank have escaped and are hiding out on the run from the U.S. Marshalls hunting for them.
This episode picks up where Roman and Frank have escaped and are hiding out on the run from the U.S. Marshalls hunting for them.
Frank had the necessary drugs brought in by Ray, his trusted trustee just to prove to Roman that he was solid. It took less than two days to distribute all of them, thanks to Ray for his networking throughout the jail. Frank blasted his boom box whenever they went to work to cover up the noise they were making chipping away at the concrete blocks surrounding the air vent. When the vent was removed, it only took an hour… Roman began hammering away on the cinderblocks that had surrounded it. That took longer than they both had expected. Those cinderblocks had reinforced steel mesh and all kinds of crap in them making it slow-going.
They took turns whenever one of them got tired, but they worked tirelessly around the clock. It was half past midnight on Christmas Eve when Roman and Frank had finished widening the hole to the cat-walk. They both lit a cigarette and stared up at their handy-work… not too shabby, Roman said and Frank nodded. They took one last look around the cell block confident all was well and started to crawl into their hole.
Once they had pulled themselves through the hole in the wall and dropped down onto the cat walk on the other side, they dusted themselves off. The cat-walk had a thick layer of dust that covered everything, walls, floor, pipes… Roman used his index finger to write a holiday message to the jailer, “Happy Holidays, you fat bastard!” written in the dust on the main sewage pipe that ran along the other wall. The cat walk itself, was about sixty feet long and ended at a steel door that would normally have been kept locked… this was the door of truth, as Roman had coined it, for if Ray wasn’t a man of his word… well, nothing else would matter.
Roman led the way to the door that went to the trustee’s cell and… stood there. He quietly turned the stainless knob and felt the door instantly give under his pressure. Thank you, Ray… Roman silently said. You’re a good man. Roman slowly opened the steel door out into the trustee room and peered inside… everyone appeared to be sound asleep just as Roman had hoped, after all, it was approaching two in the morning. Both Roman and Frank silently tip toed through the maze of beds where men lay snoring and dreaming of the day they’d get out… until they reached the door that opened into the hallway. It was brightly lit and the waxed and buffed floors gleamed like marble, the pristine grey painted walls seem to have light emanated from them as well… it had been almost six months since Roman had last been out of the dark, shadowy confines of the maximum security cell block he and Frank had been carcerated in… everything was so goddamn bright it hurt their eyes.
They both turned and looked at each other… then Frank nodded, as if to say… It’s now or never… and they opened the trustees’ door and walked out into the blinding light of the hallway, casually walking in the direction of the door that led to the stairway that went up to the roof. It couldn’t have been more than forty, fifty feet… but it felt like forever.
Roman could feel the CCTV cameras burning a hole into his back and he knew that three floors down in the jailers control center, there was a monitor showing both he and Frank walking down the hall towards the door that went up to the roof… and if he was wrong and fat ass Bubba Joe just happened to be staring at those damn screens they’d be back in shackles in no time. It was a very unsettling feeling… but completely electrifying at the same time… Roman felt as if he had just grabbed a hold of a live wire.
Finally he reached the door to the roof…a brief but terrifying thought entered his mind as his hand touched the silver bar that would open it. What if…? What if this door… that he had been told was ALWAYS left unlocked… was locked tonight? His heart was beating like a wild bird trying to escape his chest… Frank was right behind him. Roman pressed on the silver bar that ran the width of the steel door and momentarily felt resistance… shit… you’re kidding me, he thought. He pressed again, harder this time and the door gave way and swung open. A flood of relief swept through the two men and they quickly closed the door behind him. Now they were at least out of the view of the cameras… one flight of stairs to another steel door with the same silver bar was all that separated them from the outside. Roman stood there by the door trying to catch his breath… “What are you waiting for?” Frank whispered a little too loudly in Roman’s ear… “Let’s go!”
