by John Mathews
After thirty steps, the stairwell emptied into the short end of a long but rather narrow well-lit hallway. John stepped into the hallway with the others right behind him.
The beige-colored walls on each side were made of solid concrete blocks. Some ventilation ducts on the ceiling blew warm air into the space. On the right hand side of the hallway there were four painted white wooden doors which were closed. Written with jet-black charcoal on each of the doors was one of the following words: “Justice, Exposure, Money, Punishment”. At the far end of the hallway against the wall was a basic office table, on top of which was a big screen television.
Nancy had a look of trepidation on her face as she spoke. “I don’t fucking like this. I think we need to go back downstairs and find out exactly how to get that door to the parking lot open. Someone is playing some games with us and that can’t be good.”
I think this is the first time I’ve see her get this nervous. “I don’t think it will do us any good to go back down there now,” John replied. “I think we’ve got to see what’s showing on the TV set.”
Jeffrey and Kevin gave a faint nod of agreement.
John walked down the hallway and over to the table. He found a remote control sitting next to the television, picked it up, and hit the “ON” button.
As he did so, a steel door slid in front of the entry into the stairwell. Then the big screen flickered for a second and a video started to play. The image on the screen was a fuzzy grey shapeless blob, but the voice was that of a man who spoke with fervor.
“Welcome, Nancy, John, Jeffrey, and Kevin. Obviously I don’t need an introduction – I’m Jordan Davidson.”
The video was silent for just a moment.
“I suppose you are all wondering why you’re here. Why you have been summoned to this little get together today. Please listen carefully.”
The voice was a low, scratchy one that none of the four recognized.
“More than three years ago, you four people met at the Kansas Supreme Court in Topeka. It was a tense and frightful meeting, with people’s lives hanging in the balance. Nancy – you represented the state with murder charges against three men – Jeffrey, Kevin, and a guy named Michael Jaworski. Three young men, all less than 21 years of age, charged with first degree murder. And do you remember why they had these charges against them, Nancy? Of course you do.”
“The Kansas common law felony murder rule is a statute that defines first degree murder as: homicide in the commission of, attempt to commit, or escape from an inherently dangerous felony. Or putting it simply – if anyone dies during the commission of a dangerous felony, anyone who took part in that felony is charged with first degree murder.”
“So each man faced a possible life in prison sentence because of what happened on that day, more than three years ago. What started as a simple breaking and entering into a home to steal some electronics equipment turned out to be fatal. Why? Because of a home owner that was old, scared, and desperate. He saw four young men, one of them with an iron bar – used to break into the house – and figured that they might attack him. So without warning he opened fire, sending one single bullet into the chest of one of the young men – Henry Walker. And while this poor guy lay dying, the other three guys fled the scene.”
“So since someone died during the commission of a dangerous felony, all three of these other guys were charged with first degree murder. But it wasn’t as simple as that – not at all. What kind of plea deal did you offer them, Nancy, and how did you come up with that deal? You got the two gentlemen standing next to you now just three years each, for breaking and entering, with the murder charges dropped. Meanwhile, Michael Jaworski was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole when he would be about 70 years old. The life of just one man to be ruined. And this was justice, Nancy? Your ‘excuse’ was that both of their statements matched that of the old man saying that is was Jaworski who had the iron bar and that he ‘lunged’ at the old man and provoked the shooting. But we all know better, now don’t we? That was not at all what happened. So why then did you seal the fate of just one man? Why such an injustice, Nancy?”
The video was silent for a bit. Nancy Dorsey was steaming inside, and wanted to throw the big screen television to the floor. But she stood still…listening.
The strong, penetrating voice on the video continued.
“BRIBERY! You accepted a payoff from the family of Kevin Thompson. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for you to protect some lies. You even lied about the statement from the home owner who fired the fatal shot. And you did it because since your divorce, your life isn’t going quite the way you want it to, now is it? The person who is supposed to protect, honor, and defend the rights of citizens, instead demolishes them. You sacrificed doing what was right to line your own pockets.”
“Now, on to you, Mr. Kevin Thompson. You had your wealthy family pay Nancy off to cover up your manipulative, selfish ways. Because on the day of the break-in, it was you who pulled Michael Jaworski – as he just happened to be passing by on the street – into your group. He was a lonely school kid who looked up to you. He knew nothing about the plan to steal the electronics. You conned him into thinking he could hang out with you and be part of the ‘gang’. You told him that you KNEW the person living in the house and were playing a prank on him. Michael was naive and fell for it.”
“Everything happened in a flash. The break-in, confronting the home owner, and then his shooting and killing the fourth young man. You and Jeffrey ran out of that house in an instant, handing the piece of iron to Michael. He was the last one to leave, carrying your ‘weapon’. You brought him along with you to take the fall. You were a spoiled brat who couldn’t fend for yourself in this world, and your parents kicked you out of the house. You in turn chose to relegate yourself to a white-trash mindset.”
Kevin grabbed the remote control from John’s hands and hit the “OFF’ button repeatedly shouting obscenities. The video continued on despite his attempts to stop it.
“Put the controller down, Mr. Thompson. There is nothing you can do to prevent what is coming now.”
