Disclosure_ A Novel - Michael Crichton [147]
THIS RESIGNATION IS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. HOWARD EBERHARDT WILL SERVE AS ACTING COUNSEL UNTIL SUCH TIME AS A NEW PERMANENT APPOINTMENT IS MADE.
ROBERT GARVIN
Fernandez said, “What does it say?”
“It says, ‘I fired his sanctimonious ass.’ ”
“It had to happen,” Fernandez said. “Especially since he was the source on the Connie Walsh story.”
Sanders said, “How did you know that?”
“Eleanor Vries.”
“She told you?”
“No. But Eleanor Vries is a very cautious attorney. All those media attorneys are. The safest way to keep your job is to refuse to let things run. When in doubt, throw it out. So I had to ask myself, why did she let the Mr. Piggy story run, when it’s clearly defamatory. The only possible reason is that she felt Walsh had an unusually strong source inside the company—a source that understood the legal implications. A source that, in giving the story, was in essence also saying, we won’t sue if you print it. Since high-ranking corporate officers never know anything about law, it means the source could only be a high-ranking lawyer.”
“Phil.”
“Yes.”
“Jesus.”
“Does this change your plans?” Fernandez said.
Sanders had been considering that. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I think Garvin would have fired him later in the day, anyway.”
“You sound confident.”
“Yeah. I got some ammunition last night. And I hope more today.”
Cindy came in and said, “Are you expecting something from KL? A big file?”
“Yes.”
“This one’s been coming in since seven a.m. It must be a monster.” She put a DAT cartridge on his desk. It was exactly like the DAT cartridge that had recorded his video link with Arthur Kahn.
Fernandez looked at him. He shrugged.
At eight-thirty, he transmitted Bosak’s memo to Garvin’s private fax machine. Then he asked Cindy to make copies of all the faxes that Mohammed Jafar had sent him the previous night. Sanders had been up most of the night, reading the material that Jafar had sent him. And it made interesting reading.
Jafar of course was not ill; he had never been ill. That had been a little story that Kahn had contrived with Meredith.
He pushed the DAT videocassette into the machine, and turned to Fernandez.
“You going to explain?” she said.
“I hope it’ll be self-explanatory,” Sanders said.
On the monitor, the following appeared:
5 SECONDS TO DIRECT VIDEO LINKUP: DC/M-DC/C
SEN: A. KAHN
REC: M. JOHNSON
On the screen, he saw Kahn at the factory, and then a moment later the screen split and he saw Meredith at her office in Cupertino.
“What is this?” Fernandez said.
“A recorded video communication. From last Sunday.”
“I thought the communications were all erased.”
“They were, here. But there was still a record in KL. A friend of mine sent it to me.”
On the screen, Arthur Kahn coughed. “Uh, Meredith. I’m a little concerned.”
“Don’t be,” Meredith said.
“But we still aren’t able to manufacture to specs. We have to replace the air handlers, at the very least. Put in better ones.”
“Not now.”
“But we have to, Meredith.”
“Not yet.”
“But those handlers are inadequate, Meredith. We both thought they’d be okay, but they aren’t.”
“Never mind.”
Kahn was sweating. He rubbed his chin nervously. “It’s only a matter of time before Tom figures it out, Meredith. He’s not stupid, you know.”
“He’ll be distracted.”
“So you say.”
“And besides, he’s going to quit.”
Kahn looked startled. “He is? I don’t think he—”
“Trust me. He’ll quit. He’s going to hate working for me.”
Sitting in Sanders’s office, Fernandez leaned forward, staring at the screen. She said, “No shit.”
Kahn said, “Why will he hate it?”
Meredith said, “Believe me. He will. Tom Sanders will be out in my first forty-eight hours.”
“But how can you be sure—”
“What choice does he have? Tom and I have a history. Everybody in the company knows