"What do you mean you were drugged?" Enzo demanded. "What the hell do you think you were doing in the lab last night?"
"I'm fairly certain there is something going on in the R&D Lab," Damon said. "Thought I would sneak in and have a look."
"You should notify me before hand."
"I'm your top undercover agent, remember?"
"Don't give me this crap, Damon," Enzo warned. "Do I need to remind you that if someone caught you sneaking into the R&D Lab your identity would be exposed? Remember you are dealing a very importing investigation here."
"An investigation in which my primary objective is to find out Wes Maxfield's partner. "
"You are right. The U.S. attorney has his eye on this case, and that means there is no room for error."
"Is there ever room for error in any of your cases?"
"No. But this time, there is particularly no room for error. It is the way I classify things: basically no room for error, no room for error, and particularly no room for error."
"That is the reason why you have chosen me to do the job."
Enzo grunted. "You are right. But I'm warning you, Damon…"
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." Damon reassured him.
"But you were drugged."
Damon winced. "A small accident happened, unfortunately."
"Fill me in everything."
"Jason Gibbs drugged my drink at the launch party. Using The Jewels."
"But he is dead now," Enzo grumbled. "Why didn't you tell me last night?"
"I was drugged, remember?"
Enzo paused. He responded very carefully. "Alright, Damon. You have never failed me. I trust your instinct but DEA doesn't want to lose another agent like Ivan Stone."
"Trust me. I know what I'm doing," Damon said sharply. "Now tell me what have you got?"
"We have run a check on Jason Gibbs. Nothing striking. Dropped out of high school because he failed all of the subjects."
"All of the subjects?"
"Yeah. Comments from the teachers were never a material in the academics. All classmates think that he was a nerd."
"Jobs?"
"Mainly part-time jobs since he dropped out of school last year."
"Families?"
"Both parents divorced when he was ten. He stayed with his grandmother but she died when he turned seventeen. Was in foster care until he was eighteen."
"Girlfriend?"
"Nope. His colleagues think that he was a lone-ranger."
"I don't believe a lone-ranger like Jason Gibbs could get his hands on The Jewels," Damon said as he tried to process the information. "It keeps coming back to the drug connection. It makes me think that at least part of the puzzle has something to do with Grayson Gilbert."
Enzo was silent for a beat. "Here we go."
"What did you find?"
"It said that Jason Gibbs was one of the participants in an experiment trial conducted at Gilbert & Company."
"When was that?"
"Give me a second…"
Enzo went back to the files, reading aloud.
"…Fifty healthy volunteers were recruited to participate in a trial conducted at Gilbert & Company last year. The trial was on a nutritional supplement which enhances brain function…"
"Enhance brain function?"
"Yes, a supplement which helps the brain to function more effectively. The brain is a complex organ. Think about it. Your brain is always "on." It takes care of your thoughts and movements, your breathing and heartbeat, your senses — it works hard 24/7, even while you're asleep. This means your brain requires a constant supply of fuel. According to Dr Meredith Fell…"
The name got his attention. "Meredith Fell?"
"Yeah. Dr Meredith Fell was in charge of the trial…"
It was you, Damon thought. It was you behind all these.
"Meredith Fell is Maxfield's partner," Damon said.
"What?" Enzo sounded surprise. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"I'm not arguing with you," Enzo said. "But if you are right about Meredith Fell…"
"I'm right. This is personal. It has been from the start."
"But why?"
"Listen, Meredith is out for revenge. She is obsessed, and she is panicking. She will be at the R&D Lab. It is her world—her creation."
"Okay, we are on our way."
"I need to find Elena first before Meredith grabs her."
Snatching up his keys, he slammed his feet into the nearest pair of shoes and exited the door of the mansion, not even flinching when it slammed violently behind him.
x x x
The R&D Lab was dark. It was almost seven pm and everyone had left. Elena thought about turning on a light and decided that would be the height of stupidity. Summoning up a mental image of the approximate location of Meredith's office, she made her way carefully across the lab.
Her memory turned out to be reasonably accurate. She found the office and punched in the code. The handle turned easily.
Elena took a deep breath and stepped inside the office. She took out a small torchlight from her pocket and she surveyed the room, getting down to business. There was an oversized mahogany desk, two walls of built-in bookshelves, a file cabinet in the southwest corner of the room (which she checked—locked), and two leather armchairs centred by a coffee table.
There was nothing suspicion in the office but she was unable to shake off the certainty that had settled on her since this afternoon. Meredith must be hiding something, she thought.
Then something underneath the desk caught her attention.
It looked like an ordinary socket but why did a desk have an electric socket underneath it?
Elena angled the beam of light towards the socket. Her breath caught in her throat when she realized that she was looking at a switch.
She reached for the switch. There was an oiled, mechanical sound behind the built-in shelving and suddenly half the wall swung silently inward. A yawning black tunnel stretched out in front of her. She flashed the light into the tunnel. The interior lay in darkness, but light from the torchlight glanced off what appeared to be a lot of chemistry apparatus.
