No screaming employees.
Just one quiet electronic sound.
Message sent.
Then another.
Then another.
Within four minutes, the general counsel’s phone rang.
At 10:07, Charles received a call from Washington.
At 10:09, Paige’s phone started buzzing continuously.
At 10:12, the chief financial officer came into the room without knocking.
His face looked gray.
“Charles, we have a problem.”
Charles stared at him.
“We know.”
“No. You don’t.”
The CFO looked toward the independent board members.
“Three banks have frozen movement on two overseas accounts pending compliance review.”
Paige stood.
“What?”
The CFO ignored her.
“At least one major hospital network has requested immediate clarification about the device reports.”
Grant turned toward me.
“You planned this.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“You absolutely planned this.”
“I prepared for it.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“No, Grant. Planning your destruction would have meant inventing something. I didn’t invent any of this.”
Charles slammed the binder shut.
“You self-righteous little bitch.”
Camille rose immediately.
“Careful.”
But I didn’t move.
Charles pointed at me.
“You think you can walk into my company and destroy thirty years of work?”
“I think thirty years of fraud can destroy thirty years of work.”
His face turned red.
“Thousands of employees depend on us.”
“Then perhaps you should have considered them before falsifying safety reports.”
That stopped him.
At 10:31, two attorneys from the board’s outside counsel arrived.
At 10:44, employees received a company-wide notice ordering them not to delete email, destroy paperwork, alter records, or remove company devices.
At 11:03, federal investigators entered the building.
They were nothing like television.
