PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

LX. Hostage Situation

Chapter Sixty:  Hostage Situation

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Yasmina gasped. "Guys!"

They all filed into the vent, Yasmina last to shut it behind them.

Darius led the way through the vent, the four moving silently as they crawled. Eva used the elbow of her injured hand to push herself forward.

Eventually, they entered the room, coming out beside the destroyed chamber the Scorpios Rex once sat in.

"It's not here," Darius whispered, frustrated.

Yasmina left the room to check the progress of Dr. Wu and the others. She came back inside quickly, ushering them to hurry up.

Eva stepped backwards onto something and gasped. She brushed papers off of the laptop, sighing in relief. "I found it! Let's go!"

"Ten points to Slytherin?" Brooklynn joked.

"I'm not a Slytherin—"

"Yeah you are," Yaz quipped.

"Don't lie to yourself," Darius added.

"Just get into the vent," she whispered, slightly annoyed.

Eva let the others in first, then pulled the vent shut behind her. A moment later, they could hear Dr. Wu and his mercenaries enter the room.

Eva shifted the laptop in her hands, her eyes widening when light was flashed on the vents. She froze, refusing to move a muscle, refusing to even breathe.

The sound of a compy shrieked, and then the light disappeared.

Dr. Wu gasped.

"Let me guess," Hawkins started, "Something's supposed to be in there?"

"The Scorpios Rex. If it's escaped, we need to accelerate our timetable... Don't touch that! The Scorpios Rex has poisonous quills like its namesake, the Scorpionfish," he explained.

Scorpionfish? Who gave Dr. Wu the right to combine the DNA of the most venomous fish species with a dinosaur? Who decided this was okay?

Hawked chuckled. "I'm guessing the boss would be very interested in something like this Scorpios."

"No, it turned out to be too unstable. However, I can perfect it— make an improved version. If I could just find my laptop! It should be here!"

Eva hugged the laptop closer to her chest. Man, did Dr. Wu talk like an anime villain.

"I just... that laptop had years of my research on it. Without it, what would take months will take years! So, if you don't want Mills to have your head, help, me, look."

Mills? Who the hell was that? No one good, Eva could surmise.

After a beat of silence, Hawkes asked, "You sure this is where you left it?"

"Yes, I... I think so. Very well. We'll check the other labs."

After the departure of the mercenaries and Wu, they began moving through the vents, as slow and quiet as they could. Yasmina led the charge with Darius and Brooklynn in the middle, and Eva taking up the rear. The laptop was still gripped tightly in her right hand as she pulled herself along. Despite the pain she felt in her wrist, she held tightly to the one thing they needed.