Black Market Merchant

Lisa opened the cage to let them out and as the ten ladies exited, she noticed that one of them was much older than the others. She looked to be in her fifty’s, and she had a noticeable hunch in her back. From the limping way she walked to it was clear that this older woman was going to need extra help getting into and through both the vent and duct.

“It would probably be best if she went out last with me. That way I could help her and have her not be a potential burden to the others escaping.” Lisa thought.

Then as the older lady was the last to come out Lisa asked her, “I need you to do something while the rest escape.” Both the older lady and the handcuffed lady looked at Lisa with uncertainty, but neither refuted her. “I need a lookout at the front door. If you see anyone coming down the hall or towards the door, warn us. That way we all can pretend to be still asleep in our cells and keep escaping once they are gone.”

The old woman nodded, “Very well. It’s the least I could do.”

Lisa proceeded to help lift the handcuffed woman up first and glanced over to see that the older lady was indeed keeping watch. This took a burden off Lisa’s mind because in her escape plan she had neglected to bring a long a look out for inside the factory. Inwardly she noted to herself not to make this kind of mistake again.

Lisa was now helping the third of the eight cells of ladies when trouble started to brew. One of the ladies that was climbing into the vent suddenly slipped! In her panic she tried to grab the bottom of the vent but only manage to slap the duct floor with both hands and a boom echoed through the room and undoubtably throughout the duct to the rest of the factory. Everyone froze, both in and outside of the duct.

Lisa had caught the falling woman before she hurt herself, but then she immediately looked to the old woman keeping lookout. The old woman was standing on her tiptoes frantically looking down both ways of the metal hallway. Nothing happened for a few moments, and everyone started to relax.

However, the old lady turned around with a pale expression, “Some ones coming! What do we do?”

Lisa seethed inwardly. “Get back into your cells and lay down. The rest of you still locked up lay down as well and everyone remain quiet!”

The remaining ladies with Lisa and the old lady rushed to their unlocked cells and clamored inside. They were not being quiet in the least and their footsteps plodded heavily on the metal floor. Lisa didn’t have time to correct them, she had her hands full throwing the rope back into the vent. The old rope had coiled onto the floor into a big pile. As she threw the rope through the vent, it kept stubbornly rolling back out.

Wayne was still further within the vent when he heard the boom from the lady slipping. Knowing that there was trouble coming, he looked past the two ladies he was currently leading through the duct and saw Lisa struggling with the rope. He could tell that she need help with the rope and chose to go back.

“Scoot to one side.” Wayne hissed to the two ladies, and he started to go by them.

When they leaned to one side of the vent, there was an unsettling sagging feeling. The vent was giving way!

Wayne quickly backed up and pulled the closest of the ladies to the other side of the vent. There was a sharp squeaking noise that could only be coming from the vents supports as the weight of the vent returned to being balance. Wayne and the woman looked at each other breathlessly, hoping that no one below would have heard them. They didn’t know what else they could do other than wait. It was agonizing!

Lisa tossed the rope one last time with an agitated throw and the last of the rope rolled inside. Just as she did the sound of keys jingling struck her ears! Looking about her, Lisa saw that the gate to the cell she was in was still wide open!

Quickly she dashed to it and shut it swiftly. As a result, the gate gritted noisily. Lisa did not wait a second and jumped into the closest of the cots. She pulled the nasty threadbare sheet over just as the front door swung one.

Everyone within the room froze. Not a single person dared breath. The sound of two sets of footsteps pounded on the metal flooring as the Mad Dog guards entered. The footsteps passed by Lisa, and she looked up to see that the two men were ironically the same men she had knocked out when she first broke in!

“Where was that noise coming from?” The first man shouted. He then banged his fist onto a nearby cage. “I know you lot aren’t sleeping. Come on, fess up and tell me where that noise was coming form!”

No one moved.

Sneering the gangster spoke to the other man with him. “Check the cage doors on the left, I’ll check the right. If you see anything out of the ordinary tell me.”

“Fine.” The other man sighed. “Let’s get this over with and get back to playing poker.”

Hearing this Lisa immediately become worried. She had unlocked three cage doors already, but none of them she had locked back up! It was going to be her cage that would be checked first as the men had started checking the back cages first.

Slowly Lisa rolled over to look at the cage door. It was closed, but she had no way of knowing if the door locked on its own. After all, she still had the key in her back pocket.

“Looks like the jig is up.” Lisa thought with disappointment. She listened to the two men grumbling as they looked the place over. “Do I fight them and risk alerting the rest of the factory guards? I wanted to save more people from here, but I don’t see me getting a good chance to knock both of them out from inside this stupid cell.”

Lisa could hear the footsteps of the gangster getting closer. He was now standing right behind her. Lisa dared not move. If the two made eye contact, he was bound to see that she wasn’t one of the prisoners.

“I hate this job.” The gangster grumbled under his breath. He fiddled with the cage bars and looked about the cage’s interior while continuing to complain. “All I do is baby sit all these scrawny women and run errands like a bullied kid. I wanted to guard the mansion and be around all the good-looking sexy girls, but no, those stupid triplets only wanted guys they could buy out. If I’d know that before, I’d have taken the money they offered. I share no sympathy for Martinez either.”

Lisa rolled her eyes hearing his comments. He was acting no different than some terribly written B movie villain. What her concern was that the guard was nearly to the cage door.

Lisa tensed up, ready to spring into action and attack the man as soon as he opened the cage. She watched with bated breath as his hand wrapped around the metal bar above the gates lock. Then her fears came to fruition as the guard pushed on the gate and it swung inwardly to open.

“Oh, what do we have here? Hey, this gate is unlocked.” The guard shouted to the other man.

“How did that happen?” The other guard called back. He then left his side of cages and came to join the man in Lisa’s cell.

“How would I know. Is everyone still in hear?” The first guard replied.

Lisa was about to attack, but the man said something that stopped her. “It looks like it. See, all of them are still in their beds.”

The lazy guard had fallen for Lisa’s little ruse! All the cots still had the pillows and bits of clothing still piled under the sheets. Lisa saw this as her chance.

“S-sorry for making the noise!” Lisa whispered, trying her best to sound weak and timid. She then pulled the sheet further over her mouth to hide her face better. “It was my fault.”

“Oh, what did you do?” The first guard asked coming to stand over Lisa’s cot. He eyed her dangerously, but Lisa chose not to retaliate.

“I-I was tired and wanted to walk around some. I leaned on the gate, and it suddenly opened. I then fell on the floor and heard you two coming and hid.” Lisa whimpered as best she could. “Please don’t get mad at me!”

The guard sighed. “Well, you all are still here, and I don’t want to waste my time with checking everything. It was probably the other guards that forgot to lock the door. They are stupid.”

The two guards left the cage, locked it, and then marched out of the room acting very annoyed. Somehow, Lisa’s gamble had worked! The escape could continue.