CHAPTER 25

Christoph checked into a small hotel on Madison Avenue, only a five minute walk to the Weather Scope building.  He showered and changed into his new Armani suit, then walked to the office.  He returned the smiles of his employees and their welcome back greetings made him feel good. ‘Hi Svetlana’ he said as he passed his assistant’s door.

‘Mr Zelig. It’s good to have you back. I have many messages for you.’

‘I bet you have.’ He chuckled and walked into his office.  He buzzed Svetlana and asked her to hold his calls for half an hour, then he settled into his chair and glanced at his computer. Instinct told him it had been recently accessed, the rubber marks on the desk confirmed it. He shrugged, reached for the phone and dialled Claudia’s number. He felt a surge of excitement when he heard her voice. ‘How are you my darling?’ he asked.

‘Missing you terribly, but other than that I’m fine. How are you?’

‘Excellent. I’ve never been better.’

‘How was the flight?’

‘The hours flew by. I had wonderful memories for company.’

‘Where are you now?’

‘I’ve just arrived at the office. I haven’t seen Angus yet. I wanted to talk to you before I tackle that little job.’

‘Thomas and Andrew worked on the audits all yesterday and most of last night. They have found a couple of errors and they’ve readjusted all the tables but so far they are confident we haven’t had integrity breaches.  It’s too early to say we’re definitely in the clear, but so far it’s looking good.’

‘Excellent. And what about the legal stuff?’

‘I’m seeing our lawyer this evening and I’ll have him draw up the advice documents.  He will send them to your legal department as soon as they are ready.’

‘Good girl. Sparks will fly when our people read you are severing your ties with us.’ He laughed, ‘I’d better buy some smelling salts and hand them out to all the support staff so they can revive their fainting bosses. Well my darling, I had better go and have a friendly chat with Angus. I’ll phone you tonight and tell you all about it.  I love you.’ He said cheerfully.

‘And I love you too. Good luck with Angus.’  He hung up and took a deep breath, then braced himself for the encounter with his partner.

Angus was working at his desk when Christoph walked in to the office unannounced. ‘Hello Angus. We need to talk.’

Angus dropped his pen and starred at him. ‘What are you going here?’

‘I’ve come back to work.’ Christoph said casually.

Angus could not hide his shocked reaction or suppress the anger surging through him. ‘What do you mean you’re back? You resigned remember. You have no job to come back to.’

‘Oh, really? Well you can tear up my resignation letter. I’m back and I’m taking control again.’

‘You’re wrong Christoph. You are no longer the CEO. The shareholders met on Saturday and voted unanimously, that as you had vacated your position, you should be paid out and a new CEO appointed.’

‘And that’s you I presume?’

‘No. It’s Vincent. He takes up the role next Monday.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘So Christoph you have no business being here. I suggest you leave immediately or I will call security and have you escorted from the building.’  He picked up his pen and resumed writing on the pad in front of him.

‘You wouldn’t dare.’

‘You’re wrong Christoph. You have no place here. Please leave now.’ He placed his index finger on the red security alarm button, ‘Go now, or you leave me no option.’

Christoph turned to leave but stopped and walked over to the desk. He bent over it and looked straight at Angus, ‘I’ll leave but don’t think you’ve won. I know you changed data and I will expose you.’

‘Ruin me and you ruin yourself. You’ll lose everything.’

‘Money means very little to me Angus. It was never about the money; if I end up broke than so be it.’

‘Sure. That’s easy to say now, when you’re standing there in a suit that cost more than most people earn in six months, but I wonder if you’ll still say that when the best you can afford is an off-the-rack, Wal-Mart polyester job.  Think about it Christoph, it’s been a long time since you had to shop at the local mall.’

‘Don’t worry about me Angus. I’ll be just fine. You however, will find yourself behind bars.’ He paused, ‘I wonder how you’ll handle that?’’

‘Get out.’ Angus yelled, ‘Get out now.’

Christoph left and smiled at the junior staff who had gathered in the hall. He returned to his former office, collected his briefcase and closed the door gently as he left.

‘Christoph do you have a moment?’ He looked up and saw Svetlana standing near the elevators.

‘Sure. It looks like I have all the time in the world.’

‘Can we go somewhere private?’

‘Feel like a walk in the park?’

‘That would be excellent.’

Christoph left his case at the security desk in the lobby, then they walked the few blocks to Central Park and found a free table at a small outdoor café. Svetlana looked troubled. ‘What’s wrong Svetlana?. You look worried?’

