The Boarding School

Blacksite Rescue

Hugh Hoheisel

Hugh took out the cell phone and opened the access app, rapidly typing in the password. There was no time to burn, so his best bet was to figure out if he could get in or not. The sooner he learned, the sooner he could respond and maybe get out before the group above them reached the floor or even heard anything.

He held the cell phone up to the RFID reader. Nothing. The man stood behind him with crossed arms. Time stood still for a minute as Hugh continued to hold the cell phone to the reader. He tried to guess how many people were coming down. Suddenly the reader's red light turned green and the door's lock lifted. The man reached out and opened the door, grumbling, "You'd think we could get a reader that works faster."

At this point, Hugh fell back and followed him at a lengthy distance. The man, too irritated to notice, stormed into a room with a counter and a lady standing behind it talking to another man not in a suit.

"What do you want?" he demanded, seeing the suited man.

"A lady from DC is here to speak to one of the prisoners, you're directed not to transport them until she is able to talk to him."

The other man scoffed, "Does your boss have any idea how crucial precision is to avoiding exposure?"

"That's your job," the suited man replied coldly.

"It is and I am going to do my job. If your boss wants to talk to one of the prisoners, he has twenty minutes. After that, he is going to be loaded into the truck and transported."

"You're making this difficult for yourself!" the man shouted after him when he walked away. Shaking his head, he left the office and headed back to the stairway.

"Who's so interested in talking to one of the prisoners?" Hugh asked, joining him again.

"Some special agent called Ponde, I think," was the reply.

"Ponde?" Hugh repeated, "Why now?" One thing was for sure, Ally wouldn't hesitate to arrest him. In fact, Hugh had an uncomfortable feeling she'd get a comfortable sense of satisfaction putting him in cuffs.

The man shrugged, wiping his forehead. They were almost to the door now, "Probably because the prisoner isn't going to arrive with a heartbeat. This man is an assassin or something called 'Mercy' I think. That's her case, apparently. Anyway, he's being transported with the county councilmen. Don't you know?"

"We are all on a need-to-know basis. You know how he is about security," Hugh shrugged, "Do you think he'll really get the transport out on time?"

"Mark my words, the truck will leave not a minute after two, whatever this Special Agent Ponde has to say," came the answer. Hugh watched him begin his six flight climb as he exited through the door he came in. "Luke, you read me?" he asked when he was out of the building.

"Affirmative, what happened, did we get the wrong place?"

"No, we have the right place. I did a sweep, there's no way we can get anyone out from the inside," Hugh explained in hurry, "Anyways, I can't risk being seen by Ally."

"Ally? As in Special Agent Allison Ponde, your girlfriend?" Luke exclaimed.

"Yeah, that Ally, apparently they have another wannabe Mercy assassin they caught and she's here to interrogate him. Anyhow, they are transporting the council members no later than two o'clock. I say we take the truck."

"How are we going to tail him?" Luke asked.

"I'm going to find a car I can steal, you watch for a vehicle leaving around two that looks like it could transport prisoners. You tell me which way to follow then take the stuff to the jeep and grab the van and help me tail it until we're out of city limits and then we'll take them."

"Roger - I gave the agent another douse to keep him asleep for at least six more hours," Luke told him. They had obtained an unmarked black van to aide in the escape just hours before.

"Good. Beep me when you see the target," Hugh replied, combing the parking lot for a stealable car. He had fifteen minutes before two. He rounded the corner and spotted an old Honda. Casually he walked towards it and within minutes he was seated in the running car.

*Beep* *Beep* "Shoot," Hugh said.

"There's a white utility van leaving the site through the same gate you came in."

"Got it," Hugh pulled out.

"They're checking IDs on the way out. Do you still have yours?"

"Sure do," he pulled it out of his back pocket and pulled up to the gate.

"Didn't you walk in just an hour ago?" the man asked, taking his ID and examining it, clearly suspicious.

"Yes," Hugh replied gruffly. The man looked at him curiously when Hugh offered no more information. "I locked myself out last night and had to walk home for the spare key. I didn't feel like coming back and my ex-girlfriend just called and said our son is in the hospital an hour away."

The guard quickly handed the ID back, "Sorry, hope your son is okay."

"Me, too," Hugh replied, rolling up the window and pulling out. "Which way, Luke?"

"He went right and then turned left at the next street," Luke replied. Hugh could hear him packing up, "The building blocked my view after that."

"Alright, I'm going to try to pick up the trail - I'll tell you where I am," Hugh replied, taking a left at the street Luke indicated. No sign of the van anywhere. "Come on," he muttered, looking down each street he passed. No van. Hugh took the road towards the highway bridge hoping to see them headed either north or south.

"Got them!" Luke's voice came over the radio, "They took a back street and just passed the jeep. I'm following them now."

"Enable the tracker, I'll find you on the cell!" Hugh ordered, doing a U-Turn.

"Roger," Luke answered, "They are getting on the ramp south."

"I see you!" Hugh turned on his blinker and followed the two vans onto the highway, "Pass us up. I'll follow for now." He pulled the silver Honda behind the van and followed at a casual distance. "Do you think you can latch onto their radio frequency and track them?"

"I'll try," Luke promised.

After awhile, Hugh noticed the van swerving. At first he didn't say anything, but when it nearly hit another vehicle, he radioed, "Hey, don't kill anyone!"

Luke laughed, "Sorry - guess I shouldn't 'hack and drive'."

"Funny, Luke, real funny," Hugh replied dryly, "Tell me when you have something."

"Hugh, we'd need someone like Damien or Scott to even have a hope of tracking them remotely," Luke replied.

"Guess we're doing this the old fashioned way."

"Yeah."

The van continued out of the city and into the country. Luke and Hugh continued to switch back and forth. Since a black van is easily remembered, Hugh did most of the close up following. After about thirty minutes of not seeing another car, Luke radioed Hugh. "It looks like we have a long stretch of nothing. Now's as good a time as ever."

Hugh hit the gas and pulled to the side of the van and hit the back side. The van tried to speed up, but Hugh kept close. The van squealed and did a full 180. Hugh did a U-Turn in front, while Luke drove the black van up to the front of the white van to prevent it from going forward. Meanwhile Hugh parked the Honda behind the white van.

Luke jumped out of the black van with a black ski mask over his head and one in his hand. In the other he had his handgun which he shot at the front of the vehicle. Hugh crawled out of the Honda and Luke tossed the mask over the hood. Hugh caught it and pulled out a hand gun and two mags before pulling over his head.

Luke hid himself behind the van and Hugh positioned himself behind the Honda. "Release the prisoners!"