Executive: A Thriller

by Leslie Wolfe

  Subject: Strategy Meeting Re: Leadership Change Announcement

  When: Thursday, July 1, 10:00AM—11:00AM

  Where: Conference Room 501

  Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 9:02PM

  All,

  Let's get together and discuss Barnaby's announcement, and what we need to do to be prepared.

  Thank you,

  Ben Walker

  She stood for a few seconds, staring into the laptop screen, thinking about options. She slammed the laptop shut and headed out. She had two hours to prepare for this meeting.

  ...49

  ...Thursday, July 1, 9:53AM

  ...NanoLance HQ—Operations Floor

  ...San Diego, California

  Alex checked the time nervously. She had only seven minutes left to finish bugging Conference Room 501. Audio was the easiest one to place. With video, she still struggled. Finding the right spot for the tiny camera, installing the receiver at a close enough distance, yet in a secure spot, and doing all that without being seen through the conference room's glass walls—that was the challenge.

  The conference room had a small closet with wooden doors made of narrow wooden segments installed under an angle, imitating window blinds. That closet was going to be secure enough to house the receiver. The doors provided the needed privacy; the wooden blinds were at an angle that allowed a person to see from the inside out, not the other way. It was a safe bet for Alex to assume that no one would have any business opening that closet; this was not going to be a conference call or a video conference. Just a conversation among five people.

  Her mind was made up, so she opened the closet and looked for a good place to put the wireless video receiver. She reached up and put it on top of the video conferencing equipment.

  Just as she was preparing to get out and close the doors, she heard voices. Griffiths and Kramer were early, heading into the conference room. Out of options, she pulled the closet doors shut and went as far back as she could, leaning against the AV equipment rack, hoping no one would hear her breathe.

  "I came home last night and my kid tells me she won't go to college, unless she gets an apartment off campus. Can you believe it?" Kramer was half-frustrated, half-amused. "In my day, we were happy to go to college at all, and if I would have dared set terms with my parents like that, I would have been grounded forever."

  "Different times, I'm afraid," Chandler said, "I'm amazed at how these things evolve. My boy is fifteen now and overheard me talking to my wife about trading in my Jeep. He came and literally told me that I can't do that, since he'd be turning sixteen in under a year and he'll be taking the Jeep!" They both laughed the sweet laugh of loving parents.

  One by one, the rest of the meeting attendees were arriving. Alex could see out through a sliver in the wooden slats. Angela Prescott looked like she came to showcase a fashion show. Her dark gray business suit was impeccable, coordinated with her shoes and blouse in a shiny shade of light blue gray. Sheppard came in dressed in black, as usual, managed a faint smile and a whispered "hello." He sat quietly, not participating in the casual conversations. Walker, last to arrive, closed the door behind him and sat down.

  "Thanks for joining me this morning on such short notice. I think we need to figure out what we are going to do to prepare for Barnaby's stock sale and the subsequent change in company leadership. First, I want to ask you if you are planning to purchase any stock. Are we at least going to attempt to gain control of NanoLance?" Walker's scrutinizing eyes went around the table, inviting everyone to respond.

  "Before putting all my money into this," Kramer said, "I'd be curious to see where the Florida incident inquiry leads. How confident are we that the result of that inquiry will not destroy the company?"

  "I don't think that any of us is able to gauge that at this time." The hissing voice of Dustin Sheppard came to life. "Like with everything else regarding stock speculation, there's an associated risk. If we have the intention to purchase significant amounts of stock, we should be prepared to make a commitment and negotiate pre-emptive, discounted rates with Barnaby. That requires, according to SEC regulations, that we're ready to make that commitment no later than mid-October. We might not be able to foresee if the inquiry will be over by that time or what the outcome will be. It's a risk we have to take."

  "Before we get ahead of ourselves," Kramer said, "let's examine if we have the possibility to even think about obtaining control of the company among ourselves. After all, we're talking about a company with a market capitalization of 1.3 billion dollars, and I, personally, don't sit on comparable amounts of cash. I'd suggest we add up what we already have, and figure out if we should even be thinking about this in the first place. I'll do the math," she said, taking her pen and a sheet of paper out of her portfolio.

  Walker frowned and fidgeted. No one spoke.

  "OK, I'll start," Kramer offered. "I own 3.7 percent, a little over 330,000 shares." She wrote the numbers down.

  "I have 2.6 percent; that is 230,000 shares and some change," Griffiths said.

  Kramer neatly wrote the numbers.

  "I've got 3.2 percent here," Prescott raised her hand, "which is 290,000 shares or about there."

  Walker and Sheppard looked at each other, in a standoffish manner.

  "Write me down with 5.16 percent," Sheppard whispered, "for 475,000 shares."

  "When did you pass the 5 percent mark?" Walker blurted. "I haven't seen you listed."

  "Last quarter," Sheppard said, undisturbed.

  "Add my 4.5 percent, and let's see where we are," Walker said. "with 400,000 shares and some change."

