Chapter Five
Lauren
In under one hour,I’ll be presenting the proposal to the board members to get the go-ahead on the final testing phase of the new engine. Without their consent and their willingness to spend almost a billion dollars, we’d remain numbertwo.
But I had Trent’s plan, my vision, and a real chance to do something civilization had never achieved…reaching the outer edges of our solar system without using rocketfuel.
I’m about to place the final proposal on the table when Josh Goldman stalks into the boardroom. “We have a problem.” He’s almost hyperventilating as he clutches hischest.
My hand freezes a few inches above the table. “What’swrong?”
The nervous excitement I felt immediately morphs into nausea deep in the pit of mystomach.
Josh runs his fingers through his dirty-blond hair and looks over his shoulder, peering into the hallways before answering. “It’s Cozza. Dawn raid. The bastards,” he says, stammering out the words and not talking in completesentences.
Josh is my number two at Interstellar. He started a few months after I did with a nose for business and a love of numbers. He’s usually calm and collected, though today he’s anythingbut.
I slowly sit down and stare at the mahogany wood and the intricate design of the grain as I try to wrap my head around theinformation.
As with other dawn raids, Cozza purchased a minority stake in Interstellar just as the markets opened this morning. They are positioning themselves for atakeover.
It was old-school, sneaky, and purely Cozza, the cocky bastards. It was their way of making their intentions public to take over Interstellar without a huge media splash. Dawn raids were rare, especially in the United States, but I should’ve known Cozza would try anything to stop us. This meant only one thing—they’ve officially declared war, and somehow, they knew about theengine.
“Do you know what this means?” Josh collapses in the chair next tome.
Swallowing down the lump that’s settled in my throat, I nod. “Ido.”
I don’t want to believe it, but I should’ve known they’d pull something like this on the verge of our announcement. The timing’s uncanny and screams foul play, but things like this happen all the time in our industry… I should’ve expectedit.
“They’re going to try to take us over,Lauren.”
“It won’t happen,” I say with a firm voice, trying to make myself believe the words as I speakthem.
Josh mashes his hands together tightly, and there’s a vein bulging from his forehead. “How can you be sosure?”
Tapping my fingernail against the conference table, I look out the window and try to think of a good answer. “I don’t know, Josh, but we better get every goddamn person on finding a way to stop Cozza dead in theirtracks.”
This news changeseverything.
No longer is this a meeting to discuss the exciting future of Interstellar, but the focus now shifts to how to save Interstellar and stop the slow bleed of shares toCozza.
The stockholders need to know to hold their shares and not sell them under any circumstances. No matter what Cozza offers, with the invention just on the horizon, they’d be wealthier than they everimagined.
He rises from his chair and fists his hands at his sides. “I’ll get the junior executives onit.”
Based on his anxiety, I can be certain Josh isn’t behind the information leak that led Cozza to purchase the stockovernight.
But if not him,who?
There aren’t many people who know about the engine outside of the design team and the top executives. The board probably had an inkling that something big was happening since we called an emergency board meeting, but I can’t imagine they’d shoot themselves in the foot…especially when it came tomoney.
“Wait.” My voice is surprisingly calm and unwavering as I speak. “Don’t.”
He stops and turns. “Why?”
“We don’t want word getting out until the board of directors knows about Cozza’s intentions. As soon as the meeting is over, we’ll put everyone onit.”
His Adam’s apple bobs and he nods, closing his eyes briefly. “Fine.” He looks down at his watch. “We have one hour before everyone gets here. We’d better come up with a way to break the newsgently.”
