by Gavin Zanker
‘Such constant political back-and-forths down here in the south. It must be exhausting. It makes me long for the simplicity of Kiln Commons.’
‘Well, once we’ve finalised the details, there will be nothing keeping you from returning to your simple life.’
Trent’s eyes twinkled over his bemused expression at the veiled insult, and for a moment Reinhold thought he had stepped too far. The door opened, defusing the moment, and Susie reappeared carrying a tray of drinks. Trent’s gaze followed the sway of her hips as she entered the room and placed the tray on the desk.
‘Well there’s something,’ Trent said, looking her up and down. ‘What’s your name, darlin’?’
‘Susie, sir,’ the girl replied. She extended a glass towards Trent and smiled meekly.
Trent turned to Reinhold. ‘How much?’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘How much for the girl? I’ve always had a thing for red-heads.’
‘She’s not for sale, I’m afraid.’ Reinhold took a glass from the tray and swirled the ice around in the amber liquid before taking a sip. ‘It’s hard to find decent help these days.’
Trent stood and moved around behind Susie, stroking the hair that had fallen from behind her ear. He inhaled deeply over her shoulder before turning back to Reinhold.
‘Come now,’ he said, ‘tell me one thing in this life that doesn’t have a price.’
CHAPTER 7
THE RUSTED FENCE rasped across the skin of Aiden’s arm as he shifted his weight. The yard behind him was humming with activity, but his attention was focused elsewhere.
There was only one way in and out of the prison complex. The main gate. And it was always manned by two guards. Opposite the gates, built against the canyon wall a few hundred metres from the complex, was the cable lift which ferried the guards back and forth from the city above.
Aiden watched as the lift descended, stopping at the bottom with a rough jolt. Two guards stepped out, closing and locking the grated door behind them. They approached the prison gate, and after a quick shift changeover, the relieved guards headed for the lift to return to their homes in the city.
Aiden fingered the keys that were burning a hole in his pocket. Sherman must know they were missing now, but had not raised any alarms.
Yet.
He was probably too concerned about his safety and reputation to report yet another problem to Captain Ellington. It seemed his plan was to keep quiet and hope the lost keys would not come back to bite him.
Aiden knew he had to act soon though. He could not keep the keys secret forever, sooner or later they would be found and then he would lose his opportunity. But at the same time, he knew moving before he was ready could ruin everything.
‘What are you staring at?’ Luke asked, appearing alongside Aiden.
‘I want out of this place,’ Aiden said as he watched the lift rise.
‘Yeah, you and everyone else in here, bud.’ Luke leaned against the fence and put his hands in his pockets. ‘You seem a bit out of it, staring off into space like that. You doing okay?’
‘I’m getting out of here, and I’m thinking that I know how I’m doing it.’ The lift disappeared out of view into the city above, and Aiden turned to Luke. ‘There’s a problem though.’
‘Isn’t there always,’ Luke said, pulling out a cigarette and offering one to Aiden.
‘I can get out of the prison, but I don’t know what’s waiting up there,’ Aiden said, jabbing his thumb towards the lift. ‘I’m going to need backup. It’s a two man job.’
Luke frowned as he cupped and lit his cigarette. ‘You’re asking me to help you escape?’
‘No,’ Aiden said, lighting his own cigarette. ‘I’m asking you to help both of us escape.’
Luke snorted, and exhaled loudly. ‘Aiden, we’re at the bottom of a sodding canyon, in a locked facility under armed guard, sitting underneath a million tonnes of city. It’s not doable. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s just not possible.’
‘Believe me, I can get us out. The only question is, are you coming with me?’
Luke glanced around the yard, then back to Aiden. ‘You’re really serious? You think you can get out?’
‘What do you think?’
‘You know what? You’re a damn sight smarter than I am,’ Luke said, breaking out his lopsided grin. ‘I reckon I actually believe you. So why not? I must be mental, but count me in. So what’s this genius plan of yours then?’
Aiden took a long drag of his cigarette and smiled as he turned back towards the fence. ‘The plan is we’re going to blow the place up.’
