Kingdom Keepers IV(103)

“There now,” Wayne said, as the red light went off.

Maleficent remained visible in bed.

“Satisfied?” Wayne asked.

“Let’s go,” said the guard. He reached out for Finn, who broke away.

“Give it a moment!” Finn said.

“We’re done here. Shift change is coming up.”

Wayne said, “Please, Finn. Let’s not make a scene.”

“Philby said there’s a thirty-to-forty-second buffer to keep the DHI video smooth.”

That hit home; clearly Wayne knew this as well. He glanced at his watch: an antique Mickey Mouse watch.

“Very well,” he said.

The guard’s impatience enveloped them both. It had been a long night.

With all three men watching, Maleficent popped, and vanished.

“What the—?” The guard hurried to unlock the cell.

“No!” Wayne reached out and stopped the man. He turned to Finn. “I think I owe you an apology.”

“Without Jess on our side…” Finn said. “If I’d put her under that spell instead of Amanda, we’d have never known.”

“Somebody had better tell me what’s going on,” the guard said angrily.

“No one’s left this wing?” Wayne verified.

“No, sir. Not since shift change at ten PM.”

“Before the blackout,” Finn said.

“Yes, sir,” the guard said to Finn, suddenly with deference and respect.

“So,” Wayne said. He seemed to be waiting for an answer from Finn.

The guard whispered, “Are you telling me that…thing is loose somewhere in here?”

“Not exactly,” Finn said.

He asked them to repeat the camera procedure with Chernabog. Five minutes later they determined that he, too, was nothing but a DHI hologram.

The guard, sweating profusely despite the air conditioning, reached for his radio. Wayne stopped him.

“You don’t want to do that,” he said. “They’ll sound the alarm, yes?”

“Of course.”

“We’ll take a rain check,” Wayne said. Turning to Finn: “So they’re asleep in here?”

“They have to be. During the combination of blackout and fire alarm, they escaped from their cells. They couldn’t leave the prison because of your precautions. They had to get somewhere and get to sleep. Quickly. I imagine they’ve been awake for a day or more, to ensure their fatigue. Once asleep, once the power went back on, their DHIs took their places in their cells.”

“How brilliant of them!” Wayne said.

“They intend to walk out of here during the shift change,” Finn said.

A wall device sounded. Finn recognized it as the same tone used between classes at school.

“LOCKDOWN!” Wayne shouted at the guard.

“You told me not to radio!” the man said, fumbling for his walkie-talkie.

“I didn’t look at the time! Lock it down!”

The guard hollered into his radio, but the eyes of all three were on the wall clock.

Wayne shouted frantically, “The guards must nap somewhere.”

The guard shook his head, his ear to the radio. “Shift change’s already under way.”

“Tell me! Damn it, man! Show me where they nap!”

“I’ll get them fired!”

“NOW!”

The guard took off. With sirens alarming, down the hallway, up the stairs they ran. Wayne moved like he was thirty years younger.

Together they reached a plain gray door marked storage. The guard tried his key, but it wouldn’t go in.

“The lock’s been jimmied. The key’s not going to work.” He leaned his shoulder into it. “It can only be opened from the inside. We’re cooked.”

Finn checked the clock: 7:05. The shift change had already begun. Too late? Finn wondered. “It’s me,” Finn said. “I can do this.”

“I’m afraid so,” Wayne said.

The guard looked totally confused.

“The guard has a Taser. All you need to do is get the door open,” Wayne said.

“We hope,” Finn said.

Wayne nodded.

“What exactly are you two talking about?” the guard asked.

Finn closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pictured the dark train tunnel.

He walked through the door.

He heard the guard say something Finn would never repeat.

* * *

Finn’s brief all clear passed nearly instantly. He was through the door, but too tired to hold his all clear. He flipped on the light switch. The storage room was a small, L-shaped cinder block. Mattresses were stacked along the far wall. Metal shelving held toilet paper, paper towels, and soap. He saw brooms and buckets, blankets and plastic bowls.

The guards had fashioned the space into an improvised bunk room to take unauthorized naps. Finn stripped back the blankets. He jumped back as he discovered a bare-chested guard. The man’s hands and feet were taped, his mouth gagged.