  "OK, let's see," Kramer said, pulling a small calculator out of her portfolio. "So, between the five of us, we own 19.16 percent of the total outstanding shares. If we are to obtain control, we need to acquire almost 31 percent, or nearly 2,800,000 shares. Considering today's trading price per share, that leaves us with a need for a little over $250,000,000. And that's a lot of money."

  "Then there's another issue," Prescott said, "what makes us think that Barnaby is going to sell at least that many shares? He could be selling only 25 percent, or less. He definitely doesn't want to sell all his stock, and, for sure, he doesn't need to. Do we know anything about his intentions?"

  "He owns 53 percent," Sheppard said, "and I heard him say he'd be looking at selling at least half of that. Close . . . Not sure if it's close enough, though."

  "If we're missing a few points we can always go on the stock market and get what we're missing, right?" Walker encouraged everyone.

  "Let's talk money," Kramer said, "who's got how much? I could raise 20, maybe 23 million dollars."

  Alex watched in bewilderment, breathing silently and careful not to make even the tiniest move. I had no idea these people were so loaded, she thought. Maybe that explains the arrogance.

  "I could potentially come up with 16," Griffiths said, with an apologetic tone. "I don't think I can raise a penny more."

  "Maybe 30 here," Sheppard said, "only if I liquidate every investment I have, outside of NanoLance shares."

  "Angela?" Walker asked.

  "Only 20, maybe 22, with difficulty," Prescott said.

  "And I can bring in 42," Walker concluded. "Where does that leave us?"

  "That puts us at $133,000,000. That's a little over half of what we need to have."

  Silence dropped in the room and lingered for a few seconds.

  "As of now," Walker said.

  "What do you mean?" Kramer looked straight at him.

  "At the current trading price, right? You used today's stock price for your calculations, right?"

  "Yes, I did, but what—"

  "Well, who's to say that the stock price won't continue to drop? Especially in the aftermath of the current Florida incident, plus the upcoming investigation—that's gotta do something to the stock price, right?"

  "Safe to say it will do significant damage," Angela Prescott agreed.

  "Yes, but will it be enough?" Walker
pressed on. "You see, we need the stock price to drop enough to allow us to gain control, but not much lower than that, so we can restore the company after we've purchased enough stock."

  "What are you thinking?" Griffiths asked.

  "Nothing much, just saying . . ." Walker backed away.

  Damn it to hell, he's so close to tipping his hand, Alex thought. She now believed, without a doubt, that Walker was behind the stock price pressures. She also had suspicions about Sheppard, but his attitude, regardless of how unbearable, was not showing any sign of involvement. As for the rest, Alex couldn't tell if they were in on this or not. Walker could have been working on these plans on his own and just manipulating the others into supporting him.

  "What about the media?" Prescott said.

  Hello, Alex thought, bring it on!

  "Well, what about it?" Kramer probed.

  "We could work with the media on this; try to control the stock price using the media."

  "Bold," Walker said. "How are you planning on driving the stock price down using the media?"

  "I did not say that, not now, not ever! Stop putting words in my mouth!" Prescott rose, filled with anger. "You were talking about not letting the stock go too low, and that's what I responded to. How do we stop the stock price from dropping using the media? Publish favorable articles, and so on."

  The others nodded their approval. Walker sat there, grim and silent.

  "Definitely worth keeping in mind," Kramer said. Whatever happens, we shouldn't sit idle and let the stock price collapse through the floor. "I mean, even if we can't gain control of the company, we should still make sure we're thinking long term on this, especially considering that all of us have already invested significant amounts of cash."

  "All right, then we're set." Walker rose, giving the signal for the meeting to adjourn.

  Everyone started to make his or her way through the door.

  "Can you stay behind for a few minutes? I'd like to speak with you," Walker said, touching Prescott's arm.

  "Sure," she replied. Walker waited for the others to exit, and then closed the door. He stood there silently for a few seconds, then, without any warning, turned and grabbed Prescott by her lapels, slamming her against the wall. He grabbed her wrists and held them together above her head with one hand, leaning heavily against her body, and grabbed her chin with his other hand. Prescott gasped.

  "Do not ever talk back to me again," he growled near her face, "not ever again! Understood?"

  Prescott nodded slightly, opposing no resistance to the attack. She could have tried to fight him and at least get out of that corner and into the plain sight offered by the conference room glass wall. Walker had picked his spot carefully. Next to the door, an entire section of the wall was hidden from the outside hallway.

  Walker squeezed her wrists harder, making her close her eyes and give a quiet whimper of pain. He leaned against her body with his massive weight, pressing his thigh against her pelvis with a vicious, lustful thrust.

  "You'll get what's coming to you for this, bitch!" He abruptly released her and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

  Alex had covered her mouth with her hand, to suppress any sound she could have made. She couldn't believe such things happened in an office environment. She felt frustrated in her inability to intervene and stop the abuse. She felt tempted to get out of her hiding place and help Angela. She thought best to stay put, though. The time would come for all this mess to be exposed and addressed in her final report.

  Angela still stood there, leaning against that wall. Slowly, she began to recompose, arranging her clothing, checking her hair to see if everything was in order. In doing so, she turned slightly toward the AV closet, allowing Alex to see the expression on her face. Angela Prescott was smiling, the aroused smile of an anticipating lover.

