Jeremy is escorted out by the four policemen, and the detective remains behind.
“What else did you find?” Jackson asks me.
“I’m not sure of anything.”
I open the cloud drive and begin to look at my notes. I explain the football-baseball issue. “Some things seem off. Here’s an email that says, ‘Benchmark will meet with us on Thursday morning.’ Didn’t he say he had a breakfast that morning?”
Jackson looks at Jim. “Would Benchmark Capital fund something like this?”
Jim shrugs. “I know Stephanie, the founder. Let me do some checking.” He turns to me. “Can I get the link for the cloud drive?”
I look at Jackson, and he nods. “Of course.”
“I’m going to have Gage in my office check this out,” Jim says. “He’ll need to look through his computer.”
Jackson seems distracted by all his hard work running out the door. “That’s fine,” he says absently.
“What about Heather?” I ask. “She may have more incriminating things on her computer.”
“We can have Gage go through that too,” Jim suggests.
“I also found that when they were late and supposed to be at a meeting with the accountants, it looks like they had a meeting with Hydro Energy Partners.”
Jackson turns white, then beet red. I’ve seen him upset, but never this angry.
“I’ll nail the son of a bitch.”
“Do you want me to continue looking?” I ask quietly.
“I’ll have Gage work with you.” Jim turns and looks at Jackson. “I have a contact at FBI Cybercrimes if we need her and her team. She’s solid.”
Suddenly there’s an enormous amount of activity going on. I sit back and watch, and when someone asks for my help, I respond.
Jackson goes in and sits alone in his office. He’s been working for months on this invention, and if it’s out there now, that’s all toast.
“Brian, I know you’re not an errand boy, but if I order coffee for everyone, would you be willing to help me pick it up?” I ask.
He nods. I ask everyone what they want and go on my mission. It’s almost lunchtime, so I also order an assortment of sandwiches. I need to do what I can to help.
Chapter 7
Jackson
After Saturday morning’s discovery, my weekend was completely absorbed by what Jeremy has been doing. I’ve made statements to the police and worked with Jim’s team to root out what I both feared and expected: Jeremy has pitched the plan for our new solar film panels to a variety of competitors.
Now it’s Monday morning, and even as we come up with a plan, I can hardly believe this is happening.
Morning traffic is dense everywhere in San Francisco. I miss the days of working from my apartment. Thankfully, Ben drives me into the office, giving me the chance to talk to Jim on the phone.
“I’m meeting with Stephanie Pierce at Benchmark,” Jim tells me. “And I think you and Mason Sullivan should join me.”
“When and where?” I ask.
“Let’s meet on neutral ground. How about the private room at the Waterfront Café? Noon?”
“That works,” I tell him, stifling a yawn.
I haven’t been sleeping worth shit. I can’t believe Jeremy Knowles tried to steal from Soleil Energy and from me. When I spoke with Mason, he was sure the repercussions were significant enough that we could fire Jeremy without paying any severance or even compensating him for the stock options, which we will claw back.
We’ll meet with Benchmark and try Hydro Energy Partners. I have my lawyers preparing letters explaining that any material they’ve seen is stolen and we’ll go after any like materials, if they choose to produce them, vigorously. I’m confident Benchmark will walk away, but Hydro is Chinese owned, and we’re in a race with them for this technology. It’s difficult for non-Chinese officials to prosecute theft in China, and they don’t recognize US patents.
My mind wanders to Corrine. She’s definitely not fat. She has some curves, but she’s a natural beauty, very sexy in a girl-next-door kind of way. And, I’m not sure Bobby Sanders knows how to enjoy a woman. It’s much more satisfying to give a woman so much pleasure that getting your own becomes unnecessary. What a full-blown ass. I can tell Corrine believes what he said, but it isn’t my place to tell her she’s beautiful and probably great in bed. That has lawsuit written all over it.
The elevator from the garage stops at the lobby. When the doors open, Corrine appears, looking stunning in her dark dress. Her blond hair is piled on top of her head, and she’s holding our coffee order.
“You’re earlier than usual,” I say.
“I figured after my mess on Wednesday, and then all the activity on Saturday, it would be a long day.”
“Good thinking. The FBI will be by this morning to deal with Heather. They’ll call you when they arrive.”
“Do you think she knows?” she asks.
I shrug. “I have a lunch at noon today with one of the firms Jeremy solicited. I’ll meet with SHN before that at eleven.”
She nods. We arrive at our floor, and she takes off her coat and hangs it up. I watch her pick up my calendar and follow me into my office with my coffee.
“I’ll move your twelve-thirty appointment to next week. Would you like me to cancel going to Cecelia’s service tomorrow? With so much going on, it’s hard to fit everything in.”
Corrine is always so good at supplying me with the rationale to politely excuse myself, but I like Nate. This must be terribly hard. I saw them together, and they were almost one person. I need to go to the service for him. “No, let’s still go. “
She nods. “Do you want a copy of your presentation to go with you to your afternoon meetings?”
“No, I think we’ll be
