Author's Note: Sorry for the delay! I have majority of this story written out (8 Chapters so far) and wanted to go over it before posting this chapter, but work got in the way. I want to thank everyone for their kind reviews! Also, want to thank everyone who favourited or followed this story thus far. A little note to readers though: this story is not as it seems. I have received a few reviews that comment on the lack of "panic" being stuck in a panic room should cause these two women and their friends. I would like for everyone to keep in mind that things are not what they seem...

Enough about all of this, on to the chapter!

Upstairs on the first floor, Traci stared at Steve as he paced around the living room. "I just don't understand it, Traci. There seems to be no sign of forced entry. They knew the code... or she had left it turned off, but that doesn't make any sense given the fact that she has a panic room in the basement. Nothing was taken from the house. Hell, it looks untouched! The only thing we have as a sign that something did happen is the blood trail leading out of the panic room and post mortem ligament tear on the victim's wrist. I just don't understand it at all."

Traci sighed as she leaned against the windowsill. "I know, Steve. Maybe Holly will learn more when they take the body back to the lab. And maybe we can find more if the techs would show up soon."

"Yeah, the techs should be here in twenty minutes to a half-hour. Dispatch said that 27 Division had a robbery at a convenient store that turned ugly. The clerk and a customer were shot multiple times. Said the store looked like a war-zone."

"Really?" Nash stared at him incredulously as she moved from the window. "What did they take?"

"You'll never believe it when I tell you..."

"Try me."

"Okay.." Steve put his hands in his pants pockets and paced the floor in front of the marble fireplace. "The suspects took seven rolls of lottery tickets, three cases of beer, and two cartons of cigarettes."

Traci's mouth dropped and her eyes widened comically. "You're joking, right?"

Detective Peck chuckled slightly. "I told you that you wouldn't believe me." He took his hands out of his pockets and stretched. "Ahh, you were right by the way..." When the woman stared at him quizzically, he continued, "It is going to be a very long day. How are they doing with the canvassing?" He nodded towards the door.

Traci shook her head and stared back out the window. "Not good. Chloe said she talked to the neighbour who called it in and said he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary."

"Did he at least give us a bit more information about our victim?"

Nash shrugged her shoulders. "Just pretty much the same stuff that Holly had mentioned when we looked at the panic room. He said she was a very paranoid woman. Husband had left her a couple of years back and took the kids with him... he thinks that is when she started really freaking out. It was also the same time she had the panic room installed. Other than that, he didn't have any other information on her."

"What about Chris and Nick? Did they find anything out from the other neighbours? An unfamiliar car? Anything? Maybe even saw the husband come back for some reason?"

"Nothing. Either someone isn't telling everything they know, or this is the most unobservant neighbourhood I have ever seen," Traci said as one of the techs finally walked through the door. "About time you guys showed up. I want you guys to start in the basement first, that's where the crime scene is. Then you guys can check out the rest of the house."

Holly smiled to herself as she felt Gail's teeth bite down softly on her neck. She grabbed a hold of the officer's neck and pulled her more firmly against her. Her eyes fluttered open momentarily and she saw Traci, Steve, and a tech, Johnson, she thought the man's last name was, on the screen and instantly stiffened. "Gail... Gail. Honey?"

"Hmm?" Gail murmured as she continued to lavish the pathologist neck with kisses.

"We have to stop." Holly pushed on Peck's shoulder slightly to gain her attention. "Traci and your brother on our their way down the steps to the basement as we speak... if they find us like this... I really do not want to explain why they caught us in a compromising position while on the job."

"That's if we can ever get out of here," Gail said with a smirk as she stepped away from Holly and held out her hand. The pathologist took her hand with a smile and allowed the officer to help her off the table. "Do you think there is a switch on their side that could help us get out?"

Holly laughed at Gail's question and squeezed her hand. "Well, if it did have a button like that on the other side, it would be a pretty pathetic panic room, don't you think?" She readjusted her glasses as she spoke and turned towards her girlfriend to inspect her uniform. "Uh... you might want to fix your shirt just a bit." A smirk appeared on her face when Gail glanced down at her untucked shirt. "I'll get your belt while you fix your shirt."

