Wanted Read online

  Another voice, irritated and male, said, “This isn’t a storeroom.”

  “I think it used to be. Who are you anyway? You aren’t one of the guards… since you’re wearing a suit it makes me think you’re FBI. Are you a Feeb?”

  This time the man didn’t respond but Ell smiled a little at the information that Mary had slyly provided. She asked Allan to bring up the floor plan of Alderson that he’d found hidden somewhere on the net. The dorm is long and runs from northwest to southeast. The room they were in was on the northeast side, near the northwest end of the dorm. If, as Mary says, they’ve been moved to the opposite end, then they must be at the southeast end now. But the southeast end of the dorm was a pretty big target. Ell studied the floor plan. There were several rooms without windows, at least on this version of the floor plan. Aha. One of them specified a half door into a hallway, like storerooms often had. Oh, and shelves. That one must be the storeroom, or at least look like one to Mary.

  The hoverbike started to slow as it approached Alderson. With a sigh of relief, Ell leaned up, taking some of the pressure off her belly. “Mary,” she said, “I know you can’t talk. I’m going to ask some questions. Cough once or click your teeth together once for yes, twice for no.” Ell then proceeded to ask Mary some questions about her location based on the floor plan, eventually confirming to her satisfaction that Mary was in fact in the room Ell had thought from the plan. Amy and Lisa were with her, as were two agents. Mary thought two more agents were posted outside the room.

  Allan said, “Steve is calling.”

  “Put him on… Hey Steve, good to have you out of there.”

  “Good to be out, but we need to rethink bringing out the girls tonight. The grounds of this place are crawling with guards.”

  “I’m worried about it too, but I’m also afraid that if we don’t take them out tonight, they’ll move them somewhere much more difficult.”

  “Hey, if you can tunnel through the reinforced concrete floor of a high security prison, I doubt there’s any place you couldn’t get them out of.”

  “I can think of some things they could do to make it much harder; I’ll bet they probably can too. And Amy’s not doing very well there. I don’t want to leave her in there if we don’t have to.”

  “I’ll guarantee that if you start dangling outside the windows of one of those prison dorms, someone’s going to see you. Worse, since they won’t have any other way to apprehend you, they’ll probably start shooting.”

  “How about if I land on the roof? Do they have any personnel up there?”

  “No, but you’re still going to have to get down to the window. It’ll just take one guard glancing up.”

  “Oh! No, they’ve been moved to a room without a window. Actually, that’s kind of better. We can go in through the roof without disturbing the entire dorm full of inmates.”

  “You can go through the roof quietly?”

  “We went through the concrete floor of your cell quietly Steve. It isn’t completely silent, there’s a sucking sound but it’s not very loud.” Musingly she said, “One problem is they’ve got two agents or guards in the room with the girls and there are more guys stationed outside the door.”

  “Ell, there’s no way you can do this! Let’s regroup and come back another night when they aren’t all keyed up.”

  “Steve, I’m landing on the roof right now. I would kind of like your help, but I can understand your reluctance. I do need you guys to have your hoverbikes hold in the area right over Alderson because I’ve just started spooling the graphene cables out of your bikes so they can pull the girls up out of here.”

  “Oh, Jeez,” Steve groaned, “this like trying to reason with a rock!” He sighed, “Spool the cable back up. I put on a harness and clipped the cable to it before I left the quarry so it’s just hanging under me in a big loop right now.”

  “Just unclip it and let it drop off the side.”

  “No, I mean, if you’ll pull it back up some, I’ll drop over the side and ride it down to help you however I can. I just don’t want to jump over and fall a couple of hundred feet before the cable stops me.”

  “OK, transferring control of your cable to your AI.”

  Shan said, “Pull mine back up and I’ll clip on and come down to help too.”

  “No!” Steve and Ell chorused together. Ell continued, “I don’t want you hanging off the side of your hoverbike, trying to grab that cable and falling. You stay safe so I don’t have to worry.”

