PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

LXXVIII. Together

Chapter Seventy Eight: Together

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"Kenji, you— you're alive?"

The man— Kenji's father's tablet fell to the ground as he rushed forward, pulling Kenji from Eva's hands and into his own embrace.

Eva had never met him, but she had been to the P house enough times to recognize the man before her as no other than Kenji's father.

"I never thought I'd see you again," Mr. Kon said as he pulled back, taking Kenji in.

"Me too."

Sammy peered around Kenji's side. "It is so nice to meet you, uh, Mr. Kon, I'm guessing? I'd shake your hand, but, uh..." She gestured to the killer robots surrounding them.

"Of course. Have the BRADs stand down."

"Are you kidding me?" Kash bit, but followed his orders regardless.

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

"It's a long story, son."

"I thought you worked with Masrani," Kenji continued. "You run Mantah Corp now?"

"Yes, Kenji. A lot's changed. I took over at Mantah Corp after Jurassic World went down."

"So, you're in charge of this island?" Darius asked.

"You're behind the dino fights?" Brooklynn added.

Eva mumbled, so low no one heard her, "You're behind Kash."

"You let him keep Darius prisoner?"

"You made these death robots?"

Questions upon questions were spouted by Eva and her friends.

"And were you aware he tried to kill me?!" Mae added.

"You did what?"

"I did what had to be done," Kash nearly growled.

Eva hesitantly took a step back from the sociopath.

Mr. Kon approached Kash. "You were supposed to get things up and running. Not commit murder! Apparently, I gave you too much freedom."

"'Too much freedom'?" he mocked. "You mean that you were happy to sit back while I did all the hard work! You know what? Forget this. This is my island." Kash reactivated the BRADs. They marched forward, closer, charging electrical blasts, ready to burn them alive.

Eva backed into Brooklynn, putting the pink haired girl behind her.

Mr. Kon all but rolled his eyes. "Execute override nine-one-six."

All the BRADs shut down.

"You didn't really think I'd give you total control, did you?" Mr. Kon asked.

Kash grunted, slowly backing up until his back slammed into a BRAD. He sprung forward, slamming Mae to the ground, running for the distance.

"I got this, Dad," Kenji said confidently, running after Kash.

Mr. Kon quickly grounded him, yelling at the BRAD to take care of the sociopath. A compartment in the BRAD-X's chest opened, and a heavy duty electrical blast shot out, sending Kash to his knees. Eva stepped back as two robots next to her advanced on him.