Chapter 6 - The Hunted Becomes the Hunter
A pungent, sweet-smelling gas began to flood the sealed penthouse.
Candidate 03 coughed violently, falling to her knees on the expensive Persian rug.
Elara ripped a piece of fabric from her torn uniform and covered her mouth and nose.
She ran to the heavy mahogany desk and began smashing the laptop against the edge.
She tore out the internal hard drive, hoping to find a way to access the room's automated lockdown system.
"You cannot hack your way out of poison, Elara," Alexis taunted through the speakers.
Elara ignored him, frantically searching the desk drawers for anything useful.
Her fingers brushed against a heavy, antique silver letter opener.
She grabbed it and sprinted toward the main air conditioning vent on the wall.
She wedged the silver blade between the metal slats, prying with all her strength.
The metal grate popped off with a loud screech, revealing a narrow ventilation shaft.
"Boost me up!" Elara yelled to Candidate 03.
The young woman struggled to her feet and offered her hands as a step.
Elara climbed into the dark, cramped shaft just as her lungs began to burn from the toxic gas.
She reached down and hauled Candidate 03 up by her arms, pulling her into the safety of the ductwork.
They crawled through the dusty metal tubes for what felt like miles.
Elara used the layout she had memorized to navigate toward the central security hub.
They finally reached a vent looking down into a massive room filled with glowing computer monitors.
Marcus, the head of security, was standing at the main console, shouting orders into a headset.
Elara carefully pushed the vent cover open and dropped silently to the floor behind him.
She grabbed Marcus in a chokehold, pressing the sharp silver letter opener directly against his jugular vein.
"Call off your men, or you bleed out on your own keyboards," Elara whispered in his ear.
Marcus chuckled darkly, completely unfazed by the blade at his throat.
"I don't take orders from dead women," Marcus replied casually.
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He reached up and pressed a large red button on his communications headset.
The entire security hub instantly plunged into a deafening blare of alarm sirens.
