Wanted

by Laurence E. Dahners

  Shan handed him a bundle of dark clothing and grinned, “I suggest we get you out of prison orange before you head out into the world.” Looking around Steve realized that Ell must have gone on ahead to give them privacy for changing. The other guys had their coveralls off and were pulling on dark jeans. Steve hurried to change himself, relieved to find a HUD at the center of the bundle of clothing. He followed the others down the tunnel, happy to once again be connected to his AI with a better interface than his implants.

  ***

  In the electronic monitoring room at the prison a chime started going off. The Duty Sergeant leaned to the side to look at the Correction Officer’s monitor. “What the hell’s the AI worried about now?”

  “Infrared body count’s down in cell 138.”

  “Shit, they just shifted under their blankets. Tell the AI to give it five minutes and the count’ll be back up.”

  CO Jaynes raised his eyebrows a moment as he looked at the data. IR was only picking up two bodies in that six person cell which didn’t sound like shifting blankets to him, but he’d learned not to question the sergeant on the graveyard shift. He told the AI to give it five.

  ***

  The last six feet or so of the tunnel Steve had to get down on his hands and knees and crawl. Once he made it out into the night air he heard Shan whispering the others, “Your new HUDs have sensitive cameras capable of low light amplification so ask your AI to cast an amplified image for you. We’re going to be walking down a steep slope in the trees here and you don’t want to be doing that in the dark.”

  “Where’s Ell?” Randy asked quietly.

  “One of the hoverbikes lifted her out of here on a harness and cable setup. I didn’t want her falling down in the dark while she’s pregnant.”

  Barrett said, “Man, she’s getting pretty big. You guys should have left us in the joint until after the baby came. We’d have been OK a while longer.”

  Shan snorted, “Don’t be pissed at me, but that’s what I argued for!” He chuckled, “But I think you guys know what I was up against, trying to talk Ell into something she doesn’t want to do, don’t you?”

  After a mumbled chorus of assent, Steve asked, “So what’s the plan from here?”

  “Well, we’re almost down to the road. A rental car is about to stop so you guys can get in. In case they have video monitors of the traffic near here you’re going to get out at the 58/23 intersection. This first rental car will go north on 23 while you get in a different car going south on 23. That car will take you on over to Interstate 81, heading toward Alderson in case we need your help springing the girls. We hope to get them out of Alderson before you’re even close to getting there. Assuming we accomplish that, we’ll message you so you can turn south toward home.”

  Steve said, “Have you tunneled into Alderson too?”

  “No, Amy, Mary and Lisa are on the third floor there. We’re going to take them out through the window.”

  “You’re kidding! Suspended by harness from hoverbikes?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Man, that’s physical! Ell shouldn’t be doing that in her condition?”

  “I agree. You can try to tell her that if you want, but you know just how well she takes that kind of advice.”

  “Let me go with you. I can get them out and Ell can stay back!”

  “Ell says she has to go because she’s the one that can cut the windows.”

  “Is this another one of her techy stunts?”

  “Yeah, one she won’t let anyone else touch.”

  “Oh Jeez, where is she?”

  “She already started for Alderson so she can fly her hoverbike lower and slower. Better for the baby.”

  “How many hoverbikes do you have up here?”

  “All four of them, but three of them have already started for Alderson. Ell on one and the other two accompanying her.”

  “Ell!” Steve said, “Send those two empty hoverbikes back here. They can pick up Barrett and me so you’ll have more physically able bodies up there to help get the girls out!”

  “I don’t want you getting involved in breaking people out of pri…”

  “Come on Ell! We’re broken out ourselves. Helping get the others out won’t make things any worse.”

  After a brief pause Ell said, “OK, the bikes are on their way. Without a person on board, they can come at very high speed so they’ll be back there in just a few minutes. They’ll pick you up at the stone quarry where the fourth hoverbike is waiting for Shan.”

