by P. G. Burns
Shane sees a solution but he needs to convince the tall mountain of a man he knows to be the notorious Richard Yarker to agree to it. He steps forward, his arms held wide to show he is no longer armed. He addresses the group but looks directly at Yarker.
“We need the Governor and actually you don’t. It’s chaos down there and the gates are open, all you need to do is walk straight out of the front door. But every minute we waste in this standoff is another minute for the backup teams to arrive. So, what do you say? Shall we continue talking or shall we all get our sorry asses out of this shithole?”
Most of the men look to Yarker. He looks thoughtful and is and meets Shane in the middle of the room he nods and is about to answer when someone shouts out, “Fuck you! We will take the Governor and kill you all.”
Shane’s heart sinks as he recognises this voice: Errol, one of the men he saved Leo from on their first day. The cry is taken up by the second of those men, Garfield Hilton, aka Big Bird, and suddenly a loud angry roar goes up from the inmates and they break into a run at Shane and his group.
Shane quickly instructs Leo to retreat with the Governor at the same time as he swings at Yarker who ducks surprised at how slow the swing was, however the kick too his jaw as his head goes down reveals he has been duped, his jaw splits and his fight is over. Shane falls back, he and Robert brace themselves for the fight of their lives. The next two attackers are unfortunate to lead and are soon dispatched as Shane throws a combination of punches that connect with both men perfectly, sending them into oblivion. Robert decides attack is the best form of defence and charges into the crowd of vicious murderers, aiming directly for Big Bird. He hits the larger man in the midriff, forcing the giant to crash backwards into several others and, like a bowling ball hitting the tenpins, they scatter under the force. The two Muslim men come to Robert’s aid as he battles through a swarm of inexperienced kicks and punches. Robert manages to take hold of the unconscious body of a small tattooed skinhead and uses him as a shield and battering ram combined. The three men are fighting back to back for a while until one of goes down and is trampled on as the mob fights to reach Robert. The battle is not well coordinated; sixty per cent of the attack force is focused on Shane who is alone, while the remainder battle Robert and the two Muslims.
Shane is determined not to go down and although massively outnumbered he is still hurling these cons across the room. His strategy is simple: hit, tear, gauge, hit, and bite, gauge, hit. He uses every hard part of his body as he breaks bones with his open hand, his feet, elbows, knees, even his head. Pushing his thumbs in the sockets of one man’s eyes he hears the sound of popping followed by screams of pain then a thud as the large, tattooed foe falls wailing to the floor. Still, he cannot possibly defeat all these assailants and eventually a broken chair followed by the boot of Errol leaves Shane on his knees. He fights the urge to curl up into a ball and instead takes out the legs of the nearest assailant using his fallen body as a shield, gaining a few seconds breathing space, before the next attack comes.
Both Shane and Robert are aware that the end is close but both use every ounce of their physical capability to resist the inevitable. Strangely Shane thinks of Amitiel and not Sara as he faces his death. He hears her voice accompanied by the thumping of a dozen angry men pummelling his body. “Hold on, help is coming.”
Stoke Prison: civilian staff room: earlier
On the day of the front page news event at Stoke Prison one young man was starting his new job as a trainee. As instructed he reported to the civilian staff manager, George Humphries. George was in charge of the public liaison sector in the prison. These were not prison guards but staff who checked in visitors’ bags and such. To be honest George was not pleased that he was given such short notice to induct a new lad today and was even less pleased when he set eyes on his newest member of staff. “Why do we employ such a scruffy-looking kid who has absolutely no interest in what I’m showing him?” thought George to himself, after only half an hour of the induction.
“So, this is the scanner. All bags must go along the conveyor and Diane over there checks the monitor for any suspicious-looking objects.”
Diane gives the young recruit a false smile. She is not impressed by the cut of this young man either; even his offer of a boiled sweet does not impress her.
“Right, I will show you to the changing rooms and then you can spend a couple of hours under Diane’s watchful eye,” says George.
