Free The Condemned by Claire Jolliff

woman is coming with us. I don’t have time to go through the whole fucking building releasing all the clones.’ He held up the card and moved it from side to side; the tall man’s eyes followed it as though it were some sacred object.
       ‘These babies are fireproof. When I let you out, if you have any interest in freeing your friends that’s entirely up to you. Our dead Official over there will have one nice and intact on him somewhere. Give me 5 minutes to get my people out of here and then start letting yours out. Got it?’
       Tall Man nodded evenly and held a hand through the bars.
       ‘I can do as you say. We owe you our lives, giving us an opportunity; you can have your five minutes. Thank you...’ He tilted his head questioningly and the other man grinned, taking the hand and pumping it once in a solid shake.
       ‘Amato.’
       ‘Thank you, Amato.’
       Leci finally had a name for him, for her saviour. Amato.
    She had no idea if it meant anything or not, but all the same it seemed to fit. She felt sort of foolish for not having thought to just ask him herself, it wasn’t as if he would have denied her the information.
       Amato ran the card through the slot; Tall Man kept his side of the bargain and held back his people. They had heard the terms of their freedom and they were willing to wait another five minutes for it after having waited years already.
       The redheaded woman was reluctant to let go of her husband but they parted briefly for her to exit the cell and then she was in his arms, sobbing, her face buried in his chest. He held her and rubbed her back and Leci was torn between wanting to get the hell out of here and wanting to allow them their reunion.
       Amato had no such worries.
       ‘Ok, that’s it? No kids, fucking... aunt, uncle, pet fucking hamster? Can we get the fuck going?’
       Beriael raised his head. His cheeks were wet with tears but he grinned and nodded.
       ‘Fuck yeah, thanks man, come on, let’s blow this shit-hole.’
       Amato tugged off the bulky gloves and didn’t bother putting the hood back on. He pointed to Tall Man.
       ‘Five minutes.’
       Who nodded. ‘It’ll take that long for him to cool down enough for me to find the card anyway.’ He reasoned quietly with a nervous glance towards Alecia who flashed him a bright smile.
       The woman was in no condition to run, she clung to Beriael like a lost child and her tears seemed to be uncontrollable. Normally Leci would have told her, perhaps unsympathetically, to pull it together, but given the circumstances she knew that if she were in the position of the recently reunited Clone woman, she’d be a wreck too. Beriael held her against him and scooped her legs from the ground, carrying her in his arms, cradling her against him like a baby. It must have hurt, both arms were badly burned and one had had the flesh stripped from it but he never so much as winced. She supposed he’d had plenty time to build up a relatively decent threshold to it, or maybe there was just so much nerve damage that he really couldn’t feel anything.
       Amato set off at a run, heading back for the door through which they had entered the Clone room. Alecia followed, hampered at first by the over large trousers until she let go, allowed them to fall to the ground and stepped out of them. She was naked below the baggy prison shirt but it was far too big for her and draped her to mid-thigh length like a short dress. Now was not the time to be concerned with modesty, speed was suddenly very important. The illusion of a guard escorting prisoners would no longer hold and so there was no need for her to attempt to fit the part anymore.
       Amato halted at the doorway, glanced out and to either side and then turned back to Alecia as she caught up to him.
       ‘Anyone at all tries to stop us, you light them up, got it?’
       ‘Got it.’ She wasn’t going to argue. She’d happily fry as many of