“What are you doing here?”
Claire looked at David.
“I was asked to attend.”
“By whom?”
Claire looked at Arthur.
“Mr. Harrison.”
Richard went pale.
Arthur gestured toward the chair.
“Sit down.”
Claire did.
Arthur looked around the table.
“I asked Claire to review our internal transfers.”
Richard's fingers tightened around his pen.
David looked at his father.
“When?”
“Last Thursday.”
“You didn't tell me.”
“I wanted to know what I was looking at before I frightened you.”
David's face became serious.
“What did she find?”
Claire swallowed.
“Forty-three million dollars.”
Nobody moved.
David stared.
“What about it?”
Claire opened her tablet.
“Forty-three million dollars moved from Harrison Global subsidiaries into three outside consulting firms over the past eighteen months.”
Richard immediately responded.
“Legitimate consulting fees.”
Claire looked at him.
“That was my assumption too.”
“And?”
“I couldn't find the consultants.”
Silence.
Arthur looked at Richard.
“Who owns the firms?”
Richard didn't answer.
Claire did.
“All three are registered through holding companies.”
“Whose?”
Claire looked at David.
Then Arthur.
“That's the problem.”
She displayed the ownership records.
Arthur studied the names.
He recognized none of them.
Then he saw something buried in the corporate chain.
A law firm.
Then another holding company.
Then a private investment group.
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
“Follow this line.”
Claire enlarged the document.
At the bottom was a name.
Northstar Meridian Holdings.
David frowned.
“Never heard of it.”
Arthur had.
Not directly.
But he remembered seeing the name in a report three years earlier.
It had been associated with hostile acquisitions.
Companies would suddenly appear vulnerable.
Stock prices would fall.
Consulting firms would recommend restructuring.
Executives would resign.
Then Northstar would quietly acquire controlling interests.
Arthur looked at Richard.
“You've been preparing the company for acquisition.”
Richard stood.
“That is absurd.”
Arthur remained seated.
“Sit down.”
Richard did not.
“You're accusing me of a crime.”
“No.”
Arthur's voice was quiet.
“I'm accusing you of being part of a plan.”
Richard stared at him.
Arthur continued.
“There's a difference.”
David turned toward Richard.
“Are you working with Northstar?”
“No.”
Claire spoke.
“Then why did one of their executives meet with you six times?”
Richard looked at her.
“How do you know that?”
Claire froze.
Arthur smiled.
“That was an interesting question.”
Richard realized he had exposed himself.
He had not asked how Claire knew.
He had asked how she knew specifically about six meetings.
David stepped toward him.
“Richard.”
Richard backed away.
“You're making a mistake.”
Arthur shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at his son.
“The mistake was assuming everyone upstairs belonged here.”
The words echoed strangely.
Marcus Reed's face appeared briefly in Arthur's mind.
The young guard had made that assumption in the lobby.
But the board had made the same mistake in a much more dangerous way.
They had assumed that expensive suits meant loyalty.
Richard suddenly reached for his phone.
David moved toward him.
“Who are you calling?”
Richard didn't answer.
The boardroom doors opened.
Two security officers entered.
Behind them stood Marcus Reed.
Arthur looked surprised.
Marcus spoke.
“Mr. Harrison.”
“Yes?”
“I'm sorry to interrupt.”
“What happened?”
Marcus looked at Richard.
“We received a report that someone attempted to access the executive parking level using a duplicated credential.”
David's expression changed.
“Who?”
Marcus looked toward Richard.
“His assistant.”
Richard's face went white.
Arthur slowly stood.
“Now,” he said, “we're getting close.”
Richard backed toward the door.
“You don't understand.”
Arthur looked at him.
“I understand perfectly.”
Richard shook his head.
“No. You don't know what they promised me.”
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Richard said nothing.
Then the lights went out.
The entire boardroom fell into darkness.
A second later, the emergency lights came on.
Red.
Flashing.
And somewhere in the corridor outside, an alarm began to sound.
The Man They Underestimated
The emergency lights turned the executive floor into a maze of red shadows.
Employees shouted.
Phones rang.
Security doors locked automatically.
David moved toward the hallway.
“Everyone stay here.”
Arthur stopped him.
“No.”
David turned.
“What?”
“That's exactly what whoever did this wants.”
Marcus stood near the doorway, scanning the corridor.
“Mr. Harrison, we should move you to a secure area.”
Arthur looked at him.
“Do you know where that is?”
“Yes.”
“Then lead the way.”
Marcus nodded.
They moved through the corridor.
For the first time, Arthur noticed something he had not expected.
Marcus was good.
Very good.
He didn't panic.
He didn't shout.
He observed.
He checked doors.
He watched corners.
He listened to radio traffic.
Arthur said quietly:
“You've done this before.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not at this scale.”
“But you know how.”
“My father was a police officer.”
Arthur smiled faintly.
“That explains the posture.”
Marcus almost smiled.
Then his radio crackled.
“East security, report.”
Marcus answered.
“Executive floor experiencing system failure.”
A voice replied:
“Systems are offline across floors forty-two through forty-eight.”
Marcus frowned.
“That isn't a normal outage.”
“No.”
Arthur looked at him.
“Someone disabled the security system.”
Marcus nodded.
David spoke.
“Can it be restored?”
“Not from here.”
Arthur looked toward the stairwell.
“Then we go downstairs.”
Marcus led them.
But before they reached the stairs, a man stepped out from a side corridor.
Arthur recognized him.
Victor Sloan.
Chief Technology Officer.
Victor looked terrified.
“David.”
David stopped.
“What happened?”
Victor shook his head.
“Someone accessed the server room.”
Marcus immediately stepped between them.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Arthur looked at Victor.
“Then why are you here?”
Victor hesitated.
“I was trying to stop them.”
Arthur studied him.
“Who is them?”
Victor looked away.
That was enough.
Arthur understood.
“You know.”
Victor whispered:
“They have people inside the company.”
David's expression hardened.
“How many?”
“I don't know.”
Arthur stepped closer.
“Victor.”
Victor looked at him.
“Tell me the truth.”
Victor swallowed.
“I've been receiving messages.”
“From whom?”
“Northstar.”
David cursed under his breath.
“What did they want?”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Access.”
“To what?”
“The Harrison Global infrastructure network.”
Marcus looked at Arthur.
Arthur's expression became serious.
“That isn't about buying the company.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
Victor whispered:
“Control.”
Arthur's mind raced.
Harrison Global managed transportation systems, communications infrastructure, energy monitoring, and municipal technology platforms.