As Peck tucked her shirt back into her pants, she watched Holly walk the few steps towards the table to pick up the tactical belt. "Hey, Lunch-box!" Gail said playfully with a smile playing across her lips. "You might want to fix your hair and shirt as well."

Holly looked down at her button-up shirt and her face flushed. "Well..." She chuckled slightly as she buttoned the top few buttons of the shirt and smoothed her hands over it, "I guess you are the one at fault for that." Then she brushed her right hand through her hair and smiled at Gail. The smile suddenly turned to a frown when she looked about the room. "You know, I never really noticed this before, but does this room seem to look lived in? I know people normally stock up supplies in panic rooms, but this seems a bit excessive."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean look around you." Holly gestured to the cot that Gail had sat on only a few minutes before and then she pointed to a pile of clothes on the floor. "It almost seems as if this is a bedroom instead of a panic room. And the metal walls have been painted over. There are paintings on the wall. It is almost as if someone was living in here for a short amount of time."

"Now that you mention it," Gail started as she stared about the room. "It does look like bedroom instead of a panic room. Maybe she thought it would be the best way to keep herself from freaking out if she had to use it."

"That would make sense, but it still doesn't give an account for the pile of clothing in the corner." The pathologist glanced over at the monitors lined up along the wall, "Gail, look. They are looking around to see where we went. I don't think they noticed the door is closed." Holly walked closer to the door and yelled, "Hey! We're in here! We're trapped!"

She started beating on the door when Gail approached her. "Let me help you," She said as she took out her flash-light and started beating the door with it. "Steve! Traci! Guys we're in here! Help!"

"Look, there's a vent over the door, maybe if we yell through that, they could hear us better," Holly said as she glanced back at the bank of monitors and noticed that the group on the outside didn't acknowledge their screams. "Help me bring the cot over to the door and one of us can stand on it."

"Sure," Gail replied as she followed Holly over to the cot. She grabbed one side of it while her girlfriend went towards the other one, "On three. One. Two. Three." Both women struggled to lift the bed and groaned when it wouldn't budge.

"I think this thing is bolted down... that's odd." Holly commented when both women stopped their attempts at moving it. "What do we do now? There are no chairs in this room and if the cot is bolted down, I am quite sure the tables are too." She walked towards the table and attempted to move it, but to no avail.

"How about if I kneel in front of the door and you step up on my leg to reach the vent?" Gail suggested as she started playing with the collar of her uniform. "Is it getting hot in here or is that just me?"

A fine sheen of perspiration had spread over Holly's forehead as she waved her hand in a desperate attempt to cool herself off. "I thought it was just from our recent exertions, but now that you mention it, I am getting a bit warm as well." She glanced about the room. "I don't see a thermostat in the room to indicate how warm it is in here, but it feels as though it is at least fifteen degrees warmer in here than when we first entered the room."

"Do you think that is a heat lamp in the light socket instead of a regular bulb?" Gail asked as she pulled her uniform jacket off.

"Possibly," Holly said as she shuddered, "but I doubt it. It could be because of the excess of electronics in this room. It always seems a bit warmer in a room filled with tech, we probably didn't notice it before when the door was open. " She gathered her hair in her left hand as her right reached into the front pocket of her jeans while toeing her shoes off. She pulled out an elastic band, tied her hair up in a messy bun and gestured towards Peck. "I'm ready to try your idea."

"Okay," Gail replied as she walked back towards the door. Once she reached the door, she turned back to face Holly. Peck lowered herself to her knees in front of the door, then lifted her right leg to allow her to place her right foot on the floor. The officer stared at the other woman and took a deep breath. "Let me know when you are ready so I can help steady you when you try to reach the vent."

Holly nodded her head and walked towards the officer and held out her right hand. "Give me your hand," she ordered softly as she waited for Gail to comply.

Gail reached her hand out, softly gripped Holly's hand, and prepared herself for the other woman to step up onto her leg. "Ready?"

