They saw the doctor exit the medical room and lock the door behind him. When no one was looking, they ran up and unlocked the door with the id card. They were inside. Paul held a screwdriver in one hand and in the other a wooden wedge he had found in the yard. They ran to the room they had visited before. It was 9:12, 3 minutes until the key capture. Paul started working on the armrest of a chair with the screwdriver. During their previous trip he noticed that the armrest would be easy to remove. Upon removing it, he hustled to the floor where the square was peeking out from under the wall. Priscilla watched not sure how to help. He pressed the wedge against the base of the wall at the square and started whacking the wedge with the armrest. At the first few hits, Priscilla instinctively looked over her shoulder worried that someone would hear. The narrow wedge was sliding right under the artificial wall. Paul gave the wedge one more good smack and declared, "Should be enough." The hope was that the wedge would channel the weight of the wall onto the square hopefully surpassing the required 280 pounds.
"That's 9:15," Priscilla informed.
"I guess we'll find out soon enough," Paul said starting to move on.
“Don’t we need to remove the wedge?” Priscilla asked.
“No we’re okay,” he replied. “Remember, the keys are ignored after more than a minute of sustained force.”
They exited the medical area unnoticed and then it was on to the final 5 characters of the code. The sun had set and the prison was dimmer.
"All statements end in a semicolon," Paul said as they triggered the last key which resided in the cafe.
"Hope to see you soon," Paul whispered as he and Priscilla parted ways heading for their designated cells. Every prisoner had to be in their cells with the doors shut at 11pm or they would suffer consequences.
Priscilla walked in her cell and closed the door behind her. It was 10:54. She waited in suspense for 6 minutes. At 11 on the dot she heard all locks in the hallway click. She held her breath not knowing if it had worked or not. She wondered if Paul could tell from just the sound if the cells had locked and then unlocked.
Before she could muster the courage to walk forward and try the cell door, Paul walked up smiling. He swung the door of her cell open. They went to the neighboring cell and swung its door open. A man was laying on the bed inside. "Do you want to escape?" Paul whispered. The man opened his eyes and then jumped to his feet. "How?" he whispered back. Paul just motioned for him to follow them and then moved on to the next cell. The next prisoner protested. "No not tonight," he whispered. "I don't want to miss the poker game tomorrow."
"There won't be anyone left to play with you," Paul argued.
He didn't reply so Paul left him. Paul and Priscilla spread out swinging open cell after cell announcing the opportunity to escape. Some were hesitant, but most joined eagerly.
"Quiet, quiet," Paul whispered at the throng that was now in the hall.
Someone dropped something large and metal on the ground causing a tremendous clatter. Paul put his face in his palm. Paul climbed up a ladder at one end of the hall and pressed his hands against a hatch in the ceiling which opened. Priscilla followed him up the ladder and then around 120 men and women did so as well. The crowd crept across the roof of the prison heading for the back ledge. A prisoner who had refused to come with them could be heard behind them shouting, “They’re escaping! They’re escaping!” That caused a sense of urgency in the group. Near the ledge of the roof, Paul located another hatch which he opened. It dropped into the closed off hallway at the back of the prison. Surprisingly, there were no signs of the guards yet, despite the shouter and other noises. The head of the train of people walked down the hall while the tail was finishing with the second ladder that descended into the hall.
Smiling, Paul put his hand on a dusty rack of machines to their left. “That’s the server that runs the program we changed,” Paul whispered to Priscilla. They found their way to the end of the hall where there was a door with a crash bar. “Good luck to you all,” Paul said in a voice that was both a whisper and a shout at the same time. Then he cautiously swung the door and crept out into free air. Priscilla’s heart bounced as she looked out at the dark forest just ahead of them. Flashlights and shouting arose and quickly approached.
"The guards! Run!” Paul shouted. Everyone darted for the woods. Paul and Priscilla heard some of the prisoners being re-captured behind them, but they themselves were at the front of the pack. They reached the trees but didn’t stop there. They ran, their hearts racing, their breathing quick.
Paul and Priscilla found themselves alone as far as they could tell until suddenly a guard jumped right in front of them and almost grabbed Paul. The guard proceeded to chase them for a moment until the darkness of night caused him to face-plant flat against a tree.
After another minute or so of running, they ducked down under a slope to hide and catch their breath. They laughed quietly at the thrill of escaping and also at the guard’s tremendous grunt as he smashed into that tree.
They weren’t quite in the clear yet though. They would need to cover more ground before morning and that’s why they came to me because I had a speed boat.
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