“We’ve got five. Rest of them died in the shooting.”
“The hell took you so long?” asked the same guard. He must be someone important, Theo thought.
“We were checking to make sure they were dead, and securing these prisoners here. Now please, drop your weapons and let us do our thing.”
Silence. Theo waited, unsure of what he would do if this became more complicated.
“Stand down,” the guard said. The Security Force agents lowered their weapons.
Jason turned to the rest of the disguised prisoners. “Let’s go.”
The group of them walked out into the lobby, which still bore a much closer resemblance to a hotel than a prison. They noticed with a degree of relief that there were no security doors erected in the lobby to keep them from the front of the building.
Their group moved to the center of the room, and the real Security Force agents came out of hiding, moving closer to them.
“Now!” Theo called. The disguised prisoners leveled their weapons at the Security Force. The remaining prisoners with guns came out of the stairwell, keeping the agents in their sights as well.
“What the hell is this?” asked the lead guard. Several of the agents began to raise their guns.
“Put your weapons down! Now!” Theo shouted. One of the disguised prisoners handed him a rifle and he aimed it carefully. “Drop your weapons to the floor and put your hands up! I’ll give you to the count of three and then we start firing. One..two..”
The weapons fell to the floor in a noisy clatter. The Security Force squadron in the lobby had been defeated without anyone firing a shot.
Kylee led her army down the boardwalk. The construction crews had raced to make repairs after the hurricane, and she could see that the work was not of the highest quality, made as it was from repurposed joists and studs from the demolished homes and commercial buildings throughout town. She feared that the SUV would break through the repaired boards and get stuck, but the tires were wide and the vehicle’s weight was greatly reduced from its old incarnation. All of us here have had our weight reduced from our old incarnation, she thought.
Some of the residents of the beach camp knew the women from the safe house. Kylee realized just how quickly people’s identities had been redefined. She wanted so badly to create a society where people could decide for themselves how they wanted to be classified.
They were not attacked again between the camp and the city limits. Kylee was glad. She knew her soldiers needed the break. Hell, she needed it too.
Two blocks before Ventnor became Atlantic City, Bill and Jamie jogged up to her. “How’s it going, General?” Bill asked.
“Okay,” she said. “It’s been an interesting night so far, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah,” said Bill, a sly smile on his face, “but the good news is soon we’ll be reunited with Theo. Trouble never seems to find him.”
She laughed. “Well, it will be good to see him.”
“Oh, I hear you,” said Bill.
“Do you think he’s doing okay?” asked Jamie.
“He knows what he’s supposed to do,” said Kylee. She knew she wasn’t giving a straight answer, but she wouldn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to tell them how much she feared that they would fight all the way into the prison only to find that Theo was dead.
A block inside the city limits, Kylee directed the rebels off the boardwalk and down to the street. This was the point where they were supposed to rendezvous with Menendez and whatever support he had been able to gather together.
“Be on alert,” Kylee told her troops. “Watch for my signal. We’re expecting to encounter Security Force agents here, and I’m going to find out if they are on our side or not.”
She stepped off the boards and tried to focus her vision on the street ahead. The street lamps illuminated the avenue, but she didn’t expect the Security Force, good or bad, to be out in the middle of the street. Just then, she saw a hand reaching out from the carport of a building near the intersection.
“Kylee!” a voice called. “It’s Carlos! I’m in here.”
She held a hand up to her army, telling them to stand still. Cautiously, she ventured to the side of the carport. “I’m here, Carlos,” she said.
Menendez stepped out and grabbed her in a hug. “Oh, thank God you’re okay. And Theo? Do you have any word?”
She shook her head. “He’s supposed to be leading the fighting inside the prison. I have no way of knowing what’s going on there.”
“Then let’s go find out.” He turned to the carport, put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. “Let’s go, boys. Time to join the good fight.”
Five men dressed in Security Force uniforms walked out. None of them had the “death mask” helmets. Menendez saw the worried look on Kylee’s face. “I’m sorry I couldn’t provide more firepower,” he said. “Tiberius has more influence than I would have thought.”
“That’s okay,” she said. She pointed to her army. “You’d be amazed what can be done with only a handful of willing participants. Now I think we have a prison break to assist.”
She stepped to the front. Menendez, clearly impressed, ordered his men to follow. The growing contingent of rebels trekked on toward the prison, the larger cluster of footfalls mixing with the ever-present squeak of the SUV.
The old hotel quickly approached. “That’s the prison,” said Menendez.
“Really?” said Bill. “And yet it seems so quaint.”
“Shh… we’ve got company.” Kylee saw Security Force in the distance. She turned to Menendez. “Are you sure you want to do this? You cross this line and there’s no chance Tiberius will let you live if he wins.”
Menendez smiled. “No worries. He’s not going to win.”
Kylee’s army took positions around the intersection, making sure to avoid being detected in the bright streetlamps. When she was sure everyone was ready, she called out to the enemy combatants up ahead. “You, Security Force agents, drop your weapons or face the consequences.”
A small part of her thought she could avoid further fighting. Still, on another level she knew there was no chance she would be allowed to enter the prison. On an even deeper, more frightening level, she secretly hoped the agents would fight back.
“Rebel squad, you are under arrest by order of Supreme Leader Tiberius. Submit to us immediately.”
“Um… I don’t think they are going to surrender,” said Ryan.
“And so, my friend, we will show them the consequences,” said Joseph.
Bill grinned, a dark, devilish fire in his eyes. “God, I love this guy.”
Kylee wondered briefly about Andrew, who had moved further and further away as Joseph continued to indulge in the passion of battle. She hoped this wouldn’t drive them apart. Nothing to be done about that now. She straightened up and assumed her leadership pose.
“Rebel army,” she said to her men and women, “take them down.”
Chapter 31
The battle outside the prison lasted nearly fifteen minutes. When the Security Force had fallen to Kylee’s rebels, she led her troops to the front door. The prison looked surprisingly like the hotel it had been. She worried that the unlocked and unshielded front entrance was hiding yet another wave of Security Force agents. Her people were getting tired from being on their feet so long with their adrenaline pumping. Getting tired meant getting sloppy and that was a risk she couldn’t take.
Kylee had seven women and one man with injuries. Several were fairly serious. She wanted to get in, get out with Theo and the other prisoners and get her injured people to the hospital. She worried whether the Security Force would consider the hospital a neutral ground. Still, that was a worry for later. Now she had to face yet another unknown on the far side of the prison doors.