Okapor looked at Daniel. The technology in that application, the adaptive balance core, that's yours. I designed and developed the core architecture over a period of 2 years. Daniel said, "The documentation trail establishing that is in the materials in front of you." Page 14, the original project files with their creation metadata. And page 19, the modification history showing the author field was altered after my removal.
Okafor turned to page 14. He read for a moment. He turned to page 19. He set both pages down. He looked at the screen where Marcus Webb was watching from London.
Webb had said nothing yet. He was the largest single shareholder on the board, a man whose quietness during board meetings was famously expensive for whoever it was directed at. Webb said from London. Victoria, "What is your recommendation?" The room went very still. That was the question.
That was the only question that had mattered since 8:00 this morning, and Marcus Webb had just put it in the center of the table. Victoria said, "I recommend that the board authorize a full independent investigation into the conduct of Richard Cole and Gerald Marsh to include the patent application, the modification history, the document metadata, alterations, and the suppression of Daniel's reported concerns over a 14-month period. I recommend that Richard Cole's suspension become a termination effective immediately pending the investigation's findings. And I recommend that Daniel Brooks be offered a formal role as director of system integrity and safety architecture at a compensation level commensurate with his original position and adjusted for 3 years of inequitable assignment. Nobody spoke immediately.
Then Richard's attorney who was present by phone patched in through the conference system said before the board responds to those recommendations. I want to put on record that my client disputes the characterization of the modification history. Disputes the claim that the patent application was fraudulent and disputes the inference drawn from the email chain which was a private strategic planning document that has been taken significantly out of context. Council, Victoria said, cutting across him with the precision of a woman who has sat in enough boardrooms to know exactly when and how to interrupt. Your client is not in this room.
Your client's 40-page response was reviewed by every board member before this meeting began. This is not the venue for a parallel presentation. If your client has a legal defense, he'll have the opportunity to present it in the appropriate proceeding. A brief silence on the phone line. Then the attorney said, "Noted." Evelyn Cross looked at Daniel again.
She said, "Mr. Brooks, I want to ask you something directly and I'd like a direct answer. All right, Daniel said, if the board approves Victoria's recommendations today, the investigation, the termination, the role offer, what do you need from this company in order to trust that it's real and not a performance. The room was completely quiet. Daniel looked at her.
He looked at the board around the table. He looked at Victoria standing near the window with her hands clasped and her face still waiting the same way everyone else was waiting. He said three things. He said it without hesitation, without consulting his notebook because he had known the answer to this question since approximately 11:00 the previous night, lying in the dark in his house indicator thinking about what tomorrow needed to mean. He said, "First, every engineer in this company gets a direct reporting channel for safety concerns that bypasses department management and goes to an independent review body, not a suggestion box, a binding process with mandatory response timelines.