Re: The Bureau of National Defense and Government [M/M] [new chapter 12/9/22]
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2022 11:49 pm
by wataru14
A little ahead of schedule, but I won't be able to write much over Christmas. So here's the next installment a few days early!
Chapter 6 – Jailbreak
Sonny made his way back to the stairs as nonchalantly and inconspicuously as possible. Several inmates pointed at him and whispered, but no one made any sort of move. Perhaps they knew that he was a ‘personal favorite’ of Carlito’s and he was declared off-limits. “Not likely,” Sonny thought as he made his way up as best he could with his hobbles still attached. A more probable explanation was that Carlito said it was open season on him and they were waiting for an opportune moment. Then Carlito could come in for the save and expect a show of “gratitude.” And he certainly wasn’t going to let THAT happen.
The second level was deserted, as the inmates were all down milling around in the common area. Sonny made his way to a railing on the second story and looked out into the cellblock. Williams and the others had moved to where the main throng of inmates were. They waited for a moment, then Williams looked up and caught Sonny’s eye. Sonny nodded. Williams went over to an inmate near him and whispered something in his ear. Sonny couldn’t tell what it was, but it was certainly enough to throw the man into a violent rage. He pushed through the crowd and punched another inmate square in the face. The two hit the floor in a whirl of punches and kicks. Williams and the BNDG agents backed away to safety as a crowd gathered around the fighters.
From the guard tower below, the lone watchman stood up and ran to the edge of the railing. He started shouting at the two combatants, but his admonitions were drowned out by the ring of cheering inmates taking bets. He was looking away from Sonny… It was now or never. Sonny hopped up onto the railing and, wishing on a star for luck, leapt out into the abyss. It was only his strenuous physical training at BNDG that allowed him to control his jump enough to clear the gap and reach the tower. He landed silently behind the shouting guard. Or at least silently enough to not be noticed. With lightning speed, he grabbed the man from behind and smashed his head into the steel rail. The guard slumped over, knocked completely out. Sonny gently slid him down to the floor, untying his shoelaces to give a plausible reason for the man to have “fallen” when he woke up later.
Sonny quickly accessed the terminal. He had little time to work before more guards came in and restrained the fighters. He had to be done by then! Working like a blur, Sonny brought up the prison schematics and scanned them using his honed agent awareness. “There’s the prison area… access hall… maintenance hall… elevator… THERE!” Sonny snapped his attention to a hall on the fourth floor that contained luxurious suites. It had only one way in or out. “That must be where they’re holding the prince!” Sonny thought. “But that’s also probably where Carlito stays. That would complicate things. A lot…”
The double doors leading to the cellblock flew open and several armed guards poured in. Williams and the other non-fighting inmates backed up, turned around, and interlocked their fingers behind their heads. A ready position to show the guards they were being compliant. As the guards descended on the fighters, Sonny hopped up on the countertop and leapt again, this time away from the doors. He would land completely blocked by the tower and could pretend that he had hidden back here to avoid the fight if anyone noticed him. The perfect cover. As he jumped, though, his leg barely cleared the razor wire on top of the electric fence and a small scrap of his pants leg was torn off. When he landed, he turned and saw it hanging from the wire. Small, but the bright orange color would be noticed in contrast to the start white-and-chrome of everything else. “Nothing to do about that now…” Sonny thought as he hid under a table.
When the shouting died down, the guards announced that the block was to be cleared and everyone was on lockdown for the rest of the day. An expected response to the fight, but an unwelcome one. He wouldn’t be able to confer with Williams or the others until tomorrow. Sonny popped out from under the table as the inmates started to file by and joined the line. He walked with an affected limp. It would make him look vulnerable, he knew, but a shuffling gait was the only way to minimize the chances of anyone noticing his torn pants leg. But he made it back into his cell without incident and sat down on the cot in relief as the barred door closed and locked behind him.