Her blood turned to ice in her veins.
An underground lab. This must be the lab that produced The Jewels.
Her phone rang, startling Elena enough for her to drop the torchlight. Dammit, I'm on the edge. Cursing, she answered the phone.
"Where are you?" It was Damon. His voice was cold and dangerous. "In your office?"
She frowned. "Why?"
"Get out of there. I don't want you to be alone, not even in your office. I'm on my way."
A chill slithered down her spine. "What's going on?"
"I found out who is Maxfield's partner."
"I'm actually in the R&D Lab," she said quickly. "I think I know who the person is as well…"
The overhead lights were switched on, interrupting her. The sudden brilliance made her blink rapidly while her eyes adjusted. Then she saw Meredith Fell.
She had a gun in her hand.
"End the call and give me the phone," Meredith said.
Elena ended the call and handed her the phone. Meredith tossed it on the floor and stepped on it hard.
"You figured it out, didn't you?" Meredith said.
"That you were the one who brewed up The Jewels for Wes Maxfield all these years?" Elena said. "Yes. It was The Jewels that brought in all those funds to the R&D Lab."
"I saw you and Isobel this afternoon. You talked to security first and then Isobel went to the accounts department. I got a bad feeling. Two hours ago Tom sent me an email asking about the funding. I know something is not right."
"I didn't put it together until what happened at the launch party yesterday and started asking the right questions. Tell me, how in the world did you end up as Maxfield's drug supplier? You didn't move in his circles."
"Your father was the one who approached me," Meredith said. "He knew I could make some very special stuff, and he wanted the cash to grow the company."
Elena took in a deep breath. Her father was involved in the manufacture of The Jewels. Damon was right all the way.
Meredith snorted. "Your father craved what every businessmen craves, namely unlimited cash to expand his company. And he was prepared to go to any lengths to reach his goals."
"And you helped him by giving him the drugs?" Elena asked. She couldn't think of anything else to do except keep talking. Just kept stalling and she might be able to figure a way out of this. "Why would you do that? Wait, don't tell me. You thought you were in love with him, didn't you? You wanted to make my father pay attention to you."
"Shut up," Meredith hissed. "You don't know what you are talking about. Your father needed me. It was my drugs that made him a rock star here in San Francisco."
"You were sleeping with my father."
"Stop saying that. You don't know how it was between us."
"It was you who killed my father."
"Yes," Meredith said.
"Why?"
"I made your father one of the richest men in the country, and how did he repay me? He betrayed me."
"He betrayed you?"
"I found out he was planning on a merger with Mikael Mikaelson." Sudden rage infused Meredith's voice. "He decided he didn't want to carry on with the production of The Jewels."
Her father must have realised he couldn't cover up his illegal business for long, Elena thought. That would explain why he wanted to sell and get out while the getting was good.
"And he also ended his affair with you."
"I didn't understand why he ended our affair. After all, I was several years younger and a lot prettier than your mother. In addition, I'm very, very smart and your father and I were both dedicated to the same kind of research. We made a perfect team. But why didn't he want me?"
"Because he didn't love you. He was just using you."
"Stop saying that!" Meredith's expression tightened with fury. "Stop saying that!"
Elena glanced around the lab, at the test tubes, beakers and boiling flasks everywhere. Maybe she could grab one to use as a weapon and…risk being shot by the woman who had a big-time axe to grind with her, a woman who undoubtedly would be all too happy to have another excuse to pull the trigger.
Not the best plan.
More stalling. "You moved on after my father, didn't you?" Elena said. "You found John. What happened? Did he turn on you, too?"
"You have got it all wrong," Meredith said. "I never loved John Gilbert. I'm using him to gain control of Gilbert & Company."
"But to your surprise, after you went to all the trouble to seduce John and get rid of my father, my father had left all his controlling shares to me."
"You can blame your father for that. I have to get rid of you in order to control Gilbert & Company."
"You used Wes Maxfield to kill me."
"He was willing to help me because I made him believe I would continue to supply the drugs to him. But he was stupid. He thought your father walked out on him." Meredith smiled tightly. "I started the rumours of your father wanting to stop working with him. He freaked out. When I approached him about supplying him the drugs, he was willing to form a partnership with me."
"Unfortunately, he hired the wrong man to kill me."
"I realised that. I freaked out when I found out Maxfield didn't manage to kill you. But when the news of you being kidnapped came out, I thought maybe everything was okay. You might still end up dead."
"But I didn't."
Meredith smiled sourly. "You turned up alive. Saved by the FBI. Unbelievable," she said, shaking her head at the wonder of it. "Who would have guessed that your splendour extended to rising from the dead?"
"Why didn't Wes implicate you?"
"Because he didn't know I was his partner. I approached him using a chat group. He was so stupid. He was so desperate to get his hands on The Jewels that he didn't know he was being used. He couldn't tell the FBI much even when he was arrested."