‘I am worried Christoph. Last night I was working late and I overheard something. Something I’m certain I was not meant to hear. I’m scared Christoph.’

‘Scared?’

‘Scared for my life.’  Christoph was shocked. Svetlana was not into high drama. She never exaggerated. If she felt she was in danger, then she probably was.

‘What did you hear?’

‘I was looking for a file so I went into the archive room. While I was there I heard voices in the hall. I knew it was Vincent and Angus and I didn’t want to talk to them. I was angry about Vincent’s appointment; I had nothing nice to say to either of them. So I just waited for them to leave. But they didn’t leave, they continued to talk. Angus asked Vincent if he’d altered all the modelling tables and he said yes he had. Angus said that was good because he needed the new projections to be finished by next Friday. He said he was meeting the directors of Kappa Insurance to give them the altered figures. He said the new figures would show the whole global warming thing was just disaster beat up, and they would prove the sea level predictions were wrong. 

Vincent told Angus to stop worrying. He said he’d have the data to him by Thursday evening.  They talked for a while longer then they walked away. I waited for a few minutes and then I picked up my files, turned off the light and closed the door. But I caught my heel in one of those planters in the hallway and slipped. I dropped all the files and my cell phone.  Angus and Vincent heard the noise and came to see what happened. They were shocked to see me. They exchanged glances that scared the hell out of me. They pretended to be concerned, but I could tell they were just worried that I might have heard them talking.  They saw the files so they would have guessed I had been in the archive room.  I went back to my office, but I could hear them whispering as I walked away.’

‘Why would Angus be giving our data to Kappa Insurance?’

‘He’s been meeting with them for months. I send out the meeting notices. They meet every four weeks.’

‘What are the meetings about?’

‘I’m not sure, but today I managed to get hold of a pile of discs. There might be something useful on them.’

‘What discs?’

‘Candice, Angus’s assistant, phoned in sick this morning. I went to his office to leave a note to tell him she wasn’t coming in. Angus wasn’t in his office, so I had a quick look around Candice’s desk and I found a box of discs marked meeting minutes, so I took them.’ She rummaged in her tote-bag and passed him the packet of discs she’d taken.

It was Christoph’s turn to look worried. ‘You have to get out of Weather Scope until all this mess has been sorted out.’

‘Leave and do what? I need my job to survive.’

‘You’re in danger. If you stay they will find a way to silence you. They’re desperate people Svetlana. You must go away for a while.’

‘How could I? I don’t have enough money to just go away; and I’ll lose my apartment if I don’t work to pay my mortgage.’ She hung her head, but he could see she was close to tears.

‘Svetlana look at me.  I’ll pay your mortgage, and I’ll give you money to live on.’

‘I can’t take that sort of money from you. It wouldn’t be right.’

‘You have to trust me. You could be in real danger. You must let me help you. Is there anyone you could stay with; just for a few months?’

‘I have a sister in Russia. Perhaps I could stay with her.’

‘Good. Then we have to make the arrangements as quickly as possible. Give me your banking details and I’ll transfer enough money into your account to cover your mortgage payments plus a little extra for you to live on.’ He gently lifted her chin. ‘Please allow me to help you. It isn’t your fault you’re in this mess; it’s Weather Scope’s.’

They left the park and returned to the office. Christoph waited with her while she packed up the few personal items she kept on her desk, then he collected his case and they left the building together.  They caught a cab back to his hotel, where he logged into his bank and transferred fifty thousand dollars into her account. ‘Now let’s go to your apartment so you can pack.’

It was early afternoon when they returned to the hotel.  Christoph phoned the airline and booked Svetlana on an eight-thirty flight to Moscow.  Then he suggested she try to get some rest but she wanted to use the little remaining time together to talk about Weather Scope. She phoned her sister and asked if she could stay with her, then she stretched out on the bed and looked across at him. ‘What are Angus and Vincent up to?’

Christoph told her all he knew, including the details of his trip to Australia. She stared at him, then finally said ‘If Claudia and her team can prove their data has not been compromised, they should go to Green Star and tell them everything.’

‘It would be easier if I pay them a visit. The Green Star people know me and I think they will believe me. But I need to get to them before Angus does. If he tells his story first, anything I have to say will sound hollow.’

Svetlana was thoughtful. ‘Angus will expect you to go to Green Star. He will have already contacted them. He will tell them AtmosFear has bugs in it, and the models it generates are useless. They will stop using it immediately and they will probably take legal action agains EcoLogic.’ Her concern was sincere, ‘That would ruin them. If AtmosFear is discredited years of research will be wasted.’