---
The next morning, Sonny had arranged his shackles to make it look like his pants had gotten caught on them and torn. The guards seemed to buy this ruse and gave him two replacement pairs when they brought his meal. His restraints were removed so he could shower with the rest of his neighbors, but the handcuffs went back on right after. Thankfully, the leg hobbles were left off. Sonny wasn’t worried. He still had his stashed second key and could get free of the cuffs in seconds if he needed. During workout time, he found the BDNG group and joined them. Everyone knew who they all were, so there was no reason to pretend they didn’t know each other anymore. As he spotted for Williams during the older man’s weightlifting, Sonny relayed his findings in their secret code language.
“Have a lead on the VIP,” he signaled. “Luxury suites not far from here. The way there is risky, but it’s fairly close. Probably well-guarded. We’ll need weapons.”
“I saw the armory when I was brought in,” Rhett gestured, “but it’s on the far end of the compound. Completely out of the way. We’d risk capture getting there and doubly so on the way back. I’ve managed to make and stow some shivs, but that’s all we’ll have.”
“It’ll have to do,” Williams signaled.
“And we need to hurry,” Sonny signed. “The longer they have him the more likely Carlito will get the intel. We need to stop that from happening. We need to go today, if possible.”
“But what do we do when we’ve got him?” Pahn asked. “How do we get out of here and where even IS here?”
“We’ll have to wing it, I guess,” Sonny said. “We’re on a strict timetable. Not enough time for full intel, I’m afraid.”
“I hate going out blind, but we’ve got no choice,” Williams said. “Now here’s the plan…”
---
Later that afternoon, once cleaning duties and afternoon exercise was done, Pahn walked up to two of the guards. “Excuse me, sirs,” he said in broken and halted Spanish. “Someone is very sick in the showers. I think he needs help right away.” The guards were unconcerned with the mystery prisoner’s health, but Carlito would be angry if the showers were dirtied. And Pahn was a model prisoner: quiet, unassuming, never caused trouble… He was one to be believed. After a quick conversation, they decided it was better to investigate than to risk angering Carlito. “I’ll take you to him,” Pahn said, hurrying towards the shower room of the cellblock.
When the group arrived, the room was thick with steam, cutting visibility down to nearly nothing. But a groaning and retching could be heard from the wall near the showerheads. Pahn stayed behind as the two guards cautiously approached the orange-clad figure barely visible through the steam and hunched over on the floor. “What’s going on in here?” one asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead. But the only answer he got was a quick mule kick in the gut from Williams, who sprang from the floor in an instant. Before either guard could grab his walkie and alert the others, Malik, Sonny, and Rhett emerged from the steam and grabbed them from behind. Sonny and Malik applied unbreakable sleeper holds while Rhett clamped his hands over the guard’s mouths and Pahn barred the door. With the condensation on the floor, the guards couldn’t get any traction to maintain their balance. Their boots were too slippery, something the barefoot prisoners attacking them had no problems with. In a matter of seconds, the guards were blissfully unconscious and lowered to the floor.
“Sonny,” Williams said. “You’re the newest so the guards would have the least chance of recognizing you. And Malik has the best chance of passing as a local at first glance. Get dressed!” Sonny and Malik silently stripped the two guards and donned their uniforms. Sonny’s was a tight fit, but with Rhett’s help he managed to arrange the uniform in the proper manner. Carlito made sure his guards’ uniforms were perfect at all times. While they dressed, Pahn and Williams took the discarded prisoner uniforms and tore them into long strips. They dragged the two naked guards over to a toilet stall and got to work. Using the orange fabric strips, they securely bound their captives’ hands behind their backs, followed by their ankles and knees. The cloth would slip less than rope would, but the knots would be bulkier and easier to pick apart. But that’s all they had to work with at the moment. More orage fabric was used to stuff their mouths to capacity, with another long strip bound around their jaws several times to keep the stuffing in place. Lastly, a wide piece was folded into a thick band and used to cover their eyes. Once properly restrained, they were placed back-to-back and tied together with the last of the frayed orange cords. Williams and Pahn slid them into a stall and closed the door, then Rhett jammed the latch from the outside.
