The two chairs really only caused a slight ‘knock’ when they bumped into each other but it sounded like an explosion to Spratt who was, at the moment, the world’s largest producer of adrenaline. The adrenaline factory had a major logistical problem though; it had nowhere to go...it couldn’t be utilized as Spratt was frozen in place. Spratt’s heart was pounding so hard he could feel his nostrils pulsating but he forced himself to remain still until long after Hector hugged his pillow again and began snoring.
While Spratt was frozen in place, a million thoughts rushed through his mind but he forced himself to focus on priorities. He quickly decided that, if the cops woke up, he would simply state that he was only going to the bathroom. That contingency decided, his thoughts directed themselves to whether or not he should actually follow through with the escape attempt. He didn’t have any plan whatsoever except to get to the other side of the door and, if caught in the process, he had no idea who would have jurisdiction; who would be able to prosecute him on the escape charge? Each one of the three jurisdictions involved had widely varying potential sentences for escape and he knew that he could be facing up to an additional twenty years. Would it be worth it if he were caught with only one foot out the door? Of course, it would be worth it! He was already a prisoner and he would never live it down if he didn’t at least take the chance. He would be the laughingstock of the prison, any prison, if the other inmates found out that he had been in a hotel with no restraints and two cops passed out drunk and didn’t even try to escape. He had to at least try!
With those two issues decided, his mind raced to what he needed to take with him. He was already dressed in the regular Idaho D.O.C. uniform of boots, denim pants, blue button-down shirt, and a jacket (Spratt congratulated himself for not causing a problem when he was in the ‘hole’ or else he would have been transported wearing an orange jumpsuit and that is not conducive to ‘blending in’) but all of his clothes, except the jacket, had a fabric ‘tape’ with his name and inmate number sewed into them. He thought of taking Hector’s clothes but discarded the idea as he would look suspicious anywhere that he went to change. His box of personal belongings! That box contained all of Spratt’s legal documents and, most importantly, photos and letters from his family. He couldn’t leave that behind! The box was about fifty pounds of dead weight though and he would also look suspicious carrying it down the street. He decided to abandon it.
Spratt was making these decisions at light-year speed yet was still able to maintain a heightened state of awareness regarding his surroundings. He could see, with the dim light of the bathroom, the two cops and what position they were in. He could see that the Sergeant had left his personal items on the nightstand between the two beds and he desperately wanted to get his hands on that wallet as he had noticed the Sergeant was carrying cash in there. He quickly discarded the thought of going to the nightstand as that would mean walking between the two beds (and, thus, the two cops) and he didn’t want to accidentally set off anybody’s ‘sense’ of the unusual and waken them. Hector’s wallet was right there on the dresser next to him though!
As a matter of fact, all of Hector’s stuff was on the dresser; Spratt had watched Hector empty his pockets there earlier in the night. The faint light again allowed him to see where everything was. When Spratt started moving again he went directly towards the dresser and put Hector’s wallet in his jacket pocket; it was thick! “There might be a lot of money in here thought Spratt!” Next to the wallet was Hector’s ‘necklace’ ID, his badge, and a set of handcuffs. Spratt knew that the key to the handcuffs was inside the badge/ID holder and he quickly thought it might be funny to take the handcuffs as a souvenir; he carefully put these items in his other pocket. Next on the dresser was a shoulder bag that was similar to a laptop case but contained a portable DVD player and a couple of DVD’s instead (Hector had stated that he bought this for his children at Christmas but borrowed it from them for this trip). He remembered that Hector had refused to share the screen with him on the flight from Salt Lake City and thought that it would be ironic revenge to take that from him also (plus, he might be able to sell it to somebody). He grabbed the shoulder bag and Hector's cell phone that was charging on top of it then walked very carefully, as stealthily as possible, past both beds, past the bathroom and, finally, to the door of the room. He was now only two inches from freedom!
Spratt quickly studied the position on the locks of this standard hotel room door. The top ‘swivel bracket’ lock was in the open position so he didn’t have to touch that one but that would have been the easiest one anyway. He looked at the other lock which was just below the ‘L’ shaped handle and could be maneuvered separately or in conjunction with the door handle. Just pressing down on the lever handle would cause the lock to un-bolt but would also be noisy. Spratt un-bolted the lock without using the handle thinking it would be much quieter but it obviously had a strong spring inside the mechanism and seated itself with a ‘thunk’. Spratt prayed that the cops didn’t hear the thunk but didn’t have time to freeze anymore; it was now or never. If the cops had heard it, he was already past the bathroom so they wouldn’t believe that excuse at this point and he couldn’t see them on the beds from this his current position in the room; they could still be asleep or their eyes could be wide open right now trying to figure out what that noise was. Spratt continued and pressed the doorknob down releasing the latch without a sound and opened the door just wide enough to get through. He stepped out into the hallway with his heart pounding a hole in his chest. He knew the door had a spring loaded automatic closer so he held the door until it reached the door frame but did not let it close all the way for fear of making more loud noises. Spratt turned and started walking down the corridor to the lobby when, after about four steps, he heard the door close itself with a loud ‘clunk!’.
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