“For now.”
“That is not reassuring.”
“I need independent counsel at the board meeting.”
“What happened?”
“My car was remotely disabled.”
Silence.
“Repeat that.”
She did.
The attorney asked six precise questions.
Then:
“Do not attend the board meeting alone.”
“I need to attend.”
“You need to preserve evidence and figure out whether your corporate security operation is compromised.”
“If I miss, they vote.”
“Can they?”
“Under the bylaws, a quorum exists without me.”
“Can you join remotely?”
“The chairman can reject remote participation for an emergency transaction if identity or connection security is questioned.”
“That clause exists?”
“He wrote it fifteen years ago.”
The CEO almost laughed.
Of course he had.
Her attorney said:
“Send me the video.”
She did.
“Send photos of module.”
Done.
“Do not let anyone from company touch it.”
The single father overheard.
“Good advice.”
The CEO looked at him.
“Apparently everybody gets to advise me today.”
“Rough day.”
The attorney asked:
“Who is with you?”
The CEO looked at the man.
“A tow-truck driver who used to design immobilizers.”
There was a pause.
“Of course.”
The CEO nearly laughed.
The board meeting was now seventy-one minutes away.
Her hypercar could not be trusted.
Her security team could not be trusted.
The state police would not escort her to a private corporate meeting unless a direct threat was established.
The CEO looked at the old tow truck.
Then at the single father.
“No.”
He immediately understood.
“No.”
“I haven’t asked.”
“Yes, you have.”
“I need to be in Las Vegas in seventy minutes.”
“My truck tops out at sixty-five downhill with encouragement.”
“It is fifty-seven miles.”
“Traffic.”
“I’ll pay.”
“No.”
She stared.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m not taking payment to insert myself into whatever this is.”
“I am not asking you to join.”
“I drive.”
“You sit.”
“Then I leave.”
“That is joining.”
The CEO looked toward the hypercar.
The patrol supervisor said:
“We can arrange a licensed flatbed.”
“How long?”
“Forty minutes.”
“No.”
The single father glanced at his watch.
Then sighed.
“I have to pick up my daughter at five.”
The CEO stopped.
“You have a daughter?”
“Yes.”
“How old?”
“Nine.”