“That oughtta hold ‘em for a while,” he said in his Cajun drawl as Sonny and Malik adjusted their uniforms. “You sure you know the way?” he asked Sonny. Sonny nodded as he replaced the handcuff key into the hidden socket in his calf. The cuffs that had previously bound his wrists were now in his hands in a ready position.
“Yeah,” he said. “Now we get you three done up and we can leave the cellblock.” Rhett, Williams, and Pahn nodded and turned around, placing their hands behind their backs. Sonny used his cuffs to restrain Pahn, while Malik used the cuffs from his duty belt to bind Rhett. The cuffs from Sonny’s belt holster were then applied to Williams. All the cuffs were closed just enough to look secure, but could be easily slipped when the time came. Malik shut off the water and opened the window to vent the steam.
“If water collects on the floor and creeps into the hall, someone will know something’s up,” he said. “We don’t want anyone looking in here until we’re long gone.” Sonny looked at the stall where the two sleeping guards were confined and nodded in agreement. He headed for the door, with Rhett, Pahn, and Williams falling into place behind him. Malik took the rear and the five exited back into the cellblock.
“Time to see if my deception skills are good enough,” Sonny thought as he led the group past the prisoners in the common area. Seeing inmates cuffed and being escorted around by guards was a common enough occurrence that no one paid them any mind as the group made their way to the main door. But the two guards at the exit stopped them as they tried to exit.
“Who are you and where are you taking the Americanos?” one asked.
“I’m new,” Sonny said in perfect Spanish. “Carlito just brought me in. We worked together in Brussels and he offered me a spot here.” He grabbed Rhett by the throat and lifted him up, slightly choking him. “This one stole some diamonds from me in Lisboa and I’ve been waiting to get some revenge on him ever since. But Chuy wants to get… personal with them first so we’re bringing them up.” Sonny released Rhett’s throat as the guards contemplated.
“What’s the tattoo on Chuy’s chest, eh?” the second guard asked suspiciously. Sonny smiled internally. He had tussled with Chuy enough times to know that!
“It’s a tribal pattern that goes all up his left side and down his arm,” Sonny said. “Right above his left pec is says ‘Rapa Nui.’ That’s where he’s from.”
The guards nodded. “Seems like you know Chuy very well,” the left guard said, opening the door. “Take these cabrones to him. But show me their hands on the way back. I wanna see how many fingers he takes. Ha ha ha!!!” Sonny and Malik laughed as they proceeded through the door. The three cuffed pretend prisoners put up a show of resisting, but Malik just shoved them forward. After they had cleared the cellblock and made it down the access hall, Sonny checked to see that they were alone.
“Looks like we made it,” Sonny said in French, just in case someone was nearby. “We should be able to get to the VIP area without an issue, but the wing itself will be guarded. We all need to be ready for action.” Sonny explained that there would be at least one guard at the entrance to the wing and possibly more inside. There would definitely be at least one at the Prince’s room, but he couldn’t know how many others there would be. “We need to be prepared for anything.”
The group made their way down the hall and around a corner to the elevator. They passed random prison staff here and there, but they didn’t make eye contact and kept focused. No one bothered them as they went, other than a few taunts and chuckles at the three pretend prisoners’ expense. As they moved into the elevator, a man in a suit tried to enter, but Sonny waved him off. “We’re taking these three to the boss,” he said. “Trust me, amigo, you want to take a different lift.” The man laughed and nodded as the doors closed.
Williams shifted his weight and squirmed slightly in his cuffs. He fiddled with the bracelets, making sure he could slip at least one of them when the need came. “Everything OK?” Sonny asked.
“Yeah,” Williams said. “Just testing. I should be good to go. You two the same?” Rhett and Pahn agreed.