A barely disguised groan can be heard from behind the X-ray machine but just as George enters the changing room he hears the lockdown alarm go off and receives a message in his ear piece. As an efficient team manager he follows protocol and calls out to his civilian team.
“Okay, people, lock down! You know the procedure, treat it like a breach and head to emergency meeting room B.” George begins walking out. “Come on, son. Sounds like there is some action going on in the psycho block so lesson’s over for now. We have to leave.”
George turns, expecting to find the boy following him like a lapdog just as he has done all morning. Instead the young man has gone the other way and entered the main building.
“Fuck’s sake!” George cries. “What sort of idiots are we employing nowadays? “YOU! New lad!” He looks to Diane as she gets into her coat, as if asking the new lad’s name. Diane just shrugs her shoulders as she picks up her bag. When George next looks the young boy is almost out of sight. George is not comfortable with this type of scenario. His frustration shows as he paces after the new lad, then he suddenly turns on his heel, thumping the wall; procedure is his crutch. “Fuck him!” snaps George, heading for the exit. “The little black bastard can go get himself killed!”
Chamuel hears George’s pronouncement as he heads up a long corridor. The commotion caused by Leo abducting Shane means he is not noticed until he is actually standing next to the two guys guarding the area. With no time to waste he pulls out the sub-machine gun from his kitbag and peppers both men, killing one and mortally wounding the other. Chamuel takes the key pass off the dead guard and opens the metal doors.
He is now in the belly of C wing looking up at the two floors that house the prisoners’ cells. Guards are busy forcing the inmates into the cells when a sudden explosion rocks the whole building. Chamuel hurries forward, ignoring the screams of several inmates trapped in their cells as a fireball explodes through the first floor. The guards panic, not knowing what has happened. Chamuel makes his way to the link corridor past the recreation area. The heavy steel bars are locked and it seems the key pass does not open these doors. Irritably Chamuel looks around for a guard to help him and he wonders why no one has noticed the young black guy wandering around with a machine gun but concludes they are not really noticing much at all, just freaking out and shouting into their radios as more prisoners go up in flames. Chamuel kicks at the closed door and hopes this is not how it ends, burning to death with a bunch of cons.
The intercom burst into life: “Emergency procedure Red One. Open all doors, open all cells, round up prisoners and lead them to meeting point B2.”
The locked door opens automatically and Chamuel smiles, quickly heading away from the panic-stricken chaos and towards the psychiatric ward. He knows it is a good ten-minute walk from here but Amitiel had insisted he go in and help Shane and the others escape. He now regrets the abuse he has given this body over the years and the joint he smoked before starting his new job this morning. When he finally gets to the psyche ward he finds a handful of guards locked in a cell and a groggy Connor on the floor. He puts the gun to Connor’s head.
“Shane Mills and the others, where are they?”
Connor points a shaking hand. “They’ve gone to the roof. They are after the ’copter but they’ll never get through D block.”
Chamuel drops him and runs off. His chest hurts with the pain that a forty-cigs-a-day habit will give you, let alone the ten joints a day as well. He hears testosterone-fuelled growls i
n the distance and sees an open door where he discovers a mass brawl going on.
He looks to the side and sees a familiar face. Leo has pulled the Governor into a side room and they are hiding behind a desk. Chamuel taps the window merrily and laughs at the look on Leo’s face, then he makes his way to the brawl.
He has no feelings either way about killing these cons but he doesn’t want to hit Mills or Price so instead of scattering bodies he fires a volley above their heads. Everyone stops. Shane is not sure if the sight of some little black guy with a sub-machine gun is good or bad. Robert immediately recognises the Arc Hon. Both men struggle to their feet. Six smashed knuckles, four cracked ribs, a broken finger and two missing teeth between them is not too bad a result considering. Leo comes out of the room with the Governor in tow. The remaining cons look at each other and then at Chamuel, confused by who he is and which side he is on.
