Rudd and Partner arrive at Big Wheeler maximum-security prison. Outside, protesters clash and news vans gather. Warden McDuff pulls Rudd aside: A bomb exploded 10 minutes ago in the Old Courthouse, in the same courtroom where Link was convicted. Rudd is shocked but unsurprised.

In the Boom Boom Room, the pre-execution holding cell, Link, 50 years old and dressed entirely in black, accuses Rudd of failing him. They rehash old arguments. Link began feigning mental illness years ago after learning the Supreme Court bared executing the insane, manipulating transfers between the psych unit and death row through bribes. However, they learn that the 15th Circuit has denied their appeal. Link makes a call on a contraband phone. Assistant Warden Foreman arrives to review the witness list; Link has no one, so only Rudd and Judge Nagy’s three children will attend.

As they watch the news coverage, a second bomb hits the 15th Circuit courthouse. Link’s eyes glow. When the warden begs Rudd to say something to Link, Rudd admits that the only thing that might work is if the governor grants a reprieve. Then prosecutor Max Mancini appears on CNN, and, mid-interview, his office explodes behind him.

The bombings follow a precise schedule on the hour starting at 5:00 pm. As eight o’clock approaches, security tightens around the Supreme Court and Governor’s Mansion. Meanwhile, Link and Rudd play gin rummy. Link’s last meal—steak, fries, coconut pie—arrives untouched. At 8:15 pm, the US Supreme Court denies their final petition. All legal options are exhausted. Link keeps playing cards, occasionally glancing at the television.

At 8:30 pm, fires erupt simultaneously at the prison’s food warehouse and vehicle maintenance facility, three miles apart. At 8:45, a bomb goes off near the warden’s office. McDuff bursts into the Boom Boom Room screaming at Link to stop the attacks. Guards seize Link and confiscate his cell phone. The warden demands Rudd’s phone; Rudd refuses, citing the rule protecting attorney property. A guard announces a riot has broken out in Unit Six.

The Unit Six riot started when an inmate faked cardiac arrest. His cellmate stabbed two guards, took their Tasers, and inmates in stolen uniforms released about 100 prisoners. Eight guards were beaten, two fatally, and four snitches hanged with extension cords.

Link openly admits to Rudd he orchestrated everything: Recruit lifers with nothing to lose, promise cash, plant devices days earlier, and launch when the execution has the warden’s full attention. He deflects questions about a rescue attempt, claiming he is just having fun.

Then, the governor appears on television, announces casualties, denies any evidence linking Link to the chaos, and formally denies his reprieve.

According to standard protocol, at 9:45 pm the condemned is handcuffed, escorted to the death chamber, strapped to a gurney, and connected to an IV. At 10:00 pm exactly, the warrant is read, last words spoken, and chemicals released. However, at 9:30 pm, all electricity at Big Wheeler cuts out due to a destroyed utility pole. The backup generator fails to start because it was sabotaged. In the pitch-black Boom Boom Room, Link shoves the desk against the door. A ceiling panel opens, a flashlight beam appears, a rope drops, and Link climbs into the crawl space above. Within seconds, he is gone. When guards burst in moments later, Rudd points to the ceiling. Amid total panic and the sound of a helicopter, guards drag Rudd into the hallway. An hour later, when power returns, state police arrest him as a suspected accomplice.

The escape exploited perfect timing. Four news and police helicopters hovered near the prison generating noise and cover. Six fires produced thick smoke. Link’s small black helicopter descended through it, pulled Link from the roof, where guards had left to help with the riot, and vanished. Later, everyone learned that the Boom Boom Room sits in an older section of Unit Nine that has a crawl space running to a roof access door. Although the helicopter was never found, there was one unconfirmed sighting of Link in Mexico. Rudd does not expect to hear from him.

After the Scanlon escape, prison officials ban Rudd from visitation for a month, then relent once his innocence is clear. He and Partner drive to Old Roseburg, a medium-security facility named after a 1930s governor who was later imprisoned there and died behind bars. His family failed to secure his release, and the legislature refused to rename the prison, preserving the irony. They clear the main gate and park in the empty lot, watched by tower guards with high-powered rifles.

After his acquittal, Partner begged Rudd for work. Rudd hired him and paid for paralegal certification. Partner lives in a housing project with his mother, Miss Luella, in a subsidized apartment where Rudd stores confidential files. Answering Rudd’s phone line, Miss Luella screens callers for potential clients. He pays her $500 a month in cash, plus bonuses.

Their visit to Old Roseburg is to see Partner’s 19-year-old son, Jameel, who is serving 10 years for a gang-related crime.

They walk to a consultation room to meet with Jameel, who has nine more years in prison for possession of marijuana. He received the maximum sentence as revenge for Partner being acquitted for killing a police officer. Upon Jameel’s release, he will be 28 with no job, education, or hope. Guard Hank brings Jameel in. The boy is working toward his high school equivalent but making slow progress. Two months in, he was caught with marijuana in his mattress and spent two weeks in solitary confinement. He swears it won’t happen again.

Rudd excuses himself so father and son can speak privately. Hank reports Jameel is surviving, but the guard is not sure if Jameel is in a gang. Seven inmates were killed at Old Roseburg last year. From a window, Rudd watches hundreds of young Black men in the yard—imprisoned for nonviolent drug offenses, averaging seven-year sentences, with 60% recidivism within three years. He reflects on mass incarceration, the failed war on drugs, and the consequences of imprisoning young Black men at taxpayer expense while drugs continue to flood the streets.

After two hours, Hank ends the visit. When Rudd re-enters to find Jameel and Partner in tense silence, arms crossed, they manage affectionate goodbyes. Jameel sends love to Miss Luella. On the drive back, Partner does not speak.

Rudd’s first mobster client was Dewey Knutt, who is serving 40 years in federal prison for “dozens of violations under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act” (101) . Unlike Link, who craved violence and notoriety, Dewey operated quietly and was an honest furniture salesman until his mid-thirties when he became a master of financial crime. His fortune was estimated at $300 million before his arrest; authorities have never located the hidden assets.

Rudd came to Dewey through his shiftless son, Alan, caught with a trunk of cocaine. Finding the police search unconstitutional, Rudd got the charges dismissed. Consequently, Dewey hired him for zoning on a private 18-hole lighted golf course outside city limits. Shortly after, the federal RICO case collapsed Dewey’s empire. When prosecutors threatened to indict his children, Dewey took 40 years to protect them. Construction on the course—named the Old Plantation—halted after the 14th green.

Now called Old Rico and managed by Alan, it is the only 14-hole lighted course in the world. Rudd pays $5,000 a year to play, and every Wednesday at 7:00 pm, members gather to play Dirty Golf, a game that costs $200 and has flexible rules. Tonight, Rudd is paired with Toby Chalk, a former city councilman who served four months after Dewey’s case. As the men yell and smoke cigars, Partner drives Rudd’s cart as they begin.