“The prince’s room will be the second on the right,” Sonny said. “Carlito’s suite is at the end of the hall. I have no idea where he and Chuy will be. Hopefully they’re somewhere else and not in the wing today. I’ll collect the prince while you secure the hall. If they’re not around, it will be easy…”
“But if they are there it will be quite a complication,” Pahn said, stretching his shoulders as best he could with the cuffs on. “Williams can hold his own with Carlito, but none of us are a match for Chuy. Maybe not even together. Only you would have a chance against him.”
“I need to get the prince alone,” Sonny said. “He’s never seen any of you before and so many guys barging into his room will spook him. He’s not used to this kinda stuff and we need him calm if we’re going to get out of here. Plus, there’s no window and we don’t want to all be pinned down in a dead-end room.”
“Well, the quicker I can get a gun in my hand, the happier I’ll be,” Pahn said. Sonny was about to say something, but Pahn cut him off. “And I know BNDG’s policy. ‘No killing unless there is no other option.’ Trust me. I can control my shots better than anyone. I just don’t like being… naked. You know what I mean?”
The elevator reached the floor and chimed. Everyone got into character as the doors opened and the group entered the VIP wing. A lone guard stood at the closed door that was the entrance. “What is this?” he asked. “I wasn’t told of any prisoner transfers today. Who are you?”
Sonny paused for a moment, and then socked the man square in the face, knocking him out cold.
“What the fuck was that?” Williams said. “I thought we were being subtle!”
“This guy is kept in the loop,” Sonny said as he held the unconscious guard up and rifled through his duty belt. “Not like the jobbers at the prison block. If I tried to bluff him, he’d call for confirmation and we’d be sunk. I had to cut that off before it happened.”
“I guess,” Williams protested, “but I don’t like going off script this early. You know how I am.”
“That I do, Sergeant Hardass,” Sonny chuckled. He took the guard’s service pistol and stuffed it in the back of Pahn’s waistband where it could easily be reached. “But you’re not even the worst. The guy that replaced you after you… died… this guy Flannery… he’s a nightmare. He’s a Marine and he’s a real ballbuster.”
Williams chuckled as Sonny slipped a taser into his pocket. “I know him,” he said. “You poor bastards.” Sonny slipped Rhett and extendable baton and handed the downed guard to Malik.
“We can’t just leave him in the hall,” Sonny said. “Someone might come by and see him. Him not being there would be less conspicuous than him being cuffed on the floor.” Sonny used the cuffs from the guard’s duty belt to restrain his hands in case he woke up ahead of schedule. “Nothing to gag him with, so we’ll have to hope that he stays out until we’ve got things under control.” Malik hefted the guard over his shoulder. “Everyone ready?” Sonny asked. “OK, let’s rock and roll.”
When Sonny opened the door, the wing looked more like a luxury hotel than a prison compound. Expensive carpet, side tables with decorative tchotchkes, paintings on the wall… very swank. And all stolen from rich collectors around the world. Rhett’s mouth watered. From the terminal, Sonny knew that no one else was confined here other than the prince. But that didn’t mean the place would be unguarded. One armed man was stationed outside the prince’s room and two more were conversing a short way down. The door to Carlito’s office was closed. A good sign.
“What the?” one of the guards down the hall said when he saw the unconscious door sentry slung over Malik’s shoulder. “What happened to Diego? And who are you?”
Pahn immediately slipped his cuffs and grabbed the gun in his waistband. In a fluid, almost choreographed routine, Williams and Rhett did the same and grabbed their weapons. Malik dropped Diego and grabbed his own gun from the uniform holster. Pahn fired a shot that missed the guard at the prince’s room by a hair and struck the doorframe. The man dove away, just as Pahn planned, and took cover behind a table. With the door now unobstructed, Sonny dashed for it.
Pahn and Malik fired some covering shots, forcing the two other guards to run for cover. “We’ll handle things out here,” Malik said as Williams and Rhett charged down the hall and he and Pahn laid more cover fire. “You get the prince and get back here STAT!” Sonny nodded and slipped inside the door as Williams and Rhett engaged their foes in melee.
