Chapter 21: The Rat Line

A Rat Line is slang for an underground escape route for criminals. After World War Two Nazi war criminals fled using the Rat Line. Fredrick Herman Manning was following his own rat line out of Florida. He very carefully employed counter-surveillance techniques and was sure that nobody was tailing him. "Manny" was right--no human was following him. Nor was Herman being followed by a robot. A fisher eagle named Binky flew from perch to perch, keeping Manny in sight as the fugative walked through the back alleys of Key West's low rent district. The alleys were deserted because it was mid-morning. The workers were on the job. Street walkers were sleeping--no business at this hour. Manny passed a few homeless people in the alleys. They might have been the few unemployed dregs of society or they might have been lookouts. Manny couldn't tell. Key West only arrested vagrants when they committed crimes, when someone lodged a complaint. It wasn't that nobody cared so much as capitallia's freedom of movement. As long as the vagrants didn't break Capitallia's laws, they were not molested by law enforcement.

Manny passed his destination one time on the other side of the street. Manny crossed in the middle of the street and then walked back to his goal, a narrow alleyway. Binky watched, unseen--no other creature appeared to notice as Manny ducked down the alley and walked to an orange door. Manny felt along the wall until he found a loose brick and he pressed it--and the orange door creaked open. Manny swung the orange door open and entered, closing the door after himself.

Binky send a brief radio message and then flew over the building. The hot, humid air made flight difficult. There was no breeze. With effort, Binky acheived an altitude of 200 meters and flew in a lazy figure eight pattern.

Inside the building Manny waited in a room that was only a one meter by one and a half meters. The only door was the one Manny came through until a hidden panel swung inward. Manny walked through the door.

"Take everything off and put it in the basket," a voice told Manny as he entered a slightly larger room, one that was two meters long by a meter and a half wide. On the floor was a clothes basket. Manny undressed and placed everything in the basket: shoes, socks, underwear, jeans, t-shirt, a black plastic block and a non-citizen ID bracelet. When naked, Manny stood in the middle of the room until another door opened. This led into a bathroom and Manny stepped into the shower stall. Tepid water rid Manny of the sweat he had worked up in his morning walk. After toweling off, Manny was told by the voice to open a blue door and go into the room. There, Manny found a set of workmans coveralls and work boots. A matching bandana went around Manny's head. Once dressed, Manny fastened the new non-citizen ID bracelet.

Key West has a high water table as does most of Florida, making basements impractical. A tunnel connected the building Manny entered with another building across the street. When Manny emerged, he was in a laundry. A man in the same worker's coveralls pointed at a wheeled basket and ordered Manny to push it into the delivery van and get in. Inside the van, Manny found another man who wore a set of coveralls identical to Manny's.

"No names," the other man said. "Just sit back here until I tell you to get out."

The delivery van pulled out of the warehouse and drove down the street. Binky lost Manny entirely. After a few minutes Binky had to perch and rest.

Manny was taken to a Key West hotel. Manny pushed the cart filled with linen into the service entrance and left the cart in a storage room. Manny walked to the employee locker room and looked for a locker with a small red star on the lock. By pressing his ID bracelet against the lock, Manny was able to open the locker. Inside, Manny found a set of hot-weather 'business casual' clothing in his size. Manny switched clothing and left the coveralls and non-citizen identification behind. Whistling an off-key tune, Manny walked out of the hotel to a waiting taxi.