"You used him all along, didn't you? You convinced him to murder me and then he could gain control of Gilbert & Company, didn't you? Wes Maxfield thought he could have unlimited supply of the drugs if he managed to control the company."
Meredith smiled grimly. "You did figure out, didn't you?"
"You also tried to kill Damon."
"I couldn't let you marry him," Meredith said. "I don't have a choice."
"You are scared that if I marry him and then die, he will own all my shares."
"Yes," Meredith said, her voice very tight. "It was dump of me. I should have known something was wrong when I first met him. The plan initially was to drug him and then Jason would make it look like a robbery gone bad."
"But you had never expected Damon to sneak into the R&D Lab."
"I had to change the plan to fit the changing circumstances. I had to find out how much he knows about me."
"But why killed Jason Gibbs?"
"Everything was going according to plan. Then you turned up. It was your fault," Meredith said, suddenly violently furious. "You ruined my plan. You ruined everything. You must pay for causing me so much trouble."
"You will never get away with it, not any of it. Damon will find you if you kill me."
"Oh, getting away with it has ceased to matter. My goal was to have you dead, and I'm halfway there. Unfortunately, I don't have time today to take my revenge on Damon, although, perhaps, at some point in the future, I may get an opportunity to do so." She aimed the pistol down at Elena. "Any final words?"
"I know why my father would never love you."
Meredith narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
"Because you are a monster."
With her free hand, Meredith backhanded Elena across the face.
Caught off guard, Elena fell back towards a bench with multiple racks of test tubes and beakers. There wasn't going to be a better chance, Elena thought. She grabbed two beakers out of the rack and flung one of them directly at Meredith. Meredith yelped in panic and managed to dodge the missile. The beaker shattered when it struck the floor.
"My lab," Meredith screamed. "Damn you!"
She started to swing the gun towards Elena. Elena threw another beaker at her.
The gun roared. Elena felt an icy sensation on her left thigh but she was already in motion, the boiling flask gripped in her hand as she swung it at Meredith's head.
Meredith automatically put up an arm. She managed to deflect some of the force of the blow. But the impact, the breaking glass and the shock of the attack sent her reeling backward into the lab. She lost her balance, and went down hard on her rear. The gun fell to the floor. Elena went for it and grabbed the gun with both hands. She knew she had to get out of this underground lab and call for help.
A dark figure blotted out the light in the doorway.
"Elena," Damon said.
A glorious sense of relief flooded through her. She lurched into his outstretched arms.
"Knew you would come," she whispered.
Behind her, Meredith screamed in raw rage. Elena managed to turn her head.
Meredith rushed towards the door, a huge chunk of glass clutched in her hands.
"Shit. She has gone crazy." Damon pulled Elena out of the doorway, back into the office.
Then a shot rang out. Meredith crumpled to the ground, her right leg giving out from under her.
Enzo and a few agents bulletproof vests stormed into Meredith's office, gun drawn.
"Drop your weapon," Enzo demanded.
Meredith dropped the glass. "It can't end like this!" She was weeping. "It shouldn't end like this!"
Elena touched Damon's hand. "Is it over now?"
"It is over," Damon said. "Hell, you are bleeding."
She looked down and saw that the denim on her left leg was soaked with blood.
"Oh," she said.
Damon scooped her up and put her down on the desk. He clamped a hand over the bleeding wound and pressed down hard.
"Hurts," she said.
Damon ignored her complaint. He pressed harder. "We need a medic here," he said in his cop's voice.
"It is on the way," one of the agents said.
"Is she okay?" Enzo asked.
"Yes, I'm fine," Elena said. "Just hurt."
Damon picked her up in his arms and carried her out of the lab. It felt wonderful.
She heard the sound of an approaching ambulance. "Not to play the needy fiancée card or anything, but do you think you can come with me to the hospital?"
He reached up and stroked her cheek. "If you need me, I won't leave your side. I promise."
What do you guys/gals think? It took me a few days to write this chapter. Hopefully you guys/gals will like it. Meredith turned out to be the boss. Did you guys/gals expect it? I know some of you think it could be Isobel but I didn't want Isobel to be the 'badass' this time:) Once again, thank you for all the support and wonderful comments. I really appreciate it.
Check out Rachel3003 first Delena story "Healing You" - she is an amazing friend and trust me, for such a young age, I think she has done a pretty good job in writing that story. I'm glad she didn't think I'm too old to be her friend, LOL!
And make sure you guys/gals check out the other amazing writers in this Delena fanfiction website - delenadreams, scarlett2112, Salvatoreboys4ever, TheLittle MissVixen, VitsAsh, morvamp, DE92, jazzywriter22 etc. Unfortunately some of them aren't writing/updating anymore which make me kind of sad because they are talented in their writing. For those of you guys/gals who are still writing, keep up your good work:)