Shadow Tyrants (Oregon Files 13)

The bolt flew true and smashed into the camera housing. It shattered upon impact.

“Let’s go,” Juan said.

They raced across the clearing, and Juan yanked the door open while Eddie and Linc covered him. He went inside with his P90 submachine gun to his shoulder, sweeping the area for any hostiles.

To his right a red shipping container sat on a trailer hitched to a huge modern tractor with six-foot-tall rear tires. The entire assembly had been backed into the shed. The tractor was far bigger and more powerful than would be needed to pull the trailer, but it moved containers quickly back and forth to the pier to transfer them as quickly as possible from the Triton Star. A second container was on the other side of the first one. There was plenty of room at the back of the shed for unloading.

To his left was the rumbling generator and a large tank with drums of fuel stacked next to it. The stench of diesel fumes was strong.

In front of Juan was the stairwell access and a large service elevator perpendicular to the stairwell with its doors closed. So far, no one was investigating the now obscured external camera. Lyla was sure there were no other cameras inside the facility except the ones in the hallways of each level and in the computer workroom.

He waved the others inside.

“MacD,” Juan said, “you stay here and cover our six in case the guards outside come back. Eddie, take Raven, Linc, and Lyla down the stairs and block the doors. I’ll take care of the elevator.”

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While MacD remained at the outer door and the others went down the stairs, Juan took a small pry bar from his vest and forced the elevator doors apart. He looked down and saw that the cab was one level below him.

He took a small container from his pocket and opened it, revealing gray putty that was a small amount of C-4 plastic explosive. He braced himself on the support girders and reached across to the hoisting cable, pressing the putty around it. He stuck a small remote detonator in it and climbed back out.

He went down the stairs and found Eddie and the others already on the second level. Eddie was using a syringe to coat the lock and the door seam with a fast-acting all-purpose epoxy that would bond it shut so tightly nothing short of a hydraulic ram would open it. Only the syringes of acetone they carried as part of their standard shore operations kit would dissolve the glue. The first level had already been sealed the same way. Now none of the guards would be able to sneak up behind them.

When he was done, they went down to the third level, where the prisoners’ quarters were located. Juan stopped before opening the door.

“Once we go through, they’ll see us, so we won’t have much time,” he said.

“There’s a door to a second stairwell at the north end of the hall,” Lyla said. “It doesn’t go all the way to the surface, but it goes up to the control room level.”

The warden would try to send reinforcements that way. Juan only had to look at Eddie, who nodded that he would seal the north stairway as well.

“How many guards stationed on this level?” Juan asked Lyla, who looked both nervous and excited.

“Usually, just one. He’ll have the keys to all the cells. They keep it low-tech down here to save energy for the computers and communications systems.”

“Once we’re in, they’ll know the facility is compromised, so we’ll have to move fast. Everyone ready?”

They all nodded. Raven had her hand on Lyla’s shoulder. While Eddie handled the other door, Linc would take down the guard inside.

Juan took the detonator transmitter from his pocket. He gave everyone one last look and pressed the button.

TWENTY-FOUR

Fyodor Yudin was still trying to figure out why the feed from the camera outside went down when he heard the explosion from the direction of the elevator shaft. Every guard in the control room jumped to his feet.

Yudin yelled to two of the guards, “Go find out what happened!”

Then he went numb when it dawned on him that this might not simply be an equipment malfunction. Did Lyla Dhawan sabotage the facility in an attempt to escape?

He looked at the level-three monitor showing the wide hallway where the prison cells were located and realized the situation was far worse.

The door from the south stairwell burst open, and a huge black man charged out, knocking out the guard stationed down there with a single blow. He was followed by an Asian man, who sprinted to the stairwell door at the north end of the hallway, knelt down, and started smearing it with some kind of gel.

After the Asian man came three more people: a blond man, who took the keys from the guard; a dark-haired woman; and Lyla Dhawan. All of them except Dhawan were heavily armed.

The blond man began unlocking cells, and elated prisoners hugged Dhawan as they emerged.

Somehow, some way, Lyla Dhawan was staging a prison break. If even one prisoner got away, Yudin knew he was a dead man.