Chapter 65 - The Glass Eye in the Vent
Arthur reacted on pure instinct, diving across his father’s bed as glass shattered from the doorway.
Two rounds struck the heart monitor, sending showers of blue sparks across the dark room.
Arthur grabbed the stainless steel IV pole and swung it with all his strength into the darkness.
The pole struck the gunman’s weapon, knocking the suppressed barrel off-target as another shot tore through the ceiling.
Arthur tackled the assassin into the hallway, both men crashing into the heavy nursing station counter.
In the strobing emergency lights, Arthur saw the man was wearing the uniform of a county transport deputy.
The hitman tried to draw a tactical knife from his vest, but Arthur grabbed a heavy fire extinguisher from the wall.
He slammed the red cylinder against the man’s helmet, sending him sprawling unconscious onto the tile.
Sheriff Miller burst through the stairwell doors, gun drawn, taking in the carnage with wide eyes.
They secured the unconscious transport officer, ripping the deputy badge from his chest.
Inside the man’s pocket was a disposable cell phone with a single incoming text message sent five minutes prior.
The message read: "Clean the hospital room. Then extract the package from Cell Block B."
Arthur realized with freezing terror that Eleanor was already putting her contingency plan into motion.
She hadn't gone to the county jail to await trial; she had gone there because it was her fortress.
Arthur demanded that Miller take him to the Cumberland County Correctional Facility immediately.
When they arrived at the maximum-security wing, the atmosphere was suffocating and eerily quiet.
Eleanor was held in an isolated holding cell at the end of the administrative corridor.
Arthur peered through the reinforced observation window, expecting to see a defeated old woman in an orange jumpsuit.
Instead, Eleanor was sitting calmly on her metal bunk, sipping tea from a porcelain cup that no inmate should have.
A female corrections sergeant stood beside her, hands clasped respectfully, listening to Eleanor’s quiet instructions.
Arthur banged his fist against the reinforced glass, demanding that the guards open the steel door.
Eleanor looked up slowly, smiled, and raised her teacup in a silent, mocking toast to her son.
Arthur noticed a tiny lens glinting inside the air ventilation duct directly above her head.
It wasn't a standard prison security camera; it was a wireless transmitter transmitting encrypted data outside.
Eleanor had turned her cell into a command bunker, directing her empire through corrupted prison personnel.
She looked directly into the camera lens in the vent, her lips forming three silent words Arthur easily read.
She mouthed: "Watch me burn."
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Suddenly, the massive industrial fire alarms of Cell Block B began to shriek deafeningly.
The magnetic locks on every solitary confinement cell clicked open simultaneously with a deep, hydraulic thud.