  ***

  In the e-monitoring room at the prison the chime started chirping again. The duty sergeant leaned to the side to look at CO Jaynes’ monitor. “What’s that damn AI saying now?”

  “Infrared still only shows two bodies in 138.”

  “What the hell? There were four of them missing and you didn’t think to tell me? Get your ass down there and do a physical count!”

  Thinking, damned if you do, damned if you don’t, Jaynes heaved himself to his feet, hitched his belt and hustled out of the e-room. Turning down the hall and shambling to a trot he called one of the other COs to back him up.

  ***

  As the guys scrambled down the embankment to the road, Steve saw with surprise that Barrett, Randy and Dan all had medium or long hair. Their bundles must have included wigs. For a moment he wondered why he didn’t have a wig, then realized that long hair would look odd on him when his tightly curled facial hair would give away what his hair should look like. A Chevy Impala pulled up, heading east. Randy, their professionally trained driver, jumped in behind the wheel. Shan and the other three filled the rest of the seats. Steve felt pleased that someone on his team had told the car not to turn on the dome lights when the doors were opened. The car started off down the road toward the quarry to the east at a sedate, AI controlled, pace. Two miles later it slowed to a stop across the road from the quarry. Shan, Steve and Barrett jumped out and trotted across the road as the car drove away with Randy and Dan for its meeting at the 58/23 junction. Behind the cover of the heavy brush hiding the quarry from the main road they found two hoverbikes landing next to the one that was already there. Climbing on, the three men took off, letting their AIs control the flight in the dark. Soon they were lying down behind the fairings and popping their ears as the hoverbikes rocketed up to an altitude of 8,000 feet and hit speeds just over 200 miles per hour.

  Since the helmet in the saddle compartment of his hoverbike hadn’t been his and wouldn’t go on his head Steve slid as far forward under the fairing as he could jam his bare head. The Kevlar motorcycle jacket had been small too though he did have the pants on. However the legs were too short. In that fierce wind stream the snapping of his exposed pants legs against his ankles was painful, but he gritted his teeth and bore it.

  ***

  CO Jaynes stepped up to cell 138, peering in through the small barred window in the door. He flipped on the lights and barked, “Outta your bunks! Stand by for inspection.” With the lights on, he uneasily saw that two of the double bunks were empty. The third had two inmates in it. They started getting up, swaying like they were drunk! Where the hell are the other four guys? The inmate in the bottom bunk rolled a little too far and fell out of his bunk onto the floor. The one in the top bunk didn’t seem to be quite as drunk but still appeared to be quite unsteady as he grasped the bunk’s ladder.

  Still no sign of the other four!

  Jaynes peered through the window to the right and left, then had the prison’s AI unlock the door. He pulled his weapon, made sure his backup had his weapon out, then pushed the door slowly open, staying back from the opening in case the missing inmates were hiding to the side waiting to attack him.

  Jaynes took off his helmet and put it briefly through the door. Nothing struck it, so he put it back on and looked into the room. No one was hiding beside the door! He noticed a slightly sweet odor as he walked into the room. Checking back over his shoulder to make sure his backup had assumed a post at the door and lo
oked alert, Jaynes pulled the mattresses off the empty bunks to his right.

  Definitely empty.

  Glancing at the two drunk looking inmates who were standing unsteadily in their assigned positions, Jaynes stepped to the bunk against the far wall. He pulled the mattresses off of those two bunks as well. A strong feeling of unreality passed through him. Where could they be? Looking around the cell again and seeing no possible egress Jaynes stepped to the industrial metal toilet and peered down into it. The fact that he had just looked down a toilet for four prisoners suddenly struck him as very, very funny.

  Giggling Jaynes turned to look at his backup guard who he saw had leaned up against the door frame of the cell and begun laughing at this ridiculous situation as well. The sergeant’s voice came from his earpiece, “Jaynes, did you find those inmates?”

  Jaynes struggled not to start laughing again about the way the sergeant sounded funny. He said, “No siree. Musta flushed ‘emselves down ‘a toilet!” A giggle escaped again.

