Chapter 2 - The Half-Million-Dollar Offer
Malcolm Reed looked exactly as Daniel expected a powerful chairman to look at one in the morning.
His charcoal overcoat was perfectly pressed. His silver hair remained neat despite the storm. Two attorneys followed him, each carrying a leather briefcase.
He did not ask whether Clare was alive.
He walked directly to Daniel.
“You’re the employee who brought her in?”
“My name is Daniel Mercer.”
“I know who you are.”
Malcolm glanced at Daniel’s soaked maintenance uniform as if confirming something disappointing.
“Where is Ms. Whitmore’s laptop?”
Daniel’s expression did not change.
“I don’t know.”
“That device contains confidential board materials.”
“Then you should speak with her attorney.”
“I am chairman of Astron Medical Systems.”
“And I’m standing in a hospital.”
Malcolm’s smile thinned.
“Mr. Mercer, this is not an appropriate moment to become difficult.”
Behind him, senior vice president Charles Harlan was already speaking to the charge nurse.
“We need written confirmation that Ms. Whitmore is medically incapacitated,” Harlan said. “The board’s continuity rules require immediate notification.”
The nurse looked unimpressed.
“This hospital does not release patient information without authorization.”
Malcolm turned back to Daniel.
“Did Clare name an emergency contact?”
Daniel said nothing.
That silence answered him.
Malcolm’s gaze sharpened.
“You?”
One attorney opened a briefcase and removed a document.
“Mr. Mercer,” she said, “we can make this simple. Sign an acknowledgment stating that you are not qualified to act in any representative capacity. You will then direct the hospital to communicate with Mr. Reed as Ms. Whitmore’s corporate superior.”
“I’m not directing the hospital to do anything.”
Malcolm studied him.
“How much do you earn?”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You already said you know who I am.”
“Forty-eight thousand dollars a year,” Malcolm continued. “A widower. One dependent child. Outstanding medical debt associated with your late wife’s treatment. A mortgage currently three payments behind.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You investigated me quickly.”
“We employ people to know things.”
One attorney placed a second document on the chair beside Daniel.
“This is a consulting agreement,” she explained. “Five hundred thousand dollars, payable upon execution.”
Daniel looked down at the number.
For one dangerous moment, he saw everything it could solve.
The mortgage.
Rachel’s medical bills.
Sophie’s school expenses.
The unreliable station wagon.
Five hundred thousand dollars would not make him wealthy, but it would remove the pressure that followed him from paycheck to paycheck.
“What do you want?” Daniel asked.
“Ms. Whitmore’s laptop,” Malcolm said. “And any instructions she gave you.”
Daniel looked toward the surgical doors.
“What happens to her division if she doesn’t wake up?”
Malcolm’s expression remained smooth.
“Business continues.”
“Eight hundred people lose their jobs?”
“Certain redundancies may be necessary.”
“And the diagnostic patents?”
“They will be sold to an international partner.”
Daniel thought about the portable monitor beside Rachel’s hospital bed.
About Sophie sitting in her mother’s lap during the final months they had together.
Clare had been right.
Malcolm did not care whether she survived.
He cared whether she voted.
Daniel picked up the consulting agreement.
Malcolm smiled.
Then Daniel tore it in half.
The sound of paper ripping carried through the waiting area.
“You’ll regret that,” Malcolm said.
“Probably,” Daniel replied. “I regret a lot of things. This won’t be one of them.”
Malcolm’s smile disappeared.
“You are a maintenance employee trespassing in matters far beyond your understanding.”
“I understand that Clare Whitmore is undergoing brain surgery while you’re trying to buy access to her computer.”
“Be careful.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It is career advice.”
A familiar voice came from behind them.
“Then allow me to provide legal advice.”
Evelyn Shaw strode into the waiting room wearing a dark raincoat over blue hospital scrubs. Clare’s attorney was in her late fifties, with closely cropped gray hair and an expression that made both of Malcolm’s lawyers straighten.
She stood beside Daniel.
“Any further attempt to bribe, threaten, or coerce Ms. Whitmore’s named emergency contact will be documented,” Evelyn said. “Mr. Reed, step away from him.”
Malcolm looked at her.
“Clare cannot appoint a maintenance worker to control Astron.”
“She did not.”
Evelyn opened a slim folder.
“She did, however, send me a time-stamped board memorandum at 11:32 p.m. naming me as temporary corporate proxy if she became medically incapacitated before the vote.”
Malcolm’s jaw tightened.
“The memorandum is invalid without verification.”
“It was authenticated through three independent channels.”
Daniel stared at Evelyn.
“Then why does everyone want her laptop?”
“Because the laptop contains evidence,” Evelyn replied.
Malcolm’s gaze moved toward her.
Evelyn continued.
“For six months, Clare has been investigating unauthorized transfers, falsified safety reports, and undisclosed payments connected to the proposed diagnostic division sale.”
One of the board members stopped speaking.
Malcolm remained still.
“Those are serious accusations,” he said.
“They are,” Evelyn agreed.
“And false.”
“Then you should welcome an independent audit.”
Malcolm turned toward Daniel.
“If you removed company property from Astron, you may already have committed theft.”
Daniel met his eyes.
“I said I would protect her files. I didn’t say I had them.”
That was true.
Before leaving Astron, the overnight security guard had followed Daniel’s instruction to seal the conference room and preserve the access logs.
The laptop was still there.
But Malcolm did not know that.
And fear of what it might contain was already making him careless.
At 2:08 a.m., Daniel’s phone rang.
Mrs. Garland’s name appeared on the screen.
“Daniel,” she whispered when he answered, “someone is outside your house.”
He stood immediately.
“What do you mean?”
“A black SUV has driven past three times. Sophie is awake. She’s frightened.”
Daniel looked toward Malcolm.
The chairman was watching him.
Evelyn saw the change in Daniel’s face.
“What happened?”
“My daughter.”
She took out her phone.
“I’ll send private security.”
“No corporate people.”
“Not Astron’s. Mine.”
Daniel moved toward the exit.
A surgeon appeared through the double doors before he reached them.
“Mr. Mercer?”
Daniel turned.
“How is she?”
The surgeon removed his cap.
“Ms. Whitmore survived the procedure.”
Relief struck Daniel so strongly that he had to grip the back of a chair.
“But,” the doctor continued, “the next several hours are critical. She has not regained consciousness.”
Malcolm stepped forward.
“Then the leadership clause is active.”
The surgeon looked at him.
May you like
“I was speaking to Mr. Mercer.”
For the first time that night, Malcolm Reed looked openly furious.