“Listen you smelly motherfucking-never-supposed-to-be-released bunch of cunts. There is a wide open door here and freedom ten minutes down that corridor.” Chamuel puffs. “If you’re fit that is; probably more like twenty minutes if not. So what the fuck are you waiting for? Do I need to spell it out? This is a prison break!”
Chamuel fires another volley of shots into the ceiling and the mob jump to it, running out the door. Shane, Robert, Leo and the Governor slowly stand and stare. Leo walks over to Chamuel. “Good to see you again, young man.” Robert joins him and takes Chamuel’s hand.
“As Salamu alaykum.” He greets Chamuel who shakes his head, raises his eyebrows, and turns to Shane.
“I heard something about a helicopter, so shall we go?”
The Jew, the Muslim, the prison governor, an Arc Hon and Shane Mills all head to the roof. Once they get there the Governor plays his role and gets them through the locked doors revealing the helicopter.
At the exact same time that the escaping group reach the roof, Reuben’s young associate, Rupert, is entering C wing with six of Kieran Cumisky’s thugs. He realises that the plan has not quite come to fruition as he passes the first four cells and can smell the charred flesh inside; these poor souls were caught in the initial blast before the Governor issued the code red to evacuate. Fortunately the body of Phil Cumisky is so badly burned-up that his men do not recognise him. Rupert is not concerned about Cumisky, he takes his orders from Reuben and is only there to extract Mills and Verdi.
Little does he know that right at this very moment the two men are boarding a helicopter on the roof of the prison. Rupert orders the riot police impersonators to search all the cells for Mills. Ray Dowd, a henchman for the Cumisky’s, questions the order and explains that his priority is to find Phil Cumisky. Rupert is weary of this group of pricks. Reuben had told him they were only there as a smokescreen to confuse the authorities. He knows Reuben likes to create several scenarios when he orchestrates a plan, leading to unanswered questions and triggering mass conspiracy theories that lead down several blind alleys. Rupert feels secure working for someone who dots all the “i”s and crosses all the “t”s. As such he is now prepared to initiate plan B and the thugs are surplus to requirements.
“You are right,” he tells Cumisky’s men. “Go find your man.”
He must follow Reuben’s instructions. If they do not find Mills or Verdi in the first twenty minutes of the search then measures are to be taken to ensure that no one leaves the building alive. He’ll make sure no more get out now and any prisoners already outside will be conveniently gathered together in the recreation area.
Rupert says into his radio, “target not found. Commence phase two.”
Out in the recreation area three men in fake uniforms stand guard as the prisoners mill around in mild panic and disbelief as their prison turns into an inferno right before their very eyes. Johnny-No-Legs is already suspicious of the men; they aren’t acting like normal police. They watch the men with cold detachment as if waiting for something. Of course, they aren’t really policemen at all but rather highly paid mercenaries directly employed by Reuben.
One of these men picks up a message on his walkie-talkie and gives a sign to the others situated at the three corners of the prison yard, leaving the corner with the entrance back into the main prison free. As Johnny-No-Legs watches, the men pull out AK47s. At first he thinks he is mistaken but on a second look is convinced that the guards are loading the light machine guns. No-Legs looks confused but does not expect what happens next.
The three men point the guns at the gathered prisoners and indiscriminately open fire. Shocked, No-Legs stands frozen as bodies wriggle and dance, blood gushing from wounds, before dropping to the ground. The sound of alarm and pain rings out as bones and flesh are penetrated by volumes of ammunition. No-Legs feels his side collapse and is careering across the yard, forced by the shoulder of his best friend, Big Pete, who directs them both behind a group of bins.
“They’re gonna fucking kill us all!” shouts Big Pete to his shocked friend.
