Catalyst

Part 11

"I don't know. I don't have a plan. I don't know what to do." Jimin's shoulders slumped. I moved over to the couch with Yoongi and Namjoon, letting Jin take my spot on the loveseat. Jin wrapped his arms tightly around Jimin, as a single tear slid down the younger man's cheek. 

I briefly glanced around to the other three men, but they had all averted their gaze to the floor as if the carpet held the answer to the problem we were facing. 

After a few moments of silence, Yoongi cleared his throat and pulled out his cell phone. He tapped at the screen and chuckled, drawing the attention of everyone but Jin and Jimin. Jimin's tears flowed steadily as Jin whispered to him reassuringly in Korean. 

"What is it, hyung?" Namjoon asked quietly. 

"I start at Kronos on Monday." 

"Pardon?"

Jimin wiped the tears from his cheeks and sat up straighter. Jin released Jimin, focusing his attention on Yoongi. 

Hobi stood up from the Lay-Z-Boy and walked over to perch on the arm of couch, next to me. "What are you talking about?"

"I applied two days ago when you told me about Jimin." Yoongi shrugged as if it was no big deal. "They were looking for interns-"

"Shocker," Jimin scoffed. 

"For their IT department." Yoongi finished with a proud grin. 

"Aren't you studying engineering?" Hobi asked, crossing one leg over the other, as he placed one hand on the back of the couch, near my shoulder, for balance. 

"Electrical engineering and computer science," Yoongi corrected his friend. "The important thing is, I will have access to their servers."

"Well, if they're smart, they won't keep the top secret turning-humans-into-animals information on their regular servers. I would also assume that the cameras for that part of the lab are on a different server, too." I looked around at the others and was met with mostly puzzled looks. 

"Who are you?" Yoongi asked. 

"I read a lot of crime novels, and watch a lot of documentaries." I averted my eyes, focusing on the carpet. 

"That doesn't answer my question."

"She works at the library on campus." Hobi patted my shoulder. I looked up at him and gave him a small smile. 

"I work the IT desk in the library on campus." I glanced at Yoongi before deciding to focus on Jin and Jimin on the loveseat opposite the couch the rest of us were sitting on. "As a full-time university employee, I can take classes at a discounted rate. So, I've taken some psych classes, justice studies, creative writing, and some other random classes that sounded interesting." 

I could feel Yoongi's eyes burning into me with skepticism, so I continued to look only at Jin and Jimin. 

"There's an IT desk in the library?" Namjoon pondered aloud. 

"It's kind of hidden in a corner on the first floor, past the elevator." 

"Huh. I need to get out of my office more." He scratched his head, and I looked at him, wondering where on campus he worked. He answered without my having to ask. "I'm working on my Master's in Physics. I teach a lab for Physics 110."

"Right." Yoongi said, bringing the focus back to himself. "We need to figure out how to get into Kronos and get Taehyung and Jungkook out of there."

We all nodded in agreement, but no one said anything. 

Yoongi sighed in frustration. "I'll have access to the building and their computers, but I don't know how much access I'll have."

Silence engulfed the room once more as we all sat, deep in thought. 

"Jimin, was anyone remotely sympathetic to you while you were in there? Maybe someone who would be willing to help?" Jin looked at Jimin, hopeful. 

Jimin shook his head. "No, not that I can think of."

There had been a question in the back of my mind since Jimin told his escape story, and it finally surfaced. "How did you find out about the cat allergy?"

Jimin's eyes lit up. "One of the younger scientists brought it up one day. I don't remember what they were talking about, but he started asking Dr. Higgins about his cat allergy. Do you think he did that on purpose?"

"Maybe?" Namjoon shrugged. "Do you remember their name?"

Jimin closed his eyes, trying to remember. "I met him once before... everything happened. I want to say his last name is Jordan? His first name is some generic American name. Like Matt or Dan." 

Jin grabbed a notebook and pen and started writing down Jimin's description of the scientist who may have knowingly aided in Jimin's escape. Yoongi and I both searched social media on our phones to see if we could come up with anyone in the area with the surname Jordan that fit the description. 

"Blake Jordan?" I showed Jimin the LinkedIn profile picture. 

"Yes! That's him!" 

"Jin, do you have a laptop I could borrow? I want to do a Google image search." I smiled, hoping my search would play out the way I wanted.

Jin set the laptop on the coffee table. I moved onto the floor and began my search. The guys huddled around me. 

"I can't type when someone is watching over my shoulder." 

"Sorry, Y/n." Hobi shooed the others away. 

It didn't take long for me to find what I was looking for. Dating website profiles. Several of them. 

"Okay. Good news, I found him." I looked at his profiles on the first two websites that came up. "Also good news, he listed himself as being interested in men and women." 

"So you think one of us should seduce him?" Yoongi asked, his face unreadable. 

"Well, not seduce, but get close enough to see what kind of person he is, and if he is willing to help."

Yoongi gave me a quick nod of approval. 

"Sounds good. I like it."