They sat like this for about a minute, neither saying a word. Finally, Jake stood up and looked through the window. It was still light, being only about 3 in the afternoon. He hated doing gigs after lunch, he was always so full.

He remembered being very surprised when he first came to Joliet that the windows weren't barred and the doors weren't always locked. He'd been very young then. Very naïve. This place was like a second home to him. And God, how he hated it.

'I suppose it wouldn't be that hard to break out of this place,' he mused. 'I mean, if you could get past the guards, there's not much else stopping you.' And they'd just proved that it was possible to distract the guards. It must have been a pushover for the Escape Committee. He scanned his surroundings. Not a guard in sight.

He looked out to what he could see of the outside world, half-expecting to see a car speeding into the distance, crammed with EC members. There wasn't one. The road was empty.

'That's okay.' Jake assured himself. 'They've probably already passed into the distance.' But he was starting to feel a little edgy. The only car in sight was one parked outside the prison gate. Fancy one. With a guy standing outside it.

That was weird. He'd seen that car earlier, parked in the exact same spot and the guy had been standing outside it then. What was he waiting for? How come he hadn't run away from the noise of the speakers?

When he'd seen the car earlier, he'd assumed this was the getaway car. That would make sense. Expensive car, driver waiting, they'd run out, get in and drive off. But if it was, then how come it was still here and not driving away into the distance? They'd escaped, hadn't they?

And then he noticed there was someone else in the yard. A woman. Pretty. Wearing a cleaner's uniform. She was standing quite near him, next to huge laundry basket the size of a skip. Why hadn't she run for cover against the noise? What was going on?

There was something strange about her but Jake couldn't quite put his finger on it. She seemed to be very shifty, eyes darting all over the place and checking her watch. And it seemed a very strange thing to do, to just stand out there with a laundry basket.

And there was something else. Her hair looked a little weird. She was wearing something. She was wearing…earmuffs.

Suddenly, it all came together. That was the escape plan. The old hide in the laundry basket trick. The woman would wheel out a laundry basket crammed with prisoners and because of the distraction no one would stop her. And that was the escape car.

But they were both still here.

The Escape Committee hadn't escaped.

They'd been deafened for nothing.

"Oh shit," Jake muttered. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh…"

"What?"

Jake spun round to face Elwood, still on the floor. He wasn't sure if he wanted him to know. Elwood had never really been up for causing the distraction and he didn't want his brother to hate him forever by telling him it was all for nothing. Still, Elwood would get it out of him now that he knew something was wrong. Might as well be straight with him.

"I…er…I don't think they got out."

Elwood stared up at him, not saying a word. Then slowly, he got to his feet.

"What?" he said. It was innocent, but at the same time deeply threatening. Jake forced himself to speak.

"They…they didn't escape."

Elwood shoved Jake out of the way to look through the window.

"They were gonna get away in that laundry thing. I don't know what went wrong. I'm so sorry, El."

Elwood stared in amazement. Jake stood to at his side, sensing a fury rising up in his brother that was so unlike him. "What?" Elwood breathed. There was a horrible, horrible anger chashing around inside him looking for something to hit or throttle. Then he opened his mouth and yelled the word again and again, louder than Jake had ever heard him yell before.

"WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?" That was all he could get out. Nothing could sum it all up how infuriated he was that he'd risked a record of good behaviour on this and they hadn't even got out. He was getting more and more worked up.

"Take it easy man," Jake tried to grab Elwood's arm but was shaken off. Elwood screamed and kicked the wall with his foot. His left foot. He collapsed, clutching it as if it had been important to him in some way. Weird.

"Elwood, I…"

Elwood shuffled over to the wall and assumed the position he always took when he was angry as a kid; bunching himself up, hugging his knees and turning his head away. The position that screamed 'I'm not talking to you ever again until you think of a good enough reason that I should.' Jake hadn't seen him sit like that for about fifteen years. It always had the nuns rushing up to him and trying to give him treats and whatnot, but he could stay like that for days and not say a word. Jake remembered that nothing could make him talk.

Jake gave it a go, though.

"Elwood, don't be like that, please. Say something."

Silence.

"Come on, man, it wasn't my fault. You can talk to me. I'm your brother, remember?"

Silence.

Jake sighed and turned back to the window. They'd screwed up all their chances of escape. The guards wouldn't take their eyes off them from now on, not after that incident. They wouldn't be given priveliges anymore, like being able to perform or being allowed to keep their sunglasses and hats. This would probably be the last moment they ever had alone.

So why not go now?

Jake looked around. Not a guard in sight. They could use the EC's escape; get the woman to take them out in the laundry thing and then drive away in the escape car. It was simple. Foolproof. Nothing could go wrong. They could be over the horizon in three minutes.

But would Elwood do that? Elwood wasn't really the impulsive type, not like Jake. Apart from starting big, impromptu car chases he liked to plan everything in advance. Breaking out of jail wasn't something he did on the spur of the moment. But this would almost certainly be their last chance. It was worth a try.

