One more chapter down. *sigh*. Shout out to the stalwarts out there, who keep giving this fic (and me) a chance. My deepest thanks. XOXO
Chapter 19
Central City, Undisclosed Secondary Location, 12:38 am
"It has got to be Professor Jason Woodrue," Oliver heard Felicity say.
"The expert in the Botanical Gardens?" his eyebrows couldn't go much higher than they already were. All this time. What. The. Fuck.
Felicity recalled what she knew of the professor. "Jason Woodrue has a background in advanced botanical biochemistry. He was in Starling City the same time they were. And get this," she said as she pulled up a record of Woodrue's movements and superimposed it on their timeline, "he was in the same cities when the murders happened."
"So they had the means and opportunity," Digg said as he ran through the facts of the case in his mind. "What's their motive? For all we know he's an accomplice. I mean, if we exclude Barry from the victim pool, all we have is male, criminal－"
"And connected with at least one bank in South America which routes funds regularly to Gotham National Bank," Felicity said as she completed the profile they had so far. "Tommy－"
"Already on it," Tommy said, before Felicity could ask him to look into Woodrue's financials. "Wow, I didn't know a professor can make that much in a year," he added as he sent the information to Felicity's screen.
"Well, with patents and royalties, I guess, he could make that much," Laurel answered.
"Anything jumping out of the ordinary, then?" Thea asked.
Felicity began to dig deeper into the professor's history. "Professor Jason Woodrue," she said as she read from her screen, "born: Gotham City; Graduated Magna cum Laude with a double major in Biochemistry and Biochemical Engineering, as well as a PhD in Botanical Genomics from Gardner University; went back to Gotham University to teach, blah, blah, blah… In 2005, was the sole survivor of an accident that killed several of his team during a plant mapping and procurement expedition in South America…In 2009, he resumed his research into botanical toxins and their possible applications, after an extended sabbatical in which he finished the expedition that claimed the lives of his colleagues..."
"Both expeditions were funded by Phyllogenix - a company that operates out of Metropolis…" Tommy added. "Whoa, that company was willing to put in the big bucks. Says here that they doubled down on the second expedition. And it looks like, for such a small company, they have a lot of interests in South America."
"In any case, there's also those 4 years his whereabouts are unaccounted for," Lyla said. "I say we put him down as a person of interest."
"I agree," Oliver said. "We'll pull on this string and see what else we can find."
Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs, 12:40 am
They're making me sweat this out, aren't they?She thought to herself. She had no doubt that they had eyes on her. The window panels in front of her, mirrored as they were, made that infinitely clear.
She wasn't in a police station though - of that, she was also sure. She knew quality when she saw it. No police department in the world would be this well-equipped.
A well-made prison, then－ built, it seems, with peculiar individuals like me in mind , she thought as she let her eyes roam through her tough, seamless and solid container. If she were a betting woman, she'd put her money on magnetized locks. There were no exposed weak spots. No grills. No frills. No bed. Heck, no lavatory. But she shrugged all that off.
She'd been in worse. Way worse.
xxxxXXXXxxxx
"Thawne!"
"Perez," Eddie greeted his colleague, Detective Valerie Perez, as she came into view. He had just gotten off the phone with the city's Department of Transportation for yet another disappointing phone call. "Got anything for me?" He asked hopefully.
He had called her once he had found out about the victims from the other cities. The murders happening in waves syncing up with the flux of Twilight Mist didn't sit well with him, so he had asked her to see if she can shake a few things lose from her C.I.s about the drug.
"Remember that new player I told Joe and you about?"
Eddie nodded as he recalled their earlier conversation. She told him what she had told Joe about there being a new dealer peddling Twilight Mist in the streets ever since the group which controlled it - The Darbinyan Crime Family - met their collective demise.
"I think I found something you'd be interested in," she told him.
A break. Finally, he thought. "Walk with me," he said as he led the other detective deeper into S.T.A.R. Labs. Everybody has got to hear this.
Starling City, Arrow Cave, 12:40 am
That nagging feeling just trebled in the pit of Lyla's stomach. Something didn't feel right about any of this, she thought as Oliver clicked off their conference call.
Between what she knew about half the duo wrecking havoc in Central City right now and everything else that's happening, she knew that Team Arrow would be needing an assist soon enough. And they'd be needing the big guns. Problem was, the biggest guns she knew belonged to A.R.G.U.S.
Truth be told, she had missed it. Not A.R.G.U.S. or Amanda. No. What she had sorely missed was being where the action was, being in the center of all of it. She sighed as she looked at Thea cooing over Sara. Her daughter.
And that reminded her of the reason she had gotten out.
She had talked this over with Digg before and he was supportive of whatever decision she made. She sighed.
It was going to take a lot of finessing around Waller if she wanted to keep herself out of her old agency. But they'll be needing the kind of resources only A.R.G.U.S. can provide.
