Chapter 15 - THE VOTE
Arthur reached headquarters with twelve minutes to spare.
Security refused to let him through the executive entrance.
"Mr. Pike revoked your credentials," the guard said.
Arthur almost laughed. "Mr. Pike is a fugitive."
The guard's face changed.
Ben used an emergency board authorization from two independent directors and got them inside.
The shareholder meeting had already started.
Victor's allies were pushing the Sloane merger while Graham appeared by video from an undisclosed room somewhere in the building.
"This company needs stability," Graham told the room. "Arthur Vance can no longer provide it."
Arthur walked down the center aisle.
"Funny. You sound stable for a man hiding from police."
Chaos erupted.
Graham's video vanished.
Victor's attorney demanded the vote continue.
Daniel stood and raised Claire's sealed protective-trust instrument.
"Before any vote involving the twenty-eight percent held for Lucas Vance, notice is hereby given that the anti-fraud clause has been triggered. Those shares are frozen under independent control for ten years."
Victor's face collapsed.
Without Lucas's shares, he did not have enough votes.
The merger failed.
Arthur expected relief.
Instead, Ben ran toward him.
"Server room. Now."
They found smoke pouring beneath the door.
Graham had started a fire in the document archive.
Sprinklers screamed overhead.
Arthur and Ben forced the door open and saw Graham at the far wall, ripping hard drives from a rack.
"Graham!"
He spun around holding a metal pry bar.
"You should have sold when Claire told you to," he shouted.
"Claire never told me to sell."
Graham laughed.
May you like
"No," he said. "But somebody made sure you believed she did."
Then he swung the pry bar at Arthur's head.
