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Rick collapsed into a chair. He didn’t realize how tired he was until this moment.
“Sir,” said Tim as he stuck his head in the door. “I’m sorry to bother you, but the CEO wanted to talk to you as soon as you got out of the meeting.”
Rick didn’t move but simply said, “Put him on.”
“Yes Sir, it will take a few moments to make the connection.” With that said Tim disappeared.
Rick allowed his mind to flow into blissful nothingness. With everything that had happened, he wanted to do nothing, to think about nothing and to be nothing. It was all too much. He had gone in a very short time from a very minor investigator to a Director in charge of a war. A war that he was sure would tear the galaxy apart. He was standing on the edge of the abyss and the only way to go was forward. At this moment all he wished to do was curl up into a little ball and hide away from everyone and everything.
As soon as the screen came on Rick stood up. “Good,” said Hobbs. “How did the meeting go?”
“Well Sir, we have a plan, and the Admiral seems to think it will work. He and Justin are working out the details.”
“I see, I guess we have Justin to thank for the view of the enemy ship?”
“Yes Sir, it was his idea.”
“What can you tell me?” Hobbs seemed to needing information so that he could make plans.
Rick thought about it for a moment he needed to give Hobbs something. “Not overmuch. All I know is that Justin wants to put a bomb inside the distortion field.”
“Will that work?”
“Both Justin and Hornsby seem to think so. In any case they are working out how to do it.”
“Okay, I know I’ve put you under a lot of strain the last few days. So, I want you to go home and get some rest. Stop thinking about everything. I know that can wind you up into a little ball. For tonight I want you to stop being Director Thompson, and just be Rick.”
“Yes Sir, I have a few loose ends to tie up here and then I’ll call it a day.”
“Good, Hobbs out.”
“Tim!” Tim stuck his head in the door. Before he could ask what Rick wanted Rick said, “Come in and sit down.”
Tim came in and sat. He had the expression on his face like he didn’t know what was going on. And for Tim that was a most uncomfortable position to be in. “What Can I do for you Sir,”
“Rick please, we are alone. I want to thank you for doing a wonderful job over the last few days. I have had exactly what I needed when I needed it.”
“You are welcome, Rick.”
“Now I need you to do me a favor, something that is not outside our job description, however it is a touchy situation. And when it comes to light I will come under fire.”
Tim looked concerned. “What do you need?”
“Everything you have on the Board of Directors of the Wilson Corporation.”
“Yeah, that could be a touchy situation.” Tim looked like he didn’t know about that.
“I could make it an order if you like?”
“No. No I have no problem with that, it’s just that once you start poking around in the Boards business they know about it. You will hear about it soon.”
“Believe me I already knew that. It’s just that Hobbs is going to need all the help he can get. I’m going to be crude about this, but I need as much dirt as I can get. Neman especially. I need to get his cooperation or be able to hammer him down if I can’t get it.”
Tim laughed, “I don’t know why the CEO didn’t want you in the Board. It sounds like you fit right in.”
Rick smiled, “I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or insult.”
“Rick, with your objectives you should take it as a compliment. You are trying to help people, not take advantage of them.” Then Tim lost the smile. “But you are still going to have a hard time once they find out you are putting them under investigation.”
“I’ve been thinking about that. Get whatever files you have and give them to Bannic, I mean Mr. Graham. He will be able to pull them apart faster than anyone else.” Rick had some understanding of what happened to Bannic but wasn’t sure of his full capabilities. “Tell him this is for me.”
With a smile Tim said, “Yes Sir.”
“Tim, I told you to call me Rick.”
“Yes you did, but I’m showing you the respect you deserve.”
“That’s funny that is exactly what Hornsby said.”
“You look tired Sir. Go home and get some rest.”
“That’s funny that exactly what Hobbs said.”
They both laughed. “I’ll take care of the Graham situation.”
“Thank you Tim,” said Rick and he headed home.
––––––––
The next morning Rick went into the office and Tim was waiting for him by the lift.
“Sir, may I have a word with you in your office?” Tim didn’t look happy.
“Sure, let’s go into the conference room.”
“Well Sir, we can’t. It’s full,” said Tim in dismay. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Bannic?” said Rick. No one knew his real name, so Rick wasn’t careful about using it.
