The Deployment Notice

14.

They were in the gym. It was a daily occurrence except for fight days. After lunch they'd bring them all to this large room with work out equipment for about two hours.

Gym time wasn't bad, they were allowed to talk, and they didn't have structured work outs or anything. It was like how Buck imagined a prison gym back in the States would be like. If you ignored the line of guards with guns then it was basically adult recess.

Buck used his gym time partially to work out, going through the motions of what he'd do at the fire station. He missed having Eddie or even Chim or Hen as his spot, but Microphone was a pretty decent one. He also used his gym time to socialize though.

There was still a mole somewhere in this cell block, and Buck was determined to find out who it was. Plus, he wanted to get to know his fellow prisoners, make some friends. There was a good chance he'd need them, both in the ring and when they broke out in six days. It'd be good for them to trust him too, for their own sakes when the break out happened.

Judging by the increased blinking of the lights and brief malfunctions of some of the guards's key cards yesterday, the 'technological assault' phase of the plan was well under way.

Today he was with a group of four other men surrounding the bench press. They were taking turns on it, but were realistically putting more effort into their conversations than they were into lifting.

It was him, Microphone, Mic's other cell neighbor whose name was Sammy, and two guys from further down the cell block named Asif and Hassan. Sammy was infantry with the US Army, or at least had been before this, and had been taken six months ago. Asif and Hassan had been friends and students before this. They were originally from Iran but had been studying abroad at Kabul University. They'd gone out with a group of other students to some fights and had gotten picked up a few months ago.

Between the three Americans' knowledge of Arabic, and Asif and Hassan's studies of English at University, they were able to make conversation relatively easily. Sammy was semi-fluent at best, and Buck had to pretend to be only a bit above that for the sake of his cover. Microphone though, due to his job, was completely fluent so it was fine.

"Think we could fight them?" Asif nodded to the line of ten guards along the wall, all armed with semi-automatics. "There's more of us than them."

Buck needed to play this incredibly carefully. He needed to quell any potential uprisings since he knew rescue was coming in less than a week, but he also needed to make sure that no one doubted that he sided with the other prisoners. He also needed to try and find the mole without giving himself away as being more aware than he should be. Essentially he needed to play dumb for the mole, so he didn't get caught before the mission was over in a few days while also maintaining the loyalty of those around him while also figuring out who the mole was.

Easy Peasy.

"I think if we all tried it then a few of us might survive to win the fight." Buck allowed cautiously, "but I don't think any of us would make it to the end of the hall much less out of here."

Hassan muttered something the Buck couldn't hear under his breath and squeezed Asif's shoulder, "I told you. We aren't getting out of here."

"Don't say that!" Asif shrugged him off, "there has to be a way."

"The only way that even a handful of us could stand a chance is if everyone rioted at the same time." Microphone pointed out, "we would need numbers, but I don't know how to organise that without getting caught."

"That can't be the only way!" Asif continued to argue.

Buck felt bad, the kid was the youngest of them at just 19. Even Hassan was at least 21. The rest of them knew just how slim their chances were, but they still had small measures of hope that they'd get out. Asif though, was full of unbridled hope, the type that would make him jump at false opportunities. The kind that would get the kid killed. Hassan had been doing good at keeping him alive thus far though, even if sometimes it felt like listening to the conversation where a kid found out too young that Santa wasn't real.