HOW TO TEMPT A CROOK

Prologue

"I'll visit you every Saturday," Kelly Garner said as she neatly folded her blanket and set it at the end of the top bunk of the bunk-bed.

"I don't care if you don't," said her cellmate, Amara Justice Dixon known simply as A.J. to everyone but the government. Without looking up from the book she was reading in bed, the slender, dark-skinned girl added, "You'll have a lot to do on the outside anyway."

"But I won't be too busy to come and see you." Unaffected by her friend's cold attitude, Kelly continued, "And I'll be waiting for you at the gate when you get out too."

"You don't have to do that either," A.J. retorted coolly. "I can take the bus."

Kelly smiled sadly. "But you won't have to."

As elated as Kelly was to finally ditch this tiny cubicle that she'd called home for slightly over a year, she was also sad for her friend. In the beginning there were three of them; Kelly, A.J. and Tamsin 'Sin' Jacob. Or 'The Untouchables' as the inmates in their block liked to call them. Sin had been released first. Now, it was Kelly's turn. Unfortunately, A.J. still had nine months to go on her sentence. The coldness was just her way of dealing with the fact that she was now all alone in here.

"Is there anything specific you want me to bring when I come to visit?" Kelly sat at the foot of her friend's bed. "Maybe some of that conditioner you like?"

A.J. didn't look up from her book. "It's hard to find. And expensive."

"You're worth the money." Kelly tapped her friend's leg. "I'll miss you."

Though A.J. didn't say anything, she lowered her book. When her eyes met Kelly's, they were almost blank. Almost. But within them was a shadow of sadness that even she couldn't mask. She sighed. "Don't miss me. Just forget about me and enjoy your freedom."

"Stop saying stupid things." Kelly slapped her friend's leg. "How am I supposed to forget you when we already made a pact?"

"That was you and Sin." A.J. made a face. "You know I don't do that shit!"

"You do now." Kelly smiled. "I'll be waiting for you on the outsi-"

"Kelly." A guard drew her attention to the cell's door. "It's time."

"Okay." Kelly stood up and picked up the small duffel bag that held the sum of her life in this cell. Knowing that A.J. didn't like physical intimacy, Kelly only offered a soft, "Bye, A.J."

She was surprised when A.J. vaulted off the bed and dragged her into her arms for a tight hug. A.J. whispered in Kelly's ear. "Be safe."

Kelly smiled and patted her friend's back. "You too."

An hour later, Kelly was on the bus headed to freedom.

It was just a yellow bus but for the women in it, it was freedom personified. That yellow bus was the ticket to a new life, free of the mistakes they'd made in their previous life. Silently, the women inside the bus watched the electric fence fly past them. Behind that electric fence, several still-caged convicts watched the passing bus with longing, praying that one day their turn would come too.

The yellow bus rumbled to a stop a few feet from the high black gates that marked the prison's official exit. The gates swung backwards and opened. Beyond those gates, freedom beckoned. With a lurch, the bus started again and cruised past the open gates and out into the real world.

Ah, freedom! Kelly stuck her head out the window, closed her eyes and dragged in a deep gulp of air. Whoa, even the air smells different.

It smelt fresher, brighter ... freer. Or was it just her? She turned to glance at her fellow ex-convicts. Most of them were also staring out the window; many were smiling. Grinning, Kelly turned back to stare out her own window.