CHAPTER TWO
GREYWALL PENITENTIARY
08:44 AM
The sky hung low and grey, matching the concrete face of Greywall Penitentiary. It stood like a scar on the outskirts of East London...cold, silent, and soulless. The kind of place that smelled of metal,regrets and memories no one wanted to keep.
Alycia stepped out of the black agency vehicle, her boots hitting the damp ground with purpose. Reece followed, slightly less intense, adjusting the collar of his coat as the wind slapped across his face.
"Lovely place," he muttered, eyeing the high fences topped with rusted coils of barbed wire.
Alycia didn't reply. She was already scanning the perimeter, her mind ticking like clockwork.
They were buzzed in through two sets of security gates before being met by Warden Hensley, a stout man with tired eyes and a voice like gravel. He didn't offer pleasantries.
"You're here about Muretto," he said grimly, already turning toward the inner corridor.
"Correct," Alycia replied.
As they walked, Reece glanced at the high walls, the buzzing lights overhead, and the faces of notorious folks peeking through their cell windows like ghosts behind glass.
"We've reviewed the incident footage," Hensley continued. "No signs of forced entry. No alarms triggered. He just... vanished."
Alycia's brow furrowed. "He didn't vanish. Someone helped him walk out."
They entered a small, windowless room. A screen flickered to life. Hensley gestured. "Here. 03:12 AM. Watch closely."
On screen-Kyle Muretto in his cell, pacing... then, a blackout. Three seconds later, the power snaps back-and Kyle is gone.
Reece blinked. "What the hell...?"
"No tunnels, no breaches," Hensley added. "We turned this place inside out."
Alycia leaned in, watching the frame-by-frame playback. "Rewind that. Slower."
Her eyes narrowed on a flicker just before the power cut...a faint shadow outside the cell.
"Freeze there," she said.
The screen paused. Just beyond the bars, a blurred shape. Humanoid. Wearing something dark.
Reece stepped closer. "We'll need the footage from every corridor. And your guards' schedules that night."
"You think it was an inside job?" Hensley asked.
Alycia didn't answer. She was already miles ahead.
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DE CAVE BAR.
10:57 PM
The bar was dead quiet except for the low hum of a few regulars and the clinking of glasses. Clyde Dempsey, an enforcer for the Muretto gang, sat at a corner table, nursing a half-drunk pint. The weight of the world was on his shoulders...he could feel it. But what he wasn't prepared for was the message that came next.
His phone buzzed. Clyde grabbed it before the third buzz, swiping the screen with urgency. The number was unknown, but he answered anyway.
"Yeah?"
"Kyle's out." The voice was harsh, filled with dread. "He's free, bruv. They let him go."
Clyde blinked, the blood draining from his face. "What the hell do you mean 'he's free'? Greywall's locked up tighter than Fort Knox!"
"I'm telling you, bruv, he's out. Someone helped him. You better get moving. He's back."
Clyde dropped the phone, his breath catching in his throat. His world was spinning. Kyle Muretto...the man who ran the operation...was free.
"What the hell's goin' on?" Clyde snapped, looking at the lads around the table. "Kyle's out. Out, like, on the streets again!"
The table went dead silent. Tommy's face turned ashen. "But how? He was locked up, fam. Who got him out?"
"Don't matter who got him out," Clyde muttered, standing up, his mind racing. "What matters is he's comin' for us. And we ain't got time to mess about."
Mick, ever the calm one, leaned back in his chair, but even he couldn't hide the tension in his eyes. "You sure, Clyde? He's been in there for years. You reckon he's gonna come straight for us?"
Clyde's eyes narrowed. "Ain't no 'reckon,' Mick. He don't take kindly to bein' locked up, yeah? And he don't forget. We're his next stop, mark my words."
Tommy started pacing fidgeting with his left earring. That was his usual whenever he got tense. "But Clyde, we're finished if he comes after us. What do we do? Lay low?"
"Lay low?" Clyde snorted. "Nah, mate. That's what we did last time, and look where it got us. If we lay low, he'll be the one callin' the shots. We go after him. We make sure he ain't got no power left."
Mick sighed. "You really think that's gonna work? He's Kyle Muretto, bruv."
"I don't care who he is!" Clyde snapped, slamming his fist on the table. "We move first. We find out who helped him escape, and we take 'em out. Simple."
Tommy, still tense, glanced between the others. This time he started biting his fingers subconsciously ."But what about the biz? The drugs, the money... if Kyle gets wind of that, we're done."
"Forget the money, bruv. Kyle don't care about that. He's all about control. He'll come for us first, the rest will follow. We make sure he don't get the chance to."
The tension in the room was suffocating. Four men who were frantically trying to envisage something positive from their previous plan but guilt and fear still crept in. They knew deep down,having taken away the only thing Kyle had left...his sister,he definitely had nothing to lose and was willing to go all out. They were doomed!