Sara Strong

Chapter 4

Ingrid took out a hard drive and started copy as many files as she could.

Max tensed up watching her. "See now," he said grimacing and shaking his head. "That right there? I don't know if that is the best idea."

Ingrid left her hard drive on the table and stepped up beside him. "You've been saying that since we started. It's a little late to change your mind."

"Yeah," he said, rubbing a hand nervously over his bald head and then again through his bread. "And just because I wasn't about to let you do your crazy shit alone, doesn't mean I'm not going to make my displeasure crystal clear, all right?"

Ingrid spared him a glance out of the corner of her eye. "It's been noted, twice over even." She patted him on the arm once and then elbowed him out of her way. She eyed the information on the screen for a moment. "You said these were the live samples?"

"Yeah," Max said suspiciously and a little annoyed. "Is this you fact-checking my work? We aren't back in uni collaborating over an assignment."

"No, I know," she said. "If this room serves as a database and a storage room, then what's this?" She pointed with one perfectly manicured nail.

"What's what?" Max leaned over her to see what the hell she was talking about. Most of what he had previously seen were simple logs with a subject number paired with a sample number. The information regarding the subject and the sample itself must have been stored separately. Most likely on Ingrid's computer, considering what she had found. The only other information listed here was the researcher and the date the sample was taken and stored.

Ingrid had opened up a section on the computer that was completely isolated from all the rest. It was just labelled "Xtra".

"Xtra or something extra? What do you think that means?" Ingrid asked.

"There's no other information on what it even is." Despite himself, Max was curious. Was that supposed to be a pun or something?

Ingrid cocked her head to the side. "We made it this far," she said. "There's only one way to find out." She tapped against the screen. There was the sound of released pressure and a metal drawer on the far side of the wall opened up.

Max winced. "What are we doing?" He asked, his voice at a slight nervous pitch. "We have no idea what this thing is. We aren't wearing any protection. You could have just exposed us to something dangerous."

Ingrid was unapologetic. "This whole thing is already incredibly dangerous," she insisted. "I never pretended otherwise. And besides, it would have been pretty suspicious if went down the halls dressed in hazmat suits."

"This is against every single safety protocol."

"Yeah, we've broken a lot of rules today."

"What are you even going to do?" Max hissed. "Stare at whatever it is until it gives up its secrets? Or are you just going to steal it and hope no one notices?"