The prison lay before them. Floodlights illuminated most spaces around the perimeter of the outer wall. There weren’t a lot of shadows one could take advantage of. This was something Maitho had considered when they pondered about how they would approach the facility. In the end, they had to rely on just one possible solution. They had to trust Raiden.
Epona had suggested that he use one of her horses, which will stay with him for as long as necessary. That was sound in theory, but it presented its own set of problems. What would happen if the animal was injured or disappeared? How would Epona be able to summon another one and make sure that it finds Raiden? In the end, the Norse Guardian decided that all he needed was to enter the prison. He would take care of the rest.
After lowering his binoculars, Raiden looked at the other two Guardians. “Six hours until daylight. You need to decide now, Maitho.”
The hours didn’t matter. Even if they had six days to plan everything, it still wouldn’t be enough. Not only because they wouldn’t be able to cover all issues that they might potentially face, but so many days would chip away at the already diminished time that Maitho had. He was about to give the signal to proceed, but stopped himself. There would be no turning away from this. If they failed, they would not only become enemies of the government, but they would probably face the wrath of the Celtic pantheon and would have broken into a prison for no reason. Then there was the fact that if Morrigan wasn’t on their side, then she was against them. They would be surrounded by enemies.
Maitho might as well wait for Quinn to wake up so he could enter the alternate dimension. At least that way, he wouldn’t have to face the conflict as a result of failure. No, he couldn’t think that way. Not at this pivotal moment. He took a deep breath.
“Anytime now,” said Raiden. His voice carried with it a sense of urgency that Maitho could not match.
This was it. There can be no turning back. Maitho nodded, more to himself than for the others. “Let’s do this.”
Raiden sent a quick message on his smartphone. When they had been brainstorming ideas on how to approach the prison, they had reached a barrier. There were vast open fields surrounding the prison. This was an intentional feature, since it would mean that prison guards could see anyone approaching the facility from a mile away. The same goes for anyone leaving the building. It removed the element of surprise as much as possible. Raiden also spotted several dozen cameras all lined up along signposts, scarecrows, and other erected structures. Several trees stood alone in the fields, with miles of area stretched between them. Their position simply meant that they were holding cameras as well.
The night wasn’t working in the group’s favor as well. Moonlight shone unhindered on the land below, casting a pale light that was enough to pick out moving shadows. Maitho could not imagine how they would even approach the prison, let alone break into it. They were fortunate enough to find a copse several miles away from the prison that they could hide in. But even then, Maitho felt the odd sensation of being exposed. It was as though he thought they were hidden, but they really weren’t. He shook that feeling away for now. Even if the prison guards became aware of them, no one would expect them to hold powers that ordinary humans would never believe.
He watched as a pair of red tail lights began to navigate the only road that led to the main gates. The vehicle stopped close to the copse, awaiting its passenger.
“That’s my ride,” said Raiden. “No turning back now.” It wasn’t just a declaration. He was saying it for the benefit of the group. Once he drives up to the prison, then no one can back away from whatever might come next. They were, whether they wanted to at that point or not, part of the plan they had set in motion.
Maitho watched the car drive away from them, heading towards the prison. It was Raiden’s idea to use the vehicle they had used to reach Cray’s mansion. Since the vehicle already included a driver and a passenger, it would only require a small adjustment by way of Raiden’s presence in the backseat to pass him off as a VIP. It wouldn't be too difficult for him to play the role of someone important. After all, he naturally carried himself that way.
Yet all of that was the easy part. Epona shifted in her place, getting ready to release one of her horses. She had suggested that the animal could reach the prison entrance by the time Raiden had completed his tasks.
The wait time seemed to stretch. Maitho felt as though the car had been on the road forever, the remaining distance stretching on for miles. It was an illusion sure, but one that he could not shrug off. He gripped a branch near him with enough pressure to snap it off. The sound caught Epona’s attention.
“Too much thinking,” said Maitho, offering a modest smile. Even as he said it, he realized he had provided a pitiful excuse.
The vehicle eventually reached the main entrance. Lights beamed down at it from different directions above the gate, illuminating the area in front brighter than daylight could.
“Here we go,” said Epona.
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The two of them pulled down the masks, completing their outfit that included the bulletproof vest, gloves, and black boots. Epona took the single shotgun with rubber bullets while Maitho opted for the taser. With any luck, they wouldn’t even have to use their nonlethal weapons. Though the chances of that happening were close to zero. He pushed a stun grenade into a pouch in the vest and handed one to Epona. They were ready. At least, as ready as they were capable of being.
Maitho raised his binoculars and pointed them at the prison entrance. The guard was leaning forward to look into the car from the passenger side. His hand was on the handgun in his belt. The weapon clearly wasn’t going to fire rubber bullets, which meant that all guards at the prison were allowed to use lethal rounds. It was something Maitho already knew, but seeing it confirmed felt like the chances of meeting their end had heightened considerably.
