His heart was doing something it had no professional business doing, which was beating quite a bit faster than normal, but his hands were steady and his face had shown Raymond Voss exactly nothing, and that was what mattered. He texted the Priya number. He knows the meeting was moved. He came to check on the content. Amelia's reply came 11 minutes later from the same personal line she'd called him from Friday.
Expected, "Don't change anything. You're exactly where you need to be. He read that three times. Then he put the phone in his pocket, packed up his desk, said good night to Brianna, and went home to make dinner for his daughter. Wednesday passed away, waiting days pass long and overtailed.
Every mundane moment slightly too bright, like everything was in a key that was just barely off. Marcus did his job. He answered his emails. He sat through a 40-minute operational sync that Raymond ran at the usual time in the usual room with the usual agenda and Marcus contributed where he was supposed to contribute and asked one clarifying question about vendor contract renewal timelines and said nothing else. Raymon looked at him twice during the meeting in a way that Marcus cataloged but didn't return.
After the meeting, Briana stopped by his office to tell him that a man named Derek Ash from the board's external audit liaison office had left a voicemail asking to set up a brief call to discuss the Q3 presentation parameters. Marcus listened to the voicemail once. Then he forwarded it in its entirety to Priya Anan's email with a single line. Received this at 2:37 p. M.
No response made. Derek Ash. He didn't know that name. He looked it up on the company directory and found nothing, which meant Ash was external, contracted by someone on the board, working through someone's office, reaching around the usual channels to try to see what Marcus was going to say before he said it. They were moving.
Amelia called that evening at 7:15 while Lily was in the bath. "Ash works for Caldwell's external consulting group," she said without preamble. "He has no official standing to request anything from you. Do not return that call. Already decided that, Marcus said.
But it tells us Caldwell knows enough to be worried. It tells us Caldwell is paying attention, which is exactly what I need. She paused. The board session is confirmed for 10:00 a. M.
Thursday. 11 Directors. I've spoken to four of them personally in the last 12 hours. Not about the details. I'm not tipping the agenda, but I know which four will look at real numbers and follow them where they go.
Four out of 11. Marcus said that's not a majority. No, Shia said, "It's not, but it's a foundation." Another pause. Marcus, I have to tell you something. Something in her voice changed slightly.