Roman pushed on the silver bar, but this time with just the exact force needed to open it. They both stumbled out onto the rooftop and gazed up at the clear night sky, littered with the brightest stars Roman had ever seen. He breathed in the cold, clean air and felt light-headed… he sat down till it passed and looked all around… taking in the beautiful star filled universe… he could see the Milky Way, this was the most beautiful sight he could ever remember seeing… what a sky! Frank meanwhile, was walking around the roof like a plantation owner surveying his estate… “What are you doing? Get down before someone sees you!” Roman hissed at him. “Oh chill out dude… ain’t nobody down there looking up here, besides they’re all asleep…” Frank nonchalantly replied.
Roman stood up and walked over to where Frank was standing… that first rush of fresh air had made him dizzy and Roman felt drunk with excitement. Frank lit two cigarettes and passed one to Roman… “Remember, we’re just a couple of trustees up here having a smoke right?” Roman nodded and was thinking back to when he had first arrived at this windowless concrete box… he had been locked in a cage twenty-four hours a day without a single window to see sunlight, or anything else for that matter, breathing recycled, stale jail air… he had forgotten how amazing the stars were at night. He felt as if he could fly right off that rooftop, every muscle in his body, every nerve, every cell… was ready, twitching with excitement. He was so Goddamn ALIVE he felt like nothing could stop him.
“Well, I’d like nothing better than to hang out up here all night and stare up at God’s creation but… don’t we need to be getting on with the business at hand?” Frank said while he stubbed out his smoke. “Yup… let’s find our way down.” Roman replied and put his cigarette out and walked over to where the rooftop corners meet. The four story building that housed the jail on second floor, women inmates, and third floor was misdemeanors and non-violent inmates, and then there was the fourth floor for the violent and dangerous inmates awaiting trial or transportation to the state prisons… Roman and Frank were… had, been housed there. On the ground floor was the sheriff’s department and the drunk tank. The building had the shape of a cross… not like the one Jesus was crucified on, but just a normal cross, like a ‘plus’ sign. Basically, four buildings that came together at one end, and this is where Roman and Frank were inspecting and hoping to find this four-inch pipe Roman said he knew was there… so far they had seen absolutely nothing. Roman was getting nervous… “Found it!” Frank said ecstatically, beaming like a little kid.
Roman quickly walked over to where Frank was leaning over the three-foot wall that went around the rooftop, and saw it too. It was painted green and ran the entire length of the building, basement all the way to the rooftop where it made a U-shape dip and vented to the atmosphere. “Do you think it’ll hold us?” Frank asked. “Only one way to find out” Roman replied and slid over the wall, wrapping his legs around it and grabbing the pipe with both hands started to slide down as if he were going down a flag pole.
This was easier than he could have imagined, with his face towards the pipe he just shimmied down… until he didn’t. What the hell? He wondered. Why had he stopped? Frantically looking around Roman immediately saw the problem… it had been easy going for ten feet, or about a floor… but then there were brackets that kept the pipe firmly attached to the wall every floor. Now his only option was either climb back up… which wasn’t an option, or very carefully unwrap himself from the death grip he had on the pipe and navigate over the bracket, hoping like hell he didn’t slip or lose his grip.
Roman looked up at Frank ready to climb over the wall, “Watch out for brackets… there every floor I think, gotta climb over ‘em” Roman whispered to him. Frank nodded and Roman continued to climb down over the first one. He couldn’t tell if his hands were beginning to sweat, or a dew was starting to form on the pipe, whichever the case he felt his hands slip as he began shimming down the next section, Roman squeezed his legs with everything he had. It was a long way down.
After he had navigated the second bracket successfully, he looked up and saw Franks rear-end about a foot from his face. “Goddamn it, slow down!” Roman hissed. “Hurry up!” Frank hissed back.
Roman thought to himself… Sure, now that I’ve wiped all the slippery as shit dew off the pipe, you’re just having yourself a grand ol’ time, aren’t you? He went back to work, concentrating on getting down as fast as possible. Roman thought Frank was probably right, no sense dilly-dallying around… the faster they got to the ground, the quicker they could disappear into the night.
