When The Chips Are Down

by Aiden Vaughan

  About twenty-five minutes later, Martin came down from his observations. Meanwhile, Dominic had finished his plastic outline and had attached a fuse to it. The two men both put on goggles. Dominic then lit the fuse. Rather than blow up, like an explosion, the plastic just lit up and burned through most of the wood along the outline. It was like someone had taken a blow torch to it. Best of all the only noise was the low sputtering sound of the flame burning through the wood. After the smoke died away, Dominic took a small axe he had brought along and started knocking out the wood, which now easily fell away. He worked as quietly and efficiently as he could, and in about fifteen minutes, the opening was completed.

  Martin signaled to Jason and Daniel that they could now come ashore. They got their things together, waded to the shore, and waited by the opening in the outer fence. Dominic waded out to the raft one last time to bring back another set of tools for getting through the chain link fence. Martin told the boys about what he had observed. As far as he could tell there was nothing to the left side of the fence. But toward the right side it looked like something was there. He saw the faint outline of a light, but wasn’t sure of the source. It also appeared that once the boys got past the chain link fence, there wasn’t a lot of brush on the ground, so they should be able to go forward very quietly in their sneakers. He told the boys to get changed into their dry clothes while he and Dominic worked on penetrating the second fence.

  Dominic started going up and down the links of the fence with a tiny flashlight looking for any kind of wire that would conduct electricity. He then would place an alligator clamp on that wire to mark it. He decided it would be better to keep this opening low profile and they would just have to deal with crawling through it so it would remain small. After he had marked the places to cut, he took an ohmmeter and tested out various combinations on the fence. It didn’t appear that any of the parts were currently conducting electricity. He didn’t want to take any chances however, and there was always the possibility of electrical power being turned on if the camp guards suspected any kind of breach in their security. He had some wires that had clamps soldered on each end, so he attached those wires to places on either side of where the fence would be cut open. When everything was set, Martin put on thick rubber gloves, and Dominic took out huge metal cutters to cut through the fence. As he was cutting, Martin began pulling back on the inside to bend it open.

  At last the opening was complete. It was time for the boys to go in. The four went over their signaling procedure one more time. The boys put on their transmitters. They were cleverly camouflaged as pendants on a chain. Jason’s was a cross, and Daniel’s was a peace sign. The boys then put on their backpacks, which contained energy bars and water, a small first aid kit, tools to cut through metal and adhesives, and a couple small plastic charges to open up locks they couldn’t break into or bypass. The boys also had their Swiss army knives and cell phones.

  Martin held open the fencing for Jason and Daniel to crawl through. “Be very cautious at all times. Remember that the final helicopter rescue cannot occur until dawn. Do not rush through anything. Be vigilant at all times for things like trip wires, beams of light, loose or dry branches, especially if you discover a building! We are here for you! Take advantage of that if you get into any kind of trouble, or see that you won’t be able to get to Tim without extra help! Good luck!”

  Chapter 18

  The Secret Compound

  (Late Thursday Evening)

  Jason and Daniel put on their infrared goggles. Everything around them had an eerie red tinge to it, but they could see the obstacles in front of them very clearly. The boys slowly began to make their way to the right at an angle. There were only a few feet of clearance in front of the barbed wire fence until they were in fairly dense forest. Luckily there had been recent rains so there weren’t any dry leaves or plants on the ground that might make crackling noises when stepped upon. After the boys went about fifty yards or so, the forest became less dense. Now they could clearly see in front of them, and they started examining the ground, looking for any kind of trail.

  Eventually they did find a small trail, and decided to follow it, again toward their right as Martin had suggested. Not wanting to make any extra noise, Daniel and Jason had worked out a hand signaling system. Daniel kept his eyes glued to the ground looking for any kind of obstruction that could indicate a tripwire or even a branch that they could trip on. Jason focused his eyes on the surrounding area, with the same idea in mind, to avoid any obstructing branches or other objects. Their pace was slow and steady, but so far with no incidents or objects in their way.

  Suddenly Jason put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder, signaling him to stop. He pointed ahead. There was an outline of something man made ahead; it looked like the side of a building. Slowly the boys approached it, looking around very carefully to make sure they didn’t trip an alarm or bring attention to themselves. The building turned out to be much bigger than it initially seemed. A lot of it was cleverly hidden by the surrounding terrain. There was a door and a window with opaque glass. Jason tried the door, but it was locked. The window was locked shut also.

  Jason whispered to Daniel, “Let’s walk around the building and see if there are any other entrances. Look carefully for security cameras.” The boys began working their way around the perimeter of the building. There were no lights on anywhere, so they were grateful for their infrared lighting. Daniel didn’t spot any security cameras.

  Eventually they came to more windows, which were also opaque glass. “I don’t think they want anyone to see in here!” Jason whispered. After going about another seventy feet, the wall turned and they spotted another door. It seemed clear that this was more of a main entrance. There was a cement pad in front of it, and there appeared to be a path to another building about thirty yards away. Jason walked quietly up to the door and tried it. It was also securely locked. Daniel walked over to the smaller building and tried that door with the same result.

