It was gray
If there was a color in the world Casino hated it was gray. He associated gray with prison. Everything was gray there. The floors were covered in linoleum tiles that were gray. The walls and the ceiling were painted gray. The bars that made up the cell doors were gray. The wire that topped the gray block walls was gray. The clothing they gave them to use and the mattresses and bedding on the wire cots that dropped down from the walls in their cells... The water in the laundry where he worked, the soap in the communal shower, the food that was ladled on their plates had been gray. They gave them gray paper to use to write their letters home on and the stuff that came in from outside, from their families, had been through so many grubby hands before they finally got it that it was gray too.
The look on other men's faces was gray. Didn't matter if they were inmates or guards, being inside just sucked the color out of everything. If you stopped moving for very long you got swallowed up by all of it. He'd seen that happen to guys on the inside sometimes. They'd sit down somewhere and disappear. After the guards found them most of those guys usually disappeared for real. They had another gray place for guys like that but in that place the gray walls were padded.
Casino sat looking down on the grounds from the window Chief usually sat in up in the room he shared with the others. It was gray outside; all different shades of gray, from the light soft color of the fog, to the dark charcoal gray of the tree trunks. The fog that had settled over the place six days ago was so wet and heavy that it was dripping off of everything. Gray drops hung from every twig of every bare branch, it clung to the statues and the steps and the tops of the walls. There was a slight wind that blew swirls of the fog up against the house where it gathered in rivulets that ran down the windowpanes and collected in gray puddles that they had to splash through to get in and out of the house.
The fog was heavy enough that it looked like it did just before night fell. If there was color out there you couldn't see it anymore. And it had been going on for long enough that Casino was having a hard time remembering what the place looked like with the sun shinning down on it. And it was so quiet….
Casino shoved off the windowsill where he'd been sitting and headed for the door. He moved out of the room crossed the hall and started down the stairs. The trip was silent because of the deep carpet on the stairs, just like it was silent outside because of the fog. Just like gray, Casino didn't like silence either.
"Hey, Goniff!" His shout rattled the suit of armor that stood to attention in the entry hall downstairs and set the chimes on the large clock vibrating. "Goniff!"
"Blimey! You'll bring the roof down on us if you keep that up." The pickpocket's voice drifted out into the hall from the library where he'd been curled up by the fire, his face followed it as he stuck his head out and scowled at Casino. "What 'r you hollerin' about now?"
Casino stepped up close and dropped his voice. "C'mon. We're goin' into the village."
The little man brightened immediately and leaned back into the library. "Hey, fellas, Casino here wants a trip in t'the village…you in?" The question was answered by a quiet rustle as Actor and Chief moved towards the door to join them.
What's up? Chief asked when he got there.
"Aw I'm sick a this place."
Actor looked up and down the hall. "Do you know where the Warden is?"
Casino jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the Lieutenant's closed office door. "Warden's been locked up in there all day."
"What about Rawlins?"
"Haven't seen him since the obstacle course…"
Goniff grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Let's go!"
The group turned and moved quietly back up the stairs and into their room to have access to the roof through the bars they'd cut. The village was a relatively short walk through the woods once they got past the guards and over the fence.
g
A few minutes later Garrison plucked the receiver off its cradle and punched a button on the base of his phone. "Sergeant…?"
"I see them, sir." Rawlins leaned back in his chair. "How long are we giving them this time, sir?"
Craig checked his watch and thought a moment, figuring how long it would take the men to get into to town and get settled.. "Three hours work for you?"
Gil ran a finger down the notes on his desk blotter. "Four would be better for me, sir."
"Four it is."
"Right, sir. Will you be going in with me, sir?"
There was a slight delay while the CO considered his answer…. "Sure. Why not? I imagine when we catch them they'll try and buy us off with a pint or two."
Rawlins chuckled. "Very good, sir. I'll be 'round with the car at half seven then."