Page 4 of Meet Me on Greenwood

My face fell slightly. "And that is?"

"We want to own the technology. Can you pack it up for us and ship it to the Pentagon?"

"Ship it? But it is not ready." I held up my bandaged my arm. "You saw what just happened."

He shrugged. "It needs some… refining, but we have people that can figure that out. If you want to be hired on, we could arrange that, but this equipment has the potential to change how we engage in warfare."

"General," I said, moving toward him. "You understand that I built this to help people who are experiencing extreme negative emotions and trauma. It is meant to heal those wounds, not to be used as a weapon." The volume of my voice rose, but Maise stepped in before I could say any more.

"Thank you very much, General, for your offer. We will take it under advisement."My nostrils flared. "The hell you will! The ORI is not for sale."

Maise turned with a pleading look I knew all too well. Don’t look crazy in front of all these white people, it said.

The General straightened, looking over the group. "This is an opportunity for all of you to contribute to something that could protect our military. Give us a number and I think you will be very happy."

I watched as several of the board members looked at one another, whispering behind their hands.

"Alright, General," Maise interrupted. "We will get back to you by the end of the month."

The General frowned. "Two weeks." His eyes finally narrowed on me. "You won’t get a better offer."

Maise walked him out. Once the door closed, the chorus of voices reached a fever pitch.

"We’re not selling!" I seethed. "We’ll find someone else."

"Yes, you said the same thing last month when the CEO of that artificial intelligence company wanted to buy," said Tina, our Chief Financial Officer.

"You can’t put AI in people’s brains. We don’t know what could happen."

"And what about the guy that owns the car tech company?" she continued.

"He was a creep. I think he wanted to use our technology to get back at all the girls who laughed at him in high school," I said.

Tina tapped her pen against the table impatiently, grating on my nerves. "The ORI isn’t even operational yet. You need capital to keep the research alive. Why not take it?"

"It works," I pushed back. "Today was just a fluke."

She sucked in a slow breath. "I understand, but what about the other subjects? The one who was in the plane crash."

"He dropped out," Martin said from behind me.

I gave him a murderous look.

"I see," Tina continued. "What about the woman who almost drowned as a child?"

I stomped on Martin’s foot before he could utter another word.

"She’s on sabbatical," I said.

"And when does she plan to return?" Asked Andrea, another board member with a pixie cut.

"We don’t know," I said carefully. "She said she would be in touch."

All seven board members exchanged glances as if they had just discussed this very thing.

"Today’s patient is making progress. We get further each time."

"How close are you?" asked Ben, our board member from Cedar Hospital. He was a fellow medical doctor and always gave me grace in these situations.