Both men somehow shuffle under the bins and watch on as the imposters slaughter the inmates. A fat guy he recognises as Mad Steve is running right towards the shooters, screaming madly. Each bullet that hits him seems only to spur him on until one enters his eye socket and, like a bull elephant, he is finally floored. No-Legs watches in horror as some inmates freeze in shock, waiting for the inevitable, others use fallen bodies as shields in a desperate attempt to survive and many have tried to rush back into the smoke-filled building but are barred by the rising heat and smoke. With nowhere else to go they are picked off like fish in a barrel.
From their makeshift hideout No-Legs and Big Pete stare in pure terror as the bastard shooters actually herd the men back into the burning prison, no longer shooting at them but more around them. Confusion reigns as the prison guards who are using firefighting equipment inside and attempting to back away from the flames meet the oncoming prisoners trying to escape the gunfire.
Sirens can be heard in the distance. No-Legs can tell from the urgency in the assassins’ final moves that they wish to complete their task before the real police arrive. He also notices that the inmates and guards have barricaded themselves inside the burning building, firefighting as they do so, in a mad attempt to survive. Big Pete taps No-Legs on the shoulder and points to the feet of an assassin who seems to be coming their way. The feet stop less than ten feet from the two men. He pulls out a radio and they overhear his message.
“All clear out here. All survivors are in the building. No sign of Mills or Verdi.”
Inside Rupert receives the message and presses the detonator.
Outside the shooter makes a hand signal to the other men and they quickly disappear. No-Legs releases the breath he didn’t realise he was holding just before the building goes up. The blast explodes out into the yard, debris and dust easily blow away the bins that were their only protection. Coughing and burned, Johnny can no longer see or hear Big Pete. He lies face down, praying the slaughter is over and the slayers have gone. Seconds pass and Johnny looks to his left to witness Big Pete’s half decapitated head hanging from his shoulders. He looks up and as the dust settles his heart sinks. An AK47 is pointed right at him, its master smiling like a drunk who just found a fiver.
The only survivors from the entire prison are in the small helicopter that took off two minutes earlier. The Governor watches out of the window in horrified disbelief. “What have you done?” Shane would plead his innocence but he knows there is no point. He debates whether to throw Byrne out of the craft, knowing that if released his version of the story will not reflect well on the three fugitives. Then he remembers that he is likely to be public enemy number one soon no matter what he does, so why bother? Anyway, there has been enough killing.
TV STATION REPORT: ONE HOUR LATER
“Today here in Stoke at one of the UK’s largest prisons an unprecedented catastrophe has happened. Reports are unconfirmed as to what has caused the explosion but the emergency services have been attempting to rescue any survivors for over
an hour. Early reports suggest that over one hundred prisoners are dead and perhaps as many as five hundred missing. In addition, there are nearly forty prison guards unaccounted for and many emergency staff who arrived just as a second explosion detonated. The police will not let anyone beyond the road you can see here which is approximately two miles from the prison gates. As you can see, behind me convoys of emergency vehicles are coming and going with alarming regularity.”
The picture on the TV switches from the anchor to the newsroom studio.
“Can you tell us, Jeremy, what time do we believe the explosion happened?”
“Well, initial reports tell us that the local police station was alerted at 15:15 to an incident, possibly an explosion, in the kitchen area. They then contacted all the emergency services and as a precaution the mobile riot squad was also called. It seems that the first ambulances and fire brigade accompanied by a couple of police cars arrived within twenty minutes. Here the story becomes a bit a little uncertain as the commander of the riot squad has stated his vans were half an hour away at this point. Yet witnesses from the locality have claimed that there was at least one riot van on site before the emergency services got here. Also, reports are coming in that gunfire was heard just before the second, much larger, explosion…”
“Sorry to interrupt, Jeremy, but we have some breaking news. Governor Byrne, who was among the missing, has just been found safe and sound over thirty miles from the prison itself. It seems Governor Byrne walked into Burton town police station, explaining that he had been taken hostage during what he claims was a prison break for three prisoners: Shane Mills, Robert Price and Leo Verdi. We will get more on that report as soon as it’s confirmed.”
Venice – Present day