“Thanks. That little drone was a good shot in its own right,” Wildcat replied with a stupid grin. “Where’s Bao?”
Patton shrugged and looked around for his young friend. Bao had sacrificed his work truck for their plan. As Wildcat drove past the carnage, they saw that Bao’s truck had smashed into one car and damaged two others in the process. There was no sight of their friend.
“That little bastard did a nice job,” Wildcat said with a wry grin. “Remind me to tell him when I see him.”
Patton nodded and said, “He’ll like that. You really scare the crap out of that kid, you know.”
“Me?” Wildcat said innocently. “That’s crazy.”
They shared a laugh and then Patton turned serious. The dread returned to his mind as he thought about what he might see when he reached the prison.
Gravel crunched under the tires as the driver brought the truck to a stop. Wildcat slammed the truck into park and killed the engine.
“You coming?” he asked Patton. Patton nodded and opened his door and climbed out.
They entered together cautiously, with Patton following Wildcat. Both had pistols drawn and at the ready. They moved slowly and cautiously, making sure they didn’t run into an ambush. Patton was confident that they would meet no resistance, but he would much rather be safe than sorry. Halfway down the main hall another hallway intersected. They each searched in opposite directions, finding no one there. After a few more minutes of searching and clearing rooms, they returned to the main intersection of hallways.
“Patton, I found the security office,” Wildcat said, heading back from the way he’d come. Patton followed him eagerly.
Patton was led to a room that had a bank of monitors and a computer terminal. He sat down and shook the mouse to activate the computer. The monitor lit up and he began searching files.
“Anything?” Wildcat asked.
Patton tapped a couple keys.
“No,” he said with a frown. “Nothing on any of the security cameras. Looks like a ghost town.”
Patton clicked through files, hoping to find a list of prisoners. He found one folder marked ‘inmates’ and double clicked on it. The window opened almost immediately. There were four file folders marked ‘A block,’ ‘B block,’ ‘C block,’ ‘D block.’ He clicked on A and scrolled down, not sure exactly how the prisoners had been catalogued. The inmates were in alphabetical order according to their last name. There were names, dates, ages and some coding he didn’t understand.
Block A seemed to be all males, as was B block. Both C and D blocks contained women but he didn’t see Jennifer’s name. His heart sank when he didn’t find her there and he was near his breaking point when he opened open a file called “D-shed.” He didn’t see her name. He didn’t see any names, in fact, just inmate numbers that didn’t correspond with anything he’d seen in the other files. He turned off the monitor and walked out to where his friend was standing guard, his frustration evident on his face.
“She not in there?” Wildcat asked, placing an affectionate hand on Patton’s shoulder.
Patton had to turn away to hide the tears that had just sprung up in his eyes.
“No,” he said, nearly choking on the word.
“That doesn’t mean anything, buddy. We’re gonna search every nook and cranny in this place.”
Patton nodded and they made their way towards the back of the building.
Patton put his hand on the door to D block and hesitated for a moment. The dread of knowing that she was gone was outweighing the need to know if she was. All of the training that he’d received, to instill in him the ability to fulfill the mission at any cost and then deal with the consequences, had been overcome by human emotion. Finally, he steeled himself and pulled the door open.
The entryway was dark and the room was cold. Straight ahead of him was a receptionist’s window that guards must have used to check in visitors and administrators. Large, heavy metal doors were on either side of the window. The door to the right had a small black card reader. Patton reached into his pocket and retrieved a security card that he’d nabbed from the security office in the main building. There was a small red light, so he knew it must still be powered. He slid the card through the reader. The light turned green and Patton heard a click. He pulled it open and stepped through.
He found himself in a long, wide hallway with bright tile floors that gleamed from a recent wax and buff job. There were cells on both sides of the hall—each one had a heavy metal door with a small rectangular window that allowed guards to view the inmates. Patton walked to the first window and looked in. It was empty. The only thing he could see was a neatly-folded blanket and set of sheets sitting at the foot of the bed. The second cell was also empty, but in the third cell, he could see a shape underneath a blanket. He tried the door handle but it was locked. He slammed his palm on the door. The shape stirred and rose to sit at the edge of the bed. She was small, probably in her forties, and was obviously shocked to see anyone but a guard pounding on her door.
He hopelessly tried pulling the door open again and just waited for the woman to approach the door.
“It’s locked,” he said, fogging the glass with his breath. The woman gave him a “no duh” expression. He smacked his forehead with his palm and shook his head at his own stupidity.
“There’s a lock in the guards’ room,” she said, pointing towards where he’d just come from.
He walked back, retrieved the cardkey again, swiped it and entered the guards’ room. It took him a few minutes to find the control he was looking for, but he found it and unlocked all of the cells. He walked back to the woman’s cell and pulled the heavy door open for her. She took a couple of cautious steps into the hallway and then looked up at Patton. Recognition dawned on her face, but she was so dazed from being woken up that she couldn’t quite place him.
“Hi,” Patton said dumbly, making sure to keep his pistol down by his hip.
The woman pulled a lock of sweaty hair from her forehead and looked at him with ghostly eyes.
“I’m Patton,” he said, extending his large hand towards her. She shook it and then seemed to come fully to her senses.
“I know who you are!” she said, excited now. She looked away from him, maybe intimidated by the eye contact. “Can I get a drink of water?” she said, clearing her throat. “They turned the water off before they left.”
“Who’s they?”
She coughed and cleared her throat again.
“The guards. They turned everything off before they left,” she repeated, maybe forgetting that she’d already told him that bit of news.
Patton looked down at her, realizing that this is what he and his friends must have looked like when they encountered Ronald Harris for the first time. He activated his radio and told Wildcat to turn on the water to the building.
“What are you going to do with us?” she asked, tears in her eyes. At first he was puzzled by the question and her almost-whimpering tone. However, he looked at her. She was in rough shape.
Patton clenched his jaw. Any regret he’d had for killing Asher melted away. “Bastard,” he thought out loud but apparently she hadn’t heard him.
“Ma’am,” he said, reaching out and grabbing her hands and holding them out between them. She looked at him in disbelief. Human contact, let alone a gesture of affection, had become foreign to her. “We’re not going to do anything with you. Today is the last day you’ll ever spend in this God-forsaken place. You’re leaving. Right now. Grab whatever you need and walk towards the front of the building. We’ll have clothes, food, and water for you.”