"Ready." Holly confirmed as she stepped her socked foot onto Gail's thigh. The officer reached her hand that wasn't currently holding Holly's hand to Holly's thigh to steady the pathologist's balance as she lifted her other leg onto Gail's. "Okay Gail, let go of my hand so I can use both hands to hold onto the vent."

"Can you see out?" Gail asked as she gripped Holly's thighs tighter to keep her from falling.

"No, I can't even hear their voices!" Holly exclaimed in exasperation.

"Try calling out anyway, what harm can it do?" Gail said as she kept focusing on holding onto Holly and trying to push the overwhelming sense of dread that started to fill her heart back into the dark recesses of her mind.

"Traci! Steve! Anybody! Can you guys hear me?" Holly shouted her voice straining to keep the panic out of it.

Gail glanced at the monitors to see if the others on the outside had heard Holly's cries. "I don't think they can hear you, Honey," Gail said softly as she patted her lover's leg. "Come down from there. We need to come up with a plan to get us out of here."

Holly wiped the sweat that dripped from her face onto the corner of her long-sleeved blouse. "We need to figure something out soon, otherwise we could have a problem."

Outside the three officers walked back towards the house. "I don't know about you two," Chloe started as she caught up with the two male officers, "but I think this canvass was a bust. No one knew anything!"

"We can't think like that, Chloe," Chris replied as he wiped his nose with his hand and sniffled. "This was a holiday weekend and most of the neighbours were probably out of town celebrating."

"You okay, man?" Nick asked as he stared at his colleague.

"I'm fine... allergies." The man in question replied as he moved ahead of the group. "I get them from time to time, but not this bad."

"You should take something, Chris," Chloe added, her voice warm with concern for her fellow officer. "Or maybe you should see a doctor, it could be something worse than allergies."

"I said I'm fine, Chloe!" Chris retorted harshly. When he realised how angry he sounded, he murmured softly, "I'm sorry... it's just that it is affecting more so that normal. It was probably that older lady's perfume." He pointed towards the house across the street, "She was the last person I talked to and it was really strong. Like a mix of every single flower in a flower shop, a bakery, and gin." He shuddered as he remembered the smell. "Then add in the smell of old moth balls and cat hair that filled her house and well... you understand."

Nick chuckled as he watched his partner rub his nose again. "I'm glad it was you and not me, buddy. I'm allergic to animal hair. I wouldn't..." The ex-soldier stopped mid-sentence as he stared at the silver SUV that had just turned into the driveway. He walked over to where the SUV parked, followed closely by Chloe. When a dark-haired woman dressed in pressed black dress pants and a white blouse stepped out of the driver-side, he spoke, "Excuse me, ma'am? You can't park there. This is a crime scene and I need you to..."

"What the hell do you mean that this is a crime scene? This is my house!" The woman said harshly as she pulled a briefcase out of the SUV.

"Are you Mrs. O'Neil?" Chloe asked as she stared at the woman who continued to walk towards them.

"Yes... my name is Patricia O'Neil... and what the hell are you doing on my lawn? And why is my front door open?"

The officers' radios crackled to life and Traci's voice echoed across, 'Guys, have any one of you seen Gail or Holly? They are not down in the basement and they left the body unattended.'

"Basement?! You mean, my basement? What they hell are you guys doing in MY BASEMENT?" the woman queried as she dropped her briefcase on the front lawn. "If you destroyed anything in my house, I will take you all to court! I have priceless heirlooms in there!" She screamed out as she dug her hand in her purse pulling out a phone. "You know what? I am just going to call my lawyer right now!"

'Chloe. Nick. Chris? Do you guys copy? Don't tell me you guys are missing too?'

Chloe clicked her radio on and stuttered, "Uh... No we are here, Traci. Haven't seen Gail or Holly, but we have a situation on our hands..."

'What is it, Chloe?'

"Mrs. O'Neil is in the driveway and wants to get into her house," Chloe replied as she stared at the woman talking excitedly on her phone to her lawyer.

'Mrs. O'Neil?! If she is out there with you guys... then who do we have here?'