As Roman slid down past the second floor he heard a voice that made him freeze in his tracks… “Sheriff’s Department, what’s your emergency? We’re dispatching a patrol car now… yes, right now…” he turned his head to his right and was looking through a metal mesh screen covering an open window of the 911 dispatcher.
Holy shit, shit, shit… he dared not move a muscle as he peered into the communications room of the Sheriff’s Department. He motioned silently to Frank to stop… the voices were as clear as if they were all in the same room, he could hear the deputies talking to one another… the dispatcher laughed, then the deputies laughed… another deputy radioed in and the dispatcher went back to work… completely unaware that right outside her window there were two inmates escaping. He savored the moment and then signaled to Frank above to be quiet.
Roman was on the ground thirty seconds later.
The following day they were across the Ohio River and in another state… Evansville, Indiana. Frank knew a girl… of course he did, Roman smiled not surprised. Frank had secured refuge for the two fugitives in a first floor apartment of a run-down flop house rented to a Miss Destiny Flowers… don’t be so judgmental. She could be a dental hygienist for all you… yeah, she’s a stripper. It was a place to crash and regroup, and that was good enough for Roman. Destiny did all the shopping, so Frank and Roman didn’t have to leave… she even brought home a friend of hers from the club to keep Roman company as the four of them celebrated Christmas, desperado-style.
After two weeks of laying low, things began to get tense. First it started with Frank and Destiny… Roman didn’t know if there were ‘Golden Rules’ for escaped cons… but he felt sure that if there were… one of them had to be, “Don’t piss off the woman that’s harboring you.” Roman would almost bet that one would be close to the top.
After Destiny stormed out of the apartment slamming the door behind her… Roman asked Frank, “Are you retarded?”
“What?!” Frank replied. “Are you fucking crazy or what?” Roman yelled at Frank. “What if she decides she’s done with us? That we’re worth more, than to feed and clean up after? Reward money might be looking pretty good to her, you think? She could drop a dime on us and next thing we’d know is the U.S. Marshals are busting through the door blazing away with their guns… have you ever thought about that?” Roman was pissed. How could Frank act so foolishly? Hell… what did he really care anyway? He was just doing this as a thrill, a good time, kill a little boredom.
Fuck. Roman knew what he had to do, and things were still too hot, but now he had no choice. He figured she was probably on the phone right this minute turning Frank’s dumbass in… the only problem with that? Frank was standing right next to him.
The phone rang. “Don’t answer it” yelled Roman, “if it’s her she’ll understand… if it’s not, well, it won’t matter. I’ll be back as soon as I can… if anything weird is going on or you think somethings not right, turn on that little lamp on the table, ok?” Roman points to the table next to the back window. “If I see the lamp on… I’ll keep clear and make another plan.”
Roman went out into the night. He was going to look for an old friend of Erin Rose… Stevie, but who he had befriended as well…i.e. sold pot to. Roman needed a ride out of town, that’s all he was hoping for. If he could get to the next town and hop on a train headed south, well… it was a start. But first he had to get out of Evansville, he knew Destiny had enough of Frank’s shit and sooner or later she’d turn him in.
Roman met up with Steve at Cold Water Tavern, around the corner from Steve’s apartment… it was a dive. The perfect place to meet up with escaped cons on the run. After a few beers, Roman had talked Steve into swinging by Destiny’s tomorrow morning sometime between ten and noon. “Just honk your horn, and we’ll be right out.” Roman told him and gave him her address. “No problem…” Steve said. “How’s ER? No one’s seen her around lately… is she in Florida?”
“No… she’s going through some stuff at the moment… one of the reasons I need to get out of here. I’m going to see her… I’ll be sure to pass on your hellos.” Roman told him. He caught a cab this time, it was too late to be walking the streets… any cop driving by might just decide to pull over and ask him a few questions. That wouldn’t do.