  Ell crouched on the roof, the motor on the cable under AI control to provide just enough tension to keep her overall weight on the roof down to about five pounds. That way she didn’t have to worry about the rafters creaking. Using the twelve inch single port she made an irregular but large hole in the roof right over where she thought the storeroom would be. She’d had Allan help her locate the spot according the plan and her vid images of the roof as she’d descended, simply taking ratios of dimensions. Still very light on her feet, she lowered herself down into the hole and used a hand to brush aside the insulation lying between the ceiling joists in order to get an estimate of just how deep the sheet rock of the ceiling lay beneath her. “Mary, don’t respond to me but look up at the ceiling if you can do it without being too obvious. Do you see a tiny flashing blue light above you anywhere?”

  Mary’s eyebrows rose at this instruction. Pretending to stretch she tilted her head back and saw a tiny blue spark flashing just off center in the ceiling. She clicked her teeth once.

  “OK,” Ell said quietly. Then she said, “Lisa and Amy, try not to react. Don’t respond except by coughing or clicking your teeth, once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no.’ I’ve been talking to Mary but you need to know what’s going to happen next. My plan is to try to take you out of here now, but it might be dangerous, are you still up for it?

  Lisa clicked her teeth. Mary tried not to grin when Amy coughed explosively, startling the two men in the room with them.

  Ell continued quietly, “OK, I’m going to open a hole in the ceiling, then Tase the guys in the room with you. Don’t stand too close to them but be ready to grab them so they don’t hurt themselves when they fall.”

  Mary clicked her teeth, then resisted a powerful impulse to look up at the ceiling when a sucking whooshing sound emanated from above their heads.

  Ell had just used the large single port to cut a twelve inch opening in the ceiling. It only took a second. When the port snapped off, Ell lowered her head just enough to locate the two guards, then fired the Taser darts that her index finger single ports were already set up to fire. The darts didn’t appear in this universe until they were below the ceiling so Ell didn’t have to actually put her fingers through the opening in the ceiling.

  Mary had her eyes on the two men and saw them begin to glance upward, startled looks on their faces, then they spasmed, the Asian one grunting a long moan as he tipped toward her like a felled tree. Mary caught him as he fell, lowering him to the ground face down. Glancing up she saw Lisa stumble a little under the larger African-American one. He came down a little hard, though much softer than he would have if Lisa hadn’t been there trying to slow his fall.

  Looking up, Mary saw a lopsided, approximately four foot diameter hole in the ceiling, rafters, trusses and all. Ell leaned to one side and Steve dropped through the hole, obviously suspended from something. Since Mary couldn’t see anything suspending him, she assumed it must be one of the graphene cables that could be unwound from under the hoverbikes.

  Sure enough, behind Steve came one of the little balls and D-rings that hung from the ends of the cables. Little jets of air from the ball centered the D-ring in the opening as it dropped down to them.

  Ell said, “Lisa, clip yourself to that D-ring and let’s get you out of here.”

  Steve had crouched and snapped plasticuffs to one of the agents and turned to the other one.

  Lisa grabbed the D-ring with one hand, pulling the clip of her harness out of her shirt with t
he other. As soon as Lisa snapped it on, Ell said, “Allan, take Lisa up.”

  Lisa flew up out of the opening in the roof and another ball puffed its way into the opening. Ell said, “Mary, take that one.”

  Mary frowned, “What about Amy?” she said, glancing at Amy and seeing a panicked look on her face. She grabbed the D-ring, stepping toward Amy.

  Ell said, “Steve’s taking Amy up on his cable, she doesn’t have any experience with riding cables.”

  Mary snapped her own harness onto the D-ring. As her feet lifted off the floor and she shot up out of the hole, she glimpsed a pained grimace on Ell’s face.

  Looking down she could see light coming up out of the hole in the Alderson dorm’s roof. The light was moving away as Mary swung to the west. Ell came up out of the hole in the roof, then two bodies briefly occluded the light from the opening, presumably Steve and Amy. “Ell, are you OK?”

  “I might have overdone it,” Ell grated out.

  “Oh my God! Are you having labor pains?”

  “Something sure hurts.”

  Mary found herself descending to a landing beside a car. “We’ve got to get you to a hospital!”

  “Yeah, I don’t think I can go much farther in this harness,” she grunted and ground out, “or on a hoverbike.”

  “We can put you in the car!”

