Read Online No Man's Land by G. M. Ford - Free Book Online

could ask another
question, Asuega went on. “We also have to assume that through one
ruse or another, Driver managed to lure all three of his jailers into
the cell with him. Otherwise, the pod operator would surely have seen
the commotion and taken emergency measures.”
    “We won’t know until we get back inside and see the tape,”
    Romero said.
    “Inside the cell?” the governor looked confused.
    “Mr. Driver was under video surveillance twenty-four hours a
day.”
    Blaine paused and thought it over. “The lights never went out?”
    “No,” said Romero. “Never.”
    The governor stifled a shudder. “Really?”
    “Yes sir.”
    “What do you call that sort of thing?”
    “Extreme Punishment.” Asuega said. “It’s reserved for
those who kill or injure prison personnel.” Asuega read the
revulsion on Blaine’s face. “I assure you, Governor, the policy
works as a serious deterrent. Compared to government-administered
facilities, ours have an overall thirty percent lower rate of
injuries to staff.”
    “How long has this Driver character been living under these
conditions?”
    “Four and a half years,” Asuega said.
    Again, the look of disgust on the governor’s face gave his
feelings away.
    “Run it up to the elevator part,” he said.
    Romero relayed the request into the phone; on the screen Driver
looked like a Keystone Kop moving up the cellblock at triple speed.
    “There,” said the governor. Driver’s image had just inserted
the electronic card into the elevator control panel and punched in
that day’s code. “Wait a minute now,” Blaine prompted.
    “Stop,” he said as Driver turned his back to the camera and
hunched over.
    “What’s he doing there?” Blaine wanted to know.
    “He’s circumventing the fingerprint recognition system,”
    Romero said.
    “Not possible,” Asuega said quickly. “Disabling it . . .
maybe. Getting around the system . . . not a chance.” Before Blaine
could bombard him with more questions, Asuega went on. “Any damage
to the hardware simply shuts the system down. Nobody goes up or down
until the pod operator rearms the software.”
    “Then what in hell is he doing?”
    “If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say he’s probably using the
system in the manner in which it was intended.”
    “I thought you said—” The governor stopped. A mixture of
confusion and horror plowed furrows in his forehead. “Are you
suggesting . . . you mean like . . .”
    Asuega jumped in. “The only explanation that makes any sense is
that Mr. Driver is in possession of the security foreman’s right
index finger.” He pointed at the screen. “Could we go on here?”
    Romero said, “Let it run, Iris,” and the picture once again
began to move.
    “Can you slow it down and back it up a little?” Asuega asked.
    “Stop,” he said after a moment. “Notice how carefully he’s
moving. As if he’s folding something up, then putting it in his
pocket.” They watched in silence as the elevator arrived and Driver
stepped inside. They watched the last forty seconds. Romero and
Blaine looked away for the last fifteen seconds or so. Asuega kept
his dark eyes locked on the screen until the picture lapsed to
static.
    “For ease of training, the control pod was designed to be as
intuitive as possible,” Asuega said. “To someone like Driver . .
. trained in state-of-the-art electronics and control mechanisms,
figuring out how to operate the prison’s systems was no great
problem. I’d be willing to bet he’s already reprogrammed the
software to recognize his own fingerprint.”
    As if he had the answer to an unasked question, a U.S. Army
colonel threw back the door and strode inside. “My people will be
ready in an hour.”
    “They’ve taken over the armory,” said the governor. The
colonel sneered at him. “They got armor-piercing shells?”
    He didn’t wait for an answer. “Any depleted uranium?
Artillery? Air support?”
    “Of course not,” Romero answered