AIDEN LAY ON his bunk, arm slung over his eyes, listening to the fly buzzing around the cell when he heard footsteps enter.
‘They called time already?’ Aiden said, without looking. ‘I thought they’d have you on site for hours yet.’
‘Time’s up, Aiden.’
Realising the voice was not Luke’s, Aiden shot upright, eyes flaring open. He saw Dion standing over his bunk, his metal teeth shining behind a grim smile. The man knelt by the bunk and placed a large hand on Aiden’s chest, pushing him back to a lying position.
‘I tried to make this easy for you, Aiden. But you’re just too damn stubborn. Now you’ve given me no choice.’ Dion pulled out the screwdriver, flashing it front of Aiden’s face. ‘So this is it. Last chance I’m giving you. Join or die. What’s it going to be?’
Aiden’s mind raced as he tried to think of a way out. He saw Pedge stood with arms folded outside the cell to keep any inquisitive people out. Glaring at the man who had made his life hell in this place, Aiden felt his anger rising.
‘You’re a cockroach, Dion. Scratching out your sad little corner in this sad little pit. It means nothing. Why don’t you make everyone’s life that much better and just scuttle back to your cell and die.’
Dion’s jaw clenched as he listened to the words. For a moment he looked as though he was going to speak. But then he raised the screwdriver, ready to drive it down towards Aiden’s belly.
‘Inmate!’
A guard barged into the cell, knocking Pedge aside. Dion jumped to his feet, the screwdriver clattering harmlessly to the floor.
‘Well, well,’ the guard said. ‘Looks like I found our little tool thief.’
‘What? I don’t know what that is,’ Dion said, his face flushed. ‘It must’ve fallen out of Aiden’s mattress.’
The guard shoved Dion up against the wall, slamming his head against the cinder blocks, and cuffing his hands behind his back.
‘You’ve got the wrong guy,’ Dion protested. ‘He was about to attack me with it! I’m the victim here!’
Aiden sat up and collected the fallen screwdriver. The guard turned to him and extended his hand for the tool. Aiden passed it to him without a word.
‘Come on, Chavez. It’s solitary for you, dimwit. You’ll be there a good while for this little stunt.’
The guard hauled Dion out of the cell, just as Luke appeared in the doorway. Luke nodded at the guard as they passed each other. Dropping his head into his hands, Aiden waited for his heart to slow to a normal rate.
‘Problem?’ Luke asked, entering the cell and checking his reflection in the polished metal plate screwed into the wall.
‘It was you wasn’t it,’ Aiden said. ‘You grassed Dion up to the guards.’
Luke turned and shushed him loudly. ‘Keep your damn voice down, or I’ll be the one getting shanked.’
Aiden looked up at his cell mate, realising how little he actually knew the man. ‘You know, I never took you for a snitch.’
‘Hey, you should be thanking me. I just saved your life, bud.’
Aiden rubbed his face wearily. ‘You don’t snitch on people, Luke. That’s pretty much the only rule in this place. How can I trust you now?’
‘If I hadn’t, you’d be lying there bleeding to death right now. I did what I had to. It was as much for me as you. If I’d let that gorilla shank you, the plan would have gone down t
he toilet, right?’
Snitching to the guards went against Aiden’s code, but time was running out and he needed Luke to escape. He had no choice but to trust his cell mate for now.
‘So we’re still good, right?’ Luke asked, spreading his hands.
‘For now,’ Aiden said, nodding slowly. ‘Just don’t screw me, Luke. Or I’ll bury you out there.’
Luke winked, then headed back out of the cell. ‘Come on, it’s almost chow time and I’m starved.’
Aiden pulled himself to his feet and followed Luke out into the corridor. A nagging feeling told him that taking the screwdriver in the gut would have been easier than dealing with what was coming in the following days.
CHAPTER 8
‘ALL RIGHT, CONVICTS,’ Sherman said. ‘You know your jobs for the day, now get on with them.’
The maintenance crew murmured between themselves as they drifted away from the meeting. Aiden overheard a few of the comments. It seemed Sherman’s dismissive attitude was not winning him any friends among the prisoners.
