Three Faces of West (2013) (12 page)

“Do you think it’s this computer glitch you’ve been having?”

The warden looked at Hudson despondently, “Yes.” He replied.

The situation looked momentarily hopeless, but they had to do something, the gas substance was rapidly filling up the block,

“We’ve got to do something,” Said John, “That gas is filling up the whole section, it’s not just the wardens you may have to evacuate, it’s the prisoners as well!!”

This kicked the warden into action,

“Wait a minute, there is another way in, from the adjacent wing.”

“How do I get there?”

“I can’t take you, but this young man can.” The warden grabbed a younger warden, clearly pulling rank in a situation such as this,

“Take this gentleman over to D wing, try and get access to the segregation block from there.”

The younger warden led John out of the office toward D wing. They only thing they could do apart from speeding there was prey,

“Where the hell is Jack?!!” Though John angrily.

On D wing life was ticking over as normal when the junior warden burst in with John in tow. Immediately drawing the attention of the on duty prison officers, they could tell something was up,

“What’s this?” One of them asked,

“Something’s going on in the segregation block. We can’t get in from our side. Can we get access through here?” Asked the junior warden,

“We’re not aware that something’s gone wrong in the segregation block.”

John intervened, “Take a look, there’s some kind of gas release near the cells. This computer glitch you’ve been having has locked us out from the other side. We need to get inside, there’s wardens trapped in there!”

The prison officer looked at John suspiciously,

“Who’s this?”

“My name is John Hudson; I’m here with my colleague to interview one of your inmates.”

“What are you, police?”

“No, counter intelligence. Look can you give us access?”

As John was busy informing them who he was, time was of the essence, the sound of crackling coming from a radio filled the room as another prison officer in the background tried to radio for verification to what was going on,

“You better take a look at this.” He declared suddenly. Turning round to the CCTV monitors, the same circuit as the ones where they had come from showed the same black and white images. Looking on they could see the smoke getting thicker, figure stumbling about inside unable to tell which ones were jailed or jailer,

“Shit!!” The warden shouted, “What is it, some kind of smoke?”

John cried out to the point, “No it’s a gas!!”

“Why is there no bloody alarm?!!”

“Because of the glitch!!”

“Come on.” The wardens had no time to investigate; they had to take Hudson for his word. Leading them to an outer gate, the prison officer pulled out a special key and inserted into the locking system guarding the door. Swinging open allowed them to penetrate as far as the outer part of the unit from this side, but still unable to get into the main inner part itself,

“Bloody hell, it stings!!” Shouted the warden,

“Cover your eyes!!!” John replied. By not the hot stinging smoke irritated their eyes and their throats. Almost unable to speak due to the dryness and their coughing they could be forgiven for becoming unable to point out what was going on in front of them. In the immediacy it looked as if they were most definitely stumped, the inner doors would not open allowing access, how on Earth were they going to get through? Almost turning round to give up, John heard footsteps accompanied by an urgent voice behind him,

“Here try this!!” Shouted a secondary warden as he joined them, covering his face as best he could he thrust another cardkey into his hand,

“How do we know it’ll work?” Asked John,

“I don’t know!! Just try it!!”

John tried the card but to no avail. By now the smoke was getting almost too thick to see, the only sense reliable in this kind of confusion was hearing,

“It doesn’t work!!” Shouted John frustratingly. They were rapidly running out of options,

“It only works from the inside!!” Was the reply.

John in his desperation shouted to anyone inside the segregation wing, anyone who could use the key and operate the doors,

“Is anyone there?!! ANYONE?!!!!”

“Yes!!!!” Shouted a faint voice,

“Here, take this card, try and open the doors!!! QUICKLY!!!”

