“Are you OK? asked Diller.
“Yes,” said Zoya. “I didn’t mean that you needed to stop quite that fast.”
“Well, you need to be more specific. You shouted it.”
“I did,” said Zoya. “I was being overly dramatic.”
“And this is my first time driving a Winnebago.”
“You can’t tell.”
Diller smiled. This was the longest bit of conversation they had managed. “So, anyway …”
“Not now.”
Diller winced. “Right.”
“Sorry,” said Zoya. “I mean, I’m in the middle of landing a UFO.”
Diller watched as Big Bird, aka the UFO, wobbled a bit in the air and then started to descend. It was about one hundred yards away from the walls of Longhurst. “That is so frickin’ cool.”
“Thanks.”
“What it needs is the music from 2001: A Space Odyssey.”
“Well, I only had two days to build it, so I couldn’t give it the stereo speakers I had in the original design.”
“You did that in two days?”
Big Bird landed. It wasn’t exactly smooth, but it was close enough.
“You are awesome.” Diller felt himself go red. “I mean … that is awesome.”
The convoy of vehicles pulled up around them, and people spilled out to get a closer look, many of them wearing the Celestial Church of New Hope’s distinctive purple robes. It was absolute pandemonium.
“So, anyway,” said Diller. “I was thinking, when this is over. Maybe we could … I mean, if you’d like … We could maybe … or not … but, if you would like … I was thinking … we could … maybe do something?”
“What?”
“I said,” started Diller, wishing he’d kept his mouth shut.
“Not you, Dill. Sorry, I’m listening into comms and … Wahoo!”
“What?”
“Dionne,” said Zoya. “Yeah, I just activated it. I’ve got control of the doors.”
Diller nodded and gave a thumbs-up to nobody. He looked at his own hand, mystified by what it was doing.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Bunny double-checked that the bar on the wall to which the doctor and Truant were cuffed was secure. He’d got the doctor to take the cuffs from Truant’s belt and secure them while he kept the blade pressed against Truant’s Adam’s apple. Once that was done, Bunny had taken over and used bandages to tie and gag them. They weren’t going anywhere soon or raising any alarms.
Truant, like all bullies, had the wind taken out of his sails once the power balance shifted from his favour. The lad was sniffing back tears as he was bound. He whimpered like a dog expecting to be hit, because he knew that if the situation was reversed, that was what he would do.
Bunny caught the terrified look in the doctor’s eyes and felt like a prize shit.
“Honestly, doc, for what it’s worth, I’m really sorry about this. And I feel doubly bad about this, seeing as you did such a good job stitching up my side.”
The doctor tried to say something, but the gag in his mouth made it come out as unintelligible mumbling.
“Trust me,” continued Bunny, “in the grand scheme of things I’m not a bad fella. I wouldn’t have actually cut Truant’s throat. I was bluffing.”
From their eyes, Bunny guessed that probably didn’t make either of them feel better. No pleasing some people.
He looked around the room. He’d been careful to wait for Dionne’s signal before making his move. Apparently, the cameras were under their total control now, the control room having been “dealt with” – whatever that meant. Reassuring as it was, there was still the small matter of a prison’s worth of guards to get past, some of whom were armed and a lot of whom would probably take an escape attempt as a personal affront.
Bunny took a deep breath and turned to his companion, now freed of the horrible mask.
“Right so, Carlos, ’tis time you and I should be getting out of here.”
“For real?” said Breida.
“I certainly hope so.”
“Did Uncle Ricky send you?”
“Sure, why not?”
Bunny took three steps before his balance deserted him. He fell messily against a gurney, causing a stab of pain to flash up his left side. Amidst the stars he was seeing, Carlos Breida’s wide-open face appeared, looking down at him with childlike concern.
“Are you OK, Mr Bunny?”
“’Tis just Bunny,” he said, holding up his hand. “Pull me up, slowly now.”
Breida did so. Bunny leaned against the gurney. “I’m alright. I’m alright. Stop shouting at me.”
“I wasn’t.”
Bunny saw Breida looking at him, his face full of confusion. “Sorry, not you, Carlos. I’ve got a woman chewing my ear off.”
This didn’t do much to clear Breida’s bewilderment.
Bunny pointed at his ear. “I can hear a friend of mine on a radio. She’s helping us.” Bunny paused. “Actually, she says there’s a wheelchair over in the left-hand corner there. Can you get it for me?”
Breida followed Bunny’s direction and hopped over to grab the wheelchair.
“Good lad,” said Bunny, lowering himself into it. “Now, I know I’m rescuing you, but I’m afraid I’m going to need you to rescue me while I’m doing it.”
Breida gave a big smile. “OK. I like how you talk. You sound funny.”
“Thanks. I do sound funny. Drives the women wild. Y’know, I’ve been here nearly a week and that’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me.” Bunny nodded as the big man grinned down at him. “Now, get behind me and grab the handles.”
Breida did as instructed. “How are we getting out, Mr Bunny?”
Bunny looked at the locked infirmary door and then pointed at the camera on the ceiling. “I’m hoping for a little help from above with that part.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Zoya bit her lip as she skipped quickly through the camera feeds on the ground floor one last time. She liked puzzles, although normally not ones that were this high pressure.
A printout of the layout of the prison was taped to the wall of the Winnebago in front of her. Thanks to the gizmo Smithy had installed, she now had control of all the doors in the prison. Most of them worked with a keycard – however,