  The grinding general alarm came on, sounding like the knell of death and sobering Jaynes a little. Moments later guards swarmed the area. The sergeant stopped briefly to rip a strip off of Jaynes’ hide as he stood at attention in the corridor wondering why he’d felt so drunk. He knew he hadn’t had any drugs like the sergeant implied, but he certainly realized that somehow his judgment had been impaired for a while.

  The upper ranks of the prison had been rousted out of bed and shown up in bad moods. The two remaining prisoners had been removed and every scrap of material had been removed from cell 138.

  Lights were up outside, on and off the prison grounds and teams of guards with dogs were making sweeps out there.

  Jaynes, completely sober now, had absolutely no idea how four inmates had vanished, but somehow he knew that the sergeant was going to pin the blame on him. His eyes widened when he saw a man in a suit coming down the hall toward him. FBI?

  ***

  SAC Finton’s HUD began chirping where it sat on his bedside table. Finton sighed and reached for it. Putting it on he said irritably, “What!”

  “Uh, SAC?”

  Finton recognized the voice of Insky, one of the agents stationed by York at the prison in Virginia where Donsaii’s employees were being held. When York had been demoted and Finton had been put at the head of the Donsaii task force, one of the first things Finton had decided was that this idea of trying to use Donsaii’s employees as bait was stupid. However, when he’d tried to have them released, he’d found out that President Stockton had been the originator of that particular lame brained idea. So, with a mental sigh, he’d left them in prison. However, as part of a “manpower redistribution,” he’d reduced the size of the detail stationed there. Insky was one of the agents he’d left there because Finton just didn’t think Insky was very bright. He’d rather waste a weak agent on a babysitting detail and get the smart ones out there looking for Donsaii. “Yes!” he barked at Insky.

  Now however, Finton’s sphincters spasmed as Insky said, “They’ve escaped.”

  Gritting his teeth against his desire to scream Finton said, “Who’s escaped?”

  “All four of them here at USP Lee.” Then evidently thinking that Finton might not remember who Insky was supposed to be keeping track of, he continued, “You know, Donsaii’s employees, Steven Jacobs, Barrett…”

  “I know who you’re talking about goddammit! When? How? People just don’t escape from freaking high security penitentiaries!”

  “Uh,” Insky responded, “we don’t know how. They’ve, uh, been going over the cell with a fine toothed comb and, uh, searching the grounds. They have IR cameras in the cells that keep count of the number of bodies and, uh, the AI monitoring the IR reported that those four prisoners were missing. The, other two uh, prisoners in the cell, uh, are still here. They say they didn’t see or hear anything, but, uh, they seemed kinda drugged at first.”

  “When, dammit?”

  “Uh, when what?”

  “When did they escape you idiot?”

  “Uh, sir, the AI first reported they were gone at 0037 hours, sir.”

  Finton glanced up at the time display on his HUD, “For Christ’s sake Insky, that was an hour ago. Why the hell are you just now calling me?”

  “Well, uh, the guards didn’t call me right away, and, uh, they thought the inmates were just hiding somewhere and that we’d find them.”

  “Shit!” Finton sighed. “Have you called Alderson to see if they’ve misplaced their prisoners too?”

  “Uh, no sir. Do you want me to call them?”

  “Of course you haven’t,” Finton said with a disgusted tone. “Don’t bother, I’ll call them myself.” Finton had a sinking feeling that he was learning just how York had gotten himself demoted. He’d thought the guy must be an idiot but wondered if perhaps he’d jumped to judgment too soon.

  He told his AI to get him the name and connect him to the lead agent at Alderson. A moment later he had been connected to an agent he didn’t know named Wang. Wang didn’t sound sleepy, though he must have been awakened by Finton’s call. “Wang, do you know if your Donsaii prisoners are still there?”

  “They were here right before I went to bed sir. What’s up?”

