I Pick Up the Phone

160.

The third bird flies. 

TOM has successfully, in an impressive performance, created a political diversion and dropped the live ammo on the floor. Hartaugh, as expected, could not control neither his deep-rooted desire for racial vengeance, his lust for the control over the less-fortunate nor his appetite for cash. 

Davis, Saunders and Drysdale made a sensational splash in Vegas announcing to Adleson that they were in town to do more, a lot more, than eat, drink and play the slots. 

Leaving the third, and most important bird, about to take flight. 

The memorandum, outlined by The Queen, edited by myself, critiqued by Julie and Harlan and finally green-lit by TOM, is an impressive bit of military forgery. It contains all the terse language and dry sentence structure any official internal communication should. The kicker however is the delivery medium. The SuperMax facility in Colorado uses an encrypted and secure multi-layered program to allow sensitive information to be shared between the sites chief operating officer, the warden, and the Department of Defense contractor operating overall security for the maximum security facility. In the decade since its inception there has not been the slightest hint of a hack, nor has there been and escape from the inhumane detention center in the middle of relative nowhere. 

The memo states, as compared to requests, a live demonstration of new unmanned drone surveillance technology. The drone is capable of motion capture, laser strikes, ground and air space illumination, and heat sensing to a degree that it can detect a moving field mouse from five hundred yards. 

The date of the demo is one week from reception of the announcement. It is to be conducted at 0230 and will be monitored and supervised by a three-person team of technicians who will be arriving by helicopter the afternoon of the demonstration. The trial will take approximately one hour with the only requirement of the warden and his staff to provide access to the grounds. It is important to the test that despite the brief chaos all other operating protocols remain normal. An additional procedural instruction will follow outlining the details, time frames and responsibilities of the on-site security staff, the demonstration monitors and a precise schedule of events. 

The Warden is a retired MP, appointed to the position by the former administration. His job description is primarily administrative as the facility runs within a percentage point of full automation. He is a sadistic curmudgeon with a violent sense of ill-humor. He works twelve hour shifts six days a week with his only apparent joy walking the decks with a long black police baton. The grounds however are spotless, manicured daily by a tiger-team of contracted landscape professionals. 

The Queen, employing the same methodology used to obtain slot machine codes, large sums of cash, has managed to gain access to the sophisticated server used by the Department of Corrections and in turn, the site in question. Not only can she hack communications, but has been testing the security systems as well, including alarms, automated lock-down devices, video monitoring, and individual cell gate controls. 

The Warden receives the memo. He looks at it twice. He notes those copied and pickes up his phone to call one for verification of authenticity. 

At the top of the list is the demonstration lead, one Col George H. Mason, USMC (R). 

I pick up the phone.