  “On my way.” Ell grunted.

  Mary landed fairly smoothly, stepped to the car and opened its back door. “I’ve got the door open for you.

  Steve’s voice broke in, “What’s happening?”

  Mary said, “Ell’s in labor, we think. She’s hurting anyway. I’m putting her in the back seat of the car. Lisa and I should fly out of here on hoverbikes so Ell can have the whole back seat to herself. Is Randy here to drive?”

  “Dammit! No, Randy’s down south. I think I’m our next best driver. Amy can go with us, she’s at least had a baby of her own. Shan,” he said to his AI, “Shan, Ell’s in pain. Hopefully it’s just labor. I’m going to drive since I’ve had a little training in high speed driving. Amy will ride with us as the person with the most baby experience. You should stay with your hoverbike and fly directly to the hospital. Where’s the nearest hospital that can deliver a baby?”

  Though Steve had been speaking to his own AI, Allan came on, saying, “Greenbrier Valley Medical Center. It’s twelve miles but a twenty minute drive at the speed limit.”

  Shan moaned, “I knew this was a bad idea!”

  Steve calmly said, “Pull it together man. Don’t worry about what you should have done. Worry about what you should do. As your bike drops Lisa off you need to land and hook yourself to the cable so that you’ll be able to cable down to the medical center. You don’t want to be landing a hoverbike in the center’s parking lot.”

  While Mary had been listening to all this she’d reached up and helped Ell land. Unsnapping Ell’s cable she helped her into the back of the car. Doing so, she felt Ell’s belly tighten. Speaking directly to Ell without the need of their AIs she said, “I’m not sure what labor feels like, but I’ll bet that’s it. How far along are you?”

  “Thirty seven weeks.” Ell grunted.

  Amy’s voice came over Mary’s shoulder, “Good. Even if the baby comes tonight, the baby should be OK at thirty seven weeks. Let’s get Ell lying down across the back seat.”

  Steve opened the driver’s door and said, “Amy, get in. Let’s get moving.”

  Mary watched the car pull away as downdrafts signaled the landing of three hoverbikes, one with a helmeted man aboard. She walked to him and put a hand on his shoulder, “Hey Shan, don’t panic.” She crouched and grabbed the D-ring that hung from the bottom of the hoverbike, lifting it up and handing it to Shan. “Ell needs you now.”

  “I know,” he sighed, “and per Steve’s advice I’m not going to say, ‘should have,’ anymore.”

  “Alright. I’m gonna suggest you fly along above the car instead of just going directly to the med center. Then if they have to stop, you’ll be there.”

  “Good idea, thanks.”

  Mary saw that Lisa had already mounted a hoverbike. She walked to hers and lifted the saddle. The helmet in the compartment fit, though a little loosely. Mary got on, made sure that the cable was spooled up so that only a little hung free and then lifted into the air. Man, I love flying these things!

  Before Mary could wonder where to go, Steve’s voice came through her implant. “Mary, Lisa, in the rush at the car we didn’t give you the new clothes Ell had for you. Worse, you don’t have HUDs because they’re wrapped up in your clothes. Try to find this car by looking for headlights below you. There shouldn’t be much traffic this time of night and so if you can pick us out heading east by a little bit north we can pause and set your clothes out for you.”

  Mary looked down at the landscape below. She didn’t see all that many headlights but she noticed flashing red and blue lights here and there. “Steve, I see flashing lights. They may be putting up roadblocks. You might want to stop and let us pick Amy up with a hoverbike.” She paused, “Even though you’re a long way from USP Lee, they might be looking for you too. Maybe Shan should be driving?”

  Allan spoke directly to Mary. “I can guide you to a position over their car because I have GPS locations on both of you.”

  Allan had evidently linked them all into one big conversation because next Mary heard Ell say, “Steve, take these.”

  Down in the car Steve said, “Clippers?”

  “Yeah,” Ell grunted, “quickest possible disguise. Shave your head and get rid of that big mustache of yours. Amy, there’s a bundle of clothes under your car seat. In the middle is your HUD, some skin bronzer and a wig. Get into them.”