“Bannic,” said Tim in almost a tone of disgust.
“Alright.” Rick still was not comfortable using his office. Yet it was obvious that this conversation needed to be done in private.
Rick went into his office and sat down. Tim came in and closed the door behind him and started pacing back and forth.
“Alright Tim, calm down and tell me what happened?”
“Right after you left yesterday afternoon, I went down to talk to Mr. Graham. I told him that you had a special project you needed him to do. He got all excited and I hadn’t even told him what the project was yet.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Mr. Graham,” said Rick.
Because of the subject matter I thought it would be better to get him away from his co-workers. I brought him up to the conference room and told him he could work there. He was working when I left last night. I came in this morning and security stopped me and told me that if I was going to have deliveries in the middle of the night it would be nice if I let them know.”
“Oh, I can already see where this is going,” said Rick with a chuckle.
“It’s not funny,” said Tim in distress. “I came up to the office and walk into the conference room and there is Bannic in a sea of papers. Stacks of boxes, and mounds of papers. That’s a big Room and I can barely move around in there.”
“Where did it all come from?”
“Well, the real question is where didn’t come from?”
“What?”
“Now I know why security was upset. I went down and asked to see the list of deliveries over the night. There was eighty-seven deliveries. Records from every department in the Corporation.”
“Did he accomplish the mission?” asked Rick.
“I don’t know. I was so damn mad that I couldn’t even talk to him.”
“Yeah, let’s go talk to him.” They went into the conference room and Bannic was sorting out papers.
He looked up and said “Rick!” he set everything down and came over to shake Rick’s hand.
Rick had to smile, “How are you doing?”
“I’m doing great.”
“So I understand that you have been working all night.”
“Yes I have,” Bannic ran down to the end of the table and grabbed file folders. He came back and handed them to Rick. There were elven of them and each one had a name of a Board member on it. “That is everything you will need to prosecute every member of the Board. Funny thing, I couldn’t find anything on the CEO.”
“That’s why they dumped it into his lap. He was the only one with clean hands,” said Rick more to himself than anyone else.
“What was that?” said Bannic.
“Nothing just some old business. So what is the rest of the paperwork?”
“Well like everything else you have to dig through a pile of dirt to get to the gems.”
“Okay so what are you going to do with all of this?”
“Oh we need to send it back. If I could have Mr. Tim’s help I can have this cleaned up by lunch.”
“What kind of help do you need from me?” Tim sounded like he was not willing to do anything for Bannic.
“Mostly I need you to arrange for pickups and deliveries. I need to put everything back the way I got it.”
“I can do that,” said Tim reluctantly.
“Good,” said Rick he looked over at Bannic. “Come and see me when you are done.” Rick knew that this would speed up the process. With that he turned and went to his office.
Rick went into his office and closed the door. He set the files on his desk and wondered if he should even look at them. If he did he would want to prosecute these people.
Thinking about what he should do, he looked at the folders. They were calling to him. Weller once told Rick that he had a need to know, and that was one thing that had in common. As an investigator the need to know drove him to solve crimes.
He reached over and took the folders and found Neman’s. before he opened it Rick had to remind himself that this was to get his cooperation. No matter what his crimes were.
He opened the folder and the first page had a list of crimes. The rest of the folder was supporting documentation. With Neman, the list of crimes went from simple tax evasion to planting evidence to disrupt the Board of other Corporations. It seems that he was partnered with Nash on a lot of shady deals. Including blackmailing the CEO of McTech to complete the deal of building the defense platform that gave Nash the missiles that Nash used on Pacifica.
Rick couldn’t believe the evidence. He went through the folder and found that the paper trail was impeccable. Bannic had done a great job. Yet Rick knew that this was not enough to convict. He needed hard evidence if he was going to prosecute.
“Rick STOP!” he said out loud to no one. He was thinking like an investigator, not like the member of the Board of Directors. He reminded himself what these folders were all about. The reason he wanted the folders in the first place was to use as a club to beat the Board into submission.
Hobbs once told Rick that he was the most powerful man in the corporation, because the board feared that one day he might come after them. In Ricks mind that day had arrived. Hobbs also said that people with power will do anything to keep it. Rick guessed that also meant that they would give up on their principles.
