And When Our Children Tell Our Story [On hiatus until I pull my life together]

Chapter 4

John's PoV

"Okay." Alex spreads out a huge map on the floor. Dozens and dozens of pieces of paper all taped together. The paper shows in incredible detail, King's Prison. The exterior, interior, and yard from many different angles. I helped him draw it, he made the rough sketch and I traced over it and fixed the lines and shading and scale. He captured every little detail, from how many lights there are to little cracks in the bricks, even so far as to the exact number of loops of barbed wire on the fence. "I've spent the last seven days we've been here working on this, with assistance from John. This is done in incredible detail, every little single thing is exactly the same on the prison. And yes, I drew the interior from memory and had John check it. He said, and I quote, ' 'Xander, how the hell did you remember that there's a scratch on the wall right there?' " He points to the picture. "So yeah, I drew it to perfect likeness."

"So how does this help us?" Andre interjects boredly. Alex glares at him.

"Because I'm showing you exactly where we're going to be striking. Tomorrow. At ten thirty on the dot. We know the defenses set up, I can easily take them down. This is one of the best points to strike." He crouches down next to his map and taps a part that has cracks running across it, a dozen feet away from where the wall turns, in scale. "The building isn't structurally sound here. If we blow a twelve by twelve inch section right on those cracks, it opens up a hole big enough for a person John's size to get through, as long as they duck." He indicates a part of his map right next to the part with the cracks, which shows a smoking hole leading into a cell. "I've done the calculations and it'll lead directly into a cell. The cell will be open when we strike, as everyone will be let out." He turns his attention to an above-view drawing of the prison, so we can see exactly where the cells are and stuff. He puts his finger on the cell he marked with a small star. "This is the cell we'll come out of. It's in a good position, thankfully for us. Not to far back where we can get shoved against the wall and be killed, but not to far forward where anyone who walks past will notice us immediately."

"So where do we go from there? What do we do if someone comes?" Herc asks.

"Prison guard? Kill them. Prisoner? Tell them to get out and run as far and fast as they can, tell them where we got in from. Scratch that, tell them to tell everybody else, then get out."

"How are we going to get it without the guards noticing? And how are we going to blow it up?" Maria asks.

"That's what I need you to do Carmen. Toss some grenades on the opposite side of the building to distract the guards. And don't worry, I brought some bombs along. We're set." He explains. "So once we're in, I'll go with Hercules here." He points to the main security office that has all the surveillance cameras hooked up to screens. "He'll disconnect them and then we go through and start blowing shit up. I've already found the weak points where we'll place the bombs." He indicates small x's on the map. "When blown up, they'll bring down a lot of the place." He looks up at us. "Andre, I need you to stay here. Every operation needs a get-away driver, you're going to be ours. You'll be in the least danger of us all, so I advise against arguing your position. The rest of you are coming with me, meaning John, Lafayette, and Hercules. I need Maria to hold her position as long as she can, keep the guards distracted as long as possible. Then me, John, Lafayette, and Hercules can take the place down. Any questions?"

"What guns will we be using?" I ask.

"You guys will be using just some standard M18 pistols, I'll be using one of them along with a bayonet because I fucking can. Anything else?" He waits a minute and is greeted with silence. "Good. Questions and concerns will be brought before me until midnight, I won't answer past then. And any I do answer staring in ten minutes will be with extreme annoyance they were not answered now. You are dismissed." He carefully folds the map up and carries it back to his cabin. I follow him. "Yes Johnny boi?" He asks, propping the folded map against the cabin wall and opening the drawer on his nightstand. "What do you need?"

"Just telling you that you need to go to sleep tonight. You need to be rested for tomorrow." I walk across the small room to his side. He withdraws a cloth bag from the night stand and looks up at me. He allows me to cup his cheek in my hand and run my thumb softly over the dark purple bags under his eyes. He hasn't really let me touch him very much in the past few days, he's been crabby and pissy and constantly drinking coffee and barely getting any sleep.

"Sleep is for the weak." He mumbles, closing his eyes and leaning slightly into my hand. He opens his eyes with a sigh a few moments later. "Come on, I have a present for everyone." He turns and walks back out, the bag clacking gently in his hand. I follow him. "Okay people, I lied." He announces. "Before you go, I have a present for you." He reaches into the bag and pulls out a small headset with an earpiece and microphone. "I've taken the liberty to set these up for you, they're all connected so we can communicate with each other." He tosses one to all of us.

"When did you find the time to do this?" Maria asks.

"I do things while you're all asleep other than drink coffee, silently rage, and plot, Carmen." He says with a wink and a small smirk. "Turn these on, I'm going back to my room, we can talk from there. But I'm bored of sitting out here." I shrug and fit it over my head, putting the earpiece in and adjusting the mic, turning it on and sitting down. "Can you all hear me?" I hear his voice in my ear.

"Yes." I respond.

"Roger roger." Hercules says.

"I'm 'ere."

"Hola."

"Hi."

"Okay good. Now we're going to go over the codewords one last time, then you are to turn these off and do whatever the fuck you want while I sleep." My stomach suddenly twists into a knot. We're really doing this. Tomorrow. This is actually happening. It all seemed a little like a game before, but now it's for real. We could all die tomorrow. I might die. This is real.