  Jason signaled Daniel to come back to the side of the building. Once around the side again, he whispered, “I think our best bet is to try and break into the first door we found. I think that these last doors are main doors, and obviously the guards would notice it if they were broken into.” The boys retraced their steps back to the first door. When they got there, Daniel asked, “Should we try to cut our way in or use one of the small explosives?”

  “I think the explosive charge should be used,” Jason decided. “We don’t want to be bogged down outside here, and we have no idea if anyone is even inside. I think we want to get inside quickly!”

  Jason put a small ball of plastic explosive at the door latch area like Dominic had showed him. He attached a fuse, lit it, and then the boys moved back out of the way. The explosive made a small popping sound, but again it was over quickly. The boys went back to the door. It was now hanging loose on its hinges. The boys got out their flashlights and went inside. Daniel then taped the door back to the frame so at a cursory glance it would appear normal. The boys found themselves in what appeared to be a storage room. At the other end was a door. This door was also locked, but there was a turn handle that opened the lock. Slowly and quietly they opened the door a crack and looked into the building. It was completely dark inside, so Jason and Daniel put on their goggles again. Slowly their eyes adjusted to the infrared view.

  They were in a large storage type building about thirty feet wide and eighty feet long. Along the left side were several enclosed rooms. On the right hand side they saw chains hanging from the ceiling, some sort of enclosed chamber, and several caged in enclosures that resembled jail cells.

  At first they saw no one, but then Jason noticed what appeared to be a human in one of the cells. “Look over there, Daniel,” he whispered. “I think there is someone in that cell!”

  They walked over to the cell in question and shined a flashlight beam. They both gasped in astonishment at what the light revealed.

  A teenager about their age w
as seated on the floor. His wrists were handcuffed to the bars on either side of him with two set of handcuffs, and there was a black ball gag tied in his mouth. His head rolled to one side. “Tim, is that you?” Jason said in a loud whisper. He put his hand on the teen’s shoulder to wake him up. Although it was difficult to recognize him, due to the lack of light and his very short hair, which was not more than a stubble growth, it really was Tim. His appearance was shocking. All he had on for clothing was a pair of gym shorts, and his body was covered with bruises and welts.

  Tim woke up, startled, and made an unintelligible sound. Daniel worked at the locks on the handcuffs with a set of keys and picks that Martin had given him, while Jason reached into the bars to unbuckle the straps holding the ball gag in place. In a few minutes both were successful in releasing Tim from his restraints. Tim slowly got up and turned around. “Who are you?” he asked in a weak voice. “Are you real or am I just dreaming?”

  “Tim, it’s Jason Hunter, you know from Merriam High School, and remember my best friend, Daniel Holmes? We are real people; you aren’t dreaming.”

  “How on earth did you get here and find me? This is unbelievable!” Tim’s voice became brighter and more energetic. “I am so happy to see you guys!”

  “Tim, we have come here to spring you out of this horrible prison and take you back home!” Jason told him.

  “Thank you, thank you. I am so grateful you are here. But how is this even possible?” Tim asked them. “I have been locked away here for a couple of weeks.”

  “It’s a long and involved story, Tim,” Jason answered, “but don’t worry about it right now. Our number one priority is to get you out of here. Let’s just say that you still have some true friends and because of them we have been able to track you down.”

  “I can’t believe how harshly these people have been treating you!” Daniel exclaimed. “Here you are in the middle of nowhere, with no bedding or blankets, and not only do they have you locked in a cell, but handcuffed and gagged also. I see sores all over your body. Do you have any broken bones or major injuries?”

  “No broken bones I that I am aware of!” Tim said assessing his condition. “My body is covered with sores and bruises. I don’t know where to begin to describe the hell that I have been through at this camp. I have been fighting them all the way, but I don’t know if I could take much more!”

  “We will have time to go over all of that later, but now we need to deal with the present reality of how to get you out of here!” Jason said. “First, let me give you an energy bar and something to drink.” There was a small opening in one of the walls where he could hand through a bottle of water and the energy bar to Tim. Tim eagerly took the items from Jason. He took several drinks from the bottle, and then quickly ate the energy bar.

  “That was great, Jason,” Tim said. “It is so nice to have something that isn’t camp food!”

  “Tell us about your captors. I don’t see anyone else here right now. Are there regular guards? Is anyone else being held here?”

  “Right now the guards are gone,” Tim answered. Sometimes they don’t spend the entire night here. But one of them is sure to come back. You will need to be ready for that! There is one other kid being held here. His name is Cody. I think that they are even treating him worse than me, if you can believe that!”

  “Do you know where Cody is? There is no one in the other two cells.” Jason said.

  “There is another area to this prison that is in a cave formation,” Tim told him. “You have to go down a ramp through a tunnel to get there. That is their real torture chamber. I think that they have Cody down there. They have been keeping him staked out there a lot, I think!”

  “What is with these people?” Daniel exclaimed with anger in his voice. “Why are they so intent on torturing you?”

