CHAPTER 5 — The Night of the Escape
Three nights later...
The prison looked unusually quiet.
Too quiet.
Rain hammered against the concrete walls while thunder rolled across the sky.
Most inmates believed it was just another ordinary evening.
But hidden beneath that silence...
Everything was moving according to Marcus's plan.
Or so he thought.
Inside Cell Block C, Marcus stood at the bars, checking his watch.
11:45 p.m.
Five minutes.
That was all that remained.
Officer Collins approached the cell carrying a ring of keys.
He glanced down the hallway before whispering,
"Everything's ready."
"The cameras on the east wing are offline."
"The tower guards have already been paid."
"The transport truck is waiting outside the service gate."
Marcus smiled.
"Good."
One by one, the cell doors clicked open.
More than thirty inmates stepped into the hallway without making a sound.
Each of them had been secretly recruited over the past several months.
Some carried sharpened pieces of metal.
Others held stolen batons or homemade knives.
The plan was simple.
Take the armory.
Eliminate anyone who resisted.
Escape before dawn.
Marcus raised his hand.
"Nobody gets left behind."
The men nodded.
They moved through the prison like shadows.
Not a single alarm sounded.
Everything was going perfectly.
Too perfectly.
Meanwhile...
Walter slowly pushed his cleaning cart through an empty maintenance corridor.
His gray uniform was soaked from fixing a leaking pipe earlier that evening.
To anyone watching...
He was simply an old janitor finishing another shift.
He stopped beside an electrical control panel.
Opened it with an old brass key.
Pressed a hidden switch.
Far away...
A tiny green light turned red.
Deep inside a government surveillance vehicle parked beyond the prison walls, dozens of monitors suddenly came alive.
Every hidden camera Walter had secretly installed over the previous weeks began transmitting live video.
Federal agents watched as Marcus and his men advanced through the prison.
Every face.
Every weapon.
Every corrupt officer helping them.
Everything was now recorded.
One agent whispered,
"We've got them."
Another replied,
"Not yet."
"We're waiting for Hayes."
Back inside...
Marcus reached the armory.
Officer Collins unlocked the heavy steel door.
The inmates rushed inside.
Boxes of rifles.
Shotguns.
Protective gear.
Exactly where Collins had promised.
Marcus opened the first crate.
He froze.
It was empty.
He opened another.
Empty.
Another.
Nothing.
Every weapons locker had already been cleared.
Before anyone could react...
The lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the prison.
Then...
A calm voice echoed through the emergency speakers.
"Good evening, Marcus."
Every inmate recognized it instantly.
Walter.
The old janitor.
"You've spent weeks planning your escape."
"I spent those same weeks planning your capture."
Marcus's smile disappeared.
"What have you done?"
Walter's voice remained perfectly calm.
"You assumed you were invisible."
"But every step you've taken..."
"Every bribe."
"Every meeting."
"Every threat."
"I've already delivered to federal investigators."
Suddenly...
Emergency lights flashed bright red.
The heavy blast doors slammed shut throughout the prison.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Every escape route sealed automatically.
Marcus sprinted toward the main corridor.
Steel doors blocked every exit.
The old janitor had trapped the hunters inside their own prison.
May you like
And for the first time in years...
Marcus realized he had walked directly into someone else's trap.
