“I thought about what you said. It was time to expose Brad’s hypocrisy.”
“I did not say any of that!”
“Why tell me, then?”
“I was trying to warn you to get your ass in gear before Brad got any big ideas about more layoffs, not giving you thedetonator to blow up Version 3.0. Don’t you realize how serious this is? Connor could get fired. So could you.”
“Relax,” Andy says. “Your big-deal boss is practically a founder of the company, he has equity coming out of his asshole. He’s not going to get fired. And they can’t fire me. It will look too shady.”
“OK, then what about me?” I snap. “I wasn’t supposed to shareanyof that with you. I’m going to be in so much trouble! I try to help you and this is the thanks I get? How could you not tell me? What happened to sticking together?”
“Look, I’m sorry,” he says, sounding anything but. “It was a risk I had to take. You’ll talk yourself out of it. You alwaysdo.”
“And if I can’t? Brad is not just going to let thisgo.”
“He won’t have a choice. Listen, I’ve got to go, I’ll catch up with you later,OK?”
—
Connor is waiting for me outside the elevator bays. He’s leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and his jaw set.
He straightens when I step out of the elevator, then turns without a word. I follow. It feels like I’m off to my execution.
He walks only as far as the first available conference room, a huge space with an enormous boardroom table as its centerpiece. It’s soundproofed and encased on all sides by glass walls. Connor pulls the sliding door shut as soon as I step past him. I wonder if one of us will soon be screaming.
That might actually be preferable. Connor’s deadly, silent calm is extremely unnerving. I squirm under his stare.
“I can explain.”
“What were you thinking, Annie? Did you honestly just try and stage a coup in the middle of an all-hands?”
“No.Connor, I swear, I had no idea he was going to do that. I even messaged him before the meeting reminding him not to let on that he knew anything.”
Wrong thing to say. His nostrils flare. “Is that supposed to make itbetter?”
I’m really flapping now. “No. I messed up, OK? But I swear to you, Connor, I never thought it would get this out of hand.”
“What the hell did youdo?”
“Nothing! Or, not that much. I told him I’d heard a rumor about the rollout of Version 3.0 and…encouraged them to present something at the all-hands. I wasn’t specific! I dropped a few hints.”
“That worked out well, didn’t it,” he says, his voice hard.
“You don’t need to be a dick about this,” I say, my own temper flaring to life. “Look, I’m sorry I went around you, and that Andy took the nuclear option and pissed Brad off, but what was I supposed to do? Leave them there like sitting ducks? When one tiny little heads-up could potentially save all their jobs?”
“Considering I specifically told you not to repeat that information, yes, that’s exactly what I expected you todo.”
“But you werewrong.”
“Guess what, Annie? I don’t give a shit. You can’t just hit the override button on every little thing that happens in your life that you don’t agree with. I’ve told you again and again, our work is confidential.”
“Connor, just two months ago I watched half my old product team get laid off.Igot laid off, remember? And you didn’t want to hearit!”
“Yeah? Tell me something, Annie, when did you share this information with your best friend Andy?”
I hesitate. “Why does that matter?”
“It matters. When?”
