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Old 03-13-2017, 03:41 AM   #94
Icelander
 
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Having Put on the Breastplate of Righteousness

Dr. Anderson and Sherilyn Bell have both been thoroughly checked to ensure that they are wearing their tactical gear properly and appear as members of the guard SRT unit from a distance. The new tactical outfit includes a Point Blank ATF SWAT vest, PPSS sharp protective wear for the arms and legs, Danner Acadia boots and a PASGT helmet.

As they were already wearing a guard uniform for a disguise, Anderson, Bell and Taylor just put the tactical gear on over the Manhanock Security shirt and pants, as the three SRT guards had done. The boots taken from the three guards are all too large for Bell, so she continues to wear black tennis shoes she found in the barracks. She also hands Taylor back his red 'Bama cap, with a smirk, and he carefully stows it in a pocket, grinning at Bell.

All three of them are carrying a patrol sling with an M16A2 rifle with mounted Insight Technology's Visible Light Illuminator (VLI), Insight AN/PEQ-2 Target Pointer/Illuminator/Aiming Light, ATN Night Arrow 4-2 Night Vision Weapon Sight and Trijicon ACOG Reflex Sight in an offset mount, six extra 30-rd magazines of 5.56x45m NATO ammunition, one M9 pistol with two extra 15-rd magazines of 9x19mm NATO ammunition and one each of M84 stun grenade and M67 fragmentation grenade.

They still have the Motorola ASTRO Digital Saber radios, Mace body alarms and OC spray, Maglite flashlights, 911 Rescue Tools & Knives, and Monadknock 21" MP Rigid Batons taken from the guards earlier and have added a Leatherman multi-tool, a stack of NIK Public Safety Disposable Restraint System (flexicuffs) and a Chinook SWAT IFAK personal first aid kit augmented with painkillers, including stuff not available over the counter like Vicodin and a morphine syringe, for each person. They also take knick-knacks, bottled water, moist wipes and other small comforts.

Taylor has added a Cold Steel Bushman fixed-blade knife to his belt, Bell found a Spyderco Paramilitary 2 folding knife for her pocket and Dr. Anderson surreptiously conceals the largest scalpel he can find, wrapped in tape to avoid cutting himself, up his left sleeve. He seems quite adept at palming objects and neither of the other two notice him doing so.

After Taylor is happy with their gear, he walks Dr. Anderson through the operation of an M16A2 rifle and the use of the night-vision optics. While Taylor makes sure not to address his basic explanations to Cherry Bell, as she went through basic training once, the quick course is clearly visible to her, in case she needs a refresher. As they talk, the three move down to the cellars and sit down near the blast door, where Taylor can listen for threats in the tunnels beyond, and discuss their next steps.

Dr. Anderson: "I expect your surveillance in the lobby has yielded more useful information than my interview, Taylor?"
Taylor: "Naw. I cain't figure these guards at all. It's been, what, somethin' like half an hour gone since I spoke with Warden Tyrrell on the intercom? An' all they do is send three guards, who ain't come back an' now, nothin'! Jes' a whole lotta flit and flittering over yonder an' somebody tearin' up Jake inside G Wing. That there last might could be 'cause of our traps, they musta finally triggered one and figured it were us throwing stuff at them."
Anderson: "I do not know when your conversation with the Warden might have taken place, but the flashbang explosion in the tunnels was 28 minutes ago and it has been fifteen minutes since the heavy machine gun fire outside."
Taylor: "Exactly, doc! What in the Lord's name kin they be ditherin' about? 'bout all I kin figure is that the Warden been real busy with somethin' else an' nobody else dares make a decision o' any kind, but I cain't nohow guess what might could be more important than checkin' out a position they know we was at. An' I thought me and Warden Tyrrell, we'd established something like to rapport, if'n ya know what I mean. He were madder than a hornet over the intercom, I figured he'd be fixin' to lay a hurting on me an' not gonna stop for nothing."
Anderson: "Perhaps your unique brand of charm has failed you, in this instance."
Taylor [considering]: "Naw, that dog won't hunt. Warden were fit to be tied. Ain't nobody that good an actor without he done won an Academy Award yet. I figure Warden Tyrrell musta been one of the guards down the tunnels. Onliest thing he wanted more than tan my hide is Sherilyn an' he musta thought he'd find her down there."
Bell: "Hah! He didn't, big dumb-dumb that he is. I'm too clever for him."
Taylor: "Yeah, thank the Lord for that. On the other hand, I figure he done got O'Toole, Burr, Townsend and Berrocal. I weren't sure if'n he kilt them, but since them guards ain't come in here, I reckon they's taking back prisoners. Might be they jes' didn't fancy comin' through a narrow doorway when they knowed I gots grenades and rifles now, but I figure Warden Tyrrell woulda forced them if there weren't somethin' he thought were more important. Like prisoners he think know where you is."
Anderson: "Do you imagine that he will mistreat them?"
Taylor: "I's afraid so. I guess we hafta hope one o' them will jes' gone told all he knowed."
Anderson: "Would that not bring the guards here?"
Taylor [grinning]: "It oughta, doc. That an' what Randall an' them others is a-gonna tell him. I figure that Warden is back by now, but without any radios, ain't no way he kin organise that ruckus into anything useful, I guess. Prob'ly he done raised Cain over yonder, but them guards ain't eager to see if'n I can shoot these here rifles.
[Taylor pats his M16A2]
Taylor: "Uh, they's sure enough scared o' y'all too, I mean to say. We's all gots them rifles now an' that mean them guards been thinkin' they hafta come at these here barracks the long way 'round."

