Transparency by Charles Royce (children's books read aloud txt) 📕

is another headline. Reed! Get in here!”

Josh looks out the window to Reed’s desk, watches him hang up the phone and rush into the office.

“Yes, Mr. West?”

“Tell them to be more careful, would you?”

“Who?”

“The, the … good God, them!” West points outside. “Call the foreman, tell the sign people to hurry up, and be more careful.”

“Do you have the foreman’s num—”

“Figure it out!”

“Yes, sir.” He leaves.

Josh watches Reed approach his desk, walking and stopping, reversing and stopping, like a Roomba trying to figure out its next move. He laughs.

“You miss Kimbo?” Josh asks.

“Yes.” West says. “You?”

Josh nods. “Still no word?”

“None. Completely vanished. And no, I had nothing to do with it.”

“Didn’t say you did.” Josh places his hands in his lap, interlocks his fingers. “Look, Mr. West, I could’ve left.”

“I know.”

“I should have left. Completely. I almost called you a hundred times.”

“I wish you had.”

“This is the best job I’ve ever had. I work with the best team I’ve ever assembled. They’ve been kicking ass since I’ve been back.”

“I need you.”

“How badly?” Josh asks.

“The grand opening. It’s very important.”

“I know.”

“Our stock is higher, no thanks to Tracy’s interview. But things are still shaky here.”

“Your stock is higher all thanks to Tracy. She knew exactly what she was doing.”

West bows his head in submission. “I need our donors back. I need our sponsors back. I need this grand opening to be a success.”

“I worked with Miss Harriet right before I came up. We already got two sponsors back on board this morning. Both presenting sponsors. Now that they’re back, everyone should follow.”

“Holy shit. You are a miracle worker.”

“I need compensation.”

West shakes his head as if something didn’t compute. “I’m sorry?”

“Compensation. I want my salary doubled, and stock options starting today. Élan International is about to be on the rise again.”

“Done.” West takes a pen, makes himself a note.

“Thank you.”

“That was easy.”

“One more thing.”

“Ahh, here we go.”

“No more surveillance,” Josh says. “It’s sloppy, it’s desperate, it’s gross. I know you bugged Walter and Hillary’s home. I know that’s how you found out about the key, the blueprints. You almost got caught.”

“Already done. We stopped everything right after your, um, incident.”

“Good.” Josh leans back, throws up his palms. “Okay.”

“Okay, what?”

“I’m in. Use me.”

West takes his pen, holds it in between his fingers, starts tapping his desk with it. “You already know far too much about this company.”

“I do. But Élan’s success is my suc—”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

C h a p t e r   4 2

“AND THEN HE invited me to join the board, the CAAD thing. Tonight, eight p.m.” Josh stares at Shawn with a can-you-believe-it look.

“You need to go see Jenna tonight.” Shawn places some folders in his office desk, locks the cabinet. “She’s lost without you.”

“I know, I know. I’ve been kinda busy.”

“I’m serious. She’s not doing well.”

“I’ll go see her soon, I promise.” Josh is lost in a replay. “It worked just like Agent Pillsbury said. Wait, it’s okay for me to talk about this with you, right?”

“Sure.” Shawn reaches into his gym bag, pulls out his tennis shoes. “I’m pretty sure attorney–client privilege covers confidential informancy.”

“Oh, good.” Josh rethinks Shawn’s tone, then notices Shawn smiling. “Wait, is it? Are you just messing with me?”

“I’m pretty sure informancy isn’t even a word. I have no idea if you’re covered, Josh, this is new territory for me too. What did Pillsbury say?”

“I didn’t ask her.”

“Maybe you should.” Shawn ties his shoelaces, smiles. “What’d you think of her?”

“She’s a piece of work.”

“She’ll be amazing to work with—smart as a whip, sees straight through the bullshit with just the right amount of empathy.” Shawn looks up at Josh, who’s staring off into space again.

“You shoulda seen me, Shawn.” Josh looks at Shawn’s office ceiling, reliving the moment. “I was brilliant. Confident. I actually thought I was joining forces with James West.”

“See? Those acting chops paid dividends.”

Josh cocks his head to the left, references a moment from the trial. “You’re not gonna pull out an eight-by-ten of me again, are you?”

Shawn stands, bounces up and down in his tennis shoes. “You shoulda seen me! I was brilliant! Confident!”

“Stop.” Josh watches Shawn take off his button-down, his dad body oozing out over his pants. “Where are you going?”

“To our company gym, wanna come with?” Shawn throws on a T-shirt.

“Where are your shorts?”

“Honestly I have no idea. This gym bag has been sitting in my office for so long, I never knew I’d forgotten to pack shorts.”

“Why go to the gym tonight?”

“Because. Well, because I’m about to have a son.”

“A son? Really?” Josh claps. “When did you find out it was a boy?”

“A few weeks ago. Actually, I found out my wife told Micah before she told me. Gave her a slight silent treatment for a day or so, but we made up.” He shoves his button-down and loafers in the gym bag. “Who wants a dad that looks like he’s been sitting in a chair for the last ten years?”

“Nobody.”

“Exactly.”

“Before you go, there’s something I wanted to ask.”

“Go for it.” Shawn crosses his arms, leans against his desk in front of Josh.

“Agent Pillsbury said they already had enough to put West away.”

“I should say so, the information on those six black flash drives pretty much nails his coffin shut.”

“Wait, the ones from Phish?"

“That contained the decrypted information from the 4JFK file, yes.”

“You still have them? The drives?” Josh’s face is distorted, confused. “I thought you said you gave them to Pillsbury.”

“I said I sent them over to her.” Shawn moves to behind his desk, opens a drawer. He dumps the flash drives on the desk. “It’s cute that you think I’d give the originals to the FBI.”

“You did not.” Josh picks a couple of them up, moves them between his fingers.

“Like I told you that day we all FaceTimed, we found tons of information on these. Items of note include financial documents with fabricated numbers labeled WASHINGTON, whatever the hell that means; another group of videos and documents showing much of the