The group were rigid in astonishment at the realization that someone might be watching them.
“Jeffrey Eldridge – you’re next. The big, strong, brutal one who is too foolish to know right from wrong. You sided with Kevin to frame Michael. You were the one who broke into the home with the iron bar, and you were the one who threatened the home owner and provoked the shooting. Knowing that you faced life in prison, and deserved this fate more than ANY of the other guys, you were desperate for an ‘out’. So using the money from Kevin’s parents to pay off Ms. Dorsey was perfect for you too, now wasn’t it? It was your testimony matching Kevin’s that was the nail in the coffin for Michael.”
Jeffrey breathed heavily, his veins swelling in his tattooed arms, furious at being called out for what he had done. But yet he remained still.
“And finally there is John Madison, the defense attorney who was hired to defend Michael. You saw that the evidence was sparse and you HEARD the actual statement from the home owner as to what happened. But did you fight for Michael’s freedom rigorously? Did you do everything in your power to make sure that justice would prevail? No, no – you took his money, however, but were too much of a coward to fight the ‘system’. You even had to convince his own family that their son – who was entirely innocent – was at fault for a man’s death and could not avoid a long prison term.”
The voice stopped for a few moments and the shapeless blob on the screen stared at the four of them like an alien life form. John took the remote controller back in his hand. Nancy got two hundred and fifty grand to lie in court and keep all of the pressure on me? What a selfish and callous bitch. He mostly tuned out what the voice in the video had said to him.
“Four people, full of lies, corruption, and malice, ruining the life of one young man. Not one of you took any responsibility for what really happened on that day more t
han three years ago. So what shall be done? How can we FIX this ‘situation’?”
“You all see the four closed doors to your right, all of which are currently locked. One is labeled ‘Justice’, one ‘Exposure’, one ‘Money’, and the last one ‘Punishment’. Each of you will enter a room behind one of the closed doors. Inside that room you will have a chance to RECTIFY your wrongdoings. If each of you do what is required of you, you will prevent some much more severe consequences for your actions.”
“The rules of the game are simple. I have assigned a door for each of you, so that it will be easy for everyone to participate in the most productive way possible. Only the person assigned to a room may enter it, and once your task is completed, you will find another exit from that room. You will go in ONE at a time. You will have fifteen minutes to complete the task in your room. There will be just one minute allowed between the fifteen minute intervals for one of you to go into the next room. Anyone who completes their task fairly in the fifteen minute time limit will be set free. Everyone else will receive further punishment.”
“The opening and closing of the doors is all timed, but the order in which you enter them is up to you. Simply have the chosen person stand in front of his or her door, and when it is time, that door will open. Once you enter the room, the door will close and lock behind you.”
“Jeffrey, you will go through the door marked ‘Justice’. Nancy, you will go through the one labeled ‘Exposure’. Kevin, the door with the word ‘Money’ is for you. And John, you will be going through the one marked ‘Punishment’. I will give you all ten minutes to decide who goes first. The game begins.”
FOUR
The video screen flickered and went off. The group stood motionless. Each person breathed in heavily, searching their mind for the right thing to say. Jeffrey spoke first, his nostrils flaring with disgust.
“I’m not gonna be trapped up here like a damn animal. Come on, let’s get this Goddam door open!” He pounded on the steel door, grabbed the edge of it, and tried to move the impenetrable metal with his bare hands.
John reacted quickly. “Acting like an out of control imbecile won’t change anything. We are forced into this situation and need to deal with it.”
“DEAL WITH IT?” Jeffrey snapped. “Who the fuck is this Jordan Davidson? How is he gonna mess with all FOUR of us like this? This is blackmail! The case was already done long ago. He can’t just threaten us with…”
“Well he has, and we’re trapped.” John interjected. “We don’t know who he is nor do we know what is behind those doors. But what we DO know is that if we DON’T do what he asks of us, that we will face something deadly. And look up – in the corner of the ceiling – that looks like a little camera. I think that someone is also watching us.” He’s going to be a real pain in the ass – probably the last one to go into one of the rooms.
“Is that so. And what are they gonna fucking do to us?” Jeffrey retorted. “I don’t see anything here. What, is some goddam alien gonna appear in front of us and eat us all? There ain’t no way that I’m doing something just because some psycho fuck says….”
Nancy broke her silence and spoke sharply to Jeffrey. “Oh, I think you’ll do what he asks, Jeffrey. Underestimating someone when the ball isn’t in your court isn’t a very good idea. We obviously underestimated the consequences of choices that got us into this situation in the first place.”
Jeffrey had a scowl on his face, giving a look that would impart fear into even the most formidable of souls. “Perfect – just fucking perfect. So we’re all just some guinea pigs waiting to be slaughtered.”
Kevin motioned towards Jeffrey, hoping to calm his rage. “We don’t know that, dude. We just need to do what we were told to and see what happens. He said that we had ten minutes for the first person to go into one of the rooms. Did anyone look to see what time it was when that video finished?”
The group looked at one another and came to the realization that none of them had checked the time on their cell phones.
