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by Richard Stephenson

  “So what’s the plan now, sir?”

  “I have no idea. I spent everything on the stunt we just pulled. All I wanted was for Hal to stop monitoring our every move so we could come up with a plan. I had hoped that the force fields in front of the windows would drop, but we aren’t that lucky. I have no idea how they operate. Certainly not going to touch it and find out. We need to figure it out before we proceed.”

  “Sir, I’ve had my ass torn apart by rubber bullets.”

  Captain Butler smiled. “Top, you’ve done more than enough. I was thinking about the other occupant of this room.”

  Top laughed. “Howard’s cat?”

  “Let’s find her.”

  *

  Howard Beck was laughing hysterically in the secure sub-basement of the residence.

  “Sir, I hardly think this is funny.”

  “Relax, Old Man! You should know they’re never going to catch your cat!”

  “Sir, they better not hurt my sweet little Nala.”

  Nala was about the meanest cat Howard had ever seen in his life. Meredith was the only person she would respond to; after she died, Nala warmed up to Hal for some reason. Howard was more than amused that his A.I. had grown fond of an animal. The love affair reminded him of Koko the gorilla and her pet kitten.

  Captain Butler and First Sergeant Bankhead were throwing books at the cat. Nala was on top of a high bookshelf, hissing at the two soldiers. Howard laughed heartily as the two men tried to wrangle the mean, old cat. He was certain they would eventually throw in the towel, but they appeared dedicated to the task at hand.

  “Sir, please put a stop to this.”

  “You’re no fun Hal! OK, fine. You win.”

  Howard was absolutely thrilled that he was finally able to test his security system. The two soldiers were the perfect test subjects.

  Howard clicked a button and began to speak to the men for the first time since he departed the room.

  “Gentlemen! Bravo! Bravo! An excellent performance indeed! You should both be very proud. Fine job disabling Hal’s reach into the library, but you should know I still have cameras all over the place. Captain Butler, do you perform in sharpshooting competitions, perhaps? You would be very entertaining in a Wild West show.”

  “Shut up, Howard!” Captain Butler flipped Howard the bird.

  “Oh come now, Captain! No need to be rude! I meant that as a compliment!”

  “Time to stop playing games, Howard! This has gone on long enough! You should know the kind of trouble you’re gonna be in if you don’t let us out of here!”

  “My dear Captain, you have no idea what’s going on. It is you that will be in trouble, not me. I’ve contacted the White House, and the president and his staff are in lock down from a terrorist attack. Once I am able to speak with him, I am going to expose you and whomever is behind this foolishness. If you’re lucky, you’ll only be busted down to a buck private. I haven’t decided if I’m going to go to bat for you. I hope, for your sake, you were truly only following orders.”

  “Howard, think about it! This is coming directly from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff! You really think the president is in the dark?”

  “I intend to find out just that.”

  “Howard, I’m not lying to you. I have great respect for you. I didn’t want any of this to happen!”

  “Is that why you tried to shoot me in the head? Is that how you show respect?”

  “Damn it, Howard! I had to stop you! I have a sworn duty to protect this country! Millions of lives depend on this! You want to be branded as a traitor?”

  “I’m a traitor? What about you? You violated my Third Amendment rights and tried to kill me! You’re the traitor, not me!”

  “Howard, that’s not the point here. What matters is that right about now, people are looking for me and Top. Things are just going to get worse and worse for you if you don’t let us out.”

  “Oh, you need not worry about that, Captain Butler. I have no intention of letting you continue to tear up my library.”

  The door to the library opened and four security robots entered.

  “This is what’s going to happen. The two of you will drop your weapons and place your hands on your head. Each of my friends here has a Taser in one hand and a gun in the other. I’m sure your first sergeant has had his share of rubber bullets today.”

  “Fuck you, Howard.”

  The lead robot raised his right arm and fired a rubber bullet into First Sergeant Bankhead’s stomach. Top vomited on the floor and then fell in it.

