Monsters - Matt Rogers (icecream ebook reader TXT) 📗

a few bugs. That’s nothing to be alarmed about. Every company deals with last-minute hurdles. We’re going to crush this launch—’

‘That spiel will work on Frank. It’ll work on Fabian. It might even work on Hugo. Between the three of them they’ve kept you in this position long after any board member with common sense would’ve thrown you out on the sidewalk. I don’t know what you’ve done, but they’re wrapped around your finger.’ He took a breath, and if John Rhames needed to pause to compose himself, then it was deadly serious. ‘Jack Sundström wasn’t wrapped around your finger.’

‘You shut your mouth,’ Heidi said. ‘I respected that man.’

‘No you didn’t. You don’t respect anyone who impedes your progress, even if it’s for the right reasons, which is why you’re hiding the fact the engineering and chemistry departments are swimming around in the dark. No one has a clue of the bigger picture and that’s deliberate. Jack caught a glimpse of it. And now Jack’s gone.’

Something shifted in the office.

Heidi would never, as long as she lived, let anyone into her head. The computations she made were for her alone. An observer might wonder what caused her shift in body language, but she’d never share. In truth, all she’d done was look at her options, see a path through the wilderness, and take it.

John wasn’t going away, and deflection was no longer an option.

Heidi leant forward and looked into his eyes and said, ‘Yes. Jack is gone.’

Shock flared behind his eyes. John Rhames had decades of experience on the boards of many different start-ups, including a couple of unicorns, but now he was playing with the big dogs, and he couldn’t hide his surprise. ‘Are you saying—?’

‘Yes,’ she interrupted. ‘You know what I’m saying. I need to know this is really the way you want to go.’

He bristled, his gaze arctic, but he didn’t answer.

She inched further forward, staring with those huge eyes she knew she had and knew how to use.

He didn’t say anything, and his expression remained steely, but he leant back in his chair maybe an inch. Almost unnoticeable, but these things matter more than words.

She said, ‘You could push this. You could go public with your theory, or you could even go straight to the police. If it’s the latter, I’ll know about it before I’m in cuffs. I’ll have a window of opportunity.’

She could see the disbelief in his eyes. There’s no way she’s saying this. She can’t possibly be saying this.

She said, ‘Or you could excuse yourself from the board. Send a resignation letter. It’d be understandable. You’d have your reasons. I have no problem with you voicing your concerns about the way I’m running things. But if you make any…more serious allegations…’

She shook her head, wagged a finger.

‘What would you do? Specifically.’

She hesitated. Then realised she couldn’t hesitate. Pushed forward. ‘Take your phone out of your pocket, unlock it, and put it on the desk.’

‘Go fuck yourself.’

‘I get it. You’re recording this. You want my admission.’

More shock in his eyes.

She said, ‘I don’t care if you get this next part on audio because this is only going to go one of two ways. I had Jack Sundström beaten to death by a professional fighter. If you leave this office with that recording I’ll have you taken before you make it out of the building. I’ll have the same done to you, only I’ll make them take longer. They’ll do it. With what I’m paying them, they’ll do anything I ask. It’s all a matter of price.’

He said, ‘You’re screwed now.’

He took his phone out of his pocket and showed the screen to her. It was already unlocked, a microphone symbol displayed, the voice memo app open and recording.

But he didn’t get up and leave.

He was staring at her.

Calculating risk.

She said, ‘Look into my eyes and ask yourself if I’m lying.’

He did.

He handed her the phone.

She ended the recording, deleted it from existence, then tapped a few buttons and reset the phone to factory settings, just to be sure, wiping all John’s data. It started rebooting as she handed it back to him.

He got to his feet and mumbled, ‘I’ll tender my resignation by this evening,’ and tucked the phone back in his pocket.

She said, ‘Good.’

But she saw that it wasn’t good. As soon as he left the building he’d get brave. He’d start to believe he could get away with whatever he wanted, now that he was free from her spell. He’d have to be handled, and it infuriated her.

She watched him walk out.

When she was alone the darkness started to creep in. The voice in her head got a little louder, the one telling her it was all going to hell regardless of how hard she fought.

Time to fight harder, then.

She pulled one of her burner phones out of the desk drawer, dialled a number, and said, ‘Are you tailing her like I asked?’

A voice said, ‘Da.’

‘Two hundred k for her body if you get it done within the next thirty minutes. And tell the other team to move on the real Mary. Same price.’

A pause. ‘Ladno.’

Russian for “okay,” with uncertainty.

Good enough for me, she thought.

She hung up, sat back, and rippled with fury.

The train’s brakes had failed and it was picking up speed.

32

Driving back north out of Hunters Point, Slater hunched closer to the phone. ‘Where are you?’

Alexis’ voice was measured, tinny from speakerphone. ‘South of Palo Alto. Driving into the hills. Just passed a country club. Maps says I’m about to hit Boronda Lake. I can go into Foothills Park and lose them on the trails.’

‘Lose who?’

‘Two SUVs that’ve been following me since I left the building.’

‘Christ.’ He paused, looked at King, who wordlessly shrugged. ‘So Heidi’s taken the gloves off?’

‘Seems that way.’

An uneasy silence.

Slater said, ‘What?’

She said, ‘I snuck Mary out the back of her building this morning, told her to go check into a motel under a false name and not to leave the room for anything.’

‘And?’

‘I