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Chapter 3:  Prison Break

        San Miguelo prison was located in a remote part of the Mexican desert approximately half way between the towns of Monterrey and Chihuahua. It was the most modern and infamous jail of it's type with dark foreboding buildings and it was surrounded by huge dark walls and located in what was almost a complete wilderness. The only real nearby civilisation comprised the local village where the guards and other employees lived. It also housed some of the worst and most notorious criminals on the entire North American continent. 
        The Prison was equipped with all of the most up-to-date surveillance and security equipment to be found anywhere. The central nerve system being the control centre, located next to the governor's office which was situated in a special wing of the main prison building. The control room also contained a special two-way radio link to the authorities in the nearest towns and to a few other special outside installations.
        It was early in the morning and the prisoners had just left their cells and were gathering in the main recreation area. Some had gone straight to the special booths located adjacent to this part of the prison where they could talk to friends and relatives via special 2 way vidcom links. The prison was so remote that visitors were very few, but prisoners for the most part were encouraged to keep in touch with people in the outside world and unlike most prisons there were no regimented times for doing this once lockdown had been lifted. 
        "Senors Symonds and Sanchez are ordered to the governor's office now" Stated one of the guards.
        Two men amongst those congregated in the main hall looked at each other and crossed the room to comply with the order.
        Roy Symonds and Pedro Sanchez were typical of the type of inmate housed at the jail. Both had a long history of criminal activity and their crimes included armed robbery and murder.
        The guard armed with a machine pistol and rifle kept a safe distance as he herded the two inmates towards the governor's office. On either side of the long passageways were the cells, which were mostly empty but sealed at night by electronic locks. The passageways were all covered as well by closed circuit TV cameras linked into the monitor screens in the control room.
        A few minutes later the three men arrived at the door outside the Governor's office. The guard knocked firmly.
        "Come in" said the Americanised voice from inside.
        "Thank you Juan" He added to the guard as the men entered the room.
        Paul Ford was a slightly balding grey haired American in his late forties. Although he had a reputation for supporting prison reform, he was not a liberal. It was he who had helped design and set out the regime of San Miguelo prison, which was hard but fair and tried to balance the need to re-habilitate the inmates with punishment for their crimes.
        "Sanchez and Symonds, I might have known you two would have been at the heart of the disturbance yesterday. Don't you ever want to get out of here?"
        "Daft question Governor, We're sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in this hell hole and we've done just over 5. It means nothing to us" Symonds replied defiantly.
        "The word is minimum you two. If you carry on like this you'll be serving the maximum" Ford tried reasoning with them.
        "Forget it Senor Ford, they no care" Stated the guard.
        He had lost some concentration and had moved too close to the prisoners. Before either he or Ford could react, Symonds pulled his machine pistol and clubbed him over the head. Ford moved forward instinctively but held off any attempted attack when Symonds barked an order.
        "Hold it Governor unless you wanna wind up dead. You know this is the one place in the entire prison that isn't watched by the security system."
        "You can't escape, you better…."
        "Save it Governor you're wasting your breath. Now turn around"
        Ford hesitated.
        "Do it" ordered Symonds as he squeezed the trigger.
        "I theenk you should do what my amigo says eh Senor Ford" Sanchez added.
        Ford complied with the order and braced himself for the blow, which duly came from the butt end of the commandeered pistol. Ford slumped unconscious to the floor.
        "Let's get out of here." Said Sanchez urgently.
        "First I change into his uniform." Symonds said, pointing at the unconscious guard. "Here help me get it off him. Then we put the control room out of action." 
        A few minutes later Symonds and Sanchez left the Governor's office, Symonds dressed in the guard's uniform apparently escorting Sanchez. Instead of heading down the corridor though, the entered the control room and quickly overpowered the  two guards who were taken completely by surprise. 
        "Right, stand back" Symonds ordered Sanchez as he shot out the control panel, which contained all the CCTV monitors and the radio communications. The panel exploded in a fiery display of sparks and flame.
        "Thees ees good" Smiled Sanchez.
        "Yeah, once we're out of here, we're home free. It'll take 'em hours to fix this and put out a general alert for our escape"
        "By wheech time we have got the money eh and bee nearly to the border"
        "That's right"
        Symonds and Sanchez walked casually down the passageways and steel stairwells to the ground floor and one of the exits.
        "We'll steal one of the evacuation vehicles from the yard"
        "si"
        However there was one security device of which the two criminals were unaware. Located along the walls of the exit passageways were hidden infrared cells. These could only be de-activated by the guards putting their own security cards into a slot system. As the two men headed for the daylight they broke the hidden beams and before they knew what was happening steel doors blocked the path ahead and behind. A deafening electronic alarm went off and the two men were trapped like caged animals. Within seconds armed guards appeared at both barred doors. Symonds realised there was no way they could shoot their way out of this situation. Reluctantly he threw the pistol to the ground and he and Sanchez raised their hands.
        Ford was in pain, his head bandaged and he was angry. Symonds and Sanchez stood before him, flanked this time by three armed guards who made sure they kept a safe distance.
        "What am I going to do with you two?" Ford snarled.
        "I'm sure you can think of something" Sneered Symonds defiantly
        "Too right I can" He leaned aggressively across his desk, so that he was almost in the face of the two inmates. "Maybe a spell in just each other's company might achieve something. Take them down to one of the basement cells and let them have a few days cooling off in there." He ordered the guards.
        A technician entered the office"
        "Sorry Senor Ford, but the panel will need completely replacing, it is beyond repair."

On to Chapter 4.