  “I’ve had about enough of your vulgarity, First Sergeant. Captain Butler, if you would be so kind as to help up your comrade and kindly leave my house. If either of you gets within ten feet of one of my friends, you will regret it.”

  Captain Butler collected his top NCO and the two left the library. Once they were outside, they were greeted by a dozen of their men.

  “Captain! Top! There you are!” Staff Sergeant Willis looked at the two of them in confusion. “What the hell happened in there? What’s going on?”

  “Doc, is my XO in there?

  “No, sir, Lieutenant Christopher is recovering in the guest house; none of our people are in the residence.”

  “Good! Time for us to flush out that crazy, old man and take his house away from him.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Inmate Richard Dupree was trying not to cough his lungs out. His eyes were stinging and the sweat pouring over his body was mixing with ash, covering him in a black slime. Along with Tank, Spider, and Head, the four inmates were mixing in with the others headed towards Cellblock A. Up towards the front of the group, four utilities foremen were pushing two carts into the unit to begin work on the air handlers.

  “Killer, mind telling us what your plan is?” asked Head.

  “Yeah, we kinda need to know what to do before you want us to do it,” said Spider.

  “We beatin’ the shit out of those hacks and takin’ their keys?” Tank would have been smiling if his eye didn’t hurt him so damn bad.

  Richard knew Tank’s first thought would be towards violence. “No, wouldn’t do us much good just having their keys. We would have a hard time making it up to the Control Center. The guards in there have to roll gates and pop doors open for us to get out. At the last gate you have to show your ID. Not thinking any of us look like those guys.”

  “Yeah, the swastika on Tank’s forehead would be a dead giveaway,” said Spider with a sheepish grin.

  “Shut up, you little dickhead,” Tank exclaimed, pushing Spider aside. “I don’t know what good going into A-Block will do us.”

  The four inmates made it up to the front entrance of Cellblock A. In the chaotic throng of frightened and angry inmates, the four convicts managed to walk right in without the guard even noticing them. Inmates were running all over the place, frantically scrambling from cell to cell preparing for inevitable lockdown. Inmates were calling in debts and favors from each other. If you owed the guy in the next cell a bag of chips or coffee, it was time to pay up. If you had four books in your cell and you’d read two of them, time to loan those two out to a friend. Inmates always prepared for a lockdown, no matter how much time was available. They had no idea if they would be locked in their cell for a few hours or a few days.

  “Let’s go! Get in your cells! Time to rack up! NOW!” The guard locked the front door of the unit and walked to the center of the common room. “Hurry up! Get a move on! IN YOUR CELLS!”

  “Find somewhere to hide — laundry room, shower, mop closet — just get out of sight. Don’t come out until you see me.” Richard was hoping that the guard in this cellblock intended to lock down the unit and leave like everyone else. Hopefully, the guard would move quickly and not search around the unit for stragglers. Richard was also hoping the utilities foremen wouldn’t stay for long.

  Richard and his three partners in crime found places in the unit to hide. Slowly, the inmates in the block relented and went in
to their cells. Once the guard had locked down his unit, he walked over to the foremen. Richard had chosen a hiding spot that would allow him to overhear what the guards were saying.

  “What are you guys doing?” asked the guard.

  “We’re rigging two of these air handlers to come on now so the smoke doesn’t get too thick in here.”

  Fifteen feet off the floor and built into the wall, four massive fans were spaced a few feet apart. The fans were designed to pull smoke from the unit to the outside. The fans were tied into the fire alarm system. Once smoke was detected, the fans kicked on and did their job. The motors were on the outside of the wall, filling with ash. If the fans weren’t turned on soon, they would either malfunction and not come on, or they would catch on fire.

  One of the utilities foremen walked towards the back hallway. “Hey, can you let me back here?” Next to the front entrance was a doorway that led back to several offices. A utilities closet containing tools, ladders, and other equipment could be found next to the offices.