Throwing the card in was a bit of a forlorn hope, could anyone see it on the floor? Should he have waited for someone to come to him? He didn’t know, until he saw the almost silhouetted figure of a warden stumble through and pick it up. It was the last thing he saw for the situation was now beginning to get unbearable, the gas was becoming too much. Nobody knew what it was so for all they knew, they all could have been poisoning themselves. Stumbling back out into the outer office to join the other wardens, the air seemed like a soup of freshness as each of the men fought for every last breath,

“I threw the card into the block; one of the wardens picked it up.”

“You sure?” Asked one of the wardens, coughing, “With this computer glitch, for all we know the locking system to the cell doors could have been affected.”

“Hopefully not.” John replied. That was a dangerous thought. He knew he had to get back and try and meet back up with Jack, surely the alarm must have been raised,

“I’m going back to the other side; see if we can’t get the wardens out. The alarm must have been raised by now.”

Hudson disappeared sharply, making his way out to where he once came.

In the C Wing side of the segregation block the atmosphere was almost as smoky as the D Wing side. Hudson rushed back in accompanied by his original warden escort to find Jack standing there. Holding yet another card, he turned to face John, whose face had a look of demanding where his partner had been,

“Where the hell have you been?” Asked John angrily,

“Here take this cardkey, it should open the doors from here but it may need activating.”

West was clearly trying to avoid the question,

“Jack, where the hell have you been? What’s going on? Aren’t you aware there’s something going off in the segregation block? Now come on, we need to get these wardens out!!”

Hudson turned toward the gate that was still locked. He shouted above the commotion to the people inside,

“Will that card work?”

“No.” Was the muffled reply

Putting his anger aside, he turned toward his partner,

“Will that card work?”

Jack, not rising to the confrontation responded in a rather calm matter,

“It should work, I got it from the admin block again, but I was warned that it could need activating beforehand.”

“Give it here.” Replied Hudson, taking the card from West. Knowing he had to work quickly he took the initiative by taking over a nearby computer console. The system was already logged on so that was one obstacle overcome. Scrolling through the menus again triggered a familiarity in his mind. It was this that allowed him to work quickly, even so the glitch was still interfering with progress going through the files. By now the wardens were at the gate wanting to get out, trying to do their bit they placed the card in the digital lock, but like at the other side, this gate also denied them escape,

“Hurry up!!” Was the cry from the imprisoned officers,

“Got it!” Said John,

The gate clicked and buzzed in conformation allowing an overspill of the wardens out into the office,

“How did you do that?” Asked Jack

“No idea” Said John as he got up to accompany West as they assisted the freed personnel. All were coughing some worse than others. One was especially bad,

“Sounds like he needs to be taken outside for some air.” Commented West. He was escorted outside, clearly it was common sense based medical advice, John took the opportunity to ask,

“I think we’d best see if the cells are OK, I’m not sure if they remained locked from the other wing when I was there.”

“Good idea.”

The smoke, whatever it was began to dissipate. They could clearly see inside now, still, they had to be cautious. Entering the isolation block with the younger warden beside them, making their way through the now hazy atmosphere, the noise from the cells already a signal telling that the inmates were very much OK. Upon reaching the office in front of the cell corridor they noticed it was vacant, this was no cause for alarm as all the accounted personnel came out when the door was released. The warden led both West and Hudson toward the cell block checking the integrity of each door as they went. All were locked…..until they came to the end cell……The one marked Grey. John, noticing the door slightly ajar, wanted to peer in to see what was inside. However he did not make it to the cell for in the corridor close to the door they could make something out in the haziness,

“What’s that?” Asked Jack,

“I don’t know, but I’m going to check.” Replied John, as he pounded over to the object. The image that immediately struck him was one of a body slumped on the floor, his immediate concern prevented the warden from immediately raising the alarm,

“What do you think you’re doing?” He asked,

“Look I’ve got to see if he’s OK. If he’s not we call for a medic.”

Jack watched on as John leant over the seemingly unconscious person dressed in prison clothes,

“Careful.” He commented to his partner.

