Free Web NovelChapter 97: Chapter 97: Leila Jennings and Sarah Lynch Meet Face to Face at the Research Institute
The guard nodded.
A moment later, he saw Professor Cheney’s car. The window rolled down, and Professor Cheney asked him the same question.
He nodded again.
Professor Cheney’s brow furrowed. Sitting in the passenger seat, Chloe was stunned. "No, it can’t be, right?" she said in disbelief.
Professor Cheney rolled the window back up. After a moment’s pause, he had Chloe use her own phone to send a message to Mr. Jacobs, dictating the words himself.
Chloe was a little reluctant.
"Professor Cheney, why?" she muttered. "If Mr. Jacobs comes, won’t he just take Ms. Lynch’s side?"
"What choice do we have?" Professor Cheney looked helpless. "Leila Jennings is too direct. Going head-to-head with Ms. Lynch will only hurt her. Chloe, do you think academia is a pure meritocracy? This world is all about hierarchy and connections."
"Thorne is gone, and Elder Shepherd is becoming less active in the circle. It’s hard for us to protect someone like her, who came up from nothing."
"Oh." Chloe lowered her gaze. After sending the message, she handed the phone over. "It’s done."
"Good. Let’s hand them in."
They surrendered all their electronic devices and walked to the lab building. As expected, the lights were on inside.
The two of them hurried in. They didn’t see anyone else, only the wide-open door to the inner laboratory.
Professor Cheney and Chloe immediately walked inside.
At first, neither of them recognized Leila Jennings. Her straight, smooth hair was down, and a mask completely obscured her face.
If it weren’t for the fact that her fingers flying across the keyboard triggered no alarms, they might have suspected another rich girl had been placed in the lab.
"How is it?" Professor Cheney walked over and asked, noticing a surveillance video on the computer screen, which Leila was currently copying.
In the black-and-white recording, the face was unmistakably Sarah Lynch’s.
Professor Cheney felt a headache coming on.
’Not surprising at all.’
"The lab’s surveillance was cut off for a short time, but I have a micro-camera installed in my computer," Leila said in a calm voice, her hands moving with precision. She was about to email the video to the institute’s senior management.
Professor Cheney reached out and pressed his hand over hers.
"Now isn’t the best time. Besides, she didn’t see the data. If you offend Mr. Jacobs, every step you take from now on will be a struggle. Even if Sarah Lynch leaves this project, she’ll just go to another one. She’s bound to stay in this circle. Mr. Jacobs will cover it up, so her reputation won’t be ruined, but everyone else will take their cues from him and avoid you like the plague."
Leila refused to let go of the mouse.
Professor Cheney tried to persuade her. "I know you’re upset about Sarah Lynch, both professionally and personally. But at least wait until this project is over. If someone is called out right now, the project will be shut down immediately. This was Thorne’s life’s work."
That last sentence made Leila loosen her grip.
Professor Cheney personally closed the email draft. "Save the video. Don’t delete it. Did you run into Sarah Lynch when you came in?"
"No. She must have realized something and left immediately." Leila stood up and moved aside. Chloe silently pulled her out of the room, figuring it was a case of ’out of sight, out of mind’ for now.
Mr. Jacobs lived very close to the research institute and arrived quickly. When he entered, he saw the three of them standing there.
"I heard someone tampered with the data in your lab? Do we know who it was?"
’He’s not here to take charge. He’s here to fish for information.’
Leila looked up at him. "The institute’s security is extremely tight. If someone gets within two kilometers and takes a photo with their phone, they’ll be taken in for questioning. To get into our lab and trigger the alarm, it had to be someone from the institute."
"You didn’t see anyone?" Mr. Jacobs’s gaze was stern. "Was any data lost?"
Leila: "No."
Mr. Jacobs secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "As long as nothing was lost."
’If it had been lost, this would be a huge mess.’
"Aren’t you going to conduct a thorough investigation, Mr. Jacobs?" Leila asked in return.
Mr. Jacobs paused, then said with an air of nonchalance, "A thorough investigation would delay the project’s progress. You wouldn’t want that, would you, Dr. Jennings?"
Leila calmly met his gaze.
In truth, Mr. Jacobs was a little intimidated by her stare. People like Leila Jennings, who had clawed their way up from nothing, had the fierce energy of someone with nothing to lose. If it came down to a fight to the bitter end, Leila had started with nothing and wasn’t afraid of being reduced to zero again.
"Alright, let’s leave it at that." Mr. Jacobs had come in person precisely to quash any ideas of an investigation.
"Mr. Jacobs," Leila said, her tone unhurried, "please restrain Ms. Lynch’s behavior."
Mr. Jacobs stopped in his tracks. He turned back, his gaze heavy, and chided, "Don’t make baseless accusations."
"Actually, an investigation wouldn’t be that difficult. Each project has its own lab. Aside from a few leaders like yourself who have free access, only project members have clearance for their respective labs. I’ve already asked. Every member of my team has an alibi. Only Ms. Lynch does not." Leila’s words left Mr. Jacobs speechless.
Professor Cheney pretended to be deaf and mute.
’Leila has pent-up anger. Better to let her vent some of it.’
Chloe’s words carried little weight to begin with, so she didn’t dare interject. She just listened silently from the side, her presence only serving to give the impression of "strength in numbers."
Mr. Jacobs knew Leila was capable of ruining his granddaughter’s future. His face turned ashen with anger, but he didn’t refute her. He just threw out one last sentence: "This matter ends here."
’A full investigation would destroy his own career as well, and he’d end up in prison.’
’Thank god she didn’t manage to steal anything.’
Mr. Jacobs left.
Chloe could finally breathe properly.
