Michael stares at the wall, then checks his watch. C-Note moves up behind him, “Nine o’clock, Fish. Showtime.”
Lincoln still on the gurney, shakes violently. He rolls on his side and sees the grate under the sink. A smile creeps onto his face as he realizes that he’s in the infirmary. A male orderly tells a C.O. to call and find out if Sara has left yet.
The guys remove the carpet and plaque, revealing the hole in the floor. Westmoreland jams a crowbar into the door handle. They all stand around the hole, smiles on their faces. “See you on the other side,” Michael says as he drops down into the hole.
Lincoln, stable, lies on the infirmary bed. Sara sits next to him, confident that he was struck by a case of food poisoning. Unfortunately it’s not a serious enough medical ailment to forestall the execution. She offers to stay with him, but Lincoln declines. She exits the exam room and Lincoln turns to look at the grate again.
The crew moves quickly through giant pipes under the prison. T-Bag warns C-Note, “Your boys better be there.” C-Note assures him that they will.
A large SUV pulls up outside the prison walls. Darius steps out of the driver’s side, along with his anxious friend, Spider. Darius pops the hood of his SUV to make it look like his car has broken down.
Veronica waits in a dark alley, still unsure of who she’ll be meeting. Hale slowly walks up to her and tells her they have a lot to talk about, but not much time to do it. He tells her that Lincoln was picked a long time ago to take the fall for Steadman’s murder. Veronica wants to know exactly who it was that did kill Steadman. “Nobody. Terrence Steadman’s still alive.” Hale reaches into his jacket and pulls out an envelope. He tells her that inside it, she’ll find the names of all the people involved in the conspiracy, top to bottom. Before he can hand Veronica the envelope, Hale sees a car pulling up. He tells Veronica she needs to hide behind a nearby car immediately. Hale sticks the envelope back in his jacket pocket and Veronica takes cover just as Kellerman pulls up. Kellerman walks right up to Hale and demands to know where Veronica is. Hale refuses to cooperate. Kellerman wastes no time and reaches into Hale’s pocket to confiscate his firearm. When the envelope falls from Hale’s jacket, Kellerman keeps his gun trained on Hale and smiles as he scans its contents. “Amazing. You got all of it on just three pages. You know what could happen if this got in the wrong hands?” Kellerman’s smile fades as he continues reading. “You named me? Right there along with the rest of them.” Hale begs for his life, but Kellerman is consumed with this ultimate betrayal. “You named me.” He fires a single shot and Hale drops to the ground, just feet from where Veronica shudders in silence.
The escape crew comes up from the floor in the maintenance room, directly under the infirmary. T-Bag keeps lookout at the door and Michael climbs up a shelf to look at the pipe that leads to grate in the infirmary. Panic seizes him when he notices that the piece of pipe that he had worked on corroding has now been replaced with a brand new piece. He reaches up with his hand in complete disbelief. He looks down at the guys. They all look back, waiting for the next step, “They replaced it,” he whispers with a stunned look on his face.
Steam rises from the open hood of Darius’ engine. Jittery, Spider removes a gun from his belt. Darius tells him to put it away just as two C.O.s walk up to them. The C.O.s tell them that they can’t park there. Darius points out that his SUV broke down. One C.O. looks over the engine and the other demands that Spider and Darius raise their hands so he can see them. When Spider’s hands come up, the gun is gone, stashed in the waistband of his pants. The C.O. at the engine reconnects the radiator hose that Darius sabotaged and orders the two to move on, “or we’re going to have a problem.” With no other option, Darius and Spider are forced to get back in the SUV and drive off.
Lincoln takes the IV needle out his arm and calls Michael’s name into the grate, Michael excitedly knocks back against the new metal plate. Michael then frantically begins to try and tear down the piping. Westmoreland grabs a piece of industrial pipe and they try to wedge it between the ceiling and the pipe. T-Bag issues a “SSH!” as a C.O. walks past the room. When they’re clear, they being pulling downward on the industrial pipe. Lincoln, above, is hammering downward with the handle of a mop. Michael continues trying to pull down on the pipe, but it won’t budge. Michael slouches down in defeat and tells them that they can’t get out. T-Bag reaches into his boot and pulls out a shiv. He slowly approaches Michael with the others looking on, “Unfortunately, Pretty, that ain’t an option. You are going to get us out of here.”
Michael rests his head on his hand, covered in sweat.
