The P.U.L.L || #Wattys2017

Chapter 36: Gladiola's Unlocker

Joshua gulped while feeling the nervousness all around him. He has not picked a lock before and he doesn't know his average time of picking locks. In other words, he was a newbie in this lock-picking.

But he could feel that they were already running out of time. Rick and Emma are probably taking a move right now while Joshua kept on pondering about the lock. Once again, the guard passed by again. He knew that he only has half of five minutes to pick the lock and to escape without the guard seeing him.

That means, I need to wait for the stationed guard to fall asleep. Then I need to wait for the other guard to pass by so I could pick the lock without him seeing me; not to mention that I need to open the barred door silently, and escape in the remaining time left while the guard's back is facing my cell. Joshua said to himself. Not an impossible plan, this is not an impossible plan at all. I guess this is better than having nothing as a plan.

Joshua arrived at the figure of two and a half minutes after calculating the time interval of the patrolling guard. He passes by Joshua's cell at the average time of five minutes, so he would be facing Joshua's cell half of the time. Joshua assumed that the patrolling guard is walking back and forth the corridor; which could also mean that he's either facing the cell, or facing away from it. Thus, Joshua arrived to his conclusion.

To his relief, the guard reading the newspaper already dozed off. He wasn't even able to finish his coffee.

Joshua didn't waste another second after seeing the sleeping the guard. He set to work bending the wire in half again and again so that he would be able to cut it in two.

Crunch!

The patrolling guard's footsteps could be heard getting nearer and nearer as it echoed on the corridor. Joshua continuously bent the wire, hoping that it would separate soon. He finally heaved a sigh of relief after seeing two wires on his hands.

Pretty soon, the patrolling guard passed by his cell. Joshua immediately set a mental watch while he reached for the padlock on the door. Carefully, he inserted the first wire at the bottom part of the keyhole while inserting the other wire further in to feel up the pins inside.

Normally, there are five pins inside the lock. I just need to feel the pins and unlock them in order while applying pressure on the keyhole to keep them from locking themselves. I should be able to do it, I think. Joshua said to himself.

He began to feel the pins. To his relief, he was able to feel five pins inside the lock, just as he thought. He began pushing them one by one.

Click!

That's one! Four more to go! 

After a minute of anxiousness, Joshua heaved a sigh of relief as the unlocked padlock dangled on the door. He was able to unlock the padlock surprisingly fast, leaving him one and a half minutes left.

Joshua knew that this is no time to bring his guard down. Every approximation that he did were all just based on assumptions. After all, I'm not sure if the guard doesn't look back from time to time. I just have to hope that he doesn't.

Without making a noise, Joshua slowly opened the door and crept towards the sleeping guard. The patrolling guard didn't look back and an alarm was not issued, making Joshua calm down. He was expecting an alarm to sound after he goes out of the metallic door but there was nothing.

Joshua unclipped the taser from the sleeping guard after he hid on the guard's side. He didn't bother getting the gun and the baton since they were both loud and painful. Don't do it to others if you don't want others to do it to you. That's the golden rule right? Joshua said to himself.

Well, then that means, I want others to electrocute me using a taser since I would probably do a lot of electrocuting in the future. Well, not that it matters but I guess I should keep my victims to a minimum. It's not like the taser is that powerful or anything. He reasoned.

Suddenly, the guard patrolling the corridor stopped short and turned the other way. Joshua barely had enough time to hide himself once again beside the sleeping guard before he got into the patrolling guard's field of vision.

Thanks to the newspaper, Joshua had enough cover to avoid being seen.

The moment the guard reaches us, I'll just spring up on him and fry his radio using my taser. Then, I'll zap him lightly on the neck before he could utter a cry of alarm.  It depends on how strong he is but, it would take three seconds at the maximum to make him unconscious. That's just my estimate though. Joshua thought.

.....

Mrs. Quiller was shocked after hearing Emma's reply. She knew that they sent her daughter away just before they were kidnapped. She also knew that she sent her daughter to the Trazkies place in Oklahoma but Emma said she never did reached the place.

She worriedly looked at her husband, who happened to have the same expression as her, as she thought about their daughter.

"She might have been caught before we even got kidnapped." Rick said.

Mrs. Quiller couldn't quite believe what Rick was saying. But she knew that there's a possibility that their daughter got caught on the way to Emma's place.

"How about our son, Joshua?" Mr. Russel asked. "He's still not yet caught, right?" He continued, hoping that there's still a slim chance for Joshua to make a move.

"No, he was kept on a different cell since the mastermind knew about his secret unlocker." Emma replied. "It was quite a shock for us since no one knows about it, except Rick and I. Well, I think everyone connected to the P.U.L.L. must have known or heard about Joshua's special unlocker."

Everybody gasped.

"Gladiola has it too,right?" Mr. Russel asked as he turned to Mr. Quiller.

Mr. Quiller looked at Mr, Russel, intending to answer his question. With a serious look on his face, he grimly nodded.