Under Fire (Love Over Duty #1)(14)

Her mind went to all kinds of places. Logically, she knew she was overreacting. Samples got moved around all the time, which was bound to happen in a laboratory jammed with researchers and scientists. Yet she'd asked in all of the labs, and nobody had set foot in her domain. Even Ivan had confirmed he hadn't moved them. But her gut told her that somebody wanted the toxin they'd created, a poison that didn't just limit hyperkinetic movement disorders through its anti-chorea properties but also reduced the user's ability to move at all while remaining fully conscious, leaving them open to pain receptors. She'd obviously watched one too many thrillers, because a nagging voice told her it would be the perfect drug to torture somebody with. They'd felt so confident when they'd moved on to animal testing, and she'd been crushed when it had resulted in paralysis.

Louisa flicked through the file to find her handwritten notes from that day. She'd typed them into files on her computer later that evening, censoring out words that revealed her true frustration, but she'd kept the originals. Every page she turned tightened the band around her chest until she got to the end of the binder and still hadn't found them. Breathe, Louisa.

"More haste, less speed, Louisa. You will find it," her father used to say to her in encouragement, even as his symptoms had deteriorated, along with "I'm confident in you, chickpea." She went back to the start of the binder and carefully flicked page by page. When she got to the back of the binder again, her hands started to shake.

She flipped open the laptop and entered a password, NaClCH3COOH. Usually she found entering the chemical formulas for salt and vinegar, her favorite flavor of chips, entertaining. But today it was just a waste of time as she hurried to see whether the notes still existed. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she accessed file after file. There were no records. Everything she had entered was gone. She checked other versions, other iterations of the same experiment, and they were all there. So there hadn't been some kind of file failure or computer malfunction. It was just the one experiment.

Louisa looked out of the window to the laboratory across the hallway. Aiden waved, and she returned the gesture halfheartedly. Somebody was lying. Somebody had taken all the information, and somebody thought they'd gotten the sample. In the spirit of discretion, Louisa decided to take it straight to the top. Vasilii would want to know and would be best placed to handle it. Watching a green strip on the otherwise gray linoleum gave her the opportunity to avoid talking to anyone as she hurried up the staircase to the luxury offices and approached Vasilii's assistant.



       
         
       
        

"Hey, Liz. Is Vasilii in his office?" As one of his most senior researchers, she had the perk of being able to get time on his calendar.

"Hey, Louisa. He's just between calls. Is it quick?" Louisa nodded, even though it wouldn't be. She was certain, though, that once Vasilii knew what she wanted to talk about, he'd defer whatever meeting he had next. Espionage between drug manufacturers was a real issue. It was the reason they weren't allowed to take their phones into the labs or their laptops out. As somebody who just wanted to do good and develop medicines that would help people, it irritated her how much money was made from owning patents.

She was equally certain that Vasilii would be concerned about the reputation of the lab. Louisa considered how to handle the fact, though, that she'd switched the samples. Ivan would be pissed that she hadn't told him, and it was poor lab etiquette to deliberately mislabel. She'd make sure there was a thorough investigation first, and then tell him it wasn't as damaging as it could have been.

"Okay, go in, sweetheart."

Louisa hurried to the door, knocked twice, and pushed it open. "Hey, Vasilii. Liz said it was okay to pop in for a word."

He was seated at his desk, looking at real estate photos on his computer, and he quickly shut them down. "Of course, of course. Come in. I was about to email your mother. The fundraiser was a huge success."

"It was," she agreed. Her mother had told her the final tally and it would most definitely enable her to continue her research for at least another eighteen months. "I'm sure she'd appreciate hearing from you. And I'm sure she'd love to see you for dinner one evening." Her mother had once dated Vasilii's son, Ivan's father. In another world, she and Ivan could have been siblings instead of lab partners.

Vasilii nodded his agreement. "I'll have to go see her soon. I'm thinking of moving, downsizing. My place is too big for an old man like me. Your mother has a good eye for real estate."