He instructed the cabbie to stop a block back from Destiny’s, it just after midnight, and he wanted to recon the area before he walked up to the house, just to make sure nothing seemed out of the ordinary… cable TV trucks working late… too many homeless people lounging around… no unmarked cars with shadowy figures inside. As he walked up the sidewalk he was half hoping the lamp was on. He liked Frank, liked him a lot… but things were starting to come unraveled, and he didn’t think Frank was taking it as seriously as Roman would have liked. The window was dark… no lamp light.
They had the apartment to themselves, Destiny hadn’t returned from her shift at the Magic Pole, or whatever it was called, so Roman told Frank of his plan… “Yeah, about that…” Frank interrupted Roman, “I think I’ll just head back across the river and hide out in the hills of Kentucky for a while… sorry Hoss, but I’m no hobo. I’ve got plenty of friends and family I can count on there… I’m going to pass, ok?”
Roman almost smiled he was relieved to hear Frank had decided to part ways… but he kept a solemn face. “I understand, no, you’re right… it’s better this way. Well… it’s been a wild ride Mr. Wilding… I wish you nothing but the best brother.” Roman hugged him.
“I’ll ride with you till you get on a south-bound train, if that’s ok with you? I’d feel better knowing you were on your way outta here before I skated.” Frank looked at Roman. “Yeah, ok… I appreciate that.”
The next morning Roman was up at the break of dawn drinking a cup of coffee, he had tossed and turned all night, unable to find solace in a dreamless sleep. He watched the sun rise and thought of Erin Rose, he wondered how bad she really was… he thought about Florida and maybe stopping by to visit Alaina in Gainesville, who knows… maybe he could get his old job back talking care of her father’s horses… Roman lit up his umpteenth cigarette of the morning, he was smoking too much but his nerves were crackling like a telegraph wire this morning. Things were definitely converging, he could FEEL it… but in who’s favor?
Frank walked out from the bedroom with his knapsack around ten… “Is that coffee fresh?” he asked. “Yeah… about thirty-minutes old… third pot of the day.” Roman responded. “What time did Destiny get in? I never heard her” Roman asked. “She didn’t…” Frank said, and poured himself a cup and sat down across from Roman at the little card table Destiny used in the kitchen nook and lit up a smoke.
“Oh… well, that’s probably not a good sign.” Roman commented. “Yeah… I know. That’s why I’m packed and ready… don’t plan on coming back here once we’ve seen you safely off.” Frank replied. “I’ll ask Stevie if he can drop me off down by the river, there’s a coal barge headed upstream that I might be able to hitch a ride… I believe the honeymoon is over as far as Destiny’s concerned.” Frank fives a half-hearted laugh and blows a stream of smoke up into the air. A car blows its horn out front.
“That’s him… let’s go.” Roman says and headed for the door grabbing his coat and Orange Crush soda from the fridge with Frank right behind him. There was an old, blue Chevrolet Impala idling out front and Stevie was behind the wheel, there was also someone else sitting up front that Roman had never seen before. Too late now, they briskly walked down the sidewalk and headed for the car… Roman did a quick recon trying not to look obvious about it… it was a clear day, the air cold and crisp with a slight breeze. He noticed a mailman walking with his mailbag slung over his shoulder across the street… he saw a UPS truck parked the next block down… there were a man and a woman walking a dog… he was trying to recall what was the normal amount of traffic on that block that time of day? He couldn’t recall.
They closed the door of the Impala, “Hey Stevie… thanks for being prompt… I certainly appreciate that. Is everything ok?” Roman asks but is looking directly at the stranger sitting up front next to Stevie. “Yeah, no problem dude… this is my cousin Levi, he’s cool… no worries man.” Stevie replied nodding to Levi. They shake hands and exchange pleasantries as Stevie pulls away from the curb. Roman hunches down in the backseat trying to be as inconspicuous as possible… he pops open his soda, takes a sip and stares out the window as the car drives around the corner. There is definitely more people out than he had ever remembered before… but is was the holidays… still something was nagging him. Stevie turned right at the next stop and Roman watched as a non-descript car went by in the other direction, two middle-aged white men sat in the front seat and he could have sworn they glanced over at him as they went by. Roman turned ever so slightly to look out the rear window… “What’s the matter Hoss?” Frank asked, “Something going on?”