Another guard stood a little away from the driver’s side. This allowed him to avoid any sudden attacks, should one arrive from within the car. At the same time, it placed him close to the emergency button that Maitho was certain he was ready to press should the worse come to pass. Above the gate, there was a walkway and on that walkway was another guard peeping at the scene below through the scope of his rifle.
The security was not enough. Not if the guards knew what the man seated in the car was capable of. As Maitho watched, a bolt of electricity shot out of the open window of the passenger side, sending the guard into an epileptic frenzy. In a few seconds, his body stopped spasming, dropping him to the ground. The second guard followed a similar fate a second later. A shot was fired by the sniper. Maitho couldn’t see if the bullet had penetrated the windshield or not, but he was confident in the fact that Raiden would not allow innocents to die. he would have ensured that teh driver and passenger were both safe before he attacked.
An arc of electricity shot out, shattering a back side window and striking the nearby lights. Bulbs shattered, throwing a rain of sparks and glass on the car. A security camera that hung above the entrance exploded into wires and bits of metal. Another rifle shot was fired. At that point, there was no need to hit the alarm button. Maitho figured that the prison would be alert by the gunshots and the sounds of chaos.
The back door opened and Raiden stepped out. Maitho noticed the sniper adjusting his position and firing a third shot. The bullet met an electric shield, dropping to the ground a feet in front of Raiden. The sniper lowered his weapon, looking on with an expression of surprise. Big mistake. Raiden fired a small arc of electricity, rendering the final guard unconscious. Looking back the way he had come, he allowed his power to blow out the light of a nearby lamppost along the side of the road that the car had taken to reach the prison. The arc that shot out of his hand launched itself from one lamp to the other, leaving behind a cascade of darkness in its wake. He fired another electrical discharge, this one towards the row of lights on the opposite side of the road. Soon, there were no lights illumintating the road.
Maitho and Epona were already on the move. She had summoned three horses, one horse for each of them with the third following them riderless close behind. The animals moved faster than any horse that Maitho had seen in his life. Then again, he hadn’t ridden many, so his metric for horse speed was probably way off. He watched as the view beside him began to blur, the animal beneath him picking up speed. He was in complete darkness with the moonlight being the only help, the illumination barely enough to see the path in front of him. Yet he trusted Epona and the animals. The car began to reverse, turning around to eventually face them. Raiden leaned into the driver side and spoke something, after which the car took off. The horses parted to allow the car to pass by them. In the brief glimpse that Maitho received, he noticed that both the driver and the passenger looked unhurt. They were fast approaching the prison.
Raiden’s form was merely a foot tall from where they were and within less than a few breaths, he was standing next to them. He didn’t waste time, grabbing the reins of the remaining horse and hosting himself on top as though he had been doing it all his life. Snapping the reins, he guided the horse around the perimeter, but not before launching lightning at nearby floodlights, plunging the area immediately close to the prison entrance into darkness. He fired two more shots of lightning, ripping one wired fence on either side of the entrance from their posts and launching them into the air.
The fences were positioned several feet in front of the prison. This was to ensure that no one would be able to come close to the walls and thereby move out of sight of the guard towers. While it was true that part of the guard towers jutted out beyond the walled perimeter to give the guards a clear view of the area outside, it still meant that they wouldn't be able to easily catch someone who was close to the prison’s wall.
Breaking any of the fences meant that Maitho and Epona could acccess the fairely narrow gap that existed between the fence and the wall.
Epona led the way, squeezing through the gap. She was the perfect rider. Her poise showed confidence. She trusted her horse, as her horse seemed to trust her. Compared to her, Maitho was barely holding on to the animal carrying him. He had faith that Epona knew what she was doing and, by that extension, his horse knew what it was doing. Riding into the wind was almost like moving against a semi-solid surface. Maitho felt as though he would fall off the horse if he let go. To compensate, he leaned forward, almost hugging the neck of the animal.
He felt the vibrations of each gallop course through his body. Oddly, the strength of the horse boosted his strength, as though he was drawing energy directly from the animal. It was purely psychological, of course. Though he had to admit it felt great.
The horse jerked to the right a second before the sound of gunshot reached him, a movement so sudden that Maitho’s instincts kicked in and he wrapped his arms tighter around the neck of the animal. Doing his best to keep his position the way it was in case he had to face more sudden movements, he looked up to see a guard in a tower pointing a rifle at them.
Maitho heard the sound of a large piece of concrete cracking open. It only meant one thing; Raiden had broken through a wall somewhere on the other side of the prison. He noticed the guard with the sniper rifle look up in alarm at the noise. It gave him and Epona a moment to cover more distance, but he wasn’t certain how long it would last. Then the sound of several klaxons going off at once reached his ears. The whole prison had come alive in a moment of awareness, it alarms sending all of its guards into action.
Another shot rang out, but this one from somewhere behind Maitho. The horse beneath him disappeared into mist and he watched as the ground rushed to meet him.