Mahong and his team didn't follow the path the prisoners had taken to escape; instead, they circled around and accessed the first level through the normal maintenance passage. From the hole here, they descended underground and saw a wall that they had breached.

It was a red brick wall, not particularly secure, as the bricks were fragile and the mortar easily removed.

The hole in the wall wasn't large. Jimmy poked his head through and saw more pipes on the other side, including large ones. Judging from the temperature underground, one of them must be a steam pipe for heating. The others looked to be sewage and fresh water pipes. The breached sewage pipe Warden Valen spoke of was visible, with a gap large enough to allow a person to crawl through.

Because the sewage pipe was broken, the air in the space was foul, a stench only someone desperate to escape prison could tolerate. Just the smell, never mind crawling into the filth, would make most people retch.

Mahong picked up some broken bricks to inspect them. "Where did they get the tools? These fragments couldn't have been created with their bare hands; they must have used a sledgehammer or something like rebar to break them into such small pieces."

Warden Valen shook his head. "We've already checked this morning, and no tools were found at the scene. They must have taken the tools with them and not left them behind."

Mahong looked at the hole around waist height and mimed the action of smashing it with a hammer. There was enough space to swing a hammer or another heavy object, but breaching this wall would've taken time, indicating the two people had planned their escape for a long while.

The ground was a mess with footprints from the many people who had come through in the morning, making it impossible to discern which were the prisoners' and which were the police's.

Mahong also looked through the hole across at the pipes. "Where did they exit the pipes? Have you found it?"

Warden Valen: "It's been found, over a hundred meters away from the prison perimeter. The police have gone all out in the search, and the K9 units have been deployed."

Mahong: "Let's go up and have a look at their exit."

Outside the prison, the warden led them to a gas station where a manhole cover had been opened. "They emerged from here; the K9s lost their scent after following it for a bit, about 200 meters ahead."

Mahong first examined the manhole cover, then looked around. "Did anyone at the gas station notice anything?"

Warden Valen shook his head: "This is a blind spot from their vantage point. Unless they came to the intersection, they wouldn't see this area. We've confirmed they didn't notice anything unusual. Nothing was missing from the convenience store at the gas station, and their surveillance showed no sign of the two of them. That's all I know for now; the subsequent tracking is handled by the police investigation, and they haven't updated me yet."

Mahong: "I understand, please take me to the last location the K9 units tracked."

Warden Valen: "It's just up ahead along the roadside, with no buildings around, only wasteland, woods, and farmland on both sides."

Once at the scene, they found a white circle, presumably marked by the police during the morning investigation. "This should be the last confirmed position by the K9s."

Mahong looked around and said, "Philicia, go to the police station immediately and confirm the clues they've obtained so far. Also, from our systems, investigate the backgrounds of the two prisoners, including their relatives, friends, and gang members. Put them all on the investigation list. I'll authorize you later to check if they've made or received calls or texts since last night and to obtain their call records."

Philicia nodded, "I understand."

Mahong: "Also, ask if they've found any tools or clothing around here."

Philicia nodded again, and the group turned to head back to the prison. Philicia drove toward the police station, while Mahong stood in the parking lot contemplating the direction of their investigation.

Jimmy turned to Warden Valen: "Warden Valen, please prepare a map for us, including a map of New York State and a national map, and if you have a local map, that would be even better."

Warden Valen nodded and turned to the accompanying prison guards, who understood and departed the parking lot. After a while, they returned with two maps: a large one of New York State, the kind you'd hang on a wall, and a map book.

Jimmy spread out the New York State map on the hood of the car. "Where are we exactly?"

The prison guard pointed out their location, and Jimmy marked it with a triangle before beginning to study the surrounding terrain and residential areas.

Seeing nothing left for him at the scene, Warden Valen bid Mahong farewell and returned to the prison.

Jimmy: "Mahong, the terrain here is problematic."

Mahong came over to look at the map. The prison was located to the northwest of Newburgh, which is on the bank of the Hudson River. From here, there were numerous routes for escape: east to the Hudson River, north possibly to Canada, south into the forests, and west either to other urban areas or straight towards Lake Ontario. It was truly difficult to determine the direction the suspects had fled.

The woods nearby were dense, and now that the suspects had left the area by car, pinpointing their location was certainly not easy.

Mahong: "Let's see what clues the police station has before deciding on a search direction."

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