At precisely 00:15 a.m., the three forty-inch wall monitors in the boardroom flickered to life.
Appearing on the encrypted video grid were Chief Legal Counsel Marcus Cooper from his home in Alexandria, Virginia; HR Director Elena Sterling from Cleveland; and CFO Thomas Bennett from Chicago.
“Daniel,” Marcus Cooper spoke, his legal eyes narrowing at the documents displayed across the screen:
“We received your emergency dispatch. What are your instructions?”
I leaned forward on the mahogany boardroom table, my slate-gray eyes locking onto the center camera lens:
“Marcus, Thomas, Elena,” I spoke, every word clipped, unhurried, and colder than polar ice:
“Every temporary executive waiver granted to the Collins Regional Division is revoked effective immediately.”
“I want forty-seven comprehensive termination letters drafted, reviewed, and finalized by sunrise.”
“Every documented instance of procurement fraud, equipment theft, attendance falsification, and factoring defalcation will be referred directly to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio and the Department of Justice.”
“Freeze their corporate credit cards at zero-eight-hundred hours.”
“Deploy private recovery contractors to repossess every company-leased vehicle, every company laptop, and every piece of heavy machinery currently parked on Collins residential properties.”
Thomas Bennett let out a low, grim whistle across the audio link:
“Daniel… if we drop the hammer on forty-seven employees simultaneously after a holiday weekend, their entire family network will face immediate, catastrophic personal insolvency. Martin’s house in Indian Hill is mortgaged against his Whitaker executive compensation package. He’ll lose the roof over his head within sixty days.”
“Martin threw my daughter onto a frozen porch in a thin sweater at fourteen degrees, Thomas,” I replied, my voice dropping forty decibels of iron:
“He made his choice.”
“Draft the letters. Execute the filings.”
“Yes, Mr. Whitaker,” Elena Sterling confirmed: “The packets will be delivered by certified courier at zero-nine-hundred hours on Monday morning.”