“I don’t know… that car that just passed us, two guys in it, smelled like pork to me… not sure.” Roman whispered. He noticed a utility van had made the corner as well, and was now following behind them. Shit, shit, shit… he said silently. Roman now knew what it was… what was bothering him. They were all roughly the same age! Everyone he had seen since they walked out the door were all men and women in their late twenties, or early thirties. That’s what was bugging him… there weren’t any kids out playing with their newly unwrapped Xmas toys, no old folks shuffling to the corner market… and Destiny never called or came home last night. He didn’t like it.
“Stevie, I know you’re headed for Division Avenue, but just do me a favor and make a left up here at the night street… ok?” Roman asked. “Sure man, is everything alright?” Stevie begins to look worried. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s nothing…” Roman answered… not sure of anything at the moment. As Stevie took the next left, several things happened all at once. A military type vehicle painted all in black pulled in behind us and police lights came on… another unmarked car pulled out from the next street and sat sideways in the middle of the road blocking traffic, cops spilled out with guns drawn and pointed them at us, a helicopter came down and hovered over us with a SWAT logo on it.
“Just stop the car, Stevie… sorry man, but it’s over dude.” Roman told him. He turned to Frank and shook his head, “We were close though, eh? All-fucking-most… but no cigar.” Frank lit up two cigarettes and passed one to his old partner in crime. “Maybe next time.”
“THIS IS THE POLICE! TURN OFF THE VEHICLE AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!” The bullhorn blared behind them from the SWAT vehicle. Everywhere they looked there were cops all decked out in tactical gear heavily armed with weapons pointed at them. “Quite the turnout, eh Roman?” Frank said. “A little overkill if you ask me…” Roman replied, with his hands up like the others.
“DRIVER… TAKE YOUR LEFT HAND AND SLOWLY, VERY SLOWLY… OPEN YOUR DOOR. PUT YOUR LEFT LEG OUT OF THE VEHICLE… SLOWLY NOW, ANY QUICK MOVEMENT AND WE WILL OPEN FIRE. NOW SWING YOUR RIGHT LEG OUT… NICE AND SLOW… GET OUT OF THE VEHICLE AND … HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD… THAT’S RIGHT, SLOWLY AND STEADY… START WALKING TOWARDS THE BACK OF THE VEHICLE… FURTHER…. KEEP ON COMING…. THAT’S GOOD RIGHT THERE. NOW LAY DOWN ON THE GROUND… FACE FIRST… KEEP YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD OR WE’LL SHOOT!
The SWAT commander in charge yelled through his bullhorn just like that first to Stevie… then to Levi… and Frank. One by one they exited the car exactly the same way… now it was Roman’s turn. His hands planted firmly on the ceiling, his cigarette dangling from his mouth and a can of Orange Crush between his legs, of all the things that should have probably be running through his mind, all he could think about was the how in the world was he going to slide out of the car without spilling the practically full can of orange soda all over his crotch… appearing that he had pissed his pants, during the capture.
Roman would not be humiliated by a bunch of crazed ex-military police… forced to bear all the jokes, snide remarks and comments about how scared he must have been to wet himself, then end of fighting a bunch of dipshits that would further embellish the story in jail… no, no, no… that wasn’t going to happen. When he was instructed to open his door, he’d make just the slightest detour and remove the soda can between his legs and drop it on the floor… easy as you please.
“SHOW YOUR HANDS, SHOW YOUR HANDS… PUT YOUR HAND WHERE WE CAN SEE… there was a loud crack in the air, glass shattered and bits of glass sprayed Roman as he quickly put his hands back in the air… “ONE MORE MOVE LIKE THAT AND THE NEXT ONE WILL BE THROUGH YOUR HEAD! NOW VERY, VERY SLOWLY TAKE YOUR LEFT HAND AND…” until they had Roman face down in the road with his hands cuffed behind his back tight enough to cut off his circulation. He suffered a bruised rib, bloody nose and a few lacerations to his back, face and neck… payback for his little stunt to remove the soda.