Aiden glanced across the site at the construction crew and saw Luke busy chatting with another prisoner. He seemed strangely at ease as he hauled scaffolding poles around.
Swinging his tool-belt from over his shoulder, Aiden strapped it around his waist and headed over to engine two. He had been working on it since the day it had been lowered down from the surface, and at this point he knew the locomotive inside and out. Engine two sat in parallel with three similar machines now, but was the only engine that worked consistently. All of the others suffered breakdowns and stoppages daily. Aiden was proud of what he had managed essentially single-handedly, and he felt sadness at what he needed to do now.
He hauled himself up the side of the engine until he was seated on top of the boiler. He crawled across to the brass casing. Still loose, just as he had left it the previous day. Glancing around to check no one was watching, he lifted the casing to expose the pressure relief valve.
The valve was a safety mechanism that present on all of the locomotive boilers. Designed to vent steam if the pressure built too high inside the boiler, it had become a standard feature after so many catastrophic accidents on the railway. Spring loaded, and protected by the brass casing, it did its job invisibly. But with some tampering it would become the distraction Aiden needed.
He tightened the nuts on the valve, locking the spring down. Satisfied, he replaced the casing and hopped down to the ground.
‘We all set?’ a prisoner asked from the cabin.
Aiden frowned, not expecting company. ‘Don’t you work on engine four?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, but it’s down today. More problems with the gauges. Sherman’s taking a look at it so I thought I’d come give someone else a hand.’
Aiden had to get the man away from the boiler without arousing suspicion. ‘Hey, since you’re here, do me a favour? Run and find Luke for me? He’s part of the construction crew. I need him to take a look at some of these cracks in the foundation.’
‘You don’t need a hand firing this up?’
‘Nah, I’ve got it. Thanks though.’
‘All right, if you say so.’ The prisoner jumped down from the cab and lit a cigarette before wandering away towards where the scaffolding was being rigged.
Aiden watched him go, then clambered up inside the cab and set about stoking the boiler. He spent a few minutes shovelling coal into the furnace until the fire was roaring. Swinging the heavy metal cover shut with his boot, he wiped his brow leaving black streaks across his forehead. He moved to the controls and pulled a series of levers, engaging the engine which slowly came to life.
Patches on the underside of the boiler were more corroded then Sherman would admit, and Aiden he knew any amount of excess pressure would cause a rupture. If the pressure was high enough inside the boiler, then that crack could blast the whole thing wide open.
He climbed back out of the cab to find Luke examining the ground around the engine. He looked at Aiden with a raised eyebrow, and Aiden nodded. They sauntered away together, a safe distance from the boiler.
Soon enough, the enormous boiler was groaning under the mounting stress. Aiden shouted a warning to the maintenance crew, and everyone scrambled away from the now violently shaking engine.
‘What’s going on?’ demanded Sherman as he saw the crews running. Aiden pointed at the engine and Sherman’s face fell. Even he could figure out what was coming next.
‘What about the release valve?’ Sherman asked, his voice panicking.
‘It’s too late for that,’ Aiden said. ‘Everyone get down!’
As Aiden predicted, the guards posted at the gate rushed over to investigate the commotion as everyone dived behind what cover they could find. Aiden tapped Luke’s shoulder and they slipped behind the guards, heading towards the lift at a quick pace.
As they reached the grated door to the lift, the boiler ruptured. The pressure cracked the boiler, and the superheated water inside instantly expanded to steam. The resulting explosion shook the ground beneath them.
‘How the hell did you do that? Luke asked, mouth open as pieces of boiler plate sailed twenty metres into the air.
‘Come on, there’s no time to stand around gawping,’ Aiden said, fumbling for the keys in his pocket.
He unlocked the lift and slid the metal cage open with a clatter. The two of them jumped inside, slamming the grate shut behind them. Luke hit the lever and the lift moved upwards with a violent jolt.
‘You had keys this whole time?’ Luke said, disbelief in his voice. ‘I can’t believe we’re actually going to make it out.’
‘That depends on what’s waiting for us at the top of this lift,’ Aiden said. ‘So be ready, we’ll have to move fast.’