“We have wasted possibly seven or eight minutes.” John responded. “We need to decide who is going first and get moving. Why don’t I accept that task, myself. Does anyone object to me going into my room now?”
“I object.” Jeffrey was not done with his rant. “What if one of us doesn’t make it out? THEN what? We all fucking wait to die from whatever it is that killed the others?”
God, he’s dumb. “No. Didn’t you listen to the video?” John responded. “If one of us doesn’t make it back out within the time limit, the next person just continues on. We each have a chance to do whatever is asked of us and be set free.”
“And how the hell do I know I can even DO what will be asked of me?” Jeffrey conveyed a look of trepidation. “You think we have a better chance splitting ourselves up into those rooms than we do fighting this bullshit together?”
No sooner had Jeffrey finished speaking, then tear gas started flowing freely into the hallway through the open ventilation ducts. Nancy, Jeffrey, and Kevin crouched down against the back wall, and closed their eyes. Nancy started to scream as her nostrils and throat burned. “Someone DO SOMETHING! John, please…”
Sensing that there was not another moment to waste, John stood in front of the door marked “Punishment”. It opened slowly, and he ducked inside, with the door slamming shut behind him. Then the tear gas stopped pouring into the narrow hallway.
FIVE
Jeffrey, Kevin, and Nancy slowly opened their eyes and let out the big breaths of air that they had been holding in their mouths. Nancy stayed on her knees, bending over, coughing profusely. She heaved in a few more big gulps of air.
“Are you ok? Keep taking deep breaths.” Kevin looked concerned.
She cleared her throat. “I’ll be fine.” Then she glanced down at her cell phone to check the time. “We need to keep a close track of time and the fifteen minute intervals. Especially now that we see what happens when we don’t. Let’s check the time on our phones, and when the fifteen minutes are up, one of us needs to be standing in front of the next door.”
Jeffrey gave her a look of doubt. “You do that. And how the hell are we gonna know what happens to the others once they are locked inside? This is splitting the group up. We have a worse chance of getting out of here once we are left alone.” He was still fuming.
“Dude, what other choice do we have? We gotta at least TRY to do what they want us to. There has to be a reason for all of this.” Kevin tried to calm Jeffrey.
“So we all just keep on heading into the other rooms even if it fucking kills us. All right – so what’s the reason? What does this Jordan want with us and who hired him?”
“He obviously wants to make the sentencing outcome against Michael Jaworski right.” Nancy replied. “Michael’s family must have hired someone to interrogate us. I would stay calm – the last thing they would want to do is something that could get his family into trouble.”
“Thanks for the detailed explanation.” Jeffrey grabbed the edge of the steel door once more and tried to move it.
***
John Madison rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, trying to alleviate a bit of itching caused from the small amount of tear gas exposure. The wooden door that he had closed behind him was now securely locked. There was a long rectangular slab of stone, set on top of a stone base and butt up against one of the walls. It looked like it could be used as a bed or table. On top of the slab there was a folded sheet of paper, a pen, and a hand-held recording device.
In the middle of the back wall was a life-sized poster of a dark and intimidating figure. The silhouette on the poster was of a tall man with a football-player build. He wore a black mask that covered his entire face except for two round eyes looking outward. His right hand held a scythe-like weapon. On the floor near the table was a bed sheet covering something.
John picked up the device, his hands shaking, and hit the play button. The same deep, strong, penetrating voice spoke once more.
“Welcome, Mr. Madison. You’ve been a defense attorney in Topeka for more than 25 years, and the percentage of your clients that get convicted and sent to prison has been steadily on the rise. You started out as a determined and fair man who would do anything to get justice for your clients, and often sought punishments that didn’t include long prison terms. But things have certainly changed for you, now haven’t they? You’ve bought into the “system” of corruption and do your bargaining with the prosecuting attorneys while paying little attention to the actual evidence at hand. Furthermore, you are scared and intimidated by ruthless and corrupt judges and don’t want to do anything to disrupt your career and spoil your reputation with them.”
“In this case with Michael Jaworski, you were more negligent than you’ve ever been. You agreed with Nancy to lie about the evidence and worked to convince Michael’s family that he had no CHOICE but to take life in prison with parole. You sacrificed the freedom of an innocent man, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, to let the two guilty men avoid first degree murder prosecution.”
“What do you think should be done with you as a consequence? I am going to answer that for you.”
“On the stone table in front of you are a contract and an ink pen. This contract is an agreement for you to take a 30 day leave of absence and a request for all of your pending court cases to be submitted to the Kansas Blue Ribbon Commission for judicial review. You will remove yourself from handling any of these cases again, and after the review is complete, a new attorney will be assigned to them. You will sign the bottom of this contract.”
“You will also notice that there is a bed sheet covering something on the floor. Under this sheet is a reptile cage containing two Taiwanese krait snakes. These highly venomous snakes are amongst the most dangerous in the world. A single bite from one of these snakes contains enough venom to kill two dozen grown men. But death from just one bite is not a certainty. First the victim will experience chest pain, have trouble breathing, and get tunnel vision, due to the slow collapse of their nervous system. Death may or may not come from asphyxiation after anywhere from 1 to 24 hours of excruciating pain and suffering.”
