The Archfornicator of Canterbury

56 Jailbreak

After the visit by Richard Black, Jack was transferred to a room that was almost as featureless as the one used for interrogation, with the exception that this one had a bunk bed in it. He pretended to sleep, knowing full well that he was being watched by a video camera hidden somewhere in the ceiling. He had no desire to look for the camera, even though he knew it wouldn't take him too long to locate it. He would have done so if he'd had any chewing gum, though, just to piss them off.

It was becoming painfully obvious that he needed to get out. There was no telling how long they'd keep him there, and there were no guarantees they wouldn't think of something even worse. The Company had well and truly let him down, not that he was all that surprised. It's the nature of the game, he thought to himself. On reflection, he realised that it wasn't The Company who had let him down. Richard Black had. Jack guessed that the business with the rock from Shannara was something Black had come up with outside the official curriculum. This didn't necessarily mean that the Godfather behind Black's operation wasn't some CIA official higher up the food chain. It just meant they were doing this, whatever it was, for their own personal gratification rather than to protect the interests of the people of the United States of America.

Jack knew it wasn't exactly uncommon for CIA agents to do a little bit of business on the side. The Company had a long tradition of operatives doing whatever they thought they could get away with. Most of the time, they did. Clandestine deals with Medellin drug lords were commonplace. Another popular pastime was gun-running in the Middle East, often with both parties of the conflict at once.

His experience told him patience would be the key. An opening would come, and he would take it. He was about to try to get some sleep when the door opened and one of the Mr Smiths came in.

"Put your clothes on Jack. We're going for a ride."

"Where to."

"Gilligan's Island. Get dressed."

Jack did as he was told. They went down to the garage and got in the same car that had brought Jack in. The other Mr Smith came down the stairs and sat in the driver's seat.

They had been driving for a few kilometers, when a beat-up van ignored the red light and hit the front right corner of their car. The impact was powerful enough to spin the car 180 degrees. A tall and muscular man of Middle-Eastern appearance got out of the van. He had a large gash across his forehead. Blood was oozing out of the gash. The driver did not have time to react before the guy opened his door and dragged him out of the car, yelling strange insults at the top of his lungs.

The Mr Smith who had been sitting in the back of the car got out to help his colleague, forgetting for a moment that they had a prisoner in the car they weren't supposed to let escape. The moment was longer than Jack needed. When Mr Smith realised his mistake, Jack was already gone.

The Archfornicator of Canterbury by Olli-Pekka Rinta-Koski
is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.