“We thought you had a weapon”, one officer said. “You’re lucky we gave you a warning shot”, said another SWAT member grinning like a dumbass. The BOLO (Be On the Look Out) for you two said y’all were ‘Armed and Dangerous’ escaped convicts… which gives us the legal right to kill you on sight.” The SWAT Sargent said, “Consider yourselves lucky.”
They were taken to the Vanderburgh County Correctional Facility for processing. After questioning Stevie and Levi, the police let them go… they had held tight to our story that they didn’t know nothing about no escapees… and were just giving a ride to a couple of guys they had met the night before, that’s all.
Roman and Frank were separated, questioned and thrown into different cells… Roman was put into a cellblock with five other inmates that were facing serious crimes, such as murder, armed robbery and rape… a real nice bunch of fellas Roman thought. The cell was a mini-model of the one he and Frank broke out of in Kentucky. Roman heard they had Frank locked up in a cell block for misdemeanor offenders, probably why they had been separated.
Roman’s first visit was from Mora, and he had wished she hadn’t come, he didn’t call her to come, and quite frankly was surprised she did. He sat down on the metal stool and rested his arms on the stainless steel table that separated them. “Well… you’ve gone and done it now I see…” Mora’s opening remarks. She just shook her head and looked at him with an undercurrent of anger he noticed, not sadness or on the verge of tears. He quickly found out the reason for this.
“Unbelievable Roman… truly remarkable, you really are!” Mora was going in for the kill now… “Why couldn’t you have done what we told you to do? Why?! Have you any idea the lengths that John had to go through for you? Do you?” Mora was practically yelling now. The guard looked disapprovingly at her.
“What are you talking about, Mom? John hasn’t done anything for me? No one has done a goddamn thing for me… I sat in that windowless box for over six months waiting for something to happen! Well, I got tired of waiting! I did something… it might not have worked out the way I wanted to, but… at least I did something!” Roman closed his mouth and looked away angry at himself now for taking this visit. I knew better, I fucking knew better!
“John had talked the judge into letting you go into the VA hospital instead of prison… he said you were struggling with alcohol and drugs that you weren’t a criminal. He had got you into a program at the VA hospital in Lexington… the judge called the sheriff on Christmas Eve to tell him to get you ready for…” Mora broke down then and began to cry… “You were supposed to be released to us until after Christmas… then report to the VA in Lexington the following day… Oh Roman.” Mora wept uncontrollably while Roman felt as if he had entered a parallel universe… released? The VA hospital? A drug and alcohol program… not prison? His mind was reeling… he was light-headed and felt like he might faint. You fucking fool! He screamed at himself… You goddamn fool! How could he have known? How was he supposed to have known? He held Mora’s hands and squeezed them tight… “I’m so sorry, Mom… I’m so… very sorry… I don’t know what to say.”
Roman got up from the table and signaled the guard to take him back to his cell. He turned away from Mora and said over his shoulder… “It’s best if you just forget about me Mom… there’s nothing you can do, there’s nothing anyone can do anymore.” Without looking back, Roman is escorted out of the visiting area and back to his cellblock. It’s a very… long time before he can even contemplate what he had done. One day, that’s all… if he’d just waited one more day… his world would have been so much better. It literally, boggled his imagination.
According to the jailhouse grapevine, Frank had been extradited a week later… five more weeks would go by before he was sent back to Kentucky. Plenty of time to ponder his new information… he kept his head down and kept to himself as the days rolled by and the weeks ticked off the calendar. When the day came that he was transported back to Kentucky, it rained like it would never stop. As the prison escort van pulled in front of the familiar building… Roman was once more, escorted through the doors of Madison County’s unescapable jail.