#2 - Nikki Smith

3. Two's Company

            It was July 24th when I woke up my friend. He was conscious for a short time when I was escaping. I remember staring straight into his eyes. However, his digital records indicate he has jumped in and out of consciousness several times. After remotely playing around in their computer systems, I figured out how to give him a "jump start."

There was a big problem with waking him up. The safest and most effective way to ensure he wakes up was to do it remotely with the computer at my house... at least for me. But that meant that I wouldn't be there when he woke up. I had to be completely ready when I woke him up. I would need to drive to the facility, and I would need to break into the building to rescue him. It was a ten-minute drive to the facility, plus whatever amount of time it would take to break into the building.

I had to carry light when I go. I still had my two guns, and I had access to several knives. However, I decided I would bring one of my guns but leave it in the car when I rescued my friend. I didn't want to alarm him. I was confident I wouldn't need it anyway if I was prepared enough.

When I was ready, I injected him with a small amount of propofol, which is a drug used to wake people up. Immediately afterwards, I headed to my car and was on my way to the laboratory. I brought with me several items that would help me along the way. I had a long wire with a homemade shooter and hook. My plan was to travel up to the top of the building the same way I left it. I would have to be careful, though, because they probably realized how I escaped. To compensate, I brought several tools including a hammer, screwdriver, several hair pins, and a lighter.

I started the process a little earlier than normal. I usually went out around 2 or 3 a.m., but I woke my friend up at around midnight. The drive over there seemed extra slow. I drove at my normal speed, but it just seemed to take forever. It was probably the anticipation of what was to come. I didn't know what to expect, but I had to expect the unexpected. How does one do that?

When I arrived at the laboratory, I parked in the same building that I jumped to when I escaped. I parked a little further down and out of the way, so there would be less of a chance that the car would be connected to his escape. There were several cars parked, so there was a chance it wouldn't be as noticeable.

When I parked, I looked around to make sure no one was around. There weren't very many people around at all, and it was dark outside. I looked down toward the street. No one was walking down the sidewalk either. Great! I grabbed the homemade shooter with the wire ammo. I had to time it perfectly. The homemade gun makes some noise. If someone were nearby, they could hear it and alert the police. That means I would have to hurry through the building, find my friend, and leave before reinforcements arrived. It would be hard to tell how quickly the reinforcements would arrive, but the estimated police arrival times were around 5-15 minutes, depending on where you were in the city. That wasn't when the first car would arrive, but that's the estimated amount of time before two or more cars would arrive at the scene if they were alerted. At least, that's what I've guessed based on my research. That meant that I didn't have much time.

I shot the wire right above the top of the building. I aimed so the hook would connect to the top of the building.

*Bam*

The hook went flying toward the building, made its mark above the ledge, and I tightened it as quickly as I could. I tied the shooter around a pole and made sure it was tight. Now was time for the hard part. I grabbed the wire and started climbing up toward the building. There really wasn't an effective way to climb up it with just my bare hands.

It took me a few minutes, but I made it to the top of the building. I immediately looked around to see what was new. It was hard to see, but I think I could see a couple of newly installed cameras. Fortunately for me, I didn't think that would matter. It's not like they could see which direction I would be driving off, they already know what I look like, and they should be expecting me to break him out anyway. As I approached the ventilation shaft, I could hear the alarms from the inside going off. My friend was creating mischief somewhere inside. Fabulous.