Prison Break
Episode 114 "The Rat"
Airdate: 03/20/2006
Michael and the escape team are still trapped in the prison utility room. Above them, the newly installed pipe is an impenetrable obstacle that separates Michael from his brother. T-Bag slowly saunters towards Michael, spinning a shiv in his right hand. He reminds the team that he’s serving life plus one. “ So if I get busted for attempted escape, I’ll throw in a homicide, no problem. That’s like a parking ticket to me.” Sucre tries to get T-Bag to stand down, but tensions run too high for rational thought. In the infirmary above, Lincoln bangs on the grate with a mop handle, making a loud and desperate attempt to get through to his brother.
Lincoln scrambles to replace the mop when he hears the approach of Dr. Sara Tancredi, who asks what he’s doing out of bed. Lincoln convinces her that he felt nauseous, so he went to the drain. But before she can respond, a C.O. enters and insists that Lincoln be handcuffed to the gurney. Lincoln doesn’t want to give the guard his wrists, knowing that if he is cuffed to the bed, there is no chance of escape. The C.O. slaps the cuffs on Lincoln.
The escapees in the utility room below panic at the sound of jingling keys. It can only be one thing.
Outside the utility room, a C.O. stands at the door hunting for the right key. He enters the room and scans it. He seems to find everything satisfactory until he spots a thin piece of pipe that broke while the escape crew attempted to pry the newly installed pipe from the ceiling. He picks it up, and inspects the edge, then looks upwards to the newly installed pipe. The escapees – hidden behind various shelves – look on with concern. T-Bag readies his shiv. The C.O. calls to another guard outside to come and check out what he’s found. The second C.O. doesn’t answer, so he moves into the hallway to find him. As soon as the room is clear, Westmoreland urges, “We gotta go, NOW!” He takes the rope from Sucre and they tie it to a nearby shelving unit. The men start sliding down the rope, and back into the drainage area below the utility room.
In the infirmary, Lincoln struggles against his cuffs, but he’s not going anywhere.
In the utility room, the C.O.s examine the pieces of the broken pipe. Under the grate in the floor they stand on, Michael dangles from the rope, watching the guards in a tense silence.
Captain Bellick barrels into the administration office and asks the other C.O.s if they want to head out to a local bar for a two-fer Tuesday. His happy hour plans are forgotten however, when he looks outside to the guards’ room and sees that the sheetrock outside hasn’t been moved yet. His expression darkens.
Sucre and the escape team race through the tunnels under the prison, as Bellick storms towards the guards’ room above ground.
Sucre pops out of the hole first, followed by C-Note, T-Bag and Michael. But Westmoreland has fallen behind.
Bellick grabs the door to the guards’ room but it doesn’t budge. On the other side, a crowbar Westmoreland slid through the handle acts as a sturdy barricade. The team urges Westmoreland to hurry up and get through the hole as the crowbar slips through the door handle. Michael forces Westmoreland to stay in the hole. They cover him quickly as the crowbar clangs to the ground.
Bellick storms in. “Why was this door locked?” Bellick demands. T-Bag is quick with an excuse about needing to keep it secure because of a draft. Bellick reams the cons for their slow work, telling them to wrap it up and get their asses back to the tier, “All four of you.” He stalks out, but halts a few feet down the hall. Something’s fishy.
Bellick barges back into the guards’ room, announcing, “You seem to be one light.” But Westmoreland pops into view. Bellick, though still suspicious, can only turn and leave. Alone and out of danger, the team takes its first breath of realization that the escape has failed.
In their cell, Sucre asks Michael if he thinks his brother knows they didn’t make it, but Michael is silent.
In the infirmary, Lincoln can only yank on the metal cuffs holding him to the gurney. He casts an urgent glance at the drainage grate beneath the sink.
The next morning, Warden Pope stands outside the prison walls fielding questions from reporters about Lincoln’s upcoming execution.
Still in hiding in Nick Savrinn’s apartment, LJ watches the news report about his father, fighting back tears.
Michael paces in his cell, Sucre sits on the top bunk. Michael tells Sucre that it’s sixteen hours until the execution and that there’s only one person left who can have any effect now.
Michael, in handcuffs, is walked into the infirmary. Through the glass he sees Sara, and in a room behind her, his brother. Michael and Lincoln make eye contact through the glass as Sara enters Michael’s room. “I need to see my brother, just to talk, for five minutes,” he begs. Sara says she’ll try, but the C.O. on guard tells her Michael must wait until final visitation. As Sara prepares his diabetes shot, Michael desperately blurts out, “Will you talk to your father for me?” Sara tells Michael that if she thought there was any chance that things would change if she talked to her father, she would do it. But because of her contentious relationship with her father, if Sara asks for clemency, there is no way Lincoln will get it. Lincoln walks through the infirmary in shackles, surrounded by C.O.s., Michael moves to the door to watch him go.
