Chapter 19
The detectives watched as Zipodi turned the corner of the block.
"He's off and running!" Ed Green commented as he turned the ignition key and the car glided out onto the street.
Lennie Briscoe grunted. "Let's see where he's going first." he replied. "It's Christmas Eve. For all we know he's going out to celebrate with a couple of cold ones."
"No way!" Green argued, "His evening's entertainment was already in the apartment when we visited him earlier and he paid her off."
"So maybe we caused him to lose the mood and he's going to drown his sorrows. Worked for me when I was drinking… He's going down into the subway!"
Green pulled the car into the nearest parking space and the two detectives got out and waded through the slush, dodging the traffic as they crossed the road, then down into the subway. They flashed their badges at the barrier and split up to check the platforms.
Briscoe glanced up and down. There were plenty of people waiting on the platform but it was not crowded and he had a good view of everyone there. Zipodi was not among them. He re-traced his steps, heading towards the other platform and met his partner coming in the opposite direction. They stared at each other for a moment before the truth registered. "Damn it! He's doubled back!"
The two of them hit the up escalator, taking the stairs two at a time. They left the subway just in time to see Zipodi get into a cab and drive off. It was no use trying to follow. By the time they got to their own car and turned round Zipodi could have gone anywhere.
"Yellow cab." Green murmured. He glanced at his watch, 10:13. "Did you get the registration?" he asked his partner.
"In this light?" Briscoe replied sarcastically.
"Do you think he was on to us?"
Briscoe shrugged. "I doubt it, or he wouldn't have gotten a cab straight away. Give it an hour and we'll contact the company and get a copy of the trip sheet from the hack."
"Great. In the meantime, let's get out of the cold and have a cup of coffee." said Green.
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The two guards were getting closer and Jack and Sloane could now clearly hear their conversation.
"When I was a kid, I was grateful for whatever my parents bought me, and if I wasn't, my Dad clipped me round the ear till I was!" one was complaining.
"Tell me about it!" the other replied. "Last Christmas, Marge spent days tracking down this thing our granddaughter claimed she absolutely had to have. When she finally found it, it was the last one in the shop and she almost came to blows with someone else over it. Then on Christmas Day, Michelle turned her nose up because it was the wrong colour!"
The two veteran agents quickly reviewed their options. There were locked offices on both sides of the corridor but the C.O.'s would be on them before they'd found the right key to unlock any of them, if indeed, it was on the key chain they had to begin with. The locks themselves were too sturdy for the makeshift picklock they had. Their only option was to bluff their way through and be prepared to use force if that failed.
Sloane quickly unlocked the barred gate. He made no effort to hide the sound of the keys jangling and turning in the lock. He and Jack were through as the guards came into sight. Sloane, whose battered face would have led to questions had it been seen, had already turned his back to them as he locked it after them. Jack stood in profile, presenting the un-injured side of his face and head to the guards.
"Hi." he called. "Happy Holiday!"
The two men stopped. Jack noted they were both mature men. He recognised neither of them, which was good as, hopefully, they wouldn't recognise him or Arvin either. They were, however, looking at both of them suspiciously. He decided to take the initiative. "Haven't seen you guys around before." he commented.
The C.O.'s relaxed a little but remained alert.
"We've been temporarily re-assigned from the medium security facility to cover for holiday leave." one explained. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"I'm Doctor Lewis and this is Doctor Cohen." He indicated Sloane who still had his back to them.
"Hi." Sloane said, then he dived into the pockets of his scrubs and swore. "Damn it! I left my notes in the ward!" He started to re-open the locked gate, his manner displaying his irritation.
"It's late for Doctors to still be in the facility," the other guard commented. "especially on Christmas Eve."
"Tell me about it!" Jack replied. "I had just poured myself a Jack Daniels when the call came in. One of the inmates tried to commit suicide and needed urgent medical attention. Selfish bastard!"
The guards chuckled. "They wouldn't be here if they had any consideration for other people." one pointed out. "All OK now Doc? Anything we need to know?"
Jack shrugged, "He's stabilised and sedated. Aaron doesn't celebrate Christmas so he'll be checking on his condition tomorrow. The nurse can deal with it till then. In the meantime, we're going to have a shower, change into our street clothes and get out of here." He hefted the laptop; Sloane had passed to him while he unlocked the gate. "That is once Aaron's got his notes back so he can transcribe them on to this."
"Sounds like a plan to me Doc. You OK there Doctor Cohen?"
"Fine." replied Sloane who had finally succeeded in unlocking the gate. "More haste, less speed!"
The guards appeared to be satisfied. "Well, we won't keep you any longer. Wish we could go home and put our feet up too! Merry Christmas Doctor Lewis and Happy Hanukkah, Doctor Cohen."
With a friendly nod the two guards turned away and went up the stairs to the second floor. Jack and Sloane stood still and listened until the sound of the guards' footsteps and voices had disappeared, then looked at each other in relief. Sloane's face lit up in a grin before he turned and quietly re-locked the gate. Still grinning, he led the way to the stairs leading to the basement and they descended. At the foot of the stairs was a locked door. A quick glance told them that the key was not among the collection they had but the lock was old. Sloane sighed and looked at his picklock. It would do the job but would probably be ruined in the process.
That's the problem with these rush missions, he mourned, not enough time or intel to plan properly.
He finally succeeded in opening the door and they entered the basement. It was a large room, the dust and dilapidation showing it was not regularly used, large pipes ran along both walls. Both men, however, ignored the state of the room as they searched. Finally they found the junction box. It was locked but Jack found a discarded piece of metal which he used to force it open. He and Sloane ran practised eyes over its contents.