Professor Cheney, on the other hand, said, "This time, Mr. Jacobs will definitely teach Sarah Lynch a lesson."
Sarah Lynch sat in her grandfather’s office, her face tense.
She had finally managed to glimpse the password someone used to enter the inner lab. She had thought she could just take a quick look at the data and jot it down on paper.
’A password is one thing, but to install an alarm system on top of it? Does that mean no one can see it except Dr. Jennings?’
’Isn’t she just monopolizing the results?’
’Why hasn’t anyone spoken up against this?’
’Or am I the only one who doesn’t know the password?’
Just as she was thinking this, the door opened.
Seeing it was Mr. Jacobs, Sarah Lynch immediately stood up.
"Grandfather."
Mr. Jacobs glared at her, losing his temper with her for the first time since she had returned to the country.
"Do you have any idea that if Leila Jennings reports you for stealing secrets, your life will be ruined! And your parents and I will all be dragged down with you!"
"Stealing state secrets... in serious cases, it’s punishable by execution!"
Sarah cringed at his shouting. "They don’t know it was me," she said, feeling wronged. "Besides, I’m part of this project. How is it stealing? She’s the one who’s been hoarding it and keeping me in the dark."
"Are the police idiots? Are the dozens of surveillance cameras at the institute just for show? Did you think that just because you cut the feed inside your lab, there’d be no evidence?" Mr. Jacobs couldn’t believe she could be so stupid. "I sent you abroad to study, and this is what you learned to bring back? Instead of focusing on your own abilities, you learned all these underhanded tricks."
Humiliated by the scolding, Sarah said angrily, "Grandfather! How can you talk to me like that? Weren’t you the one pushing me to publish papers? Aren’t you the one who wants me to be successful more than anyone? I was just impatient this time! I have to help Sean, and helping Sean was also about earning your approval for the two of us someday!"
"Didn’t I tell you to wait on the paper? This is about that Sean Sinclair, isn’t it," Mr. Jacobs glared at her. "You’re not even married and you’re already siding with an outsider. You mentioned him to me a long time ago. I was going to put in a good word on the day of the bid evaluation. Why are you always in such a rush?" freёwebnoѵel.com
"Really?!" Sarah’s eyes lit up. "Grandfather, you’ll help Sean, right?"
She stepped forward, her face beaming.
Mr. Jacobs kept a stern face, but to Sarah, it held no real threat. When her grandfather was truly angry, he would give her the silent treatment, not just have a simple outburst like this.
"You were willing to risk your own future for him, so what can I do?" Mr. Jacobs said. "Besides, I think highly of him too. This time, our bidding process is focused on actual capabilities, not background or connections."
"Grandfather, I was wrong. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to look at the core data on my own." Even when the alarm had gone off, she hadn’t panicked too much. She knew her grandfather would protect her.
What made her nervous was how angry he would get.
Growing up, the person Sarah Lynch respected and feared most was her grandfather.
"Dr. Jennings is truly angry this time. Don’t get any more crooked ideas. Next time, I won’t be able to protect you," Mr. Jacobs gave her an ultimatum.
Sarah pouted and didn’t answer immediately.
Mr. Jacobs took a deep breath. "What are you plotting now?"
"Can I be the representative at the contract signing ceremony?" Sarah stated her wish directly.
Mr. Jacobs refused flatly. "No."
"Why not?"
Mr. Jacobs’s face was grave. "As the chief engineer, as long as Dr. Jennings is here, it’s not anyone else’s turn. Even if she weren’t here, it would be Professor Cheney. It would not be you."
Sarah’s face fell.
Mr. Jacobs looked at her. "It’s not like there won’t be other opportunities for you to be in the spotlight. I’ll find a way to get you a spot in the center, taking Professor Cheney’s place. He’ll be happy to yield his position to a younger person."
"But Professor Cheney is a senior, after all. That doesn’t seem right, does it?" Sarah wasn’t completely arrogant. She just couldn’t stand that Dr. Jennings, who was around her age, was so far ahead. After all, she wasn’t a slouch herself.
Her competitive streak had grown even stronger, especially after being consistently stonewalled by Dr. Jennings since returning to the country.
Most importantly, she had told everyone—especially Sean—that she was the one in charge. She couldn’t lose face in front of him.
’With Grandfather here, Sean’s company is sure to be selected. We’ll meet at the top. I’ll show him that only I am worthy of being Mrs. Sinclair, and he’ll finally kick Leila Jennings to the curb.’
"What’s not right about it?" Mr. Jacobs clearly looked down on Professor Cheney. "He’s just a smooth operator who married a wife with a good family background to support him. Otherwise, how could he have a foothold in this circle? Self-made geniuses like Thorne who climb to the top are one in a million, as rare as a phoenix feather."
An idea flickered in Sarah’s eyes, but she smiled and said, "I understand. Thank you, Grandfather. I definitely won’t act recklessly again."
"Leila Jennings doesn’t welcome you on this project, so I’ll get you into a better one. Without this project, she won’t get far on her own merits," Mr. Jacobs glared at her again. "You just behave yourself and follow the path I’ve laid out for you. Your future is bright."
"Thank you, Grandfather." Sarah took his arm. "Grandfather, let’s go back. Sean taught me how to cook noodles. I’ll make you a late-night snack."
The grandfather and granddaughter walked out, talking and laughing.
They came face-to-face with Professor Cheney’s group of three coming down from the lab building, with Leila Jennings walking in the center.
An unexpected, direct confrontation.
Sarah looked up, her eyes fixed on the woman in the middle.
’My last attempt to get a picture of her failed. I finally get to see her head-on. This is the first time we’re meeting face-to-face.’
Sarah sized the woman up and down.
She was tall, with good taste in clothes, but...
’Why do I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before?’