  ...50

  ...Thursday, July 1, 7:30PM

  ...News of the Hour Studio Broadcast

  ...Nationally Syndicated

  "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, I am Stephanie Wainwright, live from the News of the Hour studios, here in New York. Our guest for this evening is Major Darrell Montgomery, spokesperson for the United States Air Force. Welcome, major; thank you for joining us tonight."

  "Thank you for having me," Montgomery answered.

  "I am hoping you can help us shed some light into last week's tragedy in Florida. What a disaster!"

  "Indeed. We are deeply saddened by this unfortunate incident. The United States Air Force is taking this matter seriously. We have launched an in-depth investigation into the incident, looking at all possible angles—"

  "Tell me about these drones," Stephanie interrupted. "How safe are they? Why are we using them?"

  "The Air Force has deployed drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, for the purpose of increasing the safety of the military personnel, pilots, other crew, and also for the increased safety of ground operations. Even if a UAV should crash, having a smaller mass, there is less damage generated on the ground by the crash. Our pilots are safe, operating the UAVs from safe locations, such as airbases on US land or from our allies' territories. There is significantly less risk to their lives."

  "How many drones have crashed since you began their deployments? And when was that? When did the first drone fly?"

  "The first drone was primitive and was developed by the British in the 1930s. It was radio controlled."

  "Really? I had no idea this concept was so old."

  "Yes, that's right. The concept has been around for a while. During World War II, more experimental drones were flown, but, unfortunately, not by us or by our allies. Some specialists think that the Nazis were ahead of us in this technology back then, flying what is commonly known as the V-1, long-range missile, which was a drone carrying a bomb."

  "Interesting," Stephanie commented.

  "Then, in the 1960s, we started more intensive research here, in the United States, flying thousands of drone flights—mostly target and surveillance. But the drones didn't become what they are today until the mid-1990s."

  "So, a long history, I see. How about their safety record? Any notable incidents in the past?"

  "None worth mentioning, no. The key point in the favor of utilizing drones is their safety."

  "And their low cost, let's not forget," Stephanie added, sarcastically.

  "And their cost, definitely. But this low cost is driven by the safety of their operations. No deaths. No pilots captured by the enemy. No wounded."

  "So, in the entire history of their operation, has a drone ever been responsible before for loss of human life here, at home?"

  "None whatsoever."

  "How about abroad? Have drones been responsible for civilian deaths abroad?"

  "In recent years, a couple of incidents abroad have claimed drone involvement, with minimal conformation."

  "But, just this April, in Kandahar, a Canadian patrol was attacked by a United States UAV, in what was then reported as a friendly fire incident, isn't that right?"

  "Yes, that was what was reported. However, the investigation in this case is still underway."

  "So, you're saying it wasn't our drone that killed those Canadians?"

  "Quite the opposite, unfortunately. We were able to confirm that it was ours, but these are preliminary results, so I wouldn't call this a confirmed incident, because we are still investigating."

  "Well, were all drones in the area accounted for? How about all ordnance? Any Hellfire missiles missing from your inventory?" Stephanie's voice was filling with sarcasm, as she kept asking the logical questions.

  "It's not as simple as that," Major Montgomery tried to explain; "it's not an issue of counting the Hellfires."

  "Well, seems to me it should be, if someone really wants to get to the bottom of this."

  "The investigation into what happened with the Canadian patrol in Kandahar in April is still underway. We're exploring different angles. We are looking at all our drones deployed in the area—their operator
s, their flight plans—to get a better understanding of what happened. We're examining all circumstances of the incident.

  "Two things we know, as of right now, regarding Kandahar. One is that we were able to confirm it was our drone that opened fire on the Canadians. We have their reports indicating that the drone was wearing U.S. markings. We have precisely identified which air base the drone originated from and who was flying it. We have analyzed the site of the attack, and the explosive trace analysis indicates our Hellfire missiles were launched there. However, we have no record of any operations underway in that area.

  "The second thing we know about the Kandahar incident is that the investigation is not over. We will not close this investigation until we have all the answers to the questions about this unfortunate incident. We are committed to bring closure to the families of all the Canadians killed or wounded in that incident and to make sure those responsible for the incident will be held accountable. We are also committed to get to the bottom of the Kandahar incident, to ensure that we will take all steps needed to ensure that such incidents will not happen in the future."

  "Here's another possibility for you," Stephanie offered. "Could the drone have been hacked?"

  "Hacked? What do you mean by that?"

  "If I understand this correctly, these drones are operated remotely. Could someone else have taken control of the drone and guided it to attack the Canadian patrol?"

  "I don't think that could even be possible. The drone's connection to the remote guiding station is highly encrypted, designed to securely maintain and handover the drone control between ground stations and the UAV's controls. The uplink to the drone is highly secure."

  "But wherever there's an encryption, there's also the possibility for that encryption to be, well, decrypted by unauthorized personnel," Stephanie insisted, the sarcasm in her voice picking up.

  "We're examining all angles, but this, again, doesn't have an even remotely considerable likelihood of being at the root cause of the incident."