Chapter 812 Prison Break (Part 2)

A guard on the watchtower noticed something was wrong and shouted a warning to Maldonado who was trying to leave the crowd. Then two gunshots were heard and another guard in the same watchtower shot him down.

"Is this the guard who helped Maldonado escape?" Jack pointed at the guard who fired the gun and asked.

The female warden nodded with an extremely ugly expression, "Yes, Charlie Simic, he has been working here for 4 years and has no disciplinary record."

"What about his family situation? Does he have relatives here?" Jubal asked.

"He is married. As far as I know, Simic and his wife have a happy life and have a good relationship with his colleagues. I don't understand why." The female warden was a little confused.

"Maybe it's just an appearance." Jack lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked at Jubal, "Notify the state police to send someone to his home first, and then let Aubrey and Jiejie go there. Even if his wife ran away, maybe we can find some clues in his home." Jubal nodded, took out his mobile phone and started sending messages. Jack turned his head and looked at the determined female warden, "Does Simic usually have contact with Maldonado?" The latter decisively denied, "Simply from the distribution of responsibilities, there should not be any direct contact between them. As I said just now, since Maldonado was transferred here, he has been detained alone, and there is a group of special prison guards in charge of him. Simic is usually assigned to the east watchtower, which is the location where the accident happened today." "Where are the prison guards now?" Jack continued to ask. "The two people on duty have been detained alone and are being interrogated." The female warden answered calmly. As expected of a federal-level prison, at least on the surface, Jack did not find any problems, from the usual management of prisoners to the standard procedures for dealing with accidents, everything was very standardized.

Of course, the prison, including the female warden, must bear an unshirkable responsibility for the appearance of an insider, but that was investigated by the BOP (Federal Bureau of Prisons) afterwards. The BOP and the FBI are both under the Department of Justice, and Jack and his team do not need to interfere.

The problem is, if it is true that Maldonado is usually kept in solitary custody as the female warden said, then how did Charlie Simich bribe him?

If someone planned this jailbreak outside the prison, then how did the other party find Charlie Simich? A prison guard with a happy family and who is law-abiding does not seem to be the first choice.

Jack did not believe that the other prison guards in this prison were all impeccable, and the other party had no choice but to choose Simich, an ordinary prison guard who could not even contact Maldonado.

"Wait, you said two people on duty, which means there is another group of people who take turns with them?" Jack's eyes lit up.

The female warden was a little uneasy when asked, "There are two more groups of people, a total of three groups of 6 people, who will take turns to guard the solitary confinement area where Maldonado is." It is much better than the private prison that caused a riot due to chaotic management (Chapter 277). Jack ordered without hesitation, "Call back all the two groups of people and interrogate them separately. Start with their usual relationship with Simic." The female warden subconsciously looked at Jubal. "Do as Agent Tavol asks. His orders are my orders." Just like the BAU team, Jubal is equivalent to Hotchner's role. Rossi usually has to listen to Hotchner's arrangements, but when things are urgent, it doesn't matter who gives the order. The female warden picked up the intercom and walked aside, making arrangements in a low voice, while Jack and Jubal continued to watch the surveillance. The helicopter landed in the exercise area. Maldonado, wearing an orange prison uniform, bent over and ran towards the helicopter, while Simic, who had just killed a colleague, also ran down the watchtower quickly and walked towards him through the isolation passage between the two barbed wire fences. After running for a while, Simić lifted a section of barbed wire that was obviously cut in advance, entered the exercise area and followed Maldonado closely.

At this time, a state police car came to reinforce with sirens blaring. Simić immediately took off the M16 on his back and fired at the police car to prevent the state police from approaching.

The two state police in the car were beaten so badly that they dared not show their heads. It was not until the two boarded the helicopter that they rolled down the car and, together with other prison guards, fired at the helicopter that took off again.

The helicopter fuselage was hit with sparks, but it still quickly increased its altitude and flew away.

"Pause, back up, yes, it's here, zoom in on this picture." Jack poked his finger on the screen.

With Alice's operation, the picture of the helicopter leaving became a close-up. Jubal squinted his eyes and carefully distinguished it for a long time, then pointed to the engine position and asked uncertainly.

"The helicopter engine seems to have been hit."

The surveillance camera with a wide-angle lens on the watchtower has much higher pixels than other locations, but because it is facing the ventilation area from top to bottom, the angle is limited and the helicopter was not captured.

But even so, before the helicopter flew away from the camera, the surveillance screen still captured a faint wisp of black smoke.

Jack smiled, "I just checked. The Twinstar helicopter is a twin-engine helicopter. Although the damage to one engine is not fatal, it will definitely not fly far. It seems that luck is on our side this time."

Jubal understood without much explanation, "I'll notify the state police and ask them to send the helicopter back to search again near the prison. The estimated search distance may be wrong."

"Tell them to send out the drone as well, set up a search point every two miles in the eastern forest in a fan shape, and then search around with this search point as the center of the circle."

Jack hesitated for a moment, but still gave a small suggestion. This kind of work can only rely on the state police to coordinate the cooperation of various departments. The FBI can provide some suggestions, but whether they listen or not is another matter.

The search work that requires hundreds of people is actually a very detailed and professional technical work, involving a very high level of organization and coordination. Professionals must be dispatched to command, not like in movies and TV shows where you can just talk on a walkie-talkie and get it done.

Anyway, Jack will definitely not be able to organize it. His level is at most leading a six-person action team, and he has to lead by himself. If he wants to go further, he has to go to the military academy for further study.

Alice still needed to sort out the rest of the surveillance videos. Jack suggested going outside with the female warden, so the three of them walked and talked.

"I have called all the prison guards back to assist in the investigation." It can be seen that the female warden was quite overwhelmed.

Jack and Jubal looked at each other and smiled bitterly. They couldn't help with the accountability after the fact, but if this person could fully cooperate from beginning to end, they didn't mind trying to maintain a "neutral" position in the subsequent reports.

"Has the cause of the explosion in the boiler room been found out? C4 or something like that?" Jack asked a question casually, and the female warden frowned again.

"It seems that someone placed explosives on the gas pipeline in the boiler room." The female warden's face was a little pale, and she looked like her heart couldn't bear it.

Jack quickly changed the subject, otherwise he was really worried that this person would suddenly die on the spot in front of him, "Tell me about Maldonado's daily schedule."

The female warden took out a small medicine bottle from her pocket and swallowed two pills. Her brows relaxed a little, "Sorry, today's incident really made it difficult for me to control my blood pressure."

"Well, let me think about it." She covered her forehead and continued, "He has one hour of solitary activity time every day, and is not allowed to contact other prisoners. There is an old-fashioned TV in the cell, and other than that, he cannot touch computers and any electronic products.

No one except the pastor is allowed to visit."

"Pastor? How often?" Jubal asked quickly.

"Once a week, Father Ashton came this morning and gave him Holy Communion." The female warden paused and explained, "This is the condition reached by the DEA and Maldonado. They said that guy is a devout Catholic."

"Yes, that's what the DEA file says." Jack sighed, "Is Father Ashton in charge of this prison?"

"Yes, but he doesn't live here, his church is in Turbeville." The female warden answered every question and lay down completely.

Without waiting for Jack to speak, Jubal took out his mobile phone again, "Let Hannah and Clay go, I'll notify my family to check his background information."