The governor rapped out: "Warden, no criticism of you, of course, but
I've come to take personal charge. I'm superseding you under Rule
Twelve, Paragraph A, of the Uniform Civil Service Code. Right?"
"Oh, _right_!" cried the warden, incredulous with joy.
"The situation is bad--perhaps worse than you think. I'm seriously
concerned about the hostages those men have in there. And I had a call
from Senator Bradley a short time ago--"
"Senator Bradley?" echoed the warden.
"Senator _Sebastian_ Bradley. One of our foremost civil servants," the
governor said firmly. "It so happens that his daughter is in Block O as
an inmate."
The warden closed his eyes. He tried to swallow, but the throat muscles
were paralyzed.
"There is no question," the governor went on briskly, "about the
propriety of her being there. She was duly convicted of a felonious
act, namely conspiracy and incitement to riot. But you see the
position."
The warden saw all too well.
"Therefore," said the governor. "I intend to go in to Block O myself.
Sebastian Bradley is an old and personal friend--as well," he
emphasized, "as being a senior member of the Reclassification Board. I
understand a medic is going to Block O. I shall go with him."
The warden managed to sit up straight. "He's gone. I mean they already
left, Governor. But I assure you Miss Brad--Inmate Bradley--that is,
the young lady is in no danger. I have already taken precautions," he
said, gaining confidence as he listened to himself talk. "I--uh--I
was deciding on a course of action as you came in. See, Governor,
the guards on the walls are all armed. All they have to do is fire
a couple of rounds into the yard and then the 'copters could start
dropping tear gas and light fragmentation bombs and--"
The governor was already at the door. "You will _not_," he said; and:
"Now which way did they go?"
* * * * *
O'Leary was in the yard and he was smelling trouble, loud and strong.
The first he knew that the rest of the prison had caught the riot fever
was when the lights flared on in Cell Block A.
"That Sodaro!" he snarled, but there wasn't time to worry about that
Sodaro. He grabbed the rest of his guard detail and double-timed it
toward the New Building, leaving the medic and a couple of guards
walking sedately toward the Old. Block A, on the New Building's lowest
tier, was already coming to life; a dozen yards, and Blocks B and C
lighted up.
And a dozen yards more and they could hear the yelling; and it wasn't
more than a minute before the building doors opened.
The cons had taken over three more blocks. How? O'Leary didn't take
time even to guess. The inmates were piling out into the yard. He took
one look at the rushing mob. Crazy! It was Wilmer Lafon leading the
rioters, with a guard's gun and a voice screaming threats! But O'Leary
didn't take time to worry about an honor prisoner gone bad, either.
"Let's get out of here!" he bellowed to the detachment, and they ran.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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