  Steve stopped the car so Amy could set clothes bundles out on the side of the road for Mary and Lisa to pick up. Then he let the car’s AI take over the driving. Amy had said she felt pretty sure Ell was in labor, rather than having something seriously wrong with her. Though he worried about what the early labor meant, it would probably be safer not to speed at night, especially with the cops looking for people fleeing Alderson. Lifting the clippers, he worried about all the clippings, wondering if someone looking into the vehicle would see all the loose hair and recognize that he’d just cut his hair. To his surprise, when he turned the clippers on a whooshing sound came from them. Looking down at them in the lights of the dash, he saw an oval port right behind the clipper head. Sure enough, when he applied them to his head, the cut hair seemed to get sucked away. He lowered the visor and looked at himself in the lit mirror on the back of it as he cut away his hair until he looked much like he had as a basic recruit. Next, the mustache disappeared. He had to admit it did radically change his appearance, but it looked a little ratty because the clippers didn’t cut it close enough. He turned to look at Ell, forcing his eyes to move quickly past Amy, still struggling to pull on a pair of jeans in the tight confines of her car seat. “Ell, how are you doing?” he asked.

  Digging in the pocket of her oversized windbreaker type jacket Ell said, “Not too bad right now. I’m between contractions.” She pulled something out of the pocket and held it out to him. “Here.”

  Steve took the object and looked at it. “An electric razor?” He snorted, “How much stuff are you hauling with you?”

  “Ports, Steve. Ports. Remember them? I’ve got a big one in my pocket. Gimme those clippers and I’ll put them back through so we won’t have them if anyone searches us.”

  Steve frowned as he handed her the clippers, “Who’s passing the stuff to you?”

  “A waldo,” she grunted.

  Worriedly Steve raised the Norelco type razor to his head and started running it around. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Amy bent forward putting on her shoes.

  As Steve finished with the razor and felt his scalp and face, Mary’s voice said, “Roadblock ahead.” Steve’s eyes came to the front. Red and blue flashing lights blocked the road ahead.

  Steve turned to Amy, “Amy, ro
adblock ahead. Get your prison clothes under the seat and the wig on your head. Leave the shoes for now. Then lower your seat back and hang over Ell like you’re concerned about her, not like you’re trying to avoid their seeing your face. Ell, you make a lot of noise about how bad you’re hurting. Childbirth makes cops nervous. Pull up your shirt so they can see that that’s your actual tummy, not a pillow.”

  The car began to slow. Amy had her visor down, adjusting the blond wig and tucking strands of hair in under it. She flipped up the visor and reclined the seat, turning to lean back over Ell in the back seat. She reached out and put a hand on Ell’s tummy, gently rubbing. “How’re you holding up?” she asked quietly.

  Ell handed her a couple of cotton balls and grunted, “I’m OK. Tuck these between your cheeks and your lower molars.”

  The car pulled to a stop. A patrolman stepped up to each side of the car and Steve rolled down the window. “What’s going on officer? We’ve got to get to the hospital, we’re having a baby!” Ell let out a piteous moan.

  The patrolman said, “Breakout at the women’s prison down the road. I’m going to have to see the women’s faces, then you can be on your way.”

  Dammit! We should have stopped and put Amy out of the car for Mary to pick up! Steve thought, but his emotions didn’t show. “Yes sir,” he said, “but please hurry.”

  The patrolman opened the back door on the passenger side and leaned in to shine his light on the supposedly pregnant woman’s face, frozen in a straining rictus. He glanced up at his HUD to compare her face to the pictures of the three escaped women. She didn’t look anything like them. Suddenly she grunted and reached for her crotch. He glanced down. There was a spreading stain in her pants.

  The blond woman hovering over the pregnant lady from the front seat yelled, “Oh my God! Her waters broke! You’ve got to let us go now!”

  The patrolman glanced at the tanned blond woman, but he already knew that none of the escapees were blond. “OK. Get on your way. Hope the baby’s OK.” He thumped the top of the car as he closed the door. It pulled away, probably driven on manual since its tires threw a couple of little stones at him. At first he was a little bit angry, but then he thought to himself, I guess I’d push it on manual too, if my wife were having a baby and moaning like that.