Taylor stands up nimbly and makes a gesture they recognise by now as instructions to wait for him. He runs upstairs to the lobby, to take a last look and listen around. While he's gone, Dr. Anderson adjusts his unfamiliar gear for a more comfortable seat and turns to Cherry Bell.

Dr. Anderson: "That guard I spoke with, Hayden Avery, he talked a lot about you."
Cherry Bell [brightly]: "Oh yeah? What did he say?"
Anderson: "He said that you had threathened families of guards who would not obey Warden Tyrrell. That you had men on the mainland ready to kidnap or kill the loved ones of anyone who talked to the authorities."
Bell: "It wasn't like that. I said stuff, because Tyrrell and them made me, but I never had any men on the mainland and I didn't kidnap anyone. I was just a prisoner myself."
Anderson: "But you could leave your cell at will?"
Bell: "As if that's any kind of freedom! Where was I supposed to go? There's no way off the island except by boat and if I'd tried to get on a ferry, Warden Tyrrell would have figured out that I was missing before it even reached Portland."
Anderson: "Please be calm, Ms. Bell. I am not your enemy. I am simply trying to understand."
Bell: "Well, you don't understand! I didn't have any choice. I had to trick the guards, make them cooperate, make them see whatever things they were supposed to see, freaky lizard people or whatever. I was forced to, okay!"

Taylor comes back downstairs, walking to Cherry Bell and directing a warning glance at Dr. Anderson.

Anderson [calmly]: "Who made you do these things, Ms. Bell?"
Bell [tiny voice]: "Dr. Bruce Cotton."
Anderson: "Who is he, Ms. Bell?"
Taylor: "Dr. Cotton, he be a low-down copperhead snake of a physician, supposed to be Sherilyn's primary. He ain't important no more." [places arm over Bell] "An' would Dr. Cotton have an office close to the Deputy Warden's, Lynnie?"

Sherilyn Bell starts crying again, but nods at Taylor's question. Taylor hugs her tight and speaks in comforting tone of voice, but his face is locked in a cold mask of fury as he looks over her shoulder, upwards, in the direction he imagines that Cotton's office might be.

Taylor: "Don't you fret none, Lynnie, it's okay. You can jes' go ahead and forget that name, ya hear? You never have to think about it no more."

Dr. Anderson looks askance at Taylor, but wisely decides not to say anything.

Taylor: "Okay, folks, we's gonna go back into them tunnels. If'n them guards got the sense God gave a goose, they'll hafta leave somebody down there, but as they's comin' here in strength outside, I figure it ain't gonna be more than four men. Sherilyn, you got all three guards in the lobby, in less than three breaths, right?"
Bell [wipes her face]: "Yeah."
Taylor: "An' they didna see or hear anythin' but what you wanted?"
Bell: "Nothing else. I can make them see anything and their own senses don't work unless I let them."
Taylor: "Then I reckon we kin bamfoodle whoever they leaves down there. We'll be movin' in darkness, no lights, not even IR. I'll smell or hear them, jog your arm, Lynnie, an' you find them with yer rifle scope and use yer hoodoo."
Dr. Anderson: "What about me?"
Taylor: "Breathe low, watch where you's steppin' an' don't get shot, doc."

Taylor demonstrates a few simple signals that can be transmitted through touch, teaching them to stop, drop down, look for cover, fall back and the signals to Cherry Bell for using her NV optics to search for a threat where Taylor points. They plan to walk single file, Taylor on point, Bell behind with her hand on his arm and Dr. Anderson in the rear, with his hand on Bell's other arm. Taylor says he doesn't hear anyone in the tunnels on the other side of the door, but they should be careful anyhow, ready to run into the blocking element right there. After this briefing, they open the blast door as silently as they can.
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Last edited by Icelander; 03-14-2017 at 02:42 AM.
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