"Uh, El? You know we both want out of here, right?" Jake couldn't bear to look at his brother, so just looked out the window and spoke over his shoulder. "Well, I was thinking, they're probably not going to leave us alone for a while, and the getaway car and the laundry thing are still there. We could use their plan and get out now if you wanna, it'd be easy…Elwood?"

He turned around. Elwood hadn't moved from his position.

"Elwood, say something, God damnit. Just yes or no."

Silence.

"Oh, Elwood, for fuck's sake."

Nothing.

There had to be something that would convince him, but nothing came to mind.

Giving up, Jake looked over at the car, wishing he could materialize inside it.

It was a nice car. Very fancy. Just the kind of thing you want to climb after spending years in jail. One of those flashy, stylish things. It looked rather familiar.

'CAR OF YOU DREAMS.'

Jake blinked. Where did that come from? It had just some into his head. Car of your dreams. What was that?

But the more he looked at the car, the more he got an eerie feeling he'd seen it before.

Jake gave his head a slight shake. What was wrong with him? He didn't care about cars. He didn't even notice them. They were just a way of getting from A to B really, really fast. It was Elwood who was obsessed with them. Elwood whose head snapped round whenever one drove by. Elwood who'd lined the room they'd shared when they were teenagers with car posters …

That was it. That was where he recognised it from. It'd been the first thing he'd seen when he woke up every morning in the orphanage, on a massive poster that covered half the wall. That had been the line under it. 'CAR OF YOUR DREAMS.'

Elwood's dream car.

He remembered how Elwood used to rant on about it. Some experimental car that they'd only made a few of, that was perfectly streamlined and incredibly cool, but had been scrapped as it was too dangerous and too expensive to make.

Jake remembered how, in his teens, Elwood would sit on his bed for hours on end, just staring up at that poster. Or how he'd watch his brother saying his prayers and know that he wasn't praying for a good life or for his parents or whatever, he was praying that some day he would be able to drive off in that car.

He glanced over his shoulder at his brother. Elwood really hadn't changed much since he was a teenager. Damnit, he was still wearing the same shades. He hadn't changed at all. Maybe this would convince him.

"Elwood? There's something you might wanna see."

"Nguh," Elwood said, which basically translates as 'No, piss off' said while not saying anything.

"Elwood, please, you gotta see this. It's about cars!"

Elwood looked up. That had got his attention.

"It's about cars, Elwood. You miss cars, don't you?" Jake spoke as if he was coaxing a kitten out from under a sofa. When Elwood had gone into one of these silent tantrums when he was a kid, it had always been Jake who would eventually get him out of it, though always days after they started.

"Come on, Elwood, just stand up and come look out of the window."

Begrudgingly, Elwood obeyed.

"Now look out of the gate. There's a car there. Do you know that car? Do you like it?"

Elwood stared for a second. Then a look spread across his face. The kind of look a person adopts when they realize they're about to fulfill their lifelong dream. Elwood had always obsessed about that car. Years of teenage dreams came flooding back to him. He looked like he was about to start drooling.

"Elwood," Jake said quietly. "If we escape now, that's the car we'll be driving away in."

Elwood snapped. That was all he needed. He shoved Jake out of the way and ran towards the door to the hall, drawing back the bolt and unlocking it.

Jake's triumphant smile faded. "Wait, Elwood, Willie's in…"

Elwood threw the door open. Sure enough, Willie was standing right in front of him, looking like an enraged bull. Jake covered his eyes.

WHAM!

Jake took his hands away, expecting to see his brother bleeding on the floor, possibly dead.

His jaw dropped.

Elwood was running into the hall. Willie was on the ground with a bloody nose. He'd been knocked down. Since when could Elwood do that?

He watched his brother charge up onto stage and start to flick random switches on the controls, possessed by a car-fixated teenage self.

"It's the big red one!" Jake yelled unhelpfully, getting way to caught up in the moment.

Elwood hit the right switch and they were greeted with the now familiar electric squeal. He gritted his teeth and grabbed the mike, hurling himself off the stage and landing smartly on his feet, filled with newfound hope. He ran over to Willie on the floor, who was just starting to stir, grabbed his collar and pulled him up.

"Okay, wise-ass, I'm giving you this mike, you say whatever you want into it and you make it loud," he yelled over the sound of the second squeal, holding the mike away from him as he spoke, making sure none of his words were picked up. Willie nodded without thinking, then Elwood dropped him and the mike next to each other and dashed through the door again after his beloved car.

Jake ran after him, but couldn't help stopping in the doorway to look smugly around the hall. "Never see you again," he bellowed to the space around him and the air he hoped he'd never have to breath again. The mike picked it up and his farewell boomed out all over the prison.

Joliet Jake gave a little wave before sprinting through the door after his brother.