The door flew open after a swift kick from Sonny’s boot. He did a forward tumble roll into the room in case there were guards inside, alerted by the gunfire in the hall. Luckily, there were none. But there was also no prince. The TV was on, showing a popular Argentine telenovela, and there was a half-eaten plate of food and glass of wine on the coffee table, but no sign of any occupant. The room was not as palatial as the prince was undoubtedly used to, but it was still leagues ahead of the cell Sonny had been confined in. He stood up and swept the room. “Your Highness?” he called. No answer. “Dammit!” Sonny raced around the room, turning over furniture, until something caught his eye. It was a large wooden chest, like you’d see on a pirate ship. Common enough in living rooms for storing blankets, magazines, and DVD cases. But Sonny was sure this one contained something else.
Sonny flew over and slammed the lid up. Inside, curled into a ball and trying to be as quiet as possible, was the prince. He covered his face with his hands. “Leave me alone!” he shouted.
“Your Highness,” Sonny said, grabbing the prince and pulling his hands away. “I’m from BNDG. I’m here to rescue you!”
“You?” the panicked prince said after getting a good look at Sonny. “You’re… the man from the hotel! The one they took away when I was brought into the plane!”
“Yes,” Sonny said, hearing the sounds of fighting in the hallway outside. “I have a team and we’re making our escape. We need you to come with us!”
“I heard shooting so I hid in here,” the prince said. “I didn’t know what was happening!”
“That’s fine,” Sonny said. “Very smart. But now I need you to come with me. My men will keep us covered until we get out of the wing. Then we’ll get to the garage and commandeer a vehicle. I know where it is.”
The prince thought for a moment, obviously considering his chances and deciding whether to trust Sonny or not. He stood up. “All right,” he said, “let’s go.” Sonny helped the prince out of the chest and noticed that the sounds of combat outside had stopped. Williams and the others must have finished up out there and were waiting for him. “Looks like my guys have taken out the guards. Let’s hurry.” Sonny led the prince through the room, the young heir trailing very close behind him. He cautiously opened the door.
When Sonny stepped into the hall with the prince in tow, he got the shock of his life. Williams, Malik, Rhett, and Pahn were kneeling in the hallway, their hands behind their heads and fingers interlocked. Carlito stood behind them with a gun in his hand and Chuy stood just to his right. Two guards were unconscious and slumped against the wall while the third, battered and bruised, tried to revive them. It looks like Carlito and Chuy arrived in the nick of time. Sonny instinctively shielded the prince with his body.
“That will be quite enough of that!” Carlito said, cocking his gun and holding it to the back of Williams’ head. “A valiant effort. If you had another day to plan you might have gotten away with it. Unfortunately you didn’t memorize my schedule and struck when Chuy and I were both in my office. Such a racket you were making. If you didn’t get trigger happy, we may not even have noticed. Quite a pity, no?”
“Go!” Williams shouted. “Get the prince out of here! Don’t worry about us! Finish the mission!” Carlito kicked him face-first to the floor, his gun raising towards Sonny. Sonny’s mind switched to computation mode. If he grabbed the prince, he could roll out of the way of Carlito’s shot and make it to the door. The others would provide him interference enough to get away, that was certain. They were all pros. Carlito most likely wouldn’t be shooting to kill, anyway. Even if he miscalculated and was hit, it would just be a grazing wound and he would be able to fight his way through it. Sonny grabbed the prince’s hand and started to move, but as soon as his muscles tensed for action he collapsed to the floor in convulsions.
“That’s far enough, Agent DeLuca,” the prince said, holding up the stungun he had concealed in his pocket. As Sonny looked up, twitching, a team of armed guards poured into the hall. He felt two of them flip him onto his stomach and wrench his arms behind his back. His muscles were still spasming uncontrollably as he felt the sting of the plastic cable ties cutting into his wrists. He watched helplessly as his four companions were wrestled down and restrained as he was. When his ankles were secured in the loops of the heavy plastic ties, Sonny knew it was over. His muscle control finally returned as he watched the prince walk over to Carlito and the guards drag his friends to their feet.