As the lift ascended, Aiden studied the shrinking generator site and the destruction he had caused. Engine two was in pieces, scattered over the site. The adjacent engine three had toppled over in the blast, now lying on its side. Guards and prisoners milled around in confusion, tiny figures from this height.
The lift slowed as it approached the city above. Aiden looked up sharply as the cage was plunged in to shadow. A moment later, an electric light shone down from above as the lift slowed, gradually arriving at its destination.
‘You ready?’ Aiden asked, hand on the door.
Luke swallowed hard but said nothing.
Aiden took a deep breath, then slid open the grated door and jumped out ready to sprint. His heart sank as he found himself in a room filled with guards.
‘WELL WELL, COLOUR me impressed, convicts.’ The imposing figure of Captain Ellington stepped forward, clapping slowly. ‘First time anyone has ever made it so close to escaping from my prison.’
Aiden’s shoulders sagged. Five guards and the Captain stood between him and the exit, all of them carrying firearms. There was no way he could fight his way through.
The Captain caught him looking through the open door to the bustling city beyond. ‘Must sting to be within spitting distance, eh?’ He turned to the nearest guard. ‘Sergeant Wilkins, remind me, what is the penalty for attempted escape?’
‘Ten years extended sentence, sir.’
The tall Captain turned back and looked Aiden in the eye. ‘Ten years extended sentence,’ he repeated. ‘Something tells me that this particular convict would go to great lengths to avoid that extra time.’ The Captain narrowed his eyes. ‘This man is resourceful. Perhaps a little too resourceful. I wouldn’t want any more accidents like the one that just took place on my generator site.’
‘That was no accident,’ Luke said, stepping forward. ‘He sabotaged it. Rigged the thing to blow up somehow!’
The Captain turned his head sideways, addressing the Sergeant again. ‘Who is this?’
‘Luke Berrington, sir. He’s the one that tipped us off about the escape.’
Aiden’s eyes widened in disbelief as he turned to look at his cell mate. Luke did not meet his gaze, instead keeping his eyes fixed on the grate
d metal floor.
‘Ah yes,’ Ellington continued cheerfully. ‘The traitor.’
‘Why, Luke?’ Aiden asked with a frown, unable to comprehend the betrayal. ‘We could’ve walked out that door and both been free men.’
‘Free? Don’t kid yourself, there’s no freedom out there,’ Luke said, pointing towards the city. ‘Just starvation. And raiders ready to cut your head off. And dust storms that strip the flesh from your bones. At least in this place we get shelter and food!’
‘You’d rather have a cage than face reality? You’d choose to be a prisoner for the sake of the slop they serve in the canteen?’
‘Say what you like, it means nothing. I know what’s out there and I know for a fact I’d much rather be in here.’ Luke turned to the Captain. ‘I was made certain promises for this.’
The Captain grinned as he watched the exchange. ‘Oh I do love a good domestic. However, I need to go and report to the Mayor that his generator site just blew up. Something which could have been avoided if a certain convict had bothered mentioning it to the guards.’
‘But I didn’t know until the last minute,’ Luke whined. ‘How could I have told you?’
‘Quit your snivelling,’ Ellington said. He stepped up to Aiden, stopping just short of him. ‘Do you have anything to say for yourself, Fielding? Any remorse for your actions?’
‘No one was hurt in the explosion, I made sure of it.’
‘Oh I’m sure Mayor Reinhold will sing for joy when he finds out none of his precious convicts were hurt.’ The Captain took another step forward, his face inches from Aiden’s now. ‘No one cares if you live or die. Your life is irrelevant, along with everyone else’s down there in that pit. You understand that?’
Aiden met the man’s unblinking stare. Cold and blue, he saw no humanity in his eyes. He understood then he would receive no mercy from this man.
Ellington stepped back, his smirk returning. ‘Well this has been fun, but I have business to attend to.’ He turned to the Sergeant. ‘Toss him in the arena, he’s too dangerous to keep around. Let’s see how long he lasts in the middle of a blood bath. Who knows, he might even put up a decent fight.’
