Bane of My Existence

Chapter 30

Kinsey took one deep breath at a time, clearing her mind. She needed to focus. Damon was down there. She couldn't save him if she was too scared to leave her office. Especially if she wanted to get him out tonight.

It put a rush on her original plan, but seeing him down there, with pieces of him missing, blood staining his fur. . . . He wasn't going to spend a moment longer there than necessary if she had anything to say about it.

She spent all day on her computer, hacking into the main security system.

Her academic advisor tried to talk her out of taking up computer science as a minor, afraid of the work load she would have to undertake. But, thanks to Kinsey's parents, she never thought she was good enough, so she pushed herself, taking on a more "elevated" science as her minor, in the hope of appeasing them.

If her advisor saw what she was doing with her minor, he'd have a heart attack.

By the end of the day, Kinsey had set up a virus to unlock all the cells down below at eight o'clock, when mostly everyone would be home. She spent the last few hours planning the easiest route for everyone to escape through. Looking over her roughly drawn blueprints, Damon would be the hardest to free; he only had two options: the stairs or the elevator, both of which could easily be quadrant off  by the guards, so he had to be ready to move before security knew what was happening. Which meant she had to go down there and break him free of that awful chain.

She peered up at the clock. Seven-thirty. She had half an hour to get to the sub sixth floor.
Taking a deep breath, she rolled up her map and tucked it in her lab coat. Her heart pounded in her ears on her way to the elevator. With a shaky hand, she tested the keypad to see if Victor had given her free access to the building.

Nope.

She hadn't expected him to, but it would have been easier. Now she had to really steady her heart.

The door opened on the main floor.

You can do this. She repeated the mantra over and over as she crossed the foyer for the security room. She knocked on the door and when it opened, she shoved her nerves aside and flashed a peppy smile. Which she soon learned was a mistake when Barnett was the one who answered. He smiled back. "Kinsey. What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

The nerves hit her hard--and his stench. She had thought Victor smelt bad before, but that was nothing compared to Barnett. She had to ball up her fists to stop herself from throwing up on his feet.

"I was hoping I could go downstairs," she managed. "Victor said he would give me access, but he hasn't done it yet."

Barnett frowned, peering behind her, as if expecting someone else. "By yourself? It's a little late to be collecting data, isn't it?"

"I'm taking print samples," she spat the first thing that came to mind. "It'll take a while for the castings to set, so I'm doing them tonight to give them time to harden over night."

It wasn't at all how they worked, and she hardly needed them to collect the data they wanted from her, but Barnett clearly didn't know that and nodded along with her. "All right. I'll come down with you."

Shit.

"Oh, that's not necessary. Don't trouble yourself."

"Nonsense." He grabbed a gun and cattle prod.

No, no, no!

Damn it. This was not part of the plan.

She looked at her watch. Great. She had already wasted ten minutes with this guy.