‘Sure he’ll expect me to go to them, but he doesn’t know I’ve been to Australia, or that EcoLogic are already checking their data against ours. I can prove the data has been changed, but he doesn’t know that yet.’

‘Angus can be very persuasive. He can charm a rattle snake. It won’t be easy if he’s already talked to Green Star.’ She paused and Christoph could see she wanted to add something.

‘What is it?’ he asked.

‘It’s Ursula.’

‘What about her?’

‘She was at the shareholders meeting.’ He nodded for her to continue. ‘She said terrible things about you.’ Svetlana struggled to get the words out. ‘She said you beat her. She said you told her you had changed some data.' She paused again.

‘Go on.’

‘She said you had threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone. I’m sorry Christoph. I didn’t want you to know about these terrible things.’  He smiled reassuringly.

‘No. No. Don’t be sorry. I’m grateful you’ve told me. At least I know what I’m dealing with.’

‘There’s more. After Ursula addressed the meeting, Angus spoke. He said he and Vincent had checked all the data and they were able to identify the changes you made and they fixed them. He said you were crazy and looking for a way to discredit him. He said you hated him because he told Ursula about your affair with Claudia. He said you had broken Ursula’s heart and she was deeply distressed about your mental state.’

‘My mental state. Holy shit. You don’t believe any of this, do you?’

‘Of course not. Everyone knows Ursula is a man-eater. Well everyone at Weather Scope that is. Her exploits are hot topics in the common rooms. But people outside the company think she’s the first lady. Ursula knows how to work the room. I’ve watched her at events. She plays the high priestess role perfectly. She can make a tiger purr at her feet.’ Svetlana looked apologetic. ‘I’m sorry to talk about her like this. I know she is still your wife. But Ursula is poison, and she is a dangerous woman.’

‘No apology needed. You know we’ve been apart for over two years. Ursula is not my wife. She is just a name on a tacky certificate that says we are married.’  He frowned. ‘You said she is dangerous. What did you mean?’

‘Do you remember Charles Bowman?’

‘Of course. But he left us about six months ago.’

‘Do you know why he left?’

‘He told me he needed a change. I was sorry to lose him. He was the best Financial Controller we’ve ever had.’ Christoph said softly.

‘You might remember Charles resigned just after the Christmas cocktail party.’ Her expression darkened. ‘It seems he saw Ursula and Billy Lomax making out in the parking lot, and then the next day in the office he heard Lomax bragging that he’d screwed the CEO’s wife. Charles took Lomax aside and told him to be more discreet. Then he phoned Ursula and suggested she have a word with Lomax.  Ursula screamed abuse at Charles and told him he was an interfering old bastard. Later that day Ursula stormed into Angus’s office and started yelling again, demanding that he fire Charles.  Charles did not return to work the next day. A few weeks later one of the accountants told me Charles had suffered a heart attack.’

‘I heard he was ill, but I knew nothing about this other stuff.’ Christoph’s brow creased.

‘Everyone kept it quiet; they didn’t want you to find out about it. You had enough problems.’ Svetlana explained.

Christoph became angry. ‘I should have been told. I would have reinstated Charles.’

‘He would not have come back, even if you had asked him to.  He told me he couldn’t cope with Angus and Ursula any longer. In a way he was glad to leave, but of course he was worried about finding a new position. He was fifty-five and he said not many companies would be interested in hiring him.’

Christoph drove Svetlana to the airport and hugged her warmly when her flight began to board. ‘Thank you for being such a good friend. I will miss you.’

‘And I you. The satellite coverage in my sister’s village is not good, so you may have trouble reaching me on my cell. It would be best to use the landline number I gave you.’

‘I will. Look after yourself; I’ll keep you up to date with everything.’

‘Thank you for the money Christoph. I don’t know how I will ever repay you, but one day I’ll find a way.’

‘Think of it as severance pay. You do not have to repay the money Svetlana. Weather Scope owes you much more. And one day I will see that you are properly compensated for all you’ve had to endure.’  He kissed her on the cheek. ‘Go now or you’ll miss the flight. God speed.’

She turned and walked to the departure lounge entrance, then turned back and made a small gesture to say her final goodbye. He felt a rush of sadness for her, but was enormously grateful for her loyal friendship.   He returned the gesture and watched her disappear behind a screen.

Walking back to the car his anger rose again.  It was not fair that Svetlana, one of Weather Scope’s most dedicated people, should be driven from her home and her job and made a fugitive.  He resolved to make things right. Ursula and Angus would be brought to account.

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