Read Online Rotter Apocalypse by Scott M Baker - Free Book Online

see her girls in what had once been their traditional uniforms. Not that it mattered. For the first time in a year, her girls had the opportunity to wear something other than their well-worn leather pants, white shirts, and leather jackets. Coming to Alcatraz symbolized a break with everything they had gone through previously, although Natalie seemed to be the only one who noticed. They looked like women and not the Angels, and she had not seen them this vibrant since before Site R. When the girls left to be escorted to their new quarters, she was the only one to take with her anything from her past life, asking the staffer if she could have her leather jacket.
    Rogers and an enlisted woman in a blue-toned ACU waited for them outside the store room. Rogers stepped forward when he saw the Angels. “How do you feel?”
    “Like a new woman,” said Natalie. “Thank you.”
    “No need to thank me, ma’am. We’re building a new society here, and we can’t do that if we all smell like the revenants.” Rogers motioned toward the woman beside him. “This is Corporal Bechtel. She’s going to show you ladies to your quarters.”
    Bechtel stepped forward. “You arrived at a good time. A large contingent moved out of the cellblock two nights ago, so we have quarters available for you inside. I arranged to have you in adjacent cells so we don’t have to separate you. It’s two people to a cell, but it beats the tent farm out on the parade ground.”
    “You’ll hear no complaints from us,” said Natalie.
    “Great. If you ladies will follow me, please.”
    Rogers motioned to Natalie. “Secretary Fogel is waiting to see you.”
    “Lead the way.”
    Rogers escorted Natalie outside the cellblock, leading her around the northeast façade to the main entrance of the administrative offices at the far end of the building. Upon entering, they took the first right, passed through two offices, and found themselves in the warden’s secretary’s room. Brian Thomas, the chief of staff for Secretary Fogel, sat behind a dented and scuffed metal desk in front of a set of windows that overlooked San Francisco Bay, with Oakland in the distance. He wore the same outfit he had on when he debriefed her—black slacks and shoes, a white dress shirt, and a tie. Natalie assessed him to be in his mid-fifties because of the gray streaking his dark hair along the temples, which accentuated his lean face and brown eyes. She found him to be professional, pleasant, and polite. Upon seeing her enter, he stood and came around to the front of his desk.
    “Miss Bazargan, it’s good to see you again.” He extended his hand.
    “Likewise.” She gave it a firm pump.
    “I see you’ve had a chance to freshen up. I hope everything is to your satisfaction.”
    “It’s much better than anything we’ve had in a long time.”
    “We do our best.”
    Captain Rogers cleared his throat. “I hope we’re not late.”
    “Not at all, Captain.” Thomas motioned toward a card table set up in the corner with a coffee pot on top. “Help yourself to a cup while you wait.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Come with me, please,” Thomas said to Natalie. “Secretary Fogel is anxious to meet you.”
    They crossed Thomas’ office to the interior wall. The chief of staff knocked on the door, waited for a response, and opened it. “Excuse me, Mr. Secretary. Miss Bazargan is here to see you.”
    “Excellent,” said the voice from inside the office. “Send her in.”
    Thomas stepped aside and ushered Natalie into the warden’s office. The room appeared as Spartan as the outer office, with the same plain white walls and dirty floor tiles that had been in place when the prison was shut down back in 1963. Two large support beams ran down the center of the room. To the left opposite the single window and door leading outside sat the Secretary’s desk, an old, scratched up piece of furniture with drips of dried paint scattered along the surface and sides. The only other pieces