“Good work, Your Highness,” Carlito said. “Very quick thinking.”
“What else could I do?” the prince said. “Can’t very well get rescued before the ransom is paid, can I?”
“WHAT?” Sonny thought. “Was this whole operation planned by the prince? Was it all a set-up???”
“Very true,” Carlito smiled, patting the prince on the back. “These BNDG agents almost prevented us both from becoming very rich. Now, men, take these four to the lower cells and secure them. Tightly. I will deal with them later. But first, I need to have a long talk with Agent DeLuca here.”
Sonny shouted and cursed as he watched his four companions being dragged, kicking and struggling, out of the hall by guards. The prince knelt down and patted him on the shoulder. “Sorry, old boy,” he said. “Nothing personal. It’s just that I need to stay here a little longer until my parents pay up. No reason to hand over the money if I’m not a prisoner, is there? I don’t want to see you hurt. Just the opposite, actually. So just do what Carlito says and you and your friends just might live through this.” He rubbed his hand down Sonny’s back and took a big squeeze of his ass cheeks. “Carlito, I know you are going to do what you are going to do, but please remember my offer.”
“I will, Your Majesty,” Carlito said with a courtly bow. “But your deal stated that I do get him first. And I intend to make the most of that time. Chuy? If you would.”
Chuy grabbed Sonny and hoisted him up, tossing him over his broad shoulders. “Take him to my private playroom,” Carlito said, “and see he is prepared for me. I will be along after my ransom call to the King and Queen is completed.” Sonny was helpless to resist as the massive Islander toted him down the hall and to the elevator. Chuy entered in a special access code and the elevator went down. The way Sonny was being carried, he couldn’t see what buttons were pressed, but he counted the strokes and memorized the faint tones the buttons made. The elevator descended below the floor that housed the cellblock, and a few more after that, before opening into a high-tech command center.
“This must be where the REAL compound is,” Sonny thought, taking in as much information as he could as he was carried along. Laboratories, armories, combat and arms training rooms, all of it full of top-secret stuff. “When I finally do get out of here,” Sonny thought, “I need to find a way to secure this place for BNDG. Or find some way to destroy it.” But he didn’t have time to formulate a plan as Chuy entered his secret access code into a control panel beside a lone door at the end of a hallway. The door slid open with a sinister pneumonic hiss as Sonny was carried inside.
The room was dark, and Sonny could tell by the lack of echoing that the walls were soundproofed. Not a good sign. Vague outlines of shelving lined all the walls, but he couldn’t see what was on the shelves. An even worse sign. The dim lights had a deep red tint, bathing everything in long, evil shadows. What Sonny could see through the darkness was a black steel cage about three feet square in one corner, some kind of operating table against the far wall, and a black X-frame in the center of the room. It was heavy and wooden, with thick leather padding covering all the surface area of the front side. Rusty metal manacles hung from each corner of the X. Sonny squirmed and fought as he was carried, but he was helpless to stop Chuy from bringing him ever closer to the black X.
Chuy said nothing as he unlocked Sonny’s cable ties and slammed him against the X-frame. He tried to slip free, but his ankles were still restrained, making him unable to get any balance. Chuy’s massive left hand smooshed his face and pinned him to the X-frame while his right grabbed Sonny’s frantically flailing left arm and brought it up towards the manacles. Sonny struck hard and fast at Chuy with his free hand, but it was like punching stone and had no effect on the silent giant. With an ominous clank, the steel manacle was locked around his wrist. His right wrist followed suit shortly after. With both his hands pinioned to the corners of the frame, Sonny was powerless to resist as Chuy uncuffed his ankles and secured them with the manacles on the bottom corners.
Sonny squirmed and attempted to slip the restraints when Chuy turned and went to a shelf nearby, but he was unable to do anything but rub his wrists raw. With a tiny smirk, Chuy slowly made his way towards the captive Sonny, a pair of scissors in his hand, glinting in the red light of the room…
Coming Soon: Part 7 – Black Hats, White Hats