Sloane's lips curled in contempt. "What a lash up!" he commented. "This is what happens when you put security work out to the lowest tender. Whoever installed the DefGuard system just attached it to the electricity supply through a single adapter."
"Which is good news for us." Jack pointed out.
Sloane nodded his agreement as he opened the laptop and attached it to a port on the DefGuard system. Jack moved to hold the computer allowing Sloane to type with both hands. He watched as the screen filled with lines and lines of computer code.
"I'm hacking through the security system. It'll take me a few minutes. Once I'm in, the rest is easy." Sloane explained as he typed. "OK. I'm through their firewall now and beginning to re-programme the system.
Finally, he stopped and snapped the lid of the laptop down with a satisfied smirk on his face. "It's done." He glanced at his watch. "We go out by the visitor's gate. I've programmed all the doors between there and here to open at five minute intervals. What I couldn't do is hide the fact they're unlocked from the Centre so, in seven minutes, every electronically operated door and gate in this facility will go haywire; locking and unlocking at random. Not only will that disguise the activities of those particular doors, we should be able to use the ensuing chaos to get through and catch our ride out of here. It's Christmas Eve so I'm guessing they'll only have a skeleton staff on and they'll reduce the numbers guarding the perimeter in order to try to control the inmates in the cell blocks."
"What about the CCTV and the outer fence?" Jack asked. "It's carrying a lethal voltage."
Sloane gave him an injured look. "The feed from the security cameras will be affected by the same random interruptions to the electricity flow that will be affecting the locks. As for the fence, I'm relying on the Authorities to assist us there. The only way they can regain control of the DefGuard system is by totally shutting it down and re-booting it. As it's linked to the electricity system, they'll have to turn that off too and use the emergency generator. That only has enough power to maintain lighting and essential systems. I calculate it'll take at least ten minutes for the system to re-boot. The only question is how long it will be before someone realises this. I suggest we get there a quickly as we can."
Jack nodded and led the way out. After a few minutes, the clanking and clashing of metal against metal and the sounds of cries of surprise, excitement and fear filled the air. He and Sloane kept to an indirect route to minimise contact with prison staff as they made their way towards the Visitor's Gate, the metal barred barriers before them opening as if by magic.
Captain O'Brien glanced at his watch. Nearly 10:30 it was time to be thinking about going home. Not that the thought gave him a lot of pleasure. Since his wife had died three years ago, the simple apartment they had bought and lived in together seemed empty and uninviting. He was due to spend Christmas Day with his son and daughter-in-law, however, and simple courtesy demanded he be awake and alert enough to be good company for them. He started to put his work away when he became aware of odd sounds from the cell blocks. He was about to go over to the window to investigate when the phone rang.
"Captain O'Brien." As he listened to the excited voice on the other end, he began to frown. It looked like his Christmas was about to be spoiled. "OK, OK, we need to maintain control of the cell blocks. Whatever happens, the inmates mustn't be allowed to get out. Pull everyone you can spare from the perimeter and assign them to that. I'm going to the Control Centre to find out what the hell has gone wrong with the system." He jammed his cap on his head and strode out the door.
When he finally reached the Centre he found it in a state of panic. The three officers on duty were feverishly consulting manuals and typing in commands that were ignored.
"What in the name of the saints is going on?" he roared.
"I don't know sir." a youngish officer replied, "One moment everything was fine, then it just went mad. We've tried everything but nothing works."
The phone rang and one of the other officers answered, she listened then turned to O'Brien. "That was Stevens from Cellblock C. He reports they've got a riot there."
O'Brien closed his eyes for a moment. This is what happens when they rely on technology he thought. "Contact the engineers who installed the system, then get hold of the Warden." he ordered.
"Sir," one of the C.O's said shyly, "We could re-boot the system. That should restore everything to normal. It'd take about ten minutes during which we'd have to go to the backup generator for power."
O'Brien considered. All security systems would be down for that period but it wasn't as if they were any use currently. "Warn our people, then do it." he ordered. He watched as the officers obeyed. "Where did all this start?" he asked.
"The systems closest to the Support Services block were affected first Sir. I'm guessing the problem originated there." the officer who'd suggested the re-boot replied.
O'Brien suddenly felt cold. He picked up the phone and called the Infirmary but got no response, slamming it back into place he raced out of the Centre.
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Jack and Sloane crouched by the outer fence. As expected, the lights of the prison had gone out, then come back on much dimmer than before, allowing them to cross the normally brightly lit open space between the prison buildings and the fence without being seen. The thud, thud of a motor boat's engines came across the water heading towards them and then stopped. The sound of a small boat being lowered into the water followed, then splashing as someone pulled on the oars. A hoarse voice called in a loud whisper. "Domino"
"Backgammon." Sloane responded.
They heard the sigh of relief. "Thank God!"
A rowing boat appeared from the gloom being steered by a single man. He tied the boat to a root jutting out from the bank and climbed on to the shore, pulling out a pair of wire cutters. Without further conversation he attacked the fence and pulled it open, allowing Jack and Sloane to crawl through.
Jack looked around. "I suggest we get out of here fast." he said.
"You won't hear any complaint from me!" the stranger replied as he watched his passengers get into the boat.
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Green looked around. "So, why's our boy taking a river trip this late?" he asked.
"Seeing the sights from the water?" His partner suggested.
The cab driver had told them he'd dropped Zipodi at a marina on the Lower East Side. They'd followed him there and discovered he'd hired a small motor boat and taken it out for a cruise. Now they sat in the warmth of the car, waiting for him to return.
T.B.C.