  “The four male prisoners at USP Lee have escaped. You need to check on the women and do everything you can think of to make them harder for someone to extract.”

  “Yes sir. I’m on my way. I’ll have them moved to a different location. Do we know if someone outside the prison at USP Lee extracted them, or could they have escaped on their own?”

  “No one’s escaped from a high security Federal pen for over a decade. We’ve got to assume that Donsaii extracted them somehow. Exactly what we wanted her to try to do, just not to succeed! The women at Alderson are also supposed to be bait for us to catch Donsaii, so for Chrissake don’t let her get them out too! You’d just as well kiss your career goodbye if that happens.” Though he could feel it spiraling around the inside of the toilet bowl Finton didn’t say anything to Wang about his own career. His AI told him he had a call from Insky, “I’ll take it.”

  Insky excitedly said, “They’ve pulled up the record from that IR camera in the cell. All four prisoners gathered around the bunk by the outer wall. They must have moved the bunk away from the wall because one by one they disappeared behind it. With that information we’ve, uh, noticed an odd, kinda circular crack in the concrete floor where the bunk stood. They’re trying to get hammers and chisels in here to see if there’s an opening beneath it.”

  Finton closed his eyes, trying to picture it. “You’re thinking they tunneled their way out of the prison so quietly than no one heard them?”

  “Um, I don’t know sir. Maybe someone from the outside tunneled in?”

  “Through concrete, without any noise?”

  “Uh, I don’t know sir.”

  Idiot, Finton thought, disconnecting without saying goodbye. “Get me Wang… Wang, the people at USP Lee are thinking that some kind of tunnel might have been used to get the men out of there. Get your prisoners off the ground floor if you can.”

  “Sir, they were on the top floor. I’d just been having them moved to the ground floor but I’ll move them back up. Should I review my plan with you?”

  “Please.”

  “OK. The three prisoners had been held near one end of a big open dorm room. I’m moving them to the other end of the dorm and into a small closed storage room with three of my men. I was doing that on the ground floor, but I’ll just put them in the matching room on the third floor. I’m putting the three female agents assigned to me in the prisoner’s beds as bait. I’ve got Alderson’s own guards posted around the building, trying to keep out of sight but ready to warn us if they see anyone approaching. Everyone is armed with Tasers so that hopefully we can take Donsaii down without any permanent harm.”

  ***

  Ell uncomfortably shifted her belly to the other side of the saddle of the hoverbike and bent her head bac
k down behind the fairing. This hoverbike ride from USP Lee to FPC Alderson was pretty unpleasant, even though she had kept the speed down to a hundred miles per hour and the altitude to 3,000 feet. Shan and the others had already arrived at Alderson and were hovering at 10,000 feet, sending back imaging showing a lot more people out on the grounds than usual.

  Ell assumed that they must have noticed the guys’ absence at USP Lee. She’d really hoped to get the girls out of Alderson before they noticed the guys were gone and kicked over the hornet’s nest. But, better the guys already out of high security prison, than the girls out of a low security one. She wondered if they should call off trying to get the girls out tonight and try again later after things had calmed down. On the other hand, they might move the women to a higher security prison and put tougher measures into place. For now, she still hoped to get them out tonight, though she’d feel a lot better about it if she weren’t over eight months pregnant.

  Mary pulled the lapel of her robe up like she was wiping the sleep out of her eyes. While it covered her face she whispered to her AI. “Connect me to Ell.” Letting her robe drop back down she turned to the man in the suit and said, “What’s going on? Why are we being moved to the other end of the dorm?”

  Ell almost asked Mary what she was talking about, but then realized that Mary had just hooked her into the conversation there at FPC Alderson because she couldn’t speak directly to Ell. Moved. That’s not good. Damn. The other end of the dorm isn’t all that helpful.

  Whoever Mary had been speaking to didn’t respond. After a bit Mary’s voice continued, “I don’t like being in this windowless storeroom, I’ve got a little bit of claustrophobia.”