  “Sure thing. You guys gonna work in all the units?” The cellblock guard walked back to the door and opened it.

  “I hope not. I’m sure Landry has crews in the other buildings doing the same work. At least I hope he does. I wanna get the fuck outta here as quick as possible.”

  “Me, too. When that shit started falling out of the sky, I was talking to Morales. He said that most of the staff not directly supervising inmates was already headed out the front lobby.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me. Can’t say I blame ‘em. Smoke is getting pretty thick. I’m kinda scared to go out there. Probably have to crawl on our hands and knees just to be able to see anything.”

  Two of the foremen came out of the hallway with two fifteen-foot ladders and set them up under the fans. The cellblock guard locked the door to the back hallway and went into his office to use the phone as the foremen began work on the fan. First, they took off the security cages. Next, they took the fan blades out so they could reach the motor. When the fan blades were passed down and put on the floor, Richard made his move.

  Richard dashed from the closet with a mop handle he had broken in two. He banged the mop handles on the wall to signal his fellow inmates to come out of hiding. Tank, Spider, and Head suddenly appeared from different areas of the cellblock. The five staff members just looked at them in complete confusion as the four inmates surrounded the staff members. Richard looked at the other men and motioned for them to stand down and follow his lead.

  “You guys lost?”

  “Nope. We’re right where we need to be.”

  “You don’t live in this unit. You get stuck in here outta bounds? You aren’t making it back to your unit just now. You can wait it out in here. I got an empty cell for you to stay in.” The cellblock guard started walking toward the bottom tier of cells.

  “Not going in a cell,” said Richard.

  “Is that right? And just where exactly do you think you’re going?”

  “Out there.”

  All five of the staff members started laughing. One of the foremen spoke up. “Pretty funny. You know it’s like a horror movie out there. You guys wanna die?”

  The cellblock guard swallowed his laughter and joined in, “And just how do you expect to get out there?”

  Richard looked at Tank and nodded his head. Tank stepped up and punched the cellblock guard in the stomach. The guard fell to his knees and hit the alarm on his radio. The other staff members looked at Tank in complete terror. They knew that the six foot nine inch monster could kill all of them in under a minute if he wanted to. One of them knelt down to help the cellblock guard.

  One of the foremen keyed up his radio. “We have an emergency in Cellblock A, four inmates out of bounds! Officer assaulted! We need help in here!”

  “Uh-oh! Looks like nobody’s coming!” Spider peered at the terrified staff with a look of mock terror on his face. The inmates in the cellblock were watching the show from their cell windows. They were hollering and cheering on Richard and his men.

  Richard silenced Spider with a glance. Once Spider calmed down, Richard addressed the five staff members. “Gentlemen, let’s just take it easy. We are not going to hurt you unless you give us a reason to hurt you. If you do as you’re told, everything will be fine.”

  “If you think we are gonna help you escape, you’re wrong!” one of the foremen screamed.

  “Sir, I wouldn’t dream of it, I assure you,” Richard said calmly. “The only thing I expect you to do is stay out of the way and behave yourselves. Now, this is what you’re gonna do. I want you to line up outside the officer’s station and sit Indian style with your hands on top of your heads. If you attempt to get up or lower your hands, Tank here will make you regret the decision.”

  The injured cellblock officer sat up and tried to catch his breath. The five men didn’t move; the last thing they wanted to do was take orders from an inmate.

  “Tank? Would you please escort these gentlemen and see to it that they follow directions?”

  “I’d love to! C’mon, sweethearts, you heard the man! Get movin’!” Tank balled up his fists and bowed out his chest to the five men. They quickly followed Richard’s instructions. Tank rejoined the group and asked, “What’s the plan, Richard?”

  “Well, our friends here have done half the work for us. The cage is gone, and the fan blades have been removed. We just have to figure out a way to get the motor busted out of the frame so we can get down.”

