Powerless (Book 1): Powerless (27 page)

Less than a few paces from the vents with only the fence standing in the way, Lee was so close to getting in unseen and undetected. Lee made himself small on the ground and lay motionless. He was virtually invisible. He would remain so unless the guard had already spotted him or if he trod upon Lee’s motionless body.

The
guard
continued
his
silent
advance
towards
Lee,
but
stopped
abruptly,
planting
his
boots
within
spitting
distance
of
Lee’s
face.
So
close
in
fact
Lee
saw
his
breath
slowly
steam
up
the
tip
of
his
left
boot.
He
was
careful
to
control
his
airflow,
fearing
the
fog
would
no
longer
conceal
it
while
the
guards
were
so
close.

The
guard
reached
into
his
pocket
to
search
for
something
and
tilting
his
head
upwards
toward
the
tower
and
let
out
a
loud
whisper.
“Psst
Jack.”

Lee
kept his
face
down,
in
hopes
that
the
guard
would
not
look
down
to
the
ground
and
spot
him.
He gripped
his
knife
tightly
while
trying
to
figure
out
in
his
head
what
was
going
on,
when
he
heard
a
louder
whisper,
“Psst
Jack...”
but
this
time
there
came
a
response
from
up
in
the
tower.

“Yeah,
what’s
up?”

“Throw
me
down
your
matches;
I
need
a
smoke…”
and
with
that
the
guards
in
the
tower
dropped
a
box
of
matches
to
the
man
below.
The
guard
fished
out
a
pack
of
cigarettes
from
his
pocket
and
began
to
light
one
up.
His
partner,
who
was
a
little
further
on
turned
to
him,
saying,
“Man
those
things
will
kill
you…”

The
guard
then
inhaled
deeply
from
his
cigarette,
turned
away
from
Lee
and
slowly
started
to
walk.
Lee
loosened
his
grip
on
the
knife and
inwardly
revelled, thinking,
they
nearly
did
and
you
have
no
idea.

With
that
Lee
began
to
cut
along
the
bottom
of
the
second
fence,
again
allowing
him
enough
room
to
pass
underneath
undetected.
From
this
point
it
was
only
a
few
meters
further
for
him
to
reach
the
vents
and
hopefully
an
entry
point.

He
got
to
the
vents
undetected;
slowly
unscrewing
the
cover
to
the
vent
and
slipping
into
it,
closing
it
behind
him.

He stopped
for
a
moment
to
take
a
breath
and
think
of what
was
next.
Before
undertaking
this
mission
Lee
planned
to
get
into
the
base
to
find
the
bunker
in
hopes
that
Tom
was
being
held
there,
but
he was
left
with
only
his
instinct
as
to
where
within
the
bunker
his
brother
actually
was.
Working
his
way
along
the
vents,
slowly
lowering
himself
down
the
vertical
shaft,
he used
the
rope
he
brought
in
his
pack,
and dropped
down
further
and
further
into
the
bunker
until
he reached
the
bottom.

Here the shaft split in two directions. He decided to go to the right, but after a moment Lee hesitated, peering ahead seeing a long maze of vents that were feeding into the rest of the compound. He sensed this to be wrong, as he had previously deduced the cells to be close to the point where he entered into the vent system. He slowly worked back up the shaft and then headed to the left. Passing down the shaft, carefully checking all the rooms he passed over to look for evidence that his brother was there.

Reaching
the
end
of
the
vent
he
found
the
rooms
he
had
highlighted
to
himself
on
the
schematics.
There
were
two
rows
of
three
cells,
hidden
from
sight
in
the
safe
confines
of
the
vents.
Lee
could
see
into
the
cells
on
one
side
and
was
clearly
able
to
see
they
had
no-one
inside.
This
was
going
to
force
Lee
to
take
a
big
risk
in
making
himself
visible.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

As
the
cells
were
empty,
the
doors
were
left
wide
open
in
the
first
two. Entering
either
of
these
would
leave
minimal
cover
if
a
patrol
walked
by
the
cells.
The
third
cell
door
was
open,
but
left
ajar
so
he decided
this
would
be
his
best
point
of
entry,
as
the
door
would
offer
him
some
degree
of
cover
in
the
cell.