"Hey, guys, would you be okay taking Sara for a while?"
Central City, S.T.A.R. Labs, 12:45 am
Barry was getting antsy.
It had been roughly an hour ago since Caitlin was taken and everybody was still twiddling their thumbs. They were nowhere near anything that can help. Cisco was threading a lapel mic through Joe's jacket. The engineer said that he needed better voice capture than what the existing PA system had to offer if they were altering voices on the fly.
Meanwhile, their perp was pacing her cage like she owned it.
What he wouldn't give to be with Team Arrow right that instant. Maybe then he could be more useful.
But just before he could do anything about that, Eddie came into the room with Detective Perez in tow. It took all the speed he had had to draw the proverbial curtain down on their viewing window. Good thing it fogged up in a snap.
"Perez, what are you doing here?" Captain Singh asked. He thought he'd been clear. Nobody in or out. My God, what the hell is wrong with people.
"I told her to come if she found something useful about Twilight Mist. And she's here, so…" It was Eddie who answered, having the smarts to look a little sheepish at his captain's irritated stare. He knew the score with all the secrecy and stuff but this situation to him called for all hands on deck and there are few more capable than CCPD Vice's Valerie Perez.
"Let's hear it," Joe said. His voice through the mic had taken on a grittier sound. Cisco's smirk told Barry that his friend had the mic working the way he wanted it.
Val's quirking an eyebrow on Joe had Cisco unclipping the mic. "Sound check, for later," Cisco added lamely. At that, he just shook his head and gestured for her to carry on.
But it was Singh repeating the gesture that had her talking.
"Ever since the Darbinyan Family fell, there have been new suppliers of Twilight Mist. This drug is different because instead of it flooding the streets for drugheads to get high on, it's being used by the gangs to perpetrate other crimes from muggings, kidnappings, you name it. Six hours ago, we got a tip about a few White Shark gang members being in Central City - and we all know those guys don't go sniffing around without something legit to sniff."
Cisco's eyes widened. What little he knew of the Blüdhaven gang came from their short encounter in the docks.
"Turns out, clean, uncut Twilight Mist - the one that's flushed out by the body in less than a day and is almost untraceable - is very hard to find on the streets. Even the Darbinyans cut theirs with something else, but they had the best of what was out there. They had their own cook, so the rumor goes, but before they could expand their production, they got offed. After that, the "good" stuff dried up. Then, suddenly, from out of nowhere, a purer version started coming in like candy from a store. Someone was flooding the market with unadulterated Twilight Mist."
"Get to the interesting part," Singh snapped.
"No one knew who the new player was. All the pure stuff came through new channels. And that circle, they were tight-lipped. That is, until this evening. That botched meet with the White Sharks. The Sharks aren't happy. They had a line on product and all that fracas down the docks has them pissed. They got a hard on for their contact. Loose ends and such."
"And?" Singh prompted, yet again.
"Look familiar?" Perez asked as she whipped out her phone. She had seen the BOLO they had out on a person-of-interest in Barry's attack. "This was just sent out. Looks like The Sharks got a good look at her."
Everybody crowded around her phone. True enough. There was a coded message with a snapshot attached. They wanted her dead or alive.
Except for the hit on Poison Ivy, nothing in there was really new , Barry thought. But it was enough of a connection to convince Singh of everything they've laid out so far. If anything else, it was outside confirmation.
"Got a name to go with that?" Joe asked.
Valerie shook her head. "But the rats are jumping ship and anyone who thinks they know anything has started talking for either money or protection."
"And?" Eddie interrupted.
Valerie pushed past her pique and slipped out a piece of paper from her pocket, " And , it looks like all the intel converges on a slip number."
Well, shit, Eddie thought. All this, and everything is still centered on the docks.
"And?" Singh asked, well aware of what Perez was really capable of.
" And it seems a Jason Woodrue is missing a houseboat."
Central City, Undisclosed Secondary Location, 12:47 am
"You hear all that?" Cisco whispered over the comms.
"Loud and clear," Felicity answered. Now, there was no doubt. They finally got something big they can work on. "We'll start looking at everything with a fine-toothed comb," she said as she clicked off their conversation.
"We're going to have to split up," Oliver said aloud, as he realized just how much ground they had to cover. "Digg, stake out the docks. See if the police get anything useful."
Digg nodded as he took his helmet with him and headed out.
"Tommy, you guys there?" Oliver asked.
"Yep," he answered.
"We got a solid connection to Woodrue. I want everything on him - everything."
"Roger that," he said.
"Thea, I want you to hit Roy up. Ask about the White Sharks. See what kind of threat they are."
"Okiedokie."
To Felicity, he said: "You and I are on Caitlin. If these women are as smart as I think they are, I don't think the CCPD will find her in that boat."
Lemme know watcha think below. Kisses!