Page 70 of Knox
By now, the prison is in full lockdown, with guards shouting in Spanish from every corridor.
As we reach the second-floor junction, four guards round the corner with riot shields.
“Stun!” Leif yells, pulling a stun grenade from his belt.
He removes the pin, letting it cook for a second before rolling it across the floor between the legs of the riot squad. We cover our ears.
BANG!
FLASH!
The hallway is filled with a blinding white light and a shockwave.
“¡Qué coño!” The guards drop their shields to cover their ears and eyes as we move through the smoke, using rubber rounds to neutralize them as we push past.
“East wing laundry chute, ten meters on your left!” Alexios directs us. “The courtyard outside is still clear, but the main gate guards are moving toward it.”
We burst through a double door into the laundry room, barricade the entrance, and look for the chute.
“Found it!” Tae says, checking the dimensions. “It’s wide enough for Knox to fit, with a… I would say… fifteen- to twenty-foot fall to the laundry cart.”
“Great. Leif, go first,” I order. “As soon as you land, look for the exit door.”
“Yes!” he cheers, slinging his rifle over his chest. “I love jumping into laundry chutes!”
“He loves jumping into laundry chutes?” I ask Tae while the Viking falls down the chute like a kid on a slide. “Is this something he does regularly?”
“Hell if I know.” Tae shrugs. “Though from the stories the twins have from their summer house in Sweden, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how they get into their homes in wintertime.”
BAM! BAM!
We hear the guards hitting the laundry doors with something big enough to demolish our emergency barricade.
Shit…
“You go first,” I tell Tae, and he jumps.
I then hold Agent Brown between my arms and jump… just as the idiot decides to regain consciousness.
“What the—!” Brown panics and screams all the way until we land on the laundry cart. “What the fuck is happening?”
“We’re kidnapping you.” Leif smiles, and Brown’s face goes pale.
“Please don’t kill me. I swear I haven’t said a word about Cillian to the cops or anyone else.”
“Wait… Who do you think we are?” Tae asks while Leif runs to the back door to pick the lock.
“Aren’t you the clean-up crew sent to get rid of loose ends?”
“Harknett,” I answer, and his lower lip trembles.
Something is wrong.
Really wrong…
“Who hired you? Why do they need clean-up?”
“I… I don’t know,” he stutters, looking anywhere but at me.