There
was
a
vertical
drop
down
the
vent
into
the
room,
so he secured
himself
at
the
top
using
a
rope
and
slowly
lowered
himself
head
first
down
the
shaft
to
the
vent
cover.
He
began
to
unscrew
the
cover
of
the
vent
and
carefully
remove
it,
being
sure
to
not
make
any
noise
as
he
passed
through
the
vent
to
the
ground
below.
The
room
he
found
himself
in
was
dark;
the
only
light
illuminating
his
line
of
sight
came
from
the
light
in
the
corridor
outside
the
cell,
which
leaked
in
through
the
gap
in
the
door
and
through
the
small
window
on
the
door.
The
cell
was small with
only
a
mattress
lying
on
the
floor
behind
him,
in
full
view
of
any
guard
looking
through
the
viewing
hatch
as
they
passed
by
the
door
on
their
patrol.
There
was
also
a
steel
wash
basin
and
a
stainless
steel
toilet.

The
door
into
the
cell
was
made
of
heavy
steel
with
four
electrically
controlled
lock
bars
and
a
small
window
in
the
centre
for
the
guards
to
keep
an
eye
on
any
prisoners.
He examined the door and thought to himself,
this
door
is
heavy
duty,
but
I
don’t
think
it
would
hold
Tom.
If
he’s
locked
in
here
and
hasn’t
escaped,
it’s
only
because
he’s
chosen
not
to…

He peered
out
the
door,
through
the
gap
between
it
and
the
wall;
from
here
he
could
see
the
three
cells
that
lay
adjacent
to
the
one
he
was
in.
He
could
also
see
down
the
corridor
to
where
a
guard
was
sitting.
The
guard
seemed
to
have
his
feet
up,
watching
a
small
TV
perched
on
a
shelf
behind
the
desk.

This
meant
that
the
guard
was
looking
away
from
where
the
cells
were
located
and
as
there
was
not a
recognisable
entry
point
from
that
direction
he
had
no
need
to
be
suspicious
of
anything
from
behind
him.

Lee
needed
to
assess
if
in
fact
his
brother
was
held
in
any
of
the
other
cells.
R
emoving
his
heavy
hiking
boots
in
case
they
made
noise
on
the
ground
and
alerted
the
guard
to
his
presence,
he opened
the
door
gradually
and
gently
made
his
way
out.

Stepping
up
to
the
first
cell
, which
was
the
furthest
away
from
the
guard
, he
spied
into
the
cell
and
took a
survey
of
everything
he
saw.
The
room
was
dark,
too
dark
to
assess
if
his
brother
was
inside.
But
while
staring
in
through
the
window,
his
eyes
adjusted
to
the
darkness,
and
gauged
there
was
nobody
in
the
room.

Calmly
and
deliberately
he
moved
onto
the
next
cell,
being
careful
to
choose
where
to
place
his
feet.
Each
time
he took
a
pace
forward
he
would
look
up
to
see
if
the
guard
had
been
alerted
to
any
movement
from
over
his
shoulder,
being
mindful
to
control
his
breathing,
for
if
the
guard
turned
around
he
would
clearly
see
Lee
standing
behind
him.

There
was
nowhere
for
him
to
hide
between
where
he
stood
and
the
desk
that
separated
him
from
the
guard.
Being unsure of the guard’s power added further danger to this undertaking.
Making
it
to
the
second
door,
he
again
sought
to
confirm
if
his
brother
was
in
the
cell
or
not.

As
his
eyes
adjusted
to
the
darkness
inside
he
saw
that
there
was
the
figure
of
a
man
inside.
Unable
to
see
if
the
features
of
the
person
inside
were
the
same
as
his
brother,
as
the
person
lying
in
the
room
had
their
back
to
the
door,
he raised
his
hand
to
make
a
small
noise
on
the
glass
to
get
the
attention
of
whoever
was
inside.

Pulling
his
hand
back
he began
to
slowly
release
it
towards
the
glass.
He interrupted
his
own
movement
just
as
contact
was
about
to
be
made
with
the
window
and
paused
for
a
moment
to
think.
If
he
tapped
the
window
the
guard
could
be
alerted
to
his
presence
and
if
he
was
lucky
enough
not
to,
and
the
person
inside
was
not
his
brother,
they
would
certainly
make
a
noise
and
bring
the
attention
of
the
guard
towards
the
cells. Instead
he chose
to
examine
the
third
and
final
cell.