  “You expect us to jump fifteen feet down on the other side?” asked Head.

  “Not at all. We really can’t afford a broken leg with the trip we’re going to have to take. You and Spider search the guard’s office, then search the laundry room and all of the closets for anything you can make a rope out of. In fact, get the guard’s keys and search that empty cell he was talking about. Get the mattress outta there and anything else we can use.”

  “I’m on it,” Head grabbed Spider by the arm, and they went in search of any materials that might be useful for the journey ahead.

  The cellblock was suddenly filled with a thunderous racket as inmates began kicking and banging on their doors. As inmates screamed at the top of their lungs, the noise was so deafening that it was impossible to tell what anyone was saying.

  Tank leaned over to Richard and screamed in his ear, “What the hell’s going on? What are they screaming about?”

  Richard yelled in Tank’s ear, “We have to hurry! We don’t have much time!”

  “Why?” Tank screamed.

  “Because the smoke is starting to pour into the cells! If it trips the smoke alarm, these fans are going to kick on and make things much harder for us!”

  “What do you want me to do?” shouted Tank.

  “Get up on that ladder, and see if you can get that motor out of the way! Hurry!”

  Tank grabbed a handful of tools and climbed the ladder to get a look at the fan motor. Lucky for them all, Tank had spent his youth repairing cars and motorcycles; he was no stranger when it came to mechanics. He quickly removed bolts and screws. The motor was almost free of its casing when Tank yelled down to Richard, “The motor is welded to the frame at the top on both sides!”

  “Can you push it out? If you can’t we’re all gonna die in here!” Richard gave Tank an uncompromising look. His life was in the hands of the man at the top of the ladder. If he failed, they were all dead.

  “Don’t worry, Killer! I got this! Get the rope ready!”

  Richard turned to discover the five staff members were no longer sitting down as they were instructed. They were scrambling towards the front door, trying to get out.

  “STOP! NOW! You go out that door and you’ll be dead in a matter of minutes! Get back here!”

  The cellblock guard was fumbling with his keys as he tried to open the door. The other men took up an aggressive posture, ready to fight Richard. Richard approached them and put up his hands in a gesture of truce. “Just listen to me! If you don’t
know what to do out there, you’ll be dead before you get to the front gate!”

  The five men didn’t listen. The front door was opened, and they disappeared into the smoke. Richard knew the smoke would quickly overtake them, and they would lose their bearing. They would probably wander around the yard, lost, then collapse and die.

  Richard dismissed the five men as their fate was no longer in his control. He turned his attention to Spider and Head. Head came down the stairs with an armful of laundry and threw it near the ladders. Spider emerged from the mop closet with a twelve-foot extension cord.

  “How’d you get that?” Richard asked. “Wasn’t it locked up inside a cage?” Inside the mop closet was a large, padlocked locker containing cleaning chemicals and other assorted supplies. The grand prize was a twelve-foot extension cord.

  “Got the keys from one of the guards before he made a break for it.”

  A layer of dense, black smoke was gathering high in the ceiling. The majority of the inmates had stopped kicking and banging on their cell doors. They had either passed out or simply given up. Richard looked down the row of cells and could tell that the smart convicts were lying on the floor with their mouths to the crack under the door, desperately trying to get any air they could.

  Richard pointed to Head. “Go into the office and get the cell roster. Look for any unassigned cells. Check them for anything we can use — bed sheets, mattresses. Let’s go! Hurry up!”

  Next he turned to Spider. “You do the same thing in cells that have been assigned but are currently empty. Find a laundry bag or pillowcase and fill it with any food and water you find. And make sure to look for work boots.” When the inmates were sent back to their cellblocks, not every inmate would have returned. Inmates housed in the infirmary still maintained their cell in the cellblock. Inmates working in the chow hall or in the prison factory might still be at their jobs. Richard only needed one cell that met these requirements.