Delirious. Daniel James Palmer

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ down, son,” Yardley said. As in the steering committee meeting, the softness of his voice suggested a father on the verge of sharing terrible news with a child.

      Charlie took the only available seat at the round table. Mac reached underneath and pulled out a large manila folder, which he dropped on the table with a resounding thud.

      “We have a serious situation, Charlie,” Mac began.

      “Mac, I know that. This whole Anne Pedersen thing is totally out of hand. I promise you, I am trying to figure out what’s going on. I even contacted Lawrence in IT to see about a possible security breach.” Charlie paused. “Was there a security breach?” he asked. “Is that why Rudy is here?” Charlie gestured to Rudy Gomes, who stayed stoic and unresponsive.

      “Charlie, this is very awkward for me,” Mac said. He was choosing his words carefully. “You’ve been a shining star at SoluCent, and we truly value your abilities and what you’ve brought to the company.”

      “Cut the bull, Mac, and tell me what’s going on.” Charlie’s voice was quivering. He despised his own lack of self-control. Whatever pills Gomes was taking to keep so dispassionate, Charlie wanted some for himself.

      Yardley took over.

      “Your involvement in yesterday’s executive meeting was most unprofessional,” Yardley began. “I respect your passion, but not necessarily your methods.”

      “I understand. I was doing what I thought was right,” said Charlie.

      “Yes, well, after your judgment…shall we say…came into question,” Yardley continued, “we felt it was in our best interest to evaluate you, Charlie. In the only way we could.”

      Charlie shook his head in disbelief. “You audited me?” He turned and faced Mac, who looked away.

      Yardley went on. “We are a publicly traded company, Charlie, with strict guidelines and operating principles. We expect our employees to follow them, and our senior directors, like yourself, to abide by even higher standards.”

      “I don’t care,” Charlie muttered. “I have nothing to hide.”

      “According to this, you do,” Gomes said at last, tapping his hand on the manila folder stuffed with papers.

      “What’s in there?” Charlie asked.

      “We were hoping you could tell us that,” Gomes said.

      “The hell if I know. Stop toying with me and get to the point,” replied Charlie.

      “The point, Charlie,” Mac said, “is that according to this Internet audit, you’ve been spending your time looking at things you shouldn’t have been looking at.”

      “You even stayed late to surf porn, Charlie,” Gomes said with a widening smirk. “What’s wrong? Home ain’t good enough for you? No time for girlfriends?”

      “What are you talking about?” Charlie stammered. “Mac, you know me! You know I’m not into that crap. I just work.”

      “We double-checked the logs, Charlie,” said Mac. “These http requests clearly originated from your computer. The time stamps match your badge usage and your network access time. We have e-mail records sent from your computer to adult sites.”

      “Mywhore.com, hotsex.com, bigjuggs.com—real classy stuff, Giles.” Rudy Gomes was almost laughing.

      It took everything Charlie had, including clutching the side of the table, to keep from leaping up and pummeling Gomes with his fists.

      “That’s insane! Are you kidding me? I never visited those sites!” Charlie stood and paced about the room. His arms were raised in the air in defiance.

      “Sit down, Charlie,” Yardley said.

      “No! No! I won’t sit down. This is crazy!” Charlie exclaimed. “Did you check my PC for spyware? A rogue engine installed on my PC could auto-send http requests without my knowledge.”

      “We did, and it’s as clean as a whistle,” Gomes said. “But if porn were your only problem, Giles—”

      “What? What are you insinuating?” Charlie sputtered.

      “Sit down, Charlie,” Yardley said again.

      Charlie obliged, his hands still shaking with rage and fear.

      “We checked your e-mail, Charlie,” Mac began. “It was a precaution, given your erratic behavior of late. We saw some exchanges that we’re not at all comfortable with.”

      Charlie could only look down at the floor. It was all spinning out of control too fast. Everything was going so terribly wrong.

      “What are you talking about?” Charlie said.

      “You e-mailed InVision product plans to a product development manager at Sony,” Gomes said. “Unbelievable.”

      “I…didn’t… I didn’t do anything like that.” Charlie’s voice sounded weak and defeated, even to himself.

      “Our lawyers contacted Sony. Best we could get was a promise that the e-mail was destroyed and that the document was not printed. We are not going to press them any harder,” Mac added. “We really don’t have a legal case to audit their records for proof.”

      “You’re not going to be so lucky, Giles,” Gomes said.

      Charlie looked over at Yardley, his eyes making a plea for mercy.

      “It doesn’t look good, Charlie,” Yardley said. “None of this looks good for you.”

      “Anne Pedersen, the PowerPoint file, your browsing habits—and now this Sony e-mail incident. What are we supposed to do, Charlie?” Mac asked.

      Charlie walked to the wall and pounded his fist against the green painter’s drop cloth until his knuckles turned red. “Are you guys setting me up?” Charlie turned around and shouted, his fingers pointing at Yardley and Mac. “Is that what this is all about? You don’t want me to have a big payday for InVision, so you’re setting me up to cut me out of what’s mine! Is it a money thing with you, Leon?”

      Rudy Gomes was on his feet in seconds, putting his body between Charlie and the others. Charlie took one step toward Yardley, and Gomes lunged, connecting with Charlie’s sternum with a lowered shoulder, expelling all the air from Charlie’s lungs in a violent burst. The force of the blow was enough to send Charlie crashing into the wall. Stunned, he slumped to the floor and tried to catch his breath.

      “Security! Security!” Gomes called into his radio. “Situation urgent. Send two teams. I repeat, send two teams.”

      Charlie stood as Gomes was putting the radio back. He took a wild swing with a right hook, which Gomes easily dodged. Stepping behind Charlie with a quick feint to the left, Gomes grabbed his elbow and wrist and forced him to the floor. Gomes put his knees on Charlie’s back, while continuing to hold on to his wrist. He kept applying pressure to keep him motionless on the floor.

      “Mac! Mac! This is crazy. Why are you doing this to me? Why! Whatever you get СКАЧАТЬ