  “It’s a test of wills, I guess,” Tim said shrugging his shoulders. “Neither of us wants to give in to the other!”

  “But you are just teenagers!” Daniel said shaking his head in disbelief. “It seems like they are trying to completely break down your will, and if they can’t do that, they are going to torture you to death! Why?”

  “Because they have the power to do so,” Tim said sadly, “and I think they like to completely control and enslave the kids who come here. That seems to be the whole purpose for this camp!”

  “Who are these people? Are they some of the regular guards we saw in the camp itself?” Daniel asked.

  “No, this prison is run by the team of people who initially bring kids to the camp,” Tim explained. “There are three regular guards that I see all the time. One of them was the guy who initially grabbed me, when I was brought to Camp Chinquapin. His name is Walter, I think.”

  “We want to get you and Cody out of here, and it’s going to be difficult!” Jason said. “Do you think that you can walk okay? Do you have any clothes here at all?”

  “No,” Time replied. “When they brought us here, we were forced to take off our camp uniforms. Then we were given a pair of gym shorts and nothing else. We were told that this was all we could wear until we reformed. So those shorts and my restraints — the plastic gag, and the handcuffs for my wrists and ankles — is all I have been wearing since my arrival here!”

  “This is unbelievable!” Daniel exclaimed. “We need to get you out of this place right now! I am going to work on breaking open the lock on your cell door.”

  “Hold on a second, Daniel,” Jason said. “We will get you out of here, Tim, but you can’t be airlifted out of here until dawn. So if possible, we don’t want the guards or the camp authorities to know you have escaped until it is too late for them to try and stop us! Didn’t you just say that someone would be coming to check on you during the night?”

  “Yes, that is the routine,” Tim answered. “One of the guards will come some time in the middle of the night to check on us, and then spend the rest of the night in their staff room. I always hear the guard talking to someone afterwards. I think that they are required to report in that everything is okay. I would assume that an alarm would be sounded, or more people would be sent out here if the report is not made.”

  “So if you are not locked in your cell, tied up the way you were when we got here, the alarm would be sounded?” Jason quizzed Tim.

  “I’m afraid so,” Tim said.

  “Then our best bet is to be patient, wait for the guard to return and make his report,” Jason concluded. “When that is done, we then take him out and spring you from this cell. We have two experienced men helping us. They will take out any of the guards and then help us to get you and Cody out of here. Now I need to contact them, and get them involved. Until we were sure that crimes were being committed, we couldn’t risk them coming onto the camp property.”

  Jason signaled to Martin and Dominic through his tracking device that the escape was on. He then signaled that he had information to convey through his cell phone. The reception was very poor inside the building, but Jason walked around until he found a hot spot, where he could get through to Martin on his cell phone. He described the situation with the guards, and the weakened condition of Tim and most likely Cody. It was arranged that they would rendezvous with Daniel who would be watching outside for the guards to return. After the guards made their nightly check, they would move to take them out and make their escape from the camp. Jason also told Martin to bring the portable stretcher as they would probably need it.

  Chapter 19

  A Test of Wills

  (Before Dawn, Friday Morning)

  With their action plan set, Daniel went outside to find a hiding place near the main entry door of the compound. He went back out through the door that he and Jason had blasted open, then replaced the tape so it would look like it was still shut from a distance. Quickly he walked back around to the front and looked for a good lookout point just inside the trees surrounding the compound. He figured it would take Martin and Dominic about forty-five minutes to get there.

  Inside
the compound, Jason stayed with Tim. He had Tim move over to the opening in the cell wall where a food tray could be inserted. He had him sit there so that he could quickly buckle on his gag when the guard came back. The two handcuffs were still in place on the bars. Tim could close one cuff back on his wrist and Jason would get the other before hiding from the guard.

  Jason put in a call to Jaime Orlando. He updated him on the situation, and explained that they were putting a rescue plan in operation to help Tim and Cody to escape. He told him that the story would break at dawn, and that he should get to the camp if he wanted an exclusive. He also told Jaime that the police would need to be contacted, but not until dawn after he and his team were out of there. In the meantime, he said that he would text message as much information about Tim and his ordeal that he could while they were waiting. Jason then sat down and listened to Tim tell the story of his life at Camp Chinquapin. He had Tim tell it in segments; then he would text Jaime a summary of each segment.

  “From our very first contact, I didn’t get along with the camp authorities,” Tim began. “I vowed to fight back with everything I could. I had no idea I was being taken there until they came that morning and grabbed me. I fought them in the van, so they just held me down by force and gave me a shot of some drug that knocked me out. When I woke up, I found myself in a holding room at the camp. All of my personal clothing and things had been taken from me. All of my hair had been cut off. All I had on was my underwear. I was told to get up and put on the camp uniform, which was a camp tee shirt, a pair of shorts, a red bandana, some white socks and sneakers. Later I was given a windbreaker for when the weather was cold and some changes of clothing, but we were never allowed to wear jeans or long pants. After I got dressed, I was taken over to the Red Cadet barracks and assigned a bunk bed.