He could understand Collier’s view of getting rid of the self-absorbed, self-centered, self-serving, greedy politicians. But Rick understood that they were needed to keep the nation running. The only think Rick could console himself with was that Neman was not responsible for loss of life.
Rick hadn’t realized how much time he spent on the Neman folder until he heard a knock at the door. “Cone in,” said Rick.
Bannic opened the door and said, “You wanted to see me?”
Rick looked at his phone and saw that it was 11:45. “Did you get the conference room all cleaned up?” said Rick with a smile.
“Yes Sir. Most of the boxes are already gone. There are still a few that need to be picked up.”
“Well I was just concerned about the Board members finding out what we were up to?”
“Oh I wouldn’t worry about that too much,” said Bannic with a smile.
“Why is that?” Rick was glad that Bannic had confidence, but Rick didn’t share it.
“Several reasons. First off I got the hard copies from the archives. It’s accessing the electronic files that triggers the notification alarms. Next, most of this was done afterhours. I intended to do that so the people of any important would be gone for the day. That made for less chance of questions. And finally because I sent the records back with a note that they were the wrong records and thanking them for their cooperation. I did that so that when the boxes show up from their archives, there was no need to raise a fuss as they were the wrong records. People don’t want to go to boss if it’s no big deal.”
Rick listened as Bannic laid it all out. It sounded like he covered his tracks well. “What about the deliveries, couldn’t someone trace them?”
“They could but they would have to be real intent on knowing what a common delivery was all about. And besides, I used eighteen different companies for the deliveries. Someone would have to check every delivery company in the city and it still wouldn’t tell them much.”
“Wow, it sounds like you did a great job covering your tracks.”
“Thank you,” said Bannic beaming with pleasure. “At least this time I didn’t get caught in a battle.”
“Well you kind of did,” said Rick with a smile. “Just a different kind of battle. Thank you, now that I have this information I have to act on it. I need to find proof.”
Bannic had the look on his face like someone had just taken something away from him. “That is proof.”
“No my friend. This is supporting evidence. I can’t get a conviction with just this. Like with Nash, I needed one of the Rossom fighters. Hard physical evidence to get a conviction. With this,” Rick pointed to the folders, “they can claim it was a forgery. Like Nash tried to do. Don’t get me wrong you did a great job. Now I have a place to start working on handling the situation.”
Bannic nodded his head. He seemed to understand that it was not enough. He said, “Okay,” and stood up. While he wasn’t as enthusiastic as before he did seem happy about the praise. “Well, I guess I better be getting back to work. I have a lot of dead files to clean up.”
“Why don’t you take the rest of the day off,” said Rick as he stood as well. “Go home and get some rest. You have been up all night.”
“Yeah, maybe your right.” Bannic headed for the door and Rick followed him.
Rick opened the door and said, “Thank you for all your help.” Then shook his hand.
“Your welcome, if you need anything else...”
“You will be the first one I’ll call.” Bannic turned and headed for the lift. “Tim, can I see you in my office for a moment.”
Tim came into the office and Rick shut the door. Before he said anything he sat behind his desk. “Tim, are you aware of some of the things the people have done?”
“I’ve heard rumors, but here is the thing. Nobody wants to investigate a Director. As a result, crimes committed by the Directors are ignored.”
“Because nobody wants to risk their lives on the off chance that they are proven wrong. I think that’s why I impressed Director Hobbs. The first question he asked me on the Harris case was, ‘Are you sure’. As we pressed forward, we both knew that I was risking my life.”
“Exactly. I know you knew this,” said Tim. “But most investigators don’t have your courage.”
Rick said, “So let me ask you this. Do you have a vault or safe that no one else knows about?”
“Yes,” the was Tim said this showed that he was not willing to expose the location of that safe.
“Good, this is what I want you to do for me. Make copies of these files.” Rick pointed to the pile on his desk. “Bring me the copies and put the originals in that safe. I don’t want to know where they are or how to get at them. This is going to be my insurance policy.”
“Yes,” said Tim with a smile, “Director Thompson.” He gathered up the files and left the room.”
This time Rick knew it was a compliment.