Nick and Veronica flank a heavy set court clerk, Lyle. They beg him to arrange a time for them to appeal to Judge Kessler for a stay. Lyle is stunned to learn that they believe Steadman to be alive and want to petition for an exhumation for the body in Steadman’s grave. Nick pleads with his law school buddy to put any political interests aside and do the right thing. Lyle succumbs, offering them fifteen minutes in the afternoon.
Sucre and Michael sit on the bleachers in the yard. Michael doesn’t think Lincoln knows what happened but Sucre tells him that he’s sure Lincoln knows that he tried. Michael says, “I promised I’d get him out of here.” T-Bag interrupts, “You promised a lot of people, Pretty.” Sucre steps in and T-Bag backs down, but not before warning Michael, “You owe me a ticket out of here, Pretty. And I will collect.”
In the line to return to gen pop, Westmoreland slides up next to Michael and offers his condolences for Lincoln. Westmoreland’s known a few guys to get the chair since he’s been at Fox River. “Once, ‘bout ten years ago, man got a few sparks in him, but not enough to do the job. Had to wait another three weeks while they redid the whole process.” Michael smiles when he hears this; the wheels in his head begin to turn. Without warning, Tweener pops up behind them, still pushing to be part of the gang. Michael heads off and Tweener asks Westmoreland what they were talking about. Westmoreland quietly says, “Nothing.”
Michael anxiously taps his fingers on the door of his cell while Sucre rests on the top bunk. Suddenly, Michael jumps to the back of the cell, “I’m going in.” Sucre is caught off guard and blurts out, “It’s daytime!” Michael just looks at Sucre, who climbs off the top bunk to hang the sheet. Michael pulls the toilet away from the wall, and grabs a concealed bag of tuna from under a notebook.
Inside the pipes under the prison, a rat walks up to a small pile of tuna. Michael’s hand shoots from the darkness and grabs the rat by its tail. Michael turns and moves quickly down another pipe.
Lincoln anxiously rubs his cuffed hands together. Sara, sitting on the bed next to him, puts her hand on his, and asks Lincoln if he has any questions about what is going to happen. Lincoln muses that little of what Sara has to say will do any good at midnight. Instead, he asks about his brother. Sara says Michael is eager to see Lincoln, but it can't happen until final visitation. Sara adds that a doctor must be present during the execution, so she’ll be there at midnight. There’s a moment of silence, then Lincoln asks her to look out for Michael.
Sucre holds a mirror outside his cell and watches a C.O. approach. He taps three times on the metal bed frame just before the C.O. walks by. Seconds later, three metallic taps come from behind the toilet, signaling Sucre to pull the toilet from the wall so Michael can climb out from the catwalks. Michael springs out and begins taking the sheet down. Sucre asks, “What were you doing back there?” But Michael stays quiet.
Tweener sits across from Bellick, dipping French fries in his milkshake. Bellick laughs, and asks Tweener for the latest gossip in the yard. Bellick leans in close, waiting for news about Scofield, but all Tweener offers is info on some con trying to find a joint. Bellick grabs the hamburger from Tweener’s hands, reminding Tweener that his focus is Scofield. Tweener complains that Scofield won’t open up to him. Bellick says, “In that case, it’ll be one hundred dollars for the burgers.” If Tweener can’t come up with the money, Bellick’s going to have an auction to see which inmate will be Tweener’s new cellmate. Tweener, wracked with self-hatred and fear, finally confesses, “In the yard today, I did hear Scofield says somethin’.” He tells Bellick that he heard Michael say if something goes wrong with the electric chair, then Lincoln gets three more weeks to live. Bellick tells Tweener they’re square and sends Tweener back to gen pop.
Bellick storms down the prison hallways to the execution room. C.O. Geary is going over a preparation checklist when Bellick enters and tells him to run a test. Geary says they ran one this morning, but Bellick insists. Geary nods to another C.O. in a control room, who flips the switch. Nothing happens.
The cell doors slide open and the cons walk out into the main hall. Sucre asks if they’re still going through the infirmary, but Michael says he can’t corrode the pipe in the grate again. Sucre asks what the next plan is, but Michael isn’t concerned about escaping right now. He’s more concerned with his brother staying alive.
Bellick and Geary move through a narrow hallway in the belly of the prison to the source of the electric chair’s power. Bellick pops open the fuse panel door, and tucked inside is a rat’s carcass.