Both the prison officer and West looked on as Hudson turned over the body. HIs back turned to them, there was no way of gauging his reaction to the identity of the person. But then again why would there be? It had to be Grey,

“Is it Grey?” Asked West naively,

“Come on; let’s get him back in his cell.” Replied the warden.

“Take a look for yourself.” Said John.

Both men moved closer, the cheers and shouts from the other inmates from the cells became drowned out as the sight before them began to captivate them. John turned and lifted the semi-conscious man up slightly so they could get a good look at his face. John stared to see the reaction to what he himself had just discovered. The face of the man was not familiar, what John had discovered that the “prisoner” was not Grey himself, but the duty warden.

West was shocked to see who it was. The warden reacted immediately, leaping to his feet, he hit one of the touch strips lining the sides of the corridor. A beeping sound rang out through the corridors, rooms and indeed the whole prison. Muffled shouts could be heard in the background as the general escape alarm took effect. It seemed that West was right; Grey did use the computer glitch to try an escape. That what the gas was, that’s what Grey was fiddling with when West peered through the door the second time they spoke. It all became so clear to West as he stared, fixated in an almost daydream like trance. How could the prison service be so stupid?

John was waiting in a small office. Some time had passed since the discovery and the whole complex were in a total lockdown, and rightly so. Jack had disappeared for the time being reporting the incident to the governor gave him a chance to think things through. So many things were running though his head, why did West disappear to make a phone call, what was it about? Who was it to? And why did he disappear at the same time as the escape attempt was alleged to have taken place? So many questions, so little answers,

“Jack couldn’t have had anything to do with this, could he?” He thought to himself. Surely not, West? No, not him, he knew what side he was on and it wasn’t on the side of the terrorist. Then again there were such things as rogue agents.

The troubling though did not last in the forefront in his mind; Jack appeared from behind moving forward past him,

“The governor is happy with our report. He’s cleared us, we’re free to leave.”

John followed West toward the exit; he needed to ask the questions,

“Look what-‘

West interrupted him without looking, “We are free to go, let’s move.”

Hudson had little choice. West was moving so far ahead it was if he was trying to escape himself. Something wasn’t right here; yet again West’s actions brewed such suspicion in Hudson’s mind that he almost felt like a spare part in this whole charade. The feelings of animosity would continue beyond the prison walls.

Chapter 7:

Outside Hudson found West standing there by the visitor entrance, caught on camera again no doubt. As he approaches his partner, Hudson, already seemingly angry as he was perplexed wanted to have it out with Jack over what just happened inside. He could not figure it out and he could not believe the timing of the escape in relation to their visit, seems all too suspicious,

“What’s going on Jack?” he demanded,

“Come on.”

As West move off, Hudson followed in pursuit. Feeling a little disrespected he wasn’t going to take that for an answer,

“I don’t know what just happened in there, but it sounds a bit funny to me! What the hell’s going on?!!”

As the outburst came out, Jack said nothing, no response, no remorse about leaving his friend in the lurch. But there appeared to be more to it,

“Where are you going?”

“Follow me, we have some other business.” Replied Jack.

John followed in a quiet silence, wondering what “other business” there could be. Surely they now had to investigate the other leads at Finchley and Lewisham. And there was still the explanation that he wanted from West, he wasn’t going to let it go, he was going to get some answers.

Moving away from the park and from the main cameras, West led Hudson in tow down the side of the complex, on through the undergrowth in an obviously non-public area of the surroundings. John wanted to know where Jack was leading him, and was about to ask when his partner comment first in a pre-emptive strike,

“Here.” He said

“Where are we going?” Asked John having absolutely no idea at all what the logic behind this move was. Lately it felt that he couldn’t be sure about anything. On they went round the corner to a small length of path lined by undergrowth, it seemed like they were heading to some sort of pre-arranged rendezvous site, but why? They continued walking, 20 yards, then 50 yards, then 75 yards, and 100 yards West obviously looking for something, but it was Hudson the first to spot something unusual,